From the start, there was a mystery about the painting—who painted it? Why were there several styles? Vasari in his Lives of the Artists reports that Bellini failed to finish it before he died and that it was Titian who completed it. We know that to be incorrect because Bellini signed the painting and received a final payment of 85 golden ducats from Alfonso on 14 November 1514. This leads to a strange hypothesis—that Alfonso ordered Titian to paint over part of Bellini’s original painting and that Titian agreed to do so. If this is true, why would Alfonso have wanted this done?

These are some of the baffling questions which have remained unanswered for almost five centuries. Now finally the scientific investigation of the present day allows some of these questions to be answered.

From “Investigating Bellini’s The Feast of the Gods”

i’ll be spending 2.h hours unrevealing this mystery for the histories and theories of conservation subject tomorrow, but of course i am expected to comb through the material before hand.

the website does a really good job in providing the “mystery” with a very fascinating treatment, to an otherwise potentially dry topic. do check it out, it even shows the magnifying glass zooming into the layers like the CSI series.

update: the plot thickens

it isn’t just that Neptune’s hand was (compromisingly) placed on Cybele thigh; it has been hypothesized that Neptune in this picture was painted to resemble the commissioner of the painting (Alfonso d’Este) and Cybele to resemble his wife.

clicked the payment button, selected my isle seat, just need to check in. in real time, i’m not disappearing from melbourne all that soon, but with only one full semester jam packed with activities to go, time will seem to fly by faster than it will take to fly home.

one more day in melbourne is also one less day in it.

i’m cherishing each street i walk down, each cup of coffee i savor, each breath of cool crisp air, each photo i snap, each night in my incredibly spacious room, each stride in the park, each museum visit, each minute of wild abandonment…

see ya!

its the end of the first week of my last semester here. it was a whirlwind of activity which ended with a cozy get together of some friends over a cheese and wine party at my place last night. we had a delectable selection of antipasto, cheeses, munchies and pours from 4 bottles (3 red, 1 white) among 4 of us; you do the math.

(click picture to view the notes in flickr)

for the first time in the week, i can sit back and take a breather. although most lectures and tutorials are introductory in nature, its not any less intense. class papers were assigned for presentations, deadlines listed out, essay questions outlined, subsequent topics glossed over to let you know how much you don’t know, yet.

to qualify for a major in art history and english literary studies i have to take 7 modules for each area over 2 years which i’ve fulfilled by completing 2 modules for each in this final semester. these include writing after empire (postcolonial literature); art, ideology & doctrine (medieval studies); histories & theories of conservation (conservation and heritage issues) and art since 1990 (contemporary art).

it covers a very wide range of time and issues arising from a wider range of topics i.e. i had better start getting my head around it.

for most seasoned runners, a distance of 10km is nothing much to be worried about. i too can complete it fairly easily, the issue at hand is – within how many minutes?

to help with my goal of completing the route within 60 minutes or under, i’ll be training on site when the days get a little warmer. this way, i’ll know exactly where and when to pick up pace and where the inclines are.

Runners will head along Wellington Parade South; up to and along Flinders Street before turning left at Swanston Street and heading out along St Kilda Road.

Runners head along St Kilda Road (eastern side) to Anzac Avenue and along Birdwood Drive before heading down Anderson Street. At the bottom of Anderson Street, runners will head on to the Tan Track and continue around the Tan before re-entering St Kilda Road at Anzac Avenue.

Runners then take a right turn down Princes Walk at the back of Fed Square, and follow the path through Birrarung Marr and up over William Barak Bridge. Continuing around the MCG concourse in a clockwise direction before entering the MCG off Brunton Avenue at the Gate C “Tunnel”. Runners then will run an anti-clockwise lap of the MCG before finishing in front of the MCC Members Stand.

From the Melbourne Marathon website

the route itself is pretty straight forward, as in there are not too many twist and turns involved. most of it circumnavigates the royal botanic gardens. perhaps the most annoying bit will probably be the one round of the track before the finish line.

on my recce, i spotted the bay city strollers in action. having a fitness group catered specially for postnatal mothers is such a brilliant idea! to hell with the asian obsession with confinement and the list of don’t after delivery. recovering in the therapeutic outdoors is the way to go. the surrounds of the royal botanic gardens is such an ideal place too.

to be even more mother-friendly, other young children could also tag along. and once the mothers have sufficiently recovered, many start taking on more strenuous routines with the pram or baby-carrier in tow. other than just benefiting from the exercise, the outdoor inclination also naturally becomes imbued with family time which prepares the growing child to develop a non-sedentary lifestyle.

Paul Barry has re-released his bestselling biography The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer, controversially including in it the sad story of one of Packer’s mistresses, which on legal advice had been withheld from the original 1993 edition… Barry writes that mistresses have long been commonplace in the Packer family and expresses sympathy for Ros Packer, who endured verbal tirades as well as her husband’s philandering.

“There will be only one Mrs Packer,” she would tell her confidantes, however.

Kerry Packer’s father, Sir Frank Packer, who founded Women’s Weekly and made Sydney’s Daily Telegraph a populist and influential newspaper, was “notorious for his womanising and whoring”.

The Age

This is so Ugly Betty, especially in the episode where claire meades (wife of founder of meade publications) tells off wilhelmina slater (hopeful editor-in-chief for mode magazine and mistress of bradford meade) that he only has one wife.