Saturday 11th August 2012

Just as Poor Little Rich Gays crave full maid-service including meals (awful word) yet are absolute makers and know that no maid could rise to the required heights –  really they can’t bear NOT to do it themselves – so, when sight-seeing, they are riven. If it’s not for sale, is there any point in bothering? All art is an affront of a kind, when Poor Little Rich Gays make their own lives. Yet artists, even if not multi-millionaires, have more in common with Poor Little Rich Gays than almost all other species of human.

It has been said that the Multis would rather take Gucci than the Uffizi. At the top of Giotto’s Tower in Florence, whence we climbed on Wednesday, the Photo Multi pointed to a pole at the very summit of the roof. ‘I hope Vodaphone are paying a good rent for that.’

It was the lightening  conductor, as he knew quite well. Later he was cheeky: ‘Which would fetch more, do you think, at auction – the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David ?’

We thought the Mona on account of size: more suitable for the home.

Well, come on! You wouldn’t want to be a culture vulture, overcome with earnestness.

But the Photo Multi was in jest. Oh the Multis are changing. You won’t believe it.

They’re quite new now. They’re completely new.

The Photo just couldn’t wait to get to Chiesa de Santa Maria del Carmine to see the Masaccios. There, the Blond Multi supplied us all with audio-guides, now on an iPad, for hire for 1 euro, and we studied intently.

Do you know the Masaccios? Done in 1425 approx, life of St Peter in frescoes in Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. Glorious work, mainly pink, not all by Masaccio, but those parts that are stunning and entirely novel at the time of painting. Here perspective, thrust, movement, vivid emotion are seen for the first time in modern European art. Masaccio was only in his early 20s at the time of painting and possibly a little bit gay. His tutor, Masolino, was working with him but Masaccio veered off in his own direction and left his master behind in the Middle Ages.

Outstanding is the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Masaccio which introduces the cycle of the Life of St Peter. Three years ago we visited this fresco set and I wasn’t sure if it had been a success with the Multis. But no, this Expulsion has deeply affected them. The agony of Eve, her shame, as she is propelled from the Garden by the Angel … unspeakable!

The Fallen State, so redolent, the endless struggle ever since to maintain standards, dogged by failure and dread yet forging on, as Adam and Eve forged forth from the garden, in Masaccio’s vision.

The Photo Multi Hoped Vodaphone Paying a Goodly Rent for This Mast on Top Giotto's Tower in Florence: He Jested

Explusion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden by Masaccio: So Redolent for Poor Little Rich Gays

Baptism of Member of Rare Tribe: by Masaccio: Was Masaccio Just a Tiny Bit Gay with This Degree of Musculation

Short Frock-lette, in Line with Tiny Jack-ette Favoured by Poor Little Rich Gays: Look for Next Spring/Summer?

Short Frock-ette, Back View: Surely Poor Little Rich Gays Could Wear This Next Spring/Summer? This is Actually Office Wear for a Tax Inspector

Quelle Frockage! Some Gays Strutting in the 15th Century, by Masaccio: Little Has Changed in 600 Years