Boola Boola
Alma mater won her Ivy opener today decisively over Cornell, 50-23.


Incidentally, watching the Oklahoma game tonight, I am reminded that the Sooners stole one of our fight songs.

Saint Matthew's Day
Yesterday was the feast of my patron saint, Saint Matthew the Evangelist, and to mark the occasion I commend to you Caravaggio's sublime Saint Matthew Cycle. The trilogy -- consisting of the Calling, Inspiration, and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew -- adorns a side chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the French national church in Rome. Of the three, the Calling of Saint Matthew is the most dramatic and theologically insightful, but the Inspiration, which is the altarpiece, has the most interesting story surrounding its creation. The painting now above the altar is actually Caravaggio's second effort, his first having been rejected by his patron who thought it insufficiently reverential towards the apostle. That original piece, a remarkable effort despite its rejection, found its way to a museum in Berlin where it was sadly destroyed during the Second World War.


I have linked to good web reproductions, but none can replicate the effect of seeing the paintings in situ. But if you go, be sure to bring small change to plunk into the old coin boxes that operate the chapel lights. (The machines are probably still denominated in lire.)


I intend this post to be the first in an occasional series devoted to various stops on the Caravaggio Tour in Rome. The next will feature the Galleria Borghese, home to my favorite of the artist's works.