The Rome Drawing and Painting Tour Summary
&
July, 15 2011
To the Florida Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art,
Please accept my sincerest gratitude for the generous scholarship awarded to me. Your financial assistance made my participation in The Rome Drawing and Painting Tour possible and will be a tremendous help toward my future academic success at the University of Notre Dame.
Even as a recent graduate in architecture at the University of Florida, I felt a lack of basic training in the studying and sketching of traditional architecture. What better model on which to tune my eye and pencil than Rome! Under the expert tutelage of our leaders, Richard Cameron, Michael Djordjevitch, Patrick Connors, and Leah Aron, I was able to discover through sketching and lectures the essential principles of light and shadow, perspective, composition, and material choice and their use in the traditional urban environment in one of the cradles of Western Civilization.
Some of the things that I enjoyed most on the Tour were the camaraderie of the participants, the vast knowledge and genuine love our teachers had of Rome (and of beauty), a homogeneous experience of beauty through study and social activities (especially in the realm of cuisine), and arduous walks punctuated by introductions to the local flora; in short, the cultivation of the soul through the experience of truth and beauty and its transmission into the built environment in the form of traditional art and architecture. Surely no other city can offer such a succinct example of man's need for and attainment of Beauty.
Once again, I sincerely thank the Florida Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art for giving me the opportunity to gain the experiences that I acquired on The Rome Drawing and Painting Tour. I will draw upon them frequently.
Thank You,
Philip Rhea