The sundial, showing the local time, declines 19° West. It is
painted on the façade of a recently restored ancient villa.
The motto is from the Book of Odes of Q. Horatius Flaccus, Book III, Ode 8. It may be translated as" Take happily the gifts of the present hour and neglect the serious things"
This has been drawn on a 52°East declining wall of a mountain chalet of a friend of mine. It shows the meridian time. The image of a peacock is related to a table-cloth with the same birds that I have painted
for my friend's wife to be used on the dining-table of the same chalet.
This sundial, for the sister of a friend of mine, is placed on the
inward surface of the perimeter wall of the attic of a modern huge apartment
building. It declines toward West by 33° and shows the meridian time.
Another friend, another sundial. This time the building is a modern
pretty house, with a mown lawn and many trees. One of them, a beautiful
oak-tree, disturbs the reading with its shadow. My friend doesn't seem to
worry about that too much. On the contrary I am rather disappointed as is it
not always possible to appreciate the precision of the instrument.
The two fanciful birds have no special meaning, having only a mere decorative
purpose.
I remember that when I painted this sundial it was very cold.
The name of my desk-mate at the fourth and fifth classes of the primary
school is Attilio. He was the son of the cart-driver Tinarelli. He was
very good and clever.
We have met again after many years, practically a whole life. Now
he is priest of the Parish of the Holy Heart of Jesus in Castelguelfo
of Bologna. For him I have made this sundial taking a hint from a 1927
old photo which witnesses the existence of a sundial on a building near
the Church in the main square (the only one!) of the village. By means
of a series of enlargements I could make out a decorative element in the
form of a crown which I have interpreted in the way shown in the following image.
Castelguelfo is a small charming village with still a large part of the
medieval walls, corner towers and a gate.
The sundial declines 16 degrees West and shows local time. In the
lower panel the inscription states that:
ANGELUS BUTRIENSIS FECIT PRO CONDISCIPULO SUO ACTILIO ARCHIPRESBYTERO
ECCLESIAE S. CORDIS JESUS IN CASTRO GUELPHO A.D.MCMXCIX
This is the detail of the crown. The photographic image is
very much laterally foreshortened for lack
of space on the staging when the shot was taken.
A couple of longstanding friends live in a small modern house near the Lago Maggiore. For
them I have painted three sundials on the surfaces, each one 80 cm wide,
of the chimney .
In the picture only two are shown but in reality there are three
(respectively 75°W, 14° and 104°E). I spent more than a week on the roof.
This sundial (31°W) is traced on the sunny wall of the little old house of the old
lady, my neighbour. Now she is here no more and the house and the ground
have been sold to a building society. The little house is going to be demolished to
make room for a big, anonymous apartment building. It's truly a pity.
Not far from my house there is a big villa, built at the end of 1800 placed in the
middle of a large farm. There I have traced two sundials on different
facades. This is the one facing East by 68°. The motto
wishes: NULLA FLUAT CUIUS NON MEMINISSE VELIS. "May no hour flow
which you do not wish to remember".
In Veneto, in a refurbished farm house there is an arcade. In the space between two arcs I have
traced this sundial with a very light design. My debate continues with the owner of the house who wants me to draw thicker hour lines to increase
legibility. But I resist because I don't want sacrifice the elegance and the
lightness of its design to the legibility which almost nobody requires.
This is a very important sundial in the sense that it's huge. It's traced on the
facade of an ancient villa and it measures 2.80 by 2.60 meter. The frame
is a "trompe l'oeil". To trace it I had to make use of a two-level
scaffolding and continually move from one level to the other both for
tracing the lines and for painting the frame. A true "tour de force"
of applied gym. The gnomon, made from copper sheet, has been copied from a
sundial of 1866.
An important producer of wines and sparkling wines in Veneto has commissioned this
sundial which I have painted just above the main entrance door of his house. It
is an old farm house refurbished with taste and skill, as Venetians know how to
do. I remember that there was a memorial tablet stating that in that house there
had been a headquarters of the Italian Army during the war 15-18. As a
background the owner asked me to paint a landscape of his personal small
vineyard which was behind the house.
In the hills of the Appennino Bolognese lives a man whose name is Giuseppe. He
loves antiques and also old things, is fond of sundials, even if he doesn't know
how to calculate them, he is a lover of bells and very skilled
bell-ringer according to the technique of the Bolognese school (celebrated
since 1600), very able mechanic, precise and rigorous, very good at cutting
stone (when a boy, poor, he attended the school of stonecutting to learn a job)
which he loves as a living thing. In short he can do everything and very well. I
am lucky to have him as a friend, sincere and generous. For him I have
calculated and drawn two sundials, that he has engraved on stone slabs, and also
an armilla, the one in the picture.
abrazzi@tiscali.it angelo.brazzi@tiscali.it
Angelo Brazzi - © Copyright 1999-2003