Here we are at the end of the second week and almost half way through Snogvent, so I think it's time to stop faffing about and get a bit serious...
The Kiss (no date) Antonio Ambrogio Alciati
Blimey, that's the sort of snogging you take your cardigan off for, and it's so passionate that it has fogged up the painting and made it go all out of focus. Our couple are so wild in their romance that the chap has dropped his flowers and is now being marvellously ungentlemanly on the sofa with a girl who is no better than she ought to be. Really, how people do carry on. Oddly, the deep green of her frock and the red of the flowers makes it a very Christmas-y kerfuffle. Mind you, this isn't Alciati's only snogfest...
Il Convegno (1918)
I must admit I laughed far too much when Google translated Il Convegno into 'The Conference' as I was at a conference exactly a year ago and we did not carry on like that. Worse luck. Here we have another couple of ironwork fetishists, so possibly it's far more wide spread than I imagine. Are there really people out there who get uncontrollably aroused by railings? You learn something new everyday. But there are yet more images including kissing...
Il Baciamano (Kiss the Hand)
For those who don't own railings to kiss through, you can just dangle an arm out of the window and wait for your lover to pass by...
The Kiss (c.1900)
Antonio Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) was a northern Italian artist who obviously had a passion for passion. His paintings of lovers have a sort of whirlwind of desire that is impatient and joyous. Everything is in the moment, because in the next moment the magic will break - the roses will be ruined, the birds will fly away, someone will complain about what you are doing to the ironwork. Passion is impetuous and powerful but fleeting. When kissing the one you love, you might feel that time stands still but it is still only a moment. It seems to me that these are portraits of people who are not together for long, that the kiss in these works stands for impermanence, however wonderful. In that sense, love and the kiss are the same as life itself - brief, so go at it with as much gusto as you can manage.
See you tomorrow...
