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| *cough* (puts on art museum voice) These pictures are from a story called Laurissa (meaning Little Laura) which my mother wrote for my grandmother (my Nonna), who was born near Florence, Italy. It is about how she was born, and what kind of country she was born into, as well as her early life. Most of the illustrations in the story are from old photographs of the family, though a few are from my imagination, or in the case of the second picture here, inspired by other art. I included three here: one from a photograph, one ispired by a charcoal drawing my great uncle did, and one from my imagination. I will talk about those in a minute. This picture to the right is my Nonna as a small child. The vines around her are grape vines, and the clothes she is wearing were made by my great grandmother. It was an old black and white photo that I am surprised survived the years. I hope that the pictures we have taken from my early childhood, and my brother's survive this long! (Keep reading below~) As I mentioned, the next picture was inspired by a charcoal drawing my great uncle Antonio Martirani did a long time ago. I am not sure if it is a real house or not, but it gives some idea of the way things look in the countryside. In the original picture, there is not snow. As a matter of fact, snow was very uncommon in this part of Italy, and yet it snowed the month my Nonna was born. They had to wait to register her birth because they could not get to the town! The final picture here is of a mandolin player. Apparently my great grandfather Ettore played the mandolin for his many children and his wife. I did not realize this when I started playing mandolin myself, which was a nice surprise for me! Perhaps I will put up some more of the illustrations someday as well. It is a very interesting story. Back |