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Ispirazione     /ispirat 'tsjone/                        Italian

 

Lucia Zambrini

  In Italian, as in English, the word ispirazione primarily refers to imaginative power, the impulse urging to create a brainwork, especially an artistic work. It shares with English two other meanings: the divine influence leading to supernatural ends and the sudden brilliant creative or timely idea.

 

Differently from English it also means suggestion, prompting, tendency and leading.  The variant inspirazione, apart from being the archaic and literary form for ispirazione, is the most common word referring to a drawing in of breath. In my opinion, one of its best synonyms is illuminazione «illumination» covering both the meanings of the divine influence, a sort of revelation, and the intuition, the brilliant idea, and adding the image of the clarifying light, as well.

 

The word comes from Late Latin ispiratio, -onis (Late Latin started approximately in the third century; before that Latin used words such as inflatus or instinctus in their metaphorical meanings to express the concept of inspiration). In its turn this word derives from the past participle of the verb inspirare, «to blow into or upon; to breath into» formed by the verb spirare «to breath» with probably an onomatopeic origin, and the preposition in, that in composition, connected with a verb of motion, conveys the idea of motion, direction, or inclination into or to a place or a thing. In 1308 Dante used the variant inspirazione referring to suggestion, prompting; by 1560 it also meant creative power. Up to the 19th century the form with the inserted n prevailed.

Dante describes more than once his experience of inspiration in one of his early works, The New Life, a selection of ballads, canzones and sonnets whose theme is the poet's love for Beatrice: each one of these poems is preceded by a prose text that explains the happenings and emotions that motivated it.

Dante and Beatrice in the
Heaven of Mercury, Paradiso,
 Sandro Botticelli

 

Dante says (The New Life, XIX),  "I was walking along a path by which a stream of clearest water ran. I felt so strong a will to write that I began to think of the form I should use: and I thought that in speaking of her it would not be right if I composed without speaking to ladies in the second person, and not to all ladies, but only to those who are gentle and not merely feminine.

 

Then I say that my tongue spoke as if it moved by itself, and said: ‘Ladies who have knowledge of love.’ These words I stored in my mind with great delight, thinking to use them for my opening. So then, returning to the city, thinking for several days, I began a canzone with that opening..

 

Ladies who have knowledge of love,

I wish to speak with you about my lady,

not because I think to end her praises,

but speaking so that I can ease my mind.

I say that thinking of her worth,

Amor makes me feel such sweetness,

that if did not then lose courage,

speaking, I would make all men in love.

And I would not speak so highly,

that I succumb to vile timidity:

but treat of the state of gentleness,

in respect of her, lightly, with you,

loving ladies and young ladies,

that is not to be spoken of to others." 

 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Dantis Amor.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Dantis Amor. 1860.. Tate Gallery, London, UK

 

I personally view inspiration as a strong need to express my feelings in a material way. Especially for my paintings, there is often an image which haunts me and that I need to get rid of by making it real, at least on canvas. It  comes in periods of meditation and loneliness when I need to create a distance between myself and the rest of the world.

Inspiration, Lucia Zambrini

In my drawing on inspiration, I tried to convey that for me it is something uneven and irrational, and yet clear and harmonious. It is also colorful and bright.

 

Interview Questions

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Edwin:  When was the first time you were inspired?

Lucia:  The first time I was inspired I had different stimuli coming from the outside: it was a difficult period of my life with bad memories of the recent past and confused ideas about my present. I remember that in those strange and very irregular days of my life I let the inspiration flow without retaining it ever. I wrote mostly, letters and poems. I did not need to think much about what I was writing. Everything came just concentrating on my feelings.

 

Can you tell me about the last time you got an inspiration and how you turned it into a painting?

 

Every time I paint I experience different kinds of inspiration: up to now the most familiar way was the inspiration based on images I had and I would later put on canvas, which I explained in the article. Other times, though, I don't have clear ideas of what I am going to paint, until I have actually finished the job.


Another important point is that I always paint for someone: the great majority of my canvases originate because they must be a present for a person. Sometimes I even asked them what they would like it to be (the size, the theme, etc.) then of course I add my own personal ideas and I might not follow their desires.


The last time I felt strongly inspired I did not exactly know what I was going to paint: I just knew that the person who asked me for it wanted it to be something concerning the sea. When I finally started working on the painting I was feeling very angry and sad for other reasons and I used the canvas for relieving these emotions: I painted the sea itself in tempest.

 

  I am sending you my drawing on inspiration also. I tried to convey both the idea that for me it is something uneven and irrational ( lines are segmented and in different shapes), and yet clear and harmonious (see the same lines). It is also colorful (often lines have more than one color) and bright (see the background).

This project is about my own quest for inspiration. You mentioned that you find inspiration in meditation and loneliness. I've also seen loneliness as a source of inspiration. Here are some other peoples thoughts on this aspect of inspiration:

"One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." Franz Kafka

"On the other hand, although I have a regular work schedule, I take time to go for long walks on the beach so that I can listen to what is going on inside my head. If my work isn't going well, I lie down in the middle of a workday and gaze at the ceiling while I listen and visualize what goes on in my imagination." Albert Einstein
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L'ispirazione,  Antonio Mancini, 1874

 I found a painting titled "L'ispirazione", 1874, by Antonio Mancini,

That's an interesting painting.  It's a little dark and I'm not sure exactly what it is.  It looks like a boy or a girl (I think girl) sitting on a chair, next to a desk full of books. Maybe she is day dreaming? Or looking out a window and receiving  L'ispirazione. I'm not clear if she is writing or reading the books?

I agree with you: the painting is not clear and dark. Anyway, I think that is the most important point. In the darkness and unclearness (also poverty), l'ispirazione, the light, comes to comfort and clarify. Look at the mouth: the protagonist, whether boy ore girl, seems to start smiling. It is not important whether she/he was writing or just reading or whether later on he/she will use it as a source for actually realizing a work of art. The painter here catches just the instant of reception.

 

 

 

 

Inspiration, Jean-Honoré Fragonard,

What do you see in this painting? The painting reminds me of this painting, Inspiration,  Jean-Honoré Fragonard. In this case it seems the writer or poet is looking out beyond himself  for his inspiration.

I see what you mean about the other painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, although the two paintings are actually set in two very different places and the protagonists belong to two different social and economical milieux and two different ages. There is the same light and in the French case maybe the writer is forced to turn his face towards it.

I recently I took a film making class and in the class we created short stories or skits and then made a short video of it. I had a lot of fun with imagining and creating a scene. It was a similar process like the scene we acted out in the inspiration project group. In the class the scene I created was of a depressed film maker in a Bar and the woman at the bar serving the drinks was to be a Muse and try to inspire him. The actors then improvised the scene. The depressed film maker kept saying how miserable he was and the Muse kept say, "it could be worse, look at the drunk at the other end of the bar, you're better off than him." I have been asking people to imagine a short scene which in some way tells something about inspiration. I was wondering if you have a short scene that comes to mind?

I have been thinking about the scene: you might act something I told you about once. An angry quarrel between two people and later, brooding over it, inspiration might come. Even to both of them, if they are two artistic creatures. They might be friends, relatives, colleagues, lovers or even acquaintances in a public place or talking on the phone. The argument must be deeply interesting for the person who reacts to it with inspiration.

Do you have any questions about inspiration?

 

Dante and Beatrice in the  Heaven of Mercury, Paradiso,
Sandro Botticelli  

  You selected the painting, "Dante and Beatrice in the Heaven of Mercury, Paradiso," Sandro Botticelli,  as a work of art that expressed something about inspiration. What does it say to you?

I chose it because it expressed in some way the fulfillment of Dante's love for Beatrice, which was the theme of The New Life. I chose it also because it was an Italian art work: there are some other art works more specific about Dante's New Life, but the painters are not Italian. Actually I particularly like the painting by Botticelli, you put on the web site: I think it is more complete than the one I sent you.

 

 

 

   I found an art exhibition, titled Musa Ausilaria <<Auxiliary Muse>>, that took place in many parts of the world, by a contemporary Italian artist, called Mario Schifano. He died in 1998. Below I translate and summarize the meaning of this exhibition:

"In 1996 Mario Schifano renders homage to his Auxiliary Muse, i.e. television seen as a continuous flow of images able to get structured as a true and unique all comprehensive truth of our age. He paints directly on television images changing their meanings. There are about 40 canvases of this kind and about a thousand photos slightly changed through direct painting"

Interesting, It sounds like he used the television as his inspiration. It sounds like an activity we did in our Inspiration Project Group where we created ink blots and found images within them. The ink blots became our inspiration.

Some people say you need to be idle and do nothing to get inspiration.

Others say you have to work hard and then inspiration will come.

The problem with life is that there is never something completely true. The exact contrary can be true as well. So, for example it is true that someone can be inspired if he/she works on it, but at the same time inspiration can come while you are lazy and then you might decide to develop this idea, or leave it just in your mind for an indefinite time.

In Greek mythology it was the Muses that brought inspiration. Do you know if there is much of a history of Muses in Italian culture? I read somewhere "The Roman poets identified them with the Italian Camenae, prophetic Nymphs of springs and goddesses of birth, who had a grove at Rome outside the Porta Capena."

I did find a lot of material on the Camenae (or Camenas, anglicized with the plural form using the final -s). It is very interesting. Actually it should be more about Latin culture/language than Italian, although our language and culture mostly comes from them.

I'll translate something from one of the most important Italian encyclopedias called Treccani. "Camenae: Ancient Latin goddesses whose name in its original form (Casmenae, Carmenae) shows some relations with the Latin word carmen (in Italian carme means poem, also a sung one; I'll be more precise next time about the Latin meaning): so one of their most ancient aspects was undoubtedly being goddesses of predictions and song. However, as many other prophetic gods, we found them also connected with springs and sources: in Rome there was a source consecrated to them springing near Porta Capena, in a grove entitled to them, Camenae's Grove, and from which vestals had to get the water necessary to their rites. For their cult (offerings of water and milk) an aedicula, a small temple, inside the close temple of Hercules and the Muses (Aedes Herculis et Musarum) was used. One of the Camenae was Egeria, originally from a town called Aricia, in the same region where Rome is, considered as a goddess of birth. This aspect probably belonged to the Camenae, as well. Later on they were identified with the Muses.

I found two pictures of the temple dedicated to Egeria (Ninfeo di Egeria) on this site:

 

The word carmen - the word from which the name Camenae comes- in Latin first means song (it derives from the Latin verb canere, to sing, in Italian, cantare), sound of voice or of musical instruments. Then it also means poem, oracle, prophecy, spell.


If you come across some interesting stories about the Camenae let me know. Something that sheds some light on some aspect of inspiration.

I came across some interesting stories about the Camenae. First, you were right to ask me about this myth, because they really belonged to the religion originated in ancient Italy, before Latin culture, although later traditions said that their cult came from Arcady, a Greek region.

The muses liked to hang out in groves, springs and rivers. I think this ties in with going to nature for inspiration. These places usually have a certain beauty and solitude to them that lifts our spirits.  

In America there are places called Inspiration Point. They are typically a spot in the mountains that has a grand view of the area.  Actually our group is going for a hike to an Inspiration Point near us this weekend. I hope to take some photos of us there.

Yosemite,  
Inspiration Point,  		 Bryce Canyon,
Inspiration Point
Inspiration Point, looking towards West Anacapa Island - 28908 Bytes West Anacapa Island,
Inspiration Point,  		 insppnts.jpg (25034 bytes) Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,
Inspiration Point
Inspiration Point, Jaffa Here's one in Israel too..
Inspiration Point, Jaffa		 [photo] Indians on the Inspiration Point Trail, Frederick Ferdinand Schafer

 

Religion and the Sea as Inspiration

Religion is very much linked to inspiration. This is the result of people from Bari, Baresi's veneration for San Nicola, a holy bishop from Myra in Asia Minor, today's Turkey, who lived and made miracles in the 4th century. Seamen from Bari and villages nearby stole his bones in 1087, so that shortly afterwards this beautiful example of Apulian Romanesque architecture was built. Recently we celebrated the memory of these happenings, as we do every year and I can tell you it is a very big feast with pilgrims coming from everywhere. In this pictures I show the façade of the basilica, then the left side of it going towards the sea.


Finally my beloved Adriatic Sea (the view you can see just at the back of the Basilica). The sea in general, but this sea in particular, has often been a great source of inspiration for me.

 

What do you see in this painting?  What does she have in her arm? A bowl?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Dantis Amor.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Dantis Amor. 1860..
 Tate Gallery, London, UK


When I first saw the painting I thought that the central character represented Beatrice. Instead it's Love, that's why she holds an arrow. I have always been impressed by symbols and this painting is full of them. First I was puzzled by the two heads. The direction of the arrow goes from Christ's head to Beatrice's head (at the start I thought that represented Dante's head) because Dante was inspired by religion, first. There is an oblique division: Christ's head seems to be the centre of a sun from which rays depart in a blue sky. Beatrice's head is inserted in a moon and this side of the sky is full of beautiful stars, like flowers. This background reminds me a bit of Botticelli's. Then I had the impression that what Love was holding in her arms, was not an unfinished sundial, as the quotation above explains, but a mirror (ideal for sunbathing!): mine must be a sort of very Italian/summertime interpretation. The mirror capturing more attraction from the world outside the artwork.

I added this painting because in the new version of my article there are more words. So I wanted there to be more colors as well.

Going back to Dante. I have to clarify 2 things: first that there's a difference between Dante's inspiration throughout his life/works. The New Life is an early work, he was young and probably much in love. The Divine Commedy, his most famous poem was written "nel mezzo del cammin " (in the middle of the walk) of his life: his muse was god, then.  I chose The New Life, for many reasons. It would be very long to explain it from the start.

 I found a musical composition played by Astor Piazzolla, Inspiracion.  He is Argentinean, but his surname clearly has Italian origins.

Do you have a list of places in Italy that you feel relate in some way to inspiration?

Don't worry about photographing places of inspiration. I was only curious about what places you thought related in some way to inspiration in Italy. I was just thinking of a list of places. I came to this question because in the future, I thought it would be interesting to make a video about inspiration in different countries. For example, it would be interesting to visit Mount Helicon in Greece where the Muses are said to be. There are some springs as well where they are said to visit. There are some places where there were shrines to the Muses as well. In Italy a visit to Porta Capena and Camenae's Grove would be relevant.  Then there are places of personal inspiration, such as the Adriatic Sea  or the Basilica as you mentioned. From the list of places you sent, it  sounds like Beauty is a source of inspiration for you.

Yes, I certainly relate inspiration with beauty: sometimes it's the beauty of nature, some other times it's a beautiful artwork; other times it's the mixture of art and nature.


 

Other Works of Art by Lucia Zambrini

Rosa y Esteban

 

 I painted this in Spain and it should still be there. I left it in the flat where I was living. It represents the first 2 characters of the novel "The House of he Spirits" by Isabelle Allende, called Rosa and Esteban. Rosa was a beautiful, green-haired, unattainable woman. Esteban loved her passionately and managed to become her fiancé, but she died suddenly before they could get married. The story is similar to the love story between Dante and Beatrice.

The Dancer,
the Bird and the Sweetheart

 

 This painting represents three professional dancers I met in a Spanish disco. I painted it especially for an art exhibition whose theme was homosexuality. It can be considered both a sketch of the idea I had of their relationship and also a synthesis of the strongest memories I had of their physical appearance.
       

Man Walking in
 a Starry Night

 

 This painting represents a man I saw one night walking in the street of my flat (you can also see the main door of the building). It was a night I felt my house was full of spirits who wanted to have a party with me. I went out of the flat and I suddenly saw this man. He looked like one of my best Spanish friends: I invited him to come in just with signs and then I ran back into my place. Of course, he didn't come in. The painting was a present for my elder brother and I painted it here in Bari, trying to recollect all the memories I had of this "vision".

Sun Fire in a
 Flowery Field

 

 I started this on by remembering my first attempts to paint when I was a child: he bought me my first easel when I was maybe 8. I started to paint the easel with very small flowers: I never completed that work, so I wanted to complete it on a new canvas with my new easel. The upper part was partly a memory of the beautiful sunsets or dawns I see here in the countryside, partly the fruit of a sudden inspiration: I was getting mad with colors and trying to convey the fire of the sun.
       

Giacomino

 

This one was a present to my mother. I was inspired by a film about an Irish legend: an Irish fisherman once fell in love with a beautiful dark-haired woman who became a seal when she was in the water. He stole her sealskin when she was resting on a rock and had her in his power. They had many children: some of them were dark haired, others light haired. The dark ones could swim like seals when they were in the sea. The child I represent was the last "Dark" one of this very special race.

Inspiration

This is a drawing on inspiration. I made it thinking of this theme and for my article. 
 
 

More - See page 2 - Inspiration in the Barese Dialect

 

Bibliography and References
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