"Chestnut Seller by the Spanish Steps - Rome" (14"X11", Oil on Canvas, $325)
This is another example of my wanting to paint one of the icons of Rome (the Spanish Steps) while at the same time focusing more on the quieter aspects of Roman life. You can read more about this idea in my earlier post, "Tearoom by the Spanish Steps". This time I was attracted by this guy's patterned shirt and all the Romans and tourists running back and forth at the end of the day. This guy calmly stirs his roasting chestnuts (very popular in Rome) with his supply of paper cones at his feet. He's probably waiting for the rush of tourists that will come to the steps once they light up after dark. The knife of light in the painting is from the setting sun and divides the scene into two triangles of reflected light and shadow, while the rays themselves go right up the Via Condotto to the Spanish Steps. You can see one of the tourists on the right getting a photo of the chestnut man. I wonder if I'm in her photo album, like she's in mine.
The artificial 'vine' of chestnuts tells people where he is while decorating and disguising the overhead light he needs when the sun sets. For now, though, he's got the evening sun and a view that anyone would love to have but I don't think he notices anymore - much the way that most of the Romans and tourists in this painting don't notice him.
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