City of Florence, Italy, “…With No Baedeker”

“It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles …pleasant too, to fling wide the windows, pinching the fingers in unfamiliar fastenings, to lean out into sunshine with beautiful hills and trees and marble churches opposite, and close below the Arno, gurgling against the embankment of the road.”

— A room with a view, E.M. Forster 1908

Title: City of Florence, Italy, “With No Baedeker” by Ros Murphy.

Medium: Oil on board

Original: Sold - Commissioned as a birthday gift for Oliver by his wife Claire and daughter Florence.

Giclée Prints: Available in several sizes. This image works well in any size and since it is printed on cotton rag paper which closely resembles the original in texture. I subsequently enjoyed making a collage at the base of this painting using remnants of salvaged wallpapers -( please note the Gicléé prints are available with or without the mixed media collage section)

Artist’s notes: A hugely gratifying project - the city being of such importance to this delightful couple and a favourite city of mine too, with E.M Forster’s novel, A Room With A View, an exquisite starting point for the painting. It is a romanticised image of this fabulous city - inspired too by the images accompanying the maps in the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche, the long corridor leading to The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome. Oliver loved it, I hope you do too!