A Month In Siena Quotes

Desire is that animal that remains fit only through undernourishment.

Only love and art can do this: only inside a book or in front of a painting can one truly be let into another's perspective. It has always struck me as a paradox how in the solitary arts there is something intimately communal.

I read a heap of books to prepare to write my own. Valuable works about art crime include The Rescue Artist by Edward Dolnick, Master Thieves by Stephen Kurkjian, The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser, Possession by Erin Thompson, Crimes of the Art World by Thomas D. Bazley, Stealing Rembrandts by Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg, Crime and the Art Market by Riah Pryor, The Art Stealers by Milton Esterow, Rogues in the Gallery by Hugh McLeave, Art Crime by John E. Conklin, The Art Crisis by Bonnie Burnham, Museum of the Missing by Simon Houpt, The History of Loot and Stolen Art from Antiquity Until the Present Day by Ivan Lindsay, Vanished Smile by R. A. Scotti, Priceless by Robert K. Wittman with John Shiffman, and Hot Art by Joshua Knelman. Books on aesthetic theory that were most helpful to me include The Power of Images by David Freedberg, Art as Experience by John Dewey, The Aesthetic Brain by Anjan Chatterjee, Pictures & Tears by James Elkins, Experiencing Art by Arthur P. Shimamura, How Art Works by Ellen Winner, The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton, and Collecting: An Unruly Passion by Werner Muensterberger. Other fascinating art-related reads include So Much Longing in So Little Space by Karl Ove Knausgaard, What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy, History of Beauty edited by Umberto Eco, On Ugliness also edited by Umberto Eco, A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar, Art as Therapy by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong, Art by Clive Bell, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful by Edmund Burke, Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton, The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe, and Intentions by Oscar Wilde—which includes the essay “The Critic as Artist,” written in 1891, from which this book’s epigraph was lifted.

Okay, okay . . . where do you hear it coming from?” “Around here somewhere.” “Always in this spot?” “No. Not always. You are going to think I am even more insane, but I swear it is following me around.” “Maybe it is my new powers. The power to drive you mad.” She wriggled her fingers at him theatrically as if she were casting a curse on him. “You already drive me mad,” he teased, dragging her up against him and nibbling her neck with a playful growling. “Ah hell,” he broke off. “I really am going mad. I cannot believe you cannot hear that. It is like a metronome set to some ridiculously fast speed.” He turned and walked into the living room, looking around at every shelf. “The last person to own this place probably had a thing for music and left it running. Listen. Can you hear that?” “No,” she said thoughtfully, “but I can hear you hearing it if I concentrate on your thoughts. What in the world . . . ?” Gideon turned, then turned again, concentrating on the rapid sound, following it until it led him right up to his wife. “It is you!” he said. “No wonder it is following me around. Are you wearing a watch?” He grabbed her wrist and she rolled her eyes. “A Demon wearing a watch? Now I have heard everything.” Suddenly Gideon went very, very still, the cold wash of chills that flooded through him so strong that she shivered with the overflow of sensation. He abruptly dropped to his knees and framed her hips with his hands. “Oh, Legna,” he whispered, “I am such an idiot. It is a baby. It is our baby. I am hearing it’s heartbeat!” “What?” she asked, her shock so powerful she could barely speak. “I am with child?” “Yes. Yes, sweet, you most certainly are. A little over a month. Legna, you conceived, probably the first time we made love. My beautiful, fertile, gorgeous wife.” Gideon kissed her belly through her dress, stood up, and caught her up against him until she squeaked with the force of his hug. Legna went past shock and entered unbelievable joy. She laughed, not caring how tight he held her, feeling his joy on a thousand different levels. “I never thought I would know this feeling,” he said hoarsely. “Even when we were getting married, I never thought . . . It did not even enter my mind!” Gideon set her down on her feet, putting her at arm’s length as he scanned her thoroughly from head to toe. “I cannot understand why I did not become aware of this sooner. The chemical changes, the hormone levels alone . . .” “Never mind. We know now,” she said, throwing herself back up against him and hugging him tightly. “Come, we have to tell Noah . . . and Hannah! Oh, and Bella! And Jacob, of course. And Elijah. And we should inform Siena—” She was still rattling off names as she teleported them to the King’s castle.

Words are philosophies. We have to assume that each is purposeful about its contradictions, that each word means what it says. The English word “demonstration” has at least two meanings: one refers to the public act of protest—to march, rally, declare or express an opinion—and the other is to do with showing, with making something manifest or apparent in order to instruct or display. The Arabic muthahara, the Persian tathaharat, the French manifestation, the Italian manifestazione and the Spanish manifestación—all, regardless of their variant linguistic roots, agree that in a demonstration there are at least these two sides: one concerned with making something apparent and the other with objection. Several other languages have come to the same conclusion. This seems to make perfect sense: one could argue that in order to protest one needs to make something clear. By the same token the need to exhibit is an act against oblivion, a resistance to emptiness; that art and death exist at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The programme of the previous year was repeated in 1860. Returning from Rome to Florence at the beginning of June, the Brownings in July went to Siena to avoid the extreme heat of the summer at Florence, staying as before at the Villa Alberti. Their visit to Siena was, however, rather shorter than the previous one, lasting only till September. There is no doubt that Mrs. Browning, during all this time, was losing ground in point of health; and she now received another severe blow in the news of the serious illness of her sister Henrietta (Mrs. Surtees Cook). The anxiety lasted for several months, and ended with the death of Mrs. Cook in the following winter.

This surely is the way to be, I thought to myself, that one should take hold of those one loves most and simply look into their eyes for a long time, or perhaps, for eternity.

Call me in ten years and tell me how your body feels after one hundred games in eight months." I scoffed. "Yeah, must have really been in pain to be banging Hannah so hard I couldn't fucking sleep when our hotel rooms shared a wall.

I’ve made my decision. I will spend every day of the rest of my life trying to make up for the mistakes I’ve made these past six months. We’ll have plenty of time. I’m giving it all up—Lucy can take my place. You said you wanted to burn with me, so here I am, returning the sentiment. I choose you.

You look lovely.” Blushing, I smoothed hands down my suit. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s not very traditional.” Handing me a bouquet of fake white roses, she attempted to set me straight. “Honey, you should see half the people who come in here to get married. My bet is that most of them end up divorced within a few months. You are probably the classiest couple we’ve seen in years." Her words made me feel slightly better. “Thank you.” “And your man. Whew. I sure hope the fire alarms don’t trip because he is smoking hot.” She fanned herself to emphasize her point.

You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as my wife. If I’d had it my way, she would have told you where to shove it months ago.

Amy, I can handle it. Your menstrual cycle is a natural process. What kind of man would that make me, being squeamish about your monthly visitor?” Not thinking it was possible, her skin took on an even deeper pink hue as she called out, “Enough! I don’t need tampons.

What’s that look for?” His brilliant blue eyes held a hint of mischief. “Oh, you know. Just picturing you reading to a tiny red-headed boy.” “We have a wedding coming up.” My eyes popped open at his laughter. “Sweetheart, we’re already married.” “That may be true, but a pregnant princess bride isn’t a good look with the whole world watching. You can wait six months.” “Pretty please?” Pushing gently against his chest, I shook my head. “It’s a good thing I took charge of our birth control situation.” “Fine,” he huffed. “Six months.” “Come on, don’t you want to enjoy being us first?” “Baby, I spent years not realizing the woman I was meant to spend the rest of my life with was right there all along. I’ve wasted enough time.” “Liam. You got the girl. Now, we have all the time in the world. We don’t need to rush into the next step. Live in the moment for once.

Pardon me.” She slowed to a stop beside me. “What happened to the Braxton I met months ago? The woe-is-me-hockey-is-just-my-job Braxton?” Placing both hands on her hips, I leaned in for a kiss, savoring the taste of her lips before pulling back. “He fell in love, and the work took on new meaning.” “I think you’re full of shit. Willing to say anything to get the girl. Saw a wounded bird and figured the key to landing her was a relatable story. Shameful, Braxton. Really.” I arched an eyebrow before throwing one arm straight in the air. “That’s it. To the penalty box, you go!” “What?” Her laughter floated behind me as I dragged her to the box and unlatched the door. “What was my offense?” “Two minutes for being a smartass.” She huffed, but I could hear the smile in her voice. “Bullshit call, Stripes.” Fuck. I love this woman.

Come on, Maddox. We just got the all-clear to date today. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” “Do you really believe that? That today is the start of us?” “Isn’t it?” “Not in my mind. We’ve been tiptoeing around this for months, on a collision course with this moment right here, where you finally accept that there’s something deeper between us. It was always going to end here. With you in my arms, in my home, a permanent fixture in my life.

Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear you say those words?” “Can’t have been more than a couple months. Unless you’ve been stalking me, big guy.

Great move, Maddox. A loss of self-control just cost you getting laid for the first time in months.

You remember that? It was months ago.” Shrugging, I laid my heart on the line. “I remember everything about you, Bristol.

there is a contradiction between what desire wants – complete conquest – and what it needs in order to continue to exist:

evolutionary terms, failure is its prerequisite, frustration its generator.