Feel still and majestic like a mountain in a meditation inspired by Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld’s painting View of the Bridge and Part of the Town of Cava, Kingdom of Naples (1785–90).A picturesque, verdant scene captures the quiet majesty and peacefulness of the rolling mountains of Southern Italy. Bidauld was drawn to Italy’s landscape, spending years traveling across the country to paint. He returned to this particular vista in Naples to capture it from many angles and at different times of day. Small in scale...
Feel still and majestic like a mountain in a meditation inspired by Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld’s painting View of the Bridge and Part of the Town of Cava, Kingdom of Naples (1785–90).
A picturesque, verdant scene captures the quiet majesty and peacefulness of the rolling mountains of Southern Italy. Bidauld was drawn to Italy’s landscape, spending years traveling across the country to paint. He returned to this particular vista in Naples to capture it from many angles and at different times of day. Small in scale, Bidauld likely started this piece as a sketch, painting en plein air or in the outdoors, directly experiencing the grandeur of the mountain.
In a mountain meditation inspired by Bidauld and mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn, channel the majesty and strength of the mountain in order to find inner strength and stillness.
Learn about the other paintings of this scene held by the Fitzwilliam Museum (https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/135439) and The Morgan Library & Museum (https://www.themorgan.org/objects/item/270201).
This podcast uses chapters. If you'd like to jump straight to the meditation, find the forth chapter.
Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/mountain-meditation-inspired-by-italy/
See the painting in person at the Getty Center: https://www.getty.edu/visit/
Why do mountains call to us? Listen to mountain climber and writer Katie Ives discuss how mountains inspire in this week’s deeper dive conversation. Find it in your podcast feed or on our YouTube channel Thursday, or find it on our website.
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