On a trip to Italy about four years ago, I luxuriated in visits to places and art about which I had studied in a succession of classes with renowned Italian Renaissance scholar and professor, Dr. Wallace Tommasini. For legions of students at the University of Iowa, Dr. Tommasini’s brilliant, spontaneous lectures have animated three centuries of art and life in Italy.

Piazza Navona, Michael Bond

So it was with great excitement that I enthused that I “…couldn’t wait to see the Duomo!”, as I crossed Florence’s Ponte Vecchio. My head was bent low over multiple guidebooks which I was busily cross-referencing, and members of my ever-forbearing family urged me to simply look up.

Talk about a big pizza pie hitting you in the eye! That singular architectural achievement, which is visible from all parts of the city, looms large as a testament to the indomitable genius of its designer Fillipo Brunnelleschi and the civic will of the Florentine populace.

Our entire visit was a giddy blur of art, food, family and Italian wine. It was with no small measure of fondness then when I happened upon Michael Bond’s lyrical little etching of the Ponte Vecchio. I’m proud to say that the etchings of Michael Bond are now represented at the gallery.