DUEL IN VENICE

«Elsewhere is a negative mirror. 

The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have.»

 «“Memory’s images once they are fixed in words, are erased” Polo said.

“Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.” »

                        

                                                  

Scene no 85: Elizabethan swordsmen (Cherilea Toys, 4 different plastic figures) duel in the flowerbed (Britains Toys, Floral Garden), in front of Desdemona's mansion. (Signor Blum Wooden Toys, Palazzo Contarini-Fasan puzzle).

The text excerpts: From “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino.

SPACE-MASTER

«This is the command deck of the space-ship “Asteroid” and YOU are the captain, 

seated in the centre there in front of your impressive array of instruments.»

                            

 

 

Scene no 84: Venusians (Manurba Toys, astronauts, 3 different plastic figures) have just disembarked from their alien spaceship (Cherilea Toys, Mechanoid Space Pod). In the background the command deck of the Earthlings’ spaceship (Three dimensional pop-up picture from the book INTO SPACE WITH ACE BRAVE!)

The text: The first sentence from the aforementioned pop-up book (Birn Brothers Ltd. London 1955. Illustrated by Ron Turner.)

THE COVEN

«… Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. This tells the story of how the goddess Diana had an incestuous affair with her brother Lucifer, and gave birth to Aradia (or Herodias); it was Aradia who eventually came down to earth and taught men and women the secrets of magic.»

                            

 

 

 

Scene no 83: Gathering of the witches. Scarlet Witch (Diamond Select Toys, Marvel Characters), Raven (DC COLLECTIBLES, Cover Girls of the DC Universe), and Zatanna (DC DIRECT, Cover Girls of the DC Universe, 3163 of 5000).

The text: From the introduction of the book WITCHES, by Colin Wilson.

SEVEN ROMANS

 

«For the safety of the Emperor, the vow that I,

Lucius Maximus Caetulicus, son of Lucius,

of the tribe Voltinia, from Vienna, made

as a new recruit in Legion XX Valeria Victrix

- to Imperial Victory, All-Divine and Most Reverend -

I have now fulfilled as chief centurion of

Legion I Italica, in the consulship of Marullus

and Aelianus, after 57 years of service.»

 

 

 

Scene no 82: Legionnaires of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix of the Imperial Roman Army (King and Country toy soldiers, Romans 2001) fight in a forest (Elastolin plastic trees) somewhere in Germania Inferior.

The text: Inscription of AD 184 from Novae in Lower Moesia.

DEVILISH CATECHISM

«And what are Gods, that Man may not become

As they, participating godlike food?

The Gods are first, and that advantage use

On our belief, that all from them proceeds.

I question it, for this fair Earth I see,

Warmed by the Sun, producing every kind,

Them nothing.»

 

 

 

 

Scene no 81: Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge forbidden (Wilhelm Schweizer pewter piece, hand painted). In front of them, the ordinary snakes (Starlux and Elastolin soft plastic animals) that crawl in the grass (Unknown manufacturer) in the Garden of Eden. Behind them, the Serpent that has both speech and reason (Elastolin composition toys) watches them.

The verses: Satan’s guidance to the first woman. From Paradise Lost (Book IX), by John Milton.

ORBIS NON SUFFICIT

«All the greatest men are maniacs.

They are possessed by a mania which drives them forward towards their goal.

The great scientists, the philosophers, the religious leaders - all maniacs.»

 

 

 

 

 

Scene no 80: James Bond (Corgi toys, Icon collectible figures, hand painted) among eager young women (Topper toys, Dawn dolls) and Mercedes-Benz 300SL sport cars (SSS International toys, TINY GIANT series friction powered & Corgi toys, 50’s Classics series) in a hippie flower meadow (Topper toys, Dawn and her friends Doll Case).  

The statement: From DR. NO, the sixth James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.

THE NEW ERA IN SPACE

 

«I believe that this nation should commit itself

 to achieving the goal,

before this decade is out,

of landing a man on the moon

and returning him safely to the Earth.»

 

 

 

 

Scene no 79: John F. Kennedy (Louis Marx and Company toys, plastic figurine, made in Hong Kong) in front of a Satellite launch rocket (Caltex toys, plastic missile, with box, made in Western Germany) and the Gemini space capsule (We Toys, plastic spacecraft, friction drive, detachable nose-cone, opening doors and removable astronauts, with box, made in Hong Kong).  

The statement: From the speech of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 (as he stood before a joint session of Congress).