The rooftops of Prato

A rapid sketch of some rooftops in Prato. The drawing is an old one, as is visible from the date. That was  my first trip to Italy, and I still remember the bewildered delight I took in the architecture of Tuscany. For a person brought up in North America - land of broad avenues and free-standing buildings - the unplanned conglomerates of Italian housing seemed both suspicious and exotic.

The expectation of space is one of the great privileges of America (and Canada); to enter a land where neighbours were not separated by lawn or road was to embark upon an adventure.

The drawing was done in a sketchbook on heavily textured paper. I have not attempted to clear away the smudges accrued by constant use, nor the the beginnings of a note about the council of Trent.