Drawing is a "Don't"

    Museums and their rules. After six weeks in Rome, the words "non tocare" and "no foto" feel as familiar to me as they are to the guards who utter them. Admittedly, I've occasionally snuck in a camera and shot a flash-less photo of a no-foto sculpture. But during my recent visit to the Capitoline Museum, I honestly didn't think I was breaking any rules. Seeing no admonitory signs, I pulled out my camera, turned off the flash, and started shooting away at the busts before me. With the kind of reaction I would have expected if I was actually massacring the exhibit, the guard swiftly approached and tsk-tsk'd me for using my camera. He told me that during special exhibits photos were banned. Apparently this was a special exhibit.

     So I pulled out my next weapon: the sketch book. It has never failed. Heading to the next room, I pulled out my black book and started drawing. Just as promptly, another guard approached me and asked if I had permission to draw. I looked at her dumbfoundedly. Never, in any city, in any museum, in any "special exhibition" (including an El Greco retrospective at the Met) have I found drawing to be prohibited.

    What struck me most was the fact that museums -- what's more, sculpture museums -- are traditionally places where artists go to study from the masters. What better model than a completely motionless bust carved by Bernini?

     I left the special exhibit and headed to the permanent collection, whose crowning star is the magnificent statue of Marcus Aurelius (pictured above). I was shocked by the magnitude of the statue... but also by the people before it, who were doing the prohibited: shooting photos. Walking over to the guard, I inquired one more time. For once and for all, here it is: "No photos in special exhibits. Photos in regular exhibits. No drawing. Ever."

     Begrudgingly, I pulled out the camera once more and shot Marcus's foot. Ten times. If anyone could withstand my indignance, it would be him.