A fresh Don Bosco from an old window

A new painting of Don Bosco from an artist in Alicante, Italy shows him gazing out of his window at Valdocco.  Interestingly it has a very significant connection to the present times. 

The artist, David Pastor Corbi, a former arts teacher at the Salesian institute in Alcoy (Italy) said he was requested to draw a portrait of Don Bosco in 1999 by the then provincial of Valencia, David Churio.  But somehow it never got materialised.

David states,

I've thought about it a long time and I decided to represent Don Bosco in his room, looking outside Valdocco, through the windows with their picturesque and characteristic green painted shutters.  I decided that they would be made as if they'd never been closed and being always open made them seem very damaged by the inclement weather.

However, the Covid-19 lockdown gave the last phase of the creative work a twist.  In the words of David,

When the moment of confinement due to Covid-19 arrived, that green shutter changed its symbolism; it became a point of hope and confidence in the future, while books, balls and tools became a model of behavior.

I personally liked the look on his face!

It's an expert's gaze, intense for the hard work done and for what there is still to be done; there's so much strength, despite the years that weigh it down,

[From the ANS]