Paul Violi

In the Banco Grosso

Like many Romans
the ingenious Sprezzante,
the same who conceived
and designed the tollbooths
on the Via Dolorosa,
believed a tribute should display
the glory of the subject
without correcting his imperfections
or attempting to conceal them
from the eyes of the world.
Among his works here
is the snazzy life-like figure
of the surgeon Gianfrio,
who preferred to operate in the nude.
So tightly has the canvas
been stretched that the indignant,
the embittered, the vengeful,
are often re-injured
by the rebounding objects
they throw at it, and have to be
taken back to the hospital.