The Artist's Eyes

Act IV Scene III

Scene opens with Elisio and Rossana in Elisio's old office on the last days that his gallery belongs to him. He is sitting behind the desk and Rossana is sitting in a chair in front of it. Elisio is currently drinking a glass of wine. The office is somewhat decrepit with no one taking care of it for the past month. There are outlines of Elisio's paintings on the wall and layers of dust strewn about.

Elisio: Takes a sip of his wine This is it then, the last days the gallery belongs to me. I must say I expected myself to be a bit more upset about it.

Rossana: You're not as upset about it as you once expected yourself to be?

Elisio: Chuckles slightly When across from me I have the only love I could ever hope for in this broken looking world, I could never be upset again.

Rossana: Elisio, no matter the case, I will stand by you. Whether this gallery be yours, Grimani's or in the company of the great lamb, I will always love you.

Elisio: I wish there would be something more that could be done Rossana. It feels to me as if I haven't put enough effort into everything I've done. I was a broken man, but now that I am as I am now, I only wonder if I could have changed something along the way that would have prevented this entirely. It all started with Grimani's wife, maybe if I hadn't agreed to paint her none of this would have happened.

Rossana: You would have made the same decision Elisio. If you would only know yourself as I do you, you would see that you would have done it all the same. You are not ashamed of what you are, your eyes are a gift Elisio, not a curse.

Elisio: Yes, I know, but if I only had seen that then. If I had not committed to the idea that I could do it... I would have never had to lose everything.

Rossana: Certainly, but one must also question that if you had not done it that you would have ever met me. Pauses for a few moments There is a concept I once knew of, how the changing of one thing could create catastrophic events in the future. One more grain upon the sand and creating deserts hundreds of thousands of years in the future. I question what would be made of you if you had never taken that opportunity to challenge yourself. Would you go anywhere more? And would you be happy doing it?

Elisio: Maybe you're correct Rossana, I had not seen it in such a way. I was lost, as I've already expressed, within my own eyes. Lost in the forests and plains of a different dimension. Maybe my eyes brought me here, and they are the only reason I met you.

Rossana: Your eyes are the only reason you met me Elisio. If you hadn't seen me as you do I would have appeared as a normal woman, nothing worth bothering with. Your eyes created my visage mi amore, my being.

Elisio: To no avail further in my art, it is lost now. I have given up my dream of being a renowned artist in Venezia. Grimani has stolen away everything that I have worked towards.

Rossana: He hasn't stolen me away has he? You still have something to work for, we will get by without an art gallery. You and I, we will work to achieve more, something more that you have never done before. Mi amore don't tell me you wouldn't like to step away from painting your works.

Elisio: This is everything I know Rossana, everything I can do. I am no patron of music, or textiles such like my brother. Art and paints are the only thing I know, so how can I continue if I can only do one thing?

Rossana: Options are open to you Elisio. Learn another trade, go to Renato and learn the trade of the textiles. Speak with Raniero and travel with him learning of advising and law. Bene dio go to your friend Alfonso and learn more about the history and other arts of Venezia. Options are there Elisio, but you must pursue them.

Elisio: As I've said I cannot- Wait... You know of Alfonso? I don't recall ever bringing him up to you.

Rossana: I've... Talked to him before. As soon as I mentioned your name to him he considered me a friend. I've spoken with him before, he is a pleasant man indeed.

Elisio: Interesting, a small world we live in where all men and women can know one another.

Rossana: Indeed... Indeed, but you have options Elisio, we will not starve.

Elisio: Sighs loudly The terms of Grimani's rules are completely idiotic as well, "You will either paint as all other artists in Venezia have, or you will not paint at all". He knows I cannot see other things naturally and that I cannot paint therefore. He salted the wound, added insult to injury, and destroyed a bit more of me that day...

Rossana: ...Wait... Elisio, what did you say the rules he laid out was?

Elisio: He said that I cannot paint anything that is a machination of reality, a distortion or the like.

Rossana: Elisio! Paint ME!

Elisio: What?

Rossana: If the rules of his game is that you cannot paint anything that does not occur in the natural world then paint me! That completely circumvents the rules doesn't it?

Elisio: Slowly stands up with realization BENE DIO you're right! If that's his rules than I will abide by them! Rossana, mi amore I ask you as my eyes gaze upon you, be my model, my subject for a work that will single handedly dig me- US, out of this pit.

Rossana: Oh Elisio She stands as well For you I will do this. I will model for the painting no man nor woman has ever seen from you. This art gallery will be yours once more Mi amore Brivio!

Elisio: Begins running around and grabbing art equipment Oh Rossana I could kiss you! But we have work that must be done! Quickly, dress yourself in your finest garments, and in hours we will have... um... "Rossana, Mi Fantasia!" My master work.

Rossana: It will be done, She walks to the door Oh Elisio, Mi amore, this is magnífico.

Elisio: Rossana, Mi fantasia, I love you

Rossana exits and curtains close as Elisio is running around his office grabbing art equipment

End of Scene III