Il Porcellino in Sydney & Elsewhere

My pal Kelly, who is contributing Rhinoceros for the Reaktion Books "Animal Series" (here) was recently in Australia, where she saw a statue of a wild boar on Macquarie Street outside the Sydney Hospital. According to the sign attached to the sculpture of "Il Porcellino," if one drops a coin in the box (to benefit the sick in the hospital) "legend says that if you rub the nose of the boar you will be endowed with good fortune." Kelly suggested that this probably wasn't a custom original to the Aussies, and she was correct. The statue in Sydney of this wild boar is a copy of the Italian original that can be found in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence. According to the Sydney Hospital web site (here), the copy was presented to the hospital in 1968 by the Marchessa Clarissa Torrigiani in memory of her father and brother who had both been renowned surgeons at the hospital.

The photo to the right is of the "Il Cinghiale" ("Il Porcellino," or "piglet," is the statue's nickname) fountain in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence. Apparently, the wild boar was first sculpted and cast by Pietro Tacca in 1612, based on a marble Italian copy of a Hellenistic marble original that has been lost or destroyed. There are five copies of "Il Porcellino" made in 1962 in different locations, including one at the Derby Arboretum in England that replaced one destroyed by bombing during World War 2. According to the Public Art Around the World site (here), the other modern copies are in California, Florence (presumably the one above the the public can touch), and Canada (one in Waterloo and one in Victoria).

Good Luck Pig Postcards

Although I've had trouble dating it with precision, it seems that the late 19th and early 20th century was marked by the vogue for "good luck pigs," especially at the new year. Here's one such card (you can typically find a handful on auction at E-bay at any given time) for the start of the new "rain year" here in Los Angeles. Hopefully we'll do better this year than in the last, when the city recorded just 3.21 inches of rain, the lowest total since records started being kept in the 1880s. It's hot and dry, something that doesn't bode well for all the fireworks planned for the 4th of July...

By the way, I'm glad to be back after a few trips out of town and moving, which took up most of June. I'll try to be a more regular porcine correspondent for the remainder of the summer. Thanks for your patience, dear readers...