DOCSLIB.ORG

Disruption and Recovery in the Work of Botticelli and Piero Di Cosimo

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works School of Arts & Sciences Theses Hunter College Spring 5-5-2019 Disruption and Recovery in the Work of Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo Ellen G. Birger CUNY Hunter College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/472 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Disruption and Recovery in the Work of Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo by Ellen Glass Birger, MD Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History Hunter College of the City of New York 2019 Thesis sponsor: 7 May 2019______________________________ Maria Loh_______________________ Date First Reader 7 May 2019______________________________ Kim de Beaumont_________________ Date Second Reader Table of Contents i Acknowledgements ii List of Illustrations iii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Florence of Savonarola, Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo 4 Girolamo Savonarola: His Life and Impact 4 Political and Social History of the Period 17 Lorenzo the Magnificent and the Medici before Savonarola 27 Chapter 2 Botticelli and Savonarola 36 Chapter 3 Piero di Cosimo 61 Chapter 4 Execution, Liberation and Return 94 Conclusion 116 Bibliography 117 Illustrations 122 i Acknowledgements I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Professor Maria Loh, first as a classroom teacher and then as my thesis advisor. Her sparkling intellect and inviting manner towards students made the classroom experience very satisfying. The working process on the thesis was mutually stimulating: what I wrote evoked responses in her which she communicated to me along with sage editorial advice; the communication “circle” greatly enriched my knowledge and contributed immeasurably to whatever is of interest or value in this thesis. Thank you, Maria! Thanks are also due to Dr. Kim de Beaumont, with whom I studied Baroque art several years ago. Kim graciously agreed to be my second reader despite her many other obligations and duties. Thank you as well to my friend Emily Sachar, a fellow student and an inspiring art historian who encouraged and advised me and offered technical assistance throughout the thesis process. My family has been a continuing source of support for which I am eternally grateful. My husband Dan provided insightful helpful comments and suggestions, and my daughter Ruthie often provided much-needed technical support with the mysteries of the computer. Many thanks to you both. ii List of Illustrations Figure I-1 Sandro Botticelli and workshop, Venus, 1484-90, Galleria Sabauda, Turin Figure 1-1 Francesco Rosselli, Execution of Savonarola, 1498, Museo di SanMarco, Figure 1-1a Francesco Rosselli, Detail of Execution of Savonarola Figure 1-2 Fra Barolomeo, Portrait of Savonarola, c. 1498, Museo di San Marco Figure 1-3 Cristofano dell'Altissimo, Portrait of Pope Alexander VI, between 1492 and 1503, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 1-4 Niccolo Fiorentino, Portrait Medal of Savonarola, c. 1492-94/98, Munzkabinett, Staatliche Muzeen zu Berlin Figure 1-5 Pedro Berruguete, Saint Dominic and the Albigensians, 1493-99, Museo del Prado Figure 1-6 Benozzo Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, 1559-61, Detail of Cosimo de' Medici, Chapel of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi Figure 1-7 Benozzo Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Detail of partial overview Figure 1-8 Benozzo Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Detail of the young Magus Caspar Figure 1-9 Filippo Lippi, Madonna of the Forest, 1459, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin Figure 1-10 Benozzo Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Detail of angels Figure 1-11 Benozzi Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Detail of self-portrait Figure 1-12 Benozzo Gozzoli, The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Detail of Piero Figure 1-13 Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici, c. 1560, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 1-14 Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1480, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 1-15 Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 2-1 Sandro Botticelli, Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, and Saint Eligius,(San Marco Altarpiece,) c. 1490-93, Galleria degli Uffizi iii Figure 2-2 Sandro Botticelli, Mystic Nativity, c. 1501, The National Gallery, London Figure 2-3, Sandro Botticelli, Virgin and Child with Eight Angels (Raczynski Tondo), c. 1481- 83, Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussicher Kulturbesitz, West Berlin Figure 2-4, Sandro Botticelli, Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saint Jerome, Saint Paul and Saint Peter, c. 1490-92, Alte Pinakotek, Munich Figure 2-5, Sandro Botticelli, Lamentatiaon over the Dead Christ, c. 1495, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan Figure 2-6, Sandro Botticelli, Trinity with Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint John the Baptist, and Tobias and the Angel (Pala della Convertite) , c. 1491-93, Cortauld Institute Galleries, London, Lee Collection Figure 2-7, Sandro Botticelli, Crucifixion with Penitent Magdalen and an Angel (Mystic Crucifixion), c. 1487, The Harvard Art Museums (Fogg Museum) Figure 2-8, Josse Liefierinxe, Crucifixion with the Fall of Rebel Angels, uncertain date near that of Botticelli's Mystic Crucifixion, Musee du Louvre Figure 2-9, Cosimo Tura, Angels Holding the Dead Christ, 1450s to 1495, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna Figure 3-1, Piero di Cosimo, Jason and Queen Hypsipyle with the Women of Lemnos, 1499, private collection Figure 3-2, Piero di Cosimo, Virgin and Child with Six Angels (Madonna della Melegrana), c. 1487, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 3-3, Piero di Cosimo, Virgin and Child with Three Angels (Madonna del Padiglione), c.1493, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan Figure 3-4, Piero di Cosimo, Madonna and Child with Saints Mary Magdalen, 1490, Musee des Beaux Arts, Strasbourg Figure 3-5, Piero di Cosimo, Holy Family with Saint Joseph, Young Saint John the Baptist and Angels, c. 1495-1500, Gemaldegalerie, Dresden Figure 3-6 Piero di Cosimo, Adoration of the Child, c. 1490-1500, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Figure 3-7, Piero di Cosimo, Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist and an Angel, 1500-10, Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Sao Paulo Figure 3-8, Piero di Cosimo, The Visitation with Saints Nicholas of Bari and Anthony Abbot, 1489-90, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC iv Figure 3-9, Piero di Cosimo, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Catherine of Alexandria, Peter and John the Evangelist with Angels (Pala degli Innocenti), c. 1493, Galleria dello Spedale degli Innocenti Figure 3-10, Piero di Cosimo, The Immaculate Conception (The Incarnation of Jesus), 1504, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 3-11, Piero di Cosimo, A Hunting Scene (The Hunt), 1485-1500, Metropolitan Museum of Art Figure 3-11a, Piero di Cosimo, A Hunting Scene, Detail of satyr raising his club Figure 3-12, Piero di Cosimo, The Return from the Hunt, 1485-1500, Metropolitan Museum of Art Figure 3-12a, Piero di Cosimo, The Return from the Hunt, Detail of women feeding an animal Figure 3-12b, Piero di Cosimo, The Return from the Hunt, Detail of woman riding a centaur Figure 3-13, Andrea Mantegna, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1480, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan Figure 3-14, Piero di Cosimo, The Death of a Nymph (The Death of Procris), 1495-1500, National Gallery, London Figure 3-14a, Piero di Cosimo, The Death of a Nymph (The Death of Procris), Detail of mourning dog Figure 3-15, Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, 1500-1510, National Gallery, London Figure 3-15a, Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, Detail of figures on a white blanket Figure 3-15b, Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Centaurs and the Lapiths, Detail of entangled bodies Figure 3-15c, Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, Detail of Eurytus attempting to abduct Hippodame Figure 3-15d, Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, Detail of Hylonome cradling the dying Cyllarus Figure 3-16, Piero di Cosimo, The Liberation of Andromeda, 1510-1513, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 3-16a, Piero di Cosimo, The Liberation of Andromeda, Detail of Perseus takes flight v Figure 3-16b, Piero di Cosimo, The Liberation of Andromeda, Detail of Andomeda and her family avoiding looking Figure 3-16c, Piero di Cosimo, The Liberation of Andromeda, Detail Perseus strikes Figure 3-16d, Piero di Cosimo, The Liberation of Andromeda, Detail of denouement Figure 4-1, Francesco Rosselli, Map of Florence, c. 1489-95, English private collection Figure 4-1a, Francesco Rosselli, Map of Florence, Detail Figure 4-2, Lucantonio degli Alberti?, Carta de Catena, 1500-1510, Kuperferstuchkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Belin Figure 4-3, Sandro Botticelli, The History of Lucretia, 1500-1501, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Figure 4-4, Sandro Botticelli, The History of Virginia, 1500-1504, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo Figure 4-5, Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1475, Galleria degli Uffizi Figure 4-6, Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1500, Galleria degli Uffizi vi Introduction The 1490s was an eventful decade for the citizens of Florence. Political, economic, social and religious instability, underscored by doomsday concerns about the approaching half-millennium, conspired to arouse fear and anxiety amongst the populace. The presence in Florence of the dynamic preaching friar, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), augmented and played off these sentiments. The art produced by artists in the city reflected and expressed themes that preoccupied them and their fellow Florentines. This study will review those changes in life and art, with a specific focus on their impact on two contemporary artists: Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510) and Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522).
Recommended publications
  • The Medici Palace, Cosimo the Elder, and Michelozzo: a Historiographical Survey

    The Medici Palace, Cosimo the Elder, and Michelozzo: a Historiographical Survey

    chapter 11 The Medici Palace, Cosimo the Elder, and Michelozzo: A Historiographical Survey Emanuela Ferretti* The Medici Palace has long been recognized as an architectural icon of the Florentine Quattrocento. This imposing building, commissioned by Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici (1389–1464), is a palimpsest that reveals complex layers rooted in the city’s architectural, urban, economic, and social history. A symbol – just like its patron – of a formidable era of Italian art, the palace on the Via Larga represents a key moment in the development of the palace type and and influenced every other Italian centre. Indeed, it is this building that scholars have identified as the prototype for the urban residence of the nobility.1 The aim of this chapter, based on a great wealth of secondary literature, including articles, essays, and monographs, is to touch upon several themes and problems of relevance to the Medici Palace, some of which remain unresolved or are still debated in the current scholarship. After delineating the basic construction chronology, this chapter will turn to questions such as the patron’s role in the building of his family palace, the architecture itself with regards to its spatial, morphological, and linguistic characteristics, and finally the issue of author- ship. We can try to draw the state of the literature: this preliminary historio- graphical survey comes more than twenty years after the monograph edited by Cherubini and Fanelli (1990)2 and follows an extensive period of innovative study of the Florentine early Quattrocento,3 as well as the fundamental works * I would like to thank Nadja Naksamija who checked the English translation, showing many kindnesses.
  • Stony Brook University

    Stony Brook University

    SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... The Civic Virtue of Women in Quattrocento Florence A Dissertation Presented by Christine Contrada to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University May 2010 Copyright by Christine Contrada 2010 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Christine Contrada We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Dr. Alix Cooper – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, History Dr. Joel Rosenthal – Chairperson of Defense Distinguished Professor Emeritus, History Dr. Gary Marker Professor, History Dr. James Blakeley Assistant Professor, History St. Joseph’s College, New York This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School. Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation The Civic Virtue of Women in Quattrocento Florence by Christine Contrada Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2010 Fifteenth century Florence has long been viewed as the epicenter of Renaissance civilization and a cradle of civic humanism. This dissertation seeks to challenge the argument that the cardinal virtues, as described by humanists like Leonardo Bruni and Matteo Palmieri, were models of behavior that only men adhered to. Elite men and women alike embraced the same civic ideals of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Although they were not feminists advocating for social changes, women like Alessandra Strozzi, Margherita Datini, and Lucrezia Tornabuoni had a great deal of opportunity to actively support their own interests and the interests of their kin within popular cultural models of civic virtue.
  • TS Botticelli FRE 4C.Qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 2

    TS Botticelli FRE 4C.Qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 2

    BOTTICELLIBOTTICELLI Émile Gebhart & Victoria Charles TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 2 Text: Émile Gebhart and Victoria Charles Layout: BASELINE CO LTD 61A-63A Vo Van Tan Street 4th Floor District 3, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam © Parkstone Press International, New York, USA © Confidential Concepts, Worldwide, USA All modification and reproduction rights reserved internationally. Unless otherwise stated, copyright for all artwork reproductions rests with the photographers who created them. Despite our research efforts, it was impossible to identify authorship rights in some cases. Please address any copyright claims to the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-78042-995-3 TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 3 ÉMILE GEBHART Sandro Botticelli TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 4 TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 5 Contents Botticelli’s Youth and Education 7 Botticelli’s First Works 37 The Medici and Botticelli’s Pagan Initiation 67 Pagan, Mystical, and Oriental Visions 113 Botticelli’s Waning Days 179 Bibliography 252 List of Illustrations 253 TS Botticelli 4C ok.qxp 11/13/2009 10:22 AM Page 6 TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 7 Botticelli’s Youth and Education TS Botticelli FRE 4C.qxp 3/10/2009 1:41 PM Page 8 TS Botticelli 4C.qxp 11/12/2009 5:17 PM Page 9 — Botticelli’s Youth and Education — lessandro di Mariano Filipepi, also known as “di Botticello” in homage to his first master, and A Sandro Botticelli to those who knew him, was born in Florence in 1445.
  • Works by Tolkien, Contemporary and Renaissance Drawings, And

    Works by Tolkien, Contemporary and Renaissance Drawings, And

    Press Contacts Noreen Khalid Ahmad 212.590.0310 [email protected] Shaili Shah 212.590.0311 [email protected] Works by Tolkien, Contemporary and Renaissance Drawings , and Photography on View This Winter at the Morgan New York, NY, Thursday, December 6, 2018 — The 2019 winter season at the Morgan Library & Museum continues to celebrate visual artists and writers whose experimental methods and innovative creative processes have transformed our understanding of drawing, illustration, writing, and photography. Over the course of January and February, the Morgan will open a series of varied exhibitions, ranging from a look at the creative enterprise of J.R.R. Tolkien, to a focused examination of unconventional practices in contemporary drawing, to the first display in the United States of the storied photography collection of the National Gallery of Canada, to a survey of celebrated early Italian Drawings from our collection. By Any Means: Contemporary Drawings from the Morgan January 18, 2019 through May 12, 2019 Contemporary approaches to drawing are often experimental and expansive. By absorbing and building upon the legacy of avant-garde experimentation in the first half of the twentieth century, artists from the 1950s to the present have pushed beyond the boundaries of traditional draftsmanship through their use of chance, unconventional materials, and new technologies. Emboldened by the accessibility, scale, Stephen Vitiello (b. 1964), Speaker Drawing and relative affordability of paper, and informed by the (22.06), 2006, Pigment and spray fixative. The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of an developments of Cubist, Futurist, Dada, and Surrealist anonymous donor, 2012.41. Photography by Steven H.
  • Donatello's Terracotta Louvre Madonna

    Donatello's Terracotta Louvre Madonna

    Donatello’s Terracotta Louvre Madonna: A Consideration of Structure and Meaning A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Sandra E. Russell May 2015 © 2015 Sandra E. Russell. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Donatello’s Terracotta Louvre Madonna: A Consideration of Structure and Meaning by SANDRA E. RUSSELL has been approved for the School of Art + Design and the College of Fine Arts by Marilyn Bradshaw Professor of Art History Margaret Kennedy-Dygas Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 Abstract RUSSELL, SANDRA E., M.A., May 2015, Art History Donatello’s Terracotta Louvre Madonna: A Consideration of Structure and Meaning Director of Thesis: Marilyn Bradshaw A large relief at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (R.F. 353), is one of several examples of the Madonna and Child in terracotta now widely accepted as by Donatello (c. 1386-1466). A medium commonly used in antiquity, terracotta fell out of favor until the Quattrocento, when central Italian artists became reacquainted with it. Terracotta was cheap and versatile, and sculptors discovered that it was useful for a range of purposes, including modeling larger works, making life casts, and molding. Reliefs of the half- length image of the Madonna and Child became a particularly popular theme in terracotta, suitable for domestic use or installation in small chapels. Donatello’s Louvre Madonna presents this theme in a variation unusual in both its form and its approach. In order to better understand the structure and the meaning of this work, I undertook to make some clay works similar to or suggestive of it.
  • Janson. History of Art. Chapter 16: The

    Janson. History of Art. Chapter 16: The

    16_CH16_P556-589.qxp 12/10/09 09:16 Page 556 16_CH16_P556-589.qxp 12/10/09 09:16 Page 557 CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER The High Renaissance in Italy, 1495 1520 OOKINGBACKATTHEARTISTSOFTHEFIFTEENTHCENTURY , THE artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari wrote in 1550, Truly great was the advancement conferred on the arts of architecture, painting, and L sculpture by those excellent masters. From Vasari s perspective, the earlier generation had provided the groundwork that enabled sixteenth-century artists to surpass the age of the ancients. Later artists and critics agreed Leonardo, Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, Giorgione, and with Vasari s judgment that the artists who worked in the decades Titian were all sought after in early sixteenth-century Italy, and just before and after 1500 attained a perfection in their art worthy the two who lived beyond 1520, Michelangelo and Titian, were of admiration and emulation. internationally celebrated during their lifetimes. This fame was For Vasari, the artists of this generation were paragons of their part of a wholesale change in the status of artists that had been profession. Following Vasari, artists and art teachers of subse- occurring gradually during the course of the fifteenth century and quent centuries have used the works of this 25-year period which gained strength with these artists. Despite the qualities of between 1495 and 1520, known as the High Renaissance, as a their births, or the differences in their styles and personalities, benchmark against which to measure their own. Yet the idea of a these artists were given the respect due to intellectuals and High Renaissance presupposes that it follows something humanists.
  • Ave Maris Stella” (1610)

    Ave Maris Stella” (1610)

    “In the Flesh as Well as in Spirit”1: (Meta) Physical Embodiment in Monteverdi’s setting of “Ave Maris Stella” (1610) Gordon Haramaki San José State University In 1610 Monteverdi published his setting of the plainchant hymn, “Ave maris stella” as part of his massive Vespro della Beata Vergine. Based on the thirteenth-century hymn used for vespers on the feast days of the Virgin Mary and of other female saints, the words are in seven litany-like verses that open with praise for the Virgin Mary, implore for intercession in the central verses, and end with a doxological commendation of the Trinity (ex. 1 and 2). Example 1. Monteverdi’s version of the plainchant “Ave maris stella” Example 2. The text of “Ave maris stella” 1 Ave maris stella, Hail, star of the sea, Dei mater alma, Mother of God, atque semper Virgo, and ever Virgin felix coeli porta. joyful gate of heaven. 2 Sumens illud Ave, Receiving that “Ave” Gabrielis ore, spoken by Gabriel funda nos in pace, and reversing the name “Eva” mutans Evae nomen. establish peace in our lives. 1 Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, trans. by William Granger Ryan (Princeton, New Jersey, 1993) I, 82-83. “In Saint Elizabeth’s Revelations we read that once when the saint was rapt in ecstasy, she had a vision…Not long afterwards Elizabeth asked the angel with whom she frequently talked what the vision had meant. The angel answered: “You were shown how our Lady was assumed into heaven in the flesh as well as in spirit.” American Musicological Society Annual Conference Indianapolis, November 4, 2010 3 Solve vincia reis, Loose the bonds of sin, profer lumen caecis, bring light to the blind, mala nostra pelle, destroy our wickedness, bona cuncta posce, pray for all that is good.
  • The Representations of Elderly People in the Scenes of Jesus’ Childhood in Tuscan Paintings, 14Th-16Th Centuries

    The Representations of Elderly People in the Scenes of Jesus’ Childhood in Tuscan Paintings, 14Th-16Th Centuries

    The Representations of Elderly People in the Scenes of Jesus’ Childhood in Tuscan Paintings, 14th-16th Centuries The Representations of Elderly People in the Scenes of Jesus’ Childhood in Tuscan Paintings, 14th-16th Centuries: Images of Intergeneration Relationships By Welleda Muller The Representations of Elderly People in the Scenes of Jesus’ Childhood in Tuscan Paintings, 14th-16th Centuries: Images of Intergeneration Relationships By Welleda Muller This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by Welleda Muller All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9049-9 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9049-6 This book is dedicated to all of my colleagues and friends from MaxNetAging: Inês Campos-Rodrigues, Kristen Cyffka, Xuefei Gao, Isabel García-García, Heike Gruber, Julia Hoffman, Nicole Hudl, Göran Köber, Jana Kynast, Nora Mehl, and Ambaye Ogato. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ..................................................................................... ix Acknowledgments .................................................................................... xiii Introduction ................................................................................................
  • Rethinking Savoldo's Magdalenes

    Rethinking Savoldo's Magdalenes

    Rethinking Savoldo’s Magdalenes: A “Muddle of the Maries”?1 Charlotte Nichols The luminously veiled women in Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo’s four Magdalene paintings—one of which resides at the Getty Museum—have consistently been identified by scholars as Mary Magdalene near Christ’s tomb on Easter morning. Yet these physically and emotionally self- contained figures are atypical representations of her in the early Cinquecento, when she is most often seen either as an exuberant observer of the Resurrection in scenes of the Noli me tangere or as a worldly penitent in half-length. A reconsideration of the pictures in connection with myriad early Christian, Byzantine, and Italian accounts of the Passion and devotional imagery suggests that Savoldo responded in an inventive way to a millennium-old discussion about the roles of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene as the first witnesses of the risen Christ. The design, color, and positioning of the veil, which dominates the painted surface of the respective Magdalenes, encode layers of meaning explicated by textual and visual comparison; taken together they allow an alternate Marian interpretation of the presumed Magdalene figure’s biblical identity. At the expense of iconic clarity, the painter whom Giorgio Vasari described as “capriccioso e sofistico” appears to have created a multivalent image precisely in order to communicate the conflicting accounts in sacred and hagiographic texts, as well as the intellectual appeal of deliberately ambiguous, at times aporetic subject matter to northern Italian patrons in the sixteenth century.2 The Magdalenes: description, provenance, and subject The format of Savoldo’s Magdalenes is arresting, dominated by a silken waterfall of fabric that communicates both protective enclosure and luxuriant tactility (Figs.
  • The Forty-First George Eliot Memorial Lecture, 2012- Romola's Artists

    The Forty-First George Eliot Memorial Lecture, 2012- Romola's Artists

    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln The George Eliot Review English, Department of 2013 The Forty-first George Eliot Memorial Lecture, 2012- Romola's Artists Leonee Ormond Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ger Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Ormond, Leonee, "The Forty-first George Eliot Memorial Lecture, 2012- Romola's Artists" (2013). The George Eliot Review. 632. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ger/632 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in The George Eliot Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE FORTY· FIRST GEORGE ELIOT MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2012 Delivered by Leonee Orrnond ROMOLA'S ARTISTS 2012-2013 marks the one hundred and fiftieth birthday of Romola. Originally published in the Comhill Magazine from July 1862 to August 1863 , it later appeared in a three volume edition in 1863. An illustrated edition followed in 1865. George Eliot had begun work on the novel in 1861 , when she was forty-one. She had recently published Si/as Mamer, and The Mill on the Floss , preceded by Adam Bede, had come out not long before that. The genesis of Romola came in May 1860 when George Eliot and George Henry Lewes spent two weeks in Florence. Lewes noted that, 'while reading about Savonarola it occurred to me that his life and times afford fine material for an historical romance'.1 The idea appealed to George Eliot and they began on some preliminary research.
  • Challenges Old and New

    Challenges Old and New

    Issue no. 23 - December 2015 CHALLENGES OLD AND NEW Our association was founded in defiance of the violent destruction of the Via dei Georgofili bombing. Twenty-two years have now passed since that initial collective reaction of civic pride and compensation, and over the years the kinship and solidarity between the Amici degli Uffizi and the Gallery’s executives has grown ever stronger. A unity matured in the last eight years also thanks to the presence and the essential, precious encouragement of director Antonio Natali. With him the Amici degli Uffizi’s patronage has become bold, to say the least: each and every restoration, exhibition, renovation, donation and intervention within the museum has always been a path of knowledge and enrichment, of shared visions and affections, a continuous challenge for new projects for the betterment of the museum. Natali involved us in the most arduous undertakings for a patron: from the past seemingly hopeless restorations of the Madonna della Gatta by Federico Barocci and of the Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerrit van Honthorst -reduced even today to a mere flash of light on the canvas – to the current restoration of the masterpiece Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo, we continue our mission to support the museum with unwavering determination, without any vanity nor expecting honors or returns, true to our vocation to support the artistic heritage of our museum. I could make a long list of accomplishments, a series of happy occasions and achievements attained by the profitable cooperation with our friend Natali. I prefer instead to remember our brief meetings stolen to the work routine to discuss projects and exhibit ideas; our trip to the United States in 2006 when our strong core of Florentine members was supplemented by the branch “Friends of the Uffizi Gallery”, that has since been gathering resources among generous American donors: our long discussions that have always resulted in a positive outcome, further acquisitions and enrichment of the artistic wealth of our museum.
  • Leonardo Da Vinci on Nature Alessandro Nova E Gerhard Wolf Knowledge and Representation

    Leonardo Da Vinci on Nature Alessandro Nova E Gerhard Wolf Knowledge and Representation

    kunsthistorisches institut in florenz kunsthistorisches institut in florenz max-planck-institut max-planck-institut Direttori leonardo da vinci on nature Alessandro Nova e Gerhard Wolf Knowledge and Representation edited by Fabio Frosini and Alessandro Nova Marsilio frank fehrenbach Rather than painting, though, it is music that would represent the tempo- francesca borgo ral structure of nature in the most accurate way. The polyphonic units cre- ated «in un medesimo tempo» mirror the transitoriness of natural objects THE IMPETUS OF BATTLE: perfectly – they are virtual «bodies» whose limbs are united in harmony but VISUALIZING ANTAGONISM IN LEONARDO inevitably doomed to pass and perish («costrette a nascere e morire in uno o più tempi armonici»)50. Painting is different from both nature and music because it virtually eternalizes the temporal existence of things and bodies «in un medesimo tempo». Therefore, it is «piu degna l’opera del pittore che della natura»51, a remarkable statement for a writer who never ceases to celebrate nature as the undisputed «maestra» of painting, the paradigm of human art52. Painting, triggered by the power of nature to impress or imprint its own images in the mind of man, emerges as a «second nature», Comme si les variations des choses lui paraissaient dans le calme trop lentes, an expression of the first nature’s longing to maintain the existence of every il adore les batailles, les tempêtes, le déluge. Il s’est élevé à les voir dans leur product, suspending the fugacity of time. While the first nature struggles ensemble mécanique et à les sentir dans l’indépendance apparente ou la vie de leurs fragments, dans une poignée de sable envolée éperdue, dans l’idée égarée de to overcome death through procreation, pittura «doesn’t have children» chaque combattant où se tord une passion et une douleur intime1.