DOCSLIB.ORG

A Wider Trecento Visualising the Middle Ages

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Wider Trecento Visualising the Middle Ages A Wider Trecento Visualising the Middle Ages Edited by Eva Frojmovic, University of Leeds (UK) Editorial Board Madeline H. Caviness, Tufts University (USA) Catherine Harding, University of Victoria (Canada) Diane Wolfthal, Rice University (USA) VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/vma A Wider Trecento Studies in 13th- and 14th-Century European Art Presented to Julian Gardner Edited by Louise Bourdua Robert Gibbs LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: Simone dei Crocefissi,Urban V, tempera on panel (1.97 × 0.625 m), Bologna. With kind permission of the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. Frontispiece: Julian Gardner. Photograph © Richard Morris. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A wider Trecento : studies in 13th- and 14th-century European art presented to Julian Gardner / edited by Louise Bourdua, Robert Gibbs. p. cm. — (Visualising the Middle Ages ; v. 5) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-21076-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Art, European—14th century. 2. Gardner, Julian. I. Gardner, Julian. II. Bourdua, Louise, 1962- III. Gibbs, Robert. IV. Title: Studies in 13th- and 14th-century European art presented to Julian Gardner. N6310.W53 2012 709.02’3—dc23 2011037007 ISSN 1874-0448 ISBN 978 90 04 21076 9 Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. contents v CONTENTS List of Contributors vii List of Plates, Figures and Illustrations ix Julian Gardner xiv Serena Romano Bibliography of Julian Gardner’s Published Works xxiii Joanne Anderson Introduction 1 Louise Bourdua and Robert Gibbs 1. Signifying Absence: Experiencing Monochrome Imagery in Medieval Painting 5 Jill Bain 2 A Possible Colonna Family Stemma in the Church of Santa Prassede, Rome 21 John Osborne 3. Small Worlds: The Orbs in the Westminster Retable and the Wilton Diptych 31 Dillian Gordon 4 Duccio and Devotion to the Virgin’s Foot in Early Sienese Painting 39 Joanna Cannon 5 A Royal Gift from Paris to Assisi: The Evolution of Design and Iconography circa 1300 62 Virginia Glenn 6 TheO riginal Setting and Historical Context of the Fourteenth- Century ‘Anthropomorphic Trinity’ of the Museo di Roma at Palazzo Braschi 83 Claudia Bolgia vi contents 7. Patronising Poverty: Devotional Imagery and the Franciscan Spirituals in Romagna and the Marche 99 Jill Farquhar 8 Celebrating the Scholar and Teacher: The Tomb of Thomas Gallus at Sant’Andrea in Vercelli (Mid 14th Century) 117 Martina Schilling 9. Bartolomeo and Jacopino da Reggio’s Brera Triptych: A Possible Source for Its Provenance 144 Roberto Cobianchi 10 The Look of Love 154 Anne Dunlop 11 Bologna and the Popes: Simone dei Crocefissi’s Portraits of Urban V 166 Robert Gibbs 12. Some Pilgrimage Sources for Altichiero 190 Louise Bourdua Index 201 contents vii liST OF CONTRIBUTORS Serena Romano Professeur ordinaire, Histoire de l’art, Université de Lausanne All following/other contributors are former students of Julian Gardner Jill Bain Art History Instructor, University College of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia Claudia Bolgia Lecturer in History of Art, University of Edin- burgh Louise Bourdua Reader in History of Art, University of Warwick Joanna Cannon Reader in History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art Roberto Cobianchi Ricercatore, Dipartimento di Storia dell’arte, Università di Messina Anne Dunlop Associate Professor of Art History, Tulane University Jill Farquhar The Open University Robert Gibbs Professor of Pre-Humanist Art History, Uni- versity of Glasgow Virginia Glenn formerly Deputy Keeper of Decorative Arts, National Museums of Scotland Dillian Gordon formerly Curator of Early Italian Paintings, National Gallery, London John Osborne Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa Martina Schilling Lecturer, Department of History of Art, Freie Universität, Berlin list of plates, figures and illustrations ix LIST OF PlaTES, FigurES AND IlluSTraTIONS 1 1 Dado of the crypt of the cathedral of Aquileia: warrior and knight, late 12th century, fresco 9 1 2 Dado of Santa Maria, Summaga: Desperacio, late 12th century, fresco 11 1 3 Dado of Santa Maria, Summaga: Tem[perantia], late 12th century, fresco 11 1 4 Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua: detail of dado on north wall, c 1305, fresco 12 1 5 Decorative schema of the Chapterhouse of Santa Maria di Pomposa, early 14th century 15 1 6 Detail of the north (and east) wall of the Chapterhouse of Santa Maria di Pomposa: Zechariah and John the Baptist are the second and third figures pictured on the north wall, early 14th century, fresco 16 1 7 Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Ghent altarpiece, Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, 1432 19 2 1 Marble panel, c 817–824, Santa Prassede Rome 22 3 1 The Westminster Retable, c 1268, linseed oil on oak (95 9 × 333 0 cm), Westminster Abbey 32 3 2 Detail of the orb held by Christ in the Westminster Retable, c 1268, linseed oil on oak 32 3 3 The Wilton Diptych, c 1395–99, egg tempera on oak (each wing 47 5 × 29 2 cm), National Gallery, London 36 3 4 Detail of the orb at the top of the standard in the Wilton Diptych, c 1395–99, egg tempera on oak, National Gallery, London 36 4 1 Attributed to Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna dei Francescani (detail), c 1280–90, tempera on panel (24 × 17 cm), Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, inv no 20 40 4 2 Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna ‘Rucellai’ (detail), 1285, tempera on panel (450 × 293 cm), from s Maria Novella, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence 41 x list of plates, figures and illustrations 4 3 Pope Benedict XI Grants a Plenary Indulgence to the Domi­ nicans of Perugia, Liber indulgentiae ordinis fratrum prae­ dicatorum de Perusio, 1343, Perugia, Biblioteca Augusta, MS 975, fol 1v 44 4 4 Pope Pascal I Kneels before the Virgin and Child Enthroned Surrounded by Angels, 9th century, apse mosaic (detail), s Maria in Domnica, Rome 45 4 5 Attributed to Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna dei Francescani, c 1280–90, tempera on panel (24 × 17 cm), Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, inv no 20 46 4 6 Coppo di Marcovaldo, Madonna ‘del Bordone’, 1261, tem- pera on panel (220 × 125 cm), s Maria dei Servi, Siena 48 4 7 The Orthodox Nun Theotime before the Virgin and Child, psalter, Byzantine, c 1274 (15 × 10 5 cm), Sinai, Monastery of St Catherine, MS Gr 61, fol 256v 49 4 8 Circle of Biduino (?), Virgin and Child Enthroned with Kneeling Supplicant, second half of the 12th century, Virgin’s head replaced in 14th century, marble (130 × 46 × 37 cm), from the façade of the former oratory of the Madonnina at Porta San Pietro, Lucca, Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi, Lucca 54 4 9 Circle of Duccio (Maestro di Città di Castello?), Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels and Supplicant, central panel of tabernacle, c 1290–1300, tempera on panel (approx 36 [central panel] × 43 [when open] cm), before restoration, Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford 55 4 10. Nicola Pisano, associates and assistants, Virgin and Child and Adoration of the Magi (detail), pulpit, 1266–68, marble, Cathedral, Siena 58 4 11 Attributed to Ugolino da Siena, Virgin and Child and Four Saints (detail), polyptych, tempera on panel, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, inv no 39 59 4 12 Duccio di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child Enthroned (detail from the Maestà), c 1308–11, tempera on panel, from the Cathedral of Siena, Museo dell’Opera della Metro politana, Siena 60 4 13 Workshop of Duccio di Buoninsegna (?), fragmentary Maestà (detail of the front face), tempera on panel, Cathedral of s Cerbone, Massa Marittima 60 list of plates, figures and illustrations xi 5 1 Probably Paris, c 1300, Reliquiario della Veste Inconsutile, façade, silver gilt (width 27 5 cm, depth 12 2 cm, height 29 2 cm), Museo-Tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi 63 5 2 Probably Paris, c 1300, Reliquiario della Veste Inconsutile, rear façade (width 27 5 cm, depth 12 2 cm, height 29 2 cm), Museo Tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi 65 5 3 Paris 1286, Herkenrode Monstrance, silver gilt (width 15 5 cm, height 44 5 cm), Cathedral of Saint-Quentin and Notre-Dame, on loan to Musée Stellingwerff-Waerdenhof, Hasselt 66 5 4 Paris 1286, Decoration beneath the Lantern, detail of Herken rode Monstrance, silver gilt, Cathedral of Saint- Quentin and Notre-Dame, on loan to Musée Stellingwerff- Waerdenhof, Hasselt 68 5 5 Probably Paris, c 1300, St Clare with Agnes and Beatrice at Her Feet, and St Francis with Ortolana, Mother of Clare, at His Feet, details, Reliquiario della Veste Inconsutile, facade, silver gilt (width 27 5 cm, depth 12 2 cm, height 29 2 cm), Museo-Tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi 72 6 1 Rome, Museo di Roma at Palazzo Braschi, Deposito, Anthro­­pomorphic Trinity, detached fresco on cadorite support, mid-14th century 84 6 2 Rome, San Marco, apse mosaic, Trinitarian Imagery, 828–29 88 6 3 Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Sant’Anna Met­ terza, c 1340–50, probably
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Virgin Enthroned, School of Jacopo Di Cione
    The Technical and Historical Findings of an Investigation of a Fourteenth-Century Florentine Panel from the Courtauld Gallery Collection By Roxane Sperber and Anna Cooper The Conservation and Art Historical Analysis: Works from the Courtauld Gallery Project aimed to carry out technical investigation and art historical research on a gothic arched panel from the Courtauld Gallery Collection [P.1947.LF.202] (fig 1).1 The panel was undergoing conservation treatment and was thus well positioned for such investigation. The following report will outline the findings of this study. It will address the dating, physical construction, iconography, and attribution of the work, as well as the likely function of the work and the workshop decisions which contributed to its production. Dating Stylistic and iconographic characteristics indicate that this work originated in Florence and dates to the last decade of the fourteenth century. The panel is divided into two scenes; the lower scene depicts a Madonna of Humility, the Virgin seated on the ground surrounded by four standing saints, and the upper portion of the work is a Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John the Evangelist (the dolenti) seated at the cross. It is difficult to trace the precise origins of the Madonna of Humility and the Dolenti Seated at the Cross. There is no consensus as to the origins of these formats, although numerous proposals have been suggested.2 Millard Meiss proposed that the Madonna of Humility originated in Siena with a panel by Simone Martini,3 who also produced a fresco of the same subject in Avignon.4 Beth Williamson agrees that these mid fourteenth-century works were early examples of the Madonna of Humility, but suggests that the Avignon fresco came first and the panel, also produced during Martini’s time in France, was sent back to the Dominican convent in Siena, an institution to which Martini had ties.5 The Madonna of Humility gained popularity throughout the second half of the fourteenth century and into the fifteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Peripheral Packwater Or Innovative Upland? Patterns of Franciscan Patronage in Renaissance Perugia, C.1390 - 1527
    RADAR Research Archive and Digital Asset Repository Peripheral backwater or innovative upland?: patterns of Franciscan patronage in renaissance Perugia, c. 1390 - 1527 Beverley N. Lyle (2008) https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/e2e5200e-c292-437d-a5d9-86d8ca901ae7/1/ Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, the full bibliographic details must be given as follows: Lyle, B N (2008) Peripheral backwater or innovative upland?: patterns of Franciscan patronage in renaissance Perugia, c. 1390 - 1527 PhD, Oxford Brookes University WWW.BROOKES.AC.UK/GO/RADAR Peripheral packwater or innovative upland? Patterns of Franciscan Patronage in Renaissance Perugia, c.1390 - 1527 Beverley Nicola Lyle Oxford Brookes University This work is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirelnents of Oxford Brookes University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2008 1 CONTENTS Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 5 Preface 6 Chapter I: Introduction 8 Chapter 2: The Dominance of Foreign Artists (1390-c.1460) 40 Chapter 3: The Emergence of the Local School (c.1450-c.1480) 88 Chapter 4: The Supremacy of Local Painters (c.1475-c.1500) 144 Chapter 5: The Perugino Effect (1500-c.1527) 197 Chapter 6: Conclusion 245 Bibliography 256 Appendix I: i) List of Illustrations 275 ii) Illustrations 278 Appendix 2: Transcribed Documents 353 2 Abstract In 1400, Perugia had little home-grown artistic talent and relied upon foreign painters to provide its major altarpieces.
    [Show full text]
  • Download (1476Kb)
    University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/77733 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Guido da Siena’s Narrative Panels and the Madonna del Voto: The Formation of the Marian Civic Identity in Sienese Art c.1260 Volume One of two volumes (Text) by Kayoko Ichikawa A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the History of Art at the University of Warwick. This dissertation may not be photocopied. University of Warwick, Department of the History of Art September 2015 Table of Contents Volume 1: Acknowledgements iv Declaration vi Abstract vii List of Abbreviations viii List of Illustrations ix Introduction 1 1. Sienese Art in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries 3 Historical Background Sienese School: Artists from Siena Sienese Art: Geographical Expansion 2. Altarpiece Studies: From Reconstruction to Recontextualisation 7 Decontextualisation of Religious Art Reconstruction: Rediscovery of the Most Complex Altarpiece Recontextualisation: Further Development of Altarpiece Studies 3. Studies of the Pictorial Narrative 13 Gospel Narrative Cycles Setting and Audience: Comprehensive Church Decoration Form and Function: Places of Narrative The Role of Pictorial Narrative Iconography and Programme: Thematical Development 4. The History of Guido da Siena’s Narrative Panels 20 i Chapter 1 The Reconstruction 28 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Niccolò Di Pietro Gerini's 'Baptism Altarpiece'
    National Gallery Technical Bulletin volume 33 National Gallery Company London Distributed by Yale University Press This edition of the Technical Bulletin has been funded by the American Friends of the National Gallery, London with a generous donation from Mrs Charles Wrightsman Series editor: Ashok Roy Photographic credits © National Gallery Company Limited 2012 All photographs reproduced in this Bulletin are © The National Gallery, London unless credited otherwise below. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including CHICAGO photocopy, recording, or any storage and retrieval system, without The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence: prior permission in writing from the publisher. fi g. 9, p. 77. Articles published online on the National Gallery website FLORENCE may be downloaded for private study only. Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence © Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library: fi g. 45, p. 45; © 2012. Photo Scala, First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Florence – courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali: fig. 43, p. 44. National Gallery Company Limited St Vincent House, 30 Orange Street LONDON London WC2H 7HH The British Library, London © The British Library Board: fi g. 15, p. 91. www.nationalgallery. co.uk MUNICH Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record is available from the British Library. © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin: fig. 47, p. 46 (centre pinnacle); fi g. 48, p. 46 (centre ISBN: 978 1 85709 549 4 pinnacle).
    [Show full text]
  • Through the Eye of the Dragon: an Examination of the Artistic Patronage of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585)
    Through the eye of the Dragon: An Examination of the Artistic Patronage of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585). Vol.1 Title of Degree: PhD Date of Submission: August 2019 Name: Jacqueline Christine Carey I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other University and it is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. For Sadie and Lilly Summary This subject of this thesis is the artistic patronage of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585). It examines the contribution of the individual patron to his patronage with a view to providing a more intense reading of his artistic programmes. This approach is derived from the individual interests, influences, and ambitions of Gregory XIII. It contrasts with periodization approaches that employ ‘Counter Reformation’ ideas to interpret his patronage. This thesis uses archival materials, contemporaneous primary sources, modern specialist literature, and multi-disciplinary sources in combination with a visual and iconographic analysis of Gregory XIII’s artistic programmes to develop and understanding of its subject. Chapter one examines the efficacy and impact of employing a ‘Counter-Reformation’ approach to interpret Gregory XIII’s artistic patronage. It finds this approach to be too general, ill defined, and reductionist to provide an intense reading of his artistic programmes. Chapter two explores the antecedent influences that determined Gregory XIII’s approach to his papal patronage and an overview of this patronage.
    [Show full text]
  • Giotto to Deurer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery Free
    FREE GIOTTO TO DEURER: EARLY RENAISSANCE PAINTING IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY PDF Jill Dunkerton,Susan Foister,Dillian Gordon,Nicholas Penny | 408 pages | 25 May 1994 | Yale University Press | 9780300050820 | English | New Haven, United States Italian Renaissance Learning Resources - The National Gallery of Art The statutes of different city guilds see Guilds often specified fewer years. In Venice an apprentice could move on to journeyman status after only two years; in Padua the minimum apprenticeship was three years, during which masters were forbidden from trying to tempt away the students of others. Whatever the length of training, any mature artist would have mastered the skills and materials Cennini enumerated. Titian even designed glassware. These may be sketches for small decorative objects, or, as has been suggested, preliminary designs for a triumphal chariot. Training usually began at an early age. Some boys were placed with a master before they were ten years old. Although some scholastic preparation continued once boys entered a shop—and most artists were literate—the young ages at which they apprenticed meant that their formal education was limited. Michelangelo was unusual in that he continued to attend school until he was thirteen, only then entering the shop of Domenico Ghirlandaio. Pupils began with menial tasks such as preparing panels and grinding pigments. They then learned to draw, first by copying drawings made by their masters or other artists. Giotto to Deurer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery collections served not only as training aids for students but also as references for motifs that could be employed in new works see Drawing, Vasari, and Disegno.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Rome and Its Monuments
    Dr. Max Grossman Art History 5390 UTEP/John Cabot University Summer II, 2014 Tiber Campus, room 1.3 CRN# 34255 [email protected] MW 9:00am-1:00pm Medieval Rome and its Monuments Dr. Grossman earned his B.A. in Art History and English at the University of California- Berkeley, and his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Art History at Columbia University. After seven years of residence in Tuscany, he completed his dissertation on the civic architecture, urbanism and iconography of the Sienese Republic in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. He served on the faculty of the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University in 2006-2009, taught art history for Stanford University in 2007-2009, and joined the Department of Art at the University of Texas at El Paso as Assistant Professor of Art History in 2009. During summers he is Coordinator of the UTEP Department of Art in Rome program and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History at John Cabot University. He has presented papers and chaired sessions at conferences throughout the United States, including at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, and in Europe, at the annual meetings of the European Architectural History Network. In April 2012 in Detroit he chaired a session at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians: “Medieval Structures in Early Modern Palaces;” and in the following June he chaired a session at the 2nd International Meeting of the European Architectural History Network in Brussels: “Architecture and Territoriality in Medieval Europe,” which was published in the conference proceedings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Main Chapel of the Durres Amphitheater: Decoration and Chronology
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Departmental Papers (Classical Studies) Classical Studies at Penn 2009 The Main Chapel of the Durres Amphitheater: Decoration and Chronology Kimberly Bowes University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] John Mitchell University of East Anglia Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, and the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons Recommended Citation Bowes, K., & Mitchell, J. (2009). The Main Chapel of the Durres Amphitheater: Decoration and Chronology. Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome: Antique, 569-595. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/ classics_papers/162 At the time of publication, author Kimberly Bowes was affiliated with Cornell University. Currently, she is a faculty member at the Classical Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers/162 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Main Chapel of the Durres Amphitheater: Decoration and Chronology Abstract The amphitheater at Durres in central Albania is one of the larger and better preserved amphitheaters of the Roman world, as well as one of the eastern-most examples of the amphitheater form. Nonetheless, it is not for its Roman architecture that the building is best known, but its later Christian decoration, specifically, a series of mosaics which adorn the walls of a small chapel inserted into the amphitheater's Roman fabric. First published by Vangel Toçi in 1971, these mosaics were introduced to a wider scholarly audience through their inclusion in Robin Cormack's groundbreaking 1985 volume Writing in Gold.
    [Show full text]
  • Marian Icons in Rome and Italy
    Pino Blasone Our Lady, the “Pensive One” Marian Icons in Rome and Italy 1 – Maria lactans, Priscilla’s Catacomb, Rome In the Bright Dark of Catacombs In The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton University Press, 1993, p. 141), referring to early Christians the art historian Thomas F. Mathews wrote: “the images were their way of thinking out loud on the problem of Christ. Indeed, the images are the thinking process itself”. At least, the birth of a new iconography reflected and participated to a theological development, especially on a popular side. Nor was this process of thinking through images only theological, or aimed to didactic and ritual 1 purposes. It involved the worldview and the feeling of life itself. It was part of a spiritual revolution, concerning those expectations or aspirations the ancient society and culture was able to answer or satisfy no longer, the ground of material conditions not excluded at all. There is no reason to not extend such judgements to the mother of the Christ, indeed. Quite obviously in the Gospels, mainly in Luke’s Gospel, she expresses herself far less than Jesus. All the more this circumstance renders her a mystery, not only in the holy sense of the word. What little she says or does regards material necessities as well as spiritual pursuits, in some an autonomous way (for instance, in the Magnificat). It sounds so meaningful, as to make her worthy of being called the “pensive one”, still by a modern poet as Rainer M. Rilke in his poem Annunciation: Words of the Angel.
    [Show full text]
  • The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Duccio di Buoninsegna Sienese, c. 1250/1255 - 1318/1319 The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew 1308-1311 tempera on panel painted surface: 42.7 × 45.5 cm (16 13/16 × 17 15/16 in.) overall: 43.3 × 46.2 × 4.4 cm (17 1/16 × 18 3/16 × 1 3/4 in.) framed: 53.3 x 55.9 x 4.4 cm (21 x 22 x 1 3/4 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1939.1.141 ENTRY The episode illustrated in the panel is that recounted in the synoptic Gospels of the calling of the first two apostles: Jesus [fig. 1], walking by the Sea of Galilee, accosts Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, as they are casting a net into the sea, and invites them: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [1] The composition conforms to the iconographic scheme already familiar in Sienese art in the thirteenth century, [2] though enriched by such details as the motif of the net full of fishes and Peter’s timid gesture of remonstrance, reported only by Luke (“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”). The painting was the fourth of the nine scenes ([fig. 2] [fig. 3] [fig. 4] [fig. 5] [fig. 6] [fig. 7] [fig. 8] [fig. 9]) representing episodes of the public ministry of Jesus, arranged in the predella on the rear side of the altarpiece, the side turned towards the apse [fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Seeing Renaissance Glass: Art, Optics, and Glass of Early Modern Italy, 1250–1425 / Sarah M
    Dillon With the invention of eyeglasses around 1280 near Pisa, the mundane medium of glass transformed early modern optical technology and visuality. It also significantly influenced contemporaneous art, religion, and science. References to glass are Seeing Renaissance Glass found throughout the Bible and in medieval hagiography and poetry. For instance, glass is mentioned in descriptions of Heavenly Jerusalem, the Beatific Vision, and Art, Optics, and Glass of the Incarnation. At the same time, a well-known Islamic scientific treatise, which Early Modern Italy, 1250–1425 likened a portion of the eye’s anatomy to glass, entered the scientific circles of the Latin West. Amidst this complex web of glass-related phenomena early modern Italian artists used glass in some of their most important artworks but, until now, Seeing Renaissance Glass no study has offered a comprehensive consideration of the important role glass played in shaping the art of the Italian Renaissance. Seeing Renaissance Glass explores how artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Nicola Pisano, Simone Martini, and others employed the medium of glass—whether it be depictions of glass or actual glass in the form of stained glass, gilded glass, and transparent glass—to resonate with the period’s complex visuality and achieve their artistic goals. Such an interdisciplinary approach to the visual culture of early modern Italy is particularly well-suited to an introductory humanities course as well as classes on media studies and late medieval and early Renaissance art history. It is also ideal for a general reader interested in art history or issues of materiality. Sarah M. Dillon is Assistant Professor of Art History at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, specializing in early modern art.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting (V43.9306.001) Fall 2010 - Course Meetings: Thursdays, 9:00-11:45 Am Prof
    Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting (V43.9306.001) Fall 2010 - Course Meetings: Thursdays, 9:00-11:45 am Prof. Bruce Edelstein, [email protected] Office, Villa La Pietra, 055 5007246 (office hours, Mondays, 3:00-5:00 pm, or by appointment) Course Description This course is conceived as a series of selected studies, offering in depth analysis of a few great masters of Early Renaissance Italian painting: Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca and Ghirlandaio, among others. These artists have been chosen for the unique opportunity afforded by study in Florence to examine their works in original contexts, especially the great fresco cycles they created with their workshops. The course is, however, neither limited to the study of these artists nor to the study of painting. Their works will be considered in relation to earlier precedents (e.g., Cimabue, Giotto and Duccio) and those of other contemporary masters (these may include: Paolo Uccello, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippo Lippi, Domenico Veneziano, Castagno, the Pollaiuolo, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, etc.). They will also be considered in rapport with other contemporary art forms, especially the sculpture of Ghiberti, Donatello and Verrocchio. In studying original works of art on site, context, function and materials will be considered equal in importance to matters of style. Special attention will also be given to the evolution of drawing practice in fifteenth-century Italy, an essential development for the changes that took place in painting composition and style over the course of the century. Requirements This is an advanced course in art history and has a PRE-REQUISITE of at least one course in art history.
    [Show full text]