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Image of the Perfect Prince: Federigo Da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino Louise Marshall 26/27 October 2016 Lecture Summary

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Image of the Perfect Prince: Federigo Da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino Louise Marshall 26/27 October 2016 Lecture Summary Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2016 Collectors & Collections: classical to contemporary The image of the perfect prince: Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino Louise Marshall 26/27 October 2016 Lecture summary: In the rugged place of Urbino, he [Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino] built a palace which is, in the opinion of many, the most beautiful that can be found in all Italy; and he furnished it so well with every fitting thing that it appeared to be, not a palace, but a city in palace form. Baldassare da Castiglione, The Courtier [Il libro del cortigiano], written 1508-18, first published 1528. This lecture focuses on one of the most munificent patrons of Renaissance Italy, Federico da Montefeltro (1422-82). The illegitimate son of Guidantonio da Montefeltro, Count of Urbino (ruled 1403-43), Federico was educated at Mantua at the humanist school of Vittorino da Feltre and went on to make his fame and fortune as a condottiere, or mercenary soldier, eventually becoming one of the most celebrated military commanders of his time. After the assassination of his half-brother Odantonio, he became ruler of Urbino in 1444, first as Count and then, after 1474, as Duke. Federico’s military victories and the stipends he received from many city states to retain an option on his services enabled him to build up his territories and to spend lavishly on art and architecture. We will look at the way Federico’s collecting and patronage helped fashion his image as a perfect prince, a brilliant military commander who was also a just and beneficent ruler and a man of culture and learning, a patron of scholars and lover of classical antiquity. At the heart of our investigations will be the extraordinary hilltop palace he built at Urbino, the Palazzo Ducale, completely transforming the existing landscape, remaking the city in his own image and projecting a carefully crafted image of princely authority and cultural sophistication. Slide list: Justus of Ghent (probably to be identified with Ghent artist Joss van Wassenhove, active c. 1460-80), Federico da Montefeltro and his son, Guidobaldo, c. 1476, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino [hereafter, GNM] Ducal palace (Palazzo Ducale), Urbino, built from 1440s to 1470s by multiple architects; most influential were Dalmatian Luciano Laurana (from 1466-72) and Sienese Francesco di Giorgio Martini (c. 1476-85); now houses GNM. Notable features include turreted façade dominating country side, elegant urban façade, beautiful interior courtyard, monumental staircase up to piano nobile (first floor), spacious rooms ornamented with Federico’s emblems, elaborately carved door frames, windows and fireplaces, and inlaid wood (intarsia) doors showing perspectival vistas. Federico’s appartments included a studiolo (study), Temple of the Muses and tiny jewel-like chapel. Studiolo: completed 1476 (date on frieze). Lower walls covered with illusionistic intarsia panels designed by Florentine architect and sculptor brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maino. Upper walls decorated with 28 Portraits of famous men by Justus of Ghent. Installed in 2 rows, laymen above, religious below, to provide Federico with examples of virtue on which to model his own conduct. Includes philosophers, poets, writers and famous exemplars of learning from classical antiquity (Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Homer, Virgil, Ptolomey, Hippocrates, Solon, Boethius), biblical heroes (Moses, Solomon), Christian theologians (the four fathers of the early church, plus recent scholars Duns Scotus, Thomas Aquinas) and notable figures from his Proudly sponsored by own time (Vittorino da Feltre, Cardinal Bessarion, popes Sixtus IV and Pius IV). 14 panels now in Louvre & 14 in GNM. Piero della Francesca, Flagellation, signed, mid 1450s (?), GNM Piero della Francesca, double portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, with their respective Triumphs on reverse, c. 1472 (date of Battista’s death), Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino [hereafter, GNM] Piero della Francesca, Brera Madonna (Virgin and Child with saints and Federico da Montefeltro), mid 1470s (?), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan Anonymous artist(s?), Ideal town, c. 1480-90 (?), GNM. One of a series of 3 views of ideal cityscapes; others are in Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (attributed to Urbino artist and architect/engineer, Fra Carnevale, c. 1480-84), and Gemaldegalerie, Berlin. All 3 are spalliere, paintings inserted into wainscotting on wall or on furniture at shoulder (Italian, spalle) height http://art.thewalters.org/detail/37626/the-ideal-city/ References: Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-98), “Life of Federico da Montefeltro”, in Renaissance Princes, Popes and Prelates: The Vespasiano Memoirs. Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth Century, trans. W. George and E. Waters, (London, 1926; reprint, New York, 1963), 83-114 Paoletti, John and Gary Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, any edition Cole, Alison, Virtue and Magnificence. Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts (London, 1995) Courts and Courtly Arts in Renaissance Italy. Art, Culture and Politics, 1395-1530, ed. Marco Folin (Woodbridge, 2011) Heydenreich, Ludwig, Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500, Pelican History of Art, any edition (most recent, revised by Paul Davies, New Haven, 1996) Osborne, Julia, Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City (London, 2004) Federico da Montefeltro and his library, ed. Marcello Simonetta, exh. cat. (Rome, 2007) Lightbown, Ronald, Piero della Francesca (New York, 1993) Woods-Marsden, Joanna, “Piero della Francesca’s ruler portraits”, in The Cambridge Companion to Piero della Francesca, ed. J. Wood (Cambridge, 2002), 91-114 Robert Kirkbride, ‘Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro’ (2008, Columbia University, Gutenberg-e Press); includes English translations of texts under studiolo portraits, explaining why this figure has been chosen (e.g., ‘To Plato of Athens, most famous high priest of human and divine philosophy, Federico dedicated this out of reverence’) http://www.gutenberg-e.org/kirkbride/index.html http://www.gutenberg-e.org/kirkbride/encomia.html For access to all past lecture notes visit: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/collectors/ .
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