DOCSLIB.ORG

Concerning the Origin of the Virgin of Humility Theme Joseph Polzer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Concerning the Origin of the Virgin of Humility Theme Joseph Polzer Document generated on 09/25/2021 9:26 p.m. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne Canadian Art Review Concerning the Origin of the Virgin of Humility Theme Joseph Polzer Volume 27, Number 1-2, 2000 Article abstract Parmi les diverses représentations visuelles de la Vierge à l’apogée de son URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069720ar culte, à la fin du Moyen-Âge, se trouve le thème populaire de la Vierge de DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1069720ar l’Humilité. Son origine est souvent associée à la fresque de Simone Martini peinte v. 1335–40 au-dessus de la porte sous le porche occidental de la See table of contents cathédrale d’Avignon. La fresque montre la Vierge tenant l’enfant Jésus dans ses bras, assise sur la terre : humus = humilitas. L’examen attentif de l’art italien précédant indique que le type de la Vierge posée au sol fut inséré dans Publisher(s) les scènes de la Vie de la Vierge antérieurement à la fresque de Simone Martini. Par exemple, dans la fresque de Giotto à Padoue la Vierge de l’Annonciation UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | Association d'art des s’agenouille devant l’archange Gabriel, alors qu’auparavant elle se tenait universités du Canada) presque toujours debout, et la Vierge s’évanouissant dans la Crucifixion, en partie soutenue par les Maries, descend sur ses genoux avant de s’étendre ISSN complètement au sol, ce que l’on voit, par exemple, dans la Crucifixion d’Ambrogio Lorenzetti du Musée Fogg à Cambridge. Aussi, dans la peinture 0315-9906 (print) populaire contemporaine italienne, la Vierge est souvent représentée assise sur 1918-4778 (digital) le sol dans les représentations de la Sainte Famille. En coïncidence avec l’origine de la Vierge de l’Humilité, dans le livre de Pétrarque conservé à la Explore this journal bibliothèque Ambrosienne à Milan, Simone Martini a représenté Virgile, poète lauréat, assis dans la nature. Il semble qu’à cette époque la terre, ou la nature, perdait en partie son sens religieux négatif qui se voyait remplacé par l’idée Cite this article d’une force créatrice et inspiratrice. Mon étude met aussi en lumière le patronage du petit polyptyque pliable « Orsini » de Simone Martini par le Polzer, J. (2000). Concerning the Origin of the Virgin of Humility Theme. RACAR cardinal Napoléon. : Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, 27(1-2), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.7202/1069720ar Tous droits réservés © UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Association d'art des universités du Canada), 2003 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Concerning the Origin of the Virgin of Humility Theme Joseph Polzf.r, University of Calgary Résumé Parmi les diverses représentations visuelles de la Vierge à l'apogée ses genoux avant de s’étendre complètement au sol, ce que l’on voit, de son culte, à la fin du Moyen-Age, se trouve le thème populaire de par exemple, dans la Crucifixion d’Ambrogio Lorenzetti du Musée la Vierge de l’Humilité. Son origine est souvent associée à la fresque Fogg à Cambridge. Aussi, dans la peinture populaire contemporaine de Simone Martini peinte v. 1335—40 au-dessus de la porte sous italienne, la Vierge est souvent représentée assise sur le sol dans les le porche occidental de la cathédrale d’Avignon. La fresque montre représentations de la Sainte Famille. En coïncidence avec l’origine de la Vierge tenant l’enfant Jésus dans ses bras, assise sur la terre: la Vierge de l’Humilité, dans le livre de Pétrarque conservé à la humus = humilitas. L’examen attentif de l’art italien précédant indi­ bibliothèque Ambrosienne à Milan, Simone Martini a représenté que que le type de la Vierge posée au sol fut inséré dans les scènes de Virgile, poète lauréat, assis dans la nature. Il semble qu'à cette épo­ la Vie de la Vierge antérieurement à la fresque de Simone Martini. que la terre, ou la nature, perdait en partie son sens religieux négatif Par exemple, dans la fresque de Giotto à Padoue la Vierge de l’An­ qui se voyait remplacé par l’idée d’une force créatrice et inspiratrice. nonciation s’agenouille devant l’archange Gabriel, alors qu’aupara- Mon étude met aussi en lumière le patronage du petit polyptyque vant elle se tenait presque toujours debout, et la Vierge s’évanouissant pliable « Orsini » de Simone Martini par le cardinal Napoléon. dans la Crucifixion, en partie soutenue par les Maries, descend sur T _Lhe Virgin of Humility theme represents one of the most belong a small panel painting in Berlin which I attribute to significant innovations found in fourteenth-century religious Lippo Memmi (fig. 3), a mural decorating a Neapolitan tomb art. It is widely considered that this new version of the Virgin’s in the Church of S. Domenico, and a panel painting by cuit in the later Middle Ages emerged from Simone Martini’s Bartolommeo da Camogli in Palermo which is dated 1346 later artistic career when he had settled in Avignon. Not long (fig. 4). It bears the inscription: “Nostra Donna de Humilitate." before his death he painted there, above the entrance of the The rapid diffusion of the Virgin of Humility theme Cathédral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms, the first extant Madonna throughout late médiéval western Europe occurred in a suitable seated on a cushion which rests directly on the ground, so religious climate: like a flower blossoming in fertile soil. It was a situated that every visitor would pass deferentially beneath her religious climate which favoured méditation on the life of Christ (fig. 1). Seated on her knee, the Christ Child holds a scroll on and his mother the Virgin. In the realm of art mother and Son which is written: “Ego sum lux mundi” (John VIII, 2). It is were then represented in a diversity of ways reaching from the believed that the mural was painted for Cardinal Jacopo Virgin enthroned surrounded by a heavenly court of saints and Stefaneschi, a great patron of the arts, who kneels in prayer angels to the Virgin of Humility who squats plainly on the beside the Virgin.1 This mural was intended for the funeral of ground. Simone’s remarkable Maestà in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico Cardinal Stefaneschi which took place in this cathédral in 13412 and Duccio’s superlative altarpiece originally serving the high (the cardinal was buried subsequently in Saint Peter’s Basilica in altar of Siena Cathédral précédé by roughly three décades Rome). This date would agréé with the resemblance in figure Simone’s Avignonese Virgin of Humility. These two types of style of this mural with Simone Martini’s Holy Family in Liver- Virgins were not contestants for lone supremacy. Rather, they pool which is dated by inscription 1342 (fig. 2). served complementary rôles. The Virgin seated or kneeling The iconography of the Virgin of the Humility theme has humbly on the ground, although no longer bearing the title of been thoroughly investigated by Millard Meiss and more re- “Humility” and henceforth appearing in the open, remains cently by Henk van Os.3 Following its presumed invention firmly established in fifteenth-century Siena, especially in the sometime during the early forties of the Trecento by Simone oeuvre of Giovanni di Paolo, and, more popular than ever Martini, or someone belonging within his doser artistic circle, before, in the High Renaissance works of Giovanni Bellini, it expanded widely throughout Italy and Western Europe. Meiss Leonardo, Raphaël and Michelangelo!4 underscored that the comparatively formal-frontal pose of the The circumstances surrounding the crystallization of the Christ Child in the Avignonese mural differs from the intimate Virgin of Humility theme in the early Trecento deserve doser Virgin lactans composition which occurs quite frequently in scrutiny. As has been stated, the name itself is borrowed from early examples of the Virgin of Humility iconography, insisting, the text: “Nostra Donna de Humilitate,” which appears on an however, that both versions seem to revert to a prototype cre- actual Trecento painting representing her. It is a legitimate ated by Simone Martini or a close associate, corresponding historical label. The Thésaurus Linguae Latinae defines approximately in time of origin to the Avignonese mural. Among “Humilitas” as follows: “Humilitas / ab humilis / ab humus: these early examples dating into the fifth decade of the Trecento Humilis: situs terrae humo vicinus (etc.)” - that is, low, near the I RACAR / XXVII, 1-2 / 2000 ground, the earth. This meaning was already given by Isidore of Francis’ proverbial humility surely contributed to this trend. In Seville: “Humilis, quasi humo adclimsM the Specchio di perfezione Brother Léo refers to the perplexion of Humility is taken metaphorically to signify the lowest hu- Cardinal Ugolino of Ostia (who later became Pope Gregory IX) man condition. In the Christian mind, however, humility, op- when the cardinal saw that the Franciscan friars at S. Maria posed to the vices of pride, vanity and ambition, is transformed délia Porziuncola had no tables nor beds, but slept and ate on into a virtue signifying one’s utter worthlessness in the light of the ground.9 They experienced humility as a way of life! Aware- God.6 However, as a general principle in the médiéval scheme ness of Franciscan humility then reached the highest social virtue is identified with heaven whereas vice adhères rather to strata.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 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 ................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • "Nuper Rosarum Flores" and the Cathedral of Florence Author(S): Marvin Trachtenberg Source: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol
    Architecture and Music Reunited: A New Reading of Dufay's "Nuper Rosarum Flores" and the Cathedral of Florence Author(s): Marvin Trachtenberg Source: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 740-775 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1261923 . Accessed: 03/11/2014 00:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Renaissance Society of America are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Renaissance Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Mon, 3 Nov 2014 00:42:52 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Architectureand Alusic Reunited: .V A lVewReadi 0 u S uperRosarum Floresand theCathedral ofFlorence. byMARVIN TRACHTENBERG Theproportions of the voices are harmoniesforthe ears; those of the measure- mentsare harmoniesforthe eyes. Such harmoniesusuallyplease very much, withoutanyone knowing why, excepting the student of the causality of things. -Palladio O 567) Thechiasmatic themes ofarchitecture asfrozen mu-sic and mu-sicas singingthe architecture ofthe worldrun as leitmotifithrough the histories ofphilosophy, music, and architecture.Rarely, however,can historical intersections ofthese practices be identified.
    [Show full text]
  • "Things Not Seen" in the Frescoes of Giotto
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2017 "Things Not Seen" in the Frescoes of Giotto: An Analysis of Illusory and Spiritual Depth Aaron Hubbell Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Hubbell, Aaron, ""Things Not Seen" in the Frescoes of Giotto: An Analysis of Illusory and Spiritual Depth" (2017). LSU Master's Theses. 4408. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4408 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "THINGS NOT SEEN" IN THE FRESCOES OF GIOTTO: AN ANALYSIS OF ILLUSORY AND SPIRITUAL DEPTH A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Louisiana State University and the School of Art in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History in The School of Art by Aaron T. Hubbell B.F.A., Nicholls State University, 2011 May 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Elena Sifford, of the College of Art and Design for her continuous support and encouragement throughout my research and writing on this project. My gratitude also extends to Dr. Darius Spieth and Dr. Maribel Dietz as the additional readers of my thesis and for their valuable comments and input.
    [Show full text]
  • Images-Within-Images in Italian Painting (1250-1350)
    Images-within-Images in Italian Painting (1250-1350) Reality and Reflexivity Peter Bokody Plymouth University, UK ASHGATE Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Essential Images-within-Images 11 2 Illusionism 37 3 Reality Effect 59 4 Nleta-Images 89 5 Meanings 113 6 Embedded Narrative 141 7 Image and Devotion 171 Conclusion 187 Bibliography 195 Index 221 List of Illustrations Color Plates 1 Model of the Stefaneschi polyptych. 8 Pietro Lorenzetti, St. John the Giotto di Bondone, Stefaneschi polyptych Evangelist Altar, before 1319, fresco. (back), between 1300-1330, tempera on Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi. wood. Pinacoteca, Vatican. 2014 © Photo © Stefan Diller. Scala, Florence. 9 Reliefs. Expulsion of the Devils from 2 Giotto di Bondone, Envy and Infidelity, Arez20, between 1288-1297, fresco. Upper between 1303-1305, fresco. Arena Chapel, Church, San Francesco, Assisi. © Stefan Padua. Courtesy of Comune di Padua - Diller. Department of Culture. 10 Frieze. Liberation of the Repentant of Francis. St. Francis and 3 Image St. Heretic, between 1288-1297, fresco. Upper stories his between 1260-1280, of life, Church, San Francesco, Assisi. © Stefan on wood. Chiesa di San tempera Diller. Silvestro Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra, Orte. 2014 © Photo DeAgostini Picture 11 Verification of the Stigmata, between Library/Scala, Florence. 1288-1297, fresco. Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi. © Stefan Diller. 4 Painted cross. St. Francis before the Cross in San between Damiano, 12 Crucifixion. Giotto di Bondone, 1288-1297, fresco. Church, San Upper Allegory of Obedience, 1310s, fresco. Lower Francesco, Assisi. © Stefan Diller. Church, San Francesco, Assisi. © Stefan Diller. 5 Twisted column.
    [Show full text]
  • Entire Triptych
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Agnolo Gaddi Florentine, c. 1350 - 1396 Madonna and Child with Saints Andrew, Benedict, Bernard, and Catherine of Alexandria with Angels [entire triptych] shortly before 1387 tempera on poplar panel left panel (overall): 197 × 80 cm (77 9/16 × 31 1/2 in.) middle panel (overall): 204 × 80 cm (80 5/16 × 31 1/2 in.) right panel (overall): 194.6 × 80 cm (76 5/8 × 31 1/2 in.) Inscription: left panel, across the bottom below the saints: S. ANDREAS AP[OSTO]L[U]S; S. BENEDICTUS ABBAS; left panel, on the book held by St. Benedict: AUSCU / LTA.O/ FILI.PR / ECEPTA / .MAGIS / [T]RI.ET.IN / CLINA.AUREM / CORDIS.T / UI[ET]A[D]MONITIONE / M.PII.PA / TRIS.LI / BENTE / R.EXCIP / E.ET.EF[FICACITER COMPLE] (Harken, O son, to the precepts of the master and incline the ear of your heart and willingly receive the admonition of the pious father and efficiently);[1] middle panel, across the bottom: AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS [TECUM] (Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; from Luke 1:28); middle panel, on the book held by the Redeemer in the gable: EGO SUM / A[ET] O PRINCI / PIU[M] [ET] FINIS / EGO SUM VI / A. VERITAS / [ET] VITA (I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I am the way, the truth, and the life; from John 14:6; Revelations 22:13); right panel, across the bottom under the saints: S.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaddi, Agnolo Florentine, C
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Italian Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Paintings Gaddi, Agnolo Florentine, c. 1350 - 1396 BIOGRAPHY Grandson of the painter Gaddo di Zanobi, and son of Taddeo Gaddi—disciple of Giotto (Florentine, c. 1265 - 1337) and one of the leading exponents of Florentine painting in the mid-fourteenth century—Agnolo probably was trained in his father’s shop, and by 1369 he must already have emerged as a recognized master in his own right. In that year he received payments together with a group of artists including Giovanni da Milano, Giottino, and his own brother Giovanni (also a painter but one whose works have not survived) for the now lost decoration in the palace of Pope Urban V in the Vatican.[1] His earliest works, including the triptych dated 1375 now in the Galleria Nazionale in Parma and the fresco fragments in the former monastery of San Domenico del Maglio in Florence, executed according to the documents in 1376,[2] are characterized by harsh color and rather crowded compositions; they are populated by figures of ponderous movement and massive physique, accentuated by the chiaroscuro by which they are modeled. In the early 1380s, evidently by then a well-affirmed artist, Agnolo obtained commissions of particular prestige in his native city: the designs for the sculptures to adorn the façade of the Loggia dei Lanzi; the frescoing of the Castellani Chapel in Santa Croce (stories of Saints Anthony Abbot, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, and Nicholas); and the painting of an altarpiece probably intended for the church of San Miniato al Monte, now divided between the Contini-Bonacossi bequest in the Uffizi, Florence, and the Kisters collection in Kreuzlingen.
    [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]
  • Lucchese, Aretine, and Umbrian Schools Xiii Century Florentine, Venetian, Paduan, Modenese, and Sienese Schools Xiii-Xiv Century
    LUCCHESE, ARETINE, AND UMBRIAN SCHOOLS XIII CENTURY FLORENTINE, VENETIAN, PADUAN, MODENESE, AND SIENESE SCHOOLS XIII-XIV CENTURY LUCCHESE SCHOOL, c. I200 MARGARITONE KI7I5 : Figure 6 Margarito d'Arezzo, called by Vasari Margaritone. School of Arezzo. Active second half of thirteenth century. There MADONNA AND CHILD. EI Paso, Tex., El Paso Museum is only one documentary reference to him, in 1262; but he of Art {1961-6/1}, since 1961.1 Transferred from wood to signed a number ofpaintings. Probably trained in Florence, masonite {1950-51}. 46kx30! in. {II8'2X78'2 cm.}, with­ he progressed from a very flat style to a somewhat more out moldings. Good condition; cleaned very slightly 1953. plastic manner. Lucca was the center of the most important Tuscan School KI347 : Figure I of painting during the twelfth century and well into the thirteenth. The work of the early period was varied and MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED. Washington, rich; by the early thirteenth century it had become less D.C., National Gallery of Art {807}, since 1945. Wood. exuberant, more stereotyped and uniform. Though 38kx 19k in. {97X49.5 cm.}. Inscribed, with the artist's executed by a heavier hand, KI715 seems to go back for in­ signature, at bottom: MARGARIT' [de a] RITIO ME FECIT spiration to the figures of the holy women in scenes on the {Margaritus of Arezzo made me}.l Fair condition. earliest surviving panel from the School of Lucca, the painted cross signed by Guglielmo and dated II 38 in the The lack of perspective in this painting - only the footstool Cathedral of
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Palazzo, Collections, and Musical Patronage of Niccolò Gaddi
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository The Palazzo, Collections, and Musical Patronage of Niccolò Gaddi (1536-91) Laura Moretti This article examines the collection of musical instruments and music books (both published editions and manuscripts) belonging to the Florentine Niccolò di Sinibaldo Gaddi. One of the greatest collectors and patrons of the arts of his time, in the 1570s and 1580s he organized and fit out one of the largest private collections of the era in the so-called casa dell’orto. Today it is possible to reconstruct not only the scope of his collections but also the breadth of his incredibly rich library thanks to an unpublished inventory from 1628 and analyses of other primary sources. Around forty musical instruments and a group of one hundred and thirty volumes of printed and manuscript music books were among the thousands of objects exhibited. The identification of several of them has made it possible to advance new hypotheses on the contributions made to the collection by various members of the family. Niccolò di Sinibaldo Gaddi was one of the greatest collectors and patrons of the arts in Florence in the second half of the sixteenth century (Fig. 1).1 He was the last descendent of a family that had played a leading role in the political, religious and cultural life of the city for over four centuries, and was able to boast among its members the painters Gaddo (c.1239-c.1312), Taddeo (c.1290-1366) and Agnolo (c.1350-96), the secretary
    [Show full text]
  • Carolyn's Guide to Florence and Its
    1 Carolyn’s Guide to Be selective Florence and Its Art San Frediano Castello See some things well rather than undertaking the impossible task of capturing it all. It is helpful, even if seeming compulsive, to create a day planner (day and hour grid) and map of what you want to see. Opening hours and days for churches and museums vary, and “The real voyage of discovery consists not in it’s all too easy to miss something because of timing. seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” I make a special effort to see works by my fa- vorite artists including Piero della Francesca, Masac- Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past cio, Titian, Raphael, Donatello, Filippo Lippi, Car- avaggio, and Ghirlandaio. I anticipate that it won’t be long before you start your own list. Carolyn G. Sargent February 2015, New York 2 For Tom, my partner on this voyage of discovery. With special thanks to Professoressa d’arte Rosanna Barbiellini-Amidei. Contents 1 Introduction 5 1.1 TheQuattrocento ............................................... 5 1.2 Reflections of Antiquity . 8 1.3 Perspective, A Tool Regained . 10 1.4 CreatorsoftheNewArt............................................ 10 1.5 IconographyandIcons............................................. 13 1.6 The Golden Legend ............................................... 13 1.7 Angels and Demons . 14 1.8 TheMedici ................................................... 15 2 Churches 17 2.1 Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) . 17 2.2 Orsanmichele . 21 2.3 Santa Maria Novella . 22 2.4 Ognissanti . 25 2.5 Santa Trinita . 26 2.6 San Lorenzo . 28 2.7 San Marco . 30 2.8 SantaCroce .................................................. 32 2.9 Santa Felicita . 35 2.10 San Miniato al Monte .
    [Show full text]
  • What to Do with Your Free Time in Italy
    What To Do With Your Free Time in Italy Destination Our Suggestion Important Info FLORENCE Ponte Vecchio FREE Best known of all Florence’s sights, this bridge was the only Hours: Bridge open 24/7, shop and one spared by the retreating Germans in 1944. Over centuries restaurant times will vary. flooding took its toll and only a few traces of the 10th- Location: Ponte Vecchio, spanning River century bridge remain. Built in the middle of the 14th- Arno in the Historic Center of Florence - century, it was originally filled with a variety of shops that Firenze. included wool merchants and green grocers. Grand Duke Fernandino I had these replaced with goldsmiths to gentrify royalty’s route to Pitti Palace. Uffizi Galleries $$$ The Medici family reserved rooms for their prestigious Hours: 8:15 am - 6:50 pm; Tuesdays collection during use of the gallery as the magistrate’s court through Sundays. in the 1700s. The gallery contains works by Leonardo da Location: Adjacent to the Piazza della Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio and Botticelli. The Signoria in the Historic Center of corridors which feature ceilings with splendid frescoes are Florence - Firenze. lined with Roman and sixteenth-century sculptures. Pre-booking advised. Galleria dell'Accademia $$ The Accademia Gallery is most well known for Michelangelo’s Hours: 8:15 am - 6:50 pm; Tuesdays “David,” placed in a specially constructed hall after four through Sundays. centuries in Piazza Signoria. Other works by Michelangelo Location: Located near Piazza San include some of his ‘Slave’ series and his sculpture of San Marco in the Historic Center of Florence - Matteo.
    [Show full text]
  • Madonna and Child C
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Giotto Florentine, c. 1265 - 1337 Madonna and Child c. 1310/1315 tempera on poplar panel painted surface: 85.4 × 61.8 cm (33 5/8 × 24 5/16 in.) overall (including added strips): 87.7 × 63.2 × 1.3 cm (34 1/2 × 24 7/8 × 1/2 in.) framed: 128.3 x 72.1 x 5.1 cm (50 1/2 x 28 3/8 x 2 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1939.1.256 ENTRY The painting in the National Gallery of Art presents the Virgin and Child according to a variant of the compositional scheme known as the Hodegetria Virgin, in which Mary’s right hand, instead of indicating her Son, holds a rose that identifies her as the “rose of Sharon” [1] and hence the Church, mystic bride of Christ. [2] The gesture of the Christ child, his left hand extended to grasp his mother’s forefinger, also presumably has a symbolic as well as a playful or affectionate significance; in other versions of the composition the child even pulls on his mother’s hand with the forefinger pointed towards him, as if actively soliciting her designation of him as a lamb, sacrificial victim. [3] Both the profile and shape of our painting, known to scholars as the Goldman Madonna, suggest that it was the centerpiece of a dispersed polyptych [fig. 1] (see also Reconstruction). The appearance of the multipart altarpiece to which our Madonna and Child originally belonged remains uncertain due primarily to the various restorations that have altered its appearance, especially by modifying its external profile and eliminating the original surface of the back of its wooden support.
    [Show full text]