DOCSLIB.ORG

The Borgherini Enigma Page: 1 / 179

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Borgherini Enigma Page: 1 / 179 The Borgherini Enigma René Jean-Paul Dewil Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009 The Borgherini Enigma Page: 2 / 179 Copyright Clause Copyright © René Jean-Paul Dewil 2009 René Jean-Paul Dewil is identified as the sole author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be altered without the written permission of the author. The ebook may be copied in electronic or other forms for personal use only. It may not be printed, introduced in any retrieval system, electronic or otherwise, photocopied or otherwise recorded without the prior written permission of the author. The only system where the ebook may be retrieved from is the Internet website www.theartofpainting.be, which holds the only and original text acknowledged by the author. This publication remains under copyright. Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009 The Borgherini Enigma Page: 3 / 179 Table of Contents Prologue. Florence. April, 8 of 1498. ......................................................................................... 5 Chapter One. Florence, August 1512. Pierfrancesco Borgherini ............................................... 7 Chapter Two. Early September 1512. Margherita Acciaiuoli .................................................. 21 Chapter Three. Sunday February, 13 1513. Carnival in Florence. ........................................... 39 Chapter Four. Friday June, 24. Saint John the Baptist’s Day. The Calcio Fiorentino. ............ 61 Chapter Five. Saturday July, 2 1513. The Company of the Cauldron. .................................... 76 Chapter Six. Sunday July, 17 1513. Santa Maria Novella. .................................................... 101 Chapter Seven. Sunday July, 24 1513. Castello di Gabbiano ................................................ 124 Chapter Eight. Monday July, 25 1513. San Jacopo sopr' Arno .............................................. 136 Chapter Nine. Wednesday, July 27 1513. Santa Maria Novella. ........................................... 152 Chapter Ten. Epilogue. ........................................................................................................... 159 Historical Notes ...................................................................................................................... 162 Appendix - The Borgherini Panels – A short description ...................................................... 166 The Granacci paintings ................................................................................................... 168 The panels of Bachiacca ................................................................................................. 170 The panels of Andrea del Sarto ...................................................................................... 173 The four paintings of Jacopo Pontormo ......................................................................... 175 Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009 The Borgherini Enigma Page: 4 / 179 The Characters Age in 1513 Pierfrancesco dei Borgherini, a young nobleman of Florence 19 Margherita dei Acciaiuoli, a young lady of Florence 18 Francesco d’Andrea di Marco Granacci (1469-1543), painter 44 Francesco Ubertini called Bachiacca (1494-1557), painter 19 Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), painter 27 Lucrezia del Fede, a young woman 24 Jacopo Carucci called da Pontormo (1494-1557), painter 19 Bartolomeo Baglioni called Baccio d’Agnolo (1462-1543), 51 a wood sculptor and architect Niccolò di Bernardo dei Macchiavelli (1469-1527), a statesman 44 Giovanni Francesco dei Rustici (1474 – 1554), painter and sculptor 39 Roberto di Donato dei Acciaiuoli, family head of the Acciaiuoli 51 Salvi di Francesco dei Borgherini, family head of the Borgherini 53 Baccio della Porta called Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1525), painter 41 Giovanni de’Medici, Pope Leo X (1475-1521) 38 Cardinal Francesco dei Soderini (1453-1524) 60 Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009 The Borgherini Enigma Page: 5 / 179 Prologue. Florence. April, 8 of 1498. The sun stood low and red, dying over the roofs of the city. Evening came rapidly, but the abbey that should at this time have stood calm and quiet, humming only with the evening prayers of the monks gathered in the church, was now filled with the angry shouts of very many running men. Steel swords and halberds sang their metallic tings, silver breastplates clang against mails, and the heavy bells sounded ominous tones from the tower high above. Not only monks hurried in the cloister yards. Men dressed in all shades of grey, but not wearing a specific uniform or any badge that could testify to their allegiance, all wearing arms, ran to the walls, climbed on the roofs of the abbey building, and formed ranks in the cloister grounds. Torches were being lit. The Abbey of San Marco of Florence was not very large, for it stood almost in the middle of the thriving merchant town, well within the city walls, and space was expensive in this town even for Medici money. Many men still poured in through the main gate of the abbey, near the church, yet other men already prepared to close the large oak panels, and monks drew large wooden beams along to help secure the doors of the gate. A few men, all very young, were in command. Their shouts were louder and steadier than the cries of the crowd. These were captains, no monks. The monks fled in panic to all sides, some tearing at their hair, throwing their arms in the air, crying out of despair, lost and in shock, fearing for their lives. They knew not what to do, where to flee to. They ran from out of one hall into another, from one courtyard into another, looking for escape and salvation although knowing none could be found here and now. One monk ran up the stairs of the dormitory, walked rapidly along the narrow corridor to a cell and opened a door. At the other end of the small room he saw before him, a hooded monk sat on a chair at a table. The monk was writing a letter at the light of a single candle. The man did not look up at the intrusion, seemingly unaware or untouched by the noise in the abbey. The monk at the door said, ‘Father, the time has come. The Signoria has gathered enough men!’ The Signoria was Florence’s elected Council of wise men who ruled over the city, eight Priors from prominent families, two for each quarter of the town, led by their Gonfaloniere della Giustizia, the Standard-Bearer of Justice, the highest official of the town. The monk continued, ‘the Signoria kills our followers in the streets. Blood flows! More men of Florence are joining them by the moment. Few support us anymore. Soon, the Signoria’s horde of warriors will be here. I heard their drums and saw their banners at the end of the Via Larga. We will be besieged!’ The writing monk did not turn to the voice. He continued writing calmly for a while, then signed and set his quill meticulously down next to the velum on the table. He still did not move. He sighed, bowed his head more, then looked at the small wooden Crucifix that hung on the wall, and said, ‘Your Will must be done.’ He prayed. Then he said, only now addressing the monk who stood, nervously wringing his hands, at the door, ‘yes, Father Carlo, yes, I know. We have been expecting this, haven’t we? This will be our end, my friend, the end of the Reign of God in this town. Have the gate closed. We must gain some time. Has all been done as I ordered?’ Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009 The Borgherini Enigma Page: 6 / 179 ‘Yes, Father. Our Brother …’ ‘Don’t tell me any names!’ cried the hooded monk. ‘I will be tortured! Just tell me whether all was done, as I asked!’ ‘Our Brother delivered the three keys, as you ordered, Father, to the three families that are immune to our power. A reliable monk of our abbey was given one part of the message. I set him on his way out of the back door a moment ago. He will escape. He knows the way. A Father of the other abbey has the second part of our message. These two know only they have a message, not much more. Our Brother knows what to do with the message, with time, and God helping. He will return to our abbey when all is calm again. I still doubt however a chosen one will ever be found. Captain Niccolò and I transferred the object two days ago, and we did as you told. All was prepared. Only we two, Niccolò and I, know where our power is now.’ ‘Do not doubt a chosen one will ever rise, though he will not be one of us. God’s Providence is in charge now. You and Captain Niccolò are the only people who know! Even I do not know where our most treasured secret is hidden. I will be tortured, soon. I will not be able to reveal anything. But you, my friend Carlo, and our loyal Niccolò, you know! You must meet your Lord tonight!’ ‘I know, Father, I shall have to do that. If the moment has come, I, we, are ready. How should I die, however? If I kill myself, my eternal soul will be stained, and I will not be allowed to sit at the side of the Lord!’ ‘The Signoria will come. When all our enemies are assembled before our walls, you must fight. Do not kill, you, leave the killing to Niccolò. When the siege starts, open the gate and sally with twenty men. You and Niccolò must lead that sally. You will meet death. Have the gate closed behind your group. We must resist a while still, give our young monk some more chance to escape from the town, draw all our enemies to here. We will surrender later.’ ‘So we lost, Father, our cause, God’s cause is lost forever! The hope of Italy is gone!’ The hooded monk glanced fiercely over the man at the door. ‘Our cause is never lost! Large upheavals will shake this town, but in the end the Judgement will be on the sins of Florence. Do as I told you, and you will dwell in Heaven! Go now!’ The hooded monk stood, went out of his cell, and pushed the monk called Carlo in front of him. They went down the stairs.
Recommended publications
  • The Domed Temple in Renaissance Italy and in Early Printed Sources

    The Domed Temple in Renaissance Italy and in Early Printed Sources

    CHAPTER EIGHT THE DOMED TEMPLE IN RENAISSANCE ITALY AND IN EARLY PRINTED SOURCES During the Italian Renaissance the motif of the circular or octagonal Temple of Solomon took on a life of its own, for it became linked to the idea of a centralized church plan. Such a circular plan with its uniformity and har- mony came to connote the justice of God. Architects of the period ranked round and domical temples above all others, often spurred on, additionally, by their admiration for classical Roman architecture such as the Pantheon.1 In this climate, evoking Solomon’s Temple as a circular building was per- fectly natural, even though it contradicted the biblical text and the rectilin- ear measurements supposedly handed down by God.2 One of the first Renaissance paintings to include a circular Temple is Perugino’s “Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter” in the Sistine Chapel, dating from 1481. (fig. 8.1) Perugino executed the painting under the patronage of Sixtus IV, the pope responsible for the remodeling of the old Capella Magna into the new Sistine Chapel. The architecture and the mural paintings were planned simultaneously in the 1470s and were developed to emphasize the primacy of Rome and the papacy. The Perugino image reflects precisely that theme. In a wide piazza in front of the Temple, Christ gives the keys of temporal and spiritual power to the kneeling Peter. The Gospel passage referenced is Jesus’ pronouncement that he will hand over the keys of heaven to Peter (Matthew 16:18–20). Though Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus’ words, the text does not relate the actual handover—that had to be imagined.
  • Sight and Touch in the Noli Me Tangere

    Sight and Touch in the Noli Me Tangere

    Chapter 1 Sight and Touch in the Noli me tangere Andrea del Sarto painted his Noli me tangere (Fig. 1) at the age of twenty-four.1 He was young, ambitious, and grappling for the first time with the demands of producing an altarpiece. He had his reputation to consider. He had the spiri- tual function of his picture to think about. And he had his patron’s wishes to address. I begin this chapter by discussing this last category of concern, the complex realities of artistic patronage, as a means of emphasizing the broad- er arguments of my book: the altarpiece commissions that Andrea received were learning opportunities, and his artistic decisions serve as indices of the religious knowledge he acquired in the course of completing his professional endeavors. Throughout this particular endeavor—from his first client consultation to the moment he delivered the Noli me tangere to the Augustinian convent lo- cated just outside the San Gallo gate of Florence—Andrea worked closely with other members of his community. We are able to identify those individuals only in a general sense. Andrea received his commission from the Morelli fam- ily, silk merchants who lived in the Santa Croce quarter of the city and who frequently served in the civic government. They owned the rights to one of the most prestigious chapels in the San Gallo church. It was located close to the chancel, second to the left of the apse.2 This was prime real estate. Renaissance churches were communal structures—always visible, frequently visited. They had a natural hierarchy, dominated by the high altar.
  • The Strange Art of 16Th –Century Italy

    The Strange Art of 16Th –Century Italy

    The Strange Art of 16th –century Italy Some thoughts before we start. This course is going to use a seminar format. Each of you will be responsible for an artist. You will be giving reports on- site as we progress, in as close to chronological order as logistics permit. At the end of the course each of you will do a Power Point presentation which will cover the works you treated on-site by fitting them into the rest of the artist’s oeuvre and the historical context.. The readings: You will take home a Frederick Hartt textbook, History of Italian Renaissance Art. For the first part of the course this will be your main background source. For sculpture you will have photocopies of some chapters from Roberta Olsen’s book on Italian Renaissance sculpture. I had you buy Walter Friedlaender’s Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting, first published in 1925. While recent scholarship does not agree with his whole thesis, many of his observations are still valid about the main changes at the beginning and the end of the 16th century. In addition there will be some articles copied from art history periodicals and a few provided in digital format which you can read on the computer. Each of you will be doing other reading on your individual artists. A major goal of the course will be to see how sixteenth-century art depends on Raphael and Michelangelo, and to a lesser extent on Leonardo. Art seems to develop in cycles. What happens after a moment of great innovations? Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists, seems to ask “where do we go from here?” If Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo were perfect, how does one carry on? The same thing occurred after Giotto and Duccio in the early Trecento.
  • Peripheral Packwater Or Innovative Upland? Patterns of Franciscan Patronage in Renaissance Perugia, C.1390 - 1527

    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.
  • The Renaissance Workshop in Action

    The Renaissance Workshop in Action

    The Renaissance Workshop in Action Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486–1530) ran the most successful and productive workshop in Florence in the 1510s and 1520s. Moving beyond the graceful harmony and elegance of elders and peers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Fra Bartolommeo, he brought unprecedented naturalism and immediacy to his art through the rough and rustic use of red chalk. This exhibition looks behind the scenes and examines the artist’s entire creative process. The latest technology allows us to see beneath the surface of his paintings in order to appreciate the workshop activity involved. The exhibition also demonstrates studio tricks such as the reuse of drawings and motifs, while highlighting Andrea’s constant dazzling inventiveness. All works in the exhibition are by Andrea del Sarto. This exhibition has been co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Frick Collection, New York, in association with the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence. We acknowledge the generous support provided by an anonymous donation in memory of Melvin R. Seiden and by the Italian Cultural Institute. The J. Paul Getty Museum © 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust Rendering Reality In this room we focus on Andrea’s much-lauded naturalism and how his powerful drawn studies enabled him to transform everyday people into saints and Madonnas, and smirking children into angels. With the example of The Madonna of the Steps, we see his constant return to life drawing on paper—even after he had started painting—to ensure truth to nature. The J. Paul Getty Museum © 2014 J.
  • THE BERNARD and MARY BERENSON COLLECTION of EUROPEAN PAINTINGS at I TATTI Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls

    THE BERNARD and MARY BERENSON COLLECTION of EUROPEAN PAINTINGS at I TATTI Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls

    THE BERNARD AND MARY BERENSON COLLECTION OF EUROPEAN PAINTINGS AT I TATTI Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls GENERAL INDEX by Bonnie J. Blackburn Page numbers in italics indicate Albrighi, Luigi, 14, 34, 79, 143–44 Altichiero, 588 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum catalogue entries. (Fig. 12.1) Alunno, Niccolò, 34, 59, 87–92, 618 Angelico (Fra), Virgin of Humility Alcanyiç, Miquel, and Starnina altarpiece for San Francesco, Cagli (no. SK-A-3011), 100 A Ascension (New York, (Milan, Brera, no. 504), 87, 91 Bellini, Giovanni, Virgin and Child Abbocatelli, Pentesilea di Guglielmo Metropolitan Museum altarpiece for San Nicolò, Foligno (nos. 3379 and A3287), 118 n. 4 degli, 574 of Art, no. 1876.10; New (Paris, Louvre, no. 53), 87 Bulgarini, Bartolomeo, Virgin of Abbott, Senda, 14, 43 nn. 17 and 41, 44 York, Hispanic Society of Annunciation for Confraternità Humility (no. A 4002), 193, 194 n. 60, 427, 674 n. 6 America, no. A2031), 527 dell’Annunziata, Perugia (Figs. 22.1, 22.2), 195–96 Abercorn, Duke of, 525 n. 3 Alessandro da Caravaggio, 203 (Perugia, Galleria Nazionale Cima da Conegliano (?), Virgin Aberdeen, Art Gallery Alesso di Benozzo and Gherardo dell’Umbria, no. 169), 92 and Child (no. SK–A 1219), Vecchietta, portable triptych del Fora Crucifixion (Claremont, Pomona 208 n. 14 (no. 4571), 607 Annunciation (App. 1), 536, 539 College Museum of Art, Giovanni di Paolo, Crucifixion Abraham, Bishop of Suzdal, 419 n. 2, 735 no. P 61.1.9), 92 n. 11 (no. SK-C-1596), 331 Accarigi family, 244 Alexander VI Borgia, Pope, 509, 576 Crucifixion (Foligno, Palazzo Gossaert, Jan, drawing of Hercules Acciaioli, Lorenzo, Bishop of Arezzo, Alexeivich, Alexei, Grand Duke of Arcivescovile), 90 Kills Eurythion (no.
  • Giorgio Vasari at 500: an Homage

    Giorgio Vasari at 500: an Homage

    Giorgio Vasari at 500: An Homage Liana De Girolami Cheney iorgio Vasari (1511-74), Tuscan painter, architect, art collector and writer, is best known for his Le Vile de' piu eccellenti architetti, Gpittori e scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri (Lives if the Most Excellent Architects, Painters and Sculptors if Italy, from Cimabue to the present time).! This first volume published in 1550 was followed in 1568 by an enlarged edition illustrated with woodcuts of artists' portraits. 2 By virtue of this text, Vasari is known as "the first art historian" (Rud 1 and 11)3 since the time of Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historiae (Natural History, c. 79). It is almost impossible to imagine the history ofItalian art without Vasari, so fundamental is his Lives. It is the first real and autonomous history of art both because of its monumental scope and because of the integration of the individual biographies into a whole. According to his own account, Vasari, as a young man, was an apprentice to Andrea del Sarto, Rosso Fiorentino, and Baccio Bandinelli in Florence. Vasari's career is well documented, the fullest source of information being the autobiography or vita added to the 1568 edition of his Lives (Vasari, Vite, ed. Bettarini and Barocchi 369-413).4 Vasari had an extremely active artistic career, but much of his time was spent as an impresario devising decorations for courtly festivals and similar ephemera. He praised the Medici family for promoting his career from childhood, and much of his work was done for Cosimo I, Duke of Tuscany.
  • A Little Rome at Home

    A Little Rome at Home

    A little Rome at home An exhibition of Michelangelo’s frescoes opens at MacArthur Center today Delphian Sybyl from “Michelangelo – A Different View.” The exhibition lets viewers see details they couldn’t spot at the Sistine Chapel. (Courtesy of Virginia Arts Festival ) BY DENISE M. WATSONSTAFF WRITER For the next three weeks, locals can take a Roman holiday in Norfolk. The Virginia Arts Festival and MacArthur Center are co-presenting “Michelangelo — A Different View,” which includes high-resolution reproductions of the artist’s famous frescos from the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The exhibition comprises nearly 50 pieces by Renaissance masters, primarily Michelangelo’s depictions of Biblical stories, from the creation of Adam to Christ’s administering the last judgment. Also in the show are 14 reproductions of the “Quattrocento” frescoes that decorate some of the chapel’s walls, which were completed by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Cosimo Rosselli and Domenico Ghirlandaio, one of Michelangelo’s teachers. Images of the interior and exterior of the Sistine Chapel are also included. The fabric panels, the largest more than 18 feet tall, will be displayed in the former Forever 21 on the second floor of the mall. The exhibition allows viewers to see details they couldn’t normally spot, even in a visit to Rome. The chapel’s ceiling hovers 70 feet above visitors’ heads. Michelangelo spent four years, 1508 to 1512, transforming the ceiling of the chapel, working from special scaffolding he created. He returned to the chapel and painted the elaborate “Last Judgment” on the altar wall between 1536 and 1541.
  • Title a New Proposal on the Chronological Order of the Moses

    Title a New Proposal on the Chronological Order of the Moses

    Title A new proposal on the chronological order of the Moses and Christ frescoes in the Sistine Chapel Sub Title システィーナ礼拝堂装飾壁画の 〈モーセ伝〉 と 〈キリスト伝〉 連作の制作順序について Author 荒木, 文果(Araki, Fumika) Publisher 慶應義塾大学日吉紀要刊行委員会 Publication year 2019 Jtitle 慶應義塾大学日吉紀要. 人文科学 (The Hiyoshi review of the humanities). No.34 (2019. ) ,p.1- 26 Abstract Notes 挿図 Genre Departmental Bulletin Paper URL https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/detail.php?koara_id=AN10065043-2019063 0-0001 慶應義塾大学学術情報リポジトリ(KOARA)に掲載されているコンテンツの著作権は、それぞれの著作者、学会または出版社/発行者に帰属し、その権利は著作権法によって 保護されています。引用にあたっては、著作権法を遵守してご利用ください。 The copyrights of content available on the KeiO Associated Repository of Academic resources (KOARA) belong to the respective authors, academic societies, or publishers/issuers, and these rights are protected by the Japanese Copyright Act. When quoting the content, please follow the Japanese copyright act. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) A New Proposal on the Chronological Order of the Moses and Christ Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel 1 A New Proposal on the Chronological Order of the Moses and Christ Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel Fumika Araki Introduction In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (papacy: from 1471 to 1484) invited four Umbrian and Florentine painters, Pietro Perugino (c. 1450–1523), Cosimo Rosselli (1439–1507), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494) and Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445– 1510), to Rome to decorate the entire walls of the pontifical chapel taking his name, the Sistine Chapel [Fig. 1]. These painters were considered to be the most skillful artists at that time and all of them had already managed their own workshop. The walls of the chapel were horizontally divided into three registers [Fig.
  • Case 8 2013/14: Portrait of a Lady Called Barbara Salutati , By

    Case 8 2013/14: Portrait of a Lady Called Barbara Salutati , By

    Case 8 2013/14: Portrait of a Lady called Barbara Salutati, by Domenico Puligo Expert adviser’s statement Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that any illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council England website Executive Summary 1. Brief Description of Item Domenico degli Ubaldini, called ‘Il Puligo’ (Florence 1492-1527 Florence) Portrait of a Lady, probably Barbara Rafficani Salutati, half-length, seated at a table, holding an open book of music, with a volume inscribed PETRARCHA Oil on panel, c. 1523-5 100 x 80.5 cms Inscribed in gold on the cornice of the architecture: MELIORA. LATENT Inscribed in gold on the edge of the table: TV.DEA.TV.PRESE[N]S.NOSTRO.SVCCVRRE LABORI A half-length portrait of a woman wearing a red dress with gold trim, and tied with a bow at her waist. Around her neck are a string of pearls and a gold necklace. She wears a black and gold headdress with a brooch at the centre. Seated behind a green table she holds open a book of music. A book at her right hand is closed. The book at her left hand is open; it has text in Italian and on its edge: ‘Petrarcha’. Behind her is greenish-grey classical architecture. The upper left corner of the painting depicts a hilly landscape at sunset. A tower and battlements can be seen behind the tree on which stand tiny figures. Beneath an arch is another small figure. From this arch a bridge spans a stream. 2. Context Provenance Giovanni Battista Deti, Florence, by the second half of 16th century (according to Borghini, Il Ripsoso (1584), if this is the painting first mentioned by Vasari) ; Purchased by George Nassau Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper (1738-1789) by 1779 for his Florentine palazzo (picture list no.
  • Michelangelo Buonarotti

    Michelangelo Buonarotti

    MICHELANGELO BUONAROTTI Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra COMPILED BY HOWIE BAUM Portrait of Michelangelo at the time when he was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. by Marcello Venusti Hi, my name is Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, but you can call me Michelangelo for short. MICHAELANGO’S BIRTH AND YOUTH Michelangelo was born to Leonardo di Buonarrota and Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, a middle- class family of bankers in the small village of Caprese, in Tuscany, Italy. He was the 2nd of five brothers. For several generations, his Father’s family had been small-scale bankers in Florence, Italy but the bank failed, and his father, Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, briefly took a government post in Caprese. Michelangelo was born in this beautiful stone home, in March 6,1475 (546 years ago) and it is now a museum about him. Once Michelangelo became famous because of his beautiful sculptures, paintings, and poetry, the town of Caprese was named Caprese Michelangelo, which it is still named today. HIS GROWING UP YEARS BETWEEN 6 AND 13 His mother's unfortunate and prolonged illness forced his father to place his son in the care of his nanny. The nanny's husband was a stonecutter, working in his own father's marble quarry. In 1481, when Michelangelo was six years old, his mother died yet he continued to live with the pair until he was 13 years old. As a child, he was always surrounded by chisels and stone. He joked that this was why he loved to sculpt in marble.
  • 182 MICHAELANGELO's Shadow: GUILIANO BUGIARDINI

    182 MICHAELANGELO's Shadow: GUILIANO BUGIARDINI

    MICHAeLANGeLO’S SHADOW: GUILIANO BUGIARDINI NORMAN E. LAND THOUGH he wrote of a host of painters, sculptors and architects in his Lives of the Artists (Florence, 1568), Giorgio Vasari focused on the best masters of the Italian Renaissance, among them Giotto, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci and, above all, the hero of his book, Michelangelo. Still, he gave considerable atten- tion to a number of other, less formidable artists, one of whom is the Florentine painter, Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini (1475–1554).1 Although there is an on-going and objective assessment of Bugiardini’s life and works, scholars have not fully appreciated the figure of the artist in Vasari’s Lives.2 For Vasari, Bugiar- dini was a minor painter who did not play a leading role in the complex story of the progress of Renaissance art from its beginnings in the fourteenth century to its perfection in the sixteenth. Nevertheless, Bugiardini is an important figure in the Lives, for Vasari uses him to throw certain features of Michelangelo’s character and personality into relief. Bugiardini is also significant because, for Vasari, he was an example of a particular kind of artistic personality. He was a simple man who was long on self-confidence but short on self-knowledge. Vasari’s figure of Bugiardini reflects an actual person who was a friend and at times a close associate of Michelangelo and is often mentioned in documents re- lated to him. For example, as early as April 1508, a famous letter alludes to what was to become a professional relationship between Bugiardini and Michelangelo.