The Decameron

Translated as "ten days" The Decameron is widely accepted as the most popular and historically important of Boccaccio's works. Perhaps the most interesting aspects of the novel is the way it was written. While most books were written in Greek or Latin, Boccaccio decided to write The Decameron in Italian, the current vernacular of the town in which he lived. This, as you can imagine, made the novel quite accessible to a large number of people.

The tale goes as follow, a group of young people (seven women and three men) spend 14 days away from Florence to escape the Black Death. During 10 of the 14 days they exchange stories together. The end result is a total of 100 stories of love, loss, and virtue and a plethora of quick witty dialogue. Essentially The Decameron was an early renaissance version of How I Met Your Mother.

Following the common humanistic themes of the time, the novel's vernacular and focus on central characters combine to make a literary masterpiece.

Sources: TuscanyVillas.com  Wikipedia.com

Pietro Aretino - "Scourge of Princes"

                                                                       
                           (This oil painting by Titian, a close friend of Pietro Aretino, shows his portrait in the year 1512.)

     Pietro Aretino wrote many different poems, satires, and plays during his lifetime. I was going to link to an example of Aretino’s work, but the only one I found online turned out to be very sexual in nature, borderline pornographic, and I decided it was not appropriate for this blog. Anyone who is that interested to read his work can search for it individually. The reason we remember him today comes from his choice of topics. Aretino did not mind causing a stir, he wrote very controversial things, as well as very satirical things about people in high positions of power. Notably he wrote about Pope Leo X in rather unflattering terms (Zophy 83). He also had Charles V and Francis I of France paying him to slander the other (Burckhardt 116). So although the public declared him to be a scourge, Aretino recognized his power in his infamy (Zophy 83).

     The reason Pietro creates such an interesting topic rests in the emergence of Italian literature. Many scholars of the time wrote to connect with old Roman and Greek traditions, even if they used the vernacular. Pietro broke away from the pack and wrote original material from current ideas and people he interacted with daily. He even openly admits his different style, “I am a free man. I do not need to copy Petrarca or Boccaccio. My own genius is enough. Let others worry themselves about style, and so cease to be themselves. Without a master, without a model, without a guide, I go to work and earn my living, my well-being and my fame,” (Pietro). Granted his writing style certainly made his name known throughout Italy, and without it, well things would certainly be duller. Although personally I will admit I did not need to read that poem by him, yet it definitely makes me understand more what Zophy meant by saying Aretino wrote pornography.

Sources:

Burckhardt, James and Peter Murray. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. London: Penguin Books, 1990.

Brainy Quote. “Pietro Aretino Quotes.” Brainy Quote. Accessed September 11, 2013. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pietro_aretino.html.

Girolamo Savonarola

Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar, born in Ferrara but preached in Florence. During 1498 he controlled Florence briefly up until his prosecution from the church. His teachings were based on the fact that he wanted the people of Florence to return to the ways of God. He took this to extraordinary measures by ordering the people to burn books, paintings, and etc. Savonarola viewed this paintings as immoral and ordered them to be thrown in a bonfire at the Piazza del Signoria. Friar Girolamo was of the Roman Catholic decent and was said to be very close to God, so close that he had visions from God himself. He, however, did not like the clergy of the church. In fact he spoken wrongfully about the Popes, in particular Pope Alexander VI saying, "He is no longer a Christian." Savonarola saw the clergy as morally corrupted (Kreis). Finally in 1497, the Dominicans, Franciscans, and the church in Rome had enough of Savonarola and his preachings and had him put to trial for heresy claiming that he has had false visions from God. A council of eight ruled him guilty and was sentenced to be executed. 

Girolamo Savonarola and two of his accomplices were to be burned to death. They were executed in the Piazza del Signoria, which is ironic knowing that is where Savonarola held to burning of the immoral artifacts. As described in the course packet on page 73 and 74, it says that there is a ringhiera (stage or raised platform in the Piazza) with three solid pieces of wood that stood roughly twenty-three inches high. All three of them were burned to death. The course packet goes into detail about how the legs and arms gradually burnt off and onlookers would throw stones in order to make them fall off. The executioners then cut down the post and lit that on fire also in an attempt to get rid of everything, leaving no trace (CP, 73).  

Sources:

Course Packet, pp. 73-74

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture5a.html#savonarola

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola

Petrarch's sonnet

Francesco Petrarch's writings paved the way for other "humanist" authors and philosophers.  As explained by Jonathan Zophy, Petrarch was a celebrated writer that "recognized and restored to light the ancient elegance of style which was lost and dead by recovering the works of Cicero"(73).  This image is a product of one of Petrarch's "anti-Babylon" sonnets provided by yale.edu. According to this site, this particular image was published on this paper in 1476 in Florence.  Though this is not directly written onto this paper by Petrarch, it is still relevant for study because of its popularity among citizens even after his death over one hundred years before in 1374. Because Petrarch made such a profound impact on humanistic studies, his work has stood the test of time and continues to provide a foundation for humanistic research.

As we can see by looking at this document, it is most likely written in either Latin or Greek, because this seemed to be Petrarch's signature when composing a written work.  The document is hand written and contains two separated columns of writing.  The paper in which it is written on may well have been from the hide of sheep as we had discussed in class (the link did not say).  However, by the looks of it, the author or scribe would have probably spent much time tediously copying the work of Petrarch onto this document. It is a very interesting piece, and can show us how ancient writings can withstand years of life.

Tanner's question

In reference to Tanner's question: who are those people? Those are "prophets and patriarchs," according to the site I will list below. Thus the togas.

In reference to another question: yes, those are original stained glass. Some by Duccio, and the earliest stained class still remaining in Italy. Thanks for asking, I didn't know about this. They can be seen at the link below.

For an amazing look at Siena Cathedral, inside and out, as well as all the 172 pope heads which I missed this past summer when I was there: http://www.digital-images.net/Gallery/Scenic/Siena/Cathdrl_Int/cathdrl_int.html     Well, will have to go back.

The Cathedral of Siena

Unlike construction projects today, undertaking such an enormous architectural feet during the 13th and 14th century left workers and architects susceptible to weather. As a result, construction projects took decades to fully complete. Construction of the Cathedral of Siena began in 1215, and lasted until 1216. The original architect was Nicole Piscano, who designed the cathedral in the Gothic style of architecture. His son, Giovanni Di Agostino, worked on the lower facade of the building in 1285, a picture of which is featured bellow. By 1348 the Black death wiped out 4/5 of the population of Siena, rendering the project unfinished.

The upper facade was completed in the 1700's, and a golden mosaic was tacked onto the upper facade, and is featured below. The facade featured the coronation of the virgin Mary, an important religious icon to the Sienese.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9427/Agostino-Di-Giovanni
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/siena-duomo

The Lorenzetti Brothers

           The city of Siena, as noted in Public buildings in fourteenth-century Siena,  often hired artist to create beautiful paintings in their newly constructed buildings.  One very popular artist of choice was Ambrogio Lorenzetti.  He painted many pieces such as Roman history scenes outside the Signori rooms, and the allegory of Good and Bad government in the Plazzo Pubblico (CP 59).  Ambrogio and his brother, Pietro Lorenzetti, studied under another artist mentioned in class, Duccio. Both brothers were revered artist, but each had his own style.  Ambrogio took aspects of Byzantine art and naturalism and channeled them in to many secular and religious paintings.  Pietro, who is most famous for his religious artwork, was more influenced by Gothic artwork than his brother.  

                The Madonna and Saints altarpiece, shown on the left, dates back to 1320 and is Pietro Lorenzetti's first known work.  The other piece of art, also Ambrogio Lorenzetti's first known work titled the Madonna and Child, dates back to 1319.  Although Pietro's painting contains much more, both brothers have depicted the Virgin Mary and Jesus in their artwork.  One key difference amongst the photos is the attention to depth and three dimensions in Ambrogio's work.  This is very noticeable in the face of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the throne.  There is also a very noticeable difference in the way Jesus is depicted.  In Pietro's painting he is shown in a typical fashion which is very all knowing and mature, but in Ambrogio's he is depicted as a baby with very little knowledge and almost helpless.  It interesting how each brother had very similar instruction yet took two different approaches on the same scene. 

All of my sources can be found here.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/348172/Pietro-Lorenzetti

http://www.yourdictionary.com/pietro-and-ambrogio-lorenzetti

Dr. W's Artifact: The words of the Pope in Modern Politics

Popes seem somewhat arcane, and have been hyper-sensationalized by some actual historical popes, especially during the Renaissance, as well as negative primary sources written by the next pope's family which has led to a lot of sex, murder, and a-religion on Starz, HBO, and any other TV show featuring a pope. But what is the role of the pope, and where does he fit into today's world? Today the pope is both a spiritual leader and a political leader. He is, after all, a head of state: Vatican city. However, listening and thinking about the words of Pope Francis gives us insight into the role of papacy, ever-developing since its origins in the first century with St. Peter, and the later martyr popes of the second and third centuries. The derivation for pope simply comes from "papa" or "father" so its meaning was different in the early centuries. In this link, the report is from Vatican city and the global Catholic prayer vigil against the show of force in Syria [This post does not confirm or deny my own sentiment, the issue is very complex; I am only using this as an example of how papal sentiment in the modern world can galvanize and shape political ideas, just like it may have in the historical past.]

Click here for the image of over 100,000 gathered in the piazza at St. Peter's Basilica; we will later be studying this massive piece of architecture: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-100-000-attend-syria-peace-vigil-192800844.html

Click here for an article that Jacob sent me that includes reference to Assisi, of St. Francis of Assisi:
http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/07/pope-francis-leads-global-prayer-vigil-for-syria/