Author or Merely Courtesan?

     Tullia d’Aragona led the life of a courtesan, yet also wrote prolifically during her free time. She moved extensively during her life throughout the Italian peninsula and even spent time in the company of Filippo Strozzi. The readings from class mention the important Strozzi family, so Tullia obviously kept company with those in power. During her time in Siena, she ended up fleeing the city-state for Florence due to political uprisings. Upon arrival in Florence, she sought refuge in Cosimo the first’s court. This is especially interesting because she like many artists moved fluidly through the powerful families of various city-states, even though these families held much angst against one another. By the later part of her life, Tullia returns to Rome where she lived until her death in 1556. Yet even in death, Tullia offered up more of her work.

     Tullia’s work centered on poetry, specifically her own writings or those wrote for her. In Rime della Signora Tullia di Aragona e di diversi a lei, Tullia offers examples of her own poetry, and has space for poetry written to her. Some of those who either received her poems or wrote to her include, Giulio Camillo, Ludovico Martelli, Benedetto Arrighi, Cosimo I de Medici, Maria Salviati de Medici, and Cardinal Ippolito de Medici. The interesting aspect of this book is how many of the Medici family she wrote to or received poems from it shows her popularity with the influential families. Although her last work, published posthumously arguable is the most well known. Il Meschino, altramente detto il Guerrino tells the story of a noble son captured and sold into slavery. The plot tells of his adventures to find his parents, his search is exhaustive, including Europe, Asia, and even the likes of Purgatory and the Inferno. While Tullia wrote beautiful and detailed poetry because she was a woman living in Renaissance Italy she did not always receive the appropriate credit for her works. She also faced tension from the male authors of the period, due to her being a woman and a courtesan at that. Here is a direct link to two of her sonnets, they begin on page 156, it has both the Italian and the translated version: http://www.academia.edu/2041009/Tullia_dAragona_Two_New_Sonnets.

-Jenn Kervian

Source:

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/IWW/BIOS/A0004.html

Celebrities at Home: The Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in a simple barn. The surroundings of her own birth were much more luxurious though. In his painting “Birth of Mary”, Vittore Carpaccio presents us an intimate view how he sees the home of the Virgin Mary in the Renaissance era. The painting is part of a cycle of Mary’s life, which he produced for the Albanian School in Venice.

Vittore Carpaccio, Birth of Mary, oil on canvas, c. 1502

Carpaccio depicts Saint Anne in the bed, who just gave birth to her daughter Mary. Three other women are busy helping the newly mother. One is about to bathe the newborn; another is giving the first broth to Anne while the third is sewing. Anne’s elderly husband Joachim stands a little bit further away and observes the scene. Open doors enable an extended view into further rooms where also housekeeping activities take place. Through the open door we can look into the kitchen where another woman hangs out clothes in front of the fireplace for drying. And even further wild game is being prepared. The architectural setting produces depth and gives the observer the feeling of an intimate insight. With great detail Carpaccio emphasized every element of decoration such as the porcelain on the shelf next to the canopied bed. The panel above says in Hebrew letters ‘Holy Holy Holy/Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’.

            In this picture Carpaccio depicts a deeply religious theme but he presents it in a new way, which we learned, was characteristic for the Renaissance art. Carpaccio attached great importance to the whole interior scenery and creates a contemporary Venetian dimension to this sacred setting. This picture combines the specific aspects of Renaissance art (e.g. linear perspective, naturalism, realism, religious themes) with the Italian everyday and residential life (of a noble family though) we are now talking about in class.

Sources:

http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/renaissance/Default.cfm?IRN=202361&BioArtistIRN=37003&MnuID=3&GalID=4&ViewID=2

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1487_renaissance/highlights_birth.html

Will the real Mona Lisa please stand up?

One thing to consider: how does history intermingle with fantasy? We all associate the Game of Thrones with medieval history and yet is it? How many conspiracies have been spun about aspects of history, and how many Dan Brown books will be written? (P.S. Really liked 2013 summer hit Inferno, set in Florence!) 

Who is the real Mona Lisa? We know that others have suggested that aliens built the pyramids, so why not try a bit of fantasy with the Mona Lisa (it's really da Vinci, etc.). Yet we have two primary sources that tell us about who Mona Lisa was. One, the book I passed around in class: Gregorio Vasari's biographical account of the greatest painters of the Renaissance. It is his book that sets the standard of Giotto as the first "great" and follows through Michelangelo, whose story was on the online click. Vasari establishes the myth of the Renaissance artist, that is largely true too.  In the chapter on da Vinci, he tells us that this painter painted a great portrait of Lisa, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant. In addition the great mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci commented on watching da Vinci paint Lisa's portrait. The only item in dispute is whether all 4 of the remaining portraits of Lisa were all the same one being referred to in the text. One mystery is however how it did not end up in that family's hands, and instead was left for his apprentice, and therefore passed into the hands of the French. 

One other item of note is the ice-caps in the back: most people don't really notice them. This is more "ideal beauty" than actual beauty, and a different sort of naturalism as well. Also her hands which appear awkward rest on a blanket, determined by extra xray laser a few years ago. Love those odd facts. 

Is she the most iconic reproduced figure in art work? When I visited her last May, I bought a postcard with Mona Lisa listening to the beat with headphones on. You can see her on the door to my office. Always brings a smile. 

Gathering of the Greatest Minds Throughout History

  

  This is School of Athens by Raphael. I chose this painting after I read about it in our Zophy text book. The concept of Raphael's painting is incredible. This is "...a glorious, humanist tribute to many of the legendary sages of antiquity"(Zophy, 98-99). It places all of the greatest minds in history together disusing their theories in one setting, a school in Athens. This painting contains Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Diogenes, and even a self portrait of himself.
  Raphael painted School of Athens when he was only 27 years old. He was asked by Pope Julius II to paint this piece. It is located in the Stanza della segnatura room in the papal palace, which is in Vatican City. Raphael painted it in 1509 to 1511. It is amazing to me how a painter so young could be asked to paint a piece so important in such a revered place, and none the less, by the pope himself. I wonder why the pope would have a painting with different philosophers and mathematicians from ancient Greece instead of Christ or the Virgin Mary?

Sources:   http://www.vatican-patrons.org/raphael.htm

The Birth of Venus

          The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli done in 1486. We briefly talked about the painting in class on Wednesday but I decided to do some more research on the magnificent piece of work to full understand what is going on in the painting. 

          The painting shows goddess Venus, emerging from the shore by Zephyr (Greek God of the west wind) and a nymph, as a fully grown (and fully naked) woman.  When you look to your right of the picture you see a woman in a dress quickly going to cover Venus with a cloak. According to our textbook "A short history of Renaissance and Reformation" by Jonathon W. Zophy, it is perhaps a "symbol of civilization". After doing some research on the internet other interpreters think the woman, Grace, is covering Venus because she appears to be very modest. She is trying to cover herself with her hands and her hair. 

Here are some other paintings inspired by The Birth of Venus.

The birth of Venus by 19th century painter
 William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

Birth of Venus by french artist Alexandre Cabanel.

          

"David with the Head of Goliath" (Caravaggio)

Caravaggio’s David is a serious classic in the imagery of death and allegory. Although Caravaggio did not actually capture a literal execution scene as in "Judith Killing Holofernes", we are still getting the full idea of life and death and the shot gun of baggage that comes with it. 

What's so interesting is how David almost appears to be not only the hero, but, kind of a judge of the situation as well. On one side, yes, he has saved the people from Goliath's wrath but also we see that he is assuming the responsibility of taking Goliath's life as well. 

It's through this horrific scene, that we sort of see yet another rising theme of the time in which Caravaggio seems to have made this piece a portrait. If you look at the picture below you can see the resemblance between Goliath and Caravaggio himself.

This speculation comes to rise because in 1606, Caravaggio did murder a man (with a dagger like sword). With what one assumes as a guilty conscience and relapse in bad memory, perhaps it wasn't by artist imagination that the sword and look-alike Goliath show up in this biblical interpretation. Nonetheless, between the emotion and the story displayed in this baroque style seems to be a perfect fit for the need of exaggerated motion and drama of this time period.

-Courtney Carr-McClure

http://www.artbible.info/art/large/435.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_with_the_Head_of_Goliath_(Caravaggio),_Vienna

http://www.artble.com/artists/caravaggio/more_information/style_and_technique

The Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting/portrait in the world today. Historians think this because of the theft that occurred in the early 20^th century. It took investigators and detectives 2 years to search for the painting.  However it wasn’t until November 1913 where an Italian art dealer Alfredo Geri received a letter from a person calling himself Leonardo. The letter stated that the Mina Lisa was in Florence and would be returned for a ransom but when Perugia (the alleged Leonardo) attempted to receive the ransom he was captured, with the painting unharmed.

            The Mona Lisa served as the main inspiration for occidental portrait painting. (PBS) There are several techniques Da Vinci uses one of which is the sfumato, which means vanished or evaporated. This technique is simple creating an “imperceptible transition between light and shade and sometimes with colours,  almost painting without boarders.  Something I found interesting when watching the Khan Academy video is the difference in the landscape from her head up and the from the neck below. The landscape below her neck seems like an inhabited landscape with a bridge and winding roads while the scenery at the top of the painting almost seems mysterious and space like. A quote I found gives a better description as to what he thinks it could be. “"The background may be a representation of the universe, with mountains, plains and rivers. Or possibly it is both reality and the world of dream. One could suppose that the landscape doesn't exist, that it is the young woman's own dream world." (Cuzin)

            Lastly, there is great controversy surrounding her smile however I think the bigger controversy, something relatively new is the notion that the muse for the Mona Lisa could be a man.  He goes by the name Gian Giacomo Caprotti,also known as Salai. He worked as Leonardo’s apprentice and they were rumored lovers.  Silvano Vinceti, a researcher who has closely studied the Mona Lisa using a state-of-the-art high magnification techniques claims he found the letter “S” in the models eyes which could be homage to Salai. But nothing is for certain. Even though we didn’t discuss the Mona Lisa It was a painting that I was very curious to learn more about it. I decided to blog about this because of the debate on weather or no the model was man, something i found very intregueing because i never questioned the gender of the Mona Lisa before. I personally cannot decide especially after I found this quote from an article from a professor at Milan’s Politecico University

“All Leonardo’s subjects look like each other because he represents an abstract ideal of beauty” (Bentley)

Sources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/theft-of-mona-lisa-is-discovered

http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/mona_lisa/mlevel_1/m3technique.html

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-mona-lisa.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352915/Mona-Lisa-model-man-Was-Leonardo-da-Vincis-male-apprentice-model.html

Botticelli: The Birth of Spring

This may be cheating a little because I talked about this piece in class but, you only live once, right?

The origins of this piece are disputed. Among these disputes is the original title of the piece, however, it is commonly referred to as "La Primavera" and "The Birth of Spring". From what I gathered, it is believed that this piece was probably created for the marriage of the cousin of Lorenzo d'Medici, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, around 1478. In class, I brought up the idea that art of this time has some story or history beyond the piece itself, meaning that often there was an event or commissioning that the piece was specifically made for. In this case, it was to create a bond between the Medici and the Appiano, a wealthy family with ties to the mining business- of which Lorenzo d'Medici sought after.

La Primavera: Botticelli

c. 1478

The allegory of this painting, like most of its aspects, is also disputed among scholars. However, the commonly corroborated analysis is the one that I shared in class, that this painting depicts an allegory of marriage. What's interesting about this piece is that it depicts a pagan scene- full of Roman and Greek figures of mythology, but is set up very much like in ecclesiastical depiction of Mary. This painting embodies the spirit of the Renaissance in that Botticelli is bringing back to life the stories and figures of antiquity, while at the same time placing them in a relevent sacred context. If you notice, the figures are parted just so in order to make Venus the subject of your eye. Also, Botticelli has parted the branches behind her in a manner that gives her almost a heavenly glow or a halo- similar to what you would see in a depiction of Mary. As I mentioned in class, this depiction of Venus is drastically more prude than her typical sensual, nude poses. Here, she represents balance between wild and tame love and takes on a much more "motherly" Mary-esque role.

Refresher: the pagan characters that are represented are (from right); Zepherus, a wind god, Chloris, a nymph who then turns into Flora, goddess of Spring, then Venus, goddess of love, Cupid (above Venus), Venus' mischevious son, the Three Graces, representing the feminine virtues of  Chastity, Virtue and Love and Mercury, messenger of the gods. They tell the story of the trials and tribulations of love from Zephyrus raping and happily marrying Chloris/Flora to the three graces and Mercury wildly basking in their unclaimed, raw desire.

Do you think that it was Botticelli's intention to reference the Madonna in this piece?

Sources:
Harris, Beth, and Steve Zucker. Botticelli's Primavera. video. SmarthistoryWeb. 19 Sep 2013.              <http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/botticelli-primavera.html?                                                  searched=primavera&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight ajaxSearch_highlight1>.
Garcia-Fenech, Giovanni. "Spring Mysteries:Botticelli's Primavera." Artstor. N.p., 20 03 2013.            Web. 19 Sep. 2013. <http://artstor.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/spring-mysteries-botticellis-            primavera/>.
http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/la-primavera-allegory-of-spring-by-sandro-botticelli/