Italian Final (Multiple Choice)

14.29, Luciano Laurana, Courtyard, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, c1476-72

After an extended search for an artist "learned in the mysteries" of classical architecture, in 7468 Federico da Montefeltro announced that he could find no one in Tuscany, "fountainhead of architects," and appointed Francesco Laurana's brother Luciano (d. 1479) as chief architect of his enormous unfinished palace. Luciano had probably aheady been at work on the project for two years, for he had sent a model for the building from 14.28. FRANCESC O LAURAN A. Banistu Sforza. c. 147 3. Marble, height approx. 20' (51 cm). Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Perhaps commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro. Mantua in 1466. Luciano is only one of several architects listed in the Urbino records as working for Federico, however, and it is hard to distinguish who might have designed what. One of the most impressive spaces of the Palazzo Ducale is its courtyard (fig. 14.291, the construction of which can be dated during the years of Luciano's activity. It is therefore generally assumed that he was its architect. In contemplating the design of the courtyard, we must mentally strip away the two upper stories, added later, and imagine that the structure ends with the cornice of the second story. Thus reduced, the courtyard emerges as among the most harmonious constructions of the Renaissance. Luciano adopted the proportional scheme popularized by Brunelleschi, for each bay of the lower floor is an exact square articulated by semicircular arches. The second-story windows are two-thirds the height and onethird the width of each bay. But Luciano avoided some major Florentine difficulties. First, he managed to unite both stories with a single scheme, so there is no longer the sense of a solid second story weighing down upon an open arcade. He achieved this by giving the second story an order of Corinthian pilasters that harmonize with the Composite columns of the arcade and by setting these stone pilasters against a wall of the tan brick that is also used in the spandrels of the arcade below. The columns, pilasters, entablatures, and windows are set off against brick walls to give thePalazzo Ducale the appearance of an open framework-an effect unprecedented in Renaissance architecture. Secondly, Luciano turned each corner in a way that completes both corner arches instead of having them come to rest on the same capital, in the rather uncomfortable way we found in Florentine courtyards (see figs. 6.26, 12.18). This problem necessitated even greater ingenuity. Luciano decided to treat each face of the courtyard as if it were a separate fagade, complete in itself. He therefore terminated each side of the arcade and piano nobile with superimposed pilasters.

15.42 Giovanni Bellini, Enthroned Madonna and Child with Sts. Peter, Nicholas, Benedict and Mark (Frari Altarpiece) before 1488 Sacristy of the Frari, Venice, for sons of Pietro Pesaro and Franceschina Tron.

Giovanni's Enthroned Madonna and Child with Sts. Peter, Nicholas, Benedict, and Mark (fig. 15.a4 shows a steady increase in the artist's interest in light. The altarpiece is still in the position for which it was painted and it has its original frame, complete with dolphins and winged tritons, motifs drawn from the sea that are more common in Venice than elsewhere during the Renaissance. The union of frame and painted architecture-the capitals inside the picture are identical with those of the frame defines a clear illusion of space that is probably ultimately derived from Mantegna's design at San Zeno (see fig. 15.19). In Giovanni's example the arched triptych format adds additional complexity.

14.31-32 Giuliano da Maiano, Studiolo of Federigo da Montefeltro, 1470's

Ideal illusionistic architectural perspectives like the Urbino panel are also characteristic of intarsia-the panels of inlaid wood used in the Quattrocento and Cinquecento to decorate small rooms and choir stalls. A good example is the intarsia decoration of Federico da Montefeltro's study in Urbino (figs. 14.31-14.3211, where his manuscripts were kept and where he read, standing, at a desk from which he could look out through marble arches to the blue mountains of his domain. The unknown designer of the intarsie may have worked from designs or suggestions by Luciano. As in many intarsia schemes (see f.ig. 12.16), the decoration here simulates cabinets and niches; on the lower level, with its latticed compartments, one door appears to be open to show the contents. Above this is a zone of ornaments, including the symbols of the duke, then a ftamewor of pilasters, between which one seems to look into niches with statues; into cabinets containing books, a candle, an hourglass; into a cupboard filled with the duke's armor; and into an architectural perspective with a distant view of mountains and lakes. All this is, of course, immediately recognizable as illusion because of its execution in wood. Federico's study offers a glimpse of how the intellectual refinements of an ideal life could be concentrated within the confines of a tiny chamber, in an exquisite decoration executed with illusionistic skill to please a Renaissance prince. The studiolo housed the most important of approximately 900 manuscripts that made up Federico's librarS called "the finest since antique times" by Vespasiano da Bisticci, the Florentine humanist and bookseller who helped compile the collection. In his Liues of lllustriou Men of the XVth Century, Vespasiano described the duke's commitment to learning: 'We come now to consider in what high esteem the duke held all Greek and Latin writers, sacred as well as secular. He alone had a mind to do what no one had done for a thousand years or more; that is, to create the finest library since ancient times. He spared neither cost nor labor, and when he knew of a fine book, whether in Italy or not, he would send for it. It is now fourteen or more years since he began the library, and he always employed, in Urbino, in Florence and in other places, thirty or forty scribes in his service.... He sought all the known works on history in Latin .. . likewise the histories of Greek writers done in Latin, and the orators as well. The Duke also desired to have every work on moral and natural philosophy in Latin, or in Latin translations from the Greek. As to the sacred Doctors in Latin, he had the works of all four.... He had an edition of the Bible made in rwo most beautiful volumes, illustrated in the finest possible manner and bound in gold brocade with rich silver fittings.... Likewise all the writers on astrologg geometry, arithmetic, and De re Militarl; books on paintings, sculpture, music and canon law. In medicine all the works of Avicenna, Hippocrates, Galen.... There were all the works of modern writers beginning with Pope Pius; of Petrarch and Dante in Latin and in the vulgar tongue ... also the complete works of Aristotle and Plato; of Homer.... And besides the Holy Scriptures, there are books in Hebrew on medicine, philosophy and the other faculties.

15.14-15.18 St. James Cycle from the Ovetari Chapel, Eremitani Church, Padua, 1454-57

In the second register above the floor, Mantegna painted two scenes from the life of St. James, the Baptism of Hermogenes (fig. 15.14) and Sr. James before Herod Agrippa (fig. 15.15). The two are united by a common perspective scheme, with the vanishing point centered on the frame between them. To enhance the illusion, pwtti are hanging garlands of fruit and flowers around the Ovetari and Capodilista arms, which seem to be suspended in front of the narratives in the actual space of the chapel. In these first mature works, Mantegna demonstrated what he had learned during his training with Squarcione, combined with the compositional designs of his father-in-law, the principles of linear perspective (which were to fascinate him for the rest of his life), and, above all, the style of Donatello as demonstrated in his recently completed reliefs for the nearby church of Sant'Antonio (see figs. 10.25-10.26). The marble pavement on which Hermogenes kneels is continuous with that of the square in front of the throne of Herod Agrippa and forms a perspective grid that establishes the relative sizes of the figures. At this moment not even Piero della Francesca could produce so doctrinaire a demonstration of Albertian perspecrive. But this Tuscan rationalism is joined with a northern Italian emphasis on detail. The architecrure of classicizing piers and arches, decorated with an apparently invented "classical" relief depicting the familiar Renaissance detail of a foreshortened horse seen from the rear, leads to a potter's shop offering a variety of jars and cups set on a wooden counter. The water striking Hermogenes's bald cranium splashes outward into a fountain of separate drops. A typical detail of Mantegna's attention to realistic detail is the infant at the left, who wants to take part in the ceremony but is restrained by the older boy who leans against the pier. On the right, St. James is brought before Herod Agrippa in front of a Roman triumphal arch that is not a copy of a Roman example but something even more impressive: a re-creation of Roman art in an Albertian manner. \{antegna belonged to a group of humanists in Verona u'ho constituted themselves into an academy going for boat rides on Lake Garda, reading from classical authors, and making archeological investigations. Mantegna must have made drawings of classical remains that he could use whenever he needed a specific detail. The atmosphere in these nvo images is so clear that every element is visible rvith biting clarity ro the last tree and castle on the farthest hill. The experience of studying Donatello's sculptures seems to have made Mantegna more sculptural in his paintings than even Donatello was in his highly pictorial reliefs. The figures are so sharply modeled by the light-which, like that of Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel (see fig. 8.7), is painted so that it follows the direction of the light entering from the chapel windows-that they almost seem carved in stone. Cloth does not fall over the limbs in masses, as in the paintings of Masaccio and his followers, but clings like the clay-soaked cloth of Donatello's figures (see fig. 7.12\. In the midst of the solemnity of St. James's judgment, Mantegna engages the viewer by the inclusion of unexpected details: the boy who holds the soldier's shield and wears his enormous helmet looks to the right, for example, while the eyes on the shield look just as sharply to the left; and the sword has been neatly placed parallel to the transversals of the pavement. The representation of the soldier leaning against the frame at the left, with an expression of inner torment, has long been thought to be a self-portrait (fig. 15.16). The face corresponds to the difficult, domineering character we know from documents and resembles the bust in Mantegna's tomb chapel in Mantua. The lowest register of frescoes of the life of St. James begins just above eye level; we seem to be looking up at an elevated stage (figs. 75.17-75.18). Thus, following perspective theory we can see no ground plane; the figures move downward as they recede from us. Only the feet of the figures nearest to us can be seen (some even seem to break through the picture plane), while others are cut off by the edge of the stage. ln St. James Led to Execution, we look up at heads popping out of windows in the buildings above us, and the realistic effect is further enhanced by the =random placing of medieval structures in a curving street, their arches and battlements rendered with the same a[ention to detail as the classical elements. The coffering of the arched gateway is also seen from below. But a moment reflection will disclose that if Mantegna had been consistent, he would also have made the verticals converge as they rise, in conformity to our viewpoint below. That he did not do this is doubtless due to his unwillingness to violate the verticality of the wall on which he was painting and, in consequence, the architectural structure of the chapel itself. Here again Mantegna captured many facets of the human experience, setting each into its correct relationship in space. A penitent breaks from the crowd to receive the blessing of the saint, for example, while a soldier uses a staff to hold back a woman who wishes to follow. Mantegna's sense of form invests humble faces with majesty, and the sad countenance of the saint has the same lapidary clarity as the masonry blocks in the buildings. The Martyrdom of St. James depicts the saint's beheading. St. James lies prone, foreshortened in depth, under a blade that will slide down in channels between two posts. An executioner is about to strike the blade with a gigantic mallet; when the blow falls, it seems that the severed head will roll out into the chapel. Although this is difficult to see in photographs, the illusion is increased by the rail of the sapling fence, painted so that it seems to overlap the painted frame, and by the soldier who leans forward over it. A powerful tension in depth is established by the rise of the hill, its ancient ruins illuminated against the sky, to a castle on the hilltop. As we wait for the blow to fall, we note that a bough has snapped at the top of the tree in the foreground, the executioner's sleeve is at this very moment ripping with the strain, and a gigantic crack cuts through the castle keep from the top almost to the foundation. The contrast between this tension and the calm of the soldiers idly watching the execution encourages the observer to identify with the evenr through suspense and apprehension. That we look up into the saint's face as he is about to die renders our apprehension almost unbearable.

Mantegna:

Mantegna:

Naples:

Naples:

14.24 Melozzo da Forli, Sixtus IV della Rovere, his Nephews, and Platina, his Librarian 1476-77. detached fresco from the Vatican Library, comm. by Pope Sixtus IV

One of Melozzo's commissions was for a series of frescoes in the Vatican Libraries which had been rebuilt and reorganized by Pope Sixtus IV. Most of the frescoes have perished, but Sixtus lV della Rouere, his Nephews, and Platina, his Librarian was removed and saved (fig. U.2a). It is the first surviving papal ceremonial portrait of the Renaissance (as distinguished from tomb effigies or portraits of popes disguised as their Early Christian predecessors in the paintings of Masaccio, Masolino, and Fra Angelico). The fresco once adorned the end wall of the library and was undoubtedly integrated with other decoration painted there by Domenico del Ghirlandaio and his brother Davide. Painted piers within the fresco frame an audience chamber in the Vatican where the pope sits in a Renaissance armchair upholstered in velvet and studded with brass-headed nails. The four standing figures are portraits of his nephews, including, in the center, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who later became Pope Julius II. Before him kneels the humanist Platina, the library's director, who points downward to a Latin inscription he composed to extol the pope's achievements in restoring Rome. To heighten the illusion, Melozzo allowed the folds of Platina's cloak to overlap the frame.

Quattrocento Painting in Ferrara

Quattrocento Painting in Ferrara

13.23 Primavera, c. 1482 comm. by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici

The setting of Botticelli's Primauera ("Spring," fig. 13.23) is a grove of dark orange trees, whose intertwined branches and golden fruit fill the upper portion of the picture. Between the trunks one glimpses the sky and, at one point, a hint of a distant landscape. Just off-center stands a modest figure, one hand raised as if in benediction. At the right Zephyrus, the wind god, enters the scene in pursuit of the virgin nymph Chloris, from whose mouth flowers seem to issue; in the legend Zephyrus rapes Chloris and then marries her. Chloris is then transformed into Flora, goddess of Spring, who scatters blossoms from her flower-embroidered garment. Because the picture represents the eternal spring that flourished in Venus'garden, Flora is a key figure in decoding the meaning. On the left Mercury raises his caduceus to snag and dispel the storm clouds trying to enter the garden. The three figures dancing in a ring are the Graces; above, the blindfolded Cupid shoots ablazinggolden arrow in their direction. The figure in the center, so much like one of Botticelli's Madonnas, is Venus, goddess of Love and Beauty and also, in this context, Marriage. The Primauera car. probably be identified with a painting documented in the town house of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici in 1498. In about 1478 Marsilio Ficino wrote a letter to Lorenzo, who was then only fourteen or fifteen years old, in which he described the virtues of Venus: Venus, that is to say, Humanitas ... is a nymph of excellent comeliness, born of heaven and more than others beloved by God all highest. Her soul and mind are Love and Charity, her eyes Dignity and Magnanimity, the hands Liberality and Magnificence, the feet Comeliness and Modesty. The whole, then, is Temperance and Honestn Charm and Splendor. Oh, what exquisite beauty! My dear Lorenzo, a nymph of such nobility has been wholly given into your hands! If you were to unite with her in wedlock and claim her as yours, she would make all your years sweet.

14.17 Side wall of the Sistine Chapel, 1480-82, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere

(duplicate of above) The principles of Perugino's spatial composirion are evident in Christ Giuing the Keys to St. Peter in the Sistine Chapel (figs. 14.16), part of the program commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481 (figs.14.77-14.18; see also pp. 332-34). Perugino represented the moment when Christ gives Peter the keys to heaven and earth, and the structure in the center of the piazza is doubtless intended to represent symbolically the Church as an institution, founded on the "rock" of St. Peter. It is surely no accident that this theme establishing the authority of the pope is opposite Botticelli's fresco showing the punishment of usurpers who tried to assume the role of Moses (see fig. 13.19). Notice too that the buildings in Perugino's painting are in pristine condition, in opposition to the decayed architecture painted by Botticelli. Perugino's central structure is flanked by triumphal arches, modeled on Constantine's arch in Rome, and bearing inscriptions comparing the building achievements of Sixtus to those of Solomon. In the middle ground the scene in which Christ says "render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" (Matthew 22:27) is shown to the left; to the right is the stoning of Christ, who, according to the Gospel of St. John, hid himself, then passed through the midst of his assailants. The perspective of the piazza is constructed according to Alberti's system, although with larger squares, probably to avoid the visual complexity that would have resulted from using the size of square-three for the height of a human figure in the foreground-that the Albertian system recommended. The figures and drapery masses echo the works of Florentine painters and sculptors from Masaccio to Verrocchio, and the ideal church blends elements drawn from the Baptistery of Florence and Brunelleschi's dome (see figs.2.33, 6.71.

A Female Patron: Isabella d'Este, Marchese of Mantua

A Female Patron: Isabella d'Este, Marchese of Mantua

Chapter 13: Art in Florence under the Medici II

Chapter 13: Art in Florence under the Medici II

Chapter 14: The Renaissance in Central Italy

Chapter 14: The Renaissance in Central Italy

15.45-15.47 Vittore Carpaccio, St. Ursula cycle, Departure of the Prince; The Betrothal, The Arrival of the Ambassadors, Dream of St. Ursula 1490, Scuola di Sant'Orsola, Venice

Carpaccio divided the story into eight large paintings, one of which shows the departure of the prince from Britain, his arrival in BrittanS and the departure of the couple for Rome (fig. 15.a5). Although Britain at the left and Brittany at the right are separated by a flagpole, the same sunny Venetian sky with big, floating clouds unites them. For Carpaccio they were merely two sides of the same ideal harbor, a background for a narrative sequence that allows a celebration of the naval power and palatial splendor of imperial Venice. Britain could be any Venetian port along the Dalmatian coast or in the Aegean islands, with a castle rising above the fortifications of a seaside city. Brittany is Carpaccio's fantasy on Quattrocento Venice, with marble-clad palaces, domes, towers crowding to the sea, and ships being repaired in the naval arsenal of Venice (see fig. 15.56). The verticals of towers, flagpoles, and masts and the diagonal of the galleon gave him straight lines with which to unite the diffuse composition. The narrative moves from left to right. First, the prince kneels to take leave of his father; next we see him dressed in brocade meeting his bride; then, prince and princess kneel before the king of Brittany; finally to the sound of trumpets, the young couple and the first contingent of virgins move toward the longboat that will take them to waiting ships. Carpaccio's colors are generally subdued by an allover golden tonality so that even the occasional strong reds, blues, and greens are never obtrusive. His series of paintings for the scuole are united by this atmospheric effect. He demonstrates a preference for triangular areas-people, drapery passages, sails, banners, architectural shapes-and the result is a Venetian web of space and color. The delicately lit faces seldom betray emotion. Many are surely contemporary portraits; perhaps the artist himself peers at us from the crowds who throng his docksides and piazzas. The Arriual of the Ambassadors of Britain at the Court of Brittany lfig. $.a6) depicts an earlier episode in the legend. In the center, the ambassadors kneel before the enthroned monarch. On the right, the king is seated at the edge of a bed, his crowned head propped on one hand, as he listens wearily while his daughter ticks off on her fingers the conditions she intends to impose for the marriage. The painting offers many delightful details, including the shrewd portraiture, the wittily drawn distant figures, and the intimate scene in the king's bedchamber, where what appears to be an early Madonna by Giovanni Bellini hangs on the wall. Carpaccio's golden tonality saturates the marble slabs and splendid fabrics with the glow of afternoon. Carpaccio's poetic style is evident in the Dream of St. Urswla (fig. $.a71. The saint is sleeping in a high-ceilinged bedroom when a golden-haired angel enters to bring her the palm that signals her approaching martyrdom. The angel is accompanied by a burst of powerful light based on Carpaccio's study of morning sunlight effects. Here it may represent a flash of divine light accompanying the revelation in the deep of night. Every detail is observed with almost Antonellesque fidelity down to the three-legged stool, the reading table with lectern and portable library that accompanied the saint on her trip, the wooden clogs before her bed, and the crown carefully laid on the bench at its foot. The light effects range from the burst accompanying the angel and the sharp ray running along the ceiling from the oculus window at the right to the softer effects in the anteroom and the diffused sparkle of the bottle-bottom windows. All are unified by the softened red and greenishgray tones that predominate. A Madonna and Child painting or relief hangs on the wall, with a candle in a holder in front of it and, below, a sprinkler and bucket for holy water so that the image could be sprinkled before and during devotions. Some day perhaps iconographers will discover why over one door there is a beautifully painted nude statue of a water carrier and over the other a provocative Venus on her shell. Neither seems to have much to do with the chaste saint sleeping so peacefully in her bed.

15.8 Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon, Ca' d'Oro (Palazzo Contarini), comm. by Marino Contarini, 1421-27

Early Quattrocento Art and Architecture in Venice When we turn to Venice we need to move back slightly in time, to a period when the dominant style was still that of the International Gothic. In terms of architecture, the most splendid example of the style in Venice is the fantastic Ca d'Oro (House of Gold; fig. 15.8). Protected by their canals, Venetian palaces did not require the fortresslike construction we have seen in other Italian cities. Venetian builders erected the fagades of the palaces of the mosr important families along the main thoroughfare, the Grand Canal, following a system devised as early as the eleventh century. Long rows of large arches and windows opened onto the canal (the plots were deep and the canal fagade provided the best opportunity for lighting the interior), while on the lowest story a multiple-arched entrance led from the gondola landing into a courtyard with a wellhead, stairways, and, perhaps, a small garden. \7hile the Ca d'Oro follows the traditional pattern, it is the brilliant variety of its decoration that makes it the most spectacular Gothic palazzo in the city. On the windows and loggia of the two upper floors, above the simple arches of the entrance, pointed arches with rounded and pointed quatrefoils in stone tracery compete for our attention. The scalloped cusping of the pointed arches sets up a contrapuntal effect, rvhile the tracery parterns of the windows to the right offer additional r-ariations on Gothic motifs. The Venetian sky drarvs our arrenrion ro rhe top of the building, where a row of exotic pinnacles based on the quatrefoil extend the decoration ups'ard; the balls ar rhe end of each lobe are among the details originallv covered in gold leaf. The pale red-and-white srone of rhe faqade rvas originally enhanced with varnish; when combined rvith the gilded details that gave the palazzo its name, the effect must have been dazzling.

Portraiture

Portraiture

Rome in the fifteenth century:

Rome in the fifteenth century:

11.31, 32 Piero della Francesca, Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro 1474

The backs of Piero's portraits of Federico and Battista (fig. 11.31) are painted with allegories of triumphs (fig. 11.32) and humanist texts that extol their virtues; unfortunately no evidence survives to suggest how double-sided portraits such as these might have been displayed (the current frame is not the original). The ducal mantle worn bv Federico in the triumph scene seems to date the panels aher September 1474, when he was elevated to his longdesired rank (he does not wear the mantle in the Madonna and Cbild uitb Saints), but by that date Battista had been dead for more than two years. Both Piero and Francesco Laurana, who created a bust of Battista at about this same rime (see fig. 14.28), must have worked from the stillextant death mask. Motionless and with chins silhouetted against the sky above the horizon, the portrait heads create an effect of grandeur. Piero's cool light plays full on rhe pale skin of Battista, but leaves that of Federico somewhat in shadow. Federico's profile, disfigured by a sword blow in a tournament that cost him his right eye and the bridge of his nose, rr.as done using the same cartoon as the portrait in the l[adonna. His olive skin is set against Battista's pallor, his low-set red hat and tunic against her fashionably high forehead, blonde hair, and jewels. Her pearls concentrate rhe radiance of the landscape and sky in a chain of lucent globes that deliberately contrast with the s<1uare, gray towers of the city beyond. Every element of luxury in the veil and jewels has, however, been subordinated to the sense of order that dominates both portraits and piero's work in general. The profiles of Federico and Battista are set against continuous landscapes that surely refer to the extent of their realm. The city in Battista's portrait is probably Gubbio, the second city of the Montefeltro domain, where Battista had taken her children during the construction of the palace in Urbino, where she gave birth to Guidobaldo, and where she died. Piero has set himself new problems in the landscapes. His representation of atmospheric perspective makes us aware of how the veil of atmosphere, which even in a Tuscan summer contains some moisture, softens the

13.2 Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Hercules and the Hydra, c. 1460 prob for Medici Palace

Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1431/32-1498) excels in subjects of action, especially themes from mythology in which his naturalism can be expressed. His treatments of scriptural themes sometimes take on a fierce air that seems to reinterpret the religious content. Pollaiuolo means "poultrykeeper," perhaps a reference to his father's or another ancestor's occupation. Antonio began as a goldsmith and designer of embroideries with gold and silver thread. As one would expect, he is adept at linear precision, but his fascination with the figure in motion is a surprise. No artist since Hellenistic times had treated this theme with anything approaching his ability. Andrea del Castagno, who greatly influenced him, had tried in his Dauid shield (see fig. 11.16), but his attempt seems stiff when compared with the strong movement of Pollaiuolo's figures. About 1460 Antonio painted three large pictures representing the Labors of Hercules that are listed in the 1492 inventory of the Medici Palace. Hercules, a favorite Florentine hero, appeared on the seal of the republic in the late Duecento and is even represented among the reliefs by Andrea Pisano on the Campanile. Pollaiuolo's three paintings were among the works moved to the Palazzo dei Priori after the expulsion of the Medici, which suggests that they may have had a sharp political content. The paintings were among the first large-scale Renaissance works devoted to mythology. Because they were painted on canvas (unusual at this timel see fig. 13.24), it is possible that they originally functioned as banners for a festival or tournament. The originals are lost, but Pollaiuolo's tiny panels of Hercules and the Hydra and Hercules and Antaews (figs. 13.2-13.3) probably preserve two of the large compositions.

Chapter 15: Gothic and Renaissance in Venice and Northern Italy

Chapter 15: Gothic and Renaissance in Venice and Northern Italy

15.43 Giovanni Bellini St. Francis in Ecstasy, 1470's

Giovanni's pantheistic view of nature is explicit in his Sr. Francis in Ecstasy (fig. 15.a3). It is not certain exactly what moment in the saint's life is represented in this unusually large narrative painting; it has been argued that this is not the stigmatization because we already see the wounds in the saint's hands. 's7hatever the exact moment, what we see here is an ecstatic figure of St. Francis in a verdant natural setting. He stands before a cave supplied with a grape arbor that shades his rough desk, on which only a book and skull appear. Vith hands outstretched, he looks upward toward a burst of golden light in the upper left corneriA slender sapling seems to bend toward him, and u'ater flows from a stone spout attached to a little spring below. Both water and sapling are references to Mosesthe burning bush and the water struck from the rock-in line with the interest of Francis's followers in depicting him as a second Moses. In the distance, beyond a standing crane and a motionless donkey-the latter an exemplar of patience and a symbol of solitude, penitence, and poverty-a shepherd warches over his flock. The rabbit in a burrow is a reference to a hermit in a cave. The sunlight seems to pour down on the fertile valley, the hillsides, the outcroppings of rock, the tranquil city, the humans, animals, and plants, and, above all, the saint. The clear deep blue of the sky helps to explain the crystalline nature of the detail throughout. Every object is represented with a Netherlandish fidelity to visual accuracy worthy of Antonello..

12. 4, 5 Bertoldo di Giovanni, Commemorative Medal of the Pazzi Conspiracy with the Portraits of Lorenzo il Magnifico (left) and Giuliano de' Medici, (right), 1478

Giuliano's death and Lorenzo's survival are commemorated in a medal commissioned by the latter (figs. 72.4-12.5). On the side honoring Giuliano, the attack is shown in front of the polygonal enclosure that surrounded the Duomo's altar, emphasizing the sacrilegious nature and timing of the murder. Giuliano's gigantic head soars over the scene; he is identified by name, and the phrase "LUCTUS PUBLICUS" ("Public Mourning") below his profile identifies the appropriate public response to his murder. The phrase "SALUS PUBLICA" ("Public Safety") appears below Lorenzo's head, implying that Lorenzo's salvation was crucial for the good of the city. Another commemoration of the event was a life-sized figure of Lorenzo with cloth garments and a wax head and hands. Commissioned by the Baroncelli familS it was set up in front of a miracle-working crucifix in their family church. Since a family member had been part of the conspiracy, the figure of Lorenzo was probably made to reassure the surviving Medici of the allegiance of the rest of the family. The figure wore the bloodstained garments Lorenzo had been wearing that Sunday, which he donated for this commemoration. Many figures of this type were documented, but none survives. They represent one of many genres of Renaissance art for which we have no visual record. Such gaps remind us how limited our knowledge is of certain aspects of the visual culture of this period.

15.66 Francesco del Cossa, The Months of April and May, from the Hall of the Months, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, comm. by Borso d'Este, c 1470

In Cossa's April (fig.15.66), Venus rules from a kind of barge drawn by swans. On either bank, elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen indulge in amorous courtship that is parodied by white rabbits. Presiding over the couples are the Three Graces at the upper right; like Botticelli's Graces in the Primauera (see fig. 13.231, their composition reveals that an ancient source, written or visual, was the model (see pp. 338-39). Like the other frescoes, this scene resembles a continuous tapestry replete with fascinating details and an occasional extension into illusionistic depth.

15.32 Gentile Bellini, Procession in St Marks Square, 1496, comm. by the Scuola of San Giovanni Evangelista for their confraternity headquarters

In Venice, meanwhile, the Bellini brothers were creating a new style. The older Gentile won a number of large, official commissions and was painting for a similar kind of public as Ghirlandaio, recording the Venetian scene as faithfully as Ghirlandaio did that of Florence. FJ.is Procession of tbe Relic of the True Cross (fie. 15.32) was painted for the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista. The scuole (schools) of Venice were not educational institutions as the name might suggest but confraternities of the same type as the Misericordia in Florence. Their members, who tended to come from the middle class, gathered for religious ceremonies and to do good works within the city. Needless to say, there was a certain amount of competition among the scuole, whose headquarters always included a large hall that was used as a combined hospice for the poor and hospital ward, a chapel, and often a meeting room as well. In a damp climate not conducive to fresco paintings, works on canvas formed suitable decorations for these public rooms, and series of large, framed narrative scenes for the scuole make up a large part of the production of some Venetian artists. Sfhile these series were usually dedicated to the life of the scuola's patron saint, details of Venetian life are often included, and in some cases, as here, events in the life of the scuola are depicted. The relic of the True Cross, the pride of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, was carried annually in procession on the feast day of St. Mark through the Piazza San Marco. The painting shows the procession of 1444, when the miraculous healing of the son of a visiting merchant demonstrated the relic's power. The brothers of the order, dressed in white robes, are not those who were there in 1,444, bt:t rather portraits of Bellini's contemporaries, as are many of the spectators, while the setting documents contemporary Venetian life and buildings. The basilica of San Marco and the Doge's Palace are now much as they were then, although most of the mosaics of San Marco's fagade have long since been replaced; thanks to Gentile's commitment to capturing Venetian life, we can gain an idea of their original appearance from his painting. ln 1479-80, Gentile served as court artist for Sultan

(not in text) Guido Mazzoni, Lamentation, for Alfonso II, Church of Monteololiveto 1492

In the mid 1470's, Mazzoni created one of his most important works, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1477-80, San Giovanni Battista, Modena). Produced in terracotta and painted, the figures are life-size and highly expressive. This was followed by Adoration of the Child (1485-90, Modena Duomo), also a pigmented terracotta sculpture with five figures. Mazzoni's most stunning group of terracotta sculptures however, is the Lamentation (1492-94) at the Church of Monteoliveto, Naples. This group statue was commissioned for the Chapel of the Sepulchre of the church by Alfonso II of Naples. Each figure in the work is a character portrait of either the donor, or his family. For example, the life-size kneeling figure of Joseph of Arimathea, is in fact a portrait of Mazzoni's patron, Alfonso II. Alfonso's wife, Eleonora, is depicted as Maria di Cleof. The staged melodrama of the scene, is a direct influence of Mazzoni's experience of the theatre. Mazzoni's own wife, Isabella Discalzi, as well as his daughter, collaborated with him on this and many of his other works.

15.13 Jacopo Bellini, Flagellation from a model book, c. 1450

Jacopo's Flagellation (fig. 15.13) is dominated by an enormous Gothic palace, vaguely similar to the Doge's Palace in Venice, with an open loggia, balconies, and classical reliefs and statues. Only after exploring the diverse spaces do we notice Christ, tied to a column in the loggia, and Pilate, who sits in a niche while bystanders look on idly. The figures nearest us, who are irrelevant to the narrative, are, in accordance with perspective, larger than the two protagonlsts. In these drawings, Jacopo shows that this is the way even important events happen: not neatly centered and aggrandized, but as part of a universal texture of experience in which many of the characters simply go about their daily lives. Jacopo's daring adoption of Albertian perspective gave him a powerful instrument to demonstrate his views and, moreover, to assert the northern tradition that nature is dominant over humanity.

15.29 Giancristoforo Romano, Portrait Medal of Isabella d'Este, 1499

Mantegna and Isabella d'Este When Isabella d'Este, daughter of Ercole I, duke of Ferrara, married Francesco Gonzaga in 1,490, she became Marchesa of Mantua and established herself as one of the foremost |at.o.rs and collectors of art of the Renaissance. Isabella's portrait is known in several examples, including a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci and a painting by Titian. Here we reproduce her personal gold version of the portrait medal she commissioned (fig. 15.29); she presented bronze versions to important individuals, following a tradition in the north Italian courts that developed after the first medals were created by Pisanello (see figs. 1,5.6-1,5.7).

15.19- 15. 21 Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints (San Zeno Altarpiece); and Crucifixion from the predella, 1456-59, San Zeno, Verona, for Gregorio Correr

Mantegna's first major altarpiece is still in its original position on the high altar of the huge Romanesque church of San Zeno it Verona (figs. 15.19-1,5.20). Often characterized as a pictorial version of Donatello's lost altarpiece for Sant'Antonio in Padua (see p. 258), the altarpiece may well reflect some of the sculptor's architectural and figural arrangements. The wooden frame has been transformed into a carved and gilded fagade, its pediment and entablature supported by four columns that seem to be attached to painted piers. Together the real half-columns and painted piers seem to form one side of a square loggia defined by piers within the painting. In the center of this loggia, the Mrgin sits on a classicizing marble throne. To the sides, eight saints, meditating or conversing, diminish in size as they recede from us. The brilliant colors of their robes stand out against the veined marble of the painted architecture, the blue sky and Mantegna's icy white clouds. Garlands of fruits and flowers, a rosary, and an egg symbolizing the Virgin Birth, as in Piero's Madonna and Child (see fig. 11.30), hang between the columns and piers; a burning oil lamp is suspended from the egg. Around and below the throne, putti sing or strum on lutes. The manner in which the Asian rug below the Virgin's feet conceals the sculpted putti of the pedestal is a surprisingly witty touch; we want to lift the rug to examine the rest of Mantegna's invention. The brightness of the colors and gold, the powerful architectural masses, the sharp definition of the forms, and the consistency of the spatial formulation combine to create an illusion of reality that must have been overpowering at the time. This is an important reminder for today's viewers, who study the work as a painting and, accustomed to photography, television, and computers, are perhaps immune to some of the effects of visual reality achieved by Mantegna. 'We have seen framing used to similar illusionistic effect in Pietro Lorenzettl's Birth of the Virgin (see fig. 4.26), but most likely Mantegna had no knowledge of that picture. A grand tradition of north Italian illusionistic altarpieces starts from Mantegna's formulation here at San Zeno and continues into the Cinquecento, as we shall see.

15.24-15.25 Mantegna: Camera Picta Frescoes: Ludovico Gonzaga, His Family and Court, Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, Ceiling Oculus, 1465-74, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, comm. by Ludovico Gonzaga,

Mantegna's interest in foreshortening also played a role in the Camera picta ("painted chamber") that he frescoed for Ludovico Gonzaga and his family in one of the towers of their castle (figs. 15.24-1.5.25) The paintings are continuous on two of the four *'alls and across the vaulted ceiling. The scene taking place in the right section of the adjoining wall (see fig. 75.241 has not been identified with any known event and may be s1'mbolic. At the left stands Ludovico, at the right his older son and successor, Federico, and in the center his second son, Cardinal Francesco, who in 1,472 was made titular head of the church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua (see figs. 10.7-10.9). The background, perhaps meant to represent Rome, has Roman ruins and statues outside its walls and a castle above. In spite of losses, the glowing color is one of the chief delights of the room. There is, however, a considerable difference in color between the ceiling, painted in fresco, and the walls, which Mantegna carried out with a vehicle that has been identified as walnut oil.

14.34, Pere Joan, Pietro da Milano, et. al, Triumphal Arch of King Alfonso of Aragon, Castello Aragonese, (Castel Nuovo), for King Alfonso I. 1453-58, 1465-71

Naples The transition from ruler to ruler in Italian centers of power was often difficult, especially if there was no natural male heir. Although the Spaniard Alfonso of Aragon was adopted in 1421 as the heir of Queen Giovanna II of Naples, who was childless, he was not able to claim his inheritance vntrl 7443. The Neapolitan castle that Alfonso then built to convey his power and control is a traditional fortification of the type developed during the Middle Ages, with five crenellated towers and a surrounding moat. It is the elegant, marble, Renaissance-style triumphal arch (fig. 14.34) that marks the entrance, a signal that this is home to a prince with humanist aspirations, that makes it exceptional. Alfonso, a student of ancient writings, surrounded himself with learned scholars. The main narrative scene, above the lower arch, represents Alfonso's triumphal entry into the city in 1443, when a temporary triumphal arch, perhaps similar to this one, was erected. In the carved marble version recording the event, the king is shown elevated on a canopied cart drawn by horses and accompanied by retainers. The motif of paired columns framing an arch on tlvo levels is based on ancient Roman triumphal arches, and the winged victories holding wreaths in the spandrels of the upper arch are drawn from the same source. The style of relief carving also emulates Roman art. The four figures in shell niches near the top are Virtues, suggesting that these are among the personal attributes of the king. Reclining figures in the topmost arch hold cornucopia as a reference to the prosperity Alfonso will bring to the city and region. The culminated figure is Alfonso, who is represented wearing ancient armor. Although the carving is less skillful than we have seen in Florence and elsewhere, the arch communicates the expectation that Alfonso's reign will bring to Naples a return to the grandeur of the Roman imperial past..

15.40 Giovanni Bellini, Pietà, 1468-71

Of all Giovanni Bellini's early works, perhaps the most moving is the Pietd (fig. 15.40), which is again closely related to a composition originated by Jacopo Bellini. The tomb ledge suggests the parapet of Jacopo's Madonna compositions, while behind the ledge Mary and John the Evangelist hold up the dead Christ for meditation. His 15.3 8. GIOVANNI B ELLINI. Madonna and Chi ld. c. 146045. head, still crowned with thorns, falls toward that of the ashen, worn Mary, who brings her cheek almost to his and searches the pale face and sunken eyes. Her eyes, and those of John, are red from weeping, and the inscription at the bottom reads, "Iil/hen these swelling eyes evoke groans, rhis work of Giovanni Bellini could shed tears." The streams of blood that have congealed below the lance wound and along the left forearm are the warmesr tones in the picture. The cold clear sky complemenrs the subdued colors of the draperS and the atmosphere suggests the biting clarity of a winter day. The colors of the flesh of Mary and John are a subtle contrast to the greenish tones of Christ's gently illuminated body. Both figures and landscape seem locked between the twin horizontals of marble at the bottom and clouds at the top. Never again are Giovanni's dramas so intense or his appeal to emotion so explicit. As his style matures, the conrent of his pictures becomes warmer and richer, as does his sun drenched color.

15.34. Antonello da Messina, St. Jerome in His Study, 1470's

One of Antonello's earliest pictures, St. lerome in His Study (fig. 15.34), is so Netherlandish in style that in 1529 there was a debate over whether it was by Antonello, Hans Memling, or possibly Jan van Eyck himself. St. Jerome reads quietly in a fantastic alcove set within a monastic library. 'We are admitted to his study through an illusionistic arch similar to those used by the Flemish painter Rogier van der \(eyden, albeit simpler and less Gothic. On the step, lighted from the window through which we are looking, are a brass bowl, a peacock, and a partridge. The same light throws the shadow of the arch on the interior and competes with the light from the distant windows. St. Jerome's desk and shelves are mounted in the brightest section, just below a clerestory window. In the shadows behind him, his lion strolls across an elaborate majolica floor, coming to a stop as if noticing us looking in through the window. In true Van Eyck tradition, the picture is complete down to the tiniest detail of architecture and still life, including the Netherlandish motif of a towel hanging on a nail. The light effects, the atmosphere of the room, and the landscape visible through the windows all suggest Antonello's use of Van Eyck's techniques of oil painting and glazes. Like many Netherlandish paintings, this little picture is a microcosm of its own at the same time that it reveals the vastness of the outside world.

13.40 Domenico del Ghirlandaio, Old Man with a Young Boy, c. 1490

Our farewell to Ghirlandaio might best be made with his incisive portrait of an old man with a child, possibly his grandson (fig. 13.40). The sitters have never been identified. A drawing by Ghirland:rio showing the old man on his deathbed reveals that the painting served as a commemoration. All the best qualities of Ghirlandaio's art appear here: the inner gentleness of expression, the delicate light on the smooth surfaces, the brilliance of the color, the beauty of the landscape, the straightforward composition, and the honesty of detail, studied with such respect that the old man's deformity loses its ugliness.

15.6,7 Antonio Pisanello, Portrait Medal of Cecilia Gonzaga obverse (head) and reverse

Pisanello's earliest medal commemorated the court visit of the Byzantine emperor John MII Palaeologus to Ferrara in 1438-39 and was probably produced in 1439-40. Over the course of the next twenty-two years, he made more than rwo dozen portrait medals. Here we illustrate the first Renaissance medal of a woman, Cecilia Gonzaga (figs. 75.6-1,5.7), daughter of the marchese of Mantua. Cecilia had learned ancient Greek by the age of seven and became an accomplished classical scholar before entering a convent in 1.445. She died six years after the medal was cast. Her virtue is expressed on the back in the form of a partially nude woman who is probably an allegorical rep-resentation of Innocence; it was believed that the unicorn accompanying her could be captured only by a virgin.

Fra Angelico, St Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church from Pope Sixtus II, and St. Lawrence Distributing Alms, 1448 from the Chapel of Nicholas V, Vatican Palace, Rome

Pope nicholas v charged fra angelico with the commission to render frescoes in his private chapel at the vatican depicting the lives of st.stephen and st.lawrence. based on the biblical acts of the apostles and jacobus da voragine's golden legend, respecrively, the scenes depict the consecration of each saint as as deacon, their distribution of alms to the poor, their judgements, and their martyrdoms. in addition, st. stephen is shown preaching in the presence of the doctors of the church, and st. lawrence receives the treasures of the church from pope sixtus II who in the frescoes bears nicholas v's likeness. on the chapel's vault arc the four evangelists set against a blue background dotted with stars, while on the arches are the doctors of the church. finally on the altar wall. fra angelico rendered a deposition that is no longer extant. the reason for the pairing of st.stephen and st. lawrence in the chapel is that st.stephen's body arrived in Rome from Jerusalem in the 6th century, when it was reburied at St. Lorenzo fuori le Mura alongside St. Lawrence's remains. Nicholas v had the saints tombs reopened in 1447 and both were found to be well preserved. the frescoes in Nicholas chapel celebrate this miraculous event.

13.17, Jacopo del Sellaio, and Biagio d'Antonio, Morell-Nerli Cassone, 1472

Renaissance Cassoni We studied a painting removed from a cassone) a Florentine wedding chest, earlier when we looked at the works of Francesco Pesellino (see fig. 12.28). Here we illustrate an example of a complete cdssone, one of a pair (fig. 13.17). In this case we know who commissioned the work and its pendant, who the artists were, who the bridal couple lvere, and how much it cost. The painters were Jacopo del Sellaio and Biagio d'Antonio, and the .,voodworker who built the chest was Zanobi di Domenico. Such collaboration was common in the Florentine workshop tradition, and may have been frequent when works had to be finished for a certain occasion, such as a wedding. The choice of themes drawn from ancient history is in the cassoni tradition; here all four scenes represent moments of heroism or good judgment and would seem to be directed toward the groom, who commissioned the two chests. The figures on the sides are seated allegories of virtues. The addition of a back panel (the spalliera) here, which allows for a second narrative scene on each chest, shows a later development in cassoni design and indicates the growing elegance characteristic of the Florentine home in the later Quattrocento.

Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli

13.24 Birth of Venus, 1484-6, prob a Medici commission

Slightly smaller than the Primauera, painted on canvas (a surface at this time usually reserved for ceremonial banners), and recorded in no Quattrocento inventory the Birth of Venus (fig. 1,3.24) was seen, together with the Primauera, in Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's villa at Castello by Vasari in the mid-sixteenth century. The suggestion that the painting might originally have served a function different from that of the Primauero is supported not only by the unusual use of canvas but also by the more simplified composition and iconography. \flhether it might have been a banner for a procession or festival is uncertain, but we know that Botticelli painted such works because he is documented in 1475 as painting a now-lost standard for a Joust. Although the Birth of Venus corresponds to a passage in Poliziano's La giostra, E.H. Gombrich related it to Ficino's interpretation of the mythical birth of the full-grown Venus after the sea had been fertilized by the severed genitals of her father, Uranus. Ficino saw this birth as an allegory of the birth of beauty in the mind of humanity. Botticelli's Venus, arisen from the sea, stands on the front edge of a shell, while Zephyrus and a nymph waft her to shore, where she will be robed by a waiting Hour, one of her traditional attendants. The figure of Venus is derived from ancient statues of the Venus pudica (modest Venus) type, in which the figure tries to hide her nakedness with her hands. In Botticelli's variation, her long golden hair sweeps gracefully about her, its flowing lines enhancing the willowy figure. The neckline of the waiting Hour is wreathed in laurel, presumably another Medicean reference. The sea itself is simply rendered, with V-shapes suggesting waves. Flowers drift through the air, and Venus' unearthly beauty is heightened by the use of gold pigment to highlight her hair; Botticelli's use of gold here may have been inspired by Donatello's use of golden highlights for his Penitent Magdalen (see fig. 12.6). The qualities of atmosphere and mass that so interested Renaissance artists are irrelevant in this picture, which is dependent on the delicacy of Botticelli's line. His proportions show here their greatest exaggeration, yet despite this, the long neck and torrent of hair help to create an entrancing figure.

15.65 Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de' Roberti, Cosmè Tura, et al., The Room of the Months (Sala dei Mesi) Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1470's

The most remarkable surviving project of the Ferrarese artists is the fresco cycle lining the Sala dei Mesi (Hall of the Months), the main hall in the Palazzo Schifanoia at Ferrara, a hunting lodge enlarged by Duke Borso d'Este beginning around 1455 (figs. 1,5.65-1,5.66). The frescoes are related to the calendar illustrations that appear frequently in Northern European manuscripts, but here there is a special emphasis, as we might expect, on Borso d'Este as a wise ruler. The program, devised by a still-unidentified humanist, is complex. Each month is represented in the top register by the triumphal cart of the ancient deity who presided over that month, with the signs of the related zodiac in the middle zone and the courtly activities and practical labors appropriate for that month at the bottom. Portraits of Borso and his courtiers appear in various scenes on the lower level. The frescoes demonstrate the brilliance of Ferrarese coloring and the inventiveness of the local painters in their interpretation of subject matter. The leading master was apparently Cossa, with limited participation by Ercole de' Roberti and other, anonymous artists.

15.62-62 Cosmè Tura, Enthroned Madonna and Child with Angels, Pietà, from the Roverella Altarpiece, commissioned by members of the Roverella family, San Giorgio outside the walls, Ferrara 1474

The oldest of three important Ferrarese painters was Cosmd Tura (c. 7430-L495), who developed a personalized variant on the Early Renaissance style. The central panel of his Roverella altarpiece, a towering Entbroned Madonna and Child with Angels (fig. 15.62), is startling in its combination of sculptural intensity and unexpected color combinations. The Renaissance architectural elements, for example, alternate between green and pink, while the shell above the Virgin's throne is surprisingly fluid in design. At the top of the throne, statues of the symbols of the four Evangelists join winged putti and cornucopias from which dangle bunches of grapes. The capitals to the sides are original inventions; incised lines on the surface of the panel reveal that Tura used the same cartoon, reversed, to create these decorations. On the steps of this fantastic structure angels play viols and strum lutes. Below, an angel plays an organ while another works its bellows. The crowded space is characteristic of Tura's work, as are the contorted, strangely mesmerizing shapes. Instead of pilasters at the sides, the throne has the tablets of the Ten Commandments in abbreviated Hebrew. This inclusion is an unusual touch, and a recent analysis of the painting proposes that the full meaning of the Roverella altarpiece is best understood in the context of certain conflict between Jews and Christians in late Quattrocento Italy.

14.16 Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, c. 1480-82 Sistine Chapel, Rome

The principles of Perugino's spatial composirion are evident in Christ Giuing the Keys to St. Peter in the Sistine Chapel (figs. 14.16), part of the program commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481 (figs.14.77-14.18; see also pp. 332-34). Perugino represented the moment when Christ gives Peter the keys to heaven and earth, and the structure in the center of the piazza is doubtless intended to represent symbolically the Church as an institution, founded on the "rock" of St. Peter. It is surely no accident that this theme establishing the authority of the pope is opposire Botticelli's fresco showing the punishment of usurpers who tried to assume the role of Moses (see fig. 13.19). Notice too that the buildings in Perugino's painting are in prisrine condition, in opposition to the decayed architecture painted by Botticelli. Perugino's central structure is flanked by triumphal arches, modeled on Constantine's arch in Rome, and bearing inscriptions comparing the building achievements of Sixtus to those of Solomon. In the middle ground the scene in which Christ says "render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" (Matthew 22:27) is shown to the left; to the right is the stoning of Christ, who, according to the Gospel of St. John, hid himself, then passed through the midst of his assailants. The perspective of the piazza is constructed according to Alberti's system, although with larger squares, probably to avoid the visual complexity that would have resulted from using the size of square-three for the height of a human figure in the foreground-that the Albertian system recommended. The figures and drapery masses echo the works of Florentine painters and sculptors from Masaccio to Verrocchio, and the ideal church blends elements drawn from the Baptistery of Florence and Brunelleschi's dome (see figs.2.33, 6.71.

Perugino, The Battle of Love and Chastity, Studiolo of Isabella d'Este , 1499-1502

commissioned for isabella's studiolo is mantegna's parnassus in which mars embraces venus in front of a bed perched on a natural bridge. Cupid blows a dart toward vulcan, venus' husband, who menaces the couple from a cavern illuminated by the glow from his forge. In front of the bridge, apollo plays music on his lyre for a dance performed by the Muses, while mercury at the right leans gently against the winged horse pegasus. It is a classicizing fantasy, full of complex patterns of line and form and the muted colors of mantegna's late style. Replete with references to the ancient sculpture that mantegna had studied, the painted probably celebrated the wedding of francesco and isabella on feb 11 1490, when the planets mercury, mars, and venus all stood within the sign of aquarius, as did the westernmost bright star of the constellation pegasus. Mars and venus have been interpreted as references to Francesco and isabella. Such self-referencing was to be expected in the rarified setting of the italian court; also in isabella's studiolo was lorenzo costa's garden of the Peaceful arts, an allegory of the court at mantua with isabella being crowned by cupid and mantegna pallas expelling the vices from the garden of virtue, in which pallas is an allegorical representation of isabella. The colors of mars' garments, venus' scarf, and the coverings of the bed in the parnassus are the mingled colors of the este and gonzaga families. The paintings, its elements doubless specified by isabella, was then clearly an allegory of marital harmony, under which the arts, led by music, would flourish. Mantegna's death in 1506 was felt as a personal tragedy by the gonzaga family, for whom he had worked for nearly half a century. His fame was international; the german artist albrecht durer was on his way to visit mantegna when death intervened.

15.31 Mantegna, Parnassus, Studiolo of Isabella d'Este , 1499-1502

commissioned for isabellas studiolo. in which mars embraces venus in front of a bed perched on a natural bridge. cupid blows a dart toward vulcan, venus husband, who menaces the couple from a cavern illuminated by the glow from his forge. in front og the bridge, apollo plays music on his lyre for a dance performed by the muses while mercury at the right leans gently against the winded horse pegasus. it is a classicicizing fantasy, full of complex patterns of line and form and the muted colors of mantegnas late style. replete with references to the ancient sculpure that mantegna had studied the painting probably celebrated the wedding of francesco and isabella on feb 11 1490. when the planets mercery mars and venus all stood within the sign of aquarius as did the westernmost bright star of the constellation pegasus. mars and venus have been interpreted as references to francesco and isabella. such self referencing is expected from italian courts. in isabellas studiolo was lorenzo costa's garden of the peaceful arts, an allegory of the court at mantua with isabella being crowned by cupid, and mantegnas pallas expelling the vices from the garden of virtue, in which pallas is an allegorical representation of isabella. the colors of mars garments, venus scar and the coverings of the bed in the parnassus are the mingled colors of the este and gonzaga families. the painting, its elements doubtless specified by isabella, was then clearly an allegory of marital harmony, under which the arts, led by music, would flourish. mantegnas death in 1506 was felt as a personal tragedy by the gonzaga family, for whom he had worked for nearly half a century. His fame was international; the german artist albrecht durer was on his way to visit Mantegna when death intervened.

13.1, 13.36, 13.37 Domenico del Ghirlandaio, Fresco cycle of the lengend of St. Francis, Sassetti Chapel, Sta. Trinita, Florence, 1483-6, comm. by Francesco Sassetti

ln the Confirmdtion of the Franciscan Rule (fig. 13.35), Ghirlandaio's determination to paint Florence into his backgrounds is even more obvious. The scene of the pope's approval of the order, which took place in Rome, is eclipsed in the foreground by a grouping of Florentines and in the back by a view of Florence's most imporranr public square, thePiazza della Signoria (see fig. 2.40). The four portraits to the right are Antonio Pucci, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and Francesco and Federigo Sassetti. Coming up the steps in the foreground is the humanist Poliziano, followed by Lorenzo's sons: Giuliano is beside Poliziano, with Piero and Giovanni behind. 'We can still make out a nail hole in the middle of the central opening of the background loggia. This is where Ghirlandaio's bottega attached the nail that held the string used to mark the orthogonals of the perspective scheme and to create some of the semicircular arches of the setting. Ghirlandaio's use of a Florentine setting for this Roman scene has been related to the idea that republican Florence represented the idea of a "new Rome." In the chapel's altarpiece, the Natiuity and Adoration of the Shepherds (fig. 13.37\, the Virgin adores the Christ Child, who rests on a bundle of hay. Corinthian piers, one bearing the date 1485, support the roof of the shed. The ox and ass look earnestly out and down over the manger, here a Roman sarcophagus, its inscription recording a divine promise of resurrection for the former occupant. The Roman triumphal arch in the background bears an inscription of Pompey the Great. The train of the magi passes through the triumphal arch and moves toward the foreground. The realism of the ox, ass, Mary, and above all the three shepherds shows Ghirlandaio's study of Van der Goes's Portinari altarpiece (see fig. 13.32). Ghirlandaio must have admired this work for the completeness with which the tiniest detail was rendered. Following Van der Goes, he incorporates a vase of flowers into his foreground, complete with the Florentine iris. But although the types and poses of his shepherds come straight out of the Portinari altarpiece, the differences between the two works are instructive: for all his absorption in Netherlandish detail, Ghirlandaio was a Florentine, and he assimilated the detail into the overall monumentality and compositional harmony of an Italian Renaissance altarpiece.