1.
1540 in literature
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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1540. The first known book from the first printing press in North America, set up in Mexico City, is published, sir David Lyndsays Middle Scots satirical morality play A Satire of the Three Estates first performed, privately. Klemens Janicki is appointed poeta laureatus by Pope Paul III, lazare de Baif travels with Pierre de Ronsard to Alsace where they meet many northern humanists
2.
1540 in science
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The year 1540 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here. Valerius Cordus discovers and describes a method of synthesizing ether by adding sulfuric acid to ethyl alcohol, may 9 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail to explore the Baja California peninsula, on September 26 he enters the Colorado River. Vannoccio Biringuccios manual on metalworking, De la pirotechnia, is published posthumously, publication in London of the first printed book in English on obstetrics, The Byrth of Mankynde, a translation attributed to Richard Jonas from Rösslins De partu hominis. It will continue to be issued in new editions for more than a century, january 28 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician. February or March – Francis Drake, English explorer, possible date – Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser, Frisian navigator. Probable date – Johann Georg Faust, German alchemist
3.
Hans Holbein the Younger
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Hans Holbein the Younger was a German and Swiss artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century and he also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, Born in Augsburg, Holbein worked mainly in Basel as a young artist. At first he painted murals and religious works and designed for stained glass windows and he also painted the occasional portrait, making his international mark with portraits of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. When the Reformation reached Basel, Holbein worked for reformist clients while continuing to serve traditional religious patrons and his Late Gothic style was enriched by artistic trends in Italy, France and the Netherlands, as well as by Renaissance humanism. The result was a combined aesthetic uniquely his own, Holbein travelled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from Erasmus. He was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, where he built a high reputation. After returning to Basel for four years, he resumed his career in England in 1532 and this time he worked under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was Kings Painter to King Henry VIII, in this role, he produced not only portraits and festive decorations but designs for jewellery, plate and other precious objects. His portraits of the family and nobles are a record of the court in the years when Henry was asserting his supremacy over the English church. Holbeins art was prized from early in his career, the French poet and reformer Nicholas Bourbon dubbed him the Apelles of our time, a typical contemporary accolade. Holbein has also described as a great one-off of art history. After his death, some of his work was lost, but much was collected, recent exhibitions have also highlighted his versatility. He turned his fluid line to designs ranging from jewellery to monumental frescoes. Holbeins art has sometimes been called realist, since he drew and his portraits were renowned in their time for their likeness, and it is through Holbeins eyes that many famous figures of his day, such as Erasmus and More, are now seen. Holbein was never content, however, with outward appearance and he embedded layers of symbolism, allusion, and paradox in his art, to the lasting fascination of scholars. In the view of art historian Ellis Waterhouse, his portraiture remains unsurpassed for sureness and economy of statement, penetration into character, Holbein was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497–98. He was a son of the painter and draughtsman Hans Holbein the Elder, whose trade he and his brother, Ambrosius
4.
Qiu Ying
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Qiu Ying was a Chinese painter who specialized in the gongbi brush technique. Qiu Yings courtesy name was Shifu, and his pseudonym was Shizhou and he was born to a peasant family in Taicang and studied painting under Zhou Chen in Suzhou. Though Suzhous Wu School encouraged painting in ink washes, Qiu Ying also painted in the green-and-blue style and he painted with the support of wealthy patrons, creating images of flowers, gardens, religious subjects, and landscapes in the fashions of the Ming dynasty. He incorporated different techniques into his paintings, and acquired a few wealthy patrons and his talent and versatility allowed him to become regarded as one of the Four Masters of the Ming dynasty. Three of his best patrons were art collectors, one was Chen Guan from Suzhou. The other two were younger than Qiu, Zhou Fenglai, from nearby Kunshan, and the well-known wealthy collector Xiang Yuanbian. Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui (辞海编辑委员会）, Shanghai, Shanghai ci shu chu ban she （上海辞书出版社）,1979
5.
Imperial examination
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The Chinese imperial examinations were a civil service examination system in Imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. The examination helped to shape Chinas intellectual, cultural, political, shopping, arts and crafts, the increased reliance on the exam system was in part responsible for Tang dynasty shifting from a military aristocracy to a gentry class of scholar-bureaucrats. Starting with the Song dynasty, the system was regularized and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams, the content was narrowed and fixed on texts of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. Critics charged that the system stifled creativity and created officials who dared not defy authority, wealthy families, especially merchants, could opt into the system by educating their sons or purchasing degrees. In the 19th century, critics blamed the system, and in the process its examinations, for Chinas lack of technical knowledge. The influence of the Chinese examination system spread to neighboring Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, following the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855. Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit, modeled after these previous adaptations, the U. S established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883. However, the structure of the system was extensively expanded during the reign of Wu Zetian. Thus the system played a key role in the selection of the scholar-officials, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the system contributed to the narrowness of intellectual life and the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its 1905 abolition under the Qing dynasty, other brief interruptions to the system occurred, such as at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one and this changed during the Sui, when recruitment into the imperial civil service bureaucracy became to be considered an imperial prerogative, rather than a duty to be performed by the lower levels. By the Tang dynasty, most of the recruitment into central government bureaucrat offices was being performed by the bureaucracy itself, the regular higher level degree examination cycle was nominally decreed in 1067 to be 3 years. The jinshi tests were not an event and should not be considered so. Oral examination on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself, beginning in the Three Kingdoms period, imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by the local elites. This system continued until Emperor Yang of Sui established a new category of recommended candidates for the mandarinate in AD605, for the first time, an examination system was explicitly instituted for a category of local talents. However, the Sui dynasty was short-lived, and the system did not reach its mature development until afterwards, a pivotal point in the development of imperial examinations arose with the rise of Wu Zetian. Up until that point, the rulers of the Tang dynasty were all members of the Li family. Reform of the examinations to include a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins became a keystone of Wus gamble to retain power
6.
Francesco de' Rossi
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Francesco de Rossi was a Florentine Mannerist painter who lived and worked mainly in Florence, but also produced several works in Rome. He is known by names, prominently the adopted name Francesco Salviati or as Il Salviati. He apprenticed under Giuliano Bugiardini, Baccio Bandinelli, Raffaele Brescianino and it is from his attachment to this household that he took on the surname. He frescoed an Annunciation in San Francesco a Ripa and his mature style has mannerist contortions and crowded scenes similar to the output of Giulio Romano. Salviati painted in Bologna in 1540 alongside Vasari, and stayed for a time in Venice. During this period his style shows the influences of Parmigianino and his many portrait paintings can sometimes be confused for Bronzino. In 1543 Salviati returned to Florence, working for Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, he completed a fresco decoration eulogizing the Medici family. He also designed cartoons for the recently established Arazzeria, including Ecce homo, Resurrection. The latter commission was awarded after a competition, which pitted him against contemporary Florentine Mannerists, Bronzino and he painted a Deposition altarpiece for Santa Croce in 1547-48. This theme, one became a master oeuvre topic for Late-Renaissance artists, is handled in a crowded complex fashion. Freedberg, Sydney J. Pelican History of Art, ed, web Gallery of Art Biography of Salviati and images of works. The engravings of Giorgio Ghisi, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Francesco de Rossi
7.
Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period
8.
Thomas Schweicker
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Thomas Schweicker was a German artist and calligrapher. He was noted for being a painter even though he had no arms or hands, Schweicker was born in Schwäbisch Hall. He has been a subject of study for his skill at painting and writing, one of his more noted works is the self-portrait, which acts as a memorial tablet on his tomb
9.
Elizabeth I of England
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
10.
Andrea Andreani
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Andrea Andreani was an Italian engraver on wood, who was among the first printmakers in Italy to use chiaroscuro, which required multiple colours. Born and generally active in Mantua about 1540 and died at Rome in 1623 and his engravings are scarce and valuable, and are chiefly copies of Mantegna, Albrecht Dürer, Parmigianino and Titian. He was active 1584–1610 in Florence, Andrea Andreani in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th Edition, Vol. II, p.20. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Andreani. Dizionario degli architetti, scultori, pittori, intagliatori in rame ed in pietra, coniatori di medaglie, musaicisti, gaetano Schiepatti, Digitized by Googlebooks, Jan 24,2007
11.
Giovanni Maria Butteri
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Giovanni Maria Butteri, also known as Giovanmaria Butteri, was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, active in his native Florence. He was a pupil of Alessandro Allori and Francesco Salviati and he participated in the fresco decoration of the large cloister at Santa Maria Novella. Other works can be found at the churches of Santa Monica and San Barnaba in Florence and he also contributed a canvas for the programme of the Studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio, a visit by Prince Francesco I deMedici to Bortolo dAlvises glassworks. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical, york St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell and Sons
12.
Denis Calvaert
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Denis Calvaert was a Flemish painter born at Antwerp, who lived in Italy for most of his life, where he was known as Dionisio Fiammingo or simply Il Fiammingo. Calvaert was a student of architecture, anatomy, and history, his works are characterized by their advanced composition. After studying landscape-painting for some time in his city, he first studied under Christiaen van Queecborn. He then went to Bologna, where worked under Prospero Fontana and his paintings acquired the mannerism of Flemish art and appeared to be the work of an Italian. From Bologna he went to Rome in 1572, where he assisted Lorenzo Sabbatini in his works for the palace of the Vatican. He returned to Bologna and founded a studio, vicenzio Gotti, Francesco Gessi, and Giacomo Semenza also worked in his studio, before joining the studio of Guido Reni. Vincenzo Spisanelli and Gabriello Ferrantini worked under Calvaert as well, Calvaert typically used chiaroscuro techniques to set stylized foreground figures derived from Correggio against northern European landscapes. His use of colour also reflects the influence of Barocci and his principal works are to be seen at Bologna, Florence, St. Petersburg, Parma, and Caen, and many of his pictures have been engraved. Many of his works are in the National Art Gallery of Bologna, while St Michael and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed. Media related to Denis Calvaert at Wikimedia Commons Denys Calvaert On-Line
13.
Cristoforo Coriolano
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Cristoforo Coriolano was a German engraver of the Renaissance. He moved to Italy and changed his name from Lederer for that of Coriolano, others consider them to be the work of Christopher Krieger. He also engraved the greater part of the figures in the Ornithology of Ulisse Aldrovandi and he died in Venice in the beginning of the 17th century. His sons Giovanni Battista Coriolano and Bartolommeo Coriolano became eminent engravers in the Baroque period, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. York St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell, manfred H. Grieb, Nuernberger Kuenstlerlexikon, Muenchen 2007 Thomas, Joseph. Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology Vol I
14.
Annibale Fontana
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Annibale Fontana was an Italian sculptor, medallist and crystal-worker. His first known work is a case, now in the Schatzkammer of Munich. In 1570–1572 he was in Palermo, working for viceroy Francesco Fernardo dAvalos and he returned to Lombardy, where he married Ippolita Saracchi, a member of a famous family of crystal-workers. Later Fontana worked in the church of Santa Maria presso San Celso, executing the statue of the Assumption. He died in Milan in 1587
15.
Hieronymus Francken I
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Hieronymus Francken I or Hieronymus Francken the Elder was a Flemish painter and an important member of the Francken family of artists. After training in Antwerp, he was active in France. His compositions with elegant groups of dancing figures, musicians and courtiers anticipate the development of genre in the 17th century. Hieronymus Francken I was born in Herentals as the son of Nicolaes Francken and his father later settled in Antwerp and was likely his first teacher. His brothers Frans Francken I and Ambrosius Francken I both became successful painters and he probably went to work with Floris in the early 1560s. It is unclear whether he traveled to Italy after his training in Antwerp, such a trip is suggested by a work of his hand dated 1565 that depicts a scene from the Carnival of Venice. From 1566 to 1572 he was in France where he was one of the employed to decorate the Palace of Fontainebleau. Cornelis Floris, the Antwerp architect and brother of Franckens master Frans Floris, Hieronymus became a master in Paris in 1570 and a naturalized French citizen in 1572. This did not stop him returning to Antwerp regularly. In 1571 he was back in Antwerp to finish the Adoration of the Magi that had left unfinished by Frans Floris when he died in 1570. In 1574 he is documented in Antwerp, in 1571 he collaborated with his younger brother Frans on a large Adoration of the Magi triptych which bears his monogram as well as that of his younger brother Frans. The brothers included self-portraits in profile, Hieronymus on the left side, from 1578 until his death Hieronymus lived in Paris and Fontainebleau. In 1578 Hieronymus married for the second time and his second wife was Françoise Miraille, the daughter of an Italian embroiderer who was also concierge of Madame de la Roche-sur-Yon in Tournon Street. The couple went on to have seven children, in 1619 four of his children were recorded as still being alive. His daughter Isabella was a history and genre painter and he was successful and frequented higher middle-class circles. It is possibly that he operated a side business as an art dealer. Hieronymus was appointed painter to the French court in 1594. His service at the French court had started before this date
