1.
1550s in architecture
–
1550–1554 - Church of SantAndrea in Via Flaminia, Rome, designed by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, constructed, the first church of the Italian Renaissance to have an elliptical dome. 1552–1554 - Design and construction of Villa Cornaro in the Veneto by Palladio,1552 - Work begins on Fort Saint Elmo on Malta. 1554 - Work begins on Saint Basils Cathedral in Moscow, C.1555 - Design and construction of monastery of Santiago Apóstol and its basilica church in Cuilapan de Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico, by Antonio de Barbosa, begins. 1558 - Sforza Chapel in Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome,1559 - Work begins on the Villa Farnese at Caprarola, designed by Vignola. 1559 - Tekkiye Mosque in Damascus is completed,1550, April 18 - Alessandro Pieroni, Italian mannerist painter and architect c.1550 - Vittorio Cassar, Maltese architect 1556 - Carlo Maderno, Ticinese-born baroque architect 1554 - Sebastiano Serlio
2.
Antonis Mor
–
For the musician, see Anthony More. Sir Anthonis Mor, also known as Anthonis Mor van Dashorst and Antonio Moro was a Netherlandish portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has also referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthonis or Mor van Dashorst. Mor was born in Utrecht, Netherlands, by some estimation between 1516 and 1520, little is known about his early life, except that his artistic education commenced under Jan van Scorel. His earliest known work is a portrait which is currently in a collection in Stockholm, a group of Knights of St. Between 1549 and 1550 Prince Philip II of Spain traveled around the Netherlands to present himself as the future ruler, Anthonis Mor painted his portrait in Brussels in 1549. He probably visited Italy, where he copied works by Titian. In the middle of 1550 Anthonis Mor left for Lisbon with a commission from Maria of Hungary to portray the Portuguese branch of the family. Mor probably traveled via Valladolid, where he painted the portraits of Maximilian II and his wife Maria of Austria, their daughter Anna, in Lisbon, Mor portrayed King João, Queen Catharina, Prince João and Philip’s future wife, Princess Maria of Portugal. Little more is known about Mors stay in Portugal, but he was back in Brussels by November 1553. After the sudden death of the king of England, Edward VI, in July 1553, the engagement between Philip and his Portuguese princess was broken and negotiations started for a marriage with the successor to the English throne, Mary Tudor. During these negotiations, Anthonis Mor was sent to England to paint a portrait of Mary and this portrait was much appreciated in England and Mor made at least three versions, which became much the best-known likeness of the queen. On 20 December 1553, Philip officially appointed Mor as painter in his service, in October 1555, Charles V abdicated from the throne. During the ceremonies and festivities surrounding the coronation of his son Philip as king of Spain, unfortunately, many of these paintings are lost or only known through copies. Following the death of Mary Tudor in 1558, King Philip was remarried in June 1559 to Isabella de Valois and this portrait appears to have been lost. Also from this period dates the only known self-portrait of Mor, now in the Uffizi Gallery and it seems likely that Anthonis Mor accompanied King Philip on his return to Spain in 1559. That Mor stayed at the Spanish court is confirmed by the letters which Philip regularly sent to Mor after he had left again in 1561, in his letters, Philip requested Mors return to court several times, but the painter never complied with his repeated requests. Among the works which Mor supposedly painted in Spain are the Portrait of Juana of Austria, a much-praised work from this period is the Portrait of Pejerón, the fool of the Earl of Benavente and the Duke of Alba
3.
Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)
–
Mary of Austria, also known as Mary of Hungary, was queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of King Louis II, and was later Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. The daughter of Queen Joanna and King Philip I of Castile, Mary married King Louis II of Hungary and their marriage was happy but short and childless. Upon her husbands death following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Queen Mary governed Hungary as regent in the name of the new king, her brother, as governor of the Netherlands, Mary faced riots and a difficult relationship with the Emperor. Throughout her tenure she continuously attempted to ensure peace between the Emperor and the King of France, after her final resignation, the frail Queen moved to Castile, where she died. Having inherited the Habsburg lip and not very feminine looks, Mary was not considered physically attractive and her portraits, letters, and comments by her contemporaries do not assign her the easy Burgundian charm possessed by her grandmother, Duchess Mary of Burgundy, and her aunt Margaret. Nevertheless, she proved to be a determined and skillful politician, as well as a patron of literature, music. Born in Brussels on 15 September 1505, between ten and eleven in the morning, Archduchess Mary of Austria was the child of King Philip I. Her birth was difficult, the Queens life was in danger. On 20 September, she was baptized by Nicolas Le Ruistre, Bishop of Arras, and named after her grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. Her godfather was her grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. On 17 March 1506, Emperor Maximilian promised to marry her to the first son born to King Vladislaus II of Hungary, at the same time, the two monarchs decided that a brother of Mary would marry Vladislaus daughter Anne. Three months later, Vladislaus wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, gave birth to a son, Queen Anne died in childbirth and the royal physicians made great efforts to keep the sickly Louis alive. After the death of Marys father in September 1506, her mothers health began to deteriorate. Mary, Isabella, and Eleanor were educated together at their aunts court in Mechelen and their music teacher was Henry Bredemers. Mary was summoned to the court of her grandfather Maximilian in 1514, on 22 July 1515, Mary and Louis were married in St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna. At the same time, Louis sister Anne was betrothed to an as yet unspecified brother of Mary, due to their age, it was decided that the newly married couple would not live together for a few more years. Anne eventually married Marys brother Ferdinand and came to Vienna, where the double sisters-in-law were educated together until 1516 and that year, Marys father-in-law died, making Louis and Mary king and queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Mary moved to Innsbruck, where she was educated until 1521, Maximilian encouraged her interest in hunting, while childhood lessons prompted an interest in music
4.
Portugal
–
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
5.
Giorgio Vasari
–
Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany. Recommended at an age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia. He was befriended by Michelangelo whose painting style would influence his own, in 1529, he visited Rome where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. Vasaris own Mannerist paintings were admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547 he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni and he was consistently employed by members of the Medici family in Florence and Rome, and worked in Naples, Arezzo and other places. He also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio, aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was also successful as an architect. In Florence, Vasari also built the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, the enclosed corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the Ponte Vecchio and winds around the exterior of several buildings. He also renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, at both he removed the original rood screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-choirs in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he was responsible for the painting of The Adoration of the Magi which was commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and it was recently restored, before being put on exhibition in 2011 in Rome and in Naples. Eventually it is planned to return it to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, in 1562 Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in Pistoia, an important example of high Renaissance architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammanati at Pope Julius IIIs Villa Giulia, the Lives also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was rewritten and enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists. The work has a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines, and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, Venetian art in particular, is systematically ignored in the first edition. Between the first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the edition gave more attention to Venetian art. Vasaris biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip, with a few exceptions, however, Vasaris aesthetic judgement was acute and unbiased. He did not research archives for exact dates, as art historians do, and naturally his biographies are most dependable for the painters of his own generation. Modern criticism – with new materials opened up by research – has corrected many of his traditional dates and attributions. Vasari includes a sketch of his own biography at the end of the Lives, according to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term competition in its economic sense
6.
Florence
–
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
7.
Frans Floris
–
Frans Floris, Frans Floris the Elder or Frans Floris de Vriendt was a Flemish painter mainly known for his history paintings and portraits. He played an important role in the movement in Northern Renaissance painting referred to as Romanism, the Romanists had typically travelled to Italy to study the works of leading Italian High Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael and their followers. Their art assimilated these Italian influences into the Northern painting tradition, Frans Floris was born in Antwerp. He was the scion of a prominent artist family which went with the name ‘de Vriendt’. One of Frans ancestors became in 1406 a master of the Brussels stonemasons guild, a family member, Jan Florisz. de Vriendt, left his native Brussels and settled in Antwerp in the mid-15th century. His patronymic name ‘Floris’ became the family name in subsequent generations. The original form ‘de Vriendt’ can, however, still be found in documents until the late 16th century. The most famous one is Cornelis who was an architect and sculptor and was one of the designers of the Antwerp City Hall, jacob Floris was a painter of stained-glass windows and Jan Floris was a potter. Jan traveled to Spain to practice his art there and died young, documentary evidence about the life of Frans Floris is scarce. Most of what we know about the youth and training of Frans Floris is based on the early biographer Karel van Manders biography of the artist, at ten pages long it is one of the most detailed biographies in van Manders Het Schilder-boeck published in 1604. According to van Mander, Frans Floris was the son of the stonecutter Cornelis I de Vriendt, like his brothers, Frans began as a student of sculpture, but later he gave up sculpture for painting. Floris went to Liège where he studied with the prominent painter Lambert Lombard, the choice for Lombard as a teacher was surprising since Antwerp was a cultural centre with many outstanding painters. He may have chosen Lombard as his brother Cornelis was good friends with Lombard and it is also possible that Frans trained as a painter in Antwerp before studying under Lombard. Floris became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1539–40, Lombard encouraged Frans Floris to study in Italy. He traveled to Rome probably as early as 1541 or 1542 and became fascinated with Italian contemporary painting and he kept a notebook of sketches, which his pupils would later etch. Floris visited other cities in Italy including Mantua and Genoa, upon his return to Antwerp around 1545, Frans Floris opened a workshop on the Italian model. He became the leading painter and was called the ‘Flemish Raphael’. He also painted 14 large panels for the duke of Aarschots palace of Beaumont and he also moved in the circle of the leading humanists such as Abraham Ortelius, Christophe Plantin, Lucas de Heere, Lambert Lombard, Dominicus Lampsonius and Hieronymus Cock
8.
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
–
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. This collection is representative of the production and the taste of art enthusiasts in Antwerp, Belgium. The museum is closed for renovation until the end of 2017, the neoclassical building housing the collection is one of the primary landmarks of the Zuid district of Antwerp. The majestic building was designed by Jacob Winders and Frans van Dijk, built beginning in 1884, opened in 1890, the building stands in gardens bounded by the Leopold de Waalplaats, the Schildersstraat, the Plaatsnijdersstraat, and the Beeldhouwersstraat. The museums collection began with the artworks owned by the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, when the guild disbanded, its gallery of paintings went to the Academy of Fine Arts, which had been founded in 1663 with the involvement of David Teniers. The gallery had works by Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, during French occupations in 1794 and 1796, art was looted from churches and other buildings in Antwerp, the pieces that were later recovered became part of the museums collection. By 1817 the museum listed 127 items in its catalogue, mostly dating to the mid-16th and 17th centuries, william I of the Netherlands helped the museum in various ways. In 1823 he donated three paintings, including a work by Titian—Pope Alexander IV presents Jacopo Pesaro to Saint Peter—which became the museums first foreign piece. He decreed a grant of 20,000 guilders to build the collections contemporary art in 1827, only in 1873 did the museum begin to acquire living artists works. A significant bequest from a mayor of Antwerp, Florent van Ertborn. Van Ertborn had collected Early Netherlandish art at a time when it was out of favour and these works included Jan van Eycks Saint Barbara and Madonna at the Fountain and Rogier van der Weydens Portrait of Philip de Croy and the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece. Also in the bequest were paintings by Hans Memling, Dieric Bouts, Joachim Patinir, Quinten Massys, Jean Fouquet, Simone Martini, Antonello da Messina, at the end of 2011 the museum closed to the public for major renovations
9.
Sofonisba Anguissola
–
Sofonisba Anguissola, also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Anguisciola, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received an education, that included the fine arts. As a young woman, Anguissola traveled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who recognized her talent, and to Milan. Elizabeth of Valois, the queen of Philip II of Spain, was an amateur painter. She later became a court painter to the king. After the queens death, Philip helped arrange a marriage for her. She moved to Sicily, and later Pisa and Genoa, where she continued to practice as a portrait painter. Her most distinctive and attractive paintings are her portraits of herself and her family, in particular her depictions of children were fresh and closely observed. At the Spanish court she painted formal portraits in the prevailing official style. In later life, she painted religious themes, although many of her religious paintings have been lost. In 1625, she died at age ninety-three in Palermo and her paintings can be seen at galleries in Boston, MA, Bergamo, Brescia, Budapest, Madrid, Naples, Siena, and at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Sofonisba Anguissola was born in Cremona, Lombardy, in 1532 and her father, Amilcare Anguissola, was a member of the Genoese minor nobility, and her mother, Bianca Ponzone, was also of noble background. The Anguissola family believed they had a connection to the ancient Carthaginians, Amilcare Anguissola encouraged all his daughters to cultivate and perfect their talents. Four of the sisters became painters, but Sofonisba was by far the most accomplished and renowned, Elena abandoned painting to become a nun. Both Anna Maria and Europa gave up art upon marrying, while Lucia Anguissola, the remaining sister, Minerva, became a writer and Latin scholar. Asdrubale, Sophonisbas brother, studied music and Latin, but not painting and her aristocratic father made sure that Anguissola and her sisters received a well-rounded education that included the fine arts. Anguissola was fourteen when her father sent her and her sister Elena to study with Bernardino Campi, when Campi moved to another city, Anguissola continued her studies with painter Bernardino Gatti. Anguissolas apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art, dates are uncertain, but Anguissola probably continued her studies under Gatti for about three years
10.
Lucas Cranach the Elder
–
Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He also painted religious subjects, first in the Catholic tradition and he continued throughout his career to paint nude subjects drawn from mythology and religion. He had a workshop and many works exist in different versions, his son Lucas Cranach the Younger. Lucas Cranach the Elder has been considered the most successful German artist of his time and he was born at Kronach in upper Franconia, probably in 1472. His exact date of birth is unknown and he learned the art of drawing from his father Hans Maler. His mother, with surname Hübner, died in 1491, later, the name of his birthplace was used for his surname, another custom of the times. How Cranach was trained is not known, but it was probably with local south German masters, as with his contemporary Matthias Grünewald, there are also suggestions that Cranach spent some time in Vienna around 1500. According to Gunderam Cranach demonstrated his talents as a painter before the close of the 15th century and his work then drew the attention of Duke Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony, known as Frederick the Wise, who attached Cranach to his court in 1504. Cranach was to remain in the service of the Elector and his successors for the rest of his life, Cranach married Barbara Brengbier, the daughter of a burgher of Gotha and also born there, she died at Wittenberg on 26 December 1540. Cranach later owned a house at Gotha, but most likely he got to know Barbara near Wittenberg, where her family owned a house. The first evidence of Cranachs skill as an artist comes in a picture dated 1504, in 1509 Cranach went to the Netherlands, and painted the Emperor Maximilian and the boy who afterwards became Emperor Charles V. Until 1508 Cranach signed his works with his initials, in that year the elector gave him the winged snake as an emblem, or Kleinod, which superseded the initials on his pictures after that date. Cranach was the painter to the electors of Saxony in Wittenberg. His patrons were powerful supporters of Martin Luther, and Cranach used his art as a symbol of the new faith, Cranach made numerous portraits of Luther, and provided woodcut illustrations for Luthers German translation of the Bible. Somewhat later the duke conferred on him the monopoly of the sale of medicines at Wittenberg, Cranachs presses were used by Martin Luther. His apothecary shop was open for centuries, and was only lost by fire in 1871, Cranach, like his patron, was friendly with the Protestant Reformers at a very early stage, yet it is difficult to fix the time of his first meeting with Martin Luther. The oldest reference to Cranach in Luthers correspondence dates from 1520, in a letter written from Worms in 1521, Luther calls him his gossip, warmly alluding to his Gevatterin, the artists wife. He was also godfather to their first child, Johannes Hans Luther, in 1530 Luther lived at the citadel of Veste Coburg under the protection of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and his room is preserved there along with a painting of him
11.
Jan Mandijn
–
Jan Mandijn or Jan Mandyn was a Dutch Renaissance painter, who worked in Antwerp after 1530. He moved to Antwerp in 1530 and he was the teacher of Jan van der Elburcht, Gillis Mostaert and Bartholomeus Spranger. Only one signed work of Mandijn survives, the Temptation of Saint Anthony and it is similar in style to Hieronymus Bosch and that is why he is called a follower of Bosch. This is confirmed by the early biographer Karel van Mander who wrote that Mandijn was good at painting spooky, the Temptation is inspired by Bosch’s work, but Mandijns style was freer and looser and the colours and fantastic creatures are less harmonious. As a result the whole is less powerful than Bosch, Mandijns paintings incorporate the elements typical of Bosch such as hybrid demons composed of various parts of insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds. The stylistic features of Mandijns style have been identified in a series of Antwerp ‘devil pictures’ that have attributed to him
12.
Francesco de' Rossi
–
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
13.
Titian
–
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian /ˈtɪʃən/, was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno, during his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, during the course of his long life, Titians artistic manner changed drastically, but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his pieces, their loose brushwork. The exact date of Titians birth is uncertain, when he was an old man he claimed in a letter to Philip II, King of Spain, to have been born in 1474, but this seems most unlikely. Other writers contemporary to his old age give figures that would equate to birthdates between 1473 and after 1482 and he was the son of Gregorio Vecelli and his wife Lucia. His father was superintendent of the castle of Pieve di Cadore, Gregorio was also a distinguished councilor and soldier. Many relatives, including Titians grandfather, were notaries, and the family of four were well-established in the area, at the age of about ten to twelve he and his brother Francesco were sent to an uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship with a painter. At that time the Bellinis, especially Giovanni, were the artists in the city. There Titian found a group of men about his own age, among them Giovanni Palma da Serinalta, Lorenzo Lotto, Sebastiano Luciani. Francesco Vecellio, his brother, later became a painter of some note in Venice. A fresco of Hercules on the Morosini Palace is said to have one of Titians earliest works. Others were the Bellini-esque so-called Gypsy Madonna in Vienna, and the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, now in the Accademia, a Man with a Quilted Sleeve is an early portrait, painted around 1509 and described by Giorgio Vasari in 1568. Scholars long believed it depicted Ludovico Ariosto, but now think it is of Gerolamo Barbarigo, Rembrandt borrowed the composition for his self-portraits. Titian joined Giorgione as an assistant, but many contemporary critics found his work more impressive—for example in exterior frescoes that they did for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Their relationship evidently contained a significant element of rivalry, distinguishing between their work at this period remains a subject of scholarly controversy. A substantial number of attributions have moved from Giorgione to Titian in the 20th century, one of the earliest known Titian works, Christ Carrying the Cross in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, depicting the Ecce Homo scene, was long regarded as by Giorgione. In 1507–1508 Giorgione was commissioned by the state to create frescoes on the re-erected Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Titian and Morto da Feltre worked along with him, and some fragments of paintings remain, probably by Giorgione
14.
Venus and Musician
–
Venus and Music is a 1547 painting by Titian. The painting was acquired for the Spanish royal collection in the century and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Despite the name, it is thought that the theme is matrimonial. The woman wears a ring and has none of the traditional attributes of Venus. Compared to other Venuses by Titian, she is not accompanied by a Cupid, radiography reveals that Titian made alterations during the paintings execution. Originally the work was more daring, the woman laid uninhibitedly with her gaze fixed upon the musician, probably the client or the artist thought that the arrangement was too provocative, so a lap dog was added which the women now looks towards. The woman is thus relegated to a passive role
15.
Museo del Prado
–
The Prado Museum is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings,7,600 paintings,4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic documents. As of 2012, the museum displayed about 1,300 works in the buildings, while around 3,100 works were on temporary loan to various museums. The museum received 2.8 million visitors in 2012 and it is one of the largest museums in Spain. The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez, Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museums fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside of Italy. The museum is planning a 16% extension in the nearby Salón de Reinos and their efforts and determination led to the Royal Collection being enriched by some of the masterpieces now to be seen in the Prado. In addition to works from the Spanish royal collection, other holdings increased and enriched the Museum with further masterpieces, such as the two Majas by Goya. Among the now closed museums whose collections have been added to that of the Prado were the Museo del la Trinidad in 1872, in addition, numerous legacies, donations and purchases have been of crucial importance for the growth of the collection. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado, the building housed the royal collection of arts, and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918, particularly important donations include Barón Emile dErlangers gift of Goyas Black Paintings in 1881. Between 1873 and 1900, the Prado helped decorate city halls, new universities, during the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the focus was on building up provincial museums. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II, during the early years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, many paintings were sent to embassies. The main building was enlarged with short pavilions in the rear between 1900 and 1960, in 1993, an extension proposed by the Prados director at the time, Felipe Garin, was quickly abandoned after a wave of criticism. In the late 1990s, a $14 million roof work forced the Velázquez masterpiece Las Meninas to change galleries twice, in 1998, the Prado annex in the nearby Casón del Buen Retiro closed for a $10 million two-year overhaul that included three new underground levels. In 2007, the finally executed Rafael Moneos project to expand its exposition room to 16,000 square meters. A glass-roofed and wedge-shaped foyer now contains the shops and cafeteria
16.
Giovanni Battista Trotti
–
Giovanni Battista Trotti was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period, active mainly in Piacenza, Parma, and his native city of Cremona. In Cremona, he was initially a pupil of Bernardino Campi and he painted in the Palazzo dei Giardino in Parma. He painted a Crucifixion in the Cremona Cathedral, while in San Pietro and he painted the Beheading of John the Baptist for San Domenico at Cremona, and in San Francesco and SantAgostino at Piacenza. He was employed by the court of Parma, along with Agostino Carracci, other pictures by him are, a Immaculate Conception for San Francesco Grande, in Piacenza, and a Descent from the Cross, now found in the Brera Academy. He painted frescoes in the cupola of SantAbbondi, after designs by Campi, for these he was rewarded with the title of Cavalière. One of his last works was a Pietà for the church of San Giovanni Novo in Cremona, pupils of Trotti include Stefano Lambri, Francesco Superti, and Cristoforo Augusta. Walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves, ed, 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
17.
Matthijs Bril
–
Matthijs Bril or Matthijs Bril the Younger was a Flemish painter and draughtsman of landscapes. He spent most of his career in Rome where his drawings of ancient Roman sites played an important role in the development of topographical landscape art. He was also a painter of capricci, with typical rustic hills with a few ruins and he died young and his younger brother Paul Bril, who had joined him in Rome, finished his commissions. Matthijs was the son of the painter Matthijs Bril the Elder, Matthijs and his younger brother Paul Bril likely started their artistic training with their father in Antwerp. Matthijs moved to Rome probably around 1575, Matthijs was joined by his younger brother Paul probably around or after 1582. Mathijs Bril’s second project in Rome was in the Tower of the Winds and he also painted landscapes in two rooms of the Palazzo Orsini in Monterotondo, which he signed with small glasses. When Matthijs died in 1583, his brother continued his work, Matthijs Brils work is now mainly known through his frescoes and drawings. He painted two types of landscapes, landscapes with a topographical interest and imaginary landscapes, Matthijs contributed to the genre of topographical painting in combining close attention to detail with a perspective that highlights the monumentality of the depicted buildings. The latter was achieved by using a lowered viewpoint and dynamic recession into the distance of the depicted object and his imaginary landscapes without a topographical interest are more typically Mannerist in their close observation of nature and dramatic contrasts of light and dark. Their palette is dominated by blues and greens and the brushwork is impressionistic. These imaginary landscapes were used by his brother Paul and others as an inspiration for their work and these paintings are now known through a series of prints made by the Dutch engraver Simon Frisius. They were published in 1611 and 1613–14 in two volumes under the title Topographia Variarum Regionum, Matthijs was a prolific draughtsman and his drawings are a principal source of information on his work. Many of his drawings were kept by his brother Paul and copied by contemporaries, Matthijs is known to have collaborated with the Italian painters Antonio Tempesta, Niccolo Circignani and Matteo da Siena on various projects. Peter and Linda Murray, The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists, fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged,51. Carla Hendriks, Northern Landscapes on Roman Walls, The Frescoes of Matthijs, anton Mayer, Das Leben und die Werke der Brueder Matthaeus und Paul Brill. Media related to Mathijs Bril at Wikimedia Commons
18.
Landscape painting
–
In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition, detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects. The two main traditions spring from Western painting and Chinese art, going well over a thousand years in both cases. Landscape views in art may be imaginary, or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy. If the primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific place, especially including buildings prominently, within a few decades it was used to describe vistas in poetry, and eventually as a term for real views. However the cognate term landscaef or landskipe for a patch of land had existed in Old English. The earliest pure landscapes with no figures are frescos from Minoan Greece of around 1500 BCE. The frescos from the Tomb of Nebamun, now in the British Museum, are a famous example. These were frequently used, as in the illustrated, to bridge the gap between a foreground scene with figures and a distant panoramic vista, a persistent problem for landscape artists. The Chinese style generally showed only a distant view, or used dead ground or mist to avoid that difficulty, aesthetic theories in both regions gave the highest status to the works seen to require the most imagination from the artist. They were often also poets whose lines and images illustrated each other, a revival in interest in nature initially mainly manifested itself in depictions of small gardens such as the Hortus Conclusus or those in millefleur tapestries. The frescos of figures at work or play in front of a background of trees in the Palace of the Popes. Several frescos of gardens have survived from Roman houses like the Villa of Livia, a particular advance is shown in the less well-known Turin-Milan Hours, now largely destroyed by fire, whose developments were reflected in Early Netherlandish painting for the rest of the century. Landscape backgrounds for various types of painting became prominent and skilful during the 15th century. The Italian development of a system of graphical perspective was now known all over Europe. Indeed, certain styles were so popular that they became formulas that could be copied again and again, after the publication of the Small Landscapes, landscape artists in the Low Countries either continued with the world landscape or followed the new mode presented by the Small Landscapes. The popularity of landscape scenes can be seen in the success of the painter Frans Post. Salvator Rosa gave picturesque excitement to his landscapes by showing wilder Southern Italian country, there are different styles and periods, and subgenres of marine and animal painting, as well as a distinct style of Italianate landscape
19.
Fresco
–
Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
20.
Rome
–
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
