1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
2.
Mannerism
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Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, lasting until about 1580 in Italy, when the Baroque style began to replace it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century, stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favors compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting, Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication. The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continue to be a subject of debate among art historians, for example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is used to refer to some late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530. Mannerism also has been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature, the word mannerism derives from the Italian maniera, meaning style or manner. Like the English word style, maniera can either indicate a type of style or indicate an absolute that needs no qualification. Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as la maniera moderna, james V. Mirollo describes how bella maniera poets attempted to surpass in virtuosity the sonnets of Petrarch. This notion of bella maniera suggests that artists thus inspired looked to copying and bettering their predecessors, in essence, bella maniera utilized the best from a number of source materials, synthesizing it into something new. As a stylistic label, Mannerism is not easily defined, “High Renaissance” connoted a period distinguished by harmony, grandeur and the revival of classical antiquity. The term Mannerist was redefined in 1967 by John Shearman following the exhibition of Mannerist paintings organised by Fritz Grossmann at Manchester City Art Gallery in 1965. The label “Mannerism” was used during the 16th century to comment on social behaviour, however, for later writers, such as the 17th-century Gian Pietro Bellori, la maniera was a derogatory term for the perceived decline of art after Raphael, especially in the 1530s and 1540s. From the late 19th century on, art historians have used the term to describe art that follows Renaissance classicism. By the end of the High Renaissance, young artists experienced a crisis, no more difficulties, technical or otherwise, remained to be solved. The young artists needed to find a new goal, and they sought new approaches, at this point Mannerism started to emerge. The new style developed between 1510 and 1520 either in Florence, or in Rome, or in both cities simultaneously and this period has been described as a natural extension of the art of Andrea del Sarto, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Michelangelo from an early age had developed a style of his own, one of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and subsequent artists attempted to imitate it
3.
Caravaggio
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Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1592 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, in scarcely a year or so’s sojourn in Naples, he rapidly established himself once more as the most prominent painter, exploiting high-ranking connections. It was not long before these connections gave him an opening to travel on in 1607 to Malta, governed by the Order of Knights Hospitallers, Caravaggio probably hoped that the Knights would provide a channel whereby he could obtain a pardon from the Papacy. Once more his talents made an instant impression, along with the support of noble patrons and his hopes dashed, he contrived to escape and flee once, which before the end of 1608 led to his cancellation from the rolls of the Order. He made for Syracuse in Sicily, where he was received as a guest by a friend from his Roman days, the painter’s face was disfigured and rumours started to circulate of his death. Various commentators have formulated opinions about his state from works supposedly executed at this period. In fact, Caravaggio’s end is shrouded in mystery, mystery that is rendered only denser by conflicting hypotheses, some speak of a natural death from a persistent fever, others of an assassination by emissaries of the Knights of Malta. The loss of the paintings put the deal and his future in doubt, there is evidence that dogged by a serious fever, he was tended by a local religious confraternity near Porto Ercole, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, but succumbed. His death was certified by them as taking place on 18 July 1610, if the story to this point is exact, it is likely he was buried in a paupers’ common grave. As to the place, though this continues to be contested. Famous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, despite this, his influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from the ruins of Mannerism was profound. The 20th-century art historian André Berne-Joffroy claimed, What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting. Caravaggio was born in Milan where his father, Fermo, was an administrator and architect-decorator to the Marchese of Caravaggio. His mother, Lucia Aratori, came from a family of the same district. In 1576 the family moved to Caravaggio to escape a plague which ravaged Milan, Caravaggios mother died in 1584, the same year he began his four-year apprenticeship to the Milanese painter Simone Peterzano, described in the contract of apprenticeship as a pupil of Titian. Following his initial training under Simone Peterzano, in 1592 Caravaggio left Milan for Rome, in flight after certain quarrels, in Rome, where there was a demand for paintings to fill the many huge new churches and palazzos being built at the time. It was also a period when the Church was searching for an alternative to Mannerism in religious art that was tasked to counter the threat of Protestantism. Caravaggios innovation was a radical naturalism that combined close observation with a dramatic, even theatrical
4.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
5.
Marie de' Medici
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Marie de Medici was Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici, following the assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, she acted as regent for her son, King Louis XIII of France, until he came of age. She was noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court and she was born as Maria at the Palazzo Pitti of Florence, Italy, the sixth daughter of Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. Marie was one of seven children, but only she and her sister Eleonora survived to adulthood, Marie is not a male-line descendant of Lorenzo the Magnificent but from Lorenzo the Elder, a branch of the Medici family sometimes referred to as the cadet branch. She does descend from Lorenzo in the female-line however, through his daughter Lucrezia de Medici, nonetheless this cadet branch produced every Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1537 to 1737, and the kings of France from Louis XIII in 1601 to Louis XVI in 1793. This cadet branch is already 700 years old, beginning with Averardo de Medici in 1320 and flourishes to this day with Louis Alphonse and her daughter, Henrietta Maria was queen consort of England, Scotland, and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I. Henrietta Maria, in turn, was mother of two successors, Charles II and James II. Lorenzo the Magnificents line instead became extinct shortly after the death of Lorenzo in 1492, at the time of his death the Medici Bank was already in bankruptcy. A portrait of Marie as a girl shows her with regular features. Her wavy hair was light brown in colour, and she had honey-brown eyes, the painter was from the school of Santi di Tito. She married Henry IV of France in October 1600 following the annulment of his marriage to Margaret of Valois. The wedding ceremony in Florence, Italy was celebrated with 4,000 guests and lavish entertainments, including examples of the newly invented musical genre of opera and she brought as part of her dowry 600,000 crowns. Her eldest son, the future King Louis XIII, was born at Fontainebleau the following year and her husband was almost 47 at the marriage and had a long succession of mistresses. Dynastic considerations required him to take a second wife, the marriage was successful in producing children, but it was not a happy one. The queen feuded with Henrys mistresses in language that shocked French courtiers, when he failed to do so, and instead married Marie, the result was constant bickering and political intrigues behind the scenes. Catherine referred to Maria as the fat bankers daughter, Henry used Maria for breeding purposes exactly as Henry II had treated Catherine de Medici, although the king could have easily banished his mistress, supporting his queen, he never did so. She, in turn, showed sympathy and support to her husbands banished ex-wife Marguerite de Valois. Marie was crowned Queen of France on 13 May 1610, a day before her husbands death, hours after Henrys assassination, she was confirmed as regent by the Parliament of Paris
6.
Charles I of England
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Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was the son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England. He became heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones on the death of his brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France instead, after his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the right of kings and thought he could govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent and he supported high church ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years War. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War, after his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors demands for a constitutional monarchy, re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwells New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a called the Commonwealth of England was declared. The monarchy was restored to Charless son, Charles II, in 1660, the second son of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. James VI was the first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in mid-July 1604, Charles left Dunfermline for England where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. His speech development was slow, and he retained a stammer, or hesitant speech. In January 1605, Charles was created Duke of York, as is customary in the case of the English sovereigns second son, Thomas Murray, a Presbyterian Scot, was appointed as a tutor. Charles learnt the usual subjects of classics, languages, mathematics, in 1611, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Eventually, Charles apparently conquered his physical infirmity, which might have been caused by rickets and he became an adept horseman and marksman, and took up fencing. Even so, his public profile remained low in contrast to that of his stronger and taller elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. However, in early November 1612, Henry died at the age of 18 of what is suspected to have been typhoid, Charles, who turned 12 two weeks later, became heir apparent
7.
Artemisia Gentileschi
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Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation following that of Caravaggio. In an era when women painters were not easily accepted by the community or patrons. She painted many pictures of strong and suffering women from myth and her best-known work is Judith Slaying Holofernes, which shows the decapitation of Holofernes, a scene of horrific struggle and blood-letting. That she was a painting in the seventeenth century and that she was raped and participated in the prosecution of the rapist long overshadowed her achievements as an artist. For many years she was regarded as a curiosity, today she is regarded as one of the most progressive and expressive painters of her generation. Artemisia was introduced to painting in her fathers workshop, showing much more talent than her brothers and she learned drawing, how to mix color, and how to paint. Since her fathers style took inspiration from Caravaggio during that period and her approach to subject matter was different from her fathers, however, as her paintings are highly naturalistic, where Orazios are idealized. At the same time, Artemisia had to resist the traditional attitude and psychological submission to this brainwashing, by doing so, she gained great respect and recognition for her work. The first work of the young seventeen-year-old Artemisia was the Susanna e i Vecchioni, at the time some, influenced by the prevailing misconceptions, suspected that she was helped by her father. The painting shows how Artemisia assimilated the realism of Caravaggio without being indifferent to the language of the Bologna school and it is one of the few paintings on the theme of Susanna showing the sexual accosting by the two Elders as a traumatic event. During this tutelage, Tassi raped Artemisia, another man, Cosimo Quorlis, was also involved. After the rape, Artemisia continued to have relations with Tassi, with the expectation that they were going to be married and with the hope to restore her dignity. Tassi reneged on his promise to marry Artemisia, nine months after the rape, when he learnt that Artemisia and Tassi were not going to be married, Orazio pressed charges against Tassi. Orazio also claimed that Tassi stole a painting of Judith from the Gentileschi household, the major issue of this trial was the fact that Tassi had taken Artemisias virginity. If Artemisia had not been a virgin before Tassi raped her, during the ensuing seven-month trial, it was discovered that Tassi had planned to murder his wife, had engaged in adultery with his sister-in-law, and planned to steal some of Orazio’s paintings. During the trial, Artemisia was subjected to a gynecological examination, at the end of the trial Tassi was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, although he never served the time. The trial influenced the feminist view of Artemisia Gentileschi during the twentieth century. Artemisia was surrounded mainly by the presence of males since the loss of her mother at age 12, when Artemisia was 17, Orazio rented the upstairs apartment of their home to a female tenant, Tuzia
8.
Pisa
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Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its tower, the city of over 90,834 residents contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces. Much of the architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics. The origin of the name, Pisa, is a mystery, while the origin of the city had remained unknown for centuries, the Pelasgi, the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Ligurians had variously been proposed as founders of the city. Archaeological remains from the 5th century BC confirmed the existence of a city at the sea, trading with Greeks, the presence of an Etruscan necropolis, discovered during excavations in the Arena Garibaldi in 1991, confirmed its Etruscan origins. Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city, strabo referred Pisas origins to the mythical Nestor, king of Pylos, after the fall of Troy. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a center by the times described. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti, or Pelops, the maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the port along the western coast from Genoa to Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians, Gauls, in 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium, Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name in Colonia Iulia obsequens. It is supposed that Pisa was founded on the shore, however, due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 kilometres north of the Arnos, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 kilometres away from the coast, currently, it is located 9.7 kilometres from the coast. However it was a city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a complex was built in the city. During the later years of the Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the cities of Italy, probably thanks to the complexity of its river system. After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, politically it became part of the duchy of Lucca
9.
Quirinal Palace
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It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome. It has housed thirty Popes, four Kings of Italy and twelve presidents of the Italian Republic, the palace extends for an area of 110,500 square metres and is the ninth-largest palace in the world in terms of area. By way of comparison, the White House in the United States is one-twentieth of its size, the current site of the palace has been in use since Roman times, as excavations in the gardens testify. On this hill, the Romans built temples to several deities, from Flora to Quirinus, during the reign of Constantine the last complex of Roman baths was built here, as the statues of the twins Castor and Pollux taming the horses decorating the fountain in the square testify. The Quirinal, being the highest hill in Rome, was sought after and became a popular spot for the Roman patricians. An example of those are the remains of a villa in the Quirinal gardens, the palace, located on the Via del Quirinale and facing onto the Piazza del Quirinale, was built in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. On the site, there was already a small villa owned by the Carafa family, the pope commissioned the architect Ottaviano Mascherino to build a palace with porticoed parallel wings and an internal court. To the latter, a tower was added according to a project by Carlo Maderno. Pope Paul V commissioned the completion of the work on the building of the palace. The Palace was also used as the location for papal conclaves in 1823,1829,1831 and it served as a papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until 1870. In September 1870, what was left of the Papal States was overthrown, about five months later, in 1871, Rome became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy. The monarchy was abolished in 1946 and the Palace became the residence and workplace for the Presidents of the Italian Republic. Still, some declined the Colle residence and kept their usual Roman residence, for example, the façade was designed by Domenico Fontana. Its Great Chapel was designed by Carlo Maderno and it contains frescos by Guido Reni, but the most famous fresco is the Blessing Christ by Melozzo da Forlì, placed over the stairs. Its grounds include a set of gardens laid out in the 17th century. The palace, in its totality has 1,200 rooms, within the Quirinals gardens lies the famous water organ built between 1997 and 1999 by Barthélemy Formentelli based on the characteristics of the previous nineteenth century organ. The organ is fed by a waterfall with a jump of 18 meters and has a keyboard of 41 notes with a first short octave. Overall, the Quirinals gardens measure a 4 hectares, under the gardens, through a trap door one can reach the archaeological excavations that have unearthed the remains of the original temple to the god Quirinus and some insulae of the imperial age
10.
Giovanni Lanfranco
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Giovanni Lanfranco was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi. Lanfranco is considered to have contributed to the panel of Polyphemus and Galatea, afterwards, while still technically a member of the Carracci studio of Carracci, Lanfranco, along with Guido Reni and Francesco Albani, frescoed the Herrera Chapel in San Giacomo degli Spagnoli. He also participated in the decoration of San Gregorio Magno. The camerino had been constructed by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, next to his palace and gardens, of the canvases and frescoes by Domenichino, Girolamo Pulzone, Paul Bril, and Lanfranco, some are conserved in the new church. Among other works, Lanfranco contributed to series, the eccentric Translation of the Magdalen. After the death of Annibale Carracci in 1609, and with the Emilian school of painting out of favor. There, he met Bartolomeo Schedoni and painted the altarpiece for the Ognissanti church, Lanfranco also produced paintings and altarpieces in Orvieto, Vallerano, Leonessa and Fermo. After his return to Rome by 1612, Lanfranco and competed with other Carracci students and assistants—including Reni, Albani, Reni, however, was soon to depart for Naples and then Bologna. During the following decades in Rome, through the 1620s, Lanfranco, unlike Domenichino, Lanfranco was fairly eclectic in terms of style but preferred a visionary, theatrical approach suitable for the ceiling paintings gaining currency in the early 17th century. His Annunciation in San Carlo ai Catinari in regarded as one of his best works, soon, Lanfranco became the pre-eminent painter of circle of Pope Paul V. He painted frescoes for the Palazzo Costaguti and a ceiling fresco in quadratura at the Villa Borghese. In the following year, Lanfranco together with Agostino Tassi and Carlo Saraceni decorated the Sala de Corazzieri and his formal Presentation at the Temple has the sunlit Carraci-like style. In 1622, he painted the Ectasy of Saint Margaret of Cortona as an altarpiece for Santa Maria Nuova in Cortona, the painting could well have inspired the pose in Berninis famous St Theresa in ecstasy. In 1623-1624, he decorated the Sacchetti Chapel in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome, while Paul Vs successor, Gregory XV, preferred works by Guercino and Domenichino, Lanfranco won commissions for the Crucifix Chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella. Lanfrancos crowning masterpiece, however, and one of the major church fresco decoration of the late 1620s, was his Assumption of the Virgin frescoed on the dome of SantAndrea della Valle. Completed in 1627 in sotto in su perspective, the array of figures is a landmark in Baroque painting with bright golden coloration. Lanfranco was influenced by Correggios pioneering decoration of the Duomo di Parma, urban VIII commissioned him a large fresco portraying St. Peter Walking on Waters, for which Lanfranco gained the title of Knight of the Order of Christ
11.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
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The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza dellEsquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State and they prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, in obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later and it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. The legend is first reported only after AD1000 and it may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius, He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia. Its prevalence in the 15th century is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale. The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae, and was celebrated only in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in 1568. A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office, no action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae. The legend is commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass. The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica or Santa Maria Liberiana, Liberiana is still included in some versions of the basilicas formal name, and Liberian Basilica may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name. This building was replaced under Pope Sixtus III by the present structure dedicated to Mary. No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom, St. Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of major basilica. The other three are the Basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peters, along with all of the other four Major Basilicas, St. Mary Major is also styled a Papal basilica. St. Mary Major was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch, Philip Neri on 25 February 1552. It is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III, the dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei, is an indication of that Popes role in the construction. The church retains the core of its structure, despite several additional construction projects. Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431. Pope Sixtus III built it to commemorate this decision and these fines enabled the papacy to carry out through the 5th century an ambitious building program, including Santa Maria Maggiore
12.
Santa Maria della Pace
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Santa Maria della Pace is a church in Rome, central Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. The building lies in rione Ponte, the current building was built on the foundations of the pre-existing church of SantAndrea de Aquarizariis in 1482, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV. The church was rededicated to the Virgin Mary to remember a miraculous bleeding of a Madonna image there in 1480, the author of the original design is not known, though Baccio Pontelli has been proposed. The church presses forward almost to fill its tiny piazza, several houses had to be demolished by Pietro da Cortona to create even this miniature trapezoidal space. The monumental effect of the plasticity of forms, spatial layering, the inscription around the porch architrave is taken from Psalm 72, SUSCIPIANT MONTES PACEM POPULO ET COLLES IUSTITIAM. This reference to the mountains of the coat of arms of the Chigi family, oak leaf motifs, another Chigi family emblem, can also be found on the facade. On the upper facade, Cortona had the curved travertine panels cut to make grained matching patterns, through the tall central window, the circular window of the Quattrocento church facade is visible. The Church of Santa Maria della Pace was designated as a titulus for a Cardinal-Priest on 13 April 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. The holders of the title were, The interior, which can be reached from the original door, has a short nave with cruciform vaulting. Cortona articulated the interior of the dome with octagonal coffering and a series of radiating from the lantern. This is an example of combining these two forms of dome decoration and was employed by Gianlorenzo Bernini in his later churches at Ariccia. Carlo Maderno designed the altar to enframe the venerable icon of the Madonna. Raphael began to fresco the Four Sibyls receiving angelic instruction above the arch of the Chigi Chapel, commissioned by Agostino Chigi, the Deposition over the altar is by Cosimo Fancelli. The first chapel on the left has noteworthy Renaissance frescoes by Baldassarre Peruzzi, the second chapel has marble taken from the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The tribune has paintings by Carlo Maratta, Peruzzi, Orazio Gentileschi, Francesco Albani, a main feature of the church and monastery complex is the Bramante cloister. Built in 1500-1504 for Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, it was the first work of Donato Bramante in the city, mariano Armellini, Le chiese di Roma dalle loro origini sino al secolo XIX, pp. 433-434. Nunzia Di Girolamo, Santa Maria della Pace, saggio monografico, Pietro da Cortona urbanistic plan of Santa Maria della Pace Roman Catholic Marian churches
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Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gentileschi, Artemisia and Orazio de'". Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 602.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
