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Florence
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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
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Tuscany
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Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
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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
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
6.
Ecclesiastical district
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The particular churches and liturgical rites of the Catholic Church are closely related yet distinct. The term church refers to an ordered assembly of the faithful, whereas the term rite refers to a liturgical, theological. Therefore, even though particular churches and liturgical rites are often closely interrelated, in Catholic canon law, a particular church is an ecclesiastical community headed by a bishop or someone recognised as the equivalent of a bishop. There are two kinds of churches, Autonomous particular church or Church sui iuris, In this context the descriptors autonomous and sui iuris are synonymous. These are aggregations of local churches that share a specific liturgical, theological and canonical tradition. They have also called particular Churches or rites. The largest such autonomous particular church is the Latin Church, the other 23 are referred to collectively as the Eastern Catholic Churches, headed by bishops who have the title and rank of Patriarch or Major Archbishop. In Catholic ecclesiology, a church is an assembly of the faithful, hierarchically ordered, to be a sacrament of the Mystical Body of Christ in the world, a church must have both a head and members. The sacramental sign of Christ the head is the sacred hierarchy – the bishops, priests, more specifically, it is the local bishop, with his priests and deacons gathered around and assisting him in his office of teaching, sanctifying and governing. Thus, the church is fully present sacramentally wherever there is a sign of Christ the head, a bishop and those who assist him, each diocese is therefore considered a particular church. In this sense of church, the list of churches in the Catholic Church has only one member, within the Catholic Church there are local particular churches, of which dioceses are the most familiar form. Other forms include territorial abbacies, apostolic vicariates and apostolic prefectures, the Code of Canon Law states, Particular Churches, in which and from which the one and only Catholic Church exists, are principally dioceses. A list of Catholic dioceses, of which on 31 December 2011 there were 2,834, is given at List of Catholic dioceses and these are known as autonomous churches. There are 24 such autonomous Catholic churches, One Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, although each of them has its own specific heritage, they are all in full communion with the Pope in Rome. For the particular churches within the Catholic Church, whether autonomous ritual churches or dioceses, are seen as not simply branches, theologically, each is considered to be the embodiment in a particular place or for a particular community of the one, whole Catholic Church. It is in these and formed out of them that the one, there are 24 autonomous churches, one Latin Church and twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, a distinction by now more historical than geographical. The term sui iuris means, literally, of its own law, although all of the particular churches espouse the same beliefs and faith, their distinction lies in their varied expression of that faith through their traditions, disciplines, and canon law. All are in communion with the Holy See, for this kind of particular church, the 1983 Code of Canon Law uses the unambiguous phrase autonomous ritual Church
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence
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The Archdiocese of Florence is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. Traditionally founded in the 1st century, it was elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on May 10,1419 and its mother church is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which has as its pastor the Archbishop of Florence. Since September 2008 Giuseppe Betori is the new Archbishop, the former Archbishop, alamanno Adimari Francesco Zabarella Amerigo Corsini Giovanni Vitelleschi Ludovico Trevisan, called Scarampo Bartolomeo Zabarella Antoninus of Florence, O. P. Orlando Bonarli Giovanni Neroni Diotisalvi Pietro Riario, O. F. M, alfonso Mistrangelo Elia Dalla Costa Ermenegildo Florit Giovanni Benelli Silvano Piovanelli Ennio Antonelli Giuseppe Betori GCatholic. org Catholic Hierarchy Davies, Gerald Stanley. Renascence, The Sculptured Tombs of the Fifteenth Century in Rome, with Chapters on the Previous Centuries from 1100
8.
Minor basilica
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Minor basilica is a title given to some Roman Catholic church buildings. According to canon law, no church building can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom, presently, the authorising decree is granted by the Pope through the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In relation to churches, writers on architecture use the term basilica to describe a church built in a particular style, in the 18th century, the term took on a canonical sense, unrelated to this architectural style. Basilicas in this sense are divided into major and minor basilicas. Today only four, all in Rome, are classified as major basilicas. These external signs, except that of the cappa magna, are still seen in basilicas. It should be large and with an ample sanctuary. It should be renowned for history, relics or sacred images, many basilicas are notable churches, and often receive significant pilgrimages. In December 2009 the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico set a record with 6.1 million pilgrims in two days for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As of June 30,2013, there were four major basilicas and 1,748 minor basilicas in the world, of these 1,748 minor basilicas, three have the title of papal minor basilica and four the title of pontifical minor basilica. The three papal minor basilicas are Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, Rome, and the Basilica of San Francesco dAssisi, All four pontifical minor basilicas now have individual pontifical delegates. For the Bari basilica, which is a dependency of the Secretariat of State, for the basilicas of Loreto and Pompei, which are within their own territorial prelatures, the pontifical delegate is the local territorial prelate. Only for the Paduan basilica is the pontifical delegate distinct from the local bishop, the remaining 1,741 minor basilicas are all classified merely as such. Another such Italian church, recognized as a basilica. This name, qualifying it as both pontifical and royal, is confirmed by other sources. Others are the Pontifical Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bitonto, one patriarchal basilica, namely the Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of St Mark in Venice, called patriarchal because it is the cathedral of the Patriarch of Venice, is a minor basilica. The minor basilicas form the vast majority, including cathedrals, many technically parish churches, some shrines. Some oratories and semi-private places of worship, have raised to the status of a minor basilica
9.
Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building
10.
Architectural style
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An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, styles therefore emerge from the history of a society. They are documented in the subject of architectural history, at any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, one example is the Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style. After a style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur, for instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different, the Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the Mission Revival, and that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival. Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately and it is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, as western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded due to new technology and to national building standards. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and this type of art history is also known as formalism, or the study of forms or shapes in art. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature. In architecture stylistic change often follows, and is possible by. While many architectural styles explore harmonious ideals, Mannerism wants to take style a step further and explores the aesthetics of hyperbole, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favours compositional tension and instability rather than balance and clarity, the definition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continues to be the subject of debate among art historians. An example of mannerist architecture is the Villa Farnese at Caprarola. in the country side outside of Rome. The proliferation of engravers during the 16th century spread Mannerist styles more quickly than any previous styles, a center of Mannerist design was Antwerp during its 16th-century boom. Through Antwerp, Renaissance and Mannerist styles were introduced in England, Germany. During the Mannerist Renaissance period, architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid, the Renaissance ideal of harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative rhythms
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Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
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Renaissance architecture
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Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them and this enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s temporal power throughout Italy, in the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, by dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, the construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peters, one of Christendoms most significant churches, were part of this process. In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than spiritual, the unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. The dome inspired further religious works in Florence, through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. Some major ecclesiastical building works were commissioned, not by the church. During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas. The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450 and it was to some degree dependent on Vitruviuss De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture, Sebastiano Serlio produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537, it was entitled Regole generali darchitettura. It is known as Serlios Fourth Book since it was the fourth in Serlios original plan of a treatise in seven books, in all, five books were published
13.
Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station
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Firenze Santa Maria Novella or Stazione di Santa Maria Novella is a terminus railway station in Florence, Italy. The station is used by 59 million people every year and is one of the busiest in Italy and it is at the northern end of the Florence–Rome direttissima, which was completed on 26 May 1992 and the southern end of the Bologna–Florence Direttissima, opened on 22 April 1934. A new high speed line to Bologna opened on 13 December 2009, the station is also used by regional trains on lines connecting to, Pisa, Livorno, Lucca, Viareggio, Bologna and Faenza. It was renamed after the church after the unification of Italy, a constructive debate resulted in the final choice of the project sponsored by the Architect Marcello Piacentini and designed by Gruppo Toscano. The blade represented by the first two tracks and the postal ones were in fact the extension of the 1861 alignment which included the tracks of the line from Livorno. The competition to design the station was controversial but the approval by Mussolini of the Gruppo Toscano project was hailed as an acceptance of modernity. The station was designed to replace the aging Maria Antonia Station, one of the few example of architecture by I. K. Brunel in Italy, the Gruppo Toscano was only responsible for the main frontal building of the station. The heating plant, platforms, other facilities and details such as benches were all designed in a style by the official Ministry of Communications architect. The benches and baggage shelves illustrated on this page were not part of the Gruppo Toscano project, outside and adjacent to the station is also Micheluccis white marble Palazzina Reale di Santa Maria Novella, built to host the Royal family on visits to Florence. Near platform #16 there are a statue and a plaque in remembrance of the train loads of Jewish people who were deported from Italy to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Media related to Firenze Santa Maria Novella at Wikimedia Commons
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Dominican Order
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Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters O. P. after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, the order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, in the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows,917 student brothers, and 237 novices. By the year 2013 there were 6,058 Dominican friars, a number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members. In England and other countries the Dominican friars are referred to as Black Friars because of the black cappa or cloak they wear over their white habits, Dominicans were Blackfriars, as opposed to Whitefriars or Greyfriars. They are also distinct from the Augustinian Friars who wear a similar habit and their identification as Dominicans gave rise to the pun that they were the Domini canes, or Hounds of the Lord. The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when religion began to be contemplated in a new way, men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this emerged two orders of mendicant friars, one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi, the other. Dominics new order was to be an order, trained to preach in the vernacular languages. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, at the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a mixed spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer and meditation, the brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits affected the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics, in England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart. The orders origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its development and reputation. Many later Dominicans battled heresy as part of their apostolate, indeed, many years after St. Dominic reacted to the Cathars, the first Grand Inquistor of Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, would be drawn from the Dominican Order. As an adolescent, he had a love of theology. During his studies in Palencia, Spain, he experienced a famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of his beloved books. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, he was ordained to the priesthood, at that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, named after the Duke of Albi, a Cathar sympathiser and opponent to the subsequent Albigensian Crusade
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Chapter house
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A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which larger meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there, in monasteries, the whole community often met there on a daily basis for readings and to hear the abbot or senior monks talk. When attached to a church, the dean, prebendaries. The rooms may also be used for meetings of various sorts, in medieval times monarchs on tour in their territory would often take them over for their meetings. Synods, ecclesiastical courts and similar meetings often took place in chapter houses, when part of a monastery, the chapter house is generally located on the eastern wing of the cloister, which is next to the church. Since many cathedrals in England were originally monastic foundations, this is a common arrangement there also, elsewhere it may be a separate building. The chapter house comprises a space, in order to hold all the monks of the monastery. Typically there is seating around, often built into, all the walls of the room, often in stone, the seats for the senior members are often larger than the others, and may be raised on a dais. Usually there is one doorway, and though the room is well-lit where the location allows. Many larger chapter houses are designed with vestibules for attendants and those waiting to be called, there is often a fireplace, and altars are found in some examples, sometimes added later. Many medieval rooms use stone vaulting supported by columns in the centre of the space, the shape of the room is usually designed to allow good audibility for speakers from all parts of the room. It may be rectangular, tending towards the square, but octagonal and other near-circular plans are an English speciality, most, like those at Wells Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Lacock Abbey have a single central column, from which the high roof vaulting spreads. York Minster has a roof and no central column. Many have elaborate benched arcades round the wall, with crocketed frames for the seats, in some Romanesque or Gothic monasteries, the entrance to the chapter house has an elaborate façade with a door surrounded by highly decorated archivolts, especially when it is a separate building. Many chapterhouses feature elaborate carving or frescos, which include some masterpieces of religious art, in modern settings, the chapterhouse may simply be or use an ordinary office boardroom or meeting room. When it is a building, this often consists of just the single main room. The first meeting place in the morning, after the church services of Prime or Terce. The monks might sit along the length of the walls in strict age-order, but the chapter house is mentioned in the proceedings of the Council of Aachen in 816
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Gothic art
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Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Southern and Central Europe, in the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals, Christian art was often typological in nature, showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Increased literacy and a body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. Gothic art emerged in Île-de-France, France, in the early 12th century at the Abbey Church of St Denis built by Abbot Suger, monastic orders, especially the Cistercians and the Carthusians, were important builders who disseminated the style and developed distinctive variants of it across Europe. Gothic art was often typological in nature, reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New, Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the decoration of churches. The Gothic period coincided with a resurgence in Marian devotion. Images of the Virgin Mary developed from the Byzantine hieratic types, through the Coronation of the Virgin, to human and initimate types. Artists like Giotto, Fra Angelico and Pietro Lorenzetti in Italy, and Early Netherlandish painting, brought realism, Western artists, and their patrons, became much more confident in innovative iconography, and much more originality is seen, although copied formulae were still used by most artists. Even in Last Judgements Christ was now usually shown exposing his chest to show the wounds of his Passion, the word Gothic for art was initially used as a synonym for Barbaric, and was therefore used pejoratively. Its critics saw this type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the aesthetic proportions, Renaissance authors believed that the Sack of Rome by the Gothic tribes in 410 had triggered the demise of the Classical world and all the values they held dear. Gothic art was criticized by French authors such as Boileau, La Bruyère, Rousseau, before becoming a recognized form of art. Molière would famously comment on Gothic, The besotted taste of Gothic monuments, These odious monsters of ignorant centuries, in its beginning, Gothic art was initially called French work, thus attesting the priority of France in the creation of this style. Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until about 1200, or nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture and sculpture. Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220, painting during the Gothic period was practiced in four primary media, frescos, panel paintings, manuscript illumination and stained glass. Frescoes continued to be used as the pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian
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Renaissance art
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Renaissance art, with Renaissance Humanist philosophy, spread throughout Europe, affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities. Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the period to the Early Modern age. In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art, the following list presents a summary, dealt with more fully in the main articles that are cited above. Classical texts, lost to European scholars for centuries, became available and these included Philosophy, Prose, Poetry, Drama, Science, a thesis on the Arts and Early Christian Theology. Simultaneously, Europe gained access to advanced mathematics which had its provenance in the works of Islamic scholars, the advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily, and an increasing number of books were written for a broad public. The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city, cosimo de Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts, not associated with the church or monarchy. Humanist philosophy meant that mans relationship with humanity, the universe, a revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello. A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family, their influential inlaw Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, the publication of two treatises by Leone Battista Alberti, De Pitura,1435, and De re aedificatoria,1452. Their masterpieces are the pulpits of the Baptistery and Cathedral of Pisa, the painters of the Low Countries at this period included Jan van Eyck, his brother Hubert van Eyck, Robert Campin, Hans Memling, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes. Their painting developed independently of Early Italian Renaissance painting, and without the influence of a deliberate, the style of painting grew directly out of the Medieval arts of tempera painting, stained glass and book illumination. The media used was oil paint, which had long been utilised for painting leather ceremonial shields and accoutrements, because it was flexible, the earliest Netherlandish oil paintings are meticulous and detailed like tempera paintings. The material lent itself to the depiction of variations and texture. The Netherlandish painters did not approach the creation of a picture through a framework of linear perspective and they maintained a Medieval view of hierarchical proportion and religious symbolism, while delighting in a realistic treatment of material elements, both natural and man-made. Jan van Eyck, with his brother Hubert painted The Altarpiece of the Mystical Lamb and it is probable that Antonello da Messina became familiar with Van Eycks work, while in Naples or Sicily. His studies of perspective are thought to have influenced the painter Masaccio, the contemporary of Donatello, Masaccio, was the painterly descendant of Giotto, furthering the trend towards solidity of form and naturalism of face and gesture that he had begun a century earlier. Masaccios developments were carried forward in the paintings of Fra Angelico, the treatment of the elements of perspective and light in painting was of particular concern to 15th-century Florentine painters. Uccello was so obsessed with trying to achieve an appearance of perspective that, according to Vasari and his solutions can be seen in his masterpiece, the Battle of San Romano. In Naples, the painter Antonello da Messina began using oil paints for portraits and religious paintings at a date that preceded other Italian painters and he carried this technique north and influenced the painters of Venice
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Oratory (worship)
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An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray. In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is an other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer. It is for all intents and purposes another word for what is called a chapel, except a few oratories are set up for the Divine Office and prayers. Previously, canon law distinguished several types of oratories, private, semi-public, the term is used for instance in the Rule of St Benedict for the private communal chapel inside monasteries. The distinctions between public, semi-public, and private have been eliminated in the 1983 Code of Canon Law in favor of new terminology. Oratory now means a place of worship for a group or community which could be opened to the public at the discretion of the groups superior. This definition corresponds with the oratory of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. The private oratory of the 1917 Code corresponds very closely with the 1983 Codes chapel, Oratories seem to have found their origin in chapels built at the shrines of martyrs, for the faithful to assemble and pray on the spot. The oldest extant oratory is the Archiepiscopal Chapel in Ravenna, the term can also refer to the local house of the Oratorians, the congregation of priests founded by St Philip Neri in Rome, Italy in 1575. Saint Josephs Oratory is the name of a Roman Catholic basilica in Montreal, oratorio de San Felipe de Neri in Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Media related to Oratories at Wikimedia Commons
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Romanesque architecture
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Romanesque Architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches, examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture, each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan, the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics, Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete. The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, northern Spain and rural Italy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Romanesque means descended from Roman and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages, Romance language is not degenerated Latin language. Latin language is degenerated Romance language, Romanesque architecture is not debased Roman architecture. Roman architecture is debased Romanesque architecture, the first use in a published work is in William Gunns An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture. The term is now used for the more restricted period from the late 10th to 12th centuries, Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period. Most have been altered, and many are in ruins. By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches, the scope of Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman Empire. In the more northern countries Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, although the round arch continued in use, the engineering skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the Classical Orders. In Rome several great Constantinian basilicas continued in use as an inspiration to later builders, the largest building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the plan of the crossing tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque St. Michaels Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030, the style, sometimes called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque, is characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches known as a Lombard band
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Bell tower
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A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, the Italian term campanile, deriving from the word campana meaning bell, is synonymous with bell tower, though in English usage Campanile tends to be used to refer to a free standing bell tower. A bell tower may also in some traditions be called a belfry, though this term may refer specifically to the substructure that houses the bells. The tallest free-standing bell tower in the world, approximately 110 m high, is the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, located at the University of Birmingham, bells are rung from a tower to enable them to be heard at a distance. Church bells can signify the time for worshippers to go to church for a communal service and they are also rung on special occasions such as a wedding, or a funeral service. In some religious traditions they are used within the liturgy of the service to signify to people that a particular part of the service has been reached. A bell tower may have a bell, or a collection of bells which are tuned to a common scale. They may be stationary and chimed, rung randomly by swinging through a small arc and they may house a carillon or chimes, in which the bells are sounded by hammers connected via cables to a keyboard. These can be found in churches and secular buildings in Europe and America including college. A variety of electronic devices exist to simulate the sound of bells, some churches have an exconjuratory in the bell tower, a space where ceremonies were conducted to ward off weather-related calamities, like storms and excessive rain. The main bell tower of the Cathedral of Murcia has four, in addition, most Christian denominations ring church bells to call the faithful to worship, signalling the start of a mass or service of worship. The Christian tradition of the ringing of bells from a belltower is analogous to Islamic tradition of the adhan from a minaret. In AD400, Paulinus of Nola introduced church bells into the Christian Church, by the 11th century, bells housed in belltowers became commonplace. Historic bell towers exist throughout Europe, the Irish round towers are thought to have functioned in part as bell towers. Famous medieval European examples include Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, perhaps the most famous European free-standing bell tower, however, is the so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is the campanile of the Duomo di Pisa in Pisa, Italy. In 1999 thirty-two Belgian belfries were added to the UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites, in 2005 this list was extended with one Belgian and twenty-three Northern French belfries and is since known as Belfries of Belgium and France. In the Middle Ages, cities sometimes kept their important documents in belfries, not all are on a large scale, the bell tower of Katúň, in Slovakia, is typical of the many more modest structures that were once common in country areas. Archaic wooden bell towers survive adjoining churches in Lithuania and as well as in parts of Poland
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Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai
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Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai was a member of a wealthy family of wool merchants in Renaissance Florence, in Tuscany, Italy. He was the father of Bernardo Rucellai and grandfather of Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai, as a young man, Giovanni di Paolo entered the banking house of Palla di Noferi Strozzi and at the age of about 25 married his daughter Iacopa di Palla Strozzi. The couple had two sons and five daughters, Rucellai remained loyal to Strozzi after the banishment of the latter to Padova by Cosimo de Medici in November 1434, and for about 27 years he took no part in public life. Nannina was brought to her husbands house five years later, on 8 June 1466, the wedding feast was famous for its opulence,500 guests were seated on a dais which occupied the loggia and the whole of the piazza and the street in front of Palazzo Rucellai. Giovanni di Paolo was the head of the Rucellai family. He served as Prior in 1463 and as Gonfaloniere di Giustizia in 1475, Giovanni di Paolo was an important patron of the arts, matched only by Cosimo de Medici in fifteenth-century Florence. He commissioned the building of the Palazzo Rucellai, designed by Leon Battista Alberti, and he built a villa at Quaracchi on the road from Florence to Pistoia. His most notable donation, the marble façade by Alberti for Santa Maria Novella, was but one of the familys commissions of public art
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Leon Battista Alberti
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Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer, he epitomised the Renaissance Man. Although Alberti is known mostly for being an artist, he was also a mathematician of many sorts, Albertis life was described in Giorgio Vasaris Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Leon Battista Alberti was born in 1404 in Genoa and his mother is unknown, and his father was a wealthy Florentine who had been exiled from his own city, allowed to return in 1428. Alberti was sent to boarding school in Padua, then studied Law at Bologna and he lived for a time in Florence, then travelled to Rome in 1431 where he took holy orders and entered the service of the papal court. During this time he studied the ancient ruins, which excited his interest in architecture, Alberti was gifted in many ways. He was tall, strong and an athlete who could ride the wildest horse. He distinguished himself as a writer while he was still a child at school, in 1435, he began his first major written work, Della pittura, which was inspired by the burgeoning pictorial art in Florence in the early 15th century. In this work he analyses the nature of painting and explores the elements of perspective, composition, in 1447 he became the architectural advisor to Pope Nicholas V and was involved with several projects at the Vatican. His first major commission was in 1446 for the facade of the Rucellai Palace in Florence. This was followed in 1450 by a commission from Sigismondo Malatesta to transform the Gothic church of San Francesco in Rimini into a memorial chapel, the Tempio Malatestiano. In 1452, he completed De re aedificatoria, a treatise on architecture, using as its basis the work of Vitruvius, the work was not published until 1485. It was followed in 1464 by his less influential work, De statua, Albertis only known sculpture is a self-portrait medallion, sometimes attributed to Pisanello. Alberti was employed to design two churches in Mantua, San Sebastiano, which was never completed, and for which Albertis intention can only be speculated, and the Basilica of SantAndrea. The design for the church was completed in 1471, a year before Albertis death. As an artist, Alberti distinguished himself from the ordinary craftsman and he was a humanist, and part of the rapidly expanding entourage of intellectuals and artisans supported by the courts of the princes and lords of the time. Alberti, as a member of family and as part of the Roman curia, had special status. He was a welcomed guest at the Este court in Ferrara, the Duke of Urbino was a shrewd military commander, who generously spent money on the patronage of art. Alberti planned to dedicate his treatise on architecture to his friend, among Albertis smaller studies, pioneering in their field, were a treatise in cryptography, De componendis cifris, and the first Italian grammar
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Tempio Malatestiano
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The Tempio Malatestiano is the unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. San Francesco was originally a thirteenth-century Gothic church belonging to the Franciscans, the original church had a rectangular plan, without side chapels, with a single nave ending with three apses. The central one was probably frescoed by Giotto, to whom is attributed the crucifix now housed in the second right chapel. The execution of the project was handed over to the Veronese Matteo di Andrea de Pasti, of Albertis project, the dome that appears in Matteos foundation medal of 1450— similar to that of the Pantheon of Rome and intended to be among the largest in Italy— was never built. The two blind arcades at the side of the arch were to house the sarcophagi of Sigismondo Pandolfo and Isotta. Works for the renovation of the nave began some five years before those of the shell that encases the church. Marble for the work was taken from the Roman ruins in SantApollinare in Classe, the church is immediately recognizable from its wide marble façade, decorated by sculptures probably made by Agostino di Duccio and Matteo de Pasti. The large arcades on the sides are reminiscent of the Roman aqueducts, in each blind arch is a sarcophagus, a gothic tradition of interment under the exterior side arches of a church. The entrance portal has a pediment over the door set within the center arch. The left side has no chapels, immediately the right of the main door is Sigismondo Pandolfos sepulchre. The next chapel is dedicated to St. Sigismund, patron of soldiers, there is also a fresco by Piero della Francesca portraying Malatesta kneeling before the saint. The following chapel houses the tomb of Isotta and the Giotto crucifix, the next chapel is the Cappella dei Pianeti, dedicated to St. Jerome. The zodiacal figures are by Agostino di Duccio and it houses also an interesting panorama of Rimini as it was in the 15th century. Then comes the Chapel of Liberal Arts, with di Duccios portrayal of Philosophy, Rhetoric, the bodies of some of Malatestas ancestors are housed in the Cappella della Pietà, with two statues of prophets and ten of sibyls. The chapel, like other places in the church, is characterized by the presence of the SI monogram sporting a rose. Due to the presence of elements referring to the Malatestas history, and to Sigismondo Pandolfo himself. Pope Pius II, Sigismondos deadliest enemy, declared it as full of pagan gods, the church was heavily damaged during World War II, and afterwards reconstructed using pieces salvaged from the rubbles by men from the Allies-affiliated Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives unit. Orsini Luigi, The Malatesta temple, sixtyfour illustrations, and text
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Rimini
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Rimini is a city of 146,606 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa and it is one of the most famous seaside resorts in Europe, thanks to its 15-kilometre-long sandy beach, over 1,000 hotels, and thousands of bars, restaurants and discos. The first bathing establishment opened in 1843, an art city with ancient Roman and Renaissance monuments, Rimini is the hometown of the famous film director Federico Fellini as well. In the 19th century, Rimini was one of the most active cities in the revolutionary front, hosting many of the movements aimed at Italian unification. In the course of World War II, the city was the scene of clashes and bombings, finally, in recent years it has become one of the most important sites for trade fairs and conferences in Italy. The total approximate population of the Rimini urban area is 225,000, in 268 BC at the mouth of the Ariminus, the Roman Republic founded the colonia of Ariminum. The city was involved in the wars but remained faithful to the popular party and to its leaders, firstly Gaius Marius. After crossing the Rubicon, the made his legendary appeal to the legions in the Forum of Rimini. Ariminum was seen as a bastion against invaders from Gaul and also as a springboard for conquering the Padana plain, remains of the amphitheater that could seat 12000 people, and a five-arched bridge of Istrian stone completed by Tiberius are also still visible. Later Galla Placidia built the church of San Stefano, when the Ostrogoths conquered Rimini in 493, Odoacer, besieged in Ravenna, had to capitulate. During the Gothic War, Rimini was taken and retaken many times, in its vicinity the Byzantine general Narses overthrew the Alamanni. Under the Byzantine rule, it belonged to the Pentapolis, part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, in 728, it was taken with many other cities by Liutprand, King of the Lombards but returned to the Byzantines about 735. Pepin the Short gave it to the Holy See, but during the wars of the popes, in the 13th century, it suffered from the discords of the Gambacari and Ansidei families. The city became a municipality in the 14th century and with the arrival of the orders, numerous convents and churches were built. In fact, Giotto inspired the 14th-century School of Rimini, which was the expression of cultural ferment. The House of Malatesta emerged from the struggles between municipal factions with Malatesta da Verucchio, who in 1239 was named podestà of the city, despite interruptions, his family held authority until 1528. In 1312 he was succeeded by Malatestino Malatesta, first signore of the city and Pandolfo I Malatesta, ferrantino, son of Malatesta II, was opposed by his cousin Ramberto and by Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget, legate of Pope John XXII. Malatesta II was also lord of Pesaro and he was succeeded by Malatesta Ungaro and Galeotto I Malatesta, uncle of the former, lord also of Fano, Pesaro, and Cesena
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Vitruvius
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His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body, led to the famous Renaissance drawing by Da Vinci of Vitruvian Man. By his own description Vitruvius served as an artilleryman, the class of arms in the military offices. He probably served as a officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum. Little is known about Vitruvius life, most inferences about him are extracted from his only surviving work De Architectura. Even his first name Marcus and his cognomen Pollio are uncertain. Cetius Faventinus writes of Vitruvius Polio aliique auctores, this can be read as Vitruvius Polio, and others or, less likely, as Vitruvius, Polio, Vitruvius was a military engineer, or a praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status group. He is mentioned in Pliny the Elders table of contents for Naturalis Historia, frontinus refers to Vitruvius the architect in his late 1st-century work De aquaeductu. Likely born a free Roman citizen, by his own account, Vitruvius served the Roman army under Caesar with the otherwise poorly identified Marcus Aurelius, Publius Minidius and these names vary depending on the edition of De architectura. Publius Minidius is also written as Publius Numidicus and Publius Numidius, as an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is speculated that Vitruvius served with Caesars chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the locations where he served can be reconstructed from, for example, descriptions of the building methods of various foreign tribes. Although he describes places throughout De Architectura, he not say he was present. His service likely included north Africa, Hispania, Gaul and Pontus, the position of the camp, the direction of the entrenchments, the inspection of the tents or huts of the soldiers and the baggage were comprehended in his province. His authority extended over the sick, and the physicians who had the care of them and he had the charge of providing carriages, bathhouses and the proper tools for sawing and cutting wood, digging trenches, raising parapets, sinking wells and bringing water into the camp. He likewise had the care of furnishing the troops with wood and straw, as well as the rams, onagri, balistae, at various locations described by Vitruvius, battles and sieges occurred. He is the source for the siege of Larignum in 56 BC. The broken siege at Gergovia in 52 BC, and the siege of Uxellodunum in 51 BC. These are all sieges of large Gallic oppida, a legion that fits the same sequence of locations is the Legio VI Ferrata, of which ballista would be an auxiliary unit. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect, frontinus mentions him in connection with the standard sizes of pipes
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Palazzo Rucellai
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Palazzo Rucellai is a palatial fifteenth-century townhouse on the Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence, Italy. The Rucellai Palace is believed by most scholars to have designed by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 and 1451 and executed, at least in part, by Bernardo Rossellino. Its splendid facade was one of the first to proclaim the new ideas of Renaissance architecture based on the use of pilasters, the Rucellai Palace demonstrates the impact of the antique revival but does so in a manner which is full of Renaissance originality. The grid-like facade, achieved through the application of a scheme of trabeated articulation, twin-lit, round-arched windows in the two upper stories are set within arches with highly pronounced voussoirs that spring from pilaster to pilaster. The facade is topped by a projecting cornice. The ground floor was for business and was flanked by benches running along the street facade, the second story was the main formal reception floor and the third story the private family and sleeping quarters. A fourth hidden floor under the roof was for servants, with almost no windows, the palace contains an off-center court, built to a design that may have been adapted from Brunelleschis loggia at his Spedale degli Innocenti. In the triangular Piazza dei Rucellai in front of the palace and set at angles to it is the Loggia de Rucellai, which was used for family celebrations, weddings. The two buildings together with the open space between them, form one of the most refined urban compositions of the Italian Renaissance. An accurate appraisal of the Rucellai Palaces architectural importance has been hindered by uncertainties concerning when, traditionally, and supported by some 16th-century sources, it has been dated to the period 1446-51, making the facades of both the Medici and Rucellai palaces contemporaries. In these tax records, the location of property is defined by naming adjacent features be they streets or neighbors, Mack, thus, was able to reconstruct ownership histories for the site now occupied by the palace for pertinent tax year. What Mack discovered substantiates Giovanni Rucellai own testimony that out of eight houses, eight dwellings did, in fact, once occupy the site of the present Rucellai Palace. Records for the tax year 1446 show that Giovanni Rucellai and his family lived in a house at the corner of the Via della Vigna Nuova. Evidently intending to enlarge his living quarters in keeping with his financial and civic standing. Shortly thereafter, the house contiguous to his own along the Via della Vigna Nuova, owned by his mother, finally, the house adjoining his mothers was added to the growing residential complex. The present internal disposition of the palace testifies to the process by which the building evolved. By 1455 one of the Via dei Palchetti houses had been razed and replaced by a courtyard surrounded on three sides by arcades whose round arches were supported by Corinthian columns, a cross-vaulted corridor now linked the courtyard with the Via della Vigna Nuova. Externally, the way in which the Rucellai Palace was created may be seen along the Via dei Palchetti
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Frieze
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In architecture the frieze /ˈfriːz/ is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on a wall it lies upon the architrave and is capped by the moldings of the cornice. A frieze can be found on many Greek and Roman buildings, the Parthenon Frieze being the most famous and this style is typical for the Persians. In interiors, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the picture rail, by extension, a frieze is a long stretch of painted, sculpted or even calligraphic decoration in such a position, normally above eye-level. Frieze decorations may depict scenes in a sequence of discrete panels, the material of which the frieze is made of may be plasterwork, carved wood or other decorative medium. In an example of a frieze on the façade of a building. A pulvinated frieze is convex in section, such friezes were features of 17th-century Northern Mannerism, especially in subsidiary friezes, and much employed in interior architecture and in furniture. The concept of a frieze has been generalized in the construction of frieze patterns. Media related to Friezes at Wikimedia Commons Frieze
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Pediment
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The tympanum, the triangular area within the pediment, is often decorated with relief sculpture. The pediment is found in classical Greek temples, renaissance, a prominent example is the Parthenon, where it contains a tympanum decorated with figures in relief sculpture. This architectural element was developed in the architecture of ancient Greece, in Ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and later architectural revivals, the pediment was used as a non-structural element over windows, doors and aedicules. A variant is the segmental or arch pediment, where the normal angular slopes of the cornice are replaced by one in the form of a segment of a circle, both traditional and segmental pediments have broken and open forms. In the broken pediment the raking cornice is left open at the apex, the open pediment is open along the base – often used in Georgian architecture. A further variant is the Swan-necked pediment, where the cornice is in the form of two S-shaped brackets. The decorations in the tympanum frequently extend through these openings, in the form of Alto-relievo sculpture, tondo paintings and these forms were adopted in Mannerist architecture, and applied to furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale. The terms open pediment and broken pediment are often used interchangeably, a pediment is sometimes the top element of a portico
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Volute
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A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals, four are normally to be found on an Ionic capital, eight on Composite capitals and smaller versions on the Corinthian capital. The word derives from the Latin voluta and it has been suggested that the ornament was inspired by the curve of a rams horns, or perhaps was derived from the natural spiral found in the ovule of a common species of clover native to Greece. Alternatively, it may simply be of geometrical origin, the ornament can be seen in Renaissance and Baroque architecture and is a common decoration in furniture design, silverware and ceramics. A method of drawing the complex geometry was devised by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius through the study of classical buildings, arabesque Scrollwork Media related to Volute at Wikimedia Commons
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Tornabuoni Chapel
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The Tornabuoni Chapel is the main chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. It is famous for the extensive and well-preserved fresco cycle on its walls, one of the most complete in the city, the main chapel of Santa Maria Novella was first frescoed in the mid-14th century by Andrea Orcagna. Remains of these paintings were found during restorations in the 1940s, some of these were detached and can be seen today in the Museum of the church. By the late 15th century, Orcagnas frescoes were in poor condition, however, the Ricci had never recovered from their bankruptcy in 1348, and so they arranged to sell their rights to the choir to the Sassetti. Francesco Sassetti wanted the new frescoes to portray stories of St. Francis of Assisi, however, Sassetti therefore moved the commission to the church of Santa Trinita, where Ghirlandaio executed one of his masterworks, the Sassetti Chapel. The rights to the chapel in Santa Maria Novella that were lost by the Sassetti were then sold by the Ricci to Giovanni Tornabuoni, John the Baptist, patron of Tornabuoni and of the city of Florence. It is possible that the new scenes followed the pattern as Orcagnas. The windows were executed according to Ghirlandaios design. The complex was completed by an altarpiece portraying the Madonna del Latte in Glory with Angel and Saints, on the recto a Resurrection of Christ was painted. This work is now divided between the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. The cycle portrays on three walls the Life of the Virgin and the Life of St John the Baptist, the saint of Florence. The left and right walls each have three rows, each divided into two rectangular scenes framed by fictive architecture, and surmounted by a large lunette beneath the vault, each side wall has a total of seven narrative scenes which are read beginning from the bottom. The chancel wall has a mullioned window of three lights with stained glass, provided in 1492 by Alessandro Agolanti after Ghirlandaios design. On the lower part of the wall is a portrait of Giovanni Tornabuoni and his wife Francesca Pitti. Above the window is another large lunette, containing the Coronation of the Virgin, in the vault are depicted the Four Evangelists. The first episode represents the expulsion of Joachim, the father of Mary, a ceremony is taking place in which several figures are carrying lambs for sacrifice. However, Joachim was banned from attending due to his alleged sterility, Ghirlandaio set the scene in a sumptuous loggia of Greek cross plan, with a sequence of arches in the background and an octagonal altar in the middle, where the sacrificial fire is lit. The characters are illuminated from above, as if by the lighting from the real chapel windows
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Apse
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In architecture, an apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an Exedra. Smaller apses may also be in other locations, especially shrines, an apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault. Commonly, the apse of a church, cathedral or basilica is the semicircular or polygonal termination to the choir or sanctuary, in relation to church architecture it is generally the name given to where the altar is placed or where the clergy are seated. An apse is occasionally found in a synagogue, e. g. Maoz Haim Synagogue, the apse is separated from the main part of the church by the transept. Smaller apses are sometimes built in other than the east end. The domed apse became a part of the church plan in the early Christian era. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the apse is known as diaconicon. Various ecclesiastical features of which the apse may form part are drawn here, The chancel, directly to the east beyond the choir contains the High Altar. This area is reserved for the clergy, and was formerly called the presbytery. Hemi-cyclic choirs, first developed in the East, came to use in France in 470, famous northern French examples of chevets are in the Gothic cathedrals of Amiens, Beauvais and Reims. The word ambulatory refers to an aisle in the apse that passes behind the altar and choir. An ambulatory may refer to the passages that enclose a cloister in a monastery, or to other types of aisles round the edge of a church building
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Filippino Lippi
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Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy. Born Filippo Lippi in Prato, Tuscany, the son of the painter Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti. They moved to Spoleto, where Filippino served as workshop adjuvant in the construction of the Cathedral there, when his father died in 1469, he completed the frescos with Storie della Vergine in the cathedral. Filippino Lippi completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Botticelli, who had been a pupil of Filippinos father, in 1472, Botticelli also took him as his companion in the Compagnia di San Luca. His first works greatly resemble those of Botticellis, but with less sensitivity and subtlety, the very first ones were initially attributed to an anonymous Amico di Sandro. Eventually Lippis style evolved into a personal and effective one in the years 1480-1485. Together with Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the decoration of Lorenzo de Medicis villa at Spedaletto. On December 31,1482 he was commissioned to work on a wall of Sala dellUdienza of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, a work never begun. Soon after, probably in 1483-84, he was called to complete Masaccios decoration of Brancacci Chapel in the church of the Carmine, the work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the Palazzo Vecchio, started on February 20,1486. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery, in the same years Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard, now in the Badia Fiorentina, Florence. This is Lippis most popular picture, a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a scenario of rocks. The work is dated to 1480–86, eventually he worked for Tanai de Nerli in Florences Santo Spirito church. On April 21,1487, Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the chapel in Santa Maria Novella with the Stories of St. John Evangelist. He worked on this piece intermittently, only completing it in 1503, the windows with musical themes, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. Filippino showed his characters in a landscape which recreated the ancient world in its finest details and he created in this way an animated, mysterious, fantastic but also disquieting style, showing the unreality of something as a nightmare. In this way, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners deformed by grim faces, in the scene with St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple, the statue of the pagan god is a living figure which seems to dare the Christian saint. In 1488, Lippi moved to Rome, where Lorenzo de Medici had advised Cardinal Oliviero Carafa to entrust him the decoration of the chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. These frescoes show a new kind of inspiration, quite different from the earlier works, Lippi finished the cycle by 1493
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Filippo Strozzi the Elder
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Filippo Strozzi the Elder was an Italian banker and statesman, a member of the affluent Strozzi family of Florence. He was born in Florence to Matteo Strozzi and Alessandra Macinghi and he was banned by the Medici as a young man, together with all his family, due to the opposition of Palla Strozzi against Cosimo de Medici. He moved to Naples, and here he gained a status as a banker. When he returned to Florence he commissioned Benedetto da Maiano for the construction of the family palace, however, he died before the completion of the works. He also had Maiano, along with Filippino Lippi, build a chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella. Completed in 1502, it houses Strozzis remains and he married two times, and produced 12 children. Strozzi family People of the Republic of Florence
34.
Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze
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Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze or Andrea da Firenze was an Italian painter active in Florence. He was probably born in Florence where he was active from 1343 and his earliest works suggest that he must have been in close contact with the workshop of Andrea di Cione. Andrea di Bonaiuto is known for his stained glass window of the Coronation of Mary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the central theme of the frescos in the Spanish chapel is the glorification of the Dominican Order. From mid 1366 to mid 1367 Andrea di Bonaiuto was one of the artists advising on the construction of the Florence Cathedral and he died in Pisa while working on a fresco on the Legend of St Raneiro at the Camposanto Monumentale. 2 Painting by or after Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze at the Art UK site Media related to Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze at Wikimedia Commons
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Filippo Brunelleschi
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Filippo Brunelleschi was an Italian designer and a key figure in architecture, recognised to be the first modern engineer, planner and sole construction supervisor. He was one of the fathers of the Renaissance. He is generally known for developing a technique for linear perspective in art. Heavily depending on mirrors and geometry, to reinforce Christian spiritual reality and it also had the most profound – and quite unanticipated – influence on the rise of modern science. His accomplishments also include other works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering. His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy, unfortunately, his two original linear perspective panels have been lost. Brunelleschi was born in Florence, Italy, little is known about his early life, the only sources being Antonio Manetti and Giorgio Vasari. According to these sources, Filippos father was Brunellesco di Lippo, a notary, Filippo was the middle of their three children. The young Filippo was given a literary and mathematical education intended to enable him to follow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant. Being artistically inclined, however, Filippo enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the silk merchants Guild, which also included goldsmiths, metalworkers and he became a master goldsmith in 1398. It was thus not a coincidence that his first important building commission, in 1401, Brunelleschi entered a competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery. Seven competitors each produced a bronze panel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. Brunelleschis entry, which, with that of Lorenzo Ghiberti, is one of two to have survived, made reference to the Greco-Roman Boy with Thorn. Brunelleschis panel consists of several pieces bolted to the back plate, Brunelleschi is considered a seminal figure of the Renaissance. Around 1400, there emerged a cultural interest in humanitas, or humanism, however, this interest was restricted to a few scholars, writers, and philosophers before it began to influence the visual arts. It was in period that Brunelleschi and his friend Donatello visited Rome to study its ancient ruins. Donatello, like Brunelleschi, was trained as a goldsmith, though he worked in the studio of contemporarily well-known painter Ghiberti. Although the glories of Ancient Rome were a matter of popular discourse at the time, it seems no one had studied the physical fabric of its ruins in any detail until Brunelleschi
36.
Galileo Galilei
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Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath, astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician. He played a role in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass, Galileos championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of a stellar parallax. He was tried by the Inquisition, found vehemently suspect of heresy and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He has been called the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of scientific method, and the father of science. Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, on 15 February 1564, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia, three of Galileos five siblings survived infancy. The youngest, Michelangelo, also became a noted lutenist and composer although he contributed to financial burdens during Galileos young adulthood, Michelangelo was unable to contribute his fair share of their fathers promised dowries to their brothers-in-law, who would later attempt to seek legal remedies for payments due. Michelangelo would also occasionally have to borrow funds from Galileo to support his musical endeavours and these financial burdens may have contributed to Galileos early fire to develop inventions that would bring him additional income. When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence and he then was educated in the Vallombrosa Abbey, about 30 km southeast of Florence. Galileo Bonaiuti was buried in the church, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. It was common for mid-sixteenth century Tuscan families to name the eldest son after the parents surname, hence, Galileo Galilei was not necessarily named after his ancestor Galileo Bonaiuti. The Italian male given name Galileo derives from the Latin Galilaeus, meaning of Galilee, the biblical roots of Galileos name and surname were to become the subject of a famous pun. In 1614, during the Galileo affair, one of Galileos opponents, in it he made a point of quoting Acts 1,11, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven. Despite being a genuinely pious Roman Catholic, Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock with Marina Gamba and they had two daughters, Virginia and Livia, and a son, Vincenzo. Their only worthy alternative was the religious life, both girls were accepted by the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri and remained there for the rest of their lives. Virginia took the name Maria Celeste upon entering the convent and she died on 2 April 1634, and is buried with Galileo at the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Livia took the name Sister Arcangela and was ill for most of her life, Vincenzo was later legitimised as the legal heir of Galileo and married Sestilia Bocchineri
37.
Holy Trinity (Masaccio)
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The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors is a fresco by the Early Italian Renaissance painter Masaccio. It is located in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, the Trinity is thought to have been created by Masaccio sometime between 1425-1427. He died in late 1428 at the age of 26, or having just turned 27 and this painting was one of his last major commissions, and is considered to be one of his masterpieces. The fresco is located along the middle of the left aisle. There was also an altar, mounted as a shelf-ledge between the upper and lower sections of the fresco, further emphasizing the reality of the artiface, not much is known about the details of the commission, no contemporaneous documents naming the altar-pieces patron have been found. The two donor portraits included in the fresco, one figure kneeling on either side of the archway, have not been positively identified, the persons depicted are almost certainly contemporary Florentines, either the persons who funded the work, or relatives or close associates. According to the conventions of such depictions, it is generally. Presumably, the representations in the serve as relatively accurate likenesses of their actual appearance at the time when their portraits were created. It has been hypothesized that Fra Alessio Strozzi and/or Filippo Brunelleschi may have involved, or at least consulted. Brunelleschis work on perspective and architecture certainly inspired the painting. Fra Alessios involvement has been posited more on the matter of the depiction of the Holy Trinity. Around 1568 Cosimo I, then Duke of Florence, commissioned Giorgio Vasari to undertake renovation work at Santa Maria Novella, in keeping with the tastes. This work included reconfiguring and redecoration of the chapel-area in which Masaccios fresco was located, Vasari had already written about Masaccio, including a highly favourable mention of this specific work, in his Vite. To decorate the new altar, Vasari painted a Madonna of the Rosary, the image is still extant, Masaccios Holy Trinity was rediscovered when Vasaris altar was dismantled during renovations in 1860. The Crucifixion, the part of the fresco, was subsequently transferred to canvas. It is unclear from available sources whether the section of the fresco. Restoration was done to the Crucifixion section of the painting at that time, to replace missing areas of the design, while the painting was in damaged condition when rediscovered, it is also likely that further damage was caused by the transfer from plaster to canvas. In the 20th century, the cadaver tomb portion of the work was rediscovered still in situ, leonetto Tintori undertook restoration work on the combined whole during 1950-1954
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Masaccio
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Masaccio, born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio died at twenty-six and little is known about the circumstances of his death. The name Masaccio is a version of Maso, meaning clumsy or messy Tom. The name may have created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator, also called Maso. Despite his brief career, he had a influence on other artists. He was one of the first to use linear perspective in his painting, employing techniques such as vanishing point in art for the first time, Masaccio was born to Giovanni di Simone Cassai and Jacopa di Martinozzo in Castel San Giovanni di Altura, now San Giovanni Valdarno. His father was a notary and his mother the daughter of an innkeeper of Barberino di Mugello and his family name, Cassai, comes from the trade of his paternal grandfather Simone and granduncle Lorenzo, who were carpenters/cabinet makers. Masaccios father died in 1406, when he was five, later that same year a brother was born. He also was to become a painter, with the nickname of lo Scheggia meaning the splinter, there is no evidence for Masaccios artistic education, however Renaissance painters traditionally began an apprenticeship with an established master around the age of 12. Johannis Simonis pictor populi S. Nicholae de Florentia, the first works attributed to Masaccio are the San Giovenale Triptych, now in the Museum of Cascia di Reggello near Florence, and the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne at the Uffizi. The San Giovenale altarpiece was discovered in 1961 in the church of San Giovenale at Cascia di Reggello and it depicts the Virgin and Child with angels in the central panel, Sts. Bartholomew and Blaise on the panel, and Sts. Juvenal and Anthony Abbot in the right panel, the painting has lost much of its original framing, and its surface is badly abraded. The second work was perhaps Masaccios first collaboration with the older and already-renowned artist, Masolino is believed to have painted the figure of St. Anne and the angels that hold the cloth of honor behind her, while Masaccio painted the more important Virgin and Child on their throne. Masolinos figures are delicate, graceful and somewhat flat, while Masaccios are solid, in Florence, Masaccio could study the works of Giotto and become friends with Brunelleschi and Donatello. It was destroyed when the cloister was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century. With the two artists probably working simultaneously, the painting began around 1425, but for reasons the chapel was left unfinished. As a whole the frescoes represent human sin and its redemption through the actions of Peter, the style of Masaccios scenes shows the influence of Giotto especially
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Donatello
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Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance sculptor from Florence. He worked with stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco and wax, and had several assistants, with four perhaps being a typical number. Though his best-known works were mostly statues in the round, he developed a new, very shallow, type of bas-relief for small works, and a good deal of his output was larger architectural reliefs. Donatello was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, who was a member of the Florentine Arte della Lana, Donatello was educated in the house of the Martelli family. He apparently received his artistic training in a goldsmiths workshop. While undertaking study and excavations with Filippo Brunelleschi in Rome, work that gained the two men the reputation of treasure seekers, Donatello made a living by working at goldsmiths shops. In 1409–1411 he executed the colossal seated figure of Saint John the Evangelist, which until 1588 occupied a niche of the old cathedral façade and this work marks a decisive step forward from late Gothic Mannerism in the search for naturalism and the rendering of human feelings. The face, the shoulders and the bust are still idealized, while the hands, in 1411–13, Donatello worked on a statue of St. Mark for the guild church of Orsanmichele. In 1417 he completed the Saint George for the Confraternity of the Cuirass-makers, the elegant St. George and the Dragon relief on the statues base, executed in schiacciato is one of the first examples of central-point perspective in sculpture. From 1423 is the Saint Louis of Toulouse for the Orsanmichele, Donatello had also sculpted the classical frame for this work, which remains, while the statue was moved in 1460 and replaced by Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Verrocchio. Between 1415 and 1426, Donatello created five statues for the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, also known as the Duomo. These works are the Beardless Prophet, Bearded Prophet, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Habbakuk, and Jeremiah, from the late teens is the Pazzi Madonna relief in Berlin. In 1425, he executed the notable Crucifix for Santa Croce, this work portrays Christ in a moment of the agony, eyes and mouth partially opened, the body contracted in an ungraceful posture. From 1425 to 1427, Donatello collaborated with Michelozzo on the monument of the Antipope John XXIII for the Battistero in Florence. Donatello made the recumbent bronze figure of the deceased, under a shell, in 1427, he completed in Pisa a marble relief for the funerary monument of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci at the church of SantAngelo a Nilo in Naples. In the same period, he executed the relief of the Feast of Herod, the relief is mostly in stiacciato, with the foreground figures are done in bas-relief. Around 1430, Cosimo de Medici, the foremost art patron of his era and this is now Donatellos most famous work, and the first known free-standing nude statue produced since antiquity. Also from this period is the disquietingly small Love-Atys, housed in the Bargello, some have perceived the David as having homo-erotic qualities, and have argued that this reflected the artists own orientation
40.
Cadaver tomb
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A cadaver tomb or transi is a type of gisant featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing corpse. The topos was particularly characteristic of the later Middle Ages, a depiction of a rotting cadaver in art is called a transi. However, the cadaver tomb can really be applied to other varieties of monuments. The iconography is distinct, the depiction of vermin on these cadavers is more commonly found on the European mainland. The dissemination of cadaver imagery in the late-medieval Danse Macabre may also have influenced the iconography of cadaver monuments, in monumental architecture, cadaver tombs were a departure from the usual practice of showing an effigy of the person as they were in life. An early example is the effigy on the multi-layered wall-tomb of Cardinal Jean de La Grange in Avignon. The term can also be used for a monument that shows only the cadaver without the live person, the sculpture is intended as a didactic example of how transient earthly glory is, since it depicts what all people finally become. A classic example is the Transi de René de Chalons by Ligier Richier, in the church of Saint Etienne in Bar-le-Duc, some tombs for royalty were double tombs, for both a king and queen. The French kings Louis XII, Francis I and Henry II were doubly portrayed, in effigy and as naked cadavers, yet there are also other varieties, such as cadaver imagery on incised slabs and monumental brasses, of which many can still be found in England. The earliest known transi memorial is the very faint indent of a shrouded demi-effigy on the slab commemorating John the Smith at Brightwell Baldwin, in the 15th century the sculpted transi effigy can be identified in England. Cadaver monuments can be seen in many English cathedrals and some parish churches, the earliest surviving one, in Lincoln Cathedral, is to Bishop Richard Fleming who founded Lincoln College, Oxford and died in 1431. Canterbury Cathedral houses the well-known cadaver monument to Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, exeter Cathedral houses the 16th-century tomb of Preceptor Sylke, inscribed with, I am what you will be, and I was what you are. Pray for me I beseech you, winchester Cathedral also has two cadaver tombs. The monument traditionally identified as that of John Wakeman remains in Tewkesbury Abbey, Wakeman was abbot of Tewkesbury from 1531 to 1539. When the abbey was dissolved, he retired, and later became 1st Bishop of Gloucester and he may have prepared the tomb for himself, with vermin crawling on his carved skeletal corpse, but never used it. He was buried instead at Forthampton in Gloucestershire, a post-medieval example is the standing shrouded effigy of the poet John Donne in the crypt of St Pauls Cathedral in London. Similar examples from the Early Modern period signify faith in the Resurrection, cadaver monuments are found in many Italian churches. Saint Peters Basilica contains yet another monument, the tomb of Pope Innocent III and it was sculpted by Giovanni Pisano
41.
Epigram
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An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. Derived from the Greek, ἐπίγραμμα epigramma inscription from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein to write on, to inscribe, the presence of wit or sarcasm tends to distinguish non-poetic epigrams from aphorisms and adages, which may lack them. These original epigrams did the job as a short prose text might have done. Epigram became a genre in the Hellenistic period, probably developing out of scholarly collections of inscriptional epigrams. Many of the types of literary epigram look back to inscriptional contexts, particularly funerary epigram. Many sympotic epigrams combine sympotic and funerary elements – they tell their readers to drink, epigrams are also thought of as having a point – that is, the poem ends in a punchline or satirical twist. By no means do all Greek epigrams behave this way, many are simply descriptive, Greek epigram was actually much more diverse, as the Milan Papyrus now indicates. A major source for Greek literary epigram is the Greek Anthology, the Anthology includes one book of Christian epigrams as well as one book of erotic and amorous epigrams called the Μουσα Παιδικη. Roman epigrams owe much to their Greek predecessors and contemporaries, Roman epigrams, however, were often more satirical than Greek ones, and at times used obscene language for effect. Its content, of course, makes it clear how popular such poems were, Admiror, O paries, Im astonished, wall, that you havent collapsed into ruins, since youre holding up the weary verse of so many poets. However, in the world, epigrams were most often gifts to patrons or entertaining verse to be published. Authors whose epigrams survive include Catullus, who wrote both invectives and love epigrams – his poem 85 is one of the latter, nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior. Maybe youd like to know why I do, I dont know, but I feel it happening, and Im crucified. Martial, however, is considered to be the master of the Latin epigram and his technique relies heavily on the satirical poem with a joke in the last line, thus drawing him closer to the modern idea of epigram as a genre. Here he defines his genre against a critic, Disce quod ignoras, non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis, sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis. Learn what you dont know, one work of Marsus or learned Pedo often stretches out over a doublesided page, a work isnt long if you cant take anything out of it, but you, Cosconius, write even a couplet too long. Poets known for their epigrams whose work has been lost include Cornificia, in early English literature the short couplet poem was dominated by the poetic epigram and proverb, especially in the translations of the Bible and the Greek and Roman poets. Since 1600, two lines of verse that rhyme with each other, known as a couplet featured as a part of the longer sonnet form
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Bernardo Rossellino
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Bernardo di Matteo del Borra Gamberelli, better known as Bernardo Rossellino, was an Italian sculptor and architect, the elder brother of the sculptor Antonio Rossellino. As a member of the generation of Renaissance artists, he helped to further define. Bernardo Rossellino was born into a family of farmers and quarry owners in the village of Settignano, overlooking the Arno river valley. His uncle, Jacopo di Domenico di Luca del Borra Gamberelli may have given him his first lessons in stonemasonry, by 1420, Bernardo was certainly down in Florence and apprenticed to one of that citys better-known sculptors, perhaps Nanni di Bartolo, called il Rosso. Such a relationship might explain the nickname of Rossellino given to Bernardo and applied to his brothers, Antonio, Domenico, curiously, there is no record of Bernardos entry into Florences Guild of Stone and Woodworkers, although matriculation information exists for his brothers. More than from any single master, Bernardo learned from the atmosphere that suffused Florence in the 1420s. He seems to have been captivated by the new wave approaches being put into practice by Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, perhaps more faithfully than their other followers, Bernardo Rossellino embraced and held true to the classical revival in both sculpture and architecture. In 1433, Bernardo is recorded as being in Arezzo, employed by the Fraternita di Santa Maria della Misericordia to complete the facade of the Misericordias headquarters and his first job present a considerable challenge. The lower storey of this palace had been completed a century earlier in the, then. Thus the problem confronting Bernardo was similar to that which Alberti encountered a quarter century later when asked to complete the facade of Santa Maria Novella. Set within the Gothic frame of this storey is a relief of the Madonna of Mercy. She is flanked by the kneeling saints Laurentius and Persentinus, Rossellinos solution for the Arezzo palace facade fused Gothic and Renaissance elements in a deft, if somewhat awkward, combination aimed at achieving the Renaissance goal of unified harmony. He also clearly displayed, in this effort at both sculpture and architecture, a genius for the sort of creative eclecticism that became a major feature of the Rossellino manner. Bernardo Rossellino was back in Florence in 1436 to establish his own workshop and it also is possible that he proposed the addition of the pilaster strips which divide the surfaces of the loggias of the two-storey courtyard into a systematic grid. In 1444, he received a commission to sculpt two altar figures for the oratory of the Annunciation in the church of St. Stephen in Empoli, one, undertaken in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena called upon him to design a grand entry way into the Sala del Concistoro. Another project was the arch wall tomb erected in Florences church of Santa Croce for the historian and humanist scholar Leonardo Bruni. No documentation survives for the tomb, but two early 16th-century sources credit Bernardo Rossellino for the project and his authorship generally has been accepted, there is, however, nothing in its design that would preclude the earlier dating. In fact the Bruni Tomb seems a logical continuation of the manner which Bernardo recently had displayed in his design for the Concistoro door frame in Siena
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Roman Catholic Diocese of Fiesole
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The Diocese of Fiesole is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. It is a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Florence, according to local legend the Gospel was first preached at Fiesole by St. Romulus, a disciple of St. Peter. The fact that the ancient cathedral stands outside the city is an indication that the Christian origins of Fiesole date from the period of the persecutions, the earliest mention of a bishop of Fiesole is in a letter of Pope Gelasius I. A little later, under Vigilius, a Bishop Rusticus is mentioned as papal legate at one of the councils of Constantinople. The legendary St. Alexander is said by some to belong to the time of the Lombard King Autari, a prominent bishop was St. Donatus, an Irish monk, the friend and adviser of Emperors Louis the Pious and Lothair I. He was elected in 826 and is buried in Fiesole Cathedral, where his epitaph and he founded the abbey of San Martino di Mensola. Bishop Zanobi in 890 founded that of St. Michael at Passignano, other bishops were Atinolfo, who opposed papal reform, Hildebrand of Lucca, exiled by the Florentines, and St. He was canonized by Urban VIII, in the early 20th century, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the diocese had 254 parishes and 155,800 people. Within its limits there were 12 monasteries of men, including the famous Vallombrosa, benozzo Federighi Leonardo Salutati Antonio degli Agli Guglielmo Becchi, O. S. A. Roberto Folchi Guglielmo de Folchi Braccio Martelli Pietro Camaiani Angelo Cattani da Diacceto, official website This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed
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Tino di Camaino
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Tino di Camaino was an Italian sculptor. Born in Siena, the son of the architect Camaino di Crescentino, he was a pupil of Giovanni Pisano, later Tino followed his master to Pisa, where in 1311 he became responsible for the work on the Cathedral. From 1323 he worked in Naples, under King Robert of Anjou, again he executed several funerary monuments, including those of Catherine of Austria in San Lorenzo Maggiore and Queen Mary of Hungary in Santa Maria Donnaregina. Other works are in Badia Cava dei Tirreni He died in Naples around 1337
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Fresco
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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
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Philip the Apostle
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Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Philips feast day on 14 November. One of the Gnostic codices discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 bears Philips name in its title, the Synoptic Gospels list Philip as one of the apostles. The Gospel of John recounts Philips calling as a disciple of Jesus, Philip is described as a disciple from the city of Bethsaida, and the evangelist connects him with Andrew and Peter, who were from the same town. He also was among those surrounding John the Baptist when the latter first pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God and it was Philip who first introduced Nathanael to Jesus. According to Butler, Philip was among those attending the wedding at Cana, of the four Gospels, Philip figures most prominently in the Gospel of John. Philip is asked by Jesus how to feed 5,000 people, later he appears as a link to the Greek community. Philip bore a Greek name, may have spoken Greek, and he advises Andrew that certain Greeks wish to meet Jesus, and together they inform Jesus of this. During the Last Supper, when Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, he provides Jesus the opportunity to teach his disciples about the unity of the Father and the Son. Philip the Apostle should not be confused with Philip the Evangelist, accounts of Philips life and ministry exist in the extra-canonical writings of later Christians. However, some can be misleading, as many hagiographers conflated Philip the Apostle with Philip the Evangelist, the most notable and influential example of this is the hagiography of Eusebius, in which Eusebius clearly assumes that both Philips are the same person. As early as 1260, Jacobus de Voragine noted in his Golden Legend that the account of Philips life given by Eusebius was not to be trusted. This text begins with a letter from St Peter to Philip the apostle and this mission is in harmony with the later tradition that each disciple was given a specific missionary charge. Lapham explains the central section, a Gnostic dialogue between the risen Christ and his disciples, as a later insertion, later stories about Saint Philips life can be found in the anonymous Acts of Philip, probably written by a contemporary of Eusebius. This non-canonical book recounts the preaching and miracles of Philip, following the resurrection of Jesus, Philip was sent with his sister Mariamne and Bartholomew to preach in Greece, Phrygia, and Syria. Included in the Acts of Philip is an appendix, entitled Of the Journey of Philip the Apostle, From the Fifteenth Act Until the End and this appendix gives an account of Philips martyrdom in the city of Hierapolis. According to this account, through a miraculous healing and his preaching Philip converted the wife of the proconsul of the city and this enraged the proconsul, and he had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne all tortured. Philip and Bartholomew were then crucified upside-down, and Philip preached from his cross, as a result of Philips preaching the crowd released Bartholomew from his cross, but Philip insisted that they not release him, and Philip died on the cross
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James, son of Zebedee
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James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and traditionally considered the first apostle to be martyred. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle and he is also called James the Greater or James the Great to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus and James the brother of Jesus. James the son of Zebedee is the saint of Spaniards. The son of Zebedee and Salome, James is styled the Greater thunder to distinguish him from the Apostle James the Less and he was the brother of John, the beloved disciple, and probably the elder of the two. His parents seem to have people of means. Zebedee, his father, was a fisherman of the Sea of Galilee, who lived in or near Bethsaida, present Galilee, Israel, perhaps in Capernaum. It is probable that his brother had not received the training of the rabbinical schools, in this sense they were unlearned. But, according to the rank of their parents, they must have been men of ordinary education. James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him. James was one of three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear witness to his Transfiguration. James and John asked Jesus to grant them seats on his right, Jesus rebuked them, and the other ten apostles were annoyed with them. James and his brother wanted to call fire on a Samaritan town. The Acts of the Apostles records that Herod the king had James executed by sword and he is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament. He is, thus, traditionally believed to be the first of the twelve apostles martyred for his faith, nixon suggests that this may have been caused by James fiery temper, for which he and his brother earned the nickname Boanerges or Sons of Thunder. F. F. Bruce contrasts this story to that of the Liberation of Saint Peter, the New Testament scholar Dennis MacDonald identifies Castor and Pollux as basis characters for the appearance of James and John in the narrative by Mark the Evangelist. The English name James comes from Italian Giacomo, a variant of Giacobo derived from Iacobus in Latin, itself from the Greek Ἰάκωβος Iakōbos, in French, Jacob evolves into Jacques. In eastern Spain, Iacobus became Jacome or Jaime, in Catalan language, Santiago is the local Galician or Spanish evolution of Vulgar Latin Sanctu Iacobu Saint James. Tiago is a popular deglutination native to Portuguese language, it crossed with old Diago to give Diego in Spanish and Diogo in Portuguese, for example, Miguel de Cervantes in his famous Don Quixote uses San Diego instead of Santiago
