1.
Self-Portrait (Titian, Madrid)
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Self-Portrait is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian painter Titian. Dating to about 1560, when Titian was at least 70 years old, the work is a realistic and unflattering depiction of the physical effects of old age, and as such shows none of the self-confidence of his earlier self-portrait now in Berlin. That painting shows Titian in three-quarter view in an alert pose and he looks remote and gaunt, staring into the middle distance, seemingly lost in thought. Still, this portrait projects dignity, authority and the mark of a painter to a greater extent than the earlier surviving self-portrait. The artist is dressed in simple but expensive clothes, in the lower left corner of the canvas he holds a paintbrush. Although the presence of the paintbrush is understated, it is the element that gives legitimacy to his implied status. The portrait is composed of deep shades of rich and distinguished black and brown, with touches of white around his face and hair. Given the relatively flat plane, the viewers attention is drawn to the sitters sharp facial features, his high forehead, hooked nose, long beard and penetrating. Titian was keenly aware of how others perceived him, and sought to control his reputation by keeping to a minimum public knowledge of his life. Giorgio Vasari noted that by this stage in his life Titian had amassed enough wealth to not depend on commissioned work and his self-portrait was intended to enhance how he was viewed by others. It draws attention to both his advanced age and—through his fine clothes and portrait in profile —his status. Titian inserted a similar self-portrait in which he wore a cap in his The Virgin and Child with Saints Titian and Andrew. Old age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ISBN 3-11-019548-8 Enenkel, K. A. E. Modelling the Individual, Biography and Portrait in the Renaissance. ISBN 90-420-0782-6 Hope, Charles & Fletcher, Jennifer & Dunkerton, Jill
2.
Museo del Prado
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The Prado Museum is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings,7,600 paintings,4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic documents. As of 2012, the museum displayed about 1,300 works in the buildings, while around 3,100 works were on temporary loan to various museums. The museum received 2.8 million visitors in 2012 and it is one of the largest museums in Spain. The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez, Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museums fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside of Italy. The museum is planning a 16% extension in the nearby Salón de Reinos and their efforts and determination led to the Royal Collection being enriched by some of the masterpieces now to be seen in the Prado. In addition to works from the Spanish royal collection, other holdings increased and enriched the Museum with further masterpieces, such as the two Majas by Goya. Among the now closed museums whose collections have been added to that of the Prado were the Museo del la Trinidad in 1872, in addition, numerous legacies, donations and purchases have been of crucial importance for the growth of the collection. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado, the building housed the royal collection of arts, and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918, particularly important donations include Barón Emile dErlangers gift of Goyas Black Paintings in 1881. Between 1873 and 1900, the Prado helped decorate city halls, new universities, during the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the focus was on building up provincial museums. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II, during the early years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, many paintings were sent to embassies. The main building was enlarged with short pavilions in the rear between 1900 and 1960, in 1993, an extension proposed by the Prados director at the time, Felipe Garin, was quickly abandoned after a wave of criticism. In the late 1990s, a $14 million roof work forced the Velázquez masterpiece Las Meninas to change galleries twice, in 1998, the Prado annex in the nearby Casón del Buen Retiro closed for a $10 million two-year overhaul that included three new underground levels. In 2007, the finally executed Rafael Moneos project to expand its exposition room to 16,000 square meters. A glass-roofed and wedge-shaped foyer now contains the shops and cafeteria
3.
Pieve di Cadore
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Pieve di Cadore is a comune in the province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, about 110 kilometres north of Venice and about 35 km northeast of Belluno. It is the birthplace of the Italian painter Titian, with its strategic location, the town was a medieval stronghold with fortifications, called the walled city of the Veneto. The main sight is the Palazzo della Magnifica Comunità, built in 1447 by the council which then ruled the city. It has a tower which was completed in 1491. A highway, SS51, connects the town with other communities in the Cadore Dolomite region, the town has a swimming pool, tennis club, ice hockey arena, a bocce stadium, soccer fields and a biking trail called Ciclabile delle Dolomiti with amazing views. The route of the 2013 Giro dItalia passed through Calalzo di Cadore during Stage 11, Titian - Italian Renaissance painter, born in Pieve di Cadore Official website Old postcards from Tai di Cadore
4.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
5.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
6.
Italian Renaissance
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The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt. The French word renaissance means Rebirth, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages. Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600. This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, the European Renaissance began in Tuscany, and centred in the city of Florence. It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, the Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new allantico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch and his friend, famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Ludovico Ariosto. 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek, the same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peters Basilica in Rome, yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy. By the Late Middle Ages, Latium, the heartland of the Roman Empire. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France, in the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily, in contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest of Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, the main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining, thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper
7.
Venetian school (art)
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From the later part of the 15th century, Venice had a distinctive, thriving and influential art scene. Beginning with the work of Giorgione, and the workshop of Giovanni Bellini, major artists of the Venetian school included Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and the Bassano. During the early-15th century, Venetian art was dominated by the earlier styles arising from its Byzantine links, another external factor was the visit by Leonardo da Vinci, who was particularly influential on Giorgione. During his long career, Bellini has been credited with creating the Venetian style, with such works he has been described as reaching the High Renaissance ideals, and certainly expresses the key distinctive factors of the Venetian school. Giorgione and Titian were both apprentices at Bellinis workshop and they collaborated on numerous paintings, and their styles could be so similar that it is difficult to conclusively assign authorship. This emphasis on nature as a setting was a contribution of the Venetian School. Titian, through his long and productive life, with a variety of themes and subjects was the most influential. His early Pesaro Madonna shows a new composition for such a traditional religious subject, putting the focal point of the Madonna off from the centre. Although pre-figured by the Sleeping Venus Titian is credited with establishing the female nude as an important subgenre in art. Using mythological subjects, works such as the Venus of Urbino richly depict the fabrics and other textures, and use a composition that is carefully controlled by organising colours. As an example, in painting the diagonal of the nude is matched by the opposite diagonal between the red of the cushions in the front with the red skirts of the woman in the background. With such paintings, readily transported by virtue of being oils on canvas, Titian became famous, although Tintoretto is sometimes classified as a Mannerist artist, he also incorporates Venetian and individualistic aspects. In his Miracle of the Slave, the Mannerist features include the scene, the twisting linking of figures. Following Tintoretto, were Veronese, and the Bassano and these are a few of the most outstanding in the great number of artists in the Venetian tradition, many originally from outside the Republics territory. List of painters and architects of Venice References Sources Gardners, Art Through the Ages—International Edition, Brace Harcourt Jovanovich, maria Dolores Jimenez-Blanco, Museo National Del Prado, English 2nd revised edition,2009. Federico Zeri, Elizabeth E. Gardner, Italian Paintings, Venetian School, A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
8.
Belluno
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Belluno listen, is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about 100 kilometres north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno, with its roughly 36,000 inhabitants, it is the largest populated area of Valbelluna. It is one of the 15 municipalities of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park, together with other Alpine towns, Belluno engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Belluno was named Alpine Town of the Year in 1999, the ancient city of Belluno rises above a cliff spur near the confluence of the Torrente Ardo and the Piave River. To the north is the imposing Schiara range of the Dolomites, with the famous Gusela del Vescovà, to the south, the foothills of the Alps separate Belluno from the Venetian plain. Further to the south is the Nevegal, in the Castionese area, the average annual temperature in Belluno is 9 °C, and the average annual precipitation is 137 cm. The name of the city is derived from Celtic belo-dunum which means splendid hill, the name was inspired by the favorable position within the valley. It is conjectured that the population of the area that became Belluno was largely Venetic with a strong Celtic minority, however, as the Romans expanded northward into the Alps, the Celtic either emigrated or were absorbed. The people of the area swore friendship to Rome in the 225 BC conflict with the Gauls, founded perhaps around 220-200 BC the initial influence of Rome was military and commercial. Strategically located, the town protected cities to the south, Belluno also became a supplier of iron and copper. Already within the Roman sphere of influence, the town was juridically and polictically incorporated into the Roman Republic by the second century BC. Sometime between the death of Julius Caesar and the ascent of Augustus, Bellunum became a Roman municipium, the town was ruled by quattorviri juri dicendo, by quattorviri aedilicia potestate, and by a Council of Elders. Under Augustus, it part of Regio X Venetia et Histria. Among its citizens were Caius Flavius Hostilius and his wife Domitia, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was ruled by the Lombards and the Carolingians, the famous Belluno Treasure in the British Museum dates from this period. From the late 9th century it was ruled by a count-bishop and it received a castle, later it was a possession of the Ghibelline family of the Ezzelino. After having longly contended the nearby territory with Treviso, in the end Belluno gave itself to the Republic of Venice, the city was thenceforth an important hub for the transport of lumber from the Cadore through the Piave river. After the fall of the Republic, Belluno was an Austrian possession, the cathedral was much damaged by the earthquake of 1873, which destroyed a considerable portion of the town, though the campanile stood firm. The Duomo, with the 18th-century bell tower designed by Filippo Juvarra and it includes five paintings by Andrea Schiavone, three by Sebastiano Ricci
9.
Veneto
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Veneto or Venetia is one of the twenty regions of Italy. Its population is five million, ranking fifth in Italy. The regions capital and largest city is Venice, Veneto was part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD. Later, after a period, it was part of the Republic of Venice until 1797. Venice ruled for centuries one of the largest and richest maritime republics. The Statute of Veneto describes Venetians as a people, besides Italian, most inhabitants also speak Venetian. The region is home to a notable nationalist movement, the regions largest party is the Venetist/Padanist Liga Veneta, a founding member of Lega Nord. The current President of Veneto is Luca Zaia, elected in 2010 with 60. 2% of the vote and the support of Lega Nord, The People of Freedom, Veneto is the 8th largest region in Italy, with a total area of 18,398.9 km2. At its northernmost corner it borders also on Austria, the north-south extension of Veneto is 210 km from the Austrian border to the mouth of the River Po. By area, 29% of its surface is mountainous, the highest massif in the Dolomites is the Marmolada-massif at 3,342 m. Other dolomitic peaks are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Pale di San Martino, the Venetian Prealps are not as high and range between 700 m and 2,200 m. Fossil deposits are abundant there. The plain itself is subdivided into the plain and the lower plain. The lower plain is both a mainstay of production and the most populated part of the region. Several rivers flow through the region, the Po, Adige, Brenta, Bacchiglione, Livenza, Piave, the eastern shore of the largest lake in Italy, Lake Garda, belongs to Veneto. The coastline covers approximately 200 km, of which 100 km are beaches, the coasts of the Adriatic Sea are characterised by the Venetian Lagoon, a flat terrain with ponds, marshes and islands. The Po Delta to the south features sandbars and dunes along the coastline, the inland portion contains cultivable land recently reclaimed by a system of canals and dykes. Fish ponds have been created there as well, the delta and the lagoon are a stopping-point for migratory birds
10.
Dante Alighieri
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Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages, the majority of poetry was written in Latin. In De vulgari eloquentia, however, Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature, as a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, Dante has been called the Father of the Italian language and one of the greatest poets of world literature. In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta and il Poeta, he, Petrarch, Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in the Divine Comedy, in 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11. Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans, but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei, born no earlier than about 1100. Dantes father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. Dantes family had loyalties to the Guelphs, an alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines. The poets mother was Bella, likely a member of the Abati family and she died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again, he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known, the certain information is that, before his exile in 1301. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino and this victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in life, one had to enroll in one of the citys many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians. In the following years, his name is recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however
11.
Paradiso (Dante)
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Paradiso is the third and final part of Dantes Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is a telling of Dantes journey through Heaven, guided by Beatrice. It was written in the early 14th century, allegorically, the poem represents the souls ascent to God. The Paradiso begins at the top of Mount Purgatory, called the Earthly Paradise, at noon on Wednesday, March 30,1300, following Easter Sunday. Dantes journey through Paradise takes approximately twenty-four hours, which indicates that the journey of the Divine Comedy has taken one week. The nine spheres are concentric, as in the standard medieval geocentric model of cosmology, as with his Purgatory, the structure of Dantes Heaven is therefore of the form 9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine. During the course of his journey, Dante meets and converses with several blessed souls, however, for Dantes benefit, he is as a sign shown various souls in planetary and stellar spheres that have some appropriate connotation. Dantes nine spheres of Heaven are the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and these are associated by Dante with the nine levels of the angelic hierarchy. Dante also relies on traditional associations, such as the one between Venus and romantic love, the first three spheres are associated with deficient forms of Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance. The next four are associated with positive examples of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance, while Faith, Hope, when visiting the Moon, Beatrice explains to Dante the reasons for the markings on its surface, describing a simple scientific experiment in optics. She also praises the experimental method in general, Yet an experiment, were you to try it, could free you from your cavil, the waxing and waning of the moon is associated with inconstancy. Consequently, the sphere of the Moon is that of souls who abandoned their vows, here Dante and Beatrice meet Piccarda, sister of Dantes friend Forese Donati, who died shortly after being forcibly removed from her convent. They also meet Constance of Sicily, who was removed from a convent to marry Henry VI. So that, when will has yielded much or little, it has abetted force as these souls did, Beatrice explains that a vow is a pact drawn between a man / and God, in which a person freely offers up his free will as a gift to God. Vows should therefore not be taken lightly, and should be kept once given – unless keeping the vow would be an evil, as with Jephthahs. Because of its proximity to the sun, the planet Mercury is often difficult to see, allegorically, the planet represents those who did good out of a desire for fame, but who, being ambitious, were deficient in the virtue of justice. Their earthly glory pales into insignificance beside the glory of God, let Ghibellines pursue their undertakings beneath another sign, for those who sever this sign and justice are bad followers. By association, Beatrice discourses on the Incarnation and the Crucifixion of Christ, and gave the name of her with whom I have begun this canto, to the planet that is courted by the sun, at times behind her and at times in front
12.
Art of Europe
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The art of Europe encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile rock, and cave painting art, written histories of European art often begin with the art of the Ancient Middle East, and the Ancient Aegean civilisations, dating from the 3rd millennium BC. Parallel with these significant cultures, art of one form or another existed all over Europe, wherever there were people, leaving signs such as carvings, decorated artifacts and huge standing stones. Before the 1800s, the Christian church was an influence upon European art. The history of the Church was very much reflected in the history of art, in the same period of time there was renewed interest in heroes and heroines, tales of mythological gods and goddesses, great wars, and bizarre creatures which were not connected to religion. Secularism has influenced European art since the Classical period, while most art of the last 200 years has produced without reference to religion. On the other hand, European art has often influenced by politics of one kind or another, of the state, of the patron. European art is arranged into a number of periods, which, historically. Broadly the periods are, Classical, Byzantine, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, European prehistoric art is an important part of the European cultural heritage. Prehistoric art history is divided into four main periods, Stone age, Neolithic, Bronze age. Most of the artifacts of this period are small sculptures. The oldest European cave art dates back 40,800, rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879, recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples. Cave paintings, undertaken with only the most rudimentary tools, can also furnish valuable insight into the culture, the figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint, with the relationships between the groups of humans and animals more carefully depicted than individual figures. Other less numerous groups of art, many engraved rather than painted. The Iberian examples are believed to date from a period perhaps covering the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic. There are human heads and some fully represented animals, but full-length human figures at any size are so rare that their absence may represent a religious taboo, the Minoan culture is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe
13.
Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
14.
Western painting
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The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was concerned with representational and Classical modes of production, after which time more modern, abstract. Developments in Western painting historically parallel those in Eastern painting, in general a few centuries later, african art, Islamic art, Indian art, Chinese art, and Japanese art each had a significant influence on Western art, and, eventually, vice versa. Initially serving imperial, private, civic, and religious patronage, Western painting later found audiences in the aristocracy, from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance painters worked for the church and a wealthy aristocracy. Beginning with the Baroque era artists received commissions from a more educated. The idea of art for arts sake began to find expression in the work of the Romantic painters like Francisco de Goya, John Constable, during the 19th century commercial galleries became established and continued to provide patronage in the 20th century. Following the depth of discovery and the complexity of innovations of the Renaissance, the history of painting continues into the 21st century. The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts from pre-historic humans, the oldest known paintings are at the Grotte Chauvet in France, claimed by some historians to be about 32,000 years old. They are engraved and painted using red ochre and black pigment and show horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalo, mammoth, there are examples of cave paintings all over the world—in France, India, Spain, Portugal, China, Australia etc. Various conjectures have been made as to the meaning these paintings had to the people who made them, Egyptian wall painting and decorative painting is often graphic, sometimes more symbolic than realistic. Egyptian painting depicts figures in bold outline and flat silhouette, in symmetry is a constant characteristic. Egyptian painting has close connection with its written language—called Egyptian hieroglyphs, painted symbols are found amongst the first forms of written language. The Egyptians also painted on linen, remnants of which survive today, Ancient Egyptian paintings survived due to the extremely dry climate. The ancient Egyptians created paintings to make the afterlife of the deceased a pleasant place, the themes included journey through the afterworld or their protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld. Some examples of paintings are paintings of the gods and goddesses Ra, Horus, Anubis, Nut. Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive, in the New Kingdom and later, the Book of the Dead was buried with the entombed person. It was considered important for an introduction to the afterlife, to the north of Egypt was the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. The wall paintings found in the palace of Knossos are similar to those of the Egyptians, around 1100 BC, tribes from the north of Greece conquered Greece and its art took a new direction
15.
Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)
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Assumption of the Virgin is a large oil painting by Italian Renaissance artist Titian, executed in 1515–18. It is located on the altar in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. The Assumption of the Virgin was Titians first major commission in Venice and he soon became the lead painter of Venice. Breaking tradition with its heroic character scale and trademark color, its twisted Virgin and this panel was important in establishing Titians popularity in Venice. When Titian placed this giant painting in its majestic marble frame and it was deemed worth noting by the Venetian diarist, Marino Sanuto the Younger, who wrote, May 20,1518, Yesterday the panel painted by Titian for. In 1818, it was moved to the Accademia, returning to its place at the Frari in 1919. Viewing the painting while housed in the Accademia, the young Oscar Wilde remarked that The Assumption was certainly the best picture in Italy, Titian may have trained as a mosaic artist, and it has been suggested the golden background is a homage to the tradition of Venetian mosaics. Titian primarily used oil-ground paint, which was prepared by his assistants, no one has the exact recipe, but the basic ingredients included linseed oil and gum turpentine. The heroic figures and size were a new idea when the Assumption was placed in the Basilica and this picture shows different events in three layers. In the lowest layer are the Apostles and they are shown in a variety of poses, ranging from gazing in awe, to kneeling and reaching for the skies. In the center, the Virgin Mary is drawn wrapped in a red robe and she is raised to the heavens by a swarm of cherubim while standing on a cloud. Above is an attempt to draw God, who watches over the earth with hair flying in the wind, next to him, flies an angel with a crown for Mary. Marian art in the Catholic Church Durant, Will, the Renaissance, A History of Civilization in Italy from the Birth of Petrarch to the Death of Titian -1204 to 1576 Jaffé, David
16.
Philip II of Spain
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Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was also Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike. Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin, Spanish, and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was also a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was also close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile. The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, Philip, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was also left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience, modesty, and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, personally, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword. After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
17.
Civil law notary
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Civil-law notaries are limited to areas of private law, that is, domestic law which regulates the relationships between individuals and in which the State is not directly concerned. Ordinarily, they have no authority to appear in court on their clients behalf, their role is limited to drafting, authenticating, and registering certain types of transactional or legal instruments. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, France or Italy, among others, they also retain and keep a copy of their instruments—in the form of memoranda—in notarial protocols. Notaries generally hold undergraduate degrees in law and graduate degrees in notarial law. Notarial law involves expertise in a spectrum of private law including family law, estate and testamentary law, conveyancing and property law, the law of agency. Any such practice is usually regulated, and most countries parcel out areas into notarial districts with a set number of notary positions. This has the effect of making notarial appointments very limited, as a lawyer, a civil-law notary draws up and executes legal instruments called notarial instruments. Traditionally, notarial instruments trigger a præsumptio veritatis et solemnitatis entailing two consequences—regularity and probativity, first, being an official act, a presumption of regularity attaches to the instrument, meaning all prescribed formalities have been carried out, including the reading over of the instrument. Second, an instrument is self-authenticating and probative, i. e. it constitutes full proof of the agreement it contains, as against the parties, their heirs. It also means the notarys firsthand narrations of fact are conclusively presumed true and correct, whereas secondhand narrations are merely assertio notarii which are rebuttably presumed valid. In either case, the appearer always walks away with an instrument that is self-executing, finally, notarial instruments have a fixed effective or signature date that cannot be ante- or postdated, or left blank and filled in after signing. Notarial instruments cannot be altered or overridden by prior or subsequent instruments under hand, in other words, for example, a notarial will could not be amended or superseded by a non-notarial codicil or will. An unexecuted minute is deemed proof of an instrument and considered the original. The minute is therefore the authenticum, or original instrument of writing, as distinguished from the self-executing copy, or instrumentum. This presumption stems from the fact that a notary is expected to verify the facts, assertions, or events mentioned in his act, thereby assuming liability for, a successfully improbated instrument is null and set aside. Nowadays, an instrument is prepared first as an unexecuted original called a minute. The minute is archived in the draftsman notarys protocol, the instruments particulars—appearer, fees, subject matter, witnesses, date, and so forth—are noted or minuted in a register or logbook. It is also the only copy that has fresh signatures and seals on it, the engrossed copy is issued directly to the appearer
18.
Mosaic
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A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called pebble mosaics. Others are made of other materials, mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece, mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics. Mosaic fell out of fashion in the Renaissance, though artists like Raphael continued to practise the old technique, Roman and Byzantine influence led Jews to decorate 5th and 6th century synagogues in the Middle East with floor mosaics. Mosaic was widely used on buildings and palaces in early Islamic art, including Islams first great religious building, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Mosaic went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century, modern mosaics are made by professional artists, street artists, and as a popular craft. Many materials other than stone and ceramic tesserae may be employed, including shells, glass. The earliest known examples of made of different materials were found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory, excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. However, mosaic patterns were not used until the times of Sassanid Empire, mythological subjects, or scenes of hunting or other pursuits of the wealthy, were popular as the centrepieces of a larger geometric design, with strongly emphasized borders. Pliny the Elder mentions the artist Sosus of Pergamon by name, describing his mosaics of the left on a floor after a feast. Both of these themes were widely copied, most recorded names of Roman mosaic workers are Greek, suggesting they dominated high quality work across the empire, no doubt most ordinary craftsmen were slaves. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across North Africa, in such as Carthage. The tiny tesserae allowed very fine detail, and an approach to the illusionism of painting, often small panels called emblemata were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique was opus tessellatum, using larger tesserae, which was laid on site, there was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 AD
19.
Gentile Bellini
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Gentile Bellini was an Italian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venices leading family of painters, and at least in the part of his career was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini. In 1479 he was sent to Constantinople by the Venetian government when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II requested an artist, thereafter a number of his subjects were set in the East, and he is one of the founders of the Orientalist tradition in Western painting. His portrait of the Sultan was also copied in paintings and prints and he was christened Gentile after Jacopos master, Gentile da Fabriano. Gentile was taught painting in the workshop of his father, Gentiles earliest signed work is The Blessed Lorenzo Giustinian, one of the oldest surviving oil paintings in Venice. During the 1450s Bellini worked on a commission for the Scuola Grande di San Marco and painted in conjunction with his brother, from 1454 he was also the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice. Much of Gentile Bellini’s surviving work consists of large paintings for public buildings. The commission was intended to celebrate the relic of the Holy Cross which the confraternity had received in 1369, Venice was, at that time, a very important point in which cultures and trade bordered on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and provided gateways to Asia and Africa. As noted, in his lifetime, Gentile was the most prestigious painter in Venice, therefore, in 1479, he was chosen by the government of Venice to work for Sultan Mehmed II in Constantinople. However, in addition to his work at the Ottoman Court, Gentiles work also responded to other aspects of the East, in September 1479 Gentile was sent by the Venetian Senate to the new Ottoman capital Istanbul as part of the peace settlement between Venice and the Turks. His role was not only as a painter in an exotic locale. This was important to Mehmed II, as he was interested in the art and culture of Italy. He finally reached his goal with Gentile, who is believed to have painted the portrait of Mehmed II now in the National Gallery, London. It has been noticed that the portrait is one of the figures in a painting by Marco Palmezzano. So the dating and authorship of the portrait by Bellini have been placed in question, subsequently, an Oriental flavour appears in several of his paintings, including the portrait of a Turkish artist and St. Mark Preaching at Alexandria. The last was completed by his brother, Giovanni Bellini, according to Carlo Ridolfi in his 1648 history of the Venetian artists, Bellini made a painting of the head of John the Baptist on a charger, the saint being revered by the Turks as a prophet. Gentile, fearful at such barbarities, immediately tried in every way to be released from his contract in one day he himself should be the victim of such a joke. This anecdote is likely apocryphal, as a story had been told by Seneca of Parrhasius
20.
Giovanni Bellini
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Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini and he is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Giovanni created deep, rich tints and his sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian. Giovanni Bellini was born in Venice and he was brought up in his fathers house, and always lived and worked in the closest fraternal relation with his brother Gentile. Up until the age of nearly thirty we find in his work a depth of religious feeling and his paintings from the early period are all executed in the old tempera method, the scene is softened by a new and beautiful effect of romantic sunrise color. Giovannis early works have often been linked both compositionally and stylistically to those of his brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, none of the masters works of this kind, whether painted for the various schools or confraternities or for the ducal palace, have survived. As is the case with a number of his brother, Gentiles public works of the period, the still more famous altar-piece painted in tempera for a chapel in the church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, where it perished along with Titians Peter Martyr, after 1479–1480 much of Giovannis time and energy must also have been taken up by his duties as conservator of the paintings in the great hall of the Doges Palace. Of the other, the class of his work, including both altar-pieces with many figures and simple Madonnas, a considerable number have fortunately been preserved. The old intensity of pathetic and devout feeling gradually fades away and gives place to a noble, if more worldly, serenity, the full splendour of Venetian color invests alike the figures, their architectural framework, the landscape and the sky. An interval of years, no doubt chiefly occupied with work in the Hall of the Great Council, seems to separate the San Giobbe Altarpiece. Formally, the works are similar, so a comparison between serves to illustrate the shift in Bellinis work over the last decade of the 15th century. Both pictures are of the Holy Conversation type, both show the Madonna seated on a throne, between classicizing columns. Both place the holy figures beneath a golden mosaicked half dome that recalls the Byzantine architecture in the basilica of St. Mark. Stylistically, the lighting in the San Zaccaria piece has become so soft, Giovannis use of the oil medium had matured, and the holy figures seem to be swathed in a still, rarefied air. The San Zaccaria is considered perhaps the most beautiful and imposing of all Giovannis altarpieces, and is dated 1505, the last ten or twelve years of the masters life saw him besieged with more commissions than he could well complete. In 1505 she endeavoured through Cardinal Bembo to obtain from him another picture, what the subject of this piece was, or whether it was actually delivered, we do not know. In 1513 Giovannis position as master in charge of the paintings in the Hall of the Great Council was threatened by one of his former pupils
21.
Lorenzo Lotto
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Lorenzo Lotto was an Italian painter, draughtsman and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other North Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpieces, religious subjects and portraits, while he was active during the High Renaissance, his nervous and eccentric posings and distortions represent a transitional stage to the first Florentine and Roman Mannerists of the 16th century. During his lifetime, Lorenzo Lotto was a painter and certainly popular in Northern Italy. He is traditionally included in the Venetian School, but his independent career actually places him outside the Venetian art scene and he was certainly not as highly regarded in Venice as in the other towns where he worked. He had a stylistic individuality, even an idiosyncratic style, after his death, he gradually became neglected and then almost forgotten. This could be attributed to the fact that his oeuvre now remains in lesser known churches or in provincial museums. Born in Venice, he worked in Treviso, in the Marches, in Rome, in Bergamo, in Venice, in Ancona and finally, as a Franciscan lay brother, little is known of his training. As a Venetian he was influenced by Giovanni Bellini as he had a knowledge of contemporary Venetian painting. Though Bellini was doubtless not his teacher, the influence is clear in his early painting Virgin, however, in his portraits and in his early painting Allegory of Virtue and Vice he shows the influence of Giorgiones Naturalism. As he grew older his style changed, perhaps evolving, from a detached Giorgionesque classicism, to a more vibrant dramatic setpiece, more reminiscent of his contemporary from Parma, Correggio. The competition for a painter would have been too great with established names such as Giorgione, Palma the Elder. Nevertheless, Giorgio Vasari mentions in the part of his book Vite that Lotto was a friend of Palma the Elder. In Treviso, a town within the domain of the republic of Venice. The already mentioned painting Allegory of Virtue and Vice was intended as an cover of his portrait of the bishop. The painting St. Jerome in the Desert shows his youthful inexperience as a draughtsman, at the same time he gives an early impression of his skill as a miniaturist. He painted his first altarpieces for the parish church San Cristina al Tiverone, in 1508 he began the Recanati Polyptych altarpiece for the church of San Domenico. This two-tiered, rather conventional painted polyptych consists of six panels, as he became a respected painter, he came to the attention of Bramante, the papal architect, who was passing through Loreto. Lorenzo Lotto was invited to Rome to decorate the papal apartments, nothing survives of this work, as it was destroyed a few years later
22.
Sebastiano del Piombo
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Never a very disciplined or productive painter, his artistic productivity fell still further after this, which committed him to attend on the pope most days, and travel with him. He also had to take orders as a friar, despite having a wife. He now painted mostly portraits, and relatively few works of his survive compared to his contemporaries in Rome. This limited his involvement with the Mannerist style of his later years, having achieved success as a lutanist in Venice when young, he turned to painting and trained with Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. He painted portraits and religious subjects in oils, and once he was established avoided the large fresco schemes that took up so much of the time of Raphael and Michelangelo. His subsequent influence was limited by his lack of prominent pupils, compared to Raphael at least, Sebastiano del Piombo was probably born in Venice, though there is no certainty as to his background. His birthdate is extrapolated from Vasaris statement that he was 62 at his death in 1547 and that he was first known as a lutanist may suggest an upper-middle class background, the extent to which his lute-playing was professional is unclear. Like his contemporary Raphael, his career was marked by his ability to get on well with other artists and patrons. No signed or firmly documented works survive from his painting in Venice. As with other artists, some of Sebastianos works have long confused with Giorgiones. Like Titian, he may have completed some works left unfinished at Giorgiones death in 1510, the earliest significant work attributed to him is a portrait of a girl in Budapest, of about 1505. He is now assigned the unfinished and reworked Judgement of Solomon now at Kingston Lacy. Still over 2 x 3 metres, it originally to have been even larger. There are two versions of the elaborate architectural background, which was a recurrent interest of Sebastianos Venetian period, the last setting is in a basilica, which may reflect a more learned picture intended for a building holding courts of justice. Four standing figures of saints in niches on the organ-shutters of San Bartolomeo, Venice, now in the Gallerie dellAccademia in Venice, 1508-09, and are very Giorgionesque, especially the pair on the insides. The outside pair of shutters also show what Sebastiano had learnt from Bellini and their technique has developed from the earlier smooth surface to the application of paint in heavy brushstrokes, and the figure of Saint Sebastian shows awareness of classical sculpture. The organ-shutters for the church were also painted, the style shows developments towards a new fullness of form and breadth of movement that may have been influenced by the Florentine painter Fra Bartolommeo, who was in Venice in 1508. Aspects of the composition were also innovative, and later copied by Venetian painters, in 1511 Agostino Chigi was the richest man in Rome as Papal banker, and a generous patron of the arts
23.
Giorgione
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Giorgione was an Italian painter of the Venetian school in the High Renaissance from Venice, whose career was ended by his death at a little over 30. Giorgione is known for the poetic quality of his work. The uncertainty surrounding the identity and meaning of his work has made Giorgione one of the most mysterious figures in European art, what little is known of Giorgiones life is given in Giorgio Vasaris Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. The painter came from the town of Castelfranco Veneto,40 km inland from Venice. His name sometimes appears as Zorzo, the variant Giorgione may be translated Big George. Contemporary documents record that his gifts were recognized early, in 1500, when he was only twenty-three, he was chosen to paint portraits of the Doge Agostino Barbarigo and the condottiere Consalvo Ferrante. In 1504, he was commissioned to paint an altarpiece in memory of another condottiere, Matteo Costanzo, in the cathedral of his native town, Castelfranco. In 1507, he received, at the order of the Council of Ten, very little of this work survives today. Vasari mentions an important event in Giorgiones life, and one which influenced his work and he was very closely associated with Titian, while Vasari says Giorgione was Titians master, Ridolfi says that they both were pupils of Giovanni Bellini, and lived in his house. They worked together on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi frescoes, and Titian finished at least some paintings of Giorgione after his death, Giorgione also introduced a new range of subjects. In the Venetian mainland, Giorgionismo strongly influenced Morto da Feltre, Domenico Capriolo, Giorgione died, probably of the plague then raging, by October,1510. October 1510 is also the date of a letter by Isabella dEste to a Venetian friend, asking him to buy a painting by Giorgione, significantly, the reply a month later said the painting was not to be had at any price. His name and work continue to exercise a spell on posterity, for his home town of Castelfranco, Giorgione painted the Castelfranco Madonna, an altarpiece in sacra conversazione form—Madonna enthroned, with saints on either side forming an equilateral triangle. This gave the background an importance which marks an innovation in Venetian art. Giorgione began to use the very refined chiaroscuro called sfumato—the delicate use of shades of color to depict light, whether Vasari is correct in saying he learned it from Leonardos works is unclear—he is always keen to ascribe all advances to Florentine sources. Leonardos delicate color modulations result from the tiny disconnected spots of paint that he derived from Illuminated manuscript techniques. These gave Giorgiones works the magical glow of light for which they are celebrated, Most central and typical of all of Giorgiones extant works is the Sleeping Venus now in Dresden. It was first recognized by Giovanni Morelli, and is now accepted, as being the same as the picture seen by Marcantonio Michiel
24.
Francesco Vecellio
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Francesco Vecellio was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, best known as the elder brother of the painter Titian. In his youth, he was a soldier, as a painter, he was mainly active in 1520-1530s in Cadore. In 1524, he signed an altarpiece for San Vito in Cadore, in 1540s, he painted a polyptych at Candide. In late 1540s he painted the organ shutters of San Salvatore in Venice and he painted an Annunciation for San Nicola di Bari, now in the Gallerie dellAccademia. Francesco Vecellio debuts in the video game Assassins Creed, Project Legacy and appears again in Assassins Creed, in the game, he is featured as an Assassin training under the Master Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze. After he retires from the Brotherhood, he takes up the job of a painter, walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves, ed. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical, freedberg, Sydney J. Pelican History of Art, ed
25.
A Man with a Quilted Sleeve
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A Man with a Quilted Sleeve is a painting of about 1510 by the Venetian painter Titian in the National Gallery, London, measuring 81.2 by 66.3 centimetres. Though the quality of the painting has always praised, there has been much discussion as to the identity of the sitter. By having the large sleeve project slightly beyond the parapet, Titian subverts the usual barrier effect, the turning pose, with the head slightly atilt and an eyebrow appearing raised, exactly halfway across the composition, adds life and drama. The broad spiral motion in depth of the head and arm suggests that Titian had some awareness of developments in painting in Florence. The sleeve is brilliantly painted, and the merging of the portions of the figure with the grey atmospheric background. Is one of the most innovative and influential aspects of the painting, the painting comes from a crucial period in the development of the Italian Renaissance portrait, which was then being led by Venice. To some extent the ardent gaze of this and other figures is adopted from paintings of religious subjects, the pose was borrowed in two self-portraits by Rembrandt, who saw the painting in Amsterdam. Soon after it moved to England via France. It entered the National Gallery in 1904 as NG1944, the works attribution and dating are based on its style, its ambigious signature, and comparison with other Titian works, such as La Schiavona. The dates assigned have all been in the period of about 1509–1512, according to Nicholas Penny, the Man with a Quilted Sleeve may be Titians earliest portrait, apart from a Knight of Malta in the Uffizi. The widely-spaced letters T V appear as though carved into the stone parapet either side of the sleeve and they are usually taken as Titians initials, though there is a second V visible in infra-red reflectography, so the painting once might have carried the mysterious abbreviation VV. Various moral mottos, such as virtus vincit have been proposed as the meaning, VV is not usually regarded as a signature, but TV might be Titians. Before cleaning and restoration the signature had been added to by a hand, so that it read TITIANUS. Like many others, the painting was at times attributed to Giorgione, the painting was cleaned in 1949, when the later parts of the signature were painted over. The blue sleeve is well preserved, parts of the face and the area around the hand are rubbed, scientific imaging reveals only a little very confident underdrawing. From at least the 1630s until the late 19th century it was thought to be a portrait of the poet Ludovico Ariosto, but this is dismissed by all modern critics. Even when it entered the National Gallery in 1904 it was only tentatively so identified, as it not resemble other portraits of Ariosto. The family was then at the height of its power, and had supplied two Doges of Venice in succession from 1485–1501, the Barberigo identification has met with some resistance
26.
National Gallery
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The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the century to 1900. The Gallery is a charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, after that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two-thirds of the collection. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, the present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, wilkinss building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space, the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi, the current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi. The late 18th century saw the nationalisation of royal or princely art collections across mainland Europe, great Britain, however, did not emulate the continental model, and the British Royal Collection remains in the sovereigns possession today. In 1777 the British government had the opportunity to buy an art collection of international stature, the MP John Wilkes argued for the government to buy this invaluable treasure and suggested that it be housed in a noble gallery. The twenty-five paintings from that now in the Gallery, including NG1, have arrived by a variety of routes. This offer was declined and Bourgeois bequeathed the collection to his old school, Dulwich College, the collection opened in Britains first purpose-built public gallery, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, in 1814. The British Institution, founded in 1805 by a group of aristocratic connoisseurs, the members lent works to exhibitions that changed annually, while an art school was held in the summer months. However, as the paintings that were lent were often mediocre, some resented the Institution. One of the Institutions founding members, Sir George Beaumont, Bt, in 1823 another major art collection came on the market, which had been assembled by the recently deceased John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein was a Russian-born émigré banker based in London, his collection numbered 38 paintings, including works by Raphael, on 1 July 1823 George Agar Ellis, a Whig politician, proposed to the House of Commons that it purchase the collection. The appeal was given added impetus by Beaumonts offer, which came with two conditions, that the government buy Angersteins collection, and that a building was to be found
27.
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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Hercules
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Hercules is the Roman adaptation of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures, the Romans adapted the Greek heros iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition, Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the Twelve Labours, one traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows, Slay the Nemean Lion. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis, clean the Augean stables in a single day. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. Steal the apples of the Hesperides, Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope, a mild oath invoking Hercules was a common interjection in Classical Latin. Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman, one of these is Hercules defeat of Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus, Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor Commodus. Roman brides wore a belt tied with the knot of Hercules. The comic playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon, during the Roman Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul. Tacitus records a special affinity of the Germanic peoples for Hercules, in chapter 3 of his Germania, Tacitus states. They say that Hercules, too, once visited them, and they have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of this barditus as they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm, some have taken this as Tacitus equating the Germanic Þunraz with Hercules by way of interpretatio romana. In the Roman era Hercules Club amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over the empire, mostly made of gold, a specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears the inscription DEO HER, confirming the association with Hercules
29.
Gallerie dell'Accademia
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The Gallerie dellAccademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the bank of the Grand Canal. The two institutions remained in the building until 2004, when the art school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili. The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded on 24 September 1750, the first director was Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Gianbattista Tiepolo became the first president after his return from Würzburg. It was one of the first institutions to study art restoration starting in 1777 with Pietro Edwards, in 1807 the academy was re-founded by Napoleonic decree. The collections of the Accademia were first opened to the public on 10 August 1817, the Gallerie dellAccademia became independent from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in 1879. Like other state museums in Italy, it falls under the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Napoleonic administration had disbanded many institutions in Venice including some churches, convents and Scuole. The Scuola della Carità, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi and the church of Santa Maria della Carità thus became the home of the Accademia. The Scuola della Carità was the oldest of the six Scuole Grandi, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi was started in 1561 by Andrea Palladio, though it was never fully completed. The facade of Santa Maria della Carità was completed in 1441 by Bartolomeo Bon, the Gallerie dell’Accademia contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic displays are evident. Media related to Gallerie dellAccademia at Wikimedia Commons
30.
Giorgio Vasari
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Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany. Recommended at an age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia. He was befriended by Michelangelo whose painting style would influence his own, in 1529, he visited Rome where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. Vasaris own Mannerist paintings were admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547 he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni and he was consistently employed by members of the Medici family in Florence and Rome, and worked in Naples, Arezzo and other places. He also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio, aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was also successful as an architect. In Florence, Vasari also built the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, the enclosed corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the Ponte Vecchio and winds around the exterior of several buildings. He also renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, at both he removed the original rood screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-choirs in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he was responsible for the painting of The Adoration of the Magi which was commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and it was recently restored, before being put on exhibition in 2011 in Rome and in Naples. Eventually it is planned to return it to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, in 1562 Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in Pistoia, an important example of high Renaissance architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammanati at Pope Julius IIIs Villa Giulia, the Lives also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was rewritten and enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists. The work has a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines, and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, Venetian art in particular, is systematically ignored in the first edition. Between the first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the edition gave more attention to Venetian art. Vasaris biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip, with a few exceptions, however, Vasaris aesthetic judgement was acute and unbiased. He did not research archives for exact dates, as art historians do, and naturally his biographies are most dependable for the painters of his own generation. Modern criticism – with new materials opened up by research – has corrected many of his traditional dates and attributions. Vasari includes a sketch of his own biography at the end of the Lives, according to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term competition in its economic sense
31.
Ludovico Ariosto
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Ludovico Ariosto was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic Orlando Furioso, Ariosto composed the poem in the ottava rima rhyme scheme and introduced narrative commentary throughout the work. Ariosto also coined the term humanism for choosing to focus upon the strengths and potential of humanity, Ariosto was born in Reggio nell’Emilia, where his father Niccolò Ariosto was commander of the citadel. He was the oldest of 10 children and was seen as the successor to the position of his family. From his earliest years, Ludovico was very interested in poetry, after five years of law, Ariosto was allowed to read classics under Gregorio da Spoleto. Ariostos studies of Greek and Latin literature were cut short by Spoletos move to France to tutor Francesco Sforza, shortly after this, Ariostos father died. After the death of his father, Ludovico Ariosto was compelled to forgo his literary occupations and take care of his family, despite his family obligations, Ariosto managed to write some comedies in prose as well as lyrical pieces. Some of these attracted the notice of Cardinal Ippolito dEste, who took the poet under his patronage. Este compensated Ariosto poorly for his efforts, the reward he gave the poet for Orlando Furioso, dedicated to him, was the question, Where did you find so many stories. Ludovico Ariosto and Leonardo da Vinci shared a patron in Cardinal Ippolito dEstes older sister the Marchioness Isabella d’Este, Isabella d’Este appears in Ludovico’s masterpiece, Orlando Furioso. She also appears in Leonardo’s, “Sketch for a Portrait of Isabella d’Este, “A statue no less jocund, no less bright, / Succeeds, and on the writing is impressed, / Lo. ”The cardinal went to Hungary in 1518, and wished Ariosto to accompany him. The poet excused himself, pleading ill health, his love of study, and his excuses were not well-received, and he was denied even an interview. Ariosto and dEste got into an argument, and Ariosto was promptly dismissed from service. The cardinals brother, Alfonso, duke of Ferrara, now took Ariosto under his patronage, by then, Ariosto had already distinguished himself as a diplomat, chiefly on the occasion of two visits to Rome as ambassador to Pope Julius II. On account of the war, his salary of 84 crowns a year was suspended, because of this, Ariosto asked the duke either to provide for him, or to allow him to seek employment elsewhere. He was appointed to the province of Garfagnana, then without a governor, situated on the Apennines, the province was distracted by factions and bandits, the governor had not the requisite means to enforce his authority and the duke did little to support his minister. In 1508 Ariostos play Cassaria appeared, and the next year I suppositi was first acted in Ferrara, a prose edition was published in Rome in 1524, and the first verse edition was published at Venice in 1551. The play was translated by George Gascoigne and acted at Grays Inn in London in 1566 and published in 1573, in 1516, the first version of the Orlando Furioso in 40 cantos, was published at Ferrara
32.
Rembrandt
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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch draughtsman, painter, and printmaker. A prolific and versatile master across three media, he is considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art. Having achieved youthful success as a painter, Rembrandts later years were marked by personal tragedy. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, Rembrandts portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and his reputation as the greatest etcher in the history of the medium was established in his lifetime, and never questioned since. Few of his paintings left the Dutch Republic whilst he lived, but his prints were circulated throughout Europe, because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called one of the great prophets of civilization. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic and he was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck. His family was quite well-to-do, his father was a miller, religion is a central theme in Rembrandts paintings and the religiously fraught period in which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. His mother was Roman Catholic, and his father belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, unlike many of his contemporaries who traveled to Italy as part of their artistic training, Rembrandt never left the Dutch Republic during his lifetime. He opened a studio in Leiden in 1624 or 1625, which he shared with friend, in 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them Gerrit Dou in 1628. In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman Constantijn Huygens, as a result of this connection, Prince Frederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt until 1646. He initially stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, Saskia came from a good family, her father had been a lawyer and the burgemeester of Leeuwarden. When Saskia, as the youngest daughter, became an orphan, Rembrandt and Saskia were married in the local church of St. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandts relatives. In the same year, Rembrandt became a burgess of Amsterdam and he also acquired a number of students, among them Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. In 1635 Rembrandt and Saskia moved into their own house, renting in fashionable Nieuwe Doelenstraat, in 1639 they moved to a prominent newly built house in the upscale Breestraat, today known as Jodenbreestraat in what was becoming the Jewish quarter, then a young upcoming neighborhood. The mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be a cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his income, but it appears his spending always kept pace with his income. It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes, in 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month
33.
Fondaco dei Tedeschi
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The Fondaco dei Tedeschi is a historic building in Venice, northern Italy, situated on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was the headquarters and restricted living quarters of the citys German merchants, a contemporary definition was taken of the term German which included what would today be regarded as separate nationalities. First constructed in 1228, the building was rebuilt between 1505 and 1508, after its destruction in a fire, the reconstruction produced a very functional four-floor building which surrounds a grand inner courtyard. Its architecture is typical of the Italian Renaissance style, the ground floor was accessible by water and was used for storage, while the first floor was dedicated to offices and an upper area contained about 160 living quarters. The German merchants arrived shortly after the building was constructed in the 13th century. It was one of the citys most powerful colonies of merchants, the Venetian Republic took commission on the transactions of the fondaco. The German community worshipped at a nearby Catholic church, San Bartolomeo, in the 20th century the building served as the Venice headquarters of the Poste Italiane. In 2008, the building was sold to the Benetton Group who asked the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to plan a new shopping centre to be incorporated into the Renaissance building. Benetton promised to transfer 6 million Euro to the city budget in exchange for building permits handed over by the end of 2012 and this caused protests among the groups campaigning for preservation of the Italys historical heritage. The fondaco has a plan and has three levels facing a central courtyard. The courtyard contains a well and is currently covered by a steel-glass structure. The façade has, at the floor, five large rounded arcades which enclose a portico where once the goods were unloaded from the Canal Grande. The second floor has a row of double and single mullioned windows which. The top of the façade has merlons, around 1508, the façade on the Canal Grande was frescoed by Giorgione and Titian. Of that work, deteriorated by the salty and humid climate of the lagoon, the interior also features outstanding artworks by Paolo Veronese, Titian and Jacopo Tintoretto, also mostly disappeared. Venetian Ghetto Fondaco dei Turchi San Bartolomeo, Venice Feast of the Rosary Brusegan, la grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia
34.
Christ Carrying the Cross (Titian)
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Christ Carrying the Cross is a 1505 oil painting attributed to either the Italian Renaissance master Titian or Giorgione. It is located in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, the painting is mentioned in several historical documents, since it has been the subject of veneration and devotion, due to its alleged miraculous properties. It was originally located in the church of San Rocco, annexed to the eponymuous Scuola where it is now, although it is unknown if it was on a pillar near the high altar or in a side chapel. The attribution of the work has been disputed since the very 16th century, further, both Titian and Giorgione had relationships with the guild which held the church and the Scuola, Giorgione was a friend of painter Vincenzo Catena, a member of the guild. The works composition inspired numerous painters in Veneto and Lombardy, such as Lorenzo Lotto, Giovanni Bellini, jesus is portrayed with a cross on his shoulder, on a dark background, while an executioner is holding a noose on his neck. At the side are two secondary figures, jesus, with a doleful expression, is looking towards the seer. The profile of the executioner and of the figures were perhaps inspired by Leonardo da Vincis drawings
35.
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
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The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is a building in Venice, northern Italy. It is noted for its collection of paintings by Tintoretto, generally agreed to some of his finest work. The building was the seat of a confraternity established in 1478, named after San Rocco, the members of the Confraternity of St. Roch were a group of wealthy Venetian citizens. The site they chose for their building is next to the church of San Rocco which houses the remains of the saint, in January 1515 the project of the building was entrusted to Bartolomeo Bon, although some authorities assign it to his son Pietro Bon. In 1524 his work was continued by Sante Lombardo, who, in turn, following his death in 1549, the last architect to work on the edifice was Giangiacomo dei Grigi, finishing in September 1560. The design was similar to other scuole in Venice, characterized by two halls, one at floor level, the other at first floor level. The Sala Terra has a nave and two aisles, with the entrance from the campo outside, from this hall a stair led to the upper storey. The Sala Superiore was used for meetings of the fellows and had a wooden altar and it provided access to the Sala dellAlbergo, which housed the Banca and the Zonta. In 1564 the painter Tintoretto was commissioned to provide paintings for the Scuola, and his most renowned works are to be found in the Sala dellAlbergo and the Sala Superiore. All the works in the building are by him, or his assistants, including his son Domenico, works in the sala terra are in homage to the Virgin Mary, and concentrate on episodes from her life. In the sala superiore, works on the ceiling are from the Old Testament, together, they show the biblical story from Fall to Redemption. In its heyday the scuola was an important patron of music, Gabrieli took on the post of organist in addition to his work at St Marks, and he composed music specifically for the location. A contemporary account of how the music impressed an English traveller was published in Coryats Crudities, in 1958 Stravinskys Threni was premiered at the scuola with the composer conducting. The Scuola Grande is open all the year round, except for Christmas Day. The paintings were in need of work, and have been restored by the World Monuments Fund. Tintoretto in der Scuola di San Rocco, Ensemble und Wirkung, die Porträtstudien von Tintoretto bis Flaubert
36.
Ecce homo
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The original Greek is Ίδε ό άνθρωπος. The Douay-Rheims Bible translates the phrase into English as Behold the man, the scene has been widely depicted in Christian art. A scene of the Ecce Homo is a component of cycles illustrating the Passion. It follows the Flagellation of Christ, the Crowning with thorns and the Mocking of Christ, the usual depiction shows Pilate and Christ, the mocking crowd and parts of the city of Jerusalem. But, from the 15th century, devotional pictures began to portray Jesus alone, in half or full figure with a robe, loincloth, crown of thorns and torture wounds. Similar subjects but with the wounds of the visible, are termed a Man of Sorrow. If the Instruments of the Passion are present, it may be called an Arma Christi, if Christ is sitting down, it may be referred to it as Christ at rest or Pensive Christ. It is not always possible to distinguish these subjects, the first depictions of the ecce homo scene in the arts appear in the 9th and 10th centuries in Syrian-Byzantine culture. The independent image only developed around 1400, probably in Burgundy, the motif found increasing currency as the Passion became a central theme in Western piety in the 15th and 16th centuries. The scene was depicted as a sculpture or group of sculptures, even altarpieces. Equally, this style of art has been read as a kind of simplistic externalisation of the hatred of the angry crowd towards Jesus. A parallel development was that the motifs of the Man of Sorrow. The subject was used repeatedly in later prints, the paintings of the Renaissance, hieronymus Bosch painted his first Ecce Homo during the 1470s. He returned to the subject in 1490 to paint in a characteristically Netherlandish style, with deep perspective, james Ensor used the ecce homo motif in his ironic print Christ and the Critics, in which he portrayed himself as Christ. Chmielowskis Ecce Homo, was significant in Chmielowskis life, as it is in the I Act of Wojtyłas play, pope John Paul II is said to have kept a copy of this painting in his apartment at the Vatican. The original can be viewed in the Ecce Homo Sanctuary of the Albertine Sisters in Kraków. It was painted at a time when the painter was going through a struggle, trying to decide whether to remain an artist. Especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, the meaning of ecce homo motif has been extended to the portrayal of suffering and the degradation of humans through violence and war
37.
Morto da Feltre
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Morto da Feltre was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who worked at the close of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th. Born in Feltre, he may probably have studied painting first in Venice and surroundings and his works were received with much favor in Rome. He afterwards went to Florence, and painted some fine grotesques in the Palazzo Pubblico, returning to Venice towards 1505, he assisted Giorgione in painting the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, and seems to have remained with him till 1510. It may have been in 1515 that Morto returned to his native Feltre, there he executed various works, including some frescoes, still partly extant, and considered to be almost worthy of the hand of Raphael, in the loggia beside the church of Santo Stefano. He may have met Giovanni da Udine, towards the age of forty-five, Morto, unquiet and dissatisfied, abandoned painting and took to soldiering in the service of the Venetian republic. He was made captain of a troop of two hundred men, and fighting valorously, he is said to have died at Zara in Dalmatia, in 1519. This story, and especially the date of it, are questionable, one of his pictures is in the Berlin museum, an allegorical subject of Peace and War. Andrea Feltrini was his pupil and assistant as a decorative painter, an important discovery is the pagan cicle in de Mezzan house in 1990 described by Guiotto Giuditta in Grottesche e putti in casa de Mezzan a Feltreedit in Dolomitigiugno 1993. He is cited in Giorgio Vasaris Vite or biographies of the artists, freedberg, Sydney J. Pelican History of Art, ed. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Feltre. Storia dei letterati e degli artisti del Dipartimento della Piave
38.
Giovanni Battista Fontana (painter)
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Giovanni Battista Fontana was an Italian painter and engraver. Fontanas training made use of the paintings of such as Titian. His artistic output in Austria which is recorded from 1562, included work on altarpieces, with countless sketches. With the assistance of his brother, Giulio Fontana, he painted frescoes in the chapel of Schloß Kaiser-Ebersdorf in Vienna in 1562, Fontana was born at Ala near Verona, but settled in Innsbruck in 1573. In 1575 he was appointed painter to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. Between 1583 and 1584 he set to work on the ceiling of the dining-hall of Schloss Ambras, depicting Allegories of the Zodiac, the Elements and the Planets
39.
Salome (Titian)
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Salome is an oil painting by Italian late Renaissance painter Titian, dated to around 1515 and now held at the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. It has been argued by scholars that Tiziano Vecellio, better known to most as Titian, is the most accomplished and that is not to say the Titian was merely a commercial artist, who jumped at whoever threw him a commission. If anything, he borrowed from his mentors out of admiration, Titian managed to combine his Venice schooling, under the guidance of Bellini, with his admiration of lofty didactic paintings and frescos common in Florence and Rome. His approach to painting grew away from the intensely ordered and symmetrical works of a generation before him, though, Titian held this dialogue with a variety of painting styles that he found interesting or noble. The painting examined here, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist is a work completed at a transition in Titians artistic approach. Titian expert Wethey states that this Salome is the Herodias canvas from the Lucretia deste Estate passed to Cardinal Pietro before becoming part of the Doria Gallery in 1794, most likely it is an order by Alfonso dEste. A Titian Salome that was part of the collections of Prince Salviati, Christine of Sweden and that Salome was also attributed to il Pordenone and Giorgione, and finally to Titian in the late 19th century. There are four autograph copies by Titian of Salome, Doria Gallerys, Brugnaras, one in the Norton Simon Pasedena Museum, the painting is set in a dark room, with, on the right, an arch opening to a blue sky surmounted by a sculpted angel. It depicts Salome holding the head of Saint John the Baptist, the woman, an example of idealized beauty, was portrayed by Titian in numerous other works of the period, including the Woman at the Mirror, Violante, Vanity and Sacred and Profane Love
40.
Doria Pamphilj Gallery
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The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Italy. It is situated between the Via del Corso and Via della Gatta, the principal entrance is on the Via del Corso. The palace facade on the Via del Corso is adjacent to the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata, like the palace, it is still privately owned by the princely Roman family Doria Pamphilj. The collection includes paintings and furnishings from Innocent Xs Palazzo Pamphilj, the Palazzo has grown over the centuries, it is likely the largest in Rome still in private ownership. The main collection is displayed in state rooms, including the chapel, however, the bulk is displayed in a series of four gilded and painted galleries surrounding a courtyard. An extensive suite of rooms have now been converted to permanent well-lit galleries, containing the more medieval. Work was carried out under the supervision of Francesco Nicoletti, an architect from Trapani, velazquezs portrait of Innocent X, who rose to papacy as cardinal Giovan Battista Pamphilj in 1644, is considered the collections masterpiece. The portrait painted to commemorate the Holy Year was commissioned by his hedonistic sister-in-law Olimpia Maidalchini who was his confidante and adviser. Since 1927, Velázquezs portrait was placed in a specially designated small room along with a sculptured bust of the pope by Bernini. Olimpia Maidalchinis son Camillo Pamphilj, defying his mother, renounced the Cardinalship conferred on him by his uncle the Pope. Born an Aldobrandini it was she who brought the palazzo, then known as the Palazzo Aldobrandini, the architect in charge of this lengthy project was Antonio Del Grande. The façade facing the Via del Corso, however, is by Gabriele Valvassori, following Camillos death in 1666, building continued under the auspices of his two sons Giovanni Battista and Benedetto. In 1763 Principe Andrea IV combined his Genoese and Roman names to the present Doria-Pamphilj-Landi, in 1767 the ceilings of the state rooms were frescoed by late-baroque artists such as Crescenzio Onofri, Aureliano Milani, and Stefano Pozzi. The collection was first opened to the public by the three-quarters English Princess Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj and her own father, Prince Filippo Andrea VI, was half English. The ivory crucifix was carved by Ercole Ferrata, Saletta Gialla and Rossa contain Gobelins tapestries, including those on Zodiac signs by Claude Audran. Sala del Poussin, Landscapes by Claude Lorraine, birth of Adonis and the Rape of Adonis by Poussin and Giacomo Eremiti. In the main painting galleries are, 1st Gallery, Mary Magdalene by Carracci, Christ in the house of the Pharisee by Cigoli, St. Roch and angel by Saraceni, and Herminia and Tancred by Guercino. 2nd Gallery, Velazquez and Bernini portraits, antique Roman statues, Saletta del Seicento, Caravaggios Penitent Magdalene and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt Saletta del Cinquecento, Double portrait by Raphael, Salome with the head of St John the Baptist by Titian
41.
Book of Judith
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The book contains numerous historical anachronisms, which is why many scholars now accept it as non-historical, it has been considered a parable or perhaps the first historical novel. The name Judith is the form of Judah. It is not clear whether the Book of Judith was originally written in Hebrew or in Greek, the oldest existing version is the Septuagint and might either be a translation from Hebrew or composed in Greek. Details of vocabulary and phrasing point to a Greek text written in a language modeled on the Greek developed through translating the books in the Septuagint. The extant Hebrew language versions, whether identical to the Greek, or in the shorter Hebrew version, the Greek version uses deliberately cryptic and anachronistic references such as Nebuchadnezzar, a King of Assyria, who reigns in Nineveh, for the same king. The adoption of name, though unhistorical, has been sometimes explained either as a copyists addition. The Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible does not contain it, reasons for its exclusion may include the lateness of its composition, possible Greek origin, open support of the Hasmonean dynasty, and perhaps the brash and seductive character of Judith herself. The renewed interest took the form of tales of the heroine, liturgical poems, commentaries on the Talmud, although the text itself does not mention Hanukkah, it became customary for a Hebrew midrashic variant of the Judith story to be read on the Shabbat of Hanukkah. That midrash, whose heroine is portrayed as gorging the enemy on cheese before cutting off his head, in that respect, Medieval Jewry appears to have viewed Judith as the Hasmonean counterpart to Queen Esther, the heroine of the holiday of Purim. Jerome, when he produced his Latin translation, counted it among the apocrypha, as did Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem and Epiphanius of Salamis. However, the influential Church Fathers Augustine, Ambrose, and Hilary of Poitiers, considered Judith sacred scripture, in Jeromes Prologue to Judith he claims that the Book of Judith was found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures. It was also accepted by the councils of Rome, Hippo and Carthage, the Eastern Orthodox Church also accepts Judith as inspired scripture, as was confirmed in the Synod of Jerusalem in 1672. The Episcopal Church calls for a reading of Judith 9,1, 11-14 at Mass on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen, July 22. Amongst all Christian Churches who recognize this Book as canonical, only the Coptic Church celebrates the title characters memory in its Calendar of Saints on September 17. The canonicity of Judith is rejected by Protestants, who accept as the Old Testament only those books that are found in the Jewish canon, martin Luther viewed the book as an allegory, but listed it as the first of the eight writings in his Apocrypha. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow and she goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor and she decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved, though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life
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Courtesan
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A courtesan was originally a courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information to visiting dignitaries, when servants could not be trusted. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an important role in upper-class society. In fact, the verb to court originally meant to be or reside at court, the most intimate companion of a ruler was called the favourite. The word was borrowed by English from Italian through the French form courtisane during the 16th century, a male figure comparable to the courtesan was the Italian cicisbeo, the French chevalier servant, the Spanish cortejo or estrecho. It actually seems that the figure of the servant of a married lady was quite common in Europe up to the 18th century. The courtesans of East Asia, particularly those of the Japanese empire, examples of Japanese courtesans included the Oiran class, who were more focused on the aspect of entertainment in comparison with European courtesans. There were two types of courtesan, in one category was a type of courtesan known as the cortigiana onesta, or the honest courtesan, who was cast as an intellectual. In the other was the cortigiana di lume, a class of courtesan. Although the latter was considered better than an average courtesan. It is with type of courtesan that the art of courtisanerie is best associated. The cortigiane oneste were usually well-educated and worldly, and often held simultaneous careers as performers or artists and they were typically chosen on the basis of their breeding—social and conversational skills, intelligence, common-sense, and companionship—as well as their physical attributes. It was usually their wit and personality that set apart from regular women. Sex constituted only a facet of the array of services. For example, they were well-dressed and ready to engage and participate in a variety of topics ranging from art to music to politics, in some cases, courtesans were from well-to-do backgrounds, and were even married—but to husbands lower on the social ladder than their clients. In cases like this, a courtesan was solely dependent on her benefactor or benefactors financially, making her vulnerable, Cora Pearl is a good example. In the event that the courtesan had angered or dissatisfied a benefactor, they would find themselves cast out of wealthy circles. In instances like this, it was often viewed simply as an agreement by both parties involved
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Padua
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Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic, the city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, which has a population of c. Padua stands on the Bacchiglione River,40 kilometres west of Venice and 29 km southeast of Vicenza, the Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. Its agricultural setting is the Venetian Plain, to the citys south west lies the Euganaean Hills, praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Shelley. It hosts the University of Padua, founded in 1222, where Galileo Galilei was a lecturer, Padua is the setting for most of the action in Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew. There is a play by the Victorian writer Oscar Wilde, titled The Duchess Of Padua, the original significance of the Roman name Patavium is uncertain. It may be connected with the ancient name of the River Po, additionally, the root pat-, in the Indo-European language may refer to a wide open plain as opposed to nearby hills. The ending -ium, signifies the presence of villages that have united themselves together, Padua claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy. According to a tradition dated at least to the time of Virgils Aeneid and to Livys Ab Urbe Condita, Padua was founded in around 1183 BC by the Trojan prince Antenor. After the Fall of Troy, Antenor led a group of Trojans and their Paphlagonian allies, the Eneti or Veneti, thus, when a large ancient stone sarcophagus was exhumed in the year 1274, officials of medieval commune declared the remains within to be those of Antenor. Nevertheless, archeological remains confirm a date for the foundation of the center of the town to between the 11th and 10th centuries BC. The Roman historian Livy records an invasion of the Spartan king Cleonimos around 302 BC. The Spartans came up the river but were defeated by the Veneti in a naval battle, still later, the Veneti of Padua successfully defended themselves against the aggression of Etruscans and Gauls. According to Livy and Silius Italicus, the Veneti, including those of Padua, formed an alliance with the Romans by 226 BC, against their common enemy, men from Padua fought and died besides the Romans at Cannae. As the Romans advanced northward, Padua was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic, in 175 BC, Padua requested the aid of Rome in putting down a local civil war. In 91 BC, Padua, along with cities of the Veneti. Around 49 BC, Padua was made a Roman municipium under the Lex Julia Municipalis and its citizens ascribed to the Roman tribe, at that time the population of the city was perhaps 40,000. The city was reputed for its excellent breed of horses and the wool of its sheep, in fact, the poet Martial remarks on the thickness of the tunics made there
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Carmelites
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However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain. The charism of the Carmelite Order is contemplation, Carmelites understand contemplation in a broad sense encompassing prayer, community, and service. These three elements are at the heart of the Carmelite charism, the most recent statement about the charism of Carmel was in the 1995 Constitutions of the Order, in which Chapter 2 is entirely devoted to the idea of charism. Carmel understands contemplation and action to be complementary, not contradictory, the Order is considered by the Church to be under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus has a strong Marian devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There are also such as active Carmelite sisters. Carmelite tradition traces the origin of the order to a community of hermits on Mount Carmel, There are no certain records of hermits on this mountain before the 1190s. By this date a group of men had gathered at the well of Elijah on Mount Carmel and these men, who had gone to Palestine from Europe either as pilgrims or as crusaders, chose Mount Carmel in part because it was the traditional home of Elijah. The foundation is believed to have dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some time between 1206 and 1214 the hermits, about very little is known, approached St. Albert of Jerusalem. The Rule of St. Albert addresses a prior name is only listed as B. When later required to name their founders, the Brothers referred to both Elijah and the Blessed Virgin as early models of the community. Later, under pressure from other European Mendicant orders to be more specific, virtually nothing is known of the Carmelites from 1214, when Albert died, until 1238. The Rule of St. Albert was approved by Pope Honorius III in 1226, the Carmelites next appear in the historical record, in 1238, when with the increasing cleavage between the West and the East, the Carmelites found it advisable to leave the Near East. Many moved to Cyprus and Sicily, in 1242, the Carmelites migrated west, establishing a settlement at Aylesford, Kent, England, and Hulne, near Alnwick in Northumberland. Two years later, they established a chapter in southern France, settlements were established at Losenham, Kent, and Bradmer, on the north Norfolk coast, before 1247. By 1245 the Carmelites were so numerous in England that they were able to hold their first general chapter at Aylesford, where Saint Simon Stock, then eighty years old, was chosen general. During his rule of twenty years the order prospered, foundations were made at London and Cambridge, Marseilles, Cologne, York, Monpellier, Norwich, Oxford and Bristol, Paris, and elsewhere. By 1274, there were 22 Carmelite houses in England, about the number in France, eleven in Catalonia
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Anthony of Padua
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Saint Anthony of Padua, born Fernando Martins de Bulhões, also known as Anthony of Lisbon, was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a family in Lisbon, Portugal. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946 and he is also the patron saint of lost things. Fernando Martins was born in Lisbon, Portugal and his wealthy and noble family arranged for him to be instructed at the local cathedral school. At the age of fifteen, he entered the community of Canons Regular at the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Vincent on the outskirts of Lisbon. In 1212, distracted by frequent visits from family and friends, he asked to be transferred to the motherhouse of the congregation, there the young Fernando studied theology and Latin. After his ordination to the priesthood, Fernando was named guestmaster, while he was in Coimbra, some Franciscan friars arrived and settled at a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt. Fernando was strongly attracted to the simple, evangelical lifestyle of the friars, news arrived that five Franciscans had been beheaded in Morocco, the first of their order to be killed. King Afonso ransomed their bodies to be returned and buried as martyrs in the Abbey of Santa Cruz, inspired by their example, Fernando obtained permission from church authorities to leave the Canons Regular to join the new Franciscan Order. Upon his admission to the life of the friars, he joined the small hermitage in Olivais, adopting the name Anthony, Anthony then set out for Morocco, in fulfillment of his new vocation. However, he fell ill in Morocco and set sail back for Portugal in hope of regaining his health. On the return voyage the ship was blown off course and landed in Sicily, from Sicily he made his way to Tuscany where he was assigned to a convent of the order, but he met with difficulty on account of his sickly appearance. He was finally assigned to the hermitage of San Paolo near Forlì, Romagna. There he had recourse to a one of the friars had made in a nearby cave, spending time in private prayer. One day, in 1222, in the town of Forli, on the occasion of an ordination, a number of visiting Dominican friars were present, Anthony objected but was overruled, and his sermon created a deep impression. Not only his voice and arresting manner, but the entire theme and substance of his discourse and his moving eloquence. Everyone was impressed with his knowledge of scripture, acquired during his years as an Augustinian friar, at that point, Anthony was sent by Brother Gratian, the local Minister Provincial, to the Franciscan province of Romagna, based in Bologna. He soon came to the attention of the founder of the order, Francis had held a strong distrust of the place of theological studies in the life of his brotherhood, fearing that it might lead to an abandonment of their commitment to a life of real poverty
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Doge's Palace
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The Doges Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the authority of the former Republic of Venice. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. In 810, Doge Angelo Partecipazio moved the seat of government from the island of Malamocco to the area of the present-day Rialto, when it was decided a palatium duci, a ducal palace, should be built. However, no remains of that 9th-century building as the palace was partially destroyed in the 10th century by a fire. The following reconstruction works were undertaken at the behest of Doge Sebastiano Ziani, a great reformer, he would drastically change the entire layout of the St. The new palace was built out of fortresses, one façade to the Piazzetta, political changes in the mid-13th century led to the need to re-think the palaces structure due to the considerable increase in the number of the Great Councils members. The new Gothic palaces constructions started around 1340, focusing mostly on the side of the building facing the lagoon, in 1483, a violent fire broke out in the side of the palace overlooking the canal, where the Doges Apartments were. Once again, an important reconstruction became necessary and was commissioned from Antonio Rizzo, another huge fire in 1547 destroyed some of the rooms on the second floor, but fortunately without undermining the structure as a whole. However, there are some classical features — for example, since the 16th century, as well as being the ducal residence, the palace housed political institutions of the Republic of Venice until the Napoleonic occupation of the city in 1797, when its role inevitably changed. Venice was subjected first to French rule, then to Austrian, over this period, the palace was occupied by various administrative offices as well as housing the Biblioteca Marciana and other important cultural institutions within the city. In 1923, the Italian State, owner of the building, since 1996, the Doge’s Palace has been part of the Venetian museums network, which has been under the management of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia since 2008. The ground floor arcade and the loggia above are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century capitals, in 1438–1442, Giovanni Bon and Bartolomeo Bon built and adorned the Porta della Carta, which served as the ceremonial entrance to the building. In the space above the cornice, there is a portrait of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the St. This is, however, a 19th-century work by Luigi Ferrari, nowadays, the public entrance to the Doges Palace is via the Porta del Frumento, on the waterfront side of the building. The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and St, mark’s Basilica, which used to be the Doge’s chapel. At the center of the courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century, in 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. Since 1567, the Giants’ Staircase is guarded by Sansovino’s two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represents Venice’s power by land and by sea, members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator’s Courtyard, to the right of the Giants’ Staircase
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Louis Gillet (1913). "Titian". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
