Showing posts with label 1498. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1498. Show all posts

26 August 2017

La Pietà - Michelangelo's masterpiece

Brilliant sculpture commissioned by French Cardinal


Michelangelo's masterpiece, La Pietà
Michelangelo's masterpiece, La Pietà
Michelangelo Buonarotti agreed the contract to create the sculpture that would come to be regarded as his masterpiece on this day in 1498.

It was made between the artist and Cardinal Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas, the French ambassador to the Holy See, who wanted a sculpture of the Virgin Mary grieving over the body of Jesus, which was a common theme in religious art in northern Europe at the time.

Michelangelo, who would live until he was almost 89, was just 23 at the time and had been in Rome only a couple of years, but was about to produce a piece of work that astounded his contemporaries and is still seen as one of the finest pieces of sculpture ever crafted.

La Pietà – in English, 'the pity' – was carved from a block of blue and white Carrara marble selected by Michelangelo a good six feet (183cm) tall by six feet across.  The Cardinal intended it to be his funeral monument. It was eventually placed in a chapel in St Peter’s Basilica.

The work shows the body of Christ, shortly after being taken down from the cross following his crucifixion by the Romans, cradled in the lap of Mary.  It is necessarily out of proportion – Michelangelo makes Mary quite a broad figure, with voluminous clothes, to accommodate the body of a man lying full length across her -  but the detail is exquisite.

Michelangelo Buonarotti: a detail from Daniele da Volterra's portrait, painted in about 1544
Michelangelo Buonarotti: a detail from Daniele
da Volterra's portrait, painted in about 1544
Michelangelo broke with convention by portraying Mary as a young and beautiful woman. The long and physically almost perfect body of Christ, moreover, with few signs of the damage done to him, wears a facial expression conveying almost serenity, rather than suffering. Giorgio Vasari, the artist and art historian, a contemporary of Michelangelo, described the work as “perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh.”

One explanation for Michelangelo’s decision to make Mary a young woman rather than the middle-aged figure of convention is that he intended her to be a symbol of incorruptible beauty.

Another is that it stems from his enthusiasm, as a Tuscan, for Dante’s Divine Comedy and is a reference to a scene in Paradiso, the third part of the epic poem, in which Saint Bernard describes Mary as ‘Virgin mother, daughter of your son’ on the basis that if Jesus is one of the figures of the Holy Trinity, then Mary would be his daughter.

When challenged about it, Michelangelo suggested that, as a chaste woman, Mary would retain her freshness and therefore could still appear youthful, even though the mother of a 33-year-old son.

Despite its scale and the intricacies of detail Michelangelo sought to achieve, the work took less than two years to complete.

The dome of the 'new' St Peter's
The dome of the 'new' St Peter's
The Pietà's first home was the Chapel of Santa Petronilla, a Roman mausoleum near the south transept of the old St. Peter's, which the Cardinal had chosen as his funerary chapel.  Word of its outstanding brilliance spread and artists would travel to Rome especially to study it.  Michelangelo, already a noted sculptor who had worked for the Medici in Florence, became almost a revered figure among his peers.

The statue is the only one Michelangelo ever signed, something he would later say he regretted as an act of vanity.

Apparently, it happened shortly after it had been installed in the chapel, when Michelangelo overheard a conversation among a group of visitors from Lombardy in which one of the group said the work was by a sculptor from Milan, Cristoforo Solari, also known as Il Gobbo (the hunchback).  Furious, Michelangelo returned to the chapel that night with his chisels and chipped out an inscription across the sash of Mary’s robe, which read: ‘Michelangelus Bonarotus Florent Faciebat’ – Michelangelo Buonarotti, Florentine, Made This’.

According to Vasari, Michelangelo later felt ashamed at having left a rather tawdry mark on his work out of petty impulsiveness.  From then on, nothing he created bore his signature.

The Pietà  has been moved a number of times, including in the early 18th century when four fingers on Mary’s outstretched left hand were damaged and had to be reconstructed, but remarkably it survived the extraordinary journey undertaken in 1964 after Pope John XXIII agreed for the sculpture to be displayed at the New York World’s Fair.

The SS Cristoforo Colombo, on which the Pietà
was shipped to New York in 1964
Packed into a crate padded with plastic foam within two outer crates, it was loaded on to the SS Cristoforo Colombo, the luxury cruiser of the Italian Line, and embarked on an eight-to-nine-day journey across the Atlantic.

Apparently, the crate, despite weighing 5.26 metric tonnes (11,600lb), would have floated to the surface had the Cristoforo Colombo sunk, and have been visible in the water by its red painted top.  There was also radio equipment in the crate which would have given its position had it slipped below the surface, although this was operational only to a depth of three metres (10ft).

Happily, both voyages were completed without mishap and the Pietà , not previously moved from the Vatican in 465 years, was returned safely to St Peter’s, where it can be found in the first chapel on the right after entering through the main doors.

Following an attack in 1972 by a mentally disturbed geologist, the Hungarian-born Australian Laszlo Toth, who struck the Pietà  with a hammer 15 times, damaging Mary’s left arm, part of her nose and one of her eyelids, it is now behind a bulletproof acrylic glass panel.

Travel tip:

Visitors to Rome will find that St Peter’s Basilica is open every day throughout the year, from 7am to 7pm between April and September and from 7am to 6pm October to March. As with most religious buildings in Italy, visitors must abide by the dress code, that tends to mean no shorts or short skirts and that shoulders should be covered. The Pietà  is in the Chapel of the Pietà , which is immediately on the right after entering from St Peter’s Square via the Porta Santa (Holy Door).

The Basilica of St Peter with Bernini's colonnades and Carlo Maderno's fountain in the foreground
The Basilica of St Peter with Bernini's colonnades and
Carlo Maderno's fountain in the foreground 
Travel tip:

At the time the Pietà was made, St Peter’s Basilica did not exist in its present form but as a church built originally in the fourth century on the spot where it was believed St Peter was buried. The idea of building a new basilica was first mooted in the mid-15th century, and finally commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1505 after a competition was held, inviting designs for what Julius described as “the grandest building in Christendom". Donato Bramante, from Urbino, won the competition, although he was only the first of several architects to be involved, included Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  Construction began in 1506 and took 120 years to complete.



5 April 2017

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere - condottiero

Medici soldier who fathered Cosimo I de' Medici


Giovanni dalle Bande Nere: a portrait by an unknown artist
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere: a portrait by an
unknown artist
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, the military leader regarded as the last of the great Italian condottieri, was born on this day in 1498 in Forlì, in what is now the Emilia-Romagna region.

The condottieri were professional soldiers, mercenaries who hired themselves out to lead the armies of the Italian city-states and the Papacy in the frequent wars that ensued from the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance.

Giovanni spent the greater part of his military career in the service of Pope Leo X, the Medici pope. Indeed, he was a Medici himself, albeit from a then secondary branch of the family. Baptised Ludovico, he was the son of Giovanni de’ Medici, also known as Il Popolano and a great-nephew of Cosimo the Elder, the founder of the dynasty.

It was his mother, Caterina Sforza, the powerful daughter of the Duke of Milan, who renamed him Giovanni in memory of his father, her fourth husband, who died when the boy was just five months old. He became Giovanni dalle Bande Nere much later, in 1521, when he added black stripes to his military insignia in a show of mourning for Pope Leo X.

His upbringing brought out the worst aspects of his character, which was deeply influenced by his mother’s fiery nature. The family moved to Florence after his father’s death and after Caterina herself passed away in 1509, his care was placed in the hands of Iacopo Salviati and Lucrezia de’ Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Giovanni's wife, Maria Salviati, a portrait by  Jacopo Pontormo, in the Uffizi Gallery
Giovanni's wife, Maria Salviati: a portrait by
Jacopo Pontormo, in the Uffizi Gallery
Giovanni was no easy child to look after. At the age of 12, a rebellious and bored schoolboy, he murdered another boy of the same age and for a while was banished from the city.

It was Salviati who found him a way to channel his aggression to a profitable purpose, using his influence after the Medicis returned to power in 1512 following an 18-year exile to get him work as commander of a cavalry company of mercenaries fighting for Leo X during the Battle of Urbino (1516-17).

In 1517, Giovanni married Maria, Salviati's daughter. Their son Cosimo, born on June 15, would go on to be Cosimo I de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, under whose rule Florence enjoyed considerable prosperity and military power.

Giovanni continued to serve Leo X and in 1521 took part in the war to oust the French from the Duchy of Milan, gaining praise for his skirmishing tactics in securing a victory for the combined forces of Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V at Vaprio d’Adda.

His loyalties could be bought, however. Following the death of Leo X, and chronically in debt, he agreed to fight for the French, only to be on the losing side at the Battle of Bicocca in 1522.

Subsequently he fought for the Sforza family and then for another Medici pope, Clement VII, who agreed to pay off all his debts.

Bronzino's portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici
Bronzino's portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici
It was while he was in the service of Clement VII, who was part of the League of Cognac, which united France, the Duchy of Milan, Venice, Florence and the pope against Charles V, that Giovanni died.

During a battle in November 1526 to hold back the advance of Imperial forces into Lombardy, he was struck in the right leg by a cannon ball. His leg was amputated, but he died, probably of gangrene, four days later.

Buried initially in Mantua, his body was eventually returned to Florence in 1685 to be entombed in the Chapel of the Princes in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. It was exhumed in 2012 to preserve the remains, which had been submerged during the Florence floods of 1966.

Soon after his death, mobile cannons became much more common on the battlefield and the armoured cavalry companies that the condottieri tended to lead became almost obsolete very quickly, hence Dalle Bande Nere tends to be called the last of the condottieri.

Bandinelli's statue of Giovanne dalle Bande Nere dominates Piazza San Lorenzo
Bandinelli's statue of Giovanne dalle
Bande Nere dominates Piazza San Lorenzo
Travel tip:

Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence is notable for the statue of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo I in honour of his father and created by the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, who placed Giovanni not on a horse but on a chair, holding what has been suggested is a broken lance. The statue was to have rested on a pedestal inside the Basilica of San Lorenzo but Cosimo I changed his mind and had the statue installed in the Palazzo Vecchio, in the Sala dell'Udienza.  However, the enormous marble pedestal on which Bandinelli wanted it to rest, decorated with a relief meant to depict the condottieri’s clemency towards his prisoners, proved too big and Cosimo changed his plans again, placing it in Piazza San Lorenzo. In another statue, under the portico of the Uffizi Gallery, Giovanni is standing and holding a sword.

Piazza Saffi is the main square in the centre of Forlì
Piazza Saffi is the main square in the centre of Forlì

Travel tip:

Forlì, a city of almost 120,000 inhabitants in the wealthy Emilia-Romagna region, has been the site of a settlement since the Romans were there in around 188BC.  Forlì today has several buildings of architectural, artistic and historical significance. At the heart of the city is Piazza Aurelio Saffi, named after the politician Aurelio Saffi, an important figure in the pro-republican faction during the Risorgimento. The Piazza Saffi also includes the 12th century Abbey of San Mercuriale.

More reading:







17 August 2016

Cesare Borgia – condottiero

Renaissance prince turned his back on the Church


Altobello Melone's portrait of Cesare Borgia
Altobello Melone's portrait of Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, became the first person in history to resign as a Cardinal on this day in 1498 in Rome.

Cesare was originally intended for the Church and had been made a Cardinal at the age of 18 after his father’s election to the Papacy. After the assassination of his brother, Giovanni, who was captain general of the Pope’s military forces, Cesare made an abrupt career change and was put in charge of the Papal States.

His fight to gain power was later the inspiration for Machiavelli’s book The Prince.

Cesare was made Duke of Valentinois by King Louis XII of France and after Louis invaded Italy in 1499, Cesare accompanied him when he entered Milan.

He reinforced his alliance with France by marrying Charlotte d’Albret, the sister of John III of Navarre.

Pope Alexander encouraged Cesare to carve out a state of his own in northern Italy and deposed all his vicars in the Romagna and Marche regions.

Cesare was made condottiero - military leader - in command of the papal army and sent to capture Imola and Forli.

He returned to Rome in triumph and received the title Papal Gonfalonier from his father.

Niccolò Machiavelli
He subsequently took over Pesaro, Faenza and Rimini and laid siege to Piombino, later commanding French troops in the sieges of Naples and Capua, causing the collapse of Aragonese power in southern Italy.

Cesare was planning the conquest of Tuscany when he received news of his father’s death in 1503.

Machiavelli later wrote that had Cesare been able to win the support of Pope Julius II his success would have continued, but the new Pope went back on his promises.

Cesare was betrayed in Naples and imprisoned and his land was retaken by the Papacy.

He was transferred to Spain where his imprisonment continued in various castles. Eventually he escaped and tried to recapture his lands but he was ambushed by his enemies and received a fatal wound from a spear.

Cesare was originally buried inside the Church of Santa Maria in Viana in northern Spain but his bones were later expelled and buried under the street outside. He was dug up twice by historians and then reburied. After years of petitions being turned down because he had resigned as a Cardinal, he was finally moved back inside the church in 2007,  some 500 years after his death.

Travel tip:

Cesare Borgia was born in Rome and studied law at an educational institution, the Studium Urbis, which has now become the Sapienza University of Rome. It was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII as a centre for ecclesiastical studies and expanded in the 15th century to include schools of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology.  It moved from being the papal university to the university of the city of Rome in 1870.  The main campus is situated just north of Termini Station.

Piazza Aurelio Saffi in Forlì.
Travel tip:

At the height of his power, Cesare Borgia controlled the Papal States, now part of the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. Faenza, Forlì and Rimini are among the historic cities he conquered. The area is one of the wealthiest in Italy, containing Romanesque and Renaissance cities.  It is a centre of production in the food and automobile industries, home to top-end car manufacturers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati.

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23 May 2016

Girolamo Savonarola executed

Death of the friar who was to inspire best-selling novel by Tom Wolfe


Painting of Girolamo Savonarola
A stark portrait of Savonarola, painted by
Fra Bartolomeo shortly before his death
The hellfire preacher Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned on this day in 1498 in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.

By sheer force of personality, Savonarola had convinced rich people to burn their worldly goods in spectacular bonfires in Florence during 1497, but within a year it was Savonarola’s burning corpse that the crowds turned out to see.

Savonarola had become famous for his outspoken sermons against vice and corruption in the Catholic Church in Italy and he encouraged wealthy people to burn their valuable goods, paintings and books in what have become known as ‘bonfires of the vanities.’

This phrase inspired Tom Wolfe to write The Bonfire of the Vanities, a novel about ambition and politics in 1980s New York.

Savonarola was born in 1452 in Ferrara. He became a Dominican friar and entered the convent of Saint Mark in Florence in 1482. He began preaching against corruption and vice and prophesied that a leader would arrive from the north to punish Italy and reform the church.

Painting of the execution of Savonarola in Florence
A depiction of the execution of Savonarola in Piazza della
Signoria in Florence, by an unknown artist
When Emperor Charles VIII invaded from the north many people thought Savonarola’s prediction was being fulfilled. At the height of Savonarola’s success the Medici were driven out of Florence and he became leader of a republican movement in the city.

Savonarola’s sermons against vice in the church attracted the attention of Pope Alexander VI, who excommunicated him after he defied his orders.

Eventually popular opinion also turned against Savonarola and he was arrested. Under torture he confessed he had invented his visions and prophecies and he was condemned to death.

Travel tip:

Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna, where Savonarola was born, was the city of the Este dukes. With its winding cobbled streets, medieval houses and stunning castle, it is well worth visiting.

Travel tip:


You can still see the spot in Piazza della Signoria in Florence where Girolamo Savonarola was executed. The Piazza has been at the heart of Florentine politics since the 14th century and is like an outdoor sculpture gallery, with magnificent statues commemorating major events in the city’s history.