2015 Renaissance Art

The paper examines the adoption of the Venetian ‘sacra conversazione’ type in the work of Greek painters who lived in Venice or in Venetian-ruled areas during the 16th century.
The term ‘sacra conversazione’ (It.: sacred conversation) is commonly used to describe a type of religious painting which developed in Renaissance Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries. The basic compositional scheme comprises the enthroned Virgin holding the Christ Child and flanked on either side by saints. The figures coexist in a unified space and, although the term ‘conversazione’ seems to imply a verbal communication between them, they are not depicted in an act of conversing but in a state of an internal, spiritual communion.
The formulation of the type, which began to take place in Florence from the late 1430s onwards, evident in works by painters such as Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico and Domenico Veneziano. The new composition, conforming to the Renaissance ideal of a realistic, three-dimensional space populated by naturalistic figures, was diffused throughout Italy and became the standard representation for altarpieces, replacing the compartmentalised representations of Late Gothic polyptychs. In Venice it prevailed quite later, in the 1470s, after being marked by the innovations of Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina, and was established as the main compositional formula for altarpieces and devotional paintings.
Post-Byzantine painters who lived in Venice as members of the Greek community, which was officially established in 1498, as well as in Venetian-ruled areas of the former Byzantine Empire, such as the islands of Crete and Cyprus, were directly exposed to Venetian art and they absorbed its influence at various levels. During the 16th century some of these painters, such as Ioannis Permeniatis, Donatos Bitzamanos, and other anonymous artists, adopted the Venetian ‘Sacra conversazione’ type showing varying degrees of assimilation. The paper examines characteristic examples of this adoption as a particular form of the fruitful dialogue between post-Byzantine and Renaissance Venetian art.

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This essay presents the painter Bartolomeo Montagna (1452–1523), founder of the Renaissance vicentine school of painting. He was born in Orzinuovi (a small town near Brescia, in Lombardia) and lived in Vicenza. This essay starts from his early production side by side with Gianfrancesco Somaio, to the direct comparison with Venetian innovations, introduced by Giovanni Bellini. Bartolomeo Montagna met the Venetian master during two journeys to Venice between 1469 and 1483. Looking at his eighties production, bounded to the Venetian experience and to Antonello da Messina’s heritage, the report focuses on the complex links between Bartolomeo Montagna, the inlayer Pierantonio degli Abati and the architect Lorenzo da Bologna. The collaboration between these three artists started with the construction of the Vicentine church of San Bartolomeo and then it developed thanks to the most important artistic workshops in Padua at the end of the century. The first years of the painter are examined through archival documents and stylistic analysis, in order to make new hypothesis on his patrons. After explaining the complex cultural contributions matched by the painter, this paper deals with a particular case: a signed and dated painting (1487) wich does not fit this date.
New hypothesis will be suggested regarding the subject (Virgin and Child with Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch), the date and the unusual position of the inscription (on the back), trying to find a more suitable place for this painting in Montagna’s artistic career. A new document, regarding Montagna’s masterpiece in San Bartolomeo, recently brought to light by the Italian archivist Manuela Barausse, will also be helpful in this way. The essay will finally show how an apparently well-defined case will lead to a long journey, in order to comprehend the meaning of his creation.

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The revolution that took place in the Italian Renaissance was one of the most dramatic overturns in the architectural history. Strictly, there were two great revolutions: the first one was the turning towards the heritage of the classical antiquity, the second one was the new method of fortifying places. Today the first event has a long and extremely fruitful tradition of interpretation but the second one only calls for a research.
During the period of the late 15th — early 16th centuries the new fortification (it. “fortificazione аlla moderna”) was born. The event predestined the development of the fortification no less than for two centuries. At that time thick city walls and tall towers were replaced by thin curtinas and low bold platforms — the bastions that served for arrangement of batteries of artillery. Another important thing about the new fortification is that it implicated the perfect (from the Renaissance point of view) geometry, which meant the use of equilateral polygons as the base of their plan design. What is more, that perfection was about both pragmatism (engineering) and ideality — the two aspects that were bound up. That is verified by the material of the Renaissance treatises on architecture, fortification and mathematics (those by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Pietro Cataneo, Niccolo Tartaglia, Buonaiuto Lorini, Francesco de Marchi, Vincenzo Scamozzi, Galasso Alghisi and others).
Unlike the 17th–18th centuries, when the fortification became a sphere independent of the “civil” architecture, the Renaissance was the period when fortresses, villas, palazzo and churches were designed and build by the same architects who passionately studied the ancient ruins and Vitruvius at the same time. The paper deals with the relations that bound together the new fortification and the key problems of the architectural thought of the Italian Renaissance. Among them there are: the ideal city, the very Pythagorean attention to the problem of numerical relations that reveal the correlation of the micro- and macrocosm; the utopia of the Platonian ideal state; harmonic proportions. All these ideas formed the intellectual space that gave birth to the fortification “alla
moderna”.

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Francesco Zorzi, also known as Francesco Giorgio Veneto (1460–1540) was an Italian Renaissance philosopher, theologian and humanist. He specialized in Greek and Hebrew, studied Bible and kabbalah and was in correspondence with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
In his first treatise De harmonia mundi Francesco Giorgio proposed an idea of the Universe created according to the universal system of proportion, which may be studied as laws of mathematics used by architects. According to Francesco Giorgio’s opinion, this proportion shall be repeated in architectural practice. He figured out himself the proportion of the interior of the temple San Francesco della Vigna in Venice rebuilt by Jacopo Sansovino and finished by Andrea Palladio.
Allegorical buildings reflecting the concept of ideal proportion appear in majority of philosophical and architectural treatises, such as Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by Francesco Colonna, Trattato di Architettura by Antonio Filarete and Da Pintura Antiga by Francisco de Hollanda.
We will analyze the development of the idea of “Universe as the ideal building” on the example of the treatise by Francesco Giorgio in the context of the architectural theory of Renaissance: we study architectural images, proposed by Francesco Giorgio; analyse system of proportions; review his architectural vocabulary. We study the original latin edition: Francesco Giorgio, De harmonia mundi totius cantica tria, Paris, A. Berthelin, 1545 of BNF, Paris, as well as the translation of Guy Le Fevre de La Boderie, Francesco Giorgio, L’Harmonie du monde, divisée en trois cantiques, Paris, 1578 of RSL, Moscow.

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The Mazzatosta Chapel in the Church Santa Maria della Verità is practically ignored in Russian historiography. Foreign studies on this chapel are focused on stylistic features of its paintings — this is one of the two known undoubted works of Lorenzo da Viterbo. Issues of the portrait presentation and correlation between the paintings’ subjects and contemporary developments of the master’s time are raised in several papers. However, Mazzatosta Chapel has never been examined as an integral artistic ensemble. In this research such approach is applied for the first time.
The monument was created at the end of the 1460s. Since that a unique leading idea of its decor program is the theme of the miracle, inspired by the fact of Madonna vision in the Church Santa Maria della Verità in 1446. Miracles are represented on the murals of Mazzatosta Chapel. This are the behavior of three-year-old Mary, running up the Temple steps and being admitted to the sanctum sanctorum, Joseph’s staff blooming up in his hands, Annunciation scene that was the first stage of God’s incarnation, the Adoration of the Child, and culmination — the Ascension of Our Lady; apostle Thomas’ desire to make sure himself in it returns us to the question of the miracle belief.
Artistic realization of Mazzatosta Chapel decor program has a number of formal features with distinct meanings. The sanctuary wall composition appears to be the axis of the mariologic cycle. Madonna’s image is presented three times on its vertical line. The core is an upper scene of the Ascension of Our Lady. One of the apostles — witnesses of this event — stands apart from the rest of the group. He could be perceived faced both to the chapel space (like a reasoner inviting a visitor to join miracle contemplation) and to the adjacent right wall (here, he is perceived as a participant of the scene of the Adoration of the Infant Jesus). Biphory, dissecting the right wall of the chapel, at certain time of day is projected on the opposite wall with a scene of the betrothal of Joseph and Mary on it; exactly along with this the figures of the main characters are illuminated with
sun light.

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The paper is of current interest due to the recent publication of the Codex B from the formerly Hyppolite Destailleur’s collection, now in the State Hermitage Library. Though it is outstanding, the book published by O. Lanzarini and R. Martinis still leaves some unsolved problems concerning the album. The main drawback of the work is the authors’ interest only in the Album B. The analysis of its relations to other codices, as well as to general problems of the architectural drawing of the 16th century, was out of their interest.
The Italian scholars divided the drawings into three groups: buildings and their parts; order details; and fantastical architecture. The first group is various and has always provoked the major researchers’ interest. It manifests a close link to the archaeological studies of the 15th century, as well as antiquarian and humanistic tradition of the mid 16th century, in particular with Pirro Ligorio. Here, unfortunately, the authors completely ignored the observations made by M. Mikhailova. Their disregard for the Codex Destailleur A, also in the Hermitage, which definitely goes back to Ligorio’s circle, left ‘Ligorian’ problem uninvestigated. The Album B refers apparently to the Roman and South Italian sources, so, the conclusion on its Venetian origins seems paradoxical.
The second group, namely the order details, also lacks scholars’ attention, though there can be found numerous parallels with other albums of the 16th — first half of 17th centuries They have an equal base with the model books, important in the professional education of architects of the 16th–17th centuries. This tradition is vividly illustrated by drawings of the Hermitage Albums B and C and their analogues, and requires further understanding.
The third group, the architectural fantasies, according to R. Martinis, was influenced by a Frenchman J. Androuet-Ducerceau who relied on Italian drawings of the late 15th — early 16th centuries. Just stating this fact, the scholar has not set a goal to trace this tradition in the mid 16th century, in particular in Roman architectural engraving, which shows more similarities to the Album B rather than to the works of Ducerceau.
Although the publication of the Album B is important for the study of the Renaissance architectural drawing after Antiquity, it does not cover all the problems associated with it. The Album B, as also the Albums A and C require a comprehensive study.

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Many works of the Renaissance masters show close attention to the peculiarities of the decor interpretation. Often compositions include garlands. We propose to pay attention to some interpretation features of this insufficiently studied detail of religious paintings.
Garland is often towered above the image of Madonna and Christ, especially honored Saint. Sometimes links of the garlands crown the whole composition like an open curtain. Magnificent examples of such compositional decisions are typical, for instance, for works of Andrea Mantegna.
Garland in works of some masters shows particular passion to fruit symbols. These are the compositions of Carlo Crivelli, where the glorification of Madonna and Christ is expressed in the language of traditional Christian symbols, represented in the fruit garlands. First and foremost attention is paid to big apples and grapes, combining decorativeness and great depth of meaning of depicted objects.
The interpretation of the garland in works of Cosme Tura is very remarkable. For example, in “Madonna with the sleeping child” (Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice) conventional design of zodia­cal constellations in form of golden glow is combined with two realistically painted bunches of grapes and goldfinch, which is a traditional symbol of the suffering of Christ. Obviously, emphasized realistic image of grapes confirms the truth of Blood turning into wine.
Studying of Renaissance garland shows that, at first glance, decorative, this detail preserves the ancient function of glorification of the figure, shadowed by it. On the one hand, garland points out the masters reference to ancient traditions. Weighty bunches of fruits, flowers and leafage are characteristic to ancient sculpture, they are found in painting, for the most part, monumental. On the other hand, in Italy the garland was further developed in the Middle Ages. The result of the synthesis of traditions from different eras is such a bright element of the Renaissance religious compositions as garland.

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There is a common place that the Renaissance had strictly negative attitude to the Gothic style due to its barbarous origin, rejection of antique ideals, lack of harmony and order. This tradition gave rise to the negative judgment in architectural theory and active desire to overcome this heritage in art. However, there is a number of French theorists of 16th–17th centuries that magnified the uniqueness and appeal of individual elements of Gothic structures. Medieval buildings appear in architectural drawings due to the interest to the styles of bygone eras. This became important because of the restoration of the churches, destroyed during religious wars. Also, it was due to a special “language of piety”, linked with the Gothic idea of glorious past of the Christian Church, and to the glorification of the ruling Royal house, whose right to rule can be legal since the bygone centuries.
Philibert De l’Orme fully analyzes the design of lancet arch and the supports of the Gothic buildings. He turned to the “french order” using the ogee-shaped arch and a complex system of wooden overlappings, and proposing to apply a ribbed vault, based on the traditions of the flamboyant Gothic. Jacques I-er Androuet du Cerceau shows Gothic buildings, his albums are full of ornaments and architectural details reminiscent of medieval heritage. Etienne Martellange’s attempt to grasp the specifics of style and sharp eye of a professional helped to generate a deep understanding of constructions and decor of Gothic buildings in his architectural drawings.
Medieval buildings as the embodiment of tradition, as the image of the temple, associated with the heritage of the past, as the reflection of professional techniques of masters of a bygone era and as an uncommon construction and a decorative motif close to the Baroque practice of architecture appear in theory and architectural studies of the 16th–17th centuries.

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During the 16th century French Renaissance became the most flourishing phenomenon among all the countries to the North of the Alps or, in other words, the brightest cultural apparition in the art of Ars Nova. The French architectural style or la manière française was formed due to the growth of the national consciousness. The French style evolves in the works of several artists and represents a source for the formal architectural language during the period of Ancien Régime.
The heritage of the most famous artists of the epoch, such as Philibert De L’Orme and Pierre Lescot, who executed lots of royal orders, is profoundly examined in the European and the Russian art history, but their contemporary Jean Bullant is still a lacuna because of few publications on this topic. Jean Bullant, supplanted by De L’Orme, remains unknown as far as the evolution of his works is concerned. Nevertheless, he was among the narrow group of artists who put the basis of the national architectural school, and contributed to the development of the architectural theory.
Jean Bullant began writing his treatises during the years of the disgrace after the death of the king Henry II. Then he was still working on the last orders of Anne de Montmorency, but was not yet invited to the court of Catherine of Medicis. The artist’s treatises — “Recueil d’horlogiographie” (1561), “Petit traité de géométrie et Recueil d’horlogiographie” (1562) and “Reigle généralle d’architecture des cinq manières de colonnes” (1564) belong to the earliest theoretical architectural publications in France. In his “Reigle généralle” Bullant reclaims ”De Architectura” of Leon Battista Alberti, he refers in particular to the French translation of Jean Martin and to the different editions of books IV and III of Serlio. But in his humanistic works “Recueil d’horlogiographie” and “Petit traité de géométrie et Recueil d’horlogiographie” he draws on the treatises of cartographers: “De Solaribus Horlogiis” by Oronce Fine and “Rudimentia Matematica” by Sebastian Münster.
In the contemporary science the problem of the heritage of Jean Bullant, architectural and theoretical as well, is still overlooked by researches in both Western and Russian historiography. Nevertheless, this artist contributed a lot to the formation of the French national architectural style, that’s why this topic is relevant.

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The Ferrarese School of painting was first determined as a peculiar phenomenon in the late 19th — ear­ly 20th century thanks to the Italian art historian Adolfo Venturi.
The art of three main masters active at the court of the Este family: Cosme’ Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti was on the scholar agenda in the early stages of studying the art of 15th century. Modern historiography also studies the sources of their art and their reciprocal influence. However, the very concept of “school of painting” always comprises the existence of some cultural and artistic environment and also the presence of a large number of artists of different talent and fame. In this regard, a complete study of the early Renaissance in Ferrara is impossible without paying attention to the work of several anonymous artists.
On the basis of the unusual stylistic features assigned to their works, these artists have received in the Italian literature conventional names “Maestro dagli occhi spalancati” and “Maestro dagli occhi ammicanti”, which remind the Morellian terminology and method of attribution. Their contribution to the formation of the Ferrarese painting is proved by the fact of their participation in the decoration of the Hall of Months in the Schifanoia Palace, the most important pictorial cycle of the 2nd half of the 15th century. Also, several works of easel painting, located mainly in Ferrara collections, are attributed to them.
These artists show the same stylistical peculiarity, which is special to all the Ferrarese painters of the 15th century. Their works have the same trends and traditions of the Ferrara court art, that’s why we explore both easel and monumental painting, and the book illumitation. With the methods of iconographic and stylistic analysis, we put the works of anonymous artists in the general context of the Ferrarese painting.

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