The Medici Michelangelo the Art of Late Renaissance Florence
- EXHIBITION THEMES
Celebrated during his lifetime for his boggling talent equally a sculptor, architect, painter, draftsman, and poet, Michelangelo inspired subsequent Florentine artists and attracted the urban center'south most powerful patrons—notably the Medici grand dukes. Their extensive and enlightened patronage immune art in all media to flourish. In add-on to commissioning portraits and decorative objects for individual and public display, the Medici family ordered the reconstruction or renovation of numerous borough buildings and private residences and established several major institutions for creative production and didactics, including Europe'due south first artists' academy. Cosimo's control of Florence was equally ruthless, just he eventually won the grudging support of the Florentine citizenry––non just for the economic and political expansion he had garnered for the city but for its greater military security. Many likewise plant much to admire in Cosimo'due south wide-ranging intellect, including a securely rooted interest in art and literature and a swell fascination with phytology, chemistry, and zoology. With an innate instinct for public relations, Cosimo engaged his court painters and the new artists' academy, which he helped to plant, in the development of a repertory of images that communicated Medici power and dynastic rule. The painters Pontormo (1494–1556) and, to a greater degree, Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572) fashioned a court portrait way for the Medici, characterized by ladylike grace and opulence and often bristling with complex allegories relating to ability and military machine might. Bronzino and his workshop produced myriad portraits of Cosimo, Eleonora, and their children; of the thou duke'southward distinguished ancestors; and of members of the court. A religious subject by Bronzino commissioned by a fellow member of the aristocracy Medici circle, Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist , is one of the painter's most celebrated works. Its references to specific examples of aboriginal Greek and Roman sculpture—which the artist had seen during a contempo trip to Rome—were surely recognized and appreciated by the learned patron and his colleagues. Pontormo, primarily a painter of religious subjects, was awarded numerous important commissions by Cosimo, including the decoration of the choir of the Medici church of San Lorenzo (1546/51). At present lost, the imaginative and unusual San Lorenzo frescoes are known primarily from Pontormo's surviving preparatory drawings, on view in the exhibition. These studies give some sense of the peculiar, personal nature of the lost paintings. Gardens and fountain sculpture were among the glories of Medici patronage. Cosimo appointed Niccolò Tribolo to redesign the gardens of the Medici villa at Castello (outside of Florence) and the Boboli Gardens (backside the Palazzo Pitti) with fountains, grottoes, water tricks, and areas of trimmed and wild plantings. Giambologna's bronze figure of a adult female wringing water from her pilus, variously identified as either Florence or Venus, once graced a fountain in the garden of the villa at Castello. back to top Michelangelo's works from this period correspond a new figurative style that the painter and author Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) called maniera (Mannerism), characterized by expressive power and circuitous, notwithstanding elegant, form. Among the sculptor's nearly singular innovations is the figura serpentinata (serpentine figure), in which a minor head tops a massive muscular body and tapering thighs, and the body dynamically twists and then that its musculature can exist viewed from many angles. This concept, its implied motion augmented when viewed from all sides, connected to influence sculptors and painters throughout the belatedly-Renaissance and Bizarre eras. The pose of the clay (terracotta) Male Body attributed to Michelangelo is consistent with the torsion seen in works past the primary and his followers. It may have served as a model for a marble or a bronze cast. The wooden Crucifix , probably incomplete at the time of Michelangelo's decease in 1564, represents the spare, elongated style of the creative person's final years. The crude forms, unfinished surfaces, and introverted mood relate to some of his most moving drawings of Crucifixion scenes. back to top back to top back to top The complex decorative plan for the small-scale chamber, conceived by the learned Vincenzo Borghini, caput of the artists' academy, was every bit treasured every bit the objects stored and had equally its primary theme the dynamic relationship between art and nature. Personifications in the Studiolo's ceiling frescoes related this theme to the iv elements, the four seasons, and the four temperaments. Organized mainly according to their affiliation with the four elements––earth, air, fire, and h2o––the prince's objects and materials were deposited in xix cupboards distributed along the four walls. Covering or adjacent to each cabinet was a panel with a painted representation of a scene––religious, mythological, historical, or industrial––that in some way referred to the closet's contents. For instance, Mirabello Cavalori'south Wool Manufactory , which shows the processing of wool in cauldrons humid over high flames, would have been located on the burn down wall, and alum, a chemical used in the treatment of wool, would have been kept in the closet below Cavalori'due south movie. Pearls, coral, and other objects associated with the sea were kept in cabinets on the water wall near related paintings. Francesco'due south collections obviously outgrew the Studiolo quickly, and the room was dismantled in the late 16th century. The dispersed paintings and sculptures were reassembled in the early on 20th century, simply the room was incorrectly reconstructed. The written report room in the exhibition and the catalogue essay on the Studiolo offer a new proposal for the arrangement of the decorations and for the identification and placement of the contents in the cupboards. The diverse geological and zoological specimens on display in the study room were not themselves function of the prince'due south drove just are examples of the sorts of materials Francesco is known to have stored in his Studiolo. back to top The Grand Duke ceaselessly encouraged artistic collaboration and innovation among his artists and craftsmen. He hired Milanese gem engravers to make Florence an of import center of pietre dure (hard-stone) carving. He brought in goldsmiths and jewelers, such as Jaques Bylivelt from Delft, to create works of precious metals, including gem-like mounts for hard-stone vases. Most importantly, Francesco appointed Bernardo Buontalenti, an immensely talented designer and architect, to serve as creative managing director of the workshops. back to top In 1587 Francesco I died without a legitimate male person heir, and Ferdinando, who had never taken priestly vows, immediately declared himself the tertiary Yard Knuckles of Tuscany. Seeking a marriage that would preserve his political independence, Ferdinando chose his distant cousin, Christine of Lorraine, the favorite granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France. The sumptuous and well-documented wedding festivities, celebrated in Florence in 1589, were designed to print the royal houses of Europe. The wedding ceremony in Florence Cathedal was followed by outdoor events for the public, likewise as banquets and balls, comedies and musical interludes, and a mock sea battle in the flooded courtyard of Palazzo Pitti for the aristocratic guests. Altogether the hymeneals spectacles toll approximately seven million dollars in today's currency. These lavish and innovative forms of entertainment proved to be more than than showmanship. They greatly influenced theatrical practices in European courts throughout the 17th century. back to superlative With Ferdinando's steady patronage and encouragement, pietre-dure workers became experts at manipulating colour variations in stones of complex shapes to reach a painterly event in their designs. These skills were applied to create elaborate mosaics in manners both naturalistic and stylized. The former mode is exhibited in the oval plaque showing the Piazza Granducale, with its remarkable illusion of volume and depth. The mosaic of the Medici-Lorraine coat of artillery, probably created at the time of Ferdinando's wedding to Christine of Lorraine, displays the flatter style of heraldic subjects. back to acme Cosimo II upheld the reputation of the Medici as patrons of the natural sciences and the arts. He appointed Galileo Galilei to professor of philosophy and mathematics at the University of Pisa. In return Galileo named the four Jupiter moons he discovered in 1610 the "Medici stars." Cosimo used his family's weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries as opportunities to promote performing arts. He spent lavishly on court amusement, equestrian performances, and theater. In times of peace, his courtiers displayed elaborately chased artillery and armor at sporting tournaments, a number of which are on view in the exhibition. The reigns of the first four Medici thou dukes coincided with the Counter Reformation, the movement that arose within the Catholic Church to clarify its doctrines, especially in relation to Protestant tenets, and to address the abuses of power past its clergy. The Thousand Duke demonstrated his piety and responded to the bear on of the Counter Reformation through commissions executed in the sumptuous style favored by his court. Peculiarly lavish use of precious materials, rich color and textures, and intricate decorative motifs distinguish the clerical garments, liturgical objects, reliefs, and paintings of sacred themes produced during Cosimo II'due south reign. Religious fine art commissioned during the Counter Reformation by the Medici and other prominent Cosmic rulers had a special significance as Cosmic reforms continued well into the side by side century, and the Church renewed its accent on art as a powerful teaching tool. back to top Post-obit Cosimo Two'due south death in 1621 at the age of 30, his wife and mother served as co-regents for his son Ferdinando II, then only x years old. Past the time Ferdinando succeeded to the title, Florence's fortunes had begun to fade. The grand-ducal treasury was severely depleted, and a period of austerity reduced cultural initiatives. Many artists chose to leave Florence for Rome, Naples, and other cities where the new Baroque style was quickly ascending. Beginning with Cosimo I, the Medici grand dukes were arguably the first political leaders in Europe to plant mod systems of urban planning and to employ cultural commissions to celebrate their accomplishments and secure their dynasty'due south futurity. Through their extensive patronage initiatives—resulting in new residences, government centers, fortified compounds, artistic institutions, gardens, public sculpture, fountains, and elaborately staged events—the first Medici 1000 dukes dynamically transformed Florence and exerted a widespread and lasting cultural influence on other European courts.
The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence provides a detailed survey of the fine art and culture of 16th-century Florence, the crucible of the Italian Renaissance. Between 1537 and 1631, the first iv Medici grand dukes—Cosimo I; his sons, Francesco I and Ferdinando I; and his grandson, Cosimo Two—presided over a spectacular flowering of the arts and sciences, exemplified by the pioneering achievements and dominant legacy of Michelangelo.
In 1537 the young Cosimo de' Medici (1519–1574) was plucked from relative obscurity in the Tuscan countryside to atomic number 82 Florence after the assassination of his cousin Duke Alessandro de' Medici (1511?–1537). Surprising the Florentine aristocrats who put him in power, who believed they could easily manipulate the 17-year-old, Cosimo declined to marry into one of their families. Instead, he tied himself firmly to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (1500–1558) by marrying the Spanish princess Eleonora di Toledo (1522–1562), girl of the emperor's viceroy in Naples. In and then doing, he elevated himself to absolute ruler of Florence. By 1569, when Cosimo convinced Pope Pius V (1504–1572) to bequeath on him the title of M Knuckles of Tuscany, he had expanded his totalitarian dominion throughout the Tuscan territories, sometimes violently seizing control of neighboring cities.
Michelangelo always pushed the limits of the possible, infusing his fine art with his soul and intellect. He was frequently more than concerned with the exploration and solution of an creative problem than with the finished work. One of his greatest and most influential projects in Florence, left incomplete when he departed for Rome in 1534, is the burial chapel, or New Sacristy, in the Medici church building of San Lorenzo. The chapel includes a number of greater-than-life-sized marble statues, among them the famous personfications of the four times of twenty-four hour period (Twenty-four hours, Night, Dawn, and Dusk). During the 1520s and 1530s, Michelangelo carved most of the New Sacristy sculptures also as Apollo/David . It is unclear whether Michelangelo originally intended the latter to stand for the biblical hero David, holding his sling, a symbol of the Florentine republic; or if the artist planned to stop the marble as Apollo, the sun god, reaching back for an pointer (and who would later become the emblem of the Florentine art academy and its patron, Cosimo).
In the first half of the 16th century the finest tapestries in Europe—prized by royal and aloof collectors—came from Flanders, especially Brussels and its surrounding area. In 1545 Cosimo decided that Florence, already distinguished as a center of fabric production, would rival Brussels in the art of tapestry weaving. Afterward hiring Flemish artisans to manage his workshops, he called upon some of the foremost Florentine artists of the day—Agnolo Bronzino, Jacopo Pontormo, Francesco Salviati—to provide cartoons (full-scale designs) for tapestries, steps that quickly resulted in a remarkably high quality of craftsmanship and artistry. The theme and imagery of the portiera (door hanging) designed by Bronzino, Abundance , suggests the marvelous compensation enjoyed past Florence under Cosimo's rule.
Upon the death of Cosimo I, in 1574, his son Francesco (1541–1587) became the 2nd M Duke of Tuscany. Less dedicated to statecraft than his father and naturally introverted, Francesco never emerged from the shadow of Cosimo'south long reign or accomplished a political persona of his ain. For years Francesco was reprimanded by his father for spending his time in laboratories and workshops by day and taking solitary walks virtually the metropolis by night. Defective Cosimo'due south social ease and spontaneity, Francesco imposed a rigid decorum on his courtroom and built secret rooms and passageways so that he could move well-nigh the m-ducal residences and the city undetected. Like his father, Francesco was fascinated with the applied sciences and was obsessed with the written report of alchemy and medicine—the latter partly in guild to care for his own melancholy, or chronic depression. He besides continued the Medici patronage tradition, encouraging the fine and decorative arts.
In the winter of 1569–70 Francesco commissioned the decoration of a small-scale room that would become his primary legacy––the and then-called Studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The Studiolo, created by Giorgio Vasari, was a hidden vault room in which the young prince stored his drove of small, precious, unusual, or rare objects and materials. Francesco's myriad interests ranged from alchemy to zoology and included such fields as geology, glassmaking, and metallurgy.
Francesco imported talented craftsmen from other parts of Italy and northern Europe to produce luxury objects in Florence. For instance, he invited the maiolica painter Flaminio Fontana from Urbino and potters from Faenza to institute a porcelain workshop, which became the first European manufactory to succeed in producing ceramics in false of Chinese porcelain. (Hard-paste, or "truthful," porcelain of China differed technically from the soft-paste ceramic ware of Florence, simply variations in translucency, whiteness, and hardness are barely detectable.) The Medici ewer, one of the largest, most beautifully decorated, and historically important examples of the technique, is featured in the exhibition, along with the best Medici porcelains in American collections, each piece unique and masterfully designed.
Born in 1548 every bit the fourth son of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo, Ferdinando de' Medici (1548–1609) originally was not intended to dominion. In 1563 he became a cardinal and moved to Rome, where he continued his father's history of artistic patronage. He enlarged and embellished the magnificent Villa Medici to house his superb collection of classical sculptures, later to be installed in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.
Ferdinando was especially passionate about pietre dure, in part because he wished to adorn a number of the stately interiors of his residences with panels in this rich and difficult medium. He created a special pietre-dure workshop and elevated it to a level of importance above artisanal studios. The Galleria dei Lavori (Gallery of Works), later renamed the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Hard-Stone Industry), apace won international acclaim for its magnificent products, and it still exists today.
Born in 1590, the son of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Christine of Lorraine, Cosimo 2'south comparatively brief reign (1609–1621) was a menstruation of peace and prosperity for Tuscany, thanks largely to the political and economic policies his father and grandpa had put in place. Cosimo'south marriage in 1608 to the Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria (1587–1633), sister of Emperor Ferdinand 2, allied the Medici family with the powerful Habsburg dynasty.
Cosimo 2 inherited his family unit'south interest in art patronage for the glorification of the dynasty, and he significantly augmented the Medici collections. His acquisitions reveal a broad-ranging interest in contemporary painting, from Florence and elsewhere, and an ongoing delivery to the Medici workshops. These establishments continued to produce luxurious objects, with a gradual shift from the circuitous and intricate Mannerist designs of the Florentine court artists to the bold, dramatic language of the Baroque. Nevertheless, in paintings such equally Judith with the head of Holofernes by Cristofano Allori (1577–1621), this new style thrived in the glamorous trappings of the Florentine court.
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Source: https://archive.artic.edu/medici/themes.html
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