I wanted to take a closer look at Leonardo’s “Vitruvian Man” because of its scientific importance. Leonardo studied naturalism then he challenged and questioned everything about the subject. He correlated many points of nature to the human body. Like how a nut can resemble a child in the womb or how veins in the body are like waterways. With his “Vitruvian Man”, he showed off his ability to understand the human body and the beauty it has while also showing his knowledge of science. 

            So what were women artists creating at this time? Realistically, anything they wanted to but women were only expected to create portraitures. Apparently, because their brains would just be too overwhelmed by actually creating a true invention. During this time, women were looked at to create children, which means they can create portraits and since they were only supposed to be in the private realm, they could create the portraits in private. Total BS, just another plot for men to get further. Anguissola, de’ Rossi, and Mantuana are just a few of the women artists that proved those men (or others) wrong. 

            The work that really spoke to me was  Sofonisba Anguissola’s The Chess Game (1555). Her subjects in the work are her sisters and presumably a family servant. She is creating a subject with the community of women and showing actual personality of the women shown. Previously, when men painted women, they weren’t really capturing them, but treating women like an object. We see it in Ghirlandaio’s Tornabuoni, Raphael’s Maddalena Doni, and Titian’s La Bella. They are using the women to show off the grandiose jewelry and clothing they have on. Anguissola brings intelligence and charm to the work by having her sister looking out to her while she paints the chess game going on. Sure, these women are wearing pretty fine clothing, but they don’t really draw you away from the smiles and eyes that she creates. Instead of taking away from women, Anguissola is giving us the true woman beneath the clothing and jewels. 

            I think the biggest take away and what has really stuck with me is the amount of artists doing this new role of black women in art. Artists and works like; Mocetto’s Judith, Correggio’s Judith, and Durer’s Portrait of Katharina. Much later after the introduction of the female black servant, we find cameos, like those from the workshop of Girolamo Miseroni. These works by Miseroni (I believe) are capturing the beauty of the black woman and giving her a spotlight in the works. Granted, these works probably ended up being in curio cabinets, but the fact that they are being produced and have pretty spot on features of those being from Africa. I do want to believe that these artists are in fact looking at the beauty of their subject, like that of the  Nature is beautiful for its variety cameo from Milan and the Black African Diana, also from Milan. The elite or aristocracy during these times are more than likely snooty and want to use the black African for malicious reasons, while the artist is trying to capture their genuine human qualities.  

            I wanted to look at Girolamo Benzoni’s pieces he created for the History of the New World book because I connected with his more than I did the De Brys. Benzoni’s works were simpler, candid, and wanted to capture the Amerindians in an almost courteous way. In the Jones article she writes, “Benzoni writes to encourage European readers to understand, if not to admire, the peoples of Central America.” (155) which is something, in my opinion, quite rare for the era. Looking at his Method of dancing, he captures the individuals frolicking and dancing while holding flowers and drinking from a presumed coconut shell. By just his simple lines, the tranquility he brings into the work is just amazing. Unlike the “other” figure(s) we talked about in Unit 1, which were being used to display righteousness and power of the aristocracy in Italy, like the Isabella d’Este work of Judith and Holofernes. This is how De Brys presents their woodcuts. In Indians dancing, they created a biased view of the natives dancing and celebrating. It looks very similar to Benzoni’s, but the figures present a much more masculine and boisterous scene. Jones even describes the scene, “.. a riot of male energy.” (155). Figures are almost doing a brawl like dance, while surrounding by others drinking and naked women and men pressed up against another. He wants this to frighten and alarm viewers into thinking that this is a “savage” society that is uncultured and needs the help of the Europeans. 

            This righteous European figure I talk about is… interesting to me. I love reading articles like the Jones, Kaplan, and Reiss that show off the savagery of actual Europeans. I’m just grouping Europeans as a whole, but mostly focusing on Italy when I say this. Just seeing actual proof (articles) of what the white population is doing to the “others” during the Renaissance.  

I choose this image of the Kunstkammer because I wanted to look at Rudolf II’s collection during this era. I couldn’t pick just one object because they are all amazing! To me, Rudolf and his collection are important of the renaissance because he was a patron of the arts so he was actively supporting others in this time. His cabinet of curiosities was filled with natural, artificial, and scientific artifacts to shock and entertain his special guests. Artifacts like; Celestial Globe with Clockwork (silver, brass, and steel), Rudolf as Vertumnus by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a Bezoar cup (calcification from the stomach of a goat, used in mystical and medicinal purposes in Ren), clocks, compasses, scientific instruments, and a Mandrake in the form of a crucifix which was used as a talisman with curative properties. These are just a few of the objects that made up the collection. 

The reason he had so much was to show off his universal power. He wanted total control over the world, so he set out to learn and manipulate it for his own power gain. He wanted to show the selected viewers things that had never been seen before, and his Kunstkammer did just that. The collection itself was not random, but arranged so that items that were alike or from the same land area were grouped together. This is because Rudolf tasked his court physician, Anselmus Boetius de Boodt, to curate the collection. With this, the collection was (probably) a stunning masterpiece in its prime, but sadly was looted and sacked during the Thirty Years War. I would LOVE to see a little bit more of the collection or a recreation of the rooms, but I have not came across anything yet.  

 

 https://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/kunst-und-wunderkammer-emperor-rudolf-ii

         We spent a lot of time in Venice because it was once part of the Byzantine Empire and still kept trading, even after claiming itself an independent republic, with the East (Hurst, Palazzo). Looking at the architecture in Venice, we do see Eastern influence on many historical buildings. The Palazzo Ducale has decorative arches, quatrefoils, colored bricks, and the triangular decorations on top that look very similar to the Mosque of Altinbugha al-Maridani and the Mosque of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, both done under the Mamluks (Poole-Jones). The Ca’ d’Oro uses ogee arches that are also popular in Islamic and Byzantine architecture.

         Architecture wasn’t the only thing that the Venetians were getting inspiration from. They also loved Islamic glass, and even found a way to bring these desirable luxuries closer to home. For our group project we took a look at Murano glass. This Venetian glass company (Murano) was virtually unchallenged in glassmaking in the 15^th  because of the destruction of the Damascus glass furnaces out east (Mack, 113). Looking at figures 120 - Goblet, and 122 - the shallow footed bowl in the Mack article, I see that these works use small dots to decorate the pieces. This motif comes from Syrian glass and are made in rows with a small white or colored enamel dot, looking almost like rosettes in fig. 120 (Mack, 118). These small dots were a staple point of Syrian glass in the late twelfth to the mid-thirteenth century (Mack, 118). The Venetians then used this decoration style to adorn their own glassworks like figures 120 and 122. Because the Venetians picked this style up, it proves that there was a trade system going on between Venice and Syria. 

         I really wish we got to spend more time on the Muslim “others” because of all the stunning works you showed us. I feel like their stories are barely told and I’m glad we had the chance to take a closer look at some of them. During the Renaissance we see blending of Italians and Islamic figures in different pieces of art. We looked Gentile da Fabriano’s Strozzi Alterpiece and there are a few elements that support this claim. There are many figures wearing kufi or kufi like head coverings as well as the very floral and decorative patterns they use to decorate their clothing. The use of pseudo-Arabic script is also being used around halos as well as the shawl on the woman to the left. This could be to almost honor or acknowledge Islamic texts or calligraphy (Poole-Jones). 

         The Katz article was probably the most impactful and educational for me because of the detail they went into describing the different works that feature the late medieval philosopher, Averroes. From the questions you had us answer, we got a closer look at the Westerners’ view on Muslims. Raphael’s School of Athens shows that even though there were open trades and even acknowledgment that there is a great Muslim philosopher, that Muslims were still going to be treated less than or stereotype by others who believed they were better than them. Raphael gives Averroes an almost cynical look with his bulging eyes and outward pout staring across the room of other greats (Katz). Averroes is also in Lippo Memmi and Benozzo Gozzoli’s Triumph of Thomas Aquinas pictured in another way to devalue him. In these works he is being stepped on and crushed by Aquinas because of his blasphemous writings. These artists wanted to show Averroes being defeated to give Christianity power over others. Comparing this work to Raphael’s, the latter is being vastly more respectful. Instead of having him defeated like in the triptych, he is being shown as an equal to all the other great men that others looked up to. It still is pretty disturbing in a modern view, but pretty respectful for the time I would assume. 

         While this was not the first time we see Christianity playing a power card over others like when we talked about the New World and looked at woodcuts that showed natives in two very different ways, we do get a glimpse of understanding and acceptance. Like those woodcuts, the portraits above were intended to two very different audiences and it all comes down on to those who view them. Keep the small mindedness or broaden your view of the world? 

         All of these readings, lectures and projects have helped me view the Renaissance in a more worldly view instead of the Italy focus I originally had coming into both of these Ren classes I have had with you. 

         

               

 

 

Hurst, Ellen. “Ca’ d’Oro – Smarthistory.” SmartHistory. Accessed November 20, 2022. https://smarthistory.org/ca-doro/.

 

Hurst, Ellen. “Palazzo Ducale – Smarthistory.” SmartHistory. Accessed November 20, 2022. https://smarthistory.org/palazzo-ducale/.

 

Katz, D. E., Cosgriff, T., & Wingfield, B. K. (2022). Raphael and Islam in the School of Athens. In Revisiting Raphael's Vatican Stanze (pp. 121–136). essay, Harvey Miller Publishers, an imprint of Brepols Publishers. 

 

Mack. (n.d.). Glass. In Bazaar to Piazza (pp. 113–123). essay. 

 

Poole-Jones. Venice & the East Lecture.