Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI and PIERO di COSIMO: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

imGiacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, Piero di Cosimo: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, Piero di Cosimo: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Giacobbe Giusti, SANDRO BOTTICELLI and PIERO di COSIMO: SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci (c. 1490) by Piero di Cosimo
Born	1453[1] Genoa or Portovenere, Liguria, Italy
Died	26 April 1476(1476-04-26) (aged 22–23)[1] Florence, Italy
Spouse(s)	Marco Vespucci
Parent(s)	Gaspare Cattaneo Della Volta and Cattocchia Spinola

Simonetta Vespucci (née Cattaneo; 1453 – 26 April 1476^[1]), nicknamed la bella Simonetta, was an Italian noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence and the cousin-in-law of Amerigo Vespucci. According to her legend, before her death at 22 she was famous as the greatest beauty of her age in North Italy, and the model for many paintings (many not showing similar features at all) by Botticelli and other Florentine painters. Many art historians are infuriated by these attributions, which the Victorian critic John Ruskin is blamed for giving some respectability.^[2]

Biography

Early life and marriage

She was born as Simonetta Cattaneo circa 1453 in a part of the Republic of Genoa that is now in the Italian region of Liguria. A more precise location for her birthplace is unknown: possibly the city of Genoa,^[3] or perhaps either Portovenere or Fezzano.^[4] The Florentine poet Politian wrote that her home was “in that stern Ligurian district up above the seacoast, where angry Neptune beats against the rocks … There, like Venus, she was born among the waves.”^[5] Her father was a Genoese nobleman named Gaspare Cattaneo della Volta (a much-older relative of a sixteenth-century Doge of Genoa named Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta) and her mother was Gaspare’s wife, Cattocchia Spinola (another source names her parents slightly differently as Gaspare Cattaneo and Chateroccia di Marco Spinola.^[6]

At age fifteen or sixteen she married Marco Vespucci, son of Piero, who was a distant cousin of the explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci. They met in April 1469; she was with her parents at the church of San Torpete when she met Marco; the doge Piero il Fregoso and much of the Genoese nobility were present.

Marco had been sent to Genoa by his father, Piero, to study at the Banco di San Giorgio. Marco was accepted by Simonetta’s father, and he was very much in love with her, so the marriage was logical. Her parents also knew the marriage would be advantageous because Marco’s family was well connected in Florence, especially to the Medici family.

Florence

Simonetta and Marco were married in Florence. According to her legend, Simonetta was instantly popular at the Florentine court. The Medici brothers, Lorenzo and Giuliano took an instant liking toward her. Lorenzo permitted the Vespucci wedding to be held at the palazzo in Via Larga, and held the wedding reception at their lavish Villa di Careggi. Simonetta, upon arriving in Florence, was discovered by Sandro Botticelli and other prominent painters through the Vespucci family. Before long she had supposedly attracted the brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano of the ruling Medici family. Lorenzo was occupied with affairs of state, but his younger brother was free to pursue her.

At La Giostra (a jousting tournament) in 1475, held at the Piazza Santa Croce, Giuliano entered the lists bearing a banner on which was a picture of Simonetta as a helmeted Pallas Athene painted by Botticelli, beneath which was the French inscription La Sans Pareille, meaning “The unparalleled one”.^[7] It is clear that Simonetta had a reputation as an exceptional beauty in Florence,^[8] but the whole display should be considered within the conventions of courtly love; Simonetta was a married woman,^[9] a member of a powerful family allied to the Medici,^[10] and any actual affair would have been a huge political risk.

Giuliano won the tournament,^[11] and Simonetta was nominated “The Queen of Beauty” at that event. It is unknown, and unlikely, that they actually became lovers.

Death

Simonetta Vespucci died just one year later, presumably from tuberculosis,^[12] on the night of 26–27 April 1476. She was twenty-two at the time of her death. She was carried through the city in an open coffin for all to admire her beauty, and there seems to have been some kind of posthumous popular cult in Florence.^[13] Her husband remarried soon afterward, and Giuliano de Medici was assassinated in the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, two years to the day after her death.

Botticelli finished painting The Birth of Venus around 1486, some ten years later. Some have claimed that Venus, in this painting, closely resembles Simonetta.^[14] This claim, however, is dismissed as a “romantic myth” by Ernst Gombrich,^[15] and “romantic nonsense” by historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto:

The vulgar assumption, for instance, that she was Botticelli’s model for all his famous beauties seems to be based on no better grounds than the feeling that the most beautiful woman of the day ought to have modelled for the most sensitive painter.^[16]

Some, including Ruskin, suggest that Botticelli also had fallen in love with her, a view supported by his request to be buried in the Church of Ognissanti – the parish church of the Vespucci – in Florence. His wish was carried out when he died some 34 years later, in 1510. However this had been Botticelli’s parish church since he was baptized there, and he was buried with his family. The church contained works by him.

There are some connections between Simonetta and Botticelli. He painted the standard carried by Giuliano at the joust in 1475, which carried an image of Pallas Athene that was very probably modelled on her; so he does seem to have painted her once at least, though the image is now lost.^[17] Botticelli’s main Medici patron, Giuliano’s younger cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, married Simonetta’s niece Semiramide in 1482, and it is often thought that his Primavera was painted as a wedding gift on this occasion.^[18]

Possible depictions

• 

  Portrait of a Woman by the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, early-mid 1480s

   

• 

  Portrait of a Woman by the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, mid-1480s^[19]

   

• 

  Flora in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

   

• 

  Detail of one of the Three Graces in Primavera by Botticelli

   

• 

  Detail of the Venus figure in Primavera by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1482

   

• 

  Detail of the Venus figure in The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1484-1486

   

• 

  A Satyr mourning over a Nymph by Piero di Cosimo, circa 1495

Regarding each Portrait of a Woman pictured above that is credited to the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, Ronald Lightbown claims they were creations of Botticelli’s workshop that were likely neither drawn nor painted exclusively by Botticelli himself. Regarding these same two paintings he also claims “[Botticell’s work]shop…executed portraits of ninfe, or fair ladies…all probably fancy portraits of ideal beauties, rather than real ladies.”^[20]

She may be depicted in the painting by Piero di Cosimo titled Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci that portrays a woman as Cleopatra with an asp around her neck and is alternatively titled by some individuals Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci. Yet how closely this resembles the living woman is uncertain, partly because if this is indeed a rendering of her form and spirit it is a posthumous portrait created about fourteen years after her death. Worth noting as well is the fact that Piero di Cosimo was only fourteen years old in the year of Vespucci’s death. The museum that currently houses this painting questions the very identity of its subject by titling it “Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci”, and stating that the inscription of her name at the bottom of the painting may have been added at a later date.^[21]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonetta_Vespucci

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

 

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Ceiling mosaic Garden of Eden.

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

The Good Shepherd.

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a Roman building in Ravenna, Italy. It was listed with seven other structures in Ravenna in the World Heritage List in 1996.^[1] The UNESCO experts describe it as “the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments, and at the same time one of the most artistically perfect”.

History

Giacobbe Giusti, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Giacobbe Giusti, Interior view, showing the southern lunette.

Ceiling

The building was formerly the oratory of the Church of the Holy Cross and now contains three sarcophagi. The largest sarcophagus was thought to contain the remains of Galla Placidia (died 450), daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. Her embalmed body was reportedly deposited there in a sitting position, clothed with the imperial mantle. In 1577, however, the contents of the sarcophagus were accidentally burned. The sarcophagus to the right is attributed to Galla’s son, Emperor Valentinian III, or to her brother, Emperor Honorius. The one on the left is attributed to her husband, Emperor Constantius III.

The building is not currently used as a mausoleum. It is unknown what the building was intended for when it was built. The most common story is that the structure was built by Galla Placidia, who was a well-known patron of the arts, to be used as a mausoleum for her and her family. There seems to be no evidence to prove or disprove Galla’s connection to the building. The mausoleum was once connected to the narthex of Santa Croce, the church for the imperial palace, built in 417 but now in ruins. Santa Croce was one of the first buildings commissioned by Galla. The floor has been raised by five feet since the fifth century in order to remain above the rising water along the upper Adriatic coast.

Giacobbe Giusti, Architecture and interior art

Ceiling mosaic Garden of Eden.

Mosaics cover the walls of the vault, the lunettes and the cupola. The iconographic themes developed in the decorations represent the victory of eternal life over death. The mausoleum is laid out in a cruciform floor plan, with a central dome on pendentives and barrel vaults over the four transepts. The exterior of the dome is enclosed in a square tower that rises above the gabled lateral wings. The brick surface is set with narrow mortar joints and decorated with blind arcades.

The interior of the mausoleum is covered with rich Byzantine mosaics, and light enters through alabaster window panels. The inside contains two famous mosaic lunettes, and the rest of the interior is filled with mosaics of Christian and Apocalyptic symbols. The central bay’s upper walls are decorated with four pairs of apostles, including St. Peter and St. Paul, acclaiming a giant gold cross in the center of the dome against a blue sky of stars. Symbols of the four evangelists float among the clouds. The other four apostles appear in the barrel vaults of the transepts.

The lunette over the north entrance shows a mosaic of Christ as the Good Shepherd tending his flocks. He holds an imperial staff joined to the Christian cross, symbolizing the combined earthly and heavenly domains. The lunette over the south wall is thought to depict St. Lawrence standing next to a flaming gridiron. On the opposite side of the gridiron a bookcase is shown with four books, each inscribed with the name of an evangelist.

The art historian Gillian Mackie argues that this panel represents the Spanish St. Vincent of Saragossa rather than the Italian St. Lawrence.^[2] Mackie cites Galla’s connection to Spain; in addition, St. Vincent was martyred by drowning at sea, and Galla and her children had been delivered from shipwreck. The panel seems to be an illustration of the poem about St. Vincent in Prudentius’s fifth century Passio Sancti Vincent Martyris. In the poem St. Vincent is ordered to disclose his sacred books to be burned. This explains the cupboard containing the Gospels, which has no satisfactory explanation in the story of St. Lawrence.

Giacobbe Giusti, Good Shepherd Mosaic

The Good Shepherd.

The Lunette of Christ as Good Shepherd over the north entrance is representative of Christian art at this time period in late antiquity. Christ is being depicted as more regal than prior depictions of him as good shepherd. Rather than carrying a lamb over his shoulder, Jesus sits amongst his flock, haloed and robed in gold and purple. The mosaic represents a transition period between the naturalistic depictions of the classical period in art history and the stylized representations of the medieval period. The forms still have three-dimensional bulk, but the shading such as in the folds of the robes is less refined than in the past, and figures are not very grounded. Elements of realism have been sacrificed for a focus on the spiritual elements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Galla_.com

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

 

Lamb of God

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

The presbytery.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Mosaic of Theodora

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Apse mosaic.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Mosaics of Justinianus I and Theodora.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of San Vitale

The “Basilica of San Vitale” is a church in Ravenna, Italy, and one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. The Roman Catholic Church has designated the building a “basilica”, the honorific title bestowed on church buildings of exceptional historic and ecclesial importance, although of course it is not of architectural basilica form. It is one of eight Ravenna structures inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

History

The church was begun by Bishop Ecclesius in 526, when Ravenna was under the rule of the Ostrogoths and completed by the 27th Bishop of Ravenna, Maximian, in 547 preceding the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna.

The construction of the church was sponsored by Julius Argentarius, a Roman banker and architect, of whom very little is known, except that he also sponsored the construction of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe at around the same time.^[1] (A donor portrait of the Julius Argentarius may appear among the courtiers on the Justinian mosaic.) The final cost amounted to 26,000 solidi (gold pieces).^[2]

The central vault used a western technique of hollow tubes inserted into each other, rather than bricks. The ambulatory and gallery were vaulted only later in the Middle Ages.^[3]

The Baroque fresco on the dome was made between 1778 and 1782 by S. Barozzi, U. Gandolfi and E. Guarana.^[4]

Architecture

Ground plan of the building

Mosaics of Justinianus I and Theodora.

The church has an octagonal plan. The building combines Roman elements: the dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers; with Byzantine elements: polygonal apse, capitals, narrow bricks, and an early example of flying buttresses. The church is most famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics, the largest and best preserved outside of Constantinople. The church is of extreme importance in Byzantine art, as it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact to the present day. Furthermore, it is thought to reflect the design of the Byzantine Imperial Palace Audience Chamber, of which nothing at all survives. The belltower has four bells, the tenor one dates to the 16th century. According to legends, the church was erected on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Vitalis.^[5] However, there is some confusion as to whether this is the Saint Vitalis of Milan, or the Saint Vitale whose body was discovered together with that of Saint Agricola, by Saint Ambrose in Bologna in 393.

Mosaic art

The presbytery.

Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

The interior of San Vitale

The central section is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories. The upper one, the matrimoneum, was reserved for married women. A series of mosaics in the lunettes above the triforia depict sacrifices from the Old Testament:^[6] the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, and the Sacrifice of Isaac; the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, Jeremiah and Isaiah, representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the story of Abel and Cain. A pair of angels, holding a medallion with a cross, crowns each lunette. On the side walls the corners, next to the mullioned windows, have mosaics of the Four Evangelists, under their symbols (angel, lion, ox and eagle), and dressed in white. Especially the portrayal of the lion is remarkable in its ferocity.

The cross-ribbed vault in the presbytery is richly ornamented with mosaic festoons of leaves, fruit and flowers, converging on a crown encircling the Lamb of God. The crown is supported by four angels, and every surface is covered with a profusion of flowers, stars, birds and animals, including many peacocks. Above the arch, on both sides, two angels hold a disc and beside them a representation of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. They symbolize the human race (Jerusalem representing the Jews, and Bethlehem the Gentiles).

All these mosaics are executed in the Hellenistic-Roman tradition: lively and imaginative, with rich colors and a certain perspective, and with a vivid depiction of the landscape, plants and birds. They were finished when Ravenna was still under Gothic rule. The apse is flanked by two chapels, the prothesis and the diaconicon, typical for Byzantine architecture.

Inside, the intrados of the great triumphal arch is decorated with fifteen mosaic medallions, depicting Jesus Christ, the twelve Apostles and Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius, the sons of Saint Vitale. The theophany was begun in 525 under bishop Ecclesius. It has a great gold fascia with twining flowers, birds, and horns of plenty. Jesus Christ appears, seated on a blue globe in the summit of the vault, robed in purple, with his right hand offering the martyr’s crown to Saint Vitale. On the left, Bishop Ecclesius offers a model of the church.

Justinian and Theodora panels

Apse mosaic.

The mosaic of Emperor Justinian and his retinue.

Empress Theodora and attendants.

Ceiling mosaic above the presbytery.

At the foot of the apse side walls are two famous mosaic panels, executed in 547. On the right is a mosaic depicting the East Roman Emperor Justinian I, clad in Tyrian purple with a golden halo, standing next to court officials, Bishop Maximian, palatinae guards and deacons. The halo around his head gives him the same aspect as Christ in the dome of the apse. Justinian himself stands in the middle, with soldiers on his right and clergy on his left, emphasizing that Justinian is the leader of both church and state of his empire.

The gold background of the mosaic shows that Justinian and his entourage are inside the church. The figures are placed in a V shape; Justinian is placed in the front and in the middle to show his importance with Bishop Maximian on his left and lesser individuals being placed behind them. This placement can be seen through the overlapping feet of the individuals present in the mosaic.^[7]

Another panel shows Empress Theodora solemn and formal, with golden halo, crown and jewels, and a train of court ladies. She is almost depicted as a goddess. As opposed to the V formation of the figures in the Justinian mosaic, the mosaic with Empress Theodora shows the figures moving from left to right into the church. Theodora is seen holding the wine.

See also

External video

Byzantine Art: San Vitale, Ravenna, Smarthistory[8]

• A La Ronde, an 18th-century house in Devon, England, that is supposedly based on the Basilica.
• List of Roman domes
• History of Roman and Byzantine domes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Vitale

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

 

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Saracen arches and Byzantine mosaics complement each other within the Palatine Chapel

The Palatine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Palatina), is the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily situated on the first floor at the center of the Palazzo Reale in Palermo, southern Italy.

Also referred to as a Palace church or Palace chapel,^[1] it was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132 to be built upon an older chapel (now the crypt) constructed around 1080. It took eight years to build, receiving a royal charter the same year, with the mosaics being only partially finished by 1143.^[1] The sanctuary, dedicated to Saint Peter, is reminiscent of a domed basilica. It has three apses, as is usual in Byzantine architecture, with six pointed arches (three on each side of the central nave) resting on recycled classical columns.

Mosaics

mosaic in the Palatine Chapel

The mosaics of the Palatine Chapel are of unparalleled elegance as concerns elongated proportions and streaming draperies of figures. They are also noted for subtle modulations of colour and luminance. The oldest are probably those covering the ceiling, the drum, and the dome. The shimmering mosaics of the transept, presumably dating from the 1140s and attributed to Byzantine artists, with an illustrated scene, along the north wall, of St. John in the desert and a landscape of Agnus Dei.^[2] Below this are five saints, the Greek fathers of the church, St. Gregory of Nissa, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom and St. Nicholas.^[2] The three central figures, St. Gregory, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, allude to the Orthodox cult known as the Three Hierarchs, which originated fifty years earlier.^[2] Every composition is set within an ornamental frame, not dissimilar to that used in contemporaneous mosaic icons.

Giacobbe Giusti, CAPPELLA PALATINA

Roger II of Sicily depicted on the muqarnas ceiling in an Arabic style.

The rest of the mosaics, dated to the 1160s or the 1170s, is executed in a cruder manner and feature Latin (rather than Greek) inscriptions. Probably a work of local craftsmen, these pieces are more narrative and illustrative than transcendental. A few mosaics have a secular character and represent oriental flora and fauna. This may be the only substantial passage of secular Byzantine mosaic extant today.

Chapel

Cappella Palatina in Palermo Sicily

Muqarnas, a common element in Arabic architecture

The chapel combines harmoniously a variety of styles: the Norman architecture and door decor, the Arabic arches and script adorning the roof, the Byzantine dome and mosaics. For instance, clusters of four eight-pointed stars, typical for Muslim design, are arranged on the ceiling so as to form a Christian cross.

Other remarkable features of the chapel include the muqarnas ceiling, which is spectacular. The hundreds of facets were painted, notably with many purely ornamental vegetal and zoomorphic designs but also with scenes of daily life and many subjects that have not yet been explained. Stylistically influenced by Iraqi ‘Abbasid art, these paintings are innovative in their more spatially aware representation of personages and of animals.

The chapel has been considered a union of a Byzantine church sanctuary and a Western basilica nave.^[3] The sanctuary, is of an “Eastern” artistic nature, while the nave reflects “Western” influences.^[3]

Nave

The nave, constructed under Roger II, did not contain any Christian images.^[4] These were added later by Roger II’s successors, William I and William II.^[4] The nave’s ceiling consists of Greek, Latin and inscriptions.^[3]

The frame for the royal throne sets against the west wall of the nave.^[5] There are six steps leading up to where the throne would be, along with two heraldic lions in two roundels upon the spandrels over the throne frame gabel.^[5]

Sanctuary

Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator

As an expression of Norman culture, St. Dionysius and St. Martin are represented in the sanctuary.^[6] Mosaics are of Byzantine culture in their composition and subjects.^[7] The apex of the dome consists of the Pantokrator, with rows of angels, prophets, evangelists and saints.^[7] The Byzantine motif ends abruptly with scenes from Christ’s life along the south wall of the southern transept arm, while the north wall consists of warrior saints.^[7]

Analysis

Slobodan Ćurčić considers the Palatine Cappella a reflection of Middle Byzantine art.^[5] Illustrating architectural and artistic genius to juxtapose Sicily’s “melting pot” culture.^[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappella_Palatina#CITEREF.C4.86ur.C4.8Di.C4.871987

La chiesa ipogea

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Boy with Thorn

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Boy with Thorn

Giacobbe Giusti, Boy with Thorn

Lo Spinario (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini).

Boy with Thorn, also called Fedele (Fedelino) or Spinario, is a Greco-Roman Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a boy withdrawing a thorn from the sole of his foot, now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome. A Roman marble of this subject from the Medici collections is in a corridor of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.^[1]

The sculpture was one of the very few Roman bronzes that was never lost to sight. It was standing outside the Lateran Palace when the Navarrese rabbi Benjamin of Tudela saw it in the 1160s and identified it as Absalom, who “was without blemish from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.”^[2] It was noted in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century by the English visitor, Magister Gregorius, who noted in his De mirabilibus urbis Romae that it was ridiculously thought to be Priapus.^[3] It must have been one of the sculptures transferred to the Palazzo dei Conservatori by Pope Sixtus IV in the 1470s, though it is not recorded there until 1499-1500.^[4] It was celebrated in the Early Renaissance, one of the first Roman sculptures to be copied: there are bronze reductions by Severo da Ravenna and Jacopo Buonaccolsi, called “L’Antico” for his refined classicizing figures: he made a copy for Isabella d’Este about 1501^[5] and followed it with an untraced pendant that perhaps reversed the pose. For a fountain of 1500 in Messina, Antonello Gagini made a full-size variant, probably the bronze that is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Giacobbe Giusti, Boy with Thorn

Roman marble copy, c.25 – 50 CE, of the lost 3rd century BCE Hellenistic original of the type. From the Castellani collection, Rome, said to have been found on the Esquiline. The base of the statue is worked as a rock, with a hole for a fountain pipe. (British Museum)^[6]

In the sixteenth century, bronze copies made suitably magnificent ambassadorial gifts to the King of France and the King of Spain. For Francis I of France, the gift came from Ippolito II d’Este;^[7] his copy was overseen by Giovanni Fancelli and Jacopo Sansovino, and the transaction effected by the courtly Benvenuto Cellini. For Philip II of Spain, the copy was the gift of Cardinal Giovanni Ricci. In the following century Charles I of England had a bronze Spinario by Hubert Le Sueur (Haskell and Penny 1981: 308).

Small bronze reductions were suitable for the less grand. A Still Life with ‘Spinario’ by Pieter Claesz, 1628, is conserved at the Rijksmuseum; among the riches emblemmatic of the good life, it displays a small plaster model of the Spinario.^[8]

There were also marble copies. The Medici Roman marble seems to have been among the collection of antiquities assembled in the gardens at San Marco, Florence, which were the resort of the humanists in the circle of Lorenzo il Magnifico, who opened his collection to young artists to study from. The young Michelangelo profited from this early exposure to antique sculpture, and it has been discussed whether Masaccio was influenced by the Medici Spinario or by the bronze he saw in Rome in the 1420s,^[9] but Filippo Brunelleschi more certainly adapted the Spinario’s pose for the left-hand attendant in the bronze competition panel, The Sacrifice of Isaac 1401, his trial piece for the doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni.^[10]

The formerly popular title Il Fedele (“The faithful boy”) derived from an anecdote invented to give this intimate and naturalistic study a more heroic civic setting: the faithful messenger, a mere shepherd boy, had delivered his message to the Roman Senate first, only then stopping to remove a painful thorn from his foot: the Roman Senate commemorated the event. Such a story was already deflated in Paolo Alessandro Maffei’s Raccolta di statue antiche e moderni… of 1704^[11]

Taking into account Hellenistic marble variants that have been discovered, of which the best is the Thorn-Puller from the Castellani collection now in the British Museum,^[12] none of which have the archaizing qualities of the bronze Spinario, recent scholarship has tended to credit this as a Roman bronze of the first century CE, with a head adapted from an archaic prototype.^[13]

 

http://www.italianways.com/lo-spinario-ragazzo-con-mistero/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_with_Thorn

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Head of a statue of emperor Augustus

Giacobbe Giusti, Head of a statue of emperor Augustus

The bronze head of Augustus from Meroë on display in the British Museum
Material	Bronze
Size	46.2 cm high
Created	27-25 BC
Present location	British Museum, London
Identification	1911,0901.1

The Meroë Head, or Head of Augustus from Meroë is a larger-than-life-size bronze head that was found in the ancient Nubian site of Meroë in Sudan. Long admired for its striking appearance and perfect proportions, it is now part of the British Museum‘s collection.^[1][2]

Discovery

The head was excavated by the British archaeologistJohn Garstang in December 1910 at Meroë, which had been the capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries. The sculpture was found buried beneath a monumental stairway that lead to an altar of victory. This intended insult of burying the statue resulted in the head being well presented^[3] after being buried for over 1900 years. The bust was donated to the British Museum by the Sudan Excavation Committee with the support of the National Art Collections Fund in 1911.^[4]

Kushite raids

The head had clearly been hacked off a large statue made in honour of the Roman Emperor Augustus. The Greek historian Strabo mentions in his chronicles that numerous towns in Lower Egypt were adorned with statues of Augustus before an invading Kushite army looted many of them in 25 BC. Although the Roman military successfully invaded Kushite territory and reclaimed many statues, they were unable to reach as far south as the Kushite capital itself. The placing of the Emperor’s head below the shrine’s steps was designed to symbolically denigrate the reputation of Augustus in the eyes of the Meroitic aristocracy.^[5]

Description

The Meroë Head is larger than life-size and mimics Greek art by portraying Augustus with classical proportions; it was clearly designed to idealise and flatter the Emperor. Made of bronze, the eyes are inset with glass pupils and calcite irises. It is the preservation of the eyes (which are frequently lost in ancient bronze statues) which makes this statue so startlingly realistic. The emperor’s head turns to his right and gazes powerfully into the distance. His hair falls onto his brow in waves that are typical of Augustus’s portraits.^[5] The British Museum has several other notable bronze heads of Roman Emperors including an image of Claudius. The heads are thought to have been made locally but based on moulds created in Rome.^[5]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mero%C3%AB_Head

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Oxus Treasure

One of a pair of armlets from the Oxus Treasure, which has lost its inlays of precious stones or enamel

Giacobbe Giusti, Oxus Treasure

Oxus chariot model, from the region of Takht-i Kuwad, Tadjikistan, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC. British Museum

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Oxus Treasure

Gold statuettes carrying barsoms, with a rider behind

Giacobbe Giusti, Oxus Treasure

The statuette of the naked Youth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxus_Treasure

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Roman gladiator helmet

Roman gladiator helmet from Pompeii, Italy, 1st century AD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Department_of_Greece_and_Rome

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, RUBENS: The Battle of Anghiari

The Battle of Anghiari (1505) is a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci, at times referred to as “The Lost Leonardo”, which some commentators believe to be still hidden beneath one of the later frescoes in the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Its central scene depicted four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard, at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440.

Many preparatory studies by Leonardo still exist. The composition of the central section is best known through a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens in the Louvre, Paris. This work, dating from 1603 and known as The Battle of the Standard, was based on an engraving of 1553 by Lorenzo Zacchia, which was taken from the painting itself or possibly derived from a cartoon by Leonardo. Rubens succeeded in portraying the fury, the intense emotions and the sense of power that were presumably present in the original painting. Similarities have been noted between this Battle of Anghiari and the Hippopotamus Hunt painted by Rubens in 1616.

In March 2012, it was announced that a team led by Maurizio Seracini has found evidence that the painting still exists on a hidden inner wall behind a cavity, underneath a section of Vasari‘s fresco in the chamber.^[1] The search was discontinued in September 2012, without any further progress having been made, due to conflict among the involved parties.^[2]

 

Giacobbe Giusti,  The Battle of Anghiari History

Study of Two Warriors’ Heads for The Battle of Anghiari (c. 1504–5). Black chalk or charcoal, some traces of red chalk on paper, 19.1 × 18.8 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Giacobbe Giusti,  The Battle of Anghiari: A copy possibly made from the original incomplete work

In 1504 Leonardo da Vinci was given the commission by gonfaloniere Piero Soderini, a contract signed by Niccolò Machiavelli, to decorate the Hall of Five Hundred. At the same time his rival Michelangelo, who had just finished his David, was designated the opposite wall. This was the only time that Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo worked together on the same project. The painting of Michelangelo depicted an episode from the Battle of Cascina, when a group of bathing soldiers was surprised by the enemy. However Michelangelo did not stay in Florence long enough to complete the project. He was able to finish his cartoon, but only began the painting. He was invited back to Rome in 1505 by the newly appointed Pope Julius II and was commissioned to build the Pope’s tomb.

Leonardo da Vinci drew his large cartoon in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, on the east wall, depicting a scene from the life of Niccolò Piccinino, a condottiere in the service of duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan. He drew a scene of a violent clash of horses and a furious battle of men fighting for the flag in the Battle of Anghiari. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects praised the magistral way Leonardo had put this scene on paper:

It would be impossible to express the inventiveness of Leonardo’s design for the soldiers’ uniforms, which he sketched in all their variety, or the crests of the helmets and other ornaments, not to mention the incredible skill he demonstrated in the shape and features of the horses, which Leonardo, better than any other master, created with their boldness, muscles and graceful beauty.

Giacobbe Giusti,  The Battle of Anghiari: Study of a Warrior’s Head for the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo Da VINCI

Red chalk on very pale pink prepared paper, 22.6 × 18.6 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Leonardo built an ingenious scaffold in the Hall of Five Hundred that could be raised or folded in the manner of an accordion. This painting was to be his largest and most substantial work. Since he had a bad experience with fresco painting (The Last Supper; refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan), he wanted to apply oil colours on the wall. He began also to experiment with such a thick undercoat (possibly mingled with wax), that after he applied the colours, the paint began to drip. Trying to dry the painting in a hurry and save whatever he could, he hung large charcoal braziers close to the painting. Only the lower part could be saved in an intact state, the upper part couldn’t dry fast enough and the colours intermingled. Leonardo then abandoned the project.^{[citation needed]}

Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s unfinished paintings adorned the same room together for almost a decade (1505–1512). The cartoon of Michelangelo’s painting was cut in pieces by Bartolommeo Bandinelli out of jealousy in 1512. The centerpiece of The Battle of Anghiari was greatly admired and numerous copies were made for decades.^{[citation needed]}

Reconstruction of room

During the mid-16th century (1555–1572), the hall was enlarged and restructured by Vasari and his helpers, on the instructions of Grand Duke Cosimo I; in order that the Duke could hold court in this important chamber of the palace. In the course of the renovations, the remnants of famous (but unfinished) artworks from the previous plan of decoration for the hall, were lost; including The Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo and The Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci.

Vasari himself painted new frescoes on the now-extended walls.On the walls are large and expansive frescoes that depict battles and military victories by Florence over Pisa and Siena :

• The Taking of Siena
• The Conquest of Porto Ercole
• The Victory of Cosimo I at Marciano in Val di Chiana
• Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of San Vincenzo
• Maximillian of Austria Attempts the Conquest of Leghorn
• Pisa Attacked by the Florentine Troops

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Anghiari_(painting)

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Italy, Sicily, Palermo, Capella Palatina

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Absidi, crociera, cupola e transetto.

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Dettaglio absidiola sinistra

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

 

Absidiola di San Pietro

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Berthold Werner – Opera propria…

Italy, Sicily, Palermo, Capella Palatina

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Cristo Pantocratore

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Roger II, mosaïque de l’Église de la Martorana de Palerme

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Mosaïque de la Nativité.

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Le plafond de la nef.

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Arcos sarracenoss e mosaicos bizantinos se complementam na Capella Palatina.

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Mosaico de aparejo tessellatum

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

CAPILLA PALATINA DE PALERMO. MOSAICOS BIZANTINOS

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Вход Господень в Иерусалим (южный трансепт)

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Жертвоприношение Авраама

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Строительство Вавилонской башни

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Грех Хама

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Исаак благословляет Иакова

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Ной выпускает голубя из ковчега

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Лестница Иакова

Giacobbe Giusti, Cappella Palatina

Южная апсида с мозаикой Рождества Христова

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B0

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com