CLASS MEETS AT 9:30AM TODAY

Emily Burgard on Mantua and the Gozaga; Hilary Watt on Florence and the Medici Dukes

Reading:

Review sections in P+R on Florence, pp. 429-439; read pp. 291-298, 391-407 on Mantua and other courts

Come to class prepared to talk about these courts with the student presenters; bring questions if you have them.

Images: set number rt223-9 Image Database

Mantegna. Camera Picta (degli Sposi), Mantua. 1465-74.
Mantegna. Pallas (Minerva) expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, Isabella d'Este's studiolo (Study) Mantua. 1499-1502
Mantegna. Parnassus, or Mars and Venus, Isabella d'Este's studiolo (Study) Mantua. 1499-1502.
Perugino. Combat between Love and Chastity, Isabella d'Este's studiolo (Study) Mantua. 1499-1502
Lorenzo de Costa. Allegory of the Court of Isabella, Isabella d'Este's studiolo (Study) Mantua. 1499-1502
Giulio Romano. Fall of the Giants, room in the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, c. 1530
Bronzino. Frescos in Eleanora of Toledo's chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio (town hall), with Crossing the Red Sea. c. 1540
Bronzino. Frescos in Eleanora of Toledo's chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio (town hall), with Brazen Serpent. c. 1540
Bronzino. Frescos in Eleanora of Toledo's chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio (town hall), with the Lamentation altar. c. 1540
Bronzino. Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. 1569 (for the church of San Lorenzo)
Vasari. Uffizi. 1559-70
Bronzino. Portrait of Eleanora of Toledo. 1545-6

Summary: Emily spoke about Isabella d'Este's patronage, and showed us the works from her studiolo (study), which were commissioned and directed by Isabella. She set Isabella's patronage within the context of Gonzaga commissions in Mantua, such as the famous Camera Picta and the Caesar series, already there, and the later Fall of the Giants by Romano. She highlighted the differences in these types of commissions and set out some further questions to be asked about the nature and purpose of Isabella's patronage. Also think about the section from Isabella's commissioning letter in P+R, p. 296.

Hilary talked about Eleanora of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I, duke of Florence. She gave us good political background which illuminates teh reasons behind much of Cosimo's patronage. She showed us the chapel built and decorated by Eleanora in the Palazzo Vecchio (former town hall) of Florence. She talked about Bronzino's style, the subjects chosen, and the establishing of Eleanora's taste as opposed to Cosimo's.

Terms:

studiolo
di sotto in su ("seen from below": technique of foreshortening used for illusionistic ceiling paintings)

Patrons:

Ludovico d'Este
Isabella d'Este
Frederigo d'Este
Eleanora of Toledo (Medici)
Cosimo I, Duke of Florence

Artists:

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)
Pietro Perugino (1445-1523)
Lorenzo de Costa (1560-1535)
Giulio Romano (1499-1546)
Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572)
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)