Nadja Hunter on Prague and Rudolph II; Melissa Romero on Fontainebleau and Francis I

Reading:

Murray, pp. 226-238

For an exploration of the form and ideas of the kunstkammer (or "art and curiosities cabinet") look at the exhibition put on by UCSB http://microcosms.ihc.ucsb.edu/gallery/g01.html , which provides both a virtual walk-through of an exhibition of a sixteenth-century-type curiosity cabinet, and a version constructed from modern materials. Also look at the short essays on curiosity cabinets that accompanied that exhibition http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/microcosms/essays/002.html (with graphic links to further essays on classification, microcosm, etc. at the bottom of the page).

Images: set number rt223-12 Image Database
N.B. not all images are in the database

Spranger. Salmacis and Hermaphroditus. c.1585
Arcimboldo. Allegory of Summer. 1563
Palace at Fontainebleau, outside Paris (royal hutning lodge and retreat) Interior decoration (stucco, sculptures, and paintings, by Rosso and Primaticcio, with assistants) 1530-52
Rosso. Gallery of Francis I. (see Melissa's diagram)

Summary: Melissa gave us a history of the palace of Fontainebleau, the longstanding hunting retreat of the French kings. She also gave us a history of Francis I and his personality, as well as his wars, his capture in Italy and experience of Italian art, and his goals for art. She pointed out that the capture after the Battle of Pavia was central to the formation of Francis's taste, and explains much of his interest in importing Italian art and artists. Not only Leonardo but Rosso and Primaticcio worked for the King, whose primary project was the redecorating of the Fontainebleau palace. Melissa talked about teh gallery of Francis I and the way in which images were displayed there: she mentioned not only the stucco sculptural framework but the pairing of images in the space. Think about what the message of the scenes was, and for whom they might have been intended besides the king himself.

Nadja spoke about Rudolph II, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor, and member of the influential Hapsburg family. She gave us background about Rudolph, his interest in Italian art, and the formation of his kunstkammer. She spoke about the function of the kunstkammer as a literal categorization of knowledge about the world, encapsulated in the objects within it; the kunstkammer appears to illustrate Rudolph's humanist learning and interests. She showed works by some of his court artists, Spranger and Arcimboldo, to illustrate how the drive to collect encompassed aesthetics as well as objects. And she finished by comparing Rudolph's collections and method to that of Cosimo I Medici, especially seen at the Uffizi gallery - refer back to Hilary's presentation on the Medici uses of art for political purposes, which provides a useful counterpoint to Nadja's conclusion about Rudolph.

Terms:

kunstkammer (curiosity cabinet; cabinet of treasures)

Patrons:

Rudolph II (1552-1612, Holy Roman Emperor 1576-1612)
Francis I of France (1494-1547, r. 1515-47)

Artists:

Bartholomew Spranger (1546-1611)
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593)