A contribution by Marie Tanner Titian’s mythological paintings for King Philip II of Spain, known collectively as the Poesie, have long been appreciated by scholars for their ravishing beauty due in equal measure to Titian’s mastery as a painter and to their seductive themes drawn from classical mythology. Three international exhibitions devoted to the Poesie…
Guido Rebecchini on “The Rome of Paul III (1534-1549). Art, Ritual and Urban Renewal”
A contribution by Guido Rebecchini The Courtauld Institute of Art The subject of this book began to materialize as soon as I moved away from the streets and squares of Rome where I had grown up, first to Florence, then Los Angeles, Mantua and, finally, to London. Each of these cities, large and small, underscored…
Ann Bermingham on “Meltdown! Picturing the World’s First Bubble Economy”
A contribution by Ann Bermingham University of California, Santa Barbara Three hundred years ago, the collapse of two joint stock corporations that capitalized on the anticipated expansion of maritime trade in the new world precipitated the first modern bubble and financial meltdown. The caustic satirical prints generated by this catastrophe immortalize a fascinating story of…
Tim Shephard on “Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy, 1420–1540”
A contribution by Tim Shephard University of Sheffield Sister Arts? Leonardo famously claimed that “Music is to be called none other than the sister of painting.” His assertion fits well with the Renaissance epistemology of the arts, personified as women and placed into sibling relationships as Liberal Arts or Muses. In such a system, the…
Herbert L. Kessler on “Treasure, Memory, Nature: Church Objects in the Middle Ages” by Philippe Cordez
A Contribution by Herbert L. Kessler Professor Emeritus, History of Art, Johns Hopkins University Why were crocodiles suspended from medieval church vaults? What do diverse versions of the legends of Christ’s foreskin reveal about twelfth-century eucharistic debates? Does a common thread tie together the many instances of donations of chess pieces to…
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Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XIII.2 Subjects from History: The Decius Mus Series By Reinhold Baumstark and Guy Delmarcel Rubens’s Decius Mus Cycle is in many ways a first. It provides the earliest example of work for the medium of tapestry, and so illustrates the artist’s approach to the challenges presented by a narrative sequence…