{"title":"'Placardes and Billis and Ticquettis of Defamatioun': Queen Mary, the Mermaid and the Hare","authors":"M. Bath, Malcolm Jones","doi":"10.1086/jwci26321955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/jwci26321955","url":null,"abstract":"Placards circulating in Edinburgh following the murder of Henry Darnley in 1567, depicting Quuen Mary as a seductive mermaid and Darnley as a timid but lecherous here, are shown to copy details from two emblems in Claude Pardin's \"Devises heroiques\". Once stripped of their Latin mottoes, these emblems are not easy to make sense of, and the two variant copies of the placards which are preserved in the English National Archives at Kew raise issues of meaning, from and function surrounding such public documents, which are explored in this article. The historical circumstances of their display in Scotland are examined, together with documents identifying James Murray as their 'deviser'. This leads to a wider discussion of the place of emblems in Scottish culture at this period in relation to other forms of political and judicial publication, variously known as 'placards', 'bills', 'libels', German 'Schandbilder' and Scots 'baffles', these being genres which have not hitherto been identified as strongly emblematic or indebted to printed emblem books. The scholarly and often erudite basis of emblems is always likely to have problematised their use in such popular, public displays, and the iconography of the 'Mermaid and Hare' must not only have challenged early viewers unfamiliar with the emblems on which it was based, but remains unclear in a few of its details even now when its sources in Paradin have been identified. Its political effectiveness in its own day is not, however, in doubt.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"223 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ronsard and the Visual Arts: A Study of Poetic Creativity","authors":"M. McGowan","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321953","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321953","url":null,"abstract":"This study seeks to show how Ronsard expanded his poetic techniques through his knowledge of and collaboration with artists working at the French Court, and through an awareness of how their power of display could be transferred and -in consequence- extend his own creative capacity. His attempts to emulate and surpass the work of Francesco Primaticcio and Nicolo dell'Abate are explored through specific examples: the grotto at Meudon, Ronsard's lyre and the theme. Apollo and the Muses. From these comparisions, Ronsard's conviction that poetry is superior to painting in its ability to capture and transmit forms as they change is abundantly clear. The poet's collaboration with artists for royal spectacles show the continuity of his preoccupation with reproducing in verse the modes and achivements of artists. That concern is demonstrated in the overall coherence of his lifelong exploitation of visualising hidden thoughts and complex feeling -a feat both acknowledged and admired by his contemporaries.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"173 - 205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60149891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Decoding Da Vinci's Impresa: Leonardo's Gift to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and Mario Equicola's De opportunitate (1507)","authors":"B. Schirg","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321951","url":null,"abstract":"In the course of the fifteenth century, the pictorial devices now known as imprese developed into a significant means of self-representation and self-definition within the social networks of the Italian Renaissance.1 The intricate text-image relationships of imprese made them an important subject for contemporary artists and letterati, while a growing fascination for the genre as a condensed means of self-representation made their invention and interpretation a common sport at the Italian courts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.2 Translating constituent facets of a personality into the symbolical language of imprese, as well as decoding such allusive devices, depended on considerable knowledge of an imprescCs bearer. These techniques opened up ways for courtiers to exhibit their intellectual abilities and establish recognition for themselves in the inner circles of a future patron.3 The present article examines the role the interpretation and invention of imprese could play as a means of cultivating social relationships, through reference to a text which has received only passing attention from researchers hitherto: Mario Equicola's De opportunitate (1507).4This Latin dialogue is dedicated to an impresa","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"135 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scaliger and the Dutch Expansion in Asia: An Arabic Translation for an Early Voyage to the East Indies (1600)","authors":"A. Vrolijk","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321957","url":null,"abstract":"On 28 June 1600 Admiral Jacob van Neck embarked on an expedition to the East Indies, the fourth of its kind ever to have been undertaken by the Dutch. In his luggage he carried a circular letter or 'patent' from Prince Maurice of Orange-Nassau addressed the local rulers, requesting their protection and permission to trade. The letter had been translated into Arabic by the French humanist Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), who was then in the employment of the University of Leiden. This contribution follows the letter on its voyage to the Indies and back, and attempts to answer various questions. Was Arabic the best choice of language in a Southeast Asian context? What was the reaction of the recipients, assuming they understood it at all? Was the letter helpful in establishing trade relations between the Dutch Republic and Southeast Asian countries? Scaliger occasionally made translations of Arabic documents at request of Prince Maurice or the States General of the Dutch Republic; but this 'patent' is the only extant example of a translation into Arabic and, as such, the only proof of Scalinger's active command of Arabic. Since Scaliger dedicated much time and effort to learning Arabic, especially during the last years of his life, and was regarded as one of the finest linguistics of his day, the Arabic letter provides evidence of the level of proficency which could be attained by humanists at the turn of the seventeenth century.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"277 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Goldon Age Returns: Virgil's Fourth Eclogue in the Political Panegyric of the Italian Courts","authors":"L. Houghton","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321949","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321949","url":null,"abstract":"E.H. Gombrich and others have analysed the uses made of language and imagery from Virgil's famous fourth Eclogue in panegyrical writing by partisans of the Medici dynasty in Florence. This study examines the appropriation of the theme of the returning Golden Age and related motifs from the fourth Eclogue in other Italian courts during the same period, by supporters of the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Gonzaga of Mantua, Leonello d'Este and his successors in Ferrara, and the Bentivoglio of Bologna, among others. The deployment of this Virgilian material in political panegyric is seen to be a central element in the self-definition and self-promotion of dynastic rulers throughout the peninsula.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"71 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60149340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cosimo Rosselli's Birmingham Altarpiece, the Vallombrosan Abbey of S. Trinita in Florence and its Gianfigliazzi Chapel","authors":"George T. Noszlopy, S. May","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321950","url":null,"abstract":"The subject of the present study is Cosimo Rosselli's The Adoration of the Child Jesus (c. 1485), today in the collection of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. It takes as its starting point two factors noted from the Barber Institute guide - the ‘complex subject matter’ and the painting’s unknown original location. The paper thus falls into two sections. Part 1 consists of a fresh iconographical analysis of the altarpiece grounded in accepted historical and contextual scholarship. This section underscores Rosselli’s indebtedness to his contemporaries, showing however that he was immediately responsive to the latest conceptual innovations taking place around him and that he was himself capable of a degree of novelty. Part 2 addresses the question of the site for which Rosselli’s altarpiece may have been made. As is the case with the overwhelming majority of extant works of art, an extensive search notwithstanding, no contractual document or early description of the altarpiece in situ has so far come to light. A detailed hypothesis is, nonetheless, put forward, which proposes the identity of the patronal family and the chapel for which the painting may have been commissioned. Thorough research into family history, topographical information and circumstantial particulars renders the hypothesis entirely plausible. It should be reiterated that no documentary evidence directly supporting the patron and position put forward here has been uncovered to date. By the same token, nothing has so far been found that negates the possibility. The findings of this research are therefore set before the scholarly community for their value, and/or potential, as contributions to knowledge about the iconography, date and context of the altarpiece. The paper shows, in short, that Cosimo Rosselli’s Adoration of the Child Jesus is to be understood as a contemplation on the mystery of the incarnation and that it was probably painted in, or very shortly after, 1485. It makes a case for the altarpiece having been commissioned by the Gianfigliazzi clan of Florence for its family chapel in the abbey church of Santa Trinita.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"97 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60149884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"André Thevet, Pierre Belon and Americana in the Embroideries of Mary Queen of Scots","authors":"P. Mason","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321954","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this article is twofold: iconographic is used to demostrate the importance of the French connection (particularly Andre Thevet and Pierre Belon) for the sources of the American birds and animals in Mary Stuart's embroideries; and prosopographic evidence suggests that she and Thevet belonged to the same circle and may even have met at court during her youth in France.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"207 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Triplex Periculum: The Moral Topography of Giotto's Hell in the Arena Chapel, Padua","authors":"Anne Derbès, Mark Sandona","doi":"10.1086/JWCI26321948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/JWCI26321948","url":null,"abstract":"Giotto's depiction of hell in the Arena Chapel in Padua is carefully integrated into the system of the fresco program. This essay considers Giotto's arrangement of hell as a purposeful rendering of medieval triads related to the dangers of sin -including the well-known triad often referred to as the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Like Dante's organisation, the arragement of the Arena Chapel hell seems to make distinctions among three types of sin. The tripartite division is most obvious in the top of the composition: as sinners plummet into hell, fiery rivers divide them into thirds. The rivers establish regions of hell that continue, consistently but less obviously, below, where sweeping arcs of kindred sinners cluster together. To the left are the avaricous; the region to the far right belongs to the lustful; located between the avaricious and the lustful are the proud, wrathful, or envious. We propose that the three regions relate to medieval understandings of the triadic perils that lead to sin, based on the first epistle of John (2.16), which admonishes Christians to avoid the 'concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life'. From the early Church Fathers to the age of Thomas Aquina, theologians and homilists used this text to explain the triadic threat that leads to sin. In the minds of many of these commentators, a triple resistance, sometimes embodied in the Virgin Mary, was suggested in the triad of chastity, poverty, and humility. We conclude with a speculative reading of the donation scene of the chapel's Last Judgement. There a heavenly triad (Mary, John the Evangelist and Catherine of Alexandria) receive a model of the chapel from the repentant Enrico Scrovegni.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"41 - 70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60149732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Back Matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1086/jwci26321961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/jwci26321961","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"John Dee's 'Brytish Impire': 'A Laborious Treatise' on Ophir of 1577","authors":"Graham Yewbrey","doi":"10.1086/jwci26321956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/jwci26321956","url":null,"abstract":"This paper seeks to establish the importance of the Pacific for John Dee's imperial plan, which he regarded in 1577 -when he was aged fifty- as the culmination of his life's work to date. It reconstructs Dee's lost treatise on Ophir, the legendary source of Solomon's riches, and reassesses the geographical extent of the empire he proposed. For Dee, the Pacific was a source of wealth on which to found his programme, intended to establish British global dominance. He argued strongly for contact between Britain and the Far East, making a case for access to the Pacific by way of the North-East Passage, particularly in \"Famous and Rich Discoueries\", the fourth volume of his tetralogy, the \"General and Rare Memorials\". The Ophir text, which comprised the opening section of \"Famous and Rich Discoueries\", became datached from the main manuscript and was subsequently lost, but not before Samuel Purchas had incorporated its contents in his description of Ophirian voyages in \"Purchas his Pilgrimes\", a collection of accounts of travel and exploration, on which the present reconstruction draws. Dee's imperialist design is placed in the context of his astrological, angelological and providential views of universal history, his study of which had led him to conclude that cosmic forces had created an opportunity between 1576 and 1583 which, if seized, would enable Britain to replace the existing Spanish hegemony. The scale of his ambitions and his objetives have sometimes been misconstrued and underestimated. Furthermore, Dee's researches into natural philosophy connect with his promotion of commerce and empire, thereby demonstrating the interrelatedness of many of his activities and the reconciliation he was able to achieve between disparate occult and mundane interests. The imperialist design highlights the way in which he sought to convert abstruse ideas into practical courses of action.","PeriodicalId":45703,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES","volume":"78 1","pages":"247 - 276"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60150369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}