The novel Hypatia:Or New Foes With an Old Face by Charles Kingsley,published in 1853,provided valuable insight into Hypatia’s achievements and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her untimely demise.Kingsley’s...
This essay discusses the manifold depictions of Saint Michael The Archangel in Italian Renaissance art,in particular in Giorgio Vasari’s imagery.It starts with a brief explanation of who Michael The Archangel is,expl...
In previous studies on the iconographical symbolism revealed in Giorgio Vasari’s fresco decoration for the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore(also known as the Dome of Florence,1572-1574),I discussed three points:(1)the...
In the later Neoplatonism,natural science is fundamentally a theology,its origin and rationality of the basis,direction and final destination are gods.This concept represents the philosophical reflection of science by...
Botticelli’s Minerva and the Centaur of 1482-1483,along with his other mythological paintings,the Primavera,the Birth of Venus,and Mars and Venus,remains an iconographical mystery.As such,it is particularly interesti...
In 1555,assisted by Cristofano Gherardi,Il Doceno(1508-1556),Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574)designed and painted a mythological and cosmological theme in the Sala degli Elementi,an apartment of Cosimo I de’Medici(1519-1574...
This study elaborates on the decoration of the ceiling in the refectory of the former Monteoliveto monastery in Naples,today part of the church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi.It consists of three parts:an explanation of t...
I want to express my gratitude to the auction houses,libraries,museums,photographic collections(Wikipedia,Wiki Commons Images),and private collections here cited for their assistance in granting me permission to photograph or reproduce the images in this essay.
The Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones(1833-1898)conceived the subject of The Mirror of Venus between 1865 and 1867.He painted two versions:a small version in gouache and oil and a larger version in oil on canv...
Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (1477-1549), also known as I1 Sodoma, was a Milanese painter who developed his mature style in Siena during the early Cinquecento. Between 1505 and 1510, under the tutelage of the Chigi and Pe...
Giorgio Vasari’s conception of artistic creativity is related to his theory of painting. He proposes two alternatives in a painter’s development or achievement of artistic creativity: imitation (imitazione) and inve...