L’ORME, PHILIBERT DE (c. 1510–1570). French architect responsible for proliferating the Italian architectural vocabulary in France. Trained by his father in Lyon, L’Orme went to Italy in 1533 to study Italian architecture firsthand. Upon his return to France, he was appointed official architect to King Francis I, and when Francis died, L’Orme continued his official charge under Henry II. Much of his work is no longer extant. His masterpiece is the Château d’Anet (beg. 1550) in Paris, a commission he received from Henry’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Only the building’s frontispiece, entrance gate, and parts of the chapel have survived and are now incorporated into the grounds of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The frontispiece shows a melding of Italian and Gothic elements with the classical orders applied utilizing the Colosseum principle, but superimposed with a triangular form that is too pitched to be qualified as a pediment. The applied ornamentation on the various surfaces is typically Northern. L’Orme was also an author. He published the Nouvelles inventions pour bien bastir et à petits frais in 1561, in essence a building manual, and Le premier tome de l’architecture in 1567, a theoretical architectural treatise.
LA TOUR, GEORGE DE (1593–1652). French Caravaggist painter from Vic-sur-Seille, but active in Lunéville in the Lorraine region. Little is known about the details of La Tour’s life or how he became acquainted with the Caravaggist style. The available documentation on him reveals that in 1623–1624 he received two commissions from the Duke of Lorraine and that in 1639 he was painter to King Louis XIII, who is known to have owned a St. Sebastian by La Tour. A gap in the documentation from 1610–1611 and 1639–1642 has led some scholars to suggest that La Tour may have traveled on those occasions to Italy, where he would have seen Caravaggio’s works, or perhaps to the Netherlands, where he would have become acquainted with the Italian master’s style through the works of the Utrecht Caravaggists. His Fortune Teller (1636–1639; New York, Metropolitan Museum) is, in fact, more closely related to the art of the Dutch masters. It shows five half-length figures in elaborate costumes set against a dark background. The story is told through glances and gestures, the colors as brilliant as those utilized by the Utrecht Caravaggists. La Tour’s Christ and St. Joseph (1645; Paris, Louvre), where the Savior holds a candle so the saint may engage in carpentry, relates to Gerrit van Honthorst’s nocturnal scenes. The candle gave La Tour the opportunity to study the flickering effects of the flame on the various surfaces. The tools used by Joseph prefigure the instruments of the Passion and the wood refers to the cross on which Christ was crucified.
La Tour was living at a time when the Franciscans were experiencing a religious revival in the Lorraine region and their influence is clearly felt in the religious works created by the artist as they evoke piety from viewers and contemplation advocated by the members of the order. La Tour’s Nativity (1650; Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts), exemplifies this. It again presents a nocturnal scene, yet the figures have become simplified and geometric while retaining their visual impact. The Virgin, with St. Anne at her side, holds a tightly swaddled Christ Child, a reference to the future covering of his dead body with the holy shroud. The painting stresses the humble life of Christ and his family, a reflection of Franciscan humility and vow of poverty. La Tour had more in common with Caravaggio than just his style. Like the Italian master, he was an arrogant and violent individual, as attested by the several court cases in which he was embroiled—a huge contrast to his humble, serene, pious scenes.
LAMENTATION. After the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea received permission from Pontius Pilate to retrieve and bury Christ’s body. The Lamentation refers to the moment when, after having been lowered from the cross, Christ is mourned by those present. The Lamentation is one of the most popular episodes in religious art as it presents one of the central moments in the story of salvation. Examples in Italy include Giotto’s version in the Arena Chapel in Padua (1305), Andrea Mantegna’s foreshortened rendition in the Milan Brera (c. 1490), Sandro Botticelli’s versions in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan and the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (both 1490s), and Andrea del Sarto’s Lamentation in the Florence Palazzo Pitti (1524). Northern examples include the version by Petrus Christus in the Brussels Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts (c. 1448) and Albrecht Dürer’s in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (1500–1503).
LANFRANCO, GIOVANNI (1582–1647). Lanfranco studied with Agostino Carracci in his native city of Parma and, when his teacher died in 1602, he moved to Rome. There he worked as one of Annibale Carracci’s assistants on the Farnese ceiling commission (c. 1597–1600). From 1610 until 1612, Lanfranco was in Piacenza and, upon his return to Rome, his career suddenly soared. He received work from Pope Paul V in the Sala Reggia of the Palazzo Quirinale where his Presentation in the Temple stands out (c. 1616). The work owes a debt to Carracci in the lucid spatial construction, solidity of the figures, and appealing pastel tones. His Madonna and Child with Sts. Charles Borromeo and Bartholomew, painted for the Church of San Lorenzo in Piacenza (c. 1616), features a Carraccesque hourglass composition and St. Charles’ gesture faithfully copies that of St. Dominic in Ludovico Carracci’s Bargellini Madonna (1588; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale). Lanfranco’s Ecstasy of St. Margaret of Cortona (1622; Florence, Palazzo Pitti) he painted as the altarpiece in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova in Cortona for Niccolò Gerolamo Venuti whose coat of arms is included in the lower left. The swooning St. Margaret, who experiences the vision of Christ with wounds hovering above the clouds, became the prototype for Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Theresa in the Cornaro Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome (1645–1652). Lanfranco’s most notable commission is the dome of Sant’ Andrea della Valle, which depicts the Virgin in Glory (1625–1627). The work is based on Correggio’s Assumption of the Virgin in the Cathedral of Parma (1526–1530). A spectacular di sotto in sù image with figures arranged in concentric circles, the fresco grants the illusion of a sudden apparition in the heavens. With this dome, Lanfranco introduced Correggio’s dramatic illusionistic techniques to Rome.
LAST COMMUNION OF ST. JEROME (c. 1592–1593, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale). This is Agostino Carracci’s most celebrated work. Painted upon his return from his first trip to Venice, the work demonstrates the influence of Venetian art, particularly in the use of a classical arch and columns to enframe the event, the landscape in the background, and the treatment of the putti who hover above. As the title indicates, the work shows St. Jerome receiving the Eucharist right before his death. This is a subject that had already been tackled by Sandro Botticelli (c. 1495; New York, Metropolitan Museum) in a painting he created for the Florentine wool merchant Francesco del Pugliese. Agostino’s approach is, however, different from Botticelli’s. The scene, described by St. Eusebius in his writings, is supposed to have taken place in St. Jerome’s humble cell, which is how Botticelli rendered it. Agostino, on the other hand, placed the event in a classical, upscale setting, contrasting the old, emaciated figure of the saint with the men garbed in impeccable ecclesiastic vestments. Agostino’s choices may have had to do with the fact that he was painting at the time of the Counter-Reformation. The Protestants had questioned transubstantiation, the moment when, according to Catholic doctrine, the Eucharist is turned into the actual body and blood of Christ after the priest blesses it. The inclusion of the putti hovering above the scene and the triumphal arch in the background visually indicate divine approval of the doctrine and triumph of the true faith. Agostino’s Last Communion of St. Jerome was highly praised by 17th-century theorists and admired by a number of artists, including Peter Paul Rubens and Domenichino, who painted his own version of the scene (1614; Vatican, Pinacoteca) for the Congregation of San Girolamo (Jerome) della Carità in Rome, prompting accusations of plagiarism against him.
LAST JUDGMENT. The term refers to the Christian tenet that, at the end of time, Christ will return to judge mankind. The blessed will be taken up to heaven and the sinners sent to hell, where they will be punished for eternity. The subject, common in art, lends itself to the depiction of the nude in expressive gestures and poses. It also affords an opportunity for the depiction of the macabre, which was more common in Northern Europe than in the South. The most spectacular Last Judgment is Michelangelo’s on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican (1536–1541). It features a profusion of muscular nudes in complex poses, typical of the master’s style. In the center is Christ, his mother at his side, commanding the blessed to rise up to heaven, while the damned, clearly troubled, are pushed down by demons toward Charon, the character from Dante’s Inferno who will transport them on his boat to the underworld. In Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s version (1430–1435; New York, Metropolitan Museum), the blessed are lined up as they await entry into paradise, while a pile of tortured bodies cast into hell by St. Michael occupy the painting’s lower portion. Hieronymus Bosch’s Last Judgment (1504; Vienna, Akademie der Bildenden Künste) includes the blessed whom Christ presides over in a blue sphere that hovers above a fantastic landscape where the damned are tormented by monstrous demons in strange and inventive ways. See also LAST JUDGMENT, SISTINE CHAPEL, VATICAN.
LAST JUDGMENT, SISTINE CHAPEL, VATICAN (1536–1541). In 1534, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint a fresco on the altar wall in the Sistine Chapel depicting the Resurrection of Christ. But, when Clement died, Paul III, his successor, changed the subject to the Last Judgment. To execute the fresco, Michelangelo had no choice but to destroy the works on the altar wall carried out by Pietro Perugino in the previous century and some of the portraits of the earlier popes, as well as his own lunettes over the windows he included in 1508–1512 when he executed the Sistine ceiling.
The Last Judgment was a common scene, yet it had never been depicted in such a grand manner. Instead of the compartmentalized renditions of earlier centuries, Michelangelo created a unified scene with Christ as judge in the center dramatically commanding the souls to rise from their graves. To his right is the Virgin Mary and surrounding him are the apostles and martyred saints. The blessed are aided by wingless angels on their climb up to heaven, while demons torment the damned and push them into hell. Charon, a character from Dante’s Inferno, navigates the boat that leads the damned through the River Styx and into the underworld. For dramatic effect, Michelangelo changed the figures’ scales. Christ and those around him are almost twice as large as the figures below them and the angels above who hold the instruments of the Passion. Each figure is posed differently, and their nudity reveals Michelangelo’s keen understanding of anatomy. This proved to be a curse. Michelangelo was severely criticized for having included so many bare figures. No sooner had he completed the fresco than his pupil, Danielle Volterra, was instructed to paint draperies in all the right places to cover some of the nudity. Michelangelo documented his frustration over the incident in the fresco. The skin held by St. Bartholomew, martyred by flaying, is a sagging self-portrait that speaks clearly of Michelangelo’s dejection over the controversy.
LAST SUPPER. On the eve of his arrest, Christ took his last meal with his apostles. Since on the occasion he declared that the wine they were consuming represented his blood and the bread his body, the event marks the institution of the Eucharist as a holy sacrament. It was also the moment when Christ announced to his disciples that one of them would betray him. In depictions of the scene, Judas, the one to give up Christ to the Roman authorities, is usually isolated from the rest of the figures. In Andrea del Castagno’s Last Supper in the refectory of Sant’ Apollonia, Florence (1447), Domenico del Ghirlandaio’s in the refectory of the Church of Ognissanti, Florence (1480), and Tintoretto’s at San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (1592–1594), Judas is placed on the opposite side of the table, while in Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (1497–1498) at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan he clutches the money bag containing the 30 pieces of silver he was paid for his betrayal. Dirk Bouts (1464–1467; Louvain, Church of St. Pierre) chose to concentrate on the solemnity of the event rather than Judas’ duplicity. Other Last Suppers include the versions by Pieter Coecke (1531; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and Francisco Ribalta (1606), this last painted for the College of Corpus Christi in Valencia, Spain. See also LAST SUPPER, REFECTORY, SANTA MARIA DELLE GRAZIE, MILAN; LAST SUPPER, SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE, VENICE.
LAST SUPPER, REFECTORY, SANTA MARIA DELLE GRAZIE, MILAN (1497–1498). Painted by Leonardo da Vinci, the scene portrays the moment when Christ declares to his disciples that one of them will betray him. They react by gesticulating and discussing the announcement with each other. Some point to themselves as if to ask “Lord, is it I?” while others raise their hands in astonishment. The only figure who does not react is Judas, placed by Leonardo in the shadows and clutching his money bag. Though Leonardo eliminated the figures’ halos to bring them to the viewer’s realm, he placed a segmented (semicircular) pediment above Christ to isolate him from the rest of the figures. The vanishing point is at Christ’s head to define him as the physical and spiritual center of the work. Leonardo’s interest in numerology and mathematical order is reflected in this painting. The 12 apostles are divided into four groups of three. Also, there are three windows behind the figures and four doorways on the lateral walls. The number three refers to the Holy Trinity and the Theological Virtues. Four are the elements, the seasons, the Gospels, the Cardinal Virtues, and the rivers of paradise. Seven, the sum of these two numbers, refers to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the joys and sorrows of the Virgin. The product of the two when multiplied is 12, the number of apostles, the months of the year, the hours of the day, the hours of the night, and the gates of Jerusalem. With this, Leonardo sought to demonstrate the perfection of the universe and its spiritual and material components, as created by God.
Supposedly, the prior of Santa Maria delle Grazie complained to Ludovico “il Moro” Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was not working fast enough to complete the Last Supper. Leonardo explained to Ludovico that, although he had not been to the monastery in a while, he had been at the Borghetto every day searching for a suitable model for Judas from among the riffraff. He then added that if he could not find an individual whose physiognomy showed the wickedness of the traitor apostle, he would then use the features of the prior who had complained. Though this may be nothing more than an anecdote, Leonardo did plan his work very carefully, as attested by the large number of surviving sketches. In his Trattato della Pittura [Treatise on Painting], Leonardo described the poses and gestures he intended to include in the fresco and then proceeded to identify the models he used for each figure. So, for example, Christ’s head was based on that of a Count Giovanni who lived in the house of the Cardinal of Montaro, and his hand was that of Alessandro Carissimo of Parma.
The fresco, though recently restored, continues to deteriorate. Leonardo, who incessantly engaged in experimentation, used an oil tempera medium applied over dry wall plaster. Almost immediately, the paint began to flake off. The fresco has also suffered several travesties. In 1652, the monks of Santa Maria delle Grazie cut a door through its lower portion. In 1796, Napoleon’s army used the refectory as a stable and his soldiers amused themselves by throwing bricks at Leonardo’s figures. In 1800, a flood in the refectory caused further damage and little effort was made to bail out the water. The work was heavily repainted in both the 18th and 19th centuries. Then, in 1943, the Allies bombed Milan and most of the refectory was destroyed. The fresco survived because it had earlier been braced with steel and sandbags. In spite of these major issues of conservation, Leonardo’s Last Supper remains as one of the great icons of Renaissance art.
LAST SUPPER, SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE, VENICE (1592–1594). One of Tintoretto’s best-known works, the Last Supper belongs to the last stages of his career when he incorporated supernatural elements into his renditions. The dining table in this scene is placed on the left in a diagonal that recedes rapidly into space. There, Christ administers the Eucharist to one of the apostles, while the other men gesticulate as they converse. Judas, at the opposite side of the table, is the only figure without a halo. Above the men are angels painted as spectral beings. They provide a contrast to the mundane servants who clear the dishes, the cat who tries to get at the leftovers, and the dog who chews on a bone. The concurrence of divine and mundane, the dynamism of the scene punctuated by the diagonal positioning of objects and figures, and the commotion caused by the clanking of dishes and loud conversation are what set this work apart from earlier renditions of the Last Supper.
LATIN CROSS PLAN. An architectural plan for a church that is shaped like the cross on which Christ was crucified, the central event in the Christian story of salvation. Latin cross plans are composed of a nave, usually flanked by aisles, chapels, or both, a transept that serves as the arms of the cross, and an apse where the main altar is placed. Some Latin cross churches also have a narthex, a vestibule that precedes the nave. The Council of Trent declared that the Latin cross plan was the best suited to the liturgy of the mass as it allowed all focus to be placed on the altar where the ceremonies take place. As a result, architects active in the early years of the Baroque era rejected the Renaissance experiments with the central plan type and instead built longitudinal churches, as advocated by the council.
LAUGHING CAVALIER (1624; London, Wallace Collection). It is not clear who the sitter in this portrait by Frans Hals is, though the inscription on the upper right corner specifies that the man was 26 years old when the artist rendered the work. The title of the painting is a 19th-century invention unrelated to the subject. In fact, the sitter is not shown laughing. Instead he smiles self-assuredly. His jacket is adorned with emblems that refer to manly virtues and amorous pursuits, which has led some to believe that the portrait marks his wedding day. Among the embroideries of his costume are Mercury’s cap and caduceus (rod with intertwined snakes), taken from Andrea Alciato’s Liber Emblemata where these objects are accompanied by the motto: “Fortune, companion of manly effort.” The bees, winged arrows, flames, and cornucopias are all references to Cupid’s sting. Typical of Hals’ style are the loose, choppy brushstrokes that lend great animation to the work and the low vantage point that confers an air of monumentality.
LAURENTIAN LIBRARY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (1524–1534). In 1524, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to build the Laurentian Library for the purpose of housing the collection of books and manuscripts owned by his family, the Medici. The project was interrupted in 1527 when the sack of Rome resulted in the exile of the Medici from Florence. It resumed in 1530 when their banishment was lifted, and abandoned again in 1534 when Michelangelo was working in Rome. It was not until 1559 that the staircase for the library’s vestibule was completed by Michelangelo’s assistants, Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Ammannati, who followed a model the master had sent from the papal city.
The vestibule is among the most innovative of Michelangelo’s architectural designs as here he experimented with an anticlassical vocabulary that led to the development of the Mannerist style. The stairs that lead to the library’s reading room jut out in a rhythmic curvilinear motion. Niches are too shallow to hold statues, the windows above them are blind, and the paired columns flanking them are recessed and supported by scroll brackets—features never before employed in architecture. The library’s reading room is in essence a long rectangle pierced by windows on the long walls. These are capped with protruding lintels supported by brackets and enclosed in quadrangular moldings above which the blind windows of the vestibule are repeated—again Michelangelo’s inventions. The innovative vocabulary Michelangelo introduced in this commission not only inspired the Mannerist architects but continued to have an impact on the 17th century as Francesco Borromini’s experiments with unconventional rhythmic forms prove.
LAWRENCE, SAINT (d. 258). One of the deacons of Rome, St. Lawrence was martyred for selling the Church’s possessions and giving the money to the poor. When Emperor Valerian heard of the saint’s actions, he demanded the return of the sold items. Lawrence gathered the blind, crippled, orphans, and poor and told Valerian that these were the treasures of the Church. In retaliation, Valerian condemned Lawrence to burn on a hot griddle. As the saint bore the agony of his martyrdom, he asked his executioners to turn him over for he was already well-cooked on one side—the scene depicted by Titian (1548–1559) in the Chiesa dei Gesuiti in Venice and Agnolo Bronzino (1569) in the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence. Key episodes from the saint’s life are included in the Chapel of Nicolas V at the Vatican frescoed by Fra Angelico in 1448 and the Sancta Sanctorum at the Lateran Palace, Rome, a chapel dedicated to the saint. Michael Pacher’s St. Lawrence Distributing Alms (1465–1470; Munich, Alte Pinakothek) is part of the dismantled St. Lawrence Altarpiece of St. Lorenzen near Bruneck, now dispersed in various museums.
LE NAIN BROTHERS (ANTOINE, 1588–1648; LOUIS, c. 1593–1648; MATHIEU, c. 1607–1677). The Le Nain brothers were painters from Laon, where their father Isaac owned property. Scholarship on these individuals is complicated by the fact that they often collaborated on commissions, which has made it difficult to identify the contributions of each. Also, they signed their works only by surname and only their paintings from the 1640s are firmly dated. In the late 1620s, the Le Nain were in Paris where Mathieu is documented in 1633 as the city’s official painter. There, the Le Nain were among the artists who established the French Academy in 1648. Antoine and Louis died in that year, two days from each other. In 1652, Mathieu was named painter to the king and, in 1662, he was granted the title of Cavalier of the Order of St. Michael, a title he lost for his inability to prove his birth into nobility.
In spite of the problems of attribution posed by the Le Nain’s collaboration, there are three main styles that emerge in the body of works they left. One is a group of small pictures on copper rendered with strong colors that portrays bourgeois individuals in their homes. These are normally given to Antoine, as in the case of the Musical Gathering of 1648 (Paris, Louvre). To Louis are attributed the peasant scenes with subdued colors that relate to the work of the Bamboccianti, a group of Dutch painters led by Pieter van Laer, called Bamboccio, who were active in Italy and specialized in genre scenes. Louis would have become acquainted with the Bamboccianti during his stay in Rome in 1626–1630, or in Paris in 1626 when Laer visited briefly. Of the works given to Louis, the best-known is the Peasant Family in an Interior (1645–1648; Paris, Louvre), a scene that depicts the working class in all its dignity. The final group of paintings, of military officers, is usually ascribed to Mathieu as he was a lieutenant in the Parisian militia. One such work is La Tabagie of 1643 in the Louvre. Barring the difficulties in Le Nain scholarship, the brothers stand out in the history of French art for having popularized genre in the region and for providing a refreshing contrast to the classicist renderings of their French contemporaries.
LE ROI À LA CHASSE (PORTRAIT OF CHARLES I) (1635; Paris, Louvre). This portrait of Charles I of England was painted by Anthony van Dyck and represents a major innovation in the history of portraiture as it shows the king in an informal, leisurely moment. He wears hunting attire and stands in profile, his head turning toward the viewer, his left arm akimbo, and his elbow jutting forward. The set is Venetianized, with a landscape inspired by Titian’s portrait Charles V on Horseback (1548; Prado, Madrid). Though the scene is informal, the king’s status is nevertheless stressed. His costume is of silk and lace, his activity that of an aristocrat, his face with a melancholic expression—then considered the attribute of men who are well above all others—and his horse bowing to him in reverence.
LE SEUR, EUSTACHE (1616–1655). French Baroque painter who entered Simon Vouet’s workshop at the age of 15. In 1645, Le Seur left his master’s studio and became an artist in his own right. His works are characterized by a graceful classicism, delicate figures, and luminous surfaces. Among his most important paintings are the Marine Gods Paying Homage to Love (c. 1636–1638; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum), taken from the Hypnerotomachia Polifili; Sleeping Venus (c. 1640; San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum), based on the Venetian reclining nude type; and the St. Bruno Series (1648–1650; Paris, Louvre) painted for the Chartreuse de Paris.
LEAGUE OF CAMBRAI (1508–1510). A league formed by Pope Julius II, King Louis XII of France, and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to curtail Venice’s territorial expansion and influence in Northern Italy. This resulted in Venice’s loss of much of its territory and its financial ruin. Friction between Julius and Louis XII caused the league’s collapse in 1510 and an alliance between the pope and Venice against France. In 1512, they drove the French out of Italy, but disagreements regarding the distribution of spoils caused a rift between the two allies. The Venetian Republic changed sides and, in 1515, the French, now led by Louis’ successor, Francis I, regained their territories in Italy and, in 1517 the lands taken from the Venetian Republic were returned.
LEGEND OF THE TRUE CROSS, SAN FRANCESCO, AREZZO (c. 1454–1458). This fresco cycle was commissioned from Piero della Francesca by the Bacci family for the Cappella Maggiore of San Francesco. The main scenes follow Jacobus da Voragine’s story in the Golden Legend of the wood used for the cross on which Christ was crucified. According to the account, Seth placed the seedlings from the Tree of Knowledge in Adam’s mouth at the time of his death. These grew into a new tree that King Solomon cut for use as a bridge over a stream. When the Queen of Sheba crossed the bridge to meet the king, she learned that this would be the wood on which Christ would be crucified and announced that it would bring about the obliteration of the Jewish people. Solomon buried the wood to prevent such tragedy, but centuries later it resurfaced and the Romans used it for the crucifixion. Helena, Constantine the Great’s mother, traveled to Jerusalem to recover the true cross, which was recognized when it effected the miraculous resurrection of a dead boy. In the seventh century, the Persian King Chrosoes stole the wood, and the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered it, carrying it back to Jerusalem as Christ had done on the road to Calvary. Among these scenes in San Francesco, an Annunciation is included as reminder that the cycle tells the story of the relic on which the incarnated Christ shed his blood to grant salvation to the faithful. Piero’s frescoes symbolize the historical triumph of Christianity against its enemies.
LEMERCIER, JACQUES (c. 1585–1654). French architect who worked for King Louis XIII. Little is known of Lemercier’s training. He was the son of a mason and may have learned the principles of building from his father. In c. 1607, he went to Rome, where he remained until 1612. Upon his return to Paris, he entered in the service of Cardinal Armand Richelieu, first minister to the king, a move that launched his career. For the cardinal he built the Church of the Sorbonne (beg. 1635) on the grounds of the university of the same appellation—a structure of the Il Gesù sort, though Lemercier’s design includes a large dome and two façades. In c. 1639, Lemercier was commissioned by Louis XIII to extend the west wing of the Louvre Palace, his most important commission. He also erected three country houses: the hôtels de Rueil, Liancourt, and Richelieu. Unfortunately, little survives of these buildings, though their designs are recorded in engravings. Lemercier is credited as one of the architects to introduce the Italian vocabulary to France.
LEO X (GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI; r. 1513–1521). Leo X was the second son of Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici, tonsured at the age of seven, and made cardinal at 13. Like his father, Leo presided over a court that included artists, poets, and musicians but also clowns, animal tamers, and other odd individuals—and that, coupled by his extravagant behavior, gave added fuel to the leaders of the Reformation. It was under Leo’s rule that Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the portals of Wittenberg Cathedral (1517), resulting in his excommunication in 1521. As pope, Leo’s main concern was to prevent foreign domination of Italy, and particularly Florence, and to advance his family’s interests. In 1516, he expelled the della Rovere from Urbino and installed his nephew Lorenzo II de’ Medici as its duke. With this, Leo set in motion the events that would lead to the Medici’s attainment of the title of Dukes of Tuscany in 1530. Leo was the patron of Raphael, who under his rule completed the Stanza at the Vatican, and Donato Bramante, who worked on New St. Peter’s. Raphael also painted the Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi (c. 1517; Florence, Uffizi), which shows the pope at his desk examining an illuminated manuscript with a magnifying glass, a fitting tribute to the man who profoundly valued such art objects.
LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452–1519). Leonardo da Vinci is the artist who inaugurated the High Renaissance. He was among the great luminaries of the period not only in art but in a number of fields. His inquisitive nature led him to experiments in optics, astronomy, aviation, anatomy, botany, and hydraulics. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, mathematician, and scientist, to name a few of the fields in which he involved himself. Leonardo was also instrumental in elevating the artist’s status from artisan to genius. In his Trattato della Pittura [Treatise on Painting] he expressed his view that the creative powers of the artist are like those of God. The artist is not a mere manual laborer but also a thinker and theorist. Therefore, painting should be considered a liberal art, higher still than music or poetry, as these two depend on the ear, while painting depends on the eye, a more noble organ.
Leonardo was the illegitimate son of a Tuscan notary from the town of Vinci, near Florence. He was taken away from his mother at a very young age to be raised by his father and his father’s wife. The trauma this event caused, as well as the fact that he had diminished rights from those of legitimate children and that he was stigmatized for being left-handed, resulted in his detachment from humans and complete immersion in the arts and scientific experimentation. He is known to have dissected more than 30 corpses, scrupulously recording his findings in his notebooks and drawings. He invented a number of military weapons, tanks, flying machines, a grinder to create concave mirrors that resulted in the production of a telescope in 1509, and many other such objects.
Leonardo received his training as artist in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio from whom he acquired his interest in anatomy and physiognomy. In 1472–1475, he assisted his master with the Baptism of Christ (Florence, Uffizi) where the kneeling angel on the left and the background landscape have been attributed to him, as they exhibit the same softness and lush brushwork of his autographed works. His earliest solo commission was the Annunciation (late 1470s; Florence, Uffizi), a unique composition he painted for the Monastery of Monte Oliveto outside of Florence. Here the scene takes place outdoors, in front of the Virgin’s home, instead of the usual domestic setting. Her book of devotions is set on an elaborately carved Roman funerary urn, perhaps to denote the future death of her son. The wind created by the archangel Gabriel as he alights causes the flowers in the garden to bend. These are botanically accurate, as are the lilies held by the angel, symbols of the Virgin’s purity. Leonardo’s palette, with emphasis on earth tones, olives, blues, and deep reds, is common in his art, as are the varied drapery folds placed close together in animated arrangements. Leonardo’s Benois Madonna (St. Petersburg, Hermitage) also falls in this period. The Virgin here is a youthful figure, and the pudgy child looks and behaves the way an infant would. Leonardo’s close study of the human form and physiognomy are what led to his lifelike rendition of the figures and their facial expressions. In this work, he began experimenting with sfumato, a shading technique he devised that grants the figures a smoky, mysterious quality.
In 1481, Leonardo was commissioned to paint the Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Uffizi) for the Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, just outside of Florence, a work he left unfinished when he moved to Milan. He only managed to create the underdrawing, leaving us with some understanding of his painting method. He first used ocher tones to sketch the overall composition, and then added his other colors in layers over the underpainting. This means that for Leonardo, dark tones took preeminence. In spite of its unfinished state, the work divulges Leonardo’s intention to capture the frenzied excitement of those who have come to adore the Christ Child.
Leonardo went to Milan in 1481 or 1482 to work for the Sforza as artist and military and civil engineer. While in Milan, he painted the Madonna of the Rocks (1483–1486; Paris, Louvre) for the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in the Church of San Francesco Grande, his famed Last Supper (1497–1498) in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and the Portrait of a Woman with an Ermine (c. 1485; Cracow; Czartoryski Museum). In 1499, Milan was invaded by the French, forcing Leonardo to leave the city. In 1500 he is recorded in Venice and then in Florence where he painted the Madonna and Child with St. Anne (c. 1508–1513; Paris, Louvre) for the high altar of the Church of Santisima Annunziata and the Mona Lisa (1503), now in the Paris Louvre.
In 1503, the Florentine Republic asked Leonardo to render the Battle of Anghiari (1503–1506) in the Council Chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio at the same time as Michelangelo created the Battle of Cascina (1504–1506). In 1506, Leonardo returned to Milan where he remained until 1513 when he was invited by Pope Leo X to Rome. At the Vatican he engaged in scientific research until 1517 when he was called by Francis I to the French court. Francis provided the queen’s manor house (the Château de Cloux) for Leonardo to use as his home, and engaged him in the staging of pageants, allowing him to also continue his scientific investigations. Leonardo died in France in 1519.
LEYDEN, LUCAS VAN (1494–1533). Dutch painter and engraver who was deeply influenced by Albrecht Dürer and the Italians. Lucas van Leyden was first trained by his father, Hugo Jacobsz van Leyden, and, when Hugo died, Lucas moved to the studio of Cornelis Engelbrechtsz. His earliest dated work is an engraving titled Mohammed and the Monk Sergius (1508), an image with Dürer-like qualities much admired by his contemporaries. In fact, Marcantonio Raimondi used van Leyden’s background for his own engraving of Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina. Then followed van Leyden’s engraving of Adam and Eve (1510) where the theme of mother and child is borrowed from Dürer, as are the deep pockets of dark that contrast with open areas free of crosshatching. Even van Leyden’s signature, composed simply of the upper case letter “L,” recalls the signature of Dürer.
Van Leyden’s Adoration of the Magi (c. 1500–1510; Merion Station, the Barnes Collection) is one of his early paintings. It shows a spacious, logically constructed manger populated by figures that are dwarfed by the ample setting. The construction of space in this work denotes van Leyden’s understanding of Italian methods of perspective. So does his engraving of the Ecce Homo (1510), a work that recalls Jacopo Bellini’s drawings of religious scenes presented as mere incidentals within elaborate cityscapes in convincing perspective. By c. 1514–1515, van Leyden adopted a more monumental style, as seen in his Card Players (c. 1514; Salisbury, Wilton House Collection), a genre scene that moralizes on the ills of gambling. His Madonna and Child with Angels (c. 1518; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), like the Card Players, brings the half figures closer to the picture plane, the musical angels recalling those of Italian masters such as Andrea Mantegna. Also Mantegnesque are the garlands above the Virgin and Child, which mimic those in the Italian master’s San Zeno Altarpiece (1456–1459; Verona, San Zeno).
Van Leyden’s Adoration of the Golden Calf (c. 1525; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) presents another moralizing theme of inappropriate conduct. Here, the Israelites engage in the vices of gluttony, intemperance, and luxuria. In the middle ground, Moses descends from the mountain with the law tablets, only to find the Israelites committing idolatry. The Healing of the Man of Jericho (1531; St. Petersburg, Hermitage) presents a more successful integration of figures within the landscape as they no longer seem overwhelmed by it. It depicts one of the miracles effected by Christ while on his way to Jerusalem, the drama enhanced by the emphatic gestures and poses of those who witness.
Karel Van Mander wrote that at 35 van Leyden traveled by boat through the Netherlands and entertained fellow painter Jan Gossart and others. After the trip, van Leyden fell ill and, convinced that he had been poisoned, spent the last years of his life in bed, though he continued to work until his death in 1533. Van Leyden left 172 engravings, which facilitated the spread of his style through Europe and particularly Italy, where his influence was significant.
LIBRARY OF ST. MARK, VENICE (1537–1580s). Jacopo Sansovino’s greatest masterpiece. The Library of St. Mark was built to house the Greek manuscripts Cardinal Basilius Bessarion, the Patriarch of Constantinople, bequeathed to the Republic of Venice in 1468. Sansovino was faced with the problem of creating a design that would not minimize the importance of the Doge’s Palace, Venice’s seat of government, which the library faces. Sansovino opted for a long façade, making sure that it would not overtower the palace, and he added a great deal of decorative sculpture for texture that gave the building an imposing design. The lower level provides a passageway for Venetians to shield themselves from the elements, as well as shops. The reading room is in the upper story to prevent damage to the books during floods. The arches of the passageway and the upper windows create a play of light on the surface and of voids and solids that grant the structure a rhythmic quality. Sansovino applied the Colosseum principle to the exterior, with the Doric order in the lower story and the Ionic in the upper level. He was, in fact, the first to introduce this motif to Venice.
LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, HERMAN, AND JEAN; all d. 1416). Netherlandish manuscript illuminators, active in Paris; the nephews of Jean Malouel. The Limbourg brothers first appeared in Paris in the late 1390s when we find Herman and Jean working as apprentices in the shop of a local goldsmith. In 1402, Pol, who is believed to have acted as group leader, and Jean were employed by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, as illuminators, a position they may have received at the recommendation of their uncle who from 1396 had been working as the duke’s court painter. Philip died in 1404, and the brothers went to work for Jean, duc de Berry. Their most important works they created for their new patron. These are Les Très Belles Heures du duc de Berry (c. 1410; New York; The Cloisters), added illuminations for Les Petites Heures du duc de Berry (beg. c. 1372 by Jean Le Noir and Jacquemart de Hesdin; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France), and Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (1416; Chantilly; Musée Condé), this last considered one of the greatest examples of the International Style. All three brothers died of the plague in 1416. See also ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.
LINAIUOLI ALTARPIECE (1433, Florence, Museo di San Marco). Commissioned by the Arte dei Linaiuoli, the Guild of Linen Merchants, from Fra Angelico for their meeting house in the Piazza Sant’ Andrea in Florence, this triptych is the artist’s first dated work and major commission (the frame was executed by Lorenzo Ghiberti). When closed, the triptych shows Sts. Peter and Mark, this last the guild’s patron, standing against dark backgrounds. Both figures are solid, with heavy draperies, and stern expression, rendered in the style of Masaccio. When opened, the triptych presents an Enthroned Virgin and Child with St. Mark again appearing in the right panel and St. John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, occupying the left. Here, Fra Angelico provided a contrast between the homely saints and the delicate, graceful Virgin. As customary, the predella features narratives that relate to the altarpiece’s main scenes. These are St. Peter Preaching, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Martyrdom of St. Mark. In this triptych, Fra Angelico introduced a more believable setting than those of his predecessors by substituting curtain panels for the usual gilded background, thereby granting the impression of a fully defined interior space.
LIPPI, FILIPPINO (c. 1457–1504). Filippino was the son of Fra Filippo Lippi and the nun Lucrezia Buti. He first trained as painter with his father, but when his father died in 1469, Sandro Botticelli cared for him and completed his training. Filippino’s first important commission was the completion of the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, where Masaccio and Masolino had worked. To add to the scenes already in the chapel, in 1481–1482 Filippino frescoed further episodes from St. Peter’s life. In 1489, Filippino began work in the Carafa Chapel at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, belonging to Cardinal Oliviero Carafa who in 1472 had commanded the papal fleet against the Turks. The scenes depict the life of St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as the Assumption and Annunciation where the saint presents Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin. By 1502, Filippino was back in Florence working for Filippo Strozzi on his chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, frescoing scenes from the lives of Sts. Philip and John the Evangelist. These include St. Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis, the Crucifixion of St Philip, St. John the Evangelist Resuscitating Druisana, and the Torture of St. John the Evangelist. Filippino’s Vision of St. Bernard (c. 1485–1490), now in the Church of the Badia in Florence but originally intended for the Monastic Church of Le Campora at Marignolle, demonstrates his close affinity to the style of Botticelli. His figures, like Botticelli’s, are elongated, with emphasis on linearity, and rendered in intense blues, reds, and oranges.
LIPPI, FRA FILIPPO (FILIPPO DI TOMMASO DI LIPPO; 1406–1469). An unwanted child placed in the Carmelite Monastery of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, where he took the monastic vows in 1421, Fra Filippo Lippi may have witnessed Masaccio and Masolino working on the Brancacci Chapel frescoes in the adjacent church. The lyricism and sweetness of Lippi’s figures do not reflect his colorful personality. Forced by circumstance to take his monastic vows, Lippi did not follow them seriously. He had a relationship with a nun with whom he fathered two children, one of them the artist Filippino Lippi. Accusations of embezzlement and forgery also punctuate his life. On more than one occasion, Cosimo de’ Medici intervened on his behalf, including the negotiations to have the artist and his mistress released from their vows so they could marry.
The Tarquinia Madonna (1437; Rome, Galleria Nazionale) is Lippi’s earliest known work. Commissioned by the authorities of the city of Tarquinia, near Florence, it shows the influence of Masaccio in its use of one-point linear perspective and the solidity of the figures. Typical of Lippi is the humanization of the scene. The figures do not wear halos, nor do they occupy a heavenly realm. Instead, the scene takes place in an intimate domestic interior with Gothic vaulting, a bed, and window. The pudgy Christ Child frets as would any infant seeking the security of his mother’s embrace. In the same year, Lippi began work on the Barbadori Altarpiece for the Barbadori Chapel in the Church of Santo Spirito, Florence, an unconventional depiction of the Virgin and Child who stand in front of a throne, instead of sitting in it. The Coronation of the Virgin for the main altar of Sant’ Ambrogio, Florence (1441–1447; Florence, Uffizi) is also unconventional in that the Virgin kneels in prayer while God the Father, not Christ, crowns her. The solemn occasion is witnessed by saints and angels holding white lilies, the symbol of the Virgin’s purity. In the 1440s, Lippi’s figures became increasingly more appealing and he developed a marked interest in rendering draperies of various thicknesses in undulating patterns. His Madonna and Child tondo (round pictorial field) in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, of c. 1452 and the version of c. 1455 in the Uffizi exemplify this stage in his career. In 1452–1466, the artist created frescos for the Datini family in the choir of Prato Cathedral that depict the lives of Sts. Stephen and John the Baptist. His last work was the fresco cycle in the apse of the Cathedral of Spoleto (1466–1469) of the life of the Virgin. These were completed by his son Filippino after his death in 1469.
LIPSIUS, JUSTUS (1547–1606). Flemish philosopher and humanist who revived the ancient Stoic philosophy of Seneca and Tacitus and tried to reconcile it with Christianity. The founder of Neo-Stoicism, Lipsius articulated in his De Constantia (1584) and Politicorum sive civilis doctrinae (1589) the mastery of emotions and the values of choosing virtue over pleasure as the proper paths. For Lipsius, the evils of society can only be resolved through constancy, which he defined as strength of mind, invulnerable to external events. Peter Paul Rubens’ brother, Philip, was a pupil of Lipsius. When Philip died, the artist commemorated the event by painting The Four Philosophers (1612; Florence, Palazzo Pitti), a work that shows Lipsius surrounded by three of his pupils, including Philip. The artist stands behind the main figures, opposite a bust of Seneca. The four tulips in front of the bust, two opened and two closed, denote that both Philip and Lipsius had already died when the portrait was created. As further homage to those depicted, Rubens added the Roman Palatine Hill in the background, in antiquity the locus of learned discussion.
LOCHNER, STEPHAN (c. 1400–1451). Stephan Lochner was a native of Meersburg, near Lake Constance. At an unknown date, he moved to Cologne, where in 1442 he was paid for ephemeral decorations meant to celebrate Emperor Frederick III’s visit to the city. In 1447, and again in 1451, he was elected councilor of the painter’s guild in Cologne. Soon after receiving this honor for the second time, he died of the plague.
The Last Judgment Altarpiece (c. 1435–1440; central panel in Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) Lochner painted for the local Church of St. Lawrence. It presents Christ in a mandorla, with the Virgin and St. John kneeling at his feet pleading for the souls of those being judged. Below, the blessed line up to enter the gates of heaven, while the damned are tormented by demons as they are led into hell. One of the side panels (Frankfurt, Kunstinstitut) shows the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, the saint who was flayed alive. Here, the scene is set against a gold background that does little to soften the horror of the event. One of the executioners grabs his knife with his teeth as he forcefully pulls the skin off the saint’s arm.
The Last Judgment Altarpiece is closely connected to medieval conventions that Lochner eventually shed in favor of rounder, more delicate, sweeter figure types. Examples include the Madonna in the Rose Bower (c. 1438–1440; Cologne Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) and Presentation in the Temple (1447; Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum). The first shows the Virgin and Child surrounded by musical angels, the rose bower behind symbolizing Mary’s charity and the gold background the divine nature of the scene. The solidity and linear qualities of his previous works have now been replaced by softened contours. Flemish influence is seen in the angularity of Lochner’s drapery folds, previously lacking in his works. The second painting, which also features sweet types, Lochner signed in the letter held by one of the figures who is dressed like a knight of the Teutonic Order (a medieval military order). The scene is further softened by the appealing children in the foreground who hold candles, granting a greater sense of solemnity to the painting. Lochner’s tender figures and vivid colorism place him among the most highly regarded German masters of his era.
LOGGIA. A loggia is a roofed gallery attached to the façade of a structure and opened to a garden or other exterior space. The openings are normally achieved through the use of arches supported by columns, as in the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence (1419–1424) designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and the Loggetta in Venice (beg. 1538) by Jacopo Sansovino. Loggie are sometimes decorated with frescoes, as in the Villa Carducci in Legnaia (1448) rendered by Andrea del Castagno with images of illustrious men and women, and in the Villa Farnesina decorated with mythologies by Baldassare Peruzzi, Raphael, and Sebastiano del Piombo (1513–1518).
LORENZETTI, AMBROGIO (c. 1290–1348). Painter of the Sienese School who, along with his brother Pietro Lorenzetti, foreshadowed the 15th-century developments in one-point linear perspective that would change the course of art. Documents indicate that Ambrogio was in Florence on two occasions, which would have given him firsthand knowledge of the new mode introduced by Giotto, well represented in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels at Santa Croce. In 1319 Ambrogio painted an altarpiece of the Madonna for the Pieve in Vico l’Abate in the Florentine outskirts, and in 1332–1334 he created a polyptych for the Church of San Procolo in Florence proper, when he had no choice but to join the Florentine painter’s guild in order to work in that city.
The Virgin and Child with Saints Mary Magdalen and Dorothy (1330s; Siena, Pinacoteca), commissioned for the Convent of St. Petronilla in Siena, is one of Ambrogio’s earlier extant works. Here, the Virgin and Child are not enthroned as tradition dictated but rather represented as three-quarter-length figures placed against a gilded background. In c. 1335–1337, Ambrogio painted the Maestà Altarpiece for the high altar of the Church of Sant’ Agostino in Massa Marittima, then under Sienese dominion. As a subject often represented by Sienese masters, the work was meant to assert the dominance of Siena over the city. Only the main panel of this altarpiece survives; the predella, frame, and other decorative elements are missing.
Ambrogio’s most significant commission is the allegory of Good and Bad Government (1338–1339) in the Sala della Pace of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, the most ambitious fresco of the 14th century. In 1342, Ambrogio painted the Presentation in the Temple for the Cathedral of Siena (now in Florence, Uffizi), which shows a row of columns convincingly receding into space and toward the center of the work. The figures are placed behind the columns that, along with the glimpse of the vaulted ceiling, enhances the sense of three-dimensionality. Ambrogio and his brother are thought to have succumbed to the Black Death that struck Europe in 1348.
LORENZETTI, PIETRO (c. 1290–1348). Italian painter who, along with his brother Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Simone Martini, dominated the art scene in Siena. Pietro’s Virgin and Child with Saints, Annunciation, and Assumption, the polyptych he created for the Pieve di Santa Maria in Arezzo, is signed and dated 1320 in an accompanying inscription where he declares himself to be a mature artist, in complete control of the new style of painting. This new style to which he refers is the naturalism Giotto introduced in the early years of the 14th century. In this altarpiece, the Virgin wears a mantle lined with ermine fur, rather than the customary red and blue cloak, and she and the Christ Child are no longer enthroned as in earlier altarpieces, but rather they stand in front of a gilded background. The Christ Child, normally shown in a blessing gesture, here interacts with his mother. While the volume of the figures and draperies depend on Giotto’s art, the emphasis on luxurious costumes, brilliant colors, and heavy gilding, are characteristics particular to the Sienese School of painting.
In 1325–1330, Pietro was in Assisi, painting frescoes of the Passion of Christ in the transept of the Lower Church of San Francesco. Of these, the Crucifixion is the most poignant. Though Pietro followed Byzantine and 13th-century representations of the scene, his version is filled with a pathos not found in earlier examples—a convincing representation of a tragic event. Pietro’s most famous work is the Birth of the Virgin (Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo), painted in 1342 for the Cathedral of Siena, a truly innovative altarpiece in that the frame becomes an outward projection of the painted architecture. To further enhance the sense of depth, Pietro showed the three four-partite vaults of the upper-class Sienese setting in which the scene takes place and he positioned his figures behind two columns. With this, he foreshadowed the developments of one-point linear perspective that would be introduced in painting and relief sculpture in Italy in the 15th century.
LOTTO, LORENZO (1480–1556). According to Giorgio Vasari, Lorenzo Lotto trained with Giovanni Bellini alongside Giorgione and Titian. He was active in Venice, Rome, Bergamo, the Marches, and perhaps also the Tuscan region. His life is only documented after 1538 when he began keeping a record book of his financial activities. One of his notable works is the portrait of newlyweds Master Marsilio and His Wife (1523; Madrid, Prado), the groom placing a ring on his bride’s finger and a putto behind fixing a yoke, symbol of marriage, on their necks. The monumental figures are pushed to the foreground so they occupy a large portion of the pictorial space and the draperies are sculptural, both characteristic of Lotto’s style. The same elements are included in his Sacra Conversazione of the 1520s (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), which utilizes a Venetian format of figures set against a luscious landscape, as well as the rich colorism of the Venetian School. Other works by Lotto include Christ Taking Leave of His Mother (1521; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), the Annunciation (c. 1527; Recanati, Pinacoteca Comunale), Lucretia (1528–1530; London, National Gallery), and the Portrait of Andrea Odoni (1527; Hampton Court, Royal Collection).
LOUIS OF TOULOUSE, SAINT (LOUIS D’ANJOU; 1274–1297). St. Louis of Toulouse was the son of Charles II D’Anjou, king of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary. When Alfonso III of Aragon captured Charles in 1288, Louis and his brothers were sent as hostages to Barcelona in exchange for their father’s release. The boys spent seven years in captivity while Charles negotiated for their return. Louis surrendered his rights to the throne when Charles arranged for his marriage to the sister of King James II of Aragon, a liaison he opposed. Instead, with great resistance from his father, he was ordained a Franciscan at the age of 23, and, in spite of his royal lineage, he embraced an ascetic life. He was soon appointed bishop of Toulouse, a position he resigned after only a few months. He died six months later in Brignolles and was canonized in 1317, an event commemorated by his brother, Robert D’Anjou, by commissioning Simone Martini to paint the Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse (1317; Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte). St. Louis is included among the Franciscan saints Taddeo Gaddi depicted in the refectory of Santa Croce, Florence, in c. 1340. He is also one of the saints in the San Ludovico Altarpiece by Annibale Carracci (c. 1589; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), painted for the Church of Santi Ludovico (in English, Louis) e Alessio in Bologna.
LOUIS XIII OF FRANCE (1601–1643). The eldest son of King Henry IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, who acted as his regent after Henry’s assassination in 1610. In 1615, Marie arranged for Louis’ marriage to Anne of Austria and, in 1617, Louis exiled his mother to Blois for having prompted the rebellion of the nobility against the regency. Two years later, Marie escaped and allied herself with her younger son, Gaston d’Orleans, against Louis, only to be defeated. In 1622, Cardinal Armand Richelieu, then Louis’ secretary of state and later first minister, reconciled the king with his mother, but this was not to last. A conspiracy to overthrow Richelieu resulted in Marie’s permanent banishment from the French court. With the help of Richelieu, Louis was able to achieve religious unity in France and to move closer to absolutist power by diminishing the power of the nobility.
Louis was a notable patron of the arts. He is known to have owned a St. Sebastian by George de la Tour and to have commissioned Simon Vouet’s Allegory of Wealth (c. 1630–1635; both Paris, Louvre). Vouet’s studio, in fact, became the place of dissemination of the king’s artistic ideology. In c. 1639 Jacques Lemercier extended for him the west wing of the Louvre Palace. Peter Paul Rubens, who worked primarily for Marie, painted the portrait Anne of Austria (1621–1625; Paris, Louvre) under Louis’ patronage, as well as 12 cartoons for tapestries recounting the main episodes of Constantine the Great’s life (1620–1621). Louis is also the one to have called Nicolas Poussin to France to work on the decorations of the Louvre Palace, a commission that proved to be disastrous as Poussin lacked the expertise to work in the large scale the king demanded.
LOYOLA, ST. IGNATIUS OF (1491–1556). A native of Gúipuzcoa, in the Basque region of Spain, St. Ignatius was born to a noble family. In 1521, he was wounded in the leg in the siege of Pamplona while serving in the Duke of Nagara’s army. While recovering, he read stories from the life of Christ and the saints and was so taken by the readings that he decided to devote himself to the religious life. From 1522 until 1523, he was on retreat in Manresa where he experienced visions and wrote the Spiritual Exercises, a text he published in 1548 meant to inspire devotion through prayer, meditation, and other prescribed practices. In 1534, St. Ignatius established the Jesuit Order. He was ordained in Venice in 1537, after a year of pilgrimage in Spain. He and his followers had vowed to also do pilgrimage in Jerusalem. Unable to do so, they instead went to Rome to offer their services to the pope. In Rome, St. Ignatius experienced another vision where Christ appeared to him and assured him that all would go well. All did in fact go well as Pope Paul III gave the Jesuit Order his approval in 1540. St. Ignatius was canonized in 1622 by Gregory XV.
LUCY, SAINT (d. 304). The daughter of noble parents from Syracuse, Sicily, St. Lucy refused to marry one of her suitors who, in retaliation, denounced her as a Christian to Governor Paschasius. She was sentenced to a brothel but, when guards attempted to take her there, they could not move her. Then, she was ordered to die at the stake, but the flames did not harm her. In the end she was stabbed successfully in the throat. Saint Lucy is the patron saint of eye ailments as she supposedly tore out her own eyes to give to a suitor who admired them, but these were miraculously restored. Another version of her life story claims that the tearing out of her eyes was part of her martyrdom. The saint figures in the St. Lucy Altarpiece by Domenico Veneziano (c. 1445–1447, Florence, Uffizi), with her martyrdom by stabbing on the predella (now in Berlin, Gemäldegalerie). Lorenzo Lotto painted St. Lucy before the Judge (1532; Jesi, Pinacoteca Comunale) and Caravaggio rendered her burial (1608; Syracuse, Museo Bellomo). One of the most aesthetically pleasing representations of the saint is by Francisco de Zurbarán (c. 1635–1640; Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts), painted for the Monastery of the Merced Descalza in Seville, Spain.
LUDOVISI, CARDINAL LUDOVICO (1595–1632). A native of Bologna, Cardinal Ludovisi was the nephew of Pope Gregory XV. He was educated in the Collegio Germanico in Rome and at the University of Bologna where he graduated in 1615 with a degree in canon law. In 1621, upon his uncle’s ascent to the papal throne, Ludovico obtained the cardinalate, with Santa Maria in Traspontina as his titular church. Ludovico also served as archbishop of Bologna, prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide, and vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. He is best known for his collection of antiquities, which included the famed Dying Gaul now in the Capitoline Museum and Ares in the Palazzo Altemps, both in Rome. He was the patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Alessandro Algardi, and Guercino and is portrayed in Domenichino’s portrait Pope Gregory XV and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1621–1623; Béziers, Musée des Beaux-Arts).
LUKE, SAINT. St. Luke is one of the Evangelists who wrote the Gospels. He is believed to have been a Greek born in Antioch and to have trained as a physician. Nothing is known of his conversion to Christianity, though perhaps St. Paul may have had a hand in this as Luke accompanied him to Troas in c. 51 CE, and then to Samothrace, Neapolis, and Philippi. Luke remained in Philippi where he acted as leader of the local Christian community. In 57 CE he rejoined Paul in Troas and together they traveled to Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, and finally Jerusalem. In 61 CE Luke and Paul were in Rome, where the latter was imprisoned and martyred. Luke is believed to have died in Boetia at the age of 84 of natural causes. His Gospel is unique in that it emphasizes the poor, forgiveness of sins, and social justice. It is also the only Gospel to present the story of the Annunciation, Visitation, Presentation in the Temple, and Mary Magdalen’s washing of Christ’s feet with her tears. One tradition claims that St. Luke painted a number of portraits of the Virgin. For this, he is considered the patron saint of painters and most early guilds or academies of painting in Europe were named after him. El Greco presented St. Luke (c. 1605–1610; Toledo, Cathedral) in this light as a three-quarter figure with pen in hand and holding opened his book where his portrait of the Madonna and Child is included. Jan Gossart (c. 1515; Prague National Gallery) and Maerten van Heemskerck (1532; Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum) showed the saint in the act of painting the Virgin. See also ACCADEMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME.
LUNETTE. A semicircular wall area enframed by an arch over a door or window. Lunettes become pictorial fields onto which a painting, mosaic, or relief sculpture can be placed. Annibale Carracci, for example, painted a series of religious landscapes in c. 1604 to be installed in the lunettes of the chapel in the Aldobrandini Palace, Rome. Davide Ghirlandaio, Domenico’s brother, rendered a mosaic of the Annunciation (1509) on the lunette above the main portal of the Church of Santisima Annunziata, Florence, and Benvenuto Cellini provided a relief of Diana, goddess of the hunt, for one of the doorway lunettes in the Palace of Fontainebleau near Paris (1542–1544; now Paris, Louvre). Lunettes are also sometimes part of wall tombs, as the Tomb of Chancellor Carlo Marsuppini (1453; Santa Croce, Florence) by Desiderio da Settignano exemplifies.