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CAJÉS, EUGENIO (1574–1634). Spanish painter of Florentine descent, trained in the Mannerist style. His father was Patrizio Cascezi, one of the artists involved in the decoration of the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial. It is from his father that Cajés learned the Italianate mode of painting, though visits to Florence would have given him further understanding of the latest Italian developments. Cajés’ early works are collaborations with his father. In 1608, he entered the service of Philip III of Spain, and, in 1612, he became the king’s official painter. One of Cajés’ most successful works is the Meeting at the Golden Gate (c. 1604; Madrid, Museo Real Academia de Bellas Artes), originally part of the altarpiece of the Church of San Felipe el Real in Madrid.

CALLOT, JACQUES (c. 1592–1635). Leading figure of the school of Nancy on the Lorraine region of France. Callot came from a well-to-do family that was connected to the ducal court of Lorraine. He was apprenticed to a local goldsmith and, in 1608, he went to Rome to complete his training with the engraver Philippe Thomassin. In 1611, Callot moved to Florence where he worked for Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. For him he created a series of plates recording the funerary ceremonies of Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III of Spain (d. 1611), and another of the life of Cosimo’s father, Ferdinand I de’ Medici. In 1621, when Cosimo died, his wife, Maria Magdalena of Austria, cancelled Callot’s pension, forcing him to return to Nancy where he became the leading master of the Lorraine region. He spent the rest of his career creating engravings of grotesque figures, gypsies, and other such colorful individuals, as well as landscapes and political scenes. An example of his comical representations is his etching Scaramucia and Fricasso (c. 1622), which depicts two characters from the commedia dell’ arte (Italian theatrical farces) that Callot included in his Balli di Sfessania series. Examples of his political images are the scenes from Les Grandes Misères de la Guerre (1633) that record the horrors caused by Cardinal Richelieu’s invasion of Nancy.

CAMERA PICTA, PALAZZO DUCALE, MANTUA (CAMERA DEGLI SPOSI; 1465–1474). The Camera Picta, or Painted Chamber, is the audience room in the Ducal Palace in Mantua frescoed by Andrea Mantegna for Ludovico Gonzaga and his family. The scenes utilize a journalistic approach as they depict contemporary events related to the ducal family. Ludovico is shown receiving a letter that informs him of his son’s recent appointment as cardinal. At his side are his wife, Barbara of Brandenburg, their children, courtiers, and dwarfs. The painted space continues the actual architecture of the room, with figures climbing stairs that lead to the real mantle above the fireplace. Also included is the meeting between Ludovico and his son and a hunting scene. On the ceiling, Roman busts of emperors are painted in a monochrome palette to compare Ludovico’s rulership to theirs. In the center is a painted oculus (round opening) that permits a view of the sky. Surrounding it is a balustrade from which putti and servants, rendered in heavy foreshortening, peer down at the viewer and smile. The trompe l’oeil effect is enhanced by a large fictive planter that seems about to topple and crash into the viewer’s space. Mantegna’s technical mastery in these scenes recall Melozzo da Forli’s di sotto in sù and other illusionistic devices he used in his works for Sixtus IV and his family, the della Rovere. It also foreshadows the spectacular illusionistic ceilings of the 17th century.

CAMERINO D’ALABASTRO, PALAZZO DUCALE, FERRARA. The Camerino d’Alabastro was the study of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, a room built in alabaster, hence its appellation. It was conceived in direct competition with the studiolo of Isabella d’Este, Alfonso’s sister. For its decoration, Alfonso commissioned a series of erotic mythologies from the most important masters of the era, including Giovanni Bellini, Raphael, and Titian, based on the ekphrases provided by Philostratus the Elder of works he saw in a villa in Naples in the third century. Giovanni Bellini rendered the Feast of the Gods (1514; Washington, National Gallery), Raphael was assigned the Triumph of Bacchus, and Fra Bartolomeo the Worship of Venus. Fra Bartolomeo died in 1517 and Raphael in 1520, both leaving their works unexecuted. Alfonso then hired Titian, who rendered the Worship of Venus (1518; Madrid, Prado), based on Fra Bartolomeo’s preparatory drawing, and then also the Bacchanal of the Andrians (1518–1523; Madrid, Prado) and Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–1522; London, National Gallery). When the d’Este line died out at the end of the 16th century, Ferrara reverted back to the Papal States and the paintings in the Camerino d’Alabastro were removed and dispersed. As a result, debate exists as to the original placement of the works within the room and its significance.

CAMPANILE OF THE CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE (1334–1350s). The construction history of the Campanile of the Cathedral of Florence is rather complex. In 1334, Giotto was appointed director of the Cathedral Works. Primarily a painter, he probably had little experience as architect, though some have attributed the design of the Arena Chapel to him. Giotto’s design for the Campanile is recorded in a tinted drawing on parchment now housed in the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo in Siena. It provided for a Gothic-inspired structure with pointed windows, tracery, and a large spire. The foundations of the Campanile were laid and the first story completed according to Giotto’s specifications. When he died in 1337, Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti were put in charge. They modified Giotto’s design as they found it to be structurally weak, particularly the delicate spire he wanted to cap with a statue of the archangel Michael. In the end, the spire was replaced by a heavier flat top able to withstand high winds. Talenti inlaid the Campanile’s exterior with colored marbles to match those of the Baptistery, a few steps away from the cathedral. Andrea, who was also a sculptor, provided rhomboid relief medallions to adorn the base of the Campanile and statues for its niches.

CAMPIN, ROBERT. See MASTER OF FLÉMALLE.

CANTORIA. A choir gallery in a church. Both Luca della Robbia and Donatello created cantorie for the Cathedral of Florence (both now in Florence, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo). Della Robbia’s, executed in 1431–1438, was originally meant for above the door to the cathedral’s north sacristy. It contains eight reliefs with youths singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. All of Psalm 150, which speaks of praising the Lord through dance and music, is inscribed in its front. Donatello created his in the 1430s–1440s and it was placed above the entrance to the cathedral’s south sacristy. It features putti holding wreaths and running behind columns, as well as a mosaic background for a sparkling surface effect. Both artists were inspired by ancient Roman reliefs, and both depicted figures engaged in celebration. Yet, while della Robbia’s figures feature sweet expressions, are contained in separate fields, and maintain their decorum, Donatello’s are caught in a frenzy, their physiognomies exaggerated and distorted for greater emotive content.

CARAVAGGIO, MICHELANGELO MERISI DA (1571–1610). Caravaggio was probably born in Milan. In 1572, he is documented in the town of Caravaggio where his family owned property, hence his name. In 1588–1592, he apprenticed with Simone Peterzano, a Milanese painter thought to have been a pupil of Titian. After his apprenticeship ended, Caravaggio and his brother went to Rome and, on the way there, they stopped in Venice where the artist had the opportunity to study the works of Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto, and other local masters. When they arrived in Rome, Caravaggio’s brother entered a Jesuit seminary, and he entered in the service of the Cavaliere D’Arpino, a Mannerist painter favored by Pope Clement VIII. There, his main task was to paint still-life elements. Among the works he rendered while in Arpino’s studio are his Boy with Basket of Fruits, Bacchino Malato (both 1594; Rome, Galleria Borghese), and Boy Bitten by a Lizard (1595–1596; London, National Gallery). These three paintings were purchased by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Paul V’s nephew, from Arpino. They were considered quite innovative at the time in that they presented common figure types placed as close to the foreground as possible, in half-length format, set against an undefined background, with dramatic use of chiaroscuro—elements then rare in art. Caravaggio fell seriously ill while in Arpino’s studio and was hospitalized for an extended period of time. After leaving the hospital, he began to peddle his paintings in the streets of Rome, the first artist known to do so.

Sometime in the early to mid-1590s, Caravaggio came into contact with Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who offered him lodging in his home. The first painting del Monte purchased from Caravaggio was the Cardsharps (1595–1596; Fort Worth, Kimball Museum of Art), also unusual for its theme and visual qualities. Caravaggio’s Bacchus of 1595–1596 (Florence, Uffizi) belongs to this period as well, an unclassicized version of the god of wine with cheeks flushed from drinking. In front of him are fruits in various states of ripeness, an element the Dutch Baroque masters would later adopt as a vanitas symbol. Bacchus is shown with all his imperfections. He is short and stocky, with dark brows and hair, and dirty fingernails. Caravaggio’s Concert of Youths (1595; New York, Metropolitan Museum), which also falls in this period of his career, shows similar crude figure types engaged in music making.

Among Caravaggio’s earliest religious works are his Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1594; Rome, Galleria Doria-Pamphili), Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1598; Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica), St. Catherine of Alexandria (1598; Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection), and Supper at Emmaus (1600; London, National Gallery). These works served well the demands of the Counter-Reformation. The immediacy of the figures, emphatic gestures, and dramatic lighting effects demand the emotional involvement of the viewer. St. Catherine and Judith are depicted as heroines, the one willing to die for the sake of the faith, the other risking her life to deliver her people from the enemy. The Supper at Emmaus portrays a scene of recognition of the true faith, an appropriate subject in an era when the Church sought to prevent the spread of Protestantism. In 1599, Caravaggio received his first public commission, the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, a huge success that gained him international fame. In 1600, the commission for the Cerasi Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, followed. By now, the connoisseur Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani had become Caravaggio’s most ardent supporter, and it was for him that the artist painted the Amor Vincit Omnia (1601–1602; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), a work that speaks of the power of love over reason and that prompted visual responses from other masters, including Giovanni Baglione.

In 1605–1606, Caravaggio painted the Death of the Virgin (Paris, Louvre) for the chapel of Laerzio Cherubini at Santa Maria della Scala, Rome. The painting was rejected because it presented the Virgin as a decomposing corpse with bare feet and bloated features. Soon after its completion, Caravaggio murdered a man over a wager on a tennis match. In the process, he was badly wounded in the head. After recovering in the Roman countryside, he spent the rest of his years moving from Naples to Malta to Sicily. In Naples, Caravaggio painted the Seven Acts of Mercy (1606) for the Church of the Madonna della Misericordia and the Flagellation of Christ (1607; Naples, Museo di Capodimonte) for the DeFranchis family. This last shows a more spontaneous brushwork than in his Roman works and a softening of the earlier sharp diagonals. His Beheading of St. John the Baptist (1608) he painted in Malta, for the Church of St. John in Valetta. He was forced to flee from Malta after he attacked a nobleman, and moved to Messina, Sicily, where he painted his Raising of Lazarus (1609; Messina, Museo Nazionale). Among his last works is the David with the Head of Goliath (1610; Rome, Galleria Borghese), a painting of tremendous psychological depth, perhaps reflective of the mood Caravaggio was in from constantly running from the law.

In 1610, Pope Paul V pardoned Caravaggio for the murder charges in Rome and summoned him back. When Caravaggio landed on the southern border of Tuscany to enter Rome, he was mistakenly seized and imprisoned. As a result, he caught a fever and died a few days later, never reaching his final destination. Caravaggio’s art exerted tremendous impact in the history of art. Although his popularity had waned in Italy by the early 1620s, in the rest of Europe his style spread like wildfire. Caravaggism was adopted by Rembrandt and the Utrecht Caravaggists in the Netherlands, Peter Paul Rubens in Flanders, and George de la Tour and the Le Nain brothers in France, to name only a few.

CARDSHARPS (1595–1596; Fort Worth, Kimball Museum of Art). This was the first painting Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte purchased from Caravaggio. At the time, the subject of the work was quite unusual in that it depicted figures simply engaged in a game. Sofonisba Anguissola had painted such scenes, but hers were intended as portraits. The subject soon became quite popular among Caravaggio’s followers in Italy and the Netherlands. The work shows three men playing cards, two of them cheating; clearly, gambling is involved. The glances and emphatic gestures leave little doubt as to the men’s intentions. They stand around a table where a space has been left open for viewers, thus inviting them to participate in the scene. The three-quarter length of the figures, their proximity to the spectator, sharp contours, theatrical lighting, and rich colorism are all elements Caravaggio learned from Venetian masters.

CARDUCHO, VICENTE (1576–1638). Florentine-born Mannerist painter who was active, along with his brother Bartolomé, in the court of Philip II of Spain; both men were involved in the decoration of the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial. In 1609, Carducho succeeded his brother as royal painter. In that capacity, he was charged with the commission to paint St. John the Baptist Preaching (1610; Madrid, Museo Real Academia de Bellas Artes) for the Basilica of St. Francis in Madrid. In 1618, he also executed the altarpiece for the Monastery of Guadalupe in Cáceres and, from 1626 to 1632, he painted a series of 56 canvases for the Royal Monastery of Paular near Segovia. In 1623 his position was threatened when Diego Velázquez arrived at the court in Madrid. Carducho is best known as an art theorist. His Diálogos de la Pintura (1633) did much to raise the status of painters in Spain from craftsman to genius. It championed Michelangelo and the classical Italian tradition and criticized Caravaggio for his excessive naturalism—in reality, an attack on Velázquez, who also stressed naturalism and who overshadowed Carducho at the Spanish court.

CARPACCIO, VITTORE (active c. 1488–1526). Carpaccio may have studied with Gentile Bellini in Venice and, like Gentile, he catered mainly to the Venetian scuole (confraternities) and used a journalistic approach. His greatest achievement is the series he created for the meeting hall of the Confraternity of St. Ursula in Venice in c. 1495–1496. The source for these paintings was Jacobus da Voragine’s Golden Legend where St. Ursula, daughter of the king of Brittany and betrothed to the pagan prince of Britain, asks her father for a postponement of the wedding to travel to Rome in a pilgrimage and effect her future husband’s conversion. Her father agrees and they set out with 10 of her ladies in waiting, each accompanied by 1,000 maidens. On their return from Rome, they are captured by the Huns in Cologne and, when Ursula refuses to marry their king, she and the maidens are martyred. Carpaccio related the story in nine large paintings, now housed in the Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice. He situated the scenes in his own city by including figures in contemporary costumes, canals in the background, and Venetian-styled buildings. In the Departure of the Prince from Britain, His Arrival in Brittany, and Departure of the Betrothed Couple for Rome, the Venetian naval fleet is rendered on the Grand Canal, and the forts of Rhodes and Candia, at the time two of Venice’s fortresses, also appear. Carpaccio’s other works include the Vision of St. Augustine, part of a series for the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice (1502), the Meditation on the Passion (c. 1510; New York, Metropolitan Museum), the Sermon of St. Stephen (1514; Paris, Louvre) from the series for the Scuola dei Lanieri a Santo Stefano, and the Dead Christ (c. 1520; Berlin, Staatliche Museen). These works are permeated with a stillness characteristic of Carpaccio’s style, a brilliant palette, and emphasis on detailed description.

CARRACCI REFORM. The Carracci Reform is a term used to denote the efforts of Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci to restore painting from what they viewed as the excesses of Mannerism. Their art philosophy developed from their dissatisfaction with the state of art in their native Bologna and their exposure to the works of Raphael, Correggio, and Titian. Raphael’s Sistine Madonna (1513; Dresden Gemäldegalerie) was at the time in nearby Piacenza and Correggio’s works were in Parma, also at close distance. Agostino is known to have visited Venice in 1582 where he made a number of engravings after the works of Titian and other Venetian masters, and Annibale was there in 1588. From Raphael the Carracci borrowed the elegant classicism of the figures and emphasis on draughtsmanship, from Correggio the softening of forms and tenderness of the figures, and from Titian the vibrant colorism and animated compositions. Thus their style became an eclectic blend of borrowed elements that rejected the esoteric ambiguities of the Mannerist style and embraced the more lucid approach offered by the masters they admired.

In 1582, the Carracci opened a private academy in Bologna, first called the Accademia dei Desiderosi and later the Accademia degli Incamminati. Their academy soon began to fill with students from other workshops who wanted to benefit from the more progressive learning environment it offered. It provided a forum where students could exchange ideas, receive anatomy lessons from trained doctors, and participate in competitions. Excursions to the Bolognese countryside to sketch the landscape were part of the curriculum, as were pictorial games meant to sharpen students’ drawing skills—exercises that led to Annibale’s development of caricature. The establishment of the Carracci Academy coincided with the publication of the Bolognese Archbishop Gabriele Paleotti’s Intorno alle imagini (1582), which dealt with the proper depiction of religious subjects. Following the prescriptions of the Council of Trent on religious art, Paleotti criticized the ambiguities of the Mannerist style and called instead for coherent scenes that evoked piety and devotion in viewers. As the Carracci shared Paleotti’s views on Mannerism, these artists became the first to fulfill the archbishop’s demands.

In 1595, Annibale went to Rome to work for the Farnese and there he created his greatest masterpiece, the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600; Rome, Palazzo Farnese), a work inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling frescoes (1508–1512; Vatican). Members of the Carracci School followed him, worked as his assistants, and dispersed the Carracci classicist ideology so effectively that, by the 1620s, it became the most popular style in art. The clarity and striking visual appeal of the scenes on the Farnese ceiling won Annibale the classification of restorer of painting to its former Renaissance glory. Not by coincidence, when he died in 1609, he was buried in the Pantheon alongside Raphael. See also BUTCHER SHOP.

CARRACCI, AGOSTINO (1557–1602). The brother of Annibale and cousin of Ludovico Carracci, with whom he carried out the Carracci Reform. Agostino was primarily an engraver, though he also was active as teacher and painter. His career is not well documented. He is known to have been in Venice twice, making engravings after the works of Titian and Veronese with which he introduced the Venetian visual vocabulary to his native Bologna. In c. 1598, he joined his brother in Rome to work in the Palazzo Farnese where he is believed to have been the one to execute the frescoes depicting Cephalus and Aurora and Galatea. Disagreements with Annibale forced him to leave Rome. He moved to Parma, where he remained until his death in 1602. His most notable work is the Last Communion of St. Jerome (c. 1592–1593; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), already greatly admired in his lifetime. One of his most unusual paintings is the Triple Portrait of Hairy Harry, Mad Peter, and Tiny Amon (c. 1598–1600; Naples, Museo di Capodimonte), which depicts a dwarf and other odd figures living in Cardinal Odoardo Farnese’s court amidst exotic animals.

CARRACCI, ANNIBALE (1560–1609). Annibale Carracci, his brother Agostino, and cousin Ludovico were responsible for effecting the Carracci Reform. Of the three, Annibale was the one to achieve the greatest recognition for having brought art back to the classicism of the Renaissance masters, particularly Raphael. Early on in his career, Annibale painted genre scenes that depicted common figures in all their dignity, among them the Boy Drinking (c. 1582–1583; Cleveland Museum of Art), the Bean Eater (1583–1584; Rome, Galleria Colonna), and the Butcher Shop (c. 1582; Oxford, Christ Church Picture Gallery), this last thought to visually expound the Carracci’s art philosophy. In c. 1583, Annibale received his first public commission, the Crucifixion for the Church of Santa Maria della Carità, Bologna, a clear, sober rendition that conforms to the demands of the Counter-Reformation and Archbishop Gabriele Paleotti regarding the proper representation of sacred subjects. His San Ludovico Altarpiece (c. 1589; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale) he painted for the Church of Santi Ludovico e Alessio and demonstrates the influence of Correggio in the softness of the contours and the swaying pose of St. John the Baptist. In these years, Annibale also executed some mythologies, including the Venus, Satyr, and Two Cupids (c. 1588; Florence, Uffizi) and Venus Adorned by the Graces (1594–1595; Washington, National Gallery). These works show his interest in Venetian art as they both feature voluptuous female nudes rendered in lush colors and bathed by light in the manner of Titian.

In 1595, Cardinal Odoardo Farnese summoned Annibale to Rome to decorate his recently built palazzo. In c. 1596, Annibale painted the Hercules at the Crossroads (Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte) to be mounted on the ceiling of the cardinal’s study. Then, between c. 1597 and 1600 he frescoed the gallery with scenes depicting the loves of the gods utilizing a quadro riportato technique. Centered on the Farnese ceiling is the Triumph of Bacchus, a scene that would later influence Guido Reni’s Aurora (1613) in the Casino Rospigliosi, Rome, and Guercino’s ceiling fresco of the same title (1621) in the Casino Ludovisi. In these years, Annibale carried out other commissions for the Farnese, including the Christ in Glory (c. 1597; Florence, Palazzo Pitti) and the Pietà (1599–1600; Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte). Annibale’s Roman works reflect his study of Raphael’s paintings in the Stanza della Segnatura (1510–1511) and Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling (1508–1512), both at the Vatican. Their clarity, emphasis on soft pastel tones, and rational compositions clearly derive from the works of these Renaissance masters. The semicircular arrangement of the Christ in Glory stems directly from Raphael’s Disputà in the Stanza.

Annibale was also an accomplished landscapist. In fact, he is one of the artists to bring landscape painting to the realm of high art. In 1603, the artist was occupied with painting landscape lunettes for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini in his palace chapel. Of these, the most notable is the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a classicized landscape composed of alternating areas of land and water balanced by the verticality of the trees. By this time, Annibale had become seriously ill and affected with bouts of depression. He died in 1609 and was buried in the Pantheon in Rome alongside Raphael, a fitting tribute for the man who had been hailed as the one to restore painting from the excesses of Mannerism and to have brought it back to its former Renaissance glory.

CARRACCI, LUDOVICO (1555–1619). The cousin of Annibale and Agostino Carracci, with whom he effected the Carracci Reform. Ludovico was the son of a Bolognese butcher and was trained by the Mannerist painter Prospero Fontana. After his apprenticeship, he traveled to Venice, Parma, and Florence to study the works of Titian, Correggio, and Raphael, all of whom proved to be a major force in the development of the Carracci’s philosophy of art—a philosophy that rejected the excesses of Mannerism and favored the classicism of the High Renaissance masters. When Annibale and Agostino left Bologna for Rome to work for the Farnese, it was Ludovico who continued running the Carracci Academy, where he trained the next generation of masters who later would help disseminate the Carracci’s artistic ideals. His most notable works include the Bargellini Madonna (1588; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), the Cento Madonna (1591; Cento, Museo Civico), the Martyrdom of St. Peter Thomas (c. 1608; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), and St. Sebastian Thrown into the Cloaca Maxima (c. 1613; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum).

CASTAGNO, ANDREA DEL (c. 1419–1457). Andrea del Castagno was born in the Mugello, near Florence. Little is known of his life, though Giorgio Vasari described him as a violent individual, stating that he murdered his competitor Domenico Veneziano out of envy. In the 19th century, Vasari’s account was debunked when documentation with the exact date of Castagno’s death surfaced—four years before Veneziano’s. In 1440, Castagno received the commission to paint on the façade of the Palazzo del Podestà in Florence, now the Bargello, a fresco (destroyed in 1494) depicting members of the Albizzi family and their associates hanging upside-down for committing treason. In 1442, he worked in Venice on the vault of the Chapel of St. Tarasius in the Church of San Zaccaria, his earliest documented work. There he rendered the figures of God the Father, saints, and Evangelists, frescoes that contributed to the introduction of the Florentine style to Venice. In c. 1445, Castagno was back in Florence painting his Crucifixion with Four Saints for the cloister of Santa Maria degli Angeli (now in the refectory of Sant’ Apollonia). Here, his interest in the accurate rendering of the human form in movement, learned from Donatello, is clearly noted. The solidity and crudeness of the figures, on the other hand, Castagno borrowed from Masaccio. In 1447, Castagno created his greatest masterpiece, the frescoes in the refectory of Sant’ Apollonia. These works include the Last Supper, which demonstrates his mastery at rendering perspective, Crucifixion, Entombment, and Resurrection. A year after their completion, Castagno was working on a series of frescoes depicting illustrious men and women in the loggia of the Villa Carducci at Legnaia (now Florence, Uffizi). The sculptural quality of the figures in the Carducci series, their anatomical details, and assertive stances again recall Donatello’s sculptures.

Castagno’s Vision of St. Jerome (c. 1454–1455), a fresco in the Church of the Santisima Annunziata, Florence, commissioned by Girolamo Corboli, presents the saint as a toothless old man with the crudity of Masaccio’s figures. Flanked by Paola and Eustochium, mother and daughter saints, Jerome views the crucified Christ above him, the vision that persuaded him to go into the desert near Antioch to learn Hebrew so he could translate the original text of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate). God the Father holds up his son as he does in Masaccio’s Holy Trinity (1427; Florence, Santa Maria Novella). Here, however, the figures are so convincingly foreshortened as to appear to be floating above the saint. Castagno’s depiction of muscles, bone structure, and the other anatomical details of Christ’s nude torso are even more convincing than in his earlier crucifixions. Corboli belonged to the Girolamite community of flagellants, which explains the reason why Christ wears a rope around his head, instead of the usual crown of thorns. Castagno’s equestrian portrait Niccolò da Tolentino (1456) in the Cathedral of Florence was conceived as a companion to Paolo Uccello’s Sir John Hawkwood on Horseback. Castagno, in fact, intended it as visual criticism of his competitor’s work. A more animated horse, with greater emphasis on its musculature, the turn of the head toward the viewer, and its fluttering tail has produced a more imposing rendition of a hero on horseback.

Castagno’s figures are by no means beautiful. Their visual impact instead depends on the accuracy of their anatomical details, the convincing response of their muscles and tendons to physical stress, and dynamic motion—the artist’s primary interests. With this, Castagno presaged the scientific approach of Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Leonardo da Vinci, three masters who would engage in human dissections to gain full understanding of the body’s structure and its functions.

CASTIGLIONE, BALDASSARE (1478–1529). Italian author and diplomat, best known for his Il cortegiano [The Courtier], first published in Venice in 1528, a work that greatly influenced Renaissance culture. Castiglione was born in Casàtico, near Mantua, where his family served as soldiers and administrators to the Mantuan court. After completing his humanistic education, he entered in the service of Ludovico “il Moro” Sforza, ruler of Milan, where he remained until 1499, the year his father died. He returned to Mantua briefly to work for Francesco Gonzaga, but soon moved to the court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. In 1513, Guidobaldo’s successor, Francesco Maria della Rovere made Castiglione a count and sent him to Rome as his ambassador. It is there that he met Raphael who in 1516 painted Castiglione’s famed portrait (Paris, Louvre). In 1524, Pope Clement VII sent Castiglione to Spain to the court of Charles V, but when in 1527 Charles’ troops sacked Rome and imprisoned the pope, the mortified Castiglione’s health deteriorated and he died in Toledo two years later. Written in the form of a philosophical discussion, Il cortegiano presents a portrayal of the court of Urbino and offers advice on the proper conduct of courtiers. For Renaissance readers, it became the standard manual for aristocratic manners. For the modern reader, it offers a glimpse of Renaissance court life.

CASTOR AND POLLUX SEIZING THE DAUGHTERS OF LEUCIPPUS (1618; Munich, Alte Pinakothek). Mythological scene painted by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda abducting the daughters of Leucippus, whom they later marry. The work utilizes an unusual rhomboidal composition that holds together effectively the two horses, two males, two females, the putto, and the fluttering draperies. The female figure with her bent leg was modeled after Michelangelo’s lost Leda and the Swan, an appropriate reference to the birth of Castor and Pollux resulting from this union. Some see the painting as an allegory of marriage, as the women are willing participants in an abduction that ultimately results in nuptials. Others see it as a political allegory that speaks of Spain’s seizure of Antwerp and Amsterdam to raise them to a higher, more prosperous level.

CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE. See FLORENCE, CATHEDRAL OF (1296–1350s).

CATHEDRAL OF SIENA. See SIENA, CATHEDRAL OF.

CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, SAINT. The legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria is believed to have been invented to provide the faithful with an exemplar of Christian moral virtue. According to this legend, Catherine was born in Alexandria to a pagan patrician family related to Emperor Constantine the Great. She converted to Christianity after experiencing a vision, and she denounced Emperor Maxentius, Constantine’s rival, for persecuting Christians. Maxentius called the greatest thinkers to Alexandria, where they debated St. Catherine on the existence of God and his incarnation. Not only did she convince them to convert to Christianity, but she also managed to convert Maxentius’ wife Faustina, his army commander, and soldiers. Maxentius condemned her to death on a spiked wheel, but an angel delivered her from her martyrdom. Finally, she was beheaded. One of the most spectacular depictions of St. Catherine of Alexandria is by Caravaggio (1598; Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection). Here the saint is shown as a heroic figure who leans on the broken wheel and holds the sword of her decapitation. Catherine’s life was depicted by Masolino in the Castiglione Chapel in the Church of San Clemente, Rome (c. 1428–1430), in five scenes, including her disputation with the sages. The saint was immensely popular in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, as she is supposed to have weakened Maxentius’ power, facilitating Constantine’s victory and establishment as sole emperor. Since he converted to Christianity, St. Catherine is considered to have played a key role in effecting the triumph of the faith over paganism. See also MYSTIC MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE.

CAVALLINI, PIETRO (PIETRO DE’ CERRONI; 1240/1250–c. 1330). Italian Proto-Renaissance painter and mosaicist from the Roman School. Lorenzo Ghiberti, who greatly admired Cavallini, left information on the extensive works rendered by the master that paint a picture of a highly successful career. Among these were cycles in Old St. Peter’s, St. Paul outside the Walls, San Francesco, San Crisogno, and Santi Maria and Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome. Of these, only the last two have survived. Cardinal Bertoldo Stefaneschi commissioned Cavallini to add a band of mosaics depicting the Virgin’s life (c. 1290) below those already in the apse of Santa Maria in Trastevere, executed in the previous century. Cavallini’s other extant commission came from the French Cardinal Jean Cholet, whose titular church was Santa Cecilia. These frescoes, now in ruinous state, depict scenes from the Old and New Testaments, including the Last Judgment (c. 1290). Scholars have noted that Cavallini’s figures bear a striking resemblance to Byzantine works from the Palaeologan dynasty. At this time, artistic exchange was common between Byzantium and western Europe, so it is quite possible that Cavallini traveled to Serbia, then part of the Byzantine Empire, to view the Palaeologan frescoes in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Sopočani, built by Italian architects.

CECILIA, SAINT. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music. She was from a Roman patrician family who raised her as a Christian and married her off to Valerian against her will. On her wedding day she did not participate in the celebrations, instead singing to God in her heart, asking him to keep her body immaculate, which is how Domenichino portrayed her (c. 1617; Paris, Louvre). Cecilia converted Valerian to Christianity and convinced him to respect her chastity. Her Christian beliefs led to her persecution. She was sentenced to die by suffocation but, when she was miraculously saved, she was partially beheaded and left to suffer a slow death. Stefano Maderno depicted her as a corpse with partially severed head (1600; Rome, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere) as she was found when her body was disinterred in 1599. She is also the subject of Domenichino’s frescoes in the Polet Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome (1612–1614), which show scenes from her life with special focus on her charity and heroism.

CELLINI, BENVENUTO (1500–1571). Florentine sculptor and goldsmith; among the most important figures of Mannerist sculpture. Cellini spent his early years in Rome, creating mainly medals and decorative objects. From 1540 to 1545, he worked for King Francis I of France for whom he created a gold and enamel salt cellar (1540–1544; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) adorned with figures of Neptune, god of the sea, and Tellus, goddess of the Earth, to denote the two places from which salt and pepper respectively originate. At the king’s Palace of Fontainebleau, Cellini created a bronze relief lunette above a doorway depicting Diana, goddess of the hunt (1542–1544; Paris, Louvre). In 1545, he returned to Florence to work for Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, creating for him the Perseus and Medusa (1545–1554) to be placed in the Palazzo Vecchio’s Loggia dei Lanzi alongside Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes (1459). Cellini considered this pairing when he rendered his work. Both sculptures show the heroes reacting passively to the horror of the event and both feature two figures forming a vertical composition, with the victim resting on a cushion. Other works by Cellini include the bust portraits Bindo Altoviti (1549; Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) and Cosimo I de’ Medici (c. 1545–1548; Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello) and his Crucifixion in El Escorial (1556–1562). Cellini was also an author, penning his autobiography in 1558–1562, a work that reveals his egotistic personality, violent tendencies, and tumultuous life.

CENTO MADONNA (1591; Cento, Museo Civico). Ludovico Carracci rendered the Cento Madonna for the Capuchin Church of Cento, near Bologna. St. Francis, who was important to the Capuchins because the statutes of their order depend on that of the Franciscans, kneels at the foot of the throne occupied by the Virgin and Child. He pleads to the Virgin to view favorably the donors of the altarpiece, shown on the lower right. On the lower left is another Franciscan, possibly Brother Leo, Francis’ faithful companion, while behind the throne two angels discuss the event. St. Joseph sits to the right, leaning his elbow on the throne. He is shown below the Virgin and Child to denote his lack of involvement in Christ’s conception. Venetian influence on this work is clear. The elevated throne of the Virgin, the architectural elements that frame the scene, and the outdoor setting, all stem from Venetian art. Yet the emotive components, the dynamic poses of the Virgin and Child, both of whom lean forward to listen to the St. Francis’ plea, and the closeness of the figures to the viewer are particular to Ludovico’s style. One of the most admired works by Ludovico, the Cento Madonna exerted particular influence on the art of Guercino, a native of Cento.

CENTRAL PLAN. An architectural plan that is circular, polygonal, or square. The earliest central plan structure of the Renaissance was Filippo Brunelleschi’s Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, built in 1434–1437 for the Camaldolite Order. Centrally planned buildings are often capped by a dome. Donato Bramante’s Tempietto in Rome (c. 1502–1512) is such an example, inspired by Early Christian martyria that mark the spot where saints were martyred. Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel, Florence (1433–1461), is a square-domed central structure flanked by a rectangle at either side. A central plan can also be shaped like a Greek cross with arms of equal length, like Bramante’s design for New St. Peter’s (1506), which became the basis for Michelangelo’s final version of the structure (fin. 1564).

CERASI CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME (1600). The success of the Contarelli Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome resulted in further public commissions for Caravaggio, including the Cerasi Chapel. Here, Caravaggio had the opportunity to work alongside Annibale Carracci who painted the altarpiece titled the Assumption of the Virgin. The chapel belonged to Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, treasurer general to Clement VIII. His friend Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, who purchased Caravaggio’s rejected altarpiece for the Contarelli Chapel, acted as the adviser on the project. Caravaggio painted two scenes: the Crucifixion of St. Peter and Conversion of St. Paul. A precedent already existed for this juxtaposition—the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican by Michelangelo (1542–1550). The Crucifixion of St. Peter places the saint in a diagonal toward the altar. He is depicted as a strong, muscular figure to denote the strength of the Christian church he founded. The Conversion of St. Paul shows the apparition that caused the saint to embrace Christianity as a dramatic burst of light that corresponds to that entering the chapel in the afternoon hours. Having fallen off his horse, Paul extends his arms in a Hebrew gesture of prayer, while the animal’s caretaker remains in the dark and is oblivious of the miraculous event unfolding. As in the Crucifixion, St. Paul is placed in a diagonal that directs the viewer’s attention to the altar. These two paintings, with their dramatic chiaroscuro, theatrical gestures, crude figure types, rich Venetianized palette, and dark, undefined backgrounds, provide a major contrast to Annibale’s Assumption. Annibale’s work takes place in a well-defined outdoor setting, populated by a large number of figures, with more subdued chiaroscuro. While Caravaggio depicted nature with all its imperfections and the otherworldly only as light, Annibale had no qualms about showing the Virgin on a cloud being raised up to heaven by cherubs. This serves to illustrate the vastly different approaches of the two major figures of the early Baroque era.

CERCEAU, JEAN DU (c. 1585–1650). Member of a French family of architects founded by his grandfather, Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. Jean du Cerceau is best known for his design of the Hôtel de Sully in Paris (beg. 1625), built for the financier Mesme Gallet in the vicinity of the new Place Royale (now Place des Vosges), part of Henry IV’s urban improvement and then one of the city’s most aristocratic neighborhoods. It is called Sully after Henry IV’s minister Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, who purchased the property in 1634. The structure is a typical French château with a corps-de-logis (main body) flanked by wings, faced with heavy ornamentation and textures, and featuring an alternation of pedimented windows and niches filled with allegorical sculpted figures.

CHANTELOU, PAUL FRÉART DE (1609–1694). French collector, connoisseur, and writer who served as steward to King Louis XIV of France. Chantelou is important to the history of art in that the king asked him to escort Gian Lorenzo Bernini through Paris in 1665 when the artist arrived to finalize the details of the east façade of the Louvre commission. On the occasion, Chantelou kept a diary recording the details of Bernini’s visit as well as discussions they had on the master’s working methods, commissions, and artistic philosophy. For this, the diary is a pivotal document to the history of Baroque art. Also pivotal is a letter Nicolas Poussin wrote to Chantelou, one of his patrons, in 1647 comparing the various expressive means he used in one of his works to the ancient Greek musical modes. The remarks Poussin made in this letter became the basis for his Theory of Modes and his Grande Maniera.

CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V, VATICAN (CAPPELLA NICOLINA; 1448). In 1448, Pope Nicholas V charged Fra Angelico with the commission to render frescoes in his private chapel at the Vatican depicting the lives of Sts. Stephen and Lawrence. Based on the biblical Acts of the Apostles and Jacobus da Voragine’s Golden Legend, respectively, the scenes depict the consecration of each saint as deacon, their distribution of alms to the poor, their judgments, and martyrdoms. Additionally, St. Stephen is shown preaching in the presence of the Doctors of the Church, and St. Lawrence receives the treasures of the Church from Pope Sixtus II, who in the frescoes bears Nicholas V’s likeness. The reason for the pairing of these two saints is that St. Stephen’s body arrived in Rome from Jerusalem in the sixth century, and was then reburied at S. Lorenzo Fuori le Mura alongside St. Lawrence’s remains. Nicholas V had the saints’ tombs reopened in 1447, and both were found to be well preserved. The frescoes in Nicholas’ chapel celebrate this miraculous event.

CHARLES I OF ENGLAND (1600–1649). The son of James I and Anne of Denmark, Charles I became next in line to the British throne in 1612 when his elder brother died. In 1623, negotiations for his marriage to the Infanta Maria of Spain began, but these fell through when the Spaniards demanded that Charles convert to Catholicism. Instead he married Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of Henry IV and Marie de’ Medici, also a Catholic. He ascended the throne in 1625. Confrontations with Parliament and the Puritans, who opposed his marriage to a Catholic and his religious policies, resulted in civil war, his trial, and execution. Charles was an important patron of the arts. Orazio Gentileschi became his court painter in 1625 and rendered the Allegory of Peace on the ceiling of the Queen’s House in Greenwich (1638–1639), built by Inigo Jones. Peter Paul Rubens painted for Charles the Apotheosis of James I (1629) for Inigo’s Banqueting House in Whitehall Palace, in front of which the king was executed in 1649. Anthony van Dyck was also in Charles’ court and painted Le Roi à la Chasse [Portrait of Charles I; 1635; Paris Louvre], one of the most remarkable royal portraits in history.

CHARLES V OF SPAIN, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR (1500–1558). Charles V was the son of Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, and Juana la Loca of Castile. Born in Ghent, he was brought up in Flanders and, when his father died in 1506, he inherited the duchy of Burgundy, with his aunt, Margaret of Austria, serving as regent until 1515 when he reached the majority. In 1517, Charles took the Spanish throne and, in 1519 he became Holy Roman Emperor. In 1521, he invaded Northern Italy, at the time controlled by the French, and then in Germany he convoked the Diet of Worms where he vehemently opposed the doctrines of Martin Luther, vowed to fight heresy, and enacted the edict that outlawed Lutheranism. In 1525, he captured Francis I of France in Pavia and forced him to sign the Treaty of Madrid with which Francis renounced his claims to Northern Italy and ceded Burgundy to Charles. As soon as he was released, however, Francis recanted and formed the League of Cognac with Pope Clement VII, Venice, Milan, and Florence against the emperor. Charles retaliated by sacking Rome in 1527. In 1554, he ceded Naples and Sicily to his son Philip II. In the following year, he also gave him the Netherlands, and in 1556 he made him king of Spain and gave him Milan. In 1558, he abdicated the imperial throne, giving it to his brother Ferdinand I, and retired to the Monastery of Yuste, near Cáceres, Spain, where he lived out the rest of his days. Charles V was the patron of Titian, who spent nine months in Germany painting portraits of the emperor and his family, including the famed Charles V on Horseback (1548; Madrid, Prado). Charles was so pleased with Titian that he conferred the knighthood upon him. Bernard van Orley and Pieter Coecke were also his court painters.

CHARLES V ON HORSEBACK (1548, Madrid, Prado). Titian painted this equestrian portrait of Charles V in 1548 when he spent nine months in Germany rendering the likenesses of the emperor and members of his family. The painting commemorates Charles’ victory in the Battle of Mühlberg of 1547 against the Schmalkaldic League formed by Protestant princes to defend themselves from the imperial forces. Since antiquity, the ability to ride a horse was equated with the ability to rule and engage successfully in battle. In this portrait, Titian depicted Charles as a heroic and triumphant ruler. He wears his official military garb with a royal sash across his chest, and holds a lance as if ready for combat. The scene is made more poignant by the crepuscular sky in the background, demonstrating Titian’s ability to render natural lighting effects. When Charles abdicated the imperial throne in 1558, he retired to Spain, and there the portrait was studied by Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez, who used it as their prototype for their portraits of members of the Spanish court.

CHARONTON, ENGUERRAND (ENGUERRAND QUARTON; c. 1420–1466). French painter from Laon who moved to Southern France in 1444 where he was active in Aix-en-Provence, Arles, and Avignon. From the banker Pierre Cadard, Charonton received the commission to paint the Virgin of Mercy (1452; Chantilly, Musée Condé) for the Celestine Convent of Avignon. In the work, executed in collaboration with Pierre Villate of Limoges, members of the clergy and monarchy kneel under the protection of the Virgin’s open mantle. Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist recommend Cadard’s parents—Jean, the physician to Charles VI’s children, and his wife, Jeanne des Moulins—who kneel in prayer at either side. Charonton also painted the Coronation of the Virgin (1454; Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, Musée de l’Hospice) for the Church of the Carthusians in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Below the main scene is a crucifixion flanked by the cities of Jerusalem and Rome and angels who carry the souls of the blessed up to heaven, with the donor, the priest Jean de Montagnac, at the foot of the cross. On the lowest portion of the painting are depictions of purgatory and hell. The most striking aspects of Charonton’s work are the aesthetic appeal of the Virgin, the use of brilliant colors, the hierarchic placement of the figures, and the clear organization of the complex scene.

CHIAROSCURO. An Italian term that refers to the contrasts of light and dark in a painting. This means that the forms are not defined by contouring lines but rather by the juxtaposition of light and dark areas. Caravaggio was one of the masters best known for his bold use of chiaroscuro. He lit his figures from a single, usually hidden, source to create theatrical effects that enhanced the drama of his scenes—his purpose to appeal to the senses or to solicit religious devotion from the faithful. In his Calling of St. Matthew (1599–1600) in the Contarelli Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, for instance, he set his figures against a dark background, lighting only the main protagonists in strategic places to call attention to the significance of the moment when Christ invites the saint to join him.

CHIGI, AGOSTINO (1465–1520). Sienese banker who made his fortune through shipping and real estate. Agostino Chigi was also the main financier of the papacy under popes Alexander VI, Julius II, and Leo X, and he held the monopoly of the alum mines of Tolfa. This made him the richest man in Rome. Agostino was infamous for his unrestrained behavior. He hosted a banquet in the loggia of his Villa Farnesina, built for him by Baldassare Peruzzi along the banks of the Tiber River and decorated by Peruzzi, Raphael, and Sebastiano del Piombo. Guests were served dinner on silver and gold plates that were tossed by servants into the river as they cleared them from the table. After the astounded guests left the banquet, the servants retrieved the plates that had fallen on strategically placed nets. Agostino, a cultured individual with great interest in humanism and antiquity, was also the patron of Pietro Aretino.

CHIOSTRO VERDE, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE (GREEN CLOISTER). The Chiostro Verde owes its name to the frescoes painted on its walls by Paolo Uccello and assistants in a green monochrome palette with terra verde (green earth), a pigment with a high iron-oxide content. Begun in 1430, these works depict scenes from the Book of Genesis and were heavily damaged in 1966 when a major flood occurred in Florence. The frescoes are arranged in two tiers and cover the patriarchal ages of Noah, Abraham, and Isaac, emphasizing the themes of ancestry and inheritance. From among the scenes, The Deluge (c. 1450) stands out as a masterful study in perspective and foreshortening. Here, Noah’s ark is shown from two angles. On the left is a heavy storm with lightning and wind-god included and victims who desperately try to stay afloat. On the right emerges Noah from the ark to see the dove return with the olive branch taken from dry land. The scene unfolds in a space that recedes rapidly in the distance. It conflates the fury of nature with the desperation of humans faced with a horrid ordeal. Uccello’s Sacrifice of Noah and Drunkenness of Noah (c. 1450) also demonstrate his command of perspective. Here, God the Father is foreshortened so effectively as to appear to be floating above the other figures, and the pergola that supports the vines recedes convincingly into space.

CHOIR. In a church, the choir comprises the transept, crossing (where the transept and nave cross), and apse. In medieval times, the choir was separated from the nave by a rood screen, eventually eliminated to conform to changes in liturgy. The choir is often decorated with frescoes. One example is the cycle depicting the lives of Sts. Stephen and John the Baptist by Fra Filippo Lippi in the Prato Cathedral (1452–1466). Benozzo Gozzoli’s first major commission was to fresco the choir of San Francesco in Montefalco with the life of St. Francis, which he completed in 1452, and Domenico del Ghirlandaio’s most important fresco cycle is in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, depicting the lives of the Virgin and St. John the Baptist (1485–1490).

CHOLET, CARDINAL JEAN (c. 1212/1220–1292). Jean Cholet was made cardinal in 1281 by Pope Martin IV. He served as legate in Gerona, Spain, where in 1285 he crowned Charles of Valois, son of Philip III the Bold, king of Aragon, with his own hat after Martin IV had deposed Peter III the Great for his recent conquest of Sicily. Cardinal Cholet commissioned Arnolfo di Cambio and Pietro Cavallini to embellish Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, his titular church. Arnolfo was charged with creating the baldachin or ceremonial canopy (1293) over the main altar and Cavallini with painting a series of frescoes, including the Last Judgment (c. 1290). Cholet had a magnificent collection of manuscripts and bequeathed approximately 2,400 volumes to the Abbey of Saint Lucien, Beauvais, where he is buried.

CHRIST’S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem marked the beginning of the Passion and is celebrated yearly by Christians on Palm Sunday. Christ rode through the city gates on a donkey while his followers cut tree branches and laid them on the ground in front of him as they praised him. Examples of the scene in art include Giotto’s version in the Arena Chapel in Padua (1305), Duccio’s in the Maestà Altarpiece (1308–1311; Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo), Pietro Lorenzetti’s (c. 1320–1330) in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi, the Limbourg brothers’ in Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (fol. No. 173v; 1416; Chantilly, Musée Condé), and Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut in the London British Museum (1511). See also JEAN, DUC DE BERRY.

CHRISTUS, PETRUS (c. 1410–1472/1473). Flemish painter who continued Jan van Eyck’s style, which has prompted scholars to suggest that he was van Eyck’s pupil. Petrus Christus is first documented in 1444, when he was granted citizenship in Bruges. In 1454, he was commissioned by the Count of Etampes to render three copies of an image of the Virgin in Cambrai said to have effected miracles. In 1457, a Piero of Bruges is recorded in the Sforza court of Milan, though it is not certain if he is the same Petrus Christus who was active in the North.

Petrus’ Exeter Madonna (1444; Berlin, Staatliche Museen) and Nativity (c. 1445; Washington, National Gallery) are among his earliest extant works. The first borrows elements from van Eyck’s Madonna with the Chancellor Nicolas Rolin (c. 1433; Paris Louvre) and the second unites Eyckian features, particularly the treatment of the kneeling angels, with Rogier van der Weyden’s treatment of architecture. The swooning Virgin and mourners clasping their hands together in Petrus’ Lamentation (c. 1448; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) recall like features in van der Weyden’s Deposition (c. 1438; Madrid, Prado). His St. Eligius as a Goldsmith (1449; New York, Metropolitan Museum) presents the metalsmith in his shop selling a wedding ring he weighs on a hand-held scale to a young couple. A girdle used for wedding ceremonies rests on the shop counter in the foreground. Also on the counter is a convex mirror that reflects the market square where the shop is located, as well as two male figures who look in—a feature that calls to mind van Eyck’s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (1434; London, National Gallery). With the mirror, Petrus, like van Eyck, cleverly united the pictorial space with that occupied by viewers. Petrus was also an accomplished portraitist. His Portrait of a Carthusian (c. 1446; New York, Metropolitan Museum) shows the man behind a parapet upon which perches a fly. Some have suggested that the insect is there as reminder of the transience of life, though it could be that Petrus was simply showing his ability to fool the eye.

CHRISTUS TRIUMPHANS. In English, Christ Triumphant. A symbolic image, typical of the Maniera Greca style, where Christ is shown alive on the cross to denote that he has triumphed over death. The figure is usually depicted with a serene facial expression and opened eyes directed at the viewer. On the apron, at either side of Christ, the Virgin Mary usually presents her son as the Savior by pointing in his direction and St. John brings his right hand to his head in a traditional gesture of grief. One such Crucifixion type where the artist who rendered it is known by name is Berlinghiero Berlinghieri’s example at the Lucca Pinacoteca, which dates to the early 13th century. The type was replaced by the second half of the 13th century with the Christus Patiens [Suffering Christ], a change attributed to Franciscan influence.

CIMABUE (CENNI DI PEPI; active c. 1272–1302). Considered the leading painter of the Florentine School in the 13th century, and the one to have brought the Maniera Greca style to its highest refinement. Cimabue (dehorner of oxen) was a nickname he received as a result of his supposed aggressive disposition. The Enthroned Madonna and Child (c. 1280; Florence, Uffizi) painted for the Church of Santa Trinità, Florence, is usually attributed to the artist. The altarpiece stands out from others of the period in its monumental scale (at the time, the largest altarpiece ever created) and the attempt to construct a three-dimensional space around the figures. Cimabue is documented in Rome in 1272, where he must have seen Early Christian and medieval examples that may have inspired his monumental panel. Two Crucifixions, one at San Domenico in Arezzo (c. 1280) and the other at Santa Croce, Florence (c. 1287–1288), are also attributed to him. In these examples, the apron is filled with decorative patterning, rather than the usual figures or narratives, which places all focus on the crucified Christ. Sometime after 1279, Cimabue went to Assisi to work on the frescoes of San Francesco, which the church built to mark the burial site of St. Francis. In the apse, he painted the life of the Virgin and in the transept two crucifixions, an Apocalypse, and episodes from the lives of Sts. Peter and Paul (attributed to Cimabue’s assistants). These frescoes are heavily damaged, mainly due to the oxidation of the white lead paint the artist used. In spite of this, one can still appreciate Cimabue’s desire to move toward greater realism and emotional content. In particular, the Crucifixion on the left transept shows intense drama, underscored by the windswept draperies of the figures and their poignant gestures.

CIOMPI REVOLT (1378). The Ciompi were day laborers who worked in Florence in the wool cloth industry. In 1378, they revolted for not being allowed to form a guild and hence were being deprived of political representation. They forced the government to grant them guild status and to enact concessions that improved their living conditions. For a few weeks, Florence experienced a true democracy that granted its fair share to the working class, but the enactments were cancelled when the city’s guilds pulled together to bring back the old order. Though the effects of the Ciompi Revolt were short lived, it helped consolidate the oligarchic political system of the Albizzi and later the Medici in Florence.

CLASSICISM. In art and architecture, classicism is a term used to refer to a style that has affinities to the visual vocabulary of the Greco-Roman era. This style adheres to the Greco-Roman ideal of beauty achieved through harmony of proportions, simplicity of ornamentation, and emotional restraint. The artist of the Renaissance who best exemplifies the adoption of classicism in painting is Raphael. In sculpture, it was Lorenzo Ghiberti who reintroduced classicism to the field by studying ancient prototypes, while in architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi was the first to reject Gothic forms in favor of an ancient vocabulary and rational principles of construction.

CLEMENT VII (GIULIO DE’ MEDICI; r. 1523–1534). Clement VII was the illegitimate son of Giuliano de’ Medici, who was killed in the Pazzi Conspiracy. In 1513, he was appointed archbishop of Florence and cardinal by his cousin, Pope Leo X, who, in 1517, also made him his vice-chancellor. Having attained the throne in 1523, Clement was faced with the struggle between France and Spain for control over Northern Italy. In 1524, he allied himself with Francis I of France, but, when Francis was captured in Pavia in the following year, he had no choice but to seek the protection of Charles V. In 1526, in an effort to limit Charles’ power, the pope again changed sides, joining the League of Cognac with France, Milan, Florence, and Venice. In retaliation, Charles sacked Rome (1527) and took Clement prisoner. The pope was released after he agreed to allow Charles to occupy several cities in the Papal States. In 1529, Clement allied himself with Charles against the Protestants in Germany and the Turks, who were then advancing on Vienna. In 1530, he crowned Charles Holy Roman Emperor in exchange for the reinstatement of Medici rule in Florence. Clement was the patron of Pietro Aretino and Niccolò Machiavelli. He commissioned from Michelangelo the Laurentian Library (1524–1534) and New Sacristy of San Lorenzo (1519–1534) in Florence, as well as the Transfiguration (1517; Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana) from Raphael.

CLERESTORY. The term refers to the row of windows in the upper part of a wall. Clerestories were used by the ancient Romans in their basilicas, baths, and other such structures to bring light into the interior. The Early Christian masters borrowed the Roman basilican plans to build religious structures. As a result, clerestories became a common feature of churches, placed above the nave arcade to bring light into the nave. In the medieval era, clerestory windows were often filled with stained glass to enhance the building’s sacred character.

CLEVE, JOOS VAN (JOOS VAN DER BEKE; c. 1485–1540/1541). Painter from the city of Cleve in the lower Rhine who was active in Antwerp after 1511. Van Cleve was elected dean of the Guild of Painters in Antwerp in 1515, and again in 1525. He is believed to have trained with Jan Joest with whom he worked on the Altar of St. Nicholas in Calcar in 1505–1508. He also collaborated with Joachim Patinir, as Karel van Mander informs. The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1515–1524; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts), previously given exclusively to Patinir, is now viewed as a collaboration with van Cleve. Sometime after 1530, van Cleve went to work for Francis I of France in whose court he became acquainted with Leonardo da Vinci’s style. His portrait of Francis in the John G. Johnson Collection in Philadelphia (after 1530) shows the king as a voluminous figure, modeled through the use of chiaroscuro—elements borrowed from Leonardo, combined with the Northern emphasis on the details of the face and hands that lean on a parapet. Van Cleve’s Last Judgment (c. 1520–1525; New York, Metropolitan Museum) also presents a blend of Northern and Italianate elements. The Mannerist crowding of figures and their elongation and contortions demonstrate van Cleve’s interest in the latest Italian movements. The brilliant colors, nonclassical nudes, and nonidealized figure of Christ are common features of Northern art. Van Cleve, together with Jan Gossart, Jan van Scorel, and Bernard van Orley, is classified as a Romanist master and credited with introducing to the Low Countries the Italianate mode of painting.

CLOUET, FRANÇOIS (c. 1510–1572). François Clouet succeeded his father Jean as court painter in France. He worked in this capacity for kings Henry II, Francis II, and Charles IX. His Lady in Her Bath (c. 1550–1570; Washington, National Gallery) is one of two of his signed works and is thought by some to depict Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II. Others identify her as Marie Touchet, the mistress of Charles IX. The half-length idealized nude in the painting is rendered in the Italianate mode, while the rest of the elements in the work are Flemish, including the nursing woman, symbol of domesticity; the maidservant who brings water for the bath, symbol of temperance; the fruits in the foreground a young boy picks, symbol of the transience of youth; and the pearls worn by the central figure, which are there to indicate her chastity. The portrait Apothecary Pierre Quthe (1562; Paris, Louvre) is Clouet’s other signed work. It presents the sitter with an opened herbarium, a reference to the garden of medicinal plants he kept. Like the Lady in Her Bath, this work depends on Italian and Northern prototypes, specifically the male portraits of Agnolo Bronzino and Anthonis Mor.

CLOUET, JEAN (c. 1485–1540). Painter active in the French court of Francis I. Clouet’s biographical details are sketchy. He may have been born in Flanders and arrived in France at an early age. He is documented in 1516 as one of the artists serving the French king. By 1528, he was the court’s chief painter. Only a handful of panel works by Clouet survive, mainly portraits and miniatures, though documents reveal that he also rendered some altarpieces in Tours, which have not been traced. Among the works attributable to him are Madame de Canaples (1525; Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland), the Man Holding Petrarch’s Works (c. 1530; Windsor, Royal Collection), and the portrait Francis I (c. 1525; Paris, Louvre), this last sometimes also attributed to his son, François Clouet. These works demonstrate that his style owes a debt to the Flemish school, particularly in the emphasis on the facial features and hands, the details of the costumes, and the half-length poses. A group of approximately 130 drawing portraits in charcoal or chalk in the Musée Conde, Chantilly, has also been attributed to Clouet. These record the likenesses of members of the French court and exhibit greater simplicity and realism than his panel portraits.

COECKE VAN AELST, PIETER (1502–1550). Netherlandish painter, trained by Bernard van Orley. Coecke traveled to Italy sometime after 1517, when his training ended. By 1527, he was back in the Netherlands where he settled in Antwerp and entered the Guild of Painters. In 1533, he is documented in Constantinople unsuccessfully trying to obtain tapestry commissions and, in the following year, he became court painter to Emperor Charles V. He may have taken part in the conquest of Tunis by Charles’ army in 1535. Coecke was also a sculptor, architect, and designer of stained glass, as well as the author of a book titled The Manners and Customs of the Turks, published posthumously by his wife. Coecke’s Last Supper (1531; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) shows his awareness of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the same subject in Milan (1497–1498) as he too placed Judas opposite Christ and gave his figures animated movement, the scene unfolding in a classical setting. The work was so successful that 41 copies of it remain in various museums around the world.

COFFER. In architecture, a coffer is a sunken panel on a ceiling or dome that has both structural and ornamental purposes. Structurally, it lightens the ceiling as less concrete or other materials are needed for its construction. Coffers were a common feature of Roman architecture, as exemplified by those forming the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. Renaissance architects revived the use of coffers in the 15th century, among them Leon Battista Alberti who coffered the barrel vault over the nave of Sant’ Andrea, Mantua (beg. 1470), to direct the viewer’s eyes to the altar. Other examples include the entrance vestibule in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome (c. 1513–1589), built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, where the barrel vault is coffered, and the entrance to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, Rome (1637–1656), by Francesco Borromini, which is contained in a coffered niche in perspective.

COLLEONI MONUMENT, CAMPO DEI SANTI GIOVANNI E PAOLO, VENICE (1481–1496). Executed by Andrea del Verrocchio, this monument commemorates Bartolomeo Colleoni, commander of the Venetian army who left in his will 100,000 ducats to the Venetian Republic to finance the war against the Turks and to erect his monument on the Piazza San Marco in Venice. The Venetian government complied with his wishes, save for the fact that they erected the statue in the Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, not the piazza. Loosely based on Donatello’s Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata in Padua (c. 1445–1453; Piazza del Santo), Colleoni’s shows the commander on his horse rendered as a more powerful and energetic figure than Donatello’s. Colleoni presses his legs against the stirrups to raise himself higher, pushes his chest forward, and turns his head to the side—elements that have produced a dynamic composition and that grant the subject an aura of heroism. Colleoni’s facial features are that of a lion, reflecting Verrocchio’s interest in physiognomy, which was to influence his pupil Leonardo da Vinci who shared his interest. The work was not meant as a true portrait of the sitter but rather as a depiction of the ideal army commander.

COLOSSEUM PRINCIPLE. In architecture, the term applies to the stacking of the classical architectural orders on the exterior of a building in emulation of the Colosseum in Rome. Usually the Doric, the heavier and more masculine of the orders, is used for the lower story to grant the structure a visually solid base. The Ionic order, more feminine and ornate than the Doric, is used for the second story, and the Corinthian, the lightest and most decorative of the three, for the third level. Leon Battista Alberti was the first to apply this principle to Renaissance architecture in the Palazzo Rucellai, Florence (beg. c. 1453). Giuliano da Sangallo applied it to the façade of the Church of Santa Maria delle Carceri (1484–1492) in Prato and Jacopo Sansovino to the Library of St. Mark, Venice (1537–1580s). When the classical vocabulary of the Italian architects spread to other parts of Europe, in France Philibert de L’Orme applied the Colosseum principle to his Château d’Anet (beg. 1550) and François Mansart to the Church of Feuillants (1623–1624), both in Paris. In England, Inigo Jones used it in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace (1619–1622).

COMMENTARII (c. 1447–1448). The Commentarii, written by Lorenzo Ghiberti, is the first Renaissance text to provide the autobiography of an artist and a survey of Florentine art. It also offers discussion on the works from antiquity, the Sienese masters of the 14th century, and optics. In it, the author laments the destruction of ancient statuary for fear of idolatry, praises the Byzantine revival of art (which he qualifies as crude), and credits the rise of painting in all its glory to Giotto. His discussion continues with Giotto’s followers and other masters working in Florence and Siena. It culminates with Ghiberti’s account of his own activities, demonstrating his conscious desire to place himself within an artistic tradition. Ghiberti calls himself a student of nature who applies what he observes to his own art and praises his own achievements, particularly his victory in the competition for the east doors (1403–1424) of the Baptistery of Florence. His text is important in that it provides a wealth of information on the artists he discusses and their works, some of which no longer exist. It also enhances today’s understanding of Renaissance attitudes, including the celebration of individual achievement and the gauging of good art by how well it emulates the work of the ancients.

CONCERT OF YOUTHS (1595, New York, Metropolitan Museum). This is the first commission Caravaggio received from Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, one of his early patrons. It depicts three young men dressed all’ antica engaging in music making. Caravaggio’s inspiration for this theme came from the works of artists active in Venice, such as Lorenzo Lotto and Palma Vecchio, who depicted women in contemporary garb engaged in similar activities. Caravaggio transformed these scenes of aristocratic leisure into a mythological rendering, as noted by the presence of the winged Eros (Cupid), god of love. The music sheet in the foreground is there to invite the viewer to join the young men in their activity. Musical instruments are a symbol of love and also of harmony. This, coupled with the erotic appearance of the figures, enhances the theme of amorous enticement that permeates the painting.

CONDOTTIERI. Condottieri were mercenary military commanders employed by rulers of Italian city-states from the medieval era until roughly the end of the 15th century. The word condottieri derives from the fact that the military contract they signed was called a condotta. Among the most prominent condottieri were members of the Lupi family, who served the rulers of Carrara in the 14th century; Micheleto da Cotignola and Niccolò da Tolentino who participated in the Battle of San Romano on the side of Florence, as depicted by Paolo Uccello in the painting of the same name (1430s; London, National Gallery; Paris, Louvre, and Florence, Uffizi); Erasmo de Narni, called Gattamelata, whose equestrian monument by Donatello is in the Piazza del Santo in Padua (c. 1445–1453); Bracciolo da Montone who trained Lionello d’Este of Ferrara on the military arts; Federico da Montefeltro, ruler of Urbino, who supported his city’s economy by acting as military commander for hire; and Bartolomeo Colleoni, whose monument (1481–1496) by Andrea del Verrocchio stands in the Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.

CONFRATERNITIES. Confraternities (in Italian, confraternite) were quasi-religious brotherhoods that existed throughout the towns and cities of Italy. Members came together to perform charitable deeds and also to socialize. Confraternities were responsible for generating much of the art created during the Renaissance. Their meeting halls were often decorated with frescoes. They also required altarpieces, crosses, and banners to be carried by members during processions. The outside walls of the Confraternity of the Bigallo in Florence, for example, was decorated with frescoes that advertised their function: to care for the orphaned children of Florence and to find suitable adoptive mothers for them. The same confraternity commissioned Bernardo Daddi to paint the Bigallo Triptych (1312–1348; Florence, Museo del Bigallo), a portable work depicting the Enthroned Virgin and Child. The Confraternity of the Misericordia in San Sepolcro, who cared for the ill and buried the dead, commissioned Piero della Francesca to paint the Misericordia Altarpiece in 1445, and the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci the Madonna of the Rocks (1483–1486; Paris, Louvre) for the Church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. In Venice, confraternities were called scuole. The Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista commissioned Gentile Bellini to paint the Procession of the Relic of the True Cross (1496) and the Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo (1500), both now in the Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice. Vittore Carpaccio was commissioned by the Venetian Confraternity of St. Ursula to paint a series depicting the story of their patron saint and, from 1564 until 1587, Tintoretto created a number of religious works for the Scuola di San Rocco.

CONTARELLI CHAPEL, SAN LUIGI DEI FRANCESI, ROME (1599–1600, 1602). The Contarelli Chapel was Caravaggio’s first public commission. It belonged to the French Cardinal Mattieu Cointrel (in Italian, Contarelli) who in 1585 left funds in his will for its decoration. According to Giovanni Baglione, Caravaggio received the commission through his patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who was a friend of Virgilio Crescenzi, the executor of Cointrel’s will. The two scenes chosen, meant for the chapel’s lateral walls, were from the life of St. Matthew, Cointrel’s namesaint. The first, the Calling of St. Matthew, shows Christ pointing to the saint as if asking him to become one of his disciples—a gesture borrowed from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the Sistine ceiling, Rome (1508–1512). Next to him is St. Peter, like Christ dressed all’ antica to stand out against the rest of the protagonists who are garbed in theatrical costumes. St. Matthew, who was a tax collector, counts the money on the table, while a repoussoir figure in the foreground directs the viewer into the scene. Only the saint is aware of Christ’s presence and the only one touched by the dramatic light that enters the room from a hidden source on the upper right. The eyeglasses of the figure standing by St. Matthew has been read as symbol of the shortsightedness of those who engage in the sin of usury. The second scene is the Martyrdom of St. Matthew, which proved to be a major challenge for Caravaggio. The contract stipulated that it take place in the interior of a church and include a large number of figures. X-rays reveal many pentimenti, with major changes to the setting and the scale of the figures. The final scene, inspired by Tintoretto’s St. Mark Freeing a Christian Slave (1548; Venice, Galleria dell’ Accademia), resulted in a successful rendition of a man who chose to die rather than renounce the faith—a timely subject for the era of the Counter-Reformation. The tenebristic lighting Caravaggio used in these two paintings and the strong diagonals included to enhance movement add to the theatricality and emotive quality of the works.

In 1602, Caravaggio was called back to render his St. Matthew and the Angel for the altar wall. He painted a first version (destroyed in 1945) showing the saint writing his gospel guided by an angel, his crossed legs the attribute of scholars. The painting was rejected as the saint’s perplexed expression in reaction to the angel guiding his hand was read as a sign of feeblemindedness and his exposed limbs were deemed indecorous. The rejected version was purchased by Vincenzo Giustiniani, who appreciated Caravaggio’s intentions. Caravaggio then created a second version that presented St. Matthew as an ancient philosopher with a halo to denote his divinity and the angel enumerating the words of God rather than guiding the saint’s hand. The Contarelli Chapel proved to be a major success and placed Caravaggio among the most sought-after masters of his era.

CONTINUOUS NARRATIVE. A technique used to depict several episodes of a story on one pictorial field. Masaccio’s Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence (c. 1425), for instance, presents in three episodes the arrival of Christ and the apostles at Capernaum. Lorenzo Ghiberti was able to organize coherently the multiple scenes of the story of Jacob and Esau in his Gates of Paradise (1425–1452) for the Baptistery of Florence by utilizing this method. Fra Filippo Lippi also used a continuous narrative technique in his frescoes in the choir of Prato Cathedral (1452–1466).

CONTRAPPOSTO. The posing of figures in sculpture and painting that imitates the natural human stance. When the human body stands in a relaxed pose, one leg bears its weight (the engaged leg) while the other remains free. In this position, the hips and shoulders form opposing diagonals. Contrapposto was developed by Greek sculptors and painters of the classical era and constituted a major breakthrough as it allowed for the naturalistic rendering of the human form. It also allowed for the representation of the body in motion. In the 15th century, contrapposto was reintroduced into art to recreate the freedom of movement found in Greco-Roman examples. Donatello used it first in his St. Mark at Orsanmichele, Florence (1411–1413), and Masaccio in his Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence (c. 1425). The contrapposto technique was pushed to its limits in the 16th and 17th centuries when artists, eager to show off their artistic skill, used it to convey human experience and emotions.

COPPO DI MARCOVALDO (c. 1225–1274). Florentine artist who painted in the Maniera Greca tradition. Coppo di Marcovaldo fought in the Guelf Florentine army during the Monteaperti Battle of 1260. He was captured and taken prisoner by the Sienese and, after his release, he settled permanently in Siena. Scholars attribute the emotional content of his works to his war experiences, though the spread of Franciscan doctrines in the 13th century also may have played a part in this. Undeniable is his role as one of the founders of the Sienese School. The Monteaperti Battle was won by the Sienese Ghibellines and to give thanks to the Virgin for their victory, they commissioned Coppo to paint the main altarpiece for their Church of Santa Maria dei Servi, the Madonna del Bordone, a work signed and dated 1261. Also signed and dated is Coppo’s Crucifixion in the Cathedral of Pistoia (1274). Two other panels are attributable to him based on their stylistic similarities to the above works. One is the Crucifixion in the Pinacoteca in San Giminiano and the other the Madonna and Child at San Martino ai Servi in Orvieto. The mosaics on the vault of the Baptistery of Florence have been attributed by some scholars to Coppo as well, though others believe them to have been executed by Venetian masters who were more adept at working in the mosaic medium.

CORNARO CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA, ROME (1645–1652). The Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, belongs to the Discalced Carmelites, the order established by St. Theresa of Avila. When Cardinal Federigo Cornaro, Patriarch of Venice, established his funerary chapel in this church after moving to Rome in 1644, naturally he picked a major event in St. Theresa’s life to adorn it. He gave the commission to the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, therefore granting him the opportunity to render one of the great monuments of the Baroque era. Above the altar of the chapel is St. Theresa floating among the clouds in the midst of a mystical experience she recounted in her writings. A sublime angel appeared to her and pierced her heart with an arrow, which, as she described, left her all afire and felt like the caress of God on her soul. Fittingly, Bernini’s angel is draped in flamelike folds, tilts his head, and tenderly smiles at the saint. Saint Theresa’s description of the event is quite sexual, with phrases one would expect in a narrative of a woman’s intimate encounter with a lover. For that reason, Bernini depicted her in an orgasmic state. The colored marbles with varying veins, the metal rods descending on the saint from a hidden window to suggest spiritual light, and the heavenly glory painted on the ceiling add to the mystical sense of the event depicted. On the side walls of the chapel, members of the Cornaro family witness and discuss St. Theresa’s experience. Bernini was a staunch Catholic, had close relations with the Jesuits, and practiced St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, which urged the faithful to picture each religious event in its setting and to meditate until able to feel the emotions of the characters in the story. Bernini applied these concepts to the Ecstasy of St. Theresa in the Cornaro Chapel. His work heightens the senses and brings the religious narrative to life.

CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. The Coronation, a theme that enjoyed great popularity in 13th-century Italy, had its origins in French Gothic art. In these scenes, the Virgin and Christ are shown enthroned and Christ crowns his mother queen of heaven. That the scene takes place in a divine realm is usually indicated by the blue or gilded background, the inclusion of astral bodies, or the enclosure of the figures in either a mandorla or a sphere. The Coronation by Jacopo Torriti at Santa Maria Maggiore (c. 1294), for instance, shows Christ and the Virgin enclosed in a blue orb dotted with stars, the sun and the moon at their feet. Fra Filippo Lippi introduced a new compositional type in his Coronation of the Virgin for the main altar of Sant’ Ambrogio, Florence (1441–1447). Instead of sitting next to Christ, Lippi’s Virgin kneels in prayer in front of God the Father who crowns her. In c. 1597, Annibale Carracci (New York, Metropolitan Museum) presented the coronation as an act carried out by both God and Christ, with the Holy Dove floating above and musical angels adding a festive mood. This type of rendition also existed in the North, with Enguerrand Charonton’s Coronation of the Virgin (1454; Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, Musée de l’ Hospice) providing an example.

CORREGGIO, ANTONIO ALLEGRI DA (1494–1534). Painter from Parma whose works anticipated the artistic developments of the Baroque era. Correggio was deeply influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, from whom he adopted the emphasis on earth tones and use of sfumato to soften contours. Correggio’s works also demonstrate his awareness of Raphael’s paintings in Rome, which he may have studied through engravings then circulating in Italy and abroad. Correggio was a master of illusionism, as exemplified by his dome frescoes in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista and the Cathedral of Parma. The first painting is titled the Vision of St. John the Evangelist on Patmos (1520–1524) and the second the Assumption of the Virgin (1526–1530). In both, figural poses recall those rendered by Raphael in the Vatican Stanze (1510–1511) and Villa Farnesina, Rome (1513–1518). Yet, Correggio’s foreshortening is so pronounced that the figures seem to be rising to heaven, their undersides clearly discerned. These works were to have an impact on the illusionistic ceilings of the Baroque era, particularly those rendered by Giovanni Lanfranco whose Virgin in Glory at Sant’ Andrea della Valle, Rome, is completely based on Correggio’s Assumption.

Among Correggio’s individual religious paintings are the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (c. 1520; Paris, Louvre), Il Giorno (after 1523; Parma, Galleria Nazionale), La Notte (1522; Dresden, Gemäldegalerie), and Noli me tangere (c. 1525; Madrid, Prado). These feature soft, sensuous figures linked through gestures to create deeply emotional scenes. Among Correggio’s mythologies are his Danaë (c. 1531; Rome, Galleria Borghese), Jupiter and Ganymede, and Jupiter and Io (both early 1530s; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), all three painted for Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. These portend the sensuous French Rococo renditions of the 18th century.

CORTONA, PIETRO DA. See BERRETINI DA CORTONA, PIETRO.

CORTONA/SACCHI CONTROVERSY (c. 1630). The term refers to a series of theoretical debates that took place in the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, regarding the proper representation of histories. A group, led by Andrea Sacchi, declared that history paintings should be composed according to the Aristotelian rules of tragedy, with a minimal number of actors and emphasis on grandeur and clarity. A second group, led by Pietro da Cortona, believed instead that histories should follow the precepts of epic poetry, with a multitude of figures, settings, and subplots, all held together by a common theme. Sacchi and Cortona truly practiced what they preached. In comparing the former’s Divine Wisdom (1629–1633) to the latter’s Glorification of the Reign of Pope Urban VIII (1633–1639) both frescoed ceilings in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome, it becomes clear that Sacchi did in fact limit the number of protagonists, rendering them with great precision. Cortona, on the other hand, allowed multiple characters to weave in and out of the fictive architecture, granting the work a spontaneity and vibrancy lacking in Sacchi’s work.

COSMATESQUE STYLE. The Cosmatesque Style, popular in the 12th and 13th centuries, takes its name from the Cosmati, a family of craftsmen, sculptors, and architects who created mosaics with geometric designs to decorate architectural surfaces. Their work is found in Rome in the churches of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, Santa Saba, San Tommaso in Formis, and Santa Maria Maggiore, to name a few. It can also be seen in the Sancta Sanctorum in the Church of St. John Lateran.

COTÁN, JUAN SÁNCHEZ. See SÁNCHEZ COTÁN, JUAN.

COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545–1563). The Council of Trent is so called because it opened in the city of Trent (in Italian, Trento) in Northern Italy, convoked by Pope Paul III to respond to the advance of the Protestant Reformation and to enact reforms that would eliminate abuses related to Church administration. This marked the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. In responding to the accusations and criticisms of the Protestants, the council succeeded in codifying Catholic dogma, in reaffirming the validity of priesthood and the sacraments, and in reasserting clerical celibacy, the virtues of sainthood, the role of the Virgin in the story of salvation, and the efficacy of indulgences and relics. The council’s last session is of particular interest to art historians because it was then that enactments were made regarding the depiction of religious subjects. It was decreed that the purpose of art was to instruct the faithful on the subject of redemption, on the intercessory role of the saints and the Virgin, and on the veneration of relics. Religious images were to remind individuals of the gifts bestowed upon them by Christ and God’s miracles enacted through the saints, to inspire them to fashion their own life in imitation of these divine figures, and to foster piety.

COUNTER-REFORMATION. A movement set off by the Catholic Church to curtail the spread of Protestantism that was threatening its power. Though the official launching of the Counter-Reformation took place at the Council of Trent, convoked in 1545 by Pope Paul III, steps had already been taken to fight Protestantism. In 1540, Paul confirmed the Jesuit Order, its main purpose to convert the heathen through missionary work. Two years later, he established the Inquisition to extirpate heretics from the Catholic world and the Index of Forbidden Books to prevent the propagation of dissenting ideas. New dioceses were established in regions where Protestantism was considered a threat and seminaries opened so clerics could be trained to fight hereticism effectively.

The Counter-Reformation affected art as well. A vast number of churches were erected, many following the prescriptions of St. Charles Borromeo, one of the guiding forces of the Council of Trent who, in 1577, wrote a treatise on the building of these structures. Gabriele Paleotti, archbishop of Bologna, wrote the Intorno alle imagini in 1582, a guide on the proper depiction of sacred and profane images, as specified by the Tridentine council. These types of texts served to propagate the guidelines for Baroque art: clarity of representation, historical accuracy, emphasis on emotional content to invoke piety, and narratives that assert the validity of Catholic doctrines, particularly those questioned by the Protestants.

CRANACH THE ELDER, LUCAS (1472–1553). One of the leading painters of the Danube School, Lucas Cranach the Elder was born in Kronach, Germany, and trained by his father Hans, who was also an artist. He is known to have been in Vienna in c. 1502 when he painted the portrait Johannes Cuspinian, a professor at the local university, and his wife, Anna, both now in the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterhur, Delaware. These portraits place the figures in front of atmospheric landscapes with contrasts of fully foliated and barren trees that recall the landscape forms of Albrecht Dürer. Cranach’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1504; Berlin, Staatliche Museen) also places great emphasis on the landscape details. Soon after completing the work, Cranach moved to Wittenberg where he became court painter to Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony. Cranach spent the rest of his life working for the electorate not only in his capacity as painter but also as diplomat. In 1509, he traveled to the Netherlands where he is known to have painted a portrait of the young Emperor Charles V, now lost. There he was exposed to the Netherlandish and Italianate styles.

Cranach’s mature works show a tendency toward a decorative manner, as seen in his portrait Henry the Pious (1514; Dresden, Staatliches Kunstsammlungen) and Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1530; New York, Metropolitan Museum). In both, the figures are compressed into a dark setting and the emphasis is on patterning and sharp contrasts of vivid color. His Judgment of Paris (1530; Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle) presents the goddesses Venus, Minerva, and Juno posing in the nude, their sinuous forms silhouetted against his usual landscape type. For Cranach, proportions were not an issue; instead, his emphasis was on aesthetically pleasing forms.

Among Cranach’s mature religious pictures is the Allegory of Redemption (1553–1555; Weimar, Stadtkirche), painted after he moved to Augsburg in 1550. The work, completed by his son, Lucas Cranach the Younger, includes Martin Luther standing at the foot of the Crucifixion next to Cranach himself and St. John the Baptist. Luther points to the biblical passage that speaks of the blood of Christ as redeeming agent. From Christ’s side wound ensues his blood and falls on Cranach, an indication that clerical intercession is not imperative to the attainment of salvation and that the blood of Christ is sufficient to effect redemption—one of the declarations made by Luther who repudiated the authority of priests and the pope. Cranach died in Augsburg, after a long and highly successful career.

CRUCIFIXION. The Crucifixion is the central symbol of Christianity. The earliest visual examples date to the fourth century and consist of only an empty cross. Depictions of the crucified Christ first appeared in the fifth century, though signs of his physical suffering were not included in these portrayals. Instead, he was shown as a Christus Triumphans gazing directly at the viewer. This type of representation was common in the early years of the Proto-Renaissance era, usually rendered in the Maniera Greca style. Crucifixions from this period featured an apron below the arms where the Virgin Mary and St. John were usually included, as exemplified by Berlinghiero Berlinghieri’s Crucifixion (Lucca, Pinacoteca) of the early 13th century. By the second half of the 13th century, in response to Franciscan influence, the Christus Triumphans type was replaced by the Christus Patiens [Suffering Christ], with Coppo di Marcovaldo’s Crucifixion in the Pinacoteca at San Giminiano providing an example. In c. 1280, Cimabue painted a Crucifixion in the left transept of San Francesco in Assisi as a melodramatic, windswept image of pain and suffering. In the 1370s, Altichiero rendered his version at San Antonio in Padua that included incidental scenes behind the crucified Christ, such as Roman soldiers gambling. For Andrea del Castagno, the Crucifixion (c. 1445; Florence, Santa Maria degli Angeli) provided an opportunity to render the anatomy of the seminude figure of Christ accurately, while Pietro Perugino (1481; Washington, National Gallery) preferred to evoke meditation from viewers on Christ’s suffering. Tintoretto’s version in the Scuola di San Rocco, Venice (1564), is one of the most spectacular crucifixions ever rendered. The cross of one of the thieves crucified alongside Christ is in the process of being raised. The scene is noisy and full of action, bringing to life the narrative of the Gospels in a way that had not been done previously. In the 17th century in Seville, Spain, debates on whether Christ was crucified with three nails or four made their way into the devotional art produced there at the time. Both Francisco de Zurbarán (Crucified Christ, 1627; Chicago, Art Institute) and Juan Martinez Montañéz (Christ of Clemency, 1603–1606; Cathedral of Seville) opted for four nails instead of the customary three to augment the sense of Christ’s suffering.

CRUZ, JUAN PANTOJA DE LA (c. 1553–1608). Spanish painter who studied under Alonso Sánchez Coello, whom he succeeded as court painter to Philip II of Spain. One of Pantoja’s portraits of the monarch is housed in the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial (1570s) and presents him as an aloof full-length figure standing in front of a classicized column in the manner of Coello. Pantoja’s portrait of the king’s son, Philip III (1608; Castres, Musée Goya), whom he also served, shows the heir to the throne garbed in the mantle and habit of the Order of the Golden Fleece to which he belonged. Again, a full-length figure, he stands against a dark background, his costume and aloofness the symbols of his royalty. This type of portraiture became one of the standards for the depiction of members of the Spanish court.

CUPID. The son of Venus and Mercury, Cupid is the god of love who causes those he pierces with his arrows to fall in love. He appears in Parmigianino’s Cupid Carving His Bow (1535; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) and in Caravaggio’s Amor Vincit Omnia (1601–1602; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) surrounded by various objects related to learning that denote the power of love over reason. Sometimes Cupid is chastised for causing amorous indiscretions, including his own mother’s illicit affair with Mars, the scene rendered by Bartolomeo Manfredi in his Cupid Punished by Mars (1605–1610; Chicago, Art Institute). In Cupid Complaining to Venus (c. 1529; London, National Gallery) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the god of love is surrounded by a swarm of bees and he informs his mother that he has been stung. The scene, which some interpret as warning against the deadly risks of venereal disease then spreading through Europe, stems from the writings of Theocritus, who likens the wounds Cupid inflicts with his arrows to bee stings. Cupid himself succumbs to love when he meets Psyche, their marriage banquet frescoed by Raphael and assistants in the Villa Farnesina, Rome (1513–1518).

CUPID CARVING HIS BOW (1535; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum). Painted by Parmigianino, the work is categorized as homoerotic for the sensual rendition of Cupid as a fleshy young nude boy. The god of love has steadied himself for the task of carving by resting his left foot on some books, his disheveled hair curled, betraying the effort he is exerting. The books are there to denote that love conquers all, even reason—a symbolic element made more poignant by Cupid’s turn of the head toward the viewer and cautionary glance. Between Cupid’s legs are two struggling putti. One forcefully grabs the other’s right hand and moves it toward Cupid’s right leg as he smiles at the viewer. The other putto resists as he is reluctant to fall in love and lose his ability to reason. This theme would become quite popular in the Baroque era, especially among the Caravaggists. See also AMOR VINCIT OMNIA.