FABRIANO, GENTILE DA (active c. 1390–1427). Marchigian master who painted in the International Style and who was active in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, and Orvieto. Gentile is known to have painted frescos in the Doge’s Palace in Venice in 1408 and at the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome in 1427. These works, unfortunately, were destroyed. His major surviving masterpiece is the Adoration of the Magi (1423; Florence, Uffizi) for the Church of Santa Trinità in Florence, commissioned by the wealthy banker Palla Strozzi for his funerary chapel. The altarpiece’s predella features three other scenes from Christ’s childhood: the Nativity, Flight into Egypt, and Presentation in the Temple. Of these, the Nativity is the most innovative, as it presents the earliest instance when shadows are cast in response to an illuminated source within the painting.
FALL OF THE GIANTS, PALAZZO DEL PRINCIPE, GENOA (c. 1529). Perino del Vaga painted this ceiling fresco as part of the decorations of Andrea Doria’s Palazzo del Principe. The scene, located in the Sala dei Giganti (Room of the Giants), depicts the Olympian defeat of the giants, sons of the earth goddess Gaia. Saturn, one of the giants, had devoured each one of his children because his father Uranus had prophesied that one of them would defeat him. His consort, Rhea, hid their son Jupiter from him and, once fully grown, Jupiter forced Saturn to disgorge his siblings (Juno, Neptune, Pluto, and Ceres). Together, they overthrew Saturn; Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto then divided the universe among themselves. Jupiter became the god of the heavens, Neptune of the oceans, and Pluto of the underworld. The giants rose up against them. To reach Mount Olympus where the gods presided, they stacked Mount Pelion atop Mount Ossa, but were miserably defeated by the gods and cast to the underworld. In the fresco, Jupiter is shown with thunderbolt in hand and the zodiac belt around him, a reference to his having brought order to the universe and established the seasons. Below, the defeated giants lay on the ground in contorted poses. The fresco reveals the influence of Raphael with whom Perino worked while in Rome, particularly in the arrangement of the upper portion of the scene, which closely resembles the composition in Raphael’s Psyche Received at Mount Olympus in the Villa Farnesina (1517–1518). Doria’s ally, Charles V, used the Sala dei Giganti as his temporary throne room. The fresco by Perino served as allegory of the emperor’s victories against the Protestants.
FARNESE CEILING, PALAZZO FARNESE, ROME (c. 1597–1600). Commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese from Annibale Carracci for his newly built Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The subject of the Farnese ceiling is the loves of the gods, the inspiration for its overall arrangement being Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling (1508–1512; Vatican). As in the prototype, the Farnese ceiling consists of a painted architectural framework or quadratura that divides the scenes into three coherent bands and includes nude figures and medallions. The work was meant to harmonize as well with Raphael’s mythological frescoes (1513–1518) in the Villa Farnesina across the Tiber River, by now also owned by the Farnese family.
Using a quadro riportato technique, the artist placed the Triumph of Bacchus in the center. It shows the god of wine and his consort, Ariadne, in procession with bacchants and satyrs around them in a frenzied revelry. Following Giovan Pietro Bellori’s interpretation, the image is seen as a Neoplatonic allegory of divine love triumphing over its earthly counterpart. Among the most notable secondary scenes are Venus and Anchises and Polyphemus and Galatea. The first is accompanied by an inscription that reads “this was the beginning of Rome,” referring to the birth of Aeneas, founder of the Latin race, from their union. The scene is eroticized by Anchises’ removal of the goddess’ sandal and her Venus Pudica pose that indicates her hesitancy to give in to the advances of a mere mortal. In Polyphemus and Galatea, the theme is unrequited love as the nymph ridicules the Cyclops for wooing her. Because Galatea loves Acis, Polyphemus kills his contender with a rock, a scene also frescoed on the ceiling. Other scenes include Cephalus and Aurora, which is believed to have been executed by Agostino Carracci who assisted Annibale; Diana and Pan; Hercules and Iole; Dedalus and Icarus; Diana and Callisto; Mercury and Apollo; and Arion and the Dolphin.
The Farnese ceiling is one of the greatest masterpieces of the early Baroque era. As part of the decorations of a cardinal’s palace, its blatant sensuality has prompted intense discussion among scholars regarding the frescoes’ intended meaning. The ceiling was already recognized as a masterpiece during Annibale’s lifetime and wielded tremendous influence on artists active in the 17th century. Both Aurora ceilings by Guido Reni (1613; Rome, Casino Rospigliosi) and Guercino (1621; Rome, Casino Ludovisi) owe their compositions to Annibale’s work.
FARNESE FAMILY. Farnese ancestry can be traced back to the 12th century in Rome. It was not until the reign of Alexander VI (1492–1503) that the family achieved considerable prestige thanks to the amorous liaison between the pope and Giulia Farnese. In 1534, their fortune increased when one of their own ascended the papal throne as Pope Paul III who appointed his son Pierluigi the Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Castro (1545), the first two regions ruled by the Farnese until 1731 and the last until 1649. The family’s political hegemony was strengthened further when, in 1538, Ottavio Farnese, Pierluigi’s son, married Margaret of Parma, the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V. The Farnese are closely tied to the history of Renaissance and Baroque art. Titian, El Greco, Annibale and Agostino Carracci, Domenichino, Francesco Mochi, and Bartolomeo Schedoni are all linked to the history of their patronage. See also URBAN VIII.
FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF LEVI (1573; Venice, Galleria dell’ Accademia). The Feast in the House of Levi was painted by Paolo Veronese for the Dominican Monastery of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. The real subject of the painting is the Last Supper. No sooner had Veronese completed it than he was summoned in front of the tribunal of the Inquisition and accused of rendering the solemn moment when Christ establishes the Eucharist as a sacrament as an indecorous scene filled with buffoons, dwarfs, drunken figures, and animals. To circumvent the harsh penalties levied by the tribunal on those accused of committing heresy, Veronese simply changed the title of the painting to the Feast in the House of Levi, a less solemn episode in Christ’s life. The work relates compositionally to his Marriage at Cana (1563) in the Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. In both, the scene is made to look like a contemporary Venetian banquet lacking reverence. The emphasis on sumptuous fabrics, contemporaneous characters, and the Palladian architectural backdrop cast this work as decidedly Venetian.
FEAST OF HEROD. An episode from the life of St. John the Baptist. Herod married Herodias, his brother’s wife, and the saint pointed out to them that their union was unlawful. Insulted, Herodias persuaded her husband to have the saint imprisoned. At a banquet, Salome, Herodias’ daughter, danced for Herod so delightfully that Herod promised he would grant her anything she wished. After consulting with her mother, Salome asked for the head of the Baptist, which was granted. The feast of Herod is depicted in three scenes in Fra Filippo Lippi’s frescoes in the choir of the Prato Cathedral (1452–1466). In the central scene, Salome dances for Herod, she receives the head of St. John on a platter on the left, and, on the right, she presents the platter to her mother while two servants huddle in horror. Benozzo Gozzoli painted the Feast of Herod and Beheading of St. John the Baptist (c. 1461–1462; Washington, National Gallery) on a single panel, and Donatello presented the episodes of the story in his relief for the baptismal font in the Cathedral of Siena (c. 1425) not side by side as in the painted examples, but rather one behind the other convincingly receding into space.
FÊTE CHAMPETRE (c. 1510; Louvre, Paris). Painted by Giorgione, though some art historians believe it to be by the hand of his pupil Titian, while others have suggested that the work represents a collaboration between master and pupil. This is an unconventional picture in terms of its subject matter, which is not completely understood. The most accepted interpretation is that the scene depicts an allegory of poetry. The lute played by one of the figures in the middle ground is a symbol of this literary form, as is the shepherd included in the background. The two nude women are thought to represent the muses who inspire the creative processes involved in composing poetry, their nudity separating them from the earthly realm in which the two men exist. One of the women collects water from a well, perhaps the Hippocrene fountain, the source of inspiration in Mount Helicon where the muses reside. Giorgione added an ethereal quality to the work by adopting Leonardo da Vinci’s sfumato technique. He also borrowed Leonardo’s palette of deep ochres punctuated by deep red and olive tones. The work elaborates on the scenes created by Giovanni Bellini where the landscape takes on an important role.
FICINO, MARSILIO (1433–1499). Priest, doctor, musician, translator of ancient texts, writer, philosopher, and key figure of the Renaissance. Marsilio Ficino enjoyed the patronage of the Medici rulers of Florence. While in the service of Cosimo de’ Medici, Ficino translated the dialogues of Plato, making them available to the West for the first time and thus providing the essential texts for the revival of Platonism. With Cosimo’s backing, he also established the Platonic Academy in Florence. His translations were followed by his own writing of the Theologia Platonica (1469–1474), Concerning the Christian Religion (1474), and On the Threefold Life (1489), works that seek to reconcile pagan philosophy with Christianity. In the 1480s and early 1490s, while working for Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici, he also translated the writings of Plotinus and Proclus, thus enlightening his followers on the Neoplatonists from antiquity. At Lorenzo’s court, Ficino was one of those learned members who, along with Sandro Botticelli, the young Michelangelo, and the poet Angelo Poliziano, shaped the character of Renaissance intellectual and cultural life.
FILARETE, ANTONIO (ANTONIO AVERLINO; c. 1400–1469). Florentine architect and sculptor who began his career in Rome. There, Filarete executed the bronze doors of Old St. Peter’s, a commission that proved to be a major fiasco, forcing him to leave the city. He arrived in Milan in 1456 where he immediately set out to work on the design of the Ospedale Maggiore, until recently the city’s principal hospital. In 1461–1464, Filarete wrote a treatise in which he described an imaginary city called Sforzinda in honor of his patrons, the Sforza rulers of Milan. Filarete based the social structure of Sforzinda, where some vices are tolerated and harmony resides, on Plato’s descriptions in the Laws of every aspect of city and suburban life. Giorgio Vasari qualified Filarete’s treatise as the most ridiculous book ever written. Regardless of his assessment, the text is of significance to the history of architecture as it exerted great influence on the architectural experiments with centrally planned structures of Leonardo da Vinci and Donato Bramante, also employed by the Sfoza in Milan. It also provides insight into Renaissance attitudes toward urban planning.
FIORENTINO, ROSSO (GIOVANNI BATTISTA DI JACOPO; 1495–1540). Italian Mannerist painter; called Rosso (red) by his contemporaries for his red hair. Rosso Fiorentino was the pupil of Andrea del Sarto and a close friend of his fellow student Jacopo da Pontormo, the two becoming the leading masters of the Mannerist movement. The Descent from the Cross (1521; Volterra, Pinacoteca) Rosso painted for the Cathedral of Volterra in fact relates to Pontormo’s version in the Capponi Chapel in the Church of Santa Felicità, Florence (1525–1528), in that it too features an oval composition with a void in the center and includes figures in extreme anguish. Particular to Rosso’s style is the harsh lighting dividing the figures’ anatomy and drapery into facets. Like all Mannerists, Rosso looked to Michelangelo for inspiration. The pose of his dead Christ in this painting is based on Michelangelo’s Pietà (1498–1499/1500) at the Vatican. Further, Rosso’s Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro (c. 1523; Florence, Uffizi) borrows from Michelangelo’s Brazen Serpent on the Sistine ceiling, Vatican (1508–1512). This scene depicts a group of Midianite shepherds taking the water the daughters of Jethro drew from a well to give to their flock. Moses, who witnesses their transgression, drives the Midianites away and recovers the water, an action that results in his marriage to Zipporah, one of Jethro’s daughters. The painting shows the scene from an unusual viewpoint. Michelangelesque nude males in contorted poses jut out at the viewer, some cropped by the frame—anticlassical elements that mark the work as Mannerist.
In 1523, Rosso moved to Rome, but was forced to flee in 1527 due to the sack by imperial forces. To this period belongs his Dead Christ with Angels (1525–1526; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), painted for the Florentine bishop Leonardo Tornabuoni, which borrows its composition from Michelangelo’s Florentine Pietà (c. 1550; Florence, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo) and abandons Rosso’s earlier facetted forms and harsh tonalities and lighting. After wandering through Umbria and Tuscany for some time, Rosso finally settled in France in 1530 where he worked for Francis I in the Palace of Fontainebleau. There, along with Francesco Primaticcio, he founded the Fontainebleau School, a French version of Italian Mannerism.
FLAGELLATION. The Flagellation is the moment when Christ, after having appeared before Pontius Pilate, is tied to a column and beaten with whips—a scene often depicted in art. Examples include Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Flagellation on the east doors of the Baptistery of Florence (1403–1421); Fernando Gallego’s in the Museo Diocesano, Salamanca (c. 1506); Jaime Huguet’s in the Louvre, Paris (1450s); Sebastiano del Piombo’s in San Pietro in Montorio, Rome (1516–1521); and Caravaggio’s in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (1607).
FLANDES, JUAN DE (c. 1460–1519). Flemish painter who was active in Spain and who may have received his training in Antwerp. In 1495, Juan de Flandes was sent to the Spanish court by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to render the likenesses of the royal children. Among these is the Portrait of an Infanta (1496; Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza), believed to represent Catherine of Aragon as a child. In 1496, Queen Isabella of Spain appointed Flandes court painter. For the queen, he created the so-called Polyptych of Isabel la Católica, originally composed of 47 miniature panels, of which fewer than 30 survive, these scattered in various museums around the world. Christ Crowned with Thorns (c. 1498; Detroit, Institute of Arts) is one of those panels and presents a delicate rendition with luminous surfaces, typical of the miniaturist tradition. After Isabella’s death in 1504, Juan de Flandes created retables for the chapel of the University of Salamanca and the Cathedral of Palencia, where he died in 1519.
FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. When Herod ordered the massacre of the innocents, an angel warned Mary and Joseph of the impending danger to the Christ Child. To ensure his safety, the holy couple took the boy to Egypt. In art, the scene is presented in various forms. Sometimes the Virgin and Child sit on a donkey led by Joseph, an image that grants an opportunity to portray the landscape, as in Annibale Carracci’s Flight into Egypt of 1603 (Rome, Galleria Doria-Pamphili), and Melchior Broederlam’s triptych for the Carthusian Monastery of Dijon (1394–1399), which combines the Flight with Christ’s Presentation in the Temple. Other works show the Holy Family resting from their journey, as in Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt of 1504 (Berlin, Staatliche Museen) where angels comfort the Virgin and Child. Caravaggio’s rendition of c. 1594 (Rome, Galleria Doria-Pamphili) shows an angel playing music, the score held by Joseph, as Mary soothes the Christ Child to sleep. On a few occasions, artists depicted the return of the Holy Family from Egypt, as in Nicolas Poussin’s example in the Cleveland Museum of Art (c. 1627). Here Mary, Joseph, and an older Christ Child travel back to Nazareth on a barge.
FLORENCE. The history of Florence begins with the settlements of the Etruscans whose remains can still be found in the region. In 59 BCE, Julius Caesar gave the land of Florentia to his retired soldiers who, thanks to its primordial location near the Via Cassia and along the Arno River, were able to transform it into a flourishing city. By the early 13th century, in spite of strife between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, Florence became one of the most prosperous and powerful cities of Europe, its stable economy dependent on cloth manufacturing and banking. The Ciompi Revolt, carried out by day laborers in the cloth industry, paved the way for the Albizzi family to emerge as the rulers of an oligarchic political system. This coincided with the arrival in Florence of the Medici who, by the end of the 14th century, established a bank that gave them great wealth and allowed them to become one of the city’s leading families. In 1433, Cosimo de’ Medici led a political faction that opposed the Albizzi and was exiled for it, yet the faction was influential enough to have him recalled in the following year. The Albizzi were removed from power and Cosimo became the new ruler of Florence. Two more exiles interrupted Medici rule: the first in 1494 when Piero de’ Medici ceded Pisa to Charles VIII of France, thereby angering the Florentines who were already riled up by the preachings of Girolamo Savonarola, and in 1527 when they were expelled from the city after the sack of Rome. Three years later, the imperial forces captured Florence and reinstated the Medici as hereditary dukes. In 1569, the Medici were made Grand Dukes of Florence, ruling the city in that capacity until 1737, when the family died out.
Key events in Florentine history include the Battle of Monteaperti of 1260 when the Sienese defeated the Florentine army, only to be under siege by Florence in 1554–1555 and finally taken in 1557. Pisa was able to ward off Florentine subjugation in the 1215 Battle of Montecatini, but in 1406 they were overtaken. One of the greatest enemies of Florence was Milan. On several occasions the Milanese forces tried to take over the city, but each time they were unsuccessful. A key moment in the struggle against Milan occurred in 1402; it seemed that Florence would fall to the enemy when Giangaleazzo Visconti, commander of the Milanese army, suddenly died. The Battle of Anghiari in 1440 led to victory against Milan, an event commemorated by Leonardo’s fresco in the Sala del Consiglio of the Palazzo Vecchio; Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, a conflict between Pisa and Florence in 1364 where the latter emerged victorious, is frescoed on the opposite wall. In 1478, the Pazzi Conspiracy took place, which resulted in the murder of Giuliano de’ Medici and the wounding of his brother Lorenzo “the Magnificent.” The conspirators were hunted down and severely punished for their transgression. In 1526, the League of Cognac, an alliance between Pope Clement VII, Francis I of France, Venice, Florence, and Milan was formed to drive imperial power out of Italy. In retaliation, the imperial forces of Charles V invaded Rome in 1527, and burned and sacked the city, for which the Medici were exiled. It was the 1530 Battle of Gavinana that resulted in the capture of Florence by the imperial forces and the installation of Alessandro de’ Medici as hereditary Duke of Tuscany.
Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance and much of it is owed to the Medici, as it was under their patronage that many of the key figures of art, culture, and science worked, among them the artists Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari, Giovanni da Bologna, and Agnolo Bronzino, the humanist Poggio Bracciolini, the philosopher Marsilio Ficino, the satirist Pietro Aretino, the poet Angelo Poliziano, and the astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Medici also played an important role in the Renaissance revival of ancient texts. Under Cosimo’s patronage, Ficino translated a number of ancient manuscripts from the Greek, making them available for the first time in the West. In 1439, Cosimo established the Platonic Academy where Ficino taught. The religious orders that settled in Florence also contributed to the cultural fabric of the city and its growth. They erected churches, convents, and monasteries throughout, and then commissioned artists to decorate these spaces. Arnolfo di Cambio, for example, built Santa Croce, and Fra Angelico painted a series of frescoes in the San Marco Monastery. The chapels in the newly built churches were assigned to important families who then commissioned artists to embellish them. Santa Croce alone boasts the chapels of the Bardi and Peruzzi, Bardi di Vernio, and Baroncelli frescoed by Giotto, Maso di Banco, and Taddeo Gaddi, respectively. Florence lost its preeminence as center of culture and intellectual life in the Baroque era when the lead was taken by Rome.
FLORENCE, CATHEDRAL OF (1296–1350s). The Cathedral of Florence was begun by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. Twice the work was halted, first in 1310 when Arnolfo died, and later in 1348 when the Black Death struck. After contributions by Giotto and later Andrea Pisano, it was Francesco Talenti who in the 1350s brought the building to completion, except for the dome and façade (fin. 19th century). When Talenti took over as Director of the Cathedral Works, he modified Arnolfo’s plan to create a more imposing design, one that would outdo the cathedrals of Siena and Pisa, the enemies of Florence. Talenti used four massive square bays to form the nave, with aisle bays that measure half their width, and he designed an octagonal crossing (where the nave and transept cross), echoing its shape in the transept arms and apse. By commingling these octagons with a rectilinear nave, he in essence fused together a central with a Latin cross plan. For the exterior, Talenti chose color marble inlays that harmonize with the Baptistery only a few feet away. In the interior, he supported the Gothic arches of the nave arcade and the four-partite vaults with massive piers that grant a solid appearance. The crossing was to be covered by a large octagonal dome. However, the expanse was so vast (140 feet) that Florentines would have to wait until the 15th century to find an architect with the skills to build it. In 1420–1436, the task fell to Filippo Brunelleschi who, as Giorgio Vasari wrote, traveled to Rome to study and measure ancient structures, which is how he acquired the knowledge needed to build the cathedral dome. Inspired by the ancient prototypes, Brunelleschi devised a double-shelled construction over a skeleton of 24 ribs, only eight of which are visible from the exterior. A lantern allows light to enter the church and stabilizes the structure by preventing the outward tilting of the ribs. The first of its kind, Brunelleschi’s design provided the light construction required to prevent the collapse of such a large dome. Now the landmark of Florence, the dome towers over the city and speaks, as it did in the Renaissance, of the civic pride of its citizens.
FLORIS, FRANS (1516–1570). Flemish Mannerist painter from Antwerp who established his workshop in 1540 after his return from a trip to Rome. One of his most important patrons was William “the Silent” of Orange; one of his most notable works is the Fall of the Rebel Angels (1554; Antwerp, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts), once part of a triptych Floris rendered for the Fencer’s Guild of Antwerp. The work presents a confusing mass of nude forms in dramatic movement, characteristic of his style, that recalls Perino del Vaga’s Fall of the Giants (c. 1529) in the Palazzo del Principe, Genoa. Floris was also a portraitist. His portrait Falconer’s Wife (1558; Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts) presents a nonidealized heavy-set woman in monumental form, her facial expression revealing her personality. Among Floris’ other works are the Judgment of Paris (c. 1548; Kassel, Staatliche Museen), the Banquet of the Gods (1550; Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten), and the Head of a Woman (1554; St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum); this last is believed to be a study for a larger composition.
FORESHORTENING. A technique that allows artists to render on a flat surface compositional elements in such a way as to grant the illusion that they are receding into space. It entails reducing the dimensions of an object or parts of the figure to conform to the proper spatial relationship. So, for instance, when Andrea Mantegna painted his Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1490; Milan, Brera), he shortened Christ’s legs, arms, and thorax to place the viewer at his feet as one of the mourners. In Mantegna’s ceiling in the Camera Picta (1465–1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale), similar adjustments to the figures grant the illusion that they stand on a parapet above the viewer. See also DI SOTTO IN SÙ; ONE-POINT LINEAR PERSPECTIVE.
FORLI, MELOZZO DA (1438–1494). Painter from Forli, a town in the Romagna region of Italy. Little is known of Melozzo’s formative years, and scholarship on this master is complicated by the fact that much of his work has been destroyed. He was active in Rome, Loreto, and Urbino, where he worked alongside Piero de la Francesca in the court of Federico da Montefeltro. Giovanni Santi, Raphael’s father, wrote a poem in which he praised Melozzo for his unsurpassed ability to render perspective. This fact is demonstrated by the few works by Melozzo to have survived, including Sixtus IV, His Nephews, and Platina, His Librarian (1480–1481; transferred to canvas; now Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana), one of the frescoes he created for Sixtus as part of the decorations of the pope’s rebuilt and reorganized library at the Vatican. This scene, the earliest known papal ceremonial portrait of the Renaissance, unfolds in an audience room rendered in convincing perspective, with the pope enthroned and surrounded by his nephews, including Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere who later would become Pope Julius II, Michelangelo’s patron. Kneeling in the foreground is Platina, the humanist who worked as the pope’s librarian. He points to the inscription below the figures that extols his patron’s achievements while the della Rovere oak branches, the papal family’s heraldic symbols, are intertwined on the piers in the foreground. In 1481–1483, Melozzo also frescoed the apse in the Church of Santi Apostoli, Rome (fragments now in Vatican, Pinacoteca, and Rome, Palazzo Quirinale), a work that utilizes the di sotto in sù technique, an extreme form of foreshortening. Partially destroyed in the 18th century during the building’s renovation, the scene, believed to have been commissioned by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, depicts Christ in Glory surrounded by windswept musical angels. Melozzo treated the apse as an outdoor space where a miraculous vision unfolds, with figures viewed from below that seem to float above the faithful. This work presages the illusionistic ceiling frescoes of the late 16th and 17th centuries that seem to break architectural boundaries.
FOUQUET, JEAN (c. 1420–c. 1481). The most important French painter of the 15th century, Jean Fouquet was born in Tours, perhaps the illegitimate son of a priest, as suggested by the fact that the artist applied in 1449 to have his birth legitimized by the pope. Nothing is known of his training. In the 1440s he was in Rome, where he painted the portrait Pope Eugenius IV and His Nephews, now lost, as related by Antonio Filarete in his architectural treatise. Fouquet was back in Tours by 1447. There he set up shop and remained until his death sometime around 1481, as indicated by the documented references in that year to his wife as a widow. His self-portrait, an enamel created in c. 1450 (Paris, Louvre) and signed with a large and elaborate calligraphy, is the earliest known Northern self-portrait that does not tie into any sort of religious theme. In about the same year, Fouquet also painted the Melun Diptych (Antwerp, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, and Berlin, Staatliche Museen), his most famous work. The bipaneled altarpiece shows the donor, Etienne Chevalier, King Charles VII’s controller general, with his namesaint Stephen petitioning the Virgin and Child for his salvation. Some have suggested that the Virgin is a portrait of Agnes Sorel, the king’s mistress who had involvements with Chevalier in governing the kingdom and who died in 1450. If this is in fact the case, then the work would be a commemorative piece in her honor. The work shows Fouquet’s characteristic abstract, rounded shapes, emphasis on clarity, and linear contours. Fouquet also created a number of manuscript illuminations, including the Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier (1452–1460), now in the Musée Condé in Chantilly, and Giovanni Boccaccio’s Des Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes Malheureuses of c. 1458 now in Munich (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; Cod. Gall. 369). See also ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.
FOUR RIVERS FOUNTAIN, PIAZZA NAVONA, ROME (1648–1651). The Four Rivers Fountain is the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who received the commission from Pope Innocent X. Placed in front of the Church of Sant’ Agnese and a few steps away from the pope’s family palace, it incorporates an Egyptian obelisk that references the pagan era. Allegorical representations of the rivers Plata, Nile, Danube, and Ganges seated around the obelisk speak of the spread of Christianity over the four corners of the world and its triumph over paganism. The dove that surmounts the obelisk, one of the pope’s emblematic symbols, signifies that triumph is achieved through his wise leadership. The sound and movement created by the water gushing from the irregular rocks that support the obelisk grant a celebratory mood to the work. The fountain was a major feat of engineering because the obelisk is only held by the corners, the rest floating in midair, an element Bernini would later apply to his Cathedra Petri (1657–1666) at the Vatican, the reliquary that holds the throne of St. Peter.
FRA ANGELICO (FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE, GIOVANNI DI PIETRO; c. 1400–1455). A Dominican friar, Fra Angelico became the leading painter of Florence in the 1430s. He was from Fiesole where he entered the Dominican monastery in c. 1418, and there he is believed to have illuminated some manuscripts, though none have been identified. Sometime in the 1430s, he moved to the San Marco Monastery in Florence where from 1438 until 1445 he painted a series of frescoes in the cells and corridors. He also created the Linaiuoli Altarpiece (1433; Florence, Museo di San Marco), his first major work. Commissioned by the Arte dei Linaiuoli, the Guild of Linen Merchants, the altarpiece shows an Enthroned Virgin and Child flanked by St. Mark, to whom the monastery is dedicated, and St. John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence. Masaccio’s influence in this work is clear, especially in the rendition of the solid figures of the saints, their stern appearance, and the spatial depth. Fra Angelico substituted the gold background normally seen in traditional images of this type with a gold curtain. In so doing, he provided a fully developed, convincing space for his figures to occupy. His Descent from the Cross (1434; Florence, Museo di San Marco) was commissioned by Palla Strozzi for his funerary chapel in the Church of Santa Trinità, Florence, to stand alongside Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (1423; Florence, Uffizi). This is the first Renaissance work to successfully integrate figures into a three-dimensional landscape. Characteristic of Fra Angelico is the compassionate portrayal of a tragic moment, reflecting the serenity and discipline required for a monastic existence. In 1443, Pope Eugene IV visited San Marco and two years later called the artist to Rome to work on the frescoes of the Chapel of the Sacrament at the Vatican (destroyed). For Nicholas V he created his last major commission, the frescoes in the pope’s private chapel (the Chapel of Nicholas V, Vatican; 1448), rendering scenes from the lives of Sts. Lawrence and Stephen. Fra Angelico died in Rome in 1455 and was beatified in 1983.
FRANCESCA, PIERO DELLA (c. 1406–1492). Italian painter born in Borgo San Sepolcro in the Tuscan region to a family of leather merchants. Piero della Francesca was not only an artist but also a mathematician, geometrician, and theorist. He authored two treatises, one on perspective and painting and the other on geometry. The details of his training as painter are not completely clear, though it is possible that he studied with Domenico Veneziano whom he assisted on the now-lost frescoes in the Church of Sant’ Egidio, Florence.
Piero’s earliest work is the Misericordia Altarpiece (beg. 1445; San Sepolcro, Museo Civico), commissioned by the Confraternity of the Misericordia of San Sepolcro. The contract for the work stipulated that it had to be executed by Piero himself within three years. Piero ignored the stipulations and the work was completed by his assistants a decade later. He painted the Baptism of Christ in the London National Gallery (c. 1450) for the Chapel of San Giovanni in the Pieve of San Sepolcro, and the Resurrection (c. 1458), now in the San Sepolcro Museo Civico, was originally intended for the San Sepolcro Town Hall. Piero’s most extensive commission is the Legend of the True Cross in the Cappella Maggiore at the Church of San Francesco in Arezzo (c. 1454–1458), a complex cycle he painted for the Bacci family based on Jacobus da Voragine’s Golden Legend. Piero also worked in Rimini for Sigismondo Malatesta, painting his patron’s portrait (Paris, Louvre) and frescoes in the Tempio Malatestiano in 1451. In the earlier years of the 1470s, he was in Urbino working for Duke Federico da Montefeltro. There he rendered the portraits of the duke and his wife, Battista Sforza (1472), inspired by ancient Roman coinage.
Piero conceived his figures and objects in geometric terms. He used cylinders for limbs, spheres for faces and eyes, and circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles for architecture. His simplified approach was greatly admired by the Cubists of the 20th century who employed a similar approach to the construction of their compositional elements. Like Domenico Veneziano, Piero used light instead of line to describe his forms. The vivid palette he employed, composed mostly of pastel colors, is also borrowed from his master.
FRANCIS I OF FRANCE (1494–1547). A member of the Valois dynasty, Francis I was the son of Charles d’Angoulême and Louise of Savoy. He received the title of Duke of Valois at the age of four. In 1514, he married Claude, the daughter of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany. As the Salic laws of France prevented women from ascending the throne, Francis became the king when Louis XII, his cousin, died (1515). Francis was involved in the Italian wars when Spain and France were vying for control of Northern Italy. In 1525, he was captured by Emperor Charles V who forced him to sign the Treaty of Madrid in which he renounced all claims to Italian territories and ceded Burgundy to Charles. As soon as he was released, however, Francis allied himself with Clement VII, Venice, Milan, and Florence (the League of Cognac) against the emperor. Francis was a humanist and his court became a major center of art and culture. The French Jean Clouet was his court painter. Francis also imported artists from other parts of Europe, including Joos van Cleve, Benvenuto Cellini, Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Primaticcio, Sebastiano Serlio, and Leonardo da Vinci.
FRANCIS, SAINT (c. 1181–1226). Saint Francis was the son of a wealthy silk merchant from Assisi. Two visions persuaded him to renounce his wealth and to devote himself to the care of the ill and the needy. For this, his father disowned him. St. Francis soon developed a large following, resulting in the founding of the Franciscan Order. In 1209, the order received the approval of Pope Innocent III and, in 1219, St. Francis went to Egypt to convert Mohammedans to Christianity. There he met Sultan Malek al-Kamil but failed to effect his conversion. In 1223, St. Francis built a crèche at Grecchia, establishing a custom still carried out today at Christmas time. In 1224, while praying in Mount Alverna, the crucified Christ appeared to him and he received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ). St. Francis died in 1226 in Assisi and was canonized two years later.
The impact of St. Francis on religious life was huge, as was his influence on art. While most monks of his era lived in seclusion, he and his followers went out into the streets and preached love and compassion for the downtrodden. As a result, subjects in art changed from scenes of damnation to the infancy of Christ and the affection he and his mother, the Virgin, felt for one another. The frescoes in the Arena Chapel (1305) by Giotto and the scenes in Duccio’s Maestà Altarpiece (1308–1311; Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo) exemplify this shift. The story of St. Francis was recorded by St. Bonaventure in the Legenda Maior. Considered the official text on the saint’s life, the Legenda became the source for artists in the representation of the saint. The frescoes in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi, attributed to Giotto, assiduously follow Bonaventure’s text to instruct the faithful on the cult of the recently canonized saint. Giotto again used the text when depicting the life of St. Francis in the Bardi Chapel at Santa Croce, Florence, as did Domenico del Ghirlandaio when he painted the frescoes in the Sassetti Chapel in the Florentine Church of Santa Trinità.
FRANCISCAN ORDER. A mendicant order of friars established by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209 to minister to the ill and the needy. The rule of the order was confirmed in 1223 by Pope Honorius III. In 1212, St. Claire joined St. Francis and, in 1215, he established a convent and placed her as its superior, thus granting her the opportunity to found the Order of the Poor Claires, the female counterpart to the Franciscans. In 1221, St. Francis also established the tertiaries (Brothers and Sisters of Penance), composed of lay individuals who embraced the Franciscan life without giving up marriage and family ties. The Franciscans contributed greatly to the development of Renaissance art. Their Church of San Francesco in Assisi is filled with frescoes by leading masters, including Cimabue, Giotto, and Simone Martini. Santa Maria dei Frari in Venice boasts works by the likes of Titian, and San Francesco in Borgo di Sansepolcro features the work of Sassetta. In Florence, the Franciscans built the Church of Santa Croce where the works of Taddeo Gaddi, Maso di Banco, Giotto, Filippo Brunelleschi, Desiderio da Settignano, and Bernardo Rossellino remain.
FRENCH ACADEMY. The French Academy was established in Paris in 1648 to prevent the city’s guild from placing restrictions on artists. The founding members (the Le Nain brothers, Laurent de la Hyre, Charles Lebrun, and others) petitioned Louis XIV, then a child, for permission to establish said institution. Anne of Austria, the king’s mother and regent, favored the suppression of guilds, so permission was granted. The purpose of the academy was to provide art instruction for students, live models to draw from, and lectures by specialists. In 1655 the king allocated a stipend for the academy’s upkeep and gave its members the use of the Collège Royal de l’Université as headquarters. In the following year, the headquarters were moved into the Louvre Palace, and in 1661 a dictatorship was established under minister Jean Baptiste Colbert and Lebrun, who by now had become painter to the king. All artists in the king’s service were required to join the academy or lose their privileges, and the king’s tastes were imposed upon them. The basis for the academy’s teachings now relied on Nicolas Poussin’s views that painting must appeal to reason, it must be intellectual, and cater to the well educated. Nature should not be imitated but improved upon, and only noble subjects with dignified figures and gestures should be rendered. With this, the original purpose of the establishment of the academy to provide artistic freedom was unfortunately lost.
FRESCO. A painting technique devised during antiquity to decorate the walls or ceilings of private and public buildings. It entails coating the pictorial surface with a layer of coarse lime plaster (arriccio) on which the intended scene is drawn using red earth pigment (sinopia). The painting is then carried out in sections (giornate). Each section is covered with a layer of smooth plaster (intonaco) onto which pigments diluted in water are applied while the plaster is still wet. Once the plaster dries, the paint becomes a part of the wall. This technique creates a durable image that can last for centuries. Once the fresco is completed, touch-ups can be made using a fresco secco method where pigment is applied to the dried wall. This technique is less durable and in time can cause the paint to flake off.
FROMENT, NICOLAS (c. 1430–1490). Artist from the Provence region of France, born in Uzès and active in Avignon, where he died. Froment’s earliest known work is the Raising of Lazarus (1461; Florence, Uffizi), thought to have been painted for the Convento del Bosco near Florence. It is not clear whether Froment visited Italy or if the painting was rendered in France and then shipped. The work shows a massive overcrowding of figures pushed close to the foreground and sharp, angular lines in the manner of Robert Campin. Froment’s Altarpiece of the Burning Bush (1476; Aix-en-Provence, Cathedral of St.-Sauveur) is his best-known work. Painted for René D’Anjou who is included in the left panel, it presents the theme from the life of Moses that prefigures the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin and the Nativity of Christ.
FUNERAL OF PHOCION (1648; Paris, Louvre). Painted by Nicolas Poussin, the Funeral of Phocion depicts an episode related by Plutarch in his Lives. Phocion was an Athenian general who fought against Philip of Macedon. Against the wishes of the Athenians, he worked out a truce with the Macedonians and, as a result, was forced to poison himself with hemlock, his corpse banished from the city. In Poussin’s work, Phocion’s body is being carried out of Athens. In the story, he is later vindicated and given the burial of a hero within the city’s walls. In a companion piece also by Poussin, the Gathering of the Ashes of Phocion (1648; Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery), the hero’s wife collects his remains for proper burial. Poussin’s treatment of the landscape in these works owes a debt to the landscapes of Annibale Carracci and Domenichino. As in his prototypes, Poussin portrayed a nature tamed by man, with calculated parallel planes that recede into space balanced by the verticality of strategically placed trees. Poussin’s classicized approach befits the ancient story of vindication and moral virtue.