A character from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron whose story became a popular subject in painting during the 15th century, appearing mainly in domestic furnishings that provided didactic narratives. In the Decameron, Nastagio falls in love with a woman who rejects him. Disheartened, he squanders his fortune and spends his days in the woods drinking and dining with his friends. One day he witnesses a naked woman being chased by a knight. The knight kills her, feeds her innards to his hounds, and then explains to Nastagio that he was once in love with the woman but was rejected, so he committed suicide. When the woman also died, the two were condemned to eternally reenact her murder and the feeding of her entrails to the dogs. Then the woman gets up, and the scene is replayed. Shaken, Nastagio invites the object of his affection to a banquet in the woods, where they both witness the knight killing the woman. Horrified by the event, Nastagio’s love decides to accept him as her husband.
Sandro Botticelli rendered the story in four panels, three of which are now in the Prado, Madrid, and the other in a private collection. Executed in 1483, they were commissioned by the Medici for the wedding of Gianozzo Pucci, Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici’s nephew, to Lucrezia Bini. A panel by Domenico del Ghirlandaio in the Brooklyn Museum (after 1483) shows the chase of the nude woman by the knight and his dogs. These works were meant to elucidate the pivotal role of marriage and the family as the pillars of society.
Called El Mudo (“the Mute”) because he was a deaf-mute, Navarrete is best known for the altarpieces he contributed to the decoration of the Monastery of El Escorial for Philip II of Spain, whom he served as court painter from 1568 until his death in 1579. He was originally from Logroño and traveled to Italy, where he was influenced by the art of the Renaissance masters, particularly Titian, with whom he may have studied. His earliest known painting is the Baptism of Christ (c. 1565; Prado, Madrid), a work that shows his assimilation of the Italianate style. Not only are the anatomical details of Christ’s nude torso and his pose borrowed from Michelangelo, but the foreshortened God the Father hovering above Christ is also taken directly from the scenes of Creation in Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling (1508–1512; Vatican, Sistine Chapel). The Michelangelesque features in Navarrete’s art are also manifested in his Christ Appearing to His Mother (1578–1579), one of the altarpieces he contributed to the decoration of El Escorial, where a seminude, foreshortened Christ floats in midair.
Navarrete’s loose brushwork and vivid colorism are what earned him the sobriquet “Spanish Titian.” His other works include Abraham and the Three Angels (1575; Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland); Martyrdom of St. James (1571; El Escorial, Monastery of San Lorenzo); Christ at the Column (1572–1575; El Escorial, Monastery of San Lorenzo); and Burial of St. Lawrence (1578–1579; El Escorial, Monastery of San Lorenzo), this last a lugubrious rendition with dramatic lighting effects. These were part of the 32 altarpieces commissioned from the artist for the Escorial monastery. Having completed about a third of the works, Navarrete died suddenly, leaving Philip to scramble to find a substitute master. Navarrete’s Italianate style would affect future Spanish painters, among them Francisco Ribalta and particularly Diego Velázquez.
The central space of a church, running from the entrance to the choir, where the faithful congregate to hear the mass. It is called a nave, as the church, at times, is likened to the ship that symbolically will transport the faithful from this life to the next. It is usually flanked by aisles and separated from them by the nave arcade. The nave elevation in Gothic churches usually includes the arcade, triforium, and clerestory, granting a delicate skeletal appearance. In Italy, the nave elevations are usually only two stories high, with arcade and clerestory, and feature lesser piercings. This type of construction is better suited for the hot and humid climate of the region. The continuous walls above the nave arcades in these churches provide a surface for fresco or mosaic decorations, normally absent in French Gothic prototypes. In some of the longitudinal churches built during the Counter-Reformation, among them Il Gesù in Rome (1568–1584), the nave was widened and the side aisles eliminated to avoid the visual interruptions created by the arcade and place all focus on the main altar during the rituals of the mass.
The literal translation of this Italian word is “little ship,” and it refers to the episode in the New Testament when Christ walks on water to save St. Peter from drowning during a turbulent storm. Giotto designed a large mosaic depicting this subject for Old St. Peter’s, Rome, in c. 1307, commissioned by Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi. The mosaic only exists in fragmentary form, as it had to be removed in the 16th century, when Old St. Peter’s was demolished. A drawing in the Vatican Library after the lost original shows that Stefaneschi was included as a donor figure, kneeling on the lower right in prayer. The scene was meant to symbolize that the Catholic Church, through Christ’s guidance, survives regardless of any perils it might face.
A school of philosophical thought founded by Plotinus in the 6th century. Inspired by the writings of Plato, Plotinus concluded that it is from the One, Intelligence, and the Soul that all existence emanates. For him, it is through intellectual contemplation that these three can be united as a single, all-encompassing reality. The soul possesses a higher, purer form and a lower corrupt part that causes mundane individuals to give in to their passions and vices. Those who are enlightened achieve their soul’s ascent to the highest level through contemplation. Neoplatonism greatly influenced Christianity. The three hypostases of the One, Intelligence, and the Soul parallels the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and the concept of attaining greater heights through contemplation translates to the ascent of the soul to Heaven as reward for proper Christian behavior through prayer and meditation.
The recovery of Greek manuscripts in the 13th century from Byzantium by the Crusaders and their systematic translation into Latin in the 15th century occasioned the revival of Neoplatonism. Marsilio Ficino’s founding of the Platonic Academy in Florence under the auspices of the Medici and the writings in which he tried to reconcile Neoplatonism and Christianity sparked further interest in the philosophy. Eventually, every aspect of life was touched by Neoplatonism, including art, and theorists like Giovanni Battista Agucchi and Giovan Pietro Bellori were soon instigating artists to improve upon what they viewed as the imperfect, corrupt nature by rendering it not as they saw it, but as the higher, more perfect version they envisioned. Among the artists whose works have been interpreted along the lines of Neoplatonism are Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Annibale Carracci.
The god of the sea, son of Saturn and Cybele, and brother of Jupiter. Neptune’s consort is Amphitrite, who at first rejected his advances and fled but was later persuaded to marry him. Neptune had almost as many loves as his brother Jupiter, including Medusa, from which union Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor were born, and Gaia, who bore him Antaeus. Neptune is often depicted on fountains, as in Bartolomeo Ammannati’s Neptune Fountain (1563–1575) in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Benvenuto Cellini included the god reclining opposite Tellus in his famed salt cellar of Francis I of France (1540–1544; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) to denote the places of origin of salt and pepper. Jan Gossart depicted Neptune alongside Amphitrite as Italianate, classicized nudes (1516; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), the first rendition of its kind in Flanders. Eustache Le Sueur painted the Marine Gods Paying Homage to Love (c. 1636–1638; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum), a work that shows Polyphilus and Polia, the characters of the Hypnerotomachia Polifili, being ferried to Venus’ sacred island of Cythera by Neptune, Amphitrite, and their retinue.
The New Sacristy of San Lorenzo was conceived as a funerary chapel for members of the Medici family, namely Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino (d. 1519), Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (d. 1516), and the brothers Lorenzo “the Magnificent” (d. 1492) and Giuliano, the latter murdered during the Pazzi Conspiracy (1478). Michelangelo received the commission from Cardinal Giuliano de’ Medici, who later became Pope Clement VII (r. 1523–1534). Work was interrupted in 1527, as the sack of Rome resulted in Medici exile from Florence, although they were reinstated in 1530, by papal and imperial forces. As Michelangelo had aided in the fortification of the city during their absence to prevent them from retaking power, the Medici ordered Michelangelo’s assassination. Soon however, Clement VII, who understood the uniqueness of Michelangelo’s artistic abilities, pardoned the master, and work on the New Sacristy resumed. In the end, Michelangelo left the project unfinished, as Clement died in 1534 and Alessandro de’ Medici was murdered in 1537. That same year, Michelangelo was in Rome, but having heard of the event, he decided that it would not be safe for him to return to Florence to complete the work.
Michelangelo’s monument to the Medici and Filippo Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy stand at opposite sides of the transept of San Lorenzo; therefore, Michelangelo consciously harmonized his design with that of his predecessor. He used pietra serena (a local stone) trims over whitewashed walls and echoed the arches and pediments of the earlier structure. Yet, Michelangelo also added decorative elements that were unprecedented, for example, blind niches that are too shallow to contain statues, niches that are deeper at the top than at the bottom to accommodate carved swags, and columns that do not belong to any identifiable order, supported by scroll brackets. Drawings indicate that originally Michelangelo intended a freestanding monument for the tombs in the center of the room. In the end, however, he settled for wall tombs, completing only those of the Medici dukes. Their sarcophagi are shaped like segmented (semicircular) pediments and feature a reclining figure at either side. Night and Day are on Lorenzo’s tomb and Dusk and Dawn on Giuliano’s; these figures imply the passage of time. Above the central split in each sarcophagus is the sculpted portrait of the deceased. Giuliano, in an assertive stance, holds a baton of command, while Lorenzo is pensive, his left arm resting on a coffer to reference the family’s banking activities. For this, the figures have been given a Neoplatonic reading, with Giuliano seen as a representation of the active life and Lorenzo as its contemplative counterpart. Had Michelangelo executed the other tombs, the dukes would have gazed at their forbearers—an assertion of dynastic continuity.
Michelangelo’s drawings indicate that he intended to include river gods at the lower level of each tomb, meant to represent the four rivers of paradise. Frescoes on the lunettes above the tombs of the Resurrection and the Brazen Serpent, an Old Testament episode that prefigures the Crucifixion, would have provided references to the Christian promise of salvation. With the New Sacristy, Michelangelo sought to unite concepts of time, memory, and spiritual transcendence through an expressive visual language that broke away from normative artistic conventions.
Of humble background, Nicholas IV was created cardinal in 1278, and appointed Bishop of Palestrina in 1281. He was the first Franciscan pope, his reign dominated by the influence of the Colonna, so much so that he was portrayed sardonically by the populace of Rome as a figure crowned in the papal tiara and encased in a column, the heraldic symbol of this feudal family. As pope, his efforts were centered on restoring Sicily to the House of Anjou after having been lost to Aragon. Nicholas effected an alliance between France and Castile against Aragon, declared James of Aragon deposed, and crowned Charles II D’Anjou king of Naples and Sicily. He sent missionaries to the Balkan, the Near East, and China, this last region seeing the representation of the Catholic Church for the first time. Nicholas restored the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, adding a transept and rebuilding the apse. He then commissioned Jacopo Torriti to decorate the apse with mosaics depicting the Coronation of the Virgin (not executed until c. 1294). He also commissioned from Torriti the mosaics at St. John Lateran (c. 1291).
A native of Sarzana and the son of a physician, Nicholas was educated in Bologna. His father’s death forced him to interrupt his studies and seek work in Florence. There, he refined his humanist interests in the Strozzi and Albizzi households, where he worked as a tutor and made the acquaintance of the leading humanists of the day. In 1419, he was able to return to Bologna and complete his studies, after which he entered in the service of the bishop of Bologna, Niccolò Albergati. In 1444, Albergati died, and Nicholas assumed his position as bishop. Eugene IV sent him on diplomatic missions in Italy and Germany, which earned him the cardinalate in 1446. Eugene died the following year, and Nicholas became pope. He immediately set out to embellish the city of Rome and make it the worthy capital of Christianity.
Leon Battista Alberti acted as his advisor in Rome’s restoration campaign. Nicholas repaired the Acqua Vergine to improve the city’s water supply; widened streets; and renovated bridges, the buildings of the Capitol, major basilicas, and smaller churches. He also made improvements to the port of Ostia, the city’s harbor, and extended the Vatican Palace, including the addition of a library to house his extensive collection of books. His chapel in the Vatican (the Chapel of Nicholas V) was frescoed by Fra Angelico in 1448, with scenes from the lives of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. Nicholas also hired a number of humanists to his court, including Lorenzo Valla, to enhance culture in Rome.
Painted by Rembrandt in 1642, the Night Watch portrays officers of the company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, William van Ruijtenburgh. The title of the painting is a 19th-century fabrication based solely on the fact that the scene takes place in a dark room. Unlike traditional portraits of militia members where figures pose while seated around a table, this one shows the individuals in action. As they ready themselves to participate in a parade, Captain Cocq gives his lieutenant his final instructions, a young gunpowder boy awaits in the foreground, a drummer practices, an officer raises the company flag, and others ready their muskets and lances. Left center a girl runs across the room, surprisingly receiving the greatest amount of light in the painting. She is dressed in blue and gold, the company’s colors, and from her waist dangles a dead bird with claws prominently shown, the company’s emblem. With these particulars, she becomes the personification of the group’s heraldic device. The dramatic chiaroscuro effects; oblique arrangements of figures, banners, and weapons; and excitement of the moment classify this work as decidedly Baroque.
In Greek, nymph translates to “young woman.” In mythology, these creatures are lesser deities who often represent some aspect of nature, for instance, a tree, grotto, stream, or region. In art, they are usually depicted as beautiful, sparsely dressed, youthful figures that often hold a flower or some other attribute particular to their story. Some lust after handsome male youths, while others are pursued by satyrs, male mortals, or even gods. Daphne is the wood nymph pursued by Apollo and turned into a laurel tree by Peneius to protect her, the theme of Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s Apollo and Daphne (1470–1480; London, National Gallery) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture of the same subject (1622–1625; Rome, Galleria Borghese). The sea nymph Galatea ridicules the cyclops Polyphemus in Annibale Carracci’s Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600; Rome, Palazzo Farnese), and the wood nymph Chloris becomes Flora as reward for Zephyrus’ indiscretion in Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera (c. 1482; Florence, Uffizi). Laurent de la Hyre depicted Diana and Her Nymphs in 1644 (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum), and Artemisia Gentileschi rendered Corsica and the Satyr in the 1640s (private collection), this last work showing the astute nymph, who, tired of being pursued, donned a hairpiece that came off as the satyr tried to grab it.