Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Now Is the Time!

Barthel Bruyn, Vanitas
Dutch, died 1555
Otterlo, Krueller-Moeller
The text reads "Everything falls into death; death is the ultimate limit of things"







“Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
‘In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.’


Behold, now is a very acceptable time;

behold, now is the day of salvation.”

(2 Corinthinas 5:20-21 and 6:1-2)
Second Reading from the Mass for Ash Wednesday*




“Now is the time, now is the day” St. Paul tells us in the portion of Second Corinthians that is read in Ash Wednesday Masses as we commence the annual observance of the penitential season of Lent. St. Paul is reminding us, quite passionately, that we must not waste time and wait for “tomorrow” to seek forgiveness and reform our lives. The time is now, for “tomorrow” may not come.


This same sense of the swift passage of time and the terrible instability of life inform a type of painting that appeared during a relatively short time in the history of Western art. These are in the genre of still life paintings known as the “Vanitas”.


Jacob de Gheyn II, Vanitas
Dutch, 1603
New York, Metropolitan Museum
The inscription above the mirror reads "Human Vanity"




Vanitas (vanity) paintings began to appear in the 16th century, but reach their peak numbers during the 17th century and disappear during the 18th century. Sometimes they are also called 'memento mori' (remember death) paintings. 


Memento Mori
Flemish, c. 1530
The Hague, Mauritshuis Museum


They were popular throughout northern Europe, including the Netherlands, France, England and Spain.  Therefore, they cut across the Catholic/Reformed religious divide of European society at the time.

The era in which they were popular was one filled with European wars (wars of religion, the Thirty Years War, the wars of Louis XIV), epidemics (the Plagues of Seville, London, Vienna) and "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to". 

 

Early images were fairly simple, often consisting of little more than a skull and extinguished candle and, possibly, an inscription attesting to the fragility of things (see above).  Sometimes they could be brutally explicit, as in the print below.  Here, the figure of a  beautiful woman (above the waist) is revealed to be a rotten skeleton (below).  She is framed by two vertical objects.  To her right is a tall crucifix, with a banner around the shaft, bearing the words "O crux fidelis inter omnes Arbores" ("O faithful cross among all trees").  On her left is a palm tree with a banner bearing the words "Justus ut palma florebit in Domo Domini" extended on a floating banner by the words "Nemini parco qui vivit in orbe" .


Luca Bertelli, Vanitas
Italian, 1578
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum


The first phrase is a quotation from Psalm 92:13-14 "The just shall flourish like the palm tree...in the house of the Lord".  The second is more difficult to identify, but appears to be an directed at us.  It can be translated as "I spare no one who lives in the world."1  It's proximity to the crowned heads of a pope, a king and an emperor appears to be an illustration of the point of the quotation and the "I" who spares no one is Death. The quotation is associated with the late medieval Dance of Death motif, which is a precursor to the Memento Mori and Vanitas themes.  

At her feet is another banner that reads: "Ne te discipiat mulier formosa, superne ossa subornata, faetida sola latent" .  This can be translated as: "Do not let a beautiful woman distract you, the bones cover the rotteness that hides below."  She is surrounded by a border of skeletal arms crossed below skulls, a skull lies at the foot of the crucifix and the crowned heads lie at the foot of the palm tree, on their way to becoming skulls.

The message of this print could hardly by more specific.  Glory and beauty are fleeting, what counts is one's repentance.

Over time more the harshness became tempered, other items were added.  Flowers, with their transient beauty, were obvious early additions.

Later on, the scenes became more and more crowded with objects of all kinds: musical instruments, books, drawings, crowns (both regal and papal), armor, clocks, money, mirrors, scientific instruments, statues, objects made of glass, bubbles, etc.  The mood became lighter and the fearsome Memento Mori began to transmute into the wistful moment of nostalgia, of remembrance of happier moments, of reflection on the transience of all things, rather than of fear of future judgment.  



Pieter Clauszoon_Vanitas with the Spinario
Dutch, 1628
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum




Pieter Clauszoon_Vanitas with Tulip
Dutch, c. 1630
Otterlo, Kroeller-Mueller Museum




Vincent Laurenzoon van der Vinne I, Vanitas
Dutch, post-1649
Paris, Musée du Louvre
The inclusion of the crown and the portrait of King Charles I of England 
references the king's execution in January 1649.



Simon Renard de Saint-Andre, Vanitas
French, 1650
Lyons, Musée des Beaux-Arts


Pieter Boel, Vanitas
Flemish, 1663
Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts




Most often these works are devoid of people.  However, very occasionally they are populated, though not always by the living. In some, the skull is replaced by a complete skeleton (related to the skeletons that often appear during the same time period in tomb sculpture).


The greatest of these is the painting in the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville, Spain by the painter Juan de Valdes-Leal.  The skeleton, who is Death, is armed with scythe, shroud and coffin.  His bony hand extinguishes a candle and simultaneously points to an inscription that translates as "in the twinkling of an eye", a reminder of how quickly death devours earthly achievements.  

Juan de Valdes-Leal, Vanitas
Spanish, c. 1670-1672
Seville, Hospital de la Caridad




Occasionally an artist painted a self-portrait of himself as part of a Vanitas composition. Initially, the artists painted themselves as tiny reflections in shiny surfaces within the assemblage of still life, such as metal or glass objects.  However, as the17th century advanced, some began to paint themselves into the picture, as living examples of transience.  There is some debate about the meaning of these curious self-portraits.  Are they perhaps painted as an act of penitence?  Or are they clever demonstrations of the artist's power to overcome transience through his or her art?2


Clara Peeters, Still Life with Flowers and Gilded Objects
Dutch, 1612
Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle
Here the artist's self-portrait is in the form of several identical teeny reflections in the tall cup on the right.  See the detail below.


Clara Peeters, Detail of Still Life with Flowers and Gilded Objects 
Showing the tiny self-portraits of the artist at her easel reflected in the shiny surface of the 
decorative knobs on the cup.





Pieter Clauszoon, Vanitas with Glass Ball
Dutch, 1628
Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The self-portrait in this work is a reflection in the glass ball.





David Bailly, Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols
Dutch, 1651
Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal
In this picture the artist not only paints himself, he may also be playing with the idea of the transience of time.  The relevant quotation here is "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity".  It appears, in Latin, on the sheet of paper drooping from the table at the far right.  It has been proposed that the actual self-portrait is the painted minature being held by the artst who is self-portrayed as a young man.  By painting himself in two stages of life is he commenting on the transience of existence or is he demonstrating that his artistic skill can transcend time?





Edwaert Collier, Self-Portrait with Vanitas
Dutch, 1684
Private Collection
On the right of this picture is a sheet of paper which reads "Vita Brevis, Ars Lunga" (Life is short, art is long"). This spells out the ambiguity of some of these self-portrait images, reminders of both mortality and of the power of art.




Angels sometimes appeared as well. The Spanish painter Antonio de Pereda included angels in some of his works. In his Allegory of Vanity (1634), the angel holds a miniature portrait of the Emperor Charles V.  The angel balances it on a globe, and points to a location which appears to be somewhere off the northern coast of South America. Since Charles was long dead when the picture was painted, this may be a reference to the fact that Charles’ dominion over the New World availed him nothing against death.


Antonio de Pereda, Vanitas
Spanish, 1634
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum




Similarly, the angel in the Knight’s Dream holds a banner which proclaims in Latin 'Eternally stinging, it flies and kills quickly”. “It” is the bow and arrow drawn in the center of the banner, a reminder that death can come quickly and make the items of vanity spread on the table in front of the dozing knight utterly worthless. 



Antonio de Pereda, The Knight's Dream
Spanish, 1655
Madrid, Academia Real


The meaning behind all these paintings is that of St. Paul, now is the time to repent.

© M. Duffy, 2012, update 2023
__________________________
*  Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

1.  I would like to thank the anonymous reader who sent me this translation.  It made much more sense than my own attempts.  And with that corrected information I was able to find more information about the quotation.

2.  For a review of the arguments see:  Celeste Brusati, "Stilled Lives:  Self-portraiture and self-reflection in seventeenth-century Netherlandish still-life painting", Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 20, No. 2/3 (1990 - 1991), pp. 168-182 at http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/materiality/readings%20PDFs/brusati%20still%20lives.pdf




Monday, February 13, 2023

In the Beginning -- The First Days of Creation, Part Two

Sano di Pietro, God Creating the Stars
Cutting from a Manuscript
Italian, 15th Century
Paris, Musée Marmottan Monet
Inv. M 6049


In Part One (here) we looked at the representation of the days of creation from Late Antiquity to just before 1400.  Here we will look at the period from 1400 to the present.  

This period includes one of the most famous of all works of art on this topic.  That is the great series of paintings of subjects from Genesis done by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the beginning of the sixteenth century.  Not surprisingly, this work permanently influenced the artists who followed him.

However, before Michelangelo painted his great masterpieces high above the heads of his audience many artists essayed their own interpretations about what those first days of the earth may have looked like.  Chief among them were a group of masterful illuminators, who enriched the pages of Bibles and of prayer books with their ideas.  But, first and foremost among the works they illustrated were a series of very popular paraphrases of the Bible, predominantly in French.  These made the Biblical stories more accessible to an audience, literate in French, but not necessarily in Latin.  They were among the best sellers of the medieval world.  Indeed, the trade in highly illuminated prayer books and para-Biblical works was so strong that by the end of the thirteenth century most illumination was now done by professional scribes and illuminators, often organized in family groups, who offered their products for sale, just like today's publishers.  


 Late Middle Ages and Renaissance – 1400 to 1600


In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the depiction of things was more clinically naturalistic, but no less creative.  Understanding of anatomy and new ways of depicting reality, such as linear perspective, had an impact.

A Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins, circa 1400.  Although this manuscript is not attributed to any artist, the pictures are of a very fine quality.


The Creation of Light
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 3v



The Creation of the Earth
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 3v



The Creation of the Plants
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 4r


The Separation of the Waters
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 4v



The Separation of Water and Earth
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 5r



The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars and of the Planats
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 5v



The Creation of the Fishes
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 6r



The Creation of Adam
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 6v



The Creation of the Birds and Animals
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 7r



God Placing the Sleeping Adam in the Garden of Eden
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 7r



God Creating Eve
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 8r



Another beautiful set of unattributed illuminations for the Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins, also circa 1400

The Separation of Light and Darkness
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 4r



The Creation of the Firmament
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 4v



The Separation of Earth and Water
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 5r



The Creation of the Sun and Moon
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 5v


The Creation of the Fish
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 6r



The Creation of the Birds, Animals and Man
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 6v


God Resting on the Seventh Day Amid the Birds and Animals
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 7v



God Placing Adam in Eden
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 8r
The way in which God is holding Adam, his new creation, is a reference to the image of the Trinity called, the Throne of Grace in which God the Father holds Jesus Christ, his Son and Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who is the New Adam.  You can read about that image here and here.


The Creation of Eve
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9, fol. 8v



And a Book of Hours known as the Grandes Heures de Rohan, illuminated by the Rohan Master and his/her workshop in about 1420.1 The Rohan Master has a very distinctive style and is considered one of the great masters of illumination of the early fifteenth century.


Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Creating Heaven and Earth
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 1r

Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Creating Night and Day
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 1v


Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Creating the Firmament, the Earth and the Sea
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 2v

Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Setting the Limits of the Land and Sea, Creating the Trees, Birds and Fish
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 3v



Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Creating the Sun, Moon and Stars
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 4v



Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Blessing the Sea and Its Creatures
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 5v
Notice that the sea includes some things that are not exactly fish.  There's a lobster, some eels and even a mermaid!



Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Creating the Animals and Man
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 6v
There's a centaur there too!  Presumably this is not only a clever reference to myth but also a bit of a puzzle.  Is a centaur an animal or a man or something in between? 



Master of Rohan and Workshop, God Blessing All That He Created
From the Grandes heures de Rohan
French (Paris), First Half of the 15th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9471, fol. 7v



Panel Painting, 1445, by Giovanni di Paolo

Giovanni di Paolo, Creation of the World and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Italian, 1445
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection




Illustrations by the Master of Jouvenal des Ursins and his/her workshop to a copy of the Mare historiarum by Johannes of Cologne, from about 1447-1455. 


Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and Workshop, The Creation of the Earth, Separation  of the Waters and Separation of Light and Darkness
From the Mare historiarum by John of Cologne
French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 4915, fol. 21v



Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and Workshop, The Creation of the Plants, Creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars, Creation of the Fish
From the Mare historiarum by John of Cologne
French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 4915, fol. 22r


Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and Workshop, The Creation of Man's Body
From the Mare historiarum by John of Cologne
French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 4915, fol. 23r



Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and Workshop, God Inserting a Soul into the Man's Body
From the Mare historiarum by John of Cologne
French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 4915, fol. 23v



Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and Workshop, The Creation of Eve
From the Mare historiarum by John of Cologne
French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 4915, fol. 24r


And the final manuscript illumination I will show from the fifteenth century:  

A copy of the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais, 1463, Illustrated by Master Francois and his workshop.


Master Francois and Workshop, The Creation of the World
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 16v


Master Francois and Workshop, The Separation of Light and Darkness
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 17v


Master Francois and Workshop, The Creation of the Earth and the Plants
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 18r
Notice that the creation of the earth includes the creation of precious gems!


Master Francois and Workshop, The Creation of the Sun and Moon
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 19r


Master Francois and Workshop, The Creation of the Birds and Fish
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 20r


Master Francois and Workshop, The Creation of the Animals and of Adam and Eve
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 20v


Master Francois and Workshop, God Blessing His Creation
From the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 21r


And, finally a Wall Painting painted by a regional Italian artist on the very cusp of the new era that would begin with the work of Michelangelo, but using the same iconography as the medieval illuminations.

Nicola da Novi, The Creation of the World
Italian, c. 1506
Ripacandida, Church of San Donato




The Sistine Chapel Ceiling and Its Influence, 1508 and later.

Virtually all the ways of imagining the story of creation were blown away when Michelangelo Buonarotti, that human whirlwind of creativity, was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.  Between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo and his assistants produced one of the most stupendous of all artistic endeavors on the subject of the Creation.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Separation of Light and Darkness
Italian, c. 1508-1512
Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel


Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Separation of Earth and Water
Italian, c. 1508-1512
Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel


Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of the Sun and Moon
Italian, c. 1508-1512
Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel


Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of Adam
Italian, c. 1508-1512
Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel


Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of Eve
Italian, c. 1508-1512
Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel



After the Sistine

The dynamic quality of the images of Creation from the Sistine Chapel had a resounding impact on later images of Creation.


Vincent Raymond, The Creation of the Sun and Moon
From the Psalter of Paul III
Italian (Rome), 1542
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 8880, fol. 182v


Jobst Dorndorf, The Creation
German, c. 1544-1546
Pirna, Church of Saint Mary
Even in provincial Germany the dynamism of Michelangelo had an effect. 


Giulio Clovio, The Separation of Light and Darkness
From the Farnese Hours
Italian, 1546
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 69, fol. 59v


In France, Etienne Delaune produced a series of prints that continue the tradition of telling the story of creation over several illustrations, but with the new visual language of the Sistine Chapel.

Etienne Delaune, The Creation of the World
From a Series of Illustrations of Genesis
French, c. 1550-1575
London, Trustees of the British Museum


Etienne Delaune, The Creation of Adam
From a Series of Illustrations of Genesis
French, c. 1550-1575
London, Trustees of the British Museum


Etienne Delaune, The Creation of Eve
From a Series of Illustrations of Genesis
French, c. 1550-1575
Philadelphia, Museum of Art


Once injected into the tradition, Michelangelo's dynamism became the tradition.

Tintoretto, The Creation of the Animals
Italian, c. 1551-1552
Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia


Laurent Pecheux, The Creation of the World
French, c. 1750-1760
Rome, Palazzo Barberini, Gallery V Ceiling 


Disproving a Common Misconception

Sometimes it has been said that until the voyages of Columbus (1492) and Magellan (1519-1522) the common belief was that the world is flat.  However, it is interesting to observe that this cannot have been the actual belief, since in virtually every case of works of art that depicted the Creation, whether from the 500s or the 1500s, the universe and the earth are depicted as spheres.  That is, the God’s eye view of Creation sees them as spherical, not flat.

In fact, people knew theoretically that the world was round for at least a millennium before the theory was confirmed by the voyages of Columbus and Magellan.2   Those voyages were conditioned on the supposition that the earth was a sphere.  And there was ample natural evidence that the theory was correct.  Such ordinary observations, that I myself have experienced, are:
  •  you can see farther out to sea from the side of a mountain than you can from the seashore (and, if high enough, you can see the curve of the earth in the distance)
  • the shadow cast by the earth on the moon during a lunar eclipse is circular
  • ships seen from a distance while at sea appear to disappear from the bottom up as they move away from you and the curve of the earth hides them from view.
The Earth
From L'Image du monde by Gossouin de Metz
French, c. 1245
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 574
The roundness of the earth is demonstrated here by showing two men who stand together at the top and are then shown walking all around it, to meet again at the 
bottom, approximately 250 years before Columbus.

Dante, who wrote the Divine Comedy nearly two hundred years before the voyage of Columbus clearly believed that the earth was round, since his imaginative descent into hell began in Italy and emerged on the opposite side of the earth, where he began his ascent up the seven storied mountain of Purgatory. 3
  

Girolamo Benivieni, Map of the Earth Showing the Relation of the Entrance
to Hell and Mount Purgatory
From Dialogo di Antonio Manetti cittadino Fiorentino circa al sito, forma
 et misure dello inferno di Dante Alighieri poeta excellentissimo

Florence, 1506


As he climbed the mountain, he described in detail the view of the stars of the southern hemisphere and compared the time of day and night there with day and night in known parts of the northern hemisphere (his descriptions of the night sky where, of course, imaginary since he had not seen them, but his was aware that there were other constellations that appeared in other parts of the globe from those he knew in Italy).


© M. Duffy, 2017, substantially revised 2023
  1. In cases where the unknown artist has been given a name associated with a manuscript or a place, I have chosen to use the term "his/her" in referring to their workshop. It is a fact that is still relatively unknown that many medieval artists, especially in the later medieval period, were women. Frequently, they were the wives and daughters of male artists, working in a family business. But they may also be widows, continuing to work at the family business after the death of its head. In addition, nuns or other religious women may also have worked as artists to support their communities. Evidence is not lacking for such women as Jeanne de Montbaston, who worked in the middle of the fourteenth century alongside her husband, Richard, in the family business in Paris, or the unnamed woman painter whose teeth, embedded with the costly pigment of lapis lazuli, were recently analyzed. See:
  2. Curry, Andrew, "Medieval Woman Artist Unmasked by Her Teeth", National Geographic, January 9, 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/female-medieval-master-artist-revealed-dental-calculus
  3. For a discussion of human knowledge on the shape of the earth see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_Earth and https://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Scolumb.htm. For information on the current connection between the Church and astronomical matters see the website of the Vatican Observatory at http://www.vaticanobservatory.va/content/specolavaticana/en.html
  4. For the geography of Dante’s imaginative voyage through Hell and Purgatory see: http://users.scc.spokane.edu/JRoth/Courses/World%20Masterpieces%20271/SOM%20Recordings%20W%202014/Dante/dantes%20geography%20document.pdf and http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/exhibitions/Dante/geography.html