Monthly Archives: January 2012
Leonardo da Vinci
Vitruvian Man
Such an undisputed genius was the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, whose contributions as a scientist and artist truly boggle the mind. A description of the achievements of this Renaissance Italian must perforce include hyperbole, but this time amply justified and probably even short of the mark.
Leonardo lived from 1452 to 1519, was born in a hamlet near Vinci, and apprenticed in Florence in the bottega of Verrocchio. Most of his professional life, however, was spent in Milano, under the sponsorship of that city’s ruling family, the Sforza. A complete characterization of Leonardo’s professional curriculum would include sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, and more.
Hundreds of books have been written about Leonardo, the creator of the Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man, the Lady with Ermine, the Last Supper, the Virgin of the Rocks, the Annunciation, etc. etc. And the inventor of the helicopter, the submarine, the tank and other devices for war, etc. etc. No quick summary could do justice to this man’s achievements, on this or on any other blog.
But there’s hope. A notable film about Leonardo is shortly coming to the Bay Area. This not-to-be-missed production will be shown in San Francisco and Palo Alto and in other venues for one evening only. Complete details can be found at http://leonardolivehd.com/. See you all there.
Mona Lisa
Last Supper
Annunciation
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The Founding of Mantova
Sant'Andrea, Mantova
This version of the founding myth is reported in Virgil’s Aeneid. A competing version tells that the city of Mantova gets its name from Manth, the Etruscan god of the dead in the Thyrrenian pantheon. Virgil’s version of the myth is also found in the Divine Comedy, in Canto XX of the Inferno, in which Dante himself and his Mantuan guide, Virgil, encounter the seers. Pointing out one of these souls Virgil describes the Mantuan countryside, the Lake of Garda, and the course of the Mincio, which flows into the Po at Governolo, and then asserts, with reference to the legend of Manto:
“Fer la citta’ sovra quell’ossa morte;
e per colei che ‘l loco prima elesse,
Mantua l’appellar senz’altra sorte”
“The city was built over those dead bones;
and for she who first chose the place,
Mantua it was named with no other choice”
Mantova
Palazzo Te
The legacy of the Dukes of Mantova is most apparent today in the Palazzo Ducale, an architectural complex comprising several buildings connected by various corridors and galleries, and including internal gardens and courtyards. In the Palazzo Ducale one finds the famous Camera degli Sposi (Chamber of the Newlyweds), with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, dedicated to Ludovico Gonzaga and to his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. Another must-see in Mantova is Palazzo Te, designed by Giulio Romano in 1525 at the behest of Federico II Gonzaga. This palace, home to Federico’s “official” lover Isabella Boschetti, was built on a small wooded island in the midst of a lake since vanished. It contains the famous Sala dei Giganti, the Sala di Amore and Psyche, and the Sala dei Cavalli (the Gonzaga horse stables were famous all over Europe at that time.) Of course the city contains many more buildings of note, both secular and religious (more about Mantova) The immense Piazza Sordello, bounded on one side by the Palazzo Ducale, is the center of the old city, reached immediately by crossing one of the bridges spanning the Mincio. Palazzo Te is at the other end of the city, presumably to keep wife and official lover as far apart as possible.
Mantova’s physical location is interesting. Sitting on the Mincio, a tributary of the Po river, it was since pre-Gonzaga days surrounded by water. This was accomplished by creating four artificial lakes around the city, for defensive purposes. Since that time one of the lakes has been eliminated, but the other three are still there, with the result that Mantova occupies a little peninsula, much like San Francisco.
The most famous self-proclaimed Mantovano is of course Virgilio, the greatest of Roman poets, author of the Aeneid, and a contemporary of Caesar, Augustus, and that whole bunch. Mantova is very proud of her illustrious son, and often honors him with exhibits, conferences, and the like. In the Aeneid Virgil gives an interesting mythical account of the founding of Mantua, which we will leave for another post.
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