Thinking – The medici and the making of modern art
After wachting the BBC documentary and our own video with some examples, you should be able to answer the following questions.
- Dante puts usurers in the seventh circle of the hell. Why is that? How does this effect the thoughts of Giovanni di Bicci?
[There's a very nice animation of the seventh circle in this link (in Italian)] - Why is it significant that in the Monastery of San Marco Cosimo de Medici had erected a second space in his own private cell, with a fresco depicting the coming of the Three Kings or Magi to Christ? What was the role of these three magi in the thought of De Medici?
- What is the new function of art at the Villa Caffagioro?
- What was the great dream of Lorenzo de Magnifico and how did that influence his perception of art?
- Why is Michelangelo's Battle of the Centaurs called 'Birth of western European secular art'?
- What is the difference between liberal and mechanical arts and why are the liberal arts called 'liberal' (artes liberales)?
- Why is the world's oldest museum called Le Gallerie degli Uffizi (note the plural)?
- What is the significance of the two kneeling women on the left of Giottino's Compianto su Cristo Morto (1360, see below)?
- What is meant by the statement that the expression 'fine arts' is more than just an expression: it corresponds to a whole new mental category?
