OLLI Spring 2016 Lecture 5

Lecture 5
The Papal Court in Rome, cont.
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
ceiling, fresco, 1508-12

Sistine Chapel Ceiling, diagram

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam

Michelangelo,
Lybian Sybil, from
the Sistine Chapel
Ceiling
Sybil: Pagan
priestesses, usually of
Apollo; their
prophecies were
recorded in books.
Raphael, Stanza della Segnatura, fresco,
1508-12

Raphael, Parnassus, Stanza della Segnatura,
1509-11

Raphael, Parnassus, Stanza della Segnatura,
1509-11
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Marcantonio Raimondi, Parnassus, engraving, ca. 1511
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Leo X
(Giovanni de’Medici)
b. 1475
appointed cardinal
1492
elected 1513, d. 1521
Continued Julius II’s war with France;
restructured papal authority in France
with the end of the Pragmatic Sanction
of Bourges and the Concordat of
Bologna (1516)
Presided over the 5th Lateran Council
Restored the Medici to power in
Florence in 1513; removed Julius II’s
nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere
as duke of Urbino in 1517 with his own
nephew Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici
Continued Julius II’s rebuilding of St.
Peter’s; authorized the selling of
indulgences to raise funds
Raphael, Stanza dell’Incendio, fresco,
1516-17, Vatican Palace

Raphael, Fire in the Borgo, fresco, Stanza
del’Incendio

Raphael or workshop,
Portrait of Cardinal
Bernardo Dovizi da
Bibbiena, oil, 1516,
Florence, Palazzo Pitti
B. 1470, d. 1520
Member of the court of
Urbino
Papal treasurer and
commander of the papal army
(1517)
Author of La calandria, an
Italian comedy in imitation of
Plautus’s Menaechami,
performed in Rome in 1514
Raphael, St. Michael
the Archangel
Vanquishing the Devil,
oil, 1517, Paris, Louvre
Diplomatic gift for Francis I, King
of France
Italian States in the
15th century:
Republic of Venice
Marquisate of Mantua
Duchy of Ferrara
Republic of Florence
Republic of Siena
Duchy of Milan
Duchy of Savoy
Kingdom of Naples
Papal States
Matteo de’ Pasti,
Portrait Medal of
Sigismondo
Pandolfo
Malatesta, bronze,
dated 1446
Born 1417, illegitimate son of
Pandolfo III Malatesta and Antonia
dei Barignani
Became the lord of Rimini in 1432
Married Ginevra d’Este (1434) no
children; Polissena Sforza (1441) two
children; Isotta degli Atti (1456); 3
daughters, 1 son; 1 son with Vanetta
dei Toschi
Latin epic poem celebrating his
military exploits, Hesperia, written
by Basinio di Parma
Died 1468
Roberto Valturio, De re militari, fol. 143 v. 144
r., copied 1462 (Vatican Library Urb. Lat. 281)

Castel Sigismondo, obverse of medal by Matteo de’
Pasti dated 1446 (l), 19th century photograph (r)

Leon Battista Alberti, Tempio Maletestiano, Rimini,
1453-68 (l); image of intended completion based on
medal

Arch of Augustus, Rimini, 27 BCE. Brick
faced with travertine.

Plan of the Tempio
Malatestiano
Yellow: original structure of 11th
century
Tan: 13th century renovation
Red: Alberti’s renovation and
expansion
Matteo de’ Pasti, Portrait Medal of
Isotta degli Atti, bronze, dated 1446

Piero della Francesca, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
Before St. Sigismund, fresco and tempera, sacristy of
the Chapel of St. Sigismund, 1451
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Capella degli
Angeli or d’Isotta,
Tempio
Malatestiano,
Rimini
Angels in relief on the piers
Isotta’s sarcophagus is supported
by elephants; the putti holding a
banner on the front reading:
D(ivae) Isottae Ariminensi b(ene)
m(erenti) sacrum. M. CCCCL
Agostino di Duccio, Angels, Istrian stone reliefs
with polychromy and gilding, 1450s, Chapel of the
Angels, Tempio Malatestiano
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