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Luca Signorelli
Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–1503) in Orvieto Cathedral are considered his masterpiece. In his early 40s he returned to live in Cortona, after working in Florence, Siena and Rome (1478–84, painting a now lost section of the Sistine Chapel). With an established reputation, he remained based in Cortona for the rest of his life, but often travelled to the cities of the region to fulfill commissions. He was probably trained by Piero della Francesca in Florence, as his cousin Giorgio Vasari wrote, and his Quattrocento style became rather out of date in the new century. Cortona will host a major exhibition in 2023 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of his death. Biography He was born Luca d'Egidio di Ventura in Cortona, Tuscany (some sources call him Luca da Corto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cortona
Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓𐌕𐌖𐌍 (curtun). This may be related to Indo-European *ghortos meaning "enclosed place" and consequently walled city like Latin hortus, German Garten, Italian orto, English yard, and Slavic grad. The name may also be linked to the Phrygian town of Gordium in Anatolia, although the founding myth for the latter is that it was named after founder, King Gordias. However, the Etruscan language is probably a pre-Indo-European language, and therefore if it was named by the Etruscans, an Indo-European etymology is uncertain. The Umbrian language, by contrast, is an Italic language, so if it was named by them, a link to Indo-European roots would be more likely. George Dennis suggests that it was known by many names "Corytus, Croton, Crotona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiorenzo Di Lorenzo
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo ( 1440 – 1522) was an Italian painter, of the Umbrian school. He lived and worked at Perugia, where most of his authentic works are still preserved in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. Fiorenzo is known from a few signed works, including the ''Madonna of the Recommended'' (1476) and a niche with lunette, two wings and predella (1487), as well as from the documentary evidence that he was decemvir of that city in 1472, in which year he entered into a contract to paint an altarpiece for the church of Santa Maria Nuova, the pentatych of the ''Madonna and Saints''. Of his birth and death and pupilage nothing is known. Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari does not even mention Fiorenzo's name, though he probably refers to him when he says that Cristofano, Perugino's father, sent his son to be the shop drudge of a painter in Perugia, who was not particularly distinguished in his calling, but held the art in great veneration and highly honoured the men who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orvieto
Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone, called ''tufa''. History Etruscan era The ancient city (''urbs vetus'' in Latin, whence "Orvieto"), populated since Etruscan times, has usually been associated with Etruscan Velzna, but some modern scholars differ. Orvieto was certainly a major centre of Etruscan civilization; the archaeological museum (Museo Claudio Faina e Museo Civico) houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate area. A tomb in the Orvieto Cannicella necropolis bears the inscription ''mi aviles katacinas'', "I am of Avile Katacina"; the tomb's occupant thus bore an Etruscan-Latin first name, Aulus, and a family name that is believed to be of Celtic origin (derived from "Catacos"). Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luca Signorelli, Compianto, Cortona, Dettaglio 01
The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; the origins of viruses are unclear but they share the same genetic code. LUCA probably harboured a variety of viruses. The LUCA is not the first life on Earth, but rather the latest form ancestral to all existing life. While there is no specific fossil evidence of the LUCA, the detailed biochemical similarity of all current life confirms its existence. Its characteristics can be inferred from shared features of modern genomes. These genes describe a complex life form with many co-adapted features, including transcription and translation mechanisms to convert information from DNA to RNA to proteins. The LUCA probably lived in the high-temperature water of deep sea vents near ocean-floor magma flows around 4 billion years ago. Historica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandolfo Petrucci
Pandolfo Petrucci (14 February 1452 – 21 May 1512) was a ruler of the Italian Republic of Siena during the Renaissance. Biography Born and raised in Siena, a member of an aristocratic family, Petrucci was exiled from his home in 1483 for being a member of the city's Noveschi political faction, which had fallen out of favor with the rulers of Siena. When the Noveschi returned to prominence, Petrucci became their chief and returned to Siena in 1487. He later became captain of the city guard in 1495. Rise to power When his brother Giacoppo (one of Siena's most powerful residents) died in 1497, Petrucci assumed all of his offices and seized control of his fortune. His power and wealth increased even further with his marriage to Aurelia Borghese, daughter of the powerful Niccolò Borghese. With his father-in-law's backing, Petrucci assumed a number of public offices and gained a vast amount of political power. He subsequently used this power to sell public offices or to g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benedict Of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and Old Catholic Churches. He is a patron saint of Europe. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Lazio, Italy (about to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of central Italy. The Order of Saint Benedict is of later origin and, moreover, is not an "order" as is commonly understood but merely a confederation of autonomous congregations. Benedict's main achievement, his '' Rule of Saint Benedict'', contains a set of rules for his monks to follow. Heavily influenced by the writings of John Cassian, it shows strong affinity with the Rule of the Master, but it also has a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness (, ''epieíkeia''), whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a large Benedictine monastery in the Italian region of Tuscany, 10 km south of Asciano. Its buildings, which are mostly of red brick, are conspicuous against the grey clayey and sandy soil—the ''Crete senesi The Crete Senesi refers to an area of the Italian region of Tuscany immediately to the south of Siena. It consists of a range of hills and woods among villages and includes the ''comuni'' of Asciano, Buonconvento, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Term ...'' which give this area of Tuscany its name. It is a territorial abbey whose abbot functions as the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the land within the abbey's possession, even though he is not episcopal consecration, consecrated as a bishop. It is the mother-house of the Olivetans and the monastery later took the name of ''Monte Oliveto Maggiore'' ("the greater") to distinguish it from successive foundations at Florence, San Gimignano, Naples and elsewhere. History It was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Echo (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Echo (; el, Ἠχώ, ''Ēkhō'', "echo", from ἦχος (''ēchos''), "sound") was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus (as he had ordered her to do), endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself. Classical depiction ''Metamorphoses'' In ''Metamorphoses'' (8 AD), the poet Ovid tells of Juno (Hera in Greek mythology) and the jealousy she felt over her husband Jupiter's (Zeus in Greek mythology) many affairs. Though vigilant, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. When at last Juno reali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa and Pieria, about southwest from Thessaloniki. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks and deep gorges. The highest peak, Mytikas (Μύτικας ''Mýtikas''), meaning "nose", rises to . It is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographic prominence. In Greek mythology, Olympus is the home of the Greek gods, on Mytikas peak. The mountain has exceptional biodiversity and rich flora. It has been a National Park, the first in Greece, since 1938. It is also a World Biosphere Reserve. Every year, thousands of visitors admire its fauna and flora, tour its slopes, and climb its peaks. Organized mountain refuges and various mountaineering and climbing routes are available. The usual starting point for cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pan (god)
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Pan (; grc, wikt:Πάν, Πάν, Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, Pastoral#Pastoral music, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia (ancient region), Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. In Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna (goddess), Fauna; he was also closely associated with Silvanus (mythology), Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in Romanticism, the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Ross
Janet Ann Ross (1842–1927) was an English historian, biographer, and Tuscan cookbook author. Early life Janet Duff Gordon was the daughter of Sir Alexander Duff-Gordon and Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her father held a number of government positions, including Commissioner of Inland Revenue and her mother wrote the classic ''Letters from Egypt''. She had a brother, Maurice and a sister, Urania. She was the granddaughter of Sarah Austin, a famous translator, and the influential legal philosopher John Austin. She grew up in a highly cultured atmosphere among England's leading intellectual and literary figures. Her parents' friends and regular visitors to her home included: William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Thomas Macaulay, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Caroline Norton, Tom Taylor, and Thomas Carlyle. Janet's first years were spent at her family home at 8 Queen Square, Westminster, a house with a statue of Queen Anne at one end, since renumbered as 15 Queen Anne's Gate. Her paren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenzo De' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (''Lorenzo il Magnifico'' ) by contemporary Florentines, he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets. As a patron, he is best known for his sponsorship of artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo. He held the balance of power within the Italic League, an alliance of states that stabilized political conditions on the Italian peninsula for decades, and his life coincided with the mature phase of the Italian Renaissance and the Golden Age of Florence. On the foreign policy front, Lorenzo manifested a clear plan to stem the territorial ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV, in the name of the balance of the Italian League of 1454. For these reasons, Lorenzo was the subject of the Pazzi conspi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
