The aim of this study is to investigate the role of posthumous portraits in the Tornabuoni family as a tool of positioning itself through visual rhetorics. The basis for the examination is three portraits of Francesca Pitti, Giovanna degli Albizzi and Lucrezia Tornabuoni, together with an altarpiece depicting the Visitation with Mary Jachobi and Mary Salome. The study uses iconography to analyse the images and using a rhetorical analysis to understand the visual rhetorics used by the family. The study finds that there are different hidden meanings in the portraits, Francesca is remembered by her husband by pure grief; Lucrezia is honoured as the bridge between the Tornabuoni and the Medici families, and Giovanna is remembered by her husband as the continuation of the dynasty in its time of crisis, as well as the pure loss and grief of his beloved wife and unborn child inside the walls of the palazzo. This study uses the theoretical framework of visual rhetorics, as developed by the historian Paul Zanker and adopted by art historian Johan Eriksson, to analyse the behaviour of commissioning posthumous portraits of deceased women and viewing them both in public and private spaces in churches and in the palazzo. As Alberti says: ''Through painting, the faces of the dead go on living for a very long time.''

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When I began developing the video game concept for my thesis, I realized that I was one of the kids that grew up in a society where video games took prevalence over historical artistry. I, however, was unaware of the hidden secrets that resided in the art and how much they contribute to the video games I enjoy playing today. This thesis aims to provide the younger generations with an engaging and stimulating way to experience historical artistry, more specifically the Italian Renaissance, without having to consult a history book. I aim to provide enough detail on multiple aspects of the movement to bring it to life in the classroom via any video game platform. Students need to develop an awareness of the benefits our digital culture gained over the centuries from the Italian Renaissance; therefore, I aspire to provide present-day children and teenagers with the ability to learn about the movement by doing one of the things they love most: playing video games. Although the art is most intriguing in its natural form, one must stay up to date with the changing times and provide the next generation with the artistic knowledge on which they might rely in their future career.

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Longtemps figé dans l'immobilité, le portrait peint de la Renaissance va s'animer grâce à une gestuelle qui fit l'objet d'une construction progressive. Très précoce, l'idée du geste: est présente dès 1440 chez Filippo Lippi dans les portraits féminins, à partir de 1450 chez Andrea del Castagno pour une effigie masculine et, en 1470, chez Antonello da Messina pour les mimiques. Mais la norme est au portrait en buste et d'autres freins, imposés par les commanditaires, perdureront jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle. En dépit des tentatives dissidentes d'Antonello da Messina, de Léonard de Vinci, ou, plus tard, de Bartolomeo Passerotti, c’est le modèle princier qui va s'imposer.Trois types d'écrits de l'Antiquité se préoccupent de l'apparence du corps et de la civilisation des mœurs : les préceptes éducatifs, souvent intégrés à des thèmes plus vastes, les traités de physiognomonie qui tentent de lire sur le visage les intentions ou la destinée de l'autre, et la rhétorique, qui s'intéresse plus particulièrement à l'ethos, au pathos mais aussi à la gestuelle de l'orateur. Ces textes seront reçus à la Renaissance dans divers domaines qui traitent tous, à un moment ou un autre, du geste. Les traités des éducateurs du Quattrocento, qui jalonnent la mise en œuvre d’une véritable réforme, cèderont la place aux manuels de savoir-vivre du XVIe siècle. A partir de 1455, les maîtres à danser lombards posèrent par écrit les premiers éléments d'une théorie de la danse. Les traités artistiques s'intéressèrent au decorum dans lequel s'inscrit le geste. Au tout début du XVIIe siècle, un certain nombre de conventions furent enregistrées dans des recueils illustrés de chironomie. Loin de considérer le doigt, la main ou les membres comme des détails sémantiques, cette thèse montre que la gestuelle est un signal social à replacer dans son environnement. Elle s’est ouverte sur l’histoire de l’éducation, centrale dans celle du geste, ainsi que sur celle du genre, ou encore de la place de l’enfant et de la parentalité. Une place importante a été consacrée à l’histoire du costume, celui que l’on a choisi pour ces images. Au terme de ce travail, il devient évident que le Moyen Âge n’est pas la seule période à avoir vu se développer une "civilisation du geste". L'analyse des textes, de l’Antiquité comme de la Renaissance, révèle une remarquable continuité dans la conception et les théories relatives à la gestuelle, sous-tendue par l'Institution Oratoire, particulièrement la partie traitant de l'actio. Quintilien eut une réception de longue durée dans les arts de la prédication et, de manière plus subtile, ses qualités d’éducateur et d’observateur de l'enfance ont également favorisé sa transmission dans le cadre pédagogique. Cet auteur enseignait l’utilisation programmée du geste pour appuyer le discours, pointant comme un défaut la négligence dans "la toge, la chaussure et le cheveu". Déjà pour lui, ce soin devait être imperceptible, l’éducation et l’apprêt physique devenant comme une seconde nature, la sprezzatura avant l'heure. Parcourant nos images, la référence à l'actio qui s'est imposée depuis l'Antiquité dans l'éducation, l'expression, la représentation imagée ou théâtrale, rend compte de la précocité de cette civilisation et de sa pérennité dans le temps. Le geste s’impose comme un patrimoine vivant, transmis le plus souvent de manière inconsciente de siècle en siècle, par le biais d’une multitude de canaux et de disciplines, parmi lesquels on compte le portrait, à la fois récepteur et vecteur. / The portrait, long considered as a rigid pictorial genre, became increasingly lively through the progressive introduction of gestural expression. This idea appeared as early as 1440 in Filippo Lippi’s female portraits, in 1450 in Andrea del Castagno’s painting of a man and in 1470, in Antonello da Messina’s mimes. But the standard surrounding is bust-length portraiture and other restrictions on movement, imposed by the commissions, lasted until the 16th century. Despite various dissenting works, such as those of Antonello da Messina, Leonardo Da Vinci, or later, Bartolomeo Passerotti, the Princely model held sway.In Antiquity, three literary categories, each with a different approach, addressed the appearance of the body and civilization of the customs : educational precepts often contained within vaster literary works, physiognomic treatises — which attempt to read from faces an individual’s intentions and destiny — and rhetorical studies which, in particular, concern the ethos and the pathos, but equally the orator’s gestures. During the Renaissance these three disciplines all influenced various domains, which are interested, at one point or another, in the gesture. The Quattocento’s didactic treatises, which paved the way for a true reform, were replaced by manuals of etiquette in the 16th century. From 1455, the Lombard dancing masters wrote the initial elements of a theory of dance. Artistic treatises on painting and sculpture insist on the decorum which included gesture. At the very beginning of the 17th century, a certain number of modern conventions were recorded in illustrated collections of chironomy.Far from considering the finger, the hand or the members as semantic details, this thesis shows that body movement is a social signal to be placed back in its environment. It open on the history of education, central in that of gesture, as well as on that of the genre, or still the place of children and the parenthood. An important place was dedicated to the history of the garment, the one that was chose for these pictures.Through this work, it becomes obvious that the Middle Ages are not the only period to have seen developing a "civilization of the gesture". The analysis of texts, of Antiquity as of Renaissance, reveals a remarkable continuity in the conception and the theories relative to the body movements, underlain by the Oratorical Institution, particularly the part dealing with the actio. Quintilien had a long-term reception in the arts of preaching and, in a more subtle way, his qualities of educator and observer of the childhood also favoured his transmission in the educational frame. This author taught the use scheduled of the gesture to support the speech, considering a defect the carelessness in "the toga, the shoe and the hair". Already for him, this care was to be imperceptible, the education and the body care becoming as a second nature, the sprezzatura before time. Browsing our images, the reference to the actio that got established since Antiquity in education, expression, and both pictorial and theatrical imagery, acknowledges how precocious that civilization was and how perennial it has been.The gesture is asserted as a living heritage, transmitted more or less consciously through time, through a myriad of conduits and disciplines, including the portrait, both as recipient and vector.

La thèse est consacrée à l’œuvre de portraitiste de Parmigianino au cours des deux périodes parmesanes de sa carrière, depuis sa naissance en 1503 jusqu’à son départ pour Rome en 1524, puis de 1531 à 1540, date de son décès. L’objet de la recherche est d’élucider les significations propres à chacune des effigies du corpus et d’analyser les processus plastiques et sémantiques par lesquels le peintre a élaboré les discours figuratifs que constituent ses portraits, dans le contexte de leur commande, production et réception. A cette fin, on a opté pour une approche pluridisciplinaire. La thèse débute par une étude de l’histoire artistique de Parme de 1500 à 1540 et une analyse des pratiques du portrait dans cette ville, au regard de ses nombreuses relations avec d’autres centres culturels et artistiques (Milan, Venise, Bologne, Florence et Rome). L’histoire sociale et politique de Parme pendant la première moitié du Cinquecento est un autre sujet de la recherche. Son objet est l’articulation des transformations institutionnelles au sein de la comune, les conquêtes par plusieurs pouvoirs étrangers entre 1499 et 1520 jusqu’à la création du duché de Parme et Piacenza par Paul III en 1545 avec le marché et les pratiques du portrait. Après cette étude du contexte, chacun des portraits de Parmigianino est examiné de façon approfondie, à travers une approche trans-disciplinaire qui associe histoire de l’art, histoire culturelle (littérature, du livre et de l’édition, emblématique, traditions de la rhétorique, débats linguistiques), histoire sociale et politique. / The dissertation deals with Parmigianino’s activity as a portraitist during the two periods of time he spent in his native Parma, between 1503 and 1524 and then between 1531 and 1540. Its aim is to analyze the painter’s male portraits in particular, that is to to clarify their specific significances and, at the same time, to elucidate the visual and semantic processes through which Parmigianino elaborated the figurative discourses that his portraits convey, in the artistic, cultural, social and political context of their creation. To reach this goal, several methodological approaches are used. The disseration begins with a close study of the artistic history of Parma between 1500 and 1540 and an analysis of the traditions related to portraiture in the city, with regard to its many cultural and political relations to other regions and states (Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence and Rome). The political history of Parma during the first half of the Cinquencento is an other field of research. Its purpose is to articulate the many institutionnal transformations of the comune, the conquest of Parma by several foreign powers between 1499 and 1520, until the creation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza by Pope Paul III, with the market and practices of portraiture. After this close examination of the context, Parmigianino’s portraits are analyzed through a trans-disciplinary approach that deals with art history, cultural history (literature, history of the book, emblems, traditions of rethoric, linguistic debates), social and political history).

Nous proposons une étude des genitalia masculines dans la production de Michel-Ange afin de saisir ce qu’un tel motif pouvait signifier dans différentes œuvres selon le sujet qu’elles représentent. En nous concentrant principalement sur quatre œuvres de l’artiste florentin nous désirons éclaircir l’impact visuel du dévoilement du sexe masculin et la perception que pouvait en avoir le public italien du XVe siècle et du XVIe siècle. Le Bacchus (1496-1497), Le David (1501-1504), Le Christ Rédempteur (1519-1520) et Le Jugement dernier (1536-1541) ont été choisis pour la diversité des thèmes qu’ils illustrent et pour leurs différents contextes de production et d’exposition. Nous comparons les œuvres religieuses aux œuvres profanes afin d’y relever les problématiques spécifiques qui résultent dans chacun des cas. Le choix de s’en tenir à la production de Michel-Ange implique aussi de se pencher sur un type de figure masculine bien précis, directement inspiré de l’Antiquité. Pour mieux comprendre ce qui résulte du dévoilement des genitalia, nous définissons des notions primordiales comme le nu, la nudité, la sexualité, la masculinité et la virilité dans l’art de la Renaissance. À partir d’une approche historiographique, dont La sexualité du Christ à la Renaissance et son refoulement moderne de Leo Steinberg constitue la référence principale, nous appuyons ses hypothèses quant aux représentations du sexe du Christ. Et selon une approche historique, nous suggérons des hypothèses quant à la nudité intégrale de figures emblématiques de la production de Michel-Ange. En nous concentrant principalement sur les œuvres nommées ci-haut et le détail des genitalia, nous remarquerons que les artistes, y compris Michel-Ange, ne représentent pas ce détail par hasard, mais bien parce que cette partie du corps riche en signification peut servir à exprimer et appuyer plusieurs concepts. / We propose a study on the male genitalia in Michelangelo’s production, in order to grasp the significance in different works of art depending on the subject that they represent. By focusing on four pieces of art of the Florentine artist, we would like to clarify the visual impact of the male genitals unveiled and the perception from the Italian audience of the fifteenth century and sixteenth century. The Bacchus (1496-1497), The David, (1501-1504), The Risen Christ (1519-1520) and The Last Judgment (1536-1541) have been chosen for the variety of the topics they illustrate and for the different contexts of production and exhibition. We compare religious pieces of art to profane pieces of art to identify specific issues that result in every case. The decision to stick to only Michelango’s artistic production also implies looking at a specific type of male figure, directly inspired by the Antiquity. For a better understanding of what results from the genitalia’s unveiling, we define essential notions like nude, nudity, sexuality, masculinity and virility in the Renaissance. With a historiographical approach based on The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, written by Leo Steinberg, we support his hypothesis about the representations of Christ’ genitals. And with a historical approach we suggest some hypotheses about the nudity of iconic figures realised by Michelangelo. By focusing mainly on the pieces of art mentioned above and the detail of genitalia, we notice that artists, such as Michelangelo, did not represent this detail by chance, but because this part of the body is rich of signification and can serve to express many concepts.

Fifteenth-century diplomatic protocol required the city of Florence to send diplomats to congratulate both new and militarily victorious rulers. Diplomats on such missions poured praise on their triumphant allies and new rulers at friendly locations. However, political realities also meant that these diplomats would sometimes have to praise rulers whose accession or victory opposed Florentine interests. Moreover, different allies and enemies required different levels of praise. Jealous rulers compared the gifts, status, and oratory that they received from Florence to the Florentine entourages sent to their neighbors. Sending diplomats with too little or too much social status and eloquence could spell diplomatic disaster. Diplomats met these challenges by varying the style, structure, and content of their speeches. Far from formulaic pronouncements of goodwill, diplomatic orations varied from one speech to the next in order to meet the demands of the complex diplomatic world into which they fit. Contextualizing these orations reveals the subtle reservations of diplomats praising a hostile ruler, the insertion of specific citations to flatter specific audiences, and the changing intellectual and stylistic interests of humanists throughout the fifteenth century. This essay will examine the different shades of flattery practiced by Florentine diplomats and the contexts that explain these variations.

This thesis is an examination of the circulation networks and the patterns of collection of Italian printed books in France in the sixteenth century. Although the cultural relations between the Italian and French territory have been studied, a systematic survey to assess the impact of books on the shaping of the French Renaissance has never been attempted. The first section of this study examines the trade routes and networks which facilitated the circulation of Italian printed books across the French territory. Because of the nature of the French early modern book trade, focused primarily on two major centres (Paris and Lyon), a geographical division has been adopted in investigating this phenomenon. Chapter one explores the trade networks existing in sixteenth-century Lyon, from the powerful Compagnie des Libraires to the activity of the libraires italianisants in the second half of the century. Chapter two examines the importance of Italian editions in Paris. Chapter three is devoted to the circulation of Italian books in the provinces and the impact of large regional centres and trade routes on the availability of books locally. Chapter four investigates private networks and their importance in making specific texts available to French readers. The second section of this study investigates the status and importance of Italian printed books within French Renaissance libraries. Chapter five looks into the development of the French Royal library and the role played by Italian items in defining its identity as an institution. Chapter six examines the presence of Italian books in French aristocratic and courtly collections. Chapter seven is devoted to the libraries of the French literary milieu, analysing the extent to which Italian books were cherished as literary exemplars, particularly with regard to vernacular texts. Chapter eight examines the presence of Italian books in professional collections, with particular attention here given to texts in Latin and other scholarly languages imported from Italy. The conclusion draws all of these strands together, looking at the specific role played by Italian culture, through the printed book, on the development of the French Renaissance. A catalogue of about 2,400 Italian printed books with early modern French provenance is included as an appendix volume. This data provides the evidential basis for this study.

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