The musical culture of the female monastic institution called La Concezione, or il monastero nuovo, reflected the political, social and devotional objectives of the Medici court. In 1562, at the close of the Council of Trent, the convent was founded through the last testament of Grand Duchess Eleonora de Toledo de'Medici with the support of Grand Duke Cosimo I's personal knighthood-- the Cavalieri di Santo Stefano. Glorified as a "reformed" institution reflecting the piety of Florence and the rectitude of the Medici family, the public image of the convent required strict adherence to Catholic Reformation ideals of female virtue. Musically, the women of the convent restricted their public performance to monophonic chant. The only universally approved music for monastics, chant was thought to be the most appropriate form of public musical devotion for the virginal daughters of the court. In private, the patrician women perhaps enjoyed the popular polyphonic music that the vast resources of their families, the Florentine court, and their superiors, afforded them. The public image of perfection was of the utmost importance to the Medici; polyphonic performance was only allowed in the most private spaces of the cloister--away from the public eyes and ears. A counter-example to recent scholarship, this view of female monastic music is in contrast to studies that have highlighted examples of wealthy convents that actively sought opportunities for polyphonic performance as part of their public character. This dissertation relies on various extant archival documents of the convent, the Order of Santo Stefano and the Medici family in an examination of the role that music played in both the public and private spheres of the most elite convent of early modern Florence. / text

Följande uppsats behandlar fyra hovporträtt av konstnären Bronzino föreställande fursteparet Cosimo I de’ Medici och Eleonora di Toledo speglade mot de litterära källorna Machiavellis Fursten och Castigliones Boken om hovmannen. Uppsatsen empiriska material kommer således att bestå av ovanstående material placeras framför varandra för att belysa dess beröringspunkter, både i fråga om likheter och olikheter. Analysens teoriangrepp kommer med avstamp i Roland Barthes semiotiska bildanalys att närma sig porträttens denotativa men främst konnotativa uttryck. Vidare har Shearer Wests bok Portraiture använts för förståelsen kring porträttet som genre i dess historiska kontext. Undersökningens disposition består av två huvudrubriker varav den första behandlar den historiska kontexten och den sista delen själva bildanalyserna. Resultatet visar på att samtliga porträtt av Cosimo och Eleonora finner flera beröringspunkter i Machiavellis furstespegel som Castigliones hovmannaideal, men skiljer sig delvis beroende på porträtt. Vidare har undersökningen visat på att Cosimo i sina två utvalda statsporträtt – valde att i det senare gestalta sig själv i en måttfullare stil – inte helt olik den måttfullhet som skildras i såväl Castigliones litterära verk som visuella porträtt. Cosimos tidigare porträtt svarar dock bättre mot Machiavellis idé om imitering. De två porträtten av Eleonora finner även dom olika samband med textmaterial och där Eleonoras senare statsporträtt tycks besitta flera av hertiginnans drag – något som inte med samma tydlighet framträder i det tidigare porträttet. Gemensamt för alla porträtt är deras avsaknad av sprezzatura som den allra viktigaste egenskapen för en person vid hovet.

This dissertation analyzes the dates and artistic provenance of key architectural and decorative projects commissioned by the Pucci family for their townhomes, villas, and palaces during the Renaissance. It identifies the family’s insistent identification with prestigious Renaissance architects and artisans as a key element in a political and social stratagem that took its cue from the humanist ethos cultivated by their political patrons, the Medici. Temporally, this study is bracketed on both ends of the Renaissance by architectural commissions related to the Pucci’s long-standing patronage of Santissima Annunziata, the most important pilgrimage church in Florence. Methodoligically, it is an archival project that relies principally on previously unknown letters, wills, payment records, inventories, and notarial documents.

New archival documentation that was previously unknown details a new understanding concerning the life and death of Lornezino de' Medici.

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Cette étude se propose d’étudier la réception de la nouvelle de la victoire de Lépante dans le grand-duché de Toscane sous le règne de Côme Ier et la transformation de l’événement d’actualité en objet historique, inscrit dans l’historiographie officielle médicéenne. La participation de la flotte toscane à la Sainte Ligue de Lépante en 1571 s’inscrit dans un contexte particulier de crise diplomatique avec le roi d’Espagne Philippe II de Habsbourg, dont la Toscane est un État vassal et dont l’autorité est de plus en plus contestée par les Médicis. Côme Ier de Médicis a vu aboutir les projets de son ambitieuse politique navale en 1560 avec la création de l’Ordre militaire marin de Santo Stefano, de sa politique dynastique en 1569 avec l’obtention, par le pape Pie V, du titre héréditaire grand-ducal, accompagné d’un contrat de collaboration militaire pour l’Ordre. La présence de la Toscane, sous la bannière pontificale, dans une coalition aussi prestigieuse que la Sainte Ligue, qui réunit Venise, l’Espagne et le pape, devrait constituer une occasion privilégiée de renforcer le discours de légitimation du principat médicéen. En effet, la victoire de Lépante constitue un événement au sens traditionnel du terme, c’est-à-dire un fait politico-militaire inattendu, éclatant, dont les représentations d’actualité cristallisent les enjeux diplomatiques du moment et dont les célébrations permettent de mettre en scène le pouvoir : plus que l’antagonisme, c’est la qualité de l’alliance qu’on lui oppose qui fait sens dans les récits et les images de Lépante. Pourtant, en Toscane, on n’assiste pas à une production aussi riche, féconde, variée et durable qu’ailleurs en Italie, notamment à Venise ou à Rome. Fidèle à sa tendance de fond qui préfère aux revendications ouvertes la discrétion et la prudence, le discours médicéen raconte une victoire de Lépante ambigüe, nuancée, comme une voix discordante au cœur du concert de célébrations qui suivent l’événement, dépassant le simple clivage des catégories de victoire et de défaite. Les représentations toscanes puisent leur matière même dans les correspondances militaires et diplomatiques des acteurs de la bataille : ils écrivent juste après l’avènement des faits, observent avec lucidité les graves disfonctionnements au sein de la Sainte Ligue, rendent compte de leur expérience concrète de la guerre et des lourdes pertes subies par l’Ordre au cours des combats. La nouvelle et les détails de la victoire se diffusent très largement grâce à une nouvelle forme éditoriale, les avvisi a stampa, des publications occasionnelles qui racontent et célèbrent la victoire. Celles qui sont publiées en Toscane révèlent des choix éditoriaux particuliers : l’imprimerie officielle grand-ducale semble vouloir ménager les susceptibilités en diffusant des versions canoniques pontificales ou espagnoles du déroulement des événements, qui ignorent la participation toscane, tandis que des récits plus favorables aux Toscans sont publiés par des typographes d’importance secondaire. Dans un troisième temps, l’événement s’inscrit dans l’historiographie officielle du régime grand-ducal ; la bataille de Lépante est traitée comme une « semi-victoire » dans un chapitre de l’Istoria de’ suoi tempi de Giovambattista Adriani, l’histoire officielle du règne de Côme ; en revanche, elle fait l’objet d’une célébration triomphale dans un cycle de fresques de Giorgio Vasari réalisé dans la Sala Regia du palais apostolique du Vatican. En effet, Côme renonce à faire représenter la victoire de Lépante à Florence, au Palazzo Vecchio, comme nombre de ses hauts faits militaires, pour envoyer l’artiste officiel de l’État opérer au service du pape, comme ambassadeur du prestige culturel de Florence : pour servir l’État , les arts seraient, en somme, bien plus efficaces que les armes. / This dissertation focuses on how the news of the victory of the battle of Lepanto was received and dealt with under the rule of Cosimo I de’ Medici in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. This approach will then highlight that, from piece of news to historical information, this event was in fact transformed and discussed by the official Medicean historiography. The Tuscan fleet joined the Holy League in 1571. This coincides with a diplomatic crisis which crystallized the Medici’s contesting the authority of King Philip II of Spain over the vassal state of Tuscany. Cosimo I de’ Medici’s ambitious naval policy led to the creation, in 1560, of the Sacred Military Order of St Stephen and when, in 1569, Pope Pius V granted him the title of Grand Duke on the grounds of hereditary right, along with a military agreement to support the Order, his dynastic policy was finally asserted. The papal banner acknowledged a prestigious alliance between the Republic of Venice, Spain and the Pope. Being part of this Holy League offered Tuscany an opportunity to legitimate the Medicean princedom. The Battle of Lepanto may be considered as an event, that is to say, an unexpected military and political fact. The representations of this brilliant victory epitomize the diplomatic stakes of the time and the way the event was celebrated highlights its power issues. In fact, in the narratives and images of the Battle, what prevails is the strength of the alliance and not what it stood up against. Yet, works dedicated to the Battle in Tuscany were not as diverse and lasting as in other parts of Italy such as Rome and Venice. Medicean historians and artists gave a nuanced version of the Battle, mirroring a general trend of discretion. Their voices thus disrupted the harmonious celebrations which came after the event and challenged the dichotomy of victory versus defeat. Tuscan representations of the event drew their inspiration from an archival material made of diplomatic and military letters. Just off the battlefield, the protagonists of the combat put their experience down into words. They exposed that the Holy League was seriously dysfunctional and gave a first-hand testimony of the war and of how heavy the losses were for the Order. The news of the victory, but also its details, quickly and widely spread thanks to avvisi a stampa, a new editorial practice consisting in occasional publications extolling the grandeur of the victory. This thesis contends that the publications in Tuscany were ruled by a particular editorialist choice. In fact, it appears that the grand-ducal official press remained neutral and published mainly canonical versions of the Battle, praising both the papal and Spanish roles, but which overlooked the Tuscan participation, whereas narratives extolling the Tuscan input in the battle were handled by minor typographers. Furthermore the event made its way into the official historiography of the grand dukedom. In a chapter from Giovambattista Adriani’s Istoria de’ suoi tempi, which relates the official history of Cosimo’s rule, the Battle of Lepanto is described as a "semi-victory". On the other hand, it was treated as a grand victory by Giorgio Vasari in the series of frescos he painted for the Sala Regia in the Vatican palace. As a matter of fact, Cosimo, instead of having the Battle, and many other of his military feats, commemorated in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, decided to send the official artist of the State to the Vatican as a cultural ambassador. Arts seemed a better way to serve the State than weapons.

Giorgio Vasari naît le 30 juillet 1511 ; il s'éteint le 27 juin 1574. À la fin de l'année 1554, il entre au service de Cosme Ier de Médicis, duc de Florence, et se voit rapidement confier la responsabilité des travaux de transformation du Palais de la Seigneurie en Palais Ducal. L'artiste livre les clefs de lecture du cycle pictural déployé sur les plafonds et les murs du célèbre monument florentin, connu sous le nom de Palazzo Vecchio, dans une oeuvre peu étudiée : Ragionamenti del Sig. Cavaliere Giorgio Vasari, pittore et architetto aretino, sopra le invenzioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel Palazzo di loro Altezze Serenissime. Rédigé entre 1558 et 1567, mais publié à titre posthume seulement en 1588, ce texte met en scène Giorgio Vasari et le prince François Ier de Médicis, fils aîné de Cosme Ier et d'Éléonore de Tolède. Sous une plume ekphrastique, au sein de laquelle le mot et l'image s'unissent, l'artiste compose un dialogue distribué sur trois journées et conduit dans trois lieux emblématiques du palais : le Quartier des Éléments, le Quartier de Léon X et la Salle des Cinquecento. L'intérêt de cet ouvrage réside dans les différents niveaux de lecture comme dans les différents "dialogues" qu'il suppose. Si la réécriture de certains épisodes mythologiques, mis en relation directe avec l'histoire de la dynastie médicéenne, participe du dessein officiel de l'oeuvre, à savoir la glorification ducale, le mythe prélude, en raison de son appartenance à un univers ésotérique, à une lecture dérobée du texte vasarien qui, au-delà de servir le règne médicéen, révèle une aura mémorielle nous invitant à appréhender I Ragionamenti de Giorgio Vasari comme un édifice de la Mémoire. / Giorgio Vasari was born on 30 July 1511 ; he died on 27 June 1574. At the end of 1554, he starts to be on the service of Cosimo I de' Medici, the Duke of Florence and he quickly sees himself entrusted with the transformation works of the seigneurial palace into a ducal one. The artist delivers the reading guides of the pictorial cycle deployed on the ceilings and the walls of the famous Florentine monument known as Palazzo Vecchio, in Ragionamenti del Sig. Cavaliere Giorgio Vasari, pittore e architetto aretino, sopra le invenzioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel Palazzo di loro Altezze Serenissime, a little-known and little-studied work. Written between 1558 and 1567, but only posthumous published in 1588, this text stages Giorgio Vasari and Prince Francesco I de' Medici, the elder son of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo. Under a descriptive hand, in which the word and the image unite, the artist composes a dialogue spread over three days and lead in three emblematic places of the palace: the Elements Area, the Leo X Quarter and the Cinquecento Room. The interest of this work lies in the different reading levels as in the different "dialogues" that it means to suggest. If the rewriting of some mythological episodes, directly viewed in relation to the history of the Medici dysnasty, contributes to the official aim of the work - namely the ducal glorification - the myth preludes, owing to its belonging to an esoteric world, a hidden reading of the Vasarian text that, beyond serving the Medici reign, reveals a memory aura inviting us to comprehend Giorgio Vasari's Ragionamenti as an edifice of Memory.

This thesis deals with the personality and life of the Tuscan Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei, a time in which he lived, and his relationship with the Catholic Church. The aim of the thesis is to acquaint the reader with the life of Galileo Galilei and Renaissance society, and thus capture important moments and influences that shaped Galileo's personality and life orientation. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first part deals with the Renaissance period and the related European Reformation. It focuses on the Renaissance in Italy, then education, religious situation and seeing the world. The second chapter is dedicated to Galileo's biography, with regard to his work and then researchers who were with Galileo joint activity. The last part refers to the religious situation of 16th to 17th century, considering the Council of Trent, the Roman Inquisition and the cosmology of how the people regarded it in antiquity and later the Catholic Church and scientists in the early modern period. This part especially illustrates the conflict Galileo and the Church. It describes the reasons of the conflict, the trial of Galileo and the consequences that flowed from it. The thesis is supplemented with events after Galileo's death. The conclusion summarizes the most important influences that...

This dissertation describes the musical and religious support of the Medici family to the Medici Chapel in Florence and the historical role of the church of San Lorenzo in the liturgical development of the period. During the later Middle Ages polyphony was allowed in the Office services only at Matins and Lauds during the Tenebrae service, the last three days of Holy Week, and at Vespers anytime. This practice continued until the end of the sixteenth century when more polyphonic motets based on the Antiphon and Responsory began to be included in the various Office hours during feast days. This practice is documented by the increased number of pieces that appear in the manuscripts. Two of the transcriptions from the church of San Lorenzo included in the appendix are selected from this later repertoire.