Papers by Maureen Maggio
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART AND ART HISTORY
Although a contemporary of the great Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini is not as well known to the ... more Although a contemporary of the great Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini is not as well known to the general public today. Cellini, a master sculptor and goldsmith in his own right, made no secret of his admiration for Michelangelo's work, and wrote treatises on artistic principles. In fact, Cellini's artistic treatises can be argued to have exemplified the principles that Vasari and his contemporaries have attributed to Michelangelo. This paper provides an overview of the key Renaissance artistic principles of furia, forza, difficultà, terriblità, and fantasia, and uses them to examine and compare Cellini's famous Perseus and Medusa in the Loggia deiLanzi to the work of Michelangelo, particularly his famous statue of David, displayed in the Galleria dell' Accademia. Using these principles, this analysis shows that Cellini not only knew of the artistic principles of Michelangelo, but that his work also displays a mastery of these principles equal to Michelangelo's masterpieces.
International Journal of Art and Art History, 2018
Although a contemporary of the great Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini is not as well known to the ... more Although a contemporary of the great Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini is not as well known to the general public today. Cellini, a master sculptor and goldsmith in his own right, made no secret of his admiration for Michelangelo’s work, and wrote treatises on artistic principles. In fact, Cellini’s artistic treatises can be argued to have exemplified the principles that Vasari and his contemporaries have attributed to Michelangelo. This paper provides an overview of the key Renaissance artistic principles of furia, forza, difficultà, terriblità, and fantasia, and uses them to examine and compare Cellini’s famous Perseus and Medusa in the Loggia deiLanzi to the work of Michelangelo, particularly his famous statue of David, displayed in the Galleria dell’ Accademia. Using these principles, this analysis shows that Cellini not only knew of the artistic principles of Michelangelo, but that his work also displays a mastery of these principles equal to Michelangelo’s masterpieces.
Theses by Maureen Maggio
Jan van der Straet, commonly known by his Italianised name Giovanni Stradano, designed and illust... more Jan van der Straet, commonly known by his Italianised name Giovanni Stradano, designed and illustrated prints for two folios for Luigi Alamanni, a patron of the Accademia degli Alterati in Florence. These folios, Americae Retectio and Nova Reperta, were collections of allegorical prints and information on the discoveries from the Americas, which included images depicting the discovery of the Americas by the famous explorers of the time: Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan.
This research aimed to explore how Stradano’s tenure in the de Medici court and his association with Alamanni shaped the creation of these allegorical series of prints. An exploration of the iconography in the Americae Retectio prints, an area where the scholarship was considerably limited, and two prints from Nova Reperta which relate to an image of Amerigo Vespucci in the Americae Retectio folio, was undertaken. Although there is limited information available in regards to these prints, a critical in-depth analysis of the iconography in the prints has presented aspects which have been overlooked in previous analyses. The role of the explorer or navigator as a hero figure in Stradano’s work was also presented and placed in context in Florentine art and sculpture.
This research has demonstrated a different approach to the understanding of the narrative of exploration depicted in the prints. It has demonstrated how Stradano masterfully utilised the concept of fantasia and a combination of religious and mythological iconography with elements of emblematic symbols, to present a visual narrative of the discovery of the Americas depicting the explorers as key heroic figures. Finally, this research has also demonstrated that Stradano’s use of iconography, historical fact, and allegory draws a clear link between Italy and the discovery of the Americas.
Conference Presentations by Maureen Maggio
The elite of Renaissance Italy learnt much about the newly discovered Americas
from the journals... more The elite of Renaissance Italy learnt much about the newly discovered Americas
from the journals of explorer Christopher Columbus and from the accounts from the
Venetian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta. It was during the exploration of
Patagonia, that Pigafetta encountered the Taíno people. He would subsequently
write about what he witnessed, and thus his journal is the first European account of
the Taíno culture and the Cohoba ritual. The Florentine artist Giovanni Stradano,
would be one of the first artists to use this account and depict this ritual.
In his print of Magellan in the Americae Retectio folio, Stradano depicted a Taíno
man putting an arrow down his throat. This is a misrepresentation of the Cohoba
ritual, which involves purging. This depiction would have seemed fantastical,
devilish, and pagan to the Catholic beliefs of the Florentine elite. Although the Taíno
people still exist, and many still practice the Cohoba ritual, they and their culture
had been forgotten in Europe until anthropologists and archaeologists returned to
research South American native culture. This paper examines how the Cohoba
ritual of the Taíno was remembered in the accounts of Pigafetta and the imagery of
Renaissance Italy, in comparison with modern ethnographic evidence.
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Papers by Maureen Maggio
Theses by Maureen Maggio
This research aimed to explore how Stradano’s tenure in the de Medici court and his association with Alamanni shaped the creation of these allegorical series of prints. An exploration of the iconography in the Americae Retectio prints, an area where the scholarship was considerably limited, and two prints from Nova Reperta which relate to an image of Amerigo Vespucci in the Americae Retectio folio, was undertaken. Although there is limited information available in regards to these prints, a critical in-depth analysis of the iconography in the prints has presented aspects which have been overlooked in previous analyses. The role of the explorer or navigator as a hero figure in Stradano’s work was also presented and placed in context in Florentine art and sculpture.
This research has demonstrated a different approach to the understanding of the narrative of exploration depicted in the prints. It has demonstrated how Stradano masterfully utilised the concept of fantasia and a combination of religious and mythological iconography with elements of emblematic symbols, to present a visual narrative of the discovery of the Americas depicting the explorers as key heroic figures. Finally, this research has also demonstrated that Stradano’s use of iconography, historical fact, and allegory draws a clear link between Italy and the discovery of the Americas.
Conference Presentations by Maureen Maggio
from the journals of explorer Christopher Columbus and from the accounts from the
Venetian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta. It was during the exploration of
Patagonia, that Pigafetta encountered the Taíno people. He would subsequently
write about what he witnessed, and thus his journal is the first European account of
the Taíno culture and the Cohoba ritual. The Florentine artist Giovanni Stradano,
would be one of the first artists to use this account and depict this ritual.
In his print of Magellan in the Americae Retectio folio, Stradano depicted a Taíno
man putting an arrow down his throat. This is a misrepresentation of the Cohoba
ritual, which involves purging. This depiction would have seemed fantastical,
devilish, and pagan to the Catholic beliefs of the Florentine elite. Although the Taíno
people still exist, and many still practice the Cohoba ritual, they and their culture
had been forgotten in Europe until anthropologists and archaeologists returned to
research South American native culture. This paper examines how the Cohoba
ritual of the Taíno was remembered in the accounts of Pigafetta and the imagery of
Renaissance Italy, in comparison with modern ethnographic evidence.
This research aimed to explore how Stradano’s tenure in the de Medici court and his association with Alamanni shaped the creation of these allegorical series of prints. An exploration of the iconography in the Americae Retectio prints, an area where the scholarship was considerably limited, and two prints from Nova Reperta which relate to an image of Amerigo Vespucci in the Americae Retectio folio, was undertaken. Although there is limited information available in regards to these prints, a critical in-depth analysis of the iconography in the prints has presented aspects which have been overlooked in previous analyses. The role of the explorer or navigator as a hero figure in Stradano’s work was also presented and placed in context in Florentine art and sculpture.
This research has demonstrated a different approach to the understanding of the narrative of exploration depicted in the prints. It has demonstrated how Stradano masterfully utilised the concept of fantasia and a combination of religious and mythological iconography with elements of emblematic symbols, to present a visual narrative of the discovery of the Americas depicting the explorers as key heroic figures. Finally, this research has also demonstrated that Stradano’s use of iconography, historical fact, and allegory draws a clear link between Italy and the discovery of the Americas.
from the journals of explorer Christopher Columbus and from the accounts from the
Venetian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta. It was during the exploration of
Patagonia, that Pigafetta encountered the Taíno people. He would subsequently
write about what he witnessed, and thus his journal is the first European account of
the Taíno culture and the Cohoba ritual. The Florentine artist Giovanni Stradano,
would be one of the first artists to use this account and depict this ritual.
In his print of Magellan in the Americae Retectio folio, Stradano depicted a Taíno
man putting an arrow down his throat. This is a misrepresentation of the Cohoba
ritual, which involves purging. This depiction would have seemed fantastical,
devilish, and pagan to the Catholic beliefs of the Florentine elite. Although the Taíno
people still exist, and many still practice the Cohoba ritual, they and their culture
had been forgotten in Europe until anthropologists and archaeologists returned to
research South American native culture. This paper examines how the Cohoba
ritual of the Taíno was remembered in the accounts of Pigafetta and the imagery of
Renaissance Italy, in comparison with modern ethnographic evidence.