Consisting mostly of letters (nearly three million filling a full kilometer of shelf-space) of the Medici family from 1537 to 1743, documented and annotated, the fully searchable database is now open to the general public for a limited time, and thereafter by subscription.
It is a marvellous source to find out details about the relationship between the Medici family and the arts. The site features for instance a list of 170 artists, many of them enrolled on the payroll of the Medici.
A few examples:
The Jane Fortune Research Program
on Women Artists in the Age of the Medici
Among them, the famous GENTILESCHI, Artemisia (b.Roma 1593-d.Napoli c1652) listed in my post 'Women Artists who depicted Aphrodite/Venus' of 6 August 2011.
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| Self-portrait as the allegory of Painting (La Pittura) 1638-9, oil on canvas 96.5 x 73.7 cm, Royal Collection, London |
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| Venere dormiente or Venus and Cupid 1625-30 oil on canvas 94x144cm Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, inv.n°2001.225 |
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| Venere di Urbino, 1538 oil on canvas 119x165 cm Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi inv.n°1437 |
One can read a document about Vittoria, the last member of the Della Rovere family, brought to Florence by her mother Claudia de' Medici in August 1623 and engaged to her cousin Ferdinando II de' Medici. The Medici family hoped in vain that Vittoria would bring the Duchy of Urbino as her dowry. They had to settle for the Della Rovere collection of paintings, including, Titian's Venus of Urbino, which arrived in Florence in 1631.
Or about : Bindo, the son of the Florentine Antonio Altoviti, who had opened a bank in Rome, extremely wealthy and successful, and a patron of the arts. MICHELANGELO (1475-1564) gave him one of the preparatory drawings for the Cappella Sistina and drew a Venus for him which was painted by VASARI. Was it a drawing for a fresco by Giorgio VASARI (1511-1574) ? Maybe his fresco at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome : 'Venus, Cupid and a putto: an allegory of April' (one among the 18 works by VASARI depicting Venus in my database, see 'The Italian Venus').
The website ArteAntica refers to a monograph about 'Bindo Altoviti - Ritratto di un Banchiere' by I Stewart (Electa 2004, p.194) where this fresco is listed.
Another challenging possibility is to explore the third objective of this blog'ut pictura poesis'.
A synopsis of a remarkable document of 7 January 1623 reads: 'In an unaddressed letter [presumably sent to Andrea Cioli in Tuscany], Ercole Marliani reports from Mantua, where he is busily assisting in preparations for three "vigils" or theatrical productions [possibly for carnival season]. In the first, Mars will be conquered by Venus, and he and his soldiers will lay down their arms to perform a Moorish dance.' As far as I know 'Mars and his soldiers dancing before Venus' has never been depicted. The opposite, 'Venus and the Graces dancing before Mars' is a motiv used in several paintings and reliefs by Antonio CANOVA (1757-1822) : see 'The Italian Venus'
According to Satish Padiyar, CANOVA's work was maybe inspiration for David's painting "Mars disarmed by Venus and the Graces" (1824): see my post of 12 June 2011.
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| Le Grazie e Venere danzano davanti a Marte 1798-99 tempera su carta 23,7 x 37,5 cm, Possagno, Museo e Gipsoteca Canoviana, inv. 98 |
According to Satish Padiyar, CANOVA's work was maybe inspiration for David's painting "Mars disarmed by Venus and the Graces" (1824): see my post of 12 June 2011.
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