‘No painting on earth would be more beautiful’: an analysis of Giovanna degli Albizzi's portrait inscription.

Domenico Ghirlandaio has been accepted as the author and speaker of the epigram written on the fictive parchment posted behind Giovanna degli Albizzi in her profile portrait, lamenting the limit of his skills to fully represent her. However, the patronage context of this work, processes of composing...

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Publicado en:Renaissance Studies Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 617 - 642
Autor principal: DePrano, Maria
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Nov2008
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.1111/j.1477-4658.2008.00532.x
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        atl: ‘No painting on earth would be more beautiful’: an analysis of Giovanna degli Albizzi's portrait inscription.
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        au: DePrano, Maria
        affil: Washington State University
      su:
        Inscriptions
        Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494
        Albizzi, Giovanna degli, 1468-1488
        Epigram
        Early Renaissance painting
        Early Renaissance art
        Renaissance art
        Renaissance portraits
        Profile portraits
        Florence (Italy)
        Italy
      sug:
        subj:
          Florence (Italy)
          Italy
          Inscriptions
          Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494
          Albizzi, Giovanna degli, 1468-1488
          Epigram
          Early Renaissance painting
          Early Renaissance art
          Renaissance art
          Renaissance portraits
          Profile portraits
      ab: Domenico Ghirlandaio has been accepted as the author and speaker of the epigram written on the fictive parchment posted behind Giovanna degli Albizzi in her profile portrait, lamenting the limit of his skills to fully represent her. However, the patronage context of this work, processes of composing art, as well as the realities of artistic education and social status in Quattrocento Florence suggest that another speaker uttered these words and intended a different meaning. An analysis of inscriptions in the small sorority of women's portraits bearing a text demonstrates that these epithets carry three messages: to name the women, declare their virtues or mourn their death. Examining her likeness within the patronage context of her conjugal family and her early death, this essay gives a new interpretation of Giovanna's epigram, arguing that her portrait and inscription, a slightly modified version of a verse by Martial, convey all three messages. Giovanna's husband, the learned and poetic Lorenzo Tornabuoni, is identified as the probable speaker of the portrait's lines, which he may have written with the assistance of his friend, the humanist Angelo Poliziano, to express his wistful desire for his deceased wife's return.
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