Category: Historical Tidbits

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R is for Raphael

St. George and the Dragon (1) by Raphael, in the Louvre. Wikimedia photo.

Raphael was a rock star. He was the Elvis of his generation, the “prince of painters,” at a time when painters were the A-List celebs. It pissed off Michelangelo and Leonardo to no end. He died young, as rock stars do, and there was even a legend around that.

The Pope’s Mission

Raffaelo Sanzio da Urbino was in his early twenties when he traveled to Rome from Florence and Urbino, two other Italian cultural centers of the time. It helped that he was buddies with the future Duke of Urbino and distantly related to Bramante, who was designing the dome for St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Julius II invited him in for a chat and immediately gave him the commission to paint his private library.

The paintings won immediate acclaim, to such a degree that the rooms he ended up painting in the Vatican are now called the “Raphael rooms.” This first one included the School of Athens which I’ve included in posts on more than one occasion. This photo is a little wavy because it was hot and crowded on the Vatican tour (in 2018), and I was being jostled as I stood right at the wall, trying to take a quick photo. But it may give you a sense of the enormity of the canvas and its sense of grandeur. And such vibrant colors!

Standing in front of “School of Athens” by Raphael, photo by kajmeister.
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Q is for Queen of 1492

Expulsion of Jews from Spain, 1492. Painting by Solomon Hart, from freespeech.org.

Isabella I of Castile was a bad ass monarch, one of the strong queens of history. She and hubby Ferdinand made the ultimate move to propel their newly-formed country into a world power. They did it with conviction, with strength and piety… and by instituting a religious pogrom to eliminate all the unbelievers and launching the Inquisition. Welcome to Spain, 1492.

Young, Catholic, and Virtuous in Intention

When her father died without a male heir, Isabella was the named heir, but she had to fend off others who tried to take the throne. It was Castile at issue at the time, and neighboring states in Afonso and Aragon both vied for her hand in marriage and tried to create dynasties to absorb Castile. Isabella had long been engaged to Ferdinand of Aragon. She kept that promise and united Castile and Aragon together.

Young Isabel, next to Madonna on the Fly, 1520. Photo from wikimedia.
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P is for Polyphony

Jan Van Eyck, madrigals in the Ghent altarpiece. Close-up photo from wikimedia.

The Renaissance brought opportunities for new trade goods, new ideas, new things to look at. Domes! Linear perspective! Oil paintings you could only see through a magnifier! While other arts were exploding in complexity and innovation, music also took a few baby steps.

One Note at a Time in Church

Once upon a time, in the 13th century, there was secular music and liturgical music, and never the twain shall meet. A bard could wander around with a lute, singing in the dim banquet hall of the baron for his supper … see Xena, The Witcher, Galavant… No duets; no big sound.

Meanwhile, in the churches, there were plenty of choruses. But those monks–or nuns–only sang one note at a time. This was plainchant. As wikipedia explains:

Harmony was considered frivolous, impious, lascivious, and an obstruction to the audibility of the words. Instruments, as well tain modes, were actually forbidden in the church because of their association with secular music and pagan rites.

“Polyphony”
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