Art History

In the late 18th century the seedlings of modern thought began to sprout in England.  Technology, science, the Enlightenment and Romanticism were all part of this process.  This historical momentum created a culture of meetings where artists, authors, philosophers, scientists and physicians met, exchanged ideas and created a new era of scientific and cultural insight.  Here I refer to the medical aspects of a masterpiece of the Anglo-Swiss artist Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) a scientist, author, translator, and a professor of classical art in the Royal Academy of Arts.  The Nightmare -1781 (Fuseli's most famous painting) represents the conflict between the Enlightenment and the Gothic-Romantic movements, which characterized his era.  This masterpiece represents a shocking experience of a nightmare that has both scientific and cryptic aspects.  The Nightmare has been studied from different points of view, starting with bygone folklore as a source for the incubus, through eroticism to medical aspects. The incubus, the horse and the dreaming maiden are the visual heroes of the nightmarish dream.  Here Fuseli skillfully managed to translate visually physiological and medical ideas of the contemporary philosophers John Locke and Immanuel Kant and of the scientists, poets and physicians Erasmus Darwin and Johan Armstrong.  Psychological, medical and physiological aspects of this masterpiece at Fuseli's era versus modern theories are discussed.

This paper focuses on the figure of St Antoninus and his representation in visual imagery. At its centre are Giambologna's bronze reliefs in the Salviati Chapel in Florence's church of San Marco, dating from 1581 to 1587, illustrating the life of Archbishop Antoninus (Antonino Pierozzi), who was active in Florence in the mid-fifteenth century. Giambologna was also responsible for the design of the chapel itself. By and large, these reliefs have attracted little attention on the part of art historians and sermons specialists – perhaps because at the height at which they are set into the walls, they are largely inaccessible. Although executed a century after the demise of St Antoninus, these reliefs provide us with a valuable impression of the activities of the archbishop and their impact on Florence. Moreover, they shed important light on the cult of St Antoninus and its connection with the politics of Medicean Florence.

The article deals with the perceptions of Judaism of Savonarola's most important predecessors, the Dominican preacher Giovanni Dominici andthe Franciscan preacher Bernardino da Siena, who were active in fifteenth century Florence. These preachers offer two distinct models of mendicant preaching regarding the Jews: Dominici based his views on theological arguments, while Bernardino focused on contemporary Jewish moneylenders and their destructive dangers. The preachers' opposition to the Jews was grounded in their political ideal of Florentine republic as a purified sacred body where there was no place for polluting outsiders as the Jews.Both preachers succeeded in influencing the fate of the Jews. Dominici might have had a hand in the banishment of Jews from Venice and there is circumstantial and linguistic evidence that he was responsible for the change in Florentine policy against the Jews in the legislation of 1406. Bernardino caused the banishment of Jews from many Italian towns and was responsible for measures taken against them, such as segregation. Both preachers were successful in keeping the Jews out of the city of Florence, although they failed in their attempt to havethe Jews expelled from the Florentine territories.

... The preacher seemed to consider fear and horror more efficient means to pacify an audience than virtuous bland-ness. ... the fifteenth century.38 These authors presented a religious view on the course of world events, arguing that war was 36 See Starn, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 24 ...