Tag Archives: Pietro Bembo

The British Royal Collection’s Portrait of Pietro Bembo

07 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by in Art, Ballet, Italy, Renaissance

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Portrait of Pietro Bembo by Giovanni Bellini (British Royal Collection)

I explored the British Royal Collection and learned that in 1940, it was suggested that the above portrait, by Giovanni Bellini, was a portrait of Pietro Bembo (20 May 1470 – 11 or 18 January 1547). It is a suggestion, which means that there is an element of doubt. The facial features of the Royal Collection’s Pietro Bembo bear a resemblance to Raphael’s portrait, but Raphael’s portrait of Pietro Bembo (c. 1506), shows a dark-haired Pietro Bembo.

The Madrigal

I know of Pietro Bembo from my days as a student of musicology. He is associated with the development of polyphony (many voices) through the madrigal (songs in the mother tongue, as in the Spanish madre), secular songs. However, Pietro Bembo was a writer, not a musician.

As the popularity of madrigals waned, Louis XIV, who loved to dance and was a dancer, hired Italian-born  Jean-Baptiste Lully, or Giovanni Battista Lulli, a composer and dancer. When Molière returned to Paris after spending several years touring France, his Précieuses ridicules (18 November 1659) impressed the court.

I have yet to order my new computer, but when it arrives, we will again be in Italy briefly. Molière created the comédie-ballet. Les Fâcheux was performed at Vaux-le-Vicomte.  Molière wrote the text and Lulli, the music. The ballet accompanying Les Fâcheux (The Bores) was choreographed was Pierre Beauchamp.

A few years ago, I  wrote a post on Vaux-le-Vicomte and, in partiular the feast hosted by Nicolas Fouquet on 17 August 1661, perhaps the most lavish fête in the history of France. Louis XIV had just become king of France. Louis was so impressed that during the fête itself, he decided to destroy Fouquet, or Foucquet. The video I used has been removed and I have yet to find a video that matches the former video.

le-roi-danse

Le Roi danse (Photo credit: Google Images)

Conclusion

Would that Giovanni Bellini had given a name to the persons whose portrait he painted. He entitled many of his portraits as Portrait of a Young Man or Portrait of a Man.

I have a new post, I hope to publish today. It is about ballet. Molière created the comédie-ballet in 1661. He created a total of 11.

With kind regards to all of you. ♥

The video shown below is an excerpt from a film entitled Le Roi danse.

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Portrait of a Cardinal by Jacopo Bassano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
7 April 2016
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Pietro Bembo: Titian or Bassano?

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by in Art, Easter, Renaissance

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Portrait of a Cardinal by Jacopo Bassano, c. 1545

Portrait of a Cardinal
 c. 1545
Oil on canvas, 58 x 46 cm
Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
Web Gallery of Art

Jacopo Bassano

It appears the portrait of Cardinal Pietro Bembo (20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) published in a post dated 27 January 2016 is not by Titian (1488/1490  – 27 August 1576). It is by Jacopo Bassano (1510 – 14 February 1592) and it was painted in c. 1545, a few years after Titian painted his portrait of Cardinal Pietro Bembo. Bassano’s cardinal is not given a name by the Szépmûvészeti Museum, but I suspect it is a portrait Cardinal Pietro Bembo.

Wikipedia’s entry on Pietro Bembo shows the above painting but it is attributed to Titian, However, the same painting is featured in Wikipedia’s entry on Jacopo Bassano. It is one of the paintings that forms part of a gallery located at the foot of the entry on Jacopo Bassano. The cardinal shown in Wikipedia’s entry on Bassano is not named, nor is the cardinal whose portrait, by Jacopo Bassano, is housed in Budapest’s Szépmûvészeti. It is the “Portrait of a Cardinal.”

Budapest’s Szépmûvészeti Múzeum is closed at the moment, but one may browse its collections online. Budapest’s “Portrait of a Cardinal” is attributed to Jacopo Bassano.

There is a third portrait of Cardinal Bembo. It was painted by Giovanni Bellini. I believe it is a portrait of a young man, but…

Titian (Titiano Vecelli)

As noted above, Titian did make a portrait of Pietro Bembo, which I presume explains the kerfuffle. Titian’s portrait is a more formal of Cardinal Bembo and it is dated c. 1540. It did occur to me that the portrait held at the Szépmûvészeti was wrongly attributed to Jacopo Bassano, but I doubt it very much.

Jacopo Bassano was a great artist.

Pietro Bembo by Titian, 1540 (WikiArt)
Pietro Bembo by Jacopo Bassano, 1545 (Wikipedia)

About Pietro Bembo

The use of the vernacular as a literary language was the subject matter of the post I published on 27 January 2016. In Italy, the vernacular started to replace Latin relatively early and it was called the Petrarchan Movement. Bembo’s “way of making direct imitations of Petrarch was widely influential and became known as bembismo.”[1] According to Pietro Bembo, Petrarch’s use of Italian was a model for the modern Italian language. Petrarch lived in the 14th century (20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374).

Other models were Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 21 December 1375) and, to a lesser extent, Dante Alighieri (c. 1265 – 1321). (See Pietro Bembo, Wikipedia.)  In the Italian states, the vernacular, Italian, started to be used as a literary language at the beginning of the 14th century, which is an early date. It precedes the Renaissance which began when the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks, in 1453. However, the scholars who fled to Italy were Greek scholars.

Yes, I am writing my book, despite limitations.

Wishing all of you a very Happy Easter ♥

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[1] “Pietro Bembo”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 26 mars. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Pietro-Bembo>.

Philippe Jaroussky sings Vivaldi

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Portrait of a Young Man by Giovanni Bellini

© Micheline Walker
26 March 2016
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Pietro Bembo by Titian, and the Vernacular

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by in Art, Vernacular

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Portrait of Pietro Bembo by Titian, 1540 (WikiArt.org.)

A few posts ago, I listed two old posts as related articles. One was about the Petrarchan Movement, the other, about Joachim du Bellay.

In 1525, Cardinal Pietro Bembo (20 May 1470 – either 11 January or 18 January 1547) wrote Prose della volgar lingua, a text in which he encouraged authors to write in Italian, the vernacular, rather than Latin. The vernacular was Italian as spoken in Florence and Tuscany. For Pietro Bembo, however, it was the Italian used by Francesco Petrarch (20 May 1470 – either 11 January or 18 January 1547), hence the Petrarchan Movement. I also mentioned authors Dante Alighieri (1625 – 1321) and Giovanni Boccaccio (c. 1313- 21 December 1375).

The Madrigal

As for musicians, they too were to set to music texts written in Italian, rather than Latin. In the area of music, Francesco Landini (c. 1325 or 1335 – 2 September 1397) was the first writer of madrigals, a word meaning in one’s mother tongue: madre in Spanish.

France: Du Bellay

A few years later, in 1549, French poet Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522 – 1 January 1560) published his Défense et illustration de la langue française. It became acceptable to write poetry in one’s native language. Du Bellay was a poet, not a composer.

England: Chaucer

As for England, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), who took the Roman de la Rose to England, he had also advocated the use of English, rather than Latin or French, as a literary language. He translated part of the Roman de la Rose. You may recall that until the end of the Hundred Years’ War, French was spoken at the court of England and Edward VII felt he was a legitimate heir to the throne of France. He wasn’t by virtue of the Salic Law. A woman could not ascend the throne of France. Edward VII’s mother was French. Hence the fratricidal nature of the Hundred Years’ War, a war of succession.

sans-titre

Shakespeare, the Chandos Portrait, sometimes attributed to Titian (Photo credit: Art History Today)

Titian (Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio)

Portrayed about is William Shakespeare (c 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) the Chandos Portrait, is sometimes attributed to Titian. (See Art History Today.)

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With warm greetings to all of you. ♥ 

Titian
Ennio Morricone (Deborah’s Theme)

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Self-portrait by Titian
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
26 January 2016
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The Petrarchan Movement

06 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Literature, Music, Vernacular

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Cardinal Pietro Bembo by Titian (Photo credit: Wiki2.org.)

One of my readers asked about the Petrarchan movement.  So I thought I would answer her question in a short post.

Wikipedia has the necessary information in its entry on Cardinal Pietro Bembo (20 May 1470 – either 11 January or 18 January, 1547).

—ooo—

To put it in a nutshell, Pietro Bembo encouraged musicians to set to music texts written in Italian, rather than Latin.  By then, there were many excellent writers in Italy and, although there were various forms of Italian, Venice-born Bembo liked the Italian spoken in Florence, Tuscany.  Petrarch was a Florentine poet and a friend of Francesco Landini, the first writer of madrigals (madrigal means from mother tongue).  Petrarch was a perfect source.

The same thing happened in France.  In 1549, poet Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522 – 1 January 1560)  published a Défense et illustration de la langue française.  In his eyes, French had come of age.

As for Pietro Bembo, in 1525, he wrote Prose della volgar lingua (Discussions of the Vernacular [language spoken by the people] Language), in which he advocated the use of Italian.

Bembo had other theories, including one regarding the link between speech and the emotions (the affekte, in German).

There is a type face called “Bembo.”  Pietro Bembo so liked to imitate Petrarch that imitation of Petrarch became known as bembismo.

Bembo was a scholar and very persuasive.

Francesco Landini  — Madrigal

 

Francesco Landini — Ecco la primavera

Landini playing a portative organ(illustration from the 15th-century Squarcialupi Codex)

© Micheline Walker
6 December 2011
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