Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: San Pietro Polyptych

Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: San Pietro Polyptych

 

Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: San Pietro Polyptych

 

Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: San Pietro Polyptych

Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: San Pietro Polyptych
Artist	Perugino
Year	c. 1496 – 1500
Medium	Oil on panel
Location	Various

The San Pietro Polyptych (Italian: Polittico di San Pietro) is a polyptych by Italian Renaissance master Perugino, painted around 1496–1500. The panel are now in different locations: the lunette and the central panel, depicting the Ascension of Christ, are in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, France.

Description

The polyptych had been originally commissioned for the Abbey of San Pietro at Perugia, the contract having been signed by Perugino on 8 March 1495. It included a large altarpiece and several panels, within a wooden frame by Domenico da Verona. The altarpiece, depicting the Ascension of Christ, was to have a lunette with the God in Glory between Angels above it, while the predella had not been exactly defined. The payment were 500 golden ducats, and no more than two years and a half were given to complete the work.

The panels were painted between January 1496 and the end of 1499, and the work was solemnly inaugurated on 13 January 1500. Contemporary art historian Giorgio Vasari considered the predella Perugino’s best work in his home city.

In 1591 the church’s choir was radically restored, and the altar had to be dismantled. After the religious suppressions of 1797, the work was acquired by the French, and was divided into several French museums, although several panels remained in Perugia or went to Papal collections in Rome.

Description

The cymatium was separated by the main panel by a frame, in the same way of the Vallombrosa Altarpiece. At the sides were two columns which supported the frame arch and which, at the bases, were decorated by three small panels with Saints, sharing the same background.

The polyptych included the following panels:

• Ascension (280 × 216 cm), now at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. This work was almost entirely copied by Perugino and his workshop for the later Sansepolcro Altarpiece. The Vallombrosa Altarpiece also used a similar composition, in turn inspired by the now lost Assumption in the Sistine Chapel.
• God in Glory lunette (114 × 230 cm), now at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. It represents God in a cloud in the sky, surrounded by cherubims and seraphims, and two symmetrical angels at the side.
• Tondoes of Jeremy and Isaiah (both 127 cm in diameter), now at the Musée des beaux-arts of Nantes
• Adoration of the Magi (predella panel, 32 × 59 cm). Now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Rouen.
• Baptism of Christ (predella panel, 32 × 59 cm). Now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Rouen.
• Resurrection (predella panel, 32 × 59 cm). Now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Rouen.
• St. Herculanus and St. Constantius (predella panels, 32 × 38 cm). Now at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria at Perugia.
• St. Maurus, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Scholastica, St. Benedict, St. Flavia and St. Placidus (panels at the columns base, various sizes). Now at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria at Perugia and the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome.

Polittico di San Pietro (Perugino).

• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
• Garibaldi, Vittoria (2007). « Perugino ». Pittori del Rinascimento. Florence: Scala.

    Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: Polyptyque de San Pietro

Reconstitution

Artiste	Le Pérugin
Date	1496 – 1500
Type	huile sur bois
Dimensions (H × L)	394 × 230 cm
Mouvement	Renaissance italienne
Localisation	Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon(France)

    Giacobbe Giusti, PERUGINO: Polyptyque de San Pietro

Panneau central et sa cimaise au mba de Lyon.

Le Polyptyque de San Pietro est un ensemble de peintures religieuses, du Pérugin, datant de 1496 – 1500 environ. Du polyptyque dispersé, seule la lunette avec le panneau central de L’Ascension du Christ en présence de la Vierge et des apôtres sont rassemblés au Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon, tandis que le reste des quinze éléments est éparpillé dans divers musées européens.

 

Histoire

Le polyptyque de San Pietro était destinée initialement à la Basilica di San Pietro à Pérouse.

Le contrat a été signé entre Le Pérugin et l’abbé Lattanzio di Giuliano da Firenze le 8 mars 1495pour la somme 500 ducats d’or et un délai d’exécution de deux ans et demi maximum. L’iconographie et les matériaux à utiliser sont précisément décrits et l’ensemble, comprenant à l’origine quinze éléments, fut réalisé entre janvier 1496 et la fin de 1499, avec une inauguration le 13 janvier 1500.

En 1591, à la suite de la restructuration du chœur de la basilique, la corniche de soutien étant enlevée, les divers panneaux furent séparés et répartis dans diverses pièces de l’église et de la sacristie.

En 1797, l’œuvre fut réquisitionnée par les Français à la suite du traité de Tolentino, et la cimaise et le panneau central finirent au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.

Thème principal

Ascension du Christ surmonté de Dieu le Père bénissant parmi les anges réunissant ainsi les protagonistes nécessaires à la scène de la montée du Christ aux cieux.

Description

La cimaise était séparée du panneau principal par une corniche identique à celle du retable de Vallombrosa. Sur les côtés deux colonnes soutenaient le couronnement à arc de la corniche sur les bases de laquelle, en forme de parallélépipède, se trouvaient trois panneaux représentant des saints. Ces petits panneaux étaient disposées sur un même arrière-plan (« sfondo »), une sorte de parapet en marbre sur fond bleu.

Les deux saints protecteurs de la ville de Pérouse, Herculanus et Constantius, étaient représentés sur les côtés des trois tablettes de la prédelle avec les Scènes de Vie du Christ.

Composition

Panneaux principaux et tondi

• L’Ascension du Christ en présence de la Vierge et des apôtres, 280 × 216 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon
• Dieu le Père bénissant parmi les anges, cimaise, 114 × 230 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon
• Tondo du prophète David ou Jérémie, diamètre 127 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Nantes,
• Tondo du prophète Isaïe, diamètre 127 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes.

Panneaux de la prédelle 

• Adoration des mages, 32 × 59 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Rouen,
• Baptême du Christ, 32 × 59 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Rouen,
• Résurrection du Christ, 32 × 59 cm, Musée des beaux-arts, Rouen,
• Saint Herculanus, 32 × 38 cm, Galerie nationale de l’Ombrie, Pérouse,
• Saint Constantius , 32 × 38 cm, Galerie nationale de l’Ombrie, Pérouse,

Sur la base des colonnes 

• Saint Maurus, 32 × 38 cm, Galerie nationale de l’Ombrie, Pérouse,
• San Pietro Vincioli, 33 × 38 cm, Galerie nationale de l’Ombrie, Pérouse,
• Sainte Scolastique, 33 × 38 cm, Galerie nationale de l’Ombrie, Pérouse,
• Saint Benoît, 33,5 × 26 cm, Pinacothèque Vaticane, Rome,
• Sainte Flavie, 35 × 26 cm, Pinacothèque Vaticane, Rome,
• Saint Placide, 33,5 × 30 cm, Pinacothèque Vaticane, Rome,

Analyse

Le polyptyque réalisé immédiatement avant les fresques de la Sala delle Udienze del Collegio del Cambio est le témoignage de la maturité atteinte dans la plénitude des formes par Le Pérugin dont la rondeur du modelé annonce déjà par certains aspects l’art de Raphaël.

Sources

• (it) Cet article est partiellement ou en totalité issu de l’article de Wikipédia en italien intitulé « Polittico di San Pietro » (voir la liste des auteurs).

Bibliographie

• Vittoria Garibaldi, Perugino, in Pittori del Rinascimento, Scala, Florence, 2004 (ISBN 888117099X)

Articles connexes

• Liste d’œuvres du Pérugin
• Liste de polyptyques italiens dispersés

 

Il polittico era composto da:

• Ascensione, 280×216 cm, Lione, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Eterno benedicente con cherubini e angeli, dalla cimasa, 114×230 cm, Lione, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Tondo di Geremia, diametro 127 cm, Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Tondo di Isaia, diametro 127 cm, Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Adorazione dei Magi, dalla predella, 32×59 cm, Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Battesimo di Cristo, dalla predella, 32×59 cm, Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Resurrezione, dalla predella, 32×59 cm, Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Sant’Ercolano, dalla predella, Perugia, 32×38 cm, Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria
• San Costanzo, dalla predella, Perugia, 32×38 cm, Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria
• San Mauro, sulle basi delle colonne, 32×38 cm, Perugia, Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria
• San Pietro Vincioli, sulle basi delle colonne, 33×28,5 cm, Perugia, Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria
• Santa Scolastica, sulle basi delle colonne, 32×28 cm, Perugia, Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria
• San Benedetto, sulle basi delle colonne, 33,5×26 cm, Roma, Pinacoteca Vaticana
• Santa Giustina di Padova, sulle basi delle colonne, 35×26 cm, Roma, Pinacoteca Vaticana
• San Placido, sulle basi delle colonne, 33,5×30 cm, Roma, Pinacoteca Vaticana

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyptyque_de_San_Pietro

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, MICHELANGELO: Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Giacobbe Giusti, MICHELANGELO: Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Pietà for Vittoria Colonna

Michelangelo – Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Giacobbe Giusti, MICHELANGELO: Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Artist	Michelangelo Buonarroti
Year	about 1538–44
Type	Black chalk on cardboard
Dimensions	28.9 cm × 18.9 cm (11.4 in × 7.4 in)
Location	Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

The Pietà for Vittoria Colonna is a black chalk drawing on cardboard (28.9×18.9 cm) by Michelangelo Buonarroti, dated to about 1538–44 and kept at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.^[1]

History

Michelangelo became acquainted with Vittoria Colonna around 1538.^[2] Their lively friendship gained Michelangelo admission to her social circles, and he became acquainted with issues of church reform. For Colonna, Michelangelo executed several paintings in the fifth decade of the sixteenth century. All of them are now lost or of controversial attribution, but several sketches and copies by students and admirers of Michelangelo have been preserved.

Apart from a famous Crucifixion, Michelangelo’s most notable work for Vittoria Colonna is a Pietà, of which a remarkable drawing is exhibited at Boston. It is not certain that this work was painted by Michelangelo, but it is described by Ascanio Condivi. It has at any rate proved influential: There are several copies by students of lesser skill in Florence and Rome, a reworking by Ludovico Buti and an adaptation by Lavinia Fontana.^[1]

In 2007, the Milanese restaurator and art historian Antonio Forcellino announced that an oil painting of the same subject had been discovered in a private home in Rochester, New York. The painting had come to the U.S. in 1883 and had hung over the fireplace of a middle-class family home until the 1970s. In a 2011 book, The Lost Michelangelos, Forcellino expresses the opinion that the painting is Michelangelo’s. This attribution is not yet widely shared. According to Kristina Herrmann Fiore, a curator at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, the painting’s underdrawing is conceivably by the hand of Michelangelo, whereas Alexander Nagel, a professor at New York University Institute of Fine Arts believes that the painting is merely a copy of a composition by Michelangelo.^[3]

Description and style

The theme of the Pietà, so dear to the sculptor Michelangelo, is addressed in a highly emotional composition, as in the Crucifixion for Colonna. The dead Jesus is cradled between the grieving Mary’s legs, who raises her arms to heaven as two angels also raise Christ’s arms at right angles. Mary’s gesture balances the forceful vertical lines of Jesus’ body, which lies on a rock. Above the two stands a beam, the Cross, on which is inscribed, vertically, a quotation by Dante: Non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa – « There they don’t think of how much blood it costs ».^[1]

In this verse from canto 29 of the Paradiso, Beatrice deplores the lack of appreciation for the martyrs‘ sacrifices. The quote reflects Michelangelo’s and Colonna’s religious convictions. Both belonged to Roman groups that focused on achieving salvation by faith through prayerful contemplation of sacred history, as does their poetry of this period. « Michelangelo’s gift », according to James M. Saslow, « thus offered consoling testimony to their shared conviction that the savior’s tragic death is also a cause for joy, the climax of God’s divine comedy that offers each believing soul the hope of a happy ending. »^[1]

Gallery of other versions

• 

  The Rochester Pietà

• 

  The Florence Pietà

• 

  The Pietà by Ludovico Buti

Bibliography

• Antonio Forcellino, The Lost Michelangelos, Blackwell Pub., 2011, ISBN 978-0-7456-5203-0
• Lutz Heusinger, Michelangelo, in I protagonisti dell’arte italiana, Scala Group, Firenze 2001. ISBN 88-8117-091-4
• James M. Saslow, « Pietà, » in Eye of the Beholder, ed. by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003), p. 81.

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. « Pietà ». Retrieved 29 May 2011.
2. Jump up^ De Tolnay, Charles (1953). « Michelangelo’s Pieta Composition for Vittoria Colonna ». Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University. 12 (2): 44–62. doi:10.2307/3774312. JSTOR 3774312.
3. Jump up^ Flynn, Kevin; Kennedy, Randy (26 May 2011). « The Pietà Behind the Couch ». New York Times. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

Giacobbe Giusti, MICHELANGELO: Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Gardner Museum viewed from the Fenwayparkway (new wing is not visible at rear)
Location within Boston
Former name	Fenway Court
Established	1903
Location	25 Evans Way Boston, MA 02115
Type	Art museum
Accreditation	American Alliance of Museums
Founder	Isabella Stewart Gardner
Director	Peggy Fogelman
Public transit access	Green Line (E Branch) Museum of Fine Arts
Website	gardnermuseum.org
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Gardner Museum in 2012, original building at right
Built	1896–1903
Architect	Willard T. Sears[1]
NRHP reference #	83000603[1]
Added to NRHP	January 27, 1983

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (called Fenway Courtduring Isabella Stewart Gardner‘s lifetime) is a museum in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts near the Back Bay Fens. It houses an art collection of world importance, including significant examples of European, Asian, and American art, from paintings and sculpture to tapestries and decorative arts.

In 1990, thirteen of the museum’s works were stolen; the high-profile crime remains unsolved and the works have not been recovered.

History

The museum was opened in 1903 by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. It is housed in a building designed to emulate a 15th-century Venetian palace, drawing particular inspiration from the Venetian Palazzo Barbaro.

Gardner began collecting seriously after she received a large inheritance from her father in 1891. Her purchase of Vermeer‘s The Concert at auction in Paris in 1892 was her first major acquisition. In 1894, Bernard Berenson offered his services in helping her acquire a Botticelli. With his help, Gardner became the first American to own a painting by the Renaissance master. Berenson helped acquire nearly 70 works of art for her collection.

The Rape of Europa (1562) by Titian is one of the most famous works in the museum

After her husband John L. Gardner’s death in 1898, Isabella Gardner realized their shared dream of building a museum for their treasures. She purchased land in the marshy Fenway area of Boston, and hired architect Willard T. Sears to build a museum modeled on the Renaissance palaces of Venice. Gardner was deeply involved in every aspect of the design, leading Sears to quip that he was merely the structural engineer making Gardner’s design possible. After the construction of the building was complete, Gardner spent a year installing her collection in a way that evokes intimate responses to the art, mixing paintings, furniture, textiles and objects from different cultures and periods among well-known European paintings and sculpture. The gallery installations were very different than they appear today; the Room of Early Italian Paintings, for example, served as her Chinese Room until about 1914.

The museum opened on January 1, 1903 with a grand celebration featuring a performance by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a menu that included champagne and doughnuts. In 1909 the Museum of Fine Arts moved to its new home close by.

During Gardner’s lifetime, she welcomed artists, performers, and scholars to Fenway Court to draw inspiration from the rich collection and dazzling Venetian setting, including John Singer Sargent, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Ruth St. Denis, among others. Gardner also occasionally hosted artists’ exhibitions within Fenway Court, including one of Anna Coleman Ladd. Today, the museum’s contemporary artist-in-residence program, courtyard garden displays, concerts, and innovative education programs continue Isabella Gardner’s legacy.

When Gardner died in 1924, her will created an endowment of $1 million and outlined stipulations for the support of the museum, including the charge that her collection be permanently exhibited « for the education and enjoyment of the public forever » according to her aesthetic vision and intent.

Gardner appointed her secretary and the former librarian of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Morris Carter (1877–1965) as the museum’s first director. Carter catalogued the entire collection and wrote Gardner’s definitive biography, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court. George L. Stout (1897–1978) was the second director. The father of modern conservation, Stout ensured the long-term preservation of the collection and historic structure. Rollin Van Nostrand Hadley (1927–1992) became the third director in 1964. Leaving with a mixed legacy in 1988, Hadley published several catalogues and articles about the collection during his tenure but also disposed of much of the museum’s Asian artwork in 1971. Anne Hawley was director from 1989 until 2015.^[2]

The museum’s current director is Peggy Fogelman.

Design

Glass skylights illuminate the central atrium

Built to evoke a 15th-century Venetian palace, the museum itself provides an atmospheric setting for Gardner’s inventive creation. Gardner hired Willard T. Sears to design the building near the marshy Back Bay Fens to house her growing art collection.^[3] Inside the museum, three floors of galleries surround a garden courtyard blooming with life in all seasons.

It is a common misconception that the building was brought to America from Venice and reconstructed.^[4] It was built from the ground up in Boston out of new materials, incorporating numerous architectural fragments from European Gothic and Renaissance structures.

The garden courtyard in October

Antique elements are worked into the design of the turn-of-the-century building. Special tiles were custom designed for the floors, modern concrete was used for some of the structural elements, and antique capitals sit atop modern columns. The interior garden courtyard is covered by a glass roof, with steel support structure original to the building.

The Gardner Museum is much admired for the intimate atmosphere in which its works of art are displayed and for its flower-filled courtyard. Most of the art pieces are unlabeled, and the generally low lighting is more akin to a private house than a modern art museum.

In 2013, the museum was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.

Collection

Sandro Botticelli, The Story of Lucretia (1496–1504

Leather wall covering in one of the rooms

Gardner collected and carefully displayed a collection of more than 7500 paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, silver, ceramics, 1500 rare books, and 7000 archival objects from ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world, and 19th-century France and America. Among the artists represented in the galleries are Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent. The first Matisse to enter an American collection is housed in the Yellow Room.

Well-known artworks in the museum’s collection include Titian’s The Rape of Europa, John Singer Sargent’s El Jaleo and Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fra Angelico’s Death and Assumption of the Virgin, Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Aged 23, Cellini’s Bindo Altoviti, Piero della Francesca’s Hercules, and Botticelli’s The Story of Lucretia.

The archives hold more than 7,000 letters from 1,000 correspondents, including Henry Adams, T.S. Eliot, Sarah Bernhardt, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, in addition to travel albums, dealer receipts, and guest books.

The galleries also contain Gardner’s little-known but extensive book collection that includes early-print editions and manuscripts of Dante, works by miniaturist Jean Bourdichon, incunables, and illuminated manuscripts.

Extension and preservation project

View of original building from inside the new wing. A glassed-in passageway connecting the buildings is visible at lower center of photo.

In 2002, after a two-year master planning process, the museum’s board of trustees determined that a new wing was necessary to preserve the historic building and to provide improved spaces for programs that continue Isabella Gardner’s legacy. In 2004, Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Pianoand the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Genoa, Italy) were selected to design the new wing. The design for the new wing is conceived as a respectful complement to the historic Museum building in scale, form, and materials.

The new expansion includes spaces for visitor services, concerts, special exhibitions, and education and landscape programs, furthering Isabella Gardner’s legacy in art, music, and horticulture while reducing 21st-century strain on the collection and galleries. The completion date was 2012,^[5] and the project cost $118 million.^[6]

Art theft of 1990

 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers robbed the museum of thirteen works of art worth an estimated $500 million – the greatest known property theft in history.^[7] Among the works was The Concert, one of only 34 known by Vermeer and thought to be the most valuable unrecovered painting at over $200 million.^[when?] Also missing is The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt‘s only known seascape.

Despite efforts by the FBI, the works have not yet been recovered. The museum initially offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to recovery of the art, doubled in May 2017 to $10 million.^[8]. Empty frames hang in the Dutch Room gallery as placeholders for the missing works. The selection of stolen works puzzled experts, as more valuable artworks were present in the museum.^[9] According to the FBI, the stolen artwork was moved through the region and offered for sale in Philadelphiaduring the early 2000s. They believe the thieves were members of a criminal organization based in the mid-Atlantic and New England.

Current programs

The museum regularly produces scholarly exhibitions, lectures, family programs, and symposia that provide insights into the historic collection. Through the Artist-in-Residence program, artists in many disciplines are invited to live at and draw inspiration from the museum. The museum often hosts exhibitions of contemporary art, performances, and programs by those selected.

The Gardner’s concert series welcomes musicians and emerging artists to perform classical masterpieces, new music, and jazz on Sunday afternoons and select Thursday evenings. The musical program is also available through concert videos, audio recordings, and a free classical music podcast.

Reflecting Isabella Gardner’s passion for horticulture and garden design, the Gardner’s interior courtyard combines ever-changing horticultural displays with sculpture and architectural elements. The interplay between the courtyard and the museum galleries offers visitors a fresh view from almost every room, inviting connections between art and landscape. Programs like the Landscape Visions lecture series and special Ask the Gardner hours further engage visitors to embrace the art of landscape.

In keeping with Isabella Gardner’s enthusiasm for the Boston Red Sox baseball team, visitors wearing Red Sox paraphernalia receive discounted admission. Visitors named Isabella, or visiting on their birthday, enter free.^[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C3%A0_for_Vittoria_Colonna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO da VINCI: Ginevra de’ Benci

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO da VINCI: Ginevra de’ Benci

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO da VINCI: Ginevra de’ Benci

Artist	Leonardo da Vinci
Year	c. 1474–8
Type	Oil on panel
Dimensions	38.1 cm × 37 cm (15.0 in × 15 in)
Location	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Ginevra de’ Benci is a portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentinearistocrat Ginevra de’ Benci (born c. 1458).^[1] The oil-on-wood portraitwas acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.in 1967. The sum of US$5 million—an absolute record price at the time—came from the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund and was paid to the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It is the only painting by Leonardo on public view in the Americas.^[2]

Subject

Ginevra de’ Benci, a well-known young Florentine woman, is universally considered to be the portrait’s sitter. Leonardo painted the portrait in Florence between 1474 and 1478, possibly to commemorate Ginevra’s marriage to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini at the age of 16. The juniperbush that surrounds Ginevra’s head and fills much of the background, serves more than mere decorative purposes. In Renaissance Italy, the juniper was regarded a symbol of female virtue, while the Italian word for juniper, ginepro, also makes a play on the sitter’s name. The imagery and text on the reverse of the panel further support the identification of this picture. The reverse is decorated with a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath of laureland palm and is memorialized by the phrase VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT (« beauty adorns virtue »).

Reverse of the portrait

The Latin motto VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT on the reverse of the portrait, is understood as symbolizing the intricate relationship between Ginevra’s intellectual and moral virtue on the one hand, and her physical beauty on the other. The sprig of juniper, encircled by laurel and palm, suggests her name. The laurel and palm are in the personal emblem of Bernardo Bembo, a Venetian ambassador to Florence whose platonic relationship with Ginevra is revealed in poems exchanged between them. Infrared examination has revealed Bembo’s motto « Virtue and Honor » beneath Ginevra’s, making it likely that Bembo was somehow involved in the commission of the portrait.

The portrait is one of the highlights of the National Gallery of Art, and is admired by many for its portrayal of Ginevra’s temperament. Ginevra is beautiful, but austere; she has no hint of a smile and her gaze, although forward, seems indifferent to the viewer.^[3]

A strip from the bottom of the painting was removed in the past, presumably owing to damage, and Ginevra’s arms and hands were lost. Using the golden section, Susan Dorothea White has drawn an interpretation of how her arms and hands may have been positioned in the original.^[4] The adaptation is based on images of hands by Leonardo that are thought to have been executed as studies for this painting.

Trivia

• As a woman of renowned beauty, Ginevra de’ Benci was also the subject of ten poems written by members of the Medici circle, Cristoforo Landino and Alessandro Braccesi, and of two sonnets by Lorenzo de’ Medici himself.
• According to Giorgio Vasari, Ginevra de’ Benci was also included in the fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth in the church of Santa Maria Novellain Florence, but it is now believed that Vasari made a mistake and that Ghirlandaio painted Giovanna Tornabuoni.^{[citation needed]}
• Ginevra’s brother Giovanni (1456-1523) was a friend of Leonardo’s. When Vasari wrote his Lives, Leonardo’s unfinished Adoration of the Magi was in the house of Amerigo Benci, Giovanni’s son.
• In 2017, the researcher and cryptographer Carla Glori anagrammatized fifty Latin sentences signed VINCI, formed with the very same alphabetical letters of the motto VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT when supplemented with the Latin word iuniperus (juniper sprig).^[5] Glori argues that the anagrams form a coherent text and have a meaning that unequivocally refers to the portrait and to the biography of Ginevra Benci.

References

1. Jump up^ « Ginevra de’ Benci« . National Gallery of Art. D.C. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
2. Jump up^ « Leonardo da Vinci’s Ginevra de’ BenciArchived 21 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine. ». National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
3. Jump up^ Brown (2003)
4. Jump up^ White, Susan D. (2006). Draw Like Da Vinci. London: Cassell Illustrated. ISBN 9781844034444, pp.114-115.
5. Jump up^ Glori, Carla. « The Story of Ginerva de’ Benci ». Academia. Retrieved November 16,2017.

For an unorthodox view on Ginevra de’ Benci see Angelo Paratico Leonardo Da Vinci. A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance ItalyLascar Publishing, 2015 ISBN978-988-14-1980-4.^[1]

Sources

• Hand, J. O. (2004). National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. New York: National Gallery of Art, Washington. ISBN0-8109-5619-5. p. 28.
• Brown, David Alan (2003). Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo’s Ginevra de’ Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-11456-9.

Ginevra de’ Benci by Leonardo da Vinci.

• Website of the National Gallery of Art, whereGinevra de’ Benci may be viewed online
• Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Ginevra de’ Benci (see index)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginevra_de%27_Benci

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Ancient Corinth

Giacobbe Giusti, Ancient Corinth

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Ancient Corinth

Corinth
Κόρινθος
700 BC–338 BC
Capital		Corinth
Languages		Doric Greek
Religion		Greek Polytheism
Government		Oligarchy
Historical era		Classical Antiquity
•	Founding	700 BC
•	Cypselus	657–627 BC
•	Dissolution	338 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Greek Dark Ages Macedonian Empire

Corinth (/ˈkɔːrɪnθ/; Greek: ΚόρινθοςKórinthos) was a city-state (polis) on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern city of Corinth is located approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the ancient ruins. Since 1896, systematic archaeological investigations of the Corinth Excavations by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have revealed large parts of the ancient city, and recent excavations conducted by the Greek Ministry of Culture have brought to light important new facets of antiquity.

For Christians, Corinth is well-known from the two letters of Saint Paul in the New Testament, First Corinthians and Second Corinthians. Corinth is also mentioned in the Book of Acts as part of the Apostle Paul‘s missionary travels. In addition, the second book of Pausanias‘ Description of Greeceis devoted to Corinth.

Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC.^[1] The Romansdemolished Corinth in 146 BC, built a new city in its place in 44 BC, and later made it the provincial capital of Greece.

 

History

Prehistory and founding myths

Neolithic pottery suggests that the site of Corinth was occupied from at least as early as 6500 BC, and continually occupied into the Early Bronze Age,^[2] when, it has been suggested, the settlement acted as a centre of trade.^[3] However, there is a dramatic drop in ceramic remains during the Early Helladic II phase and only sparse ceramic remains in the EHIII and MH phases; thus, it appears that the area was very sparsely inhabited in the period immediately before the Mycenaean period. There was a settlement on the coast near Lechaion which traded across the Corinthian Gulf; the site of Corinth itself was likely not heavily occupied again until around 900 BC, when it is believed that the Dorians settled there.^[4]

According to Hellenic myth, the city was founded by Corinthos, a descendant of the god Helios (the Sun). However, other myths suggest that it was founded by the goddess Ephyra, a daughter of the TitanOceanus, thus the ancient name of the city (also Ephyra). There is evidence that the city was destroyed around 2000 BC.

Some ancient names for the place are derived from a pre-Greek « Pelasgian » language, such as Korinthos. It seems likely that Corinth was also the site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city, like Mycenae, Tiryns, or Pylos. According to myth, Sisyphus was the founder of a race of ancient kings at Corinth. It was also in Corinth that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, abandoned Medea. During the Trojan War, as portrayed in the Iliad, the Corinthians participated under the leadership of Agamemnon.

In a Corinthian myth recounted to Pausanias in the 2nd century AD,^[5]Briareus, one of the Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between Poseidon and Helios, between the sea and the sun. His verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth belonged to Poseidon and the acropolis of Corinth (Acrocorinth) belonged to Helios. Thus, Greeks of the Classical age accounted for the archaic cult of the sun-titan in the highest part of the site.^{[citation needed]}

The Upper Peirene spring is located within the walls of the acropolis. « The spring, which is behind the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeushad ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus. » (Pausanias, 2.5.1).^[6]

Corinth under the Bacchiadae

Main article: Bacchiadae

Corinth had been a backwater in 8th-century Greece.^[7] The Bacchiadae (Ancient Greek: Βακχιάδαι Bakkhiadai) were a tightly-knit Doric clan and the ruling kinship group of archaic Corinth in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a period of expanding Corinthian cultural power. In 747 BC (a traditional date), an aristocraticrevolution ousted the Bacchiad kings, when the royal clan of Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males, took power from the last king Telestes.^[8]They dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by annually electing a prytanis (who held the kingly position^[9] for his brief term),^[10] probably a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials), and a polemarchos to head the army.

During Bacchiad rule from 747 to 650 BC, Corinth became a unified state. Large scale public buildings and monuments were constructed at this time. In 733 BC, Corinth established colonies at Corcyra and Syracuse. By 730 BC, Corinth emerged as a highly advanced Greek city with at least 5,000 people.^[11]

Aristotle tells the story of Philolaus of Corinth, a Bacchiad who was a lawgiver at Thebes. He became the lover of Diocles, the winner of the Olympic games. They both lived for the rest of their lives in Thebes. Their tombs were built near one another and Philolaus’ tomb points toward the Corinthian country, while Diocles’ faces away.^[12]

In 657 BC, polemarch Cypselusobtained an oracle from Delphiwhich he interpreted to mean that he should rule the city.^[13] He seized power and exiled the Bacchiadae.^[14]

Corinth under the tyrants

Main article: Cypselus

Cypselus or Kypselos (Greek: Κύψελος) was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC. From 658–628 BC, he removed the Bacchiad aristocracy from power and ruled for three decades. He built temples to Apollo and Poseidon in 650 BC.

Apollo Temple has been built in Doric style on the ruins of earlier temple, being a good example of peripteral temple, supported by 38 columns, only 7 of which are still in place.

Archeological site located close to Temple of Apollo.

Archeological site of Ancient Theater first built in Corinth in 5th c. BC. The Theater could seat around 15000 spectators.

Aristotle reports that « Cypselus of Corinth had made a vow that if he became master of the city, he would offer to Zeus the entire property of the Corinthians. Accordingly, he commanded them to make a return of their possessions. »^[15]

The city sent forth colonists to found new settlements in the 7th century BC, under the rule of Cypselus (r. 657–627 BC) and his son Periander(r. 627–587 BC). Those settlements were Epidamnus (modern day Durrës, Albania), Syracuse, Ambracia (modern day town of Lefkas), Corcyra (modern day town of Corfu), and Anactorium. Periander also founded Apollonia in Illyria (modern day Fier, Albania) and Potidaea (in Chalcidice). Corinth was also one of the nine Greek sponsor-cities to found the colony of Naukratis in Ancient Egypt, founded to accommodate the increasing trade volume between the Greek world and pharaonic Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Psammetichus I of the 26th dynasty.

Greekcity-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings, with increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures. Corinth led the way as the richest archaic polis.^[16] The tyrants usually seized power at the head of some popular support, like the signori of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. Often the tyrants calmed the populace by upholding existing laws and customs and strict conservatism in cult practices. A cult of personalitynaturally substituted for the divine right of the former legitimate royal house, as it did in Renaissance Italy.

Temple of Apollo, Ancient Corinth.

Periander (Περίανδρος) (r. 627–587 BC).

Cypselus was the son of Eëtion and a disfigured woman named Labda. He was a member of the Bacchiad kin and usurped the power in archaic matriarchal right of his mother.

According to Herodotus, the Bacchiadae heard two prophecies from the Delphicoracle that the son of Eëtion would overthrow their dynasty, and they planned to kill the baby once he was born. However, the newborn smiled at each of the men sent to kill him, and none of them could bear to strike the blow.

Labda then hid the baby in a chest,^[17] and the men could not find him once they had composed themselves and returned to kill him. (Compare the infancy of Perseus.) The ivory chest of Cypselus was richly worked and adorned with gold. It was a votive offering at Olympia, where Pausanias gave it a minute description in his 2nd century AD travel guide.^[18]

Cypselus grew up and fulfilled the prophecy. Corinth had been involved in wars with Argos and Corcyra, and the Corinthians were unhappy with their rulers. Cypselus was polemarch at the time (around 657 BC), the archon in charge of the military, and he used his influence with the soldiers to expel the king. He also expelled his other enemies, but allowed them to set up coloniesin northwestern Greece. He also increased trade with the colonies in Italy and Sicily. He was a popular ruler and, unlike many later tyrants, he did not need a bodyguard and died a natural death.

He ruled for thirty years and was succeeded as tyrant by his son Periander in 627 BC.^[19] The treasury that Cypselus built at Delphiwas apparently still standing in the time of Herodotus, and the chest of Cypselus was seen by Pausanias at Olympia in the 2nd century AD. Periander brought Corcyra to order in 600 BC.

Periander was considered one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.^[20]During his reign, the first Corinthian coins were struck. He was the first to attempt to cut across the Isthmus to create a seaway between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulfs. He abandoned the venture due to the extreme technical difficulties that he met, but he created the Diolkosinstead (a stone-built overland ramp). The era of the Cypselids was Corinth’s golden age, and ended with Periander’s nephew Psammetichus, named after the hellenophile Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus I (see above).

Periander killed his wife Melissa. His son Lycopron found out and shunned him, and Periander exiled the son to Corcyra.^[21] Periander later wanted Lycopron to replace him as ruler of Corinth, and convinced him to come home to Corinth on the condition that Periander go to Corcyra. The Corcyreans heard about this and killed Lycophron to keep away Periander.^[22][23]

Archaic Corinth after the tyrants

581 BC: Periander’s nephew and successor was assassinated, ending the dictatorship.

581 BC: the Isthmian Games were established by leading families.

570 BC: the inhabitants started to use silver coins called ‘colts’ or ‘foals’.

550 BC: Construction of the Temple of Apollo at Corinth (early third quarter of the 6th century BC). ^[24]

550 BC: Corinth allied with Sparta.

525 BC: Corinth formed a conciliatory alliance with Sparta against Argos.

519 BC: Corinth mediated between Athens and Thebes.

Around 500 BC: Athenians and Corinthians entreated Spartans not to harm Athens by restoring the tyrant.^[25]

Just before the classical period, according to Thucydides, the Corinthians developed the triremewhich became the standard warship of the Mediterranean until the late Roman period. Corinth fought the first naval battle on record against the Hellenic city of Corcyra.^[26] The Corinthians were also known for their wealth due to their strategic location on the isthmus, through which all land traffic had to pass en route to the Peloponnese, including messengers and traders. ^[27]

Classical Corinth

Corinthian stater.Obverse:Pegasuswith Koppa () (or Qoppa) beneath. Reverse:Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Koppa symbolised the archaic spelling of the city name (Ϙόρινθος).

Statues in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

Corinthian order columns in ancient Corinth.

In classical times, Corinth rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth, based on the Isthmian traffic and trade. Until the mid-6th century, Corinth was a major exporter of black-figure pottery to city-states around the Greek world, later losing their market to Athenian artisans.

In classical times and earlier, Corinth had a temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, employing some thousand hetairas (temple prostitutes) (see also Temple prostitution in Corinth). The city was renowned for these temple prostitutes, who served the wealthy merchants and the powerful officials who frequented the city. Lais, the most famous hetaira, was said to charge tremendous fees for her extraordinary favours. Referring to the city’s exorbitant luxuries, Horace is quoted as saying: « non licet omnibus adire Corinthum » (« Not everyone is able to go to Corinth »).^[28]

Corinth was also the host of the Isthmian Games. During this era, Corinthians developed the Corinthian order, the third main style of classical architecture after the Doric and the Ionic. The Corinthian order was the most complicated of the three, showing the city’s wealth and the luxurious lifestyle, while the Doric order evoked the rigorous simplicity of the Spartans, and the Ionic was a harmonious balance between these two following the cosmopolitan philosophy of Ionians like the Athenians.

The city had two main ports: to the west on the Corinthian Gulf lay Lechaion, which connected the city to its western colonies (Greek: apoikoiai) and Magna Graecia, while to the east on the Saronic Gulf the port of Kenchreai served the ships coming from Athens, Ionia, Cyprusand the Levant. Both ports had docks for the city’s large navy.

Street in ancient Corinth.

In 491 BC, Corinth mediated between Syracuse and Gala.

During the years 481–480 BC, the Conference at the Isthmus of Corinth (following conferences at Sparta) established the Hellenic League, which allied under the Spartans to fight the war against Persia. The city was a major participant in the Persian Wars, sending 400 soldiers to defend Thermopylae^[29] and supplying forty warships for the Battle of Salamisunder Adeimantos and 5,000 hoplites with their characteristic Corinthian helmets^{[citation needed]}) in the following Battle of Plataea. The Greeks obtained the surrender of Theban collaborators with the Persians. Pausanias took them to Corinth where they were put to death.^[30]

Following the Battle of Thermopylaeand the subsequent Battle of Artemisium, which resulted in the captures of Euboea, Boeotia, and Attica,^[31] the Greco-Persian Warswere at a point where now most of mainland Greece to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth had been overrun.^[32]

Corinthian order.

Herodotus, who was believed to dislike the Corinthians, mentions that they were considered the second best fighters after the Athenians.^[33]

In 458 BC, Corinth was defeated by Athens at Megara.

Peloponnesian War

In 435 BC, Corinth and its colony Corcyra went to war over Epidamnus.^[34] In 433 BC, Athens allied with Corcyra against Corinth.^[35] The Corinthian war against the Corcyrans was the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time.^[36] In 431 BC, one of the factors leading to the Peloponnesian War was the dispute between Corinth and Athens over Corcyra, which probably stemmed from the traditional trade rivalry between the two cities.

Three Syracusan generals went to Corinth seeking allies against Athenian invasion.^[37] The Corinthians « voted at once to aid [the Syracusans] heart and soul ». They also sent a group to Lacedaemon to rouse Spartan assistance. After a convincing speech from the Athenian renegade Alcibiades, the Spartans agreed to send troops to aid the Sicilians.^[38]

In 404 BC, Sparta refused to destroy Athens, angering the Corinthians. Corinth joined Argos, Boeotia, and Athens against Sparta in the Corinthian War.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

Demosthenes later used this history in a plea for magnanimous statecraft, noting that the Athenians of yesteryear had had good reason to hate the Corinthians and Thebans for their conduct during the Peloponnesian War,^[39] yet they bore no malice whatever.^[40]

Corinthian War

In 395 BC, after the end of the Peloponnesian War, Corinth and Thebes, dissatisfied with the hegemony of their Spartan allies, moved to support Athens against Sparta in the Corinthian War.^[41][42]

As an example of facing danger with knowledge, Aristotle used the example of the Argives who were forced to confront the Spartans in the battle at the Long Walls of Corinth in 392 BC.^[43]

379–323 BC

In 379 BC, Corinth, switching back to the Peloponnesian League, joined Sparta in an attempt to defeat Thebes and eventually take over Athens.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

In 366 BC, the Athenian Assemblyordered Chares to occupy the Athenian ally and install a democratic government. This failed when Corinth, Phlius and Epidaurus allied with Boeotia.

Demosthenes recounts how Athens had fought the Spartans in a great battle near Corinth. The city decided not to harbor the defeated Athenian troops, but instead sent heralds to the Spartans. But the Corinthian heralds opened their gates to the defeated Athenians and saved them. Demosthenes notes that they “chose along with you, who had been engaged in battle, to suffer whatever might betide, rather than without you to enjoy a safety that involved no danger.”^[44]

These conflicts further weakened the city-states of the Peloponnese and set the stage for the conquests of Philip II of Macedon.

Demosthenes warned that Philip’s military force exceeded that of Athens and thus they must develop a tactical advantage. He noted the importance of a citizen army as opposed to a mercenary force, citing the mercenaries of Corinth who fought alongside citizens and defeated the Spartans.^[45]

In 338 BC, after having defeated Athens and its allies, Philip IIcreated the League of Corinth to unite the Greeks, including Corinth, in a war against Persia. Philip was named hegemon of the League.

In the spring of 337 BC, the Second congress of Corinth established the Common Peace.

Hellenistic period

By 332 BC, Alexander the Greatwas in control of Greece, as hegemon.

During the Hellenistic period, Corinth, like many other Greece cities, never quite had autonomy. Under the successors of Alexander the Great, Greece was contested ground, and Corinth was occasionally the battleground for contests between the Antigonids, based in Macedonia, and other Hellenistic powers. In 308 BC, the city was captured from the Antigonids by Ptolemy I, who claimed to come as a liberator of Greece from the Antigonids. However, the city was recaptured by Demetrius in 304 BC.^[46]

Corinth remained under Antigonid control for half a century. After 280 BC, it was ruled by the faithful governor Craterus; but, in 253/2 BC, his son Alexander of Corinth, moved by Ptolemaic subsidies, resolved to challenge the Macedonian supremacy and seek independence as a tyrant. He was probably poisoned in 247 BC; after his death, the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas retook the city in the winter of 245/44 BC.

The Macedonian rule was short-lived. In 243 BC, Aratus of Sicyon, using a surprise attack, captured the fortress of Acrocorinth and convinced the citizenship to join the Achaean League.

Thanks to an alliance agreement with Aratus, the Macedonians recovered Corinth once again in 224 BC; but, after the Roman intervention in 197 BC, the city was permanently brought into the Achaean League. Under the leadership of Philopoemen, the Achaeans went on to take control of the entire Peloponnesus and made Corinth the capital of their confederation.^[47]

Roman era

Pirene fountain

Ancient Roman statue in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

In 146 BC, Rome declared war on the Achaean League and, after victories over league forces in the summer of that year, the Romans under Lucius Mummiusbesieged and captured Corinth. When he entered the city, Mummius killed all the men and sold the women and children into slavery before burning the city, for which he was given the cognomenAchaicus as the conqueror of the Achaean League.^[48] There is archeological evidence of some minimal habitation in the years afterwards, but Corinth remained largely deserted until Julius Caesar refounded the city as Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis(‘colony of Corinth in honour of Julius’) in 44 BC, shortly before his assassination. At this time, an amphitheatre was built. (37.909824°N 22.892078°E )

Under the Romans, Corinth was rebuilt as a major city in Southern Greece or Achaia. It had a large^[49]mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. The city was an important locus for activities of the imperial cult, and both Temple E^[50]and the Julian Basilica^[51] have been suggested as locations of imperial cult activity.

Biblical Corinth

See also: Early centers of Christianity § Greece

Corinth is mentioned many times in the New Testament, largely in connection with Paul the Apostle’s mission there, testifying to the success of Caesar’s refounding of the city. Traditionally, the Church of Corinth is believed to have been founded by Paul, making it an Apostolic See.

The apostle Paul first visited the city in AD 49 or 50, when Gallio, the brother of Seneca, was proconsul of Achaia.^[52] Paul resided here for eighteen months (see Acts 18:1–18). Here he first became acquainted with Priscilla and Aquilawith whom he later traveled. They worked here together as tentmakers (from which is derived the modern Christian concept of tentmaking), and regularly attended the synagogue. In AD 51/52, Gallio presided over the trial of the Apostle Paul in Corinth. This event provides a secure date for the book of the Acts of the Apostles within the Bible. Silas and Timothy rejoined Paul here, having last seen him in Berea(Acts 18:5). Acts 18:6 suggests that Jewish refusal to accept his preaching here led Paul to resolve no longer to speak in the synagogues where he travelled: ‘From now on I will go to the Gentiles’.^[53] However, on his arrival in Ephesus (Acts 18:19), the narrative records that Paul went to the synagogue to preach.

Paul wrote at least two epistles to the Christian church, the First Epistle to the Corinthians (written from Ephesus) and the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (written from Macedonia). The first Epistle occasionally reflects the conflict between the thriving Christian church and the surrounding community.

Some scholars believe that Paul visited Corinth for an intermediate « painful visit » (see 2 Corinthians 2:1) between the first and second epistles. After writing the second epistle, he stayed in Corinth for about three months^{[Acts 20:3]} in the late winter, and there wrote his Epistle to the Romans.^[54]

Based on clues within the Corinthian epistles themselves, some scholars have concluded that Paul wrote possibly as many as four epistles to the church at Corinth.^[55] Only two are contained within the Christian canon (First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians); the other two letters are lost. (The lost letters would probably represent the very first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and the third one, and so the First and Second Letters of the canon would be the second and the fourth if four were written.) Many scholars think that the third one (known as the « letter of the tears »; see 2 Cor 2:4) is included inside the canonical Second Epistle to the Corinthians (it would be chapters 10–13). This letter is not to be confused with the so-called « Third Epistle to the Corinthians« , which is a pseudepigraphical letter written many years after the death of Paul.

Byzantine era

The walled gates of Acrocorinth.

The city was largely destroyed in the earthquakes of 365 A.D. and 375 A.D., followed by Alaric‘s invasion in 396. The city was rebuilt after these disasters on a monumental scale, but covered a much smaller area than previously. Four churches were located in the city proper, another on the citadel of the Acrocorinth, and a monumental basilica at the port of Lechaion.^[56]

During the reign of EmperorJustinian I (527–565), a large stone wall was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulfs, protecting the city and the Peloponnese peninsula from the barbarian invasions from the north. The stone wall was about six miles (10 km) long and was named Hexamilion (« six-miles »).

Corinth declined from the 6th century on, and may even have fallen to barbarian invaders in the early 7th century. The main settlement moved from the lower city to the Acrocorinth. Despite its becoming the capital of the theme of Hellas and, after ca. 800, of the theme of the Peloponnese, it was not until the 9th century that the city began to recover, reaching its apogee in the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was the site of a flourishing silk industry.^[56]

In November 856, an earthquake in Corinth killed an estimated 45,000.^[57]

The wealth of the city attracted the attention of the SicilianNormansunder Roger of Sicily, who plundered it in 1147, carrying off many captives, most notably silk weavers. The city never fully recovered from the Norman sack.^[56]

Principality of Achaea

Following the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, a group of Crusaders under the French knights William of Champlitte and Geoffrey of Villehardouin carried out the conquest of the Peloponnese. The Corinthians resisted the Frankish conquest from their stronghold in Acrocorinth, under the command of Leo Sgouros, from 1205 until 1210. In 1208 Leo Sgouros killed himself by riding off the top of Acrocorinth, but resistance continued for two more years. Finally, in 1210 the fortress fell to the Crusaders, and Corinth became a full part of the Principality of Achaea, governed by the Villehardouins from their capital in Andravida in Elis. Corinth was the last significant town of Achaea on its northern borders with another crusader state, the Duchy of Athens. The Ottomans captured the city in 1395. The Byzantines of the Despotate of the Morea recaptured it in 1403, and the Despot Theodore II Palaiologos, restored the Hexamilion wall across the Isthmus of Corinth in 1415.

Ottoman rule

In 1458, five years after the final Fall of Constantinople, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire conquered the city and its mighty castle. The Ottomans renamed it Gördes and made it a sanjak (district) centre within the Rumelia Eyalet. The Venetianscaptured the city in 1687 during the Morean War, and it remained under Venetian control until the Ottomans retook the city in 1715. Corinth was the capital of the Mora Eyalet in 1715–1731 and then again a sanjakcapital until 1821.

Independence

« Corinth with Acrocorinth » by Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847

During the Greek War of Independence, 1821–1830 the city was destroyed by the Ottoman forces.^{[citation needed]} The city was officially liberated in 1832 after the Treaty of London. In 1833, the site was considered among the candidates for the new capital city of the recently founded Kingdom of Greece, due to its historical significance and strategic position. Nafplio was chosen initially then Athens.

Modern Corinth

Main article: Corinth

In 1858, the village surrounding the ruins of Ancient Corinth was destroyed by an earthquake, leading to the establishment of New Corinth3 km (1.9 mi) NE of the ancient city.

The ancient city and its environs

Acrocorinth, the acropolis

Acrocorinthis, the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock that was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century. The city’s archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the Themaof Hellas. Later it was a fortress of the Franks after the Fourth Crusade, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks. With its secure water supply, Acrocorinth’s fortress was used as the last line of defense in southern Greece because it commanded the isthmus of Corinth, repelling foes from entry into the Peloponnesian peninsula. Three circuit walls formed the man-made defense of the hill. The highest peak on the site was home to a temple to Aphrodite which was Christianized as a church, and then became a mosque. The American School began excavations on it in 1929. Currently, Acrocorinth is one of the most important medieval castle sites of Greece.

The two ports: Lechaeum and Cenchreae

Corinth had two harbours: Lechaeum on the Corinthian Gulfand Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf. Lechaeum was the principal port, connected to the city with a set of long walls of about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) length, and was the main trading station for Italy and Sicily, where there were many Corinthian colonies, while Cenchreae served the commerce with the Eastern Mediterranean. Ships could be transported between the two harbours by means of the diolkosconstructed by the tyrant Periander.

Important Monuments

• Temple of Apollo
• Fountain of Glauke
• Sacred Spring
• Peirene
• Asklepieion
• South Stoa
• Odeion
• Bema (later Church of Apostle Paul)
• Temple E
• Julian Basilica
• Acrocorinth Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore
• Castle of Acrocorinth

Notable people

Ancient

• Achaicus (1st century AD), Christian
• Adrian of Corinth (3rd century AD), Christian saint and martyr
• Archias (8th century BC), founder of Syracuse
• Desmon (8th century BC), athlete
• Dinarchus (4th century BC), orator and logographer
• Diocles (8th century BC), athlete
• Diogenes of Sinope, 4th century BC, one of the world’s best known cynics
• Eumelus (8th century BC), poet
• Euphranor (4th century BC), sculptor and painter
• Paul, the Apostle 1st century AD, Christian evangelist
• Periander (7th century BC), listed as one of the Seven Sages of Greece
• Quadratus (4th century AD), Christian saint and martyr
• Timoleon (4th century BC), statesman and general
• Xeniades (5th century BC), philosopher
• Xenophon (5th century BC), athlete

Medieval

• Cyriacus the Anchorite (5th century), Christian saint
• William of Moerbeke (13th century), first translator of Aristotle‘s works into Latin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Corinth

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