Building Family Identity
The Orsini Castle of Bracciano from Fiefdom to Duchy (1470-1698)
Published on 24. September 2019
Book
Hardback
554 pages
978-1-78707-179-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Orsini of Bracciano were among the most powerful and influential signori di castelli of early modern Italy, controlling a vast domain that stretched from the Tyrrehenian Sea to the mountains of Abruzzo. This book explores the construction and decoration of their principal headquarters north of Rome between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as the careers and artistic patronage of its leaders, who included captains, condottieri, cardinals and urban aristocrats. The castle is one of the largest in Latium and was once a centre of courtly culture and diplomacy, hosting princes, kings and popes. Today it boasts many beautifully preserved artworks of the Renaissance era, including frescos by Antoniazzo Romano and the Zuccari brothers.
The contributors to this study investigate the castle as a visual expression of the family identity of its builders. They trace its evolution from the fortified capital of a large fiefdom at the dawn of the age of artillery to the palatial residence of a ducal dynasty in the aftermath of the Italian Wars. Richly illustrated with numerous historic and new photographs, this book analyses a fascinating and mostly neglected facet of early modern Italian culture: the artistic patronage of seigniorial clans.
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
198 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 303 mm
Width: 215 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
1754 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78707-179-7 (9781787071797)
DOI
10.3726/b10550
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Paolo Alei | Max Grossman
Building Family Identity
The Orsini Castle of Bracciano from Fiefdom to Duchy (1470-1698)
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€84.49
Available for download
Max Grossman | Paolo Alei
Building Family Identity
The Orsini Castle of Bracciano from Fiefdom to Duchy (1470-1698)
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€84.49
Available for download
Persons
Paolo Alei received his DPhil from Oxford University and is now Adjunct Professor of Art History at the University of California, Rome. His research focuses on the relationship between art, architecture and rhetoric from the Quattrocento to the Seicento. He has published on Raphael and Titian and is currently writing on Caravaggio and energeia. He lives in the town of Calcata, in the heart of Tuscia, one of the many possessions of the Orsini family.
Max Grossman is a specialist in medieval and Renaissance architecture and urbanism in Italy and the architecture of the American Southwest. He conducted research in Tuscany for many years before receiving his PhD from Columbia University. He is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at El Paso and Director of its study abroad program in Rome. He is currently writing books on the civic architecture of the Sienese Republic and the architecture of the Texas Borderlands region.
Content
CONTENTS: Part I:
Arma et Litterae
: The Castle of Bracciano in the Quattrocento - Paolo Alei: Building with
Magnificenza
: The Orsini Castle of Bracciano - Stefania Camilli: The State of the Condottiero: Bracciano in the System of the Italian States in the Age of Gentil Virginio Orsini - Paul Gwynne: The Poets and the Prince: Silius Italicus, Johannes Michael Nagonius and Gentil Virginio Orsini, Lord of Bracciano - Max Grossman: Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Gentil Virginio Orsini and the Defence of Bracciano - Anna Cavallaro: Renaissance Paintings in the Castle of Bracciano: The Celebration of Gentil Virginio Orsini and the Pastimes of Courtly Women - Part II:
Locus Amoeunus
: The Transformation of the Castle of Bracciano in the Cinquecento - Elisabetta Mori: Isabella de' Medici and Vittoria Accoramboni: The History and Legend of the Two Wives of the Duke of Bracciano - Maria Giulia Aurigemma:
Palatium sive forticium
: Sixteenth-century Architecture of the
Palazzo-Castello
of Bracciano - Claudia Daniotti: Stories of Valour and Love for a Wedding: The
Sala di Alessandro Magno
and
Sala di Psiche
in the Castle of Bracciano - Paolo Alei and Bryony Bartlett-Rawlings: Astrological Fashioning in the Castle of Bracciano: The Frescoes of the
Sala Papalina
by the Zuccari Brothers and the Celebration of Duke Paolo Giordano Orsini - Barbara Furlotti: Living between Rome and Bracciano: Art, Cultural Interests and Social Behaviour at the Orsini Court in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries - Part III: Beyond the Castle Walls: The Orsini of Bracciano in the Seicento - Guendalina Ajello Mahler: Paolo Giordano II Orsini, Orazio Torriani and the Remaking of Bracciano - Eleonora Chinappi: The Orsini Portraits in the Castle of Bracciano - Eric Nicholson: Sweet Roman Hands and Actors: The Orsini as Theatrical Performers in Early Seventeenth-century English Drama