The Ugly Renaissance (85 page)

Fig. 31. Melozzo da Forlì,
Sixtus IV Appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library
. Surrounding the pontiff are four of his nephews, two of whom were already cardinals.
(illustration credit 31)

Fig. 32. Raphael,
Portrait of Pope Leo X and His Cousins Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi
. Portraiture was a favored means of displaying “dynastic” power within the Curia.
(illustration credit 32)

Fig. 33. Filippo Lippi,
Barbadori Altarpiece
. Painted circa 1438, this work might reflect the artist’s supposed experiences as a slave in the Hafsid kingdom of North Africa. The pseudo-Kufic script on the Virgin’s hem is simultaneously a sign of broadening horizons and a crude imitation of Arabic orthography.
(illustration credit 33)

Fig. 34. Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto),
Disputation of Saint Catherine
. Pope Alexander VI’s illegitimate daughter Lucrezia appears in the guise of Saint Catherine in this fresco adorning the Borgia Apartments in the Apostolic Palace.
(illustration credit 34)

Fig. 35. Ambrogio Lorenzetti,
Presentation at the Temple
. Although Mary’s earrings reflect her Jewish identity, details such as this fueled anti-Semitism.
(illustration credit 35)

Fig. 36. Paolo Uccello,
Miracle of the Profaned Host
. Accusations of host desecration were frequently fabricated to bolster support for campaigns of anti-Semitic persecution.
(illustration credit 36)

Fig. 37. Costanzo da Ferrara,
Standing Ottoman
. After the fall of Constantinople, artists and humanists flocked to the city to study the Muslim East.
(illustration credit 37)

Fig. 38. Gentile and Giovanni Bellini,
Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria
. Based on observations made at the Ottoman court, this work displays an acute knowledge of Muslim costume and mores yet locates the drama in a recognizably Venetian setting.
(illustration credit 38)

Fig. 39. Andrea Mantegna,
Adoration of the Magi
. The kneeling figure of Balthazar reflects the Renaissance willingness to accept black Africans as “children of God.”
(illustration credit 39)

ALSO BY ALEXANDER LEE

The End of Politics: Triangulation, Realignment, and the Battle for the Centre Ground
(with T. R. Stanley)

Renaissance? Perceptions of Continuity and Discontinuity in Europe, c. 1300–c. 1550 (ed. with P. Péporté and H. Schnitker)

Petrarch and St. Augustine: Classical Scholarship, Christian Theology, and the Origins of the Renaissance in Italy