The Meditation on the Passion
Jesus is seated on a throne in ruins engraved with Hebrew graffiti on the back, two hermits on his side are in a nearly symmetrical position. Since Renaissance this picture was considered as work of Andrea Mantegna because there was a readable signature of this painter. Only in 1945 (thanks to Murray Pease) it was finally cleared the identity of the author: under the signature of Mantegna it was possible to read, thanks to infrared analysis, the signature of Vit Carpaccio. The circumstances of the order and the original location of the work are still unknown. The date of creation is uncertain and is supposed to be around the early years of the sixteenth century. It has to be noticed that, in the painted scene, Gerolamo, as customary, has taken away the old shoes as a signs of respect; Job, on the contrary, still wears a pair of elegant and anachronistic shoes, and certainly not out of spite, but to report unequivocally, he explicitly indicates them, that we have to recognize in him as modern figure. He probably is the unknown person who commissioned the work to Carpaccio.
I think the painting was commissioned as a work of meditation on the mystery of the death. I was really impressed because it appears obvious that some profound and complex messages are hidden and that this work is more than a simple representation of a sacred scene. Two themes emerge: the death and the meditation on the afterlife. The theme of death is primary: a deserted landscape is the stage for the scene of a dead Christ. Many symbolic elements in the framework evoke an atmosphere of dream, almost abstract. It is clear that there are a lot of implicit references both theological and literary that probably are, mainly, lost. Scholars have recognized many biblical allusions to death and to the vanity of human things in painted images like the skull, the bones and the ruined marbles. I was quite impressed by the overall cryptic atmosphere of this paintings. I believe that Carpaccio perfectly succeeded to express the mystery of the afterlife.
Lesson 5.2 Reformation and Counter-Reform
Elizabeth the sinner is now excommunicated!
Oh faithful, oh miserable sinners give ear! Our beloved father, Pope Pius V has heard the prayers for help coming from the exhausted land of Albion! Here, I bring thee good news as the ones from the true God that is worthy of being worshiped and revered like the ever blessed Catholic Church! He who reigns in the highest, which is given all authority in heaven and on earth, has loved the Church of Rome! He and only he has been constituted Prince of all nations and all kingdoms. He can erect, demolish, break up, disperse, sovereigns! Elizabeth, which is claimed to be the Queen of England, is a witch and she constituted an asylum for damned sinners. Following that she embraced the errors of heretics. She has altered the Royal Council. She has abolished Masses, prayers, religious festivals, celibacy and Catholic rituals. Books containing manifest heresy, witchcraft and that those wicked rites and prescriptions of the lost soul of Calvin were distributed in all her land. Our praised Father Pius V has declared the same Elizabeth, deprived of the Kingdom, as well as of each domain, dignity and privilege! Aye our Holy Pope did it! I call thee England! I call all the nobles, the subjects and the people of this kingdom to be free from every respect of her power. Save thee souls England! Stand next to our Pope and the only beloved God! No more loyalty and debt are obliged to the damned witch! If thee want to save your soul then listen to these words! Embrace the true faith in Jesus Christ, in our holy Mother Mary, and in all the Saints of this Holy Catholic Church of Rome! Be aware! Those who will act otherwise will be included in the judgment of God and excommunicated.
5.3 The age of exploration
The New World represented a sudden and surprising discovery by Christopher Columbus and his successors. In spite of it the access to the Atlantic was not unusual to the sailors in the late medieval Europe.The transformation of the dark and mysterious realm of the ocean, located at the margins of European civilization, into a well known west sea, during the late Middle Age, is an important chapter of Western history. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the European Atlantic was crossed, explored, mapped, and thus defined; the spread of knowledge nautical, cartographic and geographic created an integrated community of sailors and European navigators who formed the nucleus of an emerging Atlantic community. In short, then, the navigation across the European Atlantic was not the product of a new route brought by a broader view, the explosion of repressed commercial energy or the effect of new technologies. On the contrary, it represented the cautious advance of borders that were already in use or that changed slightly thank to consolidated knowledge and existing technologies and mainly on behalf of small amounts of private capital. Only at the last spectacular trips made to circumnavigate Africa or to cross the Atlantic, the royal patronage ensured substantial capital and geopolitical interests begin to guide and manage the various activities. It was only when the Portuguese navigators, who explored the Benin, reported the possibility of contact with the Prester John in Ethiopia, that the Portuguese crown decided to fund the effort to circumnavigate Africa. Similarly, only the conquest of the last islands of the Canaries and the voyages of Columbus received funding from the Spanish crown. During late eighties of the fifteenth century, all the conditions that would allow effective crossing of the Atlantic and a conquest of new lands had been reached: a greater knowledge of the seas; technical innovations both naval and cartographic. The establishment of an international network of dealers willing to invest in maritime adventures and the use of a shared legal model allowed the European monarchies to claim the monopoly of the conquest and commerce in certain areas. Therefore the events that led European countries to be successful in the Age of Exploration were both long-term phenomena and more immediate changes.
Consulted Works
Allen, John L. "From Cabot to Cartier: The Early Exploration of Eastern North America, 1497–1543." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82.3 (1992): 500-21. Web.
Burroughs, Bryson. "The Meditation on the Passion by Carpaccio." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 6.10 (1911): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
Hartt, Frederick. "Carpaccio's Meditation on the Passion." The Art Bulletin 22.1 (1940): 25-35. JSTOR. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
Hebert, J. "Exploring the Columbian Quincentenary Through Historiography." OAH Magazine of History 5.4 (1991): 11-13. Web.
Mancall, Peter C. "The Age of Discovery." Reviews in American History 26.1 (1998): 26-53. Web.
