Visual art as a form of individualization of collective experience: Renaissance discourse

The purpose of the article consists of exploring visual arts in the context of Renaissance discourse as a form of individualization of collective experience. The methodology consists of the application of analytical method – to determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of visual art as a form of individualization of collective experience in the works of the Renaissance theorists: Alberti, G. Vasari, Marsilio Ficino, Lorenzo Valla, Pietro Pomponazzi; Renaissance artists – Giotto, Masaccio, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Titian; formalization method – to clarify visual art within the subject field of art history in the context of the culture of the Renaissance; method of comparative studies – for analyzing approaches to understanding the visual art as a form of individualization of collective experience. The scientific novelty of the work is that for the first time the essence of visual art is a form of individualization of collective experience in the context of the Renaissance discourse. Conclusions. The article explores visual art in the context of the Renaissance discourse as a form of individualization of collective experience. Clarified the meaning of the concept of visual art and painting in the framework of the subject field of art history (concepts of A. Gabrichevsky, M. Kagan, V. Vlasov, A. Hildebrand). In the socio-cultural development of the Renaissance, there is an intensive process of individualization of the artist, and there is also a tendency to intensively turn to samples of ancient art, which testifies to the visual art as the brightest form of individualization of collective experience. In the context of comparative analysis, the concepts of Cennino D'Andrea Cennini, G. Vasari, Alberti, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filarete, Piero Della Francesco, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean Peleren, Albrecht Dürer, Pietro Aretino, who described all the advantages of painting based on color, are considered; the Venetian artist Paolo Pino, author of Dialogue on Painting; Lodovico Dolci, author of Dialogue on Painting; the Tuscan writer A. Doni, who in his dialogue "About drawing" explained the priority of the Florentine tradition, in which the emphasis was on drawing, and not on coloring. Key words: visual art, renaissance, painting, collective experience, individualization

Pervivencias del neoplatonismo en la poesía de Luis de Góngora. El ciclo a los marqueses de Ayamonte

ResumenEl ciclo de poemas que, entre 1606 y 1607, Luis de Góngora dedica a los marqueses de Ayamonte presenta una serie de elementos cuyo origen y lógica productiva puede ras-trearse en la filosofía neoplatónica que tanta difusión conoció en el Renacimiento, par-ticularmente a través de la figura de Marsilio Ficino. Nuestro propósito será estudiar cómo en estos poemas aparecen una serie de imágenes relacionadas con la luz y con el Sol; imágenes que, lejos de constituir lugares comunes, tienen su base en un conjunto de textos que desarrollan la vertiente luminosa del neoplatonismo renacentista. Mediante tales imágenes se construye el perfil lírico de los marqueses y su hija, en su dimensión de personaje público el primero, a la que, en el caso de las dos mujeres, se suma la de damas renacentistas caracterizadas por su hermosura.

A difficult history of light. About metaphysical ideas of “light writing” formulated before the birth of photography

The reflections presented in this article are devoted to Junko Theresa Mikuriya’s book, A History of Light. The Idea of Photography. It is a unique view on the search for pre-photographic origins of photography in the field of philosophical writings ranging from Plato, through the neoplatonic philosopher Jamblich’s enquiry, to the texts by Philotheus of Batos and by an early Renaissance philosopher, Marsilio Ficino. When thinking about metaphysics present in (moving and still) images, one should not forget about the metaphysics of the image itself. The idea of photography – regardless of whether we are witnessing a fundamental change in an ontological transition from an analogue to a digital form of image recording – obliges us to discuss the “history of light”, as this is what Mikuriya does. While locating the discussed concepts in the context of the history and theory of photography, as well as the archaeology of media, the author of this essay engages in a dialogue with Mikuriya and polemically discusses many of her hypotheses. Key concepts such as chalepon, photagogia, triton genos, phôteinographeisthai are analysed in order to indicate inspiring moments in the Mikuriya’s reflections, but also a kind of interpretive abuse in the process of reading and analysing philosophical texts addressing the issues of light.

Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples

Few major figures of the Renaissance are as difficult to capture in the round as Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, b. c. 1455–d. 1536): he does not easily fit into the dichotomies historians have used to understand the period, of humanist or scholastic, medieval or Renaissance, philosopher or theologian, Catholic or Protestant. He began his career teaching at the University of Paris in the 1490s; he traveled to Italy at least three times, and in 1492 met the generation of Italian humanists including Marsilio Ficino, Ermolao Barbaro, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Back in Paris, he set about digesting the medieval philosophy curriculum in new handbooks and commentaries, including all of Aristotle alongside the main branches of mathematics—while also writing privately on natural magic, motivated by an attraction to the more Hermetic teachings of Ficino. From 1499, with a growing circle of students around him, Lefèvre turned his attention increasingly to Church Fathers and medieval mystics, searching out manuscripts by traveling to monasteries and drawing on his expanding network of former students and scholarly friends; this bore fruit in new editions of thinkers such as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Richard of St Victor, Hildegard of Bingen, Jan van Ruysbroeck, and Nicholas of Cusa. In 1507 he retired from university teaching to the Paris cloister of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where he increasingly concentrated his energies on the Bible, commenting on the text with new attention to Greek and Hebrew, where his skills allowed. In the 1510s his commentaries led to clashes with somewhat younger humanists like Desiderius Erasmus, who faulted his Greek, as well as members of the Paris Faculty of Theology, who faulted his theological authority. A theorist of harmony attracted to the grand metaphysical visions of Pseudo-Dionysius and Nicholas of Cusa, Lefèvre avoided conflict where he could, more interested in teaching and commentary than in developing his own systematic statements. He was nevertheless committed to devotional reform, and his patron asked him to lead a reform of preaching in the diocese of Meaux, near Paris; this led to growing worries that his theological affiliation was in fact Lutheran. An elder statesman of the republic of letters amid a generation of younger firebrands—including Guillaume Farel, the Genevan reformer who would spot John Calvin’s potential—Lefèvre’s approach to these tensions has proved an irresistible puzzle for historians. Forced to flee Meaux for safety in Strassburg, he was recalled to the court of the king’s sister, Marguerite de Navarre, where he tutored young royals and lived in relative peace until his death in 1536.

The World Soul in the Renaissance

Along with the revival of Platonism, Renaissance Europe saw a surprising proliferation of writings on the world soul, shaping one of the most impressive eras in the history of this perennial theme. The current chapter focuses on key figures such as Marsilio Ficino, Agostino Steuco, Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella, and Justus Lipsius. Presenting their major arguments, it shows the features of their interpretations and eventual interconnections. Starting from fifteenth-century Florence, it examines some important attempts to reconcile the doctrine of the world soul with Christianity. More than 100 years later, these attempts culminated in the work that revived Stoicism with a strong Platonic flavor. A clue to understanding all this evolution is the belief in “ancient theology” (prisca theologia) promoted by Ficino and developed in the stream of Renaissance Platonism.

Discurso sobre a dignidade do home (e outros textos renacentistas sobre a dignidade do ser humano)

Edición pulcra e rigorosa da tradución ao galego de tres textos clásicos dos que é editor e traductor Fernando Domènech. No estudio introductorio quedan perfectamente aclaradas as razóns que xustifican a elección de Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino e Joan Luis Vives mesmo pola temática dos textos como pola contextualización e a súa posterior interpretación.

Hermes Trismegistos według Marsilia Ficina. Argumentum – przekład i komentarz

Tak zwany Korpus Hermetyczny doczekał się już wielu przekładów, między innymi na język polski, choć polskie przekłady powstawały głównie na podstawie wcześniejszych tłumaczeń na inne języki nowożytne, którym pośredniczyła wersja łacińska. Długą tradycję przekładów tego filozoficzno-mistyczno-ezoterycznego dzieła zapoczątkował Marsilio Ficino w 1463 r., dokonując tłumaczenia z greki na łacinę. Łacińska wersja Korpusu do 1585 r. doczekała się aż szesnastu edycji. Nie wszystkie wydania uwzględniały również wstęp, którym Ficino opatrzył swój przekład. W owym wstępie Ficino odwołuje się do znanej mu tradycji o boskim mędrcu-proroku – zarówno antycznej, jak i wczesnochrześcijańskiej. W niniejszej pracy Ficinowski wstęp do Korpusu Hermetycznego został opatrzony własnym komentarzem wstępnym, który daje polskiemu czytelnikowi możliwość zapoznania się z ówczesnym stanem wiedzy na temat Hermesa Trismegistosa oraz interpretacją tejże wiedzy. Następnie zaprezentowane zostaje polskie tłumaczenie oryginalnego wstępu Ficina, w którym tenże streścił dla swego zleceniodawcy, Kosmy Medyceusza, dostępne mu informacje o Hermesie Trismegistosie, a jednocześnie ukierunkował chrześcijańską recepcję antycznego hermetyzmu od renesansu aż do oświecenia.

Francesco Zorzi és Hannibal Rosseli a prisca theologiáról

1584-ben Krakkóban megjelent egy Pymander Mercurii Trismegisti, De Coelo című mű, amely formáját tekintve kommentár a Marsilio Ficino által latinra fordított hermetikus corpushoz. A több kötetes mű szerzője a ferences Hannibal Rosseli volt, aki művében nemcsak a skolasztikus módszert követte, hanem a reneszánsz hermetizmus hagyományához is kapcsolódott. A tanulmányban azt a kérdést vizsgálom, hogy Rosseli miként használta fel a Marsilio Ficino által vázolt prisca theologia fogalmát, és a pogány bölcsességnek a katolikus teológiával való ötvözése milyen lehetséges következményekkel járt.Következtetésem az, hogy Rosseli művére Ficino mellett komoly hatást gyakorolt a ferences spiritualitás is, mégpedig a velencei ferences Francesco Zorzi munkásságának köszönhetően. Azonban a szerző műve hangvételét a trienti zsinat utáni helyzethez igazította, ügyelve arra, hogy elkerülje annak látszatát, hogy a hermetikus filozófiával eretnek tanításokat keverne a katolikus teológiába.Függelékben közlöm Ficinónak a Corpus Hermeticum latin fordításához írott előszavát.