It is one of the most famous double portraits in history: that of Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482) and his second wife Battista Sforza (1446-1472), painted by Piero della Francesca (ca. 1415-1492). Federico ruled over Urbino from 1444 until his death in 1482. He was the illegitimate son of Guidantonio da…
In the fourteenth century, painting in Siena was certainly on par with painting in Florence. While Florence had Giotto and his followers, Siena could boast of Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-1318/1319) and the Lorenzetti brothers, Pietro (ca. 1280-1348) and Ambrogio (ca. 1290-1348). In the first rooms of the Uffizi in…
Every day thousands of people pass by the church of San Carlo on the busy Via dei Calzaiuoli. The church itself is seldom open though. During my most recent visits to Florence I found the doors of the building shut each and every time. The ultimate insult must have been…
Some churches remain on my to-do list for years for the simple reason that they are almost never open. The church of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri in Florence is just such a church. In spite of optimistic information on the Internet about opening hours, I have travelled to the church…
The church and convent of San Domenico are not located in the centre of Fiesole, but in the lower part of the town. My recommendation would be to first visit the attractions in the centre – the convent of San Francesco, the Duomo and the archaeological museum – and then…
Na zijn nederlaag bij Beneventum was koning Pyrrhus van Epirus teruggekeerd naar zijn koninkrijk, om enkele jaren later roemloos te sterven in de straten van Argos op de Peloponnesos. Het vertrek van Pyrrhus stelde de Romeinen in staat hun verovering van Zuid-Italië af te ronden. Daarmee kwam heel het gebied…
Voordat koning Pyrrhus van Epirus naar Sicilië was overgestoken zou hij aan een moordaanslag zijn ontsnapt. Volgens zijn biograaf Plutarchus had de lijfarts van de koning de Romeinen aangeboden zijn heer te vergiftigen in ruil voor een royale beloning. De nieuwe consul voor 278 BCE Gaius Fabricius Luscinus had met…
Koning Pyrrhus van Epirus had zich na zijn mislukte poging de Romeinen tot een vredesovereenkomst te brengen teruggetrokken naar Campania. Daar had hij zijn winterkwartieren opgeslagen. Eind 280 BCE of begin 279 BCE kreeg hij bezoek van een Romeinse diplomatieke delegatie. Deze zware delegatie bestond uit drie voormalige consuls.[1] Gaius…
Pyrrhus van Epirus wordt doorgaans tot de grootste veldheren van de klassieke Oudheid gerekend. Als het lot het anders had gewild, was hij echter al op jonge leeftijd gestorven. Pyrrhus was in 319 BCE geboren als zoon van koning Aiakides van Epirus. Twee jaar later waren de Molossiërs, een van…
Rome was goed uit de Derde Samnitische oorlog gekomen. Samnium was voorlopig onderworpen en de Romeinse macht strekte zich uit tot in Lucania en Apulia. In het noorden waren de Etruskische stadstaten onder het Romeinse juk gebracht en dankzij de stichting van de Latijnse kolonie Narnia hadden de Romeinen ook…
The charming town of Asti in Piemonte has Roman origins. Asti was founded in the second century in Ligurian territory as Hasta. Hasta is the Latin word for a lance, but in this case the name presumably derives from a Celtic or Ligurian word for “hill”. After the fall of…
The stately Palazzo Mazzetti stands along the long Corso Vittorio Alfieri, named after the famous playwright and poet (1749-1803) who was born in Asti. The history of the palazzo goes back to the Middle Ages, but the current Palazzo Mazzetti is in essence an eighteenth-century building. It was remodelled in…
We do not really know whether Saint Secundus can be considered historical. According to tradition he was a Roman soldier who was martyred in the year 119, during the reign of the emperor Hadrianus, because of his Christian faith. Later a church dedicated to him arose on the spot where…
The cathedral of Asti, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and San Gottardo, is located on the northwestern edge of the historical city centre. The large building – travel guides like to stress that it is one of the largest Gothic churches of Piemonte – stands just within the medieval city…
The right wall of the nave of the Santa Maria Maggiore is a bit better off than the one on the left. Here 15 of the original 21 wall mosaics from the fifth century have been preserved. The mosaics tell stories from the Books of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua.…
I am really fond of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The wall mosaics in the basilica with stories from the Old Testament are of unparalleled beauty. They date from the fifth century and once there were 42 of them. Unfortunately renovations and neglect have caused the loss…
Het is een van de beroemdste dubbelportretten uit de geschiedenis: dat van Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482) en zijn tweede vrouw Battista Sforza (1446-1472), geschilderd door Piero della Francesca (ca. 1415-1492). Federico was heerser over Urbino van 1444 tot aan zijn dood in 1482. Hij was een buitenechtelijke zoon van Guidantonio…
In de veertiende eeuw kon de schilderkunst in Siena zich zeker meten met die van Florence. Waar Florence Giotto en diens navolgers had, had Siena Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-1318/1319) en de gebroeders Lorenzetti, Pietro (ca. 1280-1348) en Ambrogio (ca. 1290-1348). In de eerste zalen van de Uffizi in Florence…
We parked our car at a large free car park near a former military barracks on the east side of Vercelli’s historical city centre. From this car park it was just a short walk to our first destination in the town, the Museo Borgogna. The museum is the second-largest pinacoteca…
It was the first church we visited in Vercelli: that of Saint Christopher, the “Christ-bearer”. The history of the church goes back to the middle of the twelfth century. The present church was, however, built in 1515. It was used by members of the order of the Humiliati, the “humble…