The Scientific Concept of Later Neoplatonism

In the later Neoplatonism,natural science is fundamentally a theology,its origin and rationality of the basis,direction and final destination are gods.This concept represents the philosophical reflection of science by the Greeks,which inevitably has the limitations of the times,but it may provide a kind of enlightenment for today’s“modernity problem”and help us to understand science more deeply.

Edward Burne-Jones’s The Mirror of Venus: Physical and Intangible Female Beauty

The Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones(1833-1898)conceived the subject of The Mirror of Venus between 1865 and 1867.He painted two versions:a small version in gouache and oil and a larger version in oil on canvas.In composing this subject Burne-Jones was inspired by the poetic and chromatic description of a lyrical stanza on“The Hill of Venus”in the long epic poem Earthly Paradise,written by his close friend and collaborator William Morris.1 This study comprises three parts:Burne-Jones’s history of the paintings,his iconographical sources,and an iconological interpretation of The Mirror of Venus.

Giorgio Vasari’s Fine Arts From the Vite of 1550:The Splendor of Creativity and Design

Giorgio Vasari’s conception of artistic creativity is related to his theory of painting. He proposes two alternatives in a painter’s development or achievement of artistic creativity: imitation (imitazione) and invention (invenzione).Imitation is the copying of art as a method of learning, whereas invention is independent of imitation and constitutes the means for conceiving artistic ideas. Imitation serves to guide and teach the artist in composing and creating perfection. Vasari maintains that artists must study antiquity and the masters, so that they may learn how others acquired the experience of imitating nature. For Vasari, imitation draws upon three different sources: the first two are copying from nature (copia dal vero) and the third one is selecting from one’s work (imitare se stessi). He emphasizes that copying from nature is important for the artist so that he may learn to create forms that are alive as visualized in the Fine Arts.

Giorgio Vasari＇s Saint Michael： A Symbol of Neoplatonic Light

This essay includes a brief explanation of who is Michael The Archangel; discusses the manifold depictions of Saint Michael in Italian Renaissance art, in particular in Giorgio Vasari＇s imagery; and examines the impact of Neoplatonism in the interpretation of The Archangel and Michael＇s symbolic role. The Renaissance Neoplatonic philosopher Marsilio Ficino explained the signification of the Platonic celestial ladder as a spiritual vehicle for the human soul to achieve the divine＇s love. One step of this ladder is the Angelic Mind. The sparkling light of the Angelic Mind＇s realm reveals the splendor and beauty of God＇s grace. This is the realm where Michael, a Seraphim and a messenger of God, resides, delivering God＇s messages of grace and love to humanity throughout the world. In the vault of the Pope Pius V Chapel at the Vatican, once called Saint Michael＇s Chapel, for example, Giorgio Vasari （1511-1574） metaphorically visualized these divine messages. He painted al fresco Michael The Archangel in combat against personifications of vices as demons who want to prevent human beings from the obtaining divine grace that will allow their souls to ascend toward divine love.

Botticelli’s Minerva and the Centaur:Artistic and Metaphysical Conceits

Botticelli’s Minerva and the Centaur of 1482-1483,along with his other mythological paintings,the Primavera,the Birth of Venus,and Mars and Venus,remains an iconographical mystery.As such,it is particularly interesting to analyze them.Now at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence and National Gallery in London,these paintings,executed between 1480 and 1490,were commissioned with specific aesthetic and intellectual aims and were intended to be hung in private rooms for personal viewing.Botticelli’s mythological paintings reflect the Renaissance humanistic body of thought:the study of antiquity and Neoplatonic philosophy.This essay focuses on one aspect:an interpretation of the influence of antiquity and humanism in Botticelli’s Minerva and the Centaur,a conflation of Minerva pacifica and Minerva pudica.

Giorgio Vasari’s Celestial Utopia of Whimsy and Joy:Constellations,Zodiac Signs,and Grotesques

This study elaborates on the decoration of the ceiling in the refectory of the former Monteoliveto monastery in Naples,today part of the church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi.It consists of three parts:an explanation of the ceiling design with its geometrical configurations of circles,octagons,hexagons,ovals,and squares;an iconographical analysis solely focusing on the ceiling decoration,which consists of grotesques,constellations,and zodiac signs;and a discussion of some of the literary and visual sources employed in the decoration.The Florentine Mannerist painter Giorgio Vasari,aided by several assistants,renovated and painted the ceilings between 1544 and 1545.Don Giammateo d’Anversa,the Abbot General of the Monteolivetan Order in Naples,composed the iconographical program with the assistance of insightful suggestions from the Florentine Monteolivetan prior Don Miniato Pitti,who was Vasari’s patron and friend as well.This oversight inspired Vasari to paint a celestial utopia of hilarity and whimsicality on the Neapolitan ceiling,thus leavening the other imagery,which combined both religious and secular representations of moral virtues and divine laws.

Giorgio Vasari’s Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore:The Eye of God

In previous studies on the iconographical symbolism revealed in Giorgio Vasari’s fresco decoration for the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore(also known as the Dome of Florence,1572-1574),I discussed three points:(1)the impact of Dante’s Divine Comedy,in particular the Inferno;(2)the influence of Coppo di Marcovaldo’s mosaic decoration on the cupola of the Florentine Baptistery(1300);and(3)the inspiration of Renaissance Neoplatonism in Vasari’s paintings.(Aspects of this study were published in Cheney,2016,pp.488-519;Cheney&Hendrix,2002,pp.177-188;Cheney,1998,pp.35-55;Cheney,1987,pp.1-8).In this essay,I will focus on another iconographical representation:the metaphysical and physical symbolism of the eye(―l’occhio‖)in Vasari’s cupola imagery(Figure 1).This approach will connect with Cosimo Bartoli’s lecture on Dante’s Divine Comedy and,in particular,on Dante’s Purgatorio(Cantos XXX and XXXI)as well as with Vincenzo Borghini’s program for the decoration of the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Giorgio Vasari’s Saint Michael the Archangel in the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore: A Neoplatonic Sphere

This essay discusses the manifold depictions of Saint Michael The Archangel in Italian Renaissance art,in particular in Giorgio Vasari’s imagery.It starts with a brief explanation of who Michael The Archangel is,explores his visual iconography in pagan,Judeo-Christian,and Byzantine imagery,and examines the impact of Renaissance Neoplatonism on the interpretation of Saint Michael and his symbolic roles.The Renaissance Neoplatonic philosopher Marsilio Ficino explained the significance of the Platonic celestial ladder as a spiritual vehicle for the human soul to achieve divine love.One step of this ladder is the Angelic Mind.It is here that the sparkling light of the realm of the Angelic Mind reveals the splendor and beauty of God’s grace.This is the realm where Michael,a Seraphim and a messenger of God,resides,delivering God’s messages of grace and love to humanity throughout the world.Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574)visualized these divine messages metaphorically in frescos on two major vaults.The first is in the small cupola of the Pope Pius V Chapel in the Vatican,once called Saint Michael’s Chapel,where between 1560 and 1566 Vasari and his assistants painted al fresco the Saint Michael and the Devils,a depiction of Michael the Archangel combatting vices personified as demons who want to prevent human beings from obtaining the divine grace that will allow their souls to ascend toward heaven(Figure 1).Between 1570 and 1574,Vasari continued his metaphorical visualization of God’s divine message in a large vault,the octagonal cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore,the Dome of the Cathedral of Florence,the major focus in this essay(Figure 2).He and his assistants painted al fresco the Last Judgment,portraying Saint Michael The Archangel residing in a heavenly realm-the divine reign of God,where he mediates and witnesses God’s divine judgment on humankind(Figure 13).Here,celestial trumpeters loudly announce the separation of good and bad souls of the terrestrial realm,Earth.The bad souls rapidly descend into a Dantesque infernal realm where demons capture them and transform them into hybrid forms.In contrast,the good souls quickly emerge from Earth to ascend into Heaven.Their skeletal figures transform into angelic beings,ready to receive divine grace and eternal love.

Giorgio Vasari’s Mercury: God of Magic and Wisdom

In 1555,assisted by Cristofano Gherardi,Il Doceno(1508-1556),Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574)designed and painted a mythological and cosmological theme in the Sala degli Elementi,an apartment of Cosimo I de’Medici(1519-1574),Duke of Florence,at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.The Apartment of the Elements is dedicated to the four elements(air,earth,fire,and water),which in antiquity were considered to be the basis of the material of the world.The four elements are personified as a history painting theme on the ceiling and the walls of the chamber.Accordingly,on the ceiling is the element of Air,personified by several events:Its center depicts Saturn Mutilating Heaven and surrounding this scene are The Chariots of the Sun and the Moon,the images of Day and Night,and the virtues of Peace,Fame,Justice,and Truth.On the walls of the chamber,there are personifications of the elements of Earth(north),Fire(east),and Water(south).The frescoes on the left hand wall relate to the element of Earth.In the center of the north wall,the first fruits of the Earth are offered to Saturn.1 On the adjacent wall,east wall,above the fireplace,are scenes relating to the element of Fire:Vulcan’s Forge is depicted in the center of wall.2 On the adjacent wall,south wall,the element of Water is symbolized with The Birth of Venus.3 On the window wall,west wall,are two large niches containing simulated sculptures of Hermes-Mercury and Hades-Pluto.These two images connect thematically with the wall decoration of the elements and the pantheon of the gods on the ceiling.This essay will focus only on the image of Hermes-Mercury.It consists of two parts:the stylistic impact of classical and Renaissance sources of this astral and pagan god in Vasari’s imagery,and the signification of the personification of Mercury associated and interconnected with Cosimo I de’Medici,Duke of Florence.