Author Topic: Story of Civilization ~ Will & Ariel Durant (Read 371812 times)

JoanP · « **Reply #80 on:** January 22, 2009, 08:00:57 PM »

"I want to know what were the steps by which
man passed from barbarism to civilization (Voltaire)"

What are our origins?
Where are we now?
Where are we headed?
Share your thoughts with us!

Volume Five (The Renaissance)

"Four elements constitute Civilization -- economic provision, political organization, moral traditions, and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. "

"I shall proceed as rapidly as time and circumstances will permit, hoping that a few of my contemporaries will care to grow old with me while learning. "

"These volumes may help some of our children to understand and enjoy the infinite riches of their inheritance."

"Civilization begins where chaos and insecurity ends."

SAVONAROLA AND THE REPUBLIC

The Prophet
The Statesman
Literature: The Martyr
Architecture and Sculpture: The Republic and the Medici
Art Under the Revolution

In this volume the term "Renaissance" refers only to Italy. Will Durant studies the growth of industry, the rise of banking families like the Medici, the conflicts of labor and capital and considers the reasons why Italy was the first nation, and Florence the first city in Italy, to feel the awakening of the modern mind. He follows the cultural flowering from Florence to Milan, Mantua, Ferrata, Verona and Venice, Padua and Parma, Bologna, Rimini, Urbino, Perugia, Siena, and Naples.

In each city of Italy we witness a colorful pageant of princes, queeens, dukes, or doges -- of poets, historians, scientists, and philosophers -- of painters, sculptors, engravers, illuminators, potters, and architects -- of industry, education, manners, morals, crime, and dress -- of women and love and marriage -- of epidemics, famines, earthquakes, and death.

Dr. Durant draws vivid vignettes -- of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Cosimo de' Medici, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Beatrice and Isabella d'Este, Leonardo da Vinci, Piero della Francesca, Signorelli, Perugino, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Aldus Manutius, Correggio, Alexander VI, Caesar and Lucrezia Borgia, Julius II, Leo X, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

The Renaissance, by recalling classic culture, ended the thousand year rule of the Oriental mind in Europe.

This volume, then, is about YOU. Join our group daily and listen to what Durant and the rest of us are saying. Better yet, share with us your opinions.

Discussion Leader: robby

Eloise · « **Reply #81 on:** January 23, 2009, 08:07:08 PM »

Jean, you were asking for our experience travelling to Italy and I had a few memories to share with you. I went there with a friend in the 1970s and our first stop after leaving Germany was Milan where we had to change trains on our way to Venice. Near the train station we came up by chance in the square where the Milan Cathedral is located. The monument made me stop dead on my tracks. You can’t imagine the emotion you feel looking at this beautiful cathedral. The delicateness of the architecture reminds you of an intricate lace pattern reaching up to the sky but its size doesn’t overpower you as it is in perfect balance sitting among the lower buildings in the square. My friend had to pull my sleeve so we wouldn’t miss our transfer.

The Milan Cathedral: http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t065/T065307A.jpg

After Venice we headed for Florence where I absolutely had to go to see Michelangelo’s David at the Academia. We went right in without delays and when you reach the round room you have to prepare yourself for a shock because it is a sculpture that you have seen a picture of many times in your life and wanted to see one day and there it stands in all its glory, alone high on a pedestal with a skylight over it that lets you see it in daylight. Another unforgettable memory.

I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to see beautiful Italian works of art in Milan, Venice, Naples and Rome. Just walking on the streets in these old cities takes you back a few centuries while you walk on narrow streets and look at ancient houses still occupied by the same family for generations. I am only sorry that I didn’t spend more time there because now I know I will never go back again.

I still have the journal of the places we stayed at and what we saw. Oh! yes and the price we paid, that is a shocker.

Robby · « **Reply #82 on:** January 24, 2009, 01:50:25 PM »

Eloise: Thank you so much for sharing your emotions with us as you viewed the Milan Cathedral and Michelangelo's sculpture in Venice. And special thanks for linking us to a photo which helped us to see with our own eyes how spectacular it is.

Any comments from others here on Eloise's remarks?

Robby

mabel1015j · « **Reply #83 on:** January 24, 2009, 02:54:37 PM »

Thank you Eloise - I have seen the pictures of the Milan Cathedral often, but the picture you linked us to was glorious, thanks for sharing you feelings, i could see how you would stop dead in your tracks. .....................jean

Justin · « **Reply #84 on:** January 24, 2009, 09:11:49 PM »

Thank You Eloise. The image of Milan is one to knock your socks off. The style of the facade is eclectic. The facade at Milan is different from every other facade in Renaissance Italy. The Italian style emphasizes horizontality while in Milan one sees a mix of styles. The city is so far north that Flemish influence is evident. There is a mix of Gothic, Italian Renaissance, (sometimes called "Italianate") and Romanesque styles in the make-up of the facade. It is a blend.

The first floor called piano is in Romanesque style although in the central portal the style is truncated. The arches are well rounded and very heavy in appearance. One can almost feel the weight bearing upon them. The next floor has a similar characteristic, however, the windows of the third level are pointed and adorned with stone tracery in style of English Gothic.

Two pilaster towers guarding the main portal rise toward heaven in the Gothic manner. Similarly, towers guard the aisle portals and their reaching fingers point the way to heaven. The overall thrust of the facade is upward or heavenward. The eyes of an observer are forced to rise and one must stand well back to recognize the significance of the verticality as well as the triangular shape of the facade.

Holy Family iconography has developed in the Renaissance as a triangular compoisition. Thus one can see the symbolism of the Holy Family as well as their residence in the facade.

Gumtree · « **Reply #85 on:** January 25, 2009, 12:55:56 AM »

Robby I'm still here

Eloise thanks for the Milan image, your impressions are so vivid - and Justin your comments on the architectural features help to open my eyes - thanks

Robby · « **Reply #86 on:** January 25, 2009, 10:24:30 AM »

Hi, Gumtree!! Even if you just say "hello," that's great.

Robby

mabel1015j · « **Reply #87 on:** January 25, 2009, 11:06:14 AM »

Gumtree's comments of "open our eyes" is just right - that's just what it is that makes it nice on the seniorlearn (etc.) sites where we have teachers/experts on so many subjects. As i said before, i have seen many of the places that you've talked about, but those of you who add your experiences and insight focus the rest of us on the details that explain and enhance our learning............I thoroughly enjoy the experience.................thank you...................jean

Robby · « **Reply #88 on:** January 25, 2009, 11:39:49 AM »

Thank you, Jean. Isn't it wonderful to have a site where we banter back and forth, enjoy each other's company in an informal way, and yet simultaneously find our eyes opened and our brains stimulated?

Please tell your friends about Story of Civilization.

Robby

Justin · « **Reply #89 on:** January 26, 2009, 10:04:23 PM »

I agree, Robby. It is nice to be able to enjoy one another's company in an informal way. I wonder if Trevor is doing well. We have not heard from him since the opening of the new site.

It's also nice to find old conversant's returning to our group. I have missed the broad based religious knowledge of Mahlia, the friendly comments of Eloise and the punchy, sensitive, responses of Mal.

Robby · « **Reply #90 on:** January 27, 2009, 06:46:32 AM »

Eloise and Mahlia are with us in this discussion but we all miss Mal.

Robby

Gumtree · « **Reply #91 on:** January 27, 2009, 09:32:21 AM »

Yes indeed, Robby, I too, miss Mal - we connected in so many ways.

Brian · « **Reply #92 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:23:48 PM »

Robby - - - are we going to resume actually reading the book soon ?

Brian.

Robby · « **Reply #93 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:39:43 PM »

I am in the process of tickling the memory buds of folks here so that we can have a foundation upon which to examine the concept of The Renaissance. We are almost there.

Some here will remember that we talked about Venice and her Realm - Venetian art, Venetian life, The Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Venetian letters, and Verona. All this was under the subtopic of the Italian Pageant and brings us to Page 327, Emilia and the Marches where we ended and where we will begin to examine text tomorrow if life is good to me.

Robby

Brian · « **Reply #94 on:** January 27, 2009, 06:16:46 PM »

Thanks Robby - - - That is the answer I was looking for.

Now, if we could only get Trevor back here, life would be perfect.
anyone know his email address?

Brian.

Robby · « **Reply #95 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:13:12 AM »

EMILIA AND THE MARCHES

Robby · « **Reply #96 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:22:26 AM »

CORREGGIO

Robby · « **Reply #97 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:37:38 AM »

Fifty miles south of Verona one comes to the old Via Emilia, or Emilian Way, which ran 175 miles from Piacenza through Parma, Reggio, Modena, Bologna, Imola, Forli, and Cesena to Rimini.

We pass over Piacenza and (for the moment) Parma, to note a little commune eight miles northeast of Reggio, and sharing its name. Correggio is one of several towns in Italy that are remembered only through some genius to whom they gave a cognomen. Its ruling family also was called Correggio. One member was the Niccolo da Correggio who wrote genteel verses for Beatrice and Isabella d'Este. It was a place where you might expect genius to be born and to die, but not to stay, for it had no significant art, or clear tradition, to give to ability instruction and form.

But in the first decades of the sixteenth century the house of Correggio was headed by Count Gilbert X, and his wife, Veronica Gambara, was one of the great ladies of the Renaissance. She could speak Latin, knew Scholastic philosophy, wrote a commentary on patristic theology, composed delicate Petrachian verses, was called 'the tenth Muse.' She made her little court a salon for artists and poets, and helped to spread tht romantic worship of woman which was now replacing, among the upper classes of Italy, the medieval worship of Mary, and was molding Italian art toward the representation of feminine charms.

On Sept. 3, 1528 she wrote to Isabella d'Este that 'our Messer Antonio Allegri has just finished a masterpiece picturing Magdalen in the desert and expressing in full the sublime art of which he is a great master.'

It was this Antonio Allegri who unwittingly stole the name and made the fame of his town though his family name might have well expressed the joyous nature of his art. His father was a small landed proprietor, prosperous enough to win for his son a bride with a dowry of 257 ducats ($6425). When Antonio showed a flair for drawing and paintintg he was apprenticed to his uncle Lorenzo Allegri. Who taught him further we do not klnow. Some say that he went to Ferrara to study with Francesco de' Bianchi-Ferrari, then to the studios of Francia and Costa at Bologna, then with Costa to Mantua, where he felt the influence of the massive frescoes of Mantegna. In any case, he spent most of his life in Correggio in comparative obscurity and presumably he was the only one in the town who suspected that he would be ranked among the 'immortals.' He seems to have studied the engravings that Marcantonio Raimondi had made from Raphael and probably saw, if only in copy, the chief works of Leonardo.

All these influences entered into his completely individual style.

Your comments, please!

Robby

Brian · « **Reply #98 on:** January 29, 2009, 02:22:51 PM »

Some pictures of Correggio. and a few more facts : -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correggio,_Italy

Brian.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #99 on:** January 29, 2009, 03:12:28 PM »

One of the papers i did for my Master's studies was on important medieval women, which at the time many, even in academia, tho't there was not much to talk about. That was the first i had heard about Isabella d'Este. Since it was decades ago i now remember only the gen'l concept of her life.

This is the first i have heard of Veronica Gambaro and Isotta Nogarola, even tho i have read quite a lot of women's history. I guess we are seeing Ariel's hand in this section. .......the divide between "everyday" women and some of the aristocratic women during these times is extreme. I think when most of us studied western civ and this period of time we had no real sense of women having any education let alone any contribution to society. Thank goodness for Ariel's influence in the SOC.

Of course, there was an explosion of study of women in history during the first half of the 20th century. Then, during and after WWII women were shoved out of academia in many places and much of the pre-war studies were lost until the contemporary women's movement began to research them again in the 1970's and beyond. Many books that had gone out of print have been re-printed in the last sev'l decades, and we find out that women were smart and productive and contributors in ways that those of us going thru school and college in the post-war years never knew.

I haven't read thru all the links on Wikipedia, but am anxious to do so. PBS in our area broadcast a show about Wikipedia and whether it is useful, or "amateurish" and whether it is necessary to be an "expert" in order to provide "truth" and how much of Wiki is "truth" and whether there really IS "truth." VERY interesting. and a topic that could generate a very interesting discussion................as it did on the program. .............. i happen to love Wiki and find it helpful in most cases....................guess that shows my "liberal" leanings................LOL..............

thanks, Brian, for that link.................jean

JoanK · « **Reply #100 on:** January 29, 2009, 05:19:26 PM »

JEAN: how interesting! Do you remember the name of the Wiki show, or whether it was part of a series?

mabel1015j · « **Reply #101 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:42:10 PM »

"The Truth According to Wikipedia" was the title of the show. I don't think it was one of the series - frontline, etc. It seemed to be an independent show.........jean

Robby · « **Reply #102 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:44:05 PM »

Nice going, folks: Story of Civilization is back and moving ahead. Tell all your friends.

Robby

Robby · « **Reply #103 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:46:43 PM »

I will get the green section in the Heading above up to date as soon as I can and will change it intermittenly as I used to do so everyone would know where we are. Be patient with me.

Robby

Justin · « **Reply #104 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:32:30 AM »

When chaos diminishes, insecurity diminishes, then, civilization begins to appear. The chaos of the Oriental mind has begun (in the Renaissance) to leave the Italian peninsula and the pleasures of civilization are ahead. What Ho!

Brian · « **Reply #105 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:41:50 AM »

Quote from: mabel1015j on January 29, 2009, 06:42:10 PM

"The Truth According to Wikipedia" was the title of the show. I don't think it was one of the series - frontline, etc. It seemed to be an independent show.........jean

You can see a UTube presentation of the show here : -

http://www.viralvideochart.com/youtube/the_truth_according_to_wikipedia?id=WMSinyx_Ab0

Brian

Emily · « **Reply #106 on:** January 31, 2009, 07:56:33 PM »

Robby, while looking up the publication date of the Renaissance, which was 1953, I found that Amazon has 'The Renaissance' on line. Don't know if the entire book is there or not, but the section we are currently discussing is there.

Do you still type all the sections as you once did? If so, perhaps you would check out this 'url' and simply copy what you need, and paste here.

The Renaissance

Emily

Emily · « **Reply #107 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:32:31 PM »

Mabel, in a review on The Renaissance, a writer wrote of the book, "A human touch was missing, but considering all the genius displayed by so many, they overwhelmed their contemporaries."

Durant wrote about women with the available evidence (which was scarce) in his previous books. Sadly there were few women admitted into the exploits of armies and Kings.

Emily

Robby · « **Reply #108 on:** February 01, 2009, 04:08:11 PM »

Thank you, Emily. I checked out your link and best I cold see, it was only a certain section that Amazon was presenting and then with some pages omitted. When I was the discussion leader for Darwin's "Origin of Specie," I found a place which had the entire book, chapter by chapter and I copied them rather than writing them out. If anyone can find that for me for Volume Five SofC, I would be most grateful.

Robby

mabel1015j · « **Reply #109 on:** February 01, 2009, 04:35:48 PM »

I just checked the Gutenberg Project, not there, which surprises me. Are the books still in print? ................jean

Robby · « **Reply #110 on:** February 04, 2009, 06:55:04 AM »

Any comments on Durant's last remarks?

Robby

kiwilady · « **Reply #111 on:** February 04, 2009, 10:45:25 PM »

Here are some Allegri images if you want to see some of his work

http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en&q=Antonio+Allegri&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_g

Sorry for long link! Don't know how to do the one or two word links.

When my daughter did Art History the Renaissance was her favorite period. It is still the same today.

Carolyn

ALF43 · « **Reply #112 on:** February 05, 2009, 12:54:34 PM »

Well, by gosh and by golly, here is Robby in full force once again to walk us through the Renaissance period. I am delighted to see you up and running, Robby with all of these nice folks.

JoanK · « **Reply #113 on:** February 05, 2009, 04:09:09 PM »

HI ALF! WELCOME BACK!

Robby · « **Reply #114 on:** February 05, 2009, 08:47:30 PM »

HI, ALF! It's been a long time! Carolyn, I was hoping you'd return to us. Welcome!

Robby

Brian · « **Reply #115 on:** February 05, 2009, 11:06:43 PM »

Now if we could just get Trevor back, we would be up and running.

Brian.

kiwilady · « **Reply #116 on:** February 05, 2009, 11:52:14 PM »

Hello Robby,

Its good to have this site and Pats social site. Now have we our complete community back.

Carolyn

Gumtree · « **Reply #117 on:** February 06, 2009, 09:36:50 AM »

Kiwilady Yes almost all - I still miss the Aust-NZ sites though

Thanks for the Allegri images - have spent a quiet time admiring some of them and will come back and consider a few more later.

Perhaps Justin will talk us through one or two - yes ?

Justin · « **Reply #118 on:** February 07, 2009, 12:16:26 AM »

In some respects, Correggio is an enigma. He traveled very little so he was unable to see many of the works by his contemporaries and his predecessors yet he was able to adopt many of the gestures of Leonardo and to apply the technique called sfumato. He is best remembered for his invention called illusionism. However, paintings depicting mythological eroticism are most often admired today. Let's look at two of these so you can get a sense

Justin · « **Reply #119 on:** February 07, 2009, 12:51:59 AM »

I don't understand this system. I am typing along when suddenly i look up and the screen is full of foreign material. What I was typing has been sent or disappeared completely. It's frustrating.

I think I was talking about soft porn when the last interruption occurred. Secular patrons in this period wanted things for their guests to be amused by and perhaps to adorn their bedrooms. Correggio responded with nudes in the throes of passion.

You will recall that Jupitor or Zeus was a god with the itch for pretty women. However he was married and he did not want his wife to know that he was out visiting. So he came to one lady as a golden shower, to another he appeared as a swan, and to a third he appeared as a dark cloud. These interesting visits were depicted by Correggio for the Duke of Mantua. You will find Jupitor and Io in the list depicted above. Jupy came to her as a dark cloud. She is wrapped in the arms of the cloud and clearly full of ecstacy. Leda and the swan is also available and truthfully I have never been able to figure out how it all worked.

Correggio was a precursor. He did things with paintings that were not fully exploited till later. He turned the dome of a church into a sky and depicted the virgin ascending to heaven with her skirts awry like Marilyn's in the "Seven Year itch" and surrounded by putti all with bare legs.

In some of his illuministic dome paintings the figures reach out into our space. That technique was fully employed 75 years later and called the Baroque. He even reached out to the techniques of the Rococo which flowered over 150 years later. This guy was seminal but it was not till the current century that we have come to appreciate his creativity and early discoveries. I am almost certain that painters and sculptors of the Baroque never saw the works of Correggio and if they did they probably paid it little attention. He was afterall, a hick with straw in his ears from another century.

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Author Topic: Story of Civilization ~ Will & Ariel Durant (Read 371812 times)