The Renaissance fakers of art have a somewhat nobler pedigree when compared with those of other epochs. The early artists from whom they sprang were not actual imitators of the Greeks and Romans, but were inspired by them to reproduce that pagan expression which had deeply affected6 their artistic7 temperament8. Were these artists doing it purely9 for art’s sake, or had they the hope that their work might pass as antique? The answer to this is perhaps to be deduced from the character of the age not yet fully10 ripe for artistic deception11. The sentiment for, and cult12 of, the antique were certainly growing during this early part of the Renaissance; they did not come in a sudden burst, but had been gradually developing in the previous years.
As a matter of fact, already in the transitional period which prepared the highest artistic accomplishment13 of the Renaissance, collections and collectors were becoming not only eclectic in taste, but seem to have been guided by a real artistic fondness for the art of the past. It is no more a question of solid silver and jewels, but of statues and paintings. Catalogues no longer read like that of Charles VI of France: “Inventoire des joyaux, vaiselle d’or et d’argent estant au Louvre et en la Bastille à Paris appartenent à feu69 le roy Charles,” followed by a monotonous14 enumeration15 of jewels, vaiselle, etc., but are like that of the Medici collection, and include all the most varied16 expressions of art—sculpture, paintings, medals, carving17, cameos, rare jewels, etc.
In the early part of the 14th century we know that Cola di Rienzi, the Roman Tribune, collected inscriptions19. One of his biographers tells us that Cola “occupied himself every day with inscriptions cut into marble, which were to be found round Rome. No one could decipher the ancient epitaphs like him. He translated all the ancient writings and gave the right interpretation20 to these marbles.” It was between the years 1344–47 that Cola compiled a work on Roman inscriptions, re-edited a century later by Signorili in his Descriptio urbis Romæ.
Oliver Forza, or Forzetta, who flourished about the year 1335, seems to have owned the first complete collection of which we have notice. Forzetta was a wealthy citizen of Treviso. We know that in the above year of 1335 he came to Venice to buy several pieces for his collection, manuscripts of the works of Seneca, Ovid, Sallust, Cicero, Titus, Livius, etc., goldsmiths’ work, fifty medals that had been promised him by a certain Simon, crystals, bronzes, four statues in marble, others representing lions, horses, nude21 figures, etc. The latter seem to have belonged to an earlier collector named Perenzolo.
To point out that even outside Italy taste had changed at the beginning of the 15th century, we may quote the following description handed down to us by Guillebert de Metz. It gives a full account of the collection of Jacques Duchie, a Parisian, and indicates that at this early time Paris must have possessed22 more than one of these collections of art and curios.
“The house of master Duchie in the rue23 des Prouvelles,” says Guillebert de Metz, “the door of which is carved with marvellous artistry; in the courtyard there were peacocks and diverse fancy birds. The first hall is adorned24 with diverse pictures and instructive texts fixed25 to and hung on the walls.70 Another hall filled with all manner of instruments, harps26, organs, viols, guitars, psalters, and others, upon all of which the said master Jacques knew how to play. Another hall was furnished with chess tables and other diverse kinds of games, great in number. Item, a beautiful chapel27 where there were stands to place books upon, marvellously wrought28, which had been sent from diverse places far and near, to the right and to the left. Item, a study the walls of which were covered with precious stones and with spices of sweet odour. Item, several other rooms richly furnished with beds and with ingeniously carved tables and adorned with rich hangings and cloth of gold. Item, in another lofty room were a great number of cross-bows, some of which were painted with beautiful figures. Here were standards, banners, pennons, bows, pikes, swords, lances, battle-axes, iron and lead armour29, pavais, shields, bucklers, cannon30 and other engines, with arms in abundance, and, briefly31, there were also all manner of war implements32. Item, there was a window of wonderful workmanship, through which you put a hollow iron mask through which you could look out and speak to those outside, if occasion arose, without making yourself known. Item, above the whole house was a square room with windows on every side from which one could overlook the town. And when it came to eating, food and drink were sent up by a pulley, because it would have been too high up to carry. And above the pinnacles33 of the house were beautiful gilt34 figures. This master Jacques Duchie was a handsome man ‘de honneste hebit’ and very distinguished35; he kept well-mannered and well-trained servants of pleasing countenance36, among whom was a master carpenter who was constantly at work at the mansion38.”
But Italy at the early part of this century was far more advanced. There was no question here of collectors of dubious39 taste or odd fancy for the simply curious; on the contrary we are confronted by real connoisseurs41 and genuine lovers of art, intelligent and eager hunters after all sorts of articles of virtu of past art; and also enlightened art patrons71 who were munificent42 toward their contemporary painters, sculptors43 and literary men.
Taste had changed, and some tendencies merely outlined at the time when religion seemed to absorb all the activities of art, were now in full growth. That which in the art of the Cosmati appeared to be a Byzantine aping Roman art, all that seemed plagiarism44 of this classic art in Nicola Pisano, takes an interestingly different course with Donatello, Brunellesco, and all of those artists whom a wrong convention calls the forerunners45 of the Renaissance instead of calling them the real creators of that great artistic movement.
The passion for the antique was reviving. It was no longer a question of sporadic46 cases but rather of a wide-spreading taste. Roman art was in the air. Besides Rienzi, this cult of antique memories had already claimed his friend Petrarch and the learned Dondi, a physician from Padua, who visited Rome in the year 1375 to crown a long course of study devoted47 to the antique. In a letter addressed to his friend Guglielmo da Cremona, Giovanni proclaims the superiority of antique art and is certain that modern artists will be the first to recognize the fact and learn from it. Poor and hard-working, Dondi regrets that his profession, his ailing48 patients, take so much of his time. But for the profession, “I would rise as high as the stars,” he naively49 declares.
Ciriaco d’Ancona, another great eager collector and intelligent hunter after fine things, visits the Orient and Greece in search of manuscripts and relics50 of art; Francesco Squarcione comes from the East, bringing to his native Padua fine Greek works, and is perhaps the first artist to devote himself to antiques, just as Niccolo Niccoli, a Florentine lover of art, represents at this time the learned amateur of taste.
Photo:
Alinari
Diomedes with the Palladium.
An imitation of the antique by Donatello’s School (?) and a free copy of Niccoli’s cameo, a Greek work. Palazzo Riccordi, Florence.
Niccoli is really one of the finest types of collectors. Born at a time when Florence demanded that each citizen should belong to one or other of the factions51 that kept civil war alive in the city, he nevertheless managed to keep free from72 all civil strife53. His house was the temple of art and of neutrality. A friend of the powerful and wealthy Medicis, who by the way trusted to his infallible eye as a connoisseur40 whenever rare things were offered, Niccoli never took advantage of this unusual position, but kept himself far from all ambition and was possessed by the sole desire to collect art, study old manuscripts, and be an ever-obliging helper to students. The friends and admirers who came in flocks for advice, to borrow his rare manuscripts, or to visit his fine emporium of art, were always well received. Niccolo Niccoli was born in the year 1363. The son of a rich Florentine merchant he was forced in his youth to give all his activities to commerce. Liberated54 from the tie of a profession for which he had no call, he finally gave himself to his cherished study of art and literature, attending the lessons of Luigi Marsigli and Emanuele Chrysoloras. His studies were thus the stepping-stone to the collecting of antiquities55. In the year 1414 his fame had already extended beyond the city walls. The Chancellor56 of the city of Padua addressed him in a letter as “clarissimus vetustatis cultor.” Notwithstanding his great wealth, such was his passion that but for the discreet57 help of the Medici, the powerful Cosimo and his brother Lorenzo, who became Niccoli’s benevolent58 bankers, on more than one occasion this enlightened amateur might have been forced to sell his precious collection, or at least do that which is most hateful to the true lover of art, sell the best that years of patient work had gathered together. What is most surprising is the fact that Niccoli managed to make one of the finest collections of art of his day almost without leaving his native city. We know of him as going once to Padua to secure a rare manuscript of Petrarch, and later on as accompanying his friend and protector, Cosimo Medici, to Verona, a trip the latter undertook in the year 1420. With Cosimo again he visited Rome, to be horrified59 at the mutilation inflicted60 upon the Eternal City by barbarians61 of all ages and denominations62. Yet without moving from his native city, keen-eyed Niccoli managed to search the world73 with the help of agents and friends—some of them, no doubt, the practised servants of the Medicis. There was hardly a rare thing discovered, no matter where, but the fact came to Niccoli’s ears, and the “find” generally found its way to this enlightened Florentine’s collection. Once he even had the fortune to discover a fine sample of Greek art in Florence, a few steps from the door of his house. It was the well-known cameo which he attributed to Polycletus and which was afterwards so often reproduced by the artists of the Renaissance. Niccoli discovered this rare piece of chalcedony hanging round the neck of a street urchin63. He asked him who his father was and found him to be a poor workman. He went to see him, and to the man’s surprise offered for the stone the round sum of 5 golden ducats. It is curious to trace the migrations64 of Niccoli’s “calcedonio,” as the piece was called later. When Cardinal Scarampi—the Patriarch of Aquileia and the most passionate65 collector of his time—came to Florence, he went to visit Niccoli and his collection. There he became so enamoured of the “calcedonio” that he proposed to buy it. Niccoli, who could hardly refuse the favour to the powerful and influential66 Cardinal, consented to part with the rare piece for 200 ducats. Later on the “calcedonio” entered the collection of Pope Paul II, to pass finally to that of Lorenzo il Magnifico. In an inventory67 belonging to the Medici family the gem68 is valued at 1500 golden florins.
Not dissimilar from certain modern and older types of collectors, Niccoli was what might be called a strange character. While spending large sums of money on his articles of virtu, he was almost parsimonious69 in his household, although he liked to drink from rare cups and set his table most richly with all sorts of precious vases. One of his peculiarities71 was always to be dressed in pink. He had an endless wardrobe of these rosy-hued garments and was as preoccupied72 with them as he was with the rare objects of his collection. These and other oddities were naturally the subject of gibes73 and sarcasm74 from friends and unfriendly humanists, but Niccoli never answered one written line,74 content to retaliate75 with his witty76 and cutting tongue. He certainly had the best of it in this curious duel77, for he forced Aurispa and Filelfe to leave the town, and also, perhaps not through his sarcastic78 tongue alone but through some Medicean intrigue79, compelled his enemies, Emanuel Chrysoloras, his former teacher, and Guarino to make themselves very scarce in the city.
Niccolo Niccoli’s name brings us straight to that of his protectors, the Medicis, the family who as collectors of art and fosterers of literature and philosophy surpassed every one of their age.
Cardinal Scarampi’s collection, that of Pietro Barbe, afterwards Paul II, and even the most complete of all, that of Niccoli, become rather minor80 stars when compared with the artistic treasures gathered by the Medicis for generations. This illustrious Florentine family seems to have been for centuries nothing but a succession of patrons of the fine arts.
“No art collection,” says Eugene Müntz in his Les Collections des Médicis, “has more deeply influenced the art of the Renaissance, no collection has passed through more trials than the one of this family. Ten generations of enthusiastic amateurs have given themselves to its enrichment; the greatest artists, Donatello, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, the two Lippi, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael have sought inspiration and models in the Medici collection. This while, by an unaccountable contradiction, all the revolutions that troubled the city of Florence seem to have continually threatened the existence of such an inestimable gathering81.”
To be convinced of the extreme importance of the Medici collection one has but to reflect that what now remains82 of it in the Florentine museums or in well-known private hands is only the smallest part of those past treasures, which has managed to survive the pillage83 of the collection in the year 1494, when Piero Medici fled and the Medici palace was sacked by the populace and the remaining effects sold and dispersed by order of the Commune. What was later recovered75 by the family was only a small part of the collection. An idea of the magnitude of the Medici museum of art can be gained by perusing84 the accurate inventories85 still remaining in the Florentine archives, the list of the objects left by Cosimo the Elder to his son Piero and the catalogue of the collection belonging to Lorenzo il Magnifico, and finally the account of their money.
A brief study of the character of the two most important collectors of the Medici family, Cosimo and Lorenzo il Magnifico, will enable us to judge of the quality and tendencies of the amateur of the Renaissance.
The characteristics of the time in which Cosimo lived and the fact that he had spent a long period in exile, a misfortune brought upon him by jealousy86, gave his inclinations87 as an amateur a different course from what they might otherwise have had. Thus, while on the one hand Cosimo never lost a chance to help artists and to acquire fine works of art, he was shrewd enough to do so without ostentation88, to avoid arousing enmity from adversaries89. But for this peculiar70 feeling Cosimo’s palace, the present Palazzo Riccardi, one of the most sumptuous90 monuments of Florence, might have been still more imposing91, displaying greater architectural wealth. It is known that Brunelleschi’s project was privately92 preferred by Cosimo, but he did not dare to arouse old jealousies93 by too sumptuous a display. Michelozzo’s design was chosen as the more modest of the two and thus better fitted for the “bourgeois prince” of Florence. Notwithstanding the necessity for caution even in liberality, Cosimo encouraged Poggio Bracciolini and many others in their intelligent search for manuscripts and rare parchments. He had Niccoli as an invaluable94 adviser95 and helper, and left to his son Piero one of the finest collections of antiques.
His grandson, Lorenzo il Magnifico, was more free-handed. Times had changed, the Medici family, though without heraldic title, was now master of the city, and the splendours of a man of taste, such as Lorenzo, and his prodigal96 inclinations, knew no restraint whatever. The difference between76 Cosimo and Lorenzo lay perhaps in the fact that the former could not do half what he might have done. Comparing Niccoli and Lorenzo, one might say that the former tallied97 more with the modern interpretation of the word collector, while the latter, as being far too eclectic a lover of all sorts of artistic expression, was more cut out for the part of an enlightened Mæcenas, a prince-amateur and a generous patron of art and literature. One can hardly even imagine the Magnifico classifying his cameos as did Niccoli, or giving a semi-scientific and rational order to his objects of virtu, but, running on the same lines as Cosimo, Lorenzo invested in the rôle of patron of art and lover of the antique, in which he displayed such magnificence as to fully deserve his appellation98. Such was the character of these two Medicis, stated by contemporaries as being more greedy for fame than money. An estimation fully justified99, especially in the case of Lorenzo, who in his Ricordi notes that his father and grandfather spent 663,755 florins in the space of thirty years and rejoices in the fact. The sum quoted amounts to rather more than a million francs; how many modern heirs would feel like Lorenzo il Magnifico?
Like Niccoli and Cosimo, Lorenzo possessed the excellent quality, most uncommon100 in a collector, of letting friends and admirers have full benefit of his collection. More than the gratification of an egotistic desire to possess rare and beautiful things, he saw in his artistic pursuits a great means of education and a help to the artists of his time.
According to the taste of his age, Lorenzo was very partial to Greek and Roman art, to all that concerned past civilization. A page of Plato or the beautiful form of a Greek marble aroused in him feelings of emotion more than any modern expression. Not only did he fill his palace with fine pieces of sculpture but his villas101 also appear to have been replete102 with them.
“He was bursting with joy,” Valori, one of his contemporaries tells us, “when he received the bust103 of Plato sent him by Girolamo Roscio.”
77 This passion for the antique, however, did not prevent Lorenzo from encouraging the artists of his own time or from taking a deep interest in their art. Eclectic in taste, as a collector he nevertheless had some preferences. In a letter to his son Giulio, the future Leo X, on his promotion104 to the Cardinalate105, he gives advice as to the kind of art which is most in keeping with ecclesiastical taste, but as a matter of fact epitomizes his own penchant106 as a collector of art. Urging his son to give preference to antique statuary, he discourages him from becoming a collector of jewels, tapestries107 and embroideries108. “Love in preference,” he recommends, “fine antique things and books”—qualche gentilezza di cose antiche.
Lorenzo the Magnificent seems to stand apart from the lovers of art of his time not only on account of his culture and intelligence, his broad eclectic views and genuine cult of every expression of beauty, but as being a rare type of the grand seigneur, æsthete and humanist. Paul II is a passionate collector of art, but more a scholar than an artist, with him knowledge is supreme109; Cardinal Scarampi is, as Ciriaco D’Ancona calls him, an archæologist, and Niccoli, as an eager and intelligent searcher of objects, would make a good type of antiquary of our day, but Lorenzo displays interest in every kind of elevated human expression; his character seems to conform to his noble motto, Nul ne sait qui n’essaye (nobody knows who does not try).
His reputation as a connoisseur and expert in art spread afar. Princes and monarchs110 asked his advice. Lorenzo is not only prodigal in this respect, but also in the artistic things of his collection which he sends as presents. To Mathias Corvinus he sent a bust by Verrocchio, to the Count of Madaloni of Naples a fine horse’s head—now in the museum of that city—a rare piece of work which until lately was taken for Greek but is now attributed to Donatello. The Duke of Calabria asks him for an architect, and he sends him one; in the year 1488 he sends to Ferdinand, king of Naples, a fine plan of a palace by Giuliano da Sangallo, and78 later he introduces Leonardo da Vinci to Lodovico il Moro, Filippino Lippi to Cardinal Carafa, Sansovino to the king of Portugal. In connection with odd requests that came to Lorenzo from princes and monarchs there is a queer one from Louis XI. The French king asks the Magnificent to lend him for a while the miraculous111 ring of the Florentine patron saint, San Zanobi, pledging himself to restore the ring to the owners—very likely the Girolami of Florence—and begging Lorenzo to tell him how and in what way it must be worn to perform the miracle, cure his gout and restore him to health.
Through his love of art and his munificence112 towards artists Lorenzo became practically bankrupt, and certainly had no scruples113 about using public funds for his private purposes. Not that he was fond of personal display, on the contrary he detested114 outlays115 that had no public utility or did not foster some progress.
Rinuccini, another of his contemporaries, tells us of Lorenzo’s indifference116 to personal luxury and of his dislike for society functions. “All the things that in olden days,” says Rinuccini, “gave grace and reputation to the citizens; like weddings, dances and fêtes and handsome clothes, he condemned117 them all and did away with them through his example and his words.”
A detailed118 description of his character as a collector and the quality of his passion is not so eloquent119 of Lorenzo’s particular penchant as his Ricordi. Take, for instance, these words concerning his mission to Rome at the elevation120 to the Holy See of Cardinal Della Rovere. “In the month of September, 1471, I was sent as ambassador to attend the coronation of Pope Sixtus. I was the recipient121 of many honours in Rome and brought back from the city two antique busts122, the portraits of Augustus and Agrippa, given to me by the Pope. I also brought with me the carved cup of chalcedony and many cameos and medals.”
It must be said that in forming his collection the Magnifico never lost sight of Rome and its treasures. He had many agents in the Eternal City excavating123 and looking for antiques79 to add to his collection. His intercourse124 with these accomplices125, the ruses126 employed, the adroit127 management of influential prelates opposed to Lorenzo’s schemes, and grieved that rare things should leave Rome, form an interesting chapter of diplomacy128.
Glyptography was given preference in Lorenzo’s collection. Some of his cameos and engraved129 precious stones are now the rarest things in our modern museums. Then came a fine collection of coins and medals, 23,000 pieces in all, and another of Etruscan vases. His statues, which Verrocchio and other artists were often charged to repair, filled to overflowing130 his palazzo in Florence and his villas.
To his assistance came not only special agents, but friends as well. A magnificent vase was obtained by Lorenzo from Venice, and it was through the mediation131 of his literary friend Politiano that the rare find got into the Magnifico’s collection. Politiano writes from Venice to his friend and patron on June 20th, 1491, that Messer Zaccharia has just received from Greece una terra cotta antiquissima and that he believes it to be worthy132 of Lorenzo’s collection. Antonio Yvane writing to Donato Acciaioli says that a little statue of Hercules has been found at Luni, and that it and other antiques excavated133 are to be sent to Lorenzo.
One of his agents sent him a marble statue with an Etruscan inscription18; from Siena, Lorenzo receives a bust that sends him into raptures134, and he immediately wishes to buy it. To give an idea of his appreciation135 and willingness to pay whatever it might be worth, we quote part of his letter dated May 15th, 1490, addressed to Andrea da Foiano then at Siena. “Ser Andrea, I received your letter last night, and with it the head which you sent me and which, on account of its being fine and having much of the antique beauty, I would most willingly buy from him who owns it, if he will part with it for what it is worth.”
Though there is no document to support the fact, this bust is possibly the one that P. della Valle says was sent from Siena to Lorenzo, representing a head of Jupiter, of such a80 character that beheld136 from one side it had a benign137 expression, and from the other a terrifying one. Naples also contributed its share to the Medicean collection, from whence arrive the portraits of Faustina and Scipio Africanus, a fine bust of Hadrian and a sleeping Cupid. These last two statues were conveyed to him by Giuliano da Sangallo, who under Lorenzo’s directions had asked them of the king of Naples.
As a collector and type of antiquary not disdaining138 a good bargain, and perhaps influenced by the lineage of shrewd bankers, from which he sprang, Lorenzo made more than one good stroke of business. From Pope Sixtus IV he managed to buy the artistic treasure of the Holy See at such a ridiculous price as to arouse protests from the Pontifical139 accountants. The deal, which was carried through by Lorenzo’s uncle, Giovanni Tornabuoni, caused a scandal that only the Pope’s authority managed to silence, and the Medici collection became enriched by many fine pieces. Among them, the so-called “Tazza Farnese,” now one of the finest pieces of the Naples Museum, to which the inventory of the collection gives a value of 10,000 ducats, and the rare Greek work known as the “Rape of the Palladium,” rated by the same inventory at the sum of 1500 ducats. This celebrated140 cameo had formerly141 belonged to Niccoli. Donatello copied it for one of his medallions of the Medici palace. There were other dealings between the Medici and the Holy See, but we fail to know how advantageous142 they may have been for either side. In the year 1460 the Medici sold a piece of tapestry143 to Pope Pius II for the not inconsiderable sum of 1200 golden ducats, and later on, through the above-quoted agent, Giovanni Tornabuoni, in the year 1484 several yards of common tapestry were sold to the Pope by the Medicis.
We have spoken at greater length of Lorenzo il Magnifico as he appears to us to symbolize144 the type of Mæcenas and collector of his epoch5, but all Italian princes were more or less art lovers and collectors at that time, as well as being shrewd bargain drivers on occasion. As an example of this, one is led straight to Isabella d’Este and her hard dealings81 with Mantegna. Intelligent, keen-eyed and a good connoisseur, Isabella had set her heart on a Faustina antica in the possession of the Paduan painter, but did not wish to pay the price demanded by the artist. Negotiations145 were carried on for quite a time. Knowing Mantegna’s straightened circumstances, Isabella coolly and almost cruelly waited the favourable146 moment to take best advantage of the artist’s distressing147 situation. Pressed by all sorts of needs, the aged52 artist finally decides to part with his best antique, the portrait of Faustina, a work of art he adored. Conscious of having served the house of Gonzaga most faithfully and knowing Isabella’s intelligence and admiration148 for his bust of “Faustina antica,” as he calls it, he determined149 to offer her the work for a hundred ducats. In his letter dated from Mantua, January 13th, 1506, he tells Isabella all his troubles and how hard it is for him to part with his cherished bust, but also how glad he would be if she will take it, or as he says: “Since I have to deprive myself of it, I would rather you had it than any other Lord or Lady in the world.” To this pitiful letter, ending with the touching150 appeal: “I recommend myself to your Excellency many and many times,” Isabella replies later by sending one of her agents, whose letter to her is full of an astute151 spirit of bargaining and runs as follows:
“In compliance152 with what your Signoria writes me, I will call to-morrow morning on Messer Andrea Mantegna and will act as shrewdly as possible about the Faustina (farò l’opera con37 più destro e acconcio modo saperò) and will inform your Excellency of the result at once. Giovanni Calandra Mantua, July 14th, 1506.”
A second letter from Giovanni Calandra informs Isabella that the artist is obdurate153 as to the price. That though he is in extreme need he hates to part with his Faustina di marmo antica and asks pardon for the refusal, that he hopes to find his price with Monsignor Vescovo di Gonzaga, who has the reputation, Calandra states, to be keen on these things. Dealings through the agent go on, till one day the latter82 announces to the Marchesa Isabella Gonzaga that she has become the possessor of the Faustina antica, which is already shipped to her (Mando per burchiello a posta la Faustina a S.V.), provided she agrees to the price; if not the agent begs that the bust may be sent back, in accordance with his promise given to the painter, should the price not be agreed upon (acciò possi disobbligar la fede data a M. Andrea Mantegna). Negotiations between Isabella Gonzaga and the penurious154 artist who had covered with glory the prince he had served and had decorated with magnificent frescoes155 the room of Isabella’s mansion, lasted from January 13th, 1506, to August 2nd of the same year.
These are but a few incidents of the day. All Italy was collecting. Excitement over antiques had now become a mania156, and this is perhaps the best justification157 for imitators to have turned into fakers.
At this period art collecting ranged from its highest votaries158, Lorenzo Medici, the Duke of Urbino, Este, Gonzaga, Sforza, Arragona, down to common citizens who were earnest and intelligent collectors.
One thing to be noted159 in this epoch is the total absence of the parvenu160 collector so fully represented in the Roman period. There may be an occasional case of snobbery161, like that of Cardinal di San Giorgio, who refused to keep in his house an excellent imitation of Michelangelo, because, though having deceived him and many others, it was not actually genuine, although far better than some of the rubbish of his collection which contained indiscriminatingly anything that had been unearthed162 in Rome, but a Tongilius, a Euctus, and above all a Trimalcho, do not seem to have existed in the Renaissance period. If they did, they were surely minor characters and quite outside the world of real amateurs.
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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temperament
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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accomplishment
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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enumeration
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varied
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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19
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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20
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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21
nude
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| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
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22
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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23
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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25
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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26
harps
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| abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 ) | |
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27
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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28
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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30
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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31
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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32
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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33
pinnacles
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| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
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34
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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35
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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36
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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37
con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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38
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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39
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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40
connoisseur
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| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
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41
connoisseurs
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| n.鉴赏家，鉴定家，行家( connoisseur的名词复数 ) | |
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42
munificent
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| adj.慷慨的，大方的 | |
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43
sculptors
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| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
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44
plagiarism
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| n.剽窃，抄袭 | |
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45
forerunners
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| n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 )；开路人；先兆；前兆 | |
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46
sporadic
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| adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的 | |
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47
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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48
ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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49
naively
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| adv. 天真地 | |
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50
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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51
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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52
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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53
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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54
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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55
antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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56
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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57
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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58
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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59
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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60
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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62
denominations
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| n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 )；教派；面额；名称 | |
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63
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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64
migrations
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| n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
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65
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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66
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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67
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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68
gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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69
parsimonious
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| adj.吝啬的，质量低劣的 | |
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70
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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71
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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72
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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73
gibes
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| vi.嘲笑，嘲弄（gibe的第三人称单数形式） | |
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74
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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75
retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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76
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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77
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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78
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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79
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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80
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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81
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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82
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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83
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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84
perusing
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的现在分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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85
inventories
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| n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制 | |
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86
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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87
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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88
ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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89
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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90
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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91
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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92
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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93
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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94
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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95
adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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96
prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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97
tallied
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| v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合 | |
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98
appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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99
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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100
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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101
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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102
replete
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| adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁 | |
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103
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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104
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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105
cardinalate
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| 枢机主教之职 | |
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106
penchant
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| n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向 | |
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107
tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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108
embroideries
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| 刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 )； 刺绣品； 刺绣法 | |
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109
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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110
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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111
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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112
munificence
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| n.宽宏大量，慷慨给与 | |
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113
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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114
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115
outlays
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| v.支出，费用( outlay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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116
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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117
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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118
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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119
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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120
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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121
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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122
busts
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| 半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕 | |
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123
excavating
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| v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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124
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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125
accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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126
ruses
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| n.诡计，计策( ruse的名词复数 ) | |
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127
adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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128
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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129
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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130
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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131
mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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132
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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133
excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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134
raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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135
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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136
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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137
benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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138
disdaining
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| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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139
pontifical
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| adj.自以为是的，武断的 | |
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140
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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141
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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142
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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143
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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144
symbolize
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| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
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145
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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146
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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147
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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148
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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149
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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150
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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151
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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152
compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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153
obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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154
penurious
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| adj.贫困的 | |
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155
frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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156
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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157
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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158
votaries
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| n.信徒( votary的名词复数 )；追随者；（天主教）修士；修女 | |
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159
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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160
parvenu
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| n.暴发户，新贵 | |
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161
snobbery
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| n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格 | |
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162
unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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