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| Paper: |
Padua and the Stars: Medieval Painting and Illuminated Manuscripts |
| Volume: |
441, The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena VI |
| Page: |
111 |
| Authors: |
Canova, G. M. |
| Abstract: |
In the Middle Ages, the University of Padua was one of the most
prominent centre for astrological studies in Europe. The Paduan doctor
and philosopher, Pietro d'Abano, who lived in the first decades of the
14th century, was the main figure in this field. At the end
of the 13th century, during a long stay in Paris, he got in
contact with the new astrological doctrines flourished after the
translation into Latin of Ptolemy's and Arab's works in Spain. Thus,
when he went back to Padua, he published several studies on the
influence of celestial bodies on human life and human physical
characteristics and psychology. These ideas deeply affected the Paduan
society of the 14th century and, consequently, the most
important painters chose or were asked to evoke the images of stars,
planets, and their properties. This adventure began with Giotto who
shows a surprising interest in celestial bodies in the Scrovegni
Chapel where he represented a comet, and soon after he produced a
cycle of astrological paintings on the vault of the Palazzo della Ragione
in the Public Palace of Padua. Unfortunately, in 1420, these
paintings were destroyed in a fire, but the magnificent cycle of
astrological frescoes realized soon after on the walls of the same
room gives us some clues on Giotto's work and shows us the complexity
of the Medieval astrological science. Other astrological paintings,
still preserved, were realized by the painters of the Carrarese Court
such as Guariento, who painted the planets and their influences on
human ages in the church of the Eremitani, and Giusto dei Menabuoi who
represented a superb zodiac around a realistic map of Earth in the
Cathedral Baptistery. So Padua really became the capital of
astrological painting in Europe. Other evidence of the astrological
image in the Veneto Region, between the 14th and 15th centuries, can be found in the manuscripts illuminated in the
milieu of the University of Padua and in the first books printed in
Venice. |
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