Intellectual Life at the Court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen (Studies in the History of Art)

Studies in the History of Art Series

by Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (U. S.)

English, Italian (translation)

Genres: History

295 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

A collection of papers presented at a conference about reign of Frederic II. Click the spoiler tag for the contents and my brief summary of the papers, where I felt like providing one. (If I don't speak the language the paper is written in, expect the summary to be pretty useless.)

The Conradin Bible and the Problem of Court Ateliers in Southern Italy in the Thirteenth Century by Rebecca W. Corrie - manuscript production during this time period, what is and isn't known

I legami culturali e stilistici tra la scultura architettonica federiciana dell'Italia meridionale e il mondo cistercense by Carla Ghisalberti - seems to be about architectural sculpture; lots of pictures of column capitals

The Magdeburg Rider: An Aspect of the Reception of Frederick II's Roman Revival North of the Alps - Virginia Roehrig Kaufmann - about a particular sculpture; interestingly, one of the supporting figures, a standard-bearer, is female

Castel del Monte. Der bau Friederichs II - Wolfgang Krönig - about a particular castle.

The Arch at Capua: The Strategic Use of Spolia and References to the Antique - Jill Meredith

Il rapporto con l'antico e l'osservazione della natura nell'illustrazione scientifica de età sveva in Italia meridionale - Giulia Orofino - effect of observation of nature on scientific illustration - interesting MSS illustrations of humans and animals, sadly mostly in black and white

Scultura "federiciana" in Italia meridionale e sculture dell'Italia meridionale de età federiciana - Valentino Pace - indoor/decorative and outdoor/architectural sculpture, mostly the latter

The Palaces of Frederick II - Gary M. Radke

Two Glances from the North: The Presence and Absence of Frederick II in the Art of the Empire; The Court Art of Frederick II and the opus francigenum - Willibald Sauerlander

Ethnic Variety and its Implications: Frederick II's Relations with Jews and Muslims - David Abulafia

Literary Activities of the Imperial and Papal Chanceries during the Struggle between Frederick II and the Papacy - Peter Herde

Philosophia naturalis at the Court of Frederick II: From the Theological Method to the ratio secundum physicam in Michael Scot's De Anima - Piero Morpurgo

La promozione della scienza: L'Università di Napoli - Massimo Oldoni

Economy and Society in the Kingdom of Sicily: Recent Perspectives - James M. Powell

Federico II e la conoscenza scientifica - Antonio Thiery

"Philosophia naturalis at the Court of Frederick II: From the Theological Method to the ratio secundum physicam in Michael Scot's De Anima" by Piero Morpurgo was probably my favorite paper. Michael Scot is a fascinating figure. I liked the quote about how everything that happens on Earth in Nature only happens "by way of corruption and division." ("per viam corrumptionis et divisionis": That's my translation and I don't actually know any Latin, so take it for what it's worth.) This article also has some (presumably) proper translations from Scot's work that I thought were interesting.

Antonio Thiery's "Federico II e la conoscenza scientifica" looked quite interesting; it mentions the Fibonacci sequence and various things having to do with geometry. (I think. No Italian either.) Also there are illustrations from Frederick's hunting manual.