A short list of exhibitions to see confirmed that Marielle would like to go to « Les Borgia et Leur Temps » I was glad about that as it’s a period she knows well and armed with her notes from a Summer conference at the Sorbonne, off we went. First in line for the opening and the crowds weren’t there for the moment.
This is the first exhibition I think I have been to when it was indispensable to read the comments on each period. In our imagination the Borgias represent the incarnation of the most abominable vices. An expression of the Renaissance period excesses? There is no doubt that the family influenced the second half of the 15th century in Italy and in Europe. During that period, the world was transformed by the discovery of America, the invention of printing, the Reformation started by Luther and the development of an unprecedented artistic scene.
What I like though is that amid all the internecine slaughter and incestuous sex, the Borgias occasionally took time out to commission some art. Writers such as Victor Hugo tend to hone in on their less salubrious pursuits. It's easy to forget that the Renaissance statesmen patronised some of the most important artists of the time, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Bellini among them. The age of blood and scandal was also an era of scientific inquiry, overseas conquests and artistic prosperity, and the Borgias stood at its vanguard.
I remember having seen an exhibition on the family as I had seen the « shrine » of Lucrezia's lock of hair. Marielle did not recall the exhibition - and I didn’t remember much about it either. Yet reading some of the descriptions of people in the family, memory waves swept over me.
Marielle was also concerned that it would be a « people’s » exhibition in the sense of what one sees in that type of magazine. It was not and from my point of view if the texts were not read, the pictures meant little or nothing to people like me.
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| Alexander Vl |
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From the descriptions he was a sinister Pope and became the most
powerful and richest cardinal in Rome. He knew no limits in net working
and self promotion. A constant source of scandal, he was the first Pope
to recognize his offspring. Cesare was one of his sons.
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| Altobello Melone - Cesare? |
Cesare was only 17 when he began the ecclesiastic career his father wanted for him. When his brother Giovanni was murdered - history feels it was Cesare who assassinated him, his career took and different turning and he followed in his father's footsteps.....there began a distinguished career. When his father died, he was betrayed but I can't seem to find out why by and imprisoned in Spain. He escaped and joined his brother in law, the King of Navarre in a battle against Spain and France.
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| This painting of Lucrezia is possibly by Titian |
She was beautiful and yet no one can say if all the paintings of her are really of her. One thing is sure, she was at the heart of her Father's and brother's intrigues, Engaged twice, finally married but it is said that her real love was Cesare and of course there is talk of incest. She was the instrument of her family's political and diplomatic interests.
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| Lucrezia |
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| Lucrezia's hair - or so it is said..... |
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This very brief descriptions of three members of the family are not by any means exhaustive. Just what my brain seems to have taken. But I did buy a small book written by Machiavel "The Prince" and will now learn I hope, if that saying is true-
Machiavellian comes from Niccolo
Machiavelli, an Italian who experienced political and physical survival
in one of the most tumultuous periods of Italian history. He was a
diplomat for the Medici, experienced the Borgia at first hand, and was
imprisoned and tortured. Having retired from public life, he wrote a
book called The Prince in which he describes how to rule in times of
turbulence. The …
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