The Medici as Artists Saw Them | Hacker News Reader

The Medici as Artists Saw Them

newyorker.com

59 pointsdrdee20 comments

What is it with every modern publication about art (or anything else, really)? "Here, we're talking about art extensively. Enjoy at most two accompanying illustrations/reproductions/photos."

They want you to visit The Met and see it in person.

The Met has made every image they have that's not under copyright accessible under CC0.

https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documen...

Museums in general have recognized that digital images don't replace the museum experience—and they'd rather provide good images of the art than have people rip off poor-quality ones. Not every institution, and artist copyright remains a huge barrier, particularly for contemporary art, but a LOT of artwork photography is out there in the public domain.

I think a great way to actually induce that behavior is to make digital copies freely available to encourage education about and appreciation of art and artists.

Ah yes. As soon as, you know, the pandemic is over. And when, you know, I'm in New York. And in time for the exhibition. And have the time to visit the exhibition.

I really wish more high definition scans were made of old artwork. Especially renaissance paintings. I get that this will probably rob some museums of ticket revenue, but people like me can't afford to fly to Europe and visit these museums anyways.

I posted a high resolution scan for this thread [1] and HN users complained and flagged it off the front page and down many many pages.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27768468

There are a few, but not as much as I'd like. However you can get giant Taschen monographs on a a decent selection of major artists for reasonable prices. They offer a better viewing experience in some ways than the average gallery or museum, especially for artists like Bruegel and Bosch.

The Met has a video overview of the exhibition:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3CxZ2PrXQ1M

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/medici-p...

Though it's not really about the Medici, anyone interested in this subject might also enjoy this great talk on Training Artists from the Fifteenth Century.[1]

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45fkkNdGKOw

"Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it."

--Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, aka Pope Leo X

and it was the last straw, so to speak, for Luther ...

Interesting though that Medici started in 13xx as kind of disrupting upstart riding/representing a paradigm shift, ie. as city based tradesmen of growing wealth they were going against the established/entrenched order where aristocratic nobility ruled - and as any successful upstart they broke through the established order and "regulatory captured" all the power 150-200 years later, ie. Florence, papacy, French crown,... thus themselves becoming that entrenched order what the upstarts of 15xx were fighting against.

“In the eyes of the Italians we Germans are merely low Teutonic swine. They exploit us like charlatans and suck the country to the marrow. Wake up Germany!”

- quote by Frantz Funck-Brentano in his book Luther

yep, as far as i see all the religious insurrection is accompanied by some kind of nationalism. Hussites, Luther, Church of England, Zaporozhian Cossacks, ...

winners bias - local culture existed everywhere as grass grows through cracks of the roads to Rome

I wonder which is the cart and which is the horse.

Is maneuvering the reason you last for 200 years, or does anyone who can keep organized for 200 years find themselves maneuvering into the public sector whether they want to or not? At least at first, until you realize how much influence you have and then it goes to your head.

it was a rise of the independent cities where power in part came from some kind of [granted pretty limited] voting/representation instead of being just an aristocratic hereditary thing. The [especially limited] voting/representation naturally allows for high wealth individuals to maneuver into that power. The cities also allowed for that high wealth to be developed by non aristocratic tradesmen.

>does anyone who can keep organized for 200 years find themselves maneuvering into the public sector whether they want to or not?

i think the answer here is "if you don't do politics politics will do you"

Man, painting must have been a million times cooler before photographs were developed.

You may like to check out how (Western) artists responded to photography. Edgar Degas' paintings of horse races and ballet dancers are a great example. Photographers of the time hadn't quite worked out how to frame a photo, due to technical and other difficulties with this new medium. This meant that images were often cropped unusually, which introduced a new aesthetic. Degas and others picked up on this, with unusual cropping, blurry figures, and a candid, voyeuristic point of view.

I'd also recommend Egon Schiele's portraits and self portraits, in comparison with photos of him and his subjects, as an example of how things developed further.

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