Italia [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION ' r. ', ^he bellnf and '0 hellal' arc cxclamalions wiiicli may be heard at any moment oftlic day or night, in any place all over Italy from men, women and children of every description. These expressions arc an automatic reaction to any plea-snrable experience. They indicate in a veiy natural and spontaneous way (Jie intimate relationship in Italian sensibility between beauty and hai)pine.ss. And I think it is arguable that the output of beauty through the ages has been higher in Italy, in proportion to the size of the countiy, than in any other region of the worid. In some re.spccts the Italians have been fortunate. They were born in a counii7 of quite extraordinar)' beauty and diversity. They have also had the advantage of seeing a high standard of beauly among their fellow human beings, and they have shown a touching sensibility to the beauly of their women as the stoiy of a Genoese girl, Simonetta Cattaneo, demonstrates. She grew up in Piombino, where her parents lived in exile, and turned out to be an exceedingly beautiful giri, who al the age of fouileen was married to Marco Vespucci, a young member of a well-known family of Florentine merchants. The Vespucci mansion in Florence was the resort of some outstanding painters, among them Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro BotticelU. Tliis was the lime when l^renzo dc' Media had succeeded his father as the ruler of Florence. He and his younger brother, Giuliano, were fond of arranging spectacular entertainments and in 1475, during one of tliese events, Simonetla was crowned the Qiiecn of Beauty, In the tournamenl Giuliano's standard was painted by IJottieelli. It rcpre.sented Simonetta as Pallas Athena in a field of flowers. On 25 April 147(3, however, soon after being crowned Qiieen of Beauty, Simonetta died from consumption at the age of twenty-three; three years later Giuliano was assassinated in the cathedral of Florence by enemies of the Medici. When Simonetta was buried in the church of Ognissanti the whole of Florence turned out to see the vision of her beauty as diey carried her to the tomb in an open colFm: artists and friends, humanists and poets, the enure Vespucci family, Au( )\'i:: Vie l'in .i loiilr il'Oro iii A larliiin Fraiiai. Alnilia. r!<;h i-; l'an ofllw Saloiie Ceiilrnle iii l/ie l'alazziuii rii Qicna di Slii/iiiimi, l'itiliinml. ()\'l-.HI'/\(ii:: Cmtd tmd limtsn in Ihc !¦imihmailo (.'mmiicllii, Buniun. au islaiul in llir i'iwliaii lai;oiiii. the civic authorities, the clerg>- and a host of friends accompanied the bier. All along the way from balconies and windows the peo])le looked down to see Simonetta for the last lime. Even after the burial there were artists who could not forget her beauty. Ixonardo da Vinci went home and drew a portrait of her. Many years later Piero di Cosimo remembered seeing the procession when he was only fourteen and painted from memory a famous portrait now in the Museum of Chaniilly in France. Of the remembered representations of Simonetta, the most famous are those in two paintings by Sandro BoUicelli in the Ufiizzi Galleiy in Florence: Primavera,or 'Spring' (f.l478), and the somewhat laler Birth of I?/»/i, when the graceful nude ligure of \'cnus inspired by Simonetta balances lighdy on a large sea shell blown ashore by a pulFmg Zephyr. The feeling for beauty which drew the people of Florence to vdtness the passing of Simonetta is perhaps innate. It has certainly been a feature of Italian life and activity in all ages. Even in our modern age of mass !production, préfabrication and industrial out]}ut we can still observe a distinct and highly elegant Itdian style emerging in the manufacture of all kinds of goods in Italy and in a large range of building work. We see it in clothes and footuear, in household furniture and consumer durables, in cars and ships. It also shows itself in larger projects, from motonvays to railway stations, from s]K)rdng arenas to power stations, and in the creation of new villas and g-ardens. By combining beauty with comfort and liwliness, the Italians are able to provide the joy in life which their conquerors in the past, no less than their friends and visitors at all times, have found unfailingly irresistible.