Bartolomeo Campi (died 1573), was an Italian renaissance artist, goldsmith, armourer, and military engineer from Pesaro, who worked at the courts of Urbino and France.
Bartolomeo Campi (died 1573), was an Italian renaissance artist, goldsmith, armourer, and military engineer from Pesaro, who worked at the courts of Urbino and France.
Pietro Aretino commended his early works. [1] Bartolomeo Campi worked for Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. In 1546, he made the Duke a suit of armour in all'antica, ancient Roman style, now held by the Royal Collection in Madrid. He signed the cuirass "BARTOLOMEUS CAMPI", recording it as a year's worth of work made by continuous labour in two months. [2] A pair of stirrups in the Victoria and Albert Museum including similar decoration of damascened vine leaf tendrils are thought to have been made by his workshop, although these are signed "ACF" rather than "BC Fecit". [3]
Bartolomeo Campi designed costume for court festivals in Urbino and for Guidobaldo della Rovere's marriage to Vittoria Farnese in January 1548. [4] According to Guidobaldo del Monte, Bartolomeo also designed an automaton for the Duke's dinner table, a silver tortoise with a shell that opened to deliver toothpicks to the guests. [5]
In April 1554, the Duke of Urbino recommended Bartolomeo's skills to Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Henry II of France for his innovations in artillery. [6] After a short period in Siena, where he was wounded, and Venice, Bartolomeo worked at the French court from 1557 to 1562. [7]
In January 1555, Bartolomeo, or his brother Giacomo di Bernardino Campi, demonstrated a novel cannon in Paris for Henry II that could be easily dismantled in sections for transport. [8] Campi's gun was described by the English diplomat, Nicholas Wotton. Sent from the "duke of Urbin", it had a longer range and greater power than a conventional brass cannon of the same size. [9]
According to Julio Alvarotto, an envoy of Duke of Ferrara, Bartolomeo Campi designed pageant ships with sails of silver cloth to carry dancers at a masque in the hall of the Palais de la Cité following the wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of France on 24 April 1558. [10] The ships had sails of silver tinsel. They appeared to be moved by wind and wave, and danced in time to a passamezzo. The wedding entertainments also included a dozen mechanical horses. [11] [12] Alvarotto wrote that Charles III, Duke of Lorraine had paid six thousand ducats for the pageant of ships, [13] In the same year, Bartolomeo served Francis, Duke of Guise at Calais and the siege of Guînes. [14]
He made a will in Paris in December 1567. [15] [16] Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba employed Bartolomeo Campi and his son Scipio from 1568. His proposals for improvements to the fortifications at Antwerp, designed by Francesco Paciotto, were not carried out. Bartolomeo Campi was killed by an arquebus shot on 3 March 1573 at the siege of Haarlem. [17]
The House of Della Rovere was a powerful Italian noble family. It had humble origins in Savona, in Liguria, and acquired power and influence through nepotism and ambitious marriages arranged by two Della Rovere popes: Francesco Della Rovere, who ruled as Sixtus IV from 1471 to 1484) and his nephew Giuliano, who became Julius II in 1503. Sixtus IV built the Sistine Chapel, which was named after him. Julius II was patron to Michelangelo, Raphael and many other Renaissance artists and started the modern rebuilt of St. Peter's Basilica. Also the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome was the family church of the Della Rovere. Members of the family were influential in the Church of Rome, and as dukes of Urbino, dukes of Sora and lords of Senigallia; the title of Urbino was extinguished with the death of Francesco Maria II in 1631, and the family died out with the death of his granddaughter Vittoria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
Urbino is a comune (municipality) in the Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482.
Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro KG, was one of the most successful mercenary captains (condottieri) of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of Urbino from 1444 until his death. A renowned intellectual humanist and civil leader in Urbino on top of his impeccable reputation for martial skill and honour, he commissioned the construction of a great library, perhaps the largest of Italy after the Vatican, with his own team of scribes in his scriptorium, and assembled around him a large humanistic court in the Ducal Palace, Urbino, designed by Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
Charles III, known as the Great, was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.
The House of Montefeltro is the name of a historical Italian family who ruled Urbino and Gubbio and became Dukes of Urbino in 1443. The family extinguished in the male line in 1508 and the duchy was inherited by the Della Rovere family.
The Venus of Urbino is an oil painting by Italian painter Titian, depicting a nude young woman, traditionally identified with the goddess Venus, reclining on a couch or bed in the sumptuous surroundings of a Renaissance palace. Work on the painting seems to have begun anywhere from 1532 or 1534, and was perhaps completed in 1534, but not sold until 1538. It is currently held in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.
Girolamo Genga was an Italian painter and architect of the late Renaissance, Mannerist style.
Fossombrone is a town and comune in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, in the Marche region of central Italy.
Ludovico de' Medici, also known as Giovanni delle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero. He is known for leading the Black Bands and serving valiantly in military combat under his third cousins, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII, in the War of Urbino and the War of the League of Cognac, respectively.
Francesco Maria I della Rovere was an Italian condottiero, who was Duke of Urbino from 1508 to 1516 and, after retaking the throne from Lorenzo II de' Medici, from 1521 to 1538.
Guidobaldoda Montefeltro, also known as Guidobaldo I, was an Italian condottiero and the Duke of Urbino from 1482 to 1508.
Guidobaldo II della Rovere was an Italian condottiero, who succeeded his father Francesco Maria I della Rovere as Duke of Urbino from 1538 until his death in 1574. He was a member of the House of La Rovere. Guidobaldo was an important patron of the arts in general, and of Titian in particular, commissioning his own portrait, and buying Titian's Venus of Urbino.
Federico Brandani was an Italian sculptor and stuccoist who worked in an urbane Mannerist style as a court artist of Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino.
Elisabetta Gonzaga (1471–1526) was a noblewoman of the Italian Renaissance, the Duchess of Urbino by marriage to Duke Guidobaldo da Montefeltro. Because her husband was impotent, Elisabetta never had children of her own, but adopted her husband's nephew and heir, Francesco Maria I della Rovere. She was renowned for her cultured and virtuous life.
Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino (31 December 1493 – 13 February 1570 was Duchess and sometime regent of Urbino by marriage to Francesco Maria I della Rovere, duke of Urbino. She served as regent during the absence of her spouse in 1532.
Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico, was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.
Margaret of Bavaria (1442–1479) was a Marchioness consort of Mantua, married in 1463 to Federico I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. She was regent in the absence of her spouse during his military campaign in 1479.
Giulia da Varano, also known after her marriage as Giulia da Varano della Rovere, was an Italian noblewoman and member of the Da Varano family. She was the ruling Duchess of Camerino during 1527–1539 and by marriage Duchess of Urbino from 1534 until her death.
Vittoria Farnese, also known as Vittoria, Princess of Parma, and by her married name Vittoria Farnese della Rovere, was an Italian noblewoman, Duchess consort of Urbino from 1548 until 1574 by marriage to Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) married Francis, Dauphin of France (1544–1560), at Notre-Dame de Paris on 24 April 1558. The festivities included pageants, some designed by Bartolomeo Campi.