Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 3682
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Fabianski , Marcin.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Federigo da Montefeltro's "Studiolo" in Gubbio Reconsidered. Its Decoration and Its Iconographic Program: An Interpretation [The series of painted panels in a duke's study, attributed to fifteenth century painter Joos van Gent (also known as Justus of Ghent or Giusto da Guanto), depict men kneeling before female personifications of the Liberal Arts. Although the exact attribution, purpose, or arrangement of the panels is unknown, the author suggests a team of artists was instructed to follow a program of iconography of the Arts and Virtues, with revisions to the program (including the inclusion of a duke's likeness and an oration scene) made at the request of the patron. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Artibus et Historiae 11, 22 ( 1990): Pages 199 - 214.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Architecture- Secular Allegory Art History- Painting Artists Gubbio, Umbria, Italy Iconography Joos van Gent, also known as Justus of Ghent or Giusto da Guanto, Painter Musica, One of the Seven Liberal Arts, Personified as Woman Patronage, Artistic Person
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence: Wall Paintings; Series of paintings (attributed to Joos van Gent) in the study of Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, fifteenth century (originally in Gubbio, Italy, now divided up between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in London, and the Kais
  • Illustrations: Eight Figures. Figure One Anonymous, Wainscott from the Gubbio "studiolo," fifteenth century, northwest wall, compartments 1-3 and 13 of the southwest wall (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. No. 39.153). Compartments depict objects associated with the Liberal Arts and Virtues: lute, flutes, fuddle, organ (below Oration), scroll, books, garter ~~and brush (below Rhetoric), harp, tambourine, book with love song (below ~~Dialectic). Figure Two Anonymous, Wainscott from the Gubbio "studiolo," ~~fifteenth century, northwest wall, compartments 4-8 of the northeast and ~~southwest walls (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. No. 39.153). ~~Compartments depict objects associated with the Liberal Arts and Virtues: cittern, hourglass, square, candle, books, dagger, fife, drum, box, plume, helmet, gauntlet, mace, greaves, spurs (below Astronomy). Figure Three Anonymous, Wainscott from the Gubbio "studiolo," fifteenth century, ~~northwest wall, compartments 9-12 of the southeast and northwest walls (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. No. 39.153). Compartments depict objects associated with the Liberal Arts and Virtues: inkpot, mirror, lectern, sphere, quadrant, books (below Music), closed cupboard, grenade, lute, garter (below Oration). Figure Four Joos van Gent ~~(attributed), "Rhetoric"(?), fifteenth century (National Gallery, London, cat. no. 755). Painting depicts a man kneeling before a richly dressed woman who is seated on a throne. She presents an open book to the man while pointing at the text with her right index finger. Figure Five Joos van Gent ~~(attributed), "Music," fifteenth century (National Gallery, London, cat. no. 756). Painting depicts a man kneeling before a richly dressed woman seated on a throne. She holds up a closed book in her right hand, and with her left hand she points toward a musical instrument that stands on the steps in front of her. Figure Six Joos van Gent (attributed), "Dialectic," fifteenth century (Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, cat. no. 54). Painting depicts a man kneeling before a richly dressed woman who is seated on a throne. She hands him a clasped book, which he receives with both ~~hands. Figure Seven Joos van Gent (attributed), "Astronomy," fifteenth century (Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, cat no. 54A). Painting depicts a man kneeling before an old woman dressed in a gown while seated on a throne. She holds a globe in her right hand and presents it to the man. A crown sits on the steps at the man's feet. Figure Eight Joos van Gent (attributed), "Federigo da Montefeltro and Others Listening to a Discourse," fifteenth century (Royal Collections, Hampton Court, London, cat. no. 1418). Painting depicts Federigo in profile standing with other ~~men who are listening to another man across the room speaking at a lectern.
  • Table: The author's schematic drawing offers a possible reconstruction of the iconographic program of the paintings. Panels depicting Rhetoric, Dialectic, Astronomy, Music, Oration and other (unidentified) Liberal Arts and Virtues, all personified as women, appear in a row above a continuous Latin inscription, which the author transcribes. Below the inscription are objects and tools commonly associated with each of the Liberal Arts and Virtues. The chart also includes a map of the Gubbio studiolo, indicating the hypothesized layout of each panel around the walls of the original building.
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1990.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03919064