Today private collections of books, art, and artifacts are often - PDF document

Today private collections of books, art, and artifacts are often gifted or lent to libraries for their special collections and exhibitions. Many of these private collections were the foundation of public library collections, such as the British Library in London. During the Italian Renaissance (roughly 1300-1530), private collections of books and art were kept in private studies called studiolos . Each studiolo was decorated elaborately to reflect the patron to whom it belonged. During this period, the collecting of books and patronage of the arts were a social tool used to enhance one's reputation. While some studiolos were only to be viewed by a select few, the collections of those like Cosimo de’ Medici were intended to be viewed and admired by the public. Cosimo de’ Medici, banker and patron of the arts, wanted his collections to reflect his status. He is considered one of the greatest patrons of the Renaissance not only for the art he commissioned, but his overall rise to power and influence. As Cosimo and the Medici family rose in power, Cosimo used his wealth to enhance the reputation of the city. Cosimo de' Medici was responsible for three public libraries during the Italian Renaissance. A majority of the books collected by Cosimo de’ Medici were compiled and placed in a new library he commissioned at the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence in 1444 as a gift to the Venetian people (William 352). Known today as the Michelozzo Library, this library is considered the first public library in Renaissance Europe (Ingraham 150). 1 of 10

The Italian Renaissance was the age of the intellectual movement known as humanism. With its focus being on Greek and Latin roots, humanism was largely oriented toward rhetoric, the art of correct expression. The Renaissance is largely defined by its encouragement of humanistic ideas about civic duty, learning, and the arts. The popularity of humanism went hand in hand with patronage as it encouraged humanistic representations of art, architecture, and the translating of classical texts. Because of patrons like Cosimo de' Medici, humanist art and texts were able to be created and then collected and displayed in the homes of aristocrats. In the course of the fifteenth century, many Italian aristocrats homes featured a studiolo . In the studiolo , a patron could spend his precious hours in literary pursuits, surrounded by private collections of art. The studiolo was an intimate space created for the devotion to reading and self-curated collections (Campbell and Giorgione 302). Studiolos would not only be a place for study and contemplation, but a private gallery in which to house one's private commissions. In a period when individuality went hand in hand with a growing sense of community, the studiolo worked as a “spatial expression of the notion of the private individual” (Campbell and Giorgione 302). The photograph above shows one of the most famous studiolos , the Dukes of Urbinos studiolo . The walls of his studiolo are covered with wood panels portraying images representing the Duke's interests. The Duke of Urbinos studiolo exemplified the art and decoration of many studiolos . The studiolo represented an age in which privacy went hand in hand with exhibition. In his paper “Giorgione's ‘Tempest,’ ‘Studiolo’ Culture, and the Renaissance Lucretius,” Campbell writes that “the self could be a constructed and revealed through the mute but richly equivocal language of painting and sculpture, defining the owner's ‘personal space’ even in his or her absence” (Campbell and Giorgione 303). This persistence of the studiolo as a private space even in the absence of its patron shows how powerful the studiolo was as a tool to exhibit one's power and influence. The studiolo began as a private and interior experience but quickly became a public exhibition. Cosimo de' Medici understood the power of patronage and used his collections to demonstrate his own prominence within the Florentine community and the regions of what is now Italy. 2 of 10

The story of the Medici family is one that intrigues and inspires admiration. Cosimo de' Medici was born in 1389 and was a well-known Italian banker and politician. He was the first of the Medici political dynasty; a family that rose to such a high place of power they effectively ruled Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. Cosimo’s power grew as much from his great success in banking as his great patronage of “learning, the arts and architecture” (Strathern 45). By the time he was thirty, Cosimo’s collection had grown to over 68 volumes (Connors and Dresses 201), and his collection of commissions consisted of works by artists like Donatello and Michelangelo. In 1434, after a brief banishment, the Medici family returned to Florence and Cosimo de' Medici established himself in the heart of the city, calling himself the "father of the homeland.” As Cosimo rose in power, he used his wealth to enhance the reputation of Florence. It was the duty of a wealthy citizen to enhance the reputation of one's city and contribute to the upkeep of the city church. The Medici family contributed much to the building of the Medici chapel and church of San Lorenzo. Cosimo de’ Medici went further by displaying his communal power in the building of the new Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, the Medici Palace. 3 of 10

The stones of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi resembled the Palazzo Vecchio (Town Hall), but also adopted new styles of building with classical motifs used to embed political messages. The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi eventually became the center for social and business discussions between the Medici family and the community – this was a convergence of public and private places. Similarly, Cosimo’s own library was essentially closed to scholars, but the San Marco Michelozzo Library would eventually allow access to his private books. Through his support of Niccolò Niccoli, Florentine humanist and known book collector, Cosimo was responsible for the revival and study of ancient writers (Meechan 15). Along with his own private collection, Cosimo used the collection of Niccolò to create the Michelozzo Library, the first public library. Before Cosimo de' Medici added the Michelozzo Library, the convent had a long history. Constructed in the 12th century as a Vallombrosan monastery, it was later passed to the Silvestrines who were driven out of San Marco in 1418. It was not until 1438 that the convent was given to the Dominicans ("Convent of San Marco"). The convent itself was made for the monks who occupied it and was the ultimate example of a private space, made up almost entirely of rooms decorated with paintings by Dominican Monk Fra Angelico for the purpose of private spiritual contemplation. Found in one such room, the image below shows St. Dominic reading — an example to the monk occupying the room that he too should be focusing on scripture. 4 of 10

When the Michelozzo Library was built, the convent was opened to the public for the first time as shown in Allie Terry-Fritch's article "Florentine Convent As Practiced Place: Cosimo De'medici, Fra Angelico, and The Public Library Of San Marco." Terry-Fritch writes of the transformation of San Marco from a private space to a public space and how this transformation affected the social and the intellectual practices of the convent. Libraries of the Renaissance were mostly "public" in the sense that scholars could have access to private collections of theological books. This changed as the widespread popularity of humanism in Europe influenced how education was structured. In the Middle Ages, students would need to travel alone to find sources of knowledge to learn from or attend a strictly religious university. During the Renaissance, scholars —humanists—would come together to learn from each other in public lecture halls or attend newly instituted universities. With these changes in education came changes to the Renaissance library. The most important innovations in the Renaissance library were the "relatively large number of collections in the secular domain, the great number and size of personal collections, and the emergence of a distinct, professional bibliographical literature" (Nelles 154) now available to scholars. The Library at San Marco is an example of these innovations as it combines the collection of Cosimo de' Medici and Niccolò Niccoli, allocating numerous and diverse books of biblical and secular subjects into one space. 5 of 10