PERFORMING PARNASSUS: LEONARDO DA VINCI’S EPHEMERAL PRODUCTIONS AT THE COURT OF MILAN
| dc.contributor.advisor | Gill, Meredith J. | en_US |
| dc.contributor.author | Upshaw, Abigail | en_US |
| dc.contributor.department | Art History and Archaeology | en_US |
| dc.contributor.publisher | Digital Repository at the University of Maryland | en_US |
| dc.contributor.publisher | University of Maryland (College Park, Md.) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-07-14T05:32:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-07-14T05:32:56Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Few artists command as much attention as Leonardo da Vinci. His intellectual legacy casts long shadows over fields as diverse as aeronautical engineering, anatomy, the biological sciences, and computer programming. His surviving works, such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, are nearly universally recognized. One aspect of his life and work has been far less celebrated and studied, however—his career in the theater. Scholars have consistently dismissed Leonardo’s theatrical productions as either mundane enterprises disdained by the great “genius” or trivial amusements. My dissertation—the first study of these ephemeral productions—corrects this characterization and establishes that these projects were much more than frivolous entertainments. I demonstrate that they played a crucial role in developing the identity and furthering the political machinations of his patron, the illegitimate Duke Ludovico ‘il Moro’ Sforza. During Leonardo’s tenure in Milan (1482-1499), and alongside his better known works, he produced eight theatrical productions, which comprised pageants in honor of prominent visitors to the court, as well as major state events such as weddings. Leonardo was involved in every aspect of these undertakings: he designed costumes, invented moveable stage sets, constructed awe-inducing automata, and even collaborated in the casting process. These works exemplified Leonardo’s role—as described by the historian Paolo Giovio in 1527—as the “arbiter of all questions relating to beauty and elegance, especially pageantry.” Leonardo spent a significant amount of his time in Ludovico’s employ designing and manufacturing ephemera for the court. His notebooks evince sustained interest in creating spectacular theatrical events for his patron. Why did the powerful and calculating Ludovico occupy his renowned court artist with designing costumes and stage props? What value did these ephemeral objects and the occasions they accompanied provide for his court? I argue that a full understanding of Leonardo’s theatrical productions requires a consideration of stagecraft as statecraft. My dissertation reclaims the authority of ephemeral objects and asserts the power of the spectacle in early modern Milan. Using Leonardo’s drawings and explanatory notations, as well as firsthand accounts, I recreate the experience of Leonardo’s productions for his contemporary audience. My study not only situates Leonardo’s ephemeral undertakings in Milan in their appropriate social and historical context, it also supports a broader reconsideration of the value and importance of ephemera in early modern Italy. | en_US |
| dc.identifier | https://doi.org/10.13016/sjfh-9xzs | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1903/27438 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject.pqcontrolled | Art history | en_US |
| dc.subject.pquncontrolled | Ephemera | en_US |
| dc.subject.pquncontrolled | Leonardo da Vinci | en_US |
| dc.subject.pquncontrolled | Ludovico Sforza | en_US |
| dc.subject.pquncontrolled | Milan | en_US |
| dc.subject.pquncontrolled | Theater | en_US |
| dc.title | PERFORMING PARNASSUS: LEONARDO DA VINCI’S EPHEMERAL PRODUCTIONS AT THE COURT OF MILAN | en_US |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en_US |