Gioie di Testa - Renaissance Hat Badges

Pinturicchio, Libreria Piccolomini, Wedding scene, Cathedral of Siena: men are
wearing hat badges 

"Gioie di Testa" is a very appropriate Italian description for the jewels that men wore on their hats in Renaissance paintings. This name is most fitting to the cultural paintings' level and the men who are wearing them.

"Gioie di Testa" in Italian literally means "Head jewels", "Jewels of the head".  In the beginning, I called these jewels by the name of brooches. I also described the meaning of these symbols for the men who were wearing them: brooches were representing the triumph of Virtue. Virtue was sealed by a luxury brooch.

I wrote two blog posts about this subject on this blog a few years ago. Blog posts were called: Brooches and the Art of Virtuosity (2012) and  Time for Action! (2013). I have always kept in mind how much I liked these jewels. The most talented artist who could paint "Gioie di Testa" is Pinturicchio, the Italian Renaissance artist who was born in Perugia. He was known as the artist of little things, of details. He was not as famous as Perugino, however, highly inspired the arts & crafts industry in the centuries to follow.

Jeweled gondola. This is the first time
I learned about such a usage of the word: jewel
(from the English teaching book I edited) 

What happens is that only a few days ago I found out what the perfect translation for "Gioie di Testa" could be. I would translate it: "Jewelled hat badges". How did I learn about the words ' jeweled' and 'hat badges'? By interacting with new friends of mine with whom I share my passion for the Italian Renaissance and the history of art.

The term 'jeweled' in particular was used in an Engish teaching book I recently did proofreading of and sent the corrections to the publisher.  'Hat badge' I learned from my friend Rosemary who used it as a description for a piece that is housed in one of my favorite museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

This is a simple example of how the learning process works when applied to something we truly enjoy and by interacting with friends who share interests with us. I find this process extremely interesting and I wanted to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed my blog post.

More about the jeweled gondola in the image on the left: Giovan Battista Scolari, jeweled gondola, 1568, Palazzo Pitti, Florence  Enameled gold, three pearls, three rubies, five (black) diamonds, two emeralds. Curiosity: diamonds were black because they were raw. They still didn't know how to cut diamonds!

A "Gioie di Testa" from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Partly enameled gold set with diamonds and pearls, c. 1460-80. It represents St. John the Baptist in a Landscape. In English, it's called a hat badge and in French an "Enseigne" (a sign). Evidently, hat badges were worn by French Renaissance men as well.

(Last image description by my friend Rosemary who posted it on the dedicated  Facebook Renaissance art event where you can find more information, images, and curiosities)

(to be continued...will post more when I find hat badges closeups from famous paintings. Could not find much online)

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Gioie di Testa

Pinturicchio, Libreria Piccolomini, Wedding scene, Cathedral of Siena: men are
wearing hat badges 

"Gioie di Testa" is a very appropriate Italian description for the jewels that men wore on their hats in Renaissance paintings. This name is most fitting to the cultural paintings' level and the men who are wearing them.

"Gioie di Testa" in Italian literally means "Head jewels", "Jewels of the head".  In the beginning, I called these jewels by the name of brooches. I also described the meaning of these symbols for the men who were wearing them: brooches were representing the triumph of Virtue. Virtue was sealed by a luxury brooch.

I wrote two blog posts about this subject on this blog a few years ago. Blog posts were called: Brooches and the Art of Virtuosity (2012) and  Time for Action! (2013). I have always kept in mind how much I liked these jewels. The most talented artist who could paint "Gioie di Testa" is Pinturicchio, the Italian Renaissance artist who was born in Perugia. He was known as the artist of little things, of details. He was not as famous as Perugino, however, highly inspired the arts & crafts industry in the centuries to follow.

Jeweled gondola. This is the first time
I learned about such a usage of the word: jewel
(from the English teaching book I edited) 

What happens is that only a few days ago I found out what the perfect translation for "Gioie di Testa" could be. I would translate it: "Jewelled hat badges". How did I learn about the words ' jeweled' and 'hat badges'? By interacting with new friends of mine with whom I share my passion for the Italian Renaissance and the history of art.

The term 'jeweled' in particular was used in an Engish teaching book I recently did proofreading of and sent the corrections to the publisher.  'Hat badge' I learned from my friend Rosemary who used it as a description for a piece that is housed in one of my favorite museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

This is a simple example of how the learning process works when applied to something we truly enjoy and by interacting with friends who share interests with us. I find this process extremely interesting and I wanted to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed my blog post.

More about the jeweled gondola in the image on the left: Giovan Battista Scolari, jeweled gondola, 1568, Palazzo Pitti, Florence  Enameled gold, three pearls, three rubies, five (black) diamonds, two emeralds. Curiosity: diamonds were black because they were raw. They still didn't know how to cut diamonds!

A Gioie di Testa from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Partly enameled gold set with diamonds and pearls, c. 1460-80. It represents St. John the Baptist in a Landscape. In English, it's called a hat badge and in French an "Enseigne" (a sign). Evidently, hat badges were worn by French Renaissance men as well.

(Last image description by my friend Rosemary who posted it on the dedicated  Facebook Renaissance art event where you can find more information, images, and curiosities)

(to be continued...will post more when I find hat badges closeups from famous paintings. Could not find much online)

Cama® is a cultural brand

FRIENDS OF CAMA's Blog

Renaissance Art Curiosities in Times of Rebirth   

Cama® is a cultural brand inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Like and share our page to join our online events & receive blog posts. 

NEW! Free Italian arts & crafts consulting by sending a message on the Friends of Cama page. 

St. Mama's Prayer: Paleographist for a Day

The detail from an Italian Renaissance painting piqued my curiosity.
What does the book say? 

The other day I was a paleographist for one day. My dear friend Rosemary posted a painting on Facebook by an artist I did not know, Francesco dei Franceschi. His San Mamante, St. Mama's is housed in the civic museum in Verona. I can't wait to see this painting in person as my Daniele has decided that our next trip to Italy is going to be to Verona and Mantova. It may happen soon. So I have an extra good reason to visit. 

The painting by Francesco dei Franceschi depicts San Mamante with a lion on his right side. The saint is holding a book in his left hand. The book's writing is gothic style with many syncopes. Syncopes are expressed by little signs over single words. They indicate that there is a letter or more missing in a word. At first sight, I could tell the original writing was much longer than what was on the painting:  the writing was full of syncopes. From the few words I had read, the writing was in Latin: 

I definitely wanted to decipher what the book said. It was a curiosity my new Facebook friend Laura had expressed to be fulfilled in one of her comments to the painting. She had piqued my curiosity, too! 

The first thing I did was enlarge the image that was posted on Facebook (see above). On the internet, there was no better resolution. Then I found out that by using my cellular touch phone I could obtain the best enlargements. In the beginning, despite I had enlarged the image, I could not see the writing clearly. So I was almost giving up. I was also tempted to write to the civic museum in Verona. I had marked down their email address already. Then what happened is that the next morning I woke up and said to myself I should have a bigger picture of St. Mama's painting. So I opened my computer and stood back enough to see the image better. I thought at that point I could read more than the few Latin words I had spotted in the beginning. "Deo vivo qui...[...] Deus meus" was about all I could read that made sense. Not much). 

So I looked for a St. Mama's prayer on the internet and my research took me to the gospel of St. Luc, where it says that God is the God of the living (St. Luc: 20,27.34-38). No way the book writing and St. Luc's gospel matched. 

The magic happened when I stood back in front of the writing and continued reading: «Deo vivo qui REGNAT...[...] servio et...[...] me [...] deus meus »  With these additional words in mind I went and redo my research on the internet and...I found the original book from which the writing came. I found it on Google books!                

So the solution is that St. Mama's book repeats a sentence from a book called: Acta Sanctorum, containing the history of saints by the saint's day. In particular, it is a sentence that is part of the chapter dedicated to Saint Magnus martyr: The writing goes: « DEO VIVO, QUI REGNAT IN CAELIS, FERVIO, ET NUMQUAM ME DERELINQUET DOMINUS DEUS MEUS »

(English translation: "The living God, who reigns in heaven, I serve, O Lord my God, and he will never abandon me." - Source: Acta Sanctorum. Die decima nona Augusti page 719- paragraph  6.

Collectore Petro Calo Dominicano. San Magno Martire Caesarea in Cappadocia ) 

Francesco dei Franceschi, San Mamante (st. Mama's),
circa 1450, civic museum, Verona, Italy 

At that point, all words were matching except for fervio-servio. What Francesco dei Franceschi wrote on the painting is the verb: servio. It starts with the letter that we currently use in Italian: it's the verb 'to serve' with initial "S": servire, to serve same as in English. This change from fervio to servio is for a professional paleographist to explain. There must have been a consonant rotation from the time the original book was written and the painting that belongs to the 15th century was created. Or maybe it was just an error that the painter made because servio starting with 'S' was more familiar to Francesco de Franceschi. In any case, the artist should have been faithful to the original Latin sentence. 

I hope you enjoyed my discovery. I love doing this as I am very curious. When I visit Verona, I will look for a book with the book's saying interpretation by a real paleographist!

Cama® is a cultural brand

FRIENDS OF CAMA's Blog

Renaissance Art Curiosities in Times of Rebirth   

Cama® is a cultural brand inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Like and share our page to join our online events & receive blog posts. 

NEW! Free Italian arts & crafts consulting by sending a message on the Friends of Cama page. 

The Story of Three Ceramic Urns from Montelupo Fiorentino

The first urn is from the Cini Gallery in Venice 

I have never been to the ceramic museum of Montelupo Fiorentino. I would like to go sometime in the future as I have always been in love with their ceramics and now I have a story to tell.

Montelupo Fiorentino was considered as the furnace of Florence in times past. This is where the ceramic tradition started at the end of the 13th century and flourished in the Renaissance period. Montelupo's ceramic style is unmistakable and you can spot it immediately. You can see it a lot in stores in Orvieto, Siena and of course in Florence. Its patterns are very warm, colorful and the background glaze is off-white. They are rich in fruits, floral swirls, and leaves. 

Many beautiful antique pieces from Montelupo Fiorentino are in museums in Italy and abroad. Last year I saw a couple of beautiful urns from the 16th century at the Cini Gallery in Venice. A similar urn was on display at an exhibition in Florence a few years before and I thought they look like belonging to the same batch. They actually did.

So in my mind, these three urns were together again for one day!  

The reason why I do not visit museums or do things just for the sake of it is that I must have an important reason for doing things. What you read here that I am doing or writing about comes from real interactions with friends, contacts, and acquaintances whom I know in person or I have met on Facebook.

The second urn is from the Cini Gallery in Venice

Interactions with others truly pique my interest and make my creativity come to life. I think it comes from the fact that the first thing I have learned as a little girl at my family's ceramic workshop was serving customers. If customers were not there, there was nothing for me to do except wrap things for them, paint or talk to the artists. I was still doing something for customers, however, my task was welcoming them at the factory. Well, of course in the beginning I was my father's assistant. I have learned to serve customers from my dad who is the sweetest man of all. I will always be thankful to him for teaching me the secrets to best serve our customers.    

The third urn is from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

I have promised my father I will bring those days back in a different way. Whatever time it takes I had him promise on his turn to wait for the change to happen. He said he will live to be nearly 100 years old like our great-grandfather. So that gives me more time indeed. Thank you, Grazie!

So what happens is that these past years have given me the opportunity of interacting with my beloved customers on a different level: I am sharing the same interests in Italy with friends who are in love with Italy. It all started by accident and little by little I discovered that these friends are the same customers who visited our workshop. I could still interact with them by exchanging interests: Italian art, Italian cooking and everything beautiful there is in Italy. I can still meet them ideally outside the workshop and see them in action. Sometimes former customers visit me in Italy and that is the greatest gift of all: they are the famous, unique Friends of Cama.

The ceramic urns from the Cini Gallery collection and the urn with the Medici's coat of arms from the Uffizi Gallery (seen at the exhibition: L'Alchimia e le Arti, Florence, 2012) are part of an apothecary production setting the time of the pieces to the second half of the 16th century.

These ceramic containers were used to preserve farmaceutical medications often based on a sugar base. The three urns all look the same size as described in the exhibition catalog that I brought in Florence four years ago and related to the urn with the Medici coat of arms. Dimensions are: 33,5 cm high and 11,5 cm is the foot diameter which in inches is: 13 1/4" by 4 1/2" (foot diameter).

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