ideas vs. stories
Cryptoforestry discusses Piero di Cosimo's "A Forest Fire" and quotes Vasari on di Cosimo; taking out of context a quote on di Cosimo's grief at his teacher's death, in order to portray di Cosimo as "a kind of renaissance Thoreau". I thought this part was more interesting:
"Piero, in his youth, being fanciful and extravagant in invention, was much employed for the masquerades that are held during the Carnival; and he became very dear to the young noblemen of Florence, having improved their festivals much in invention, adornment, grandeur, and pomp. As to that kind of pastime, it is said that he was one of the first to contrive to marshal them in the form of triumphal processions; at least, he improved them greatly, by accom- panying the invention of the story represented, not only with music and with words suited to the subject, but also with a train of incredible pomp, formed of men on foot and on horseback, with habits and ornaments in keeping with the story; which produced a very rich and beautiful effect, and had in it something both grand and ingenious. And it was certainly a very beautiful thing to see, by night, twenty-five or thirty pairs of horses, most richly caparisoned, with their riders in costume, according to the subject of the invention, and six or eight grooms to each rider, with torches in their hands, and all clothed in one and the same livery, sometimes more than four hundred in number; and then the chariot, or triumphal car, covered with ornaments, trophies, and most bizarre things of fancy; altogether, a thing which makes men's intellects more subtle, and gives great pleasure and satisfaction to the people."
Di Cosimo invented the parade float! Vasari then describes di Cosimo's Car of Death, and ends: "This dread spectacle, through its novelty and terror, as I have said, filled the whole city with fear and marvel together; and although at the first sight it did not seem suited to a Carnival, nevertheless, being new and very well arranged, it pleased the minds of all, and Piero, the creator and inventor of the whole, gained consummate praise and commendation for it ; and it was the reason that afterwards, going from one thing to another, men continued to contrive lively and ingenious inventions..."
In Chicago right now, on my way to New York tonight, Boston on Wednesday, then with the Beehive Collective in Machias until the 20th. Bumming around the northeast after that until late September, Quebec or Vermont, there's also a sourdough bread collective somewhere in Maine I was thinking of visiting... I had the idea that it would be funny to hitchhike the appalachian trail so maybe that's how I'll get back south. Someone's got to tell New Orleans about this Piero di Cosimo thing.
"Piero, in his youth, being fanciful and extravagant in invention, was much employed for the masquerades that are held during the Carnival; and he became very dear to the young noblemen of Florence, having improved their festivals much in invention, adornment, grandeur, and pomp. As to that kind of pastime, it is said that he was one of the first to contrive to marshal them in the form of triumphal processions; at least, he improved them greatly, by accom- panying the invention of the story represented, not only with music and with words suited to the subject, but also with a train of incredible pomp, formed of men on foot and on horseback, with habits and ornaments in keeping with the story; which produced a very rich and beautiful effect, and had in it something both grand and ingenious. And it was certainly a very beautiful thing to see, by night, twenty-five or thirty pairs of horses, most richly caparisoned, with their riders in costume, according to the subject of the invention, and six or eight grooms to each rider, with torches in their hands, and all clothed in one and the same livery, sometimes more than four hundred in number; and then the chariot, or triumphal car, covered with ornaments, trophies, and most bizarre things of fancy; altogether, a thing which makes men's intellects more subtle, and gives great pleasure and satisfaction to the people."
Di Cosimo invented the parade float! Vasari then describes di Cosimo's Car of Death, and ends: "This dread spectacle, through its novelty and terror, as I have said, filled the whole city with fear and marvel together; and although at the first sight it did not seem suited to a Carnival, nevertheless, being new and very well arranged, it pleased the minds of all, and Piero, the creator and inventor of the whole, gained consummate praise and commendation for it ; and it was the reason that afterwards, going from one thing to another, men continued to contrive lively and ingenious inventions..."
In Chicago right now, on my way to New York tonight, Boston on Wednesday, then with the Beehive Collective in Machias until the 20th. Bumming around the northeast after that until late September, Quebec or Vermont, there's also a sourdough bread collective somewhere in Maine I was thinking of visiting... I had the idea that it would be funny to hitchhike the appalachian trail so maybe that's how I'll get back south. Someone's got to tell New Orleans about this Piero di Cosimo thing.