Evangelical, symbols In early Christian iconography, the four evangelists are portrayed as winged creatures with animal heads. Saint Jerome, at the end of the 4th century, first justified the association of the animals with the authors of the Gospels: Matthew is represented by an angel because his Gospel begins with the Incarnation; Mark by a lion because he starts his with the figure of John the Baptist who “cries in the desert” with a powerful voice, like that of a lion; John is represented by an eagle, the bird that flies the highest in the sky, because his vision of God is the most direct; and finally Luke by a bull, a sacrificial animal, because his Gospel commences with the sacrifice of the priest Zachariah. During the Renaissance the animals and the angel continued to be portrayed only as simple attributes of the four Evangelists. Secondary attributes for all four saints are a book and a cartouche. Ex-voto Object, displayed in holy places, executed or offered as a gift to a divinity or to saints for favors received or to keep a promise. Fabric Technique and art that consists in weaving a series of yarns called warp, kept parallel and taut, with another series that is inserted crosswise called weft, carried out by means of a loom. The fabrics are called plain when the weave does not present any special pattern,
damask otherwise. There are three basic types of fabric: cloth or taffeta with two warp yarns and two weft ones, with the same effect both on the right side and the reverse side; twill, that achieves a diagonal effect slanting either right or left; satin: depending on whether the warp or the weft is more evident, satin may have either a weft or a warp effect. Filarete, the nickname of Antonio Averulino or Averlino, (Florence 1400 circa – Rome 1469 circa) A sculptor and an architect, who developed his background in the Florentine humanistic milieu, he was probably an apprentice in the workshop of Ghiberti; he executed the bronze Door of Saint Peter’s in Rome (1433-1445). He lived in Florence (1448) and in Venice (1449), then in 1451 he was in Milan busy working in the most important building-sites in the city, among which we will mention only the Ospedale Maggiore (1465). He brought Renaissance ideals to Lombardy, and he carried out at the same time the critical recovery of the local Gothic tradition. Foggini, Giovan Battista (Florence 1652-1725) Sent by Cosimo iii de’ Medici to Rome with the assignment to copy ancient statues, the artist entered into the Roman baroque milieu; in Florence he executed sculptural and architectural works, among which we would like to mention just as examples, the Reliefs with the Stories from the Life of Saint Andrew Corsienglish translation
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