It has been said that Titian\'s \"Assunta,\" which adorns the high altar, and \"Pesaro\" (on the left aisle of the chapel of the Immaculate Conception) stand mid-way between the past and the future of Venetian painting. This infers that Titian drew on established traditions learned from his masters ...

The Renaissance was a golden age in the long history of Venetian painting, and the art that came from Venice during that era includes some of the most visually exciting works in the whole of western art. Venetian painting grew out of Byzantine art, and its ease and sensuousness clearly differentiate...

CHAPTER I The setting for this book is in 1512 with the fall of Rome. The first chapter is titled "The kinds of principalities and the means by which they are acquired," because this is the first chapter and in order to understand the book you need to understand the most basic and ...

Europe in the early and mid 18th century was marking time, trying to catch its breath after the bloody excesses of the previous century. Religious conflicts had almost wiped out the population of Germany and had split it politically. While larger nation-states were forming elsewhere, the midd...

There are many countries of the world that exist solely for the purpose of living. The people of these countries, cities, and towns may not know the treasures that their beautiful land has to offer. A magnificent example of such a country is Italy. The country of Italy is situated in Europe and at...

For close to five hundred years, the name Niccolo Machiavelli has held a place in history and in philosophy that has been hotly debated for centuries. Some say that Machiavelli is the true statesman and his books hold the key to the most efficient form of governing, while others call him a barbaric ...

Introduction Many tales have been spun from Marko Polo and his stories of his life adventures exploring the Far East. History will never truly know what was fact and what was fiction, the truth lies only and died with Marko Polo himself. But, history was also altered by the yarns of Marko Pol...

Russian Romantic Music and Tchaikovsky Russian music bears its own styles and emotions, free from the outside influence of other European countries during the Romantic period. Politics play an indirect role in the development of Russian music, isolating the country both politically and musica...

Practically nothing is known of Nicolo Machiavelli before he became a minorofficial in the Florentine Government. His youth, however, was passedduring some of the most tumultuous years in the history of Florence. He wasborn the year that Lorenzo the Magnificent came to power, subverting thetraditi...

Heinrich Schutz is the most important composer in the early Baroque period and the most important German composer up until the time of J.S. Bach. He is the first to command the respect of other composers on an international level and to achieve international acclaim. Through the example of his wor...

Exploreres and Purtians: 17-Century Puritans Who were the English Puritans? When the 16th-century Reformation took place three distinct sectors of reformation developed: the German, the Swiss (including France) and the English. Of these three the weakest and least hopeful was the English. At fir...

Artemisia Gentilschi: Feminism in Italian Society Throughout the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Painting in the Baroque period evoked emotion by appealing to the senses in very dramatic ways. Artists often used religion or personal experiences and effectively translated these aspects into ...

In 1348, in the major Trade City of Florence, a ship from China docked on the port carrying the rat that would lead Europe through one of the greatest epidemics ever known to man, the Black Death. The virulent plague quickly claimed the lives of a third of the population. There was no escape, as ...

The Canadian fur trade, which grew out of the fishing industry, began as a small business, but would expand and become not only the exploiter of a primary Canadian resource, but the industry around which the country of Canada itself developed. The fur trade started shortly after the discovery of th...

The term "hip-hop" originates from rap music, around 1974; "to rap" is a verb that nowadays mainly signifies speaking quickly and rhythmically. From an etymological perspective "to rap" signifies the following: · In the early, the Afro-American community used...

BENITO MUSSOLINI, (1883-1945), Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He centralized all power in himself as the leader (il duce) of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with HITLER's Germany. The defeat of Italian arms in WORLD WAR II brought an ...