Giotto's Portrait of Halley's Comet

Olson, Roberta J. M.

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0579-160

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…While Bellinati cites other influences as well, he does not understand Giotto's modus operandi, that is, how the artist was inspired by objects in the natural world (see below). Bellinati also misinterprets Olson's argument about how and why Giotto would have translated his observation of an historical comet into a painted image (Olson, 1979); he claims that the Star of Bethlehem never could have been Halley's comet, a correlation which Olson never suggested. (Over the centuries the Star of Bethlehem has been associated inconclusively with a number of specific astronomical events; see, among others, Hughes, 1979;Molnar, 1999;Kidger, 1999.…”

Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He used as his model a naked-eye apparition that he recently had witnessed: Halley's comet of 1301. Since Olson's first publication of this idea over 20 years ago (Olson, 1979), we have expanded the argument. Nonetheless, an updated presentation is in order in light of new information, scholarship, and the restoration of the frescoes; constraints of space does not allow us the luxury to repeat all the earlier evidence, quotations, and formal analysis that render the conclusion so compelling.…”

Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet it took Giotto to elevate the tradition to a higher level. Moreover, the nature of the Star was also a controversial theological topic during Giotto's lifetime, as discussed in Jacopo da Voragine's The Golden Legend of 1298; in the Prediche del Beato F. Giordano da Rivalto (born 1260), the author specifically states that the Star was not a comet, but rather a new star (Olson, 1979;Pasachoff, 1986, 1987).…”

Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy

Olson

Pasachoff

2002

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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Abstract-We discuss eight trecento (fourteenth century) paintings containing depictions of astronomical events to reveal the revolutionary advances made in both astronomy and naturalistic painting in early Renaissance Italy, noting that an artistic interest in naturalism predisposed these pioneering painters to make their scientific observations. In tum, the convincing representations of their observations ofastronomical phenomena in works ofart rendered their paintings more convincing. Padua was already a renowned center for mathematics and nascent astronomy (which was separating from astrology) when Enrico Scrovegni commissioned the famous Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone to decorate his lavish family chapel (ca. 1301-1303). Giotto painted a flaming comet in lieu of the traditional Star of Bethlehem in the Adoration of the Magi scene. Moreover, he painted a historical apparition that he recently had observed with a great accuracy even by modem standards: Halley

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Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Giotto's Comet In His Adoration Of the Magimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy

Olson

Pasachoff

2002

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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“…case is the 1066 arrival of Halley's Comet, portrayed on the Bayeux Tapestry, where it portends the death of a king and a positive outcome for the Norman Conquest. Significantly, there was also an appearance of Halley's Comet in 1301, well-known for its influence on the presentation of the Star of Bethlehem in Giotto di Bondone's fresco in Padua (see Olson 1979) -was its appearance at the time of these events in Bergen perhaps understood to betoken important future events as well?…”

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confidence: 99%

Margrete of Nordnes in Cult, Chronicle, and Ballad

Mitchell¹

2022

RvT

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In 1290, Margrete, the 7-year-old daughter of King Eiríkr II Magnússon of Norway and Margaret, the daughter of King Alexander III of Scotland, begins a journey from Norway to Scotland. Unfortunately, Margrete, the heir presumptive to the throne of Scotland, dies en route, sparking a series of international and dynastic calamities. When, a decade later, a woman arrives in Bergen claiming to be the deceased princess, she is condemned to judicial immolation and burned at Nordnes. Surviving evidence strongly suggests that a popular cult developed around this Margrete of Nordnes (also called the ‘False Margrete’). This essay explores the extent to which the West Norse legacy of this so-called “folk saint” can be identified from what Jens Peter Schjødt calls the “jigsaw pieces” that history has bequeathed to us in a variety of narratives and historical documents. RESUME: I 1290 sætter Margrete, den 7-årige datter af kong Eiríkr II Magnússon af Norge og Margarete, datter af kong Alexander III af Skotland, ud på en rejse fra Norge til Skotland. Desværre dør Margrete, den forventede arving til Skotlands trone, undervejs, hvilket udløser en række internationale og dynastiske katastrofer. Ti år senere ankommer en kvinde til Bergen og hævder at være den afdøde prinsesse. Hun bliver dømt til brænding på bål og brændt på Nordnes. Overleverede vidnesbyrd tyder på, at der udviklede sig en populær kult omkring denne Margrete af Nordnes (også kaldet ’den falske Margrete’). Dette essay undersøger, i hvilket omfang de vestnordiske traditioner angående denne såkaldte ”folkehelgen” kan identificeres ud fra det, Jens Peter Schjødt kalder de ”puslespilsbrikker”, som historien har overleveret til os i en række forskellige fortællinger og historiske dokumenter.

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Cosmic Collisions

Kaye

1996

Golf Balls, Boomerangs and Asteroids

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Giotto's Portrait of Halley's Comet

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy

Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy

Margrete of Nordnes in Cult, Chronicle, and Ballad

Cosmic Collisions

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