Main content
Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 3
Lesson 3: Painting in central Italy- Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi
- Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi
- Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi (reframed)
- Masaccio, Virgin and Child Enthroned
- Masaccio, The Holy Trinity
- Masaccio, Holy Trinity
- Masaccio, Holy Trinity (quiz)
- Masaccio, The Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel
- Masaccio, The Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel
- Masaccio, Tribute Money (quiz)
- Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden
- Fra Angelico, The Annunciation (Prado)
- Fra Angelico, The Annunciation
- Fra Angelico's Annunciation (quiz)
- Uccello, The Battle of San Romano
- Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with two Angels
- Lippi, Madonna and Child with Two Angels
- Lippi, Madonna and Child with two Angels (quiz)
- Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child
- Lippi, Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement
- Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration
- Benozzo Gozzoli, The Medici Palace Chapel frescoes
- Beyond the Madonna, an early image of enslaved people in Renaissance Florence
- Veneziano, St. Lucy Altarpiece
- Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of Ten Nudes
- Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter
- Ghirlandaio, Birth of the Virgin
- Cassone with the Conquest of Trebizond
- Botticelli, Primavera
- A celebration of beauty and love: Botticelli's Birth of Venus
- Botticelli, Birth of Venus (quiz)
- Botticelli, Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici
- Portraits and fashion: Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman
- Napoleon's booty — Perugino's (gorgeous) Decemviri Altarpiece
- The Early Renaissance in Florence (including painting, sculpture and architecture) (quiz)
- Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ
- Piero della Francesca, Baptism of Christ (quiz)
- Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation of Christ
- A Renaissance masterpiece nearly lost in war: Piero della Francesca, The Resurrection
- Piero della Francesca, Resurrection
- Piero della Francesca, Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino
- Piero della Francesca, Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino (quiz)
- Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell
- Martini, Architectural Veduta
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Napoleon's booty — Perugino's (gorgeous) Decemviri Altarpiece
Napoleon's invasion led to art pieces being scattered across Europe, changing its cultural landscape. The altarpiece by Perugino, originally meant to be together, was split. Recently, these pieces were reunited for a special exhibition, highlighting the importance of their original location and the artist's skill. A conversation with Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris in front of Perugino, Madonna and Child with Sts Laurence, Louis of Toulouse, Ercolanus and Constance (Decemviri Altarpiece), 1495–96, tempera on wood, 193 x 165 cm (Vatican Museums). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why is Napoleon's booty so big?(8 votes)
- Napoleon's armies went far and wide, stole a lot of stuff for him, and brought it back.(3 votes)
- Not the title being: Napoleon's Booty lol.(6 votes)
- that was a cool story !(1 vote)
- 2019? that was so long ago!(1 vote)
Video transcript
(gentle music) - [Beth] We're in the National
Museum of Umbria in Perugia, looking at a special exhibition that has united two works of art that are normally separated, but which were meant to be together. This is an altarpiece by Perugino, the great artist from Perugia. - [Steven] The painting
was taken by Napoleon when he invaded northern Italy, and so this is an extraordinary event. These objects have not
been together since. - [Beth] Napoleon's armies
confiscated thousands of works of art in the
territories that he conquered. - [Steven] Now he did this in order to, as the revolutionaries said, liberate work of arts
from oppressive regimes, that is, from nobles and kings
and monasteries and churches, and bring it on to what they
considered the free soil of post-Revolutionary France. The very best works would
end up at the Louvre, and works not selected
were sold or warehoused or simply lost. And so it was in the early 19th century that many works that had been
in their original locations were dislocated and ended
up in museums across Europe and the United States. After Napoleon was defeated,
the decision was made that the British would
not take the French booty, but instead, Wellington said, these works must be returned
to their original locations. But not all of the works ended up where they were supposed to go. - [Beth] The Pope put the
sculptor Canova in charge of returning the works of art to Italy, and this painting ended
up in the Vatican Museums, but of course the frame and the top image were here in Perugia, so for the last more than 200 years, they've been separated,
thanks to Napoleon. - [Steven] And Perugia,
of course, was dismayed that the painting was in the Vatican and asked for its return, and it wasn't until this year, 2019, and only for a special loan show that this painting and
frame and the upper painting have been reunited. After the exhibition in Perugia ends, the ensemble will travel to the Vatican for a second showing. - [Beth] But in Perugia, we have the great fortune
of seeing this work in the location for which it was made. This is an important space
for the city of Perugia, the place of the seat of government. - [Steven] And perhaps
even more important, specifically in a room that is a chapel. And in fact, we had to wait a few minutes before we could come into this room because a mass was being said here. - [Beth] And around the walls here, we see fresco scenes that are
important to the civic life, the religious life of Perugia and its governming council of 10. In fact, this is known as
the "Decemviri Altarpiece," the Altarpiece of 10 Men. The original commission was
intended to feature the 10 men, but the commission went
through various phases, and this is what we have in the end. - [Steven] The circumstances
of this painting remind us of the important of place. - [Beth] There's a civic pride that's associated with Perugino, with this altarpiece
in this important space in this town hall in
the center of Perugia. We often think about
Perugino as the teacher of the great artist Raphael, but Perugino was such an
amazing artist in his own right. - [Steven] Perugino has created an ideal and yet completely convincing space. He's given us this elaborate
classicizing throne on which sits the Virgin
Mary and the Christ Child, surrounded by four local saints, with just a hint of
this expansive landscape and this glorious open sky. - [Beth] There's that
Renaissance interest in figures who are very real, who
are three-dimensional, who have weight, where the drapery describes the
form of the body underneath, and the figures are in correct proportion, this fascinating thing that
happens in the Renaissance of locating the
transcendent in the earthly. - [Steven] It's so clear that Raphael paid attention to Perugino. There's a softness, a
sweetness, a quietness that exists in Perugino's
work that Raphael adopts. - [Beth] So what we have
together in this altarpiece is the Madonna enthroned in
Heaven, sacra conversazionne, the saints fought together
around the Virgin and Child, and then above that, Christ
standing at his tomb, displaying the wounds of the crucifixion, the promise of salvation,
of life after death. Napoleon's confiscation of
works of art forever changed the cultural landscape of Europe. (gentle music)