Reviews for A History Of Painting In North Italy - Volume 1

The average rating for A History Of Painting In North Italy - Volume 1 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-03-04 00:00:00 Michael Osborne Many Palestines - The Whole History Published in 1934, de Haas created something we have not seen in recent decades, a sweeping - an objective history of the region free from the mythtakes of modern political bias. The emerging image is a land that ebbs and flows , situated at the crossroads of history, as empires large and small poured over its borders. [Often the dominant power is Turkish in origin and the population tends towards Jewish and Christian sects and non-Arab Muslims.] One is also struck by both the youth and variety of the rulers and inhabitants and how often they were replaced. Every century, sometimes every decade brings something new. At times De Haas will dive into details, yet elsewhere he only lists a few names, dates and allegiances. Summarizing the material cannot do it justice as the hinges of history here tend to be disjoint, but the following overview should give a sense of how history unfolds. The author divides his work into 23 chapters, which I think can be divided into 8 eras of approximately 200-350 years each. THE FIRST ERA from 35 BCE to 305 CE tracks the decline of Jewish Civilization and the dominance of Rome. It begins with Herod's capture of Jerusalem with the backing of Rome in 37 BCE. (pp26). Nominally Jews continue to rule the civil and religious sphere but exploiting local industries and the tax base generated by Temple offerings from Jews across the Empire, the Jewish State becomes a significant source of income funding the Empire and both a political prize and albatross requiring 1/6th of the Roman army to control. Jewish control of Jerusalem ceased in 136 CE with the failure of the 3rd Jewish revolt of Bar Kokba against Hadrian. Forbidden to reenter Jerusalem, Jews continue to dominate, evidenced by the continued practice of the Sabbatical year where the land is left fallow every one year in seven and Julius Caesar's relief against the produce tax for that year was still in effect at least 140 years later. Greeks and Romans settle around the periphery of the country. Alexander Severus allows Jews to return to Jerusalem, but after Alexander's assassination in 235 there followed a rapid succession of 20 different and inconsequential rulers in Rome over the next half century who lost control of the periphery of the empire. For a brief period from 267 until 273 Palestine was ruled by the charismatic and somewhat complex Zenobia (Bath-Zebinah) a syncretic Jewish-Christian (though anti-Trinitarian) -Plantonist-Pagan queen based in Palmyra who, with an army of seventy thosand was even able to briefly conquer Egypt! THE SECOND ERA features the rule of Byzantium and the rise of Christianity lasting until the Sassanid (Persian) invasion of Palestine in 614. It begins roughly 305 CE under the reign of Constantine who moves the Roman capital to Byzantium (Constantinople) and over saw the Council of Nicasaea in 325 which made Christianity the state religion of the Empire. In 351 CE Roman troops from Palestine were diverted against Persia enabling another failed Jewish revolt leading to the destruction of Sepphoris (Tzipori) , Tiberias and Lydia and the suppression of Jews. Emperor Julian takes the throne in 361. Favouring paganism and anti-Christian he proposes reconciliation with the Jews, but dies in 363. On the death of the Emperor Theodoseus in 395, the Roman Empire splits. Palestine remains in the eastern half and over the next 250 years Jerusalem was second to Rome as the centre of Christian pilgrimage, but the countryside falls into obscurity, Tiberias becomes the center of intellectual life for Palestinian Jews and the Jerusalem/Palestinian Talmud was completed during this period. THE THIRD ERA is marked by the confluence of Persia, rival Islamic empires and Byzantium ending in 908. In 604 the Persian (Sassanid) Emperor Chosroes II invades Mesopotamia, Arabia and by 614 he conquers Palestine. His campaign was aided by Benjamin of Tiberias who helped with financing and was joined by 26,000 Jews from the Galilee as well as many Samaritans who had been oppressed by the dominant local Christians. In 629 the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius retakes Jerusalem and in revenge massacres the Jews throughout the surrounding countryside, leaving their number greatly reduced for several centuries. (pp120). Heraclius' victory was short lived. His forces spent, he failed to defend the regained territory from the invading Islamic armies from the south. By 638 the Arabs were in control of Syria, Palestine and Jerusalem, making provincial capitals in Ramleh, Beisan , Tiberias and Damascus from where they levied taxes. Arab unity then as now was illusory. Mu'awiya, the govenor of Damascus asserted his independence from Mecca and retained control of Palestine establishing the Ommayad (Umayyad) dynasty. After several minor rulers after his death from old age, he was succeeded by Abd el Melek in 685 who built al Aksa and the Dome of the Rock which replaced the Caliph `Omars original building. The Ommayads were overthrown and slaughtered by the Abbasids in 750 who were backed the Persians, Khorassians and "the swords of the Seljuk Turks". The imperial capital changed from Damascus to a new city - Baghdad, constructed next to an older village of the same name. In 872 the Turkish born Ahmed ibn Tulun was made viceroy of Egypt. When Magur, the govenor of Syria died in 877, ibn Tulun gathered his Egyptian troops and took control of Damascus and Ramle - thus Palestine came under the rule of former Turkish slaves based in Egypt. FOURTH IS the period de Haas calls "200 Years of Confusion" which ends in 1098. Here the Ommayad Empire in Baghdad is reduced to irrelevances and is first dominated by a dynasty in Damascus known as Ishkids and is periodically attacked by Shiite raiders known as Carmathians. In 1033 and 1067 the country is ravaged by massive earthquakes and a 7 year drought in Egypt combined with a plague in 1057 decimates the population and lawlessness prevails. The Byzantines briefly reinvade in 1069 and are replaced by the newly assembled Fatimids based in their newly established city of Cairo. Then in 1071 the Seljuk Turks invade, are blocked at Jaffa by the Fatimids but manage to starve Jerusalem into submission, killing off 900 of its inhabitants. For the next 25 years the two empires fought and Palestine was further reduced to chaos. THE FIFTH ERA contains the rise and fall of the Crusader Kingdoms stretching north to Beirut and Tyre, bringing a new Christian infusion from Europe. There are many books which cover the crusades but this is a good overview. With the exception of Godfrey of Bouillon, de Haas is critical of the "millions who followed the Cross into Palestine", both in their moral behaviour and their military cooperation. Their defeat by Saladin is chronicled. Like later rulers they were tax farmers, not even engaging in trade, where Muslims, Jews and Syrian Christians paid most of the taxes. The Jews, who were not allowed to own land and were treated as inferior to Muslim produced most of the commerical production. Not allowed to bear arms they were generally under the protection of Venetian and Genoese trading houses. (pp307) There were still large numbers of Samaritans who were better tolerated with large numbers in Caesarea, Ascalon (Ashkelon) and Gaza. THE SIXTH ERA IS ANOTHER DARK AGE starting with the Mongol Invasions. In 1244 the horde of Barka Khan swept through Syria and Lebanon and then proceeded to slaughter their way through Galili, Jerusalem, Ramle and Jaffa. At the same the Egyptians invaded occupying Jerusalem and Tiberias while their allies the Kharezmians plundered the Jordan valley and coastal towns. Between the various opposing forces the cities and countryside were thoroughly sacked and decimated. Hulago Khan reached and destroyed Baghdad in 1255 and proceeded to Syria, reducing Damascus to ashes and moved south. The remaining residents of Jerusalem fled and the city again was sacked. Moving westward the horde encountered the Egyptian army of Bibars at Ain Jalud and in the Plain of Esdraelon and were driven back. Bibars then turned on the Christians of Galili and the coast, leaving only Acre, defended by Templars, and Sidon as Christian strongholds. During next centuries from 1292-1516 Syria-Palestine was dominated by Mamluks and Mongols the later amalgamating with Turkic Tartars, the most prominent example the competing tyrants Timurlane the Tartar and Bayezid the Mamluk Turk. Equally devastating was a long series of natural disasters including earthquakes, storms, locusts, drought, murraine, famine and disease. (de Haas doesn't mention the Black Plague by name, but this would have been a part of it.) Jerusalem lost all political significance, even for pilgrims and Jaffa was completely destroyed - by 1421 it was completely uninhabited. (pp300). Gaza , the most prominent city, both for trade and as a military assembly point was twice the size of Jerusalem, Jericho was "a collection of huts", though Ramle was well populated and meeting place for traders and pilgrims. The eastern frontier of Kerak (Jordan) was dominated by Bedouin raiders, the sea by pirates. The early 14th century saw an influx of eastern Christians and Jews, the latter settling in what is now the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Ramleh. Restrictive laws forced Christians, Jews and Samaritans to identify themselves with blue, yellow and red turbans and only Muslims were allowed to ride horses, bear arms or pray loudly. Towards the end of this period the Tartars receded but were effectively replaced by the Othman Turks. The Mamluk regime underwent a period of stability lasting 29 years under the Circassian Kait Bai, who invested in building in Jerusalem, however his successors misspent the treasury and Vasco da Gama's discovery of a new route to India was the final blow to Mamluk trade. THE 7TH ERA document the rise of the Ottomans and lasts from 1516-1797. Selim I, fresh from his bloody conquest of Persia, took on the Mamluks first in Syria, then proceded to Gaza, then headed west where the final battle took place in Khan Yunis, giving him effective control of Palestine. However, having conquered the territory, other than some initial curiousity over Jerusalem, he showed little interest other than the extraction of taxes. And other than the building program of his son, Suleiman the Magnificent, neither did his successors. Both Selim and Suleiman had cordial relations with the Jews, and Suleiman welcomed large numbers of Jewish refugees from Spain throughout his empire, especially Tiberias and Safed, however the friendly relationship with the court did not translate well with the locals, nor were Christians included - they were barred from settling in Nazareth and restricted in Jerusalem. The Jews fared more poorly under the short reign of Murad II (1574-94) who ordered their execution as he did not like their ostentatious clothing - through special pleading he agreed that they should be marked by wearing small turbans. The lack of protection from above led to persecutions in Damascus, Safed and Jerusalem. The 18th century was marked by the exploits of two local warlords. Zaher ed `Omar of Tiberias, son of a Bedouin chief, began as a brigand, and through alliances with other Bedouin tribes, wound up controlling most of northern Palestine as far as Sidon, except for Jerusalem, and he allied with Ali Bey, who fomented a revolution against the Porte in Cairo. He was succeeded by el Djezzar (ltterally "the Butcher") known for ear cropping, nose splitting, eye gouging and executions as judge, jury and executioner. A native of Bosnia or Albania he rose under Ali Bey to the position of governor of Beirut. Switching to the Turkish side he took part in the final attack on Zaher and was rewarded with the governorship of Sidon which included Acre, where he proceeded to murder all of Zaher's relatives. By 1783 he had control of a region from "Dog River" (Nahr al-Kalb) north of Beirut to Caesaria, and as far east t as the Jordan and the Anti-Lebanon in the north. Jaffa OTOH was part of the Sanjak of Gaza, and belonged as a tax farm to the Sultan's mother-in-law. However el Djezzar's quarrels with French traders at Acre provided an excuse for Napoleon's attempt at invasion. Zaher continued to rule until his death in 1803/4 and he was succeeded by his Jewish treasurer Hayim Farchi, who was said to be a benign ruler, until he was murdered in 1820 by Abdallah, son of the Pasha of Tripoli, whom he had taken in 5 years before as an administrative apprentice being groomed for higher office. THE 8TH AND FINAL ERA IS that of European Rediscovery and the Return of the Jews. The British reversal of Napoleon's thrust into Egypt and the Levant demonstrated the weakness of Ottoman control of its provinces. Mehmet Ali, an Albanian, having distinguished himself in campaigns against the French and the Mamluks, rose quickly to become Viceroy of Egypt. In 1827, using as a pretext the migration of 6000 Egyptian fellaheen to Acre (and the loss of their taxes), Ali sent his son Ibrahim launched an attack against Abdallah, and, armed with a demand against the Sultan for his independent rule of Egypt, continued step by step to take Jaffa, Jerusalem, Homs, Beirut, Damascus and Aleppo and Koniah, Mehmet and Ibrahim's rule was both firm and and outwardly fair. He brought the widespread problem of Bedouin brigands who had terrorized the countryside under control, invested in agricultural development, particularly in the planting of cotton and mulberries for the silk trade, and abolished the unequal treatment of Christians under the law, nullifying the dress code and giving equal weight to their testimony in court. OTOH he raised taxes and "aided" his subjects to pay them by loaning them money at 22%, and ordered conscription as a community levy, which led to an unsuccessful uprising in 1834. He also opened up the Levant to foreign consuls, giving Europeans a foothold in the Holy Land for the first time since the Crusades. Mehmet's ambitions proved to be his undoing. The Sultan, Mahmoud II, enlists the help of the major European powers, Russia, Austria, Prussia, England and France (though France drops out in 1840) and Ibrahim, like Napoleon before him, is driven back to Egypt by British forces. Regrettably, both the English and the Egyptians employ a scorched earth policy, leaving much of Palestine in ruins. Mahmoud's successor, Abdul Mejid, becomes Sultan in 1839, and, after Mehmet's defeat, chooses to continue his reforms. The 1841 Tanzimat declaration theoretically granted equality and security of life and property to Muslims, Christians and Jews, though Muslims resented the loss of status and the actual implementation was imperceptibly slow. Additional reforms, at least on paper, was the 1859 Mejelle or civil code and the 1856 land reforms allowing non-Muslims for the first time to purchase property. More significant, esp in Jerusalem, was the effect of the capitulations, which gave Europeans the ability to take minorities under their protection, both from the courts and from taxes. Another characteristic of the age was the introduction of Protestant missionaries who, forbidden from converting Muslims, attempted to convert Jews and eastern Christians to Protestantism. With the exception of Midhat Pasha, most of the Ottoman administration had little interest in the development Palestine other than in the collection of taxes. Except for some roads built by conscripted labour in the 90s, most improvements were created by foreigners. As of 1909 Beersheba was a mere trading post, and in 1910 Jews began a new city next to Jaffa called Tel Aviv (de Haas translates this as mundanely as "Springdale"), after the name given to Herzl's book, "Altneuland" in Hebrew. The book concludes with a summary of Zionism, the 1st World War and the early days of the Mandate. There are some difficulties with the book. One is the lack of maps which would greatly improve understanding, another would be timelines, I found myself often referring to the classic Wall Chart of World History: From Earliest Times To The Present and googling names to complement the perspective of the book. De Haas does provide backing references through footnotes, but not enough to allow one to verify each detail. However, as a resource de Haas has a depth and breadth incomparable to anyone else, which is what makes it so significant. One could build a museum around it. Until something better comes along I don't think one can say one truly understands the history of the last 2 millennia of the land without taking in this book. Without reservation, recommended!

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-28 00:00:00 Edgar Lopez This book is a little dated. There are mentions of letters that eventually changed numbers as more letters were found and added as well as one of the Bedrooms at the time of this book being written that hung in the Louvre that is no longer there. I for one don’t quite see this as the book I hoped for when I read the description. Although the author shows multiple different possibilities that could have made Vincent the way he was, no matter what the main idea is it always comes with a religious base. In Art History, we only touched that with ‘Oh he was a religious man before he started painting’ and that is it. I had never seen any of his paintings with a religious idea or affiliation/hidden symbols, besides the ones he copied the originals of earlier artist that were religious paintings. Also, I never saw Vincent with any sort of Homosexual intention or thought. Reading other books about him, I would have never thought that one of his frustrations could have been for his conflicting feelings of possible homosexual intent. He never really came across as that, and with myself understanding the struggles of being apart of the LGBTQ+ Community, I would have never guess he may have been queer. His love and longing to be married and have children just seems way to strong for him...plus he only admired Gauguin as the artist he was, not as the person (Gauguin was often incredibly rude to Vincent and Vincent’s style of art). I love Van Gogh and his artwork and will always admirer him as one of my favorite artists of all time, and although there are some ideas I downright disagree with put forth by this author, it was still an interesting read.