“The Duke and Duchess of Urbino, 1472” is an early Italian Renaissance painting by Pierro Della Francesca– a double portrait, which tells the story of of a dead wife and crazy military general who believed self-mutilation would fulfill his military destiny. Discover the hidden symbolism in Renaissance paintings with host and student of journalism and art history, Juliette Sarah.  This week, hear about Renaissance beauty standards from special guest Karen.

Piero Della Francesca, The Duke and Duchess of Urbino,1472

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JULIETTE: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Renaissance Rebels- a podcast for Italian renaissance art nerds. I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy during this trying time. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the coronavirus pandemic. I am your host, Juliette, and later on I’ll be joined by a special guest who’s going to give us insight into Renaissance beauty standards.

JULIETTE: Today, were going to get back to discussing the hidden gems of Italian Renaissance paintings. That’s right, if you’ve been sitting at home binge watching Netflix detective shows, get ready to put your learned skills to the test. Since the coronavirus brought this crazy wave of shock over us, I’m going to stick with the theme of surprise and show you guys one of the craziest paintings from the Renaissance which sits in the Uffizi art gallery in Florence.

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JULIETTE: We’ll be discussing Piero Della Francesca’s portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino, painted in 1472. As an art history student with a focus in the Italian Renaissance, I spent a ton of time studying this painting.

JULIETTE: Upon first glance of the portrait, one could hardly tell that the painting tells the story of a dead wife and crazy military general who believed self-mutilation would fulfill his military destiny.

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JULIETTE: That’s right, it’s a wild painting. Maybe that’s why the painting is so admired- because it is so incredibly deceiving to the eye. I think that’s definitely why I love it. Let’s take a closer look at the double portrait, also known in the Italian Renaissance as a Diptych.

JULIETTE: Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino married his second wife, Battista Sforza, the duchess of the Milanese Sforza Dynasty- on February 8, 1460. (wedding bell rings). But unfortunately, Battista Sforza died after giving birth to her second child with Montefeltro, a son called Camerino, at just 25 years old in July of 1472.

JULIETTE: Federico commissioned Piero della Francesca to paint the following portrait to commemorate her life. Art Historians believe that that Piero della Francesca painted Battista Sforza’s portrait from a real death mask.

JULIETTE: –yes… during the Italian Renaissance, the noble elite would have a mask made in likeliness of a person’s face after their death made, usually by taking a cast or impression from the corpse, so we can assume that this is exactly what she looked like. We can also assume that Piero della Francesca painted Sforza with the same color her corpse possessed which is why she is so much lighter than her husband.

JULIETTE: Let’s talk about her beauty routine. You might think that’s a weird thing to talk about considering that her hairstyle is probably the ugliest thing I’ve seen since I last looked at my middle school uniform. They say no pain no gain, or beauty is pain, but when does it become too much?

JULIETTE: The Sforza duchess has removed her eyebrows and plucked her hairline back towards the center of her scalp to achieve the beautiful high forehead admired at this time. Look, today people get plastic surgery and lip injections to look like a Kardashian because they think that that’s beautiful. But in the Renaissance, beauty conventions were definitely different, and may I even say equally as horrifying? one thing, though, that has remained certain since the Renaissance is that gentlemen prefer blondes.

JULIETTE: No but really, how and why did the Italian women of the Renaissance die their hair blonde? Early Italian Renaissance poet and Humanist Francesco Petrarch, born in 1304, would write poems of his beloved Laura over a period of about 20 years and dedicated countless books and love poems to her.An angelic harp plays.

JULIETTE: In poem 197, Petrarch writes,

“Her blonde hair, and the noose of curls,

that binds the soul, armed with humility

not weapons, so gently and so tightly.”

JULIETTE: Almost every poem of Petrarch’s was a fetishization of Laura’s blonde hair. It was rly weird. Women naturally desired to adhere to the beauty ideals of the time– so blonde it was.

JULIETTE: We’re going to hear from Karen Smith, a hairstylist and Wella Master Color Expert in West Hollywood, California on how women of the Italian Renaissance used horse urine to lighten their hair to a “Laura Blonde”.

JULIETTE: Hi, Good evening.

KAREN: Hello.

JULIETTE: Hi. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us during this difficult time. How are you staying strong during this quarantine?

KAREN:  It’s a trying time but were all in it together and I’m just taking each day as it comes because it is what it is.

JULIETTE: Exactly… yeah. Anyways so thanks for coming to talk to us. So, can you tell me the process of how Italian women in the Renaissance lightened their hair?

KAREN: They would use horse urine, walnut shells, tree bark, alum, apples, vinegar, honey—I think they would mix it together, mash it up—sometimes they would boil the apples.

JULIETTE: And then they would apply it to the hair?

KAREN: They would apply it to the hair with a comb, or a brush.

JULIETTE: So quite similar to the way you apply bleach and other lightening materials to your clients today?

KAREN: Yes, it’s just evolved a lot, the process has evolved but it’s still the same idea and I suppose we’ve taken our ideas from them, from many years ago.

JULIETTE: Yeah. So of course, today we have hair dryers, and I’m not sure what it’s called- a bonnet—when you sit under the hair dryer—

KAREN: A hood dryer—

JULIETTE: A hood dryer—right when you have color in your hair but what would they use back then to develop their color.

KAREN: The sun!

JULIETTE: They would use the sun?

KAREN: The sun!

JULIETTE: How long would it take them because today I believe it takes 45 minuets for my hair color to develop. How long would it take them in the Renaissance?

KAREN: Well it was a very organic way to do it. I think it would take—it depends how light they wanted their hair—but I think it would take weeks to get it that light. I have read through research that these women spent five days in the sun [for their color to develop].

JULIETTE: Wow that’s crazy!

KAREN: I know.

JULIETTE: This might be a really weird question, but have you ever heard of anyone doing anything similar to this today or is just the idea of bleaching hair similar enough?

KAREN: I think it’s just the idea—yeah, I think there are some very natural ingredients but it’s definitely not the same.

JULIETTE: So, you mention that the women of the renaissance used horse urine, but do you know why they specifically used a horse?

KAREN: I believe that the pH of the urine in a hose is higher—

JULIETTE: Higher than any other animal?

KAREN: Could be a cow, human. But I think the pH level is higher in a horse. Yeah so, the chemical reaction with the sun—the heat—would lighten the hair.

JULIETTE: Lighten the hair.

KAREN: Yeah.

JULIETTE: Wow. Denarys Targaryen.

KAREN: Marilyn Monroe.

JULIETTE: Exactly. Well thank you so much for coming to talk to us today.

KAREN: You’re welcome.

JULIETTE: Thank you.

KAREN: It’s been a pleasure.

JULIETTE: Thank you.

Well thank you so much for your time and expertise.

Hey Renaissance Rebels, were back for pt. two.

We’re going to get back to talking about the Duke and Duchess, the significance of their double portrait and all of its hidden symbolism and historical significance. Were also going to be talking about the artist behind the portrait, Pierro della Francesca, the Florentinian early Italian renaissance master of portraiture, mathematics and Humanism.

So, the portrait of the couple also has a high sense of formality disguised by their stark geometric profile which renders ancient Roman coinage, which by the way, the humanists of Montefeltro’s court and other humanist courts at this time were actively collecting.

Both figures also tower over the serene Netherlandish inspired landscape and give them a symbolic sense of power over the land.

JULIETTE: The man of the house, Federico da Montefeltro, was a Condottieri- an Italian captain contracted to command mercenary companies during the early modern period. So basically, the pope or European Monarchs would hire him to lead his elite army into battle for them. Looking for an army for hire? Call the Duke of Montefeltro, he won’t disappoint. Montefeltro was the singular most successful condottieri of the Italian Renaissance and Duke of Urbino from 1444 until his death in 1482.

JULIETTE: So now the part you guys have been waiting for… onto the Dukes nose, or at least what’s left of it.

JULIETTE: The Duke is known to have lost his right eye and part of his nose due to injuries sustained during a jousting tournament, which is why the painting portrays him from the left side rather than the traditional right side. Artist Pierro della Francesca was not afraid to challenge tradition to adhere to his client’s needs.

JULIETTE: But Did the duke lose the bridge of his nose in the jousting tournament? No!

JULIETTE: The Duke subsequently underwent nasal surgery to remove tissue from the bridge of his nose in order to expand his visual field in an attempt to compensate for the lost eye and reduced some of the effects of ocular parallax. This man truly believed that cutting out the top of his nose would give him better sight and solidify his place as the best condottieri in Italy.

JULIETTE: Although it is unknown if Monetefeltro had better sight after the removal of part of his nose, we do know that it surprisingly did not pose as a future health concern to him.

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JULIETTE: The Renaissance marked a great cultural change and is viewed as a bridge between the medieval and modern ages. Scholars of the Renaissance are known as Humanists- a philosophical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively.

It was this explosion of free thinking that eventually spread to the artists and architects in the fifteenth century. The independent city-states of central and northern Italy such as Florence provided ideal conditions for the emergence of Humanism with their economically successful institutions such as banking and universities.

Active members of humanist circles considered themselves to be living in a golden age, superior to anything since the fall of the Roman thousands of years earlier, with painting, sculpture, music, poetry and architecture all awakening to a revival after sleeping for centuries. They called this Paragone- which translates as competition- where all creative displays of emotions and art like painting music and literature would compete for the top prize.

Last but not least, who was the artist, Pierro della Francesca? Although you most likely have never heard of him, you may know one of his followers, Michelangelo.

Born in Florence in 1416, Pierro Della Francesca was one of the most admired 15- Century Italian painters known for his cool color pallet and geometric compositions as highlighted here in the double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. He was a founding member of the early Italian Renaissance- the rebirth of an ancient, majestic, and powerful empire. Francesca considered himself a mathematical theorist, which can be noted in his art through the definition of his figure’s volumes and his usage of accurate perspective.

This balance in Renaissance art is called naturalism and derives from northern territories such as the Netherlands. Francesca’s Double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino not only proves that Francesca himself studied Netherlandish art, but rather proof that other Florentine artists at the time were influenced by their frequent encounters with northern art.

Nothing is known about Francesca’s early training as a painter, though it is assumed that he was instructed by local masters who had been influenced by Sienese art. Francesca’s patrons were among the most powerful men in all of Italy: Of course the Duke of Urbino, Sigismund Malatesta in Rimini and Pope Nickolas V in Rome.

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JULIETTE: Federico de montefeltro—the man who would always be painted from the side– was the embodiment of renaissance values. His court came to reflect the virtues of the Renaissance in art, intellectualism, justice, governance, and public welfare in Urbino. Urbino became the UNESCO World Heritage Site that it is today solely because of Montefeltro’s efforts to turn the town into a Renaissance fairytale, which it still is to this day. He earnt vast amounts of money in his service to the papacy and other city states such as Milan and even Florence. He was only sixteen when he began his career as a condotierri, but he truly made his name at the 1441 conquest of the castle of St. Leo.

His income between 1451 and his death in 1482 has been estimated to reach over a million and a half ducats—most of which he is believed to have spent on Humanist pursuits at his Court for the city of Urbino. His court was so advanced that he made sure they received a copy of Commandino’s Latin translation of Euclid’s Elements. The architects of his three-story hillside palace in Urbino, known today as the Ducal Palace, were Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio and was built as a symbol of his ambition for peace amidst his time as a military leader where he had seen much death and sorrow.

The Duke was born as the illegitimate son of the lord of Urbino, but two years later was made legitimate by Pope Martin V. In 1444, Federico’s half-brother was assassinated and while there has of course been speculation that this was the work of Federico, there is no evidence to back this up. However, this did result in his ascension to the role of Duke of Urbino.

At one point, the city of Urbino, and Montefeltros family were in debt, and he was surrounded by enemies both within its city and outside its great walls. As a result, he formed an alliance with Francesco Sforza, Battista Sforza’s Uncle, who restored his family’s fortune in return for taking his niece’s hand in marriage to solidify their union. Although this sounds like a shitty arranged marriage, there are actually reports that they were happily married, and that Montefeltro was devastated by her death—hence why he commissioned Della Francesca to paint their double portrait so their memories could live together forever.

JULIETTE: So guys, I’ll leave you with that, that’s it for today. Thank you so much for your time and I hope you have enjoyed the podcast. If you want to know more about the artist Pierro Della Francesca himself, click on the link below. Tune in next week to hear about Italian Renaissance paintings that portray the black plague, in keeping in theme with the Corona Virus pandemic. One again, this is Renaissance Rebel, goodnight.

Special Guest: Karen Smith- 310-874-4080. 454 N. Robertson salon.

House Sforza: was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti Family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last member of the family’s main branch in 1535

House Montefeltro: An Italian Renaissance family who became the Duchy of Urbino in 1443. The family extinguished in the male line in 1508 and the duchy was inherited by the Della Rovere family.

Condottieri: Italian Renaissance military captains contracted to command multinational army’s.

Episode 1: Welcome, Renaissance Rebel

Episode 2: La Fornarina: from bakers daughter to Raphaels lover.

Episode 3: Why didn’t Leonardo da Vinci consider himself an artist? Science v. Art.

Episode 4: Flowers for spring? How Original: Botticelli’s Spring fresco

Episode 5: Who was the lady with the Ermine?