Volatile organic compounds in truffle (Tuber magnatum Pico): Comparison of samples from different regions of Italy and from different seasons

In this paper volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from Tuber magnatum fruiting bodies were analyzed using a PTR-TOF-MS instrument. The aim was to characterize the VOC's profile of the fruiting bodies and identify if any VOCs were specific to a season and geographical areas. Multiple factorial analysis (MFA) was carried out on the signals obtained by MS. Experiments using ITS region sequencing proved that the T. magnatum life cycle includes the formation of fruiting bodies at two different times of the year. The VOCs profiles diverge when different seasonal and geographical productions are considered. Using PTR-TOF-MS, compounds present at levels as low pptv were detected. This made it possible to determine both the origin of fruiting bodies (Alba and San Miniato) and the two biological phases of fruiting bodies formation in San Miniato truffles

Tuberomics: a molecular profiling for the adaption of edible fungi (Tuber magnatum Pico) to different natural environments

Background: Truffles are symbiotic fungi that develop underground in association with plant roots, forming ectomycorrhizae. They are primarily known for the organoleptic qualities of their hypogeous fruiting bodies. Primarily, Tuber magnatum Pico is a greatly appreciated truffle species mainly distributed in Italy and Balkans. Its price and features are mostly depending on its geographical origin. However, the genetic variation within T. magnatum has been only partially investigated as well as its adaptation to several environments. Results: Here, we applied an integrated omic strategy to T. magnatum fruiting bodies collected during several seasons from three different areas located in the North, Center and South of Italy, with the aim to distinguish them according to molecular and biochemical traits and to verify the impact of several environments on these properties. With the proteomic approach based on two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by mass spectrometry, we were able to identify proteins specifically linked to the sample origin. We further associated the proteomic results to an RNA-seq profiling, which confirmed the possibility to differentiate samples according to their source and provided a basis for the detailed analysis of genes involved in sulfur metabolism. Finally, geographical specificities were associated with the set of volatile compounds produced by the fruiting bodies, as quantitatively and qualitatively determined through proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In particular, a partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model built from the latter data was able to return high confidence predictions of sample source. Conclusions: Results provide a characterization of white fruiting bodies by a wide range of different molecules, suggesting the role for specific compounds in the responses and adaptation to distinct environments

The Medici, Verrocchio, and San Lorenzo

This thesis addresses the subject of two Medici family tombs designed by Andrea del Verrocchio for the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. One is the tomb of Cosimo de’ Medici and the other a dual tomb for his sons, Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici. In dealing with this subject, the paper discusses the Medici’s rise to power in Florence, Verrocchio’s career leading up to the tombs, and the important relationship between the Medici and San Lorenzo. The family donated lavishly to the rebuilding of the church and received in return spiritual aid and extraordinary burial sites. Upon first looking at these tombs, they seem beautiful, but simple. They are a stark visual contrast to the ornate Medici tombs in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo that were later designed by Michelangelo. The tomb of Cosimo is marked with a simple floor slab in the crossing of the church, and the tomb of his sons in the Old Sacristy, though decorated with intricate bronzework, seems to be a rather modest monument in some respects. It is the work of this thesis to disprove these first impressions. Upon closer scrutiny, it becomes clear that Verrocchio and his patrons chose sumptuous materials, unusual locations within the church, and inspiration from classical sources to create enduring monuments that serve the purpose of not only memorializing the men, but also aiding their souls in the afterlife

The context and function of four exceptions to effigial wall tomb patronage in Quattrocento Florence

Entitlement to burial in a wall tomb with sculpted effigy, the Florentine tomb-type above all others in honor and prestige, belonged solely to members of the ecclesiastical elite throughout the Trecento and into the Quattrocento, but that changed in the mid-1440s with the inclusion of the most illustrious laymen among those memorialized by this type of monument. This modification of patronage, however, does not signify a major reform that allowed unmitigated access to the tomb-type for all laymen of high repute. On the contrary, eighteen of the twenty-two known effigial wall tombs erected in Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries commemorate individuals of religious prominence, such as popes, cardinals, bishops, saints, beati, and founders of religious houses. The remaining four tombs and their interred—Leonardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Giuliano Davanzati, and Bernardo Giugni—constitute the subject of this thesis, which aims to understand these exceptions to centuries-old Florentine burial customs from a sociological perspective, viewing them not merely as independent funerary monuments, but as part of a broader and richer context. It examines the biographies of each man, revealing that devotion to the greater good above all else represents the common thread running through the lives of all four. It then analyzes the iconography of their tombs, which memorialize each man’s qualities and accomplishments that made him worthy of Christian salvation as well as perpetual fame. This thesis also explores the function and context of the four tombs as a collective. The visual references to the intellectual, social, and civic aspects of the interred and their lives evoked the classical past by publicly honoring and commemorating to the highest degree men who exemplified the ideal citizen, in the same manner as their ancient forebears, which the classicizing architectural forms and imagery reinforced. In breaking with tradition to allow the burial of these four men in Florence’s most honorific tomb-type, the state found an effective means of rewarding those whose active civic pride and devoted public service significantly benefitted or glorified Florence, inspiring others to the same and connecting the Republic and her citizens to the ancient past

Saintly doctors : the early iconography of SS. Cosmas and Damian in Italy

The Italian iconography of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian reflects fluctuations in the fortunes of the cult of those saints with significant variations in appearance and meaning being tied to changes in the position of the saints with respect to function, as miraculous healers, as representatives of professional doctors and as patrons of a powerful family. This study considers the development of the iconography of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian in Italy, beginning with the emergence of images in the late antique period. These early representations are explored within the context of the historic and liturgical origins of the cult of SS. Cosmas and Damian with particular attention paid to the hagiography and more specfically the miracle stories which provide a significant amount of information about the role of images in a Christian healing cult. Evidence that sheds light on the early development of the iconography of the saints reflecting their position within the broader context of the establishment of Christian healers in direct opposition to their popular pagan counterparts. In the fourteenth century the appearance of SS. Cosmas and Damian was transformed mirroring the appearance of contemporary doctors, which in turn reflected the professionalisation of medicine and the role of the saints as patrons to members of that profession. This iconographic development is considered in the context of sources such as university statutes and civic sumptuary regulations that helped to shape the environment of increasing specialization that resulted in the necessity of a distinctive costume for qualified professionals. At the same time there remained continuity in the position SS. Cosmas and Damian inhabited in the popular imagination with images of the saints continuing to be associated with their traditional role as miraculous healers. Finally the large number of images commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century are examined. At this time the position of the saints, as intercessors for and protectors of the Medici family allowed them to appear in unfamiliar locations granting them a civic and political relevance not achieved before in the history of the cult. The clear identification of the saints with the family allowed them to act as a reminder of the family’s position in Florence and for a time the doctors were known as family patrons rather than solely as doctors and healers

Salvation Through Religion. The Rebirth Of The Classics In Arent Passer’s Oeuvre.

Arent Passer is an artist who was discovered for art history by Sten Karling in 1938, and who since that time has merited ever greater attention. Both Helmi Üprus and Krista Kodres have written about Passer. The author has also touched on the subject of Passer in his previous writings, this primarily in connection with the House of the Black Heads in Tallinn, Passer’s  position as a stonemason and town architect, and his workshop located in Tallinn’s Kalamaja suburb. In this article, a closer examination is made of Tallinn’s opus magnum of the Renaissance era – the sepulchral monument of Pontus de la Gardie – several aspects of which still provoke questions, despite the repeated attention it has already received. First of all, the article focuses on the topic of death and its various interpretations during the spiritual and cultural period of transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era, in the course of which various religious and cultural impulses did not succeed each other, but existed simultaneously. This provides an opportunity to read the monument by using the death cult and its  Augustinian tradition as a point of departure along with the reform-minded changes of the modern era, thereby linking the verbal and pictorial programmes with two different representations of death – in the eternal and temporal field of vision. The primary carrier of the monument’s  ideological message is the spirit of the Renaissance, which invests in the role of the individual and his genius, with the focus of attention in this case being one of the greatest heroes of the era – Pontus de la Gardie and his famous victories on the battlefield. Along with an emphasis on the denial of the body, deformation and decomposition typical of the Late Middle Ages, as well as the freeing and salvation of the soul, the visual rhetoric of the monument addresses the humanist era man and his humane nature, which is displayed on the monument by a dominant imagery based on the classics of Antiquity. A sign of the latter is the composition based on  architectural order and the allegories Spes and Fides, which is utilised in the cenotaph designed to be an altar-like triptych. Similarly the dominant emblems of victory on the sarcophagus originate from a widespread and updated field of art, the geography of which stretches from Italy to  Burgundy, Flanders, Antwerp and finally Tallinn. Arent Passer was the first emissary in the Baltics of the Mannerism that developed as a late phase ofthe Renaissance, and the origins, and most probably also early years, of which are associated with the style and workshop of Cornelis Floris and the masters that grew out of it – from Willem Boy to Philip Brandin, who fulfilled large-scale commissions in various royal courts. The patron of both the Gustav Vasa and Pontus de la Gardie monuments was Johann III , King of Sweden, which provides an opportunity to seek and discover connections in the developed circle related to the artist’s style, choice of motifs and approach to ornamentation. At his most outstanding, Passer attains the level of his distinguished compatriots. Whereas the Passer name alludes most probably to the Passchen family that set out from Antwerp, the most distinguished member of which was Henri de Paschen, the builder of the Royal Exchange in London. After arriving in Tallinn, Arent Passer spent more than forty industrious years there. During his time in the former Hanseatic town imbued with the traditions of the past, his work loses its initial brilliance, the three-dimensional plastic approach in sculpture is taken over by bas-reliefs and flat surfaces, and one can increasingly speak of Passer as being tied to the town through his responsibilities as the builder of the town’s fortifications and the head of his workshop. While living in Tallinn, Passer was indisputably not only an authority figure, but also the sole executor of the most important commissions. Conserving his Netherlandish roots, Passer’s workshop repeats the same models through the years, which, in the case of the numerous architectural details that decorate the town (for example, the biforate windows at Rüütli 14), allow us to speak more about a so-called “Passer style” than of the style of an individual artist. His comfortable position as an entrepreneur and elder of the Canute Guild was the reason that Passer rejected an attractive offer to move to Stockholm and return to the paths of his youth, where the design and execution of sepulchral monuments had become one of the main themes of religious devotion in the new age. Where, as we know, there was no lack of highly qualified masters. It is not impossible that, like the Gustav Vasa monument in Uppsala, the Pontus de la Gardie monument in Tallinn was also completed in the Netherlands. The precondition for the next study of Passer is a comparison of the monument’s style and technique with that of an artistically ambitious circle of stonemasons, whose workshops were located somewhere between Antwerp, Maline, Hague and Danzig, where talent and experience abounded. Rising above the slavish imitation of architectural graphics that was widespread at the time, Passer is an artist whose genius deserves not only to be recorded, but to be studied further

Die Madonnenreliefs im Werk von Antonio Rossellino

Die überwiegend für private Haushalte gefertigten Darstellungen der Madonna mit Kind in Halbfigur sind eine für das Florentiner Quattrocento besonders charakteristische Bildform. Die überlieferten Arbeiten belegen eine große Gestaltungsvielfalt mit Unterschieden in der Komposition, im Material sowie in der Fassung. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Gründe für diesen Darstellungswandel am Beispiel des für seine zahlreichen Madonnenreliefs bekannten Bildhauers Antonio Rossellino (um 1427-1479) und seiner Werkstatt. Eine ausführliche Darstellung von Leben und Werk des Künstlers bildet den Ausgangspunkt für die intensive Analyse der halbfigurigen Madonnenbilder. Hierbei ist es wichtig, sowohl die Entwicklung der Reliefs Antonio Rossellinos differenziert zu betrachten als auch deren Bedeutung für den Fortgang der Bildgattung zu klären. Neben der Funktion und den Vermarktungsstrategien werden daher auch die Herstellungsmethoden und die Werkstattorganisation im Florentiner Quattrocento in den Blick genommen. Der Katalog, der alle in der Werkstatt Antonio Rossellinos entstandenen und entworfenen Madonnenreliefs und ihre Nachbildungen sowie die endgültig aus dem Œuvre ausgeschlossenen Werke erfasst, bezeugt die Beliebtheit und überregionale Verbreitung einzelner Kompositionen und eröffnet Fragen nach den Gründen, weshalb einzelne Reliefs offensichtlich nur als Einzelstück gefertigt, andere dagegen teils vielfach reproduziert wurden. Dies lässt eine besondere Rolle und Wertschätzung bestimmter Objekte vermuten, weswegen die in der Arbeit gewonnenen Ergebnisse auch unter den Aspekten der Rezipientenhaltung und des Einflusses des Betrachters auf die Gestaltung der Werke reflektiert werden. Neben den künstlerspezifischen Aspekten können so auch zur sozialgeschichtlichen Einordnung der Madonnenreliefs neue Erkenntnisse gewonnen werden

Malgoverno of Good Lordship? Over het falen van de staat in de late middeleeuwen

Collective identities and transnational networks in medieval and early modern Europe, 1000-180

Saintly doctors : the early iconography of SS. Cosmas and Damian in Italy

The Italian iconography of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian reflects fluctuations in the fortunes of the cult of those saints with significant variations in appearance and meaning being tied to changes in the position of the saints with respect to function, as miraculous healers, as representatives of professional doctors and as patrons of a powerful family. This study considers the development of the iconography of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian in Italy, beginning with the emergence of images in the late antique period. These early representations are explored within the context of the historic and liturgical origins of the cult of SS. Cosmas and Damian with particular attention paid to the hagiography and more specfically the miracle stories which provide a significant amount of information about the role of images in a Christian healing cult. Evidence that sheds light on the early development of the iconography of the saints reflecting their position within the broader context of the establishment of Christian healers in direct opposition to their popular pagan counterparts. In the fourteenth century the appearance of SS. Cosmas and Damian was transformed mirroring the appearance of contemporary doctors, which in turn reflected the professionalisation of medicine and the role of the saints as patrons to members of that profession. This iconographic development is considered in the context of sources such as university statutes and civic sumptuary regulations that helped to shape the environment of increasing specialization that resulted in the necessity of a distinctive costume for qualified professionals. At the same time there remained continuity in the position SS. Cosmas and Damian inhabited in the popular imagination with images of the saints continuing to be associated with their traditional role as miraculous healers. Finally the large number of images commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century are examined. At this time the position of the saints, as intercessors for and protectors of the Medici family allowed them to appear in unfamiliar locations granting them a civic and political relevance not achieved before in the history of the cult. The clear identification of the saints with the family allowed them to act as a reminder of the family’s position in Florence and for a time the doctors were known as family patrons rather than solely as doctors and healers.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo