Capuchins
A branch of the Franciscans founded in the 1520s by Matteo di Bassi of Urbino, who wished to return to the original austerity of the Franciscan rule. The habit, based on St. Francis’s own garb, includes the pointed cowl (capuche) that gives the order its name. Despite initial disapproval from other Franciscans, the Capuchin rule was established in 1529 and their preaching and missionary zeal made them valued agents of the counter-reformation. In 1619 they were recognized as an independent order, by which time they had spread all over Europe.
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da
(1573-1610) Italian painter
Born at Caravaggio, near Bergamo, he was trained in Milan by an undistinguished mannerist and was influenced by contact with the works of Venetian painters. He was in Rome by 1592, where his tempestuous nature led to trouble with the police, and his refusal to adopt the method favored in central Italy of careful preparation prior to painting caused controversy. Until his fortunes improved in 1597 he or she lived in poverty, painting still lifes and portraits and working for other painters; in that year the influence of Cardinal del Monte, who admired and bought his work, lead to a commission to decorate the chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi. Much of this work was subsequently rejected by the clergy on grounds of indecorum or theological error before it was finally finished in 1602. The same difficulties arose with his work in Sta. Maria del Popolo (1600-01). In fact opinion about his work was sharply divided: paintings that were angrily rejected by some clergy were eagerly bought by cardinals and noblemen who admired them. The reason was Car-avaggio’s scorn for traditional idealized representations of religious subjects and his insistence on naturalism together with dramatic use of chiaroscuro. Paintings such as the Madonna di Loreto (Sant’ Agostino, Rome) and the Death of the Virgin (Louvre, Paris) introduced sweat and dirt into religious art, and the bloated corpse of the dead Virgin is said to have been painted from that of a drowned prostitute.
Caravaggio’s personal life also remained stormy: in 1603 he was involved in a libel action by Giovanni Baglioni, who later became his biographer, and in 1606 he had to leave Rome after stabbing his opponent during a game of tennis. He fled to Naples and in 1607 to Malta where he was made a knight by the grand master of the knights hospitaler, whose portrait he painted. However, after assaulting a judiciary he was imprisoned in 1608 but escaped to Sicily, pursued by agents of the knights. In 1609 he was wounded in a tavern brawl in Naples and he died of malaria the following year at age 37 while on his way back to Rome where friends were attempting to arrange a pardon for him. The paintings produced in Naples, Malta, and Sicily showed an even greater economy of style than those of his Rome period. They were dark pictures with little color and had an intense stillness new to his work. Caravaggio’s work, produced in such a short time, inspired the Caravaggisti school in Spain and had a strong influence on the development of baroque painting.
Caravel
(carvel, Portuguese caravela) A type of small, lateen-rigged, two- or three-masted sailing ship developed in southern Europe and used on the epic voyages of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries. The name is associated with the method of construction, in which the shipbuilder first sets up the frame of the ship and then attaches the planking to the frame (as opposed to the northern technique of clinker-building, in which ships have their planking nailed together first and the frame inserted afterward). The caravel as developed by the Portuguese from around 1430 had a high degree of maneuverability.
Caravel A Portuguese caravel (c. 1450). This little ship took part in many of the voyages of exploration in the 15th century. Its lateen sails, based on Arab nautical prowess, enabled it to sail against the wind.
Girolamo Cardano A woodcut from his Practica arithmetica et mensurandi singularis (1539), one of the most influential 16th-century studies of arithmetic.
Cardano, Girolamo
(1501-1576) Italian physician and mathematician
Born at Pavia, the illegitimate son of a Milanese lawyer, Cardano was educated at the universities of Pavia and Padua. After practicing and teaching medicine in Milan and Pavia (1524-50), he spent some time traveling in France and Britain. While in London in 1552 he demonstrated his astrological skill by predicting that the ailing edward vi would have a long life (he actually died in 1553 at the age of 16). On his return to Italy he held chairs of medicine in Milan, Pavia, Bologna, and Rome. Despite his conflict with tartaglia, Cardano was a mathematician of considerable originality. His Ars magna (1545) is recognized as the first modern algebra text, while he was also one of the earliest writers to tackle problems in probability theory. Among his many books, the best known are the encyclopedic De subtilitate (1550) on the natural sciences, augmented and supplemented by De varietate rerum (1557), and the dramatic and revealing account of his life, De vita propria liber (1643; translated as The Book of My Life, 1931).
Cariani, Giovanni Busi
(1485/90-c. 1547) Italian painter
Cariani was born near Bergamo and became a pupil of Gentile Bellini. He worked mainly in Venice, initially in the style of his teacher and those of the great Venetian masters giorgione, titian, and palma vecchio, with the result that a number of pictures attributed to these masters are now thought by some to be his work. An example is the two heads in the Louvre, Paris, supposedly by Bellini. Cariani’s first and last recorded paintings (1514 and 1541) are both lost, but some of his portraits and religious paintings have survived, as well as fragments of frescoes in Bergamo.
Carlo Emanuele I
(1562-1630) Duke of Savoy (1580-1630)
The son of Emanuel Philibert (see savoy, house of), Carlo Emanuele pursued his father’s ambitions to make Savoy a major Italian power and involved the duchy in frequent wars. He annexed some territory, but constant warfare strained the duchy’s finances; among other enterprises, he took advantage of the conflict between France and Spain to make some gains for Savoy, but then failed in his attack on Geneva (1602). Carlo Emanuele promoted commercial development and made his court at Turin a center of culture.
Carlstadt, Andreas
(Andreas von Bodenstein) (c. 1480-1541) Academic, preacher, and radical reformist, born in Carlstadt, Bavaria He was awarded a theology doctorate at wittenberg in 1510 but excommunicated in 1520. His reputation for innovation was sealed on Christmas Day 1521, when he celebrated a vernacular Mass. He pressed for greater reform than that favored by his sometimes friend, sometimes opponent, luther, campaigning against traditional Catholic predilections for iconography, infant baptism, ostentatious vestments, the existence of Purgatory, and priestly celibacy. For Carlstadt, the communion rite was merely a symbolic remembrance. Frequently harassed by political authorities, he spent his last years in effective asylum in Switzerland.
Carmelites, Reform of the
The movement, originating in Spain, to restore the "primitive rule" in the houses of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. By the mid-16th century, the Carmelite friars and sisters had largely departed from the original austerity prescribed for the order in 1209, some 50 years after its foundation. In 1562 St. teresa founded a small enclosed community of nuns at Avila, dedicated to a stricter observance of the rule of the order. In 1568 St. john of the cross founded the first community of reformed Carmelite friars at Duruelo, and the movement gradually spread. The Discalced Carmelites (as they were called because they wore sandals instead of shoes to symbolize the austerity of their regime) were poor, held no property as individuals, had no contact with the secular world, and led ascetic lives of prayer and contemplation. They encountered much opposition, particularly from those within the order who continued to follow the "mitigated rule," but in 1579 a separate province of the reformed Carmelites was constituted, and in 1593 they were confirmed as a distinct order by papal ordinance.
Caro, Annibale
(1507-1566) Italian scholar, poet, and translator
Caro was born at Civitanova Marche, near Ancona, and studied in Florence, where he was a friend of Benedetto varchi. After living for a time at the court of Naples, he became secretary to Duke Pierluigi Farnese and, after Pier-luigi’s murder (1547), to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. A thoroughly professional man of letters, Caro wrote a comedy in prose, Gli straccioni (The ragamuffins; 1554), which combined classical influence with characters based on real persons in the Rome of Caro’s day, a collection of Petrarchan poems entitled Rime (1557), and satirical sonnets. His quarrel with Ludovico castelvetro, who had criticized one of his poems, resulted in Castelvetro’s fleeing into exile after Caro had accused him of having Lutheran sympathies. Two works, published posthumously, firmly established Caro’s reputation among future generations: Lettere familiari (1573, 1575), a collection of 1000 letters, rhetorical in style and modeled on petrarch’s; and the Eneide (1581), a blank-verse translation of Virgil’s Aeneid which exercised an influence on Italian verse up to the 19th century.
Carpaccio, Vittore
(c. 1457-c. 1526) Italian painter A native of Venice, Carpaccio was probably taught by Laz-zaro Bastiano (c. 1425-1512), by whom he was profoundly influenced, and also absorbed many features of the works of Gentile bellini and antonello da messina. Although his career is poorly documented, Carpaccio was noted for his narrative skill and psychological insight and was commissioned by the Venetian confraternities (scuole) to execute several major cycles of large paintings, notably the nine pictures in The Legend of St. Ursula (1490-95; Ac-cademia, Venice), which was commissioned by the Scuola di Sant’Orsola. His cycle of nine Scenes from the Lives of St. George and Other Saints (1502-07; also Accademia, Venice), painted for the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schi-avone, represents his mature style and accurate observation of naturalistic detail. Subsequent cycles of scenes from the lives of the Virgin (c. 1504) and St. Stephen (1511-20) are now scattered. Other works include an undated painting of Courtesans (Museo Correr, Venice), the altarpiece of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (1510; Accademia, Venice), and his last dated works, the two organ shutters for the Duomo at Capodistria (1523). Much admired in the 19th century by John Ruskin and others, Carpaccio was also one of the first artists to execute notable townscapes, which have documentary value in depicting the life of contemporary Venice.
Carpi, Girolamo da
(1501-1556) Italian painter A pupil of Benvenuto Garofolo in his native Ferrara, Carpi also visited Parma and Modena where he studied and made copies of the works of correggio and parmigian-ino. He undertook commissions for portraits and produced original compositions for churches in Bologna and Ferrara, including three pictures in the cathedral in Fer-rara. He painted for a time in Rome and some of his work, for example the Adoration of the Magi for San Martino Maggiore in Bologna, shows the influence of the Roman style. His Roman sketchbook shows his interest in antique decorative motifs. He died in Ferrara.
Carracci, Annibale
(1560-1609) Italian painter The most gifted member of the Carracci family of Bologna, he trained as a fresco painter with his brother Agostino (1557-1602) and his cousin Lodovico in his native city. On study trips to Parma and Venice he admired the works of correggio and titian. His earliest surviving pictures are genre paintings, such as The Butcher’s Shop (c. 1582; Christ Church, Oxford) and caricature drawings. Monumental compositions were what he came to excel at, and he painted a number of large altarpieces. In 1585 the Car-racci founded an academy called the Incamminati in Bologna, the teaching at which aimed to revive the canons of classical art; it played an important part in the development of a classical baroque style.
In 1595 Carracci was invited to Rome by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese to decorate the ceiling of the Camerino in the Palazzo Farnese with frescoes on classical themes. Two years later he began a larger work, which is considered to rank with michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling and raphael’s decorations in the Vatican and Farnesina, from both of which Carracci drew inspiration. This was the decoration of the ceiling of the Galleria Farnese in the Palazzo Farnese on the theme of The Loves of the Gods, a series of pictures within an illusionistic framework of architecture and gilt frames that required over 1000 preparatory drawings. It was completed in 1604. His easel paintings at this time consisted of landscapes and history paintings such as Domine, Quo Vadis? (c. 1602; National Gallery, London). This, like many of his pictures, in notable for its powerful use of gesture. The language of gesture in painting owes much to Carracci, as does the ideal classical landscape used by later artists such as Nicolas Poussin. In 1605 Carracci became ill with what was described as melancholia and he painted very little during the last five years of his life.
Carracci, Lodovico
(1555-1619) Italian painter Though less gifted than his younger cousin Annibale car-racci, Lodovico was the dominant figure during their early partnership in their native Bologna. With the brothers Annibale and Agostino, Lodovico decorated the Fava, Magnani, and Sampieri palaces in Bologna in the 1580s and early 1590s, and with them founded a teaching academy there in 1585. This academy was run by him alone after his cousins left for Rome (1595) and was responsible for training most of the next generation of Bolognese painters including Domenichino, Il Guercino, and Guido Reni. Lodovico’s best paintings were produced during the 10 years before he and his cousins parted company. They are remarkable for their forceful emotional expression.
Cartier, Jacques
(1491-1557) French navigator, discoverer of the St. Lawrence River
Born at St.-Malo, Cartier was commissioned by King Francis I to find a northwest passage to the Orient, and in 1534 he sailed with two ships and 61 men. He followed the coast of Newfoundland and established friendly relations with the Huron-Iroquois, by whose word for village, "Canada," he named the territory. Cartier returned to France for the winter, but went back to Canada in 1535. He landed at the bay of St. Lawrence on August 9, then navigated the river as far as the site of Montreal. Inspired by tales of an enchanted land north of Mexico, Cartier then decided to explore the Ottawa River, but before doing this he returned to France with 12 native American elders to convince a skeptical Francis I. In spring 1541 Cartier left St.-Malo with five vessels, and from his camp at Cap Rouge, he navigated the Ottawa. He returned to France with many mineral samples but these were found to be worthless. Consequently, Cartier fell from royal favor, and the French lost interest in Canada. The true value of Cartier’s work was not realized until the French opted to develop their Canadian territory.
Cartography
The science of maps, charts, and globes. As the golden age of discovery, the Renaissance is the period in which cartography became established and flourished. New discoveries led to maps becoming more detailed and accurate; consequently, cartography became of greater use to exploration, and mutual development was promoted. Early Renaissance cartography was based on the work of the second-century Greek geographer Ptolemy, whose Geographica (first printed edition with maps, 1477) was the first-ever atlas (although the term "atlas" was not widely used until mercator popularized it). The socalled T-O world maps of the medieval period persisted in early Renaissance publications. In 1492 the Nuremberg merchant Martin Behaim made a globe that still survives and so introduced a new dimension into cartography. Fra Mauro had portrayed the world in circular form as early as 1459 (see camaldolese chart).
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Portuguese made best practical use of the development of cartography. Their Casa du India provided information for many explorers and merchants, and the maps (1520) of Garcia de Toreno were vital to magellan’s circumnavigation of the world. The Portuguese had enough confidence in their cartographers deliberately to misplace certain territories within areas granted to them under the Treaty of tordesillas. The Italians and Germans continued to develop Ptolemy’s ideas. In 1507 Martin Waldseemuller showed America as a separate continent for the first time (see vespucci, amerigo). Some years later Johann Schoner popularized globes.
Between 1460 and 1540 German cartographers, such as Sebastian munster and Philipp apian, revolutionized the instruments of the trade and cartography developed as a science. gemma frisius used a planimetrum, Waldsmeemuller developed the polymetrum (an early form of theodolite), and Philipp Apian’s map of Bavaria (1579) introduced grid references. The most important individual was Gerardus Mercator, inventor of the Mercator projection; this rectangular format for maps is still in common use. Using copperplate printing, which began to supersede the old woodcut technique around 1550, Mercator combined Ptolemy’s data with technological developments to produce maps of unprecedented accuracy and proportion. Mercator’s world map (1569) is the first example of his projection.
In 1579 Christopher saxton produced an atlas of England, the first ever national atlas. Maurice Bouguereau published the French counterpart, Le Theatre Franfoys, in 1594. By 1620 most leading European nations boasted comprehensive geographies and atlases.
Casaubon, Isaac
(1559-1614) French classical scholar His Protestant family were refugees from the French religious wars, and Casaubon was born in Geneva. He was taught by his father until at age 20 he began intensive Greek studies in Geneva. His second wife was one of the printer Henry estienne’s daughters. After lecturing in Geneva and Montpellier he was invited (1599) by henry iv to Paris, where his first official position was sublibrarian in the royal library. After Henry’s murder (1610) Casaubon, declining to become a Catholic, came to England at the invitation of Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthusiastically received and at his death was buried in Westminster Abbey. Casaubon lacked extraordinary critical insight or linguistic knowledge but he had an enormous capacity for work and a desire to gain exhaustive understanding of the ancient world. The classical texts on which he wrote commentaries were well off the beaten track of scholarship, for example, Athenaeus (1600) and Strabo (1587). His massive commentary on Persius’s Satires (1605) was prefaced by a study of Greek and Roman satirical poetry which was the first specialized work on a problem of ancient literary history.
Cassander, Georg
(1513-1566) Netherlands theologian and humanist
After early study in his native Bruges and at Ghent, Cas-sander went to Cologne with the intention of finding some means of reconciling the orthodox Catholic and reforming positions. In 1561 he published anonymously De officio pii ac publicae tranquillitatis.. .in hoc religionis dis-sidio (On the duty of pious and public peace…in the present dispute of religion). This volume involved him in fierce controversy; he found his moderate line attacked by the extremists on both sides, but he gained support from those who saw the importance of compromise as a means to unity. As well as his voluminous theological writings Cassander produced treatises on antiquarian subjects. His eagerness for unity sometimes led him to adopt views that were doctrinally suspect but he remained faithful to the authority of the Church. He died at Cologne.
Cassoni
Wooden chests used in Italy in the Renaissance period for domestic storage of garments, documents, and valuables. Pairs of cassoni were made for bridal trousseaux, with one bearing the husband’s armorial and the other that of the bride. Early examples have painted panels depicting Roman triumphs and battles, and, in northern Italy, religious subjects. Others had gilded carving and intarsia decoration. Mannerist influences later introduced carved and polished wood versions of antique sarcophagi on lion-paw supports. A variant on the cassone was the casapanca, to which a back and arms were added, enabling the piece to double as a storage chest and a seat. Being heirlooms, many cassoni survive.
