An Aleatory Season [2001]
aleatory [L. aleatorius, of gambling <alea, chance, a dice game] of or depending on chance, luck, or contingency
The town detail at bottom is from Preaching to the Birds and Blessing Montefalco, Benozzo Gozzoli’s St. Francis fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco, Montefalco.
Architectonica [2004]
Bathymetry [2001]
bathymetry the science of measuring the depths of oceans, seas, &c.
The Branching-Stone [2005]
The coral branch can be found in Mantegna's Virgin and Child Surrounded by Six Saints and Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga (the "Pala della Vittoria,” 1496; Musée du Louvre). Coral, as mentioned in treatises by Pliny and Dioscorides, was used in ancient times as a talisman against evil and as medicine. The superstition persisted for many centuries and eventually evolved into a symbol in Christian art, which accounts for its frequent appearance in medieval and Renaissance paintings.
The Clear Hyaline [2004]
hyaline anything transparent or glassy, as a smooth sea or a clear sky
The original inspiration for this picture was the block pattern—seen in many places but in this case specifically the marble pavement in the Cappella di San Giacomo in the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua. The palm comes from Beato Angelico's Deposition (c. 1433–4) in the Museo di San Marco, Florence. The pink portal on the left is an interpretation of one in Simone Martini's fresco cycle (specifically, The Division of the Cloak, c. 1317) in the Cappella
di San Martino in theLower Church of the Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi.
Composition: Autumn [2002]
Contrivance in Red [2003]
Duplex [2005]
The house with loggia comes from a side panel of the Saint Cecilia Altarpiece (anonymous Saint Cecilia Master,
c. 1300; Galleria degli Uffizi).
A Geminate Conceit [2002]
geminate [< L. geminatus, pp. of geminare, to double]: growing or combined in pairs; coupled
The towers on the left come from the Vision of St. Dominic and Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic (1452), from Benozzo Gozzoli’s fresco cycle of the life and deeds of St. Francis in the church of San Francesco, Montefalco.
Genius Loci [2001]
genius loci L., the guardian spirit or presiding deity of a place
The figure was adapted from the San Miniato Altarpiece of Jacopo del Casentino (c. 1342), San Miniato al Monte, Florence.
Giottesco [2003]
giottesque in the manner of Giotto
The architectural detail on the right is a detail of Giotto's fresco Jesus Enters Jerusalem in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.
In Arcadia [2002]
The architectural detail on the right is a detail from Giotto's Stefaneschi Altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Vaticana.
In Arcadia (2) [2003]
The pyramid on the right is a detail from Giotto's Stefaneschi Altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Vaticana. The umbrella pine comes from Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes in the Cappella dei Magi in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence. The ribbon pattern can be seen in groin vaults in the Bargello and elsewhere.
In the Offing [2004]
The small tower and trees come from a detail of a fresco (Conversion of the Heretic, c. 1464–65) by Benozzo Gozzoli in the apsidal chapel of Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano.
The Oculus [2004]
The view through the oculus is a fragment of the landscape background in Piero della Francesca's Nativity in
The National Gallery, London.
Ordonnance, with Devices [2006]
ordonnance the proper or orderly arrangement of parts, as in a painting, literary work, &c.
All of the hand details can be found in one or the other of two Fra Angelico panels (Eighteen Blessed of the Dominican Order and Seventeen Blessed of the Dominican Order and Two Dominican Tertiaries), fragments of the original framing structure of the high altarpiece from San Domenico in Fiesole, both now in The National Gallery, London.
The Secret Double [2004]
The scene is that of Beato Angelico's predella panel The Healing of Palladia by Saints Cosmas and Damian (c. 1438–43), originally part of the San Marco Altarpiece and now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Semé-de-Bijoux [2004]
semé-de-bijoux "strewn-with-gems"; a heraldic nonce-term
The drapery is from the central panel of Robert Campin's Mérode Altarpiece (1427–28) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Souvenir [2001]
Specimen (2) [2003]
The center detail comes from Masaccio's Sts. Jerome and John the Baptist, a lateral panel from the now-dispersed
Santa Maria Maggiore Altarpiece (c. 1428), in The National Gallery, London.
Spes [2003]
spes L., hope
The tower and hands are details from Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco Allegories and Effects of Good and Bad Government in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena.
A Sudden Leap [2001]
The fragmentary figure on the left is taken from one of Domenico Ghirlandaio’s preparatory drawings for his fresco Birth of the Virgin in Santa Maria Novella, Florence. (The drawing is in the Gabinetto dei Disegni in the Uffizi.)
Turn Me Over [2004]
Both the drapery and the small detail inside the envelope (of St. Lawrence) come from Beato Angelico's
Guidalotti Polyptych (the Perugia Altarpiece) in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia.
Twice in Volterra [2003]
The central scene is a detail of Cenni di Francesco's fresco cycle (1410) of the Legend of the True Cross in the
Cappella della Croce in the church of San Francesco, Volterra.
Vignette with Oriflamme [2004]
oriflamme a banner split at one end to form flame-shaped streamers
The tree is a loose interpretation of a wall decoration in the Sala dei Pappagalli in the Palazzo Davanzati, Florence. The bird and fruit can be found in Vittore Carpaccio's Two Court Ladies (c. 1490) in the Museo Correr in Venice.
Wisdom and Ecstasy [2000]
The detail comes from A Choir of Virgins, one of the predella panels of the Ognissanti Polyptych of Giovanni da Milano (c. 1365), now in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Zenobius & Lucy [2006]
The figurative detail appropriates Domenico Veneziano's Altarpiece of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli (c. 1439–40, Galleria degli Uffizi).
