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Domenico di Michelino (1417–1491) was an Italian painter of the Florentine school and a follower of the style of Fra Angelico. He was born and died in Florence.

Michelino predominantly painted scenes from the Bible. His most famous work can be found on the west wall of Florence's "Duomo" (cathedral) Santa Maria del Fiore, including La commedia illumina Firenze("The Comedy Illuminating Florence"), showing Dante Alighieri and the Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy). Along with Dante and the city of Florence, the work depicts Hell, Mount Purgatory, the earthly Paradise (with Adam and Eve) and the celestial spheres.

He took his name from his teacher, a carver in bone and ivory named Michelino. He was elected to the Compagnia di San Luca (painter's guild) in 1442 and joined the Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali in 1444...

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The Resurrection is a fresco painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, painted in the 1460s in the Palazzo della Residenza in the town of Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy.

Piero was commissioned to paint the fresco for the Gothic-style Residenza, the communal meeting hall[1] which was used solely by Conservatori, the chief magistrates and governors, who before starting their councils, would pray before the image. "The secular and spiritual meanings of the painting were always intimately intertwined."[2][3] Placed high on the interior wall facing the entrance, the fresco has for its subject an allusion to the name of the city (meaning "Holy Sepulchre"), derived from the presence of two relics of the Holy Sepulchre carried by two pilgrims in the 9th century. Piero's Christ is also present on the town's Coat of Arms...

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The Tiled Kiosk (Turkish: Çinili Köşk) is a pavilion set within the outer walls of Topkapı Palace and dates from 1472 as shown on the tile inscript above the main entrance.[1][2] It was built by the Ottomansultan Mehmed II as a pleasure palace or kiosk. It is located in the most outer parts of the palace, next to Gülhane Park. It was also called Glazed Kiosk (Sırça Köşk).[3]

It was used as the Imperial Museum (Ottoman Turkish: Müze-i Hümayun‎, Turkish: İmparatorluk Müzesi) between 1875 and 1891.[4] In 1953, it was opened to the public as a museum of Turkish and Islamic art, and was later incorporated into the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, housing the Museum of Islamic Art. The pavilion contains many examples of İznik tiles and Seljuk pottery...

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San Sebastiano is an Early Renaissance church in Mantua, northern Italy. Begun in 1460 according to the designs of Leon Battista Alberti, it was left partially completed in the mid-1470s, by which time construction had slowed and was no longer being directed by Alberti. As a consequence, little remains of Alberti’s work apart from the plan, which is considered one of the earliest and most significant examples of Renassiances centrally-planned churches. The plan is in the shape of a Greek cross, with three identical arms centering apses, under a central cross-vaulted space without any interior partitions. The church sits on a ground-level crypt which was intended to serve as a mausoleum for the Gonzaga family.[1]

The complete absence of columns in the façade signified for Rudolf Wittkower[2] a decisive turning-point in Alberti's interpretation of architecture, moving beyond his statements in De Re Aedificatoria where he considered the column the noblest ornament of building. The façade concealing a narthex that runs the full width of the structure is precisely as wide as its height from the entrance level to the apex of the pediment; it may be fitted with the perfect geometry of the square. The temple front has been converted by Alberti into wall-architecture, as Wittkower noted, and a complete series of pilasters, like pillars embedded in the wall, has been elided to the two outermost, and the two flanking Pellegrino Ardizoni's clumsy doorway,[3] which overlaps them and ill suits its space.

A surviving letter of 1470 from the patron, Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, to the on-site architect agreeing with Alberti's proposal to reduce the number of pilasters on the portico[4] illuminates Alberti's plan of 1460...

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HISTORY TIMELINE: “Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels” by Jean Fouquet  - 1452 (Wikipedia)

The Melun Diptych is a two-panel oil painting by the French court painter Jean Fouquet (1425–1480) created around 1452. The name of the diptych came from its original home in the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Melun. The left panel depicts Etienne Chevalier with his patron saint St. Stephen and the right panel depicts the Virgin and Christ child surrounded by cherubim. Each wooden panel measures about 93 by 85 centimeters and the two would have been hinged together at the center. The two pieces, originally a diptych, are now separated. The left panel now resides in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin and the right panel is now located at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium. A self-portrait medallion is also associated with the two panels. Measuring 6 centimeters in diameter, it would have adorned the frame, and consists of copper, enamel, and gold. The medallion is now located in the Louvre in Paris, France...

Seated on an elaborate gold throne, the Madonna and the Christ child are depicted in the right panel. The Madonna wears a blue dress, white mantle and a jewel-encrusted crown. On her lap sits the child, who makes a pointing gesture to the left with His left hand at the patron and the saint. The two are surrounded by blue and red cherubim, which greatly contrast with the pale skin of the Virgin and child. Although the figures are modeled realistically, the mood is otherworldly, described by historian Roger Fry as a dreamlike state of sentimentalism.[3] The Madonna is depicted here as the Queen of Heaven and is meant to reveal her as between the veil of heaven and earth. She is both human and otherworldly.[4][5] The unnatural colors have been attributed to represent the heraldic colors of the king, being red, white, and blue.[6] The Virgin is believed to be an idealized portrait of Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII, who died two years earlier. Sorel was considered by many at the time to be "the most beautiful woman in the world" and therefore an obvious choice after which to model the Virgin.[6] As minister of finance to the king, Etienne Chevalier was the executor of her will.[7] Her costume and physical attributes have been compared to other representations of Sorel, such as another painting by Fouquet in which her dress is very similar to that in the diptych. It has also been suggested that the woman could be Chevalier's wife, Catherine Bude, over whose tomb the diptych was hung in Notre Dame, Melun...

Painting: Jean Fouquet [Public domain] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Fouquet_-_Virgin_and_Child_Surrounded_by_Angels_-_WGA8039.jpg

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Cape Verde (/ˈvɜːrd(i)/ (listen)) or Cabo Verde (/ˌkɑːboʊ ˈvɜːrdeɪ/ (listen), /ˌkæb-/) (Portuguese: Cabo Verde, pronounced [ˈkabu ˈveɾdɨ]), officially the Republic of Cabo Verde,[9] is an island country spanning an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. It forms part of the Macaronesia ecoregion, along with the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Savage Isles. In ancient times these islands were referred to as "the Islands of the Blessed" or the "Fortunate Isles". Located 570 kilometres (350 mi) west of the Cape Verde Peninsula off the coast of Northwest Africa, the islands cover a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi)...

The name of the country stems from the nearby Cap-Vert, on the Senegalese coast.[10] In 1444, Portuguese explorers had named that landmark as Cabo Verde, a few years before they discovered the islands (Verde is Portuguese for "green")...

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited.[12] The islands of the Cape Verde archipelago were discovered by Genoese and Portuguese navigators around 1456. According to Portuguese official records,[13] the first discoveries were made by Genoa-born António de Noli, who was afterwards appointed governor of Cape Verde by Portuguese King Afonso V. Other navigators mentioned as contributing to discoveries in the Cape Verde archipelago are Diogo Gomes (who was with António de Noli and claimed to have been the first to land on and name Santiago island), Diogo Dias, Diogo Afonso and the Italian (Venice-born) Alvise Cadamosto.

In 1462, Portuguese settlers arrived at Santiago and founded a settlement they called Ribeira Grande (now called Cidade Velha ("Old City"), to avoid being confused with the town of Ribeira Grande on the Santo Antão island). Ribeira Grande was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics...

Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to campaign for independence, which was peacefully achieved in 1975...

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The Treaty of Yazhelbitsy (Russian: Яжелбицкий мирный договор) was a peace treaty signed by Vasili II, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir, and the government of Novgorod the Great in the village of Yazhelbitsy in February 1456. This treaty was a significant setback for Novgorod, which would culminate, almost quarter of a century later, in the city being brought under the direct control of the Muscovite Grand Prince in 1478.

In 1456, the Novgorodians sustained a crushing defeat at the hands of the Muscovite forces at the end of a long succession struggle in which Grand Prince Vasily II triumphed over his cousin, Prince Dmitry Shemyaka; Shemyaka himself had been poisoned in Novgorod in 1453 probably at the hands of grand princely agents, although some scholars suggest that Archbishop Evfimy II (1429–1458) had him poisoned as a liability to Novgorodian interests. Shemyaka's widow had subsequently fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with her son, Ivan Dmitriyevich ("Ivan, son of Dmitry").

Following the defeat, the citizens of Novgorod convened a veche and, according to the sources, turned to Archbishop Evfimy II with a request that he travel to the grand prince’s headquarters in Yazhelbitsy and ask what his peace terms were. After several days of intense negotiations, the parties signed the Treaty of Yazhelbitsy. The text of the treaty survived in two copies, one signed by Muscovy and the other one by Novgorod. Today, both of these documents may be found in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. The texts of the treaty, however, are not identical in each of the two copies...

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The Siege of Belgrade, Battle of Belgrade or Siege of Nándorfehérvár was a militaryblockade of Belgrade that occurred from July 4–22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror rallied his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of Belgrade (in Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár). John Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania, who had fought many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades, prepared the defenses of the fortress.

The siege escalated into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Ottoman camp, ultimately compelling the wounded Mehmed II to lift the siege and retreat. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century and thus considerably delayed the Ottomanadvance in Europe.

The Pope celebrated the victory as well, as he had previously ordered all Catholic kingdoms to pray for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade. This led to the noon bell ritual that is still undertaken in Catholic and old Protestant churches. The day of the victory, 22 July, has been a memorial day in Hungary ever since...

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On a commission from Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai, a local textile merchant, Leon Battista Alberti designed the upper part of the inlaid green marble of Prato, also called "serpentino" and white marble façade of the church (1456–1470). He was already famous as the architect of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, but even more for his seminal treatise on architecture De Re Aedificatoria, based on the book De Architectura of the classical Roman writer Vitruvius. Alberti had also designed the façade for the Rucellai Palace in Florence.

Alberti attempted to bring the ideals of humanist architecture, proportion and classically inspired detailing to bear on the design, while also creating harmony with the already existing medieval part of the façade. His contribution consists of a broad frieze decorated with squares, and the full upper part, including the four white-green pilasters and a round window, crowned by a pediment with the Dominican solar emblem, and flanked on both sides by enormous S-curved volutes. The four columns with Corinthian capitals on the lower part of the façade were also added. The pediment and the frieze are clearly inspired by antiquity, but the S-curved scrolls in the upper part are new and without precedent in antiquity. The scrolls (or variations of them), found in churches all over Italy, all draw their origins from the design of this church...

...It was a challenging task, as the lower level already had three doorways and six Gothic niches containing tombs and employing the polychrome marble typical of Florentine churches such as San Miniato al Monte and the Baptistery of Florence. The design also incorporates an ocular window which was already in place. Alberti introduced Classical features around the portico and spread the polychromy over the entire facade in a manner which includes Classical proportions and elements such as pilasters, cornices and a pediment in the Classical style, ornamented with a sunburst in tesserae, rather than sculpture. The best known feature of this typically aisled church is the manner in which Alberti has solved the problem of visually bridging the different levels of the central nave and much lower side aisles. He employed two large scrolls, which were to become a standard feature of Church facades in the later Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Revival buildings...

Photo: By No machine-readable author provided. JoJan assumed. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=409060

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The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was among the earliest major books printed using mass-produced movable metal typein Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed books in the West. Widely praised for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities,[1] the book has iconic status. It is an edition of the Vulgate printed in the 1450s in Latin by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, in present-day Germany. Forty-nine copies (or substantial portions of copies) have survived. They are thought to be among the world's most valuable books, although no complete copy has been sold since 1978.[2][3] In March 1455, the future Pope Pius II wrote that he had seen pages from the Gutenberg Bible displayed in Frankfurt to promote the edition. It is not known how many copies were printed; the 1455 letter cites sources for both 158 and 180 copies...

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The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of Englandfought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, associated with a red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose. Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families. The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, but there was related fighting before and after this period between the parties. The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars.[5]

With the Duke of York's death, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward, who later became the first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV. He reigned from 1461, interrupted by a Lancastrian uprising and reinstallment of Henry VI in 1470 to 1471, until his sudden death in 1483. His son reigned for 78 days as Edward V, but was then deposed by his uncle, who became Richard III.

The final victory went to a relative and claimant of the Lancastrian party, Henry Tudor, son of Henry VI's half-brother Edmund Earl of Richmond, who defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. After assuming the throne as Henry VII, he married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and heir of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two claims. The House of Tudor ruled the Kingdom of England until 1603, with the death of Elizabeth I, granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York...

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The Thirteen Years’ War (German: Dreizehnjähriger Krieg; Polish: wojna trzynastoletnia), also called the War of the Cities, was a conflict fought in 1454–66 between the Prussian Confederation, allied with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and the State of the Teutonic Order.

The war began as an uprising by Prussian cities and local nobility to win independence from the Teutonic Knights. In 1454 Casimir IV married Elisabeth of Habsburg and the Prussian Confederation asked Poland's King Casimir IV Jagiellon for help and offered to accept the king as protector instead of the Teutonic Order. When the King assented, war broke out between supporters of the Prussian Confederation, backed by Poland, and backers of government by the Teutonic Knights.

The Thirteen Years’ War ended in the victory of the Prussian Confederation and Poland and in the Second Peace of Thorn (1466). This was soon followed by the War of the Priests (1467–79), a drawn-out dispute over the independence of the Prussian Prince-Bishopric of Warmia(Ermland), in which the Knights also sought revision of the Peace of Thorn...

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The Treaty of Lodi, also known as the Peace of Lodi was a peace agreement between Milan, Naples, and Florence signed on 9 April 1454 at Lodi in Lombardy, on the banks of the Adda. It put an end to the long struggles between expansive Milan, under Filippo Maria Visconti, and Venice in the terraferma, which had produced a single decisive Venetian victory, at the battle of Maclodio in 1427, in which the Venetian ally was Florence, but had resulted in no lasting peace: see Wars in Lombardy. After a further generation of intermittent seasonal campaigning, the Treaty of Lodi established permanent boundaries between Milanese and Venetian territories in Northern Italy, along the river Adda.[1]Francesco Sforza was confirmed as the rightful duke of Milan. A principle of a balance of power in Northern Italy was established, one that excluded ambitions of smaller states: the republic of Genoa, the house of Savoy, the Gonzaga and the Este.

A related agreement was signed at Venice on 30 August, among Milan, Venice and Florence, which had switched sides, in which the parties bound themselves to principles of non-aggression. The Kingdom of Naples and the smaller cities, even the Papal States, soon joined the Italic League.[2] Thus, the Peace of Lodi brought Milan and Naples into a definitive peace alliance with Florence. Francesco Sforza would base his lifelong external policy on this principle of balance of power. The status quo established at Lodi lasted until 1494, when French troops intruded into Italian affairs under Charles VIII, initiating the Italian Wars.

The Treaty was abrogated in 1483 when Venice and the Pope fought a war against Milan...

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The Treaties of Cölln and Mewe, concluded in 1454 and 1455, transferred the Neumark (New March) from the State of the Teutonic Order to the Electorate of Brandenburg. The Teutonic Knights had received the area as a pawn from Brandenburg in 1402, and as a possession in 1429. Financial shortages due to the onset of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) forced Ludwig von Erlichshausen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, to pawn the Neumark to Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg, by the Treaty of Cölln on 22 February 1454, and to subsequently sell it by the Treaty of Mewe on 16 September 1455...

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The Fall of Constantinople (Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit. Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul'un Fethi, lit. 'Conquest of Istanbul') was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading Ottoman army on 29 May 1453. The attackers were commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II, who defeated an army commanded by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos and took control of the imperial capital, ending a 53-day siege that began on 6 April 1453. After conquering the city, Sultan Mehmed transferred the capital of his Empire from Edirne to Constantinople and established his court there.

The capture of the city (and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter) marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, a continuation of the Roman Empire, an imperial state dating to 27 BC, which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years.[3] The conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Muslim Ottoman armies thereafter were left unchecked to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear.

It was also a watershed moment in military history. Since ancient times, cities had used ramparts and city walls to protect themselves from invaders, and Constantinople's substantial fortifications had been a model followed by cities throughout the Mediterranean region and Europe. The Ottomans ultimately prevailed due to the use of gunpowder (which powered formidable cannons).[4]

The conquest of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire[5] was a key event in the Late Middle Ages which also marks, for some historians, the end of the Medieval period...

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The Word of the Day is: balen.

Italian, from 'balenare' 

Found in Count di Luna's aria 'Il balen del suo sorriso' from IL TROVATORE, by Verdi