The image of a Renaissance prince: Sigismondo Malatesta and the arts of power.

摘要

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini from 1432 to 1468, has long been cast as the model of the cruel pagan despot of Renaissance Italy. As a result, his role as the founder of a sophisticated court and patron of the arts has been misinterpreted or even ignored by scholars in favor of other rulers and centers of Renaissance culture. However, an examination of Sigismondo's extensive patronage, which ranged from architecture and urban planning to a wide variety of literary and artistic material, makes it clear that Sigismondo was a major figure in Quattrocento cultural history. This dissertation seeks to explore why a petty despot should find it necessary to create a courtly center and commission major works of art. As papal vicar of Rimini, Sigismondo Malatesta was a ruler who had inherited a technically revokable title. While continuing to seek a permanent hereditary title on the political level, he established a court which, by its very existence, implied the expectation of future dynastic succession by the Malatesta. The artists and scholars he brought to this court were set to the task of projecting the image of a good and benevolent ruler. To achieve this they drew on such diverse concepts as civic identity, Rimini's classical heritage, and Christian sanctity. By studying the many facets of Sigismondo's patronage, it is possible not only to gain a new perspective on Sigismondo himself, but also a broader understanding of both the power that culture exercised over Renaissance thinking and how that culture could be harnessed to serve political and social ends.