Geology and the artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, mainly Florentine

Abstract

The role of Leonardo da Vinci as the originator of landscape painting and his significance as a pioneer of geological thought and practice have been discussed by numerous authors. Leonardo was not alone, and the Florence region was a center, in the late fifteenth century, for artists interested in landscape and geology. Some art historians have emphasized the influence of Jan van Eyck on Florentine painters, placing special emphasis on his Stigmata of Saint Francis. The rock exposure in this painting is said to have been copied by many Florentine artists. However, there are many rock exposures around Florence that provided sites for observant artists. Francesco Botticini's Assumption and Crowning of the Virgin shows the Arno valley landscape, with the city of Florence in the far distance, but readily recognizable. Illuminated manuscripts have been relatively unstudied by geological historians. A large illustration by Gherado and Monte di Giovanni (ca. 1490) depicts a portion of Florence and its walls, partly obscured by an extraordinary small hill of carefully depicted graded or alternating bedded rocks, surmounted by a waterfall, this hill forming the centerpiece of the painting. It is possibly unique from an artistic point of view. The interest in geological features shown by so many Florentine artists of the period foreshadowed the important geological principles set out so clearly by Steno a century or more later; based on his observations in the region, Steno laid the foundations for the theoretical development of modern stratigraphy. Indeed, the writings of Leonardo seem to have clearly anticipated Steno's thoughts.