Posted on 07/27/2007 7:55:14 PM PDT by BlackVeil
MILAN, Italy - Scientists have exhumed the Renaissance-era remains of two intellectuals who belonged to Florence's powerful Medici family court, in an effort to learn more about their lives and deaths.
The 15th century remains of humanist philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and writer Angelo Ambrogini — better known as Poliziano — were exhumed Thursday from Florence's St. Mark's Basilica. The men, who were possibly lovers, each died in 1494, and the exact cause of their deaths is unknown.
"Bodies are an archive of information surrounding the life and death of a person. With today's technology, we can clear up various doubts that have been passed down for centuries and we can provide answers that could not been discovered years ago," said Giorgio Gruppioni, a University of Bologna anthropology professor.
A classical scholar, Pico reconciled Christianity with the ideas of ancient Greek thinkers like Plato. While admired by Lorenzo de' Medici, the great art patron who ruled Florence during its golden age in the 15th century, Pico's ideas angered church authorities, who arrested him and forced him to recant some of his theses.
Both Pico and Poliziano tutored Lorenzo's son Giovanni, who as Pope Leo X helped make Rome a cultural center of Renaissance Europe.
Researchers hope to resolve the mystery surrounding Pico's death by studying his bones and remaining tissue and by running a DNA analysis, Gruppioni said. He was supposedly poisoned, but that was never confirmed.
A friend and tutor of Lorenzo de' Medici, Poliziano pioneered Italian vernacular poetry and playwriting when Latin reigned.
Poliziano is believed to have been one of Pico's lovers and a possible victim of a syphilis outbreak that ravaged Europe near the end of the 15th century, Gruppioni said.
"We will either point out the presence of poison or the pathological agent that causes syphilis," Gruppioni said.
The project's goals go beyond untangling the mystery of the men's deaths.
"We hope to learn more about what these figures really looked like, and reconstruct their faces," Gruppioni said. "We have already noticed that the structure of Pico's skeleton shows he had quite a robust figure, whereas most paintings show a more slender, feminine stature."
Gruppioni also has worked on the exhumation of Matteo Maria Boiardo, another great Florentine poet and man of letters of the 15th century who was Pico's cousin.
A team of Italian and American scientists several years ago exhumed the remains of 49 members of the Medici clan, the Renaissance merchant family that ruled Tuscany, to study what they ate and what illnesses they suffered.
Flag.
Says who, based on what?
My guess would be writings from the period - renaissance Italy was a hotbed of gossip.
Curiously, the article leaves the sourcing to conjecture.
Wikipedia notes that he was arrested and jailed by a jealous husband for attempting to run off with his wife.
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A genius without compare
(not even Leonardo, can match Michaelangelo’s staggering achievements)
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“We hope to learn more about what these figures really looked like, and reconstruct their faces,” Gruppioni said. “We have already noticed that the structure of Pico’s skeleton shows he had quite a robust figure, whereas most paintings show a more slender, feminine stature.”
Victor/Victoria? A woman, playing a man, playing a woman? ;)
Maybe one of the skeletons is a woman, disguising herself as a man so she can have her works recognized?
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