Patronage
See also: History of Buda Castle and Visegrád
Matthias was educated in Italian, and his fascination with the achievements of the Italian Renaissance led to the promotion of Italian cultural influences in Hungary. Buda, Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Visegrád were amongst the towns in Hungary that benefited from the establishment of public health and education institutions and a new legal system under Matthias' rule. In 1465, he founded a university in Bratislava, the Universitas Istropolitana which was the third university in medieval Hungary. His 1476 marriage to Beatrice, the daughter of the King of Naples, only intensified the influence of the Renaissance.
During the long reign of emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg, the so-called Fresh Palace of the Royal residence of Buda became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. Matthias rebuilt the palace in early Renaissance style and further expanded it. His other favourite residence was the summer palace of Visegrád.
Italian city-states and Western Europe were present in large numbers at his court. The most important humanists living in Matthias' court were Antonio Bonfini, Galeotto Marzio, Pietro Ranzano, Marsilio Ficino, Aurelio Lippo Brandolini and the Hungarian poet Janus Pannonius. Famous Italian artists served the king: Filippino Lippi, Verrocchio, Giovanni Dalmata, and Cristoforo Foppa. The young Leonardo da Vinci met with Matthias in the spring of 1485, where Leonardo painted a Madonna painting in the Visegrád Palace for the king. In his „Treaty on the Painting“ Leonardo da Vinci describes his conversation with king Matthias on the King’s birthday, when the King received his fiancée’s portrait. Leonardo’s description is almost a report showing his first hand knowledge of the King’s love for painting, his Platonic philosophy and the customs of his court. Verochio painted many portraits of famous historical persons for king Matthias. As Galeotto Marzio tells us, Hungarian 'heroic sagas', and love songs were often sung on special occasions in the king's court alongside the international, 'modern' Burgundian-Flandrian music. The famous renaissance cartographer Francesco Rosselli lived at the court of Matthias (1476-1484) where he made many detailed maps of the known world for the king Astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus built astrolabes for Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. There he calculated extensive astronomical tables and built astronomical instruments for the king. Like many of his acculturated contemporaries, he trusted in astrology and other semi-scientific beliefs; however, he also supported true scientists and engaged frequently in discussions with philosophers and scholars. Republics and Kingdoms and other governmental forms compared features a three-day discussion between the Florentine merchant Domenico Giugni and the Hungarian monarch Matthias Corvinus cleverly assembled by the humanist scholar Aurelio Lippo Brandolini. This was the frst and only political debate where Republics and Kingdoms and other governmental forms were systematically compared in the renaissance era.
Read more about this topic: Matthias Corvinus
Famous quotes containing the word patronage:
“She loved money, but could occasionally part with it, especially to men of learning, whose patronage she affected. She often conversed with them, and bewildered herself in their metaphysical disputes, which neither she nor they themselves understood.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Each of the Arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a Muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.”
—Eliza Farnham (1815–1864)