The Renaissance

Peacealso deals with legal conduct during
war time, the “rules of warfare,” a revolu-
tionary concept in a Europe torn apart by
endless wars undertaken by princes and
kings for purely personal gain.

Grotius’s legal and religious opinions
made the powerful Cardinal Richelieu of
France one of his most dangerous enemies.
Fearing trouble in Catholic France, he re-
turned to Holland in 1631, but his refusal
to admit his guilt and the error of his
opinions forced him again into exile. He
moved to Germany and then to Sweden,
where in 1634 he won an appointment as
the ambassador to France. In 1645, while
sailing from Sweden, he was shipwrecked
and forced to swim to shore, dying two
days later of exhaustion.

Grünewald, Matthias .......................

(ca. 1475–1528)

A German painter of expressive religious
works, Grünewald is a mysterious figure
whose real name—Matthias Gothart
Neithart—wasn’t generally known until
the seventeenth century. Very little is
known about his life, and only about ten
of his paintings have been identified. He
was born in Würzburg and spent his life
in the upper Rhine River region of Ger-
many. He worked as a painter and as a hy-
draulic engineer; his patrons included two
archbishops of Mainz. His first known
painting,Mocking of Christ, dates to about

1503. He began his masterpiece, theIsen-
      heim Altarpiece, in 1510 on commission
      from the Church of the Anthonites in Isen-
      heim. The altarpiece is an elaborate con-
      struction of movable panels that can be
      revealed and concealed according to the
      proper religious observance. Grünewald is
      known for his expressive use of color and
      his skillful placement of figures in per-
      spective. He served as court painter to Car-
      dinal Albrecht of Brandenburg from 1516.

In the cardinal’s service he painted altar-

pieces for the Church of Saint Moritz at

Halle andMeeting of the Saints Erasmus

and Maurice, in which his patron is shown

as Saint Erasmus. He earned the cardinal’s

enmity, however, for his interest in Martin

Luther and the Protestant movement. Af-

ter the Peasants’ War of 1525 he was dis-

missed from service. A solitary figure, he

had no following outside of his homeland

and was little known even to art historians

and experts until the twentieth century,

when the Expressionist movement found

inspiration in his somber and atmospheric

religious scenes.

SEEALSO: Dürer, Albrecht

Guicciardini, Francesco ....................

(1483–1540)

Italian writer of Florence whose methods

in research have given him the title of the

“first modern historian.” He studied at the

universities of Ferrara and Padua and at

first sought a career in the church. His fa-

ther disapproved of his choice and he

turned to the law and a political career in

Florence. The government of Florence ap-

pointed him as an ambassador to King

Ferdinand of Spain. In 1515, he entered

the service of Leo X, the son of Lorenzo

the Magnificent of Florence. Guicciardini

became the papal governor of Reggio and

Modena, towns of northern Italy then un-

der the control of the pope. As governor

of Parma, he defended the town against an

assault by the French, an action that was

rewarded by Pope Clement VII with an

appointment as vice regent of Romagna

and then as lieutenant-general of the army

of the pope.

In 1531 Guicciardini became the gov-

ernor of Bologna, but in 1534 resigned his

Guicciardini, Francesco