What's in a Name?

What's in a name? Well, I think quite a lot; it's not something I can explain, it's merely an amorphous perception that most people seem to 'belong' to their name, if I can put it like that. Occasionally one meets a person whose name doesn't seem to 'fit', a Janet or a David for instance, who doesn't 'seem' like a Janet or a David; I can't explain this situation except to say that, on those occasions, I might have expected quite another name! This probably has as much to do with the way we 'read' people as with anything else; that is, it may not be the particular person who seems at odds with his or her name, but rather the way we interpret other individuals simply on the basis of the way they look, before knowing their name. On the other hand, when occasionally people change their given name, friends and family often react as though they have actually lost someone and are suddenly confronted with an identity they find quite perplexing: that is, what was known is apparently no longer current or valid, and what is new is incomprehensible; the name-changing person is as though suddenly no longer - at least as previously understood - and what is there now is equally suddenly present! Our more or less unconscious psychological identification of an individual personality with his or her name (or with our own for that matter) would seem to be a powerful, and usually necessary, constant in relationships. 

Be that as it may, this short article concerns names and specifically, the names of artists. The general public is familiar with quite a few famous names, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo. Most Westerners will have at least heard of several other artists even if they can't immediately identify any specific work by those people, which is not to imply that they could do otherwise even with the more famous ones. The situation is not helped as far as contemporary names are concerned, as many artists tend to enjoy a certain fashion and are then gradually replaced as they go out of fashion and others come in *. An example of this is the Dutch modernist painter, Piet Mondrian: Mondrian died in 1944 but by the mid-fifties, his was a house-hold name, especially in the USA. Quite apart from his paintings - which were probably unknown to the general public, although much appreciated by other artists and designers - his influence spread to architecture, industrial design, the decorative arts, and even to clothing fashion itself. Quite probably, many more people 'knew' his influence than knew his name. What they certainly would not have known was that Mondrian had changed his name during his first residence in Paris (1911 - 14): originally spelt in the native Dutch manner, Mondriaan - with two letters 'a' - he altered it to its, since then, current spelling with only one 'a'. Eventually, his most typical works were no longer signed with his name as such, but rather with his initials: PM. Mondrian's birth name was Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (b.1872).

One of the most famous of artists' names is certainly that of Leonardo da Vinci; the small Italian word 'da' in this context means 'from'; so this is Leonardo (sometimes spelt Lionardo) 'from' the town of Vinci in Tuscany. Vinci has a small museum devoted to the mechanical contrivances of its most famous son, as well as an excellent (at least, last time I was there) steak restaurant! Like many medieval Italian towns, it is on a hilltop and therefore has wonderful views. Leonardo however spent relatively little time there as he was sent to study in Florence, a typical circumstance at that time, rather like the way Paris became a mecca for artists, including Mondrian, in the early part of the 20th century.

The extraordinary Dutch painter Rembrandt, although known the world over as simply 'Rembrandt', was actually named Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 - 1669); in a case similar to that of Leonardo, the word 'van' in Dutch means 'from' and although he came from Leyden (or Leiden), that town is situated near the so-called Old Rhine, referring to the Rhine (Rijn) River. Picasso similarly, is known simply by that name but his birth name was considerably longer: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso! Initially he signed his works P. Ruiz (his father's surname) or P. Ruiz Picasso, eventually deciding on the surname alone of his mother, 'Picasso'. Most art-loving people also know that Van Gogh's first name was Vincent, partly because he often signed his works that way, as simply 'Vincent'; his full name was Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890).

In the same way that numerous writers - amongst whom, many women, especially in the past - had a 'nom de plume', that is, a 'pen name', so too and for various reasons, many artists either adopted a professional name or were given one. The following is a list of some important figures, mainly artists, from the history of Italian painting, sculpture, architecture and literature.

Bonanno Pisano (active: 1170's and '80s) enchanting sculptor, from Pisa, but also at Monreale in Sicily

Nicola Pisano (c1220/25 - c1284) also Niccolò Pisano, Nicola di Apulia, Nicola Pisanus, sculptor

Giovanni Pisano (c1250 - 1315) son of Nicola and, like him, a great late-Gothic/early-Renaissance sculptor         

Cimabue (c1240 - 1302) Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, supposed master of Giotto. 

Duccio (1250/55 - 1318/19) Duccio di Buoninsegna, like Cimabue, a sublime late-Gothic painter

Giotto (c1267 - 1337) Giotto di Bondone who began the Humanist revolution in Tuscan painting, making a clear break with Byzantine and Gothic conventions         

         

Buffalmacco (c1290 - 1340) Buonamico di Martino, author of some of the great frescos in the Camposanto at Pisa                                                            

Maso di Banco (active: c1320 - 1350), a student of Giotto and author of the 'modern' St Sylvester fresco in  the church of Santa Croce in Florence                                                            

Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446) Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, architect of the dome of Florence cathedral, together with other important buildings, and co-reviver of mathematical perspective  

Ghiberti (1378 - 1455) Lorenzo Ghiberti or di Bartolo, creator of the so-called 'Gates of Paradise' on the Baptistry in Florence and author of I Commentarii, c.1450                                        

Donatello (1386 - 1466) Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, brilliant almost-modern sculptor

Masaccio (1401 - 1428) Tommaso di ser Giovanni di Simone who took Giotto's developments to the level of the Renaissance proper (the Brancacci Chapel and The Trinity frescos) 

Piero della Francesca (1412 - 1492) occasionally Piero dei Franceschi, exquisite 'silent' painter, and theoretician of mathematical perspective                                                                   

Luciano Laurana (1420 - 1479) Lutiano Dellaurana, in Croatian: Lucijan Vranjanin, famous as the architect of the ducal palace at Urbino, claimed as Italian because, at the time, his birthplace (Vrana in Dalmatia) was part of the Republic of Venice; nowadays part of Croatia                                                

Giovanni Bellini (1430 - 1516) great Venetian painter, son of Jacopo and brother of Gentile, both painters, brother-in-law to Andrea Mantegna                                                             

Mantegna (1430/31 - 1506) Andrea Mantegna, a northern Italian painter, student of classical antiquity and the newly (re-)discovered mathematical perspective (along with Alberti, Brunelleschi and Piero della Francesca)                                               

Cosmè Tura (?1433 - 1495) Cosimo del Tura, born at Ferrara, a leader of the Ferrarese Renaissance

Verrocchio (c1435 - 1488) Andrea del Verrocchio born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, painter and sculptor, master of Leonardo da Vinci and author of the astounding Doubting Thomas, originally on Orsanmichele in Florence                                             

Bramante (c1444 - 1514) Bramante Lazzari born Donato d'Augnolo or Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio, Renaissance architect born near Urbino but famous also in Milan and Rome (St Peter's amongst others) 

Leonardo or Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, universal genius famous for many things, in various fields, particularly painting and engineering                                                

Carpaccio (?1465 - 1525/26) Vittore or Vittorio Carpaccio, originally Scarpazza, a wonderful Venetian master painter                                               

Michelangelo (1475 - 1564) Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni  (also Michelagnolo Buonarroto or Buonarruoti, by Vasari), Renaissance universal genius: sculptor, painter, architect, poet, engineer, etc.                                                          

Titian (Tiziano in Italian) (c1488/90 - 1576) Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, sometimes referred to as Tiziano da Cadore (his birthplace), master Venetian painter                                                                   

Vasari (1511 - 1574) Giorgio Vasari, born in Arezzo, architect (the Uffizi Galleries), painter and, most famously, writer: author of the indispensable Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, etc., two editions, 1550 and 1568                                 

Moroni (1520/24 - 1579) Giovanni Battista Moroni, also Giambattista Moroni, wonderful northern Italian portraitist                                              

Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (the town where his father worked, east of Milan in Lombardia), born in Milan, master realist in strong chiaroscuro                                            

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 -c1653) or Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi, a wonderful Baroque painter                                                                    

Bernini (1598 - 1680) Gian Lorenzi Bernini, great master of the Roman Barocco (Baroque)  

Borromini (1599 - 1667) Francesco Borromini born Francesco Castelli, together with Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the creators of Roman Baroque  

Giovanna Garzoni (1600 -1670) a wonderful artist with her exquisite still-life and botanical paintings 

                      

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1702 - 1768) born in Palermo, Sicily, but famous for being the architect of Catania's rebirth as a Baroque city following the earthquake of 1693; and speaking of Catania, Emilio Greco (1913 - 1995), a great Modernist sculptor and painter born in Catania  

                                                  

The cathedral of Catania (Cattedrale di Sant'Agata) Sicily, and, to the left, the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata restored by Giovan Battista Vaccarini

Photo: the author

Of course, this list could go on indefinitely, especially as it is restricted to Italians and then only a small selection - and (apart from three Dutchmen, one Spaniard and one Mexican) we haven't even begun the artists, etc. of other countries. As can be seen, the dates of some of the most important overlap each other, a circumstance which helped to contribute to the extraordinary development, at various times, of the arts in Italy. The names of the artists in the list, some very well known, interested me simply because, like everyone else, I knew these people by their popular, often short-hand names; when researching them however, I became aware of their 'real' names which frequently, like those of Brunelleschi or Verrocchio, are quite lengthy; however, in this contest, obviously, Picasso takes the cake!

Virgin and Child Enthroned, detail, by Cosmè Tura, mid-1470s, National Gallery, London

Photo: the author

* This situation is nothing new (like a lot of things) when we recall some lines from Dante where he speaks about Cimabue as once being the leading painter, whereas, at the time in which La Divina Commedia was set, the year 1300, Giotto had become the most famous: 

"Credette Cimabue nella pintura

tener lo campo, e ora ha Giotto il grido,

sì che la fama di colui è scura: ..."

The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, XI, 94-96

La Divina Commedia, by Dante Alighieri, Testo critico della Società Dantesca Italiana, ed Hoepli, 1991