My name is Lovino Vargas Bordanga and I live in the outskirts of the city of Naples. Naples is in southern Italy and has been a port city since it was built. Much trade has brought wealth to the city and artists have been working here as well. In the late 1200’s, when Angevin kings ruled, significant artists came to Naples. Giotto and Simone Martini were two of them, and these artist decorated churches, palaces and buildings with their work. Later, Alfonso V of Aragon, who ruled Naples in 1442, had a monument built. It is an arch called the Arco di Trionfo di Constantio. This arch was built like the architecture from ancient Rome. During this time Naples became a center of painting. Our kings commissioned Pisanello, Donatello and Michelozzo, and by the late fifteenth century a style of artwork was created. The leading artists were Diego de Siloe and Bartolome Ordonez. At this time we are under Spanish rule, and more recently, Naples has grown greatly in inhabitance. Painters, writers, scholars and sculptors have been coming to Naples, like painters Raphael and Giorgio Vasari. I myself am an architect. I designed the building we, my younger brother and his family and I, live in. The building has a symmetrical façade with a cornice on our front doorway, an open courtyard and large gardens with fountains. The design used arches and Doric columns. I tried to have the building be symmetrical and have balanced elements. I had learned much about these ways of architecture from a book called On Architecture written by Vitruvius. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio lived from 80 B.C.E. to 25 B.C.E. and was a Roman architect, engineer and author. His book was written in 40 B.C.E., and as the only architectural book that survived the Middle Ages, it revealed methods that had been forgotten. Vitruvius wrote that strength, unity and beauty were needed in buildings. Will the invention of the printing press many copies of this book could be created. Our family has an illustrated edition that was translated into Italian from 1521. With this knowledge I am teaching my brothers son about the family business. When I was learning about architecture I traveled to Rome to view what remained from the ancient city back in its height. Maybe someday I will take him to Rome as well but for now I teach him at home. I teach mostly about Roman and Greek Architecture because people are beginning to leave behind the Gothic style buildings. I teach him about arches, domes, and columns of all kinds, and facades, too. All these things are replacing the old fortress-like castle.
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My brother runs the estate while I continue the family business. The estate is not only housed to us but also our servants as well as some people who are passing by. We have these passer-byers living with us at the time because my brother uses the estate as an inn to have another business that will help keep us making profit. I am away for the time because I have been commissioned to build a cathedral in Florence. I have relatives in Florence so I am staying with them for the time. I am thinking of asking one of my cousins to help me with the cathedral since he is a painter. He would do a good job painting the ceiling. I have already begun designing the building. I am mixing roman forms of architecture into the design. The cathedral will be shaped into the form of a cross with a dome at its intersection. It will have rows of Doric columns and arches. I have learned the style of symmetry, balance and consistent proportions and will be using them in the build. I am leaving behind the Gothic design. People are beginning to look back on the Roman and Greek ways more frequently and maybe soon we will have changed the sacred and secular design of buildings that was brought to us by the barbarians. Though I live in the port city of Naples where trade is always ongoing, yet it would have been a challenge to take the materials this far north. Florence is not near the sea so trading for materials here would be harder. Maybe I could use common materials from the area but I will have to ask my relatives for information on it. I must get materials for not only building it but also decorating it if I am to finish the building. My commissioner wants to show his wealth so I will probably buy more blue paint than usual for my cousin.
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Lovino Vargas Bordanga
Born: December 3rd, 1497
Died: July 8th, 1532
The passing of the grand Lovino Vargas Bordanga, at the age of thirty-four, was a sad and unexpected surprise to all. The cause of his passing is unknown, but may he rest in peace as we burry him with his other fallen family members in Florence. He died as he continued his chosen living, building a magnificent cathedral. May his nephew take his place well in continuing the family business once it is his time.
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My brother runs the estate while I continue the family business. The estate is not only housed to us but also our servants as well as some people who are passing by. We have these passer-byers living with us at the time because my brother uses the estate as an inn to have another business that will help keep us making profit. I am away for the time because I have been commissioned to build a cathedral in Florence. I have relatives in Florence so I am staying with them for the time. I am thinking of asking one of my cousins to help me with the cathedral since he is a painter. He would do a good job painting the ceiling. I have already begun designing the building. I am mixing roman forms of architecture into the design. The cathedral will be shaped into the form of a cross with a dome at its intersection. It will have rows of Doric columns and arches. I have learned the style of symmetry, balance and consistent proportions and will be using them in the build. I am leaving behind the Gothic design. People are beginning to look back on the Roman and Greek ways more frequently and maybe soon we will have changed the sacred and secular design of buildings that was brought to us by the barbarians. Though I live in the port city of Naples where trade is always ongoing, yet it would have been a challenge to take the materials this far north. Florence is not near the sea so trading for materials here would be harder. Maybe I could use common materials from the area but I will have to ask my relatives for information on it. I must get materials for not only building it but also decorating it if I am to finish the building. My commissioner wants to show his wealth so I will probably buy more blue paint than usual for my cousin.
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Lovino Vargas Bordanga
Born: December 3rd, 1497
Died: July 8th, 1532
The passing of the grand Lovino Vargas Bordanga, at the age of thirty-four, was a sad and unexpected surprise to all. The cause of his passing is unknown, but may he rest in peace as we burry him with his other fallen family members in Florence. He died as he continued his chosen living, building a magnificent cathedral. May his nephew take his place well in continuing the family business once it is his time.