Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda and Fifteenth Century Hermetic Culture: Artistic Production in the Court of Urbino

The diffusion of Neoplatonic culture in the Renaissance has been addressed by several authors (Margolin-Matton, 1993; Rossi-Valeri, 2008) and several critical texts of hermetic manuscripts – some of which unpublished - have shown its importance. Many scholars (Margolin- Matton, 1993; Calvesi, 1995) think that before alchemy became distinct from mechanical and occult arts (in the XVII century thanks to Nicolas Lefèvre), such classifiers as encyclopedists, biographers, philosophers, medical practitioners and naturalists considered it as part of their own arts. Similarly, there are many studies on the great Renaissance artists and the pictorial cycles that marked the history of Italian art in the second half of the Quattrocento (Cieri Via, 1987; Ginzburg, 1981; Lavin, 1990). However, based on these, I discuss the interaction necessary between the two themes, showing how the diffusion of alchemy writings affected the iconographic choices of certain artists operating in the Duchy of Montefeltro. I focus on Ottaviano Ubaldini Della Carda, brother of the Duke of Montefeltro Federico (B.U.U. «Carlo Bo» Urbino University 'Univ. 156'), humanist and lover of alchemy (Urb. lat.716, Urb. lat. 717) and patron of works of art (Palloni, 1991). In my paper, I show how the diffusion of alchemy writings affected the iconographic choices of certain artists in the period between the duchy of Montefeltro and that of Della Rovere. In part one I analyze the figure of Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda, filling some biographical gaps in relation to his family ties with Duke Federico. In part II I describe the cultural context of the duchy of Montefeltro, highlighting the documented presence of men linked to alchemy and hermeticism gravitating around Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda, such as Ludovico Lazzarelli (Urb. lat. 717) and Martino Filetico (Vat. Urb. lat. 1200), among others. In the third and final part, I review critically the debate on the influence of the hermetic culture on the artistic production in the Renaissance, starting from commissions by Ottaviano, such as the Rocca of Sassocorvaro by Francesco Di Giorgio Martini which, with its turtle-like layout, raises many questions on its origin.