region	Western Philosophy
era	Ancient philosophy
name	Anaxagoras
birth date	c. 500 BCE
birth place	Clazomenae
death date	c. 428 BCE (aged around 72)
death place	Lampsacus
school tradition	Pluralist school
main interests	Natural philosophy
notable ideas	Cosmic mind (''Nous'') ordering all things
influences	Milesian school
influenced	Archelaus, Pericles
signature	}}

Anaxagoras (, "lord of the assembly"; c. 500 BC – 428 BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae in Asia Minor, Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to bring philosophy from Ionia to Athens. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the sun, which he described as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese. According to Diogenes Laertius and Plutarch he fled to Lampsacus due to a backlash against his pupil Pericles.

Anaxagoras is famous for introducing the cosmological concept of Nous (mind), as an ordering force. He regarded material substance as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary elements, referring all generation and disappearance to mixture and separation respectively.

Biography[link]

Anaxagoras appears to have had some amount of property and prospects of political influence in his native town of Clazomenae in Asia Minor. However, he supposedly surrendered both of these out of a fear that they would hinder his search for knowledge. Valerius Maximus preserves a different tradition: Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, and said: "If this had not perished, I would have." A sentence, denoted by Maximus, as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom!". Although a Greek, he may have been a soldier of the Persian army when Clazomenae was suppressed during the Ionian Revolt.

In early manhood (c. 464–461 BC) he went to Athens, which was rapidly becoming the centre of Greek culture. There he is said to have remained for thirty years. Pericles learned to love and admire him, and the poet Euripides derived from him an enthusiasm for science and humanity.

Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens. His observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the sun, which he described as a mass of blazing metal, larger than the Peloponnese. He was the first to explain that the moon shines due to reflected light from the sun. He also said that the moon had mountains and he believed that it was inhabited. The heavenly bodies, he asserted, were masses of stone torn from the earth and ignited by rapid rotation. He explained that though both sun and the stars were fiery stones, we do not feel the heat of the stars because of their enormous distance from earth. He thought that the earth is flat and floats supported by 'strong' air under it and disturbances in this air sometimes causes earthquakes. These speculations made him vulnerable in Athens to a charge of impiety. Diogenes Laertius reports the story that he was prosecuted by Cleon for impiety, but Plutarch says that Pericles sent Anaxagoras to Lampsacus for his own safety after the Athenians began to blame him for the Peloponnesian war.

About 450 BC, according to Laertius, Pericles spoke in defense of Anaxagoras at his trial. Even so Anaxagoras was forced to retire from Athens to Lampsacus in Troad (c. 434–433 BC). He died there in around the year 428 BC. Citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his memory, and observed the anniversary of his death for many years.

Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived, through preservation in work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the sixth century AD.

Cosmological theory[link]

All things have existed from the beginning. But originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined. All things existed in this mass, but in a confused and indistinguishable form. There were the seeds (''spermata'') or miniatures of wheat and flesh and gold in the primitive mixture; but these parts, of like nature with their wholes (the ''homoiomereiai'' of Aristotle), had to be eliminated from the complex mass before they could receive a definite name and character. Mind arranged the segregation of like from unlike; ''panta chremata en omou eita nous elthon auta diekosmese''. This peculiar thing, called Mind (''Nous''), was no less illimitable than the chaotic mass, but, unlike the ''logos'' of Heraclitus, it stood pure and independent (''mounos ef eoutou''), a thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same. This subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is especially seen ruling in all the forms of life.

Mind causes motion. It rotated the primitive mixture, starting in one corner or point, and gradually extended until it gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts, working something like a centrifuge, and eventually creating the known cosmos. But even after it had done its best, the original intermixture of things was not wholly overcome. No one thing in the world is ever abruptly separated, as by the blow of an axe, from the rest of things.

It is noteworthy that Socrates (Plato, ''Phaedo'', 98 B) accuses Anaxagoras of failing to differentiate between ''nous'' and ''psyche'', while Aristotle ("Metaphysics, Book I") objects that his ''nous'' is merely a ''deus ex machina'' to which he refuses to attribute design and knowledge.

Anaxagoras proceeded to give some account of the stages in the process from original chaos to present arrangements. The division into cold mist and warm ether first broke the spell of confusion. With increasing cold, the former gave rise to water, earth and stones. The seeds of life which continued floating in the air were carried down with the rains and produced vegetation. Animals, including man, sprang from the warm and moist clay. If these things be so, then the evidence of the senses must be held in slight esteem. We seem to see things coming into being and passing from it; but reflection tells us that decease and growth only mean a new aggregation (''synkrisis'') and disruption (''diakrisis''). Thus Anaxagoras distrusted the senses, and gave the preference to the conclusions of reflection. Thus he maintained that there must be blackness as well as whiteness in snow; how otherwise could it be turned into dark water?

Anaxagoras marked a turning-point in the history of philosophy. With him speculation passes from the colonies of Greece to settle at Athens. By the theory of minute constituents of things, and his emphasis on mechanical processes in the formation of order, he paved the way for the atomic theory.

Literary references[link]

Anaxagoras appears as a character in ''The Ionia Sanction'', by Gary Corby

See also[link]

Anaxagoras (crater) on the Moon

Squaring the circle

Socialism, Utopian and scientific

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Bakalis Nikolaos (2005). ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing, Victoria, BC., ISBN 1-4120-4843-5

Barnes J. (1979). ''The Presocratic Philosophers'', Routledge, London, ISBN 0-7100-8860-4, and editions of 1982, 1996 and 2006

Burnet J. (1892). ''Early Greek Philosophy'' A. & C. Black, London, OCLC 4365382, and subsequent editions, 2003 edition published by Kessinger, Whitefish, Montana, ISBN 0-7661-2826-1

Cleve, Felix M. (1949). ''The Philosophy of Anaxagoras: An attempt at reconstruction'' King's Crown Press, New York OCLC 2692674; republished in 1973 by Nijhoff, The Hague, as ''The Philosophy of Anaxagoras: As reconstructed'' ISBN 90-247-1573-3

Curd, Patricia (2007). ''Anaxagoras of Clazomenae : Fragments and Testimonia : a text and translation with notes and essays'' University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 978-0-8020-9325-7

Gershenson, Daniel E. and Greenberg, Daniel A. (1964) ''Anaxagoras and the birth of physics'' Blaisdell Publishing Co., New York, OCLC 899834

Graham, Daniel W. (1999). "Empedocles and Anaxagoras: Responses to Parmenides" Chapter 8 of Long, A. A. (1999) ''The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 159–180, ISBN 0-521-44667-8

Guthrie, W. K. C. (1965). "The Presocratic tradition from Parmenides to Democritus" volume 2 of ''A History of Greek Philosophy'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge OCLC 4679552; 1978 edition ISBN 0-521-29421-5

Kirk G. S.; Raven, J. E. and Schofield, M. (1983) ''The Presocratic Philosophers: a critical history with a selection of texts'' (2nd ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 0-521-25444-2; originally authored by Kirk and Raven and published in 1957 OCLC 870519

Taylor, C. C. W. (ed.) (1997). ''Routledge History of Philosophy: From the Beginning to Plato'', Vol. I, pp. 192 – 225, ISBN 0-203-02721-3 Master e-book ISBN, ISBN 0-203-05752-X (Adobe eReader Format) and ISBN 0-415-06272-1 (Print Edition).

Teodorsson, Sven-Tage (1982). ''Anaxagoras' theory of matter''. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborg, Sweden, ISBN 91-7346-111-3, in English

Zeller, A. (1881). ''A History of Greek Philosophy: From the Earliest Period to the Time of Socrates'', Vol. II, translated by S. F. Alleyne, pp. 321 – 394

External links[link]

Anaxagoras in English and Greek, Select Online Resources

Translation and Commentary from John Burnet's ''Early Greek Philosophy''.

Category:500s BC births Category:428 BC deaths Category:5th-century BC Greek people Category:5th-century BC philosophers Category:Ancient Greek mathematicians Category:Ancient Greek philosophers Category:Ancient Greek physicists Category:Ancient Greeks accused or listed as atheists Category:Deaths by starvation Category:Metic philosophers in Classical Athens Category:Philosophers of ancient Ionia Category:Presocratic philosophers

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Jusepe de Ribera, probably an italianization of ''Josep de Ribera'' (January 12, 1591 – September 2, 1652) was a Spanish Tenebrist painter and printmaker, also known as José de Ribera in Spanish and as Giuseppe Ribera in Italian. He was also called by his contemporaries and early writers Lo Spagnoletto, or "the Little Spaniard". Ribera was a leading painter of the Spanish school, although his mature work was all done in Italy.

Early life[link]

Ribera was born near Valencia, Spain at Xàtiva. He was baptized on February 17, 1591. His father was a shoemaker, perhaps on a large scale. His parents intended him for a literary or learned career, but he neglected these studies and is said to have apprenticed with the Spanish painter Francisco Ribalta in Valencia, although no proof of this connection exists. Longing to study art in Italy, he made his way to Rome via Parma, where he is recorded in 1611. According to one source, a cardinal noticed him drawing from the frescoes on a Roman palace facade, and housed him. Roman artists gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto."

He became a follower of Caravaggio's style, one of the so-called Tenebrosi, or shadow-painters, owing to the sharp contrasts of light and shade marking their style. He traveled to Parma, where he completed a painting on the subject of ''Jacob's Ladder'', now in the Prado Museum, Madrid. Ribera lived in Rome from 1613–16, on the Via Margutta, and associated with other Caravaggisti, including Gerrit van Honthorst and Hendrik ter Brugghen. He then moved to Naples, to avoid his creditors, according to Giulio Mancini, who described him as extravagant. He may also have already arranged his marriage, to the daughter of a Neapolitan painter, Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino, in November, 1616.

Neapolitan period[link]

The Kingdom of Naples was then part of the Spanish Empire, and ruled by a succession of Spanish Viceroys. Ribera's Spanish nationality aligned him with the small Spanish governing class in the city, and also with the Flemish merchant community, from another Spanish territory, who included important collectors of and dealers in art. Ribera began to sign his work as "Jusepe de Ribera, Español" or "Jusepe de Ribera, Spaniard". He was able to quickly attract the attention of the Viceroy, the Duke of Osuna, also recently arrived, who gave him a number of major commissions, which showed the influence of Guido Reni.

The period after Osuna was recalled in 1620 seems to have been difficult. Few paintings survive from 1620 to 1626; but this was the period in which most of his best prints were produced. These were at least partly an attempt to attract attention from a wider audience than Naples. His career picked up in the late 1620s, and he was accepted as the leading painter in Naples thereafter. Although Ribera never returned to Spain, many of his paintings were taken back by returning members of the Spanish governing class, for example the Duke of Osuna, and his etchings were brought to Spain by dealers. His influence can be seen in Velázquez, Murillo, and most other Spanish painters of the period.

He has been portrayed as selfishly protecting his prosperity, and is reputed to have been the chief in the so-called ''Cabal of Naples'', his abettors being a Greek painter, Belisario Corenzio and the Neapolitan, Giambattista Caracciolo. It is said this group aimed to monopolize Neapolitan art commissions, using intrigue, sabotage of work in progress, and even personal threats of violence to frighten away outside competitors such as Annibale Carracci, the Cavalier d'Arpino, Reni, and Domenichino. All of them were invited to work in Naples, but found the place inhospitable. The cabal ended at the time of Caracciolo's death in 1641.

According to the RKD he is listed as a pupil of Ribalta and in turn his own pupils were Enrico Fiammingo, Francesco Fracanzano, Luca Giordano, and Bartelomeo Passante. He was followed by Giuseppe Marullo and he influenced the painters Agostino Beltrano, Hendrick van Someren, Paolo Domenico Finoglio and Pietro Novelli.

Later life[link]

From 1644, Ribera seems to have suffered serious ill-health, which greatly reduced his ability to work himself, although his workshop continued to produce. In 1647-8, during the Masaniello rising against Spanish rule, he felt forced to take refuge with his family in the palace of the Viceroy for some months. In 1651 he sold the large house he had owned for many years, and when he died on September 2, 1652 he was in serious financial difficulties. His daughter had married in about 1644 a Spanish nobleman in the administration, who died soon after.

Work[link]

In his earlier style, founded sometimes on Caravaggio and sometimes on the wholly diverse method of Correggio, the study of Spanish and Venetian masters can be traced. Along with his massive and predominating shadows, he retained from first to last a great strength in local coloring. His forms, though ordinary and sometimes coarse, are correct; the impression of his works gloomy and startling. He delighted in subjects of horror. In the early 1630s his style changed away from strong contrasts of dark and light to a more diffused and golden lighting, as can be seen in "The Clubfoot" of 1642. Salvator Rosa and Luca Giordano were his most distinguished followers, who may have been his pupils; others were also Giovanni Do, Enrico Fiammingo, Michelangelo Fracanzani, and Aniello Falcone, who was the first considerable painter of battle-pieces.

Among Ribera's principal works could be named "St Januarius Emerging from the Furnace" in the cathedral of Naples; the "Descent from the Cross" in the Certosa, Naples, the "Adoration of the Shepherds" (a late work, 1650), now in the Louvre; the "Martyrdom of St Bartholomew" in the Prado; and the "Pieta" in the sacristy of San Martino, Naples. His mythologic subjects are often as violent as his martyrdoms: for example, "Apollo and Marsyas", with versions in Brussels and Naples, or the "Tityus" in the Prado . The Prado and Louvre contain numbers of his paintings; the National Gallery, London, three. He executed several fine male portraits and a self-portrait. He was an important etcher, the most significant Spanish printmaker before Goya, producing about forty prints, nearly all in the 1620s.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Main source: Scholz-Hänsel, Michael. (2000). '' Jusepe de Ribera, 1591-1652''. Cologne: Könemann. ISBN 3829028725

Further reading[link]

Brown, Jonathan. (1973). ''Jusepe de Ribera: prints and drawings; [catalogue of an exhibition] The Art Museum, Princeton University, October–November 1973''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University. the standard work on his prints and drawings.

Williamson, Mark A. "The Martyrdom Paintings of Jusepe de Ribera: Catharsis and Transformation"; PhD Dissertation, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York 2000 (available online at myspace.com/markwilliamson13732)

External links [link]

Jusepe de Ribera's Biography, Style, and Artwork

Jusepe de Ribera at Artcyclopedia

The bearded woman, Work of the month - Ducal House of Medinaceli Foundation

Jusepe de Ribera. Pictures and Biography

Category:1591 births Category:1652 deaths Category:People from Xàtiva Category:Valencian artists Category:Spanish Baroque painters Category:Neapolitan painters Category:Italian Baroque painters Category:Spanish printmakers

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