#at least it will give a break to my cesare borgia tag

[hms-tardimpala]

For FFWF, I'm sending a question bomb back to you, friend <3 Soooo how is it going along with breaking in that ship tag? Care to tell us about them, like what sort of characters they are and what their dynamic is?

Or if you would rather talk about your experience with rarepair ships in general I would be interested in that too <3

I'm so happy to get this ask! Heads-up: it might get long.

So I'm not breaking in a ship tag, what I said yesterday was that I was writing for a small ship and, as a reader, I had found no fics for some pairings I were looking for. Your ask might change that however, but I'll say more about this a little lower...

I can tell you about the small ship I'm writing for currently! I'm entering Know No Shame mode so here it is: it's Alan Grant/Billy Brennan from Jurassic Park 3.

Yes, of all things. I'm the first who's surprised. This time around I'm seeing something in them that I want to explore. I think you of all my writer friends can appreciate a teacher/student dynamic best. They're two brilliant scientists (Billy has to be to be Grant's dig site manager) in the hot Montana badlands, they act sort of like a married couple in the movie (they're a package deal), Grant has a history of dating younger paleontologists and Billy is his very devoted easygoing assistant that acts as an intermediary for his misanthropic professor.

There's potential for: hero worship, We Shouldn't Do This™ angst, establishing a healthy relationship despite status and age gap, and I've never written a student character, especially one who has to finish a PhD after he's been traumatized by the animals he was studying, so that's interesting.

Like, the movie isn't much, but it gives me just enough to want to write a study of their relationship during and post-canon.

And now I realize that both fics I'm currently writing are about fixing an established relationship after a big falling-out (partly, at least). Well, well.

Now, for my experience of rarepairs. I mostly read (and write, so far) in big to huge fandoms and I'm generally into the main ship (which is why I see Billy/Alan as a rarepair, although you might think that with 181 fics, they're not in this category). But sometimes (often, actually) I get interested in a media that has a very small fandom and I happen to ship characters that very few people seem to be interested in.

When that happens, I end up reading as many fics about that ship as I can find, and I really make sure to kudo and comment to thank the author. Fandom is never more a community than when it comes to rarepairs.

As a writer, so far I'm enjoying the experience. I feel more free because virtually nobody is watching and I can really write the thing for me, and me only. That's such a pleasure! It's really just me and my notepad, that feels great. I feel like a kid!

And about breaking in a ship tag... One of the ships I failed to find fics for the other day is Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea, or really Juan Borgia/any man for the show Borgia. Christoforo in himself is a tiny and unimportant character, but I'm seeing some gay subtext around Juan Borgia, and I can't believe I'm the only one! There's something about the desperate way he kisses men on the mouth especially his brother that I want studied!

Your ask inspired me, and I now have a couple of interesting ideas to explore the character's possible homosexuality/bisexuality in a fic. That would include writing about him and Christoforo and him and his brother, so I would functionally be breaking in two ship tags: Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea and Juan Borgia/Cesare Borgia (because Juan is an ugly duckling but he deserves to be invited to the sibling fuckfest).

Thank you so much for asking me this, Nara, I loved talking about it. And thank you for the inspiration, I'm now going to let these ideas simmer. I love you <3

[ducavalentinos]

Hi ! Cesare What was your favorite painter? Thank you.

Hi! :) So, not much is known, or at least presented, about César’s relationship with art and the artists of his time, which I think was what you meant? it’s frustrating for me to say this because it's another theme about his life I am always very much interested in knowing more about, but it’s another one where we don’t have secure and extensive information on. Many documents and iconography of the Borgia family were destroyed during the papacy of Julius II and others, and/or were simply destroyed by time, and my impression is that this theme doesn’t spark much interest by scholars in general. César’s biographers, with some exceptions, seem convinced by the idea that César cared little for art, all he cared about 24/7, in their eyes, was warfare and power~~ lol, so their approach to this theme ends up being pretty basic and brief, I don’t think they see any reason to explore it further, or to present a more in-depth analysis. Then, there’s the great artists of the Renaissance, who were in the court of the Borgias, and their biographers. The situation is even more poor on this side, because there’s a discomfort on their part I'd say, to accept and acknowledge the association between César and their artist, even though these artists did had "worse" associations in their careers tbh, it's kinda bizarre to me, but anyways it is something they struggle to present in their works. I believe it is caused by the superficial knowledge they seem to have about the historical figure of César Borgia, and of taking the general history about him at face value. They see and present his legend, that being: as a terrible, evil tyrant of history, which puts them into a dilemma of sorts, of how to present the association between César and their artist? without tarnishing said artist’s exalted reputation? which leads to curious narratives, and with them usually trying to stay as little as possible on this subject, they avoid it like the plague basically dsjdjsdjs. César and his connection to their artist is either briefly mentioned, on a negative light of course, or it’s just not mentioned at all. As a result of these historical and academic obstacles, it is impossible to know who César’s favorite painter was, only he could tell us that, that’s the honest answer, I’m afraid. However, if you gather and connect all the historical material available about César and the artists from 1496 to 1503, it can lead to interesting possibilities. César grew up during the amazing Early Renaissance period, and he later actively interacted with the best artists and intellectuals of the equally amazing so-called High Renaissance period: Bramante, Sangallo, il Pinturicchio, il Perugino, Michelangelo, Raphael Sanzio, Leonardo da Vinci, Piermatteo d’Amelia, Copernicus, and many others. There is no doubt these surroundings and acquaintances had an effect on his life and his artistic preferences. As a man of his time, he seemed to have had the typical, genuine appreciation for the arts, and like any other nobles (both men and women), he was aware art was also a good tool to exert diplomacy, cultivating relationships, or to promote oneself and its court, and as a form of visual communication about their personality and power. The artists mentioned above gravitated towards pope Alexander VI's court in Rome, and later on César court as well, they all had a relationship with him, of different kinds, and one way I found of trying to have a better picture of his artistic preferences, or his role as a patron of the arts, was to look through his choice of artists, the number of commissions he gave them, the places, the favors he granted etc, and I think that can be helpful to indicate the most likely “candidates” to have occupied the role of his favorite(s), I selected a few of them here: I'll start with Antonio Sangallo and Donato Bramante, who tecnically were not painters, well, Bramante was too, but both of them are known for their architecture and it was in this role that they worked for Alexander and César for the most part, but at least in some projects it seems they were also encharged of the artistic decorations, and they did interacted with the other artists of this list.

- Sangallo first started working for César's father, a notable work is his involvement at the rebuilding of the University of Rome, la Sapienza, one of the projects Alexander patronized early in his papacy. He is also associated with two fortresses, the Forte Nettuno and the Forte Sangallo at Civita Castellena, these commissions started under the direction of Alexander, but it seems to have shifted to being partly or solely under César's direction in 1501, so here we have a likely date of when Sangallo started working for him, he was employed to work on yet another re-construction and re-decorations of the fortresses, alongside Bramante (as it is suggested by some scholars), Jacopo Ripanda, and Piermatteo d'Amelia.

- Donato Bramante, just like Sangallo, seems to have started to work for César around 1501, at the fortresses mentioned above, but according to Alvisi, César's best biographer, some churches in the Romagna were built by him: the Church of S. Maria a Monte, a little outside of Cesena, and the Church of S. Stefano (although it is uncertain if it was under César’s patronage) both of which he says it exhibits a bramantesche style in their architecture. Still at Faenza, Alvisi posits the possibility of the design of the Faenza's Cathedral having been another work of Bramante, adding that even if he truly wasn’t involved in the execution, at least its general proportions can be credited to be his. More interestingly is a document from July 15, 1502, bearing César's title as Duke of Urbino, where he grants some privileges to the men at Castel Durante, today's Urbania, which Alvisi remarks it might have been a grant that happened through the intercession of Bramante, who was already working for César at the time, and whose place of birth was in Urbania. Now, going the the artists/painters:

- Bernardino di Betti, known as il Pinturicchio, is one artist I think it’s the most associated with the Borgia family, his relationship with them goes back as early as 1492, when pope Alexander VI commissioned him to work on his private rooms at the Vatican, today known as the Borgia apartments. It’s hard to know when Pinturicchio started working for César, there’s a letter written by César on October 1500, to Cardinal Alfani, Vice-Treasurer of Perugia, to secure a personal favor Pinturicchio had requested of him in person at Diruta, where he writes that:

“Bernardino Pintoricchio da Perosa, qual sempre avemo amato per le virtù sue e l’havemo nuovamente riducto a li servizi nostri. Per la qual cosa desideramo sia in ogni sua facenda riconosciuto per nostro familiare.”

“Bernardino Pinturicchio of Perugia, whom we have always loved for his virtues, and whom we have taken again to our service, for which we desire that he be recognized in all of his affairs as our familiar.”

This letter is important because it informs us of two things, one being that Pinturicchio had worked for César prior to 1500, most likely in Rome, and it’s sad there’s apparentely nothing more about these commissions, and that César clearly regarded him as his courtier and his familiar. In 1501, he granted Pinturicchio an annual payment as his personal painter, although again, there is nothing more about this commission either, as far as I’ve read. - Leonardo da Vinci is another artist who worked for César, they must have met not at Alexander’s court in Rome, but at the court of Milan in 1499. There’s actually a lot of material, direct and indirect, about their association. César was an important patron for Leonardo, more than that, the evidence suggests they had a genuine friendship, both of them had a high intellect, curious minds, and an innovative spirit. On a document César wrote on August 18, 1502, we see him referring to Da Vinci as his “Most Beloved familiar” a term similar to the one he referred to Pinturicchio. During the years of 1500-1501 it seems they were in contact with each other, so it is possible Da Vinci was already working for him then, but officially César employed him in 1502, as his military and ducal engineer, a position Da Vinci himself seems to have wanted from his previous patron. César also valued his talent as an artist because he commissioned some artistic projects from him. Between September and December of 1502 iirc, Da Vinci made various sketches, and began the painting of an altarpiece at the Santuario della Beata Vergine del Piratello, outside of Imola. And there is a drawing commonly known as Three Views of a Bearded Head, that is generally accepted to have been a preparation for a portrait of Cesare by Da Vinci, either for said altarpiece, or for some other project entirely.   - Raphael Sanzio and Michelangelo: the documentation for these two is a little more scarce, Sabatini, one of César’s biographers, mentions Michelangelo was in César’s court alongside Bramante in 1500, unfortunately he doesn’t give a source for this information, but it is likely he was correct, Michelangelo was working in Rome during the papacy of Alexander VI, and he and César seemed to have met around 1496, when César purchased the Sleeping Cupid from him, which supports the claim Sabatini and Sacerdote make about Cesare’s deep admiration for Michelangelo, how he was “ever held in the hightest esteem by the Duke.” Another interesting thing is that in 1498-99 Michelangelo’s Pietà statue was made for the St. Peter’s Basilica, and some scholars, Anna Maria Voci being one of them, links the statue to the Borgia family, as of being a reference to the murder of Juan Borgia, and his family’s grief. Whether this is correct or not, César certainly saw this particular work when it was finally exposed in the Chapel of Santa Petronilla, and he might had employed Michelangelo for his court afterwards, if he hadn’t already, in the following year of 1500, matching the date given by Sabatini. As for Raphael, a likely date for them meeting could have been around 1501/1502, in Rome, possibly through Pinturicchio or Pietro Vannucci, il Perugino. Raphael was good friends with the former, and had been the pupil of the latter, and both of these artists, Pinturicchio and il Perugino, were familiar and a part of Alexander’s court in Rome, and by extension César’s. It is recorded Perugino worked on the decorations of Alexander’s coronation, as well as the decorations of the Borgia Tower alongside Pinturicchio, he also seems to have done some work on César’s apartments in the Vatican, so Raphael was def. within the Borgia circle of artists. There are also some small hints suggesting César’s influence at the choice of Raphael for the Oddi Altarpiece in Perugia by the Oddi family, a known ally of his, and there was once a painting attributed as of being a portrait of César made by Raphael, but Yriarte, Cesár’s French biographer, dismissed the painting being a portrait of César, and other scholars have dismiss the painting having anything to do with Raphael or César. As a bonus, I thought I should include Luca Signorelli, I wasn’t going to initially, but given there is some evidence indicating a good relationship between him and the Borgia family, and more to the point of this question, of a connection between him and César, so I decided to add him on this list. There is no information about where and when they actually met, but it was probably in Orvieto, around 1499 because Signorelli was appointed this year to work in the Cathedral of Orvieto, in the Chapel of San Brizio, the planning of his frescoes dates from 1499 to 1502, and it is probable this appointement had the influence of César himself, Alexander had named him Protector of the Orvieto in 1494, and in 1495 he made him Governor of the city. As it was charactericially of César, he took this responsibility seriously, defending the city from their enemies in 1497 and 1500 (and for this Orvieto was loyal to the Borgia family until their downfall), but more interestingly here it’s that César also directed the chapter of the administration of the Duomo of Orvieto, which gave him the right to determine its decorations and possibly the artists involved, if this is correct, his choosing of Signorelli increases and it is significant. It can be further corroborated if César is indeed depicted in one of Signorelli’s frescoes, in his Predicazione e fatti dell’Anticristo, scholars have claimed César is the figure in the central foreground group, next to Vitellozzo Vitelli. Pinturicchio, who also made some work for this Cathedral in 1492, it’s also said to be depicted there. Additionally, Menotti, in his work I Borgia, mentions a painting, that as far as I know, cannot be found anywhere today, where he says the face of the main figure has the likeness of Cesare’s face, and he attributes authorship of this painting to an artist of either Siena or Orvieto, so maybe Pinturrichio or il Perugino, since there are clear connections between these men and César, but a scholar whose name I forget rn has also laid out the possibility of the authorship as of being Signorelli, if true, then it would reinforce even more their relationship. I think César’s favorite or favorites are there, you know, we can never know for sure, the info is fragmented, and I tried to only include here what was relevant to the question, and it is a lot of connecting and speculating, but I think these are plausible speculations, and for me at the least it did formed a broader picture of that side of César and his life, his choice of sitting for Pinturicchio (as well as making him his personal painter), Da Vinci, maybe Signorelli and Sanzio, his likely using his influence towards certain artists in the choice of commissions, his purchase of Michelangelo’s Sleeping Cupid, after all the drama attached to it involving Cardinal Sforza-Riario and one Baldassare lol, which seems to me he clearly saw something in the statue, he recognized the value of it, and the talent of young Michelangelo, it did not mattered to him if it was a proper antique or not, he appreciated the beauty of it, and he bought it, I find that super interesting. All of this subtly indicates his artistic preferences, the styles he might have liked more, in paintings, statues, building designs, and of the personal relations he had with these artists. I hope somewhere in all this i was able to answered your question somehow, feel free to ask anything else if you want, and I apologize for taking so long to post this.