JOHN T.

: PAOLETTI &GA RY M

Renaissa
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 Art in
Renaissance
Italy
di a
PO GUN@ieh ele TT] & GARY MalRADKE

Pet in
Renaissance
Italy
MOO eal teJON IKON

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Front cover: Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son, Giovanni, c. 1546.
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

Frontispiece: Jacobello del Fiore, Enthroned Justice Flanked by St. Michael the
Archangel and the Angel Gabriel, 1421 (detail). (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)
This book was designed and produced by
Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, Laurence King Publishing Ltd., London
with permission, in this textbook appear on page 566. www.laurenceking.com

Copyright © 2012, 2005, 2002, 1997 John T. Paoletti & Gary M. Radke Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders, but
should there be any errors or omissions, Laurence King Publishing
Published 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, 1 Lake Ltd would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgment in
St, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 07458. All rights reserved. Printed in any subsequent printing of this publication.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Paoletti, John T.
Art in Renaissance Italy
/ John T. Paoletti & Gary M. Radke. -- 4th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-20S-01047-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-205-01047-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Art, Italian. 2. Art, Renaissance--Italy. 3. Italy--Civilization--1268-1559.
I. Radke, Gary M.. IL. Title.
N6915.P26 2012
709.45’09024--dc22
2011000226

10987654321

Prentice Hall
is an imprint of

PEARSON ISBN-10: 0-205-01047-4

www.pearsonhighered.com ISBN-13: 978-0-205-01047-9
 Contents

Preface 10 2 Rome: Artists, Popes, and Cardinals 56

Rome’s Revival under Nicholas II 57
Introduction: Art in Context 12 The Sancta Sanctorum 58
Nicholas IV at Santa Maria Maggiore 59
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Offerings 14
Patronage 16
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Miracles 60
Patrons from the Papal Curia 62
Artsts’ Workshops 17
Pope Boniface VIII and an Imperial Language of Power 64
The Image of the Artist 17
Creating Images for an Absent Papacy 65
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: An Artist’s Life 18
Workshop Training 20
Contracts 21 3 Assisi and Padua: Narrative Realism 67
Materials and Methods 22
The Painting Studio 22 Frescoes in San Francesco 69
Wall Painting 22 Nave Frescoes 69

Tempera and Oil Painting 24 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: St. Francis and the Christ Child 70
Mosaic and Stained Glass 26 Padua: The Scrovegni Chapel 72
The Sculpture Workshop 27
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Terms of Employment 27 4 Florence: Traditions and Innovations 78
Bronze Sculpture 31
Drawings 32 St. John the Baptist and the Baptstry 80
Architecture 33 The Palazzo della Signoria and Urban Planning 81
Other Workshops 34 Mendicant Churches 83
Print Media 35 Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella 83
Renovations and Restorations 35 Altarpieces Dedicated to the Virgin 84
Historiography and Methodology 41 Cimabue’s Altarpiece for Santa Trinita 84
Vasari’s Three Ages 41 Duccio’s Altarpiece for the Confraternity of the
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Fashioning the Female Artist 42 Laudesi 85
Naming the Renaissance 43 Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna 86
Santa Croce Frescoes 86
The Bardi Chapel 87
The Late Thirteenth and the The Peruzzi Chapel 89
Fourteenth Century 46 The Baroncelli Chapel 90
Altarpieces for Santa Croce 93
The Santa Croce Refectory Frescoes 94
1 The Origins of the Renaissance 48 The Cathedral Complex 95
St. Francis and the Beginnings of Renaissance Andrea Pisano’s Baptistry Doors 96
Art 48
Francis of Assisi 49
5 Siena: City of the Virgin 99
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Francis as Another Christ 50
The San Damiano Crucifix: Christus triumphans 50 The Cathedral 100
Christus patiens 50 The Pulpit 101
Defining St. Francis 52 The Facade 102
St. Clare 53 Duccio’s Maesta 103
Style and Meaning 53 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: The Procession of the Maesta 104
Urban Contexts 55 Altarpieces in the Transept Chapels 106
Types ofCities 55 Later Sienese Altar Painting 109
The Palazzo Pubblico 111 Social Upheaval and Civic Works in Florence 163
Simone Martini’s Maesta for the Palazzo Pubblico 111 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: The Bridge ofSalvation 163
Lippo Memmi’s Maesta for San Gimignano 112 Or San Michele 166
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Popular Piety 112 Family Commissions 168
Secular Imagery in the Sala del Consiglio 114 The Legend of the True Cross 169
The Sala della Pace: “Good Government” 114 Frescoes at San Miniato 170
Siena’s Political System and Civic Art 118 Other Civic Imagery 171
Painting in the Palazzo Pubblico 118 Domestic Painting 173
Enhancements to the Campo 120

9 Visconti Milan and Carrara Padua 174

6 Naples: Art for a Royal Kingdom 122 Milan: The Visconti Court 174
The Court and the Importation ofArtists 122 Azzone Visconti and the Idea of Magnificence 176
Consolidating Angevin Rule: A Queen’s CONTEMPORARY VOICE: In Praise of Magnificence 177
Commissions 126 Azzone Visconti’s Tomb 178
Cavallini and Giotto in Naples 127 Embellishment of the City 178
Robert of Anjou 128 The Altarpiece of the Magi 180
The Altarpiece of St. Louis 128 The Equestrian Monument of Bernabo Visconti 181
Sancia of Majorca and the Church of Santa Chiara 130 The Cansignorio della Scala Monument in Verona 182
Tomb Monuments and Robert the Wise 131 The Castello Visconteo 183
The Tomb of Mary of Hungary 131 Manuscript Illumination 183
The Tomb of Robert of Anjou 132 Padua: The Carrara Court 184
The End of the Angevin Dynasty in Naples 132 CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Gastronomy 185
Queen Giovanna II and the Monument to The Padua Baptistry 187
King Ladislas 135 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Illustrious Men 188
The Caracciolo Chapel 135 Patronage at the Santo 188
The St. James (San Felice) Chapel 188
St. Anthony of Padua 189
7 Venice: The Most Serene Republic 136
The Oratory of St. George 190
St. Mark’s Basilica 138 Milan: Giangaleazzo Visconti 190
Piazza San Marco 138 The Certosa of Pavia 191
Images of the State and the Individual 140 Cathedral Architecture 191
Doge Andrea Dandolo 141 Cathedral Sculpture 194
Enhancements to St. Mark’s 141 The International Gothic Style 194
The Pala @’Oro 141 Manuscript Illumination 195
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: The Image as Document 143 Michelino da Besozzo 196
St. Mark’s Baptistry 143 Secular Frescoes 197
The Choir Screen 144 The Last Visconti and the Durability of the
The Facade 145 International Style 198
The Church of Santi Giovannie Paolo 145
The Tomb of Doge Michele Morosini 146
The Doge’s Palace 146
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Violence 147
Il Part Il: The Fifteenth Century 200
Santo Stefano 147
Sculpture on the Doge’s Palace 148
10 Florence: Commune and Guild 202
Painting in the Doge’s Palace 150
Sculpture for the Cathedral Complex 202
The Competition for the Second Baptistry
8 Pisa and Florence: Social Upheaval 153
Doors 203
The Camposanto Frescoes in Pisa 153 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Ghiberti versus Brunelleschi 205
Santa Maria Novella in Florence 156 Buttress Sculpture 207
The Strozzi Chapel 156 Facade Sculpture 210
The Strozzi Altarpiece 157 Or San Michele 210
The Guidalotti Chapel 159 Brunelleschi and Florentine Civic Architecture 215
The Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas 159 The Foundling Hospital 215
The Way of Salvation 161 The Dome of the Cathedral 216

6 CONTENTS
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Childbirth 217 12 Rome: Re-establishing Papal Power 286
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: In Praise of Artists 218
Martin V, Eugenius IV, and Nicholas V 286
Family Commissions 219
A Cautionary Fresco 287
The Bartolini-Salimbeni Chapel 220
The Papal Basilicas 287
The Strozzi Chapel at Santa Trinita 223
Santa Maria Maggiore 287
The Quaratesi Altarpiece 223
St. Peter’s 288
Masaccio’s Pisa Aaltarpiece 224
The Vatican Palace 290
Altarpieces at Mid-Century 225
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Ruins and Dreams 291
Masaccio: The Brancacci Chapel and Narrative Fresco
Pius II 292
Cycles 228
Cardinals’ Commissions 295
The Trinity and Single-Point Perspective 232
Pienza 296
Castagno at Sant’Apollonia 234
Paul II 297
Excursus: The Impact of Florentine Art Outside
Palazzo Venezia 297
the City 235
A Roman School of Painting 298
Ghiberti and Donatello in Siena 235
Sixtus IV: Roma Caput Mundi 299
Quercia in Bologna 237
The Papal Family 300
Piero della Francesca in Arezzo 238
The Hospital of Santo Spirito 300
Civic Commemoration in Florence 240
Roman Churches 300
Monument to Sir John Hawkwood 240
Santa Maria del Popolo 300
The Cantorie 242
Sant’Agostino 302
The Tomb of Leonardo Bruni 244
Commemorative Monuments 302
The Gates ofParadise 245
The Cancelleria 303
The Sistine Chapel 303
11 Florence: The Medici and Political Innocent VIII and Alexander VI: Power and
Propaganda 249 Pleasure 306
Cardinals’ Commissions 308
The Medici’s Civic and Domestic Commissions 250
The Carafa Chapel 308
San Lorenzo 250
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and the Collector 309
The Old Sacristy 251
Michelangelo’s Pieta 310
San Marco 254
The Medici Palace 256
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: A Job Application 256 13 Venice: Affirming the Past and Present 311
Portrait Busts 258
Sculpture on the Doge’s Palace 311
The Medici Chapel 259
The Palazzo Foscari 312
Other Decorations 260
The Ca’ @Oro 313
Excursus: Donatello in Padua 262
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Finishing Touches 314
The Santo Altarpiece 262
The Cappella Nova 316
The Gattamelata Monument 263
The Vivarini School 317
The Medici and Donatello’s Late Work 264
Jacopo Bellini 317
Donatello’s Bronze David and Judith and
The Cappella Nova in the Late 1440s 319
Holofernes 264
Venice: Heir of East and West 320
The San Lorenzo Pulpits 267
The Arsenal 320
The Golden Age and Lorenzo the Magnificent 268
Religious Architecture 320
The Tomb of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici 269
Painting 322
The Mercanzia Niche at Or San Michele 269
The Scuole and Lay Commissions 327
The Devotional Image 270
Commemorative State Commissions 330
Family Chapels 273
The Sassetti Chapel 273
The Strozzi Chapel 275 14 Courtly Art: The Gothic and Classic 333
Portraiture 276
Ferrara: The Este Family 333
The Architecture of Magnificence 277
Medals for Leonello dEste 333
The Facade of Santa Maria Novella 277
Pisanello in Verona 334
The Strozzi Palace 278
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Praise for Pisanello 335
Classical Antiquity and the Golden Age 279
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Punishment 336
Antiquarianism 282
Borso d’Este 337
Savonarola and Reform 284

CONTENTS 7
 Borso’s Bible 337 The Battle Paintings 390
The Palazzo Schifanoia 338 Private Patrons 392
The Palazzo dei Diamanti 339 Portraits 392
Naples: A New Aragonese Dynasty 340 Religious Painting 394
Donatello and Michelozzo in Naples 340
Alfonso the Magnanimous: Military and Humanist
17 Rome: Julius Il, Leo X, and Clement VII 396
Ruler 340
The Castello Aragonese 341 The Imperial Style under Julius II 396
An Arch for a Humanist Ruler 343 A New St. Peter’s 397
Rimini: Sigismondo Malatesta 344 The Tomb ofJulius I 398
Urbino 347 The Sistine Ceiling 401
Portraits 347 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Michelangelo the Poet 404
Altarpieces 348 CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art and Dissent 407
The Palazzo Ducale 348 The Stanza della Segnatura 409
Mantua: The Gonzaga Family 351 Roman Civic Imagery 411
SantAndrea 351 The Stanza d’Eliodoro 412
The Palazzo Ducale 352 Portraits 413
The Sala Pisanello 352 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: The Courtier as Artist 414
Andrea Mantegna, Court Artist 354 Leo X: Papal Luxury 415
Prior Experience in Padua and Verona 354 The Stanza dell’Incendio 415
The Camera Picta 356 The Sistine Tapestries 415
Male and Female Decorum 359 The Suburban Villa and Sybaritic Pleasure 417
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Fighting for Chastity 360 Raphael and Michelangelo 421
Clement VII: The Dissolution of Papal Power 421

15 Sforza Milan: Ducal Splendor 362

18 Florence: Mannerism and the Medici 424
The Sforzas 362
Completing Visconti Ecclesiastical Foundations 363 Emerging Transformations of the Classical Style 424
The Certosa 363 A New Social Order 426
The Cathedral 364 Domestic and Villa Decoration 428
Private Commissions 365 Altarpieces 431
Ludovico il Moro and a Grand Classical Style 367 Michelangelo and the Medici 433
Santa Maria presso San Satiro 367 The Medici Chapel 433
Santa Maria delle Grazie 367 The Laurentian Library 436
Leonardo da Vinci 371
The Last Supper 371
19 Mantua, Parma, and Genoa: The Arts
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: A Man of Many Talents 372
at Court 439
Madonna of the Rocks 373
Leonardo at Ludovico’s Court 374 Mantua: The Pleasure Palace 439
Instability and Religious Fervor in the Milanese The Loves of Jupiter 442
Court 375 Parma: Elegance and Ilusionism 443
Leonardo at Court 376 Correggio at San Paolo and the Cathedral 443
Commemorative Commissions 377 Parmigianino and Self-Conscious Artifice 444
Alternatives to Leonardo 378 Genoa: A Princely Republic 447
Doria Portraits 447
Villa Doria 448
Il The First Half of the Sixteenth Genoa in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century 449
Century 384

20 Venice: Vision and Monumentality 451

16 Florence: The Renewed Republic 386
Visual Poetry 452
The Republic as Patron 386 Eroticism and Antiquity 453
A New Civic Hero: Michelangelo’s David 387 Poetic Altarpieces 455
Sculpture at the Cathedral 388 Energized Altarpieces 457
The Imagery of State 388 Tullio Lombardo: Classicism for Ecclesiastical Patrons 460
The St. Anne Altarpiece 389 Venetian Artists Working for Alfonso d’Este 461

8 CONTENTS
 The Studio di Marmi 461 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Veronese Before the Inquisition 504
The Camerino d’Alabastro 462 Devotional Painting 505
Titian in Urbino 464 Milanese Architecture 507
Refashioning the City Triumphant 466 Bergamo, Cremona, and Bologna 509
The Zecca 466 Portraiture 510
The Library 467 Still-Life Painting 514
The Loggetta 467
The Palazzo Corner 468
23 Florence under Cosimo | 517
Titian: Images for the International Elite 468
The Vendramin Family 468 Portraits 517
Charles V 469 The Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo 519
Mythology and Sensuality 470 Church Reform and Local Politics 521
Colorito versus Disegno 470 Art as a Symbol of the Advanced State 524
Titian: The Artist as his Own Patron 472 A Dynasty Supported by History and Myth 524
Narrative Imagery in the Scuole 473 CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Casting the Perseus 526
Celebrating the City in the Doge’s Palace 475 Restructuring Civic Space: The Uffizi 527
Patronage of Commercial and Ecclesiastical Projects 476 The Sala del Gran Consiglio 528
The Fabbriche Nuove 479 The Florentine Academy 529
The Rialto Bridge 479
Palladio 480
24 Rome: A European Capital City 531
San Giorgio Maggiore 480
The Redentore 481 New Religious Orders 531
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: Plague in Venice 481 The Gest: 531
Villa Barbaro 482 Painting for the Gest. 533
The Villa La Rotonda 484 San Stefano Rotondo 535
The Teatro Olimpico 485 Sixtus V and Replanning Rome 537
Urban Monuments 539
The Obelisks 539
The Roman Columns 540
LV The Later Sixteenth Century 486 The Acqua Felice 540
Papal Basilicas 541
Santa Maria Maggiore 541
21 The Rome of Paul III 488
CONTEMPORARY SCENE: Art, Pilgrimage, and
Michelangelo’s Last Judgment 488 Processions 542
CONTEMPORARY VOICE: A Word of Advice 489 The Dome of St. Peter’s 544
The Deposition 493 Women as Patrons 545
Triumphalist History 493 Continuity and Change 546
Urbi et Orbi: The City 496
The Capitoline Hill 496 Genealogies 548
St. Peter’s 498 List of Popes 553
Private Commissions 499 List of Venetian Doges 553
The Villa Giulia 499 Time Chart 554
The Farnese Hours 500

Glossary 556
22 Northern Italy: Reform and Innovation 501 Bibliography 558
The Council of Trent and Decrees on the Arts 502 Literary and Picture Credits 566
Reform and Censorship 503 Index 567
Milan and Lombardy 503

CONTENTS 9
 Preface

Re: four centuries the history of art produced in special features to this book. Wherever possible, captions
Renaissance Italy has been presented as a series of indicate the patron as well as the artist who created
biographies of individual artists. Formulations such as the work. “Contemporary Scene” boxes give a glimpse of
“Michelangelo’s David,” “Leonardo’s Last Supper,” or daily life during the Renaissance, suggesting some of the
“Palladio’s Villa La Rotonda” ring true to modern ears, sociological “givens” that affected people’s view of the
because they celebrate the creative individuality of these world: their religious practices, how they entertained them-
masters and their works. But in structuring histories of selves, the foods they ate, and more. “Contemporary Voice”
Renaissance art around artists, rather than according to the boxes provide actual period texts, drawn not just from
places in which they worked, the persons and institutions literary figures and the theorists and historians who
whom they served, and the societal expectations they met— wrote about art but also from authors who wrote for more
the point of view taken in this text—historians have often mundane purposes, tempering the elite bias that a focus
failed to indicate that the critical interrelations of these on patronage—or, in previous texts, on artistic genius—can
social forces with the arts gave them a compelling visual life sometimes bring to art-historical discussions.
over time. Italian Renaissance artists were no more solitary In this revised Fourth Edition, we have focused on
geniuses than are most architects and commercial artists providing yet greater geographic and chronological clarity.
today. They understood that they might gain personal We present the sixteenth century in nine rather than ten
recognition and fame from their creations. They also knew chapters, three of which highlight key changes in Florentine
that their patrons—civic leaders in the case of the David, art and politics. Experiments with Mannerism in Florence
the Duke of Milan with the Last Supper, and a wealthy now appear in a more chronologically ordered manner
churchman for the Villa La Rotonda—expected even greater before the developments that they partially inspired at the
renown for their patronage and their astute exploitation of North Italian courts. Earlier in the text we have brought the
the visual arts. various stages ofseveral artists’ careers—most notably those
Our point of view—that art must be seen in terms of of Andrea Mantegna and Leonardo da Vinci—more closely
its patronage and the specific times and circumstances in together. And where we have felt it necessary to stretch the
which it was created—is hardly new to art history. Many geographical boundaries of our chapters because of the
specialized studies and a number of more geographically peripatetic careers of the artists we consider, we have clearly
and chronologically limited books have used such an marked those exceptions with the subheading, Excursus.
approach. This volume, however, provides a comprehensive, Although this new edition has the same number of pages
fully illustrated, pan-Italian consideration of art from as the previous one, we were able to make room for many
the thirteenth through the sixteenth century. We have substantially larger illustrations—several hundred of them
broadened our consideration of the diverse traditions of appearing newly in color—by judiciously paring down some
cities throughout Italy, rather than focusing primarily on extended discussions of the historiography of the Black
Florence (which has too often been used to make other Death and Mannerism, for example, and eliminating a few
centers, even well-recognized ones such as Venice and redundant works of art in early chapters.
Rome, seem like cultural and artistic satellites of the Tuscan Some readers may find that works of art they consider
capital). Expanded geographic and stylistic parameters important—even crucial—to an understanding of the history
provide a richer picture of art produced in Renaissance Italy, of Renaissance art are not discussed in our text. Such
including works of Florentine art that have previously “omissions,” in tandem with the addition of unusual works
been accorded marginal or problematic status. We have also of art, are inevitable in a book that attempts to change
rejected a rigid separation of the arts by media, preferring the very mode of presentation of the material by expanding
to discuss painting, sculpture, and architecture as comple- its scope.
mentary arts, recognizing that most artists worked in a We hope that readers will see in our picture selections
variety of forms and that they and their patrons regularly a manifestation of the truly challenging intellectual and
thought in terms of ensembles, not isolated masterpieces. artistic richness of the Renaissance. The intention of this
To set our selected works of art more firmly into their book is to provoke questions about approach and stylistic
original historical fabric, we have incorporated several development, not to provide a new canon. We are living

10
in a particularly vital time in historical thinking, when old and Ian Hunt, the designer. The Fourth Edition was edited
prescriptive boundaries have been breached. It is critically by Clare Double and Kara Hattersley-Smith, with design
important to participate in the adventure of these changes. again by Ian Hunt. We are immensely grateful for all their
As is the case with most books of this nature, we have not help. Susan Bolsom has been the photo editor for all edi-
footnoted the text. However, we have included a bibliogra- tions and we are deeply appreciative of her indefatigable
phy at the end, thereby recording the main source materials efforts and keen eye.
we have used and our profound debt to earlier scholars. Many of our colleagues have read and commented on
This bibliography could well be treated as a guide to further various aspects of this text. We are immensely grateful for
reading and understanding of the art and ideas presented in their generous offers of assistance and for their criticism.
the book. We have also provided a glossary of technical Listing them by name hardly seems appropriate gratitude,
terms, which are highlighted in the text in boldface type. but we hope that their students will see their names and
The problem of translating Italian terms into English is realize the dedication of their teachers to their teaching
always an issue in books on the Renaissance. By and large and to their discipline. In particular, we would like to note
we have favored English terms and English forms of Steven Bule, Jill Carrington, Anthony Colantuono, Roger
names according to common usage. In the rare instances of Crum, Brian Curran, Anne Derbes, Phillip Earenfight,
technical terms that do not have an exact equivalent, we Patricia Emison, Gail Geiger, David Gillerman, Marcia
have provided an approximate translation in the text the B. Hall, Adrian Hoch, Allan Langdale, Ellen Longsworth,
first time that the word appears, :but we then continue to Sarah McHam, Susan McKillop, Anita Moskowitz,
use the Italian term because ofits specificity. Nomenclature Jacqueline Musacchio, Gabriele Neher, Jonathan Nelson, Joy
changed during the period under discussion, but by and Pepe, Christopher Platts, James Saslow, Richard Turner,
large family surnames were not used. Thus artists are Mary Vaccaro, Louis Waldman, and Shelley Zuraw. Over the
referred to in the text either by first name (Michelangelo and years a number of students have also helped to critique
not Buonarroti), or by nickname where it was or has become and shape our text. To those whose names are mentioned
the accepted form (Veronese and not Paolo Cagliari), or by in the First and Second Editions we would like to add
surname (Vasari) if that has become customary usage. There Monica Azar, Lauren Lean, and Jennifer Palladino, who
are confusing instances in which an artist’s patronymic has helped as researchers for the Third Edition. For this Fourth
become transformed in modern usage to a surname: thus Edition we are grateful to reviewers Kathleen Christian,
Simone di Martino now commonly appears as Simone University of Pittsburgh; Sally J. Cornelison, University of
Martini. In these very few cases usage in the text varies, but Kansas; David J. Drogin, State University of New York, FIT;
the bibliographical references clarify how one can search for Blake de Maria, Santa Clara University; and Diana B.
more information on the artist. Presciutti, Rice University.
From the very outset of this project, the First Edition, Ofcourse, our greatest gratitude goes to our wives, Nancy
Rosemary Bradley was a quietly encouraging editor. We still Romig Radke and Leslie Hiles Paoletti, who watched this
owe her an enormous debt ofgratitude. Melanie White took book grow from the outset, heard more about the difficul-
over editorial responsibilities for the book at that time and ties of putting nearly four centuries of Italian art between
provided firm and helpful direction at critical moments two covers than they ever needed to know, and still managed
when a gargantuan project threatened to overwhelm us all. to encourage us in our work. While this book 1s dedicated to
We were also privileged to work with Lesley Ripley Greenfield, our children, it also belongs to them.
our ever attentive editor at Laurence King, and with the ever
supportive Julia Moore, formerly at Abrams. From the time
of the First Edition, we wish also to remember and thank
Ursula Payne for her kindly persistence, impeccable eye for John Paoletti and Gary Radke, October 2010
accuracy, and good humor.
For the Second and Third Editions Richard Mason
guided the editorial process with a sure hand and an
imaginative eye, assisted by Michael Bird, Donald Dinwiddie,

PREFACE 11
 Introduction: Art in Context

The governing point of view in this

text—that works of art were made to serve
the particular purposes of those who
commissioned them—makes the form as
well as the content of the art directly
dependent on its use. Properties such as
composition or figural form that we
might now view merely as aesthetically
pleasing were often intended as part of
the moral or political content of the
work, much as we understand an image
of statesmen shaking hands as an expres-
sion of political alliance or concord. That
is not to say that aesthetic pleasure had
no role to play in people’s perceptions of
works of art. Texts of the period suggest
just the opposite. At the end of the fif-
teenth century Matteo Colaccio, a Sicilian,
visited Padua and wrote of his pleasure at
seeing the wood intarsia choir stalls in
the church of Sant’Antonio (the Santo):

{I] am almost struck dumb with admira-

tion. Everything seems real to me, I
cannot believe it is feigned. I come closer,
and run my hands over them all. . . near
the angel Gabriel and Mary, you admire
branches with such leaves and fruit that
nature does not produce truer .s Who
could be sated of admiring that silk veil
stretched over a chalice, both for the color
and for the fineness of the weave, all in
folds of purple, and for those sinuous
folds produced by the inequality of the
falling ends?

Aesthetics, however, were not the driving force behind

- 1
of art to be meaningful, purposeful, and functional, the commission and creation of works of art. Quite
not just beautiful. Visual imagery was so important—and mundane or awkward images of a Madonna and Child
the physical manufacture of works of art so complicated— may have been just as efficacious as devotional objects
that artists very rarely worked alone. They collaborated with as those generally admired images that have come to define
yne another and with a wide range of patrons, responding the Renaissance artistic canon. Copies after works by
sensitively to the differing civic, social, political, and histori- acknowledged masters (Fig. 1) provide a welcome antidote
cal contexts in which they worked. Art mattered because it to the elitist bias that a focus on wealthy patrons imposes on
was 4
the product of an entire society. It both forged and arustic production in the Renaissance. They also document
_ stlocred
P . < rae as 4/1 traliyeec
'
LCLICCCCa SOcietdl VdlUes. the diffusion of art throughout Renaissance society and
1 Museo Bardini, Florence, nineteenth-century photographic view ofthe interior showing plaster and stucco casts ofVirgin and Child reliefs

These repeated images document the mass-production market for such popular objects during the fifteenth century (as well as their replication—and forgery—during
the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries).

highlight the innovations and exceptional quality of those Renaissance art obviously spoke more immediately to its
works that have dominated historical discussion since the contemporaries than it does to a modern viewer. The images
sixteenth century. and attributes of saints, classical heroes, or local rulers,
Attempts to imagine how objects and monuments of the along with their symbolic meanings, were part of an
past were seen in their own day are important, even though individual’s intellectual equipment in the culture of the
it is impossible to reconstruct precisely the original visual time. For example, St. John the Baptist could be identified
impact of these works, especially if they have been removed by his gaunt features, short hair shirt, and thin reed staff;
from their original location. Any commission for a work of St. Catherine of Alexandria by the spiked wheel on which
art during the Renaissance manifested not only the wishes her persecutors attempted to torture her. Such images of
of the purchasers but also the history of the site into which saints not only made them recognizable, but also recalled
it was to be placed. Where the site was a public place its the popular stories connected with their lives, thus speaking
history might stretch as far back as the mythic beginnings directly to story-telling traditions and to the imagination
of the city where it was located. Where the site combined of the viewer.
private and corporate activity—for example, a private chapel Works of art existed over time, since worshipers stood
in a monastic church—the collective histories and wishes of before devotional images repeatedly and citizens daily
both patron and host religious order influenced the final passed public statues of their rulers. The messages of these
form of the work produced. Most art of the period reflects works must have been thoroughly assimilated, if only
this rich historical, familial, communal, and social fabric. unconsciously, by every observer. Insofar as images tended
to be repeated in similar form over long periods of time,
(opposite) St. John the Baptist (detail), c. 1412/13-17, commissioned
even personifications of abstract concepts such as Justice
by the Arte del Calimala from Lorenzo Ghiberti for the east side of Or
San Michele, Florence. Bronze (original now in the Museo di Or San
(holding a sword or scales, or both) became clearly recogniz-
Michele, Florence) able to a wide population.

INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT 13

 Art and Offerings
People in the Renaissance expected to leave was the costliest altar of the three, certainly interventions, protection from danger, and
something of themselves in their churches: more prestigious than the modest altar in successful births. At certain very powerful
not just prayers and offerings but physical the corner next to the entrance wall. shrines—for example, the altar of the
mementos and records of direct engage- Families who could not afford their own Madonna in the Church of the Annunziata
ment with the power of God and the saints. altar might have sufficient funds to hang a in Florence—worshipers left sculpted and
As is evident in Carpaccio’s painting The painting on one ofthe columns ofthe nave painted portraits of themselves so that they
Vision of Prior Ottobon in Sant’Antonio di arcade, in the manner ofthe framed plaque could be perpetually present in the church.
Castello (Fig. 2), churches contained a wide (in this case perhaps an official Church An industry of mannequin makers, working
ARUN
EED
ACSA
variety of objects and furnishings, most notice or decree) located on the column at faces and hands in wax, provided full-scale,
of them donated by the pious laity. Since the center of the painting, much like those clothed representations of illustrious
SOURS
rights to altars were sold to the wealthy in Florence Cathedral. devotees, including Lorenzo de’ Medici,
IE
ETERS
SE
ND
SEMI
NEST
TAP
LPO
ASSL
otsomcrasne
in perpetuity, new and old donations Many worshipers also felt impelled to who commissioned figures of himself for
intermingled, often resulting in a mixture leave ex votos (symbolic thanks offerings) the convent church of the Chiarito, dressed
of styles on a single wall. In Carpaccio’s in their churches. Candles, flags, banners, in the actual bloodstained clothes he had
ADRIAN painting, different-sized Gothic polyptychs medals, miniature representations of body worn during the unsuccessful attempt on RENTS
AOA

occupy the first two bays at the right. parts, and scale models of ships fill the his life in the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. Like
A much taller and classically framed altar- upper reaches of the first two bays of most people of his time, Lorenzo believed
piece from later in the period dominates Carpaccio’s church, while others hang in publicly displaying his gratitude for
SIERRA
A
the third bay. Its position, closest to across the choir screen. Objects were divine intervention and protection.
the choir screen—and therefore to the high strewn over and around images, testifying
altar—confirms the impression that this to “graces received”: healings, miraculous

eNOS
OO
SUPRA
TIE
NE

ED
ASOD
ONLY
DERE
ETT
LELTE
TORSO

2 The Vision of Prior Ottobon in Sant’Antonio di Castello, c. 1515, commissioned from Vittore Carpaccio for Sant’Antonio di Castello, Venice.
Oil on canvas, 47% x 68%" (121 x 174 cm) (Accademia, Venice)

14 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 It is worth noting that only a very 3 Enthroned Madonna and Child, c. 1260,
small percentage of works of art from commissioned by the Dominicans from Guido da
Siena for the high altar of San Domenico, Siena.
the Renaissance survives. Perhaps the Main panel, 9’ 4%" x 6’ 4” (2.86 x 1.93 m)
highest losses occur among mass- (Chapel of St. Bernard, San Domenico, Siena)
produced objects, often by students
In many cases, the faces offigures in such devotional
within a master’s shop, and, in the paintings were so heavily abraded by repeated
case of sculpture, made of inexpensive cleaning that the green underpaint was revealed. In
this case the heads of the Madonna and Child were
materials such as stucco or plaster
actually repainted at a slightly later date to make
(see Fig. 1) that replicated or imitated them conform to the style of Duccio.
already accepted models. Thus repeti-
tive images were far more pervasive
than the surviving evidence suggests. It original context, a practical dimension
is also important to note that many often lost through its history. For exam-
Renaissance paintings and sculptures ple, mules were allowed to cross through
carried labels, sometimes simple cap- the cathedral of Florence, through the
tions identifying the figures represented side doors and across the nave, so as to
and at other times long and discursive avoid the longer exterior route around
inscriptions not only identifying the the building. People might have been in
event depicted but interpreting it as awe of religious images and sacred sites,
well. Mutually reinforcing exchanges but they also had very emotional and
between word and image (see Figs. 2.7 and 4.21) were com- pragmatic reactions to them.
mon and open important avenues for understanding. People Contrary to the implications of museum displays, works
at all levels of society, whether literate or not, simply could of art were not always stationary. Many were portable. Small
not have failed to assimilate the tenets ofreligious and civic painted devotional images, such as diptychs or triptychs,
belief that had governed their society for generations. could be taken from a city palace to a country villa and
Much of the surviving art of the Renaissance is fragmen- could be opened or closed as required, painted banners were
tary, requiring an active effort on the part of the viewer to carried in religious processions (see Fig. 12.18), and miracle-
reconstruct not only the original-object but also the context working images and relics were carried through urban
in which it existed. Altarpieces have been broken apart spaces inviting divine intervention in human affairs. Works
for multiple sales; public sculpture has been defaced as of art were functional in this culture and could, therefore,
the political figures represented fell out of favor (as recently be renewed or even discarded according to need. Thus mira-
occurred in Iraq and in the separating states of the former cle-working images were simply replaced as they became
Soviet Union); and buildings have been renovated and damaged over time in order to maintain devotional practice.
rebuilt to accommodate new owners or needs. A large cate- Consideration of the function of works of art has
gory of ephemeral visual history has simply disappeared. important implications for a discussion of style. Once a
Figurated banners, large-scale plaster sculpture, temporary compositional scheme became associated with an image or
parade architecture, and floats built for special occasions iconography—such as the seated elect in Last Judgment
rarely outlived the events for which they were produced. scenes placed either side of the frontal Divinity (see Figs.
It is also true that in Italy nineteenth-century restorers 2.8, 3.13, and 8.2)—it was extremely difficult to dislodge.
often excessively stripped sculpture of pigmentation and Nor would patrons have wished to support willful icono-
buildings of decorations, while at the same time they mis- graphical innovation, whatever stylistic developments may
leadingly repainted damaged paintings in order to make have occurred, lest the legibility of the image—and thus its
them appear whole (a practice still current as we shall see). efficacy—be compromised. Typology, that is, the canonic
Efforts of reconstruction must work two ways: they need formal properties of a subject, was part of the history of
to address how public spaces accumulate meaning over important familiar subjects, thus making repetition or imi-
time as events occurring in them become part of their his- tation a necessary component ofany artist’s decisions about
tory, and they must strip away later additions to works compositional presentation. When Michelangelo stepped
of art despite what such additions tell us of the history of outside the boundaries of such typologies for his own Last
their own time. Any reconstruction must also consider Judgment (see Fig. 21.1) there was an immediate negative
the possibility that time has added a distancing quality of response to the work that almost led to its destruction.
venerability to works of art. When excessively devout Perhaps one of the easiest ways to see the importance of
viewers scratched out the faces of Judas or the “bad” thief images conforming to established types for the Renaissance
crucified with Christ, or an accompanying devil in paintings is to look at a single typology, that of the Virgin and Christ
of his Passion, that act of disfigurement illustrated the enthroned (Fig. 3). Established during the Middle Ages, the
effectiveness of the image in conveying the message of image was perhaps the most enduring and most repeated
the narrative. In some cases, a work of art also had, in its Christian devotional image (see Figs. 4.11, 4.12, and 4.13),

INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT 15

in large part because it conformed both to what was most art and the support of artistic projects. The word derives
familiar in human terms (that of mother and infant child) from the name of Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (c. 70-8 B.C.E.),
and to metaphorical interpretation (the Church and her renowned for his enormous wealth and luxurious living.
faithful or the Church as the bearer of the Christian It was this sense of patronage that the fifteenth-century
message). As a typology the enthroned Virgin and Child is sculptor and architect Filarete (Antonio Averlino) referred
distinct from other images of Mary and Christ—say images to when, in a provocatively gendered simile, he referred to
of the Nativity—insofar as the figures are both removed the patron as the father and the artist as the mother of the
from a narrative or temporal context and are ennobled by work of art. In a hierarchically structured and patriarchal
the majestic framing element of the throne (thus the society such as that of Renaissance Italy it was clearly the
term “Maesta” for this type of representation). The central patron, not the artist, who was perceived, until late in the
message conveyed by the simple construction of the Virgin period, as the dominating figure in artistic creation.
and Child seated on a throne remains the same whether they Ir is in the overlap ofthese two concepts ofclientelismo and
are surrounded, or not, by angels or saints, or whether the mecenatismo that patronage ofthe arts during the Renaissance
throne is placed in a radiant, heavenly glow—as in early functioned. Commissioned works of art, whether generated
examples—or in a classicizing architecture—as in later by the state, the Church, monastic communities, civic and
examples (see Figs. 10.37 and 14.0). Moreover, typologies are corporate groups such as guilds, or private individuals, were
free of stylistic constraints, so that the canonic image may conceived with specific goals in mind and were meant to
be represented in any of a variety of artistic styles convey publicly specific messages often more complex than
without necessarily altering its meaning. their subjects would indicate. Private patrons could present
works of art to the Church with the expectation that God
Patronage and the saints would reward their gifts and the faith that
they signify with salvation. Rulers could beautify their cities
Over the last fifty years much art historical writing as manifestations of their legitimacy, power, and generosity
suggested that in virtually all cases a work of art was com- with the expectation that their subjects would support their
missioned, rather than produced by the artist on his own continued supremacy. Religious orders, particularly new
initiative. More recently, however, research has indicated ones anxious to demonstrate their presence within the cul-
that at least from the mid-fifteenth century artists made ture and the sanctity of their founders (and thus their own
work for sale “over the counter” (see Fig. 1) for a consumer legitimacy), were also important patrons within the urban
culture becoming more and more affluent in the burgeon- culture of the period, providing expansive church interiors
ing urbanization taking place across Europe. Whether where their stories could be told and where the laity could,
specifically ordered or produced for an unspecified pur- through impressive donations, assert their own positions
chaser, art during this time was not made as art but because within the cultic life of the city. New research indicates that,
someone had a particular need for an image. Even if despite the dominant role of the male in Renaissance society,
that need extended beyond particular devotional practice or women, following the examples of earlier female patrons—
family propaganda to what Pierre Bordieu called “symbolic notably in the Early Christian and late medieval periods—
capital,” the products of artists’ workshops constituted a also commissioned works of art, including extensive and
visual language that gave Italian (and other) cities and their costly architectural projects and altarpieces and frescoes
inhabitants their distinctive character and place within an where they appear in significant numbers as donors. Each
increasingly competitive culture. commission set up particular interrelationships and
Since a mass market culture is now difficult to trace with exchanges: sometimes primarily between patron and artist—
any degree of accuracy (most objects having been destroyed), as, for instance, in the commission of a private portrait;
this book treats patronage as a critical definer of context. sometimes among patron, monastic community, and artists
“Patronage” is a complicated term and does not articulate as —as in a fresco cycle for a private chapel in a monastic church;
clearly as it might the complex set of social exchanges that it sometimes between corporate bodies such as guilds or confra-
encompasses for the period under consideration. The Italian ternities and artists—as in commissions for images of patron
language uses two terms to make the concept clear. The saints for their meeting rooms or for processional banners.
first, clientelismo, is construed in the political sense to mean Moreover, we know from countless numbers of wills that
a series of exchanges, or favors granted, which bind the even men and women of very humble means left small
participating bodies—patron and client—together. Intricate amounts of money that were intended to provide modest, but
and carefully observed social, political, economic, and even nonetheless visible, records of their existence and their devo-
religious conventions of the Renaissance demanded such tion in their parish churches, many of which were cluttered
exchanges, not only within particular social groups, but up with ex votos and small frescoed images jostling with one
and down the social scale. The social cohesion that they another for attention on the walls of the building. Art was an
provided was an antidote to the frequent violent factional- integral part of the functioning social, religious, and politi-
ism that permeated Renaissance cities. A second term, cal fabric. It provided visual structures for the patterns that
mecenatismo, refers exclusively to the purchase of works of governed not only earthly life, but life in the hereafter as well.

16 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 Viewers’ reactions might be determined by their under-
standing of the patron’s generosity, wealth, or power; the
efficacy of the monastic order or guild in ensuring social
stability; the artist’s degree ofskill or genius; or the depicted
saint’s perceived ability to intercede with God. At the
center of this network ofsocial relationships stood the work
of art. To it the human participants brought, consciously
or unconsciously, a complex set of historically accepted
conventions of representation which were circumscribed by
tradition and by pre-existing models. History—of the patron,
of the site, of the typology to which the image belonged—is
an unseen but critical factor in the creation of works of art
in the Renaissance (and in fact for all pre-modern periods).

Artists’ Workshops
A late fifteenth-century print (Fig. 4) depicts the arts
in a time of active production and prosperity under the
guidance of their patron, the god Mercury, whose chariot
floats in the sky and whose earthly spokesman, Hermes
Trismegistus, is represented in discussion below. In the
upper floor of the building at the right an organist ener-
getically plays away, assisted by a young man working the
bellows. Below them a book dealer shows his wares to a
customer; one assumes that the scribes in his employ are
hidden deeper in the building, busily copying manuscripts.
On the building opposite a painter decorates the facade Graze BrREDO conta SOADO IE
eee
0 ORE aNBORE:
7oe ch
with a garland and ribbon pattern, part of inscribed and
OTTE @VA TDELD! DELLADOMENICHA A PERAMICO IL2OLkE
pigmented pattern work known as sgraffito, while an assist- E LA2VA VITAOVERO ata
PICCE HA. SLTRet
TIONG aucae LAY MORTE OVE
EMNI DIDI VIRGO \DINOTTE VA EI
OMINGIAN 1 DAY VIRGO J ZO DI EZ ORE VA As RE
ant prepares pigments for him. Below them is a sculptor’s ah
fe ys
A}

studio with a somewhat tattered young master kneeling

in front, carving a marble bust of a woman. Inside the 4 Mercury, c. 1460, attributed to Baccio Baldini. Engraving, 12% x 8%"
(32.4 x 22 cm) (© British Museum, London)
sculptor’s shop young pupils, called garzoni, staff the sales
counter where wares, including the bust of a man (most The artist has placed this imaginary scene before the main civil piazza of
Florence. In the background on the left is the crenellated facade of the Palazzo
likely made of painted wood or terracotta) and more practi- della Signoria and the now destroyed church of San Piero Scheraggio, and in
cal ewers and salvers, are being sold to maintain a steady the center background is the Loggia della Signoria.
income for the shop. One young garzone is practicing
his drawing skills. In a somewhat schematic manner this society and their own perception of that role. Although
print shows that the arts—broadly interpreted to include artists had long held positions of civic responsibility within
all objects of visual or material culture—were part of an their city-states, Nanni’s relief concentrates on the craft
economic as well as a cultural exchange during this period. aspect of the sculptor’s studio, with each worker assigned
Their production was structured within traditional work- specific tasks to ensure an efficiently operating shop. The
shops headed by a master craftsman and staffed by a team craftsmen are all dressed in working clothes and attend to
of artisans at various stages in their training. The image their duties with true single-mindedness. A little more than
of the solitary artist-genius, popularized in the nineteenth a century later, Bandinelli’s self-portrait shows the artist
century, has little place in Renaissance Europe. seated in an impressive classical architectural setting and
pointing to a drawing of two male nudes, perhaps represent-
The Image of the Artist ing Hercules and Cacus, the subject of one of Bandinelli’s
most famous sculptures (see Fig. 18.3). The well-dressed
Although the image of the artist represented in the print of artist, seated in a classicizing architectural setting, seems
the workshops is essentially true, it is one that underwent to be giving a lecture about the drawing, or perhaps about
significant change during the fifteenth and sixteenth centu- disegno, the art of drawing,more as an academician or
ries. Comparison between a relief showing a traditional philosopher than as a craftsman. In fact nowhere in the
sculptor’s workshop by Nanni di Banco (Fig. 5) and the painting is there any indication of the tools of his trade,
Self-Portrait of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli (Fig. 6) although Bandinelli has self-consciously demonstrated his
suggests both the evolving role of artists within their own technical virtuosity in the complicated pose of his own

ARTISTS’ WORKSHOPS 17
5 Sculptor’s Workshop, c. 1416, commissioned by the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname from Nanni di Banco for the base of the guild niche at
Or San Michele, Florence. Marble

body, in the wrinkles along the edges of the drawing, and by Bandinelli showing the artist as a socially prominent
in his ability to depict a drawing (a medium in which he was commentator on the arts, the artist’s perception of his role
particularly well known) in oil paint. Bandinelli presents within society had changed.
himself as a gentleman wearing the gold chain and shell Changing social, political, and economic forces caused
pendant of the chivalric Order of St. James. Clearly in the shifts in artistic production which, from the thirteenth to
interval between the relief by Nanni di Banco showing the sixteenth century, gave artists increasingly prominent
craftsmen struggling with their stone and the painting social, critical, and theoretical roles in their societies. While

CONTEMPORARY VOICE

An Artist’s Life

In The Craftsman’s Handbook (c. 1410), enter the profession through a sense of hand so unsteady that it will waver more,
Cennino Cennini not only instructs paint- enthusiasm and exaltation. and flutter far more, than leaves do in the
ers in the techniques of their calling but wind, and this is indulging too much in the
also advises them on the proper attitude CHAPTER III company of woman. Let us get back to our
to their work and a way of life conducive You, therefore, who with lofty spirit are subject. Have a sort of pouch made of
to success in it. fired with this ambition, and are about pasteboard, or just thin wood, made large
to enter the profession, begin by decking enough in every dimension for you
CHAPTER II yourselves with this attire: Enthusiasm, to put in a royal folio, that is, a half; and
It is not without the impulse of a lofty spirit Reverence, Obedience, and Constancy. this is good for you to keep your drawings
that some are moved to enter this profes- And begin to submit yourself to the in, and likewise to hold the paper on for
sion, attractive to them through natural direction of a master for instruction as drawing. Then always go out alone, or
enthusiasm. Their intellect will take delight early as you can; and do not leave the in such company as will be inclined to
in drawing, provided their nature attracts master until you have to. do as you do, and not apt to disturb you.
them to it of themselves, without any And the more understanding this company
master’s guidance, out ofloftiness ofspirit. CHAPTER XXIX displays, the better it is for you. When you
And then, through this delight, they come Your life should always be arranged just as are in churches or chapels, and beginning
to want to find a master; and they bind if you were studying theology, or philoso- to draw, consider, in the first place, from
themselves to him with respect for author- phy, or other theories, that is to say, eating what section you think you wish to copy
ity, undergoing an apprenticeship in order and drinking moderately, at least twice a a scene or figure; and notice where its
to achieve perfection in all this. There are day, electing digestible and wholesome darks and half tones and high lights come;
those who pursue it, because of poverty dishes, and light wines; saving and sparing and this means that you have to apply
and domestic need, for profit and enthusi- your hand, preserving it from such strains your shadow with washes of ink; to leave
asm for the profession too; but above as heaving stones ... There is another cause the natural ground in the half tones; and
all these are to be extolled the ones who which, if you indulge it, can make your to apply the high lights with white lead.

(from Cennino Cennini. The Craftsman’s Handbook [II Libro dell’arte]. Trans. Daniel V. Thompson,Jr. New York: Dover Publications, 1960, Dp; 253), 16)

18 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

6 Self-Portrait, c. 1 , Baccio Bandinelli. Oil on canvas, 57% x 44” (147 x 112 cm) (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston)

ARTISTS’ WORKSHOPS 19
7 The Artist with his Nephews, 1530s, Bernardino Licinio. Oil on canvas (Collection of the Duke of Northumberland, England)

endowing artists with almost heroic stature, these changes drawing is. In either case, the draftsmen conform to tradi-
also shifted the value of their production. Art, which had tional studio practice of drawing from a three-dimensional
been integrally connected to daily life, over time became model in an attempt to catch the illusion of spatial volume
detached from its affective role in the culture. Works that on a flat two-dimensional surface. Despite the self-assured
previously had been produced as religious devotional objects words of the young boy, it is clear that a continuous critique
or public civic symbols embodying their culture’s image is part of this workshop situation. Once the viewer reads the
of itself now came to be seen as works of art, today almost words on the two fictive drawings, he or she becomes an
exclusively encountered as part of a museum and tourist unwitting participant in the process of criticism by having
culture where they are segregated
o
from the lived experiences to accept or reject the uttered words and thus think about
of the mass population. the very act of artistic creation.
The strength of the workshop system for preserving
Workshop Training what was valued as artistic expression from generation to
generation was clearly articulated by Cennino Cennini
Despite changes in the social position of the artist and in around 1410 in the preface to a painting manual that he
the ways that artists thought about their work, the actual wrote called I/ Libro dell’arte (The Craftsman’s Handbook).
production of art remained remarkably unchanged during There Cennino says that he “was trained in this profession
the Renaissance. In many instances workshops passed for twelve years by my master, Agnolo di Taddeo (Gaddi;
from father to son or uncle to nephew, from generation to 1333-96) of Florence; he learned this profession from
generation. A group portrait by Bernardino Licinio (Fig. 7) Taddeo (Gaddi; active 1332-63), his father; and his father
shows the artist with his nephews, whom he is trying to was christened under Giotto and was his follower for
teach. The boy on the left holds a moderately accomplished four-and-twenty years Families of artists, such as the
drawing done from the model of a classical sculpture held Licinio and the Gaddi, and interlocking family workshops
by Licinio, while the young man with the worried look at were not unusual for the period. Such structures made
the right tries to complete a similar drawing. On the draw- for remarkable continuity over time and assured a coherent
ing of the enthusiastic boy are the words “Oh, look how style in large projects such as the sculptural and painted
good this drawing is” while that of the perhaps more aware decoration of large churches, where many artists had to
older student bears an inscription stating how difficult work together. Whether in the sixteenth century or the

20 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

fourteenth, imitation was valued rather than deprecated in occasion sculptors also subcontracted the painting of
workshops like these. objects carved by themselves to specialists in this kind of
Master painters and sculptors normally accepted appren- work. Painters had to work with carpenters to procure
tices in their early teens or before. In exchange for their frames and panels. At each step of the way the master crafts-
assistance in the shop, the master gave his pupils training in man was responsible for the economics of the transaction
his particular craft, room and board, and occasionally a and had to be able to figure such costs into the final price
modest salary. A contract of 1467 between the father of an of his work.
apprentice named Francesco and the painter Francesco Contractual arrangements often required the artist to
Squarcione outlines the expectations placed on both teacher submit a drawing (in the case of painting and sculpture)
and student. Squarcione agreed: or a model (in the case of sculpture and architecture) to give
the patron a clear idea of what he or she could expect for the
. to teach ... Francesco ... the principle of a plane with finished product. Presentation drawings, as they are called,
lines drawn according to my method, and to put figures are significantly different from the sketches that an artist
on the said plane, one here and one there, in various might make preliminary to a finished compositional
places on the said plane, and place objects, namely a chair, scheme. They had the weight of a legal document, as did
bench or house, and get him to understand these things, models. Sculptural and architectural models were often sub-
and teach him to understand a man’s head in foreshort- contracted to a professional craftsman, so that their detail-
ening by isometric rendering, ... and teach him the ing would be accurate. Comparison ofpresentation drawings
system of a naked body, measured in front and behind, to finished products, as in Taddeo Gaddi’s Presentation of the
and to put eyes, nose, mouth and ears in a man’s head Virgin in the Temple (Figs. 8 and 9) and Lorenzo Vecchietta’s
at the right measured places, and teach him all these full-scale drawing for the building committee of the
things item by item as far as I am able and as far as the Ospedale della Scala in Siena of the bronze tabernacle
said Francesco will be able to learn ... and always keep him which he proposed to make for the altar of the hospital
with paper in his hand to provide him with a model, one chapel (Figs. 10 and 11), show that the designs of presenta-
after another, with various figures in lead white, and tion drawings were expected to be adhered to rather closely.
correct these models for him, and correct his mistakes.

Training progressed from quite .menial tasks to learning

drafting and modeling skills, how to prepare materials,
and how to use necessary tools. If pupils learned quickly and
well, the master assigned them specific tasks in the major
commissions on which he was working, eventually allowing
them full collaborative status. In some instances work com-
ing from a large studio was totally the product of student
assistants; the master’s signature on such works usually
indicated only that he had provided an initial design and
perhaps some guidance along the way. Students could also
produce copies of their master’s works to sell over the coun-
ter (see Fig. 4). The seemingly endless number of Madonna
and Child images in both painting and sculpture (see Fig. 1)
give ample testimony of this practice, which both allowed
students to test their craft and propagated the fame of the
master. The few extant artists’ account books of the period
attest to the careful records kept by masters of their assist-
ants’ work. As assistants grew older they hired themselves
out at day wages; some, like Taddeo Gaddi or Leonardo
da Vinci, functioned as virtually independent artists while
remaining affiliated with their teacher’s shop.

Contracts

The master of a workshop not only had to teach and

manage students, but also had to oversee a wide range 8 Presentation ofthe Virgin in the Temple, c. 1332, Taddeo Gaddi.
Presentation drawing for the fresco in the Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce,
of subcontracting operations. Sculptors and architects Florence; silverpoint with white highlighting, green and blue pigments on
had to arrange for the quarrying and delivery of stone, green prepared paper, 14% x 114” (36.4 x 28.3 cm) (Musée du Louvre,
which could involve large numbers of day laborers. On Cabinet des Dessins, Paris)

ARTISTS’ WORKSHOPS 21
 from both the French king and the Turkish sultan in
Constantinople (modern Istanbul) for his services. Thus,
while some shops were of remarkable longevity, others were
put together quickly to meet the needs of a particular com-
mission overseen by a visiting artist. The peripatetic careers
of such artists were in part responsible for transplanting
personal styles to new locations, since the visiting artists
trained local craftsmen as they moved from city to city.
Conversely, artists could absorb new stylistic ideas from
the places to which they traveled, thus enriching both
their own work and ultimately the artistic language of their
home city.

Materials and Methods

Although individual workshops for painting, sculpture,
and architecture had some procedures and structures in
common, they all required considerable skill in organizing
specialized group activity. Artists were sometimes produc-
tive in more than one medium, but each art had its own
set of problems to solve and each its own types of materials.
9 Presentation of
the Virgin in the Temple, c. 1332, commissioned by the
Moreover, virtually all artistic workshops undertook a
Baroncelli family from Taddeo Gaddi for the Baroncelli Chapel, Santa
Croce, Florence. Fresco
variety of jobs in order to ensure their commercial viability.
Painting shops are a case in point. In addition to large-scale
fresco cycles or free-standing paintings, the Renaissance
Surviving contracts describe virtually nothing of the painter could be engaged in painting works of sculpture,
complicated exchanges that must have occurred in a highly preparing presentation drawings for sculptors and archi-
stratified society between patron and artist in establishing tects, producing small devotional images or large-scale cloth
the content and meaning of the work of art. They are for banners (see Fig. 12.18), decorating household furniture
the most part bare-bones business contracts, meant to have (Fig. 12), and devising and producing festival decorations.
legal weight should either artist or patron default. The
terms frequently mention that the work is to be done by the The Painting Studio
artist’s own hand, a recognitjon of the workshop practices
of the period, and they stipulate the quality of the pigments Wall Painting Among the most complex projects under-
and how much gold or lapis lazuli should be used. Contracts taken during the Renaissance was the painting of fresco.
sometimes specify the subject of the commission (although Fresco (literally “fresh”) is simply painting on wet plaster.
in most cases that is assumed, given prior discussion) and This medium was used to decorate IaigS Hallas EE
also give a final date for completion of the work, along with public and private buildings. The wall, usually of rough
terms of payment and indication of penalties for failure to one and _cement, was first prepared by the application of
meet the terms ofthe contract. The production ofart was to a layer okrough see called the arriccio. Then {finer layer
a great extent an economic transaction. Whether fulfilling of wet plaster) called intonaco, was laid on the arriccio in sec-
a public or private commission, the artist had to be ever tions; each section was painted, using pigments mixed with
vigilant in ensuring his just compensation. Litigation was water, and allowed to dry before a new section was begun.
not unusual in Renaissance shops; artists frequently brought Painters worked from the top down to avoid dripping on an
in outside specialists to adjudicate a just price for their work already finished surface. Ensuring that pigment was always
because of acomplaining patron, and patrons brought suit laid on a plaster of equal wetness was important for guaran-
because an artist failed to meet the stipulated deadline for teeing that the colors would dry evenly to the same tone over
the delivery of the work. the entire fresco. This process meant that each patch of wet
Despite the tightly structured and remarkably tenacious plaster (called a giornata, or “day’s work”—though in many
workshop system, some individual artists did achieve cases more than one was completed in a day) slightly over-
reputations of international stature. Giotto painted not lapped the edge of the adjacent patch. Areas of complicated
only in his native Florence but was called to Padua, Milan, painting, such as faces, are relatively small, whereas simple
and Naples as well. Gentile da Fabriano traveled to Venice expanses of sky or landscape are quite large. These overlaps
and to Florence and was finally called to the papal court in allow modern restorers to trace the progress of the painting
Rome. Antonello da Messina worked in Naples and Venice from beginning to end by plotting the sequence of the over-
as well as his native Sicily. And Michelangelo had invitations laps. Sometimes frescoes were painted on plaster surfaces

22 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT Ustmace

Q\yw\ cso
 that were already dry. Called fresco secco
(dry fresco) to distinguish it from buon fresco
(good, or true, fresco), this technique was
used most often for corrections and for fine
details, on costume, for example. It was
much less durable than buon fresco.
Such sizable paintings, in which timing
was of critical importance, took careful
planning and involved a number of assist-
—ants.
A precise plan in the form of a
drawing, or many drawings, was required so
that the composition would fit exactly on
the designated wall. Painting at wall size
involved a problem comparable to that of
carving,a large-scale sculpture from a small
modelAhow to transfer the figures in a small
drawing to a large wall) One way of Haney
this was simply to place a grid of squares
over the drawing, like the one Uccello used
for his monumental commemorative fresco
of Sir John Hawkwood (Fig. 13). With the
help of an enlarged grid, containing the
‘ same number of squares as the drawing and
5|
applied to the wall, the painter could then
transfer each square of the drawing onto the
wall. Another method was to draw directly
onto the arriccio with\a burnt-orange pig-
mentycalled sinopia (cinnabar), most likely
referring to a pre-existing drawing of the
whole composition. The painter could then
cover the arriccio with sequential patches of
painting, remembering the outlines of the
covered part of the simopia and joining the
new painting to adjacent areas of sinopia.
Recent restoration techniques allowing the
upper layer of a fresco to be detached from
the arriccio have revealed a wealth of sinopia
drawings from the fourteenth century,
when this technique seems to have been
most often employed. The use of the sinopia
drawing as a preparation ee
allowed the artist some freedom tg alter his
eeSrpognCue Neen eee Castagno’s
“frescoes for Santissina Annunziata demon-
strate (Figs. 14 and 15). Although the figures
appear in approximately the same
positions in the sinopia as in the
final fresco, Castagno significantly
changed their poses from a three-
10 Eucharistic Tabernacle for the altar of the Chapel of the Ospedale della Scala, Siena, 1467, Lorenzo quarter view for the two flanking
Vecchietta. Presentation drawing; tempera and oil on cloth, 138 x 35” (352 x 89 cm) (Pinacoteca figures to a near profile. Castagno
Nazionale, Siena) furthermore changed the costume

11. Eucharistic Tabernacle, WAGT=72, commissioned under the rector Niccolo Ricoveri from Lorenzo and the posiaon of the arms and
Vecchietta for the altar of the Chapel of the Ospedale della Scala, Siena. Bronze (Siena Cathedral) the head in the central figure of

Although originally on the altar of the hospital chapel, the tabernacle was moved in 1506 to the high altar St. Jerome, diminishing his size to
of Siena Cathedral, where it replaced Duccio’s Maesta (see Fig. 5.7). accommodate the representation

MATERIALS AND METHODS 23

12 Cassone with a painted front panel showing a tournament in the Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, c. 1460. Tempera on panel, chest 40 x 80 x 14”
(103 x 203 x 66cm), panel 15 x 51” (38 x 130 cm) (National Gallery, London)
The gold has been renewed on the chest. Originally, the armor of the knights participating in the tournament was silver.

of the Trinity above. Typically, sinopie show the broad fea- procured it from a woodworker. The selection of the wood—
tures of the figures_but do nor include landscape details or, usually poplar—and its curing were important aspects ofthe
as in Castagno’s drawing,peed
ancillary po
attributes
CURES like Me 11OTh work; improperly aged panels could warp and crack, causing
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries th cartoon damage to the painted surface. When the painter received
(from an Italian word cartone indicating heavy paper) seems the raw wood panel, often with its framing and decorative
to have replaced the sinopia underdrawing as a way of trans- elements already in place, he and the members of his shop
erring the artist’s conception to the wall. Cartoons wer had to prepare it for painting. They covered the smooth
full-scale simplified drawings of sections of the final fresco. surface wi ento which they brushed a coarse
he image could be transferred to the wall in one of two layer of(gesso (gesso grosso) ade from ground plaster and
ways. The artist could place an individual cartoon against glue. This Iayer acted as a base for the application by brush
the wet plaster and draw with a stylus over the lines, thus of several layers of very fine gesso (gesso sottile), continuously
leaving an incision in the plaster; once painted over, the applied to the surface before any one layer dried completely.
marks of the stylus are hardly noticeable except in sharp When the gesso surface had hardened it was scraped and
raking light (Fig. 16). Alternatively, the artist coulff prick polished to give it a very smooth finish. The various layers
holes in the lines of his drawing, then place the drawing of this built-up surface can be seen in a much-damaged
against the wet plaster and pound a small bag made from altarpiece of Mary Magdalene (Fig. 18) where raw panel,
very fire cloth and filled with charcoal dust against the linen, and gesso surface all showed through the abraded
drawing; )in this technique, called pouty the dust surface (now restored) and where even the burn mark of a
penetratéd the pricked holes, leaving a small dotted outline candle gave some hint of the damages to which such paint-
of the composition on the wet plaster. These charcoal dots ings are prone over time. Decorative details such as haloes or
could then be painted over; close, detailed inspection of the borders of costumes or even inscriptions could be built up
finished frescoes often reveals these charcoal dots beneath on a panel’s surface with plaster (pastiglia) so that they
the finished surface (Fig. 17), but, even more than the marks became a noticeable low reliefon the panel that imitated the
of the stylus, they are difficult to read at a distance. actual three-dimensional forms that they depicted (see Fig.
7.20 and Frontispiece). This technique of building a relief-
Tempera and Oil Painting Panel painting, although a very like volume on a flat surface was used in fresco as well.
different medium from wall painting, and serving very dif- It was customary to make a drawing_o ned
ferent functions, also required careful stages of preparation painting with fine charcoal on the gesso surface of the
before paint could be applied to the surface. The wooden panel. This could be erased and altered as required. Once
support for the painting and the frame that was attached to the painter was satisfied with the drawing, it could be
it were either ordered from a woodworker to the specifica- reinforced and clarified with ink. No unfinished panels
tion of the painter or provided by the patron who had bearing such drawings have survived, but X-rays of existing

24 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 ~

13 Sir John Hawkwood, c. 1436, paintings often reveal traces of drawings

commissioned by the Signoria of
beneath the surface.
Florence from Paolo Uccello for
Florence Cathedral. Preparatory Large areas of gilding were applied
drawing, squared with a stylus, before the painting began (see Fig. 6.0).
for the fresco; silverpoint heightened Areas to be gilded were painted with red
with white on a light green, prepared
__bole— which was suspended in a liquid
ground, 18 x 13” (46 x 33 cm)
(Gabinetto dei Disegni, Galleria medium of glair, or size. The bole gave
degli Uffizi, Florence) added luster to the thin foil of gold leaf
which merely had to be pressed onto its
14 (below left) St. Jerome and the
wet surface in order to adhere. A prepara-
Trinity, 1455, commissioned by
Girolamo Corboli from Andrea del tory layer of green pigment was laid down
Castagno. Preparatory sinopia drawing on areas that were to represent flesh, so
(now detached from wall) for fresco, that when the pink flesh tones were
OPE XtOn fa (2.97.x 1.700)
painted over it the interaction of the color
(Cenacolo di Sant’ Apollonia, Florence)
opposites gave vitality to the skin. In paint-
15 (below right) St. Jerome and the ings where the layers of skin tone have now
Trinity, 1455, commissioned by worn away, the green under-modeling lies
Girolamo Corboli from Andrea del
exposed in a manner never intended by the
Castagno for the Corboli Chapel,
Santissima Annunziata, Florence.
artist. The medium used for panel paint-
Fresco (now detached from wall), ing was tempera, in which the pigments
10’ 10" x 6' 10%" (3 x 1.79 m) were suspended in a medium of egg yolk.

MATERIALS AND METHODS 25

 to the surface achieves a luminous brilliance that would
have been appreciated by artists seeking an ever more natu-
ralistic effect. The creative freedom that the medium allowed
led ultimately to a surface where color, refracted light, and
richness of textured pigment became a vehicle for the
emotional impact of the story depicted (see Fig. 20.30).

Mosaic and Stained Glass No material was more reflective

and resplendent than mosaic (see Fig. 2.6). In this medium,
as in the production of stained-glass windows (both much
more common in Italy than is usually supposed), a master
painter provided a full-scale cartoon for a glass specialist
to translate into his medium. rder to piece together the
be mosaicist employed tiny squares of colored gla
ome of them with gold or silver leaf sand-
wiched be sheets of glass. These tesserae were set in
a plaster ground, their individual surfaces deliberately set
at irregular angles the better to catch and reflect in a shim-
mering manner the flickering light of candles and oil lamps.
A master window glazer cut larger pieces of blown glass into
irregular pieces and joined them together with canes oflead.
Either he or, occasionally, the painter who had provided
the cartoon would _add the lines hadows of the figures
rk pigment that was fused at
§ itself. Thus, although individual
16 Trinity, c. 1425, commissioned by a member ofthe Lenzi family from
Masaccio for Santa Maria Novella, Florence. See also Fig. 10.42.

This detail of the head of God in a raking light shows the stylus marks on the
wet plaster, outlining the head and marking the vaulting system.

Tempera was a slow, painstaking process, as the short,

repeated strokes that make up any surface of one of these
pamrels attest (se
Teeth inting was finished, metal punches could
be used to add decorative borders around the individual
panels, to the haloes, or to the clothing of the figures. This
decorative surface, like LEER eee panel,
caught and reflected the flickering light from _candles and

Tine ee GIy cui of hem seestand more practically, to

make them legible in the darker areas of churches.
By the mid-fifteenth century Italian artists in Naples,
Venice, and Florence began to incorporate the technique
of oil painting into their repertoire. Although at first
used on panel and often mixed with other media such as
tempera, oil painting was later more often employed with a
cloth support such as linen. In this technique pigments are
Cig Se often linseed oil, giving an easy
uidity of application and allowing corrections and adjtst-
ments as the painting progresses. Using omts; a painter could
apply successive layers of paint to the surface. This not only
made it easy to change the composition of the picture dur-
ing the process of painting but also allowe greater richness
of color, as the overlapping tones interacte th one 17 Head ofEve (detail), Sistine Chapel ceiling, Rome, Creation of Adam,
another. The effect oflight penetrating the various layers of 1508-12, commissioned byJulius Il from Michelangelo. Fresco

paint or playing over the glazes that the painter also applied The charcoal dots from the pricked cartoon are evident in the eyebrows.

26 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 ~

18 Magdalene altarpiece (detail) (before recent overpainting), second

half of thirteenth century, Magdalene Master. Tempera on panel,
41% x 63" (104.9 x 160 cm) (University Purchase from James Jackson
Jarves, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven)

The presence ofthe youthful St. Leonard at the Virgin’s right side suggests
that the painting was made for the high altar of San Leonardo, Arcetri, just
outside Florence. The Magdalene Master is used to refer to a distinctive style
that may have been governed by a single “Master” but was more likely the
work of a shop. This painting has recently been “restored,” with all of the
missing surfaces inpainted so that the painting techniques described here
are no longer visible.

panes of colored glass might give local color to individual

features of the narrative, the details were presented in mon-
ochrome. For a culture in which light carried implications
of the divine, reflective mosaic and glass were highly
effective media for carrying sacred narratives. Moreover the
heavenly light reached the viewer through the saintly figures
depicted on the stained-glass windows, figures who were
literally transmitters of the divine to humankind through
their own bodies.

The Sculpture Workshop in stone, wood, terracotta, stucco, plaster of Paris, papier-
maché, wax, bronze, gold, or silver (see Fig. 8.11), although
Sculpture workshops were arguably the most complex and most limited themselves to one or two of these media.
diverse of the Renaissance. A sculptor might choose to work Moreover, the work could be figural or purely decorative,

CONTEMP(
Terms of Employment
Although contracts between patrons and said Domenico the painting of a panel Fra Bernardo, that it is worth it; and | can
artists varied considerably, even within the which the said Francesco has had made go to whoever | think best for an opinion
same town, the following contract, between and has provided; the which panel the said on its value or workmanship, and if it does
the prior of the Ospedale degli Innocenti Domenico is to make good, that is, pay not seem to me worth the stated price, he
in Florence and the painter Domenico for; and he is to colour and paint the said shall receive as much less as I, Fra Bernardo,
Ghirlandaio, is fairly typical. This was for a panel all with his own hand in the manner think right; and he must within the terms
painting of the Adoration of the Magi (which shown in a drawing on paper with those of the agreement paint the predella of the
may still be seen at the Ospedale today). figures and in that manner shown in it, said panel as I, Fra Bernardo, think good;
in every particular according to what |, Fra and he shall receive payment as follows—
Be it known and manifest to whoever sees or Bernardo, think best; not departing from the said Messer Francesco must give the
reads this document that, at the request of the manner and composition of the said abovesaid Domenico three large florins
the reverend Messer Francesco di Giovanni drawing; and he must colour the panel at every month, starting from 1 November
Tesori, presently Prior of the Spedale degli his own expense with good colours and 1485 and continuing after as is stated,
Innocenti at Florence, and of Domenico di with powdered gold on such ornaments as every month three large florins ...
Tomaso di Curado [Ghirlandaio], painter, demand it, with any other expense incurred And if Domenico has not delivered
|, Fra Bernardo di Francesco of Florence, on the same panel, and the blue must be the panel within the abovesaid period of
Jesuate Brother, have drawn up this docu- ultramarine of the value about four florins time, he will be liable to a penalty offifteen
ment with my own hand as agreement the ounce; and he must have made and large florins; and correspondingly if Messer RL
ABO
EEL
CLES

contract and commission for an altar panel delivered complete the said panel within Francesco does not keep to the abovesaid
to go in the church ofthe abovesaid Spedale thirty months from today; and he must monthly payments he will be liable to
degli Innocenti with the agreements and receive as the price of the panel as here a penalty of the whole amount, that is,
stipulations stated below, namely: described (made at his, that is, the said once the panel ts finished he will have to
That this day 23 October 1485 the said Domenico’s expense throughout) 115 large pay complete and in full the balance of
Francesco commits and entrusts to the florins if it seems to me, the abovesaid the sum due.

(from Michael Baxandall. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 1988, p. 6)

Sas I a ee

MATERIALS AND METHODS 27

19 Transfert ng from a model to a block of stone, from
Francesco Carradoni, /struzione elementare per gli studiosi della
7, Florence, 1802

free-standing or relief, a colossal exterior statue or

a very small medal. The artist could be paid a
specified amount of money for a figural work ora
price per given unit of measurement if he were
providing decorative sculpture such as moldings.
Some sculptors cast bronze within the shop, oth-
ers subcontracted out the casting once a finished
model was ready, especially for large-scale works.
The shop could be a private one, owned by an
independent master, or it could be one estab-
lished under the auspices of abuilding committee
for a large building in need of decoration, such as
a cathedral. In the former case the artist could
control and govern who worked in the shop,
bringing in new talent as the need demanded and letting mechanical and mathematical devices (Fig. 19). Similar
others go when there was no work. As with painting work- techniques could also be used to replicate ancient sculpture.
shops, the result of this system of training under a master The sculptor worked in from the block of the stone,
was designed to produce a uniform shop style, in which constantly refining the form, first working with drills and
everything produced had the look of the master. pointed chisels and then progressing to chisels with finer
In a large, corporate shop, artists of different training, and finer claws (cutting edges) as the carving became more
style, and even national background were often hired to delicate. Stone rough from the chisel had to be smoothed,
work side by side in an effort to complete large decorative using files and abrasives such as pumice. Finally, polishing
programs as quickly as possible. Although a certain amount with straw and cloth gave the surface its smooth character
of consistency would be lent to such programs by the initial which over time took on a luster. In some rare instances
selection of the artists and by the supervision of the unfinished sculpture was actually installed (Fig. 20), giving
capomaestro, or head of the shop, it was more important the modern historian some idea of how carvers went about
to get the work done than to have complete uniformity of shaping the figure from the large block and carving the
style, as Alfonso I’s triumphal arch in Naples (see Fig. 14.13) stone. In most cases sculptors painted their completed mar-
demonstrates. Nanni di Banco’s relief for the Arte dei bles, either to clarify the separation of figures from back-
Maestri di Pietra e Legname (Stone Carvers’ and ground, in the case of relief sculpture, or to add naturalistic
Woodworkers’ Guild) in Florence (see Fig. 5) shows that details of color to the white marble of figural sculpture
there was also division of labor within the shop, with some (Fig. 21). Often this amounted simply to gold detailing of
artists adept at architectural detailing such as twisted
columns, others being entrusted with the leafy details of
capitals, and still others with figures.
Stone sculpture required the sculptor either to travel to
the quarry himself or to send a trustworthy assistant in
order to find a block of stone not only the right size and
shape but also without imperfections such as veins of min-
erals which would jeopardize the structural integrity of the
work or its surface beauty once it was complete. The stone
had to be quarried and shipped, often over large distances,
requiring travel both by boat and by oxcart. With tolls based
on weight or size having to be paid along the way, it was
important that the sculptor not order more than was neces- 20 Tomb monument
sary for the commission. Once the rough stone arrived at of Carlo of Calabria,
detail showing the
the shop, assistants could begin to block out the figure,
unfinished head of
using a model in wax or terracotta provided by the master or Charity,,.1332-33,
a rough drawing on the block itself. For figural sculpture, commissioned by the
points were marked on the model, usually at the knees, the House of Anjou from
Tino da Camaino.
buttocks, and the shoulders. These points were then trans-
Marble (Santa
ferred and enlarged to the scale of the large block by Chiara, Naples)
 naturalistically painted figure was a human presence. Not
surprisingly, given the fragile, flammable nature of wood
and of fabric, most of these wooden figures have been lost.
What remains, however, opens rich reconsideration of
how this sculpture functioned as part of religious rituals
such as processions and liturgical drama. Many figures were
clothed in special costumes for festival days, blurring the
boundary between the real and the represented. Some
wooden crucifixes were carved with arms attached on pins,
so that the body could be removed from the cross, the arms
folded down, and the Christ “buried” as part of the liturgy
for Good Friday (Fig. 22). Some of these crucified Christ
figures were even carved with a smooth scalp so that wigs of
real human hair could be added, just as loincloths of real
material were sometimes used.
Terracotta (baked clay) sculpture, like wood sculpture,
was also brightly painted. The earliest extant examples of
such sculpture come from the second half of the fifteenth
century. Because of the fragile nature of terracotta very
little remains of what must have been a sizable production

21 Isabella of Aragon (?), c. 1490, Francesco Laurana. Marble, height 17)”

(44 cm) (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

architecture, of drapery borders, and ofhaloes. Most of this

polychromy has subsequently worn away or been effaced
in later “cleaning” projects, leaving a quite misleading and
falsely classicizing notion of how Renaissance sculpture
originally looked.
Sculptors also worked in wood, a medium that has only
recently received serious scholarly attention. Most wooden
figures, carved from sections of the trunks of trees, were
virtually life-sized. In order to prevent major cracks in the
figures as the wood aged and slowly dried, the tree trunk was
often hollowed out from the back, allowing the figure to be
more pliable in responding to changes in temperature and
humidity. Wooden sculpture could be pieced together from
several logs, especially for crucifixes, in which the arms of
the figure extended out from the main core of the body
and thus needed to be carved from separate pieces of wood.
In all cases wood sculpture was completely painted, so that
the figure imitated as accurately as possible the human
form it represented. This required that the wood surface be
covered with gesso or with a fine linen fabric which itself
was then covered with gesso; that plaster surface could then
be colored much the same as a panel painting. It was
not unusual for a sculptor to subcontract out the painting
22 Crucifix, c. 1412-15 (?), Donatello. Painted wood, height 6’ 6”
of wooden sculpture to workshops that specialized in such
(1.68 m) (Santa Croce, Florence)
tasks as part of the mass production of devotional objects
Like many other statues carved in wood, this sculpture was overpainted with a
and painted furniture. Wooden statues were often com-
brown pigment to simulate bronze by a later generation attempting to confer
pleted by the addition of metal attributes (St. Peter’s keys, value on the work and to transform its realistic rendering of the human body
for example) or by clothing, heightening the sense that the into a classical one.

MATERIALS AND METHODS 29

 23 Lamentation, 1492-94,
commissioned by Alfonso II of
Naples from Gu ido Mazzoni
for the Chapel of Alfonso II
and Gurello Orelia (now
Chapel of the Sepulchre),
Church of Monteoliveto,
Naples. Terracotta

The life-sized kneeling figure

on the left is a portrait of the
patron, Alfonso Il, in the role
of Joseph of Arimathea.

AN\\ cera

24 Resurrection, 1442-45, commissioned by a building committe

e of the cathedral (Opera del Duomo) from
to the north sacristy, Florence Cathedral. Glazed and Luca della Robbia for a lunette over
polychromed terracotta, 6' 7” x 8’ 84" (2 x 2.65 m) the door

30 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 written evidence and technical studies indicate that varia-
tions were used. The “direct” method is a straight transla-
tion of an original and unique wax model into a unique
metal cast. In the “indirect” method, the wax model used for
casting is made by taking an intermediary, reusable mold
from the original model, which introduces another proce-
dural step. This method permits the production of multiple
casts and the preservation of the original model.
The Renaissance sculptor (or workshop) produced a
hollow wax model (A) either by hand or with a reusable
mold. The wax model was rigged with a network of wax
rods, or “sprues” (B). These created the passageways through
which the wax, metal, and air circulated in the fire-resistant
mold placed around the model. If the figure were to be
hollow, metal core pins were inserted through the wax into
the internal mold or “core” made of fire-resistant, or “refrac-
tory,” material such as sandy clay (B); pins projected on the
inside and outside of the wax shell and hold the core in
place. The sprued wax was embedded in refractory mold
material (C). The mold was heated (D) to dry it thoroughly
and melt out the wax. Meanwhile, the founder liquefied the
alloy of copper and tin (often zinc and lead as well) in a
crucible, or furnace. He poured molten bronze through the
25 The lost-wax casting process
funnel created by the casting cup until it filled the cavity
The lost-wax process allowed the sculptor to replicate a wax model in the
created in the mold by the melted wax (E). Once the metal
permanent—and very expensive—material of bronze, but with a hollow core
that saved on both material and also weight, important for transport costs solidified, the newly cast figure was broken out of the mold
(see Contemporary Voice, p. 526). (F) and freed of its oxidized metal, network of sprues, and
other imperfections (G). It was repaired, cleaned up, and
any separately cast parts joined (H).
in this medium. Generally, independent figural When the cooled bronze was freed from the mold,
sculpture in terracotta is life-sized (Fig. 23). During the air tubes, now filled with solid bronze, had to
the fifteenth century the shop of Luca della Robbia be cut away and the entire rough surface of
developed a way of glazing terracotta sculpture the bronze (Fig. 26) filed, chased, polished, and
so that it became quite durable and could be given a patina (sometimes varnish, some-
used for both exterior and interior spaces. times colored oil) to enhance the luminous
Although the colors of the glazes were limited, surface of the material. Before patinating,
they added brilliant polychromatic possibilities fine details of costume or of facial fea-
to this humble medium, and increasingly tures could be incised into the bronze
large-scale work in terracotta remained popular sculpture, and gilding, if required, could
well into the sixteenth century—not only be added (see Fig. 10.60). Given the tech-
figures and reliefs (Fig. 24) but whole altar- nical complications of bronze casting, pro-
pieces as well. fessional casters (sometimes bell-makers
and at other times artillery specialists) were
Bronze Sculpture Bronze sculpture of often given the job of turning the sculptor’s
the Renaissance varies in size from small models into their final form—yet another
medals which can be held in the palm of the example of the collaborative nature of artis-
hand to large free-standing public sculpture. Most tic production in this period.
bronze statues are hollow shells of metal; smaller
ones may be cast solid. Benvenuto Cellini’s autobiog- 26 Hercules, 1470s, Antonio del Pollaiuolo.
raphy and treatises and Vannoccio Biringuccio’s De la Bronze, height offigure 11%” (30 cm);
pirotechnia (1540) described how to make such bronze height offigure and base 17%” (44.1 cm)
(© Frick Collection, New York)
sculpture, and technical examination oflarge Renaissance
bronze sculptures has confirmed them to be The surface of the bronze is unfinished. Small,
precious table bronzes such as this were regarded
lost-wax casts (Fig. 25). The lost-wax process as collectors’ items from the last decades of the
(from the French cire-perdue) can be divided fifteenth century, as a representation of the owner’s
into “direct” and “indirect” casting, although fascination with, and knowledge of, antiquity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS 31

Drawings

Drawings served important functions in painting and

sculpture workshops. They could be used to train garzoni
to draw the figure (Fig. 27)—as Squarcione’s contract with
his pupil Francesco indicates (see p. 21)—or they could
be records of motifs for use by both the master and his
students (Fig. 28) or for manufacture in other shops. These
drawings were kept in notebooks, functioning essentially
as model books which could be lent, facilitating the transfer
of ideas and motifs from one artistic studio to another or
even from one city to another. Drawings, some at full scale,
were often employed by architects and sculptors as models
for the assistants in the shop to use in completing large
projects. Documents indicate that Jacopo della Quercia
had full-scale drawings of his intentions for the Fonte Gaia
(see Fig. 5.28) placed on an interior wall of the town hall in
Siena, both so that his patrons would know what to expect
of the finished fountain and so that his assistants would
know what to carve during the master’s absences from the
city. For obvious reasons no traces of such drawings remain:
they were utilitarian steps in a process which, when com-
plete, made them obsolete.

28 Ornamental design for fabric, 1448-49, Pisanello (Musée du Louvre,

Cabinet des Estampes, Paris)

The history of drawings during this period suggests

that they served an exclusively functional role until the
beginning of the sixteenth century, when patrons, bent on
forming a collection of work by artists of major importance,
seemed satisfied, if not completely happy, to have a drawing
by a chosen artist if they could not persuade him to deliver
a painting. Thus Isabella d’Este pestered Leonardo da Vinci
for a painted portrait, but received, ultimately, only a draw-
ing. Vasari seems to have been the first person actively to
collect drawings, which he pasted down in notebooks, then
framed and even embellished with ink drawing of his own,
as part of his record of the genius of the artists about whom
he wrote (see Fig. 27). Even before Vasari began collecting,
however, there were clearly some drawings that were meant
to be appreciated not just for their technical competence
and their contractual value, but for their beauty as well.
Different from sinopia drawings, which were painted over
in large fresco cycles (see Figs. 14 and 15), and: different
from model book drawings (see Fig. 28), some presentation
drawings are so stunning in their use of prepared colored
27 A page from Giorgio Vasari’s drawing book in which he pasted paper and coloristic highlights (see Fig. 8) that one must
drawings from his collection and added frames to structure a composition assume that they were meant to convince the patron of the
on the page (Christ Church, no. 1338, fol. 240r, Oxford) artist's abilities as much by their sheer aesthetic splendor
The drawings are in silverpoint on prepared paper by Filippino Lippi, c. 1475. as by their promise of a finished product that would suit

32 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

the patron’s needs. Some workshop drawings of the later detailed solutions of specific aspects of the building used by
fifteenth century (see Fig. 27) are drawn on richly colored artisans on the site (Fig. 31), there must have been a certain
paper in silverpoint, a very fine wire of silver used like lead amount of on-the-spot problem solving by the master
that oxidizes to leave a refined and elegant line on the paper; builder and the craftsmen.
the richness of the medium with its white wash highlighting Since there was little open space within the walls of
gives drawings such as these a shimmering quality of chang- Italian cities, builders had to accommodate their new struc-
ing light that belies the mundane subjects of studio models. tures to already existing buildings on the site. Sometimes
Clearly the technical finesse and restrained coloristic beauty this amounted only to wrapping a skin of stone or stucco
of such drawings suggest that they could have been used around one or more pre-existing structures and re-ordering
as demonstration pieces for the artist’s craft despite their
humble subject matter, especially since so many of them
represent nearly nude figures, the standard test ofan artist’s
true ability to render an illusion ofreality as Licinio’s paint-
ing attests (see Fig. 7). In other cases, especially in drawings
of practical objects such as liturgical vessels or domestic
furnishings, it has recently been suggested that artists used
such carefully crafted images as a marketing tool, to induce
prospective buyers to order costly objects from the shop
that, for practical reasons of expense, could not be made
for show.

Architecture

Although the term “architect” does appear in some formal

documents of this period, there seems not to have been a
prescribed course of training for this position. Many archi-
tects began their careers as sculptors (Lorenzo Maitani,
Filippo Brunelleschi, Bernardo Rossellino, Michelangelo,
Jacopo Sansovino) or as painters (Giotto, Bramante,
Raphael). Some, such as Brunelleschi or Leonardo, seem to
have had a thorough grasp of engineering; others most
likely used master builders, whose practical expertise guided
a building’s progress.
Constructing a building during the Renaissance was a
collaborative process, as it is today, which involved many
teams of people directed by an architect or master builder
and—in the case ofa public building—by the commissioning
officials. The initial conception for a new building could
be visualized for a patron or a building committee in two
ways. An architect might provide a presentation drawing
(perhaps one drafted by someone else under his direction,
comparable to practice today) which gave precise indica-
tions of his design; a drawing on parchment for the facade
of the Sienese Baptistry (Fig. 29) is one of the few remaining
examples of such drawings. Another practice was to provide
a model of the planned building, which would give the
patron a sense of the three-dimensional substance and
detail of the planned structure. Wooden models such as
that for Brunelleschi’s dome of the cathedral of Florence
(Fig. 30) were made by professional woodworkers from
the designs of the architect. Stucco or clay models could
be made within the shop of the architect. Before finished
drawings or models were presented to the patron, however,
there were undoubtedly numerous sketches and preliminary
plans made by the architect for the project. Regardless of 29 Facade of the Baptistry of Siena, c. 1316-17. Presentation drawing; ink
the numbers of drawings that may have existed, including on parchment (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena)

MATERIALS AND METHODS 33

 MUTTON pe CUTE TET
a 7
zz
=
= TU Te
ii (UMOLARASTOTR
ARCCOCTAC sanAMORA
TORTCH
SEE BN | 5 ==
, ETT i ATE
30 Model of the cupola of Florence Cathedral, c. 1420, commissioned
by the Opera del Duomo from Brunelleschi. Wood (Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo, Florence) (see Fig. 4.22)

the new facade on the street—as in the facade of the Palazzo 31 Design projects for stairwell in the vestibule of the Laurentian Library,
Rucellai in Florence (Fig. 32) by Leon Battista Alberti. One Florence (see Fig. 18.14), c. 1523, commissioned by Pope Clement VII
from Michelangelo. Black ink, red pastel, and watercolor, 12’ 7” x 9’ 2"
can still see the ragged right edge of the building where con- (3.9 x 2.8 m) (Casa Buonarotti, Florence)
struction was halted—ostensibly because the Rucellai had
The drawings show early phases in the development of Michelangelo’s thinking
yet to acquire the adjacent building in order to complete it.
about the design possibilities for the stairwell. The watercolor drawings are
Interior remodeling would also be required in order to templates for column bases that would have been replicated (sometimes on
accommodate the new spacing of windows and doors on the metal), cut out in profile, and used by stone carvers as directions for their work.
street or to transform a row of houses belonging to more
than one owner into a building for a single extended family. membership of the Opera changed frequently, thus guaran-
Even new churches were built on the foundations of earlier teeing a range of expertise for any major building project.
ones which they replaced, sometimes extending the struc-
ture considerably in proportions, retaining the earlier meas- Other Workshops
urements and thus adding a formal constraint to the
architect’s imaginative freedom. The economics of building, Although painting, sculpture, and architecture dominate
then as now, often dictated such continued reuse, as did the histories of art, to some degree because of early histories like
fact that complete destruction of pre-existing structures Vasari’s Lives, it is important to remember that the visual
would have been too time consuming. culture of the Renaissance was enriched by a range of other
An architectural project required large teams of crafts- arts as well. Such objects as banners and armor for frequent
men, laboring over long periods of time. Since major build- processions or tournaments; temporary stage sets and other
ings took decades to complete, they were often the product constructions in wood and plaster of Paris for civic ritual;
ofseveral different architects. Even ifa single architect saw a tapestries to cover large walls and shut out the cold; carved
project through from beginning to completion, he was, him- and painted furniture; jeweled reliquaries manufactured by
self, responsible for overseeing a constantly changing body of goldsmiths for liturgical use (and often later destroyed for
workmen including quarriers, carriers, masons, stone carvers, their precious materials); liturgical vessels and vestments;
and provisioners (Fig. 33). In the case of public buildings all manuscript illumination; even pilgrims’ amulets and souve-
of this work, including its financing, was overseen by a spe- nirs were all part of the lived visual experience of the people
cially elected committee called the Opera (the Works). Often of this period and must also be considered integral to their
the head of that body, the operaio, was elected for life. The visual language.

34 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 Print Media

Perhaps the most significant technical artistic innovation

during this time was nati Coincident with the inven-
tion of printing, this medte arallowed a rapid dissemination
of images over a geographicall ‘wide and, it might be P,
argued, an increasing internationalism of artistic language.
During the oe ce the mos idely used print
media were thewoodcut §nd the’engraving, both of which
came to promineit m Italy in the 1470s. In the former, the
desired image was drawn on a smooth piece of wood. The C
artist would then carve away part of the wood, leaving only
the drawn lines standing in relief. These raised areas of the
block were inked and the block printed, giving a reverse
of the block’s image on the paper. Normally the result
produced an unmodulated line of dense black ink on the
surface of the paper (Fig. 34).
\, Engraving, a technique related to the decorative work
of the goldsmith, reverses the principle of the woodcut.
On a metal plate—most often copper—th ist first drew
the design, then engraved the lines with aburinfa triangu-
lar-shaped instrument like an awl) A viscous ink Was then
pushed into the incised grooves and the surface of the plate
wiped clean. Pressure in the printing press forced the paper
slightly into these grooves, where it picked up the ink, again
producing a reverse image (Fig. 35). In both woodcut and
engraving the plates could be used repeatedly until the
intense pressure of the printing press caused them to dis-
tress and crack. Like the prints themselves, the plates could
32 Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, c. 1450, commissioned by Giovanni also travel from place to place. And in a number ofinstances
Rucellai from Leon Battista Alberti images were pirated‘as they entered the mass market, so that
it is not unusual to see plates from one book appearing
in another with minimal changes. Ultimately the print
allowed artists to reach a much larger audience than they
could with their private commissions. The pee
also had the effect of enhancing the status of artists, as we
as their public reach, since they often delegated to craftsmen
the job of producing prints from their drawings, thus help-
SEER ratmeec
ce ing to forge the distinction between the “pure” artist, who
conceives and creates an image, and the artisan who gives
it final form.

Renovations and Restorations

A great deal of information about technique and the
construction of works of art during the Renaissance has
been learned from modern attempts to clean and preserve
them. Restoration and renovation—undertaken in past
centuries as well as recently—also raise significant questions
about what viewers actually see today when they look at
works purportedly coming from the period, especially those
that have been taken from their original settings and
Rae pet So PORMIORIS. HETERT PHANESTRIS#: © + opynainy ee eh me |
eo Shee ; ‘i
are now in museums. It is certainly understandable that
rs
‘ eine any work of art that is centuries old, regardless of what
33 Drawing ofthe reconstruction of San Francesco, Rimini (see Fig. protected environment it has enjoyed over the years, suffers
14.16), c. 1455, Giovanni Bettini (Bibliotheque de l’Arsenale, Paris) change or wear. That is particularly true for works that had

RENOVATIONS AND RESTORATIONS 35

 VEST TI
is
wy gS ane WY
<TR

34 Poliphilus in a Wood, from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1499. Woodcut, 4% x 5” (10.6 x 13 cm)

The Aldine Press was one of the foremost European printing houses at the end ofthe fifteenth century and throughout the sixteenth century. It was also a center of
classical scholarship; among the visitors to the press was Erasmus of Rotterdam, who carefully edited texts published there.

. functional usage, like tapestries,

ae banners, maiolica plates,
AES we see are actually Renaissance objects and not modern
or devotional images carried in procession. The very efficacy simulacra of some ghostly originals—or for that matter
of devotional art often led to its renovation and repair, so outright fakes?
that it could continue to evoke the presence of the divine The simplest interventions—and they are never “simple”—
in contemporary affairs. All these changes form part of are Cleanings in which layers of accumulated dust and dirt
the accumulated history of the objects discussed in this are removed in order to reveal the original surface of the
book. Now that so many of them are in private hands, in ose is particularly evident in public sculpture which
museums, or on the art market, the issue of condition is over time becomes encrusted with the dust and dirt of urban
particularly vital—and especially vexing. life. Ghiberti’s St. John the Baptist (see p. 12) recently had its
What constitutes adequate restoration and repair in surface cleaned, revealing not only the richly patinated and
order to conserve the object as an historical artifact? sleekly smooth original bronze surface, but even silver inlays
Do aesthetic considerations trump historical ones, so that for the eyes. Such cleaning not only gives usa captivating
restorers—especially on the Oe market but also in visual experience, but also allows us to reconceptualize the
Many museums —feel no cot att about signify -antly artist’s goals in communicating the emotionattea ity of the
overpainting damaged pictorial surfaces in order t« provide / figure, even if it is otherwise of a uniformly dark bronze
er “am . . ~ rt

a pleasing object to look at rather than a fragment or color. This patinated surface was also part of the original
one whose damages vie with the remaining surface for the beauty of the sculpture, meant to assert its presence across
viewer's attention} How do we determine that the objects the urban space of the si Gia eee which often

aare aK
36 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT
35 Battle of the Sea Gods, 1470s, Andrea Mantegna. Engraving and drypoint, 11% x 32%" (28.3 x 82.6 cm) (Duke of Devonshire Collection, England)

The print is made from two plates, printed on separate sheets of paper and joined at the center. The raging female figure of Envy (upper left) has led to the
suggestion that the print represents a competition between rival engravers. Whatever Mantegna intended as content for the print, it is clear that it is an exercise
in wit, for the powerful, classical sea gods do battle with bones and knots offish, hardly capable of defending them, while a standing statue of Neptune,
the god ofthe sea, turns his back on the whole scene.

employsOF distilled water or ee

the si
strategic use On
atee ic “Use of lasers,
ase! is The cleaning of Leonardo da Vinc1’s The Last Supper (see
careful not to_ damage this surface, unlike earlier attempts Fig. 15.15) raised other concerns. The fresco, painted in an
at cleaning. In 1843 Michelangelo’s David (see Fig. 16.1) was undocumented, novel technique by the artist, began to dete-
washed with a 50 percent solution of hydrochloric acid to riorate shortly after Leonardo finished it and was subjected
remove dirt and wax, a cleaning that stripped the marble to several disastrous cleanings, repairs, and repaintings over
surface of whatever polish remained Dnaeetiorit padiscoad: the course of the last three centuries. To make matters
worse, the building was fire-bombed during World War IJ;
sculpture (see Fig. 22) that had been painted over to make it the fresco survived only because it had been protected by
appear as if it were bronze, and thus more valuable and sand bags, although it was open to the elements for a time
more “classical,” has within the past fifty years been given after the bombing. As a result there is very little of the origi-
increasing attention; by cleaning off overpainting the origi- nal fresco remaining on the wall. The conservators’ job in
nal pigmentation has re-emerged, graphically demonstrat- this instance was far more complicated than cleaning. They
ing how important it was for people at the time of their had to determine what pigments on the wall were actually
creation to see the images as surrogate humans. Leonardo’s and what pigments were from later restorations.
Perhaps the most highly debated restoration of recent They also had to determine what to do with glues and waxes
times was the cleaning of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling 5 that earlier restorers had used to fix Leonardo’s remaining
(see Fig. 17.12). In this case the ceiling was given a kind of pigment to the wall. Precise scientific analysis joined with
gentle bath so that nearly five hundred years of soot from historical scholarship on pigments and techniques used in
candles and oil lamps that had obscured both the color Renaissance workshops now allows restorers to determine
and the individual forms of the ceiling was cleaned off the through the study of microscopic cross-sections of the wall
surface with small cotton swabs. A view of the same area surface (within certain parameters of accuracy) whether
of the fresco before and after cleaning (Figs. 36 and 37) existing surfaces of paintings are original or later rework-
shows what a radically new image of the ceiling appeared. ings. The danger in the actual process of cleaning is that
Michelangelo’s palette—shocking to many who had grown some of the original surface will be lost, especially since, in
accustomed to the darkness of the ceiling before cleaning— The Last Supper, some of those areas were very small. Two
was not just brilliant in hue, but novel in its juxtaposition overarching questions govern this whole process: how much
ofdifferent colors. After the cleaning the figures were legible of the accumulated reworkings should the restorers remove,
from the floor in a way that they had not been for hundreds since these additions may protect some of the original and
of years. The cleaning of Titian’s Meeting of Bacchus and also provide glimpses of the fresco’s accumulated history;
Ariadne (see Fig. 20.17), however, has been widely criticized and once removed, how does one deal with the lacunae that
as restorers seem to have removed Titian’s glazes along with remain on the surface where no original pigment remains?
the dirt, leaving a brilliantly colored painting that is pleas- Looking at The Last Supper today from the room, rather
ing to modern eyes trained in the traditions of Impressionist than on a scaffold close-up, one sees the familiar image of
color and light, but which would have been somewhat a painting that seems to be in relatively good condition.
startling to Titian’s contemporaries. But when close to the fresco (Fig. 38) one can see that most

RENOVATIONS AND RESTORATIONS 37

 abe
1i)
i

SS Sara
4 Be

37 Jacob and Joseph (detail after restoration), Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1508-1 2, commissione by Julius Il from Michelangelo. Fresco

38 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTI

 0.
Jott ea
of the surface has been_inpainted—not to trick the viewer
into thinking that the surface was original, but, quite
contrarily, to reveal exactly where the modern restorers
have “repainted” a Le . This technique, done in the
Italian manner call oRhatching), uses short parallel
strokes of differently co Sl ene that are clearly
visible in detail but which mix optically at a distance, similar
to the brushwork of Impressionist paintings. In situations
like this one, there is both a record of the actual Leonardo
painting and a reconstructed image that allows the viewer
to re-imagine how the image originally functioned. While
the restored painting is only a ghost of what Leonardo
originally produced and the restorers had to make many
judgment calls about what colors and additions would
best complement what remains of Leonardo’s original, the
painting has re-emerged as an aesthetically satisfying
object. Should tastes and restoration techniques change
over the years, as they inevitably will, all the inpainting
can be removed easily from the surface, meeting modern
demands erever possible such work be reversible.
Sull,anpainting is subject to debate, especially when a
work is ayed in an academic setting, where revealing
the jhistory rather than the aesthetic_value of the work
might have ete in the mid-
twentieth century the altar frontal by the Magdalene Master
in the Yale University Art Gallery (see Fig. 18) was radically
cleaned, removing all pigment that could not be determined
to be from the thirteenth century. As mentioned earlier, that
cleaning left significant patches of raw wood and exposed
linen and gesso. Recently such archaelogical purism has
38 Detail of inpainting (The Last Supper, left lunette) showing tratteggio
been questioned and the painting has been equally drasti-
; : technique around the garland, 1494?-97/98, commissioned by Ludovico
cally restored, obscuring much of the history of the panel Sforza and Beatrice d’Este from Leonardo da Vinci for the Refectory,
by filling in all the vacant surfaces with a light yellowish Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Tempera and oil on plaster
tan color that gives some uniformity to the surface but does
not attempt to provide coloristic continuity. In the earlier |=much about modern historical understanding and aesthetics
“restoration” the viewer was asked to see a fragment, much _as it does about how the painting may originally have looked.
as we see fragments of antique sculpture, to appreciate the This “counterfeiting” of the original is an activity that
image that remained, to see something of its creation and goes back to the Renaisance itself when fragments were
history (including the burn mark of acandle) and toengage — made whole as they became more and more valued for their
intellectually with the meaning of the object not only in — market value as well as their artistic properties. Countless
its original usage, but in its modern form as an historical bers of antique sculptures were treated essentially as
artifact—different from an aesthetic object—that had a( _ spolia (emains) and either included as part of other works,
good deal to say about the culture from which it derived. as the case at the basilica of San Marco in Venice
Now it is a less fragmented and more coherent work, but its —_(see Fig. 7.4) or as a core element of a new work intended
condition still requires explanation. to be read as wholly classical, as was the case with the
At the extreme end of the inpainting spectrum are St. Theodore perched ona column in the Piazzetta San Marco
“restorations” where inpainting is done to imitate what the (see Fig. 7.2). In the event that a statue was missing only
restorer “thinks” the original painter would have done, its limbs—as was most often the case—or its head or feet
melding new pigment with old, in order to givea completely (see Fig. 12.34), owners often asked sculptors to provide the
“unified surface. This was astandard form of restoration for missing forms in order to have a complete work. The most
dealers attempting to sell damaged Renaissance paintings famous example of this procedure is the Laocodn (Fig. 39),
in the last two centuries and it is becoming more and more — a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture discovered in January
accepted practice in museums that see their charge as pro- Sep eeehe began tilling his
viding visitors primarily with an aesthetic—as opposed toan _ field. Known from classical sources (Pliny), the figure was
historical or an intellectual—experience. Of course, the end such a great discovery that the pope, Julius II, quickly paid
result of such repaintings is a surface that says at least as the farmer a nominal sum for the work and made it the

RENOVATIONS AND RESTORATIONS 39

 40 Verification of
the Stigmata (before restoration), c. 1320, commissioned
presumably by Ridolfo di Bartolo de’ Bardi from Giotto for the Bardi
Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence. Fresco, 9’ 2" x 14’ 9%" (2.8 x 4.5 m)

39 Laocoén and His Sons (as restored by Giovanni Montorsoli), second to

first century B.C.€. or a Roman copy offirst century c.e., Agesander,
Polydorus, and Athenodorus of Rhodes. Marble, height 7’ 10%" (2.4 m)
(Musei Vaticani, Rome) ;

central focal point of the antiquities collection of the

Vatican, where it still remains. A special niche was built for
the statue; its designation as a “cappella” in the documents
41 Verification of the Stigmata (after restoration), c. 1320, commissioned
suggests how revered the sculpture was at the beginning presumably by Ridolfo di Bartolo de’ Bardi from Giotto for the Bardi
of the sixteenth century. Baccio Bandinelli restored the Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence. Fresco, 9’ 2%" x 14’ 9%” (2.8 x 4.5 m)
right arm of Laocoon in the early 1520s and in the next
decade another sculptor, Giovanni Montorsoli, intervened perspective, caused them to add extensive architectural ele-
with another restoration. Apparently Bandinelli showed the ments in the background, essentially making Giotto con-
figure with his arm bent and moving toward his head, as form to modern conceptions of the Renaissance. When the
he does in replicas that he made of the work. Montorsoli fresco was again restored in the 1950s, the additions of the
changed the configuration of the arm, extending it straight previous century were stripped off, their historical existence
out from the body into space and thus adding a considera- now relegated to a photographic record; moreover, the
ble dramatic impact to the gesture. When a fragment of the restorers decided to leave bare patches of plaster on the wall
original arm was found in the early twentieth century, where the original fresco had been damaged. What is left is
modern restorers re-restored the sculpture along the lines still easy to read, despite its lacunae, and emphasizes a more
suggested by Bandinelli. intense focus on the dead Francis than the competing, busy
Such additions and changes to the original also occur in architectural details of the nineteenth-century restorers.
restorations of paintings. An egregious example is Giotto’s As seen in the cases of the Laocoén and the Funeral of
Funeral of St. Francis cycle (Figs. 40 and 41) in the Bardi St. Francis, all restorations are an elusive mix of. available
Chapel in Santa Croce in Florence (see Fig. 4.14). There, information, scholarship, and personal sensibilities. They
damage to the wall had been so great due to the addition of always intervene in our process of attempting to re-visualize
funerary monuments, that restorers in the nineteenth cen- Renaissance imagery and to gain some sense of how it
tury had an open invitation not only to fill in the voids, but functioned during its own time. Thus twenty-first-century
to imagine what might have been there. Notions of viewers must be vigilant in ascertaining whether what they
Renaissance space as rational and volumetric, controlled by see 1s an authentic or a re-presented object.

40 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

Historiography and Methodology Vasari’s Three Ages

Anyone wishing to understand Renaissance art must also Vasari ordered the history of Renaissance art into three
pay close attention to how prior writing on the subject distinct—and progressive—periods or “ages” as he called
conditions our response to it. This process began in the them, which essentially divide history by century from the
Renaissance itself, where the dissemination of artistic ideas fourteenth into the sixteenth century. For Vasari the arts
was supported by an ever increasing production of artistic of antiquity provided a model of excellence which had been
treatises, especially after the introduction of the printing debased by what he referred to as the “barbarian” style of
press in Italy in the later fifteenth century, and by the estab- the Middle Ages. Their revival began with Giotto in the
lishment in the mid-sixteenth century of artistic academies fourteenth century, matured in the work of artists such as
where theory could be proposed and debated by both artists Masaccio and Donatello in the fifteenth century, and culmi-
and intellectuals interested in the arts. These two forces—the nated in the work of Michelangelo in the sixteenth century.
treatise and the academy—helped to transform the percep- For Vasari perfection in the arts consisted of the ability
tion of the arts from a craft-based to an intellectual activity. to reproduce forms in a naturalistic manner while adding
These well-meaning efforts on behalf of the visual arts have an ineluctable aspect of grace to figural movement and to
also sometimes proven anachronistic and misleading, impos- emulate, if not surpass, the artistic accomplishments of
ing inappropriate standards of a later period onto an earlier ancient Greece and Rome.
one and judging one urban center’s art by the standards of Given the biographical format of Vasari’s Lives—and
another. The Renaissance was too long and the variety of perhaps also the fact that he was himself a painter and
artistic locales too wide for any single explanatory theory or architect—it is not surprising that individual creative genius
narrative to encompass its richness. Still, it is worth examin- governs his presentation. Vasari chose each artist either
ing part of the written record to appreciate how passionately because he provided new forms for the arts, or because he
and cogently authors considered art in our period. carried a new idea into a more complete phase of develop-
First among the Renaissance treatises was Leon Battista ment, or because he produced important new milestones
Alberti’s De Pictura, written in Latin in 1435 and translated along a continually developing path for the arts. There is
into Italian in 1436 as Della Pittura. The Latin text—dedi- but one woman, Properzia de’ Rossi (1490 Bologna-c. 1530
cated to Gianfrancesco Gonzaga of Mantua—indicates that Bologna) to whom Vasari gives a “life”—albeit a brief one
Alberti first thought of the educated patron as his audience (see Contemporary Voice, p. 42)—1n the 1550 edition, with
(Filarete’s “father”). The Italian translation dedicated to the only passing reference to a few other female artists added to
artists from whom Alberti had learned his practical infor- this account in the second edition. By using biography as a
mation (see p. 218, Contemporary Voice: In Praise ofArtists) structure for his history Vasari borrowed a narrative literary
retained the classical references which lard the original Latin form that had its own history and traditions, including
text and initiated the formal transformation of the arts the freedom to invent stories when the facts of the subject’s
from manual skills to intellectual endeavor. life were not available. The lives of the saints were other con-
With the proliferation of treatises (especially on architec- ventional models for Vasari’s biographies, so artists often
ture for which the Roman architect, Vitruvius, provided a appear as exempla, moral and otherwise, of artistic behavior,
well-known model existing in the Renaissance in multiple individual genius, and—importantly for Vasari—elevated
manuscript copies), writers moved increasingly toward theo- status. By Vasari’s time an artist like Michelangelo was
retical issues and then to recording the recent history of referred to as “divine,” his genius as an artistic creator meta-
the arts that flourished so spectacularly during this period. phorically compared with the power of the original Creator.
The sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti seems to have been the first In recent historiography Vasari’s three “ages” have been
to have attempted such a history in his autobiography, supplanted by such unhelpful terms as “proto-Renaissance,”
left unfinished at his death in 1455. In his manuscript he “early Renaissance,” and “High Renaissance.” By implying a
essentially lists artists whose accomplishments he believed linear conception of history, loosely related to a biological
had been markers in the development of the arts, much as model of birth and maturity, terms such as these are mis-
Cennini listed his own personal artistic lineage going back leading. To define any work of art as “proto” or even “early,”
to Giotto. This “great man” approach to history was devel- for example, is to define it by its relationship to something
oped into a full-scale biographical model one hundred years else, not by its own inherent qualities. Similarly, to describe
a work of art as “high” is to suggest that it is qualitatively
lished in 1550 and then revised and greatly expanded for a better than anything previous, once again diminishing the
second edition of 1568. The Lives has provided a dominating effective power of earlier works.
critical and historical framework for understanding Italian Despite Vasari’s occasional forays outside Tuscany, the
art. Despite a challenging array of new theoretical approaches Lives is essentially about Florentine and other Tuscan artists,
to this art—and to the entire field of art history—Vasari’s perhaps not surprising since Vasari dedicated the book to
narrative has been remarkably tenacious within the critical Cosimo I de’ Medici, the ruler of Tuscany and his patron. It
literature and therefore deserves some attention. is easy to come away from a reading of the Lives believing

HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY 41

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Fashioning the Female Artist

This account of the life of a female artist a young woman excellent not only in for the three doors of the first facade of
is fraught with contradictions. Somewhat household matters, like the rest of them, S. Petronio, all in figures of marble, to ask
ludicrously, Vasari asserts that Properzia but also in sciences without number, so the Wardens of Works, by means of her
de’ Rossi carved peach pits because she that all the men, to say nothing of the husband, for a part of that work; at which
possessed a formidable intellect, neglect- women, were envious of her. they were quite content, on the condition
ing to note that as a woman she had This Properzia was very beautiful in that she should let them see some work
extremely limited access to the usual person, and played and sang in her day in marble executed by her own hand. ... In
sculptor’s materials and training. Two better than any other woman of her city. this, to the vast delight of all Bologna, she
examples of her pit carving survive: one a And because she had an intellect both made an exquisite scene, wherein—because
cherry pit with dozens of small bearded capricious and very ready, she set herself at that time the poor woman was madly
faces carved on it (Museo degli Argenti, to carve peach-stones, which she executed enamoured of a handsome young man,
Pitti Palace, Florence), the other a jeweled so well and with such patience, that they who seemed to care but little for her—
escutcheon of the Grassi family set with were singular and marvellous to behold, she represented the wife of Pharaoh’s
peach pits (Museo Civico Medievale, not only for the subtlety of the work, Chamberlain, who, burning with love for
Bologna). but also for the grace of the little figures Joseph, and almost in despair after so
that she made in them and the delicacy much persuasion, finally strips his gar-
Nor have they [women] been too proud with which they were distributed. And it ments from him with a womanly grace that
to set themselves with their little hands, so was certainly a miracle to see on so small a defies description. This work was esteemed
tender and so white, as if to wrest from us thing as a peach-stone the whole Passion by all to be most beautiful, and it was
the palm of supremacy, to manual labours, of Christ, wrought in most beautiful a great satisfaction to herself, thinking
braving the roughness of marble and the carving, with a vast number of figures in that with this illustration from the Old
unkindly chisels, in order to attain to their addition to the apostles and the ministers Testament she had partly quenched the
desire and thereby win fame; as did, in our of the Crucifixion. This encouraged her, raging fire of her own passion.
own day, Properzia de’ Rossi of Bologna, since there were decorations to be made

(from Giorgio Vasari. Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Trans. Gaston de Vere, ed. Kenneth Clark. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974,
vol. Il, pp. 1044-48)

that the Renaissance was essentially a Florentine phenome- sciences without number.” At the same time, Vasari’s
non which did not spread to other areas ofItaly and Europe Properzia is subjected to the narratives of her own art,
until late in the fifteenth and on into the sixteenth century. in this case her relief of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife for San
Artistic developments and works of extraordinary power in Petronio, Bologna (Fig. 42). Like the biblical character,
major cities such as Milan or Naples, which are integral to Properzia was supposedly spurned by “a handsome young
an understanding of the artistic history of the period, seem man, who seemed to care but little for her,” and the relief
to have no place in Vasari’s scheme of history, a bias which “was a great satisfaction to herself, thinking that with this
this book seeks, at least in part, to redress. His Tuscan bias illustration from the Old Testament she had partly quenched
may have its uses in defining certain stylistic innovations, the raging fire of her own passion.” It was difficult for most
but it plays havoc with the wealth of differing artistic styles men, not just Vasari, to believe that women could be both
in the peninsula, where individual cities functioned as sepa- creative and virtuous.
rate states, each with its own traditions, forms of govern- Documents confirm that Properzia did indeed have a
ment, and history of artistic patronage. Given the different fiery, even unconventional spirit. In 1520 she and her lover
artistic styles of the various Italian city-states any simple (the documents call her his “concubine”) were charged with
definition of the Renaissance becomes problematic at best. entering and destroying the garden of her neighbor. In 1525
Vasari’s biases are evident in his biography of Properzia she and a male painter friend were arrested for having tres-
de’ Rossi. His narration of this extraordinary woman’s life passed on the property of another painter, where she threw
and works is relatively short, partly because she was a paint in his face and scratched his eyes. But does this infor-
woman, but also because she did not work in Florence or mation actually provide an adequate insight into the mean-
Rome. In his biography, Vasari initially idealizes Properzia’s ing ofthe relief? While Properzia may indeed have exploited
character and education. He paints a perfect picture of a her own experience to carve a powerful, determined
perfect Renaissance woman: delicate, musically talented, Potiphar’s wife, payments indicate that some of her compo-
and “excellent not only in household matters ... but also in sitions were carved from models provided by other artists.

42 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

She is unlikely to have chosen the subject herself. It is more frame of three generations (Vasari’s three “ages”) for the
likely that it was assigned to her by men on the building revival of the arts and learning of classical antiquity.
committee of San Petronio. And to many viewers who were Together these concepts came to define the Renaissance. In
unaware of the political machinations within the work- their roles as collectors and editors of antique texts, as well
shops of the Fabbrica, it was merely a story among many as writers, Petrarch and his successors laid the foundations
from the Old Testament extolling male virtue. Looking at a for the studia humanitatis, known by the technical term
work of art in a broader context than Vasari did, not just as “humanism.” From its origins in the fourteenth century,
a reflection of the maker’s biography, is more likely to reveal humanism flourished for the next two hundred years. It was
its fuller significance. fundamentally the study of the literary style, moral content,
and political theory of classical antiquity, although the texts
Naming the Renaissance of the Church Fathers were also carefully and critically stud-
ied. Writers from Petrarch to Vasari reclaimed the antique as
A critical issue in the study of Italian art of the fourteenth an ideal of form and urged its revival in art and letters.
through the sixteenth centuries centers around the word Vasari even used the Italian word for rebirth (rinascita) in
“Renaissance,” a term that immediately generates contro- the Lives. There he claimed, however, not just the perfection
versy and that has produced some of the most acrimonious of antique forms, but their closer temporal relation to
historical debate of the last fifty years. Meaning “rebirth,” the moment of Creation itself. When Vasari called up the
the word “Renaissance” first appeared in a historical context antique as a source of perfection it was not simply because
in 1855, in the seventh volume of Jules Michelet’s Histoire de of its formal properties, but because it reflected the divine
France, which he titled La Renaissance. Michelet’s Renaissance, more clearly than any later art could.
however, dealt with the emerging French nation of the But the antique—as varied in its manifestations as
sixteenth century, not the politically fragmented Italy of any long historical era—had some less benign aspects that
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1860 Jacob could be used to promote not ideals of perfection both
Burckhardt used Michelet’s terminology in his Kultur der of body and mind, but notions of rulership and political
Renaissance in Italien (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy), power. Especially in Italy it could never be forgotten that
still a fundamental text for the period. Burckhardt’s exclu- for the most part the largest architectural remains from
sive focus on Italy from the fourteenth to the sixteenth Roman antiquity were imperial buildings, and that the vast
century provided both the time frame and the location that quantities of ancient sculpture being unearthed throughout
have determined virtually all modern discussions both
of the term and of the phenomena of the Renaissance.
The title of the book, moreover, conflates in one word,
“civilization,” the art and the politics of the period as
visualizations of the modern state. It is the expansion
of this Burckhardtian approach, with a more inclusive
interpretation of the meaning of culture, that governs
more modern approaches to the period.
Since “Renaissance” remains in current usage it is
useful to try to unpack some of its meaning. It is a
curious term for a historian to use for it implies a
definitive rupture in the historical flow. Such a con-
ception of history has its roots in fourteenth-century
Italy, where it was used to serve very specific purposes.
In 1336, in a poem called “Africa,” Petrarch wrote that
the grandsons of his contemporaries would be able to
walk out of “this slumber of forgetfulness into the
pure radiance of the past.” Such an assertion suggests
three things: the beginning ofa new age in history; the
existence of the Dark Ages (another historical term
essentially empty of meaning, in this case describing
an historical concept that Petrarch coined); and a time

42 Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, c. 1525-26, commissioned by the

Fabbrica of San Petronio, Bologna, from Properzia de’ Rossi for
the facade of San Petronio. Marble, 1/9” x 1/11” (0.54 x 0.58 m)
(Museo di San Petronio, Bologna)

Properzia was paid for two sibyls, two angels, and one relief on
August 4, 1526.

HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY 43

 had a longer life than the Roman republic; each could be
used to carry meaning. So, for example, when Nicola Pisano
(c.1220-84) carved a large marble pulpit for the Bapustry in
Pisa in 1259/60 (Fig. 43), the reliefs that encircle it derived
stylistically from Roman reliefs that Nicola might have seen
on the triumphal arch constructed by the Roman emperor
Trajan in Benevento, the capital of the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I (1194-1250) for whom Nicola apparently
worked. But it was not simply a matter of training that pro-
duced such forms in Pisa. While Nicola’s experience in the
imperial workshops obviously prepared him to see and imi-
tate the style of Roman sculpture, many examples of which
were available in Pisa, it was not style in the abstract that
governed his work on the Pisa pulpit. His presumed patron,
Archbishop Federico Visconti, in asserting his control over
the city and its territory, certainly knew that Pisa claimed to
be older than Rome, that it had been the capital of Roman
Tuscany, and that its Ghibelline history aligned it to the
Holy Roman Emperor rather than to the pope. Each ofthese
claims provided a reason to revive an imperial antique style
in the 1250s and 1260s. Indeed, the stunning victory of
the Ghibellines over the Guelfs at the Battle of Montaperti
in September 1260, the year of the completion of Nicola’s
pulpit, throws Pisa’s Roman associations into full relief.
Thus the quotations in Nicola’s Adoration of the Magi (Fig. 44)
from the ancient Phaedra and Hippolytus Sarcophagus (Fig. 45)
now in Pisa’s civic burial ground the Camposanto, are part
of a conscious use of ancient forms to claim political
prominence within the intensely competitive world of the
43 Pulpit, 1259/60, commissioned by Archbishop Federico Visconti from Italian city-states. Mary is seated majestically, like a Roman
Nicola Pisano for the Baptistry, Pisa. Marble, height c. 15’ (4.6 m) goddess. Her curly hair, flat nose, full lips, and broad face all
recall ancient prototypes, as does her pose, relaxed and
the Renaissance were either from imperial collections or the dignified at the same time.
possessions of a social elite that owed its power to its rela- Such quotations served to emphasize continuities of
tionship to the emperor. Indeed, the Rome of the emperors history over time rather than the discontinuities proposed
by Petrarch and taken up by Vasari, an interpre-
tation increasingly employed by modern histo-
rians. Established iconographical types, such
as the Last Judgment, for example, show few
signs of change in compositional pattern from
their initial formulation to their disappearance,

=
even if figural style differs over time. Scholars,
4
2 lawyers, and doctors used textual sources from
EES
both antiquity and the Middle Ages as founda-
tions for their own thinking and writing, tying
them to the past even as they attempted to
interpret and expand upon these earlier ideas.
History was deeply felt as an influential force
for cultural and social definition. Petrarch’s
extreme formulation is but one manifestation

44 Adoration ofthe Magi, detail from the pulpit, 1259/60,

commissioned by Bishop Federico Visconti from Nicola
Pisano for the Baptistry, Pisa. Marble, 2’ 9 4” x 3/8 \"
(85 x 113 cm)

44 INTRODUCTION: ART IN CONTEXT

 45 Phaedra
and Hippolytus
Sarcophagus,
first to second
century C.E.
Marble, Pisa
Camposanto

that earlier ideas were so pervasive in the culture that the not with his hands, and if he cannot have his brains clear he
writer felt a need to distance himself in a stark manner will come to grief.”
from their influence by relegating them to some imagined Following Vasari’s approach, art historians have concen-
dark age. More recently historians have supplanted the term trated on those artists who either departed from the stylistic
“Renaissance” with “early modern,” which may raise as conventions in which they were trained; invented new ways
many problems as it solves, but which has the benefit of of representing their subjects; or combined accepted modes
changing the terms of discourse from rebirth or revival to of representation in new and powerfully effective ways. Such
continuity with the present (although the use of“early” does innovations were, however, part of acomplicated pattern of
raise the specter of asimple evolutionary model for history). response to the demands of patrons and commissions. In a
The term “Renaissance” will be used in this book as a situation in which an artist’s ability to pursue his career was
convenient designation of a chronological period, not as a dependent upon the receipt of commissions, any novel form
description of style. Social, political, religious, and psycho- of representation needed to find a positive and knowledge-
logical self-perceptions were vastly different from one city- able response from the patron. Stylistic and iconographical
state to another and from the beginning of the fourteenth innovations remain intriguing because of their sheer imagi-
to the end of the sixteenth century. Elsewhere in Europe, native and aesthetic power and because that power was
new nation states were forming, making the Italian pattern joined to a web of social, religious, and political events. It is
of independent city-states anachronistic by 1600. The once the typical, however, rather than the exceptional, that in
monolithic Christian community splintered into several many ways governs our lives. Examining the exceptional
independent churches. An economic system, focused on the work of art in the context of the typical enhances the mean-
Mediterranean since antiquity, collapsed with the gradual ing of each.
enlargement of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, with explora- & When Vasari wrote his Lives he essentially foreclosed
tions around the coast of Africa, and with the European discussion of the Renaissance by declaring his own era—
“discovery” of the Americas. And the tenaciously held notion Michelangelo’s era—an age of artistic perfection. Today,
of ageocentric universe eventually gave way to new scientific renewed study ofItalian Renaissance art calls for continued
investigations that revealed the earth as merely a satellite re-evaluation not only of the arts themselves, but also of
of the sun. In a world where such fundamental challenges past histories and of the many new critical methodologies
to people’s self-perceptions were occurring, to define the for interpreting them. Among these would be the contextu-
Renaissance in the arts as a phenomenon based on natural- alization of works of art within the sociopolitical matrix of
istic representation, reverence for classical antiquity, and the period (of which this book is an example); the applica-
Vasari’s notion of perfection is myopic. The history of the tion of feminist theory both in terms of the roles women
period is enormously exciting, but its events, its artistic were allowed to play in the arts, and how they appear
creations, and its lessons are even more compelling if they visually in their own cultures both actually and fictively; and
are seen in a context that includes multicultural variables the determination of how economic structures governed
from city to city. artistic production, and of how popular, lived culture and
It is important to underscore here that the art of the rituals might have influenced the perception of what we
Renaissance, like that of other historical periods, represents now call art. Since the objects discussed in this book raise
a marriage ofintellect and craft. Artistic forms do not flow fundamental issues about perception and self-promotion
automatically from the hand of the artist but are carefully (whether of the individual, corporate or religious institu-
structured by an incisive, critical, and open intellect. tions, or the state), the interpenetration of the spiritual and
Michelangelo emphasized the importance of the artist’s the physical worlds, and the models appropriate for carrying
intellectual genius when, in 1546, he wrote complaining of a given meaning, the ability to understand these arts pro-
the pressures being placed on him to finish his sculpture for vides a window into understanding our own world as well
the tomb ofJulius II: “... a man paints with his brains and as that of Renaissance Italy.

HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY 45

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 The Late Thirteenth and the
Fourteenth Century

1 The Origins of the Renaissance 48

2 Rome: Artists, Popes, and Cardinals 56

3 Assisi and Padua: Narrative Realism 67

4 Florence: Traditions and Innovations 78

5 Siena: City of the Virgin 99

6 Naples: Art for a Royal Kingdom 122
7 Venice: The Most Serene Republic 136
8 Pisa and Florence: Social Upheaval 133
9 Visconti Milan and Carrara Padua 174

n the thirteenth century burgeoning urban centers required the construction of new
public gathering places, governmental buildings, guild and merchant facilities, and large
places of worship. All these were embellished with paintings, sculpture, and both precious
and practical objects necessary to instruct, impress, and delight the populace.
Although princely rulers and the Church hierarchy dominated artistic production in Italy’s
most important cities, they were increasingly obliged to consider and adapt to the wishes of
a powerful mercantile class that provided funds for new commissions within monasteries
and churches as well as private palaces and government centers. Just as the boundaries
between social groups were porous, so also were the distinctions between the secular and
religious life of the community. Rich individual patrons enhanced their status by their
donations to religious sites; powerful city-states identified themselves visually with the
specially chosen patron saints who were seen as protectors of their communal well-being;
and governments underscored their legitimacy with public images in which religious virtues
took on civic meaning. In both settled and unsettled times the visual arts provided vehicles
for giving order to an increasingly complicated and expanding world.

Altarpiece of St. Clare, 1280s,

probably commissioned by the
Clarissan sisters of the monastery
of Santa Chiara, Assisi. Tempera
on panel, 9 x 5%’ (2.73 x 1.65 m)

47
 The Origins of the Renaissance

onstantinoplé odern-day_Istanbubslamic culture, and

trans-Alpine arr all contributed to a rich amalgam ofinflu-
ences that helped to forge new ways of presenting both
novel and conventional ideas. Moreover, numerous factors—
social, economic, religious, and political, as well as artistic—
contributed to stylistic choices, although changes in style
occurred unevenly over time in the Italian cities.
Among the most impor-
tant incentives to change

tion. While Italy remained

largely agricultural untl
modern times, it was also
home to more large cities
than any other region of
Europe. These walled cities
served not only as places of
protection but as symbols of the possibilities for a secure
social order. At a practical level they were centers for com-
mercial production and trade that linked individual cities
with one another and gave them experience ofa wider world
beyond. The social order and_politics_also changed.
Successful merchants and artisans acquired great wealth
and put enormous pressure on medieval feudalism’s creaky
class structure of lords, vassals, and serfs, vesting new and
greater power in themselves and their guilds and merchant
organizations. Art became a way of distinguishing between
a past social history and a present civic identity.
also underwent a great transformation. Rather than vesting
religious power and influence largely in isolated, monastic
communities, as had been the case earlier in the Middle
Ages, the institutionalized Church found a vital home in
cities Where SéCular and religious leaders saw themselves as
partners 1n promoting civic order and pride. At the same
time, religious reformers began to speak more directly to,
and serve the needs and concerns of, a disturbingly large
number of disen franchised urban poor.

imply enumerating so-called “influences” or “sources” St= Francissand tne Beginnings of

embedded in the visual arts of late thirteenth- and
fourteenth-century Italy does not adequately address the
Renaissance Art
pressing question of why artists and patrons embraced and
exploited the models they did. Many of their sources had One of the most important of these reformers was
been available for centuries, and encounters with cultures St. Francis of Assisi (Francesco Bernardone, c. 1181-1226).
outside the Italian peninsula were hardly new. Ancient- Because Francis’s new religious vision had major conse-
Roman art, models from the Byzantine Empire centered in quences for the style and form of many works ofart, he and
ee

48
his followers (the Franciscans), as well as other reformers,
will appear throughout this book. Art changed in the
Renaissance as patrons and artists encountered new ideas
A we hen a arg
and developed
new visual needs and expectations. While we
do not subscribe to the view held by some earlier art histori-
ans that a study of Francis and Franciscanism suffices to
explain the birth of Renaissance art, we do believe that the
story of Francis and his impact on institutionalized art and
religion does offer a series of very useful insights into the
complex genesis of art during the Renaissance.

Francis of Assisi

Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant

from Assisi and his French wife. After leading a
carefree and privileged youth, at age twenty-one
Francis joined troops from Assisi in a war between
his home town and the neighboring city of
Perugia. Assisi lost the war, and Francis was
imprisoned in Perugia for a year before his father ransomed
him. Throughout 1204 Francis lay sick at home, probably
the result of a deep depression, only to set off for war in
Apulia at the end of the year or early in 1205S. A day after his
departure, he returned to Assisi, apparently having had
some form of religious conversion en route. In the autumn
of 1205 he stumbled into an abandoned church outside the
city walls of Assisi and fell to his knees before a crucifix (Fig.
1.1). He saw the crucifix move its lips and heard it speak to
him saying, “Francis, go repair my house, which, as you see,
is falling completely to ruin.” At first Francis took the advice
literally and rebuilt the walls of the small edifice with his
own hands, but he soon came to understand his calling
more broadly. Believing that God had called him to aban-
don his life of luxury, he sold or gave away all his worldly
goods and became a mendicant, a person who begged for
alms. Following the pattern of the original apostles who
were itinerant mendicant preachers, Francis believed that he
could come closer to God by rejecting worldly goods and
committing himself to a severe personal regimen of prayer,
meditation, fasting, and mortification of the flesh. At the
same time Francis showed genuine compassion for individ- 1.1 San Damiano Crucifix, twelfth century, unknown Umbrian artist for
uals who were not as disciplined as he, celebrating the posi- San Damiano, Assisi. Tempera on panel, 6’ 2%" x 3’ 11%" (1.9 x 1.2 m)
tive aspects of earthly life. He expressed an especially (Santa Chiara, Assis\)
profound love of natural beauty. The words of Francis’s
Canticle of the Sun (begun in the summer of 1225), a mystical
poem in which he addresses “brother sun and sister moon” a
second Christ (alter Christus). Just as he wrote of seeing God
is :

as manifestations of God’s presence in the world, suggest “through all that you have made” in the natural world, his
the immediacy with which he embraced the natural un1- followers could have a vision of Christ through Francis.
verse. In 1224, just two years before his death, he developed Through his exemplary life and through his preaching,
marks on his hands, fee ide corresponding to the which relied on familiar images of t world as metaphors
wounds of Christ. Tle stigmata ds these wounds are called, ofthe divine, Francis helped bring about major reforms that
marked Francis in the eyes of some of his followers as a D nateumcraconl religion measurably more attractive and
accessible to the entrre population. Mofeover, the simplicity
of Franci vreligious vision and his compelling preach-
1.0 (opposite) Crucifix, 1280s, commissioned by the Franciscans from
Cimabue for Santa Croce, Florence. Tempera on panel, 14’ 3" x 12' 7”
ing raised expectations that religious stories and doctrines
(4.35 x 3.84 m) would be represented vividly and personally.

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF RENAISSANCE ART 49

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Francis as Another Christ

In this typical passage from his life of St. heart was flooded with a mixture of joy and on the instep ofeach foot, while the points
Francis (known as the Legenda Maior sorrow. He was overjoyed at the way Christ stuck out on the opposite side. The heads
because it superseded all other lives of the regarded him so graciously under the were black and round, but the points were
saint), St. Bonaventure engages the reader appearance of a Seraph, but the fact that long and bent back, as if they had been
with rich anecdotal detail, at the same time he was nailed to a cross pierced his soul struck with a hammer; they rose above the
making clear the symbolic and religious with a sword of compassionate sorrow. ... surrounding flesh and stood out from it.
implications of all he reports. Eventually he realized by divine inspira- , His right side seemed as if it had been
tion that God had shown him this vision in pierced with a lance and was marked with
On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy his providence, in order to let him see that, a livid scar which often bled, so that his
Cross, while he was praying on the moun- as Christ’s lover, he would resemble Christ habit and trousers were stained. ...
tainside, Francis saw a Seraph with six fiery crucified perfectly not by physical martyr- True love of Christ had now trans-
wings coming down from the highest point dom, but by the fervor of his spirit. As the formed his lover into his image, and when
in the heavens. The vision descended swiftly vision disappeared, it left his heart ablaze the forty days which he had intended
and came to rest in the air near him. Then with eagerness and impressed upon his spending in solitude were over and the
he saw the image of a Man crucified in the body a miraculous likeness. There and then feast of St. Michael had come, St. Francis
midst of the wings, with his hands and feet the marks of nails began to appear in his came down from the mountain. With him
stretched out and nailed to a cross. Two of hands and feet, just as he had seen them in he bore a representation of Christ crucified
the wings were raised above his head and his vision of the Man nailed to the Cross. which was not the work of an artist in
two were stretched out in flight, while the His hands and feet appeared pierced wood or stone, but had been reproduced
remaining two shielded his body. Francis through the center with nails, the heads of in the members of his body by the hand of
was dumbfounded at the sight and his which were in the palms of his hands and the living God.

(from Marion A. Habig. St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1973, pp. 730-32)

The San Damiano Crucifix: Christus triumphans have seemed aloof and distant, a reminder of the enormous
gulf between the human and the divine. Instead of grieving,
Examining the twelfth-century crucifix that spoke to the figures of Mary and Christ’s followers that are painted
St. Francis (see Fig. 1.1) reveals a great deal about art in to Christ’s left and right sport beatific smiles, and Christ
Italy before the sweeping stylistic changes that came about himself remains impassive and unapproachable.
during the Renaissance. This painting was clearly extremely
powerful, capable of “speaking” to Francis in spite of its Christus patiens
bold stylization and many unnaturalistic details. On the San
Damiano cross Christ is superhuman, enduring substantial Depictions of the crucified Christ changed dramatically in
pain and suffering, as witnessed by blood spurting profusely the 1230s and 1240s. While it is never possible to determine
from his hands, feet, and a wound in his side. At the same the-€xatt-teasons for stylistic change—artists, patrons,
time, he seems to be immune to death, as indicated by his and society all interact in this process—it is intriguing to
wide staring eyes and smooth, unblemished body. Rather note that precisely in these years Francis’s followers began
than hanging upon the cross, Christ seems to levitate in to_travel extensively. Some took their missionary zeal as far
front of it, his eyes raised to heaven, which the artist has sug- as the eastern Mediterranean where they came into direct
gested by busts of conversing angels beneath his arms and a contact with Byzantine art; the vast majority spread through-
small figure of the risen Christ striding toward other angels out central Italy and eventually across Europe, where they
of the crucifix. Theologians termed this < Christus preached a new, more empathetic gospel, inspired by
triumphan ¥ (triumphant Christ): an image that effectively Francis’s own total identification with Christ’s ultimate
represented Christian belief in resurrection and everlasting
. . . hPa . .

sacrifice. Artists, especially those working for the Franciscans

life, but which had little to do with the actual physical and other new mendicant orders, now showed Christ with
sufferings of the historical Jesus, who was whipped, nailed eyes closed and overcome by death, although free of the
to a cross, and left to die from asphyxiation and prodigious rorrific details of actual crucifixions. This type of suffering
loss of blood.\Although someone of St. Francis’s sensitivity Chris pal guickly replaced the regal, live Christ
could percei¥e Christ’s personal suffering with an image like over altars and on choir screens throughout Italy. Their
the Christus triumphans, to many, this type of Christ must model seems to have been a large crucifix, now lost, that was

SO THE ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE

painted by Giunta Pisano (active 1236-54) for the 1.2 Crucifix, 1270s (?), commissioned by the Dominicans
from Cimabue for San Domenico, Arezzo. Tempera on panel,
basilica of San Francesco, which Brother Elias,
il" se" (B.BO5¢ 2G tna)
one of Francis's earliest followers and the head
of the Franciscan order, built in Assisi to honor
St. Francis after his death (an imposing structure
w Dominican order, encouraged worshipers to iden-
we will discuss in Chapter 3). Replicating this tify with Christ more closely. Retaining the tradi-
model in crucifixes for ee oie elon! format of earlier
other churches was thus to crucifixes, Cimabue stripped
imitate not just the form away most of the distracting
of the Assisi crucifix in the secondary figures, merci-
home church of the lessly forcing the viewer to
Franciscan order, but to focus on Christ’s human
sacrifice. Christ’s long hair
Franciscan spirituality “ts as stylized as on earlier
wherever it appeared. crucifixes, but it moves nastily in scratchy
One of the most poignant examples of this tracks along his neck and shoulders. Sharp
new type of crucifix was painted in the 1270s gashes mark his eyes, and his skin stretches
by the Florentine artist Cimabue (Cenni de tightly across the bony chest. Muscles appear
Pepi; ‘active 1260s-1302 Florence, Arezzo, on his arms, and his abdomen now heaves
Assisi, Pisa, and Rome) for the Dominican within its rib cage, only to collapse in a wide arc
church of San Domenico in Arezzo (Fig. 1.2), well to the left of the cross tral axis. The
showing how quickly other religious orders image communicates Gales acu
accepted the Franciscan model as an effective power, and compels individual identification
devotional image. Very little is known about with Christ’s sufferings—behavior exemplified by
Cimabue’s life, but his work indicates that he, like the grieving figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John
many of his contemporaries, was deeply impressed who hold their heads in mourning in the rectangu-
by Byzantine art. The type of suffering Christ he lar panels at the ends of the arms of the cross.
created for Arezzo had already appeared in Byzantine art in The theme of the Crucifixion was so central to the
the eleventh century. It gained popularity in Italy only in the thought and experience of Francis and his followers that
thirteenth century, however, when the emotional and imme- they had it painted in both transepts of the basilica of San
diate spirituality of reformers like Francis and St. Dominic Francesco. The subject underlined Francis’s identification
(Dominic de Guzman, c. 1170-1221), founder
of the rival with Christ and his sacrifice while reminding the Franciscan

i
1.3 Crucifixion, after 1279,
commissioned by the
Franciscans from Cimabue
for the transept of the Upper
Church, San Francesco, Assisi.
resGow axe (oy Sex 7as2am)

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF RENAISSANCE ART 51

 friars who worshiped in the apse and transept to follow his
example. Cimabue’s fresco (Fig. 1.3) is compelling in spite of
the fact that the lead white pigments have oxidized, revers-
ing the original relationships of light and dark. In this nar-
rative work Cimabue had more license and pictorial space
to tell the story of Christ’s death. Everything is windblown
and charged with dramatic intensity. At the very center
the painter chillingly contrasts the deathly, sinuous slump
of Christ’s body 41 oincloth that flaps freely in the
howling wirfl_ Mary Magdalen@ to the left and he Roman
centurion Longi who realized Christ’s divinity from the
multuo Stances of his death, thrust their arms
desperately toward Christ. Angels bring the moment to its
final fevered pitch, fretti twisting, and crying in response
to this universal tragedy. nly Francis, kneeling at the foot
of the cross, finds solace in the moment of horton Sica
press in from either side, but Francis, miraculously trans-
ported in time to the moment of the Crucifixion, clings to
the foot of the cross, as if the intensity of his devotion had
collapsed time, allowing him to participate fully in this cru-
cial event in Christian history, just as he participated in
Christ’s Passion by carrying the stigmata on his own body.
Cimabue tempered this new emotionalism when he
painted a later crucifix for the Franciscans of Santa Croce in
Florence (see Fig. 1.0), respecting the greater sense of deco-
rum expected from such a work. For all its restraint, how-
1.4 Altarpiece of St. Francis, 1235, commissioned from Bonaventura
ever, the work is no less gripping. Cimabue paid closer Berlinghieri for San Francesco, Pescia. Tempera on panel, 60 x 45%"
attention to Christ’s anatomy than he had in his earlier, (152% 161m)
more stylized crucifix in Arezzo (see Fig. 1.2) and pushed
Christ’s softer body into an even more slumped and dra- vehicles for(allowing the Church to ensure that the proper
matic curve. By placing Christ’s hands higher on the cross essons were drawn from a saint’s life\\Celano’s work gave
arms, Christ seems to hang from it, as he had in the fresco a gritty portrait of aman with foibles“and weaknesses who
at Assisi. Most startling, however, is the daringly transparent was also a formidable miracle worker. Sixteen years later
loincloth, revealing Christ’s thighs and uttocks. Celano was told to make extensive revisions of the life, sof-
Contemporaries understood this as. signifying Christ’s tening his emphasis on Francis’s asceticism and dispensing
nakedness, the ultimate expression of Christ’s
Full humanis with any posthumous miracles so as to focus on Francis’s
ane A Franciscan devotional tract of the late thir- saintly acts during his lifetime.
~ teentircentury, the Meditationes, instructed worshipers how Francis’s official image was finally codified in 12 with
to approach such an image: “Turn your eyes away from His the commissioning by the Franciscans themselves ofla third
divinity for a little while and consider Him purely as a man.” and canonical—that ts, fing d definitive—biography from
The huge size of Cimabue’s crucifix, the naturalistic soft- Bonaventure eevee young Franciscan and future
ness of the carefully modeled surfaces of the body, the bust- Minister General of the Order. Taking familiar stories from
length grieving figures of the Virgin and St. John at the ends Francis’s life but framing them metaphorically, Bonaventure
of the cross arms, and the enlarged inscription made such a composed a mystical portrait of the saint as a modern
message difficult to avoid. Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist, angel of the Apocalypse,
and faithful imitator of Christ. He admitted Francis’s
Defining St. Francis radical commitment to poverty and simplicity, but empha-
sized how Francis had worked within the institutional
The Franciscans also worked diligently to develop a Church tocefft
compelling image of their charismatic founder. For the
institutionalized Church, promoting the cult of St. Francis
meant controlling, enhancing, and sometimes sanitizing his Ordered destroyed.
image. In 1228 Pope Gregory IX (r. 1227-41) commissioned Images of Francis underwent notable changes as artists
a_biography of the saint from Thomas of Celano. Official and patrons attempted to find the most effective ways to
biographies, commissioned by the papacy at the time of communicate who Francis was and what he stood for. Early
canonization and read on a saint’s feast day, were primary on, Byzantine examples once again furnished appropriate

52 THE ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE

 models. In 1235 Bonaventura Berlinghieri (active 1228-74), The altarpiece on page 46, dated to the 1280s, represents St.
an artist from Lucca noted for his highly stylized, icon-like Clare in much the same manner as Berlinghieri’s painting of
representations, produced the earliest known signed and St. Francis. A central iconic image of the saint on a gold
dated altarpiece representing St. Francis (Fig. 1.4). Alchough ground is flanked by eight scenes from her life taken from
the work was created only nine years after Francis’s death, Celano’s biography. Her history throughout the narrative
the central standing image of Francis shows nothing of the panels—the first to represent a contemporary female saint—
_Saint’s renowned good humor and accessibility that was SO is tied to St. Francis. Her parents’ disapproval of her wish
evident in Celano’s contemporaneous biography. Instead, to follow Francis, depicted at the upper left, mirrors his
Francis appears highly formal, even forbidding, in a rigid confrontation with his father, for example, and her death
frontal pose emphasizing his asceticism—a style considered and funeral rites on the two panels to the lower right are
suitable for afi
altarpiece, 2n image for contemplation and depicted in a way comparable to those of Francis. Yet the
worship. The figure conforms to the traditions of saintly middle two narrative panels on the right, depicting Clare’s
SS
= roe ; =
Tepresentationgin Byzantine art)noted for the aura of sanc- miraculous feeding of her religious sisters and her death,
tity and mystery with which the holy figures are portrayed. place her solely_in the company of women. She is presented
In this case Berlinghieri provic the iconic form of the ane ae well axobedienc aving accepted
sainted figure, but also apparently consciously attempted Francis’s demands that her order be clgistered.
to depict St. Francis’s actual features since many of the Still, the unknown painter commissioned by the Poor
people who saw the painting would also have seen Francis. Clares to depict their founder gave her a livelier and more
The “portrait” of the saint thus retained the essence of the approachable presence than we find in any early image of
original figure, recalling much older presumed portraits of Francis. St. Clare is depicted within an architectural niche,
saints painted in ancient times. almost as if she were modeled in space, much like painted
The iconic aspects of Byzantine art were well suited to wooden figures sometimes used as the centers for elaborate
emphasizing the spiritual aspects of Francis. The identifica- multipaneled altarpieces. The top side panels are arched,
tion of him as an individual is achieved through attributes: creating the illusion that the sides are wings that could be
the knotted cord of his brown habit, his tonsure and beard, folded in to match the arch behind Clare’s head. The paint-
and the stigmata on his hands and feet. Three small scenes ing thus has the characteristics of small, private, portable
to either side of the saint’s looming figure mitigate some devotional images, appropriate for the cloistered nuns, and
of his sternness. These more lively images were meant to be at the same time it is of the scale of a major pilgrimage
re ties, providing insight intd Francis’s pepular object honoring an important saint. Clearly the tensions
deeds and miracles and the reasons he was to be a For between the intercessory power of this woman and the tra-
example, Francis is shown receiving the stigmata from a ditional submissive role assigned to women in the society
seraph. The positioning of this event at the upper left (that (and underscored again and again in Celano’s biography)
is, to the saint’s right) suggests that it was the most impor- underlie this image of St. Clare.
tant in Francis’s life. Other scenes depict the saint preaching
to birds and making various miraculous cures—a blending Style and Meaning As we have seen, art associated with
of the official and the popular, but all within a narrative Francis and his followers varied in its style and tone accord-
context meant to convey the historical facts of miraculous ing to the purposes for which it was made and the audiences
events, thus demanding a more animated and naturalistic it was meant to address. But the Franciscan order was not
style than did the central iconic figure of Francis. alone in seeking imagery appropriate to its message, Other
ee . . . oa .

religious orders—some, like Dominicans,

the arising at the
eas

St. Clare same time as the Franciscans—were also active patrons, as

we shall see, and sought to establish their own style as well
The same general compositional scheme of the altarpiece as iconography in the 1 dense populated cities
was used for many other depictions of saints in this period, of the Italian peninsula Byzantine ajt{ a stylistic source
including St. Clare (c. 1194-1253), the founder of the coming from the imperial court of the easterh Roman Empire
second (or female) order of Franciscans known as the Poor whose power stretched from the eastern Mediterranean to
Clares (see p. 46). Clare was a noblewoman of Assisi. When the Dalmatian coast, and whose rituals emphasized a deeply
she became a follower of St. Francis in 1212 and began her mystical ipation in the divine, provided severe, stylized
religious order, she apparently intended to create a female models for images of saints, but also empathetic composi
community comparable to the original Franciscans. Francis tions such as the ristus patiens type for ee
ifferences between pcevoulot
devotional and Natrative
narrative works
wo (cruci-
cloistered away from the world) Clare’s community, too, fixes and altarpieces versus narrative Se re
grew to a sizable one, and she was known as a miracle how artists approached their models. Whilé Vasar/univer-
worker. When she was canonized in 1255, just two years sally disparaged the maniera greca (the Greek manner, his
after her death, Pope Alexander IV (r. 1254-61) commis- term for the Byzantine style), Byzantine art actually offered
sioned Thomas of Celano to write her official biography. a highly nuanced and rich repertoire of possibilities to

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF RENAISSANCE ART 53

 MAP OF RENAISSANCE ITALY

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54 THE ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE

artists and patrons in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century “sacred Italy,” invited representatives from all the major cities
Italy. Harnessed to the engine ofFranciscan religious reform, of the peninsula to meet in Rome to confirm their common
it took on new life and expressive properties. Roman citizenship; twenty-five accepted. The cities saw each
other as rival siblings rather than separate nations.
Urban Contexts By the thirteenth century every city on the peninsula had
already created and accumulated centuries of artistic and
At the same time, many other forces were at work through- cultural traditions that gave each a distinctive personality
out Italy. In Rome the popes began to restore Early Christian in the eyes of contemporaries. This process ofself-definition
monuments that contained numerous inspiring cycles of continued unabated through the Renaissance, constantly
ancient Roman paintings. Architects and sculptors in Rome refreshed by active commercial and diplomatic exchange
and other Italian cities often turned to French Gothic between cities and with states far beyond the peninsula.
models, too, and artists undertook their own explorations Concurrently, a measure of unity was imposed by newly
of how best to respond to and shape a changing world. To founded religious orders, whose monastic communities
see these forces at work most coherently, we will turn to a spread throughout the length of the peninsula. In all of this
series of portraits of Italy’s leading urban centers in the late the arts served as the primary means for cities, corporate
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. bodies, religious orders, and individuals to convey ideas
First it is important to emphasize that Italy as we know about themselves and their place in the world (and through-
it did not exist in the Renaissance. There were no “Italians” out the Christian world and its colonies).
in the modern sense—only Venetians, Milanese, Florentines,
Sienese, Romans, Neapolitans, and other groups whose Types of Cities
identities were defined by the city-state or territory in
which they lived. City-states dominated the peninsula, each The Italian city-states fall into three broad political catego-
possessing and cherishing a distinct history, dialect, set of ries: 1) republics, such as Venice, Florence, and Siena; 2)
popular traditions, social and governmental structures, states ruled byasovereign, such as Naples, Milan, and many
economy, and artistic and cultural expectations. small principalities of northern Italy; and 3) the Papal States,
Geography and history conspired to keep city-states including Rome, under the temporal authority of the pope.
apart. Although nothing but the broad Lombard and This categorization offers a useful way of thinking about
Paduan plains separate_Venice and Milan, the two cities Italian cities which indicates their similarities as well as dif-
effectively occupied two different worlds. Venetians took ferences. While Naples and Milan, for example, are farther
advantage of their site on the Adriatic Sea to tie the city’s from one another than any other two cities discussed in this
economic and cultural life to the eastern Medi A book, their ruling families intermarried, and artistic activity
especially Constantinople and Crete, whereas Milan looked at both courts centered aro ing the ruler and_his
the other way, standing as it did just south of a pass in dynasty. These two cities offer ample opportunities for
the Alps on one of the major routes through Burgundy to comparing and contrasting the distinctive ways artists and
Paris. The Appenine Mountains, running down the central patrons maneuvered within comparable social and political
spine of the peninsula, split east from west, while hilltops, structures. A similar situation applies in the republics.
affording natural protection from invaders, were crowned Venice, Florence, and Siena often emphasized differences in
with many insular towns. The jagged coastline played its their topography, local history, legends, and artistic tradi-
own part in isolating one maritime Italian state from tions, yet all three cities were concerned with promoting
another. Little wonder that the political unity of Italy a communal ideal, linking Church and state, and generally
in ancient Roman times was only vaguely remembered giving citizens a stake in their city’s fashioning and embellish-
throughout the Renaissance and that the modern nation of ment. Papal Rome was different again, the city’s thousands
Italy (finally unified in 1870) has had to work so hard to of years of history and unique position as the capital of
hold itself together. Western Christendom deeply conditioning the character of
At the same time, Italy's geography and history also _dis- art that was produced there.
tinguished it from the rest of Europe. The Italian peninsula As we introduce each of these important centers, we will
is a distinct geographical feature, jutting freely into the pay attention to how their particular history, geography,
Mediterranean Sea. At its north the Alps establish a formi- social structures, and artistic traditions intertwine. Rather
dable barrier, protecting Italy from the colder climate of than seeking a single “source” or “origin” for the Renaissance,
northern Europe and from easy military invasion. The we will distinguish the many strands that constitute our
history of this land stretched back over two thousand years; period’s beginnings. We are primarily interested in how
and the fact that its people had been united in ancient artistic developments 1n each of these cities were important
Roman times meant that they were conscious of sharing a for their own time and place, but we will also suggest how
common cultural heritage. In 1347 Cola di Rienzo (1313- they are related to one another and the ways in which they
54), a fiery Roman civic leader and advocate of reviving a opened up avenues for further exploration and discovery.

URBAN CONTEXTS 55
 Rome: Artists, Popes, and
Cardinals
documenting the city’s former grandeur.
. Many of these had acquired or been given
Christian significance. At the far left
appears a corner of the Colosseum (sacred
site of Christian martyrdom), followed by
the dome and portico of the Pantheon
(rededicated as a church to the Virgin
Mary) and the column of Antoninus Pius
(located on one of the main processional
routes of the city). At the far right stands
the huge drum-shaped Castel Sant'Angelo,
originally the mausoleum of the emperor
Hadrian but later endowed with fortifica-
tions by several popes. Hefty ancient walls
continued to define the city’s limits. Rome
boasted unsurpassed riches of ancient
and Early Christian art, including vast
expanses of painting and mosaic as well as
imposing architectural remains.
Even so, Rome was but a shell of its
former self. Whereas other cities repeat-
edly outgrew and expanded their ancient
and medieval walls, Rome rattled around
inside them. Huge fields of ruins stood
starkly in what once had been densely pop-
ulated neighborhoods; sheep and cows
grazed in the remains of the imperial fora.
Most of the population lived in the neigh-
borhood at the bend on the river Tiber
where the Vatican met the old imperial city.
The woodcut shows a good number
of houses in front of the Vatican, along
with a porticoed church-like building
and enormous courtyard that made up
the papal hospital of Santo Spirito, an
institution committed to public charity.
As effective rulers of Rome, th oe
o city in Italy could boast as rich and complex a history who claimed that their temporal rulership of the state-had
as Rome. A fifteenth-century woodcut emphasizes been conferred on them by Constantine beforehe moved
its papal and imperial monuments (Fig. 2.1). The palace the capital of the empire to Constantinople in the fourth
of the popes (clearly labeled palatium pape) stands on the century, were responsible for all aspects of life in the city.
horizon immediately to the right of Old St. Peter’s Basilica, Although the Roman Senate continued to exist as the offi-
burial site of the
apostle who was the first pope. The promi- cial civic government, real control over the city was exercised
nent position ofthese structures on the Vatican hill reflects by the pope and a few very strong factionalized feudal fami-
the city’s domination by the papacy. Major monuments of lies such as the Colonna and the Orsini whose histories went
Roman antiquity stretch across the foreground of the print, back to classical antiquity, or so they claimed.
 qe =e eer Ye deus’ Hy ‘

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SSS OF

2.1 View of Rome, from Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Woodcut

1 Colosseum; 2 Quirinal Hill (and Horse Tamers); 3 Nile River God (now on Capitoline Hill); 4 Trastevere; 5 Pantheon; 6 Column ofAntoninus Pius; 7 Obelisk
of Augustus; 8 Old St. Peter’s; 9 Hospital of Santo Spirito; 10 Sistine Chapel; 11 Papal Palace; 12 Tomb of Romulus (destroyed 1496); 13 Castel Sant’Angelo;
14 Belvedere of Innocent VIII; 15 Santa Maria del Popolo; 16 Porta del Popolo

Artistic patronage in Rome was determined by the pecu- PRoOme’s Revival under Nicholas III
liar nature of papal authority, which was both religious and
__ secular, |local and international, hat
2 ae ee In 1277 Cardinal Giangaetano
; Orsini ascended the papal
respond to the political demands of the Senat ndthecity’s throne as Nicholas III (r. 1277-80)f-an event that was to
leading families The lineage of the papacy had been con- stimulate a revival of Rome. His immediate predecessors
tinuous and unbroken since Peter, the first pope, but it was had been mainly Frenchmen unwelcome in the city. During
non-dynastic. A pope was elected for life by the(ardinals, y’ the three years of his papacy Nicholas initiated a major
his major subordinates within the hierarchically organized = expansion to the popes’ palace at the Vatican as well as
institution of the Church. Presumably celibate, a pope had the restoration of Early Christian frescoes at the papal
no heirs to whom the office could descend. The cardinals __ basilicas of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls and Old St. Peter’s.
and the popes were not always Roman or even Italian, a = Construction at or near St. Peter’s served both personal and
situation that led inevitably to power struggles between the papal needs. By concentrating his efforts at the Vatican,
popes and local families who sought favorable treatment — rather than at St. John Lateran, the official cathedral of
from the papacy. Thus the popes had to construct an artifi- | Rome, Nicholas underscored the papacy’s descent from St.
cial lineage, associating themselves with the histories and Peter, who was buried there and whose cult centered around
deeds (including artistic commissions) of their predecessors, the Vatican’s own basilica. At a practical level Nicholas’s
so as to underscore the continuity of the papal office and — work in the Vatican benefited from the fact that the Orsini,
their unbroken connections with its previous holders. Given _his family, controlled the district directly across the Tiber,
these concerns and the imposing, ubiquitous reminders of thus giving him a strong power base in the city. Nicholas
past glory, it is not surprising that art and culture in Rome himself had served as anarchpriest
at St. Peter’s, and some
were often highly_traditionaliss Within these traditions, of his relatives had been buried there.
however, were some of the key elements from which artists Nicholas made substantial additions to the papal palace
and patrons would fashion a new art. in the Vatican, determining much of the basic structure
of the later Renaissance palace. Although it was signifi-
cantly altered over succeeding centuries, Nicholas’s palace
included a large chapel, audience hall, and state chambers,
2.0 (opposite) The Last Judgment (detail), c. 1290, commissioned byJean surrounded by a great park. Some of the decorations of
Cholet from Pietro Cavallini for Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. Fresco Nicholas’s chambers survive above later dropped ceilings

ROME’S REVIVAL UNDER NICHOLAS III 57

 CITY PLAN OF ROME

1 Villa Giulia
2 Porta del Popolo
3 Santa Maria del Popolo
4 Sistine Chapel
5S St. Peter’s Basilica
Vatican Palace and Belvedere Courtyard
Castel Sant'Angelo
Acqua Felice (fountain)
San Bernardo alle Terme lano

Hospital of Santo Spirito

Sant’ Agostino Ottay
Column of Marcus Aurelius
Santa Maria della Pace
Santa Maria sopra Minerva
(Dominican)
Pantheon
Santi Apostoli
Santa Maria Maggiore
Cancelleria
Palazzo Venezia and San Marco
Il Gesti (Jesuit)
Trajan’s Column
Palazzo Farnese
Imperial Fora
Capitoline Hill
Tor dei Specchi
Colosseum
Porta Maggiore
San Pietro in Montorio 35 Santa Croce in fi
Santa Maria in Trastevere Gerusalemme Nypongsal
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
San Stefano Rotondo
Lateran Palace L000yds
San Giovanni in Laterano _ ©TPLOVILD
Ip
Sancta Sanctorum (Scala Santa) 1000m

(Fig. 2.2). In one of the frescoes lively birds play amid leafy
garlands; in another, a corbeled arcade runs along the top of

which hacbecome increasingly linear and schematized from

repeated copying and imitation, thése motifs ar? vigorous
and animated. Some, especially the birds;seem almostto
be drawn from life. The leafy garlands, on the other hand,
derive from a renewed acquaintance with antique frescoes
that Nicholas’s artists were restoring next door in St. Peter’s.
What appeared new was actyally very old. This conscious
revival ofa late antique style/gave formal unity to the decora-
tive program at the Vaticaryamtd, more importantly(recalled
the early days of the Church in Rom@—an association with
positive meaning for Nicholas as he sought to re-establish
the papacy in Rome.

The Sancta Sanctorum

A major earthquake in 1278 offered Nicholas HI the oppor-

tunity to rebuild the Sancta Sanctorum, the popes’ private
chapel at the Lateran Palace (Fig. 2.3). Nicholas graciously
conceded recognition to his builder, Cosmatus, in a marble
plaque . on the entrance wall. The architect provided the 2.2 Birds, garlands, and architectural motifs, c. 1277, commissioned by
pope with a compact cubical space where decorations again Nicholas Ill for the Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco

58 ROME: ARTISTS, POPES, AND CARDINALS

 link Nicholas to his predecessors by carefully blending old
—aadiiew Thechapdl is
crowned withcross-ribbed vaulting,
“modern” insofar as these sorts of masonry structures
covered most new churches in Europe in this period, but
the vaults themselves spring from reused Roman columns
in the corners of the basically square space. The rectangular
apse is marked by a marble entablature supported on
reused porphyry columns, an Egyptian stone so expensive
and highly prized that, during the Roman Empire when it
was quarried, its use was under the direct control of the
emperors. Nicholas had the words “NON EST IN TOTO
SANCTIOR ORBE LOCUS?” (“There is not a holier place in
the entire world”) inscribed on th architrave referring to
the fact that here the popes housed one of Christianity’s
most sacred relics, the Acheropita, a presumed true portrait
of Christ. Two of Nicholas’s most powerful thirteenth-
century predecessors, Innocent HI (r. 1198-1216) and his
successor Honortus III (r. 1216-27), had enshrined the image
in gold, silver, and bronge. Now Nicholas rebuilt the chapel
for its adoration, botl{ linking himself to his predecessors |
and graphically proclaiming his contact_with Christ, his
ultimate source of authority.
Frescoes recounting storiés of saints whose relics were
kept in the Sancta Sanctorum brighten the side walls of the

2.4 Nicholas III Kneeling with SS. Paul and Peter before Christ, 1277-80,
commissioned by Nicholas II! for the Sancta Sanctorum, Lateran Palace,
Rome. Fresco

Nicholas is accompanied by the papal patrons, St. Paul and St. Peter.

chapel. Gold mosaics add luster to the vaults over the altar.
Saints Peter and Paul—one the first pope, the other the early
Church’s most ardent and eloquent proselytizer, both mar-
tyred and buried in Rome—present Nicholas to the perpet- 5a
ual company of the Savior and the saints (Fig. 2.4). The pope

Christ who sits enthroned in a paired fresco on this same

wall (see-Fig. 2.3)\Nicholas’s portraits a highly personable
image, Cae and relaxed in a manner that none of the
scores of earlier representations of popes as donors had been.
ay

Nicholas IV at Santa Maria

Maggiore
Pope Nicholas IV (r. 1288-92), a native of Ascoli and the first
member of the new reforming Franciscan order to head the
soothe nie joy the Lateran Palace, Rome Church, continued the cultural policies of Nicholas III. His
The stairs (Scala Santa) leading up to this chapel originally served as the major focus was Santa Maria Maggiore, the papal basilica
entrance to the medieval Lateran Palace. Legend said that they had come from
inage
the neighborhood controlled by the Cglonna family, who 4
Pilate’s house in Jerusalem, where Christ was said to have walked on them. Out
effectively adopted this non-Roman pope, a redressing of
ofrespect, pilgrims climb the steps on their knees.

+e (alrnuna aly
NICHOLAS IV AT SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE 59
 CONTEMPORARY SCENE

Art and Miracles

During the Renaissance, as in other peri- working miracles, it could be kept effica-
ods, art was on occasion vested with cious through devout reverence. Figures
supernatural powers. A carved wood like the Christ Child in Rome were dressed
image of the Christ Child (Fig. 2.5) pre- in elegant outfits and fitted with crowns.
served at the Franciscan church of the Statues of the Madonna were adorned
Aracoeli in Rome, was rushed to the bed- with necklaces and earrings. Often the
side of mortally ill children and credited object was enhanced architecturally.
with numerous miraculous recoveries. Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice (see
Reliquaries (see Fig. 6.3) were carried Figs. 13.26 and 13.27) was built to house
through the streets to stave off plague and what had been a simple devotional image
military threats. The Madonna of Impruneta on a street corner. At Santa Maria delle
in the countryside outside Florence was Carceri in Prato the original wall upon
regularly brought into the city to control which the Madonna had been painted
the weather, and the Madonna delle Grazie was deemed so sacred that it was incorpo-
at Or San Michele in Florence (see Fig. rated physically into the structure of the
8.12) intervened when nature got fully out fifteenth-century church, even though the
of control, saving devotees from drowning curve of the original apse did not corre-
in the city’s frequent floods. spond to the geometry ofthe new structure.
The figures of miracle-working images How did the Church tolerate what
exhibited great sympathy for their human seems to most modern viewers extraordi-
devotees and themselves manifested very narily pagan and idolatrous behavior?
human characteristics: they could be sad- Christians believed that God had taken on
dened and weep; they could close their human form in their savior Christ, and
eyes when offended; they bled; they could that God continued to act directly and
be jealous and moody, refusing their sometimes dramatically in the lives of
normal thaumaturgical activities if not believers. Church authorities maintained,
accorded appropriate respect. Above all, in spite of what much of the general
they were fiercely loyal, protecting cities, public might have believed, that the
communities, and individuals from natu- images themselves did not perform mira-
ral and human disasters. cles. Instead, God and his saints worked
Ironically the works credited with through images. Theologians distinguished
effecting miraculous cures, assisting in the between reverence and worship, only the
accomplishment of difficult or perilous latter being due to God. In countering
tasks, or protecting devotees from harm charges of paganism at the end ofthe sixth
or misfortune were most often works with century, Gregory the Great had insisted
little or no aesthetic pretension. The very that physical representations of the deity
power of the miracle existed in some large were merely aids to contemplation of
measure in surprise. Just as miracles could the divine, not direct manifestations of
not be planned, miracle-working images divinity itself. Statues and paintings were
could not be manufactured. They had their allowed, even encouraged, because they
greatness thrust upon them. And their invited reverence and served didactic pur-
very ordinary quality, embedded in the life poses, especially for the illiterate.
of the community, helped to lend them
power and veracity. Although an artist
might sometimes be called upon to update
or enhance a miracle-working image, as
2.5 The Bambino of Aracoeli, second half of
was the case with Bernardo Daddi’s
the fifteenth century, commissioned by the
Madonna delle Grazie for Or San Michele,
Franciscans of Santa Maria d’Aracoeli,
the “creation” of miraculous images was Rome. Polychromed wood
largely a popular phenomenon.
Legend has it that the sculpture was carved
The divine chose to dwell in images
from wood from the Mount ofOlives in
serendipitously, but once an image began Jerusalem.

60 ROME: ARTISTS, POPES, AND CARDINALS

2.6 Coronation of
the Virgin, c. 1294, commissioned by Nicholas IV from Jacopo Torriti for the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. Mosaic ra)

urban power after the earlier Orsini pope. Nicholas replaced In this role Mary/Ecclesia appears as co-ruler with God, like
the old apse at Santa Maria Maggiore with a larger, more him capable of granting salvation. It is a powerful image of
impressive structure that included a transept, enhancing its the Church controlling Christian destiny and of the popes
similarities to Old St. Peter’s. He lined the apse with marbles who were its head.
osaics by the Roman painter and ae € Jacopo To the left of the central image a small figure of Nicholas
(active 1270-1300 Rome) depicting the in a scarlet coat and papal tiara kneels as patron before stand-
the Virgin in a star-studded blue orb (Fig. 2.6). Impertally ing figures of the saints Peter and Paul, who appear to be
clad figures of the Virgin and Christ sit upon a golden presenting the pope to the celestial court.To the left of these
throne softened with scarlet and blue cushions. Raising saints Torriti represents the plainly clad and tonsured figure
his hand to the Virgin’s head, Christ completes the ous an appropriate inclusion for a patron who had
begun his ecclesiastical career Franciscan.
as a At the right a
celestial sphere. The Latin inscription below it comes from miniaturized Cardinal Jacopo Colonna kneels before another
the liturgy for the August 15 feast of the Assumption of pair of saints, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist;
the Virgin, the anniversary of the traditional founding of at the far right St. Anthony of Padua, another Franciscan,
the basilica. It calls explicit attention t
representation: the Virgin’s assumption ) the heavenly Torriti’s full, soft forms
NS en ORR
and the poses of his figures
pe

throne, the starry realm of Christ the King/(he chorus of recall the Byzantine imperial style ofthe mid-1260s that
angel Yand the Virgin’s royal status) This depiction of the had abandoned _ the characteristically insisteng¢
Virgin as the{Queen of Heaven cfn algo be seen as a reference patterns of Byzantine art, The mosaic’s lush greet
to Mary as Ecclesia, or(the Church, xhe bride of Christ, (stylized, scrolling vine patterns) sprout red flowers anc
a metaphor based on the Old Testament Song of Songs. give roost to splendid paradisiacal birds—peacocks, cranes,

NICHOLAS IV AT SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE 61

 ASKART NET Ye

and partridges. These motifs and the water flowing from In one ofthe scenes at Santa Maria in Trastevere, the Birth
river gods along the base of the mosaic suggest that late clas- of the Virgin (Fig. 2.7), Cavallini placed St. Anne (the mother
sical models also formed part of the mosaicists’ repertoire. of Mary), her attendants, and the infant Virgin in three
ere, in fact, the artists may have been replicating or even tightly connected planes parallel to the picture surface: the
reusing elements from the original fifth-century apse. maids preparing the child’s bath far forward, the large
Obviously, neither Byzantine nor late antique 1models had | reclining figure of St. Anne in the middle, and two more
OLE,
outlived their usefu ness, primarily because both were tll servants behind the bed. The parted curtain at the far right
x Sr
vibrant, ving traditions. implies further space neyoncl isdentey clustered compo-
5 Se ae ee
sition, a s the space aroun ge-like architecture
Patrons from the Papal Seah and its receding diagonals. The effect is both noble and
domestic. Intimate in its scale, the scene communicates
Commissions by two cardinals at their _otulat
titular churches in dignity and solemnity through the strong vertical and hori-
Rome document the competitive spirit that prevailed among zontal lines ofits architectural setting.
patrons at the papal court. Toward the end of the thirteenth Around the same time that Cavallini was working on
century, at Santa Maria in Trastevere, Cardinal Bertoldo these mosaics, the French cardinal Jean Cholet engaged
Stefaneschi commissioned the Roman painter osc
Pietro Cavallini ietro dei Cerroni; c. 1240/S0-
Is) to renovate the church’s mid-twelfth-cen-
tury apse mosaic by the addition of a band of
scenes from the life of the Virgin below it. Cavallini
was an artist of considerable genius, who has been
underappreciated by many art historians—partly,
no doubt, because he was largely unknown _by
Vasari, who credited many of Cavallini’s innova-
~ tionsto the Florentine artist Giotto. Cavallini made
his reputation working for Pope Nicholas IH,
restoring Early Christian frescoes in the papal
basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, works that
disappeared when that church burned in 1823.
There Cavallini’s task seems to have been to rephi-_
_cate_badly deteriorating Early Christian images,
thus training himself to produce an essentially late
Roman stylistic vocabulary at will. That experience
allowed him to give Byzantine prototypes new vital-
ity and a greater sense of movement, enhancitr omen
their three-dimensionality and_heightening the
_ human interaction among them.
ai I YE

2.7 Birth of the Virgin, c. 1290, commissioned by Bertoldo

Stefaneschi from Pietro Cavallini for the transept wall of Santa
Maria in Trastevere, Rome. Mosaic

62 ROME: ARTISTS, POPES, AND CARDINALS

 2.8 Last Judgment, c. 1290, commissioned by Jean Cholet from Pietro shoulder. While the multicolored wings of the angels sur-
Cavallini for Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. Fresco. See also p.56 rounding Christ’s throne owe much to earlier rototypes, ,
ses

him to create a larger and more extensive cycle of frescoes meditation onto :
for his titular church of Santa Cecilia, also in Trastevere. For Cardinal-Cholet—also—hired the
the nave walls of Santa Cecilia, Cholet commissioned a now :te¢t-Arnolfo di Cambic¢
ruined cycle of Old and New Testament scenes, directly imi-
tative of established models that Cavallini knew intimately rnolfo was well qualified for the job, having worked
from the papal basilicas. The entire back wall of the church as an assistant in the workshop of Nicola Pisano before
was reserved fora Last Judgment (FIX 28), asubject tradition- creating an impressive baldacchino for the papal basilica of
ally placed in that location to complete the cycle of Christian St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in 1285. The canopy at Santa
history begun in the biblical scenes on the side walls. @

Enough of the Last Judgment survives to give a solid under-

standing of this mature phase of Cavallini’s art. Christ sits
at the center of the composition, flanked to left and right by
enthroned apostles. Beneath them, in areas now obscured,
angels attend to persons who are about to be saved on
Christ’s right (the viewer’s left), while on the other side dev-
ils take possession of the bodies of the damned. Cavallini’s
debt to the increasi m_ofnerthern Gothic art of
—the period is evident throughout these frescoes, especially
in s of the complicated curving ers e :
folds, \Howeversneither Gothic sources nor the Byzantine
prot es that clearly inspired the iconography of his fres-
coes (see, for example, the similar subject in the Florentine
baptistry, Fig. 4A) fully explain the warml

volumetrically afound them, the deep thrones in which each

gu
of the figures sits, the effective way that bright light from
Gay
it to Cavallini’s own genius. A detail“of two
of th¢ apostles\shows the hard work that vallini put into
figures (see Fig. 2.0), with the shading of the
apostles’ faces suggesting three-dimensionality. Varying the
Soe oFHSbrush and the intensity with which he moved
it on the wet plaster, Cavallini convincingly distinguishes
between the right apostle’s soft beard and flowing locks.
Long strokes of light paint add glimmer to his hair, and 2.9 Baldachin, 1293, commissioned by Jean Cholet from Arnolfo di
highlights suggest the play of light down his arm and Cambio for Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. Marble

PATRONS FROM THE PAPAL CURIA 63

Cecilia (1293) deftly combines classical Roman and Fre
Gothic elements. Like earlier such canopieg, the structure
is supported on four ancient Roman columns. rnolfo
inserted delicate bar tracery under the tentatively pointed
main arches, transformed the corners of the canopy into
innacles, and edged the gables with sprouting Gothic
raditional Roman elements are
el wreaths

capitals raise the canopy’s height,

weight of the structure upon the richly mottled columns.
Arnolfo placed captivating figures of popes and saints
in niches across the four corners; one of them even comes
galloping out on horseback. This is another work of bril-
liant synthesis, well suited both to its Roman setting and to
a non-Roman patron at the internationa
enemies papa
ated sie court.
ee
—— ee

Pope Boniface VIII and an Imperial

Language of Power

Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303), himself an active patron

of the arts while still a cardinal, set a new standard for una-
bashed pomp and visual splendor. It is probably just a quirk
of history that Boniface is the first pope whose luxurious 2.11 Portrait Bust of Pope Boniface VIII, c. 1300, commissioned by Boniface
—————__

VIII from Arnolfo di Cambio for his tomb monument at the altar ofSt.
Boniface in Old St. Peter’s, Rome. Marble (Grotte Vaticane)

possessions—including pheasant-plumed fans; goblets

“encrusted with garnets, enamels, and sapphires; knives with
handles ofivory, coral, sandalwood, jasper, and lapis lazuli—
are documented. Much of this he must have inherited
from his predecessors. But there was something imperial
about the material display of his papacy, as well as his own
demeanor and brash confidence in the unassailability of the
papacy. He would have been as comfortable on the ancient
Palatine Hill among the emperors as he was at the Lateran
and Vatican palaces. The apocryphal report that he once
announced “I am the emperor” does not stray far from his
estimation of himself and the papacy.
Like his predecessors, Boniface spent money on building
repairs and renovations, the most famous of which was the
construction of a new benediction loggia at the Lateran
Palace (Fig. 2.10). Boniface emblazoned the loggia (used
by the pope to bless the faithful) with imperial parasols and
the coat of arms of his family, the Caetani, and supported
it both physically and symbolically with reused ancient
columns. Sculptural figures of the saints Peter and Paul
flanking the loggia’s gable emphasized the pope’s rightful
_ succession to apostolic power.
A portrait bust from Boniface’s tomb, which he commis-
sioned before his death, tells us yet more about papal ambi-
tions in this period (Fig. 2.11). Boniface’s tomb monument
2.10 Pope Boniface VIII Imparting a Blessing from the Benediction Loggia at the
in the chapel of St. Boniface in Old St. Petet’s included this
Lateran, seventeenth-century miniature recording the composition of a
fresco, c. 1300, inside the benediction loggia at the Lateran Palace, Rome vivid image of benediction along with a recumbent effigy of
(Biblioteca Ambrosiana, ms. F. inf. 227, 8v, Milan) the pope and a mosaic in which Peter and Paul recommended

64 ROME: ARTISTS, POPES, AND CARDINALS

 Car les — tle Coloru ral
him to the Virgin and Child. The message of these three Creating Images for an Absent Papacy
images is pear individual pope may die but the dignit
of his office, manifest in the bust by the ae (keys, ) Offered a safe haven at Avignon in 1306, Pope Clement V
ives on.)While the mosaic speaks of Bontfaee’s person moved the institutional offices of the papacy to that small
admissfon to salvation, his bust implies the eternal efficacy town in the south of France, beginning what was to be more
of his benediction for others. His mortal body was placed in than a century of exile. Without the patronage of popes
its tomb, but the papacy which he had embodied was to live and cardinals, major construction and artistic production
forever. The conceit of Boniface VIII’s tomb was sophisti- in Rome could be sustained only with great difficulty. As it
cated, stopping just short of self-exaltation. Little wonder became increasingly evident that the papal court was well
his enemies charged him with idolatry. Arnolfo gave Boniface established in Avignon, new artistic enterprises in Rome
an impassive but powerful face and loaded the papal tiara, slowed to a trickle.
stole, and gloves with jewels set in rich mounts, originally Nevertheless popes and cardinals engaged in various
picked outin full color and gilt. A less than sympathetic eye attempts throughout the fourteenth century to reclaim and
would have seen as much a ee eas renovate their traditional seat of authority. Cardinal Jacopo
personal pride as the dignity of the papacy. Stefaneschi—brother of Bertoldo, who had enhanced Santa
These confident inaers belie Bontizces-sCormy relations Maria in Trastevere—commissioned a large mosaic for the
with the aristocracy,
Roman especially the Colonna, whose atrium of Old St. Peter’s (Fig. 2.12), along with a double-
stronghold at nearby Palestrina he leveled and began to sided altarpiece (Fig. 2.13) probably intended for the
replace with a new papal estate. The Colonna’s French allies canons’ choir in the nave of the building at the boundary
then actually attacked the pope in his own palace in Anagni. of the transept. Both works included a kneeling portrait of|
Only his valiant defiance saved the day. Awaiting his would- _the cardinal and should be seen as@ttempts by Stefaneschi
be captors in full papal regalia and thus projecting the to reassert the rightful place of the papacy in Reme while RS)
image of authority which appeared in his tomb monument, commemorating himself as he approached death,
Boniface forced his attackers to humiliate the papacy as well Stefaneschi turned to the shop of the Florentine artist
as himself. Learning of this affront, the local townspeople, Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-75 Vespignano-1337 Florence)
who held little affection for Boniface the man, rose up to for each of these commissions, perhaps because artists
defend the office he represented. Still, neither Boniface nor like Torriti and Rustici, already with established records
the papacy emerged unscathed. He died soon thereafter, of success in mosaic, had died or because Cavallini had
a broken and bitter man. Broken, too, was the confidence already moved to Naples, where he was in the employ of
of the papacy in its ability to manage its affairs in Rome. the Angevin court by 1308. The literary tradition recounted
Subsequent popes—especially those who did not come from by Dante and Vasari that Giotto had been a student of
Roman families—found it impossible to control the Eternal Cimabue needs to be supplemented by the fact that Cimabue
City and its often hostile, competing clans. was recorded in Rome in 1272 and that the older artist
was technically working for the papacy
in the late 1270s when he was painting
in Assisi. Giotto may well have visited
Rome before the Jubilee Year of 1300,
at the height of Cavallini’s new stylis-
tic experiments at Santa Cecilia in
Trastevere. Thus it is not surprising
that Giotto’s style seems to owe so
little to extant work in Florence of this
i
period, but a great deal to the innova-
; tion oman style under Cavallini
and perhaps
also Rustici. Both Giotto)
“and Cavallini
were obyiously inspired-
by classical-art, using light boldiy~to
Create increasingly massive and three-
dimensional figures.) By the time of
Stefaneschi’s commissions Giotto had
achieved an international reputation.

2.12 Navicella, commissioned by Jacopo

Stefaneschi from Giotto, drawing after
the lost original mosaic for the atrium of
Old St. Peter’s, Rome (Vatican Library,
Vat. Barb. Lat. 2733, fols. 146v/147r, Rome)

CREATING IMAGES FOR AN ABSENT PAPACY 65

 Giotto’s mosaic, now lost, originally decorated the inner, St. Peter and flanking saints on the other, echoing one another
gateway facade of the courtyard in front of St. Peter’s (see to make clear the identification between Christ and his papal
Fig. 24.12, far right). It represented the Navicella (“little successors. Illusionistic space in the altarpiece was kept to
ship”), an image of the Church in perilous times supported a minimum; St. Peter raises his right hand in benediction,
by the command of Christ. Just as Peter did not drown in while in the left he holds the oversized keys thaf symbolized
the turbulent waters around the fishing boat when he went his and the papacy’s authority ee Fig. 2.11). Peter’s staring
forward to greet Christ, who had been miraculously walking visage and rigid, frontal placement against an imposing
on the water, so the Roman Church expected the papacy marble throne further emphasize his supremacy, as does his
to survive all challenges. Although based on a pre-existing enlarged size, relative to the donor portrait of Cardinal
work, the theme had a special poignancy at this time, which Stefaneschi on Peter’s right, who reverently presents a mini-
was known as the Babylonian Captivity of the papacy. The aturized version of the altarpiece. On St. Peter’s left St. Peter
scope and scale of the work were overwhelming, occasioning Morone submits a deluxe manuscript which may represent
awed commentary well into the sixteenth century. Surviving Stefaneschi’s biography of this pope whom rumor had it
fragments suggest that subtle colors and impressionistic was convinced to resign by the ambitious Boniface VIL.
devices heightened the mosaic’s dramatic effects. Although the popes were not to return permanently
Stefaneschi’s altarpiece (Fig. 2.13), signed by Giotto but to Rome for over a century, imagery like this continued to
attributed to his workshop, paired two images of papal mark the city as the capital of Western Christendom.
authority: an enthroned Christ flanked Dy scenes of the mar- Rome’s relics, ancient monuments, papal basilicas, and
tyrdoms ofSt. Peter and St. Paul on one side and an enthroned works of art spoke powerfully throughout the papal absence.

2.13 Stefaneschi altarpiece, early fourteenth century, commissioned by Jacopo Stefaneschi from Giotto probably for the canons’ choir of Old St. Peters;
Rome. Tempera on panel, 7’ 2%" x 8! 4" (2.2 x 2.45 m) (Pinacoteca, Vatican)
This two-sided altarpiece was intended for viewing from both within the canons’ choir and from the transe pt, which
it adjoined. The panels were originally set in
much more elaborate frames.

66 ROME: ARTISTS, POPES, AND CARDINALS

 Assisi and Padua: Narrative
Realism

who wished to maintain the vow of

absolute (or apostolic) poverty upon
which Francis had founded his
order. On the other side were the
Conve whom the success
of th h terms ofits numerous
communities throughout the
Christian world indicated the need
for permanent established churches
and convents. In order to satisfy
Francis’s vow of poverty and yet meet
the need fora cult church for Francis’s
relics and a home church for the
Franciscan order, the papacy became
the nominal patron and “owner” of
the basilica of San Francesco; the
church was by deed a papal basilica,
not a Franciscan church. The close
relationship between the Franciscans
and the papal hierarchy ensured that
the church containing the mortal
remains of a man who zealously
abjured physical wealth and comforts
was one of the most lavishly con-
ceived structures ofits time, although
St. Francis’s tomb, unlike the tomb of
any other monastic founder during
this period (see Fig. 9.6), was hidden
from view under the building. (It was
only recovered in the nineteenth cen-
tury and now rests in a specially con-
structed crypt.) Poverty and simplicity
rarely prevailed at a shriné controlled
by the papacy.
Preparations for the construction
of the basilica of San Francesco (Fig.
3.1) began even before Francis’s can-
ne of the earliest documented assimilations of the onization in 1228. Pope Gregory IX built a papal residence
newly naturalistic style of painting first seen in Rome within the adjoining monastic complex, and a papal throne
occurred in the hill town of Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis. sits within the church’s apse. The aisleless, double-storied
St. Francis’s canonization in 1228 virtually demanded that structure of the church (Fig. 3.2) was immediately recogniz-
a church in his honor—as a focus for devotion to the most able as a palatine chapel, an architectural form given one of
popular of Italian saints—be built in his home town of its best-known expressions at about the same time in Paris
Assisi. The issue of ownership of property such as churches
and convents had already divided _th thi 3.0 (above) Kiss ofJudas, commissioned by the Franciscans from an
Francis’s own lifetime. On the one side were the Spiritualists unidentified Roman Master for San Francesco, Assisi. Fresco

67
3.1 Upper church, San Francesco, Assisi, begun 1228, consecrated 1253, commissioned by the Franciscans with the support of the papacy

in Louis [X’s splendid Sainte Chapelle (1240s). Bundles of

thin colonettes and finely carved crocket capitals demon-
strate an up-to-date knowledge of key features of the French
kings’ coronation church at Reims as well. Thus although
San Francesco is ostensibly a Franciscan site—the home
church of the order—it must also be seen as a princely papal
site, with all that this implies for its decoration.
The architecture itselfis rather simple, with large expanses
of wall providing large surface areas suitable for elaborate
fresco cycles (see Fig. 3.1). The present proliferation of
chapels in the lower church was added over time. Both
the lower and upper churches were laid out basically in the 3.2 Upper church, San
form of a tau (see Fig 3.2), the T-shaped cross which had Francesco, Assisi, plan

inspired Francis’s own design of his friars haburs. The broad, 1 Scenes from the Life of
low bays of the nave and the stubby transepts culminate in St. Francis; 2 Scenes from the
Life of St. Francis, with New
a shallow five-sided apse, whose number recalls the five
Testament scenes above;
wounds of the crucified Christ and by extension Francis’s 3 Cimabue, Crucifixion;
own stigmata. From a functional point of view the nave of 4 Cimabue, Scenes from
the Book of Revelation,
the upper church at Assisi was separate from the apse and
5 Scenes from the Life of
transepts since, as in most medieval monastic churches, a the Virgin;
large screen, now removed, created a barrier at the end of the 6 School of Cimabue,

nave beyond which most laypeople were not allowed to pass. Lives of St. Peter and St. Paul;
7 Scenes from the Life of
The areas beyond this—the choir stalls and apse with the St. Francis, with Old
high altar—were for the privileged
pve ee use
eeeof
friars-
the Testament scenes above

68 ASSISI AND PADUA: NARRATIVE REALISM

 Frescoes in San Francesco structures the narrative in successive stages of receding
architectural volume t crisp folds wrap around the
Many of the artists responsible for the early decoration of reclining figure ofIsaac, evoking the images of majestic clas-
the basilica of San Francesco in Assisi had connections sical prototypes. The tremulous and hesitant gesture of the
with papal Rome, either as natives of the city or as artists blind and blankly staring Isaac as he gradually realizes that
who had _w ere. The most important of these was he has been duped into giving the birthright to Jacob rather
thé€lorentine Cimabup, who was in Rome by 1272. Assisted than to his firstborn, Esau, marks an important moment
by his workshop, he was largely responsible for the apse in the depiction of psychological awareness and emotional
and transept decoration of the upper church (see Fig. 1.3). intensity, a naturalistic development very different from
Befitting Francis’s special devotion to the Virgin, the the trescoes of the transept and apse of the building and
apse presents apocryphal stories of her death and afterlife especially well suited to the crowds of laypeople who filled
flanking the centrally placed papal throne. One of these, the this part of the church.
Coronation ofthe Virgin, repeats the imagery seen in Roman Below the Old and New Testament scenes are other
basilicas (see Fig. 2.6) and may also indicate the papal pres- stories obviously directed toward the ever growing crowd of
ence in this building. Five scenes from the lives of the saints pilgrims visiting San Francesco: an extensive cycle of the life
Peter and Paul in the south transept, now largely ruinous, of St. Francis stretching around the entire lower part of the
also underscored the Franciscans’ Roman and papal associa- nave and entrance walls. Although it is not clear by whom
tions by reproducing the same subjects and virtually the and when they were painted—suggested dates range from
same compositions as the papal frescoes in the courtyard of the 1290s well into the fourteenth century—recent studies
Old St. Peter’s. Frescoes of the Crucifixion in both transepts show that the painting techniques are distinctly Roman,
provided a model of sacrifice closely emulated by Francis quite close to Pietro Cavallini (see Fig. 2.8 and p. 62), and
and his followers. extremely different from the broader manner of Giotto,
to whom they have often erroneously been attributed.
Nave Frescoes The twenty-eight scenes present the story of the saint in a
straightforward and highly accessible manner. An inscrip-
Frescoes painted on the nave walls in the upper church tion from Bonaventure’s official biography of Francis, the
pair Old Testament stories on the right side with the life of Legenda Maior, accompanies each scene beneath its painted
Christ on the left, repeating the subject and compositional
order of narratives of the major Early Christian basilicas
in Rome and expanding upon subject matter also treated in
stained-glass windows in the apse and transepts. In the nave
scene of the Kiss ofJudas (Fig. 3.0) we see how Roman-trained
artists adopted Early Christian and Byzantine prototypes
eee a el pad eeeand
pal ize Cra eee eens thento
enliven stories from the life of Christ. Since at least the sixth

ous yellow robe that marks him as Christ’s traitor. Christ,

the great law giver of Early Christian iconography, holds a
scroll in his left hand, and stares forward, ready to accept his
fate. He extends his right arm (largely hidden by Ju
body) in a standardized gesture of address towar
whom he chastises for cutting off the ear of igh
priest’s servant, whom Christ subsequently heals. Though
a murderous crowd of soldiers and religious leaders presses
in around them, and lances, torches, and lanterns jut into
the sky, Christ’s placid facial expression blunts much of
the drama, calling attention instead to his divinely inspired
cooperation with his captors, a theme emphasize
Bonaventure in the Lignum vitae (The Tree of
Life), a Franciscan SS eS SD

devotional tract of c.1259-60. This fresco emphasizes that

Christ was the ready victim and gracious healer even in the
face of violent death. 3.3 Esau Before Isaac, 1290s (2), commissioned by the Franciscans from
On the opposite wall the scene of Esau Before Isaac the so-called Isaac Master for the upper right wall of the nave of the upper
(Fig. 3.3), like Cavallini’s work in Rome at this same time, church, San Francesco, Assisi. Fresco

FRESCOES IN SAN FRANCESCO 69

 ARRARAOE ee ct HORNE RINE!ae =pies sikOERERE rsen b) oo
edit

3.4. St. Francis Kneeling Before the Crucifix in San Damiano, St. Francis Renouncing His Worldly Goods, and the Dream of Pope Innocent III, late thirteenth to early fourteenth
century, commissioned by the Franciscans from the so-called Assisi Master for San Francesco, Assisi. Fresco, each scene 8! 10" x 7’ 7” (2.7 x 2.3 m)

molding. The frescoes have a noticeably institutional The frescoes closest to Cavallini’s style occur early in the
__emphasis, repeatedly illustrating St. Francis’s_
§ respect for cycle and demonstrate the same spatial richness and narra-
Church authority by presenting the episodes of his life tive intelligence that we saw in Rome (see Fig. 2.8). Each bay
before popes and cardinals. Francis’s sanctity is recognized {(Fig. 3.4) contains three scenes framed by twisted columns
through an extended depiction of his death, funeral rites, and fictive marble corbels that recall the mosaic-encrusted
and canonization. Avo oetic and mystical images, these medieval cloisters at the papal basilicas in Rome. In the fres-
frescoes are overtly didactic~intended to tell an officially “coes
atAssisi the corbels splay left andtight as though the
sanctioned version of the saint’s life. viewer is standing at the center of each bay. This anified)

St. .Francisranad the Ghrist Ghild

In this passage from Bonaventure’s Legenda he had a crib prepared, with hay and an doned his profession in the world for love of
Maior, St. Francis is credited with having ox and an ass. The friars were all invited Christ and was a great friend of St. Francis,
created the first Nativity scene, or créche, and the people came in crowds. The forest claimed that he saw a beautiful child asleep
in the little village of Greccio, halfway re-echoed with their voices and the night in the crib, and that St. Francis took it in
between Rome and Assisi, in 1223. The was lit up with a multitude of bright lights, his arms and seemed to wake it up.
presence of real animals in the scene and while the beautiful music of God’s praises The integrity of this witness and the
the devotional atmosphere led the wor- added to the solemnity. The saint stood miracles which afterwards took place, as
shipers to believe that the Christ Child before the crib and his heart overflowed well as the truth indicated by the vision
himself
lay in the crib. with tender compassion; he was bathed in itself, all go to prove its reality. The example
tears but overcome with joy. The Mass was which Francis put before the world was
Three years before he died St. Francis sung there and Francis, who was a deacon, calculated to rouse the hearts of those who
decided to celebrate the memory of the sang the Gospel. Then he preached to the are weak in the faith, and the hay from the
birth of the Child Jesus at Greccio, with people about the birth of the poor King, crib, which was kept by the people, after-
the greatest possible solemnity. He asked whom he called the Babe of Bethlehem in wards cured sick animals and drove off
and obtained the permission of the pope his tender love. various pestilences. Thus God wished to
for the ceremony, so that he could not A knight called John from Greccio, a give glory to his servant Francis and prove
be accused ofbeing an innovator, and then pious and truthful man who had aban- the efficacy of his prayer by clear signs.

(from Marion A. Habig. St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1972 pp. 710-11)

70 ASSIS! AND PADUA: NARRATIVE REALISM

ee to the arrangement of individual
scenes withirreach triad. In the second bay, for example, the
overall composition pivots around the gap—both physical
and psychological—separattmg-St.
Francis and-trs-father
in thet rontation in the main square of Assisi. On the
right the embarrassed bishop of Assisi covers Francis’s
nakedness after the saint had stripped himself of his cloth-
ing; on the left his indignant father, barely restrained by
worried onlookers, lurches forward to strike his apparently
mad son for selling bolts of cloth from their shop to feed
the poor. The bifurcated composition opens a dramatic
space for the appearance of the hand of God reaching down
diagonally toward the outstretched arms of the saint. In
the scenes at the left and right the painter has also placed
the architectural settings at a diagonal, so that they seem to
point inwards toward the central bay. At the left Francis
kneels in the ruinous church of San Damiano, whose walls
are crumbling and roof beams partly exposed. On the altar
stands the crucifix that commanded him to repair the
church. In the right panel Pope Innocent III, identified even
in his sleep by his papal robes and tiara, dreams of Francis
upholding the porch of the papal basilica of St. John
Lateran, which tips perilously. In the inscription below the
fresco, taken from Bonaventure’s officially authorized
Legenda Maior, the pope says ofFrancis, “Truly this is he who
by his work and teaching shall sustain the church ofChrist,”
thereby underlining the notion of Francis as an alter Christus 3.5 Crib_at Greccio, |ate thirteenth to early fourteenth century,
and appropriating his work (and that of the Franciscan” commissioned by the Franciscans from the so-called Assisi Master for San
Francesco, Assisi. Fresco M4
order) for the institutional Church.
Conspicuously absent in this cycle of St. Francis’s life are the many stories that
The style of the frescoes is particularly well suited to their
Bonaventure tells about St. Francis’s extreme asceticism and self-mortification.
task. Impressivel Re insontue! they com- Instead, the frescoes emphasize Francis’s compassionate nature and his
municate with unprec nted eloquence. Francis himself support of the institutional Church.
had urged his followers to imagine their religious experience
in visual, tangible terms. In the scene of the Crib.at Greccio identify any artist with the frescoed images. Artists at Assisi
' (Fig. 3.5) we see Francis constructing the fas Sag were not asked to produce highly individual or
before the altar of the little church at Greccio for a Christmas idiosyncratic works, but rather to work together with their
Eve Mass in 1223 (see Contemporary Voice: St. Francis and Franciscan and papal patrons to ee
the Christ Child). In this painting the friars in the rear of the “tives
wouttbott
that connect the church to papal basilicas
choir enclosure open their mouths wide as if singing the , 1 Rome (thusé ancing its prestig rovide a Canonic

Christmas liturgy; the clergy and a townsman near the altar “yisttabiography of St. Francis. Yet there have been many
canopy bend to get a closer look; town leaders bear witness attempts since the fourteenth century to assign authorship
by their sober presence; and a group of women, normally to one or more of the frescoes, leading to contentious
not given entrance to this sacred part of the church, crowd argumentation, but to no widespread agreement. Although
forward through a central doorway. The broad solidity of this text obviously supports a strong Roman influence for
their bodies seems to occupy actual space—ary impression the Old Testament frescoes, it is useful to recall that the
“Greatly enhahced by rear views of apulpit and crucifix that Florentine artists Cimabue and Giotto worked in Rome
lean out into the nave. Candles, festoons, and other small along with Cavallini, who had been awarded some of the
details of clothing and architecture help to make the scene most important commissions in the city. Thus an amalgam
Visually compelling. of influences makes attribution to any one artist difficult
The time and degree ofcollaboration required to produce at best, although some do claim that Giotto—in the early
a decorative program as complex as that of the church of phases ofhis career—is the Isaac Master. Attributions of the
San Francesco—both the Old Testament cycle of the upper St. Francis cycle are similarly vexed, especially since more
nave and the St. Francis cycle of the lower nave—make it than one hand is perceivable in what must have been a
difficult to specify who may have been responsible for any very large shop production. These frescoes have been dated
of the paintings of either program, especially since there from the 1280s (the least likely of all suggestions) to the
is little documentary information that would securely third decade of the fourteenth century and have also been

FRESCOES IN SAN FRANCESCO 71

 associated with Giotto, although more than likely they to erect a family chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Charity
are imitations of his style that tell both of the excitement (Santa Maria della Carita). Because the ‘Scrovegmi Chapel
his work occasioned and how difficult it was to integrate (Fig. 3.6) like the adjacent (later demolished) Scrovegni
his treatment _of arc cal space—the relationship of Palace, was erected on the site of the old Roman arena, it has
one figure to another and to the spaces in which they are come to be known also emo
placed—into one’s own technique. Work on the chapel apparently proceeded quickly, since
Close study and comparisons of the Assisi frescoes with there is a document recording the dedication of the site
the work of Giotto illustrate the kind of formal visual in 1303 anda record of March 1304 ofindulgences granted
analysis that is the underpinning ofthe contextual approach by Pope Innocent XI to visitors to the chapel. The chapel
to art that is at the heart of this book. The search for means was formally dedicated on March 25, 1305, the feast of the
to express new ideas—like those presented to the faithful by Annunciation, which marked the day beginning the process
the Franciscans—provided extremely fertile ground for of Christian redemption and the day legendarily associated
experimentation as artists and patrons sought to devise the with the foundation of Venice, Padua’s powerful neighbor
most appropriate stylistic language to carry the new to the east. For the dedication of the Scrovegni Chapel the
messages. Both innovation and imitation were part of this High Council of Venice agreed to lend tapestries to enhance
process. Failing precise historical evidence that would the festivities for the occasion. This support from the
identify either painter or date for the individual frescoes, Venetian state and from the pope in the building project
careful stylistic analysis coupled with equally careful and indicates the extraordinary social and financial power of the
reasoned comparison of images—as well as an openness to Scrovegni family.
new evidence—help to create a visual history that is part of In order to decorate_the interior of his chapel (Figs. 3.6,
the history of this text. 3.7), Scrovegni piece canes of Florence. Giotto’s
commission was to paint scenes of the redemption of
Padua: The Scrovegni Chapel humanity, including scenes from the lives of the Virgin
—Mary, her parents, snd Chrisconcheanha te A
The small university city of Padua, west of Venice, traced Last Judgment fills the entire entrance
wall of the building.
its history back to the mythic figure of Antenor, a Trojan
. . . . . en

soldier who, according to Virgil, sailed westward after the

Trojan War, ultimately to found Padua, A massive medieval
sarcophagus honoring Antenor still stands in the city. Thus
Padua’s cone etd history i
is one that consciously imitges —ff
the myth o eneas,
although the Roman historian Livy, himself born in Padua,
claimed that the city had been founded only in 302 B.c.E.,
successfully resisting a Spartan attack the following year.
Padua flourished during the Republic and the Empire. It
became a commune in the eleventh century and retained
that status until the Carrara family took control of the city
in 1318. Padua’s university was founded in 1222, which
makes it the second oldest in Italy after Bologna (1119). Its
faculties of law, medicine, physical science (especially optics),
and classics ma¢desit_one of the most important intellectual
centers in Ital \Galileo>y yas but one of its more notable
MCU
*\teachers. St. Anthony, the most popular Franciscan saint
besides St. Francis himself, died in Padua in 1231; a basilica
ot in his honor, now known as the Santo, was begun in 1232
/
and soon became one of the most frequented pilgrimage
sites in Europe.
One of the city’s leading banking families was the
Scrovegity Their head in the late thirteenth century was
Resi Scrovegni, whose flagrant usury (the lending of
money at unconscionably high rates of interest) earned him
a place in Dante’s Inferno (Canto XVII, 43-78) as the most
notorious practitioner of this sin. Reginaldo’s son Enrico
initially continued in his father’s footsteps, but later became
troubled by the possible consequences of his actions. In 3.6 Scrovegni Chapel, Padu - 1303-05, frescoes commissioned by
1302, by way of expiation for his ill-gotten gains, he began Enrico Scrovegni from ees

72 ASSIS! AND PADUA: NARRATIVE REALISM

SEEGER ®

= aS
aS BREE GQ PE SERERESERS|

Gal 30 5, frescoes commission

from Giotto
Y

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0) 7)
O
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3 Us crovegni Chapel (detail), Padua

Vv
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Oo
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PAD U INS Wme. CRO\ JEGGNI CHAPEL Te

On the lowest part of the side walls fictive marble panels 3.8). According to late medieval apocryphal tales, Joachim’s
frame monochrome paintings of the virtues on the south offering had been rejected at the temple because he and his
side of the building (the window side) and their correspond- wife were childless. Giotto depicts the most painful moment
ing vices on the north wall—rendered so as to resemble in the story as a priest, arm extended, pushes Joachim out of
relief carvings. This complex fresco cycle is the\earliest the temple—imagined as a typical medieval altar precinct
work universally accepted as the work of Giotto 4nd is{the with alta ciborium apd raised pulpit. The priest’s gesture
touchstone for all other attributions to the artist) Giotto and the diagenal-placement of the architecture propel
has sometimes been credited as the architect of the chapel, the narrative forward. Joachim looks back with pained
but this is unlikely since he faced numerous challenges incomprehension, his fate made doubly poignant by the
in wrapping an extensive fresco cycle around the interior fact that another, younger man receives the desired blessing
of the deceptively simpl¢_barrel-vaulted building. He within the altar enclosure even as Joachim has nothing but
walled in a pre-existing door on the end of the south wall emptiness ahead of him. Careful study of the fresco has
and seems not to have been satisfied with the height of the confirmed that Giotto never intended to fill the large blank
side walls, extending his top band of panels into the curve area at the right, thus leaving an anguished abyss into which
of the barrel vault. Joachim is thrust.
The cycle begins at the top of the arched wall framing Giotto’s narrative continues in the following panels with
the altar at the front of the chapel. God the Father (painted a slump-shouldered Joachim coming upon two skeptical
on a wooden panel now thought to date from much later in shepherds who reluctantly provide him with a place to sleep.
the century, perhaps replacing an original glass window) Meanwhile, Anna is at home, where the Angel Gabriel flies
sits enthroned at the apex of the arch, about to begin the into her bedroom window to tell her that, in spite of her
work of human redemption by commissioning the advanced age, she will have a child. Joachim, too, receives
Archangel Gabriel to intervene in human history. Below, the angelic message, and the two are reunited outside the
Gabriel and the Virgin Mary face each other in matching Golden Gate of Jerusalem (Fig. 3.9). The resolute mass ofthe
turreted chambers, their communication across the altar city gate, set at_an oblique angle like the altar enclosure
arch made palpable by a glow of divine red light. Giotto beginning the sequence, brings the story to a forceful close
recounts the legendary events leading to this encounter in and brackets the first episodes in the extensive narrative
bands of scenes along the top of either side of the chapel. sequence of the chapel. Joachim and Anna stand as a stable
He must have spent a good deal of energy working out his triangular mass at the base of one of the gate’s fortified
scheme, for each “chapter” in the narrative fits succinctly towers, embodying the matrimonial ideal tha¥ two shall
within the space available. The first of these, recounting become one“Anna reaches her hand around Joachim’s
scenes from the lives of Joachim and Anna, the Virgin’s par- neck and places the other softly on his cheek as they kiss.
ents, begins with the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple (Fig. This untoward breaching of contemporary public decorum

3.8 Expulsion ofJoachim from the Temple, c. 1303-05, commissioned by 3.9 Meeting at the Golden Gate, c. 1303-05, commissioned
by Enrico
Enrico Scrovegni from Giotto for the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Fresco, Scrovegni from Giotto for the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.
Fresco,
6' 6%" x 6! 1" (2 x 1.85 m) 6’ 6%" x 6' 1" (2 x 1.85 m) Q

74 ASSIS| AND PADUA: NARRATIVE REALISM

 Head
height

3.10 Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, perspective scheme of the front wall (after Adriano Prandi)

amuses a group of young women under the archway, adjacent panels of the Lamentation and the Noli Me Tangere
who smirk at as much as share in the couple’s delight. (see Fig. 3.7), the landscape also seems to continue behind
Their black-veiled companion, who has never been success- the painted architectural frames and to aes) narrative
fully identified, contributes an ominous element as well. forward from one panel to the next.
Giotto’s storytelling, while succinct and essential, is rich Giotto positioned the Kiss ofJudas (Fig. 3.11) strategically,
with dramatic tension and offers pointed insight into situating it—the only scene at the third level that takes place
the feelings and behavior of his fellow human beings. in a landscape—at the center of the wall, directly in front
In constructing his narratives, Giotto
gave them an extraordinary s€nsé of
unitpthrough a careful use of perspec-
tive. A diagram of the altar wall (Fig.
3.10) shows that each scene is organized
according to a unified (two-point
perspective scheme which orders the
architecture of all levels of the wall and
also unites both sides of the building in
a single coordinated scheme of diago-
nal lines. The same is true-forthe side
walls where, for example, the architec- \
ture depicted in all the frescoes 1s OS
ceived as if it were to be viewed from the >“ ff
center of the chapel. Thus the perspec- fo
tive is slightly distorted in the outer §
two scenes of the south wall to com-
pensate for the viewer’s angle of vision.
In each frame, however, the architec-
ture extends equally deeply into space,
so that there is a consistency-to—the
depth of the illusionistic field from one
scene to another. The same is true of
landscape, where it appears. In the

3.11 Kiss ofJudas, c. 1303-05, commissioned

by Enrico Scrovegni from Giotto for the x
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Fresco, 6’ 6%" x 6!" Y \

(2 x 1.85 m)

PADUA: THE SCROVEGNI CHAPEL 75

of an ideal viewer whose position in the chapel is indicated reactions to the event. Reducing his setting to a single
»y the way the perspective organization of the entire wall
~ barren outcropping and leafless tree—apt symbols of Christ’s
radiates from it. Not only has Giotto located the beginning death—he uses this device to Mrive the viewer’s eye down
of the Passion in a critical position on the wall—ironically to the body of Christ\The Virgin wraps her arms around
above the figure of Justice in the bottom row—but he has his head, held tenderly in place by another figure who is
also dramatized the eventin ways unimagined by earlier art- only seen from the back, and looks longingly into his face;
ists (see Fig. 3.0). The brilliant yellow cloak ofJudas virtually standing female saints wring their hands in grief, while
obliterates the figure of Christ. Caught in a maelstrom of St. John the Evangelist spreads his arms back, recalling both
unrelenting stares, Judas and Christ stand nose to nose, his iconographical symbol, the eagle, and the oft-repeated
Christ's searching and compassionate eyes undimmed by gesture of mourners on certain antique sarcophagi; yet
Judas’s angry glare. Giotto uses stereorypreateharacteriza- others stand and sit in mournful dejection. Even the angels
tions of good-and-evit in the-seene, presenting? Christ respond with human hearts—wailing, thrashing, and cata-
with handsome features and Judas with a brutish face. The pulting through the sky.
psychological intensity of the event is heightened, at the The Last Judgment, which occupies the entire entrance
left of the scene, by Peter’s act of violence: cutting off the ear wall (Fig. 3.13), presents the culmination of the process of
of the high priest’s servant. The compositional pairing of redemption begun on the altar wall of the chapel. Christ
the right-facing Peter and Christ against the hooded figure sits in majesty in the center, flanked to his left and right
and the heavily cloaked Judas powerfully plays violence by choirs of angels and seated apostles. Below him and to
and human emotion against divine acceptance of God’s his right are the elect, to whom he gestures. In the lower
plan for redemption. right quadrant of the wall is a vision of hell with a large
The Passion scenes conclude with a magisterial rendering personification of evil devouring the damned. Just over
of the Virgin Mary and Christ’s apostles mourning over the door of the chapel at the bottom center of the fresco
his dead body (Fig. 3.12). This compositional type had Giotto has depicted Enrico Scrovegni in the kneeling pose
long been established in Byzantine art, but Giotto gives the of a donor, presenting his chapel in the metaphorical
formula new power through his intense reading of human form of a model to three haloed figures: probably Gabriel,
the Virgin of Charity, and the
Virgin Annunciate, the latter
two embodying the double
dedication of the chapel. The
two figures of the Virgin are
crowned, as is the allegorical
figure of Charity on the lower
south wall of the chapel. The
Virgin of Charity wears a
dalmatic, the liturgical robe of
the deacon, who in the early
Church was responsible for
dispensing alms (or charity);
the Virgin also wears that
costume in the Annunciation
on the altar wall and in the
Visitation fresco just beneath
it, as if the very act of redemp-
tion initiated at the moment
of the Annunciation was an act
of charity. Although there is
some dispute about the identi-
fication of these three figures,
there can be no doubt about

3.12 Lamentation, c. 1303-05,

commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni
from Giotto for the Scrovegni Chapel >
Padua. Fresco, 6’ 6%” x 6’ 1”
(2 x 1.85 m)

NARRATIVE REALISM
3.13 Last Judgment, c. 1303-05, commissioned
by Enrico Scrovegni from Giotto for the
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Fresco, 32’ 9%" x 27'
6%" (10 x 8.4 m)

the importance of the Virgin Annunciate

for this chapel and for Scrovegni’s
intentions. The eccentric placement of
Scrovegni, the heavenly figures, and
his model seems to be e xplained by
the fact that on Marc ch 25, the feast
of the Annunciation, a beam of light
enters the building from the south
window nearest the entrance wall and
falls on the Last Judgment in the area
between the donor and the model, a
sign of divine approval for the gift that
Scrovegni made.
Scrovegni’s repentance is conveyed
not only by the image of himself as
donox but also by two representations
of Judas which point up the dangers
of ill-gotten gains. In the depiction of
hell and its denizens, he is shown hang-
ing disemboweled from a tree, and he
appears again on the altar wall oppo-
site, receiving the thirty pieces of silver
for betraying Christ—a panel that is out
of sequence in the narrative. By placing
these two images of Judas to either
side of the imagined viewer, Giotto
underscored the moral message of the
chapel which he further emphasized by
pairing Judas’s betrayal on one side of
the altar arch with the Visitation on the
other (see Fig. 3.6). At first this seems
an unlikely pairing—the Visitation
recording the meeting of the pregnant
Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, also
pregnant—but a long tradition held
that usury was a kind of illegitimate
procreation, money breeding money when, in fact, it was infused the familiar biblical stories with a human poignancy
only barren metal. Mary and Elizabeth, on the other hand, which helps to transform these stories of remote history
are exemplars ofdivinely inspired fertility, Mary having con- into comprehensible and moving events. In this respect
ceived miraculously as a virgin and her cousin giving birth Giotto provided a drama comparable to the tableaux vivants
in very old age. The frescoes, then, contrast the unnatural and stylized performances which had taken place in front
generation of money through usury with the supernatural of the former chapel on the site and which most likely
generation ofChrist. What is more, the scene ofthe Visitation continued within the Scrovegni Chapel once it was com-
was often associated with charity,the antithesis of avarice pleted: the panel of God the Father, high on the altar wall,
and usury, and therefore crucial to Scrovegni’s dedication of is actually a wooden door from which an actor representing
the chapel to the Virgin of Charity. an angel would appear. From this level he could be lowered
The power of the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes lies partly in by ropes threaded through holes in the ceiling immediately
the all-enveloping nature of the work. It also derives from in front of the door to the floor below. The ephemeral
the psychological intensity of the individual scenes. Like the action of such liturgical dramas found permanent form in
painter of the Isaac stories in Assisi (see Fig. 3.3), Giotto has Giotto’s frescoes.

PADUA: THE SCROVEGNI CHAPEL 77

 Florence: Traditions and
Innovations

origins, became a constant reference

in political discourse and the visual
arts. Antique stylistic and icono-
graphical quotations in Florence,
far from being simply literary or
aesthetic, were tied to a history
constructed as politics. As early as
the twelfth century Hercules with
his club appeared on the Florentine
state seal with the inscription
Herculea Clava Domat Florencia Prava
(“Hercules’ club subdues Florence’s
wickedness”), a clear statement of
the difficulties of controlling unruly
and factional urban populations
during the late Middle Ages.
Florentines built their city in a
broad valley on the river Arno (Fig.
4.1). The river provided them with
drinking water and fish, as well as a
means for powering flour mills and
washing and dyeing raw materials
in the production of woolen goods
which dominated the Florentine
economy. Although not completely
navigable, the Arno also facilitated
transporting products to and from
the Tyrrhenian Sea, approximately
S50 miles (80 kilometers) to the
west. While substantial hills around
the city provided some protection
from invaders, city leaders girdled
Florence with walls fortified with
towers. The fortifications visible
in our illustration were built in
the thirteenth century to replace
a twelfth-century ring of walls that
4 lorentines literally walked on Roman streets. Founded itself had replaced the outgrown limits of the city’s cramped
by soldiers during the Roman republic of the first ancient Roman core (see map, p. 80). Great gates with dou-
century B.C.E. and named Florentia (Fiorenza, with its ble and triple sets of iron-studded wooden doors
double meaning of “flower” suggesting beauty and “flower- and imposing metal grates opened at daybreak to admit
ing” suggesting fertile development), the city claimed a travelers and farmers from the countryside. The city shut
continuous existence back into Roman antiquity. Its history tight again at dusk. =%
is physically manifest in the grid plan of its central-core,
corresponding to the original ancient military castrum ot 4.0 Palazzo della Signoria, Florence, 1299-1310, commissioned by the
_camp. This Roman history, and especially its re rblican Florentine government from Arnolfo di Cambio

78
4.1 Chain Map ofFlorence, detail, 1480, anonymous. Woodcut (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence)

1 Santa Maria Novella (Dominican); 2 San Marco (Dominican);

3 San Lorenzo; 4 Santissima Annunziata (Servite); 5 Medici Palace;
6 Foundling Hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti); 7 Baptistry; 8 Cathedral;
9 Campanile; 10 Or San Michele; 11 Marzocco; 12 Santa Trinita;
13 Palazzo della Signoria; 14 Loggia della Signoria;
15 Santa Croce (Franciscan); 16 Ponte Vecchio; 17 Santo Spirito;
18 Santa Maria del Carmine; 19 Pitti Palace; 20 San Miniato

Many of the city’s streets were narrow and wayward

(Fig. 4.2). Shops opened directly onto the street, allowing
merchants to display their wares on counters which could
be shuttered tight at night. Living quarters were located
above or adjacent to most people’s places of employment,
assuring a heterogeneous population throughout the city.
Even so, each neighborhood was dominated by a few
wealthy families. Their private towers, which served as status
symbols and as fortified perches in the frequent battles
among competing clans, soared above the streets.
Florence’s urban plan embodied critical social messages.
Cathedral and city hall are at opposite ends of the main
north-south street of the Roman grid with the guild oratory
of Or San Michele situated on the same axis. Church, state,
and corporate economy, the structuring elements of this
body politic, therefore control the urban spine from which
all other features extend. Urbanistically they are united,
just as they were in terms of their operations, with members
of the leading families of Florence acting as governors of
their guilds, elected officials in the town hall, and members 4.2 Via dei Girolami, Florence

of the building committees of the cathedral. Boundaries Space was at such a premium in parts of Florence that the inhabitants of
between Church and state were clearly permeable. The same some neighborhoods built enclosed bridges and balconies—known as sporti
(seen in the photograph)—out over public streets. City officials attempted to
seamless interaction that characterized relations within
discourage such practices by imposing fines, but many people chose to pay the
the state can be seen in the overlapping of antique past and fines rather than lose precious living space. Workshops on ground level spilled
Christian present. out into the street.

FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS 79

 -CILyY PLAN OF FLORENCE

l Fortezza da Basso
2 Sant Apollonia
3 San Marco (Dominican)
4 Santissima Annunziata (Servite)
5 Foundling Hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti)
Palazzo Medici
Santa Maria Novella (Dominican)
San Lorenzo
Santa Maria degli Angeli
San Michele in Visdomini
Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova
Ognissantt
Baptistry
Duomo (Cathedral)
Loggia del Bigallo
SantAmbrogio
Palazzo Rucellai
Palazzo Strozzi
Piazza della Repubblica;
site of Roman
forum and Old Market
an eaulirtnitel 33 Santa Maria del ee “OTA
*D)
Topuany
Onsanivirchele Carmine (Carmelite) L. d. Zecca Vecchi
a
—
Bargello 34 Santo Spirito (Augustinian)
Palazzo Davanzati 35 Santa Felicita
Piazza della Signoria 36 Santa Lucia dei Magnoli
Palazzo della Signoria 37 San Niccolo oltr Arno
Loggia della Signoria 38 Palazzo Pitt
Uffizi 39 Boboli Gardens
Santa Croce (Franciscan) 40 San Miniato
Ponte alla Carraia
Ponte Santa Trinita —— Walls in ninth century
Ponte Vecchio — Walls 1173-74 1000yds

Ponte alle Grazie =a Walls 1284-1333 1000m

St. John the Baptist and the Baptistry

Florentines claimed St. John the Baptist as their civic

patron. The city’s Baptistry of San Giovanni, dedicated to
him, served as a primary site of civic and religious self-iden-
tification (see Figs. 4.3 and 4.22), overshadowing the city’s
cathedral, which was a relatively modest structure until its
rebuilding in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Although completed in its present form in the late eleventh
and twelfth centuries, the Florentines believed that the
building had served originally as a temple dedicated to
Mars—a belief that reflects Florentine pride in their Roman
past as well as their belief that the city would be victorious

x
2
*
a
&
a
=
J
a

entrances, served to\reinforce the impression of great antiquity. =

zm

Management of the baptistry’s maintenance and embel-

i
=

lishment was entrusted to the wealthy Arte del Calimala

(Wool Merchants’ Guild), which oversaw the Opera di
San Giovanni (the building works of the baptistry). This
organizational structure initiated a pattern that was to
see the guilds assume responsibility for a number of major 4.3 Baptistry, Florence, c. 1059-1150

80 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

 4.4 Baptistry, Florence, showing the mosaics by Coppo
di Marcovaldo (?) in the vaults, late thirteenth to early
fourteenth centuries

He welcomes with outstretched palm the elect

in the vault segment to his right and condemns
the damned in the vault segment to his left
with the back of his hand. The five vault seg-
ments that complete the dome contain bands
of narratives depicting the Creation and the
life of Joseph, followed by the New Testament
lives of John the Baptist and Christ. Although
MIKE
there are naturalistic touches in the narrative
depictions, the imposing iconic figure of Christ
dominates the dome and offered Florentines a
glimpse of the grandeur of God’s universe and
a sense of their diminutive place in it.
ee ee ere

The Palazzo della Signoria and

Urban Planning

Throughout much ofits early history the com-

munal government of Florence—like many
others on the Italian peninsula—met in
churches, another indication of the close links
between Church and state. At the end of the
“Thirteenth century such improvised arrange-
ments no longer sufficed, however, and in the
ecclesiastical buildings in the city. Guilds not only moni- following century local governments constructed city halls
tored and regulated commerce but also dominated the city for their own use (see Figs. 4.0 and 5.16). These buildings
government and thus its major building projects. In this have many features in common, being more or less rectan-
manner, mercantile values came to dominate the city. gular in plan and somewhat blocky in form. All had court-
Throughout the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries yards on their ground floors and an impressive hall for
guild officials endowed the vaulted surfaces and balustrades meetings of citizens’ councils on the upper floor. They also
of the baptistry’s interior with glittering mosaicsFtg. 4.4). included one or more chapels, meeting space for smaller
The mosaics in the main dome may have been designed administrative groups, government offices, and residential
by a Florentine artist steeped in the Byzantine tradition. quarters for government leaders.
Coppo di MarcovaldoYactive 1260-76 Siena, San Gimignano, In Florence the resolute masonry walls and exaggerated
and Orvieto)
is frequently suggested as the designer, but battlements of the Palazzo della Signoria (begun in 1296;
artists trained in Venice who possessed special expertise in see Fig. 4.0) powerfully express the need to uphold and
this medium installed them. An official act of 1301 commis- defend civic liberty from any and all assailants. Even though
sioned a certain Constantinus and his son to work on the the architect for the Palazzo della Signoria, Arnolfo di
Florentine mosaics and to invite other artists from Venice to Cambio, had studied with Nicola Pisano and was recently
join them. Civic loyalty did not impede artists from working returned from Rome where he had worked for the pope
in rival towns; then, as now, they went where there was work. (see Fig. 2.11) and high-ranking cardinals (see Fig. 2.9), there
Patrons may actually have sought out foreign artists in a is no hint of classical form in the building. It remains reso-
spirit of competitiveness. lutely traditional using indigenous castle architecture as its
The mosaics cover the whole area of the octagonal vocabulary, not unlike its predecessor building, the Palazzo
dome in concentric bands. Directly above the opening into del Podesta, known today as the Bargello. When the Palazzo
the apse and the altar looms a colossal figure of Christ della Signoria was built the city was deeply factionalized
in Judgment, his divinity marked by the crackling light between Guelf and Ghibelline parties. The first nominally
shining from the gold striations of his stylized robes. At his supported the popes and the latter were generally loyal
feet naturalistic figures of the dead rise from their tombs on to the medieval German emperors, but both fought battles
the last day. Christ’s awesomely contorted hands and feet over local issues. The merchant class, wresting power
extend toward the gold and patterned circular band as if from the predominantly aristocratic Ghibellines in the late
he majestically encompassed the boundaries of the universe. thirteenth century, erected the tower of the Palazzo della

THE PALAZZO DELLA SIGNORIA AND URBAN PLANNING 81

Signoria off-center on the stump ofa pre-existing Ghibelline (see map, p. 80). Dispensing with city streets and piazzas, our
cower, symbolically triumphing over the rival faction. illustration shows what dominated civic consciousness: the
Che Signoria not only demolished the palace structures city’s large churches, imposing private palaces, and its solid
of the Ghibelline Uberti family at the site, but over a period ring of walls. This centering of the Palazzo della Signoria
of years continued to acquire property around the site of the was highly appropriate, ofcourse, insofar as it was the seat
new Palazzo della Signoria (Fig. 4.5). This spatial extension of government. Its tower was also purposefully taller than
into the fabric of the city accomplished a number of things: any other tower in the city (see Fig. 4.0). Its height is actually
it essentially erased the existence of the Uberti from the measurable on the ground since it determined the distance
center of the city; it added a grandeur to the building from the corner of the building to the street entering the
by isolating it from any nearby structures, both giving it a piazza from the cathedral and Or San Michele. Its position
visual prominence in the city and making it safer; it pro- off the center axis ofthe west side of the building also meant
vided a public space for the citizenry to gather in front of the that it was framed by another street entering the piazza
town hall to hear the decisions oftheir governors; it brought from the thoroughfare that connected the Ponte Vecchio to
the building—through its piazza—to the edge of the major the Old Market of the city. Carefully calculated vistas sharp-
north-south axis of the city, thus linking it with the cathe- ority
ened awareness of the superiof rhis rower and of the
dral; it allowed the long west facade to become the new powe r
of the factions that had ordered its construction.
entrance facade of the building rather than the shorter
northern side; and it allowed multiple points of view ofthe - -,o0stoo ene <A a a

building as it was approached by different routes through

the city, most notably coming from the cathedral and from
the Ponte Vecchio and the other side of the Arno River.
This concern for marking the building on the wider urban
landscape is evident in early schematic representations of
the city (Fig. 4.6), where it stands firmly in the center rather
than in its actual location to the south and near the river

alzaiuoll

TBer VCalze

P /
Guelfa
1988

c FOLINding the
urrounding the Da 7
Palazzo

Fourteenth century 4.6 Bird’s Eyei View of Florentine Monume ents, from Poggio Braciolini, Historia

Fiorentina , after 1474, Urb. Lat. 491. fol. 4y

Vatican, Biblioteca
Apostolica Tempera on parchment
Mendicant Churches life. In fact, when Santa Croce was still unfinished in the
1430s, city officials lamented how poorly its delay reflected
Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella on the city as a whole.
Mendicant friars focused much of their mission on the
As befits a culture where Church and state were bound urban poor, who in Florence largely toiled in the demand-
tightly together, Florence’s communal government also ing, poorly compensated work of combing and dyeing wool
provided major subsidies for the construction of large new before it was transformed into valuable woolen cloth. A
churches for the Franciscans and the Dominicans. These large number of these workers lived and worked on the
buildings must be read as civic_mo as well as periphery of the old walled city, and it is here that the
monastic churches, indications of the city’s beneficial cultic Franciscans and Dominicans found the open land and low

4.7 Santa Croce, Florence,

begun 1294, commissioned
by the Franciscans with
the support ofthe Florentine
government and private
citizens, probably from
Arnolfo di Cambio

SQ]
WAaSx
4.8 Santa Croce, Florence, plan Life of St. Francis; 11 Peruzzi Chapel,
of church and convent showing Giotto, Lives of St. John the Evangelist
fourteenth-century chapel and St. John the Baptist; 12 Baroncelli
dedications and sixteenth- Chapel, Taddeo Gaddi (and Giotto),
eels] century nave chapel renewals Life of the Virgin; 13 Castellani
XXX]

Ba
Chapel, various artists, Lives of the
Yul
Yy YZ
1 Zanchini Chapel, Bronzino, Christ Saints; 14 Pazzi Chapel, Minga,
i F224
= owl in Limbo; 2 da Verrazzano Chapel, Agony; 15 Corsi Chapel, Barbiere,
xh
|\ Gf Naldini, Entombment; 3 Medici Flagellation; 16 Zati Chapel,
Chapel, Santi di Tito, Resurrection; Coppi, Ecce Homo; 17 Buonarroti
XxX 4 Berti Chapel, Santi di Tito, Supper Chapel, Vasari, Way to Calvary,
KKK] at Emmaus; 5 Guidacci Chapel, 18 Alamanneschi Chapel, Santi di
Vasari, Incredulity; 6 Asini Chapel, Tito, Crucifixion, 19 Dini Chapel,
Stradano, Ascension; 7 Biffoli Chapel, Salviati, Deposition; 20 Choir screen
Vasari, Pentecost; 8 Risaliti Chapel, (destroyed 1565); 21 Refectory,
Macchietti, Trinity; 9 Alberti Chapel, Taddeo Gaddi, Last Supper,
Agnolo Gaddi, Legends of the True Tree of
Life, and Four Miracle Scenes;
Cross; 10 Bardi Chapel, Giotto, 22 Cloisters

MENDICANT CHURCHES 83
 property values to allow them to construct enormous
church complexes. Large piazzas in front of these churches
served as often for civic jousts and tournaments (see Fig. 12)
as they did for preaching (see Contemporary Scene: Art and
Popular Piety,Fig. 5.17). | ==

common mission, became_m ajor

fivals, expressed in their
positions on opposite ends of the city. In Florence the
Franciscan church of Santa Croce (Figs. 4.7 and 4.8) was
begun on the eastern side ofthe city in 1294; the Dominicans
built their church of Santa Maria Novella in the western
part (Figs. 4.9 and 4.10). This turned out to be an effective
strategy for serving burgeoning urban populations, and it
also served to emphasize thathe two orders held distinctly
different theological orientations) the Franciscans empha-
sized a mystical, personal faith while the Dominicans articu-
lated Christian theology in more rational, philoso ical
terms. Still, both churches are cavernous enlargements of
earliér monastic structures on their sites, reflecting the size
of the congregations who came to hear the preaching for
which both orders were renowned and attesting to the
growth of the city in general.
In spite oftheir size, both churches are relatively restrained
in their decoration, compared to the rich marble- and _
“—mosate-erertsted surfaces of the Florentine baptistry, for
example. Both churches are laid out in modified cruciform
) ea nes apse, whose simple rectangular forms
4.9 Santa Maria Novella, Florence, founded before 1246, nave begun
after 1279, commissioned by the Dominicans with the support of the ~ appropriate if recall the geometric severity of churches
Florentine government and private citizens built for the Cistercians, an older religious order that had
also promoted ecclesiastical reform. At Santa Maria Novella
the nave wall is pierced only by simple oculi, and hardly
a molding protrudes from its surface. Similarly at
Santa Croce the open wooden ae unelaborated

ean%
IX LSIk IX < lancet windows project an image of relative austerity, albeit

x mm 1246-79
After 1279
on a monumental scale. Recalling the great Early Christian
basilicas of Rome in their large size, these mendicant order
churches testify to a desire to animate the institutional
ae Church with the values of an earlier era.

INU NIV 0 20m Altarpieces Dedicated to the Virgin

VINA,
‘ Os ByA
estes
aN, ;
The increasing spaciousness of mendicant and other urban
BD.| aN
aeSo)mae
N fs
churches,
as : :
along with 9
the need for :
devotional :
objects to be
7 | clearly visible within them, inspired artists and patrons to
C create impressively large crucifixes (see Figs. 1.0 and 1.2) and
| Pe ee aici erry altarpieces
equally outsized ORE of ET the Rt Bente ;
Virgin and Child: és
10-foot
Novella, Florence, plan (3-meter) and higher images became common in the second
A ese apclkNtate half of the thirteenth century. Like crucifixes, altarpieces
Trinity; 2 Choir screen dedicated to the Virgin were increasingly imagined in
destroyed 1565):
(destroyed 1565); 33Strozzi
Stroz humanan terms,
terms, responding
res ine
to and intensifying
Chapel, Andrea and Nardo
the popular-
itv : of theRee
Virei {| ere | eas
di Cione, Last Judgment, i ena ar
Paradise, and Hell; 4 Strozzi
ce
Chapel, Filippiae oe D Cimabue’s
i 2 Altar rpI
piece for Santa Trinitaini ef
Cimabue, who had
Bhilfoane
anes | K e Life of s
Sia nara eeeS worke
.
: ked in Rome ae and Assisi,
ace
s1Sl, created
Created a< 12-foot
F (3.55 meter)
daa Riancetoaeee high image of the Enthroned Madonna and Child (Fig.g. 4.11)
4.
Filiilippo
po StrStrozzi \,
& for the
for the church
church of
of S Santa -inita ini Florence. As before,
Trinita c he

84 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

 4.11 Enthroned Madonna and Child (Maesta\1 280s, Zommissioned from 4.12 Enthroned Madonna and Child CD ease: by the
Cimabue for Santa Trinita, Florence. Tempera on panel, 11’ 7” x 7’ 4” Confraternity of the Laudesi from Duccio for their chapel in Santa Maria
(3.53 x 2.24 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) Novella, Florence. Tempera on panel, 14’ 9” x 9’ 6%” (4.5 x 2.9 m)
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)
“

employed Byzantine resenting Christ and his mother Duccio’s Altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Laudesi
in majesty, (hence the Italiaft term for this subject, Maesta), On April 15, 1285 the Confraternity of the Laudesi, a lay
but his work is distinctive insofar as it depicts a deep and group associated with the Dominicans in Florence and
complex space around the figures. Cimabue also had redis- dedicated to charitable work and praise of the Virgin, com-
covered the original purposé old highlights and linear missioned a huge altarpiece for their chapel in the right
fen
embellishments com in muc yzantine ainting. transept ofSa pata ia Novella. They called upon a young
Rather than using typical fishbone striations merely as Sienese artist di
q Buoninsegna (active c. 1278-1318
abstract patterns on the surface of the painting, Cimabue Siena), to provide a suitable image (Fig. 4.12). Duccio may
understood that gold highlights referred directly to actual have trained with either Cimabue or his fellow Sienese
folds and creases in drapery. Equally important, he used crisp painter Guido da Siena (active 1262/67-1280s Siena), but
lines to construct space around and in front of the Madonna. his work breaks notably with that of his predecessors. His
The platforms under he d the oblique angles created new, more naturalistic style—particularly in the rendering
by the
arms of hek architectonic yhrone suggest a degree__ of facial features and soft, mobile bodies—was to dominate
. . See SSS 5

of perspective, although s Spatial ambiguities result: in ienese art and transform much of Florentine painting
Shar lane Torexample, are the Old Testament prophets for decades.
below the throne? Cimabue’s altarpiece, with its shimmer- Duccio’s Enthroned Madonna and Child—now familiarly
ing gold throne flanked by the muted violet and pastel known as the Rucellai Madonna because of its subsequent
robes of the angels, retains the ability of Byzantine art to placement in a chapel belonging to the Rucellai family—
evoke the transcendent nature of the divine. At the same reveals in its frame the special concerns of ES the Laudesi.
etices pe
time, it makes the incarnation of God in Christ through Thirty small roundels depict saints who include St. Catherine
Mary more believable through a new emphasis on humanly of Alexandria (a favorite saint in Dominican contexts), St.
observable phenomena. Dominic (the founder of the Dominican order), St. Zenobius

Veranice fone
MENDICANT CHURCHES 85
 (a patron saint of Florence), and St. Peter Martyr (founder of
the confraternity).
Comparison of Duccio’s altarpiece with Cimabue’s large
panel for Santa Trinita reveals some of the shifts taking
place in Italian painting at the end of the thirteenth century.
Whereas Cimabue tied his figures to a Byzantine model,
with cS ae eri: the structure of the
faces and with crisp, angular gold striations used to model
drapery, Duccio seems to have looked to French models as
well. His throne is light and airy, set at an angle to suggest
space. The surrounding angels kneel convincingly even as
their bodies seem to levitate, a compositional scheme
seen in northern stained-glass windows. The facial features
of his figures betra: rces similar to Cimabue’sintheir
grenmevenn aot e drapery of the figure¢é adheres
much more closely to the physical forms beneath. The bor-
der of the Virgin’s robe, carefully tooled in gold, ripples in a
sinuous pattern which seems to delight in graceful curvilin-
ear movement for its own sake; while suggesting the folds
of the fabric it also “works” as an elegant surface pattern.
Even the SR a ee te Soma
Cimabue’s Madonna, who is aligned on a single axis, apart
from her right leg) suggests new concern for activating the
figure. Duccio shades and models his figures so that the
Madonna’s right knee seems to push against her robe, and
the angels’ legs and arms are clearly present under their
translucent, pastel garments.

Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna Giotto offered another alter-

native for images of this type, translating the monumental
4.13 Ognissanti Madonna and Child (Maesta), c. 1310-15, painted by Giotto
style of his Scrovegni frescoes in Padua to his impressive for the high altar of the Ognissanti Church in Florence. Tempera on panel,
Madonna and Child for the church of the Ognissanti in 10’ 8” x 6’ 8%" (3.2 x 2 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)
Florence (Fig. 4.13). Although the specific patron is unknown,
the church was the headquarters of the Umiliati, a mendi- of the style of the devotional image so evident in the
cant order that was renowned for its wool production as Ognissanti Madonna and Child (and perhaps in other paintings
well as its acts of charity. The painting is normally dated to now lost{marks an important moment in the acceptance of
c. 1310 on the basis of style. The dWVirgin, her robes his new style in Tu n panel painting at the beginning of
draping heavily over her limbs to reveal
the masses of the the fourteenth century.
bedy beneath, is formally very much like the Christ figure That said, it is probably just as important to recall how
in the Last Judgment of the Scrovegni Chapel (see Fig. 3.13) similar such devotional images were, rather than to empha-
and the enthroned St. Peter of his Stefaneschi altarpiece in size their differences. Duccio’s, Cimabue’s, and Giotto’s
Rome (see Fig. 2.13) while also recalling some of the solidity altarpieces purposefully presented similar subject matter in
of Cimabue’s earlier composition (see Fig. 4.11). But while similar ways in order to allow worshipers to forge a coherent
Giotto used the conventional gold background seen in pre- image of the divine. The power of these altarpieces derived
vious Maesta images, he eliminated the decorative patterns in no small part from the collective image they left on the
of light in Cimabue’s versions of this same subject and minds of the faithful. Looming out of the semi-darkness of
the decorati é arabesques seen im~Duccio’s Maesta countless churches, the Madonna and Child became family
(see Fig. 4.12). Moreover, he conceived space jn_a completely iar, accessible, and omnipresent, a highly effective means of
volumetric manner, so that the Gothic throne in which approaching God. —
~ the Virgin and Child sit frames the figures, providing a
believable volume for their bodies. Rather than the vertical Santa Croce Frescoes
columns ofangels in the earlier paintings, Giotto has placed
the angels around the throne, their spatial depth indicated Like Enrico Scrovegni in Padua, wealthy Florentines also
in part by the fact that the foreground angels partially commissioned major fresco cycles as manifestations of their
obscure those behind them and in part by the volumes hopes for salvation—and of their social position. The strong-
of their individual forms. Giotto’s radical transformation est and wealthiest citizens of Florence had very early allied

86 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

4.14 Bardi (left) and Peruzzi (right) chapels, Santa Croce,
Florence, seen from the transept, showing Giotto’s fresco cycles

Giotto painted a fresco of the Stigmatization of St. Francis on the

outside wall of the chapel over the arch, which identifies the
dedication of the chapel from a distance and at the same time
provides the Franciscans with a large-scale image within the
church itselfof adefining moment in the life oftheir patron
and founder,

themselves with the Franciscan and Dominican

orders through family members who became fri-
ars; these prominent families established their
presence within urban monastic churches such as
Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella by endowing
them with chapels. Although these chapels were
built with funds from the commune and with
pious donations for the general construction of
the church, the religious orders ultimately sold
them to private families who could be relied on to
decorate them in a way that would bring honor to
the church and to the monastic community resi-
dent there. Such chapels were held as family prop-
erty by the heirs of the founders until they were
sold or the family died out. The size of such a
chapel and its proximity to the high altar indicated
the prominence of the family who owned it and
established in a clearly propagandistic manner its
position of honor within the religious, social, and
economic fabric of the city.
The programs for the frescoes decorating
these chapels were subject to the approval of
the order that maintained the church. Both
private patron and monastic community had
audiences to address. An artist had to be aware of
the interlocking network of patron, religious
order, audience, and site; and he himself added yet
another level of complexity as his own vision gave
form to these relationships.

The Bardi Chapel The first chapel to the right of the choir
of Santa Croce (Fig. 4.14) belonged to the Bardi family, who chapel to its left (stories from the Life of the Virgin) both of
controlled one of the most famous banking houses in which depict subjects central to Franciscan spirituality, —
Europe until its collapse in 1346, caused in part bythe fait The date of the Bardi Chapel frescoes is uncertain. Giotto
ure of the English king to his extensive outstanding apparently joined the Florentine guild of the Medici e
loans. They commissiond o decorate its walls with Speziali (the Pharmacists and the Spice-sellers, where paint-
scenes from the life of St. rancis. Later other members of ers purchased their pigments) in 1327; however, the frescoes
the family were to contribute another chapel to the left of may have been begun as early as 1320. The frescoes cannot
the high altar and a third quite large chapel at the end of the be dated on the basis of stylistic comparison with other
left transept. Clearly the various branches of the family were works by Giotto since the only earlier extant frescoes
determined to declare their prominence in their quarter of securely attributed to him are those in the Arena Chapel in
the city and to ensure prayers for the family by the magni- Padua of around 1305, leaving too great a gap in time
tude of their patronage. The fresco cycle depicting events in between their proposed dates for meaningful comparison.
the life of St. Francis, the patron saint of the order that over- Giotto divided the side walls of the Bardi Chapel into
saw the church, indicates, however, that the Franciscans three levels. The episodes from the life of St. Francis move
were able to dictate the subject matter for the painted deco- from top to bottom and from left to right, beginning with
rations of their building regardless of how important the Francis’s renunciation ofhis earthly goods and ending with
individual families were who owned the chapels, just as they his posthumous appearances. Giotto treated the width of
an
ee:

MENDICANT CHURCHES 87
 4.15 Trial by Fire, c. 1320,
commissioned presumably by
Ridolfo di Bartolo de’ Bardi from
Giotto for the Bardi Chapel, Santa
Croce, Florence. Fresco, 9’ 2” x
14’ 9” (2.8 x 4.5 m)

the wall as a single expanse for the presentation of one nar- devotion to his beliefs. He shields his eyes from the heat of
rative episode, rather than dividing the surface into separate the fire blazing in front of him and lifts his gown, ready to
framed narrative panels as he had done in Padua. In all of step into the flame. His companion, hands clenched within
the scenes Giotto used architecture to strengthen the narra- his habit and head tilted to the side, seems both to implore
_tive, much as did the painters ofthe nave frescoes im the the saint to refrain from such a rash act and to pray for
upper church in Assisi (see Figs. 3.1 and 3.4). In the lower God’s protection should he go through with it. Giotto
scenes in the Bardi Chapel such as the Trial by Fire (Fig. 4.15) shows the sultan at the center of the composition in conflict
Giotto extended the architecture to the very borders of the by having him point across his body to Francis and look
pictorial space, using it not only to provide a unified and’ askance in the opposite direction at his own clerics skulking
symmetrical framework for the narrative, but also to high- away out of the scene at the left. A turbaned servant rein-
light or focus on dominant figures in the stories and to cre- forces the sultan’s challenge, his hand also pointing back
ate a consistent spatial depth from one tier of the chapel to toward Francis, while the priest next to him holds his cloak
the next. Giotto also increased the scale of the architecture up high as if to protect himself from such a dangerous test.
in relation to the figures, so that the figures take up only His companion to the left puts one hand to his ear, unwill-
about half ofthe height of each scene. These compositional ing even to hear the challenge. Packed into a very few fig-
devices give the narrative amonumental scale. The figures ures, then, 1s a psychologically rich narrative, both compelling
themselves are fully Se eerie rorsre in sensu- and believable because of the humanity ofits protagonists.
ous, heavy folds over their bodies. Although Giotto tends to Equally moving is Giotto’s rendition of the death of St.
place his figures in a shallow band of space within the archi- Francis (see Fig. 41), placed at the bottom of the left wall and
tectural frame, their gestures, aswell astheir positions and just above the eye level of relatives who buried their own dead
grouping, create a_sense of volume, particularly in relation in the chapel. The composition is quiet and simple, domi-
to the blank eriiaes ofticarchivecrace. which run parallel nated by the bier on which St. Francis’s body lies. Giotto
to the picture surface. This relief-like device is one that frames the scene by a piece of stage architecture that is par-
Giotto, like contemporary sculptors, must have learned allel to the picture surface and helps to set off the figures as
from looking at ancient Roman sculpture. volumetric reliefs. As in the Isaac frescoes in the upper
Giotto also shows himself to be a masterful
srory teller church at Assisi (see Fig. 3.3) he leaves room at the top and
and s uman psychology. Anger, sorrow, confu- at the left and right, suggesting an openness beyond. Against
sion, amazement, and even boredom are among the many the regular pairing of kneeling Franciscan friars on either
emotions and reactions he registers in the body language side of the bier (also placed parallel to the picture plane)
and faces ofhis figures. In the Trial by Fire, which tells the Giotto places groups of figures at the left and right that
story of Francis’s challenge to the Islamic clerics of the establish a slow, decorous diagonal flow into the space of the
Egyptian sultan to prove their faith by walking through fire, room, befitting the solemnity of the occasion. Behind the
Francis, at the far right, is the embodiment of stalwart body of Francis individual friars give vent to their anguish,

88 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

each responding with personal gestures of grief, thus ani- The Peruzzi Chapel Not to be outdone by the Bardi,
mating the carefully structured composition. Their reactions Donato di Arnold¢@ Peruzzi} a leader of another Florentine
are all the more powerful for being contrasted with the bland banking family, left Fands in his will for the construction of
expressions of the candle bearers and other functionaries, a chapel immediately to the right of the Bardi Chapel. For
who seem to be present more out of duty than devotion. this, his grandnephew, Giovanni di Rinieri Peruzzi, commis-
In the foreground, the Knight Jerome in a crimson cape, sioned Giotto to paint scenes from the lives of John the
opens the side of Francis’s robe to reveal the stigmata, a Baptist (on the left wall) and John the Evangelist (on the
manifestation of a miracle that proves Francis’s sanctity. right wall), one of whom was presumably Giovanni's patron
Like the Berlinghieri altarpiece (see Fig. 1.4), these frescoes saint. The frescoes probably date from the early 1320s; the
were more than a simple narrative of the saint’s activities; left wall may have been painted conside ably before the
they were meant to document divine intervention in his life. right one. These frescoes were paintg d a secco ai)d much of

4.16 Ascension of St. John

the Evangelist, 1320s,
commissioned by Giovanni
di Rinieri Peruzzi from
Giotto for the Peruzzi
Chapel, Santa Croce,
Florence. Fresco, 9’ 2%" x
14’ 9%" (2.8 x 4.5 m)

4.17 Feast of Herod, 1320s,

commissioned by Giovanni
di Rinieri Peruzzi from
Giotto for the Peruzzi
Chapel, Santa Croce,
Florence. Fresco, 9’ 2%" x
14’ 9%" (2.8 x 4.5 m)

MENDICANT CHURCHES 89
the surface has flaked away, precluding any detailed stylistic been rejected by a scowling priest who is even more condem-
analysis. They reveal a compositional order significantly dif- natory than Giotto’s earlier representation in Padua (see
ferent from that which Giotto had used in the Bardi Chapel. Fig. 3.8). The architecture, too, looms larger, meant to sug-
The Ascension of St. John the Evangelist (Fig. 4.16) illustrates a gest the entire temple rather than just the altar precinct.
popular story claiming that the Evangelist rose while stll Joachim and his wife Anna were childless and therefore,
alive into heaven, cheating death, the only apostle to “have according to medieval legend, cursed by God. At the right,
escaped martyrdom. Rather than stretch the architectural Joachim has gone into exile in the barren countryside where
framework of the composition skin-like over the wall sur- an angel appears in the sky announcing that his aged wife
face, as he had done in the Bardi Chapel, Giotto gave the will bear a child after all, a scene obviously invented to cor-
architecture in the Peruzzi frescoes a three-dimensional respond to the later annunciation of Christ’s conception to
mass, constructing it along diagonal axes which continually Mary herself and the announcement of Christ’s birth to the
thrust into the pictorial space. The true purpose of this shepherds. The story continues in the second tier, where
device can be understood only if the chapel and its paintings Joachim and Anna grasp one another’s arms as they stride
are seen as a whole, as they would be when viewed outside toward an eager reunion outside the walls of Jerusalem.
he chapel from the transept of the building (see Fig. 4.14). Comparison of this section of the wall with a similar scene
Then one can see that the diagonal axes ofthe painted archi- at Padua (see Fig. 3.9) indicates both differences of artistic
tecture move from the entrance wall to the rear wall of the personality and the development of style over time. Gaddi’s
chapel providing a convincing illusion of space, rather than figures are longer in proportion than those of Giotto. They
the puzzling and awkward ager ince forms tend t emphasize the narrow band of space across the com-
dominating photographs taken of the frescoes straight-on. positiormrather than to create volumetric masses within it
The activation of the architectural frame creates spaces Gaddi’s linking of the husband and wife happens only at
through which individual figures and groups of figures can their arms; otherwise they are each distinct from the other,
move, adding greater realism to the narrative. a decorous reticence of behavior that Giotto had eschewed
In the Feast of Herod (Fig. 4.17) these devices give Giotto in his intensely emotional embrace at Padua. To the right of
space to portray the tower in which John the Baptist is this panel Gaddi depicts Anna giving birth; nursemaids
imprisoned on the far left; the banquet hall in the center admire the baby Mary in front of her mother’s bed. Mary 1s
where Salome danced so alluringly that Herod offered her soon a little girl and reappears in the lower tier (see Figs. 8
anything she might desire (it turned out to be the head of the and 9), mounting the huge steps of the temple, where legend
Baptist); and, on the right, an anteroom where Salome kneels had it that she was cared for and educated by nuns. Dwarfed
and presents the head to her mother, who had suggested the by the huge steps of the temple, she looks down for encour-
request because of her anger over the Baptist’s criticism of agement from a woman who crouches and sends other little
her illicit relationship with Herod. To ensure that the three girls up the stairs to join her. The Virgin’s youth and child-
episodes are joined together in a single narrative, rather than hood conclude in her marriage to Joseph at the bottom
read as unrelated events, Giotto positions figures at the two right. The story continues on the right (actually the back
junctures between the three spaces: a viol-playing musician window) wall of the chapel with the Annunciation at the top
at the left and onlookers at the right, underscored by the and the announcement of Christ’s birth to the shepherds
trains of Salome’s skirts, which seem to join as she is first below, as well as other episodes from Christ’s youth.
seen standing at the left and then kneeling on the right. The Baroncelli Chapel frescoes, like the earlier Peruzzi
cycle, were conceived to be seen from the transept, as the
The Baroncelli Chapel Giotto’s work had an important architecture in the top and bottom tiers mdicates. Because
influence on the frescoes for the chapel _o t another the Baroncelli Chapel is deeper than the chapels that extend
of Florence’s leading banking families¢the BaroncelliNTheir along the length of the transept, Taddeo was constrained
chapel, at at es is decorated with to divide the wall surface into separately framed scenes in
scenes from the life of the Virgin, painted between 1332 the conventional manner rather than extending individual
and 1338 by Giotto’s leading pupil Taddeo™y addi (active narratives the entire width of the wall. He chose
c. 1328-66; SoG likely took charge of with(a series of twisted “olla oe Gi rN
Giotto’s Florentine workshop when Giotto went to Naples demonstrates the painter’s consCiousness of his ability to
in 1328. The Baroncelli frescoes provide yet more evidence transform a flat surface into architectural volume and spa-
that the style of Giotto and his pupils had found favor with tial depth. Taddeo’s architecture is more thinly membered
the Franciscans and with their eminent patrons. While and much more vertical than the massive forms that charac-
depicting the lives of saints in a reverent manner, the new terize Giotto’s frescoes in Santa Croce.
style also gave them a naturalistic, human quality.
The scenes depicted on the wall ofthe Baroncelli Chapel
narrate highly involved legends about the Virgin’s early life.
4.18 (opposite) Scenes from the Life of the Virgin, 1332-38, commissioned
At the upper left her father, Joachim, is driven from the by the Baroncelli family from Taddeo Gaddi for the Baroncelli Chapel,
temple in Jerusalem, clutching a sacrificial lamb which has Santa Croce, Florence, detail of left wall. Fresco. See also Figs. 8 and 9

90 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

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MENDICAN] ( URES Iles
 Taddeo Gaddi seems to have delighted in unusual effects,
such as the dramatic lighting of the Annunciation to Joachim
and of the night scene of the shepherds (Fig. 4.19). The soft
lunar light that he depicts so beautifully in his fresco may
stem from his close observation of nocturnal light on the
landscape, but Gaddi apparently was also fascinated by solar
eclipses and his inspiration may also have come from this
phenomenon. Indeed, he severely injured his eyes by looking
at the eclipse of 1339, a disaster that his confessor apparently
thought was divine punishment for Gaddi’s sinfulness. The
pale light in the scene emanates from the angel approaching
the shepherds.:Gaddi shows the men gradually awaking,
their sheep still asleep around them. Only the dog at the
bottom left seems fully awake, his muscles tensed at the
sudden apparition of the angel and the light, a naturalistic
touch that lends veracity and familiarity to the scene.
Perhaps the most interesting scene is that of the Marriage
of the Virgin at the lower right of the composition on the
chapel’s left wall (see Fig. 4.18). Here the decorum of earlier
painted narratives in Santa Croce has been abandoned in
favor of a more contemporary interpretation. The noisy
crowd and the mocking anon of raucous music-
making that accompany the bridal couple—with ribald sug-
gestions of the pair’s sexual union—suggest not a biblical
event but, rather, Italian wedding celebrations of the time.
Joseph, the old bridegroom, is being publicly ridiculed for
foolishly marrying a pregnant woman—an element of sharp
Florentine humor that must have amused viewers by playing
to mocking medieval stories of Joseph.
The impression created by the transept chapel decorations
in Santa Croce seen as a whole is that of a fairly consistent
stylistic development over the course of some twenty years.
Since most of the chapels were painted by Giotto and his
students, 1t is apparent that the church’s clergy and lay
4.19 Annunciation to the Shepherds, 1332-38, commissioned by the
patrons appreciated the attention to narrative detail and
Baroncelli family from Taddeo Gaddi for the Baroncelli Chapel, Santa increasingly naturalistic presentation of the new style.
Croce, Florence. Fresco

4.20 The Coronation of the Virgin,

c. 1332-38, commissioned by
the Baroncelli family from the
workshop of Giotto as the
altarpiece for the Baroncelli
Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence.
Tempera on panel, 6’ %” x 10’ 7”
(1ESSix3.28 imi)

The frame ofthe painting was

substantially altered in the fifteenth
century when its original elaborate
Gothic framework was transformed
intoa classicizing rectangular format
that was more suited to the tastes
of that time. The figures of angels
in the spaces between the arched
panels that had once been covered
by the Gothic frame were added at
that time.

92 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

Altarpieces for Santa Croce More importantly the Baroncelli altarpiece depicts an event
involving the sacral history of the Virgin—her Coronation—
Giotto and his followers also provided a number of altar- rather than simply presenting her as an object of adoration,
pieces for Santa Croce. The altarpiece for the Baroncelli as in virtually every other extant altarpiece of the ume,
Chapel (Fig. 4.20) carries an inscription beneath its central including Giotto’s own triptych for Old St. Peter’s. This may
panel of The Coronation of the Virgin that reads: “Op|us] explain why the two central protagonists are treated in a full
Magistri Iocti d[e] Flor[entiJa” (“The work of Master Giotto and volumetric manner, with drapery hanging heavily from
of Florence”). Although stylistic and technical weaknesses their limbs and falling in deep folds, while the numerous
suggest that Giotto did not actually paint this altarpiece, figures in the side panels are layered in a flattened space
the inscription does indicate the active involvement of his which precludes imagining fully dimensional bodies beneath
workshop. He may have provided the design for the panel, if their heads. This stylistic throwback to an earlier period is
not for the whole chapel. Despite its adherence to the con- not entirely explained by the painting’s attribution to
ventions of a devotional panel painting, the novelties of Giotto’s workshop, rather than to the master himself. Its use
figural placement and organization in The Coronation ofthe of traditional formulas for the depiction of the figures in
Virgin are evident. The Baroncelli altarpiece presents a com- the side panels seems, rather, a deliberate attempt to empha-
pletely unified field across its five panels, more akin to the size the miraculous aspects of the event depicted and the
Maesta paintings of Duccio and Simone Martini who were devotional purpose of the altarpiece, in contrast to the nar-
also breaking with tradition in Siena (see Figs. 5.7 and 5.18). rative naturalism of the central figures or of the frescoes on

4.21 Last Supper, Tree of Life, and Four Miracle Scenes, c. 1330-40, commissioned by Mona Vaggia Manfredi (?) from Taddeo Gaddi for the
Refectory, Santa Croce, Florence. Fresco, 36’ 9" x 38’ 3" (11.2 x 11.7 m) (Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce, Florence)

MENDICANT CHURCHES 93
the walls of the chapel. Here the style responds to the func- space of the friars who would have been taking their meals
tion of the painting rather than following an unbroken in this room, bridging the gap between image and reality.
development toward naturalism. Life includes at its lower
Immediately above, the Tree of
level volumetric groups of figures creating both actual and
The Santa Croce Refectory Frescoes contemplated reactions to the event of the Crucifixion being
depicted. Conspicuous among them is a kneeling female
Two other frescoes in the monastery of Santa Croce under- donor, dressed in the robes of a Franciscan tertiary (the
score the range ofstyles available to Florentine artists and lay order of Franciscans); she is slightly smaller in scale than
patrons. For the end wall of their refectory the Franciscans the saintly, haloed figures at the foot of the cross. Given
commissioned Taddeo Gaddi, probably in the 1330s, to the presence of Manfredi coats of arms on the fresco, this
paint a Last Supper, an appropriate subject for the friars’ woman has been identified as Mona Vaggia Manfredi,
dining hall. Above the Last Supper Gaddi painted a Tree ofLife who died in 1345 and was buried in Santa Croce. Her
(the Lignum vitae; Fig. 4.21), a devotional subject derived from presence in this important fresco exemplifies the critical
the writings of the Franciscan St. Bonaventure. To reinforce role women played throughout this period as donors, either
both its Franciscan and refectory context, the mystical tree in their own right as secular patrons or nuns, or as executors
is surrounded by a depiction of St. Francis’s stigmatization for their husbands’ estates. Despite contemporary Florentine
at the upper left and three holy events that take place at regulations stipulating that women could act in financial
meals, including the penitential image of Mary Magdalene matters only through an appointed male agent, many cases
washing the feet of Christ with her tears at the lower right. of women commissioning large-scale works of art have
The Last Supper below is remarkable for its startling illusion recently come to light.
of high relief. The painter has thrust the figures into space Surrounding the crucifix in the Tree of Life are banderoles
in front of the wall, rather than creating a spatial platform (unfurled scrolls) and stylized branches that carry texts and
or cavity behind it in the usual way. Thus the figures, larger weave around medallions bearing images of prophets and
than any others on the wall above them, project into the yet further inscriptions calling on the viewer to contemplate
and identify with the mystery of
Christ’s sacrifice. Any illusion of
Space is counteracted by the repeti-
tive curves of the branches, which
create a flat surface against the
wall itself, almost as if the wall
had become a flat page of text only
incidentally illuminated by the por-
traits in the medallions. The paint-
ing is didactic and non-narrative
in its straightforward presentation
of Bonaventure’s text and relies
as much on word as on image to
convey its message. Taken together,
the Last Supper and. the Tree of Life
present a virtual compendium of
the pictorial possibilities available
to painters in the first half of
the fourteenth century. They also
caution against seeing an unbroken
development toward a naturalistic
style either within the Giotto work-
shop or in the world of ecclesiasti-
cal patronage. Whatever stylistic
predilections painters might have
had, they had to respond to the

4.22 View of the Cathedral complex,

Florence. Baptistry, c. 1059-1150;
Campanile, 1334-c. 1360; Cathedral,
begun 1296,

94 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

conventions of the subject matter and religious purpose in As built
order to insure that their paintings would be legible to a Arnolfo’s project
Wa. Old Church of
visually literate community.
Santa Reparata

The Cathedral Complex

While the Florentine government and wealthy citizens were
subsidizing the construction and decoration of enormous
4.23 Florence Cathedral, plan
mendicant churches, they also decided to build what would showing stages in the construction
become one of the largest cathedrals in Christendom.
1 Chapel of St. Zenobius;
The cathedral of Florence (Figs. 4.22, 4.23, and 4.24), called 2 Chapel ofthe Arte della Lana,
the Duomo (as an Italian cathedral is often called; the term dedicated to St. Stephen;
3 Chapel ofthe Parte Guelfa;
derives from the Latin domus, “house,” implying both
4 and 5 North and South Sacristies;
the house of God and the residency of the local bishop), 6 Current position of John
was conceived as a civic monument as well as a religious Hawkwood Monument

4.24 Florence Cathedral, begun 1296.

The first architect was Arnolfo da

Cambio; a revised plan of 1357 was
built under Francesco Talent.

THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX 95

one, being built and financed by the Florentine Republic. The change at that time from a traditional Tuscan timber-
Although plans to build a new cathedral were discussed beamed roof to the existing Gothic stone vaults suggests
as early as 1285 and the building committee (Opera del 4 new internationalism. The size and scale of the building
Duomo) was operating by 1294, the construction of the and its projected dome would have given the Duomo a
building did not begin until 1296. The new building was to prominence equal to or surpassing all but Old St. Peter's in
surround and replace the small medieval church of Santa Rome. At the same time the polygonal tribunes that radiate
Reparata, which itself had supplanted an Early Christian from the central area of the building beneath the dome
structure built next to the walls of the ancient Roman city. are unmistakable references to the neighboring octagonal
City officials planned the new building to be large enough baptistry (see Fig. 4.22), placing the Duomo firmly within
to hold the entire Florentine population, which in the early Florence’s architectural traditions.
fourteenth century may have numbered as many as 90,000.
Funds were raised through the imposition of a special tax Andrea Pisano’s Baptistry Doors
on all personal property. In the project’s early years, the
twelve major guilds exerted managerial control over it, but The date of 1330 inscribed on the magnificent bronze
in 1331 the Arte della Lana (Woolworkers’ Guild) was given doors of the south entrance of the baptistry (Fig. 4.25)
charge of the building; from that time forward this guild marks the commission given by the Arte del Calimala to
had responsibility for building, decorating, and maintain- Andrea Pisano (c.1295 Pontedera-1348 Orvieto?); the work
ing the structure, essentially managing the public funds for this enormous project actually continued until 1336
that paid for the work, an arrangement that guaranteed when the doors were finally put in place. The magnitude
lay control over it. The archbishop of Florence officiated of the project was clearly meant to assert the power of
at services in the Duomo, but he had only partial control the Calimala in the Duomo precincts, just at the time when
over much ofits form. the guild had lost control of the cathedral itself to the
The building history of the Duomo is complicated Arte della Lana.
and controversial. Arnolfo di Cambio was apparently the Andrea’s doors contain twenty-eight quatrefoil panels,
original architect of the new building, since he appears as twenty of which narrate the life of St. John the Baptist, the
capomaestro (chief master of the shop) of the project in a patron saint of the building and also of the city of Florence.
document of 1300. The first plan of the Duomo, as it can The bottom eight panels depict seated personifications of
be reconstructed from the first two bays of the existing virtues. At the interstices of the panels are decorative lions’
building, apparently called for a wooden truss roof heads, recalling the marzocco, or shield-bearing lion, which
structure comparable to that used in the Florentine church was one of the emblems of the city. Within each of the quat-
of Santa Croce (see Fig. 4.7) and in the Early Christian refoils Andrea created a carefully structured composition
basilicas of Rome where Arnolfo had previously worked. of nearly free-standing figures moving across a narrow
Arnolfo’s project was most likely continued after his death stage-like platform, like a stage. Each relief is enhanced by
under the jurisdiction of a committee drawn from the gilding, which is applied not only to the figures but also to
twelve major guilds. the architecture and landscape features to distinguish them
In 1334 the Arte della Lana appointed Giotto capomaestro from the bronze background. The figures are indebted to
of the structure. The document of appointment also names Giotto’s treatment of form in the determined articulation of
Giotto as architect for the city walls, for fortifications, and their bodies beneath the drapery and in the psychological
for whatever other civic structures might be ordered by the intensity of their participation in the event depicted.
governors ofFlorence, indicating the general esteem in which In the Naming of
the Baptist (Fig. 4.26) Elizabeth tenderly
Giotto was held since he had no (known) experience as an holds the swaddled infant Baptist near her cheek, displaying
architect. Giotto initiated work on the Duomo’s free-stand- him to his father Zachariah, who intently scribbles the boy’s
ing bell tower, the campanile (see Fig. 4.22). This enlarge- name, communicated to him by an angel, on a tablet which
ment of the original project suggests competition with he perches on his wobbly knees. As in Giotto’s Meeting at
neighboring Pisa whose campanile—now familiarly known the Golden Gate in Padua (see Fig. 3.9) two women behind
as the Leaning Tower of Pisa—was begun in 1173. Work was Elizabeth snicker at Zachariah’s muteness, a divine punish-
suspended on the Pisa tower when its sandy subsoil caused ment for his having doubted his wife’s pregnancy. In writing
it to begin tilting and was not resumed until 1275. The out John, the Baptist’s God-given name, Zachariah regained
completion of both towers at roughly the same time, in the his speech. All this is told in the simplest of Giotto-like stage
1350s, further suggests an element of civic rivalry. sets: a shallow platform for the actors, a chair and platform
Unfortunately we cannot define precisely what Giotto for Zachariah, and a tidy polygonal roof, neatly snuggled up
and his successor, Andrea Pisano, may have planned for the into the relief’s frame on brackets.
cathedral building itself, since the present building follows
plans of 1357 and 1365, drawn up after their involvement
4.25 (Opposite) South doors, 1330-36, commissioned by the Arte
in the project. It is unlikely that by mid-century much more del
Calimala from Andrea Pisano for the Baptistry, Florence. Gilt
bronze.
than the first two bays of the building had been completed. Decorative surround by Vittorio Ghiberti, 1453-63

96 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

 ORITSE SSS

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THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX

 reliefs to decorate its exterior at approximately the same
equa ReRRO TTTENSE RAPTOR ae ce pooper time. The program was encyclopedic, including the seven
sacraments, seven virtues, seven planets, seven liberal arts,
and seven mechanical arts, including in the latter Weaving
(Fig. 4.27), referring to the guild responsible for working
with the Opera del Duomo and to a craft that had contrib-
uted so much to Florence’s prominence. But the form of
the relief itself is instructive. The figure at the loom gives
prominence to women within the dominant economic
industry of the city, despite the repetitive task she performs.
The unidentified standing figure—also female—gestures
toward the product that was one of Florence’s most
notable exports throughout the European subcontinent.
As a female personification she could as easily refer to the
craft or guild (arte) of the wool manufacturers and mer-
chants as to Fiorenza, the city of Florence itself. Moreover,
she stands in the pose of aRoman orator figure, familiar in
ancient sculpture, calling attention to the city and its eco-
nomic (and artistic) successes. Church, guild, commune all
interact to enhance the reputation that Florence still enjoys
in the world.

4.26 Naming ofthe Baptist, 1330-36, commissioned by the Arte del

Calimala from Andrea Pisano for the doors ofthe Baptistry, Florence.
Gilt bronze, 17% x 15" (45 x 38 cm)

Besides learning from Giotto, Andrea was also clearly

influenced by Gothic art from north of the Alps. The
quatrefoil shape of the panels is itself reminiscent of reliefs
on cathedral facades such as those of Amiens, Rouen, and
Auxerre. The decorative border patterns of the drapery in
Andrea’s panels are also similar to northern Gothic forms,
as is the lyrical simplicity of the figures. Like many other
artists, Andrea may have traveled to France or Germany,
where he could have seen this sculpture for himself. He
could also have had access to a northern style through
imported portable objects such as reliquaries; having trained
as a goldsmith (he is called orefice in the documents), Andrea
would have looked at such work very carefully. Or he might
have assimilated such stylistic elements from contemporary
Italian artists—including Giotto—who had already made
them integral to their own work. By the time Andrea acted
as an independent sculptor at the south doors, he was
clearly a mature artist who had completely integrated both
classical and contemporary elements into his personal style.
He was thus able to provide the Calimala with a sculptural
work not only of amazing technical virtuosity but of great
artistic sophistication, rivaling medieval examples such as
4.27 Weaving, from a series of the Mechanical Arts, c. 1337,
the bronze doors for the cathedral of Pisa.
commissioned by the Opera del Duomo from Andrea Pisano for the
Andrea succeeded Giotto as director of construction exterior of the Campanile, Florence. Marble, 33 x 27” (83 x 69 cm)
for the campanile of the cathedral and provided a series of (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)

98 FLORENCE: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

 Siena: City of the Virgin

crest, the balzana, divided horizontally

with a white field above and a black one
below. The myth is recalled repeatedly
on the facade of Siena’s city hall with
sculpted images of Romulus and Remus
being suckled by the She-wolf and with
the balzana appearing under each arch
(see Fig. 5.16).
But Siena’s civic traditions were also
deeply Christian. In 1260, just before a
decisive military victory at Montaperti
over their arch rivals, the Florentines, the
Sienese dedicated themselves and their city
to the Virgin Mary. Thereafter the citizens
saw the Virgin astheir protectress against
natural disaster and human aggression.
Thus she appears accompanied by angels
on the cover of the city’s official 1467
account books (Fig. 5.0), extending her
grace over the city “in time of earthquakes”
(“al tenpo de tremuoti” in old Italian). A par-
ticularly severe set of tremors hit the hill-
top city and its surrounding countryside
during 1466 and 1467, motivating many
Citizens £0 Sete up CAM punitieetive
city’s piazzas and outside the city walls—
suggested by the tents and temporary
A BILD NARDOD wooden structures depicted in the fore-
*K-D-BEDIGVILIARDODILOIE:FOREG ground. Golden rays pour down from
PIRIBARTALOMEIO WPAVOLODIGABRIELOGIOVANT:
FoATONODINERI VENDIO eons heaven on its pink brick walls and towers,
IE SSCPLDIBART LOMEJODIFRANESURACONEGVIDARELGLI marking the city as both protected and
ODOVILODELIGEDAFICFLODOVIO: blessed. At the center, located behind and
pe CATO R NORE SERITFORE:S'§ to either side of an impressive city gate,
DOM PAID TIGRIBA
rise Siena’s two most significant commu-
nal monuments: the splendidly striped
cathedral complex and the battlemented
tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena’s city
iena’s foundation myth is mythological, claiming that hall. As in Florence, the two are located only a short distance
the city had been founded by Senius and Aschius,
the sons of Remus, one of the twin founders of Rome. Thus 5.0 Biccherna Cover, The Virgin Protects Siena in the Time of Earthquakes, 1468,
Siena claims a history virtually as old as Rome’s. Fleeing commissioned by the officials of the Biccherna (financial administration)
probably from Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Tempera on panel,
their uncle, Romulus, after having stolen the shrine of
21% x 16%" (54 x 41 cm)
the She-wolf in Rome, Senius (from whom the city took
The Roman numerals on this panel provide the date January 1, 1466, but given
its name) and Aschius were protected on their journey
that the new year did not begin in Siena until March 21, this would correspond
northward by a white cloud during the day and a black to the modern year 1467. The cover was probably commissioned the following
cloud at night, a part of the myth recalled by Siena’s heraldic year, 1468, when the accounts were completed and bound.

29
 CITY PLAN OF SIENA

San Francesco (Franciscan)

Porta Romana
Fonte Gata
Piazza del Campo
ON
Akt
Re Palazzo Pubblico
Baptistry of San Giovanni
Duomo (Cathedral)
San Domenico (Dominican)
Oo
OND Hospital of the Scala
(Ospedale della Scala)

Lb
<2 del Pian

in ses
a Via d,a EF =

—V.
SSS
Sarrocchi

S00yds
—————
0
1
500m

from one another, and a processional road winds up the The Cathedral
hill between them. Their dual primacy in civic consciousness
is emphasized by their nearly equivalent height on the When the Sienese dedicated their cathedral (Figs. 5.1 and
horizon—no small structural feat for the communal tower 5.2) to the Virgin of the Assumption they were expressing
given the fact that the Palazzo Pubblico is located in a low both religious and civic aspirations. The operai (building
part of the city and the cathedral at its highest. supervisors) were mostly laymen chosen by the city govern-
In the thirteenth century Siena was a republic dominated ment, to keep accounts and supervise work. Citizens were
by merchants and_bankers. The coats of arms and names also expected to contribute time and money to the cathe-
of the city’s leaders appear on our account book panel, dral’s construction, including a twice-yearly commitment to
which is framed so that it could be put on public display provide carts and beasts of burden for transporting building
to celebrate the city’s financial well-being and exemplary materials to the site.
fiscal government. While Siena did not enjoy a location on Siena Cathedral was structurally complete by the 1260s.
the sea or a navigable river, her economy flourished because Unlike earlier central Italian cathedrals, which generally had
a major _highway-the old Roman Via Francigena) passed plain columnar supports and a wooden tr upport for
directly through the city on the way to Rome from France the roof, Siena’s Duomo boasty€ompound piers sppport-
(see map on this page). Thus, both pilgrims traveling to ing round diaphragm arches and a vaulted ceiling. These
Rome from the north and commercial trade routes passed elements may reflect the example of a number of monastic
through the city. Substantial deposits of high-quality silver complexes built bynorthern European monks around Siena
in the surrounding hills also encouraged commerce and or perhaps have sources as far away as Germany or south-
banking, empowering the Sienese to become the papacy’s west France, where similar construction was popular. Siena’s
principal bankers from the early thirteenth century through traders and bankers conducted business across Europe, and
much of the fourteenth century. the cathedral suggests their awareness of contemporary
architectur opments in France and Germany.

100 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 The Pulpit

In 1265 the Sienese hired(Nicola Pisano to design and carve

a new marble pulpit for their cathedral (Fig. 5.3). The classi-
cally oriented ideals that Nicola had learned in the imperial
court and had used to such effect in his pulpit for the
baptstry in Pisa (see Figs. 43 and 44) must have attracted
the Sienese Opera to his work. Like the Pisa pulpit, Nicola’s
pulpit 1n Siena consists of a polygonal platform raised
on columns and faced with marble reliefs depicting key
—moments in thé life of Christ, culminating in scenes of the
Crucifixion and the Last Judgment beneath the lectern. In
Siena, however, Nicola substantially elaborated the original
scheme. The Siena pulpit is octagonal, whereas Pisa’s is hex-
agonal, allowing a corresponding increase in the number of
reliefs from five to seven; each panel includes more figures
and episodes, and the figures are freed more completely
AACN from their stony matrix. In both pulpits he demonstrated a
ttf
knowledge of Gothic architectural forms such as the trilobed
llLL¢
cusping on the arches under the relief panels and in the
ZZ
il ~
attached triple columns placed between each relief at Pisa,
but the Siena pulpit is more thoroughly Gothic in details.
Unlike the Pisa pulpit, with its rigid separation of relie

5.1 Siena Cathedral, complete by the 1260s, vaults raised and apse
expanded c. 1355-86, commissioned by the Opera ofSiena Cathedral

5.2 Siena Cathedral, plan.

1 Chapel of San Savino, Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin; 2 Chapel of
Sant’Ansano, Simone Martini, Annunciation; 3 Main altar, Duccio, Maesta;
4 Chapel of San Vittorio, Bartolomeo Bulgarini, Nativity; 5 Chapel of San
Crescenzio, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Purification of the Virgin; 6 Baptistry on level
below; 7 Projected nave ofenlarged church, planned 1321-22, foundation laid 5.3 Pulpit, 1265, commissioned by the Opera of Siena Cathedral from
1339, work halted 1348 Nicola Pisano for Siena Cathedral. Marble

THE CATHEDRAL 101

panels and columnar frames (not unlike the architectural who are thus able to move more freely than the weighty
separation of narrative reliefs on Roman triumphal arches), figures of the Pisa reliefs. Still, in its vertical piling up of
the Sieng pulpit follows the example of Gothic church figures, the Siena reliefs suggest that Nicola continued to
portals/
~

transforming
.

the columnar
r

divisions
~ A ——————

into human be impressed with what he had seen on late Roman battle
figures and unifying the entire surface of the pulpit. Nicola sarcophagi, where figures are similarly disposed, even while
may well have made a trip to northern France, asfhis son so many other aspects of the pulpit document his fascination
Giovanni is later thought to have done, for images such as with trans-Alpine models.
the handsome Christ figure (Fig. 5.4) separating the panels Since Vasari, historians of the Renaissance have tended to
of the Massacre of the Innocents and the Crucifixion, along respond more positively to the Roman classicizing style of
with the writhing crucified Christ, can be traced to earlier Nicola’s Pisa pulpit than to his work in Siena, because the
examples of this type in the Ile de France. Renaissance was construed as a revival of the early Roman
In Siena Nicola abandoned graphic clarity in favor of antique. However, the classical traditions embodied in the
greater emotional veracity. In the Crucifixion relief Christ Pisa reliefs constituted but one strand to which Renaissance
hangs heavily from the cross, which emphasizes his suffer- artists and patrons turned for inspiration. The Gothic
ing, rather than appearing as he did in Pisa wit his arms naturalism, movement, and expressivity of the Siena reliefs
and hands outstretched and relaxed. While both reliefs document other possibilities.
emphasize the horror of the event with figures cowering
under the cross and the Virgin fainting in empathetic grief The Facade
(see Fig. 5.4), in Siena they are thinner and more mobile,
truly capable of the emotions that Nicola attributes to Around 1284 Sienese officials placed Nicola’s sorkGisaany
them. In The Massacre ofthe Innocents at the left (see Fig. 5.3), (1245/50 Pisa-1319 Siena), who had collaborated with his
a violent story which appears on the Siena pulpit but not at father on carving in Siena and played an active role in other
Pisa, soldiers thrust daggers into writhing babies. Mothers major commissions in Bologna, Perugia, and Pisa, in charge
tear their hair in grief. Space flows around all the figures, of providing a facade for Siena’s Duomo (Fig. 5.5). With its

5.5 Siena Cathedral, 1284-99, lower half of facade, including statues,

5.4 Christ (detail of pulpit), 1265, commissioned by the Opera of Siena commissioned by the Opera of Siena Cathedral from Giovanni Pisano
Cathedral from Nicola Pisano for Siena Cathedral. Marble (originals now in Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena)

102 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 triple portals and dramatically rising gables Giovanni’s
facade demonstrates a familiarity with northern Gothic
models. But the relatively modest width of the cathedral’s
nave and aisles left little room for the sculptural decoration
around the portals that was a standard feature of the
Gothic tradition. Instead Giovanni conceived an ensemble
of figures on narrow platforms just above the portals and
extending around the turreted sides of the facade. Many
of Giovanni’s sibyls, prophets, and other Old Testament
figures seem to be engaged in conversation with one another
and with the world below. Giovanni knew that the figures
would be seen from _a good distance below, so he(dramati-
cally exaggerated their poses and carving, and positioned
them to lean forward into space\In the figure of Isaiah, for
example (Fig. 5.6), Giovanni peppered the prophet’s beard
with numerous drill holes which enhance the dramatic play
of light and shadow across and around the face. In spite of
the statue’s weathered surface, its expressive facial features
still evoke a prophet’s impassioned exhortations.

Duccio’s Maesta

On October 9, 1308, the head of the cathedral works signed a

contract with Duccio for a large altarpiece for the cathedral’s
main altar, then under the dome. The main panel of the
altarpiece, whicl{ depicts the Virgin in Majesty, }s now known
simply as tle Maesta QFig. 5.7). It expresses visually the dedi-
$.6 Isaiah, c. 1284, commissioned by the Opera of Siena Cathedral from
Giovanni Pisano for the facade of Siena Cathedral. Marble, height of cation of the city to the Virgin made formal at the time of
entire figure 6’ 2%” (1.89 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena) the Battle of Montaperti against the Florentines in 1260.

Saale
= Mi Ht
May SISUsiscG Peulests OU GL TeODI Bl ee
2 SSSMTU ISAT ISS

5.7 Maesta (front side), 1308-11, commissioned by the Opera ofSiena Cathedral from Duccio for the high altar of Siena Cathedral. Tempera and gold
leaf on panel, 7 x 13’ (2.13 x 3.96 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena)

THE CATHEDRAL 103

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

The Procession of the Maesta

The completion of Duccio’s Maestd in 1311 the altar of St. Boniface, was taken down. in their hands took places near the picture,
and its installation in the Duomo occa- Now this Our Lady was she who had and behind came the women and children
sioned a city-wide celebration. The panel hearkened to the people of Siena when the with great devotion. And they accompanied
was removed from Duccio’s workshop on Florentines were routed at Monte Aperto the said picture up to the Duomo, making
the outskirts of the city and carried in pro- [the Battle of Montaperti, 1260], and her the procession around the Campo, as is
cession to its designated position above the place was changed because the new one the custom, all the bells ringing joyously,
cathedral’s high altar. This contemporary was made, which is far more beautiful and out of reverence for so noble a picture as Is
account reflects not only the splendor of devout and larger, and is painted on the this. And this picture Duccio di Niccolo the
the occasion but also the inseparable con- back with the stories of the Old and New painter made and it was made in the house
nections between civic and religious life in Testaments. And on the day that it was of the Muciatti outside the [city] gate ...
European cities during the Middle Ages carried to the Duomo the shops were shut, And all that day they stood in prayer with
and Renaissance. and the bishop conducted a great and great almsgiving for poor persons, praying
devout company of priests and friars in God and His Mother, who is our advocate,
At this time the altarpiece for the high altar solemn procession, accompanied by the to defend us by their infinite mercy from
was finished, and the picture which was nine signori, and all the officers of the com- every adversity and all evil, and keep us from
called the “Madonna with the large eyes,” mune, and all the people, and one after the hands of traitors and of the enemies
or Our Lady of Grace, that now hangs over another the worthiest with lighted candles of Siena.

(from Charles Eliot Norton. Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880, pp. 144-45)

Duccio’s altarpiece followed six years after his commission indicates that this was as much a civic as an ecclesiastical
for another altarpiece of the same subject for the chapel commission. This fact is spelled out in the inscription on
of the ruling council of Siena (the Nove or Nine) in the the Virgin’s footstool: “Holy Mother of God, be the cause
Palazzo Pubblico (city hall). Thus both cathedral and city of peace to Siena, [and] of life to Duccio because he has
hall repeat the same imagery, attesting to the continuous painted thee thus.”
interpenetration of sacred and secular art in Italian city- The prominence of Duccio’s name on the face of the
states of this time. altarpiece is a measure of his status as one of Siena’s most
Because the Maestd occupied a free-standing position renowned citizens, and serves as a reminder that artists had
under the dome, it was painted on both sides. Its bright long marked both their pride in their work and their piety
colors, set against luminous gold backgrounds in the iconic by flacing their nameS+meonspicuous positions on their
tradition, and its original elaborate gilded frame with finials _wor eee of the period record high fees paid to
punctuating the space between the uppermost panels, leadiffg artists and even indicate that some on occasion
must have shone brilliantly against the somber black and served as political emissaries for their city-states.
. eol-white marble interior of the cathedral, bathed in the light With the Maesta Siena at last had a work by Duccio that
es streaming down from the windows of the dome (later, sadly, could compare with the Rucellai Madonna (see Fig. 4.12),
filled in). Additional, colored light from the huge round which he had made for the Confraternity of the Laudesi in
stained-glass window depicting the Death, Assumption, and Florence more than twenty years earlier. Predating Giotto’s
Coronation of the Virgin, also by Duccio, in the east wall of the Ognissanti Madonna and Child by several years (see Fig. 4.13),
building, would have given it an almost magical radiance. the Madonna in Duccio’s Maesta now sits on a substantial
Thus painting and dow functioned together to glorify and believable marble throne holding a hefty Christ Child
Siena’s patron, the Queen of Heaven: who is more softly and realistically rendered than any
The front of the Maesta shows the enthroned Virgin and Plorentine or Sienese baby of the period. In the Maesta, the
Child, flanked by saints and angels. The main panel was faces are both fuller and softer, and the throne is more
surmounted by truncated figures of apostles and, at the next “Satisfyingly three-dimensionat than in his eather -Racebai
level up, by separate panels showing scenes from the life of Madonna. Duccio also madea conscientious effort to sug-
the Virgin. Small panels depicting angels may originally have gest the rounded volumes of the figures and their_spatial
crowned each of these scenes. Among the figures flanking relationships through their overlapping forms.
the Virgin in the main panel are other saints: Ansanus, ~The development of Duccio’s style seen by comparing the
Savinus, Crescentius, and Victor who kneel in the front row, Ruccellai Madonna and the Maesta may owe something to
Though relatively obscure members of the saintly hierarchy, a trip to Paris he may have made in the intervening years.
these are patron saints of Siena, and their prominence There are documentary references to a “Duch de Siene”

104 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

(Duccio of Siena) in Paris in 1297 which coincide with his efficacious than it otherwise might have been. Stylistic
absence from any documentary reference in Siena between conservatism sometimes had as much, if not more, power
129S and 1302. Thus it appears that Duccio traveled north than innovation.
to see for himself the fully developed Gothic style of the The reverse side of the Maesta (Fig. 5.8) is composed of
French court. separate panels depicting events in the life of Christ. Various
Duccio’s accomplishments were so noteworthy that students assisted Duccio on these panels (as well as on those
artists were asked to update earlier paintings. One of these, for the front of the altarpiece) in a collaboration that helped
commissioned from Guido da Siena (active 1262/67-1280s to perpetuate the distinctive Sienese school of painting into
Siena), stood on the high altar of San Domenico in Siena the next generation. However, it must have been Duccio
(see Fig. 3). It had been commissioned soon after the Battle himself who devised the compositional scheme, ensured
of Montaperti, when Siena dedicated itself to the Virgin, consistency in the individual panels, and gave a clear visual
and the figures and throne bear the generally flattened and form to the stories depicted.
stylized characteristics of the Byzantinizing style that had A comparison of Duccio’s narratives with the work of
been common in Siena for some time. Originally the faces other artists reveals some interesting similarities. On the
of the Madonna and Child would have been more linear, reverse of the Maesta, the central icon of Christianity, the
too, but they were repainted in the fourteenth century to Crucifixion, is placed on the central axis and is given twice the
make them softer and more up-to-date. That the rest of space of the other panels, as it was in the fresco cycle in Old
the painting remained unchanged should remind us that St. Peter’s in Rome. Although schematized, the architecture
styles did not simply replace one another, but were deployed of the individual panels provides a uniform geometrical
intelligently and strategically. In the case of Guido’s paint- frame and spatial envelope for the actions depicted and
ing, the artist may have consciously archaicized the image is consistent with the most current developments of depic-
from the start; that is, he seems to have designed it to look tions of space. Even the space that Duccio leaves at the top
older than it was. The panel carries the date 1221, which of panels such as the Last Supper (Fig. 5.9) compares with
does not refer to the date ofits creation (c. 1260) but rather similar treatment in the Isaac panels in Assisi (see Fig. 3.3)
to the death of St. Dominic, the founder of the order that or Giotto’s painted architecture in the Scrovegni Chapel.
commissioned the work. The conservative style of the work Although landscape features tend to be simple schematic
more closely matched the style of Dominic’s day, making rock forms, they give a consis depth
the altarpiece appear more venerable and potentially more

5.8 Maesta (reverse side), 1308-11, commissioned by the Opera ofSiena Cathedral from Duccio for the high altar of Siena Cathedral. Tempera and gold
leaf on panel, 7 x 13’ (2.13 x 3.96 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena)

The altarpiece was removed from the cathedral in 1771, when it was sawn into several smaller pieces. The heraldic crest of the Opera of the cathedral probably
appeared on the original frame.

THE CATHEDRAL 105

5.9 Maesta, detail of reverse side showing the Washing of the Feet and Last 5.10 Maesta, detail of reverse side showing the Entry in o Jerusalem, 1308-
Supper, 1308-11, 40 x 21” (102 x 53 cm) 11, 40 x 22” (102 x 56 cm)

ous events of the narrative. Most compelling, of course, is who are shown kneeling in the foreground of Duccio’s
the dramatic response to events with which Duccio invests Maesta. The altarpieces for the four altars were to depict
the scenes. In the Entry into Jerusalem (Fig. 5.10), for example, important events in the life of the Virgin, whose image as
each of the participants is intensely focused on his response eternal heavenly queen graced the main altar. These are the
to the event. There is a clear axis of movement from left to first altarpieces of this period to utilize such a narrative
right and a naturalistic, even anecdotal, rendering of the structure rather than a standard icon such as a Virgin
figures and their activities. The figures of the two young and Child or a standing saint. The program for the four
men in the trees suggest either that Duccio knew Giotto’s altars repeats the iconography of a now lost series offrescoes
rendering of this same subject in Padua or that both artists once on the exterior wall of the main hospital in Siena, the
used a similar model. Ospedale della Scala, facing the facade of the cathedral. This
repetition, like the Maestd paintings for the cathedral and
Altarpieces in the Transept Chapels city hall, continually reasserted the city’s dedication to the
Virgin and ensured its protection.
In the late 1320s the officials of the Siena Cathedral work- In 1333 Simone Martini (c. 1284 Siena~1344 Avignon),
shop devised a plan to complete the central space of the one of Duccio’s prize students and assistants on the Maesta,
cathedral. Four altars, situated symmetrically in the tran- completed an altarpiece depicting the Annunciation (Fig.
sept and flanking the main altar under the dome, were to be 5.11) for one of the cathedral altars, that of St. Ansanus.
dedicated to the four patron saints of Siena (see Fig. 5.2) Despite its abraded surface, the painting is still astonishing

106 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

for its opulence. The gold of the haloes is richly tooled, so in the Annunciation, particularly the near-impossible twist-
that light refracts from the punch work and seems literally ing of the body of the Virgin herself, although oe:
to radiate. Gabriel’s robe is intricately worked with gold, and both the fresco and the panel painting share the same hard,
his flowing cloak is richly patterned in plaid. ovoid structure.
The Annunciation shows an alternative to the naturalism The explanation for this apparent stylistic shift may lie
of a Maesta Simone had painted for the Palazzo Pubblico
some eighteen years earlier (see Fig. 5.18), which had faith-
fully developed Duccio’s composition. The weighty quality
of both figuresand drapery in that fresco contrasts sharply style of the earlier painting in order“ to provide a unified
with the nervous and febrile linear qualities of the figures decorativ ram for the cathedral. Thus, like Duccio’s

igures, the edges of whose drapery create a sinu-

5.11 Annunciation, c. 1329/31-33, commissioned, presumably by the ous surface pattern quite independent ofthe bodies beneath.
Opera of Siena Cathedral, from Simone Martini for the altar ofSt.
x By 1342, when Pietro Lorenzetti (active 1306-48 Siena)
Ansanus, Siena Cathedral. Tempera and gold leaf on panel, 10’ x 8’ 9” MW
(3 x 2.67 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) completed his Birth of the Virgin (Fig. 5.12) for the altar of St.
Savinus in Siena’s cathedral, the stylistic unity for the over-
The flanking figures of St. Ansanus and St. Margaret (?) may have been painted
by Lippo Memmi, Simone’s brother-in-law and assistant. They were already cut all program for the cathedral altars had been breached.
from the central panel by the eighteenth century. The present frame is modern. Pietro’s Florentine training dominates this painting and

THE CATHEDRAL 107

suggests that the new naturalistic style was beginning to explained in several ways: (tifferences of artistic training
win favor even in Siena. Like Simone’s Annunciation, Pietro’s and personal styl}; (the artists’ willingness or unwillingness
Birth ofthe Virgin was originally flanked by a pair of saints, to transform their individual styles to conform to that of an
now lost. But unlike Simone, Pietro has created a unified existing image at the sit; and, (politically, from the wishes of
illusionistic s imagining the divisions the Nine to suggest close relations with their erstwhile rival
of the frame as architectural supports that coordinate with Florence, to which they were allied as members of i)
the space he paints behind them and endowing his subject Tuscan League by the time Pietro received his commissio
with all the anecdotal detail familiar in Florentine painting In his Purification of the Virgin (Fig. 5.13) Ambfogio
of this time. At the far left a young boy dressed in blue Lorenzetti (active 1317-48, Siena) went even further than
speaks into the ear of Joachim, telling him that his daughter his brother in exploring illusionistic space. Ambrogio had
has been born. Their encounter takes place in an anteroom worked in Florence where enrottecti
he the painters’ guild
off the birthing chamber in front of aluminous pink court- in the 1330s, but appropriate to the commission he set
yard that rises with remarkable amplitude in the back- Mary’s ritual cleansing and the Christ Child’s Presentation
ground. To the right Anna reclines in a double-bayed room in the Temple in a building clearly evocative of the interior
surrounded by attendants: one holds a striped fan; others of the cathedral in which it stood (see Fig. 5.1). In so doing,
bring food and drink; two others wash the holy child, the Ambrogio conflated time and space, making the Virgin’s life
woman in green seen from the back clearly derived from a present part of Sienese experience. As Giotto had done
figures such as those introduced by Giotto in his Lamentation in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence (see Figs. 4.16 and 4.17),
in Padua (see Fig. 3.12). Piero’s only apparent debt to local Ambrogio shows both the interior and exterior of the
Sienese traditions is his use of richly decorative details such building and perches figures and festoons along the roof’s
as the brightly colored vaults, the inlaid floor tiling, and edge, miniaturizing them to suggest great height. The two
the plaid bedclothes, all demonstrating an empirical, though larger statues on the front of the structure, on the other
not quite fully accurate, perspective. The stylistic differences hand, allude directly to Sienese precedents, especially
between Simone’s and Pietro’s altarpieces can be well Giovanni Pisano’s facade figures (see Figs. 5.5 and S.6).

5.12 Birth of the Virgin, c. 1335-42,

commissioned by the Opera of
Siena Cathedral from Pietro
Lorenzetti for the altar of St.
Savinus, Siena Cathedral.
Tempera on panel, 6’ 1%" x 5’ 11%"
(1.87 x 1.82 m) (Museo dell’Opera
del Duomo, Siena)

108 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 5.13 Purification of the
Virgin, 1342,
commissioned by the
Opera ofSiena Cathedral
from Ambrogio
Lorenzetti for the altar of
St. Crescenzio, Siena
Cathedral. Tempera on
panel, 8’ 5” x 5’ 6K"
(2.57 x 1.68 m) (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence)

Inside the structure all eyes are on the infant Jesus, whom Later Sienese Altar Painting
the prophet Simeon holds with covered hands, showing
the same reverence that priests demonstrated for the host Sienese painting in the second half of the fourteenth century
during processions of the Eucharist. This is the live and true perpetuated the figural styles established earlier in the cen-
body of God incarnate: a child who sticks his fingers in his tury by Duccio and Simone Martini despite the work of the
mouth and kicks his feet in an eye-catching wrap of red Lorenzetti brothers. This conservatism may have been a
cloth shot with blue highlights. While all is calm and sedate reaction to the political uncertainty that prevailed after the
among the Virgin, her female companions, and Joseph at the expulsion of the Nine in 1355. For example, the Adoration
left side of the altarpiece, Christ’s energy is palpable on the of the Magi (1390s?; Fig. 5.14) by Bartolo di Fredi (active
right, where the prophetess Anna, wrapped in a remarkably 1353-97 Siena) employs the same curiously stylized rock-
vibrant violet robe, points to the child. Her gesture gives like structures for mountains, compressed space, arabesque
meaning to the words on her scroll recognizing the child as curves of drapery, and elongated figures previously encoun-
the long-awaited savior. tered in Duccio’s Maesta (see Fig. 5.8). The horses and the
The altarpieces around Duccio’s Maesta concluded with Magi pile up in front of the Virgin and Child in a colorful
a later Nativity (c. 1361) by Pietro’s student Bartolomeo heap, their procession threading fairytale-like in the back-
Bulgarini (active 1337-78 Siena), providing the Sienese with ground, where they encounter Herod in a Jerusalem that
a telling display of the richly varied work of their greatest once again is styled as Siena itself. Almost as if in conscious
painters and of the greatness of their own city. opposition to Florentine style, painters such as Niccolo di ser

THE CATHEDRAL 109

 5.14 Adoration of the Magi, 1390s (?), Bartolo di
Fredi. Tempera on panel (Pinacoteca Nazionale,
Siena)

Sozzo (active 1334-63 Siena) and his

sometime collaborator Luca di Tommé
(active 1356-89 Siena) created altar-
pieces (Fig. 5.15) that to all intents and
purposes are indistinguishable from
those of the earlier part of the century.
Saints stand in isolation to the sides
of the enthroned Madonna and Child
as they had in the altarpieces around
Duccio’s Maesta (see Fig. 5.11). Blond
hair, tooled gold, and delicate facial
features mark these works as unmistak-
ably Sienese. Their distinctive style of
painting was a civic treasure to be cher-
ished and maintained as a political act
of self-definition distinguishing Siena,
through its art, from its neighboring—
and rival—city-states.

5.15 (left) Madonna and

Child, 1362, Niccold di ser
Sozzo and Luca di Tommé.
Tempera and gold leaf on
panel (Pinacoteca
Nazionale, Siena)

110 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

The Palazzo Pubblico citizenry to their representative Seah ae city
government carefully controlled the form, legiS$lating the
As they had done with the lavish sculptural decoration on height and general style of buildings that could ring it. The
the facade of their cathedral and the richly ornamented Campo hosted not only meetings of the body politic but
paintings within it, the Sienese chose visual seduction when also public religious and sporting events. Public sermons
they buile their city hall (Fig. 5.16). Unlike the brute stony (see Fig. 5.17) supported by the state manifested also the
strength of Florence’s civic fortress (see Fig. 4.0), here brick connections between religion and politics, calling divine
walls gently bend to embrace the amphitheater-shaped favor upon the entire urban community. Events such as the
Piazza del Campo which it faces. Thin marble columns Palio, the wild bare-backed horse race still run around the
supporting Gothic arches decorate the windows. An aston- Campo today, were a way to entertain the population while
ishingly tall bell tower—clearly surpassing the height of the channeling aggressions in a crowded and populous space.
civic tower of their rival city Florence—extends from the left
wing of the building, dominating other such structures Simone Martini’s Maesta for the
which spiked the urban landscape. A later chapel beneath Palazzo Pubblico 02,
the tower extends out into the public square and indicates
the fusion of Church and state in this city dedicated to the The power of Duccio’s Maesta and its symbolic value for
Virgin. The expansion of the Campo in front of the Palazzo the city is clearly evident in the fact that soon after it was
gives a measure of the importance of rule extending out finished the governing body of the Nine commissioned
from the building to the population congregating before it. Simone Martini to paint a fresco of the same subject (Fig.
At the same time, this extraordinary sloping — shell-like 5.18) for the main meeting room of their newly completed
space—a natural concavity at the meeting of Siena’s three city hall (Fig. 5.19). Simone included exactly the same saints
ils—suggests that(power flowed reciprocally from the who appear in Duccio’s great Maesta and arranged them
in much the same order. The imitative nature of Simone’s
work was determined by the needs of the program, which
undoubtedly called for(consistency in the depiction of the
city’s protectress) Here in the city hall, as in the cathedral,
the image served a propagandistic purpose. The inscription
at the base of the throne of the Virgin in Simone’s Maesta,
“The angelic little flowers, the roses and the lilies which
adorn the heavenly fields do not delight me more than
righteous council,” is an exhortation to the rulers of the city
who met in this room to carry out their responsibilities in a
just and equitable manner.
Two rondels painted in the center of the dado of the wall
beneath the border, although badly damaged and repainted,
contain images of the seal of the Captain of the People, a
rampant lion, and of the communal seal of the city of Siena
with the Virgin and Child flanked by candle-bearing angels
surrounded by a Latin inscription which reads: “The Virgin
protects Siena which she has long marked for favor.” Unlike
the Virgin in Duccio’s Maestd, Simone’s Virgin wears a
crown, her queenly status appropriate in a room dedicated
to the business of government.
In his
Maestd-Simone integrated some of tpatil realism)
oe painting in Florente-Reme;and
Naples into the Sienese style Simone’s angels and saints have
more space between one another and are organized so that
they create diagonal rows from front to back of the compo-
sition, thus emphasizing the deep stage-like space formally
constructed by the baldacchino which covers the entire group.
Simone also structured thefoldsof the material clothing his
figures to make them appear fuller and more weighty than
Duccio’s sinuous, decorative draperies, though he follows
Duccio in including complicated folds and pooling of fabric
5.16 Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, begun 1298, commissioned by the Sienese
at the base of his figures. The elaborate Gothic throne in _
government which the Virgin and the Christ Child are placed also differs

THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO 111

from Duccio’s heavy marble throne, which recalls indigenous Lippo Memmi’s Maesta for San Gimignano The success
Tuscan architecture. The thin window-like arches of Simone’s of Simone’s Maesta is suggested by its repetition in the
throne suggest the elaborate frames of contemporary altar- Palazzo Pubblico of San Gimignano, a small hill town which
pieces and the Gothic architecture of Naples, with which was then a dependency ofSiena. In 1317-18 Simene’s some-
Siena had long-standing political alliances. Simone, in fact, time collaborator and later his brother-in-la Wemmi
moved to Naples shortly after completing this fresco. (active 1317-c. 1350 Siena), was commissio ned by Nello di

Throughout the history of 5.17 St. Bernardino Preaching

organized religion, preachers of in the Campo, 1445-47,
extraordinary skill and charisma probably commissioned by the
Confraternity of the Virgin from
have from time to time emerged
Sano di Pietro. Tempera on panel,
to capture the imagination and 63% x 40” (162 x 101.5 cm)
fervor of large audiences. The (Chapterhouse, Siena Cathedral)
Franciscan friar San Bernardino
This may have been a side panel to a
of Siena (1380-1444), like St. large triptych for the confraternity’s
Francis and St. Peter Martyr assembly rooms located beneath the
before him (see Fig. 8.8), drew hospital of Santa Maria della Scala,
large crowds who were capti- opposite the cathedral.
vated by his passionate calls for
repentance. In many instances to carry away as a reminder of
civic authorities or clergy would his exhortations to repentance.
hire such preachers to deliver So persuasive were Bernardino’s
sequences of sermons during arguments in support of civic
special liturgical seasons such obedience that the grateful gov-
as Lent. Thus townspeople had ernors of the city agreed to
the opportunity to hear ideas place his symbol high on the
recapitulated and developed facade of the Palazzo Pubblico,
over several days. Scribes often where it still remains. Despite
transcribed the sermons as they Bernardino’s popularity, how-
were delivered, giving modern ever, street gangs—called Noise
historians texts that must closely and Scratch—continued to exist
approximate the sentiments in Siena and to threaten the
and energies of the speaker, if civic concord which Ambrogio
not all of his actual words. Lorenzetti depicted in the Room
In Siena in 1427, Bernardino of the Nine (see Fig. 5.22) in the
gave a number of sermons town hall.
standing in a temporary pulpit Bernardino’s impact on pop-
which had been erected in front ular piety in Siena was so great
of the Palazzo Pubblico. In that he was canonized in 1450 by
these sermons he preached not Pius Il, another Sienese citizen.
only moral reform but also civic At the festivities honoring the
peace. Sano di Pietro’s painting event, numerous paintings of the
of one of these occasions (Fig. saint were commissioned, anda
5.17) shows a rich curtain life-sized figure of Bernardino
draped across much ofthe lower facade of very heart ofthe city. The stone surfaces of accompanied by music-making angels was
the town hall, before which are seated the the buildings must have carried the sound hoisted along the wall of the Palazzo
priors of the city. Men and women kneel in of Bernardino’s voice to distant members Pubblico, from the ground to a representa-
devoted attention to Bernardino’s words— of his audience, just as they amplify sound tion of Paradise at the top of the building,
and were chastised by the preacher when today. Bernardino holds an emblem of a as if Bernardino were floating into Heaven
they failed to pay attention. The sexes are radiant sun surrounding the initials IHS,
where God the Father waited to receive
separated by a barrier which extends from signifying Christ—one that he consistently him. This tableau vivant was so successful
Bernardino’s pulpit across the piazza (here used in his preaching, and which was cop- that it was repeated with the image of St.
called the Campo, or field) which forms the ied in reduced amulet form for his devotees Catherine when she was canonized in 1461.

112 SIENA Gliy OF TEE VIRGIN

5.18 (above) Maesta, c. 1315,
repaired and repainted in 1321,
commissioned presumably by the
governing body of the Nine from
Simone Martini for the Sala del
Consiglio (Room of the Council),
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco,
DS Oe D 7/262, 29 OSainn)

Damage to the fresco over time was

caused by the storage of salt in
basement rooms ofthe Palazzo
Pubblico beneath the fresco.
Moisture carried the salt up through
the inner walls of the building and
caused crystals to form beneath the
surface of the paint. These pushed
the pigment forward and damaged
the structural integrity of the plaster.
The Christ Child holds an actual
parchment scroll that has been
adhered to the surface of the fresco:
it reads: “Love Justice you who judge
the earth.”

5.19 View ofthe Sala del

Consiglio (Room of the Council),
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena.

i EEPAEAZZOPPUBBEIEGOm Tels
 5.20 Maesta, 1317-18, commissioned by Nello di Mino Tolomei from Lippo Memmi for the Palazzo Pubblico, San Gimignano. Fresco

The paired figures to the left and the right were added by Bartolo di Fredi when the fresco was enlarged in 1367. The fresco was repaired along the lower edge in the
1460s by Benozzo Gozzoli, who may have repainted the heads ofthe two figures to the far right.

Mino Tolomei, then podesta (chisf magistrate) and Captain and miniaturist Lippo Vanni (active 1341-75 Siena) to
of the People in San Gi ano, to paint a Maestd in the record the(Sienese victory in the Val di Chiana over English
town hall there (Fig. 5.20). Lippo adjusted the composition mercenaries in 1363 \Fig. 5.21 and see Fig. 5.19). His mono-
of Simone’s fresco to accommodate the different commis- chromatic ‘frescolike many such civic images painted
sion. He replaced the Sienese patron saints in the front row exclusively in central Italian town halls, records the progress
with Nello, kneeling in a donor pose, and with St. Nicholas of the battle and the disposition of the troops episodically
(Nello’s patron saint) standing behind him. St. Gimignano, across the wall; it is a graphic chronicle of the event rather
the patron saint of the city, stands at the left of the Virgin, than a naturalistic reconstruction, with cities carefully
and the coat of arms of the Tolomei family appears in the labeled and the armies identified by the heraldic flags of
baldacchino above. If nothing else this painting indicates how their leaders. Here again, function determined style.
powerful the language of civic imagery was. placing
By the
copy ofSimone’s Maest@ inthe town hall ofSan Gimignano, The Sala della Pace: “Good Government”
Nello made very ec. political control over the small
town and his power as legate in enforcing that control. One of the most elaborate decorative programs for the
Palazzo Pubblico of Siena was commissioned from Ambrogio
Secular Imagery in the Sala del Consiglio Lorenzetti for the room adjacent to the Sala del Consiglio in
1338. This was the meeting room of the Nine: the Sala dei
Accompanying Simone’s Maesta in the Sala del Consiglio in Nove or the Sala della Pace (Room of Peace). The member-
the Palazzo Pubblico were a number of secular images ship of the Nine, who led the Sienese government from 1287
- whose composition, narratives, and rhetorical devices are to 1355, changed every two months, always drawn from the
different from the image of Siena’s patron saint and reflect Sienese aristocracy, despite repeated attempts to»widen the
the multiple messages that a complex civic government had sources of representation. Legislation of 1318 made them
to convey to its citizens. Frescoes commemorated battles responsible for “the ordering and reformation of the whole
and important military captains, and a huge rotating map city and contado (‘countryside’) of Siena.” For the Sala della
by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (now destroyed) set Sienese events Pace Lorenzetti designed an allegorical fresco cyelunder-
in a world context. One of the best surviving examples scoring the a. good government and the dangers
of this reportorial art was commissioned from the painter of bad governmen

114 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 ns
ut

5.21 Victory ofthe Sienese Troops at the Val di Chiana in 1363, c. 1364 (2), commissioned presumably by the Nine from Lippo Vanni, for the Sala del Consiglio
(Room of the Council), Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco

uaa os
Se

5.22 Allegory of Good Government, 1338-40, commissioned by the governing body of the Nine from Ambrogio Lorenzetti for the Sala della Pace (also
known as the Room ofthe Nine), Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco, length c. 25’ 3” (7.7 m) YQ

The text in the lower border of the fresco reads: “This holy virtue [of Justice] where she rules, induces to unity the many souls [of the citizens], and they, gathered
together for such a purpose, make the Common Good their Lord; and he, in order to govern his state, chooses never to turn his eyes from the resplendent faces of
the Virtues who sit around him. Therefore to him in triumph are offered taxes, tributes and lordship of towns; therefore, without war, every civic result duly follows-
useful, necessary, and pleasurable.” (Trans. Diana Norman)

THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO 115

 ie

IAREGHIETE Che ONE HOVRATA:7 SVE CKLLCGA CORONATAS|

Se ehGh i
vavt rt ty yyy’
ay

5.23 Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country (detail), wall to her head. Above the head of the Buon Comune float three
the right of the Allegory of Good Government, Sala della Pace (Room of the much smaller winged figures identified as the three cardinal
Nine), Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco, length c. 46’ (14 m)
virtues: Faith, Charity, and Hope. Thus the state manifests
Securitas (Security), flying in the air at the city gate holding a gibbet with a man an ideal of Christian virtue.
hanging from it, also holds a scroll that reads: “Without fear every man may
travel freely and each may till and sow, so long as this commune shall maintain In depichuys cre tae co ane flanked by virtues,
this lady [Justice] sovereign, for she has stripped the wicked of all power.” Lorenzetti adopted a(configuration ypically used for the
(Trans. Diana Norman)
Last Judgment. Thus anyone reading his image would see
the Buon Comune as omnipotent, like the central figure of
The cycle consists of three frescoes: the Allegory of Good God in the Last Judgment (see Fig. 3.13), and would also
Government, the Effects ofGood Government in the City and in the read the Commune as judge. To underscore this reading
Country, and Bad Government and the Effects ofBad Government Lorenzetti included bound criminals at the lower right of
in the City. The Allegory of Good Government (Fig. 5.22) occu- the composition (to the Buon Comune’s left side) and the
pies one short wall of the room and is the central image upright citizens, or—to use Last Judgment iconography—the
in it. A complicated and fragmented work, it lacks a single elect, at the Buon Comune’s right side. Moreover, the inscrip-
compositional focus and thus must be read episodically. tion over the heads of the criminals repeats that of the
The largest image on the wall, and therefore, according to communal seal depicted in the border of Simone’s Maesta
the hierarchies of the period, the most important, is the in the next room and underscores verbally the protection
seated male figure on the right, who is clothed in the heral- of the Virgin and of the Commune that represents her. Civil
dic black and white colors of Siena and identified with gold and moral law come together in this image.
lettering, halo-like around his head, as “CSCV,” or “Comune At the left side of the fresco a female figure ofJustice sits
5)
Senarum Civitas Virginis” (“The Sienese Commune, the City of in much the same pose as the Buon Comune. An admonitory
the Virgin”). The Commune, or in this case the Buon Comune inscription taken from the opening of the Book of Wisdom,
or Good Government, is flanked left and right by six female “Choose Justice, you who judge the land,” arches over the
personifications of the virtues, each clearly labeled above figure. Justice looks up at the winged figure of Wisdom

116 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 F
VE OIFEQE CHILE! ONRA 7 LOR
paces
SSeS

above her head, who holds scales labeled as distributive figures of the citizens of Siena appear, that the fresco utilizes
and commutative justice. Distributive justice, showing one completely naturalistic stylistic conventions.
man stripped of his possessions about to be beheaded and To provide visible proof of the efficacy of the abstract
another about to be crowned, is painted immediately over concepts of the Buon Comune fresco, Ambrogio painted a
the former door to the room. A female figure of Concord long two-part fresco of the Effects of Good Government in the
sits at the feet of Justice. Across the bottom of the fresco, City and in the Country on the adjacent long wall to the right
from Concord to the right edge of Buon Comune’s throne, (Fig. 5.23). This is a busy scene of everyday urban and rural
Sienese citizens move two by two in a peaceable procession, life, crammed with an extraordinary richness of detail:
concord being the natural result of governance whose struc- masons and carpenters construct buildings, cobblers make
ture is visualized metaphorically abeve their heads. shoes, a teacher instructs his class, visitors to the city stroll
Lorenzetti’s style eee well he had managed through it, while outside the walls peasants tend the crops
to integrate some ofthe stylistic principles of Giotto into his and wealthy citizens ride through the countryside. It is a
own vada surprisingly, as he had worked in Florence fascinating panorama of the late-medieval city-state at
from 1321 to 1327 and again from 1332 to 1334. Figures work, a purely secular painting, with no indication of the
are naturalistically rendered (especially the citizens and religious rituals that punctuated citizens’ lives.
soldiers) and fullyfull modeled, their volumetric_solidiry On the wall opposite the Effects ofGood Government and to
enhanced by the depth of the benches on which they sit or the left of the Buon Comune Ambrogio painted another
by their three-quarter poses. Yet this fresco also contains fresco called Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government
non- ralistic elements, such as AG of changing scale in the City (Fig. 5.24), which uses the same forms and compo-
to suggest the relative importance of different people. )In sitional devices as the other frescoes in the room, but inverts
fact the fresco as a whole is non-narrative and the individual them. The malevolent-looking figure representing Bad
allegorical figures are conventional, just as allegory is an Government, pointedly labeled as Tyranny, is enthroned like
artificial, conventional, and formal literary device. It is only the Buon Comune and stares hieratically out at the observer.
in the lowest tier of the fresco, where the quasi-historical Neither male nor female, it is fanged, cross-eyed, and porcine,

THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO 117

clearly bloated with corruption. In place of the cardinal vir- merchants who were assisted in their roles as governors by
tues, personifications of Avarice, Pride,and Vainglory fly over twelve nobles. A reform government led by the popolo minuto
its head. Tyranny is flanked by clearly labeled seated figures or “little people” took over in 1368, but itself fell from power
representing Cruelty, Treason, and Fraud at the left and in 1386, leading to a period of instability that made it easy
Frenzy, Divisiveness, and War at the right. A bound figure for Giangaleazzo Visconti of Milan to take control of the
representing Justice lies at its feet. The city to its left is falling city in 1399. The Sienese regained control of their city only
into ruin, robbers roam the streets, and, in the foreground, in 1404 with a coalition republican government led by ten
a group of ruffians drags a woman by her hair. Even in its Priors, which brought some order to political life in the city
now ruinous condition the image conveys a dire warning. for the remainder of the century.
In sum, the imagery that the Sienese created for their
cathedral and town hall was optimistic and celebratory. It Painting in the Palazzo Pubblico
taught lessons, confirmed religious and civic faith, and
exhorted individuals to do their best to meet high communal Restoration of the republic after 1404 enabled the Priors
standards. Increasingly naturalistic and visually beguiling, it to turn toward an extensive embellishment of the Palazzo
served as both an ornament to and an instrument of Church Pubblico. This work amounted to a reaffirmation of civic
and state. ideals, drawing on earlier traditions depicted within the
Palazzo Pubblico and at the same time adding new humanist
Siena’s Political System and Civic Art overtones to the Sienese stylistic repertoire. Among the first
of the commissions for the building was the redecoration of
The system of government in Siena changed significantly the chapel holding a now lost Maesta from 1302 by Duccio
and repeatedly during the last half of the fourteenth century. and located next to the room in which Simone Martini had
The Nine were driven from power in 1355 to be followed by a painted his Maesta (see Fig. 5.19). In 1406-07 Taddeo di
troubled period ofcoalition under the Dodici (the “Twelve”), Bartolo (1362/63 Siena-1422 Siena), perhaps a student of

_ O ICE TAIN
EW SOUTH

5.24 Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government in the City (detail), wall to the left of the Allegory of Good
Government, Sala della Pace (Room of the
Nine), Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco

There is2 reason to believe that the inscriptions along the bottom border of each fresco are modern restorations, although they may reproduce original
texts. Timor
(Fear) in the upper left corner, facing Security across the room, holds a scroll that reads: “Because each seeks only his own good, in this city Justice is
subjected to
Tyranny; wherefore, along this road nobody passes without fearing for his life, since there are robberies
outside and inside the city gates.” In the border a text reads:
“There, where Justice is bound, no one is ever in accord with the Common Good, nor pulls the cord
straight; therefore it is fitting that Tyranny prevails. She, in order
to carry out her iniquity, neither wills nor acts in disaccord [sic] with the filthy nature of the Vices,
who are shown here conjoined with her. She banishes oaeee who
are ready to do good and calls around herself every evil schemer. She always protects the assailant, the robber,
and those who hate peace, so that her every land lies
wasted.” (Trans. Diana Norman)

118 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

 5.25 The Funeral ofthe
Virgin, 1406-07,
commissioned by the
Priors of Siena from
Taddeo di Bartolo for
their chapel, Palazzo
Pubblico, Siena.
Fresco, 10’ 6” x 11’ 4”
(3.2 x 3.45 m)

5.26 Scenes from the

Life of Alexander III, 1407,
commissioned by the
Priors of Siena from
Spinello Aretino for the
Sala dei Priori, Palazzo
Pubblico, Siena. Fresco

Bartolo di Fredi (see Fig. 5.14), decorated its walls

with frescoes of scenes from the life of the Virgin,
the city’s patron saint (Fig. 5.25). Taddeo’s fresco
shows apostles and a large crowd of mourners
accompanying the body of the Virgin outside the
city walls for burial. For the most part Taddeo
employs earlier conventions of spatial organization
and figural composition. The way Taddeo truncates
the faces of the apostles behind the bier indicates
that he is sometimes interested in naturalistic obser-
vation. Yet none of the apostles seems to be actually
bearing the weight of the bier; their wiry outline and
sharp, angular poses are stock features in Taddeo’s
work. Along with the stylized or blank backgrounds
in the frescoes these features would have given
the decorative program of the city hall a stylistic
consistency spanning over a century.
In 1407 the Priors commissioned Spinello
Aretino (Spinello di Luca Spinelli; 1350/52 Arezzo-
1410 Florence), assisted perhaps by his son, Parri
Spinelli (1387 Arezzo-1453 Arezzo) to paint the
walls of their meeting room, the Sala dei Priori (Fig.
5.26). The subject matter of the two-tiered frescoes,
which cover all four walls of the room, concerns the
Sienese pope Alexander III Bandinelli (r. 1159-81).
Supposedly this subject was chosen as the result
ofa visit of Pope Gregory XII to Siena, the frescoes
being intended to remind the current incumbent of
a Sienese citizen who had been pope and who had

SIENA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM AND CIVIC ART 119

 SIATHS 2 rete i
VSTITIA OMINRIM VIRTUT VETPREM ‘ RATS SIBUS SXTOLLITUR NECINFORTUNIS Sacrum
PROPTER INIVSTITHM TRAN PEL 1iN EVRREGNA OGGENTE INGENTIeTt PARGERE SUBIECTIS eT DEBELLARE SYPERBO

5.27 Justice with Cicero, M. Porcius Cato, and P. Scipio Nasica and Magnanimity with Curius Dentatus, Furius Camillus, and Scipio Africanus, 1413-14, commissioned by
the Priors of Siena from Taddeo di Bartolo for the antechapel, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Fresco, each lunette 8’ 10%” x 10’ 6” (2.7 x 3.2 m)

even brought the fearsome Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of their fight for liberty and justice. Despite the elaborate
to his knees. They fit the needs of a civic site by honoring humanist program, with its complex Latin messages, the
one of its famous citizens, and they may also serve figures belong to the medieval tradition of the womini famosi.
contemporary history by suggesting a comparison between The soldiers’ elaborate costumes follow chivalric painterly
Alexander’s alliance with the Lombards and the Priors’ traditions rather than historical accuracy. The one inscrip-
Milanese alliance with the Visconti. The frescoes’ sense of tion in Italian in this room which might have been readable
spaciousness, their massive, solid figures, and naturalistic by Siena’s counselors is placed between the two groups of
details indicate that historical narrative demanded a dra- heroes and urges them to look to the example of Rome, to
matic and naturalistic style. seek for the common good and to emulate the examples of
In 1413-14 the Priors again turned to Taddeo di Bartolo just counsel. Given Siena’s recent history, it is significant
to paint a cycle of paintings for the antechapel of the Palazzo that the central message of the inscription is a plea for unity.
Pubblico, a space that functioned as an important passage It is also significant that the Priors commissioned a Sienese
between other rooms of the palace. The Priors thought this artist whose style places the imagery well within formal
space important enough to assign Pietro de’ Pecci, a lawyer conventions of Sienese ees
and teacher in Siena, and Cristoforo di Andrea, the city’s
chancellor, as advisors to Taddeo in determining the fresco Enhancements to the Campo
program. On one wall Taddeo painted allegories of Justice
and Magnanimity under the two arches; beneath each he New civic commissions extended out into the Campo in front
placed a figure from Roman history exemplifying the of the Palazzo Pubblico. In December 1408 the Sienese sculp-
concept (Fig. 5.27). Each group of Roman heroes is labeled tor Jacopo della Quercia (1371/75? Siena-1438 Siena) was
with an inscription in Latin, and each figure bears a further commissioned to design and carve the reliefs fora large pub-
Latin inscription below his feet. The inscriptions between lic elie n, now known as the Fonte Gaia (“Happy Fountain”)
M. Curius Dentatus and F. Furius Camillus claim them as (Fig. 5.28). The de sign for the fountain was set at the time of
founders of Siena, while others under Cicero and Cato speak the contract, and a full-scale drawing for it was made on an

120 SIENA: CITY OF THE VIRGIN

5.28 Fonte Gaia, 1408-19, commissioned by the Priors of Siena from For a civic commission such references to indigenous his-
Jacopo della Quercia for the Piazza del Campo, Siena. Marble, center span
tory would naturally have been appropriate. Partly because
33’ 4" x 18’ 2%" (10.15 x $.55 m) (Ospedale della Scala, Siena)
of Quercia’s ability to assimilate such divergent stylistic
The fountain was removed in 1858 and replaced by a modified replica made
components into his work, his position in the history of art
between 1858 and 1868 by Tito Sarocchi.
has been somewhat marginalized, despite the power of his
sculpture and the obviously high reputation that he enjoyed
interior wall of the Palazzo Pubblico. Modifications and in his own time.
changes in the contract occurred in 1409, but Quercia seems
not to have begun actual work on the project until 1414,
shortly after he had to leave a project in Lucca because of
accusations against him and his assistant, Giovanni da
Imola, of theft, adultery, and sodomy. The project dragged
on until 1419, to the exasperation of the commissioners.
Even in its now ruined state the Fonte Gaia conveys some of
the splendor which it originally added to the center of Siena
and underscores the civic imagery important for such a site.
A central relief of the Virgin and Child recalls the city’s dedi-
cation to Mary and the imagery ofmost ofits civic commis-
sions. She is flanked to the left and right by niches containing
figures of virtues, much as Lorenzetti’s Buon Comune (see
Fig. 5.22) is flanked by allegorical personifications. Although
the original plan called for figures of Gabriel and the Virgin
Annunciate facing one another at the ends of the wings, a
revision ordered in 1415 substituted reliefs of the Creation of
Adam and the Expulsion from Paradise (Fig. 5.29). The Expulsion
adds an important focus on Justice to the fountain, again
echoing the theme of the Good Government fresco in the
Palazzo Pubblico. Quercia had most likely looked carefully
at work in Florence, where he had competed for the second
set of the baptistry’s bronze doors, but local references are
equally important, too. The rounded, soft forms of Quercia’s
bodies refer to Etruscan terracotta sculpture most likely
already available from looted local tomb sites, and the heavy,
decorative drapery of the Virtues echoes the reliefs of the
Liberal Arts formerly decorating the base of the Cappella di 5.29 Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, detail of the Fonte Gaia
Piazza immediately across the Campo from the Fonte Gaia. (Ospedale della Scala, Siena)

SIENA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM AND CIVIC ART 121

 Naples: Art for a Royal Kingdom

saint, Gennaro, but the seaside for-

tress, the Castel Aragonese (com-
pleted in 1284), which served as the
residence of the kings of Naples.
Situated apart and aloof from the
rest of the city, this structure
embodied both the power and the
wariness of an autocratic ruler. Even
the most fortified of the republics’
city halls, the Palazzo della Signoria
in Florence (see Fig. 4.0), stood
accessible and vulnerable on a major
civic square. Here, by contrast, sev-
eral lines of defense surrounded the
imposing castle of the king of
Naples in order to isolate and pro-
tect him from his subjects.

The Court and the

Importation of Artists

The Neapolitan court in the late

thirteenth century was dominated
by foreigners. In 1264 Pope Clement
IV (r. 1264-68) granted Charles of
Anjou, brother of King Louis IX of
France and the first of the Angevin
kings of Naples, sovereignty over
all of southern Italy (the so-called
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies). King
Charles hired artists to help him
validate his new dynasty, sustaining
his rule not only with military subsi-
dies from the papacy but by a policy
of political and cultural imperial-
ism. Charles placed Frenchmen in
he best early view of Naples, the so-called Tavola Strozzi charge of all his government agencies, and he also imported
of 1464 (Fig. 6.1), shows a city that shares numerous French masters and craftsmen to undertake his artistic
similarities with the cities we have already examined. A projects. (When he founded several new monasteries he
dense urban fabric, partially dating from its ancient Greek even insisted that the monks come from France.) Local
past, accommodates many churches, including several major artists were allowed only menial tasks: the literal importa-
mendicant complexes crowning the city’s skyline. Walls and a tion of Gothic forms that Charles required demanded work-
fortified harbor provide impressive defense. The single most ers from abroad.
prominent building, however, is not the city’s cathedral, Some works of art were imported from France—among
which housed the miracle-working remains of its patron them illuminated manuscripts displaying the confident
and

122
6.1 Panorama of Naples (Tavola Strozzi), 1464. Tempera on panel (Gallerie demeanor and the soft but precise folds of their garments
Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples) invite comparison with such famous works of the 1260s as
1 Castel dell’Ovo; 2 Molo di San Vincenzo; 3 Castello Aragonese (Castel the regal Vierge Dorée of Amiens Cathedral or the life-sized
Nuovo); 4 Certosa di San Martino; 5 Santa Chiara; 6 San Domenico Maggiore;
prophets that stand gracefully before the piers inside
7 San Lorenzo Maggiore; 8 Duomo; 9 San Giovanni a Carbonara
Louis [X’s Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Like them, the Cosenza
figures surely were intended to be painted in the bold,
festive forms characteristic of Parisian art. An Old Testament rich colors and patterns seen in the Old Testament Picture
picture book produced in Paris around 1250 probably made Book (see Fig. 6.2).
its way to Naples by the late thirteenth century (Fig. 6.2).
The miniatures in this manuscript are extremely large,
leaving barely enough room for an Italian scribe to add a
few lines of text identifying each scene. The detail shown, of
a battle, captures the dynamic energy of the conflict. Clear
and brilliant color, complex poses, and entangled figures
command attention in a manner that may recall destroyed
wall paintings and other large-scale compositions from
mid-thirteenth-century Paris.
Fragments ofa royal tomb for the French queen Isabella
of Aragon suggest the sophistication of sculpture in south-
ern Italy during Charles’s reign (Fig. 6.4). A royal stone carver
was probably dispatched to Cosenza soon after January 28,
1271, when Isabella died there. Her husband, Philip UI
(nephew of Charles of Anjou; r. 1270-85), took her bones
back with him to the royal burial church of St. Denis, out-
side Paris, but he left her entrails in Cosenza, following
the common French practice of dispersing royal bodies for
entombment and hence commemoration and recognition
in several locations.
Life-sized portraits of the French king and queen kneel
before an under-life-sized Virgin and Child. The heads of
the royal couple are placed deferentially lower than Mary,
the Queen of Heaven, but the larger size of the king and
queen accentuates their royal status. The figures’ alert
6.2 Battle Scene from the Book ofJoshua, from an Old Testament Picture Book,
c. 1250, commissioned by a royal patron in Paris. Vellum, 15% x 11%"
(39 x 30 cm) (Pierpont Morgan Library, ms. 638, fol. 10V, New York)
6.0 (opposite) Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse (detail), c. 1319,
commissioned by Robert of Anjou from Simone Martini. See also Parisian artists were major exporters of portable works ofart, including
Fig. 6.11. manuscripts and small devotional panels in ivory.

THE COURT AND THE IMPORTATION OF ARTISTS 123

 CITY PLAN OF NAPLES_
= ID?
San Giovanni a Carbonara
Santa Maria Donna Regina
Duomo (Cathedral)
Castel Capuano
San Lorenzo Maggiore
San Domenico
Sant'Angelo a Nilo
Santa Chiara (Franciscan) Piazza
Palazzo Penna Garibaldi

Sant’ Eligio
Piazza del Mercato
Santa Maria dell’Incoronata
Castel Nuovo (Castello Aragonese)
Castel dell’Ovo
va Marina
ia nue

Charles and members of his court were active as patrons

of luxury arts. Continuing this practice, in 1304, Charles’s
son and successor, Charles II (1254-1309), commissioned
three Provengal goldsmiths, Etienne Godefroyd, Guillaume
de Verdelay, and Milet d’Auxerre, to produce a reliquary
bust of the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro (Fig. 6.3).
Probably intended to mark the one-thousandth anniversary
of the saint’s martyrdom and thus to link the Angevin
dynasty directly to Naples’s most ancient and sacred Christian
history, the figure consists of a head even more lifelike
than the representation of Philip the Bold at Cosenza.
Because the reliquary was intended to hold the surviving
bones ofthe saint’s cranium—its head is hinged just between
its tonsure (ritualistically shaved head) and tight wavy hair—
it has good reason to suggest as much as possible the actual
features of the saint. Slight bags under the eyes and lines
to their sides, along with somewhat sagging cheeks, offset
the otherwise traditional conventions of saintly passivity
and immobility. What might be read as merely bejeweled
splendor is in fact a cunning use ofcolor and rich materials
6.3 Reliquary Bust of San Gennaro, 1304, commissioned by Charles ll of
to associate the saint and the Angevin dynasty. The head Anjou from Etienne Godefroyd, Guillaume de Verdelay, and Milet
emerges from a broad collar enlivened with blue and d’Auxerre. Gold and silver with inlaid enamel and multicolored jewels
red gems (the Angevin heraldic colors) set on multilobed (Cathedral Treasury, Naples)

decorations that recall the royal fleur-de-lys, a motif that

recurs across the saint’s chest and shoulders in red and blue
inlaid enamels alternating with different-colored gems.

124 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

 )\
|

oe
i
i
06

6.4 Philip the Bold and Isabella of Aragon Kneeling before the Virgin, 1271-76, commissioned by Philip III from a Parisian sculptor for Cosenza Cathedral

As the faithful offered their prayers to this image of their and capitals was increasingly standardized and repetitive
city’s patron, they also saw emblems of their kings—rulers rather than newly invented. The cavernous nave and its
who exploited the divine to reinforce their reign. unarticulated walls bring to mind Franciscan churches
The Angevin kings, not surprisingly, imposed a French throughout Italy.
style on the architecture of Naples to assert their rule As construction proceeded into the fourteenth century,
over the city. For San Lorenzo Maggiore, Naples’s largest Charles I’s strategy of artistic imperialism gave way to more
Franciscan church, Charles I’s architects began the work expedient practices of accommodation and coexistence. Only
in the king’s preferred northern mode, exploiting the the elegant and refined spirit, not the structure, of earlier
sophisticated technology of flying buttresses to support a Gothic buildings prevailed. While Charles’s children and
complex system of vaults over a soaring choir (Figs. 6.5 grandchildren continued to admire aspects of French cul-
and 6.6). But so much effort must have gone into trying ture, the Angevins found themselves comfortably ensconced
to make the buttresses from the weak local tufa (volcanic in Naples, so it made sense for them to take greater interest
stone) that French masons did not attempt many fine in artistic developments in Italy than those in France. The
details. Already by the early 1280s Charles’s attempts to period of outright importation of French styles and work-
impose French style were being compromised. Tracery men, then, was relatively short-lived, but it added significant
designs at San Lorenzo Maggiore show the direct influence new forms to the visual repertoire available to Neapolitan
of St. Denis in Paris, but the execution of the leafwork artists and patrons.

THE COURT AND THE IMPORTATION OF ARTISTS 125

 Consolidating Angevin Rule:
6.5 (above) San Lorenzo
Maggiore, Naples, begun A Queen’s Commissions
early 1280s, commissioned
by the Franciscans with
support from Charles | Charles of Anjou’s son, Charles II, oversaw the completion of
and Charles II of Anjou many of his father’s building projects, while his wife, Queen
and their court Mary of Hungary (d. 1323), initiated an active tradition of
6.6 (left) San Lorenzo royal female patronage in Naples. Founding the convent of
Maggiore, Naples, elevation Santa Maria Donnaregina in 1307, she provided a propitious
and plan of apse area
site for her own retirement and eventual burial close by
the city’s cathedral (Figs. 6.7 and 6.8). As at San Lorenzo, the
apse of Mary’s church was conceived as a luminous cage
for stained glass, its brightness made especially compelling by
the lower, dark nave that precedes it. Above the nave, and
necessitating the construction ofpiers and vaults that darken
it, is a substantial nuns’ choir. While lay worshipers entered
the church and spent much of the Mass in semi-darkness,
Mary and her fellow nuns found themselves surrounded
by the glowing stained-glass windows and an extensive but
poorly preserved fresco cycle. Using a scheme similar to

Ny,EP
Cavallini’s frescoes at Santa Cecilia in Rome (see Fig. 2.8),
‘ ItAv the program includes a Last Judgment on the back wall, Old
and New Testament scenes in three tiers on the side walls,
saints’ lives beyond them, and a celestial vision above the apse.
Deriving from the grand schemes of papal Rome, and there-
fore full of historical resonance, the frescoes provided these
religious women with a rich compendium of subjects for
contemplation and meditation.

126 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

6.7 (above) Santa Maria Donnaregina, Naples, founded 1307,
commissioned by Queen Mary of Hungary; view toward the entrance
showing the nuns’ choir

The queen’s coats of arms appear in the keystones of the vaults. She is buried in
a handsome tomb within the church (see Fig. 6.14).

6.8 Santa Maria Donnaregina, Naples, plan

Cavallini and Giotto in Naples

The frescoes at Santa Maria Donnaregina document the

impact of Pietro Cavallini’s arrival in Naples in 1308. A series
of prophets that includes King David (Fig. 6.9) may come
directly from Cavallini’s hand. Like the faces of the apostles
in the Last Judgment at Santa Cecilia in Rome (see Fig. 2.0),
David’s visage is evocatively rendered. Soft f shadows, delicate
; : 6.9 David, detail of the head, after 1308, commissioned by Queen Mary
highlights, rounded volume, and the shift of the figure’s of Hungary from Pietro Cavallini for Santa Maria Donnaregina, Naples.
eyes make for a compelling, even riveting portrayal. Fresco

CONSOLIDATING ANGEVIN RULE: A QUEEN’S COMMISSIONS 127

 6.10 Noli me Tangere,
c. 1310, probably
commissioned by Cardinal
Landolfo Brancaccio from
a Follower of Giotto for
his family chapel in San
Domenico Maggiore,
Naples. Fresco

Other scenes in the chapel

depict events in the lives
of the apostles Andrew
and Peter.

Unfortunately, only a small portion survives of the Robert of Anjou

painting produced in early fourteenth-century Naples that
decorated the many new buildings erected by the Angevins. When Robert of Anjou succeeded to the throne of Naples in
Judging from this remnant, our loss ofthe others is an artis- 1309 he continued the lavish patronage of his parents and
tic disaster. The fragmentary, undocumented, and contested completed the transformation of the city into one of the
works that remain indicate that Angevin rulers and most impressive in Europe. Known as Robert the Wise, King
other Neapolitan patrons commissioned works that were Robert was a highly learned ruler, a characteristic recorded
second to none in Italy, both in their quantity and quality. by both Dante and Petrarch. Robert’s assumption of power
Giotto, for example, was a member of the royal household in southern Italy, although planned by his father, Charles II,
from December 1328 until 1332, actively producing frescoes was not completely uncontested. He was, in fact, the third
and panel paintings, now lost. His imprint, though not son; his oldest brother, Charles Martel (named after the
his hand, is clearly visible in frescoes produced by one of illustrious Frankish ruler), had died in 1295, leaving a young
his followers in the Brancaccio Chapel in San Domenico son, Carobert (Carlo Roberto), to succeed him as heir to the
Maggiore, a royal foundation of 1283 (Fig. 6.10). In the thrones of both Hungary and Naples. Charles II, however,
Noli me Tangere (literally, “do not touch me,” Christ’s refused to accept his grandson as his successor. Charles II’s
command to Mary Magdalene when she encountered him second son, Louis, was especially devoted to the Franciscan
newly resurrected) the artist exploits landscape as a foil for order and renounced his claim to the throne of Naples in
human interaction much as Giotto had done at the Scrovegni the summer of 1296 in order to join the Franciscans. A few
Chapel in Padua (see Fig. 3.12). The composition is anchored months later, Pope Boniface VIII made a reluctant Louis
around the imploring figure of the Magdalene, her triangu- bishop of Toulouse. Scarcely had Louis arrived in his diocese
lar form repeated in the hill on which she kneels before when, on August 19, 1297, he died. This left Robert the des-
Christ. The lid of Christ’s tomb, set in the lower left of ignated heir to Charles II.
the panel, propels the action up the hill from left to right.
In the background a substantial walled city, presumably The Altarpiece of St. Louis Soon after Louis’s death, his
Jerusalem, glimmers in contrast to the darker hill on which father launched a campaign to have him canonized, a
it is set. While the vegetation remains highly schematic, the project pursued with equal vigor by his brother Robert after
drapery of the figures is convincingly modeled in light and Charles I’s own death. Louis was finally proclaimed a saint
shade as it falls softly around their bodies. The intensity of in April 1317 by John XXII in Avignon; he thus joined with
the gazes exchanged by the holy figures also compares with other canonized members of his family, including Louis IX
the increasing attention to psychological awareness seen of France (his grandfather’s brother) and Queen Elizabeth
first in the frescoes at Assisi (see Figs. 3.3 and 3.5) and later of Hungary (the great-aunt of Sancia of Majorca, Robert’s
in Giotto’s works (see Fig. 3.11). wife), to form a heavenly pantheon of support for the

128 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

 6.11 Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse, w
c. 1319, commissioned by Robert of Anjou Test
from Simone Martini. Tempera on panel,
with a gilt-glass morse and now-lost paste
pearls and gems on the cope; main panel 78%
x 54%" (200 x 138 cm), predella 22 x 54”
(S6 x 138 cm) (Gallerie Nazionali di
Capodimonte, Naples). See also Fig. 6.0.
—=
The patterns inscribed in the gold surface
<1
around the perimeter of the main panel, on the
saint’s halo, his miter, and the crown he holds
over the head of King Robert were produced
with dies that were repeatedly punched into
aa the surface, to cause the uneven candlelight to

Bi
hbo
shimmer and sparkle on the roughened surface.
Punch marks often differ from one artist’s
At studio to another.
yi:

+f
oy

tor
ern
arm
“0arnepnirr

Angevin household. To exploit the saintly connection and tooled gold ground. This is obviously celestial space, as
so enhance his family’s legitimacy, Robert commissioned a indicated by the angels at the top of the altarpiece, who
huge altarpiece depicting his older brother placing the award an even more precious heavenly diadem to Louis. The
crown on his head. Given Robert’s close political ties to coronation of the king thus parallels the crowning of God’s
Siena, itis not Surprising that he called Simone Martini, saint, lending divine sanction and protection to Robert’s rule.
Siena’s leading painter, to Naples to paint this monumen- The extraordinary luxury of the painting—especially in
tally scaled panel. the richly embroidered and gold-tooled cloak which Louis
In Simone’s Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse (Fig. 6.0 wears over the drab brown tunic of a mendicant Franciscan—
and 6.11), the saint is seated in a rigid frontal pose. His star- conveys clearly that this is a royal image. Angevin territorial
ing immobility recalls earlier saints’ altarpieces (see Figs. 1.4 claims also figure prominently in it. The frame of the paint-
and p. 46) and implicitly declares his status as an intercessor ing (original) surrounds the two brothers with the Angevin
with God, Despite placing diagonals on the floor to create crest of the gold fleur-de-lys on a blue ground. The red and
perspective and treating his head, hands, and abdomen volu- yellow heraldic colors of Provence, of which Louis was
metrically, Simone makes it clear that St. Louis belongs to a count, and the crest of the city of Jerusalem, to which the
realm outside normal time and space. Louis’s left hand and Angevins laid claim, also appear on the clasp of Louis’s
the royal crown it touches hover against the elaborately cloak, indicating the breadth of Robert’s realm.

ROBERT OF ANJOU 129

6.12 (above) Santa Chiara, Sancia of Majorca and the Church
Naples, begun 1310,
commissioned on behalf of Santa Chiara
of the Franciscans by Sancia
of Majorca, probably from
Gagliardo Primario As part of their duties as divinely ordained rulers of Naples,
The church was severely Robert and his wife, Sancia of Majorca (1286-1345), built
damaged by bombs in impressive monastic churches within the city. Queen Sancia
World War II. Although its
was particularly instrumental in promoting the Franciscan
structure has been faithfully
reconstructed, most of the order. Her commissions constitute an important chapter in
church’s extensive painted the history of artistic patronage by women, begun by her
and sculptural decoration
mother-in-law Queen Mary of Hungary. Sancia apparently
was destroyed.
used her own inheritance as well as her dowry money to
underwrite building costs, virtually independent of male
control. The best known of Sancia’s churches is that of
Santa Chiara (Figs. 6.12 and 6.13), one of four convents she
patronized in Naples. Although founded in 1310 for the
Poor Clares, the female Franciscans, it ultimately expanded
to a double convent, housing both men and women, and
became a safe haven for the renegade Spiritual Franciscans,
who espoused extreme poverty. Sancia herself had been a
6.13 Santa Chiara, Naples,
plan Clarissan novice before her marriage to Robert of Anjou in
1309, which explains her passionate support of the order
1 High altar and Tomb of King
Robert of Anjou of Naples; through her artistic patronage of a church dedicated to the
2 Nuns’ choir order’s founder, St. Clare.

130 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

 The architect of the church was most likely the Neapolitan The sculpture on Mary’s tomb emphasizes her success
Gagliardo Primario (active 1306/07-48), an artist whose at providing male heirs: rulers not only for all of southern
name appears in court documents but about whom little is Italy but for Hungary as well—not to mention a saint.
known. Because the interior of the building was almost The sarcophagus is decorated with niches holding seated
totally transformed during the Baroque period and the figures of her seven sons (tellingly her five daughters are not
structure itself bombed during World War I, the present represented). As one might expect, St. Louis of Toulouse,
church must be examined with care. Nonetheless, the recon- her second son, occupies the central position of honor. To
structed interior is one of the purest manifestations of the Louis’s right—a position, then as now, connoting honor and
Italian Gothic style. The long, single-aisled nave is covered privilege—sits a crowned Robert of Anjou holding symbols
with a truss roof, as are the interiors of many other of royal power. To Louis’s left sits Charles Martel, king of
Pranciscan Italian churches, such as Santa Croce in Florence Hungary at his death in 1295. To the left of Robert of Anjou
(see Fig. 4.7). The walls, although massive in the typical are Philip of Taranto and Pietro Tempesta, and to the right
Italian style, are pierced with tall lancet windows. The apse of Charles Martel are Giovanni di Durazzo and Raimondo
end of the building is flat, and the windows in the center Berengario. The side panels of the tomb show relief figures
wall rise high to accommodate the multistoried tomb of of court counselors, suggesting the queen’s active involve-
Robert of Anjou. From the sequestered choir behind, the ment in affairs of state. The tomb chest itselfissupported by
nuns could view the elevation of the Host during Mass in figures of four virtues, standard funerary iconography of the
the church. Sancia was particularly devoted to the Eucharist time. Mary’s own effigy has the long, curving lines of late
and had originally wished to dedicate the church to Corpus Gothic forms. Her face is a crisply modeled ovoid reminiscent
Christi (the Body of Christ). It may have been the queen’s
intervention that gave the nuns at Santa Chiara an unprec-
edented direct view of the high altar, allowing them to see as
well as to hear Mass.

Tomb Monuments and Robert

the Wise

Probably as a result of the challenge to Robert’s claims to

the throne of Naples by his nephew, Carobert, the king con-
tinued to bolster his dynastic status with imposing works of
art. As part of this strategy, he transformed the interior of
Santa Chiara into a burial church for his branch of the
Ws
house ofAnjou. In fact, he seems to have intended to fill all
of Naples with images of his family, which had ruled the city
for a mere three generations. The campaign ofsculpture was
impressive, especially given the short period ofits execution
during Robert’s reign. No fewer than ten members of the morse
OR

royal family had tomb monuments constructed in various

Neapolitan churches during the twenty-year span between
BAS Avaval 13V4S.

The Tomb of Mary of Hungary

Robert erected the first of his royal Angevin tombs in

Naples for his mother, Mary of Hungary (Fig. 6.14). Because TIES
FERINARS
fas
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roseeeeerel!

his grandfather, Charles of Anjou, had established a local

school of builders, there was a competent architect on hand,
Gagliardo Primario, to design the tomb’s structure; but the
king was obliged to go outside Naples to obtain the services
of Tino da Camaino for the sculpture. Tino moved to Naples
6.14 Tomb of Mary of Hungary, 1325, commissioned by Robert of Anjou
from Siena in 1323 and spent the remaining fourteen years
from Gagliardo Primario and Tino da Camaino for Santa Maria
of his life in Angevin employ. The tomb of Mary of Hungary Donnaregina, Naples. Marble
was placed in Santa Maria Donnaregina, the church that
The church in which this tomb is located was founded by the queen.
Mary herself had built and into whose monastic community A monumental balcony across the back of the church allowed resident
she retired after her husband’s death in 1309 (see Fig. 6.7). nuns to worship unseen and undisturbed by the laity.

TOMB MONUMENTS AND ROBERT THE WISE 131

of the work of Simone Martini. The figures of the sons, Naples, in their case from Florence. The tomb is impressive
however, derive from standard seated ruler iconography; not only because ofits size but also because it looms over
they are repetitive and severe in their frontality, with heavily the main altar in front of the nuns’ choir at the east end of
massed draperies, characteristic of Angevin monuments of the church. It thus is the focal point for a visitor entering the
this period. building, occupying a site normally reserved for the church’s
patron saint. The tomb now bears three carved images
The Tomb of Robert of Anjou of Robert: a relief of the seated king at the center of the
sarcophagus, a recumbent effigy on the sarcophagus itself
The construction of Robert’s own tomb in Santa Chiara and, above this, a free-standing seated ruler under a canopy.
(Fig. 6.15), undoubtedly planned, in intention if not in fact, Originally a fourth figure of the king, kneeling in a donor
before his death in 1343, was formally overseen by his grand- pose to the right of aMadonna and Child, appeared at the
daughter and successor, Giovanna I. The sculptors Pacio summit of the monument.
and Giovanni Bertini (documented 1343-45), like Tino, Like Simone’s altarpiece depicting St. Louis of Toulouse,
with whom they probably trained, and most of the other Robert’s tomb indicates that he and his artists were intensely
artists in Robert’s employ, came from outside the region of conscious of the power of traditional imagery to carry
meaning. In the upper, seated figure of the king, Robert
assumes a rigid pose derived from Roman antiquity and
reserved for rulers. The Latin inscription at his feet trans-
lates, “Behold King Robert, recognized by his virtue.” The
use of the Latin term virtus is appropriate for a Christian
tomb, with its hope for the afterlife, but may also refer to the
original Roman meaning of the word, manliness, and its
traditional connotations of strength and valor, concepts
appropriate for a king.
The effigy of the dead king shows him crowned but also
barefoot and in the tunic ofa Franciscan friar, the clothes
he had chosen for his burial. Whereas the crown symbolizes
his secular power, the friar’s tunic marks his devotion to the
Franciscan order. Robert is depicted on the burial chest in
the center niche. He is flanked on the right by his first wife
and his son and daughter-in-law. To the left of Robert, at his
more prestigious right side, are the two main patrons of his
tomb and this church: Sancia of Majorca, his second wife,
who survived him by two years, and his successor and grand-
daughter Queen Giovanna I, as well as an unidentified male
figure. At the sides of the chest are figures of two infants.
Since Robert had the tombs of his son and daughter-in-law
constructed in Santa Chiara, he was visually and actually
surrounded by his family.

The End of the Angevin Dynasty

in Naples

The golden age under the Angevins did not survive the
death of King Robert the Wise in 1343. Different branches
of the French royal family struggled in vain for control of
the city until Ladislas of the house of Durazzo (t. 1399=
1414) brought relative peace to southern Italy, a situation
6.15 Tomb of King Robert of Anjou of Naples, planned c. 1343 (damaged conducive to a major increase in artistic activity.
in August 1943), commissioned by Giovanna | at the behest of Robert of In the early fifteenth century, the foremost patron in
Anjou from Pacio and Giovanni Bertini of Florence for Santa Chiara,
Naples after the royal family was Cardinal Archbishop
Naples
Enrico Minutolo, who sponsored the carving of elaborate
The grate in the wall behind the tomb allowed the cloistered nuns in the choir
portals for the facade of Naples Cathedral. The main portal
beyond to see the high altar during the celebration of the Mass.
(Fig. 6.16) is a spectacular, composite affair designed by
Antonio Baboccio (c. 1351-1435), a native of Piperno, south

132 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

of Rome, who had probably worked previously in Milan.
Fleshy leaves sprout along the edges of the gable; crimped
ribbons of stylized cloud gather into frothy bouquets in
the spandrels. The portal incorporates reused antique por-
phyry columns, two crouching lions probably appropriated
from the dismantled tomb of Charles Martel, and a Madonna
and Child by the Sienese sculptor Tino da Camaino. All of
these elements attest to the eclecticism of Neapolitan art in
the early fifteenth century, and to its desire to link the
present to the past.
The program focuses upon two images of the regal
Virgin, an enthroned Madonna and Child in the tympanum

6.17 Palazzo Penna, Naples, 1406, commissioned by the royal secretary

Antonio Penna

The facade was originally lavishly painted and gilded.

and a representation of her coronation in the oculus above.

Although the choice of subject may seem surprising in a
cathedral dedicated to the Neapolitan bishop-saint Gennaro,
it is consistent with the flourishing cult of the Virgin in
Europe generally and may reflect Minutolo’s own previous
position as cardinal archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore in
Rome. Smaller statues of saints in tabernacles to the sides of
the doorway represent several of the city’s other protectors,
though a number owe their inclusion personally to Cardinal
Minutolo, who himself kneels in the tympanum.
Just below,
his coat of arms shares a place of honor with busts of the
four Evangelists, along with the seal of the cathedral and the
coat of arms of King Ladislas, a schematic representation of
social negotiation in this city.
Similar eclecticism and exuberance characterize the
Palazzo Penna, erected in 1406 by Antonio Penna, the king’s
secretary (Fig. 6.17). Its entire lower story is faced with
smooth rustication, the upper blocks of which carry incised
decoration. Three rows at the height of the doorway bear a
feather pen (a literal rendition ofhis family name—Penna—
and an apt emblem for the king’s secretary). The vast
6.16 Main portal, Naples Cathedral, 1407, commissioned by Cardinal
majority carries the fleur-de-lys of the Angevin/Durazzesco
Enrico Minutolo from Antonio Baboccio. Marble dynasty. The rustication is surmounted by an arched corbel
Baboccio reused some small figures from an earlier monument to supplement
frieze which displays the devices of Penna’s employer, King
his own carvings. Ladislas—a rare privilege in the highly stratified courtly

THE END OF THE ANGEVIN DYNASTY IN NAPLES 133

 6.18 Tomb of King
Ladislas, 1414-28,
Cc ommissioned by
Giovanna II from
Andrea and Matteo
Nofri and others for
the chancel of San
Giovanni a Carbonara
5)
Naples. Marble

134 NAPLES: ART FOR A ROYAL KINGDOM

society of Naples. Within its simple rectangular frame the
stilted arched doorway (characteristic of Durazzesco build-
ing) 1s carved from white marble. It carries a fluttering
ribbon on which Penna flaunts his literary knowledge and
anticipates criticism with an epigram by the classical author
Martial: “You who pull faces and find it disagreeable to read
such words, may you envy everyone else, jealous man, and
may no one envy you.”

Queen Giovanna II and the Monument to King

Ladislas

The standard for such display was set by the royal court.
King Ladislas’s sister and successor, Queen Giovanna II
(r. 1414-35) saw to it that Ladislas’s tomb monument,
begun in 1414 and completed in 1428, would set new stand-
ards for royal grandeur (Fig. 6.18). Her sculptors—among
them the stone carvers Andrea (Andrea da Firenze; 1388-
c. 1455 Florence) and Matteo Nofri from Florence—followed
a plan, probably laid out by a Neapolitan. Occupying virtually
the entire height and breadth of the chancel of the church
of San Giovanni a Carbonara, the monument competed
internationally with the multistoried tombs of the della
Scala in Verona (see Fig. 9.9), the equestrian monuments
of the Visconti in Milan (see Fig. 9.8), and the canopied
extravaganzas of the dukes of Burgundy in Dijon. Locally, it
represents an amplification of the tomb of Robert the Wise
(see Fig. 6.15), with a life-sized statue of the queen sitting
next to her brother in the second level. Giovanna’s portrait
is blocky and severe, an unassailable image of regality, her
6.19 Coronation of
the Virgin, c. 1428, commissioned by Sergianni
individuality repressed to express the dignity of her office. Caracciolo from Leonardo da Besozzo for the Caracciolo Chapel, San
The monument culminated dramatically in the trium- Giovanni a Carbonara, Naples. Fresco
phant equestrian image of King Ladislas himself at its apex.
As in the inscription on the Palazzo Penna, ancient Roman Three rows of frescoes adorn the walls. The top two
ideas are presented in chivalric garb. Following Roman include scenes from the life of the Virgin by Leonardo
imperial custom, the words “Divus Ladislus” appear on the da Besozzo (active 1421-88 Milan and Naples), son of
tomb. Thus Giovanna claims divine rank for her brother— Michelino, the renowned Milanese painter, miniaturist,
shocking arrogance for the tomb of a Christian ruler. The and building master (see Figs. 9.28 and 9.29). Leonardo’s
heroic and classical/pagan themes are encapsulated in the presence in Naples in 1428 demonstrates the artistic
concluding line of his epitaph: “his soul, single and free, connections between the two courts. In the Coronation of
sought starry Olympus.” the Virgin (Fig. 6.19) he employed interlocking and curving
patterns similar to those that Baboccio had used in his
The Caracciolo Chapel music-making angels on the Naples Cathedral portal
(see Fig. 6.16), though softened with his own version of the
Queen Giovanna’s transformation of the chancel of San delicate features and finely spun detail for which his father
Giovanni a Carbonara encouraged Sergianni Caracciolo, the was famous. Sergianni appears in the Coronation kneeling in
queen’s lover, chief advisor, and the court’s grand seneschal, his best damasks and furs at the bottom left of the angelic
to build his family’s burial chapel directly behind the high aureole, accompanied by portraits of other courtiers and the
altar and Ladislas’s tomb. It was a piece of exquisite courtly sensitive, searching features of adoring saints.
ambiguity, at once modest, since the chapel is almost invisible One would never sense from these splendid commissions
from the nave, and yet shrewdly opportunistic in its effective that Giovanna’s reign was particularly difficult, challenged
conversion of Ladislas’s monument into an enormous throughout by her barons and then by a competitor of her
triumphal frontispiece for his own chapel. The polygonal own making, Alfonso of Aragon, whom she adopted as her
plan of Caracciolo’s chapel may deliberately recall the form successor. Alfonso ousted her from the throne after a long
of ancient Roman imperial mausolea, giving the structure struggle and thus established a new, Aragonese, dynasty in
another level of exalted status. Naples whose art we will discuss in Part II.

THE END OF THE ANGEVIN DYNASTY IN NAPLES 135

 Venice: The Most Serene Republic

and monasteries, but once again none

is taller than the communal tower,
which dominates the governmental and
religious center of Piazza San Marco
at the heart of the city. Just to the left,
the Grand Canal, the city’s prestigious
main waterway, snakes through the
most densely populated part of the city
in a reverse S pattern, bridged at its
midpoint by the famous Rialto Bridge.
The naturally protected location and
relatively raised elevation of Rialto (riva
alta, literally “high bank”) attracted the
city’s first major settlement and eventu-
ally became its chief commercial district.
As in other cities, a major shopping
street from Rialto to San Marco, called
the Merceria, connected the poles of
commercial, religious, and governmen-
tal life. The city’s two major industrial
districts are located at the top and right
of Hogenberg’s view: the islands of
Murano, center of Venice’s renowned
glass-making facilities, kept separate
from the city to diminish the likelihood
of fire, and the huge rectangular precinct
of the Arsenal, home to the city’s ship-
yards, close to the main shipping lanes.
By the thirteenth century, Venice
boasted the most impressive commercial
and military fleet in the Mediterranean.
Exerting dominion over an empire that
made claims as far eastas Constantinople
(a city that the Venetians sacked, looted,
and then occupied with their Frankish
ew Italian cities could rival Venice’s success at defining allies at the time of the Fourth Crusade in 1204), Venice was
and securing a unique self-image and international arguably “lord of quarter and half a quarter of the world.”
reputation. Built during the fifth-century invasions ofItaly Whenever the Venetians had a chance, they reminded the
on hundreds of small islands off the Adriatic coast, the city world that in 1177 their doge (the elected head of the Venetian
looked like none other: canals served as its main thorough- government) had presided over the reconciliation of Emperor
fares, and the surrounding lagoon provided natural fortifi- Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alexander HI, mar king Venice
cation. A late sixteenth-century print (Fig. 7.1) presents this as at least equal and perhaps superior to the papacy and the
watery marvel from a bird’s-eye perspective, better to admire empire. Venetians fashioned their city and its monuments
the city’s major features and surrounding ring of islands both to reflect and to enhance their status as a world power,
and marshy mainland. Tall towers, difficult to build on incorporating the plunder of their conquests into the
fabric
shifting alluvial soil, mark the city’s numerous churches of the city as a way of commemorating their victories.

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7.1 Perspective View of Venice and the Lagoon, 1572, commissioned from F. Hogenberg for G. Braun, Civitatis orbis Terrarum (Cologne, 1572)

Hogenberg’s view is based on a remarkably accurate and enormous (53 x 111” [134.5 x 281.8 cm]) woodcut view ofthe city made by Jacopo de’ Barbari in 1500.

Understandably, standard depictions of Venice show the winged lion, symbol of the city’s patron saint St. Mark but
city with its formal point of entrance from the sea (Fig. 7.2). reworked from a Persian chimera, crowns the column on the
A visitor arriving by ship would have been greeted by the right. In 1329 the Venetians paired the lion with a statue of
facade of the Doge’s Palace (labeled on a detail of Jacopo de’ St. Theodore on the other column. The torso of the figure is
Barbari’s woodcut map of the city as Pala[{zzo] Civilco], a reused fragment from a Roman curaiss statue ofamilitary
“civic palace”) with its ceremonial and honorific loggia for leader, the spolivm used to manufacture an ancient history
the doge at the center ofits upper level. Two free-standing for Venice. Both fierce images, they stood over an area
columns guard the entrance to the Piazzetta, the name given marked for public executions, leaving little doubt that the
to the open area flanking the Doge’s Palace and leading Venetian government was committed to maintaining public
from the lagoon to the city’s main civic space, the Piazza San order. While the columns and their statues form a proces-
Marco. They recall imperial commemorative monuments in sional gateway into the city, the statues look toward the city,
Rome and Constantinople and are themselves spoils from not toward the sea. They simultaneously direct movement
monumental ancient buildings on the mainland. A bronze into the Piazzetta San Marco, which moves along the
flank of the Doge’s Palace to St. Mark’s, and confer the city’s
7.0 (opposite) Rediscovery of
the Relics of St. Mark, signed and dated April
protection on people leaving the city. Moreover, they were
22, 1345, commissioned by Doge Andrea Dandolo from Paolo Veneziano
and his sons Luca and Giovanni for part ofthe cover of the Pala d’Oro, clearly visible to legislators inside the Doge’s Palace; an early
St. Mark’s, Venice. Tempera on panel account indicates that when they saw the lion of St. Mark
Altarpieces were regularly covered during parts of the year, especially during struck by lightning during one of their sessions, they took it
penitential seasons, although most much more simply than this example. as a very bad omen indeed.

VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC 137

 eeaaas%
eaeaaseis

7.2 View of
Venice (detail), 1500, Jacopo de’ Barbari, published by the Nuremberg merchant Anton Kolb. Woodcut (Museo Correr, Venice)

1 Piazzetta San Marco; 2 Piazza San Marco; 3 Ducal Palace; 4 St. Mark’s Basilica

St. Mark’s Basilica in front of a splendid marble revetment, also pillaged

from ancient monuments. A small porphyry group from the
Moving past the columns and the Doge’s Palace one encoun- fourth century marks the corner of the treasury at the far
ters St. Mark’s Basilica (Fig. 7.3), officially the chapel of right. These figures, who represent the Tetrarchs or four
the doge, whose palace it adjoined. According to legend, co-emperors of the lace Roman Empire, had lost their original
two merchants, called Buono of Malamocco and Rustico identifications to legends that emphasized their conspirato-
of Torcello (names obviously fabricated—the “Good Man” rial character. As told by the Venetians, one pair plotted
and the “Rustic’—from islands in the archipelago owing against the other and their factionalism led to their mutual
allegiance to Venice) stole the body of St. Mark from assassination. Legend had it that their substantial wealth
Alexandria in Egypt and carried it back to Venice. In 828/29 was inherited by the consensual Venetian state, which pre-
they presented their saintly relic not to the patriarch (head served it in the treasury of St. Mark’s inside the building
of the Venetian Church) but to the doge, thus linking St. just behind them. The reused carvings,Sy then, celebrated the
Mark inextricably to the state. It was the doge who ordered triumph of the common good over factionalism in Venice.
the construction ofthe basilica to house the saint’s remains;
the city’s official cathedral is marginalized at the far end of Piazza San Marco
the city beyond the Arsenal.
The flank of St. Mark’s which adjoins the Doge’s Palace Moving in front of the church, the visitor entered one of the
(Fig. 7.4) originally featured a major entrance at its left largest civic spaces in all ofItaly, what Napoleon later called
end (now closed) and a series of war trophies that are still the most splendid drawing room in Europe. Already in the
visible on the right. Two square pilasters, traditionally called 1160s and 1170s, when most Italian cities had not yet begun
the pillars of Acre but brought from the abandoned church a systematic process of creating large, open, communal
of St. Polyeuctus in Constantinople as war booty, stand spaces in their central districts, the Venetians pulled down

138 VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

7.3 Procession in St. Mark’s Square, part of the cycle Miracoli della Croce, subsidiary domes link it to the well-known form of earlier
1496 gmmissioned by the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice,
Byzantine churches deriving from Constantine’s Church of
fr entile Bellini. Qil on canvas, 10’ 7” x 14' (3.67 x 7.45 m) (Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice) the Apostles in Constantinople, an appropriate model for a
church dedicated to St. Mark who was himself an apostle.
St. Mark’s is the church structure in the background; a portion of the Doge’s
Palace is visible to the right. The palace of the Procurators stands at the far left. While the patriarch guides the body of St. Mark into the
basilica, the doge, recognizable in his domed red hat and
splendid red and gold vestments to the right of center, joins
small houses in front of St. Mark’s and covered over throngs of Venetian leaders who participate in the miracu-
pre-existing canals to create the enormous piazza visible lous event. Some time between 1267 and 1275 a Venetian
in Giovanni Bellini’s later representation of the celebration chronicler, Martin da Canal, cited the mosaic to establish
of the feast of Corpus Domini in that space (see Fig. 7.3). In the validity of the basilica’s foundation myth: “And if some
1266 the piazza was paved, and in 1269 the palace of the of you wish to verify that those things happened just as I
Procurators, high-ranking citizens charged
with the embellishment and maintenance of
St. Mark’s and its surrounding public build-
ings and squares, was restored, giving a
unified facade on the long axis of the piazza.
Dominating the entire space were the
exotic forms of St. Mark’s Basilica, built
between 1063 and 1094. The transferral of
St. Mark’s relics into the church is repre-
sented in a mosaic over the far left portal
of the basilica (Fig. 7.5). One of the most
accurate architectural representations of the
thirteenth century, the mosaic shows the
church before it received the elaborate white
cresting and tabernacles that have crowned
the facade since the fifteenth century.
Nevertheless the late eleventh-century
church is clearly identifiable. Its central and

7.4 Pillars of Acre and Four Tetrarchs, view of

southwest corner of St. Mark’s, Venice

PIAZZA SAN MARCO 139

 §
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7.5. Translation of
the Relics of St. Mark, c. 1270, commissioned by the Procurators of St. Mark’s for the left portal of St. Mark’s, Venice. Mosaic

told you, come to see the beautiful church of St. Mark’s in traces of other habitation dating to c. 200, sites that were
Venice, and look at it in front, because this story is written buried as inhabitants of the city continuously built up the
there just as I have told it to you.” Art rivaled the written islands to escape the encroaching sea. As the old remains
word as a record of civic traditions. of the city disappeared the Venetians replaced the actual
Local myth and legend also surrounded four ancient life- and most likely dimly remembered real Roman history of
sized gilt bronze horses, represented clearly over St. Mark’s the city with a new mythology of place, claiming another
central entrance in the mosaic and in Bellini’s painting “Rome”—that founded by Constantine in the east—as a
of the Piazza San Marco (see Fig. 7.3). Plundered from the model. This model, far more impressive than the modest
Hippodrome in Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth remains of Roman Venice suggest, simultaneously asserted
Crusade, the horses evoked a metaphor for the quadriga an ancient history and yet distinguished Venice from other
Domini, the chariot of the Lord, which medieval writers city-states in Italy as unique in its classical heritage.
imagined as being drawn by the four Evangelists, another
apt image for a church and city dedicated to St. Mark, Images of the State and the
one of the gospel writers. Because the horses held pride
of place on a platform from which the doge made public
Individual
pronouncements and the animals were bridleless and thus
triumphantly free, Venetians saw them as consummate Relatively little art survives from late thirteenth- and early
emblems of their independence and liberty. As military loot fourteenth-century Venice—in spite of the fact that we know
they also testified to the success with which Venice defended that the Venetians spent considerable effort reclaiming
and extended its power. land for new neighborhoods, expanding civic shipbuilding
It is clear from this civic imagery that Venice looked to facilities, and supporting the new mendicant orders as they
Constantinople and the Byzantine east for many of its mod- gained popularity among the general populace. Painting
els. Alone among Italian city-states in seeming not to have and mosaics in this period depended heavily on Byzantine
an actual Roman history, the Venetians formulated myths as prototypes and their style was remarkably resistant to change.
fantastical and charming as the city itself. New archaeological In the mid-fourteenth century, earthquakes, flood, famine,
excavations 10 feet (3 meters) below the ground line of and plague, as well as wars with Crete and Genoa, threat-
the modern city, however, have revealed Roman streets and ened Venice’s stability, but the city’s political and social

140 VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

structures remained stable: not without reason did Venetians by Doge Pietro Orseolo I. A later doge, Ordelafo Falier,
dub their city “La Serenissima”—the “most serene” republic. enlarged the altarpiece in 1105, and yet more panels—
including some looted from Constantinople after the
Doge Andrea Dandolo Venetians’ conquest of that city—were added in 1209. In its
present dazzling form, however, the Pala d’Oro dates from
Expanding definitions of the office of doge gave the head of 1345, when Andrea Dandolo added a sumptuous Gothic-
the Venetian state an increasingly powerful and visible role style gold frame, some new enamels, and an enormous
in the city. A key player in this development was Andrea number of pearls and precious stones, including rubies,
Dandolo (doge 1343-54). A literary scholar (he was a friend sapphires, and emeralds. He also added two inscription
of Petrarch), Dandolo articulated the ideal of the doge as the blocks, commemorating his own contribution and those of
personification of the Venetian state. In his Chronica extensa, his predecessors.
a major history of the republic, Dandolo emphasized how The central figure of the altarpiece, an enthroned Christ,
individual doges gave glory to Venice. In their accomplish- pays homage to the past through its iconic Byzantine pose,
ments, the abstract ideal of the ducal office took on concrete, but Dandolo’s goldsmith, working in the cloisonné enamel
particularized form, newly celebrated by Dandolo. technique established in the earlier panels, enhanced the
figure with crisply pleated drapery, carefully placed feet, and
Enhancements to St. Mark’s three-dimensional cast fingers and hands, making the entire
figure distinctly more lifelike than the similarly positioned
Christ in the earlier mosaics of the Florence Baptistry, for
The Pala d’Oro example (see Fig. 4.4). On the Pala d’Oro gems and pearls
adorn Christ’s halo, his throne, and the open book on his
Andrea Dandolo made his concept of the ducal office lap. Meticulously cast golden leaves and a filigree border in
evident in a major artistic project that built upon the work the lozenge around Christ wed flowing Gothic curves to
of several of his predecessors. This was the embellishment Byzantine splendor.
of the Pala d’Oro (Fig. 7.6), the great golden altarpiece above Dandolo called on Paolo Veneziano (active 1333-58
the high altar of the doges’ own chapel, St. Mark’s Basilica. Venice) and his workshop to provide painted wooden panels
The original altarpiece—perhaps the first of its kind in west- to cover the enamels on non-feast days. Paolo came from a
ern Europe to stand on rather than in front of an altar—con- family of painters; he is among the first to be documented
sisted of anumber of enameled gold panels depicting saints. as an official civic artist. Particularly striking is the panel
The Pala d’Oro was commissioned in 976 in Constantinople depicting the rediscovery of St. Mark’s relics within the

7.6 Pala d’Oro, restored and embellished in 1345 by Andrea Dandolo for St. Mark’s, Venice. Gold and enamel, 137 x 55” (348 x 140 cm)

ENHANCEMENTS TO ST. MARK’S 141

 e } 4 Hi i{ A
SRAAD DD:
 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

ithe Image as Document

In the prologue to the second part of Les | have recounted the deeds and undertak- with our eyes, so that when one sees a story
Estoirs de Venise, a history of the Venetian ings of their ancestors because there are painted or hears a naval or land battle
Republic written between 1267 and 1275, many people in the world who would like recounted or reads about the deeds of his
the chronicler Martin da Canal argues to know of these things, and this is not ancestors in a book, he seems to be present
for the importance of painted as well as possible—for one man has died, a second at the scene of battle. And since events live,
written accounts of events. is dying and a third is being born, and thanks to paintings and oral accounts and
thus one cannot recount to everyone what writing, | have undertaken to occupy myself
| will tell you the deeds and battles that has happened in those times—unless it is with the deeds that the Venetians have
the Venetians carried out in those days made known to them by means of writing accomplished in the service of the Holy
[of Doge Ranieri Zeno, r. 1253-68] just as or painting. We see writings and paintings Church and in honor oftheir noble city.

(from Patricia Fortini Brown. “Painting and History in Renaissance Venice.” Art History, 7 [1984]: pp. 263-94 [extract p. 265])

7.7 (opposite) Baptistry, St. Mark’s, Venice, 1342-54, mosaics and tomb Dandolo’s contributions to the baptistry were completed
commissioned by Andrea Dandolo by his funerary monument (Fig. 7.8 and see the right side
The bronze baptismal font is a later addition, commissioned from Jacopo wall in Fig. 7.7), which he was planning shortly before he
Sansovino c. 1545, but produced by his workshop.
died. Unlike the tomb monuments of all his predecessors,
Dandolo’s tomb celebrates the individual holding the ducal
basilica (see Fig. 7.0). At the center the doge and the Venetian office. It is the first to provide an effigy of the deceased doge
patriarch kneel before an altar on which stands a small
golden polyptych. St. Mark’s head and hand emerge from
a niche in one of the marble and porphyry piers behind it.
Pious crowds of prelates, city officials, and citizens look
on, one on the far left leading the gaze of his compatriots
with an outstretched arm and hand pointing toward the
saint. The precise rendering of the basilica’s marble screens,
balconies, and apse, its window ofleaded glass roundels, and
its standing saint in a glowing gold niche suggest that the
work served partly as documentation, anchoring the event
depicted in a setting immediately recognizable to Venetians.

St. Mark’s Baptistry

Dandolo selected St. Mark’s Baptistry as his burial site and

replaced earlier fresco decorations with mosaics (Fig. 7.7)
inspired by Byzantine models. Seated evangelists occupy the
entrance arch, while the central cupola bears an image of
Christ in Glory surrounded by a ring of standing apostles
depicting the Mission of the Apostles. Smaller figures next to
each apostle, one submerged to his chest in a baptismal font
and the other standing before a miniaturized building,
graphically illustrate Christ’s command to the apostles that
they preach and baptize. The international theme would 7.8 Tomb of Doge Andrea Dandolo, before 1354, commissioned by
have resonated with the Venetians, whose commercial Andrea Dandolo for the Baptistry, St. Mark’s, Venice. Marble
activities and political ambitions extended across the The inscription beneath the tomb reads: “This small space of a cold tomb
Mediterranean. Scenes narrating episodes from the life of St. contains the limbs of the valorous one whom the venerable army ofvirtues
never deserted. Tenets for him were probity, judgment, penetrating intelligence,
John the Baptist on the side walls share the same gold back- moderation, and deeds of nobility of high renown, and noble work. He secured
grounds and miniaturized settings as the cupola mosaics for the country long-lasting honor for which he is worthy of memory. And
and the Crucifixion on the end wall, ensuring decorative because his shining deeds resound to the nations throughout the world, the
pen allows the recording of many meritorious things worthy of recounting.
unity, but the mosaicists turned to more recent models for
Andrea, to whom the noble house of Dandolo gave birth, worthy in every
story telling, relaxing some of the figures in a manner remi- respect ofthe Venetian state, when the seventh day of September, in 1354,
niscent of northern Gothic art. he died.” (Trans. Debra Picus)

ENHANCEMENTS TO ST. MARK’S 143

7.9 Choir screen, 1394,
commissioned by Antonio Venier
with Pietro Cornaro and Michele
Steno, Procurators of St. Mark’s,
from Pierpaolo and Jacobello
dalle Masegne for St. Mark’s,
Venice

The crucifix over the center of the

screen is a work in silver; the flanking
statues are carved from marble. An
inscription states that the work was
made “in the time ofthe excellent
lord Antonio Venier, by the grace of
God, Doge ofVenice, and ofthe
noblemen the lords Pietro Cornaro
and Michele Steno, honorable
procurators ofthe blessed and
most holy church ofthe Evangelist
St. Mark.”

and to incorporate other features long seen on important

tombs elsewhere in Italy: angels parting a cloth of honor,
niches, and narrative reliefs. A lengthy inscription below the
tomb is one of the earliest to laud the specific achievements
of a doge. The elected nature of the ducal office in republi-
can Venice discouraged any representation of the doge as a
living figure comparable to those of absolutist rulers (see
Fig. 6.15). Yet Andrea Dandolo’s monument marks a bold
step in that direction. At the center of the sarcophagus sits
an enthroned Madonna and Child, a gentle but persuasive
image of authority. The city’s traditional founding date of
March 2S, the feast of the Annunciation, is represented by a
statuette of the Angel Gabriel on the right-hand corner of
the sarcophagus and one of the Virgin on the left. The effigy
of Dandolo, the statuettes, and narratives of the martyrdom
of Andrea’s patron saints, John the Evangelist and Andrew,
are fluidly carved and convincingly three-dimensional;
originally polychrome decoration made their forms and the
lush leafwork around them more vivid.

The Choir Screen

In 1394 the brothers Pierpaolo (active 1383-1403 Mantua,

Bologna, and Venice) and Jacobello dalle Masegne (active
1383-c. 1409 Mantua, Bologna, and Venice) finished a new
choir screen for the basilica (Fig. 7.9). Sons of a Venetian
stonemason, they seem to have been aware of contemporary
developments in Tuscan sculpture as well as local traditions 7.10 Choir screen (detail of the Virgin, Crucifix, and St. John), 1394,
commissioned by Antonio Venier with Pietro Cornaro and Michele Steno
in Venice. An inscription indicates that Doge Antonio Venier, >
Procurators of St. Mark’s, from Pierpaolo and Jacobello dalle Masegne
who ruled for the unusually long period of eighteen years (Virgin and St. John) and Jacopo di Marco Benato (Crucifix) for
(1382-1400), along with two of the officers responsible St. Mark’s, Venice. Marble (Virgin and St. John) and silver (Crucifix)

144 VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

for oversight of the building, chose the brothers and were having to sacrifice any of the pre-existing structure or
the sponsors of the project. accumulated decoration. Even the coverings over the domes,
The general arrangement of the choir screen, with its pan- rebuilt after a fire in 1419, retained their unmistakably
eled balustrade, columnar supports, and surmounting fig- Veneto-Byzantine character when they were raised to a
ures of apostles, conforms to local traditions. The creative greater, more stylish height and capped with fanciful little
challenge for the dalle Masegne was to enhance the tradi- cupolas resembling inflated parachutes. Paradoxically,
tional composition in such a way that the new screen this building, with its idiosyncratic mixture of Byzantine
was both more splendid than its predecessor and still and Venetian Gothic styles, achieves a sense of imminent
harmonious with the rest of the basilica. The screen echoes levitation that many a purely Gothic church, despite flying
the basilica’s marble-faced walls with geometric inlays, buttresses and soaring vaults, fails to equal.
attached columns (in the lowest level), and broad horizon-
tal bands ofdecoration. The spiritual intensity of the stand- The Church of Santi Giovanni e
ing apostles in the much earlier mosaics above animates the
statues on the top of the screen. Their taut, thin form and
Paolo
almost metallically bright, crisp finish also evoke the previ-
ous metalwork of liturgical vessels, reliquaries, and the Andrea Dandolo was the last doge to be buried in St. Mark’s.
famous Pala d’Oro (see Fig. 7.6) glimmering behind them. At Many of his successors (twenty-five of them) chose instead
the same time, the statues are more lifelike in pose and the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Fig. 7.11), making this
demeanor than earlier works, encouraging emotional and Dominican church (whose name is commonly shortened to
psychological engagement with the mourning Virgin and St. San Zanipolo in the Venetian dialect) the third major focus
John flanking the more iconic silver crucifix at the center of civic ritual after St. Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace. The
(Fig. 7.10). The Virgin wrings her hands in grief and turns church was begun around 1333, and the crossing and apse
her head away from her son. Her forehead, eyebrows, and must have been complete by the early 1360s, when Giovanni
eyes bend and stretch in anxious tension, as do those of St. Dolfin (doge 1356-61) was buried in a tomb on one of the
John, who, hand to his face, expresses a quieter but just as side walls of the choir. In its spaciousness and lofty vaulting,
intense sorrow. the church resembles others built by and for the Dominicans,
such as Santa Maria Novella in Florence (see Fig. 4.9). In
The Facade Venice, however, the vast open space is especially remarkable
given the wet, sandy subsoil on which it had to be built.
On the exterior of St. Mark’s the Venetians added spiky
columnar tabernacles to the upper edges of the north (left)
facade, continuing these around all three of the exposed
facades (see Figs. 7.3 and 7.5). This Gothicizing sculptural
embellishment, begun in 1384, continued into the 1420s.
Local Venetian carvers were joined by sculptors from
Tuscany and Lombardy, all of whom submerged much of
their individuality for the benefit of the overall scheme.
The addition of these tabernacles may have been suggested
by the fact that the corners of St. Mark’s were already
marked by open two-story porches with attached columns
on the lower level and by similar smaller structures at its
upper corners. Economically building on pre-existing forms,
the Venetians thus validated tradition even as they embraced
innovation. The tabernacles epitomize Venetian Gothic
exuberance, with their gracefully poised, cone-shaped roofs,
each encircled with a corona of decorative, flame-shaped
crenellations. Similar canopied tabernacles were inserted
into the depressions between each arch of the facades.
As was the custom on church fagades throughout Europe,
and also on many royal and noble tombs, figural sculpture
occupied these airy perches. The Venetians also added
Gothic peaks of billowing marble fronds over the rounded
crowns of the brick walls. Bust-length prophets, many hold-
ing elaborately twisted and flapping banderoles, rise from
every other crest. The Venetians showed themselves adept 7.11 Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, begun c. 1333, commissioned by the
in employing fashionable Gothic forms without, however, Dominicans

THE CHURCH OF SANTI GIOVANNI E PAOLO 145

Although mainland models inspired the soaring nave arcade,
cross vaults, polygonal apse (with complex window tracery),
and transept chapels, local structural compromises included
building both the piers and the outer walls of relatively
ligheweight brick rather than stone, the vaults of wood,
and tying the entire structure together with an insistent grid
of wooden beams at both the height of the capitals and
the springing of the vaults. A Byzantine-style dome was later
added over the crossing to stress Venetian traditions, but
the overall impression is Gothic spatial expanse, a testament
to the strong influence of northern artistic models and
international expectations that mendicant churches should
be suitably large to accommodate their increased following.

The Tomb of Doge Michele Morosini

Santi Giovanni e Paolo provided a splendid setting for ducal

funerary monuments. The tomb of Doge Michele Morosin1
(d. 1382) is a multimedia extravaganza of marble, mosaic,
and fresco well suited to the enormity of the chancel wall on
which it hangs (Fig. 7.12)—and a testimony to the possibilities
opened earlier in the century by the tomb of Andrea
Dandolo (see Fig. 7.8). Morosini’s body lies in state under a
marble tabernacle whose architectural forms were repeated
in a towering fresco behind it. Where earlier doges had
shunned self-celebration, Morosini’s body is tipped toward
the viewer and his face is carved of glowing Carrara marble
that contrasts with the duller local stone used for his body
and clothing. In the lunette he and his wife appear kneeling
and being recommended by their patron saints to Christ,
the Virgin Mary, and St. John. This subject had appeared on
painted panels in earlier ducal tombs and on the back wall
of the baptistry at St. Mark’s, where Dandolo was buried,
but never before had the costly medium of mosaic been used
directly on a ducal tomb, evoking St. Mark’s and all the
power and prestige with which that monument was invested.
As we shall see, the fictive niches, piers, and spires of the
fresco behind his tomb had further civic resonance insofar
as they recalled the similar structure of frescoes in the
7.12 Tomb of Doge Michele Morosini, 1382, commissioned by the
Doge’s Palace, where the doge sat enthroned (see Fig. 7.19). Morosini family for Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Marble, stone, mosaic,
and fresco

The Doge’s Palace

heavy ground story to support less weighty areas above, the
In 1340 the Venetian Senate decided to rebuild a large por- open arcades suggest a levitated structure in which light and
tion of the Doge’s Palace (Fig. 7.14) so as to provide more air move around freely even at the corners, where a slightly
ample space for gatherings of the Great Council. Like the enlarged pier deftly provides the necessary feeling ofstability.
church of San Zanipolo and the Pala d’Oro, the palace dis- The building is a visual tour de force, celebrating the confi-
plays many Gothic features—in this case, notably, the rich dent Venetian state and the security of its maritime site. The
arcading on the first two stories. Above, a taut skin ofinter- date of 1344 inscribed on one of the ground floor capitals
locking, diamond-patterned pink and white stone further indicates that work moved ahead under Doge Andrea
softens any appearance of weight and mass. At the roof line, Dandolo. Just what the building looked like by the time he
the usual severe crenellations are replaced by fanciful flames died, however, is highly debatable. The structure was still
of white stone. The effect is exotic and may owe some ofits unroofed in July 1348 when the Senate ordered the building
flavor to Islamic precedents, of which the seafaring Venetians to be covered and debris to be hauled away. Five days later, the
would have been well aware. Venetian Gothic is well laced project was cut short by the onset of plague. Work resumed
with Eastern luxury. Reversing normal expectations of a in February 1350 and must have been completed by 1365.

146 VENICE: TRE MOST SERENE REPUB ENE

 CONTEMPORARY SCENE

Art and Violence

Renaissance cities were rife oN 7.13 From Giacomo Franco,
me |]
cr Habiti d’>huomeni et donne
with raucous behavior and | Nan
sometimes violence. Rival- venetiane con la processione della
serenissima signoria et altri
ries with competing city-
particolari cioe trionfi feste
states and intense local

it
ceremonie publiche della
political factionalism often nobilissima citta di Venetia,
led to armed conflict within Venice, 1600s, reprint 1878.
the city itself as well as on Engraving
the battlefield. It was not
always clear who posed a chain mail before fighting
greater danger: the soldiers for control of the top of
of an opposing city-state or the Carmini Bridge. The king
one’s neighbors. called off the event after
In an attempt to control three hours, saying that it
violence within their jurisdic- was less violent than an
tions, city governments actual battle but more dan-
passed laws limiting the gerous than a game really
carrying and use of arms. should be.
To enable people to let off In Rome visitors and
steam, they also provided citizens enjoyed the vicarious
officially sanctioned oppor- terror of watching wild
tunities for engaging in vio- horses run down the Via del
lent and often dangerous Corso (Street of the Race) to
behavior. Rules were relaxed the base of the Capitoline
especially during Carnival, a Hill. Siena was—and still is—
festival in late winter just famous for men on horse-
before the start of the peni- back careening around the
tential season of Lent. During Piazza del Campo to claim
Carnival men were allowed the city’s palio (ceremonial
to dress as women, slaves as banner). In Florence tourna-
masters, laity as clergy. ments held in the large
As seen in Figure 7.13, a squares in front of the men-
sixteenth-century Venetian print, neighbor- gentler pastime, a hip-rocking dance. dicant churches of Santa Croce and Santa
hood groups and city officials also organ- Although coarse and often inhumane, Maria Novella were a bit more ritualized
ized thrilling—and cruel—spectator sports. these events appealed to a wide audience, in their violence, though the public could
In the right foreground young men run up including the noblewomen shown here indulge its taste for blood and physical
a bridge and leap to grasp a tethered goose perched in windows and balconies over- contact by cheering on their neighborhood
by its neck; both successful and unsuccess- looking the scene. City officials were proud players in the annual rugby-like soccer
ful participants landed unceremoniously in of such events. For example, when King matches staged in the city’s piazzas.
the canal below. At the left, two masochis- Henry Ill of France visited Venice in 1574 he Sometimes these events got out of hand,
tic figures on a platform submit themselves was treated to a stick fight. Representatives occasionally leading to riots—as hotly con-
to clawing by a cat strapped to a board. from the two major factions in the city— tested games may do even today—but for
Just behind them dogs bait a bear. In the one claiming to have their origins on the the most part they reinforced both civic and
background spectators run from an enraged mainland, the other from the islands in the group solidarity, domesticating and limiting
bull. In the center square, citizens enjoy a lagoon—donned rough iron helmets and civic violence.

Santo Stefano though it was evidently restored and expanded in the

early fifteenth century. Painted diaper patterns of repeated
The attractiveness of the Doge’s Palace to Venetian patrons geometrical units on the upper walls evoke the real stone
is evidenced by its imitation—in both stone and paint—in patterns on the Doge’s Palace. Bands of florid leafwork,
other buildings. An example of simulated stonework can be painted in grisaille (gray and white) to resemble unpainted
found in the Augustinian church of Santo Stefano (Fig. 7.15). stonework, follow the nave arcade, mimicking another
Exact dating of the structure of the church is uncertain, key civic monument, the renovated facade of St. Mark’s.

THE DOGE’S PALACE 147

 reer; asset! '
mie rauiaRUHtE SE

Above each cusp ride bust-length figures of exemplary

Augustinians holding fluttering banderoles. Thus the deco-
ration, in its economy, suggests monastic poverty while still
underlining ties to the Venetian state.
The church’s wooden ceiling is also characteristically
Venetian, though few other examples have survived centu-
ries of fires and renovation. Resembling the inverted keel
of a large boat, it reflects local expertise in ship building
and provides an elaborately profiled but relatively light-
weight covering which respects the structural difficulties
of building in this island city. Its apparent coffering (that
1s, its division into small square panels) is also carried out
in paint rather than three-dimensionally, an excellent
example of how patrons without a great deal of money
could create effects emulating the city’s more expensive and
2 prestigious monuments.

j Sculpture on the Doge’s Palace

:
f
‘| Sculpture populates all the capitals on the lower story of the
Doge’s Palace and marks its exposed corners. As in the
reliefs on the campanile of Florence’s Duomo (see Fig. 4.27),

7.15 Santo Stefano, Venice, c. 1407, commissioned by the resident

Augustinian friars
Most of the architectural decoration of this interior is painted, not carved.

148 VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

the capitals narrate scenes from sacred history and celebrate
the city’s economic life. Sculptural groups placed at the cor-
ners are far more admonitory, commemorating human
weakness and frailty, the rationale for the establishment and
rule of government. At the near corner stand Adam and Eve
with the Archangel Michael hovering over them in the story
above (Fig. 7.16). Michael is both a judgmental and hopeful
image. He expelled Adam and Eve from the garden and will
weigh human souls and mete out punishment at the end of
time, but he also leads the chosen to paradise. As such, he is
a singularly effective exemplar of civic order and justice. His
flattened, iconic form, familiar in such iconography, con-
trasts markedly with Adam and Eve below. Their bodies are
convincingly three-dimensional, and the sculptor has paid
close attention to the structure of their legs. Their faces,
fashioned with the tight features of contemporary German
sculpture, express clear-sighted self-awareness that is mani-
fest, too, in their raised right hands, more gestures of warn-
ing than responses to their own temptation. The trunk of
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which effec-
tively marks the edge of the building, joins them in a single

7.17 Drunkenness of Noah, 1340s, commissioned by the Venetian

government for the Doge’s Palace, Venice. Istrian stone
Noah’s third son is depicted on another relief across the arch to the right
(not visible in this illustration).

composition; its sprouting branches cover the first couple’s

genitals and provide them with shade.
A complementary image of the Drunkenness of Noah
(Fig. 7.17) appears at the far end of the lagoon facade of
the Doge’s Palace. The three-quarter relief is divided into
two planes by a sturdy grapevine which undulates back
and forth, again playing along the limits of the virtual
corner of the building. At the left is the drunken figure
of a slightly under-life-sized Noah, whose limp right hand
spills the wine that has inebriated him. To the right, one son
covers his naked father and begs indulgence for him, while
the other gestures disapprovingly to his own eyes and the
drunkenness of his father. The soft, fleshy body of Noah,
the intricate carving of the vine, and the sturdy portrait-
like presence of Noah’s sons are so compelling that the
relief has sometimes been given a much later date, well
into the early fifteenth century. Recent studies, however,
have noted convincing similarities between this group
and smaller figures on the capitals of the building’s lower
arcade dating from the 1340s. Also at this time, Lombard
sculptors in Verona were creating highly complex sculptural
groups (see Fig. 9.9). Venice and some of its north Italian
neighbors stood in the vanguard of sculptural production,
7.16 Adam and Eve; Archangel Michael above, 1430s, commissioned by the
probing psychological states and modeling their figures
Venetian government for the Doge’s Palace, Venice. Istrian stone with remarkable realism.

THE DOGE’S PALACE 149

Painting in the Doge’s Palace predictably, St. Mark occupies pride of place directly below
the Virgin and to Christ’s right. Rank upon rank of other
To decorate the interior of the palace’s Great Council Hall, civic saints, clearly identified with banderoles, fill the outer
the Venetian Senate turned in 1365 to Guariento di Arpo reaches of the composition.
(active 1338; dead by 1370), an expert in fresco who had The subject is the same as Jacopo Torriti’s thirteenth-
worked for the Carrara family in Padua and at the church of century composition at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome
the Eremitani there. Guariento’s imposing Coronation of the (see Fig. 2.6) and reminiscent of Nardo di Cione’s Paradise in
Virgin (Fig. 7.18) was irreparably damaged by fire in 1577, the Strozzi Chapel in Florence (see Fig. 8.3). But Guariento
but the general composition can still be made out in frag- has enlivened the scene with Christ reaching across the
ments that were found behind Tintoretto’s huge replace- niche to crown the Virgin and by the spectacularly undulat-
ment painting of Paradise (see Fig. 20.35) and that were then ing forms of the architectural elements. Heaven is alive
removed to another room, where they can now be seen. Still with energetic forms. In Venice the image carried particular
impressive in its size (over 70 by 20 feet/21.3 by 6 meters) the force because the Virgin was understood not only as a pro-
fresco must have had a tremendous impact in its pristine tectress of the state but as its very embodiment. Her purity
state and its dominant position on the end wall of the Great was seen as analogous to Venice’s unblemished history
Council Hall. As a key civic image, it was, like Simone of independence, and the authority given to the Queen of
Martini’s Maesta in Siena (see Figs. 5.18 and 5.20), copied Heaven was understood as a representation of divine favor
many times for commissions in Venice and on the main- and authority awarded to Venice itself. A typically Venetian
land. One of the best preserved of these copies is a panel by Annunciation bracketed Guariento’s composition and bust-
Jacobello del Fiore (active 1400-39 Venice) for the Ceneda length portraits of the doges around the Council Chamber
Cathedral commissioned by the Venetian nobleman and complemented the main work.
bishop Antonio Correr, who kneels at the very bottom ofthe As an official state painter, Jacobello del Fiore received
composition (Fig. 7.19). Both Guariento’s original and the respectable salary of 100 ducats a year from the
Jacobello’s copy are multitiered extravaganzas, spreading Venetian government. His commissions, which extend well
out from an elaborate double Gothic throne containing into the fifteenth century, cloak traditional subjects in the
the figures of Christ and the Virgin, an image of authority new International Gothic Style (see pages 194-99 for a
with clear roots in papal Rome. Fiery winged angels discussion of these developments), documenting the conti-
surround the upper part of the throne while other music- nuity ofofficial subject matter in the face ofstylistic change.
making angels occupy marble choir stalls in the flaring In 1421 he painted an Enthroned Justice Flanked by St. Michael
substructure, turning their heads and bodies up toward the Archangel and the Angel Gabriel (see Fig. 7.20 and
the Four Evangelists who sit in front of traceried niches; Frontispiece) for the offices of the Magistrato del Proprio,

7.18 Coronation
of
the Virgin, 1365,
commissioned by
the Venetian government
from Guariento for
the Great Council Hall
of the Doge’s Palace,
Venice. Fresco
(anteroom to the
Great Council Hall)

150 VENICE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

 7.19 Coronation ofthe
Virgin, early fifteenth
century, commissioned
by Bishop Antonio
Correr from Jacobello
del Fiore for Ceneda
Cathedral. Panel,
Os AY Se 1 (28
x 3.02 m) (Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice)

the civil and criminal court in the Doge’s Palace, where it scales like the central figure and asks Justice/Venice/the
hung above the judges’ benches, confirming and enhancing Virgin to award damages or inflict penalties according to
their juridical authority. The panel is extraordinarily lavish, the merits of each case, recommending purified souls to her
a painted counterpart to the recently completed sculptural benevolence and balanced decision.
extravaganza above the facades of St. Mark’s (see Fig. 7.3). Accompanying Guariento’s Coronation, an image of
Jacobello turns and twists drapery and banderoles even authority with clear roots in papal Rome, were twenty-eight
more voluptuously than on the facades. He also employs frescoes recounting the stories of battles between Pope
richly worked gilt pastiglia (raised plaster detailing) on the Alexander HI and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who were
armor and breastplates of all three figures, making them reconciled by Doge Sebastiano Ziani in 1177. This cycle of
stand out from the surface in glittering relief. paintings showing Venetian superiority to the popes and
Jacobello’s painting conveys a clear message equating emperors was destroyed by the fire of 1577. The documen-
Venice with Justice, a point made explicit by three long tary record regarding the slowly executed project is quite
inscriptions accompanying each of the figures. Justice 1s slim, and only drawings and sketches suggest the details of
seated in a rigid iconic pose familiar from images of law and some ofits compositions. Still, the project is worth examin-
power (see Fig. 5.22) and flanked by the lions of St. Mark/ ing, for it offers important insights into Venetian ways of
Venice, here further referenced to the throne of Solomon thinking about narrative art in this governmental setting.
which was supported by lions. The Angel Gabriel, holding A drawing (Fig. 7.21) has been convincingly linked
a lily on the right, turns and gestures toward the figure of with scenes commissioned between 1415 and 1422 from
Justice, who in Venetian eyes was identified with the Virgin the young painter Pisanello (Antonio Pisano; c. 1395 Pisa
Mary and with Venice itself; thus the angel’s gesture is a or Verona-1455 Rome?), who had received his training in
reminder of Venice’s legendary founding on the feast of Verona. As Guariento had done 1n his Coronation, Pisanello
the Annunciation. His banderole terms the Virgin birth gave the event depicted—Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
as “a message of peace” and implores her for guidance in being implored by his son for peace—an elaborate setting.
difficult situations. St. Michael, present in sculptural relief The complicated set of arches and balconies recalls the tra-
on the outside of the building (see Fig. 7.16), holds a set of dition of architectural rendering in late fourteenth-century

THE DOGE’S PALACE 151

7.20 Enthroned Justice Flanked by St. Michael the Archangel and the Angel Gabriel, 1421, commissioned by the Magistrato del Proprio from Jacobello del Fiore
for their offices in the Doge’s Palace, Venice. Panels with gold work; Justice 6’ 9%" x 6’ 44" (2.08 x 1.94 m), Gabriel 6’ 9%" x S’ 4” (2.08 x 1.63 m),
Michael 6’ 9%" x 4’ 4” (2.08 x 1.33 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

Government offices regularly contained paintings the subject matter of which encouraged officials to act wisely and diligently. The crowned Justice says:
“| shall obey the admonitions ofthe angels and the words of Holy Writ, dealing gently with the devout, angrily with the wicked, and proudly with the vainglorious.”
Gabriel’s scroll at the right carries the following message: “My voice [brought] the message of peace to the Virgin’s birth; she entreats you as a leader in troubled
matters.” Michael the Archangel’s scroll at the left reads: “Punishment to crime, worthy rewards to virtues, and he gives to me purged souls with kindly lance.”

Paduan paintings by another Veronese-trained artist,

Altichiero da Zevio (active 1369-84; see Fig. 9.20). The
main action and naturalistic placement of the figures also
conforms to relatively recent Paduan precedents, but in
essence the scene corresponds person by person to what can
be reconstructed of the same scene in an earlier cycle in a
chapel in the palace. The action in each painting centered
around the seated emperor stretching out his arm to the left
in response to his son’s entreaties for peace. Two secular
figures and one in monastic dress accompanied them in
both cycles. The consistency from one image to the other
emphasized the historical accuracy of the representation
and made the subject recognizable—much as artists portray-
ing the Nativity or other well-known biblical subjects
usually arranged their figures in set, familiar patterns.
It is clear that Venetian art of the fourteenth and early
fifteenth centuries was both conservative and progressive.
Subjects and even compositions were repeated happily,
enlivened with touches of Gothic decorative modernization.
In a city as conscious of tradition as Venice, innovation was
not always a positive value; rather, established forms and
familiar subjects wielded substantial influence and power,
providing enduring meaning and significance.

7.21 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa Receiving the Entreaties of His Son for Peace,
c. 1409-15, drawing reflecting composition of commission by the Council
of Ten to Pisanello for the Great Council Hall, Doge’s Palace, Venice. 10%
x 7" (27.5 x 18.4 cm) (Sloane Collection, © British Museum, London,
drawing number 5226-57v, London)

(hsi74 WAEINNIC)23 Wine IMMOSIT SIRIEINVE IEA ELN(C

 Pisa and Florence: Social Upheaval

Florence, and the revolt of the city’s wool

workers in 1378 all delivered shocks to
the social order. Nonetheless the actual
structures of the Tuscan political order
remained remarkably resistant to change
through the fourteenth century. Colossal
unfinished building projects like the
cathedral and the church of Santa Croce
in Florence, initiated at the end of the
thirteenth century, still dominated the
city and challenged the patronage of civic
leaders. Buildings required sculptural
and painted decoration to give precision
to their meanings and form to the myths
that lent individual city-states their dis-
tinctive character. Both their programs
and style were often informed by the rigor-
ous intellectuality of the Dominican order.

The Camposanto
Frescoes in Pisa

Extensive decorative programs begun

in Pisa in the 1330s were made possible
by Pisa’s wealth as a major shipping
power. Foremost among them were the
frescoes of the Camposanto (“holy field”),
the enclosed burial ground adjacent
to the cathedral, which tradition claims
contains earth brought from the Holy
Land, thus making it literally a holy
field. Strong Dominican influence over
the University of Pisa determined the
theological content of the Camposanto
frescoes since the Dominicans apparently
assisted in devising their program.
he second half of the fourteenth century in Tuscany Although the site was heavily damaged during the bomb-
did not see the formidable stylistic innovations that ings of World War II, enough remains of the frescoes on the
characterize the art of the early years of the century. The walls of the portico which surrounds the interior courtyard
reasons for this apparent leveling off of artistic energy are of the Camposanto—much like a cloister—to assess their
embedded in the social fabric of the culture and the needs of importance. The earliest of them depict the story of the
patrons. Bankruptcies in two leading Florentine banking Passion of Christ, the Triumph of Death (Fig. 8.1), and the
houses, drought and famine in the middle years of the Last Judgment (Fig. 8.2)—fitting themes for a burial ground.
1340s throughout Tuscany, the onset of the Black Death in
1348 and its repeated recurrence, a papal interdict against 8.0 Strozzi Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
8.1 Triumph of Death, 1330s,
Master of the Triumph of Death,
Camposanto, Pisa. Fresco,
18’ 6” x 49' 2” (5.64 x 15 m)

8.2 Last Judgment, 1330s,

Master of the Triumph of Death,
Camposanto, Pisa. Fresco,
19 8" <€, SY (Xe, Sim)

Although these frescoes have been attributed to Francesco Triumph ofDeath is a Crucifixion, a juxtaposition indicating
Traini (active 1300s Pisa), a local painter trained in Sienese that the frescoes in this corner of the Camposanto form a
workshops, and to Buffalmacco (active 1315-36 Pisa), a narrative of salvation. The Triumph ofDeath is an extraordi-
painter known more through literary texts than through any nary mixture of disparate scenes, few of them ostensibly
documented work, there is little secure evidence to support about death. A riding party of noble men and women
these claims. occupy the left front plane; since they face left they are
The Triumph of Death is painted on a wall facing a short oblivious of the maimed peasants at the lower center of the
axis of the loggia. Since it is the same width as the loggia, fresco. Elsewhere in the picture hermit monks, a group of
the fresco is a framed focal point of attention as one moves courtiers and musicians, and flying angels and demons
through the space; it must have been considered an impor- seem unaware of each other. There is little or no attempt at
tant image within the overall program. To the left of the either compositional or narrative unity. Yet the individual

154 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

 by an encounter with death. This theme is made didactically
clear by the appearance of the hermit saint Macarius, at the
very left of the composition; he holds out a scroll with an
inscription that translates: “If your mind will be well aware,
keeping here your view attentive, your vainglory will be van-
quished and you will see pride eliminated. And, again, you
will realize this if you observe the law which is written.”
The juxtaposition of St. Macarius and the hunting party
indicates that despite the naturalism and descriptive color-
ing of the figures, a moral allegory—not a simple narrative—
is being presented here. Behind and above the band of
aristocrats a group of hermits—praying, meditating, and
milking a doe—occupy a peaceful hillside retreat, where even
the falcon and the rabbit seem to coexist in harmony. The
tranquil hermits, who spend their lives preparing for salva-
tion, are clearly meant to be read in contrast to the surprised
nobles who evidently—given their startled reactions to the
corpses before them—have given little thought to death and
the afterlife.
Just to the right of the maimed peasants at the center of
the painting lies a heap of dead bodies, whose ascending
souls are being fought for by hosts of flying demons and
angels. A female figure of Death carrying a scythe lunges
vengefully toward a serene party of courtly figures seated in
an orange grove who listen to a musician playing a psaltery.
While Death prepares to destroy their insouciance, the crip-
pled peasants at the center beg to be freed from their earthly
miseries. Their words appear on banderoles that they hold:
“Since prosperity has completely deserted us, O Death, you
who are the medicine for all pain, come to give us our last
supper!” Death, then, is seen as merciful as well as vengeful.
Landscape plays an important metaphorical role in the
fresco, one aspect representing virtue, the other vice. The
hermits’ landscape is severe and rocky, one of retreat and
asceticism. By contrast, the courtiers’ landscape, at the right,
is luxuriant, with its carpet-laid ground and fruit-bearing
trees. One is a landscape of prayer, the other a landscape of
pleasure. Moreover the courtiers—arranged flatly over the
surface in a row, different from the narrative at the left of
the fresco—are given attributes that allow us to read them as
a collective symbol of the sin of “luxury,” or lust. The central
woman, dressed in a pink gown, holds a lap dog, a slang
reference, linguistically, to female genitalia, while the men
hold hunting birds, a well-known and popular phallic refer-
ence since the term for bird was used colloquially to refer to
scenes and characters are powerful, the work of an artist the phallus in medieval Italian (and other European lan-
with both vision and skill. guages), as it is now. Comparable scenes of lovers are often
Close reading ofthe fresco indicates a wealth of meanings depicted on contemporary luxury objects such as ivory
and metaphors. The courtly group of men and women on combs and cosmetic boxes, attesting to the familiarity of
horseback in the left foreground of the painting have such iconography at this time. The complex warnings
encountered three dead bodies lying in coffins. The artist’s against luxury and lust as impediments to salvation in this
concern for naturalistic detail is typified by the male rider fresco seem aimed at the wealthy Tuscan banking and mer-
who holds his nose because of the offensive odor of the cantile class. At this same time the new mendicant orders,
corpses, each in a different state of decomposition. These the Franciscans and Dominicans, were focusing attention
figures represent an old visual and literary tradition in on holy voluntary poverty, recalling the asceticism of the
which the living are forced to confront their own mortality early Church Fathers.

THE CAMPOSANTO FRESCOES IN PISA 155

 The fresco immediately to the right of the Triumph of The Strozzi Chapel
Death is an extraordinary Last Judgment (see Fig. 8.2) in which
the entire right half of the painting is given over to a repre- At the north end of the transept two brothers who were
sentation of hell. Christ, in contrast to his frontal pose usual heads ofavery large and active workshop, Andrea di Cione—
in depictions of the Last Judgment, is here shown turning known as Orcagna (active 1343/44-68 Florence)—and Nardo
toward the damned. His left hand points to the wound di Cione (active 1343-66 Florence), provided the altarpiece
in his side, a gesture recalling Thomas’s placing of his and frescoes for the Strozzi Chapel, one of the most impor-
hand in the wound as a proof of Christ’s resurrection and tant decorative programs of its time. The Strozzi Chapel
thus of the possibility of salvation for all humans. Christ (see Fig. 8.0) looks today much as it did when it was com-
is accompanied in a paired mandorla by a figure of the pleted in 1357. It is raised over what had originally been the
crowned Virgin, who represents Ecclesia, the institutional communal burial ground for the Dominican friars affiliated
Church, just as she does in Torriti’s mosaic in Santa Maria with Santa Maria Novella and it is dedicated to St. Thomas
Maggiore in Rome (see Fig. 2.6). Here, too, the crowned Aquinas, arguably the most important Dominican saint
Virgin/Ecclesia appears as co-regent with Christ. This pow- after Dominic himself and St. Peter Martyr. The codifier
erful image conforms to the teaching that the papacy was of Church theology and a leading figure in the philosophy
the absolute power within the institutional Church—a tenet of scholasticism, Thomas had been canonized in 1323. This
vigorously supported by the Dominicans—and suggests chapel provided an important opportunity for an exposition
Dominican influence in this series of frescoes. of Dominican thought.
The part of the fresco representing hell has areas that also The wall facing the entrance to the chapel is divided verti-
suggest Dominican intervention in support of orthodoxy cally by a large central lancet window whose stained glass
and of the power ofa united Church. Although most of the shows a standing Virgin and Child, the primary devotional
inscriptions that originally identified the figural groups in image of the Dominicans, and, below them, a standing
hell have worn away, two at the top left of the image read figure of St. Thomas Aquinas. The frescoes on this wall
“Antichrist” and “Niccolo”; the figure identified as Niccolo is
being hacked to pieces by demons and is further described by
an inscription indicating that he loves Muhammad. These
two figures have been identified as the prophet of Islam,
Muhammad, and the antipope, Nicholas V, the latter having
visited Pisa in 1328. This detail is an early example of the
violent religious confrontations that have burst through our
own contemporary society. The Pisans supported the Avignon
papacy and therefore regarded the Rome-based rival claim-
ants, of which Nicholas V was one, as schismatic. Nicholas’s
debased presence in this fresco is a further sign of orthodoxy.
The catalog of sins represented by horrifically tortured fig-
ures cascading over the wall, each punishment duly identi-
fied with an inscription, has the same scholastic completeness
to it as Dante’s narration of the fate of the damned in the
Inferno. This detailed and didactic representation of hell may
indicate an academic religious figure (possibly the Dominican
friar and poet Fra Domenico Cavalca, of the convent of
Santa Caterina in Pisa) as an advisor for the painting.

Santa Maria Novella in Florence o

Just as the Dominicans had influenced the development of
the arts in Pisa, so also did they provide an environment for
some of Florence’s most extensive projects of the late four-
teenth century. The transept and surrounding altars of their
church of Santa Maria Novella, although begun at the same
time as the Franciscans’ Santa Croce, apparently took longer
to complete. It was only in the mid-fourteenth century that
the sanctuary and the chapel at the north end of the
transept were complete and ready to receive their decoration
8.3 Paradise, c. 1355, commissioned by a member ofthe Strozzi family
(see Fig. 4.10), long after Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi had from Nardo di Cione, Strozzi Chapel, Santa Maria Novella,
Florence.
completed their major fresco cycles at Santa Croce. Fresco

156 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

8.4 Strozzi altarpiece, 1354-57, commissioned by a member ofthe Strozzi family from Andrea di Cione (called Orcagna), Strozzi Chapel, Santa Maria
Novella, Florence. Tempera on panel, 9’ x 9’ 8” (2.74 x 2.95 m)

depict the Last Judgment, with Christ appearing at the apex of chapel and its decoration, this donor figure strongly
the window arch. Below him are the Virgin and St. John the suggests the involvement of a female member of the family
Baptist with the apostles, whose preaching and proselytiza- in the commission. On the right wall of the chapel, opposite
tion the Dominicans, also known as the Order of Preachers, the Paradise, is a depiction of hell. Like the Last Judgment
emulated. To the left of the window on the lowest tier of the fresco in the Camposanto in Pisa, Nardo di Cione’s vision
fresco are the haloed elect and on the right the tormented of hell places each of the major sins in a separate ledge-like
figures of the damned. compositional frame which creates its own illusion of
Dominicat™commitment to orthodoxy, order, and depth. A torment fitting the nature of the sin racks the body
the+astitut Church is evident on the left wall of the of each figure. Nardo also carefully labeled each of the sins
chapel. There a Paradise (Fig. 8.3) shows the elect arranged so that there would be no doubt about what was being rep-
row upon row, around and beneath the figures of the resented, again repeating the scholastic catalog seen at Pisa
enthroned Divinity and the Virgin. Both figures are crowned; and the enumeration of punishments of Dante’s Inferno.
the figure of God even holds a scepter. In this configuration
the Virgin—or metaphorically, Maria Ecclesia (the Church)— The Strozzi Altarpiece Orcagna’s Strozzi altarpiece
shares unmistakably the power of the Godhead on the (Fig. 8.4), which still stands on the chapel’s altar, also incor-
model familiar from Roman thirteenth-century mosaics porates iconography relating to both the Dominican order
(see Fig. 2.6) and other near-contemporary painting (see and -LastJudement—It
the is a richly decorative painting,
Fig. 8.2). Tellingly, at the bottom right of the fresco an angel with tooled gold background, gold punchwork imitating
leads a female donor figure into the ranks of the elect in embroidered fabric, and large areas of expensive lapis
Paradise, hot unlike the image of Mona Vaggia Manfredi lazuli blue. The sheer opulence of the painting indicates
in Taddeo\ Gaddi’s refectory fresco in Santa Croce (see its importance. At the center of the altarpiece is a figure of
Fig. 4.21). though there is no clear documentary evidence God, seated rigidly and frontally in a radiant mandorla of
of a particWlar patron within the Strozzi family for the cherubim, suspended in a light-filled heaven which defies

ee \Oy%
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA IN FLORENCE 157
specific spatial description. On his right he is flanked by a
crowned Virgin (the dedicatee of the church) 1n a Dominican
habit who presents her protégé St. Thomas Aquinas to him.
St. Thomas (who should perhaps be understood as repre-
senting the Dominican order as a whole) kneels before God
in a typical donor pose. To God’s left St. Peter kneels to
receive the keys that symbolize his office—and his power—as
pope. Behind Petet is St. John the Baptist, the patron saint
of Florence, the two forming a group that balances that
of the Virgin and St. Thomas. The saints in the outermost
compartments of the altarpiece include St. Michael the
Archangel, a figure weighing the relative merits of the
elect and the damned in Last Judgment iconography;
St. Catherine of Alexandria, a saint especially dear to the
Dominicans; St. Lawrence, whose hagiography includes the
curious tale that on each Friday he descends from heaven to
purgatory to release one soul from torment; and St. Paul,
who, when paired with Peter, often personifies the papacy.
Thus the saints at the outer edges of the painting are, like
St. Thomas and St. Peter, references to the Dominicans
and their support of the papacy as well as to death and the
Last Judgment.
The blank, staring aspect of the central figure of the
painting and its placement in an undefined space has
suggested quite reasonably to some scholars a throwback
to thirteenth-century saints’ altarpieces (see Fig. 18). When
such interpretations of this iconic representation are
coupled with the notion that style developed progressively
along the naturalistic lines evident in the paintings of
Cavallini and Giotto, however, they lead to a misleading
hypothesis that the Strozzi altarpiece represents a radical
shift in style away from the innovations of these artists.
8.5 Glorification of St.Thomas, c. 1355, commissioned by the Dominicans
When art historians first began to explore the concept from Lippo Memmi, formerly attributed to Francesco Traini, for Santa
that art was deeply embedded in the social context in which Caterina, Pisa. Tempera on panel
it had been produced, this presumed retrograde style was To Thomas’s right, in the conventional position of honor, is Aristotle. Plato is
attributed to the psychological devastation brought about to Thomas’s left while Averroes is at his feet.

by the catastrophic mortality rates of the bubonic plague.

Also known as the Black Death, the plague struck Italy had mortality rates nearly as high as those in Tuscany.
during the summer of 1348, that is just before the commis- Since this seems not to have been the case, it seems unlikely
sioning of the Strozzi Chapel and its decorations. The fact that the style used for the figure of Christ in the Strozzi
that it killed an estimated 60 percent of the population altarpiece was primarily a response to the plague.
in Tuscany and was so swift in its course, victims usually From the transept of the church the Strozzi altarpiece is
dying within a matter of days upon contracting the disease, seen together with the Last Judgment wall (see Fig. 8.0). The
might be reason to suspect a stylistic response to the figure of God in the altarpiece can be seen as the seated
cataclysmic effects of the Black Death that recalled much Judge which the lancet window precluded in the fresco
earlier pictorial conventions. of the Last Judgment on the wall behind. Read this way, the
Advocates of the theory that the plague had a major stylistic particulars of the figure stand well within the con-
impact on the style and iconography of the visual arts have ventions of this subject matter. Paintings such as Simone
often used the iconic and flattened forms of the central Martini’s St. Louis of Toulouse altarpiece (see Fig. 6.11) or
figures of the Strozzi altarpiece (see Fig. 8.4) and the presen- Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good Government (see Fig.
tation of hell in the Pisa Last Judgment (see Fig. 8.2; now 5.22) also depict images of rulership and judgment in a con-
dated prior to the plague) to support the theory. But if the ventional hieratic form. In fact the Dominicans employed a
1348 plague had truly been as influential in the arts as some similar type of figure for the first major altarpiece dedicated
critics have suggested, stylistic and iconographic references to St. Thomas for their church in Pisa. In this painting, once
similar to those of these two paintings should also occur attributed to Francesco Traini but now to Lippo Memmi
in works of art from other parts of Italy, where the plague ia St. Thomas ts also seated in a spatially ambiguous

158 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

Candonand his flattened pose is decidedly different from A Crucifixion narrative (Fig. 8.7) decorates the altar wall
y all of the other figures ithe painting. This conven- of the chapel. Opposite it, on the entrance wall, is a cycle
tion of the seated, hieratic figure-was repeatedly used in narrating the life of St. Peter Martyr (c. 1205-52; Fig. 8.8),
illustrations in legal treatises during this period. There the a Dominican saint particularly venerated in Florence,
figure of God as the fountainhead and provider of civil and where he had been perhaps the most popular preacher of
canon law is seated with a king at his left and a pope at his his day. In the Way of the Cross and the Harrowing of Hell,
right in the same flattened compositional arrangement as which occupy the lower part of the Crucifixion, architecture
the central three figures of the Strozzi altarpiece. It is telling and landscape create a convincing illusion of depth behind
in Memmi’s depiction that Averroes, an Arab philosopher the figures. In the Crucifixion scene itself the crosses of
used to represent heresy, is humiliated (literally “on the the two thieves create recessional axes into space, although
ground”) beneath the feet of Thomas, who holds his own the actual space depicted is relatively shallow. The thieves
writings in his lap. Thus Orcagna and his Dominican twist convulsively on their crosses while a group of figures
patrons apparently wished to use this visual convention of runs from an attacking soldier at the right. The Preaching
authority to convey the orthodoxy of the order’s teaching of St. Peter Martyr depicts an event that occurred in the
through the writings of St. Thomas and to suggest the spe- piazza outside Santa Maria Novella. The saint stands in a
cial relationship between the order and the papacy—perhaps pulpit (rendered with careful attention to perspective) while
even to give the Dominicans a style that would distinguish the listening figures, crowded into the space around him,
their imagery from that of the Franciscans. twist and turn, actively gesturing in response to his sermon.
A close reading of the Strozzi altarpiece reveals that the Figures in both the Crucifixion and Peter Martyr frescoes
figures, other than those framed by the central three arches, respond in ways that enhance the emotional aspects ofthese
are not flat, nor are they situated in a spaceless environment. events. They have all of the naturalism and dramatic inten-
On the outer edges St. Michael the Archangel and Sct. sity that characterize figures in the most advanced painting
Catherine, in particular, are fully volumetric and naturally of the century.
posed, typical of current developments in the depiction of
human figures. Orcagna’s use of both naturalistic and The Apotheosis of St. Thomas PISS Seeker different
iconic styles in his altarpiece is governed by the function compositional structures appear in the frescoes on the side
each figure performs within the work. Given the multiple walls of the chapel. In the Apotheosis of St. Thomas (Fig. 8.9) on
messages that the altarpiece conveys—including the devo- the left wall of the chapel, St. Thomas sits enthroned in a
tional needs of the Strozzi family who endowed the chapel, Gothic aedicule flanked by figures of apostles and prophets.
the establishment of the Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas as Comparison of this fresco with Memmi’s Glorification ofSt.
an important saint within the Christian hierarchy, the Thomas (see Fig. 8.5) suggests that Thomas’s flattened fron-
Dominicans’ alliance with the papacy, and their support of tal pose was canonic and that his word is law, the definer of
orthodoxy—it is not surprising that the painting conflates orthodoxy for the Church. The configuration of a centrally
several conventions of style and iconography. placed figure flanked by smaller figures spread out in a row
is familiar from Last Judgment imagery and from works such
The Guidalotti Chapel as Lorenzetti’s Buon Comune (see Fig. 5.22). In the Apotheosis
St. Thomas is also accompanied by personifications of vir-
Also within the precincts of Santa Maria Novella is another tues, who float in the sky overhead. At his feet there are
major fresco cycle from the middle years of the fourteenth representations of Sabellius, Averroes, and Arius, leaders of
century. In 1365-67 Andrea Bonaiuti (Andrea da Firenze; well-known religious groups considered by the papacy—and
active 1346 Florence-after 1379 Florence) painted the walls thus by the Dominicans—as heretical. Below St. Thomas
of the Guidalotti Chapel (Fig. 8.6) in the church’s cloister. fourteen seated figures represent the seven divisions of
Andrea was an esteemed member of his profession, serving theology and the same number of the liberal arts; below
on an advisory panel ofpainters to the Florence Duomo and each sits the historical personage who best represents the
as a consul of his guild. Here he was called on to decorate a theological or scholarly concept. Thus the emperor Justinian
space that was used as a burial chapel for the Guidalotti is seated before the figure of Civil Law, St. Augustine before
family and also asa chapter house for the resident Dominican Theology, Pythagoras before Arithmetic, Euclid before
community. Buonamico [Mico] Guidalotti’s tomb slab Geometry, and Cicero before Rhetoric. Given the prominent
still remains on the floor before the altar; the inscription role that the Dominican order played in education during
filling its border indicates that he was a merchant who had this period, it is no surprise to see knowledge personified and
the chapel built and painted. It adds, tellingly, that he was codified in this way with St. Thomas. Yet despite the ortho-
buried in a Dominican habit, a privilege allowed him as dox, didactic content of this fresco Andrea allowed himself
much for his generosity, one assumes, as for his goodness. some artistic experimentation, overlapping the painted
Andrea’s impressive and remarkably well-preserved frescoes architectural frame of the fresco with fictive thrones as if to
provide a compendium of the stylistic possibilities in paint- suggest that they actually extend out from the wall, thus
ing in this period. pushing figures illusionistically into the space of the room.

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA IN FLORENCE 159

8.6 (opposite) Way of
Salvation, c. 1365-67, chapel construction and about at their feet at the bottom of the composition chasing
fresco decoration provided for in the 1355 will of Buonamico (Mico) the wolves of heresy.
Guidalotti; frescoes subsequently commissioned from Andrea Bonaiuti
In the lower left quadrant of the wall a representation of
(called Andrea da Firenze), for the right wall of the Guidalotti Chapel,
Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fresco, width 38’ (11.6 m) the Florence Duomo, unfinished at this time, symbolizes
the universal Church. The Duomo provides a backdrop for
a group ofseated figures whose relative status 1s convention-
The Way of Salvation The fresco on the wall opposite the ally indicated by size. In the center of this group are the pope
Apotheosis represents the Way ofSalvation (Fig. 8.6). It is unlike (probably Innocent VI; r. 1352-62) and the emperor, Charles
any of the other three walls of the room in the way that it is IV. The pope sits slightly higher than the emperor, a clear
divided compositionally into several different areas. Figures indication of the Dominican belief in the supremacy of
change scale radically from one group to the next and the spiritual ruler over the temporal one. Cardinal Giles
include both hieratic and natural types. In some areas space Albornoz, the most important papal diplomat in Italy dur-
is compressed parallel to the picture plane, as in the fore- ing this period, is seated in a position of honor immediately
ground; in others it is three-dimensional, as in the treatment to the pope’s right. Other religious and temporal leaders
of the landscape at the upper right. Each section of the flank this central group and provide another unmistakable
fresco seems to illustrate some different aspect of Dominican image of authority within the chapter house, comparable
activity and belief, strung along in no immediately apparent to the Apotheosis of St. Thomas on the opposite wall. Above
order, but often brought into focus by the familiar white the Duomo the elect are welcomed into heaven by St. Peter,
and black robes of the Dominican friars, whose punning a juxtaposition making clear the Church’s authority in
black and white dogs, the Domini canes (“Dogs of God”), rush providing salvation. The Dominicans figure prominently as

8.7 Crucifixion c. 1365-67, chapel construction and fresco decoration provided for in the 1355 will of Buonamico (Mico) Guidalotti; frescoes subsequently
commissioned from Andrea Bonaiuti for the altar wall of the Guidalotti Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fresco, width 38’ (11.6 m)

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA IN FLORENCE 161

 8.8 Scenes from the Life
of St. Peter Martyr (detail),
c. 1365-67, chapel and
frescoes provided by
Buonamico (Mico)
Guidalotti; frescoes
subsequently commissioned
from Andrea Bonaiuti for
the Guidalotti Chapel,
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence. Fresco

Since about 1540 when

the chapel was assigned by
Duchess Eleonora of Toledo,
the wife of Duke Cosimo |,
to her fellow countrymen
living in Florence this chapel
has been commonly known
as the Spanish Chapel.

8.9 Apotheosis of St. Thomas,

c. 1365-67, chapel
construction and fresco
decoration provided for in
the 1355 will of Buonamico
(Mico) Guidalotti; frescoes
subsequently commissioned
from Andrea Bonaiuti for
the left wall of the
Guidalotti Chapel, Santa
Maria Novella, Florence.
Fresco, width 38’ (11.6 m)

162 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

the layperson’s guide on this journey. In the lower right incentives to obedience to the institutional Church. Whereas
corner of the fresco Dominicans are preaching and convert- the Crucifixion fresco contains imagery fitting for Mico
ing heretics. Above them, another Dominican points to the Guidalotti’s funerary chapel, the Way of Salvation and the
heavenly reward awaiting confessed and absolved Christians. other frescoes emphatically assert the Dominicans’ control
Four courtly figures seated in a bower mid-right are reminis- of this important space. Each ofthe subjects given to Andrea
cent of the elegantly dressed nobles listening to music in da Firenze presented him with different narrative and
the Camposanto frescoes in Pisa (see Fig. 8.1), and may allegorical demands. It is not surprising that he responded
represent the worldly life before conversion. They provide with such variations of style from one wall to another.
the antithesis to the good work of the Dominicans.
The seated figure of the judging Christ in the apex of the Social Upheaval and Civic Works
fresco conspicuously displays the keys of papal power. In the
vault above him is a depiction of the Navicella. This image
in Florence
of the Church as the ship ofstate or the vessel ofsalvation is
the same subject depicted by Giotto in Old St. Peter’s at the Florentine history for the later decades of the fourteenth
beginning of the century (see Fig. 2.12). The compositional century is punctuated with moments of social upheaval. In
linkage of the Navicella, the judging Christ, and the relative 1363 the plague struck again with particular severity. In the
positions of the two frescoes may be a metaphor for the next decade the Florentines opposed the papacy over control
support given to the Church by the Dominicans. of land, leading to a papal interdict on the city from 1376
In this room, where the Florentine Dominican commu- to 1378. This meant that normal liturgical functions were
nity met regularly, where novices were received into the order, suspended; among other prohibitions, the dying could not
where each friar confessed his sins to the prior and to the be confessed and the Eucharist could not be exposed, thus
community, these frescoes provided a constant message of effectively closing the routes of salvation for the populace.
indoctrination for the monastic community. They provided Even the bells of the churches were silenced, which in a late-
a model for preaching in the person of St. Peter Martyr, a medieval city not only eliminated the one sound that could
model for learning in the figure of St. Thomas, and communicate over a large area, but effectively limited the

_ CONTEMPORARY VO ICE

The Bridge of Salvation

In this passage from The Dialogue, by St. This bridge, my only-begotten Son, has she finds peace from the terrible war she
Catherine of Siena, the metaphor of a three stairs. Two of them he built on the has had to wage because of her sins.
stepped bridge represents Christ the wood ofthe most holy cross, and the third At the first stair, lifting the feet of
Redeemer. St. Catherine (1347-80) was a even as he tasted the great bitterness of the her affections from the earth, she stripped
Dominican nun and the author of several gall and vinegar they gave him to drink. You herself of sin. At the second she dressed
devotional works and poems. It was largely will recognize in these three stairs three herself in love for virtue. And at the third
through her influence that Pope Gregory spiritual stages. she tasted peace.
XI was persuaded to return to Rome from The first stair is the feet, which symbol- So the bridge has three stairs, and you
Avignon. She was interrogated about her ize the affections. For just as the feet carry can reach the last by climbing the first two.
sometimes unorthodox beliefs by the body, the affections carry the soul. My The last stair is so high that the flooding
Dominican inquisitors in the Chapterhouse Son’s nailed feet are a stair by which you waters cannot strike it—for the venom of
at Santa Maria Novella. can climb to his side, where you will see sin never touched my Son ...
revealed his inmost heart. For when the When my goodness saw that you could
Then God eternal, to stir up even more that soul’s soul has climbed up on the feet ofaffection be drawn in no other way, | sent him to be
love for the salvation of souls, responded to her: and looked with her mind’s eye into my lifted onto the wood of the cross. | made
Before | show you what | want to show Son’s opened heart, she begins to feel the of that cross an anvil where this child
you, and what you asked to see, | want love of her own heart in his consummate of humankind could be hammered into
to describe the bridge for you. | have told and unspeakable love ... . Then the soul, an instrument to release humankind from
you that it stretches from heaven to earth seeing how tremendously she is loved, death and restore it to the life of grace.
by reason of my having joined myself with is herself filled to overflowing with love. In this way he drew everything to himself:
your humanity, which | formed from the So, having climbed the second stair, she for he proved his unspeakable love, and the
earth’s clay. reaches the third. This is his mouth, where human heart is always drawn by love.

(from Susan Noffke. Trans. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1980, pp. 64-65)

SOCIAL UPHEAVAL AND CIVIC WORKS IN FLORENCE 163

 =

LTP
ATR AYE AS

8.10 Silver altar, 1366-77, commissioned by the Arte del Calimala from Leonardo di ser Giovanni, Betto di Geri, and others for the Baptistry, Florence.
Silver on a wooden base, front face 3’ 9” x 8’ 7” (1.15 x 2.62 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence). See also Fig. 8.11.

The central niche figure of St. John the Baptist was added to the altar in 1452; the sculptor is Michelozzo di Bartolomeo

ability of people to measure their days. (The two years of the Duomo its present form of a four-bayed nave (see Fig. 4.24).
interdict are known as the War of the Eight Saints to honor Its three equal-sized tribunes, the cluster of polygonal
the eight governors of the city, who staunchly maintained shapes that make up the eastern end of the Duomo, echo
what they perceived to be Florentine independence from an the shape of the baptistry and suggest a deliberate intention
encroaching neighboring power, namely the papacy.) to create a harmonious group of forms in the heart of the city.
Then in 1378 the wool workers (ciompi) revolted against In 1366, the same year that the commission initiated
their guild, the Arte della Lana, which controlled their the last plan for the Duomo, the Arte del Calimala commis-
livelihoods, and against the owners of their shops, causing a sioned the goldsmiths Leonardo di ser Giovanni (active
political eruption known as the Ciompi Revolt, which essen- 1358-71 Florence), Betto di Geri (active 1366-1402 Florence),
tially toppled the upper classes from political power. When, and others to make a large silver-covered altar (Fig. 8.10) for
in 1381, the wealthy classes regained control of the govern- the baptistry. Conceived on a lavish scale meant to demon-
ment they punished the workers with particular ruthlessness. strate the guild’s economic power in the city, the altar was
In this environment, the city’s major building projects not finished until the sixteenth century. Rectangular reliefs
were subject to delays. Work at the Duomo seems to have depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, to
progressed in fits and starts during the fourteenth century, whom the building is dedicated, were set into the front and
with repeated changes in plans and challenges to the already sides of the altar; the architectural frame is composed of
established program. In mid-1355 a committee of twelve numerous Gothic niches, each containing a small statuette.
laymen and artists was appointed to judge the feasibility The reliefs (Fig. 8.11) differ significantly from those on the
of a model for the choir end of the building that had same subject created by Andrea Pisano for the south doors
been submitted earlier that year by Francesco Talenti (active of the baptistry (see Figs. 4.25 and 4.26); their architectural
1300s). In 1357 a new plan with three bays in the nave had backgrounds offer more illusionistic spaces for the action, all
been approved, and by this time the octagonal crossing and of which appears to take place behind the plane of the relief
the surrounding spaces had already been assigned. In 1366 rather than in front. Taking advantage of the.malleability of
three concurrent commissions were charged with developing silver, the sculptors revel in the fine detail of armor, hair,
a new plan, which apparently was agreed upon in 1368 when
competing designs were ordered to be destroyed (see Fig. 8.11 (opposite) Silver altar (detail), 1366-77, commissioned by the
Arte del Calimala from Leonardo di ser Giovanni, Betto di Geri, and
8.6). At various times plebiscites were held to choose the
others for the Baptistry, Florence. Silver on a wooden base, front face
best of competing models—an indication of civic investment 3° 94" x 8'7" (1.15 x 2.62 m). (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.)
in the planning of the Duomo. The model of 1368 gave the See also Fig. 8.10

164 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

 8.12 Tabernacle, c. 1355-59, Andrea di Cione
(called Orcagna), Or San Michele, Florence. Marble,
inlaid stone, and glass

The painting framed over the altar of the tabernacle is the

Madonna delle Grazie, 1347, painted by Bernardo Daddi to
replace a miracle-working fresco destroyed by fire in 1304.

St. John the Baptist is framed with scenes

from his life, recalling early saints’ altarpieces
(see Fig. 1.4 and p. 46), as if the reuse of an
earlier compositional format—and perhaps
even the squat figural types seen in the reliefs—
were appropriate for the decoration of this
Romanesque building.

Or San Michele
Or San Michele was originally simply an open
loggia built in 1337 around a modest architec-
tural tabernacle protecting a miracle-working
image of the Madonna and Child, then in
the grain market of the city. The upper stories
of the building were added after the plague of
1348 as a granary to protect against famine.
Located in the heart of the city on an axis
extending from the cathedral to the town hall,
Or San Michele functioned as a guild church
to which each of the guilds contributed an
image ofits patron saint to mark its participa-
tion at the site. The most important single
addition to Or San Michele at this time was an
architecturally scaled marble tabernacle (Fig.
8.12) to house a painting already at the site by
one of the most successful students to come
from Giotto’s workshop, Bernardo Daddi
(active c. 1320-48 Florence). Daddi’s painting
had replaced an earlier miracle-working image
of the Virgin and Child around 1346. The
and embroidered borders. Enamel evokes the deep blues, tabernacle, built with donations made after the plague of
ochers, and greens of fine stained glass set in precisely 1348, has an inscription on its back under a large relief of
detailed tracery. Clearly the artists must have closely studied the Burial and Assumption ofthe Virgin (Fig. 8.13) dating it to
contemporary architecture and narrative painting. 1359 and bearing the name ofOrcagna. A railing was added
A comparison with the Pala d’Oro in Venice (see Fig. 7.6) to the tabernacle in 1366, protecting it from the milling
indicates that, while the silver altar is not as lavish in its crowds that often filled the building’s ground floor—at that
coloration or in the variety of its component parts, it does time not yet completely walled in. The dome that crowns
share a repetition of form, and an insistent multiplicity of the tabernacle may echo a proposed design for the dome of
similar units, as if sheer opulence was itself the raison-d’étre the unfinished cathedral—much like the dome in Andrea
of the commission. On the other hand, the restrained geom- da Firenze’s fresco of the Way of Salvation, completed at
etry of the silver altar subordinates the myriad Gothic about the same time (see Fig. 8.6). The form of Orcagna’s
niches containing tiny statuettes to an overall structural tabernacle underscores the importance of the Duomo’s
order. This allows the narrative reliefs of the life of the construction in the artistic life of the city.
patron saint of the church and of the city to read through Despite awkward passages which betray the contributions
the richness of the decoration, appropriate for the altar of several members of Orcagna’s acute sculpture
of a building that is itself inscribed with a severe if bold on the tabernacle is notable for its\naturalism Even where
geometrical design. Six of the eight panels on the front of conventional patterns of composition dictate form and
the altar show a figure dominating the narrative from the where abstract patterns of mosaic make up the background,
center of the panel. The central niche with the statuette of as in the Assumption ofthe Virgin, the figures have a sense of

166 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

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8.13 Tabernacle, c. 1355-59, detail of back wall showing the Burial and Assumption of
the Virgin, Andrea di Cione (called Orcagna), Or San Michele,
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<i Wee OR SAN MICHELE 167

 volumetric fullness that places them in the tradition ofpaint-
ing established by Giotto and also exemplified by Orcagna’s
own painting style. The Virgin, for example, the masses of
her limbs clearly evident beneath the drapery, extends her
hand toward the kneeling St. Thomas as she prepares to
hand him her belt, proof that it is really she who is being
lifted into heaven. Even given his flattened profile pose, the
volumes of Thomas’s body betray the urgency of his action.
By contrast, the paintings in Or San Michele, which
were designed to cover virtually every surface of the interior,
including its piers, show what appear to be deliberate
inclusions of an iconic or non-naturalistic style. A typical
example is St. John the Evangelist (Fig. 8.14), painted by Nardo
di Cione’s student Giovanni del Biondo (c. 1333/35
Florence-1399 Florence) for the Arte della Seta (Silk
Manufacturers’ and Goldsmiths’ Guild), which was attached
to a pier immediately facing the tabernacle. St. John is seated
frontally against a gold ground, in a familiar pose and style
for the period. Although the painting is somewhat awkward
in its handling of form, it 1s clear that Giovanni was attempt-
ing to create an intense, emblematic image of the patron
saint for Or San Michele, appropriate for a building con-
ceived as an expression ofthe power of the guilds in Florence.
Unlike other images of St. John, Giovanni’s painting
includes figures of Pride, Avarice, and Vainglory trampled
under the feet of the seated saint. These vices are the same
ones that appear flying over the head of Tyranny in the
Lorenzetti fresco of Bad Government in Siena (see Fig. 5.24).
Thus it appears likely that the powerful Arte della Seta—
far from commissioning a simple devotional image—
deliberately used iconography related to civic order. The
dating of the altarpiece is problematic, although current
opinion places it, on the basis of style and the history of
Or San Michele, to the years around 1381, shortly after
the Ciompi Revolt and the papal interdict. The Arte della
Seta, governed by the same social class that had been threat-
ened by the ciompi, here seems to equate its own image with
political and social stability. If, indeed, that was the intended
message, it would explain the frontal pose of the saint. A
political message has supplanted the religious one normally
conveyed by this pose. The painting is thus a reminder of the
inextricable connections between the civil, corporate, and
religious spheres of the Italian communes ofthis time. Here
in Or San Michele, one of the major centers of corporate and
religious activity in Florence, the guilds clearly articulated
their central, powerful role in the city’s life. If there is a con-
servative reaction in the painting styles of the fourteenth
century in Florence, this is it, and it is tied to issues of power
and hierarchy similar to those explored by the Dominicans
in Santa Maria Novella.

Family Commissions

8.14 St. John the Evangelist, c. 1381, commissioned by the Arte della Seta
After the Ciompi Revolt of 1378, the disruptions caused by
from Giovanni del Biondo for Or San Michele, Florence. Tempera on the papal interdict in 1376-78, and the restitution of the
panel, 92 x 41” (234 x 104 cm) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) oligarchy in 1381, a family’s public presence was a matter

168 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

of some consequence. Thus it is not surprising that during to depict the complexities of this tale Agnolo spread the
the last two decades of the fourteenth century prominent narrative across the entire width of the wall, with groups
families continued to commission large fresco cycles for of figures moving from left to right depicting different
their chapels. The style used for these cycles established a episodes, but with the background landscape and architec-
pattern for fresco painting in Florence that was to last well ture providing a single unifying frame for the painting.
into the fifteenth century. Agnolo’s figures derive their essentially static style from
his father’s frescoes in the Baroncelli Chapel (see Fig. 4.18),
The Legend of the True Cross although his own hand is evident in their elongated, elegant
poses, their grouping to suggest volumes in the landscape,
The sanctuary of Santa Croce (Fig 8.15 and see Fig 4.7) is and their placement in full, open spaces. Throughout the
decorated with a huge fresco cycle depicting the Legend ofthe frescoes there are examples of compellingly individualized
True Cross, by the son of Taddeo Gaddi, Agnolo Gaddi (active facial features which suggest that they were drawn from life.
1369-96 Florence). Lack of documentary evidence precludes The individual scenes are suffused with light which enhances
precise dating of the cycle; however, the Alberti family is the solidity of buildings and landscape features against
mentioned in early records pertaining to the chapel, and the dark background. The colors of the costumes are lighter
their crest is carved on its piers, so it is more
than likely that they, in conjunction with
the Franciscans, were the patron family of
this cycle, which illustrates the dedication of
the church to the Holy Cross (Fig. 8.16).
Since members of the Alberti family were
exiled by the oligarchy in 1387 for their
liberal political views and since there seems
to be no break in the pictorial unity of
the frescoes themselves, they were probably
either completed before 1387 or not begun
until members of the family returned to the
city and felt the moment opportune to reas-
sert their presence with this high-profile act
of patronage.
Agnolo Gaddi’s portrayal of the Legend of
the True Cross was derived from a collection
of the thirteenth-century religious writings
by Jacopo da Voragine known as the Golden
Legend. The frescoes provided the pictorial
model which the Franciscans followed for
the next century (see Fig. 10.51). The narra-
tive tells the story of Christ’s cross which,
according to tradition, was made from a tree
planted over Adam’s grave by his son Seth.
Although Solomon had intended to use
this tree in his temple, it was made into a
bridge instead. When the Queen of Sheba
crossed the bridge she had a vision that
the Savior would be crucified on its wood
and that the kingdom of the Jews would
then cease to exist—a prediction that led
Solomon to have the wood buried. It was
recovered, however, and fashioned into
Christ’s cross, which was ultimately stolen
by the Persian king Chosroes. Chosroes was
subsequently defeated by Heraclius, who
returned the cross to Jerusalem. In order

8.15 Santa Croce, Florence, chancel showing the

fresco cycle of the True Cross

FAMILY COMMISSIONS 169

than in earlier frescoes, lending the entire cycle a vivacity a devil. In each case evil is represented by a winged fiend
commensurate with the animation of its figures. These whom Benedict has managed to expel through his own holi-
frescoes mark the end of a long development of fourteenth- ness. The same thinly membered, detailed, and miniaturized
century painting in Santa Croce which, beginning with architecture that characterizes Agnolo Gaddi’s work serves
Giotto’s frescoes for the Bardi Chapel (see Figs. 4.14 and as a frame for the episodes in Spinello’s cycle. The buildings,
4.15), established new ways of realizing narrative. By trans- like the figural groupings, usually have one face parallel
forming that tradition they provided a model for the to the picture surface, their adjacent sides, on a diagonal,
generation of painters working into the first two decades of leading the eye deeper into space. The figures, like those in
the fifteenth century. Agnolo’s True Cross cycle but unlike Agnolo’s elongated and
softly swaying figures, are grouped episodically across the
Frescoes at San Miniato painting and call to mind the slow, heavy movement and
weighty massing typical of Giotto and his followers.
The influence of Agnolo’s refined and elegant style is evi- Although the Castellani and the Alberti were political
dent in a fresco cycle ofthe life of St. Benedict in the sacristy opponents—the former allied to the faction that exiled the
of the church of San Miniato al Monte (Fig. 8.17). Painted latter—the commissions of the two families are remarkably
by Spinello Aretino (Spinello di Luca Spinelli; 1350/52 similar, suggesting that social position rather than political
Arezzo-1410 Florence), the cycle was commissioned by persuasion was a determinant of style. Of course the choice
Benedetto degli Alberti before he and other male members of Agnolo Gaddi for the Santa Croce frescoes may have been
of his family were exiled in 1387. St Benedict was the patron determined by the resident Franciscans, just as the prior of
saint of both Benedetto and of the Olivetan Benedictines the Olivetans at San Miniato seems to have been responsible
who, along with the Arte del Calimala, had charge of the for selecting Spinello, who had already worked for the
church. The scenes concentrate on miracles associated with Olivetans in Arezzo. The commissioning of major public
St. Benedict, including his resurrection of a monk killed fresco cycles was rarely a simple matter between a single
by a falling wall and his exorcism of a monk possessed by patron and an artist.

8.16 Discovery of the True Cross, before 1387, commissioned by the Alberti family (?) from Agnolo Gaddi, choir, Santa Croce, Florence.
Fresco
St. Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, discovers the True Cross and the two crosses of the thieves crucified
with Christ at the right ofthe fresco. At the left
she identifies which of the three crosses is the True Cross as it miraculously brings a dead man back to life.

170 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

8.17 Scenes from the Life of St. Benedict, 1386-88, showing St. Benedict Retires to Subiaco and is Given the Habit by the Monk Romano; St. Benedict Visited by a Monk
Sent by God on Easter Day; St. Benedict Founds Monte Cassino and Resurrects a Monk Crushed by a Falling Wall; and St. Benedict Exorcises a Possessed Monk,
commissioned by Benedetto degli Alberti from Spinello Aretino for the sacristy of San Miniato al Monte, Florence. Fresco

Other Civic Imagery animated ways to their new mothers, while the adults
act in a decorous manner, presumably befitting their new
Even secular painting had different audiences. There was roles as parents. Of course, given what we know of the often
a large category of painting intended to record specific horrendous conditions for lower-class children and orphans
historical events that took place at or near the sites they during this period, this image is most likely more a wished-
decorated within the city. Most of these are now lost, but for model than a representation of fact.
the few that do survive suggest that their painters were Gerini ordered the figures into different groups, depend-
aware of the special demands that the genre made on style. ing on their activity, blocking them within the lines of
One of these, the Orphans Assigned to their New Parents (Fig. the background architectural units, in order to structure the
8.18) was painted in 1386 by Niccolo di Pietro Gerini (active reading of the narrative. At the same time, he crowded
1366-1415 Florence) and Ambrogio di Baldese (1352-1429 the figures at the foreground of the composition, framed
Florence) for the charitable Confraternity of the Misericordia. the confraternity members in the arches of the honorific
The fresco originally decorated the exterior of the confrater- loggia of their building to indicate their status, depicted
nity building (which itself appears in the painting) 1mmedi- the building itself rather schematically (although leaving no
ately across the street from the baptistry. Gerini, whose doubt about its identity), and included at the far left a
artistic roots lay in the art of both Andrea Orcagna and tower-like structure decorated with figures representing
Taddeo Gaddi, clearly made an effort at naturalism, despite Adam and Eve perhaps as symbolic models for the new par-
the rather stolid figures. Gerini’s children react in differing ents depicted in the fresco. The cramped space is unlike

OTHER CIVIC IMAGERY 171

8.18 Orphans Assigned to their New Parents, 1386, commissioned by the Confraternity of the Misericordia from Niccolé di Pietro Gerini and Ambrogio di
Baldese for the facade oftheir headquarters. Fresco (Museo del Bigallo, Florence)
The fresco was removed from the exterior of the building in 1777 and partially destroyed at that time. The male figure in the center arch wears the insignia ofthe
Misericordia. The Confraternity of the Misericordia merged with the Confraternity of Santa Maria del Bigallo in 1425, but subsequently re-emerged as a separate
entity in 1527, building new confraternal structures and leaving its original building to the Bigallo, by which name it is now known.

other Florentine narrative painting of the time and suggests for the newly completed Loggia della Signoria (see Fig. 4.0,
a forced and somewhat stylized visual concentration on the at the right). The loggia was begun in 1373/74 and is
act of charity taking place. Thus, as conventional as Gerint’s remarkable for its time in its monumental scale, recalling
style in this fresco may now appear, he was responding to not only Roman triumphal arches but the remains of
the needs of a public painting of an historical event. His ancient ruins such as the basilica of Constantine. Standing
understanding of convention made him one of the most at a right angle to the Palazzo della Signoria, it served both
sought-after painters of his time, working for the major to frame important public civic events and to define one
guilds as well as for monastic communities.
Another important project of this period was a now lost
fresco cycle of twenty-two Uomini Famosi (“famous men”)
commissioned in about 1385 for the Audience Chamber
of the Signoria in the Palazzo della Signoria. It was to be
paralleled by an unexecuted series of sculpted monuments
to famous Florentines in the Duomo. Coluccio Salutati, the
chancellor (official secretary) of the city of Florence and a
pupil of Boccaccio, most likely helped to plan the cycle, and
he provided a series of epigrams to accompany each figure.
Based on Petrarch’s De viris illustribus (On Illustrious Men),
Salutati’s choice of figures included Alexander the Great,
Augustus, Brutus, Cicero, Constantine, and Charlemagne.
There are echoes of Florentine history in the choices of the
figures, since the city’s foundation myths included stories of
its having been settled both at the time of Caesar and at the
time of Charlemagne. Salutati also included Dante, Petrarch,
and Boccaccio, native sons, among the Uomini Famosi as
examples of Florence’s greatness. In his desire to claim the
major figures of fourteenth-century humanism and letters
for Florence, Saluti rehabilitated these figures, placing them
in a Florentine pantheon and ignoring some of the more
controversial aspects of their careers for the republic (Dante,
for example, having died in exile).
8.19 Prudence, 1386, Giovanni d’Ambrogio (after a design by Agnolo
Outside the Palazzo della Signoria, civic imagery took a Gaddi), Loggia della Signoria (now also called the Loggia dei Lanzi),
somewhat more traditional turn in the sculptural decoration Florence. Marble

172 PISA AND FLORENCE: SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

side of a heroically scaled piazza then still being carved walls around a room in the Palazzo Davanzati, it illustrates a
out of the heart of the city (see Fig. 4.5). Seven seated thirteenth-century French chivalric romance—subject matter
figures of virtues in star-studded hexafoils decorate the diffused throughout Italy (see Fig. 9.11). Based loosely on the
spandrels between the arches. Originally painted and set on story of Pyramus and Thisbe, two ill-fated lovers in Ovid’s
a colored ground, these reliefs were designed by Agnolo Metamorphoses, the tragic tale tells of a secret love between
Gaddi and were carved in 1386-87 by Giovanni d’Ambrogio the chatelaine and a young knight. When the knight refuses
(active 1382-1418 Florence) and Jacopo di Piero Guidi the advances of the duchess of Burgundy, the wife of his
(active 1376-1412 Florence), each of whom later became a liege lord, and tells the duke both of the duchess’s infidelity
capomaestro of the cathedral workshops. Giovanni’s Prudence and of his own secret love, the duchess drives the chatelaine
(Fig. 8.19) sits in a three-quarter pose, giving her heightened to her death. The grief-stricken knight commits suicide. The
three-dimensionality against the flat patterned surface and duke, convinced of his wife’s guilt, kills her; he then joins
within the niche’s complex triangular-lobed frame. Andrea the Knights Templars. The figures in the fresco are depicted
Pisano’s virtues for the south door of the baptistry (see Fig. in a very narrow space under a fictive loggia. Stylized trees
4.25) found their successors in these figures for the Loggia are centered within each arch and fan out to conceal any
della Signoria. The ease in their presentation is a clear sign possible background space. A bed and chessboard are
that the principles of form introduced nearly a century tipped up in defiance of the spatial system created by the
earlier by artists working in Rome, Padua, and Florence had loggia. This medieval romance and its depiction within a
now been fully assimilated. private home clearly demanded a style different from civic
and biblical narratives. Both styles—the naturalistic and the
Domestic Painting artificial—existed concurrently, both were commissioned by
the ruling class, and both respond to the particular subjects
In frescoes commissioned for private houses, different they treat and to the functions they were meant to serve.
stylistic tendencies could and did exist. A more decorative Artistic style is a product not just of the individual artist’s
style was often favored in these works. A case in point is the genius and ability, but of a host of historical conventions
Story ofthe Chatelaine of Vergi (Fig. 8.20). Painted high on the that add to both its form and its meaning.

8.20 Story of the Chatelaine of Vergi, c. 1395S, Palazzo Davanzati, Florence. Fresco

DOMESTIC PAINTING 173

 Visconti Milan and Carrara Padua

armaments. The city also imported and developed rice

and silk production from Asia.
As elsewhere in Italy, Milan’s key civic monuments—
the cathedral and ducal castle—date from the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. Their grand scale owes much to
Milan’s proud Roman and medieval past. In the fourth
century the Roman emperor Constantine chose Milan,
over Rome, as his capital in the West. Strategically well
placed in relation to northern Europe but protected to
the north by the Alps, and with a population of nearly
100,000, ancient Milan justly assumed the title of a
new Rome.
The city’s fourth-century walls, built by Constantine’s
predecessor, Maxentius, determined the imperial scale
and basically circular shape of the city. Renaissance
maps and views (Fig. 9.1) emphasize the city’s two con-
centric circles of defenses, the inner corresponding to
the Roman walls, the outer to medieval fortifications
that were begun in the twelfth century, completed in
the second half of the fourteenth, and reinforced with
new bastions in the sixteenth. Moats and canals pro-
vided efficient transport of heavy goods around and
through the city. Publicists for the city never failed to
note that since the circle is the symbol of perfection,
Milan was surely ideal as well. The city’s enormous
cathedral dominates its center, but as in Naples (see
Fig. 6.1), the ruler’s castle stands apart. The autocratic
rule of the Visconti and Sforza families who controlled
the city was clearly understood as divinely ordained
and inspired. Accompanying Christ at the top of our
illustration are Milan’s heavenly protectors: the Virgin
Mary, St. Ambrose, and St. Victor on the left and three
saints often invoked during plague, the saints
Christopher, Sebastian, and Roch, on the right.
Except for the cathedral, the city’s most impressive
early churches, San Lorenzo (see Fig. 22.6) and
Milan: The Visconti Court Sant’Ambrogio, stand between the two rings of walls, a
reminder that the earliest Christian foundations in most
Milan has always been a center of innovation and interna- Roman cities were necessarily on the periphery where there
tional exchange, but its role in Renaissance art has often was more room for construction and where they did not dis-
been neglected, in part because the city has been rebuilt and turb pre-existing temples and public buildings. Constantine’s
reinvigorated so frequently. While very few of its medieval famous Edict of Milan, issued in the city in 313, was a
and Renaissance neighborhoods survive, Milan played a key declaration of religious toleration, not a proclamation of
cultural, economic, and political role in the Renaissance. As Christian empire. The city’s bishops—most notably Ambrose
a major commercial and industrial center, it was especially (c. 339-397), who became the city’s patron saint and gave his
renowned for the production of high-quality armor and name to Milan’s unique manner ofcelebrating the Eucharist,

174
9.0 (opposite)
Crucifixion (detail),
1370s, commissioned
by Bonifazio Lupi from
Andriolo de’ Santis
and Altichiero for the
St. James Chapel, the
Santo, Padua. Fresco

9.1 (right) View of

Milan, 1578,
commissioned from
Nunzio Galiti.
Watercolor (Civica
Raccolta Bertarelli,
Milan)

This view of Milan was

drawn to commemorate
the end ofa plague
in 1578. The primary
structures outside the
city walls include the
courtyard of a civic
plague hospital on the
far right, wooden huts
for isolation of some
of the sick below it,
and a civic graveyard
at the bottom left.

Castello Sforzesco
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Palazzo Marino
San Fedele
Sant Ambrogio
Casa Borromeo
Duomo (Cathedral)
PR
WN San Giovanni in
ONDNAA Conca
9 San Gottardo
/ 10 San Lorenzo Maggiore
11 SantEustorgio
12 Santa Maria presso San Celso EDL
LITLE
SE
DEEL
ALLELES

AA
tin
Suey

ESET
ELISE

eo

oe
TUES
ZEGSE

_ Gian
Z
\
\
Galeazzo
Corso
Italia

VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA WZES

the so-called Ambrosian rite—moved quickly to Christianize " was a palace complex close to Milan’s cathedral. An
the entire city but could not completely undo Milan’s extraordinarily detailed and vivid description of the palace
previous political geography. Conquered by the itinerant by Azzone’s court advisor, the Dominican friar Galvano
Lombards in the sixth century, Milan survived as an Fiamma, admits us to the Milanese court. Fiamma both
important civic center throughout the Middle Ages. Led describes Azzone’s palace and justifies its grandeur.
by strong bishops, it eventually became a republic that Adopting Aristotle’s notion of magnificence, Fiamma
headed a federation of northern Italian city-states, the says that private expenditure by the prince is intended
so-called Lombard League. Factionalism, however, to create a kind of public magnificence that serves
doomed the republic. In 1277, at the very moment the common good. Investment in a palace with
that governments in cities like Florence and Siena ample accommodation for court officials and offices
were becoming more and more representative, impresses the public and keeps the general popu-
the Visconti family seized control of the city and lace from wishing to attack the ruler. Devoting
continued to rule Milan until the mid-fifteenth funds to churches confirmed his status as a
century. Of ancient Milanese stock, many of pious, Christian prince.
their number served as archbishops of the Only the tower of San Gottardo (Fig. 9.2)
city, giving the family power that it ulti- survives from Azzone’s palace complex, bur,
mately transformed into political rulership. with its traditional Lombard crown of marble
The Visconti identified themselves with local columns and an angel holding a banner with
traditions and were especially attentive to the the Visconti coat of arms, it exemplifies
city’s imperial legacy and the reputation of Azzone’s magnificence. The top of the tower
her local saints. Splendor and magnificence included a clock with bells that rang out
were two hallmarks of their patronage. at every hour, defining time for the entire
We are fortunate in possessing a detailed community. The chapel’s interior was espe-
prose description of the city at the time the cially lavish: a choir with ivory paving and
Visconti gained power. Written by a school- pulpits, stained-glass windows, gold and sil-
master, Bonvicino da Riva, and completed ver reliquaries, and liturgical vessels encrusted
not later than 1288, it embodies a fervent with pearls.
patriotism that was typical of writers in every The adjoining Visconti palace was equally
Italian city. Bonvicino called Milan the rose of impressive. Fiamma describes in detail the
Lombardy, outstanding for its fertility, forti- exotic birds and animals that Azzone kept
tude, and good faith. He praises the city’s in cages in the palace, the lush gardens,
site, its climate (neither too hot nor too cold), and numerous fountains. When he boasts
its excellent canals and water supply, plentiful that blacksmiths, scribes, sculptors, glaziers,
food, and numerous and long-lived inhabit- carpenters, and various other craftsmen all
ants who are good, friendly, and honest. Wide actually lived in the complex, the extent of
streets, beautiful palaces, and 12,500 houses Azzone’s dedication to magnificent display
“packed in, not scattered but continuous, becomes clear. Workers needed to be close at
stately and adorned in a stately manner” hand not only to decorate the palace but to
served a population he optimistically overes- provide the trappings for processions and
timated to be 200,000. Half that number ceremonies that took place regularly through-
would seem more likely. out the city, extending Azzone’s splendid
image wherever he went.
Azzone Visconti and the Fiamma describes the multistoried palace
Idea of Magnificence in meticulous detail, even including the wash-
rooms. Its gardens included a courtyard ringed
with paintings of the Punic Wars. Another
The first surviving, large-scale works of fresco of Vainglory celebrated the fame of
Visconti patronage date from the rule of Azzone in the company of Charlemagne
Azzone Visconti (d. 1339), who revived and the leading founders of ancient cities.
the idea of aLombard League with Milan An idea of what part of this painting may
as its capital. Seeking to forge a collective have looked like can be gained from an
identity for the Milanese state, he illustration of Vainglory in a central chariot
embarked on a program of constructing surrounded by an entourage of excited
churches, towers, and other public build-
ings, paving streets, and opening squares.
9.2 Tower, after 1330, commissioned by Azzone
The centerpiece of his building program Visconti for San Gottardo, Milan

176
horsemen which is preserved in a later presentation copy of
Petrarch’s writings (Fig. 9.3). There is good reason to think
fl’ itre ime dignememozandis. _
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(B, inne grit
peccog; we Dane aliifita lugar, . ) ign
that the original painting may have been by Giotto, who was A
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sent to Milan by the Signoria of Florence in 1335, having \) ADOL ocoe fenind Hr acara werpeo.
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earlier decorated parts of the interior of the Angevin kings’ JV pr pud drgeneri fieniic atalia cefile,
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in highly convincing ways. 0. wedi tm genie ainoncregwene. =
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pelt
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Newest ded Ba

9.3 Vainglory, from Francesco Petrarch, De Viris Illustribus, after 1336,

manuscript recording composition offrescoes in the palace of Azzone 9.4 Death ofJacob and Joseph, from the Liber Pantheon of Goffredo da
Visconti, Milan, originals probably by Giotto (Bibliothéque Nationale, Viterbo, 1331, commissioned by Azzone Visconti. Vellum (Bibliothéque
ms. Lat. 6069, presentation copy, 1379, frontispiece “A”, Paris) Nationale, ms. Lat. 4895M, fol. 39, Paris)

CONTEMPORARY VOICE |

In Praise of Magnificence
The lavish expenditure of Azzone Visconti Fiamma shows how his employer has power that it is impossible to attack him. A
was not—according to his supporter applied Aristotle’s precepts to his own magnificent habitation is also an appropri-
Galvano Fiamma~—inspired merely by residence: ate place of residence for a multitude of
a desire for self-glorification. A very officials. In addition, it is required of a
respectable justification for such display Azzo Visconti, considering himself to magnificent prince that he build magnifi-
could be found in the writings of the have made peace with the Church and to cent, honourable churches, for which rea-
revered Greek philosopher Aristotle be freed from all his enemies, resolved son the Philosopher says in the fourth book
(384-322 B.c.£). In the fourth book of in his heart to make his house glorious, for of the Ethics that the honourable expenses
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the philoso- the Philosopher says in the fourth book of which a magnificent prince should defray
pher praises lavish expenditure by those the Ethics that it is a work of magnificence pertain to God. For this reason Azzo
possessed of great wealth, provided its to construct a dignified house, since the Visconti began work on two magnificent
object is worthy: “The magnificent man is people seeing marvellous buildings stand structures, the first for the purpose of
an artist in expenditure ... he will think thunderstruck in fervent admiration, as is divine worship, that is a marvellous chapel
how he can carry out his project most stated in the sixth book of the Politics. And in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and a mag-
nobly and splendidly.” from this they judge a Prince to be of such nificent palace, fitting to be his dwelling.

(from Galvano Fiamma. “On the Magnificence of Buildings.” Chapter 15 of Opusculum de rebus gestis ab Azone, Euchino et Johanne Vicecomitibus. Louis Green.
“Galvano Fiamma, Azzone Visconti, and the Revival of the Classical Theory of Magnificence.” Journal of the Warburg
and Courtauld Institutes, 53 [1990]: p. 101)

AZZONE VISCONTI AND THE IDEA OF MAGNIFICENCE 177

1331, and dedicated by its scribe to Azzone (Fig. 9.4). The from whom he received the prestigious title of imperial vicar,
illustration displays an extraordinary range of human emo- or deputy. To his right and left kneel personifications of
tions and comportment. At the top and bottom left, female the cities that owed him allegiance, including Como, Brescia,
mourners throw themselves in expressive abandon on the and Monza, presented by their patron saints. Although
corpses of Jacob and Joseph. At the bottom, men wait on a Visconti rule was not as neatly hereditary as in royal states—
bench outside the death chamber, not yet aware of what has Azzone’s realm was divided at his death among competing
occurred, even though a man carrying a wood and rope bier cousins—the tomb conveys the implied hope that his legacy
on his back is already making his way up the rocky path. would endure. The sturdy three-dimensionality of the
Among the seated men a figure stands as if to share the news, figures, careful attention to anecdotal detail in their armor
while another, who is presented almost entirely from the and ecclesiastical dress, and the individualization of some
back, cranes to hear the message. The wait has been too long of the faces indicate that Azzone’s carvers were fully aware of
for another, however, who slumps over in bored dejection, sculptural developments in the rest ofItaly.
providing a dramatic foil to the concern on the face of his
companion to the right and the outright anguish communi- Embellishment of the City
cated by the upraised hands and tilted head of the next.
Azzone’s example encouraged other prominent Milanese
Azzone Visconti’s Tomb to contribute to the artistic embellishment of the city.
An outstanding example is the new free-standing tomb
Azzone’s image of princely magnificence continued in that Dominicans commissioned to honor St. Peter Martyr
death. His tomb (Fig. 9.5) was placed in the palace chapel of (Fig. 9.6) at Galvano Fiamma’s Dominican convent of
San Gottardo, which he had so lavishly embellished. Sant’Eustorgio. Peter Martyr was a famous inquisitor who
Attended by angels, his effigy rests on the cover of the sar- was murdered in 1252. In 1253 a modest tomb for his
cophagus, which is further decorated with relief sculpture miracle-working body had been set up in the left aisle of
commemorating his reign. At the center is Milan’s patron, Sant’Eustorgio, where it attracted great crowds of pilgrims.
St. Ambrose (340-97), sheltering two seated figures, possi- In the climate ofartistic magnificence established by Azzone
bly Azzone’s successor Lucchino Visconti (1292-1349) and and promoted by Fiamma in the mid-1330s, the tomb must
the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria (r. 1314-46), have seemed inadequate for the second most important

9.5 Tomb of Azzone Visconti,

c. 1342-44, commissioned by
Azzone’s brother, Archbishop
Giovanni Visconti, for San
Gottardo, Milan

The tomb was originally brightly

painted and crowned by a baldachin.
It carried the inscription: “In this
tomb is buried the nobleman Azzo
Anguiger, a man mild in his rule,
sometimes gentle, sometimes cruel:
he girded the city with walls, and
accepted kingly power: he punished
crimes and built fortresses: he deserves
a long life, ifitwere in the fates that
virtue could endure for many years.”
(trans. Ellen Longsworth)

9.6 (opposite) Tomb of St. Peter

Martyr, 1330s, commissioned by
the Dominicans of Sant’Eustorgio
with the support of noble patrons
from Giovanni di Balduccio for
Sant’Eustorgio, Milan. Marble
The tomb was originally located in
its own chapel along the left aisle of
the church.

178 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

saint of the order after St. Dominic himself. The friars in a storm at sea. Carved in a more archaic but very legible
wished to emulate the Bolognese tomb of their founder by style, figures neatly arranged row by row and the protago-
Nicola Pisano, and to this end they secured the services of a nists enlarged according to the conventions ofhieratic per-
Tuscan artist, Giovanni di Balduccio (active 1317-49), who, spective, they make it clear that the saint’s remains are both
as a collaborator of Giovanni Pisano in Pisa, had a reputation highly efficacious and sanctioned by Church authority. In
as a designer of impressive tomb monuments. the funeral scene, supplicants with bent hands holding
The king and queen of Cyprus, Azzone Visconti, and crutches and seated on wooden walkers seek healing through
his uncle Archbishop Giovanni Visconti all made major sheer proximity to the saint’s body. The canonization scene
contributions toward the project for St. Peter Martyr’s tomb places central attention on the pope and on a banderole
and are represented on the lid of the sarcophagus kneeling representing the papal bull admitting Peter Martyr to the
alongside paired saints. Their figures, however, are barely ranks of sainthood. As the papacy’s strong right arm in
noticeable in the context of this spectacular composition, supporting orthodoxy, the Dominicans naturally tended to
which bears the stamp of the Dominicans’ wish to promote underscore their direct ties to the institutional Church. The
the cult of their saint. The sarcophagus containing the body maritime miracle at the right may even be a reference to the
of the saint is raised above the ground so that it would be Navicella (see Fig. 2.12), with the sea calmed not by Christ
visible even when thronged by crowds seeking to touch it. but by the order’s own saint. It is certainly an odd subject for
Eight caryatids representing the virtues support it, each a landlocked city like Milan, but most appropriate for the
elegantly posed and turned toward the center of the monu- Dominicans, who used such imagery in other important
ment. Particularly compelling are the two figures at the left, commissions such as the chapter house of their monastery
whose soft faces and suave motion are among the most in Florence (see Fig. 8.6).
advanced of their time. Doctors of the Church, saints, and
angels appear as statuettes around the monument, which is The Altarpiece of the Magi
crowned by a tabernacle holding a seated Madonna and
Child flanked by saints Dominic and Peter Martyr. The Visconti devoted special attention to the cult of the
Reliefs on the front of the sarcophagus depict the saint’s Three Magi (wise men) or Three Kings, who had brought
funeral, his canonization, and his miraculous intervention gifts to the infant Jesus. Every year on the feast of the

9.7 Altarpiece of the Magi, 1347, commissioned by the Scuola dei Magi for Sant’Eustorgio, Milan. Marble, 2’ 34” x 7’ 2)” (70 x 220 cm)

Even though the church’s relics of the Three Kings had been stolen several centuries e arlier by Germans, who then
built an elaborate shrine for them in Cologne, the
Milanese continued to pay homage to the Magi.

180 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

Epiphany (January 6) they sponsored a procession of three
“kings” across the city to a representation of Herod’s palace
constructed among the ancient Roman columns in front
of the Early Christian church of San Lorenzo; from there
the procession moved down the street and out the city
gate to Sant’Eustorgio, where the “kings” adored a figure
of the Christ Child in a crib at the high altar. Accompanied
by large crowds and exotic beasts, including monkeys and
baboons borrowed from the Visconti menagerie, the parade
then swung around the city and re-entered through the
Porta Romana.
In 1347 the Scuola det Magi, a prestigious lay group
dedicated to the Three Kings, commissioned a marble altar-
piece for their chapel in the church of Sant’Eustorgio
(Fig. 9.7) which had once held the supposed relics of the
Magi themselves in a huge stone sarcophagus. The altar-
piece suggests the popular character of the Magi’s cult in
Milan. Carved in a direct, even slightly naive manner (note,
for example, the rather stumpy figures and spatial ambigui-
ties in the background), the narratives nonetheless evidence
some new developments in their foregrounds, where figures
move more freely and believably in space. The narrative
begins in the right panel with the Magi making their way
through densely carved hills in the background to an audi-
ence before King Herod. The central relief shows the Magi
fervently adoring the Christ Child and presenting their gifts.
At the left an angel commands the sleeping kings not to
return to Herod but to seek another way home, again back
into the compacted hillside at the upper left of the relief.

The Equestrian Monument of

Bernabo Visconti

Sometime before 1363 Bonino da Campione (active after

1357, d. after 1397), a Lombard sculptor who had worked in
the shops ofthe Milan cathedral, produced a life-sized eques-
trian statue of Bernabé Visconti as part of the Milanese ruler’s
funerary monument (Fig. 9.8). As Lord of Milan, Bernabo was
a fierce and domineering ruler, intimidating his subjects with
attack dogs and boasting of the fact that he had sired more
than thirty illegitimate children. He had no trouble domi-
nating his much more reticent cousin Galeazzo Visconti,
with whom he shared rulership in Milan and its territories.
Galeazzo wisely set up primary residence at Pavia, a safe
distance of 22 miles (35 kilometers) from Bernabo in Milan.
It was a common north Italian custom to celebrate local
leaders with individualized equestrian images. These were
usually placed over doorways and on top of tomb monu-
ments outside churches (see Fig. 9.9), but Bonino’s statue
of Bernabo was designed to stand above the high altar of
the Milanese church of San Giovanni in Conca. In claiming
such an exalted site, normally reserved for royalty (see Fig.
9.8 Equestrian Monument of Bernabo Visconti, before 1363, commissioned
6.15), Bernabo displayed a remarkable arrogance. by Bernabo from Bonino da Campione for the high altar of San Giovanni
The horse and rider, carved from a single block of stone, in Conca, Milan. Marble, height (including sarcophagus and columnar
rise above a sarcophagus whose main face shows Bernabo supports) 19’ 8” (6 m) (Castello Sforzesco, Milan)

THE EQUESTRIAN MONUMENT OF BERNABO VISCONTI 181

being presented by St. George, his patron saint, to the cruci- the stark and immovable horse and rider differ remarkably
fied Christ. The relief on the back depicts a subject equally from the more naturalistically carved reliefs, where the fig-
suited to the sacrificial connotations of an altar and the ures stand in front of their frames and give some illusion of
funereal connotation of the monument itself; Christ as the distance through their diminishing size. Once again, a more
Man of Sorrows (a bust-length figure of Christ displaying iconic mode was adopted for the image ofauthority, a more
the wounds of the Crucifixion), flanked by saints. Stylistically, relaxed mode for narrative and devotion.
Part of the statue’s magisterial authority also derives from
the equestrian type itself, which since ancient Roman times
had been associated with imperial power. An example ofthis
genre, well known to the Visconti, was the equestrian statue
of Emperor Septimius Severus (146-211), popularly known
as the Regisole (“sun-king”), which stood in Pavia until it was
destroyed in 1796. Bonino exploited and even transcended
the conventions of this form; he shows Bernabo not merely
seated astride the horse but standing erect in the stirrups—a
force to be reckoned with. From the nave of the church,
Bernabd would have been seen in profile, the standard view
on coins and medals (see Fig. 9.14), and another, more sub-
tle reminder ofhis authority. Gold and silver patterns on the
horse, rider, sarcophagus, and supporting columns suggest
costly metal. At the same time, Bonino disarmed the viewer
with numerous realistic details, such as the horse’s parade
drapery bunching on its barrel chest, the delicately incised
hairs of its mane, and minute attention to Bernabo’s armor—
all serving to vivify this imposing icon of power.

The Cansignorio della Scala

Monument in Verona

Both Bonino and Bernabo may have been inspired in this

commission by the impressive series of equestrian-topped
tomb monuments that the lords of Verona, the della Scala,
had begun erecting to themselves in the 1320s, next to
the church of Santa Maria Antica. Indeed Bonino’s success
in Milan seems to have brought him to the attention of
Cansignorio della Scala, who commissioned him, sometime
before 1375, to produce the most splendid of the series
(Fig. 9.9). An outsized tabernacle surrounds Cansignorio’s
sarcophagus and effigy, his worldly remains guarded by
figures of warrior saints in tabernacles. On one end of the
sarcophagus, just beneath the head of his effigy, a relief
shows the popular, knightly saint George (who had also been
shown recommending Bernab6 Visconti to Christ) assuring
Cansignorio’s entrance into heaven by presenting him to the
Virgin. A Coronation of the Virgin provides an aptly regal
image on the other end, while the road to salvation is repre-
sented by scenes from the life of Christ on the sides. Virtues
and angels holding della Scala coats of arms fill the upper
niches, rising to the base of Cansignorio’s equestrian por-
trait, a triumphant image for the della Scala dynasty. The
entire monument is thoroughly Gothic. Bonino rejected the
9.9 Funerary Monument of Cansignorio della Scala, before 1375, commissioned
probably by Cansignorio from Bonino da Campione, outside Santa Maria square plan and relatively restrained decoration of earlier
Antica, Verona canopied monuments in favor of acomplex polygonal plan,
This monument stands amidst a large number of others in a cemetery adjacent open tabernacles, tall spires, and steeply pointed gables to
to the entrance of the church. house his graceful figures, clad in soft and swaying drapery.

182 VISCONTI! MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

The Castello Visconteo provided audience and administrative space as well as apart-
ments for Galeazzo and his extended family. Only fragments
Not to be outdone by either his cousin Bernaboé Visconti or ofthe original sumptuous decoration survive, but it included
the lords of Verona, Galeazzo II Visconti of Milan erected an mounted knights, geometric designs, heraldic devices, a
imposing new residence in Pavia in the 1360s (Fig. 9.10). panoramic view of the city of Pavia, and numerous portraits
Pavia provided Galeazzo with a seat of power independent of Galeazzo. The entire complex impressed Petrarch, one of
of his overbearing cousin and with an enhanced aura of Galeazzo’s many illustrious guests, as “the most noble pro-
legitimacy, since the city was the traditional capital of the duction of modern art.” This opinion probably referred
Lombard kings, who ruled this region from the sixth to the both to the building itself and to its contents, including a
eleventh century. renowned manuscript library which was among the very
Galeazzo’s new residence, the Castello Visconteo, was largest in Europe. An inventory taken in 1426 listed 988
erected on the edge of town next to the city wall. It measured manuscripts, 371 of which still survive.
a formidable 46S feet (142 meters) across and was nearly as
deep; its four corners (of which only two remain) were but- Manuscript Illumination
tressed by square towers. For its time it is an extraordinarily
regular structure, both in plan and elevation. Despite these Galeazzo, Bernabo, their wives, and other Visconti family
and other fortifications, including a moat, drawbridge, and members were notable patrons of manuscript illumination.
crenellations, the structure had more the air of a palace than When Valentina, daughter of Giangaleazzo Visconti, mar-
a castle: its long, two-storied facade, pierced with large ried Louis of Touraine in 1389, her luxurious trousseau
Gothic-style windows, would have offered scant protection included manuscripts as well as the usual jewels and embroi-
against attackers. While borrowing Gothic forms from dered robes. Among the most splendid of the manuscripts
northern Europe, the builders of the Castello Visconteo commissioned by the Visconti court in Milan is an illus-
drew also on conservative Lombard precedents, barely trated copy of the knightly romance, the Legend of Guiron le
pointing the arches of the courtyard’s lower arcade and Courtois (Fig. 9.11). Bernabo’s monogram, which appears on
inserting traditional plate tracery into the rounded arches his tomb and on coins minted during his reign, has recently
of the upper story. These round motifs recall late thirteenth- been noticed within the manuscript, revealing a gentler side
century civic buildings. of Bernabo’s otherwise daunting personality. In this work
The design of Galeazzo’s palace/castle, like that of most we again encounter the image of the soldier on horseback,
secular buildings, emphasized functionality over beauty. but instead of conveying intimidation and power, the image
The ground and subterranean areas served as cellars, stables, is used to illustrate a fable about the mysterious helmeted
storerooms, and prison. The courtyard was large enough to knight, known as Fieramonte, at the court of Artu.
serve as an arena for jousts, tournaments, and grand ban- The illumination shown, rendered with light strokes and
quets of over a dozen courses, served in great splendor. The colored with pastel delicacy, packs a great deal of narrative
upper story consisted of a single row of rooms, which information into a relatively constricted space. The fore-,

9.10 Castello Visconteo, Pavia,

courtyard, c. 1360, commissioned
by Galeazzo II Visconti

MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATION 183

 Poe A LUAALERDAN SEAN TELLS AUER pees PRT NEASRER REE TEee ARS OEATERTARA TE ROHIL BR 9.11 Fiersmonte at the Court of Arta,
=eHE CONTA Prunekmeapusy AST, Mur aprgnd eral led@pnctagadttohnd< from the Legend of Guiren fe Courtois,
stave: ott: NA tENire lamieuutherarts onl pRarda efhu AeA inne
1389, commissioned by Bernabd
CNANE NE PUL Huey ahs gi py Aree’ Tey Sy. Tertutttg stort! pole natteretenes nahingb
sconti
Visconti (Bibliotheque
(Bit othegue Nationale,
NS PHAR ANT D ty, PMS geHN UE s ettarnrene: ORNS
init cok

Shey Se Ser ee SQA Men Fouttesthees ier RAR NS aetna ms. fr 5243, fol. 2V, Paris)
NN ~
SCTome hog nate.Loa gh Panewie | PATE every. UE TRG OAUHG wis Courtly romances, which were usually
PAM Mouuscde Pheri br Montane tienen tier Qecehiitel ot
Rt
RtetsearteEN ge (atLwnereyRtas LAKE written in French, were popular at north
Reta Roane fe dea icinanly
Snort he MEN SS Ri Ad TAL ATH italian courts well into the fifteenth
century. Bernabd had died four years
before the marriage of his daughter,
so the manuscript was presumably an
inherited part of her dowry,

mid dle-, and background merge compactly behind the is accompanied by a dwarf riding on his own miniature
words of the text, itselfarranged in two columns which seem steed. Behind them and to the left rests the ship that has
to lie directly on the picture plane. Beneath the right col- brought them across the sea to this encounter. Between the
umn Blioberis kneels before the king to ask permission to two columns of text, ladies of the court stand in a wooden
challenge the mysterious horseman, who in courtly fashion enclosure awaiting the tournament that will soon follow,
while at the far right the king’s retainers exchange knowing
and worldly glances. The high etiquette, stylized costume,
and conventionalized behavior of life at court emerge clearly
from this illumination.
In a slightly more popular vein but still informed by the
same precious and courtly sensibilities as the Guiron manu-
script is an illustration of Spring (Fig. 9 12) from a Tacuinum
Sanitats, an illustrated health handbook owned by Verde
Viscontu, daughter of Bernabé and the wife of Leopold of
Austria. Verde’s copy of this popular manual—one of the
first mass-produced texts after the invention of prinung
in the fifteenth century—uses naturalistic shorthand to
provide instructions on medical self-help. Following the
conventions of this sort of manuscript, which limit space
and extraneous detail in order to focus on one subject, the
picture depth is shallow and the background is left blank.
A young woman with long blond hair casually tied in the
back smells a flower while her male companion, stylishly
clad in long pointed shoes and a scallop-edged cloak, holds
a hunting bird and points to a spring landscape beyond a
wattled fence. The illumination and accompanying text are
succinct and direct, the greenery swept across the page in
broad outlines, the meandering branches sketched casually
on the darker ground.

Padua: The Carrara Court

Another sag north Italian center of artistic innovation in
9.12
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Sanitaas
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this period i was the university city of Padua. The city’s lord,
Sy
3I5US
ee
, owned by
ert Pe éenunt:
Verde Visconti
IP channe Natinnale
(Bibliothéque Nationale, Francesco da Carrara (r. 13550-88), became a close friend and
ns. lat. 6977A, fol. 103, Paris) avid correspondent of the internationally renowned poet
get - - ~ * ~
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 manuscript illumination (Fig. 9.15). Here Petrarch occupies
a highly coherent and illusionistic space that recalls types
first created by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel (see Fig. CHAl
The scholar sits before a desk on which he turns the pages of
a manuscript, other volumes ready at hand on a circular
stand to his left. His pet dog curls up comfortably in front
of a storage chest. Diagonally placed ceiling beams lead the
eye back to a closet whose open doors reveal other volumes.
9.14 Medal of Francesco da Carrara, Lord of Padua, c. 1390. Silvered
The open panel of awindow with precisely rendered leaded
bronze, 1%" (33 mm) (© British Museum, London) glass roundels admits light and air into the homey interior.
The emblem on the reverse is a highly stylized representation of afour-wheeled
All these details lend a remarkable anecdotal realism to the
cart, or carro, a reference to the Carrara family. image, unusual for painting of this time.

et
ce
ORES
eer
ane

9.15 Petrarch in His Study,

manuscript illumination recording
the composition offrescoes
commissioned by Francesco da
Carrara for the Sala Virorum
IIlustrium, Carrara Palace, Padua
(Hessische Landes- und Hochschul-
Bibliothek, Handschriftenabteilung
Codex 101, fol. 1v, Darmstadt,
Germany)

Although Florence claimed Petrarch

as one of the city’s most famous sons )
he spent most of his life at the papal
court in Avignon, France, and in
northern Italy.

186 VISCONTI! MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

The Padua Baptistry personal impact on the program which was probably not
complete at her death when her last will and testament left
Padua’s ruler did not neglect his city’s religious buildings. remaining decisions about the decoration and its execution
For the decoration of the Padua Baptistry (Figs. 9.16 and to her husband.
9.17), which Francesco da Carrara and his wife Fina The Padua Baptistry is a centrally planned structure with
Buzzacarini chose as their burial place, Francesco turned to a domical vault supported on pendentives. Giusto and his
the Florentine painter and late follower of Giotto, Giusto assistants covered every wall surface of the baptistry with
de’ Menabuoi (active 1349-90 Padua). By 1370 Giusto was frescoes. They were also commissioned to paint the altar-
at work in the church of the Eremitani in Padua, where he piece for the small adjoining sanctuary—itself centrally
may have come to their attention. The commission for the planned in imitation of the main structure. One of the pri-
baptistry frescoes was instigated around 1378 by Fina. She mary themes of the program is the end of time, the Day of
appears in one of the frescoes kneeling before the Madonna Judgment, when the elect will join Christ in his kingdom.
as the putative patron. Her prese nce in the birth scene from Concentric tiers of saints and angels ring the center of the
the Life of St. John the Baptist and t he unusually large number dome, whose height is enhanced by the progressive diminu-
of women in other scenes suggest that she left a strong tion of the figures’ sizes toward the central, looming figure

0) 10yds
]
0 10m

9.16 Bapistry, Padua, east-west section,

late 12th/early 13th century (?)

9.17 Dome of Heaven, 1370s, commissioned

by Fina Buzzacarini from Giusto de’ Menabuoi
for the Baptistry, Padua. Fresco

THE PADUA BAPTISTRY 187

 Illustrious Men

In
7
1379, five years after the death of to the frescoes that Francesco had com- of the ancients you have honored them
Petrarch, his good friend and _ literary missioned as a visual complement to these with gold and purple, and with images
executor, Lombardo della Seta (d. 1390), biographies. and inscriptions you have set them up for
produced the first manuscript version admiration ... To the inward conception of
of the poet’s unfinished De viris illustribus As an ardent lover of the virtues, you have your keen mind you have given outward
(“On Illustrious Men”). The preface that extended hospitality to these viri illustres, not expression in the form of most excellent
Lombardo provided for the work dedi- only in your heart and mind, but also very pictures, so that you may always keep in
cated it to the lord of Padua, Francesco il magnificently in the most beautiful part sight these men whom you are eager to love
Vecchio Carrara, and paid graceful tribute of your palace. According to the custom because of the greatness oftheir deeds.

(from Theodor E. Mommsen. “Petrarch and the Decoration of the Sala Virorum Illustrium in Padua.” Art Bulletin, 34 [1952]: pp. 95-116 [extract p. 96])

of the blessing Christ. Directly beneath him and on axis Patronage at the Santo
with the baptistry’s entry door and Fina’s tomb (subse-
quently destroyed and replaced by an inscription) hovers the | The St. James (San Felice) Chapel
Virgin in a glowing gold mandorla. In the sanctuary the
theme is made explicit with illustrations of the Apocalypse, | The Lupi clan, who served the Carrara as condottiert (merce-
including the dead being called from their graves and sche- _ nary soldiers), claimed prize patronage sites at the basilica
matic representations of the frightening beasts that loom — of Sant’Antonio—the Santo—Padua’s famed pilgrimage
large in the biblical account of the end of the world. church, and its adjacent cemetery. For the decoration of

9.18 Crucifixion, 1370s, commissioned by Bonifazio Lupi from Andriolo de’ Santis and Altichiero for the St. James Chapel
the Santo, Padua. Fresco
The current dedication to San Felice dates from the early sixteenth century. See also Fig. 9.0.

188 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

their burial chapels, the Lupi chose a more innovative style they had been miraculously spared from decomposing—
than was used so successfully in the solemn space of the visible signs of the saint’s close and special relationship to
bapustry, hiring the adventurous Altichiero da Zevio (active God. By approaching the relics and either contemplating
1369-93 Verona and Padua). or touching them, a devotee hoped to gain access to the
Some ofAltichiero’s most impressive works line the walls sanctity associated with them. The reliquary made in 1349
of the chapel that Bonifazio Lupi commissioned from the to contain Anthony’s jaw features a crystal globe in which
sculptor and builder Andriolo de’ Santis (active 1342-75; one can see the jaw, contained in a golden enameled and
Figs. 9.0 and 9.18). Located in the right transept of the Santo, bejeweled bust. The rest of his body was buried in a stone
directly opposite the miracle-working tomb ofSt. Anthony sarcophagus which the faithful were encouraged to touch.
in the left transept, the chapel was dedicated to Bonifazio’s Throngs of pilgrims still flock to the Santo because of their
patron saint, St. James. Scenes from James’s life occupy the beliefin St. Anthony’s ability to intervene in everyday events,
side walls, while the altar wall is dominated by an enormous dispelling imminent danger and healing illness. As at virtu-
Crucifixion. Appropriately for the chapel’s function as a ally all major pilgrimage sites, they have always left behind
burial place, a small fresco of the dead Christ being lowered gifts and tokens of his interventions (small paintings, mini-
into his tomb occupies the wall over the tomb of Bonifazio’s aturized versions ofhealed limbs and body parts, abandoned
predecessors to the left, while a Resurrection provides a crutches, and even richly jeweled necklaces and diadems like
more hopeful image for the patron’s own tomb to the right, those on the jaw reliquary), adding their own visual contri-
completing the frescoed Passion cycle for the chapel. butions to the ensemble created by artists and patrons.
The Crucifixion extends across three of the five bays above Thus the ultra-realism of Altichiero’s frescoes played into
the altar, functioning as an enormous altarpiece. Though expectations that the divine could be experienced in the here
rich in anecdotal detail and portrait-like renderings, the and now. Although the actual workings of God remained
fresco does not include the crosses of the two thieves who mysterious even in miracle-working shrines like the basilica
were crucified with Christ, concentrating instead on the cen- of the Santo, God’s volitional intervention on the part
tral sacrifice. The cross is set in the foreground of a broadly of humankind allowed and even encouraged naturalistic
coherent space which extends in greater and greater depth depiction and illusionism.
as it moves to either side, culminating in a hilltop castle on
the far right and a firmly rendered and believably scaled
pedestrian bridge, city gate, walls, and towers on the far left.
Throughout the frescoes Altichiero captures and commu-
nicates a great depth of emotional intensity that is unmatched
throughout most of the Renaissance. At the foot of the cross
and directly at eye level, Mary Magdalene arches her red-
cloaked back in horror mixed with adoration. Her compan-
ion in blue slumps in despair, experiencing Christ’s sacrifice
in her own way. Other figures stand and gawk, kept in line by
efficient guards and soldiers on horseback behind the cross.
Soldiers at the right (see Fig. 9.0) lean over their dice, intent
on winning the prize of Christ’s seamless white garment,
which is being stretched and tested by custodian priests
behind them. A cowled figure holding a lance bends over
them—almost certainly a portrait, as is the equally individu-
alized guard crouched in front of him. Shot colors on the
clothing of many of the figures—yellow highlights on pink,
blue on green, for example—intensify the compelling real-
ism of the scene. The Crucifixion becomes horrifyingly real,
a visual parallel to the fiery sermons and intense devotional
practices of the Franciscans and their exemplary saint,
Anthony of Padua, to whom the basilica is dedicated.

St. Anthony of Padua

Anthony’s ability to stir the emotions of worshipers through

realistic, down-to-earth imagery was legendary. After his 9.19 Reliquary of the jaw of St. Anthony commissioned by Guy de
death, in 1231, his jaw and tongue were preserved and then Boulougne, 1349, the Santo, Padua. Gold, enamel, jewels, and crystal

later encased in transparent reliquaries, so that they would A companion reliquary displayed the saint’s tongue. Both reliquaries honored
be visible to the faithful (Fig. 9.19). Worshipers believed that St. Anthony’s legendary preaching skills.

PATRONAGE AT THE SANTO 189

9.20 St. George Baptizing King Servius, 1377, commissioned by Raimondino Lupi from Altichiero for the Oratory of St. George, Padua. Fresco

A multitiered marble tomb with statues of members ofthe Lupi family once stood in the center of the oratory. It was so ornate that later pilgrims confused it with a
saint’s shrine.

The Oratory of St. George courtyard. The scene is full, but not overcrowded, the space
coherently structured with remarkable assurance, and the
Altichiero’s success in the frescoes for St. James’s Chapel figures rendered with particular integrity—all in all a major
led to his receiving a subsequent commission in 1377 for a narrative achievement.
mortuary chapel, next door to the Santo, from another
member of the Lupi clan, Raimondino. These frescoes, Milan: Giangaleazzo Visconti
too, impress with their convincing depiction of complex
architectural spaces, the variety of demeanor shown by the The final chapter of Visconti patronage in the fourteenth
figures, and the individuality of their characterization. In century was written by Giangaleazzo Visconti, son of
the scene of St. George Baptizing King Servius (Fig. 9.20) the Galeazzo II Visconti. Like his father he first ruled at Pavia,
saint is dressed as a contemporary knight. He stands before but then in 1385 he took over Milan. Ten years later the
a precisely detailed Gothic church whose arches and vaults Hapsburg emperor, Wenceslas, proclaimed Milan a duchy,
are picked out in alternating red and white. The realism the only one of its time in Italy. Giangaleazzo earned his title
was enhanced by silver gilt, now darkened, on the footed of duke through military acumen, diplomatic treachery, and
basin before which the king kneels. Members of his family a substantial contribution to the imperial treasury, giving
and the court look on—each evidently a portrait likeness, him greater autonomy than other Italian princes. When he
each responding intently and individually to the event. To accepted the ducal crown in 1395 Giangaleazzo was already
the far right and left, other onlookers, also responding master of most of Italy north of the Apennines except for
appropriately according to their age, rank, and proximity to Venice. He soon extended his dominion well into central
the action, stand in and around a handsomely delineated Italy, securing Pisa and Siena and laying siege to Florence.

190 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

By 1402 he was poised to unify northern and central Italy
under a single ruler, and he might have done so had he not
died suddenly in the summer of that year.
Giangaleazzo seemed an unlikely person to achieve such
international prominence. He cut a very poor public figure. TD

Retiring and secretive, more a thinker than a soldier, he was, |

however, a supreme strategist, entering into alliances both
to subdue rivals and to learn their vulnerabilities so he could
| 9.21 The Magi
Being Greeted on
their Return Home,
make them his next targets. Giangaleazzo even feigned a detail of the ivory
religious conversion in order to overthrow his fearsome altarpiece, 1390s,
commissioned
uncle, Bernabo (see Fig. 9.8), ambushing him during a faked
by Giangaleazzo
religious procession around Milan. Visconti from
As a patron of the arts Giangaleazzo expanded upon the Baldassare degli
precedent set by his father, Galeazzo, and also emulated the Embriachi for
the Certosa,
cultural sophistication of Burgundy and the Ile-de-France.
Pavia. Elephant
Married at a young age to Isabelle, daughter of King John II ivory and ebony
of France (r. 1350-64), through whom he assumed the title of
Comte de Vertus in Champagne, he further tied the Visconti The Pavia triptych is extraordinarily large for a work in
to the French crown through the marriages of his niece and ivory, constructed of thousands of pieces of carved elephant
his daughter to French royalty. Not surprisingly, he gauged tusk. The architectural frame, which is reminiscent of
Milanese accomplishments by international standards. Giotto’s design for Florence’s campanile and reflects
Baldassare’s training in Florence before he set up his own
The Certosa of Pavia workshop in Venice, contains fifty-four niches for saints.
The panel at the left contains eighteen reliefs depicting
Soon after assuming the title of Duke ofMilan, Giangaleazzo stories from the life of the Virgin; the one on the right, an
launched plans for the grandest of his commissions, the equal number from the life of Christ. In the large central
Certosa of Pavia (begun 1396). He intended this huge panel appear scenes from the lives and legends of the
Carthusian monastery—which was not completed until Three Kings, a subject chosen by Giangaleazzo to recall the
well into the fifteenth century—to serve as his dynasty’s Milanese cult of the Magi and, by association, to emphasize
mausoleum, emulating Jean de Berry, duke of Burgundy, his own princely patronage. Most of the incidents in his
who had, in 1383, founded another Carthusian monastery, altarpiece are carved from several narrow pieces ofivory. The
the Chartreuse de Champmol, for the same purpose. Magi narrative was so important, however, that Baldassare
Giangaleazzo chose a site on the edge of the ducal hunting and his workshop carved several of its reliefs from much
grounds outside the city of Pavia, confirming his family’s larger pieces of ivory, joined with great ingenuity, which
associations with the town while at the same time ensuring facilitated the inclusion oflarger elements and more expres-
exclusive control over the monastery. The first order of sive interchange among the figures. In the scene of The Magi
business was to erect quarters for the monks, who were Being Greeted on their Return Home (Fig. 9.21) the eldest Magus
committed to a solitary life of prayer and meditation. Each leans well forward to extend his hands across the juncture
individual was given a small three-room dwelling, complete of two broad pieces of ivory, grasping the outstretched
with individual garden—generous accommodation by arms of ayounger man who has come out to meet him. They
monastic standards, which must have enhanced the sincer- exchange joyful greetings, their emotion echoed by a child
ity with which the monks prayed for the souls of deceased with upraised arms and a loyal dog who turns a perky head
Visconti. Construction then began on the church. Although up toward his master. Another hound runs beneath the
the present building is largely a product of much later Magus’s gold-caparisoned steed, a familiar image in courtly
intervention by other Milanese dukes, Giangaleazzo’s ivory art. In spite of the precious medium and miniature scale, the
altarpiece (Fig. 9.22), which was to stand on the high altar relief’s illusionistic space is deep and complex. In the back-
in close proximity to his tomb, survives in nearly pristine ground a deer appears in a cleft of one of the mountains,
form. It, too, follows a Burgundian precedent, Jean de Berry and trees give way to rooftops and towers as the procession
having ordered similar triptychs from the same artist, nears the city.
Baldassare degli Embriachi (active 1390-1409 Florence
and Venice), for Champmol and Poissy in 1393. Ivory was Cathedral Architecture
a favorite medium among noble patrons, who appreciated
its expense and luxury, while the Carthusian monks would Foremost among other patrons in Giangaleazzo’s Milan was
have approved the purity of its color, embellished only the Fabbrica, or building committee, of the cathedral. Led
with gold and some ebony inlay, which conformed to their by the archbishop and supervised by a semi-autonomous
tendency to avoid worldly color and pattern. citizens’ council, which by 1395 numbered three hundred

MILAN: GIANGALEAZZO VISCONTI 191

9.22 Ivory altarpiece, 1390s, commissioned by Giangaleazzo Visconti from Baldassare degli Embriachi for the Certosa, Pavia. Elephant ivory and ebony

members, the Fabbrica allowed a certain amount of artistic tions, the Visconti emblem of a radiating sun appears in
self-determination in this otherwise autocratically controlled the center of the lancet window behind the cathedral’s high
city, encouraging the entire population to identify with altar (Fig. 9.23).
a single project that exalted the city. Surviving account The archbishop and leading citizens of Milan had
books record donations ranging from large sums given by been laying plans for a new cathedral for several decades,
aristocrats down to a few coins contributed by a prostitute. but Giangaleazzo’s predecessor, Bernabé, had declined to
Because a splendid cathedral could be of propagandistic support the project. Giangaleazzo was of another opinion.
value to the duke, he, too, was happy to facilitate its Soon after seizing power from Bernabod in 1385 he insti-
construction. He provided subsidies and exclusive access tuted several measures that endeared him to the citizenry,
to important quarries. In acknowledgement ofhis contribu- including lowering taxes and reforming the city’s law code,

192 VISCONTI! MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

as well as agreeing to the construction of a new cathedral. of their cathedral. In 1389 they first turned to Paris,
In September of the next year the foundations were being engaging Nicholas de Bonaventure; the next year they called
dug, led by Simone da Orsenigo (active 1380s-90s) and upon a Master Johann from the German city of Freiburg;
advised by Bonino da Campione and other local artisans. in 1391 and 1392 candidates were sought from Cologne
Day laborers were assisted by alternating troops of volunteer and Ulm, finally resulting in the hiring of Heinrich Parler
workers drawn from the city’s guilds and parishes. of Schwabisch-Gmtind, who was working in Prague. He was
The building is both profoundly Lombard and distinctly succeeded by Jean Mignot of Paris, who was unusual in
international, grounded in Roman and Romanesque archi- lasting several years on the job.
tectural ideas but executed with northern Gothic detail. The design and construction process was filled with acri-
The double-aisled nave and ambulatory (Fig. 9.24) follow mony, vividly documented in the minutes of meetings held in
the precedent of the large Romanesque cathedrals at the 1392, 1400, and 1401. The Fabbrica had very clear ideas about
Lombard cities of Piacenza and Cremona. Vast space spreads the kind of building they wanted, and so did the northern
into the double side aisles. The structure appears solid and European architects. Both sides based their recommenda-
massive—northern Gothic verticality and insubstantiality tions regarding the shape of the building on ideal geometric
countered and balanced by huge capitals that crown the schemes of squares and triangles, but neither had the ability
piers with statues set within Gothic niches. Small broad to calculate accurately the actual forces at work within the
clerestory windows assure that the upper reaches of the building. Typical of Italian cathedrals in this period, the plan
vaults remain in mysterious shadow. had been established, foundations laid, and piers built before
The complex piers of bundled colonettes, the highly final decisions were made about the size and shape of the
pointed arches above them, and the thin, flame-like tracery vaulting or the kind of buttressing that would be required to
patterns in the apse windows, however, were clearly inspired sustain it. The northern architects imagined a high nave and
by trans-Alpine models. Just as Giangaleazzo emulated low side aisles steadied in typically northern fashion by flying
the French aristocracy, the Fabbrica called upon architects buttresses. But the Fabbrica criticized the exterior of Notre
from across northern Europe to advise on the construction Dame in Paris for these features. The Milanese preferred a

9.23 (left) Milan Cathedral, begun 1386, commissioned by the

Fabbrica of Milan Cathedral with the support of Giangaleazzo
Visconti from Simone da Orsenigo and Bonino da Campione
The interior is extremely dark for a Gothic church because the builders
refused to use flying buttresses which they found ugly.

@— sk 0 30yds

SAS ei
N

9.24 Milan
Cathedral, plan

MILAN: GIANGALEAZZO VISCONTI 193

lower and broader church with higher side aisles which pinnacles and for reliefs between the traceried windows.
would make the structure essentially self-supporting. They Sculpture also embellished interior walls and the tabernac-
also defended the unusual proportions of the nave piers and led capitals of the nave piers. Much of this work has a linear
capitals in anthropomorphic and essentially Roman terms, quality—the result of the method used in commissioning
insisting that the capital (or head) be several times larger it. The Fabbrica first engaged painters and manuscript
than the base (or foot). Thus, the weightiness of the present illuminators to produce drawings for sculptural decoration;
building and the unusual form ofits piers are direct expres- these were then auctioned to sculptors who offered the best
sions of clearly expressed local aesthetic preference. price for what was expected to be competent but not neces-
sarily innovative work. When the sculpture was complete
Cathedral Sculpture From the start the cathedral project it was presented to the Fabbrica for comparison with the
entailed an ambitious sculptural program. Masters were initial drawing.
enlisted both locally and from abroad to carve figures for For sculpture intended to occupy a prominent position,
the members of the Fabbrica were more selective. In 1419
they gave the very experienced master carver Jacopino da
Tradate (active 1401-40 Milan and Mantua) a commission
to produce a nearly twice-life-sized high-relief carving of
Pope Martin V for the interior of the cathedral (Fig. 9.25).
Martin had dedicated the high altar in October 1418. While
adhering to the convention of a frontal and enthroned pose
for the pope, Jacopino enlivened the image with cascades
of drapery on the back and sides of the throne and over the
majestic figure of the pontiff. Apart from the purposefully
rigid pose and fixed gaze of the pope, every element has been
carefully observed from nature and rendered with the utmost
fidelity. Martin’s legs and his raised right arm and hand,
offering his blessing in perpetuity, extend realistically into
space; his torso has weight and presence. A rectangular frame
and a two-tiered corbel display lushly undercut foliage.

The International Gothic Style

The artful combination of naturalism and stylization
evident in Jacopino’s sculpture is characteristic of what
has come to be known as the International Gothic Style.
Developed in northern Europe and given its most
prestigious form at the highly cultured court of the dukes
of Burgundy, the style combined sumptuous patterns
and materials with linear artifice and close study of nature.
All across Europe, late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century
artists embedded detailed studies of flora and fauna within
disembodied extravaganzas of color and pattern. Refined,
complex forms were as at home in architecture (notably
window tracery), sculpture, and wall painting as they were
in the luxury art of manuscript illumination. Much of this
was a logical outgrowth of dual Gothic tendencies toward
naturalism and stylization, but sophisticated patrons now
looked at these works in new ways. Both north and south
of the Alps scholars were moving ahead with Petrarch’s
project to recover the ancient past. Reading classical authors,
they were struck by Greek and Roman descriptions of art
and nature that seemed to confirm their own predilections
for a combination of the natural and the extravagant. For
the most part, however, they were uninterested in serious
9.25 Pope Martin V, 1419-21, commissioned by the Fabbrica of Milan
archaeology, so visual discrepancies we now recognize
Cathedral with the encouragement of Filippo Maria Visconti from between the art of their own day and that of the ancient past
Jacopino da Tradate for Milan Cathedral. Marble, twice life-size mattered little.

194 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

Manuscript Illumination

Manuscript illuminators led the way in promoting and

popularizing the conventions of the International Gothic
Style. One of its earliest exponents in Lombardy was
Giovannino dei Grassi (active 1380s-1398 Milan), a multi-
talented illuminator and painter who provided designs for
Milan Cathedral. Around 1395 Giovannino produced a
prayer book for Giangaleazzo Visconti, whose portrait, sur-
rounded by the blazing device of the Visconti family, appears
with a text from Psalm 118 (see Fig. 9.26). Typical of the
International Gothic Style and of manuscript illumination
in this period, the page includes a variety of artistic modes:
some highly conventionalized, others strikingly naturalistic.
Giangaleazzo’s portrait, for example, is precisely rendered
in profile. Derived from the tradition of Roman coins and
medals, this formal pose allowed the ruler’s distinctive
features to be recognized easily by his subjects (see Fig. 9.14).
A much more fanciful and delicate decorative mode
informs the illumination at the center of the text. Anchored
at its four corners by the Visconti coat of arms, the basically

eqD Atitcin crviveto: nmandans ane

emanan meby aincntes te.coq none
telhmonta ma. WC comncum mma
A Wounimnihfianoniby mis uc non cé
indaz :
9.27 Animal studies, from the notebook of Giovannino dei Grassi,
1390s. 10% x 6%" (26 x 17.5 cm) (Biblioteca Civica, ms.@, VII,
14 = 9-6, Bergamo)

square field supports a spiraling ribbon carrying the French

fleur-de-lys and framing King David, traditionally regarded
as the author of the psalms. The setting is illusionistic
enough to suggest a shallow cavity of space within the ini-
tial, but linear and decorative enough to respect the graphic
ISXS) demands of the letter it is enhancing. The bas de page, or low-
foam cfteezunr oath meiinetag)
tin quit. dicereo quanto confolatens) est range of the manuscript, is most detailed and realistic.
|,
wa facts tiin fierce ueerips | This was considered a less important area of a manuscript
since it did not include written text. Three of Giangaleazzo’s
hunting dogs on the left raise their muzzles in anticipation
of pursuing the deer on the right. One of their quarry leaps
across the rocky setting, while another, radically foreshort-
ened in the background, grazes contentedly; yet another two
sit in the foreground. The differing modes of depiction on a
single page are obviously conscious choices, as is confirmed
by a page of animal studies from Giovannino’s own sketch-
book (Fig. 9.27). At the top, a pack of hunting dogs viciously
attacks a wild boar which itself seems to have mortally
9.26 Psalm 118:81, from the Visconti Book of Hours, c. 1395, wounded a hound whose muzzle is thrown back in agony
commissioned by Giangaleazzo Visconti from Giovannino dei Grassi. at the top of the group. On the lower half of the page, in
Tempera and gold on parchment, 9% x 6%" (24.7 x 17.5 cm) (Banco Rari,
Biblioteca Nazionale, 397, fol. 115, Florence) contrast, a leopard set in a garden and chained to a radiant
circle is a heraldic design and therefore much calmer and
This small book fits easily in one’s hands. It was used for personal devotions
on a regular schedule throughout the day. more stylized. Giovannino and his Lombard contemporaries

THE INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC STYLE 195

were so renowned for their meticulous renditions of animals
from life that this kind of work came to be known through-
out Europe by the French term ouvraige de Lombardie
y
ea
(“Lombard work”), a noteworthy achievement in this other- se ceeluan
ExT
ae
Geonologie 4 qua cefcen
eye
oie DOING Vicecomitty
ovcary recta DiMmitie patente
wecattelleto ov bins heremtarum
faner if
Hc curfdem vomns Duy medrolam Jobanes Galvayjcum
Hf sneer quoc maxumtalecenning lebanese
N mt-Saci lea lead Ruguitinr oepapa ti
Ma
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Aolana | AB Mutt 4 B.,
wise French-dominated art. Rex G ; 4

Michelino da Besozzo The most widely known Lombard

illuminator of the early fifteenth century was Michelino da
Besozzo (Michelino Molinari; active 1388-1445 Milan).
Time has not been kind to Michelino’s reputation. Much of >

his work has been destroyed, and the surviving examples are
of a fragile preciosity that runs counter to the classicizing
trend traditionally thought to be typical of Renaissance
art. But the early humanist Umberto Decembrio singled
out Michelino’s art as superior to all others, and the duke *
*

of Berry even sent his agent to interview Michelino; the

agent returned with the report that Michelino was “the
most excellent painter among all the painters in the world.”
Such hyperbole cannot be taken completely at face value,
a
but there is no denying that European connoisseurs
were dazzled by Michelino’s artistry. He began his career

2
a S
Lad

at

> -
SS >
*
2

9.29 Visconti genealogy, from the Eulogy for Giangaleazzo Visconti, 1402/03,
commissioned by the Visconti court from Michelino da Besozzo. 14% x
94%" (37.5 x 24 cm) (Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. lat. 5888, fol. 7, Paris)

in Pavia, went to Venice where he was in contact with

Sermo ¢
fanen Augucit Gentile da Fabriano (Gentile di Niccolé di Massio; c. 1385
Fabriano-1427 Rome), and then received major commis-
sions in Milan. After the death of Giangaleazzo and during
the troubled reign of Giovanni Maria Visconti (r. 1401-12),
,}. ccnatiin Oucis notin comune orfpenduim Michelino took his practice to Vicenza and Venice, an area
iiget ne filam coarctar uc cis lace tom,
mundo fulgenecs Yyobié veproman- quod m
tam ferfadlle foret gq’ noctuc folisrai06 cla
highly receptive to his refined, delicate style. He returned to
ya lucemmuer. Dicam tamen no oe froucia
mgeny atouuno perfufus numime gd pro Milan in 1418, where he worked until his death.
modulo mee pariutans fufiace.proponens
Yeltrie maictintibus av honorem nofhi on P *
a6 nerbum quad faibieaz prumimacha jf
A page from the Eulogy for Giangaleazzo Visconti (Fig. 9.28),
beorum.<cuy.an fine capituls !qofur cum
gy Ducan vircucim uniierfavum. ~ ( written by an Augustinian monk, Pietro da Castelletto,
and illuminated by Michelino, exemplifies the refined
sensibilities that appealed to aristocratic patrons. A garland
of flowers with fragile leaves and thread-like tendrils frames
the text. In the upper rectangular field a cloth of honor
overlaid with the imperial and Visconti coats of arms forms
3888 the delicate backdrop for the culminating event of Pietro’s
+ Z Pm $ ye : eulogy, Giangaleazzo’s heavenly coronation by the Christ
ree : EeREE ie AR ae ;
ies i alEES
e a Child. The Christ Child is the most robust ofall the figures,
9.28 Eulogy for Giangaleazzo Visconti, 1402/03, commissioned by the
everyone else having been reduced—apart from their firm
Visconti court from Michelino da Besozzo. 14% x 9%" (37.5 x 24 cm) hands and heads—to wraith-like forms, perhaps to convey
(Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. lat. 5888, fol. 1, Paris) the ethereal nature of heavenly existence. In the decorated

196 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

initial below, a more substantial and clearly earthbound deftly integrated, through Michelino’s deceptively casual
Pietro da Castelletto addresses his fellow Augustinians, manner, into a medieval legend.
his hands firmly grasping a pen and the pulpit from which
he speaks. Clearly, Michelino had a repertoire of styles, Secular Frescoes
employed as appropriate for different subjects.
Michelino’s work, closely related to similar art at the The extent to which the International Style left an imprint
Valois courts in France, had obvious appeal for patrons like on northern Italy can be appreciated by examining a fresco
the Visconti, with their dynastic ambitions and royal mar- cycle by an unknown painter in the city of Trent in the
riage alliances. The opening page of the Visconti genealogy foothills of the Alps, north of Verona. Commissioned some-
from the Eulogy (Fig. 9.29) lines up profile images inspired time between 1391 and 1407 by the city’s prince-bishop,
by Greco-Roman coins and medals to trace the Visconti George of Lichtenstein, the frescoes cover the walls of
lineage from its legendary origins in the marriage of the one of the large towers in his residence, the Castello del
Trojan prince Anchises and the goddess Venus, performed Buonconsiglio. They represent the twelve months of the
by Jupiter. The mythic couple and Jupiter appear at the top year (Fig. 9.30). The paintings, sensitively restored in 1534,
of the manuscript, depicted, in Michelino’s refined manner, provide a rare opportunity to experience vicariously the life
as contemporary aristocrats; the same delicacy informs the and artistic sensibilities of early fifteenth-century courtiers.
Roman profiles of the Visconti. These antique references— The wooden beams, intervening ceiling panels, walls, and
evidence of humanist activity at the Visconti court—are window surrounds all pulsate with decoration. Tall, thin,

9.30 Representations of the Twelve Months, detail showing April, May, June, and July, between 1391 and 1407, commissioned by George of Lichtenstein for
the Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trent. Fresco
European art.
A snowball fight in the January scene (not shown here) is one ofthe earliest surviving representations of a snow scene in western

THE INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC STYLE 197

twisted colonettes divide one month’s representation from The Last Visconti and the Durability of the
another, set above a fictive dado that seems to be hung with International Style
brightly colored, brocade fabric. Once again, we encounter a
natural world constructed with careful artifice, reminiscent Aristocratic pastimes included playing party games that
of earlier illustrations of the Tacuinum Sanitatis type (see required both skill and sometimes cunning deceit. Elegant
Fig. 9.12), a famous copy of which was owned by Prince- depictions of some of these entertainments appear inside
Bishop George. The scenes shown here represent, from left the Casa Borromeo in Milan (Fig. 9.31). Dating from well
to right, the months of April, May, June, and July. In the into the fifteenth century, the frescoes demonstrate the
April landscape amorous noble couples cavort on a floral long-lived vitality of the International Style, especially for
field. Behind them rises a fortress, perhaps representing one aristocratic patrons at northern courts, and document a
of Prince-Bishop George’s dependencies. Similar representa- type of decoration that was very prevalent but which rarely
tions appear in luxurious Burgundian manuscripts of this survives. The frescoes, located in one of the living halls
time, such as the Limbourg Brothers’ Tres Riches Heures for probably destined for use by female members of the family,
the duke of Berry. In the scenes of June and July, however, depict women and men amusing themselves by batting
hardly an aristocrat is present, for work under the scorching balls, chasing one another in a game oftag, and, in this illus-
summer sun was delegated largely to peasants. The carefree tration, playing cards. The figures, remote and emotionless
amusements of the aristocrats contrast tellingly with the in their fashionable clothing and headdresses, sit 1n a vast
vigorous labor of the peasants, who often appear smaller landscape whose vegetation is limited to three perfect
than the aristocrats—not only because the artist wished to trees on each wall. Since women in this period were expected
suggest some depth in the scenes but also because of the to be modest and demure, their activities are performed in
peasants’ lower social status. a highly ritualized manner, graceful and balletic even in the

a4

9.31 Men and Women Playing Cards, 1430s (?), commissioned by the Borromeo family for the Casa Borromeo, Milan. Fresco
Literary sources describing the decorations of other palaces in this period suggest that these
figures may represent members of the Borromeo family

198 VISCONTI MILAN AND CARRARA PADUA

 9.32 Papessa and Pope (tarot
cards), 1441-47, commissioned
by Bianca Visconti and Francesco
Sforza. Gold leaf and paint on
parchment pasted to papier-
maché board, each 6% x 2%"
(17 x 7 cm) (Pierpont Morgan
Library, New York)

more energetic scenes. The frescoes both mirrored contem- gender. Here she plays the female counterpart to the pope,
porary behavior and, no doubt, encouraged similar com- much as the Virgin Mary complemented Christ. Associated
portment from the room’s occupants. with the moon, the Papessa represented knowledge, intui-
The figures in the Casa Borromeo frescoes are playing tion, divinatory power, penetration of mysteries, recogni-
with tarot cards painted on stiff paper showing different tion, secret knowledge, wisdom, and common sense. Given
figures and symbols (swords, goblets, coins, and batons) the patriarchal bias of medieval and Renaissance society, she
carrying specific numeric values. Widely diffused in the was, nevertheless, one of the lowest-valued figural cards;
fifteenth century, they were used for games of skill and only the King of Carnival and Fool ranked lower.
chance, each pictorial card representing a virtue, vice, force All in all, Visconti patronage was among the most splen-
of nature, or mythical character. Most were produced as did in Europe and probably more recognizably “European”
block prints, but for aristocratic clients like the Borromeo, than art produced in any other Italian center in this period.
illuminators provided hand-painted and gilded versions. Linked by geography, commerce, banking, politics, and mar-
A splendid set was created between 1441 and 1447 for riage to Europe’s most exalted northern courts, the Visconti
Bianca Visconti, daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Visconti— and their court supported artists who, while highly sensitive
the last Visconti duke—and her husband, Francesco Sforza to local traditions and needs, appropriated and developed
(Fig. 9.32). The pair shown represents the pope on the right artistic models that would have been as much at home
and an enthroned female figure known as the Papessa or north of the Alps as south. The Visconti’s artistic legacy
female pope on the left, identifiable by her papal tara greatly affected the course of art across all of Italy—espe-
and brown mendicant robes. Medieval legend claims that cially in aristocratic courts but also in the Italian republics
a woman had once been elected pope by disguising her (see, for example, Fig. 7.20).

THE INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC STYLE 199

ice
nines

i:

Sia
 The Fifteenth Century

10 Florence: Commune and Guild 202

11 Florence: The Medici and Political Propaganda Pad
12 Rome: Re-establishing Papal Power 286
13 Venice: Affirming the Past and Present fo el
14 Courtly Art: The Gothic and Classic Be,
15 Sforza Milan: Ducal Splendor 362

Fey writers like Vasari mistakenly saw the fifteenth century as a kind of adolescence,
halfway between the purportedly naive work ofthe fourteenth century and the
_ supposedly unsurpassable maturity ofthe sixteenth, but none ofthe works we have
discussed or will be discussing can in any way be said to be unsophisticated or immature.
The fact that an artist like Simone Martini from the early fourteenth century could have
produced paintings of such contradictory styles within a few years of one another
underscores a characteristic of Renaissance art: artistic style varied not because it provided
the next step in some scheme offormal development but because it was an effective carrier
of the patron’s and the artist’s intentions. oe
We always need to ask why artists were inclined to the stylistic measures they chose
and in what circumstances they were working. Any credible history of art, moreover, must
pay as much attention to continuity as it does to change. New artistic, political, or social
structures rarely obliterate or immediately supplant prior traditions and practices. In fact,
it is in the overlap or competition between stylistic possibilities that the issues behind ©
stylistic change often become clearest. To describe a sequential development from one
discrete style to another both denies history and removes the excitement of historical
study. We cannot “predict” a fifteenth-century artist like Masaccio by studying Giotto’s
style. We might, however, newly appreciate certain characteristics of Giotto’s art when we
see them integrated in Masaccio’s painting.
The fifteenth century in Italy is difficult to characterize artistically and historically, in
part because many of the traditions established in the previous century were very long-lived.
Artistic forms changed in the fifteenth century, but the reasons behind those changes
often echo those of stylistic developments we saw in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The power ofthe International Gothic Style was hardly diminished by the appearance
of more classically inspired styles, and exchanges between courts and republics assured
sophisticated blends of the two. Architectural projects spanned the fourteenth and fifteenth
(opposite) Camera Picta, centuries and demanded not only that new work be current but that it maintain stylistic
ceiling (detail), 1465-74, harmony with what had preceded it. By the middle of the fifteenth century, Italy began
commissioned by Ludovico to enjoy unprecedented political tranquility, only to be followed by major upheavals at
_ Gonzaga from Andrea
‘Mantegna for Castello San century’s end. Yet even then, artists and patrons continued to reach for the new, while
Giorgio, Mantua. Fresco realizing the power ofthe old to convey established meaning.

201
 Florence: Commune and Guild

his death in 1414, and Filippo Maria Visconti’s

renewed plans for Milanese territorial expansion
lasting from 1420 until 1425—these were all
thwarted by Florentine diplomacy and politics.
In the face of continued threats to their inde-
pendent existence during this time it is not sur-
prising that Florentine artists and patrons sought
a new visual language to convey their hard-won
republican ideals in the most important civic
sites of the city.

Sculpture for the Cathedral

Complex

The first site to bear this new language was the

Porta della Mandorla, an entrance abutting the
tribune on the north side of Florence’s Duomo
(Fig. 10.1). The sculpture decorating this portal
is unmistakably classical, the outer jambs being
covered with a foliate pattern framing figures
depicting the heroic labors of Hercules. Hercules
had first appeared representing the Florentine
state in the twelfth century, when a standing
nude figure of the god began to appear on the
city’s official seal. A series of classicizing figures
decorates the inner reveals of the door, the most
notable of which is a small nude Hercules with
the skin of a lion he had slain draped over his
shoulder (Fig. 10.2), very similar to his image
on the Florentine seal. The antique figural style
of the Hercules, with its contrapposto pose and
naturalistically modeled musculature, contrasts
with the overall decorative program of the Porta
della Mandorla, which includes simplified Gothic
angel head reliefs and curling banderoles. The
different stylistic forms that coexist in the sculp-
tural decoration of the door would continue to
be a feature in Florentine art throughout the
lorence’s republican form of government survived a fifteenth century. Importantly in this case, Hercules, a classi-
number of challenges to its existence from the end cal subject, imitates the formal stylistic properties of ancient
of the fourteenth century through the first quarter of the sculpture in its heroic pose, its tactile surface, and its sense
fifteenth century. The Ciompi Revolt of 1378, Milanese of animation, bringing new coherence to subject and style.
military incursions led by Giangaleazzo Visconti through- 10.0 St. Louis of Toulouse, c. 1423, commissioned by the Guelf Party fi
out the 1390s until that leader’s death in September 1402, Donates for the east eae ey Michele, nee Frei odie:
subsequent threats by King Ladislas of Naples from 1409 to height 8’ 8%" (2.66 m) (Museo di Santa Croce, Florence) |

202
10.1 Florence Cathedral, 1754, Giuseppe Zocchi. Etching

This view shows the north flank of the cathedral and the north tribune with a
reconstruction of the program of buttress statues. The baptistry is to the right.
The axial street extending into the distance from the piazza between the
cathedral and the baptistry moves past Or San Michele, whose rectangular
mass rises midway at the right. The street ends at the piazza of the Palazzo
della Signoria, whose tower is just visible in the far distance.

10.2 Hercules, detail of the Porta della Mandorla, 1391-97, commissioned

by the Opera del Duomo for the north flank of Florence Cathedral. Marble

The Competition for the Second Baptistry Doors

In 1401 the Arte del Calimala initiated a competition for a

second set of bronze doors for the baptistry. Significantly,
the competition for this enormously expensive undertaking
was opened just at the time that Milanese troops were
advancing on the city. Thus the competition may have been
a way for the Arte del Calimala to vie for prestige with the
Arte della Lana, which was in charge of the Duomo, or a way
to manifest civic solidarity in enhancing the beauty of the
city at the time of threat, or both. The Arte del Calimala
stipulated that each contestant was to submit a relief show-
ing the sacrifice of Isaac. The subject depicts the moment

SCULPTURE FOR THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX 203

when Abraham, ordered by God to sacrifice his son, is about grasps Abraham’s wrist—locked in place on the central axis—
to plunge the knife into Isaac’s neck, but is stopped by just as he is about to plunge the dagger into his son’s throat.
the miraculous intervention of an angel. The reliefs were to The servant in the lower left of Brunelleschi’s relief, a direct
employ the quatrefoil format used by Andrea Pisano in his quotation from an ancient Roman bronze, the Thorn Puller,
first set of doors for the building from sixty-five years earlier disguises its origins as an antique nude youth with elaborate
(see Fig. 4.25), an attempt to make a coherent decorative drapery folds, suggesting the complexity of allusions to
program for the exterior of the baptistry. classical sculpture during this period.
The two extant competition reliefs were both submitted In the end Ghiberti gained the commission for the
by young artists trained as goldsmiths: Lorenzo Ghiberti doors, maintaining that he had won the competition out-
(Lorenzo di Cione di ser Buonaccorso; 1378 Florence-1455 right; Brunelleschi’s biographer, Antonio Manett, claimed
Florence) and Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 Florence-1446 that the Arte del Calimala had called the competition
Florence). Each was destined to make a major impact on a tie. Whatever the facts, the lyrical quality of Ghiberti’s
the art of Florence, Ghiberti as a sculptor in bronze and figures, his decorative treatment of form, and his superbly
Brunelleschi as an architect and inventor of scientific detailed workmanship (his relief was cast as a single piece,
perspective. Their two bronze reliefs encapsulate alternative Brunelleschi’s was composed of separately cast elements)
possibilities ofstyle in early fifteenth-century Florence (Figs. embodied the most advanced visual language in Europe at
10.3 and 10.4). Both artists portray the subject on a flat back- the time. These factors must have suggested to the Arte del
ground similar to Andrea Pisano’s treatment of figures and Calimala that he was ideal for the job. By the time Ghiberti
ground. Both seem fascinated with repeated curves of dra- signed his contract for the doors, at the end of 1403, the
pery, which are independent of the body-beneath;the edges Calimala had changed the subject matter from an Old
of drapery in Brunelleschi’s relief flutter in the wind to Testament to a New Testament narrative, the life of Christ,
heighten the drama of the event. But there are also differ- ostensibly to complement Andrea Pisano’s life of John the
ences. Ghiberti’s Isaac, like the Porta della Mandorla Hercules, Baptist on the south doors. Yet given the fact that the city
is a model ofclassical form, his sleek torso turning slowly on was threatened by siege at the very time of the competition,
its axis to face Abraham. Brunelleschi’s figures, however, are itis hard not to see the subject of Abraham’s sacrifice for the
positioned—even twisted—to reinforce the planar surface of competition as one responding to the historical situation
the relief. Their exaggeration gives an appropriately nervous of the moment, one no longer so pressing in 1403 when
feeling to the relief, especially at the point where the angel Ghiberti received his contract for the doors.

10.3 Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-03, competition panel, commissioned by the 10.4 Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-03, competition panel, commissioned by the
Arte del Calimala from Lorenzo Ghiberti for the doors of the Baptistry, Arte del Calimala from Filippo Brunelleschi for the doors of the Baptistry
?
Florence. Parcel-gilt bronze, 17% x 15" (45 x 38 cm) (Museo Nazionale Florence. Parcel-gilt bronze, 17% x 15" (45 x 38 cm) (Museo Nazionale
del Bargello, Florence) del Bargello, Florence)

204 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 Modeling, casting, gilding, and finishing of the doors (Fig. 10.6) from earlier in the modeling history of the doors
lasted until 1424, when they were finally installed on the east show Ghiberti generally indebted to Andrea Pisano’s inter-
face of the Baptistry facing the cathedral (Fig. 10.5). Over pretation of the Gothic (see Fig. 4.26) in his construction of
the twenty-one years Ghiberti spent creating the reliefs, his a narrow spatial ledge in front of the relief to suggest some
ideas for them evolved. Reliefs like the Adoration of the Magi spatial setting, and in the decorative and lyrical complexity

CONTEMPORARY VOICE

%
Read Ghiberti versus Brunelleschi
In these two accounts of the competition bronze door for this church. This | executed not have done better [than Lorenzo]. ...
for the second set of doors for the Florence with great care. This is my first work: the However, when they saw [Filippo’s] work
Baptistry—one by Lorenzo Ghiberti (writ- door with the frame around it cost about they were all astonished and marveled at
ten c. 1450) and the other by Filippo twenty-two thousand florins. Also in the the problems that he had set himself: the
Brunelleschi’s biographer, Antonio Manetti door are twenty-eight compartments; in attitude, the position of the finger under
(written c. 1480)—we get a flavor of the twenty are stories from the New Testament, the chin, and the energy of Abraham; the
intense rivalry that this contest engen- and at the bottom are the four Evangelists clothing, bearing, and delicacy of the son’s
dered between these two great artists. and the four [Church] Doctors, and entire figure; the angel’s robes, bearing,
around the work are a great number of and gestures and the manner in which he
First, Ghiberti’s version: human heads. With great love the door grasps the hand; the attitude, bearing, and
In my youth in the year of Christ 1400, was diligently made, together with frames delicacy of the figure removing a thorn
because of the corrupt air in Florence of ivy leaves, and the door jambs with a from his foot and the figure bending over
[plague] and the bad state of the country, very magnificent frame of many kinds of to drink—how complex these figures are
| left that city with an excellent painter leaves. The work weighed thirty-four thou- and how well they fulfill their functions
whom Signor Malatesta of Pesaro had sand pounds. It was executed with the (there is not a limb that is not alive). ...
summoned. He had had a room made greatest skill and care. Those deputized to do the judging
which was painted by us with great care. ... changed their opinion when they saw it.
However, at this time my friends wrote me And from Brunelleschi’s point of view: However, it seemed unfeasible to recant
that the governors of the church of S. Filippo sculpted his scene in the way that what they had said so persistently [i.e. that
Giovanni Battista [the Baptistry] were still may be seen today. He made it quickly, Lorenzo’s would surely win]. ... Gathering
sending for skilled masters whom they as he had a powerful command ofthe art. together again they came to a decision and
wished to see compete. From all countries Having cast, cleaned, and polished it com- made the following report to the Operai:
of Italy a great many skilled masters came pletely he was not eager to talk about it both models were very beautiful and for
in order to take part in this trial and con- with anyone. ... It was said that Lorenzo their part, taking everything into considera-
test. | asked permission of the prince and was rather apprehensive about Filippo’s tion, they were unable to put one ahead of
my companion to leave. The prince, hear- merit as [the latter] was very apparent. the other, and since it was a big undertak-
ing the reason, immediately gave me per- Since it did not seem to him that he pos- ing requiring much time and expense they
mission [to go]. Together with the other sessed such mastery of the art, he worked should commission it to both equally and
sculptors | appeared before the Operai of slowly. Having been told something of the they should be partners. When Filippo and
[the Baptistry]. To each was given four beauty of Filippo’s work he had the idea, as Lorenzo were summoned and informed of
tables of bronze. As the trial piece the he was a shrewd person, of proceeding by the decision Lorenzo remained silent while
Operai and the governors of the church means of hard work and by humbling him- Filippo was unwilling to consent unless he
wanted each [artist] to make one scene for self through seeking the counsel ... of all was given entire charge of the work. On
the door. The story they chose was the the people he esteemed who, being gold- that point he was unyielding. ... The offi-
Sacrifice of Isaac. ... To me was conceded smiths, painters, sculptors, etc. and knowl- cials threatened to assign it to Lorenzo if he
the palm of the victory by all the experts edgeable men, had to do the judging. did not change his mind: he answered that
and by all those who had competed with While making [his scene] in wax he con- he wanted no part of it if he did not have
me. To me the honor was conceded univer- ferred and ... tried to find out how Filippo’s complete control, and if they were unwill-
sally and with no exception. To all it work was coming along. He unmade and ing to grant it they could give it to Lorenzo
seemed that | had at that time surpassed remade the whole and sections of it with- as far as he was concerned. With that they
the others without exception, as was recog- out sparing effort. ... made their decision. Public opinion in the
nized by a great council and an investiga- Since none of [the judges] had seen city was completely divided as a result.
tion of learned men. ... It was granted to Filippo’s model they all believed that
me and determined that | should make the Polycleitus—not to mention Filippo—could

(from Ghiberti. Commentaries. In Elizabeth G. Holt. A Documentary History ofArt. New York: Princeton University Press, 1957, pp. 156-58; and from Antonio
Manetti. The Life of Brunelleschi. Ed. Howard Saalman. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1970, pp. 46, 48, 50)

SCULPTURE FOR THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX 205

 a
«7 , By:

206 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND

10.5 North doors, Baptistry, Florence, 1403-24 (modeling of reliefs
complete c. 1417), commissioned by the Arte del Calimala from
Lorenzo Ghiberti. Bronze (between 1424 and 1452 set into the
east face of the Baptistry)

of the drapery and the energetic swaying of the bodies.

But instead ofsetting his action parallel to the picture plane
and modeling his figures with equal three-dimensionality
whether they stand in the front or back of the composition,
Ghiberti grades his relief levels to suggest greater depth and
sets his action and architecture diagonally across the picture
plane. Thus the eldest Magi crouches on the ground and
reaches across the center ofthe reliefto touch the foot of the
Christ Child; he, with his mother, sits further back in space.
Behind them Joseph’s body is only partially articulated
because he is peeking out from the architecture; the rest of
his body is assumed into the atmospheric depth suggested
by the gilding.
In The Flagellation ofChrist (Fig. 10.7), one of the last reliefs
to be designed, Ghiberti returned to a frontal composition
with great effect. He placed his figures against a simple
arcaded porch fronted by a double row of Corinthian
columns, the second set barely emerging from the back of
the relief and yet creating an illusionistic space that is deep
enough to accommodate the projecting hand and foot of 10.7 The Flagellation of Christ, detail from the north doors of the Baptistry,
the helmeted figure at the left. The architecture also estab- Florence. Bronze, 20% x 17%" (52 x 45 cm)
lishes a regular internal order within the outer quatrefoil

frame and allows a more focused view of the subject—quite

different from the Sacrifice of Isaac, in which the servants, the
angel, and Abraham and Isaac occupy separate areas, or the
Adoration of the Magi, where the figures and setting occupy
much of the complicated geometrical field in which they are
placed. At the same time, Ghiberti remains fully conscious
of his frame. While the figures in the Flagellation panel set up
a pattern across the surface as regular as the architecture,
the persecutors link to the curving lobes of the quatrefoil
through the arcs of their arms and the positions of their
feet placed at the very center of the circular forms that are
implied by the round lobes of the frame. Gothic decorative
elegance and classical form seem to combine effortlessly, as
is equally evident in the figure of Christ, whose complicated
contrapposto derives from ancient prototypes but responds
more to the generally fluid curving lines of the composition
than to his actual writhing on the column.

Buttress Sculpture

The pursuit of decorative projects at the Duomo as the main

body of the building neared completion brought two young
sculptors to prominence: Nanni di Banco (c. 1374/80-85
Florence-1421 Florence) and Donatello (Donato di Niccolo
di Betto Bardi, c. 1386 Florence-1466 Florence). Nanni
learned his trade in the cathedral workshops assisting his
the Baptistry, father who was also a sculptor there. Donatello’s origins
10.6 Adoration of the Magi, detail from the north doors of
Florence. Bronze, 20% x 17%" (52 x 45 cm) are more obscure. He is first documented in Pistoia in 1401,

SCULPTURE FOR THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX 207

 =
ABEII NLD AN LEN OEESIAAEA
AIOEL

10.8 Isaiah, 1408, commissioned by the 10.9 David, 1408-09, presumably commissioned 10.10 Bearded Prophet (David?), commissioned
Opera del Duomo from Nanni di Banco for by the Opera del Duomo from Donatello; by the Opera del Duomo from Donatello (?),
the north buttress of Florence Cathedral. requisitioned for placement in the Palazzo della c. 1408 (?), Marble, height 6’ 2” (1.88 m)
Marble, height 6’ 4” (1.93 m) (Florence Signoria in 1416. Marble, height 6’ 3” (1.91 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)
Cathedral) (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

where he was arrested for hitting another man over the David and Nanni’s Isaiah are youthful (a most unusual char-
head with a club. He subsequently worked in Ghiberti’s acteristic for prophets in this period), they stand at nearly
workshop on the baptistry doors. On January 24, 1408, the same height, both curve their arms out from their sway-
the Opera del Duomo commissioned Nanni (along with his ing bodies, and both cock their heads and stare. They would
father) to carve a figure of Isaiah to be placed outside the seem excellent candidates for works that were to crown
cathedral, high on one of the buttresses of the north tribune buttresses around the cathedral’s tribunes. But recently the
(see Fig. 10.1) as one of a program of twelve Old Testament identification of the David mentioned in the 1409 docu-
prophets. A month later Donatello received a commission ment with Donatello’s Bargello David has been challenged
for a David for the same location. Nanni’s unusually in favor of another statue that for centuries stood in one of
youthful Isaiah (Fig. 10.8) was finished by the end of the the niches of the cathedral bell tower (Fig. 10.10). A rough
year. Donatello was paid for a David in June 1409, beginning break across its pentagonal base suggests that 1t may have
a decade of apparently close collaboration between the two been chipped away to allow the sculpture to fit into the
sculptors which led to a new style for free-standing figural niche. Curiously, there is no surviving documentation for
sculpture in Florence. this figure—in spite of the fact that all the other statues at
For the last fifty years it has generally been assumed that the site can be accounted for in documentary sources.
a marble David ultimately taken to the Palazzo della Signoria Clearly a prophet, as indicated by his beard and the scroll
in 1416 and now in the Bargello was the work for which that hangs from his left hand, the figure is iconographically
Donatello was paid in 1409 (Fig. 10.9). Both the Bargello appropriate to the sculptural program ofeither the buttresses

208 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

or the bell tower and is comparable in height to both sets of the head of Goliath at his feet and the sling whose strap
figures, but the shape and condition of its base make it a would originally have been made of wire extending from
better candidate for a buttress figure. The front sides of the Goliath’s head to David’s right hand, essentially mirrors
prophet’s base splay at exactly the same 135-degree angle as Nanni’s Isaiah. However, the Bargello David shows a charac-
do the sides of Nanni’s base, and the overall dimensions of teristic that Donatello was only later to develop in other
its and Nanni’s bases are much closer to one another than to work at the cathedral: the removal of areas of drapery from
the base of the Bargello David. the body to reveal the human form beneath, a gesture
This proposed reattribution is not simply a matter of toward a more visually compelling understanding of how
proper identification on the basis of style—the prophet’s the animated body would move through space. Donatello
face has been compared convincingly to the features of may have been recalling the pose of Nannv’s earlier sculpture
Donatello’s wooden crucifix (see Fig. 22)—but a challenge to but developing its implications.
how we determine the style of an artist during his early We may never know the true sequence of events in the
career. The prophet figure newly proposed as Donatello’s making of these three sculptures. They are, therefore, a
1408-09 David shares some of the Gothic sway and gentle provocative challenge to stylistic analysis and to modern
drapery of Nanni’s Isaiah and thus would have provided a notions of artistic individuality, suggesting how artists
stylistic coherence with Nanni’s figure. Admittedly, the could imitate one another as part of a learning process
Bargello David, so clearly identified as the biblical hero by within a traditional workshop situation in an attempt to

10.11 St. Luke, 1408-15, commissioned by 10.12 St. Mark, 1408-15, commissioned by 10.13 St. John, 1408-15, commissioned by
the Opera del Duomo from Nanni di Banco the Opera del Duomo from Niccolé Lamberti the Opera del Duomo from Donatello for the
for the facade of Florence Cathedral (seen for the facade of Florence Cathedral (seen facade of Florence Cathedral (seen straight
straight on). Marble, height 6’ 9% (2.07 m) straight on). Marble, height 7’ (2.15 m) on). Marble, height 6’ 10%” (2.1 m), width
(Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence) at base 34%” (88 cm) (Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo, Florence)

SCULPTURE FOR THE CATHEDRAL COMPLEX 209

bring stylistic cohesion to a sculptural program with multi- the armature of the body, endowing the physical form
ple parts. In the end, the Opera found neither of the statues beneath it with a sense of power.
for which they had paid acceptable, possibly accounting for Of these three sculptors, Lamberti had worked longest
the prophet figure’s reassignment to the bell tower. Evidently in the Duomo workshops. His response to what he must
the statues were too small to be seen well from the street have perceived as competition from younger artists was to
below, despite their life-sized scale. Legibility was important. produce a St. Mark (see Fig. 10.12) that is a technical tour de
To test empirically the appropriate size for the buttress force and a mark of his knowledge of the International
statues the Opera commissioned Donatello to make a larger Gothic Style (see Fig. 9.25). Extravagantly decorative curves
statue of Joshua. Made of terracotta, which was both inex- and folds of drapery cascade over the figure and even spill
pensive and quick to model, then whitened with gesso and over the base. Straps hang off the Gospel book, and the
paint to make it look like marble, the Joshua was in place on saint’s right hand extends freely in space. For all its technical
the north tribune by 1410, where it remained until it disin- brilliance, however, the St. Mark is a curiously static figure.
tegrated, most likely in the eighteenth century. Nearly 18 feet By 1416 Lamberti had moved to Venice, where the decora-
(5.5 meters) tall, this colossal figure was clearly intended to tive properties characteristic of this work well suited the
capture the viewer’s attention from the street below. elaborate program for the facade of St. Mark’s (see Fig. 7.3).
He ceded his position in the Florentine cathedral shops
Facade Sculpture to the younger sculptors, whose more classical style was
commensurate with the political rhetoric of the state.
Also at the end of 1408 the Arte della Lana began commis-
sioning sculpture for the unfinished facade of the cathedral, Or San Michele
engaging Nanni di Banco, Niccolo Lamberti (c. 1370
Florence-1451 Florence), and Donatello each to make a In 1406 the Signoria (governors) of Florence, impatient to
seated Evangelist for the niches on either side of the main bring the decorative program of the guild church of Or San
door (Figs. 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14). Once again Michele to completion, declared that those guilds owning
Donatello and Nanni made figures similar to one another, rights to.niches on the exterior of the building should fill
although in a style significantly changed from their earlier them with statues of their patron saints within ten years.
work. Notable in both Donatello’s St. Jobn and Nanni’s Only five of the fourteen niches had been complete
St. Luke is the awareness that the figure would be seen by 1406, even though they had been assigned to the
from below and thus require adjustments in form— individual guilds as early as 1339. Over the next two
or optical corrections—to accommodate the viewer’s decades Ghiberti, Donatello, and Nanni each con-
angle of vision (see Fig. 10.14). Thus when seen tributed three statues to this program (Fig. 10.15),
straight on (see Fig. 10.13), the torso of the St. John giving the guilds an important visual presence on
is too long, the drapery rather ponderous, the city’s major thoroughfare between cathe-
and the hands limp. When seen from below, dral and town hall.
however, St. John’s outward glance seems to Donatello’s St. George for the Arte dei
respond to a
vision, his torso nests back into Corazzai (Armorers’ Guild) (Fig. 10.16),
the lower sections of the figure, and the perhaps begun shortly after 1410, orig-
curving drapery between the legs not only inally carried a real sword and wore
opens up the mass of the stone but a real protective helmet—both pro-
connects with the arms to lock the figure duced by the guild. Although it has
together in an oval frame which also become a commonplace to dis-
draws attention to the saint’s head. In cuss this figure as a manifesta-
both figures the drapery creates pockets tion of the new civic humanism
of real space and hangs heavily over in Florence responding to the

10.14 St. John, 1408-15, commissioned by

the Opera del Duomo from Donatello for the
facade of Florence Cathedral (seen from
below). Marble, height 6’ 104” (2.1 m),
width at base 34%" (88 cm) (Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)

210 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 BIA
onrezjesy

4
; a ~ oe

0 Syds
ao al

0) Sm
10.15 Or San Michele, Florence, plan showing guild responsibility for
exterior niches
1 Arte dei Corazzai, Donatello, St. George; 2 Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e
Legname, Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints; 3 To 1459, Guelf Party,
Donatello, St. Louis of Toulouse. After 1459, Mercanzia (Merchants’ Court),
Verrocchio, Christ and St. Thomas; 4 Arte del Calimala, Ghiberti, St. John the
Baptist; S Tabernacle, c. 1355-59, Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna
(see Fig. 8.12); 6 Arte dei Linaiuoli, Donatello, St Mark; 7 Arte del
Cambio, Ghiberti, St. Matthew.

military threats of Giangaleazzo Visconti and King Ladislas,

it seems more reasonable to place this statue within the
chivalric traditions of late Gothic realism, exemplified by
the warrior knights placed on the tomb of Cansignorio della
Scala in Verona (see Fig. 9.9) or depicted in the frescoes of
Altichiero in Padua (see Fig. 9.18). The chivalric treatment of
the legend of St. George is also evident in Donatello’s relief
beneath the statue’s niche (Fig. 10.17), which depicts the
saint slaying the dragon that had been menacing the ele-
gantly posed princess at the right of the relief. Employing a
schiacciato (“squashed”) relief for the first time in his career, 10.16 St. George, c. 1410-15 (2), commissioned by the Arte dei
Corazzai from Donatello for the north side of Or San Michele, Florence.
Donatello created with barely incised lines a sense of atmos-
Marble, statue height 6’ 10%” (2.09 m), relief 15% x 47%" (39 x 120 cm)
pheric space receding into the far distance, a transfer of (the statue is now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)
painterly conventions to low sculptural relief which was to
have lasting impact.

10.17 St. George and the Dragon, c. 1417, commissioned by the Arte dei Corazzai (Armorers’ Guild) from Donatello for the base of the guild’s niche on the
north side of Or San Michele, Florence. Marble, 15%” x 47%" (39 cm x 120 cm) (Original now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

OR SAN MICHELE 211

 Che contrast with Nanni’s relief under the adjacent niche
for the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname (Stone Carvers’
and Woodworkers’ Guild) (see Fig. 5) is remarkable. Whereas
Nanni, Ghiberti, and Brunelleschi conceived of relief as a
series of nearly free-standing figurines set against a back-
ground, Donatello treats the marble as though it were mal-
leable wax or clay (materials he would have worked with in
Ghiberti’s casting shop). The soft flow of forms on the sur-
face suggests rather than defines space, veiling both his fig-
ures and their setting with atmospheric effects—even before
such devices were used in painting. More than the diagonal
lines of the loggia behind the princess and the receding
crisscross pattern of tiles within, it is the merging of figures
and space and of one spatial area with another through the
pictorial illusionism of the very thin relief that creates a
sense ofa unified pictorial space extending from the fore-
ground into the deep background. In such an evocative
environment, trees in the distance and St. George’s cape in
the foreground can blow in the wind, both dramatizing and
energizing the scene.
“—Donatello’s St. Mark of c. 1411-13 for the Arte dei
Linaiuoli (Linen Weavers’ Guild) (Fig. 10.18) shows a thor-
ough integration fetztag principles in_the sculptor’s
work. The classical|contrapposto pose, with the|weight resting
on one fagt, producing a gentle turn of the figure around its
central axis| suggests that the saint is about to move out of
the niche7At the same time Donatello anchored his figure
Pa et
with strong verticals in the columnar folds of material cov-
ering the saint’s right leg. The drapery adheres closely to the
chest and arms, revealing the contours of the body despite
the heavy folds and crimped border. The intensity of the 2
sain una the realistic modeling of kisrands
with thét-vetns pulsing just beneath the skin, recreate the
human form in a highly x ee SA}
“ae
%

Nanni’s Four Crowned Saints (Fig. 10.19), for the niche of

the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname at Or San Michele,
represent four Christian artists of the third century who were
asked by the emperor Diocletian to produce a pagan image.
Refusing to do so, they were condemned to be beheaded.
Nanni chose the moment of the men’s dawning awareness *
of their fate. The Roman gravity in the three older men is
played against the more aetive pose of the youngest figure—
calm resignation paired with defiance (Fig. 10.20). Each 4.

figure presents the viewer with a different possible response

to adversity, but as a group they suggest duty accepted and
discharged; the Christian tale becomes a metaphor for ERE
responsible citizenship. Stylistically, the classicizing manner
in which the Four Crowned Saints are depictéd 1s appropriate

10.18 Niche of the Arte dei Linaiuoli (Linen Weavers’ Guild) with St.
Mark, 1411-13, commissioned by the Arte dei Linaiuoli from Donatello”
for the south side of Or San Michele, Florence. Marble, figure height
7’ 8%" (2.36 m) (original now in Museo di Or San Michele, Florence;
copy in the niche) .

The niche was commissioned from the stone carvers Perfetto di Giovanni and
Albizzo di Pietro in 1411. They received 200 florins for the work; Donatello
received 100 florins for his statue of David (see Figs. 10.9 and 10.10).

212 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 guild whose governors were among the wealthiest citizens
of the city. The silvered eyes (see p. 12), framed by extraordi-
nary eye lashes made of fine bits of wire, add an aura of
psychological intensity to this hermit prophet and preacher,
perhaps a response on Ghiberti’s part to the new emotional
impact of Donatello’s sculptures. Moreover, the frontal pose
of the Baptist, quite unlike Donatello’s St. Mark or St. George
or Nanni’s Four Crowned Saints, splays his arms to the side as
if to maintain an invisible plane across the face of the niche.
Ghiberti seems to be conscious of the architectural integrity
of the niche as an indentation into the flat surface of the
wall, just as he emphasized the relief plane of his panels for
the baptistry doors.
When he was given a second commission by the Arte
del Cambio (Bankers’ Guild), for a figure of St. Matthew
(Figs. 10.22 and 10.23), Ghiberti made subtle shifts in his
style, as if to respond to the innovations of Donatello and
Nanni. This figure, also in bronze, employs a slightly more
animated pose, suggested by the extended right leg pulling
‘at
drapery
the to outline the leg beneath, the turn of the
right side of the body toward the front of the niche and the
apparent receding of the left shoulder back into the niche.
Both are achieved more by the illusions of the drapery folds
and the suppression of the mass of the left shoulder than by
any actual torsion of the body, as a side view of the statue
would demonstrate. St. Matthew also curves his arms out of

10.19 Four Crowned Saints from the Niche of the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra
e Legname (Stone Carvers’ and Woodworkers’ Guild), c. 1414-16,
commissioned by the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname from Nanni di
Banco for the guild’s niche on the north side of Or San Michele, Florence.
Marble, figure height 6’ (1.83 m) (original group now in the Museo di Or
San Michele, Florence; copy in the niche)

Nanni also designed the niche in which this group originally stood, lining it with
a low-relief marble carving of fictive hanging drapery that quietly repeats the
heavy fall of material clothing the figures.

for figures who lived in antiquity. And the direct, but inward
gaze of the figures, recalling the stoic faces of ancient
Roman sculpture where a decorum of. personal gravity
served as_a metaphor for Roman morality and personal vir-
tue, suggests individual reflections on their choice.
"The Arte del Calimala (Wool Merchants’ Guild) chose
Ghiberti in 1412 to make their statue of St. John the Baptist
(Fig. 10.21) for Or San Michele—a natural choice since
he was then already in their employ for the bronze doors
for the baptistry. They thus chose a sculptor whose fluid,
elegant style contrasted with the more severe classicism of
the other artists at work on sculpture for the building.
The repeated elongated curves of the Baptist’s drapery
(on the border of which Ghiberti inscribed his own name)
and the carefully arranged S-curves of his hair and of his
hair shirt -attention_on graceful patterns, a reflection
fternational Gothic Style>perhaps appropriate for a 10.20 Four Crowned Saints (detail).

OR SAN MICHELE 213

 10.21 (left) Niche of the Arte del Calimala (Wool Merchants’ Guild)
Arte del Calimala
with St. John the Baptist, c. 1412/13-1 7, commissioned by
from Lorenzo Ghiberti for the east side of Or San Michele, Florence;
m)
image shows original before cleaning. Bronze, height 8' 4" (2.55
(original now in the Museo di Or San Michele, Florence; copy in the niche)

10.22 Niche of the Arte del Cambio (Bankers’ Guild) with St. Matthew,
1419-22, commissioned by the Arte del Cambio from Lorenzo Ghiberti
for the west side of Or San Michele, Florence. Bronze, height 8’ 10”
(2.69 m) (pictured is the original, now in the Museo di Or San Michele,
Florence; copy in the niche)

the niche (partially a factor of the shallowness of this niche

as opposed to most of the others) and away from the trunk
of the body, creating deep pockets of space. At the same
time, however, ck draperpforms, while simplified, still use
the swinging, decorative curyes-ef the Baptist that compete
with the implied volumes of the figure. Even the cap of
tousled hair on St. Matthew’s head, with its wonderful
irregular locks, is opposed by the ordered symmetry of the
beard. Similarly, the niche, which was designed by Ghiberti
following ancient musical proportions, combines classical
elements such as the triangular pediment, shell motif
behind the saint’s head, and Corinthian capitals with leafy
Gothic crockets and a pointed niche.
Ghiberti’s continuation of a late Gothic drapery style _
into the late 1420s, despite the successes of the weighty
volumetric classicizing forms of Donatello and Nanni di

214 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 treatment of fabric. Unlike the ascetic St. Louis of Toulouse
known to history (see Figs. 6.0 and 6.11), Donatello’s figure
is completely enveloped in elaborate vestments, almost as if
the saint’s reluctant acceptance of the office of bishop, here
represented by his regalia, has overwhelmed his personal
dedication to Franciscan poverty. The sculptor’s emphasis
on the power ofSt. Louis’s office provided a visual analogue
to the power of the Guelf Party in Florence during the early
part of the century.

Brunelleschi and Florentine

Civic Architecture

The extensive sculptural programs for the Florentine

Duomo and baptistry and for Or San Michele were more
than matched in scope and aspiration by new building
projects that were to change the fabric of the city of Florence
as much as the earlier projects had done in the fourteenth
century. The leading architect for this transformation was
Filippo Brunelleschi, whose early work, as we have seen, had
been in sculpture (see Fig. 10.4). Having lost the exclusive
contract for the baptistry doors completed by Ghiberti (see
Fig. 10.5), Brunelleschi apparently traveled for a time, more
than likely to Rome and to the near East, where he began to
retrain himself as an architect.

The Foundling Hospital

10.23 St. Matthew (detail), 1419-22, commissioned by the Arte del
Cambio from Lorenzo Ghiberti for the west side of Or San Michele, By 1419 Brunelleschi was at work for the Arte della Seta
Florence (Silk Manufacturers’ and Goldsmiths’ Guild) for their
special benefice in the city, the Foundling Hospital (Ospedale
Banco, and his mixed architectural vocabulary are normally degli Innocenti; Fig. 10.24), an orphanage where unwanted
treated as manifestations of his personal stylistic predilec- children could be left anonymously to be cared for by
tions. However Ghiberti’s commissions at Or San Michele guild charity. The history of such charitable institutions
were from the major and most powerful guilds of the city, goes back to the thirteenth century, when cities were forced
whereas Donatello’s and Nanni’s were from minor guilds, a to provide shelter and care for an increasing population
distinction in status clearly suggested by the costly medium of poor and unwanted (see Fig. 8.18). Located in what
of bronze used by Ghiberti and the much larger size of his was then a relatively underdeveloped part of Florence, the
figures. The social hierarchy of the guilds, therefore, may Foundling Hospital stands at a right angle to the church
also have acted as a determinant of style for the Or San of the Santissima Annunziata, which housed a miracle-
Michele niche statues. working image of the Annunciation and which was one of
Donatello’s St. Louis ofToulouse (see Fig. 10.0) was commis- the main pilgrimage sites in the city. At this site Church
sioned in the early 1420s by the Guelf Party, a political and corporate foundation work hand in hand to define the
union with a long and illustrious history in the city. The character of the city as divinely favored and civically respon-
St. Louis was the only statue on Or San Michele not made sible, demonstrating the reciprocal relations between God
for a guild. Completely gilded, it outstripped the other and citizen in architectural terms.
niche figures in its visual impact. For the statue Donatello The loggia that Brunelleschi designed for the hospital is
and his partner, Michelozzo (Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, not, in its basic form, unusual. This type of structure seems
1396 Florence-1472 Florence), designed an unremittingly to have been used consistently in late medieval hospitals.
classicizing niche framed by Corinthian pilasters, decorative Street loggias providing shelter for pedestrians were com-
swags, and flying putti. The statue is unlike any other at Or mon in other Italian cities, particularly Bologna, Padua, and
San Michele. Donatello’s use of bronze for this statue placed Venice. The question of the sources that may have inspired
him in direct competition with Ghiberti, then the acknowl- the graceful rhythms of Brunelleschi’s Foundling Hospital
edged master of this medium in Florence; his overworked loggia has been much debated. Art historians have tradi-
volumetric folds provide a clear alternative to Ghiberti’s tionally searched for ancient Roman precedents for specific

BRUNELLESCHI AND FLORENTINE CIVIC ARCHITECTURE 215

characteristics of Brunelleschi’s architecture to support in swaddling clothes (innocenti) made by the della Robbia
the idea that the Renaissance was essentially a revival of workshop fill the spandrels between the arches and identify
antiquity. Yet there is little in the massing of Brunelleschi’s the purpose of the building.
architecture that can easily be associated with Roman forms, Brunelleschi presumably envisioned a rectangular piazza
despite details of column capitals and moldings that imitate bordered on two sides by the Foundling Hospital and
Roman ornament. Evidence suggests that he was not only Santissima Annunziata—one that was not built untl the
familiar with Byzantine architecture, especially as mani- sixteenth century. In the 1420s such a piazza would have
fested in Venice, but perhaps also in Constantinople itself, been unusual as an unencumbered space in the city, although
but that he knew building techniques practiced by the significantly the Loggia della Signoria and the Palazzo della
Persians (his own vision being far more encompassing than Signoria defined the governmental piazza in much the same
the European bias of modern historians). The row of domed way (see Fig. 4.0). A more likely precedent for Brunelleschi’s
vaults in the porch of the Foundling Hospital, for example, plan is the Piazza San Marco in Venice (see Fig. 7.3), which
can be compared with a similar arrangement in the narthex was also flanked by loggias, with the basilica forming
of St. Mark’s in Venice, where slightly pointed arches the boundary of one short side of the square, just as the
support six small domes. Since Brunelleschi cannot be Annunziata did in Florence. Rectangular piazzas flanked by
traced either in documentation or in works of art between arcades also formed part of ancient Roman fora and were
1404 and 1415, he may well have traveled far more widely used frequently thereafter in Christian sites such as the
than Rome, where he is traditionally thought to have lived atrium in front ofOld St. Peter’s. It is perhaps not accidental
during this me. At home he was certainly impressed by the that the church of the Annunziata was one of the major
abstract classicism of the revetment on Florence’s baptistry pilgrimage churches of Florence, just as St. Peter’s was
(see Fig. 4.3), which, in the sharp alternation of light in Rome, and thus needed occasionally to accommodate
and dark geometric forms, he imitates in the architectural large numbers of visitors in its precincts. At the Foundling
membering of the hospital. Hospital, therefore, the Arte della Seta was provided with an
The building itself is a remarkably light one, given the especially grand space which proclaimed its charity and
stone and masonry architecture of the city. Each of the wealth not only to the city but to foreign pilgrims as well.
members—columns, arches, and window enframements—is
thin, a fact of the plans alluded to in the documents, which The Dome of the Cathedral
specifically provide for iron tension rods to brace the arches
of the portico. The sole exceptions to this thin membering While working on the Foundling Hospital, Brunelleschi also
are the heavy cornice above the arches and the strong supervised the work for which he was—and is—most famous,
Corinthian pilasters that gird the structure at the left and the dome, or cupola, of Florence’s cathedral (see Fig. 4.22).
right. The cornice runs the entire length of the building Although a large dome had been planned for the cathedral
and ties the facade structure together compositionally as at least from the mid-fourteenth century, no architect
well as giving a defining frame for the piazza on which the had apparently solved the problem of how to vault such a
building stands. Later glazed terracotta roundels of babies large space; the diameter of the octagonal crossing measures

10.24 Foundling Hospital, Florence, begun 1421, commissioned by the Arte della Seta (Silk Manufacturers’ and
Goldsmiths’ Guild) from Filippo Brunelleschi

216 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 CONTEMPORARY
SCENE __
Art and Childbirth
Having children was a much less private In our illustration (Fig. 10.25), trains of the Signoria, their horns displaying the
concern in the Renaissance than it is today. both men and women come to celebrate heraldic lily of the republic, announce the
Since infant mortality was high (like mortal- the birth of the child. Young women accom- arrival of two men carrying a gold vessel
ity as a whole, due to disease and war), panied by nuns make their way around and plate.
both Church and state encouraged parents an interior courtyard to the door of the On the back of this birth plate a nude
to have large families. Childlessness was birthing chamber, where the new mother, boy plays with a little dog. On other exam-
interpreted as a mark ofdisfavor with God; still in bed, leans on her arms to speak ples babies urinate streams of silver and
moreover, it weakened the community’s with them. Matrons are caring for her gold, and figures play games. The general
chances for survival and advancement. City child, who is tightly swaddled and wearing theme is of a blessed and healthy child-
governments in both Florence and Venice, a coral amulet to protect him from evil hood, a talisman for the very dangerous
for example, established brothels on the spirits. At the far left, trumpeters from and susceptible early years oflife.
principle that lusty young men not yet in a
financial position to marry (which they nor-
mally did in their thirties) could reinforce
their heterosexuality and eventually become
fathers. Civic foundling hospitals cared for
abandoned and orphaned children, train-
ing them for basic trades essential to the
city’s economic well-being.
Not surprisingly, the birth of a new
child was marked by ceremony and cele-
bration, the mother often receiving gifts
from visitors (see the figures behind
the bed in Cavallini’s Birth ofthe Virgin;
Fig. 2.7)—who might include city offi-
cials as well as friends and relatives.
The most common gifts for a new
mother were sweets and fruits pre-
sented on a keepsake desco da parto
(“birth dish”) made of wood or
ceramic. Sometimes guests offered
beverages from a matching flask or
pitcher. Often painted on both front
and back, the dishes showed scenes of
the mother presenting the new child to
guests and/or allegorical and_ literary
themes extolling love and virtue. The par-
ents’ coats of arms often appear as well,
tying the individual birth to its familial con-
text. In Florence, all sorts of items designed
specially for infants and young mothers
were available, from practical items such as
wooden bowls to embroidered linens to 10.25 Birth Plate, 1420s, sometimes attributed to Masaccio. Tempera on wood, diameter 22”
charms and amulets for a successful birth. (56 cm) (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

nearly 140 feet (43 meters), almost as great as the Pantheon plan ultimately won him the commission, but, as had been
in Rome. the case with the early history of the cathedral itself,
Having worked on plans for this project from 1417, progress was not smooth at the outset. A change in the over-
Brunelleschi submitted in 1418 a model (see Fig. 30) that seeing committee in 1419 occasioned an open competition
did not require the usual temporary wooden scaffolding for the project in which Donatello and Nanni di Banco
or centering. Brunelleschi’s scaffolds cantilevered from participated. Brunelleschi’s model for this competition
the base of the drum and were moved upward as the dome was topped with a gilt banner bearing the Florentine lily,
progressed in a series of horizontal courses. This audacious an indication of the civic component of the commission.

BRUNELLESCHI AND FLORENTINE CIVIC ARCHITECTURE 217

A decision by the building committee in 1420 gave respon-
sibility for the project jointly to Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and
a master mason, Battista d’Antonio, the last an assertion of
practical know-how as a guard against Brunelleschi’s theory
and Ghiberti’s minimal experience in architecture.
Construction began in 1420 and continued until August
1436, when the dome was closed at the level of the lantern. =a
At that time the city ordered trumpeters and pipers to play
for a great feast for the workmen, the building committee,
and the priests of the cathedral. This ceremony was the last
in a series that had begun when Pope Martin V had sent the
cathedral a branch of miniature roses fashioned of gold
(now in the cathedral’s museum) to mark the extraordinary asi)
falinlan|
:
efforts of the city to complete the dome. With the imminent
completion of the dome, Pope Eugenius IV, then resident in
the city, rededicated the cathedral to Santa Maria del Fiore
(St. Mary of the Flower) on March 25, 1436 (the feast of
the Annunciation). The name derives from the name of the ay Secondary
‘ : : : : :
city, Firenze or then Fiorenza, meaning flowering. For this v1| | WD
Z
rib
dedication the Flemish composer Guillaume Dufay wrote a 1 LZ
motet whose structure made explicit reference to the meas- — AA
ZZ |
urements and proportions of both Solomon’s Temple and | Mh \
Florence’s cathedral. The text referred both to Martin’s gift
and to the presence of Eugenius who “with his own hands...
dedicate[d] this immense temple.” Thus the grandeur of this 10.26 Dome of the Cathedral, Florence, isometric view, after
building project was honored by none other than the popes, Piero Sanpaolesi

CONTEMPORARY VOICE

In Praise of Artists
Alberti wrote his text first in Latin in 1435 the mistress of things, had grown old and in the times or in the gifts of nature. It must
and then translated it into Italian in 1436 tired. She no longer produced either gen- be admitted that it was less difficult for the
so that his artist friends could read it. The iuses or giants which in her more youthful Ancients—because they had models to imi-
prologue to the Della Pittura (On Painting) and more glorious days she had produced tate and from which they could learn—to
is both a recognition ofthe genius of anew so marvellously and abundantly. come to a knowledge of those supreme arts
generation of Florentine artists and a
para- Since then, | have been brought back which today are most difficult for us. Our
gone, or competitive comparison, between here [to Florence|—from the long exile in fame ought to be much greater, then, if we
the present and the antique past. which we Alberti have grown old—into this discover unheard-of and never-before-seen
our city, adorned above all others. | have arts and sciences without teachers or with-
| used to marvel and at the same time to come to understand that in many men, but out any model whatsoever. Who could ever
grieve that so many excellent and superior especially in you, Filippo [Brunelleschi], be hard or envious enough to fail to praise
arts and sciences from our most vigorous and in our close friend Donato the sculptor Pippo the architect on seeing here such a
antique past could now seem lacking and [Donatello] and in others like Nencio large structure, rising above the skies,
almost wholly lost. We know from [remain- [Ghiberti], Luca [della Robbia] and ample to cover with its shadow all the
ing] works and through references to them Masaccio, there is a genius for [accom- Tuscan people, and constructed without
that they were once widespread. Painters, plishing] every praiseworthy thing. For this the aid of centering or great quantity of
sculptors, architects, musicians, geometri- they should not be slighted in favour of wood? Since this work seems impossible of
cians, rhetoricians, seers and similar noble anyone famous or oflong-standing in these execution in our time, if | judge rightly, it
and amazing intellects are very rarely found arts. Therefore, | believe the power of was probably unknown and unthought of
today and there are few to praise them. acquiring wide fame in any art or science among the Ancients.
Thus | believed, as many said, that Nature, lies in our industry and diligence more than

(from Leon Battista Alberti. On Painting. Trans. and ed. John Spencer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956, pp. 39-40)

218 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 10.27 Marriage of the Virgin, early 1420s, commissioned by the Bartolini family from Lorenzo Monaco for the Bartolini Chapel, Santa Trinita,
Florence. Fresco, 6’ 10%" x 7’ 64" (2.1 x 2.3 m)

granting renown to the building within the Christian com- “magnificent and swelling,” a result of the extra height given
munity and adding to the magnificence and reputation of to the exterior shell by its raised curve. There is even a note
the city of Florence. that the ceiling was to be built to accommodate mosaics,
Although Brunelleschi’s dome is considered one of the indicating that at least some envisioned the interior of
masterpieces of Renaissance architecture, it deviates from the dome matching the dome of the baptistry (see Fig. 4.4),
classical precedents. It is pointed, rather than hemispherical, just as the floor plan of the cathedral imitated the earlier
and employs ribs—eight visible and sixteen concealed structure. The technology of the dome, more than its stylis-
(Fig. 10.26)—in a manner similar to the construction of tic properties, however, won Florence enormous prestige
Gothic vaults. Other construction features include the use and gave it an architectural wonder comparable to, if not
of stone and chain girdles at several levels to counteract surpassing, its Tuscan neighbors and rivals, Siena and Pisa.
the lateral thrust of the dome’s weight, a complex herring- When Leon Battista Alberti wrote metaphorically in his
bone pattern of brickwork (known only in Persian architec- Della Pittura of 1436, the year of the closing of the oculus,
ture at this time) to reduce cracks due to settling, and that the dome “covered the entire Tuscan people with its
double shell construction (also used in Persian architecture) shadow,” he referred not just to the size of the structure,
to minimize weight and simultaneously to provide access which stands over the skyline of the city and can be seen
for maintenance. from a great distance, but also to the cultural, economic,
All of these details were laid out in two long legal memo- and technological hegemony of Florence over the entire
randa in 1420 to ensure that the work on this novel project region. More than the glory of God was at stake in
would be carried out in exacting detail. Specifications Brunelleschi’s project for the dome of the cathedral.
about thickness of walls, curvature of the dome, width of
space between the double shell (ceiling/roof) construction, Family Commissions
the type of stone used for reinforcement, the placement of
the chain girders, the type of brickwork and the weight of In the preface to his manual on painting, written at the turn
each brick, and details of water drainage are all noted, as 1s of the fifteenth century, Cennino Cennini expressed pride
the intention voiced at the very outset that the dome be in the long tradition to which he belonged:

FAMILY COMMISSIONS 219

 | was trained in this profession for twelve years by my The Bartolini-Salimbeni Chapel
master, Agnolo di Taddeo [Gaddi] of Florence; he learned
this profession from Taddeo, his father; and his father The frescoes for the Bartolini-Salimbeni Chapel in Santa
was christened under Giotto, and was his follower for Trinita (Fig. 10.27) are a case in point. These frescoes were
four-and-twenty years; and that Giotto changed the pro- painted by Lorenzo Monaco (Lorenzo the monk, born Piero
fession of painting from Greek [Byzantine] back into di Giovanni; c. 1370 Siena?-1425/30 Florence), who may
Latin, and brought it up to date; and he had more fin- have been trained by Agnolo Gaddi or as an illuminator in
ished craftsmanship than anyone has had since. the scriptorium of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he was a
monk. Completed between 1420 and 1424, Lorenzo’s paint-
Tenaciously held traditions such as Cennino’s shaped subse- ings of events from the life of the Virgin cover an earlier
quent thinking about artistic development during the fif- fresco cycle by Spinello Aretino believed to have been com-
teenth century and have obscured consideration of clearly missioned by Bartolomeo Salimbeni in 1390—almost as if
developed alternatives to the Giottesque tradition outlined the family were seeking to assert its status by assimilating a
in so linear a manner by Cennino. In fact, as the Florentine new style associated with the courts in the north. The
oligarchy became stronger after crushing the Ciompi Revolt painted architecture of the Bartolini-Salimbeni frescoes
and successfully thwarting the Milanese threats to the city’s extends over the entire narrative, stepping back along sharp
liberty, noticeable stylistic changes occurred in Florentine diagonals, while the row offigures moves in a gradual diago-
painting, marking expensive public family commissions as a nal back into space, a composition that suggests Lorenzo’s
manifestation of new communal structures of power. close study of Agnolo Gaddi’s frescoes at Santa Croce (see

10.28 Annunciation, early

1420s, commissioned by
the Bartolini family from
Lorenzo Monaco for the
Bartolini Chapel, Santa
Trinita, Florence. Tempera
on panel, 9’ 10” x 8’ 11%”
(3 x 2.74 m)

220 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

10.29 Coronation of the Virgin, 1414, commissioned by a member ofthe della Frasca family (perhaps Domenico di Zanobi) to honor Zanobi di Ceccho
della Frasca and other members ofthe family from Lorenzo Monaco for the main altar of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence. Tempera on panel,
16’ 9%" x 14’ 9” (5.12 x 4.5 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

The inscription that runs along the base ofthe painting reads: “This picture was made for the soul of Zanobi di Ceccho della Frasca and his family in compensation
for another altarpiece that was placed in this church for him. The work is by Lorenzo di Giovanni, a monk ofthis order, and his [shop]. He painted it in the year of
our Lord 1413, in the month of February, during the time of Matthew’s priorate of this monastery.”

Fig. 8.15). Lorenzo’s debt to earlier sources is also evident in earlier Sienese Gothic forms of Simone Martini’s Annunciation
the figure of St. Joseph, whose gathered yellow cloak falls in (see Fig. 5.11) in its decorative details and elongated figures,
two large curves and then loops along the ground. The altar- with their long S-curves and arabesque drapery edges. Apart
piece for this chapel (Fig. 10.28) recalls the miracle-working from the fact that Lorenzo came from Siena, the reason for
image at Santissima Annunziata in Florence, recast in the the references to Simone’s altarpiece, then still in Siena’s

FAMILY COMMISSIONS 221

cathedral, is not clear. In painting as in sculpture, however, angels who accompany the saints and by the white robes
the juxtaposition of recent Florentine and older Sienese of the Virgin, which evoke the white monastic robes of
references in one chapel suggests how thoroughly painters the Camaldolite order, whose church it was. In Lorenzo’s
in Florence had assimilated the International Gothic Coronation the edges of the figures’ garments have an
Style imported from France, and how such a style might animation quite independent of the actual movement of
distinguish a new group of patrons from others of their the figures. Although the composition of the painting is
contemporaries. quite conventional, the figures display a new fluidity in
Lorenzo’s elegant style reached maturity in his very large their poses and in the movements of their drapery which is
altarpiece of the Coronation ofthe Virgin (Fig. 10.29) for the suggestive of the International Style then being employed
high altar of his conventual church of Santa Maria degli in sculpture by Niccolo Lamberti and Ghiberti (see Figs.
Angeli in Florence. In both the Santa Maria degli Angeli 10.12 and 10.21). Surface patterns vie for attention with the
altarpiece and the Bartolini Chapel frescoes, the patrons volumes of the figures; even the superimposition of figures
apparently regarded Lorenzo’s style as the most novel in tends to read as pattern. Brilliant, light-toned color and the
Florentine painting of their time and the most likely to lavish use of gold and expensive ultramarine blue pigment
distinguish them from their predecessors as a new social would have made the paintinga strong focal point in the
power within the city. The church of Santa Maria degli church and would also have testified to its importance and
Angeli is itself referred to in the altarpiece both by the many to the donor’s extraordinary generosity.

10.30 Adoration ofthe

Magi, 1423, commissioned
by Palla Strozzi from
Gentile da Fabriano for
the Strozzi Chapel, Santa
Trinita, Florence. Tempera
on panel, 9’ 10” x 9’ 3”
(3 x 2.82 m) (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence)

222 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 The Strozzi Chapel at Santa Trinita of light appears in the upper right of the panel where the
angel appears to the shepherds to announce the birth of
At the beginning of the fifteenth century Onoftio Strozzi the Christ. These effects and the softness_o in the
was head of the wealthiest family in Florence. When he died Adoration differ from Lorenzo Monaco’s sharper tonalities,
in 1418 he had already initiated work on his family burial setting Gentile’s painting apart from the leading painter
chapel at Santa Trinita—which was also to serve as the in Florence at the time. Another noteworthy feature 1s
church’s sacristy. The chapel and much of its decoration the_aristocratic quality of both subject and treatment. Not
were commissioned by Onofrio’s son, Palla Strozzi. only does the altarpiece have a regal cast of characters
Documentary evidence indicates that Ghiberti was the in the Three Kings, but it portrays the event with the full
architect—a choice that may reflect the fact that Palla panoply of princely life, including hunting dogs, pet mon-
Strozzi served as a member of the committee that ordered
Ghibertt’s north doors for the baptistry (see Fig. 10.5).
The centerpiece of the thapel was the Adoration of the Magi
(Fig. 10.30) by one of(Xaly’s leading proponents of the The Quaratesi Altarpiece
International Gothic Style Gentle da Fabriano (Gentile di
Niccolo di Massio; c. 1385 Fabriano-1427 Rome). Befitting Soon after completing the Adoration of the Magi, Gentile
the work of an artist who had enjoyed great success in painted an altarpiece, now dismantled, for the main altar
Venice (where he painted narratives in the Great Council of San Niccolo sopr’Arno, over which Bernardo di Castello
Hall) and at the court of Pandolfo Malatesta in Brescia, it is Quaratesi had property rights. The Quaratesi altarpiece
one of the most lavish paintings made in fifteenth-century (Fig. 10.32) is signed and dated to 1425 on the center panel
Florence, a manifestation of the Strozzi’s enormous wealth. and may fiave been commissioned by one of Bernardo’s
The altarpiece luxuriates in gold, elaborate tooling, pat- heirs after his death in 1423. It is much more conventiona
terned costumes, and decorative details, which even adorn in its composition than the Strozzi Adoration, with the
its frame. The opulence of Gentile’s Adoration should not, “Madonna and Child enthroned between the patron saints of
however, obscure two other critical aspects of the painting, the family and the church. )Despite the traditional gold
typical of the work he produced during his Florentine years: grourid behind the saints ard the schematic pattern of the
the suffusion oflight out the compositi nd the floor on which they stand, their volumetric treatment in
beautifully modeled figures whose features are subtly put in . “space (which originally would have greater
been even with
relief by the play-ef ght upon them, effects already evident wooden colonettes between the panels creating an arcaded
in Gentile’s earlier works. This is especially noticeable loggia) gives them a presence unlike those of previous altar-
in the predella panel of the altarpiece depicting the Nativity piece figures. Although t. Nicholassecond from the left,
(Fig. 10.31). There the luminous radiance emanating from and in the place of hono irgin’s right) appears in
the body of the Christ Child suffuses the central part of the an iconic frontal pose as the Patron saint ofthe church, the
small panel, bathing the figures and the landscape in a soft other figures turn and gesture in a manner more naturalistic
glow that is as much a depiction of natural moonlight on even than Ghiberti’s St. John the Baptist (see Fig. 10.21), which
landscape forms as it is a manifestation of the supernatural. they resemble in certain details of drapery. The same natural
The light extends to the left edge of the panel where it casts Ce be seen in the Virgin and Child, Sea cual
distinct (if inaccurate) shadows on the shed framing the two eated on a throne covered with_four.different—patterns
reclining women there. A comparable depiction of the which tend to fla e, are fully modeled and spatially
divine through the carefully observed natural phenomena convincing. The drapery of the Madonna falls heavily from
Snes.

10.31 Nativity
(predella panel from
Adoration of the Magi),
1423, commissioned
by Palla Strozzi from
Gentile da Fabriano
for the Strozzi
Chapel, Santa Trinita,
Florence. Tempera on
panel, 12% x 294" (32
x 75 cm). (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence)

FAMILY COMMISSIONS 223

10.32 Quaratesi altarpiece (reconstruction), 1425, commissiéned by a member ofthe Quaratesi family fron| Gentile}da Fabriano for the high altar of
San Niccold sopr’Arno, Florence. Tempera on panel. Centerfanel, including frame, 7’ 3 2" x 2’ 8 4" (222.7 x 83-enf)
The Virgin and Child is in the National Gallery, London (on loan from Her Majesty the Queen); Mary Magdalene, St. Nicholas, St. John the Baptist, and St. George
are in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

her knees and, despite the gentle“arabesques ofits edges, its chapel in the Carmelite church of Santa Maria del Carmine
volume creates a sense of the mass-of the figure beneath, in Pisa that belonged to a notaty of that city.
much like the evangelists for the_facade of the cathedral Like Gentile, Masaccio was obliged to use a gold back-
(see Figs. 10.11-10.14). The projecting knee’ of the Virgin ground—still considered necessary for the iconic figures of
catch the light from the left\the drapery hanging heavily an altarpiece. He placed his Madonna and Child (Fig. 10.33)
between them, and the smooth faces are delicately modeled on an architectural throne whose ornaments of Carinthian
with red highlights on the cheeks blurring into a soft pink. capitals and rosettes and strigillated base distinguish it
The gray shadows on the figures’ left darken imperceptibly from those in earlier Florentine paintings-of the enthroned
as they help to structure contour—touches of the natural Virgin, like that of Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna and Child (see
within the elaborate decorative surfaces of the painting. Fig. 4.13), although Masaccio developed the explorations of
Whatevex Gothicizing style Gentile brought with him to spatial volumes noticeable in the earlier painting. Masaccio’s
\Florence, h§ was obviously influenced in turn by the innova- Madonna’ arms ¥reate an oval, opening a space into which
tions in style he observed there. the child fits~The full volumes and heavy massing of the
drapery over her clearly defined body show that he had
Masaccio’s Pisa Altarpiece also tooked carefully at the sculpture of his friend Donatello
(see Fig. 10.14). The play of light over facial features is
At about the time that Gentile painted the Quaratesi indebted to Gentile, although Masaccio heightened the
altarpiece, a young revolutionary Florentine painter now effect of light with the strong shadows created by the
known as Masaccio (Tommaso di ser Giovanni di Simone left side of the throne and by the figures themselves. This
Guidi; 1401 San Giovanni Val d’Arno-1428 Rome) began meticulous treatment of light and shadow, responding to
to explore new ways of representing the real world on a the actual source oflight in the chapel attests to Masaccio’s
two-dimensional surface. His career was very short, although concern for naturalism, seen also in the amusing gesture
he is known to have been painting by the age of sixteen. of the Christ Child stuffing grapes (a Eucharistic symbol)
His first extant major commission for a large multipaneled into his mouth, much as any child would do. This attention
altarpiece was completed in 1426 for the choir screen of a to light and the effects of shadows helps to plish the space

224 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 painted as a private devotional image for the Florentine
archbishop Giovanni Vitelleschi, who was born in the town.
Filippo’s early training may have occurred in the workshops
of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, since
he had joined the Carmelite order in 1421, shortly before
Masaccio and Masolino painted the Brancacci Chapel (see
Fig. 10.37). A payment in 1434 for an unspecified painting
produced during a stay in Padua, where he apparently was
acquainted with the local painter Squarcione, indicates that
he already an established painter by that time. The
the Tarquinia Madonna demonstrates Filippo’s
imilation ofthe massive sculptural farms of Masaccio’s
painting; the realistically lively Christ Child shows the influ-
ence of Donatello’s sculpture as well, especially his Cantoria
eae alee

oN nak Carmelite: no[e--~

10.33 Pisa altarpiece, center panel, 1426, commissioned by ser Giuliano

di Colino degli Scarsi da San Giusto from Masaccio for a chapel in Santa
Maria del Carmine, Pisa. Tempera on panel, center panel 4’ 5” x 2’ 4 34”
(135 x 73 cm) (National Gallery, London)

of the throne into space and to emphasize the volumetric

forms of both the architectural throne and the figures,
despite the relative spacelessness of the gold background.

Altarpieces at Mid-Century

in Florence during the 1440s and 1450s, demonstrates

both the effects of Masaccio’s monumentalizing style on
the next generation of painters in Florence and the range
of stylistic possibilities available to central Italian patrons
inthe ae after Masaccio’s death. Filippo’s earliest dated 10.34 Tarquinia Madonna, 1437, commissioned by Giovanni Vitelleschi
work is known as the Tarquinia Madonna (Fig. 10.34) because _ from Filippo Lippi. Tempera on panel, 45 x 25%" (114 x 65 cm)
ofits location in the town of that name. It was presumably _ (Palazzo Barberini, Galleria Nazionale, Rome)

FAMILY COMMISSIONS 225

(see Fig. 10.58) for the Duomo, then being carved. The angels is conventional, as\they line up row upon row in a
smoothly ovoid shape > Virgin's suggests that manner not far removed from Simone Martin1’s Maestd (see
gases
Filippo had also looked carefully at.contemporary Sienese Fig. 5.18), painted a century earlier or Lorenzo Monaco’s
pany artists such as Sassetta during his stay in that Coronation ofthe Virgin (see Fig. 10.29). Every surface in the
city as stbprior of the Carmelite order there in 1428-29. The painting, whether architectural or figural, is manipulated
steeply tipped perspective of the framing architecture and for decerative purposes. Elaborate costumes, intricate folds
the meuculous details of jewelry and embroidery, with their PR | poses make this one of the most
moves oH of reflected light, imply that he also had extraordinary Florentine altarpieces of the mid-century.
models o Flemish painting Jn mind—not surprising, given Most notable, perhaps, is the profusion of ggld over the
the vigor 0 Florentine commercewith BPlanders. ° surface (much of which has sinhe USappEaeN Thick gold
Filippo’s larger-scale work shows the same fusion ofsolid Buttons, gold threaded through fabric, and gold stippling
figures with refined elegance. The Coronation of the Virgin and gold dust in the haloes and the surfaces of the costumes
(Fig. 10.35), which was commissioned for the high altar of give the painting an opulence comparable to that of Gentile’s
Sant’Ambrogio in Florence by Francesco Maringhi, the prior Adoration of the Magi (see Fig. 10.30), but with a texpured qual-
of the church, shows a celestial coronation of the Virgin; a ity not achievable with gold leaf. Many of the saints in the
group of saints fills the frontal plane of the composition center foreground are discreetly labeled so that their identi-
with the patron kneeling in reverence at the lower right( St. ties are established, although it is not yet clear why Lippi or
patron saint of the church, is standing at the his patron chose these particular and unusual saints (includ-
he patron saint of Florence, is ing Job at the left of the group, Martin, Eustachyus, and
standing in front Tempisten). It has been suggested that the family group of
of Maringhi in the right foreground.
Filippo ordered his composition in a traditional manner, St. Eustace and St. Theopista and their two young sons at
the center and right of the group is a reference to the new
. . . . as,

witharches separating the coronation itself from the accom-

panying angels and saints. Even the figural grouping of the _ emphasis on family during the middle years of the century,

10.35 Coronation of the Virgin, 1447, commissioned by Francesco Maringhi from Filippo Lippi for the m ain altar of Sant’Ambrogio,
Florence. Tempera on
panel, 6' 7" x 9’ S" (2 x 2.87 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

226 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 i Lt

10.36 St. Lucy altarpiece, c. 1445-47,

commissioned from Domenico
Veneziano, originally on the main altar
of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, Florence.
Tempera on panel, 6’ 6” x 6’ 9%"
(1.98 x 2.07 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence)

but they may have as much to do with competing patronage recalls Brunelleschi’s new Foundling Hospital (see Fig.
concerns in the church, the altar at the right of the main 10.24) in its clear articulation of architectural membering
altar being dedicated to St. Eustace. That altar had as its and referencing of the marble veneer of the exterior walls
patrons the Barducci family, one of whose members, Suora of the baptistry and the cathedral. Both allusions, along
Antonia, was the abbess of Sant’Ambrogio when Lippi was with the figures.of John and Zenobius, argue for reading
at work on this altarpiece for the church. Here, too, the the painting as(veflecting a new communal pride in the city.)
religious and the personal intersect. The saints, standing in a unified space and grouped by twos
A contemporary of Filippo Lippi’s whose work also under the side arches, are usually said to be engaged in
appealed to Florentine patrons waS_Domenico Veneziano sacra
conversazione (holy conversation), but they still read as
(c. 1405 Venice?-1461 Florence). He was appare individual figures much as the figures in the separate arches
in or near Venice, as his nickname indicates, but received of Gentile’s Quaratesi altarpiece (see Fig. 10.32).
his training in Rome and Florence. His St. Lucy altarpiece It should not be surprising that Florentine art in this
(Fig. 10.36) was painted for the high altar of the small period is so varied in its forms. Artists such as Domenico
church of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli to replace a painting of Veneziano came to Florence from other cities while
1332 by Pietro Lorenzetti. The presence of Florence’s two Florentine artists spent time abroad (Ghiberti in Venice,
patron saints, John the Baptist and Zenobius, fuggests that 1425; Uccello in Venice, 1425-c. 1430; Filippo Lippi in Padua,
the patron of the altarpiece wished to be seen as supporter 1434; Castagno in Venice, 1442-43; Donatello in Rome,
of the city’s fag 1432-33, and in Padua, 1443-53). Patrons commissioned
The St. Lucy altarpiece bears some similarities to the and collected paintings from the new generation of Flemish
work of Filippo Lippi in the simplification of the physical artists such as Jan van Eyck (c. 1389-1441) and Rogier
features of the women, in the fascination with jeweled and van der Weyden (1400-64) thereby influencing the remark-
“embroidered detail in the cope and miter of St. Zenobtus at ably fluid styles of the mid-fifteenth century. An extended
the right, and in the general volumetric massing of drapery period of peace and increased wealth gave patrons new
forms. Yet the whole mathematically controlled environ- opportunities for embellishing their environments and for
ment of this picture seems suffused with a white light quite asserting their presence in the social aristocracy of the city.
different from Filippo’s darker interiors. Art historians have It is no accident that while the artistic projects of the first
tended to see Domenico’s coloration as.a reflection of his part of the century included many corporate and civic
Venetian background, yet there is little in Venice to which it commissions, those of the middle years of the century were
can be compared) The/toggia)\despite its pointed arches, predominantly private.

>
ore FAMILY COMMISSIONS 227
oe
Masaccio: The Brancacci Chapel and original donor, Pietro Brancacci. They are also specifically
connected to the liturgy of tee ae had
Narrative Fresco Cycles charge of the church in which the chapel is Iocated, thus
linking the patron and the religious order in a mutual
The narrative nature oXfresco cycles }mplies a more natural- display of self-presentation. Masolino seems to have been
istic and-complex style than altarpieces, which are usually the first of the two artists to have been commissioned.
iconic as befits their use as conduits to the divine. Masaccio’s He painted the vaults and the lunettes of the chapel, all of
frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel in Florence’s Santa Maria which were destroyed in a fire of 1748. Of the extant frescoes
del Carmine (Fig. 10.37), a Carmelite church, like the one Masaccio was responsible for the left wall, Masolino for the
in Pisa for which he had painted his Madonna and Child right wall; it appears both painters worked on the altar wall.
(see Fig. 10.33), mark a milestone isthe develapment of the Although Masolino was already working on the frescoes by
narrative possibilities inherent in the frésco cycle. They 1425, he had left for Hungary by September of that year,
niTdaNncews10 que traditions of naturali new vital- perhaps never to return to them; Masaccio went to Rome in
ity, not merely in their formal properties of space and vol- 1427, leaving his part of the commission also unfinished.
ume, but also in the psychological intensity that permeates Old Testament subjects of the Temptation of Adam and
the narrative. The frescoes were assigned to Masaccio, and to Eve by Masolino and the Expulsion from Paradise by Masaccio
a slightly older Florentine painter now known as Masolino are depicted on the entrance piers of the chapel—a reminder
(Tommaso di Cristofano di Fino; 1383 Panicale di Val of the Original Sin and the need for redemption that
@Arno-c. 1440 Castiglione Olona) who may have received lies behind the narrative scenes in the chapel. Standard
early training in the workshop of Agnolo Gaddi and who comparisons between the two frescoes (see Fig. 10.37, top
was employed in Ghiberti’s workshop between 1407 and left and right; see Fig. 10.41 left) propose that Masolino
1415. The nicknames given the two painters—Masaccio represented the end of the Gothic tradition and Masaccio
being a derogative form of Maso perhaps connoting sloven- the beginnings of a new and more powerful tradition of
liness or brutishness or even forcefulness, Masolino being figural representation in Florence. Although there may be
another diminutive of Maso contrarily implying gentle- some truth to this characterization, it is clear from other
ness—are responses to their distinctive painting styles and family chapels and from the ongoing careers of painters
have unfortunately colored understanding of their work such as Lorenzo Monaco and Gentile da Fabriano that an
since the sixteenth century. The simplified opposition that elegant style was still in great demand in Florence, and that
the nicknames establish (implying a daring exploration ofa Masolino was responding to this stylistic disposition as he
new heroic style as opposed to an easy assimilation of the assimilated the gently modeled forms and coloration of
elegant forms of the late Gothic style) takes little account of Gentile’s work into his own painting.
the fact that the artists worked together on more than one Masaccio’s figures seem to have no precedent in contem-
occasion and thus that their patrons would have assumed porary painting; again, as in the Pisa altarpiece, his natural-
that their collaboration would produce a harmonious work. istic human forms demonstrate, rather, the influence of
The Brancacci Chapel was created through a bequest of Donatello. The muscular Adam in the Expulsion bends
Pietro Brancacci, who died in 1367. Because of the deaths and turns at the same time, racked with shame and fear;
of Pietro’s sons and brothers by the mid-1390s, ownership he creates a core of space with his body that is directed to the
of the chapel eventually passed to his nephew, Felice right even though his deformed right leg drags behind his
Brancacci, and it is generally believed that he was the patron body, as if attempting to slow the inevitable expulsion from
who commissioned the frescoes from Masolino and Eden. Eve attempts to hide her nakedness while her face is
Masaccio. Until his second marriage to Lena di Palla Strozzi contorted in a paroxysm of uncontrollable grief. Modeled
(the daughter of Gentile’s patron for the Adoration of the on a classical Venus pudica type, she is schematic as a physi-
Magi), Felice was closely allied to Cosimo de’ Medici, then at ological representation, but compelling as an expressive
an early stage ofhis financial and political ascendancy in the psychological depiction.
city. Felice also had strong connections to the papal court, in On the other hand, in the St. Peter Healing with his Shadow
part through two members ofhis family who were cardinals and Baptism of the Neophytes (Figs. 10.38 and 10.39) in the
and also through another relative who was the head of the upper right and lower left registers of the chapel’s altar wall
Dominican order in Florence. When Palla Strozzi was exiled (see Fig. 10.37) there seems to be an attempt at a-more
from Florence in 1434, Felice was charged with political accurate naturalism. In the Baptism, heavy, nearly nude bod-
intrigue against the new Medici regime, ostensibly because ies are modeled by natural light in the simplified landscape,
of his Strozzi marriage alliance. He was himself exiled from
the city in 1435, when the frescoes were still unfinished,
10.37 (opposite) Brancacci Chapel, plan originated by Pietro Brancacci,
and his goods were confiscated by the state, precluding any partially painted c. 1424-27 by Masolino and Masaccio (Filippino Lippi
further work on the decoration of the chapel at that time. painted the lower right wall and the unfinished part of the lower left wall
Most of the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel depict in the mid-1480s), Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco
scenes from the life of St. Peter, the patron saint of the Cleaning ofthe chapel was begun in 1984 and completed in 1990.

228 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 oD:
i

Sw
the volumes of their forms dramatically described as if by
the light coming from the window immediately to the left of
the painting. The neophyte to the far right clutches his arms
in front of him as if shivering in the cold water of the river,
a gesture that casts a shadow over his upper torso, creating
a volumetric hollow within the movement of the figure. The
massing of the body and the somewhat angular movement
of its parts is reminiscent of monumental relief sculpture
of the period (see Fig. 5.29) and again calls attention to the
powerful influence that sculpture had on painting at this
time. In St. Peter Healing with his Shadow the urban landscape
closely approximates what one would have seen within the
city, placing the narrative in a familiar setting and thus mak-
ing it more approachable. Even the cripple and the beggar
must be seen in the light of contemporary urban realities.
The perspectival recession of the architecture coordinates
with the fresco of St. Peter Distributing Alms on the other side
of the altar wall, creating a unified field across the entire
wall despite the interruption ofthe window. Here, too, shad-
ows fall as if made from the light coming from the window
at the right. In both frescoes, the two painters have included
a number of portraits of their contemporaries; although
they are now unidentifiable, these portraits must have given

10.39 Baptism of the Neophytes, Masaccio and Masolino for the Brancacci
Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco, 8’ 1” x 5’ 8” (2.46 x
W275) in)
4

the biblical narratives a strong contemporary resonance, as

well as providing an opportunity for the men depicted to see
themselves publicly presented as members of an artistic or
social elite.
Masolino was primarily responsible for Healing of the
Cripple and The Raising of Tabitha (from Acts, III:1-10 and
TX:36-43; Fig. 10.40) on the right wall of the chapel. The
stories are not joined in the biblical account, and neither are
they here. At the left St. Peter heals a lame man, the saint’s
hand tentatively addressed to the cripple whose own arm is
fully extended, as if he knows he will be lifted up and walk
again. Peter hardly seems to believe in his own power, given
his furrowed brow, whereas the cripple’s faith is expressed in
the incipient movement of his body. At the right Peter raises
a dead woman, Tabitha, still wrapped in her winding sheet,
her ashen face descriptive of her recent state. The men
around her bier have strong physical reactions to the miracle
that they are witnessing; the man wearing a white turban
may be Masolino’s attempt to indicate the eastern
Mediterranean city of Joppa where the miracle took place.
10.38 St. Peter Healing with His Shadow, Masaccio and Masolino for the
The two women at the right, sometimes identified as
Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco, 7’ 7” x 5’ 4” Carmelite tertiaries wearing the robes of the Carmelite order
(2.31 x 1.63 m) who staffed the church where the Brancacci Chapel is

230 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

10.40 Healing of the Cripple and The Raising of Tabitha, Masolino for the Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco, 8’ 1" x 19/3”
(2.46 x 5.87 m)

located, are more restrained in their reactions, their bodies cloths at the windows; a bird cage suspended in one of the
encased in voluminous black drapery that creates a sense of windows at the center of the painting; a pet monkey tied at
physical mass without being descriptive of any body beneath. a window above it; and two people leaning out of top-story
Curiously, all reference to commercial life has been windows talking with one another.
removed from the image, in terms both of markets and of In The Tribute Money (Fig. 10.41; taken from Matthew
shops in the ground stories of the buildings. Still, small 17:24-27), on the wall opposite Masolino’s fresco, Masaccio
everyday details in the windows at the second and third sto- depicts Christ’s commands to Peter as events already real-
ries give a sense of the city as a lived-in space: sheeting and ized. In the center the messenger from the Temple asks

10.41 Expulsion and The Tribute Money, Masaccio for the Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco, 8’ 4%" x 19’ 7%" (2.54 x 5.97 m)

MASACCIO: THE BRANCACCI CHAPEL AND NARRATIVE FRESCO CYCLES 231

Christ for the yearly tax for maintaining the Temple in monochromatic distance where hills meet sky, creating an
Jerusalem. Christ, claiming to be free from the tax, nonethe- atmospheric perspective analogous to that attempted in
less orders Peter to catch a fish, shown in the middle dis- stone by Donatello in his St. George relief (see Fig. 10.17).
tance on the left where Peter opens the mouth of the fish to The crisply delineated architecture on the right serves to
find the coin of tribute miraculously inside. On the right frame Peter and the tax collector as a distinct moment in
Peter pays the tax collector the coin, actually worth twice the the narrative.
required tax. In the central group of figures Christ anchors the compo-
Masaccio’s landscape is missing the leaves that were sition, being the focal point of the narrative, as he directs an
originally painted a secco on the trees, but the overall effect unwilling Peter to pay the Temple messenger. Peter’s pose
remains remarkable for its realism. Colors fade into a hazy echoes that of Christ, the gesture of their right arms direct-
ing attention to the next scene in the narrative. The paired
gestures imply an equation between Christ’s authority and
Peter’s, an assertion of the legitimacy of papal power.
Furthermore, in both instances where Peter confronts the
temple tax collector, their two bodies are mirror images
of one another. This opposition strengthens the narrative
by locking the two protagonists of the story into a single
compositional unit. The figural opposition also serves to
enhance the three-dimensional quality of the image by
providing enough information for the viewer to construct
mentally a fully rounded pair of figures—front and back in
one case, right and left sides in the other. Masaccio modeled
his forms’ surfaces so that light plays smoothly over them,
leaving dark pockets of shadow in the drapery and soft con-
vexities of flesh in the figures, thus adding to the dramatic
impact of the story.
There have been attempts to see in The Tribute Money
references to the institution of a state tax based on a declara-
tion of income and assets (the catasto) first taken in 1427.
However, these are unconvincing for the simple reason
that the Brancacci would have been allied to the faction
opposing the tax. A more likely interpretation connects this
particular scene with Pope Martin V’s 1423 agreement that
the Florentine Church be subject to state tax. The cycle as a
whole may refer simply to the original donor of the chapel,
Pietro Brancacci, or it may reflect Felice Brancacci’s close
connections to the papacy, here represented by St. Peter. The
Presence of Carmelite monks in some of the frescoes is a
»tlear reference to the order whose liturgical books provide a
convincing source for the individual scenes of the chapel. In
these powerful images Masaccio transformed the traditions
of monumental narrative painting, opening up alternatives
to the style exemplified by the Bartolini-Salimbeni frescoes
of about the same time (see Fig. 10.27).

The Trinity and Single-Point Perspective

Perhaps Masaccio’s best-known painting is the one. for

which there is the least concrete information. The Trinity
(Fig. 10.42) was painted on the left wall of the church of
Santa Maria Novella. During Vasari’s remodeling of the
church in the 1560s, Masaccio’s fresco was covered by a
stone tabernacle and a painting, which were not removed
10.42 Trinity, c. 1426-27 (?), commissioned by a member ofthe Lenzi until 1860-61. At that time the Trinity was detached from
family from Masaccio for the Lenzi Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. the wall, suffering severe damage in the process. Because
Fresco detached from the wall, 21’ 10%” x 10’ 4%” (6.67 x 3.17 m) there is an early record of a tomb slab for Domenico Lenzi

232 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

and his family placed in the pavement in front of the fresco’s some 6 feet (2 meters) inside the main doors of the cathe-
original position in 1426, the kneeling donor figure on the dral. He either looked directly across the small piazza that
left side of the Trinity is generally assumed to be Lenzi, and separates the two buildings or into a mirror with his back
the figure at right his wife. to the baptistry so that what he painted was a replica of the
The Trinity depicts a small chapel containing the Three murrored image. From this vantage point Brunelleschi saw
Persons of the Trinity, with God the Father standing above not only the east face of the baptistry (where Ghiberti’s first
and behind the Son on the cross, as if presenting him to the bronze doors were placed in 1424; see Fig. 4.3) but also the
worshiper, and the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above streets and buildings to the left and right. The geometrical
Christ’s head. The painted chapel provided the patron and regularity and precision of the decorative elements of the
his wife with a substitute for a real one, which either they baptustry would certainly have aided the construction of
could not afford to build or—because the wall on which it is the demonstration panel. Manetti describes the panel as
painted is contiguous with the cloister—was architecturally half a braccia (literally “arm,” a Florentine unit of measure)
unfeasible. However, at the opposite side of the church from or approximately a foot (30 centimeters) square, painted
Santa Maria Novella’s side door, then used as a major with a miniaturist’s care, with the sky made of reflective
entrance to the building, the fictive chapel of the Trinity burnished silver so that “the [mirrored] clouds seen in the
would have resembled a real space to an approaching viewer. silver are carried along by the wind as it blows.” It appears
Mary and John the Evangelist stand at the foot of the that Brunelleschi’s concern was to recreate an illusionistic
cross, as they do in more literally rendered Crucifixion reality (on a small scale) as closely as possible.
scenes. Here separated from that narrative context they Manetti also says that the panel was intended to be
appear to be contemplating a religious icon, with Mary viewed from the back, by looking through a hole drilled at
looking out toward the viewer and gesturing toward the the central vanishing point at a mirror held up in front ofit
crucified Christ. All of the sacred figures exist behind (Fig. 10.43). This would have achieved three goals. First,
the architectural frame, separated in their own space, while it closed the viewer’s vision to the panel itself, excluding any
the donor and his wife kneel on a ledge in front ofit, thereby surrounding and competing “reality.” It also required the
illusionistically sharing the viewer’s space and, importantly, viewer to use only one eye, thus making the illusion of space
providing models for the viewer’s devotion before the image. in the panel more vivid. And, as Manetti points out, the dis-
At the base of the painting is a fictive altar supported tance between panel and mirror was to be approximately one
by four thin columns; beneath it is’an open sarcophagus braccia. Since the actual distance between the baptistry and
supporting a skeleton whose inscription warns, “What you the spot where Brunelleschi painted the image was 60 braccia
are now I once was, what I am now you will be.” Thus tomb, and the image represented a building that is 30 braccia wide,
donors, and devotional image are spatially sequenced to the relationship ofdistance between the viewer’s eye peering
direct the viewer toward the sacred icon of the Trinity. through the back of the panel to the image seen in the mir-
The means of achieving this fusion of real and depicted ror (an arm’s length or 1 braccia) was also 2:1, the reflected
space lie in part in Masaccio’s ability to render his figures as image being half a braccia wide.
if they are three-dimensional, as he did in The Tribute Money. The concept of the vanishing point—the point in the dis-
Equally important is his use, for the first time in the history tance, appearing at eye level, where lines in the field of vision
of painting, of a fully developed single-point perspective
system. The development of this linear system for the repre-
sentation of space occurred when the increased realism of
the figures demand ymmensurate realization of their
nat Pa eee nem its impor-
tance, must be seen as part of awhole development and as
one of anumber of pictorial devices that artists might use—
or not use—in depicting their subjects. The geometrical
codification of the single-point perspective system was, we
believe, formulated by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
Since a fully developed, rationalized space does not appear
in paintings until the Trinity, Brunelleschi’s invention
should perhaps be dated to around 1424-2S.
Reconstruction of the history of this pictorial invention
stems from Antonio Manetti’s life of Brunelleschi, written
in the 1480s, in which the author describes two small panels
painted by Brunelleschi: one of the Palazzo della Signoria,
the other of the baptistry. In each, the building was set 10.43 Drawing showing Filippo Brunelleschi’s perspective panel of the
within its surrounding urban context. According to Manetti, baptistry held before a mirror and viewed from behind through a peep-hole
Brunelleschi painted the panel of the baptistry by standing (after Alessandro Parronchi)

MASACCIO: THE BRANCACCI CHAPEL AND NARRATIVE FRESCO CYCLES 233

appear to converge—is implied in this construction. Behind Virgin gazes. Despite the unresolved aspects of perspective
the construction of the perspective panel lie Brunelleschi’s in this painting, Masaccio—perhaps with the assistance of
careful measurements which ensured that actual spatial Brunelleschi, who was a friend—had established a mode of
relationships were translated to their proportional equiva- pictorial representation in the Trinity that was to dominate
lents as the panel was seen in the mirror. Clearly this is not European visual language until the nineteenth century.
a system that translates easily to ordinary painting.
In Masaccio’s Trinity the many difficulties of applying Castagno at Sant’Apollonia
Brunelleschi’s system, based on real buildings, to an imagi-
nary space, in which figures play a major part, remain Masaccio’s successors often focused upon the geometric
partially unresolved. It is difficult to imagine where God and curiously abstract qualities of scientific perspective,
the Father is standing or how his position in space relates as seen in a cycle painted by Andrea del Castagno (c. 1419
to Christ’s. The orthogonal lines (diagonal lines moving to Castagno-1457 Florence) for the cloistered Benedictine
the centric Saha ae, however, all meet nuns of Sant’Apollonia (Fig. 10.44). Castagno first won
at a point somewhat below the base of the cross—roughly at
the eye level of the viewer. The perspective system not only 10.44 Last Supper, Crucifixion, Entombment, and Resurrection, 1447,
commissioned by the Benedictine nuns of Sant’Apollonia, Florence
creates a space inside the picture, but positions the viewer in
from Andrea del Castagno, for their refectory of Sant’Apollonia
the space before the painting as well, dictating a position (now the Cenacolo di Sant’Apollonia or the Castagno Museum, Florence).
out from the painting on a center line toward which the micseoy, SO) BAY xe Sil © (G2 Se 9).6 inn)

SSeS=SE5
L—SS

234 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 to Judas and Christ in the three heads framed by the elabo-
rately patterned fictive marble square behind their heads is
St. Peter, the apostle who was to become Christ’s successor
as the head of the new Church. Thus within this unusually
dense figural area, founder, betrayer, and successor provide
a continuous narrative of the history of the Church from its
beginnings and presumably on to the present. The frescoes
of the Crucifixion, Entombment, and Resurrection above—
culminating the event depicted in the Last Supper—are
somewhat more dramatic in the agitated movements of
the figures, the naturalism of the nude crucified Christ, and
the sharp contrasts oflight and shadow. Here too, however,
the figures are pushed forward to the front of the composi-
tion, with the distant landscape either hidden by the figures
or schematically rendered in order to concentrate the
viewer’s attention on the event. Although the nuns of this
community came from some of the city’s most prominent
families and could thus commission (either themselves
or through the generosity of their families) one of
Florence’s best-known painters, the commission is one that
reinforces established traditions, the better to inspire piety
and devotion.

Excursus: The Impact of

Florentine Art Outside the City

Discussions of paths of influence and of the mutual

exchanges between center and periphery have recently
10.45 Christ, Judas, and John (detail of Last Supper), 1447, Andrea del significantly changed our notions of the cultural predomi-
Castagno. Fresco (Castagno Museum, Florence) nance of Florence during the fifteenth century. Certainly
Brunelleschi used a number of formal elements in his
attention for his evidently compelling portrayals of hanged architecture that he had seen in his travels and that he could
men painted on the exterior walls of the Bargello which not have seen in Florence. Non-Florentine artists who had
provoked his nickname, Andreino degli Impiccati, or Little worked in the city as well as Florentine ones were often
Andrea of the Hanged Men. Despite this reputation for called to other urban centers because of the quality of their
convincing representation, the idiosyncratic expressions work, sometimes that quality being measured as much for
and gestures of the individual figures in his Last Supper have its technical accomplishments as for its stylistic innovations
a static quality reminiscent of the fresco of the same subject and impact on local artists.
by Taddeo Gaddi (see Fig. 4.21) in the refectory of Santa
Croce from a century earlier. Castagno’s space is more Ghiberti and Donatello in Siena
deeply rendered and more insistent in its perspectival organ-
ization, but the scene, like Gaddi’s, comes forward illusion- The baptismal font in Siena is a telling case of the com-
istically from the wall, as if on a constructed stage. The plexities of artistic exchange between urban centers and the
drama played out on that stage has the character of a jockeying between artistic workshops for a competitive edge
sequenced series of discrete individual responses to Christ’s in the marketplace. In 1414 the Opera del Duomo of Siena
announcement of his coming betrayal. At the very center decided to construct a new baptismal font (Fig. 10.46) for the
of the composition (Fig. 10.45), St. John, the youngest and, city’s baptistry. The project was not implemented until 1416,
according to some accounts, the favorite of the apostles, when the Sienese invited Lorenzo Ghiberti to visit the city as
breaks the pattern of bolt upright figures that stretches an advisor to the project and ultimately as its designer. Given
across the fresco by falling forward and leaning toward the Sienese predilection for a conservative style in their reli-
Christ. Judas, the apostle about to betray Christ, is isolated gious painting, the choice of Ghibert, then still working in
on the opposite side of the table from Christ and the other a style deeply indebted to the International Gothic Style,
apostles, his very placement identifying him as an outcast. makes complete sense. Not only would the Sienese be placing
Moreover, Judas’s facial features are coarse, his ugliness themselves on an equal with their arch enemy, Florence, by
being the conventional symbol for his sin of betrayal. Linked hiring its most skillful goldsmith, but they could be certain

EXCURSUS: THE IMPACT OF FLORENTINE ART OUTSIDE THE CITY 235

 10.47 Baptism of Christ, detail of the baptismal font, c. 1423-27, Lorenzo
Ghiberti, San Giovanni, Siena. Gilt bronze, 24 % x 24 %4” (62 x 63 cm)

that Ghiberti would provide them with a style that coincided

with their own deeply held artistic traditions. Early in 1417
Ghiberti sent a trial relief to Siena, indicating that a full-scale
sculptural model of the font already existed. The Opera
had clearly been impressed with Ghiberti’s project for the
doors of the Florentine Baptistry, and, not to be outdone
by Florence, they hired the same sculptor to decorate the
interior of their own baptistry. Fhe commission 1s a measure
of the competition between the two cities, here being played
out in artistic terms with art functioning as politics.
In 1417—as if to maintain their pride in local artists—the
Opera commissioned four bronze reliefs for the hexagonal
font: two from Jacopo della Quercia (1371/75? Siena-1438
Siena) and two from the workshop of a local Sienese
goldsmith, Giovanni di Turino (1384 Siena-c. 1455 Siena).
Only then did they award Ghiberti his commission for the
last two reliefs of the font. The Opera’s motive, like that of
the Florentine Opera in the commissions for the evangelists
for the facade of the Duomo (see pages 209-10), was to add
a competitive charge between artists in the hope that the
work would be completed promptly. Donatello also entered
the project in 1423, when he was awarded a commission for
a relief originally assigned to Quercia. His presence in the
project must have been intended as a provocation to Ghiberti
10.46 Baptismal font, basin 1416-27, commissioned by the Opera who, like Quercia, had done virtually nothing on his reliefs
del Duomo and designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, with reliefs by Ghiberti, for the font. By 1427 all six reliefs were in place, thanks to
Jacopo della Quercia, Donatello, and Giovanni di Turino, for the>
pressure and threats from the Opera and legal proceedings
Baptistry, San Giovanni, Siena. Gilt bronze reliefs in a marble frame
against Quercia for violating the terms of his contract,
The tabernacle, added to the font, was designed by Quercia and begun in
which had stipulated delivery of his reliefs within two years.
1427; work was complete by 1434. Donatello was also responsible for two
of the Virtues at the corners of the font and for three of the musical angels Ghiberti’s Baptism ofChrist (Fig. 10.47) for the font was the
at the cornice of the tabernacle. pivotal work between his quatrefoil reliefs for the baptistry’s

236 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

north doors in Florence (see Fig. 10.5) and his later square
reliefs for its east doors, the Gates of Paradise (see Figs. 10.60,
10.61, 10.62, 10.63, and 10.65). By the time that he had been
awarded the commission for the second pair of doors, his
reliefs for the Siena font had already provided him with a
new compositional format for his pictorial relief sculpture.
Ghiberti completely gilded his Siena reliefs, as he was later
to do with those for the Gates of Paradise, making the Siena
Baptism of Christ more opulent than any relief on his first set
of doors for the Florentine baptistry. His Baptism suggests
that Ghiberti had also looked carefully at the relief sculpture
of Donatello, particularly the schiacciato carving exemplified
by the latter’s St. George relief (see Fig. 10.17) at Or San
Michele. Although Ghiberti’s Christ figure is in high relief,
the angels floating above his head disappear into the back-
ground as if into space. Clearly the competition that the
Sienese had provoked between the Ghiberti and Donatello
bore fruit. Ghiberti, while late in providing the Sienese with
their relief because of his work on the Florentine doors,
nonetheless extended the stylistic possibilities of his earlier
work, giving the Sienese a pictorial relief that the Florentines
were not to see for some time. Ghiberti also provided draw-
ings to Giovanni di Turino, assuring that his figural style 10.48 The Head of the Baptist Brought Before Herod, detail of the baptismal
font, with perspective measures superimposed, 1423-27, Donatello, San
would have a presence at the font beyond his own reliefs.
Giovanni, Siena. Gilt bronze, 23% x 23%" (60 x 60 cm)
Donatello’s Head of the Baptist Brought Before Herod (Fig.
10.48) for the Siena font was one of his first bronze sculp-
tures (roughly contemporaneous with his St. Louis of Toulouse; plates flanked by knives, and each figure in the foreground
see Fig. 10.0). His relief is an investigation of the single- reacts intensely to the horrific sight. Contrary to the focus
point perspective system recently invented by his friend that single-point perspective normally brings to a composi-
Brunelleschi, although the orthogonals cluster toward the tion, Donatello has used it here to create a wedge separating
empty center of the relief rather than meeting at a single the two figural groups in the foreground—the dance at the
focal point, as if to split the composition apart, leaving right and the result at the left—and to direct the viewer to a
Herod and the severed head of the Baptist at the left and second perspective grid formed by the two left arches that
Salome at the right. In fact, the man at the right with his frame, in flashback fashion, earlier moments of the narra-
hand on his hip illustrates the system of perspective that tive with the musician of the dance in the midground and
Alberti was to write about in his Della Pittura of 1435, one the head of the Baptist being carried to the feast in the back-
that, because of its simplicity, supplanted the empirical ground. Donatello both knew the conventional rules of the
mathematical system used by Brunelleschi. According to newly formulated single-point perspective and manipulated
Alberti, an artist should use a figure standing on the ground and inverted them to enhance the expressionistic aspects of
line ofa pictorial composition as the numerical module for the story. For the first time Donatello integrated a single-
the composition. Using the principle that the human figure point perspective into relief sculpture, again giving Siena
is six heads tall, Alberti divided the standing figure into six precedence over Florence in the stylistic novelty of the
equal vertical units, each measuring a head in length work—a competitive victory that would have trumped
(marked on Fig. 10.48). This measure derives from submit- Siena’s deliberate pursuit of a conservative style in their reli-
ting observed human proportions to an average and thus gious art.
creating an ideal form. Two of these head units—a third the
height of the body—then provide the measure of the divi- Quercia in Bologna
sions ofthe ground line of the composition (marked on Fig.
10.48) from which the artist can then extend orthogonals to Quercia’s delay in delivering his relief for the font was due to
a central vanishing point, thus, importantly, using human the fact that he was away from the city, working first in
measure to structure the world being constructed in the Lucca and then in Bologna. In 1425, before he had even fin-
painting or relief. It appears that Alberti’s treatise, written ished the model for his relief for the font, he accepted a
nearly a decade after Donatello designed his Siena relief, commission for a colossal project of decorating the main
recorded well-established studio practice. door of the church of San Petronio in Bologna (Fig. 10.49),
In the highly emotional scene a severed head is brought a project that continued well into the sixteenth century (see
on a platter to the birthday feast of Herod. Food is shown on also Fig. 42). The Expulsion (Fig. 10.50) derives from Quercia’s

EXCURSUS: THE IMPACT OF FLORENTINE ART OUTSIDE THE CITY 237

 1
7
3

10.50 Expulsion ofAdam and Eve from Paradise, detail of the main portal,
mid-1430s, Jacopo della Quercia, San Petronio, Bologna. Marble, height
396 (9949 27emn))

Piero della Francesca in Arezzo

Piero della Francesca (c. 1415 Borgo San Sepolcro-1492

10.49 Main portal, 1425-39, commissioned by Louis Aleman, papal
legate in Bologna and archbishop ofArles, from Jacopo della Quercia for Borgo San Sepolcro) had trained locally in his native town
San Petronio, Bologna. Marble of San Sepolcro. He was in Florence in 1439 working on
a fresco cycle (now virtually completely lost) overseen by
Domenico Veneziano at Santa Maria Nuova, the largest
own relief on the Fonte Gaia (see Fig. 5.29), but the figures hospital in the city. For reasons not known he returned to
have become more muscular and tense, as if to compensate his home town where he remained for most of the rest of
for the greater distance between this work and an hypo- his life, with only brief stays in other cities where he took
thetical viewer looking at the whole door. Here, as in other commissions. Sometime in the late 1440s he began the
reliefs for the portal, the lingering lyricism of the Sienese decoration of the main apse of the Franciscan church in
style is transformed by the expressive animation and the Arezzo (Fig. 10.51). There he covered the walls with a cycle
heroically proportioned bodies of the figures, a formal lan- depicting the history of the True Cross, the same subject
guage that he had learned at least in part from Florentine that the Franciscans had used for the chapel surrounding
stylistic innovations at the beginning of the century in a the high altar in Santa Croce in Florence (see Fig. 8.15).
monumental program of sculptural decoration that would The frescoes bear Piero’s distinctive style. In the Discovery
have been the envy of any workshop in Italy at the time. of the True Cross (Fig. 10.52) Piero tells the story of St.
Quercia had breathed new life into the Sienese style, but Helena’s discovery of two crosses and the identification of
he had done so outside the city of Siena. In his native city one of the two upon which Christ was crucified by its mirac-
sculptural commissions—public by nature—were limited ulous healing of the nude man at the far right. Piero seems
and embedded in the Sienese competition with Florence. to freeze the movement of figures along the frontal plane of
This competition was to surface again in mid-century when the composition to a glacial pace. The simplified geometry
the Opera of the cathedral tried to hire Donatello to make of the bodily forms and unfocused staring of the figures
a set of bronze doors for the building, once more pitting run counter to the particularities of description seen in the
Donatello against Ghiberti, and Siena against Florence. works of other painters like Masaccio, where emotional

238 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

contact between figures and dramatic intensity are depicted set the story at a remove from reality, giving it the feeling of
both by the movement of the figures through space and a “once-upon-a-time” tale like so many of the lives of the
their dramatic gestures, contrary to the mannequin-like saints recounted in the Golden Legend from which its subject
but noble appearance of Piero’s figures. Piero treats the in fact derives.
narrative as a ritualized liturgical drama played out in front Although Florentine stylistic innovations seen in cities
of a stylized stage set, which in this instance recalls the like Siena, Bologna, and Arezzo, among others, are still seen
architecture of Arezzo. Such simplified forms may be useful as manifestations of the creative genius ofindividual artists,
for identifying the site of the story or for distinguishing it is important to understand that, carried outside the walls
the unfolding sequential episodes of the narrative, but they of Florence, this new art broadcast the pre-eminence of

ee ars
nadeaemMaMana

10.51 Legend of
the
True Cross, c. 1450s,
commissioned by the
Franciscans from Piero
della Francesca for the
apse of San Francesco,
Arezzo. Fresco

EXGURSUS SEE IMPAGT ORE LOREN TNEVAR OUTS

ID Etinaies Glin s20.9
10.52 Discovery of the True Cross, c. 1450s, commissioned by the Franciscans from Piero della Francesca for the apse of San Francesco, Arezzo. Fresco

Florence as a city of artistic innovation. The idea of cultural (see Fig. 5.22), in which citizens also appear. The particular-
capital was alive and well during the fifteenth century. ized facial features and serried organization of the figures
indicate that Bicci and his patrons intended to present
Civic Commemoration in Florence a formal record of the participants as an exemplum of the
harmony among different groups within the state. It thus
Although altarpieces and narratives are more or less served a purpose similar to Lorenzetti’s allegory, but makes
clearly distinguished by composition and style during this its point in the context ofa specific time and place as a form
period, there are other types of painting that fall outside of public document. The fresco also indicates that the event
the boundaries of these categories. A series of Florentine and its patrons were important enough to warrant Martin
history paintings containing clearly recognizable portraits V’s participation in the consecration.
of prominent citizens, the first extant example of which
is the Consecration of St. Egidio (Fig. 10.53) by Bicci di Lorenzo Monument to Sir John Hawkwood
(c. 1373 Florence-1452 Florence), is one such type. Public
frescoes like Bicci’s Consecration provided Florentine citizens Public funding for new work to decorate the major civic
with a means of marking important events in their city and monuments of the city dwindled at the end of the 1420s,
of fashioning a visual record of civic leadership. The fresco but the need to propagandize Florence’s republican history
derives from Masaccio’s lost monochrome (terra verde) fresco and its moments of military victory continued to occasion
of the Consecration of Santa Maria del Carmine (c. 1424-27), commissions like the St. Egidio fresco. Among these was the
then in the cloister of that church. From written accounts colossal frescoed monument honoring John Hawkwood
and drawings it appears that Masaccio, like Bicci, painted (Fig. 10.54) by Paolo Uccello (Paolo di Dono; 1387
ranks of prominent citizens participating in what was both Florence-1475 Florence), another artist to have emerged
a religious and a civic event, where ritual demonstrated both from the Ghiberti workshop. The end of a protracted war
the Florentines’ religious devotion and their communal with the state of Lucca, which had lasted from 1429 to 1433,
solidarity. The Consecration 1s in the same class of painting encouraged the Opera of the cathedral to initiate this com-
as Gerini’s fresco for the Confraternity of the Misericordia mission now on the north nave wall of the building.
(see Fig. 8.18), a straightforward record of an historical event Uccello was a master of painting and mosaic, and was
(regardless of how carefully composed it 1s), as opposed to a renowned for his obsessive study of perspective. His fresco
moral and civil allegory such as Lorenzetti’s Buon Comune commemorates an event relating to the security of the

240 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 ee ee 10.53 Consecration of St. Egidio,
1430s, Bicci di Lorenzo,
Ospedale di Santa Maria
Nuova, Florence. Fresco

The small shed-like roof

extending out from the facade
of the church behind the pope
may have been intended to
protect the terracotta tympanum
figures of the Coronation ofthe
Virgin sometimes attributed to
Dello Delli.

10.54 Sir John Hawkwood, 1436,

commissioned by the Opera
del Duomo from Paolo Uccello
for Florence Cathedral. Fresco,
without frame 24’ x 13’ 3”
(7.32 x 4.04 m)
The frame was added in the
sixteenth century, most likely in
1524 by Lorenzo di Credi; the
fresco was detached from the
wall in 1842 and transferred to
canvas. See Figs. 4.23 and 4.24
for ication in the Duomo—
originally slightly higher than
the current placement.

state. John Hawkwood (known in Italian as Giovanni Acuto,

d. 1394) was an English mercenary soldier (condottiere)
employed by Florence, and responsible for staving off
early threats to Florentine independence by Giangaleazzo
Visconti. In gratitude, the Opera del Duomo agreed in 1393
to construct a marble tomb for Hawkwood after his death—
one of a series of eight monuments of famous men pro-
jected for the cathedral, underscoring the civic nature ofthis
ecclesiastical space. This plan was simplified and reduced in
cost in 1395 when the Opera instead commissioned Agnolo
Gaddi and Giuliano d’Arrigo (Pesello; 1367-1446) to paint a
fresco depicting Hawkwood on horseback, a commission
that mirrors a painted series of womini famosi (“famous
men”) in the Palazzo della Signoria.
In March 1433, as the dome of the cathedral was nearing
completion, the Opera announced a competition to replace
the existing Hawkwood fresco, and in May 1436 Uccello was
told to begin work on the project. A drawing squared for
transfer (see Fig. 13) that Uccello prepared for the fresco sug-
gests that he had learned this technique from Brunelleschi,
whose biographer notes the architect’s use of squared paper to
record ancient Roman buildings. This is the earliest extant
squared drawing, although Masaccio must also have used the
technique since there are remains ofincised grid lines on the
Trimtty fresco (see Fig. 10.42), justas there are on the Hawkwood
monument. Uccello’s fresco was complete in 1436, at the time
of the cathedral’s consecration. Like Masaccio’s trompe l'oeil
chapel of the Trinity, Uccello’s fresco of Hawkwood, although
painted in monochrome, is a convincing replication of three-
dimensional shapes—in this case a bronze equestrian monu-
ment. Although Uccello depicted the base ofthe illusionistic

CIVIC COMMEMORATION IN FLORENCE 241

monument from below, he portrayed the horse and rider had been gathering force since the early years of the four-
in profile, adding an iconic power to the figure. As part of a teenth century. Just as in earlier historical periods, artists
tradition of equestrian portraits of condottieri and despotic had a plurality of styles to choose from, either to accommo-
rulers (see Fig. 9.8), the fresco flirted with a type of image date their own or their patrons’ predispositions, or the
that could easily have been misinterpreted in the republic, nature of the commissions on which they were engaged.
with its distrust of tyrants; thus the Opera stipulated that The cantorie (literally, singing galleries but first used as
the inscription state that Hawkwood was English, and thus organ lofts) for the cathedral are cases in point. With the
that he was a hireling, rather than someone who had risen impending closure of Brunelleschi’s dome over the main
to power from within the state. The inscription uses words altar area of the cathedral—arguably Florence’s most impor-
from Plutarch which describe the Roman Republican hero tant civic monument—the Opera was faced with providing
of the Second Punic War, Fabius Maximus Cunctator, who the necessary liturgical furnishings for the space beneath
had had a bronze statue raised in his honor in Rome by the and ordered two shallow marble cantorie from Luca della
state and thus implicitly identifies Florence as a new Rome, Robbia (Luca di Simone di Marco; 1399/1400 Florence-1482
as well as honoring Hawkwood. The Opera ensured that the Florence) and Donatello (Figs. 10.55 and 10.56) to be placed
successes of the state would form part of the decoration of over the south and north sacristry doors. Both cantorie are
the new cathedral and that the ecclesiastical space would richly carved with relief sculpture, but they are strikingly
also be perceived as a civic space, as indeed it was, funding different in style. Luca received the contract for his cantoria
for its building and decoration coming from the Signoria. in 1430. Although Luca’s career before the commission
for the cantoria is unknown, he may have trained in the
The Cantorie cathedral workshops under Nanni di Banco. His invention
of polychromed glazed terracotta as a medium for sculpture
The artistic ferment of the early years of the fifteenth was certainly indebted to Donatello’s experimental Joshua
century in Florence continued to manifest itself in the for the north tribune of the cathedral (see p. 210). His canto-
variety of stylistic expression utilized by sculptors working ria illustrates Psalm 150, “Praise ye the Lord,” each figured
toward the middle of the century at ecclesiastical sites for panel depicting one verse of the psalm. The formal classi-
commissions that were at heart civic. Despite the innova- cism of the architecture framing the panels, the Roman let-
tions of artists like Masaccio and Donatello, a classicizing tering of the inscriptions, and the toga-like clothing of the
style—so often used as a defining aspect of Renaissance musicians counter the lively anecdotalism of some of the
art—did not sweep aside or supplant the stylistics of the late panels. In one, adolescent boys cluster around a single hymn
Gothic, nor did it govern the drive toward naturalism that book (Fig. 10.57)—a reminder that a confraternity of young

ASB ORUZCAUR S Aun WSUhWickeyusy oscess)

\ IN CISIBALIS Bi Nie SONAUIBY.

10.55 Cantoria, 1430-38, commissioned by the Opera del Duomo from Luca della Robbia
to go above the south
sacristy door of Florence Cathedral. Marble, overall 10’ 9” x 18’ 4” (3.28 x 5.6 m), upper reliefs
3’ 8 4%" x 3’ 34"
(103 x 93.5 cm), lower reliefs 3’ 2 %4” x 3' 1" (98.5 x 94 cm) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo,
Florence)

242 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

10.56 Cantoria, 1433-c. 1440, commissioned by the Opera del Duomo
from Donatello to go above the north sacristy door of Florence Cathedral.
Marble and mosaic with bronze heads, overall 11’ 5” x 18’ 8%" (3.48 x
5.70 m); frieze of putti, front 3’ 2 4" x 17’ 1 %" (98 x 522 cm), sides
3’ 2 %" x 4’ 4" (98 x 132 cm) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)

The two cantorie were removed from the cathedral in 1688 on the occasion of
the wedding of Ferdinando de’ Medici with Violante Beatrice of Bavaria. Parts
of the marble architectural framing of Luca’s pulpit were used for repair work
at the cathedral; one piece was found in the lantern of the baptistry. The upper
cornice of Donatello’s cantoria is modern, and diverges from his original design,
which consisted of repeated paired dolphins and a stylized leaf pattern.

boys associated with the Duomo had responsibility for sing-

ing the canonical hours there. In place of the rather generic
adolescent putti that decorate the lower reliefs of the canto-
ria, the upper reliefs include startling incidents of observed
reality, with a trumpeter blowing out his cheeks in order to
sound his instrument and a young singer looking with fur-
rowed brow at his choral book, either trying to find his place
or attempting to hit the right note. Although such images
are anomalous in Luca’s sculpture, they do indicate—
especially here in the repetitive narratives of the psalm—the
importance of familiar physical actions as a way to engage
a viewer in the action, not unlike Masaccio’s Christ Child
absent-mindedly stuffing himself with grapes (see Fig. 10.33).
Donatello was not awarded the commission for his canto-
ria until July 1433, partly because he had been in Rome for
over a year. His contract stipulated that his cantoria should
follow Luca’s in its design of multiple panels. But by 1435
Donatello seems to have decided to substitute a continuous
relief of dancing putti (actually carved from four stones, two
across the front and one at each side) screened by paired
columns. The figures evoke Roman antiquity, but the
10.57 Boys Singing (detail of Cantoria), 1430-38, commissioned by the
architectural frame contrasts strikingly with the classicizing Opera del Duomo from Luca della Robbia to go above the south sacristy
pilasters of Luca’s cantoria. Stylized and compressed leaf door of Florence Cathedral. Marble, 3’ 2 4” x 3’ 1” (98.5 x 94 cm)
patterns, repetitive and flattened decorative motifs, and a (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)

CIVIC COMMEMORATION IN FLORENCE 243

surface covered with colored mosaic suggest, rather, Early of undying fame because the laurel leaf was reputed never to
Christian and medieval art. Fresh from his experiences in wither. During Bruni’s funeral, in imitation of ancient
Rome, Donatello may have used the context of his cantoria Romdn ceremonies, Gianozzo Manetti (1396-1459), one of
to recreate some of the forms and images he had seen there, Florence’s leading humanists and political figures, had
especially in the cloisters of the papal basilicas of St. John actually closed his oration by placing a crown of laurel on
Lateran and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. The putti (Fig. the head of the dead Brunt.
10.58) are fascinating in the way that they combine a relief- The carved effigy is a remarkable work of portraiture.
like flatness with nearly complete three-dimensional form. Bruni’s face, turned to catch the light coming from the nave
In retaining the sense ofa plane similar to Roman sarcophagi of the church, is uncannily lifelike, with its bulbous nose
(which the main container of the cantoria so clearly imitates), and slightly crooked mouth, most likely the result of a
Donatello has animated his figures in such active running contracted muscle caused by death and rigor mortis, caught
or gesturing movements that he is able to disguise how ona death mask from which the image was made. The deco-
impossible some of the bodily positions actually are. Having rative elements of the tomb, however, are carefully chosen
proved his ability to carve naturalistically convincing human to eulogize Bruni, and by extension the state. The arch that
figures with his sculptures for the cathedral facade and for frames the tomb evokes, in its profusion of rich classicizing
the bell tower, he once again seems willfully to be breaking detail, the splendor of ancient Rome. Two robust putti sup-
the rules and asserting his distinctive creativity as he pro- port a wreath enclosing a lion, the Florentine civic symbol
vides a cantoria diametrically opposed in style to Luca’s. of the marzocco (a heraldic lion whose name is believed to be
a corruption of Martocus, “little Mars”—the Roman god of
The Tomb of Leonardo Bruni war). Other lions appear in the roundel below the sarcopha-
gus and in its supports. The eagles supporting the bier
Unlike earlier monuments to civic figures intended for, recall the Roman symbol of a soul carried to the afterlife by
or built in, the Duomo, the tomb of Leonardo Bruni an eagle. The only specifically Christian reference in the
(Fig. 10.59) was placed in Santa Croce (see Fig. 4.7), a church decorative program for the tomb is the roundel of the Virgin
that was to become a pantheon of illustrious Florentines. and Child under the arch. Nowhere on the tomb is Bruni’s
This humanist scholar (1370-1444) had been chancellor of family name given; he is simply “Leonardus,” deracinated as
Florence from 1427 untul his death. His tomb was presum- a symbol for the state whose history he holds in his hands.
ably commissioned by the Signoria and is traditionally In this case the overt classicism of the iconography and of
ascribed to Bernardo Rossellino (1407/10 Settignano-1464 the decorative forms must have been considered appropriate
Florence), the head ofa family of stone carvers from one of for the classical scholar and for the chancellor ofa republic
the quarry towns in the hills outside Florence. The figure of whose history extended back to ancient republican Rome.
the dead Bruni appears on his funerary bier, clutching to his Like Uccello’s Hawkwood Monument (see Fig. 10.54) of the
chest his history of Florence, written as part of his duties previous decade, the classical Vocabulary of Bruni’s tomb
as chancellor. He is crowned with a laurel wreath, a symbol called up important myths of the state.

10.58 Running Putti (detail of Cantoria), 1433-c. 1440, commissioned by the Opera del Duomo
from Donatello to go above the
north sacristy door of Florence Cathedral. Marble and mosaic (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo,
Florence)

244 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 “It is my opinion that the twenty stories of the new doors ...
should mainly have two qualities: one, that they should
show , the other that they should have significance.
By splendor I mean that they offer a feast to the eye through
variety of design: significant I call those which are suffi-
ciently important to be worthy of memory.” Ghiberti cer-
tainly satisfied Bruni’s demands. It should be noted that
‘neither of Bruni’s stipulations define style, nor do they
argue for a classical visual vocabulary, despite his own deep
involvement with ancient writers and Latin eA
Originally, these doors, like the two earlier sets, were
intended to include twenty-eight panels; however, in the
early stages of the commission the number was reduced
to ten. They depict Qld Testament stories, with statuettes
of individual prophets and sibyls placed in the frames of
each door. Instead of the quatrefoil frames used for his first
doors, Ghiberti used a new square format for these reliefs,
based on the ones he was then producing for the baptismal
font in Siena (see Fig. 10.47). Ghiberti’s second set of doors
was completely gilded—like the Siena reliefs, but unlike the
reliefs for his first doors in which only the raised surfaces
were gilded.
It took Ghiberti twenty-seven years (1425-52) to com-
plete these doors. When they were finished, their extraordi-
nary splendor won them pride of place on the east side of
the baptistry, facing the cathedral; his original doors,for
that site were moved to the north side of the building. The
space between the Florentine baptistry and the cathedra
was known in Italian as the\paradiso hecause of its use as a
S K AL ae
cemetery during the late Mitte Ages, giving Ghiberti’s
be | TVA PASAS TVM: Gi thes doors the name by which they are usually known, the Gates
AS IAINISLAGRMAS TENBIE NO POTVESE*
of Paradise.
Each panel of the Gates of Paradise depicts several episodes
of a biblical narrative. In the Creation of Adam and Eve (Fig.
10.61), God brings Adam to life at the lower left. Adam,
whose Hebrew name means earth, lies on the ground, the
material from which he was created. Paired at the right
of the panel is the expulsion from Paradise. Here, Adam
and Eve are not as expressionistically treated as Masaccio’s
figures for the Brancacci Chapel (see Fig. 10.41) but retain
the lyrical fluidity
of Ghibert’s own-disemactive style. At the
aC ath the Creation ofEve, her body emerging
10.59 Tomb of Leonardo Bruni, late 1440s, commissioned by the
Signoria (?), most likely with the assistance of Bruni’s native city, Arezzo,
from one of Adam’s ribs. In this episode Ghiberti proves
and his family, from Bernardo Rossellino for Santa Croce, Florence. that he also could use compositional s re aS a Means

Marble, height 23’ 3%" (7.15 m) of conveying eS he places a wide gulf of space
Bruni’s epitaph, inscribed on the sarcophagus, reads: “After Leonardo departed between
God and Eve at t the very center of the panel, as if to
from life, history is in mourning and eloquence is dumb, and it is said that the illustrate her future fall from grace} The centrality of this
Muses, Greek and Latin alike, cannot restrain their tears.”
image may also be due to Eve’s function as an antetype to
Mary, to whom the cathedral was rededicated in 1436. Just
The Gates of Paradise beneath the Creation of Adam and Eve on the doors is the
panel depicting Noah and the Flood (Fig. 10.62). The figure
In 1425, shortly after completing the second set of bronze of the reclining Noah at the lower left echoes the figure of
doors for Florence’s baptistry (see Fig. 10.5), Ghiberti Adam on the panel above, and the center line of the compo-
received a commission from the Arte del Calimala for the sition through the figure of one of Noah’s son’s connects
third and final set (Fig. 10.60). At the time of the commis- visually with the open space between God and Eve above.
sion, Leonardo Bruni wrote to the Board of the Calimala: Although Ghiberti did not, apparently, model the panels for

CIVIC COMMEMORATION IN FLORENCE 245

 10.60 East doors, 1425-52, reliefs and some framing elements cast toy 1436, followed by finishing
del Calimala from Lorenzo Ghiberti for the B and gi ding, commissioned by the /
tistry, Florence. Gilt bronze ( Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)
A repli has now replaced the original doors on the baptistry.
This p hotograph was taken before
the originals were removed for restoratio

246 FLORENC IMMUNE AND GUILD

10.61 Creation of Adam and Eve (detail from the east doors ofthe Baptistry, 10.62 Noah and the Flood (detail from the east doors ofthe Baptistry,
Florence), 1425-52, commissioned by the Arte del Calimala from Lorenzo Florence), 1425-52, commissioned by the Arte del Calimala from Lorenzo
Ghiberti. Bronze, 314 x 31%" (80 x 80 cm). (Museo dell’Opera del Ghiberti. Bronze, 31% x 31%” (80 x 80 cm). (Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo, Florence) Duomo, Florence)

This photograph was made before the recent cleaning of Ghiberti’s panels and
the door in any consecutive narrative order, he nonetheless shows how modern pollution accelerated the degradation ofthe relief surface
thought carefully about the overall’ composition of the
reliefs and our reading from one to another. The Noah
panel, after all, represents another kind ae
with Noah being the new Adam whom humankind
will again populate the earth. Th n the distance, in the
shape of a pyramid, seems tolexte nd the entire width of the
panel, again suggesting that its contents would repopulate
the entire earth. )The Greek theologian, Origen, many of
whose works had recently been rediscovered in Rome, recon-
structed the ark in this most peculiar and mistaken form.
A recent rereading of Ghiberti’s panel depicting the story
of Isaac’s rival sons Jacob and Esau (Fig. 10.63) demon-
strates the artist’s skill as a master narrator. To the left of the
center foreground Isaac inquires why his elder son Esau,
identifiable by his hunting dogs, is asking for a blessing.
Neither father nor son yet realize what has taken place at
the far right ofthe relief, where the younger Jacob, following
the suggestion of his mother Rebecca, fooled his aging and
near-blind father into pre-emptively giving him the blessing
destined for his older brother. Rather like a flashback,
Ghiberti strategically positions an even earlier event inside
the central hall. There a conniving Jacob offers a bowl of
soup to a famished and naive Esau in exchange for the birth-
right, an event that the biblical account says Esau recalled,
10.63 Jacob and Esau (detail from the east doors of the Baptistry,
remorsefully, at the moment his father told him he had
Florence), 1425-52, commissioned by the Arte del Calimala from
already given his paternal blessing to Jacob. Wittily, Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti. Bronze, 31% x 31%" (80 x 80 cm). (Museo dell’Opera
places a contrasting pair of dogs at Esau’s feet in the center del Duomo, Florence)
foreground: the long-haired one, hanging his head down
dejectedly, can be identified with the tricked hairy older

CIVIC COMMEMORATION IN FLORENCE 247

brother; the other hound, smooth-skinned like Jacob, looks
up confidently toward his father.
Tha schiacciato elief deriving from Donatello’s sculpture
and the single-point perspective system allow the space in
this panel to recede illusionistically, the figures becoming
flatter as well as smaller as they move into the distance. The
grouping of figures also helps to create a sense of space as
the four women at the left pose dance-like in a circle and as
Esau moves diagonally toward his father and into the space
of the relief at the center foreground. At the same time the
figures of the woman at the left and of Rebecca at the right
spill out over the frame, suggesting continuity between the
space outside the frame and the space inside it.
In both the Jacob and Esau and the Joseph panels, located
left and right at the midpoint of the doors, the architecture
is structured on a single-point perspective scheme. The per-
spectival plans of the two panels work together (Fig. 10.64)
to unite both valves of the doors. Such a scheme places
the viewer at a particular position in space toward which
the faces of Ghiberti and his son, Vittorio, gaze from small
roundels in the frame of the door between the two panels.
The subject matter of the Meeting of Solomon and Sheba
at the bottom right of the doors (Fig. 10.65) is rarely
depicted in this period leading to speculation that it was
included deliberately ane the union of the Eastern 10.65 Meeting of Solomon and Sheba (detail from the east doors of the
and Western churches, which was announced on the steps Baptistry, Florence), 1425-52, commissioned by the Arte del Calimala
of Florence’s Duomo on July 9, 1439, as the fruition of a from Lorenzo Ghiberti. Bronze, 31% x 31%” (80 x 80 cm). (Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)
Church council which had met there) Virtually the entire
Byzantine court, including the emperor of Byzantium,
John VHI Paleologus (see Fig. 14.1), had traveled from Constantinople to participate in this council. The Eastern
Church is metaphorically represented ky Sheba, ¢he queen
who came to Solomon “from the East,” Avhile the Western
Church is represented by Solomon. The figures in the
midground, separated by parapets, align in formal, diagonal
rows at either side of Solomon and Sheba, enhancing the
sense of spatial recession. The figures in the foreground—
perhaps representing those come to hear the reading of the
decree of union—jostle for glimpses of the meeting. The
doors ultimately were placed to face the steps of the Duomo
where the decree of union had been read, a triumphal
moment in the history of the city that saw the court of the
successor to the Roman emperors of the east and the papal
court within its walls at the same time.
Although there are certain classicizing stylistic details
evident in the east doors—some of the heads in the roundels
of the frame, the nude figure of Samson in the niche in the
right frame, the architecture in the central two panels—they
are overshadowed by Ghiberti’s continued fascination with
(elegant sweeps of drapery, repeating cascades of decorative
folds, and gently swaying figures that stem from the late
International Gothic Style in which he had been trained. =
The immediate favorable response to the doors upon their
installation, and the repeated reproduction of many of their
narrative details in prints and paintings for much of the rest
10.64 East doors, Baptistry, Florence, reconstruction of the perspective of the century, indicate that Ghiberti’s figural, narrative,
system, with a figure standing before them (after Alessandro Parronchi) and compositional elegance never really went out of style.

248 FLORENCE: COMMUNE AND GUILD

 Florence: The Medici and Political
Propaganda
the leaders of the oligarchy managed to
win enough power in the government to
exile the leading male members of the
Medici family who were the apparent lead-
ers of the popolano (“ list”) faction. The
acknowledged head of the Medici, Cosimo
di Giovanni (see genealogical chart in the
backmatter), left Florence for Venice in
October. The Medici were strong enough
politically, however, to reverse the tables
despite their absence from the city. In 1434
Cosimo re-entered Florence in triumph
and exiled his opponents as a first step to
his eventual control of the political life of
his city, control which was passed on to his
son Piero and grandson Lorenzo. Among
those banished from Florence were Palla
Strozzi and Felice Brancacci, who had been
the patrons of some of the more audacious
artistic projects in the city just a few years
before their exile (see Figs. 10.30 and 10.37).
A question naturally arises about whether
the styles of art patronized by these men
would also be excised from the culture so
that a new language for new leaders could
supplant it. In other words, this decisive
sociopolitical change offers an opportu-
nity to test how style was used to identify
individual political factions much as it was
used to identify city-states. The decades
after 1434 were a critical period in the
history of Florentine art which helped
to establish imagery—and new styles—for
the changing power structures in the
city, simultaneously maintaining the tradi-
tional images of Church and state to
suggest continuity and stability, as if the
republic remained essentially unchanged.
he Florentine republic and its civic and guild struc-
tures had undertaken an extraordinary series of com-
missions during the early years of the fifteenth century,
culminating in the completion ofthe dome of the cathedral
11.0 Medici Chapel, Medici Palace, Florence, c. 1459, frescoes
in 1436. Factionalism, exacerbated by the dispute over the commissioned by Piero de’ Medici from Benozzo Gozzoli
institution of the catasto in 1427, eventually erupted in 1433
The original altarpiece for the chapel was an Adoration of
the Christ Child by
and changed the structures of power within the city in Filippo Lippi (now at the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin);
ways that were to affect its remaining history. In that year a copy by the Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino replaces the original.

249
The Medici’s Civic and Domestic
Commissions

The rise to power of the Medici in Florence began in 1418

when Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (c. 1360-1429) became
the banker to the papacy and established the family’s wealth
on a solid footing. Giovanni’s son, Cosimo (1389-1464),
steadily increased the control ofhis family over the political
fortunes of Florence after his return from exile in 1434, lead-
ing eventually to thei Julership of the city until they
were ousted in a revolt in 1494. wwe ee

Cosimo and his heirs worked carefully to maintain control

of the government through an elaborate political network } 2S SES

supported by their wealth. They also sought to dismantle or 0 20m

dominate power bases in the city that were threats to their
control. Ultimately the Medici brought the city under their 11.1 San Lorenzo, Florence, first plan of transept area (1418) showing
influence, without, however, disturbing the appearances of chapel ownership and pre-existing Romanesque church

the formal structures of government which had been in place 1 Martelli; 2 Medici; 3 Medici (Sacristy): 4 Neroni; 5 Rondinelli; 6 Medici after
1442 (Canons’ choir); 7 della Stufa; 8 Ciai; 9 Ginori corridor; 10 Ginori;
for two centuries. In name Florence remained a republic,
11 Bell tower; 12 Romanesque church of San Lorenzo
while in practice the Medici functioned rather like princes.

San Lorenzo in 393 by no less a person than St. Ambrose, who had also
consecrated Florence’s first bishop. San Lorenzo, then, rep-
Sometime around 1418 a group of citizens living in the resented the entire Christian history of Florence—more so,
neighborhood of the church of San Lorenzo decided to act even, than the Duomo, which had a later foundation. Led by
together to rebuild their parish church. The building already Giovanni, each member of the group agreed to contribute
at the site was an eleventh-century Romanesque church, funds for the construction of his family’s chapel around the
itself areplacement for an Early Christian basilica dedicated transept of the proposed new structure. Giovanni agreed

11.2 San Lorenzo,

Florence, 1418-
c. 1466, original
project commissioned
by Giovanni di Bicci de’
Medici and others from
Filippo Brunelleschi;
nave built by Cosimo
de’ Medici after 1442,
modifying original plan

250 FLORENCE: THE MEDICI AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

11.3 Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence (after restoration),
c. 1418-28, commissioned by Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici from
Filippo Brunelleschi. Central square room c. 37! 9" x 37’ 9”
(11.5 x 11.5 m)

to build the sacristy of the new building as a family

burial site and also to build an adjacent double chapel
at the end of the transept (Fig. 11.1). This gave the
Medici patronage rights over a traditionally impor-
tant part of the building—the sacristy—and also over
much more space than any other family participating
in the project.
Brunelleschi’s plans for San Lorenzo are somewhat
unclear, since Re died before the nave of the building
was begun. But the transept, the chapels around the
transept, and_sacristy are his and are instructive for
what they tell of the layers of meaning embedded
in Renaissance architecture. For example, the rectan-
gular chapels and main altar area extending from the
transept derive from the plans of mendicant churches
in Florence and elsewhere (see Fig. 4.10). The essen-
tially basilical plan of the building is certainly not
unusual, but the arrangement of arches springing
continuously along the nave from one column capital
to the next (Fig. 11.2) and the uninterrupted wall
between the arches and the row ofclerestory windows
recall major Early Christian buildings in Rome such
as St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. Brunelleschi’s original
plan for the building apparently called for side walls
unbroken by chapel spaces, another feature that would
have made the plan similar to Early Christian basilicas. are pure classical revivals; like the Early Christian references,
The juxtaposition of cool white stucco in the spandrels and they may reflect the time he spent in Rome after 1404 meas-
other flat surfaces with the warm slate coloring of the pietra uring and drawing ancient buildings. Rather than being
serena arches and pilasters may derive from the black and mere architectural quotation, however, these references tie
white exterior decoration of Romanesque architecture in San Lorenzo stylistically to its earliest history.
Florence, such as the baptistry. This juxtaposition was later Work that had begun so earnestly on the transept of San
used for the Duomo as well and its use for San Lorenzo Lorenzo in 1418 had all but ceased by the time of Giovanni
suggests a conscious attempt to place the church within di Bicci’s death in 1429. In 1442 Cosimo declared that he
the revered traditions of local architecture despite its would himself pay for the construction of the new building.
stylistic innovations. In doing so he assumed property rights over the main altar
The two-color scheme also helps to clarify San Lorenzo’s area and he stipulated that no family crest other than that
modular structure. Among the structural elements moving of the Medici appear in the church. Cosimo’s assumption
the viewer through the space is a narrow cornice projecting of the building costs effectively transformed San Lorenzo
from the wall above the nave arcade, which moves unbroken into a Medici structure, despite the presence of families
from the entrance wall of the building to the transept, giv- who maintained control of the chapels along the transept.
ing a strong longitudinal pull while at the same time unify- Insofar as the building marks the site of the first Christian
ing the space of the nave. A band of white stucco separates church in Florence, Cosimo also symbolically appropriated
the cornice from a thin stringcourse that lies over the the entire religious history of the city for his family; the
arches. These horizontal elements separate the clerestory princely overtones of this act recall royal foundations such
as St. Denis, outside Paris, or the Visconti patronage of the
from the arcade and lift the weight of the clerestory visually
from the lower part of the building, giving it alightness _, Certosa of Pavia. In a city that called itselfa republic, this
ee by the light flooding in through form of patronage must have seemed extraordinary.
the clerestory windows. The arches of the nave arcade spring
from impost blocks, which creates the impression that The Old Sacristy The sacristy of San Lorenzo built for
they are floating above the columns that actually support Giovanni di Bicci (now called the Old Sacristy; Figs. 11.3
them, and thus have a longitudinal momentum of their and 11.4) was designed as a family mausoleum as well as a
own. Brunelleschi’s decorative forms—capitals, moldings— sacristy. It contains the tombs of Giovanni and his wife,

THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND DOMESTIC COMMISSIONS 251

11.4 Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, (non-load-bearing since it is applied to a stone rubble con-
Florence, axiometric view struction) suggests structure, but at each place where weight
and gravity might be evident Brunelleschi manipulated the
forms to create lightness and a vertical drive. The pietra
serena ring from which the dome springs does not touch the
main arches of the room, a thin margin of white stucco
allowing it to float free. The bases of these arches are
separated from the pilasters in the corners of the room—
theoretically their supports—by a protuding heavy cornice.
The cornice is itself split by a series of roundels with painted
stucco reliefs of cherubim, again alleviating mass and lifting
the upper part of the room from the lower. The effect
throughout the room is one oflight and lightness.
Although the Old Sacristy was substantially complete at
the time of Giovanni di Bicci’s death in 1429, it owes most
of its subsequent decoration to his sons Cosimo and
Lorenzo (not to be confused with Lorenzo the Magnificent,
Cosimo’s grandson). The activity of the two brothers in the
Old Sacristy reveals important new patterns of patronage.
Donatello’s roundel depicting the Apotheosis of St. John (Fig.
11.5), one of four placed in the pendentives of the sacristy,
showg how crucial the function and shape of a space is to
the form of a design placed within it,)The complex perspec-
tive system seems a deliberate confusion of Brunelleschi’s
single-point perspective system since there is more than one
Piccarda de’ Bueri, who are buried beneath the dome. The vanishing point suggested by the receding background
centralized plan of the Old Sacristy relates it to the baptistry orthogonals. However, since the reliefisplaced on a surface
in Padua (see Fig. 9.16), where its patrons, Francesco I da curving over the head of the viewer, the orthogonals of the
Carrara and Fina Buzzacarini, were buried. In plan, the Old foremost building point to the roundels of the evangelists
Sacristy is a perfect square. The small altar area is also a on the adjacent walls. The vertical edges of the buildings in
square, the perfected geometrical form of the main space the Apotheosis are not quite plumb, but angle slightly toward
repeated. The dimensions of this altar and the small service a center line which, when projected from the curving
rooms to the left and the right were determined by use of v

the golden section. The vertical divisions of the main room

are simple numerical subdivisions of the square plan; the
ground level, the tympanum elevation, and the height of the
dome are each half the measure of the side of the square.
The harmonic relations of the chapel provide an extremely
ordered and restful space, but they also suggest the imita—_
tion of a macrocosmic universal structure on a very small
scale, since Brunelleschi’s contemporaries believed that{ the
universe was_also ordered on measures relating to the
golden ea Ne this man-made world of the sacristy
echoes the od-created world of the universe, the two in
harmony with one another.
The architectural details of the sacristy seem, further-
more, to be structured on a theme
resurrection_The
of exte-
rior of the lantern ofthe Old Sacristy has acurious spiraling
decoration whiclf refers to the structure built over the tomb
of Christ in Jerusalem; thus it provides a symbol ofresurrec-
tion and suggests the hopes of the Medici for their afterlife.
That lantern area with its incoming light—itselfasymbol Of
the divine—is the focus of the interior space of the chapel,
11.5 Apotheosis of St. John (after restoration), before 1433, probably
attention being drawn to it by the ribs of the veil vaulting of
commissioned by Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici from Donatello for
the dome and its position on the central dominating vertical the Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. Painted stucco, diameter
7’ 6”
axis of the room. The architectural membering in the chapel (2.15 m) \\
‘

252 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

11.6 St. Lawrence and St. Stephen (after restoration), between 1434 and
1443 (?), commissioned by Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici from
Donatello for the Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. Painted stucco,
Tou xa alidin (2215 ote Sum)

pendentive into space, directs attention to the lantern,

whose resurrection symbolism Brunelleschi had made
explicit by its curious spiraling shape. The classically inspired
sarcophagus of Giovanni di Bicci and his wife, Piccarda, lies
directly below the lantern, emphasizing the patrons’ hopes
11.7 Bronze doors to the right ofthe altar with figures of Apostles and
for eternal life. the Doctors of the Church, between 1434 and 1443, commissioned by
Large stucco reliefs by Donatello over small doors on Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici from Donatello for the Old Sacristy,
either side of the altar wall present dramatically posed San Lorenzo, Florence. Bronze, 7’ 8%" x 3' 7” (2.35 x 1.09 m)
standing figures of saints Lawrence and Stephen on the left
(Fig. 11.6) and saints Cosmas and Damian on the right. named Giovanni. John the Baptist unmistakably alludes to
These figures could simply be titular _saints—Lawrence the patron saint of Florence and marks the first time that
(Lorenzo), for the church in which they appear and Cosmas the Medici had joined their own iconography with that of
and Damian, who in life had been doctors (which in Italian the city. St. Peter refers to Cosimo’s other son, Piero, and the
is medici), for the family that had built the Old Sacristy. paired Peter and Paul (Fig. 11.8) to the papacy, an appropri-
These saints, however, are also the patron saints of Lorenzo ate reference for the papacy’s bankers and for a family that
and Cosimo, who probably commissioned these reliefs was a strong supporter of Pope Eugenius IV, then resident in
after their father’s death, the sons appearing in the guise Florence. But what ultimately appears is a dynastic line from
of their patron saints just as Giovanni does in the roundel of Giovanni, high in the altar arch, to Cosimo on the stucco
St. John the Evangelist above the altar arch. Beneath each relief, to Piero and Giovanni on the bronze doors (see Fig.
of these reliefs is a set of bronze doors by Donatello, each 11.3). Nowhere in previous Florentine art are dynastic lines
containing ten panels with paired standing and gesticulat- so graphically articulated.
ing figures. The door on the right (Fig. 11.7) under Cosmas Stylistically the panels for the doors are also fascinating,
and Damian has figures of saints John the Baptist and John since they seem so contrary to the spatial illusion that
the Evangelist at the top left and saints Peter and Paul at the Donatello had earlier used in his relief for Siena (see
top right. St. John the Evangelist could refer to Giovanni di Fig. 10.48). Here he places his paired figures on the simple
Bicci and the chapel’s dedication or to Cosimo’s son, also ground line of the frame, against a blank background, with

THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND DOMESTIC COMMISSIONS 253

 the Strozzi commission. The sheer scale of the Medici archi-
tectural project at San Lorenzo gave the family an architec-
tural prominence in the city far surpassing the Strozzi. This
insistence on public generosity was part of the strategy of
Giovanni’s son Cosimo at this same time. Cosimo de’ Medici
acted as one of four operai for the commission of Ghiberti’s
St. Matthew for the Bankers’ Guild at Or San Michele (see
Fig. 10.22); a forced assessment of guild members in 1420
indicates that Medici contributions were significantly more
generous than those of the Strozzi. Even in a commission
contracted by a guild, family and personal rivalries played
iS:
st
important roles. The different styles used by the two fami-
ne
lies for their commissions thus underscore the use ofstyle as
N

is
3 a signal of different factions in the social order.
Se
x
rs San Marco
Ww

Ce

Cosimo’s activities at San Lorenzo were not his only endeav-

ors at church building. When the Dominican order took
charge of the dilapidated monastery of San Marco in 1436,
Cosimo hired Michelozzo di Bartolommeo to rebuild it.
Cosimo also added a library (which he then helped to fill
11.8 St. Peter and St. Paul (detail of bronze doors to the right of the
altar), between 1434 and 1443, commissioned by Cosimo and Lorenzo
with books), a cloister, a chapter room, a bell tower, a bronze
de’ Medici from Donatello for the Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. bell, and church furnishings, including an imposing altar-
Bronze, 14% x 13%." (36.5 x 34.5 cm) piece byFra Angelico¥Guido di Piero; c. 1395 Vicchio-1455
Rome) fort in altar,
no attempt to provide any setting for the action of the The{San Marco altarpiece \(Fig. 11.9) was badly abraded
figures. He also presses the figures into the relief, a version through faulty restorati th the nineteenth century, yet it
of the schiacciato relief, but here without the rationale ofpic- is still remarkable for what it says of Fra Angelico’s work and
torial illusionism. The stylized, repeated paired figures over of his patron’s wishes. In some sense the image is profoundly
the multiple panels of the two doors refer to the familiar traditional, with a centrally placed group of the Virgin and
iconographical imagery of debaters, likely a reference to the Child flanked by angels and saints. This may befit the work
contentious arguments of the Church Council of Ferrara- of apainter who was a Dominiéan friar living at San Marco,
Florence that met in Florence in 1438-39 with the financial where he also painted devotional images in the cells of the
support of the Medici. cloister in which the friars lived. Yet the setting of the San
The choic bronze for the two doors was itselfa daring Marco altarpiece has an arrestingly open, spacious quality.
tcrnenhs previously been reserved for important As if in response to this new concern for a rational, mathé-
civic commissions, notably the baptistry doors. The Medici matical spatial construction, Fra Angelico gave the altarpiece
thus appropriated a medium that, in itself, gives this space a square shape(a decisive shift from earlier compartmental-
a civic resonance. Although all of these references appear ized, arched altarpieces, Vhe architectural throne, with its
a site traditionally used to enhance a powerful shell niche framing the Virgin and Child, is large and deco-
family’s status and mark their devotion and hopes for rated with classical garlands and Corinthian pilasters. Space
the afterlife, fhe Medici subtly seem to have invested their expands not only into the distance, but also behind and
sacristy with extra dimensions of civic and dynastic power. around the figures. Asingle-point perspective defined by the
But the initial plans for San Lorenzo and the sacristy lines in the carpet both establishes a deep spatial stage for
should be seen as something more than a neighborhood and the figures and focuses on the hand of the Virgin, tellingly
family project. It was just at the time that Giovanni di Bicci placed in front of her womb, emphasizing the Incarnation
had agreed to build the sacristy with Brunelleschi as his of Christ and her maternity, a central concern in Dominican
architect that Onofrio Strozzi (d. 1418) and his son Palla theology. The inscription from the Dominican Little Office
were engaged in building the sacristy at Santa Trinita with on the hem of the Virgin’s garment emphasizes this tenet:
Ghiberti as the architect. Familial and political rivalries were “... like a vine I caused loveliness to bud, and my blossoms
joined with artistic erie Malls. Medici and the Strozzi —became glorious and abundant fruit.” The ackground
were members of opposing political factions in the city. landscap ramed by patterned draperies, is remarkably
Although in 1418 the Strozzi were considerably wealthier naturalistic in its depiction of trees, of the sea ie the
than the Medici, the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo was land, and of the sunlit sky. It too relates to-a holy text;(in the
considerably larger and more insistently classicizing than Old Testament book of Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom says, “I have

254 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 11.9 San Marco altarpiece,
c. 1440, commissioned by
2
Cosimo and
Medici fro Fra Angélico fdr
the high altar o arco,
Florence. Tempera on panel,
EDS SA SE (DAS DLAY TM)
(Museo San Marco, Florence)

The painting was badly damaged

in an early restoration, leaving its
surface stripped.

grown tall as a cedar on Lebanon, as a cypress on Mount with whom he had shared a commission at the Dominican
Hermon; I have grown tall as a palm in Engedi, as the rose monastery 1n Cortona in 1438.
bushes ofJericho;as a fine olive in the plai tee Although there are obvious differences in spatial organi-
I have grown tall”)(24:13-15). TheGllusionistic draperies, zation and figural structure between Fra Angelico’s San
tied to the frame at the upper left and right, refer to contem- Marco altarpiece and Gentile’s Adoration of the Magi (see
porary altarpieces, which were occasionally actually covered Fig. 10.30) painted for Palla Strozzi, the Medici altarpiece
by cloth, drawn open only on festival days. Here, by contrast, has a sense of opulence no less finely calibrated than the
the mood would always be jubilant, a stage set for the Strozzi. Rich gold-embellished draperies hang not only at
adoration of the Child whose redemption of the world is the left and right of the composition but behind the Virgin
symbolized by the crucifix on the small tabernacle door that and Child as well. Gold is used generously in the haloes of
interrupts the composition at the bottom, an image that the figures, as it was originally in the borders and surfaces
completes the life cycle of Christ begun with the Madonna of many of the robes worn by them. The luxuriousness of
and Child directly above it. the arboreal landscape is matched by the richness of the
The draperies of the kneeling figures, with their thick patterning on the cloth separating it from the figures and of
folds and weightiness, suggest that Fra Angelico, for all the that on the carpet.
tranquility of his images, had looked carefully at the more It is worth noting, however, that instead of choosing the
dramatic painting of Masaccio. Such features as the hang- courtly subject mattex,of the Magi, Cosimo ordered a tradi-
ing cloth behind the figures and the expressive modeling Onell NEE OE eae for his altarpiece. The sobriety—
of the faces also suggest that he had studied the work of of the figures is appropriate for their Dominican location,
Gentile da Fabriano. His simplified oval faces also indicate yet their poses give them the gravity of Roman statesmen,
that he was familiar Ss era eat unlike the lively, }elegant figures in Gentile’s altarpiece.
with the work of Sassetta [1392 Cortona-1450 Siena), Cosimo and Fra A 4 seen let to have employed

pywocantowy |
THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND 7 AMISSIONS 255

ey ena n/a
a visual language that could be seen as an alternative to Cosimo also visually appropriated the high altar of San
that used by the leading member of the oligarchy—and yet Marco, just a short distance away from his home, further
at the same time to have incorporated some of the signs enhancing his presence in the city.
of wealth and social prestige that characterize the Strozzi Within the monastery, newly enlarged through Cosimo’s
commission, generosity, Fra Angelico also painted a number of frescoes
As in the decoration for the Old Sacristy (see Figs. 11.5— specific to the life of Christ and to the rule of the Dominican
11.7) there is a dynastic “subtext” in the imagery in the San order. In the Annunciation (Fig. 11.10) Fra Angelico imagines
Marco altarpiece. Its patron, Cosimo de” Medici, appears in the Angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary in a portico
the guise of St. Cosmas kneeling in the traditional position that recalls the actual cloister of the monastery, which
of the donor in the left foreground of the painting. As in the viewer would just have seen as he climbed a staircase
Donatello’s stucco relief for the Old Sacristy, St. Cosmas 1s from the ground floor to the upper corridor of the cloister;
paired with St. Damian, his brother. John the Evangelist, the fresco is framed by the entrance door at the top of a
standing second from the left, probably represents Giovanni stairway, the space established by the fresco extending the
di Bicci, Cosimo’s father; and St. Lawrence, at the far left, avenue of the stairwell. The graceful movement of the angel
looking out and holding a small martyr’s palm, Cosimo’s and of Mary set the quiet tone for the other frescoes along
brother, Lorenzo, who died in 1440, shortly before the the corridor and in each of the friar’s cells on this floor.
painting was completed. Although none of these figures 1s a The cloister was, after all, a place for meditation and prayer.
portrait in the strict sense of the word, the homophonic An inscription on the bottom of the fresco made such
references that they establish would have been clear to any- devotional practice explicit: “As you venerate, while passing
one seeing the altarpiece. Red balls on a gold ground appear before it, this figure of the intact Virgin, beware lest you
along the border of the rug at the bottom of the altarpiece omit to say a Hail Mary.”
and refer to those of the Medici family crest. The red and
white floral garlands hanging at the top of the painting, The Medici Palace
although most likely referring to Ecclesiasticus, also repre-
sent the heraldic colors of the city of Florence, uniting When, in about 1445, Cosimo de’ Medici began to build his
Medici and civic imagery once again. Thus, just before palace (Figs. 11.11 and 11.12) on the Via Larga (now the Via
taking control of the main altar of San Lorenzo in 1442, Cavour), he had apparently already hired and dismissed

CONTEMPORARY VOICE

A Job Application
This letter from the painter Domenico about you, . and having first learned Spirito which he won’t finish in five years
Veneziano to Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici where you were, | would have written you working day and night, it’s so big. But how-
illustrates the groveling expected of artists for my comfort and duty. Considering that ever that may be, my great good will to
(until quite recent times) when addressing my low condition does not deserve to write serve you makes me presume to offer
important patrons. Amid all the flattery, to your nobility, only the perfect and good myself. And in case | should do less well
however, the writer tries earnestly to con- love | have for you and all your people gives than anyone at all, | wish to be obligated to
vey his superiority to other candidates—or me the daring to write, considering how any merited punishment, and to provide
at least their unsuitability because of exist- duty-bound | am to do so. any test sample needed, doing honor to
ing commitments. However, Domenico’s Just now | have heard that Cosimo [de’ everyone. And if the work were so large that
plea went unheeded: the commission for Medici, Piero’s father] has decided to have Cosimo decided to give it to several mas-
the San Marco altarpiece (see Fig. 11.9) an altarpiece made, in other words painted, ters, or else more to one than to another, |
went to Fra Angelico. and wants a magnificent work, which beg you as far as a servant may beg a mas-
pleases me very much. And it would please ter that you may be pleased to enlist your
To the honorable and generous man Piero me more if through your generosity | could strength favorably and helpfully to me in
di Cosimo de’ Medici of Florence, ... in paint it. And if that happens, | am in hopes arranging that | have some little part ofit.
Ferrara. with God’s help to do marvelous things, . and | promise you my work will bring
Honorable and generous Sir. After the although there are good masters like Fra you honor. ...
due salutations. | inform you that by God’s Filippo [Lippi] and Fra Giovanni [Angelico] By your most faithful servant Domenico
grace | am well, and | wish to see you well who have much work to do. Fra Filippo in da Venezia painter, commending himselfto
and happy. Many many times | have asked particular has a panel going to Santo you, in Perugia, 1438, first of April.

(from Creighton E. Gilbert. Italian Art 1400-1500. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1980, p. S)

256 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 11.10 Annunciation, 1438-45,
commissioned by Cosimo de’
Medici and the Dominicans
from Fra Angelico for dormitory
corridor, Monastery of San Marco,
Florence. Fresco, 7’ 6” x 10’ 5”
(2.29 x 3.18 m)

11.11 (below) Medici Palace,

Florence, c. 1445-c. 1460,
commissioned by Cosimo de’
Medici from Michelozzo
The Medici asked Michelangelo to add
windows to the corner two arches in
c. 1517, closing off an open loggia
where the Medici Bank had conducted
public business. The building’s facade
was extended beyond the third ground
floor arch by the Riccardi family in the
seventeenth century.

Brunelleschi as its main architect, supposedly because windows ofthe upper stories can be found elsewhere only at
Brunelleschi had provided a model for too grand a struc- the Palazzo della Signoria (see Fig. 4.0), thus linking the
ture. Yet the palace that Cosimo built was more splendid Medici architecturally with the city’s main site of sover-
than any in the city, leading to recent speculation that eignty. None of this vocabulary is classical in form, although
Brunelleschi’s project placed the palace opposite the church some have seen the unrelieved rustication as an echo of the
of San Lorenzo rather than on its current site. Such a con- massive wall around the back of the Forum of Augustus in
figuration of church and palace, given Cosimo’s takeover of Rome, thus lending further suggestions of rulership to the
San Lorenzo, would have referenced to a well-known archi- Medici inhabitants.
tectural iconography of authority most typically
seen in juxtapositions of bishops’ palaces and
cathedrals, a message that would have been too
blatant for Cosimo, who maintained that he was
merely an ordinary citizen of the republic, despite
his de facto control over the state.
Cosimo replaced Brunelleschi with Michelozzo,
who had begun his career as a founder in the
Florentine mint before becoming one of Ghibert1’s
many assistants and, in 1423, a partner in
Donatello’s workshop. He may have appealed to
Cosimo because he could work in Brunelleschi’s
manner, but was more malleable than the senior
architect. The palace he designed for Cosimo is
striking in its use of extremely heavy rusticated
masonry on the ground story, which gives the
building a fortress-like aspect—softened in the
increasingly refined treatment of surface on the
stories above. The rustication ofthe lower story ts
typical of Florentine palazzi of the fourteenth and
early fifteenth centuries, a conservative element
suggesting Cosimo’s adherence to tradition and
his equality with other citizens who had built
similar, if smaller, palaces. Yet the extreme heavi-
ness of the rustication and the double lancet

THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND DOMESTIC COMMISSIONS 257

11.12 Medici Palace, Florence, courtyard

Deviating from normal building

practice in Florence, Cosimo
his built
palace from the foundations up, having
destroyed whatever pre-existing struc-
tures were on the site. A more common
practice was for owners to acquire adja-
cent properties, which they then envel-
oped with a thin facing of stone; this
presented a unified facade to the street
while the interior spaces maintained
some of the haphazard arrangements of
the original buildings. A renovation and
restructuring of family properties begun
by Giovanni Rucellai (see Fig. 32) just
shortly after work began on the Medici
Palace demonstrates both the innovative
and the traditional aspects of Cosimo’s
home. What appear as masonry blocks
across the facade of the Palazzo Rucellai
are merely a veneer over the surfaces of a row of buildings; combined with a stoic vitality in his firmly set features and
this facade ends raggedly at the right in anticipation of the turning head. It was fairly common practice at this time to
purchase of another property. Each story is separated into make life masks or death masks of important people from
bays by pilasters, with a different order of capital used at wax or plaster of Paris; but Piero’s bust, finished in 1453,
each level—a hierarchy also used on the Colosseum in Rome. marks the first example in marble to recall antique Roman
Thick cornices decorated with classicizing ornament divide portraits, a model appropriate for a citizen of a republic.
the stories. The uniformity of the Rucellai facade also dis- Somewhat earlier medals of princely rulers (see Fig. 14.2),
guises the commercial function of the ground floor implied also modeled on Roman sources, may also have influenced
by rustication by removing the differentiation of surface Piero’s commission. Earlier reliquary busts of saints (see
treatment between the stories so carefully maintained in the
Medici Palace. Both palazzi, however, like their predecessors
in Florence, present a block-like solidity on the street that
suggests the unity ofthe family living behind the facade and
declares their presence in the city.
The central courtyard of the Medici Palace (see Fig. 11.12)
is strikingly different from the exterior of the building. Here
the novelty of the building becomes obvious in the refined
classical detailing of the arcade which completely surrounds
the courtyard, and in the sculpted roundels suggesting
ancient Roman gems that decorate the frieze above the
arcade. Whether Cosimo and Michelozzo drew on local
sources for this courtyard or on courtyards that they would
have seen in northern Italy during Cosimo’s exile in 1433-
34, the size, the uniform order, and the allusions to classical
forms were new to Florentine architecture.

Portrait Busts Cosimo was the patron for the architecture

of the Medici Palace, but his son Piero (1416-69) apparently
took responsibility for the lavish decoration of its rooms.
One of Piero’s earliest commissions marks his inventiveness.
He employed Mino da Fiesole (1429 Papiano-1484 Florence),
who may have trained under Michelozzo and thus within
the influence of Donatello, to carve marble portrait busts
11.13 Piero de’ Medici, 1453, commissioned by Piero de’ Medici from
of himself (Fig. 11.13) and his brother Giovanni. Piero’s Mino da Fiesole. Marble, height 21%” (SS cm) (Museo Nazionale del
portrait is a vivid portrayal of the actual features of the man Bargello, Florence)

258 FLORENCE: THE MEDICI AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

Fig. 6.3) undoubtedly lay behind Mino’s severely truncated directs the viewer to the altarpiece, which depicts the
figure as well, the form itself being an invitation to reverence. Adoration of the Christ Child.
The vertical borders of his clothing are carved with Piero’s The wall with the youngest king (Fig. 11.14) is particularly
personal crest of a diamond ring with a ribbon woven lavish in its treatment of costume, recalling the treatment of
through it bearing the word semper (Latin for “always”). The the same subject (see Fig. 10.30) commissioned by Palla
message of Medici permanence rings loud and clear to any- Strozzi. Piero seems to have appropriated both the subject
one who might have thought that Medici power in republi- matter and the style of the earlier painting, as if to supplant
can Florence was a passing aberration. the exiled Palla Strozzi by assuming the very pictorial vocab-
ulary that had characterized his commission.
The Medici Chapel The small chapel of the Medici Palace The two mounted figures behind the young king are
(see Fig. 11.0) is strikingly ornate. The elaborately coffered Piero de’ Medici, on the white horse, and Piero’s father,
and gilded ceiling and the richly inlaid marble floor cen- Cosimo, on the donkey. Piero’s young son, Lorenzo, appears
tered around a porphyry disk form a suitably grand setting in the second row at the left in three-quarter view, wearing a
for the spectacular frescoes on the walls. Beginning on the red hat, his ski-jump nose a clear mark of his identity.
right wall of the chapel and moving clockwise around the Although there is considerable dispute over the identity of
room are frescoes by a pupil of Fra Angelico, Benozzo the young king, he probably represents a second idealized
Gozzoli (Benozzo di Lese; c. 1420 Florence-1497 Pistoia), ten-year-old Lorenzo (1449-92), who, in luxurious costume,
depicting the procession of the Magi to Bethlehem. With had ridden the lead horse during an elaborate public cere-
one king and his retinue occupying each wall, the procession mony staged by Piero in 1459 to honor Pope Pius I and

11.14 Medici Chapel, Medici Palace, Florence, detail of right wall showing the retinue of the youngest king, c. 1459, commissioned by Piero de’ Medici
from Benozzo Gozzoli. Fresco

The artist appears in the third row at the left in a red hat looking directly out toward the viewer.

THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND DOMESTIC COMMISSIONS 259

Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan, both then visiting Florence. St. Bernard, seen half-length behind a rock formation at the
(his role as one of the Magi would have been appropriate upper left, almost as if in a vision, is a saint connected to
for Lorenzo, since he had been baptized on January 6, 1449, heremetical meditation, but in Florence he was also another
the feast of the Magi. Moreover the men of the Medici fam- patron saint of the city. The Priors’ Chapel in the Palazzo
ily belonged to the Company of the Magi, a confraternity della Signoria was dedicated to him, and thus the Medici
that processed through the city on the feast of the Magi, Chapel discreetly echoes the one in the city hall. Both the St.
from the monastery church of San Marco, where relics of John and the St. Bernard, therefore, are instances of the
the Magi were kept, past the Medici Palace, to the baptistry. Medici linking their imagery to that of the city whose polit-
Thus this fresco in the private chapel of the Medici, where ical life they sought to control.
Cosimo sometimes greeted visiting dignitaries, gave a The sophisticated complexity of this imagery, interlock-
noticeably royal cast to the family while at the same time ing Medicean propaganda and Christian exegesis, is evident
celebrating their civic generosity and religious devotion. in the iconographical details of the painting. At the lower
The original altarpiece for the chapel (Fig. 11.15; replaced left near three stumps (others are scattered throughout the
by a replica in 1494) is a complex amalgam of civic and painting) is an axe handle, separated from its blade, on which
devotional imagery. Unlike conventional church altarpieces Lippi has signed the painting FRATER PHILIPPUS P{inxit].
using sacra conversazione iconography, Filippo Lippi’s paint- More than a clever device for artistic self-presentation, the
ing presents an historical, iconic, and mystical image of the handle refers to a passage from the New Testament (Luke
Virgin adoring the Christ Child locked into an iconography 3:9) describing the preaching of St. John the Baptist: “The
of the Trinity, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit axe is already at the root ofthe trees, and every tree that does
appearing at the top of the composition and Christ at the not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into
bottom. A youthful St. John the Baptist—who, according to the fire.” While the biblical passage 1s intended as a warning
biblical history, should be the same age as Christ—stands against immorality, one has to wonder what someone like
atemporally at the left of the composition, appearing Palla Strozzi or any other political opponent of the Medici
more in his role as patron saint of Florence than as a full might have perceived the implications of such a reference
participant in the devotional iconography of the painting. to be had he been able to see it. The passage from Luke’s
gospel also describes the Baptist in the words
of Isaiah as a “voice crying in the wilderness”
saying: “Every valley shall be filled in, every
mountain and hill made low. The crooked
roads shall become straight, the rough ways
smooth.” Despite the implied political mes-
sages of the painting and the luxury and the
pageantry of the,scenes of the Magi painted
on the walls of the chapel, this altarpiece is a
deeply meditative one befitting what we know
of the spirituality of Cosimo de’ Medici and of
the mystical religiosity of Lucrezia Tornabuoni,
the wife of his son Piero.

Other Decorations Other rooms in the pal-

ace conveyed equally complex messages.
Inventories of the period indicate that a room
marked as Lorenzo’s was decorated with three
large paintings by Paolo Uccello showing the
Battle of San Romano (1432). Although two
of the three may have been commissioned by
another Florentine patron, the Medici clearly
chose this ensemble depicting Florentine
military success and hard-won peace as an
appropriate image for the young Lorenzo,
perhaps to counter his image as a humanist
prince, known for his erotic love poetry, his

11.15 Adoration of the Christ Child, late 1450s, commis-

sioned by the Medici family from Fra Filippo Lippi for
the Medici Chapel, Medici Palace, Florence. Panel,
SO x 45%" (127 x 116 cm) (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

260 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

11.16 The Battle of San Romano, 1430s (?), by Paolo Uccello. Oil on panel, 6’ x 10’ 7” (1.83 x 3.23 m) (National Gallery, London)

New archival discoveries indicate that Lorenzo purchased the Uccello paintings from another owner. Whatever the meanings of the paintings may have been for the
previous owner, the Medici clearly intended them as part of an overall decorative ensemble in Lorenzo’s living quarters.

mystery plays, and his patronage of classical scholarship. Medici by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Antonio di Jacopo Benci;
The victorious general, Niccolo da Tolentino, appears c. 1432 Florence-1498 Rome), who produced paintings,
in one of the paintings (Fig. 11.16) with a banner metalwork, embroidery designs, and engrav-
carrying his device of a knot floating above his ings. Hercules had been represented on the
head. Uccello’s paintings of this battle have a state seal of Florence since the end of the
curiously frozen, doll-like quality. The geometrically thirteenth century. Pollaiuolo’s sculpture
simplified humans and animals and the carefully depicts the defeat of Anteus, achieved by
arranged angles of the fallen lances indicate the lifting him off the ground, since Anteus
painter's reputed obsessive interest in the new derived his strength from his mother,
science of perspective. Behind the figures at the Earth (Ge). Every muscle in the contorted
left of the panel are trees bearing bodies of the men is tense, emphasizing the
bright oranges, a fruit known ferocity of their struggle although not
during this time as mala medica, or indicating that Pollaiuolo had actually made
“medicinal apple.” Since the Medici anatomical studies, as some have claimed. The
name means “doctors,” it was natural for detailed modeling of the bronze, polished to a
them to choose this fruit as their symbol. high luster, fragments reflected light in a
In addition to their charm these battle scenes are manner that further heightens the tension.
important because such subject matter was at that The statuette is a technical tour de force. In
time depicted in the palaces ofprinces (see Fig. 14.29) medium as well as subject matter, such bronze
and on the walls of city halls (see Fig. $.21) to com- statuettes, imitative of antique examples, mark
memorate state military victories. Thus Lorenzo’s room an innovation in Florentine sculpture and the
seems to have conflated not only citizen and prince extension of a classical vocabulary into the
but also private room and public council cham- domestic interior.
ber, giving the family a visual language ofrule.
11.17 Hercules and Anteus, early 1470s (?),
An even more obvious appropriation of civic commissioned by the Medici from Antonio del
imagery can be seen in a small table bronze of Pollaiuolo. Bronze, height 17%” (45 cm) (Museo
Hercules and Anteus (Fig. 11.17) made for the Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

THE MEDICI’S CIVIC AND DOMESTIC COMMISSIONS 261

Excursus: Donatello in Padua (three Franciscans, including Anthony, and three other local
saints), a limestone relief of the Lamentation over the dead
During a critical period of Medici political ascendancy, the Christ, and bronze reliefs of the symbols of the evangelists
sculptor who had helped to establish a new monumental and of music-making angels. It was a sculptor’s tour de force
sculptural vocabulary in the city and who had been employed of free-standing and relief sculpture, all set within an elabo-
by the Medici to do the same for their family was out of rate architectural framework as if the figures existed on a
Florence employed on an impressive series of commissions liturgical stage.
in Padua, again in bronze. Donatello began working in that Donatello’s relief of The Ass of Rimini (Fig. 11.19) for the
city in about 1444 and remained there for a decade. The city altar tells the story of a man who doubted the Church’s
was a major center of classical and humanist studies. The doctrine of Transubstantiation, that is, the miraculous but
Paduans’ active promotion of the cult of St. Anthony had actual, physical presence of Christ in the sacrifice of the
also encouraged the exploitation of very realistic modes of Mass. When St. Anthony displayed a consecrated Host to
presentation. Donatello’s own active, passionate interest 1n the man’s donkey, as he is shown doing in the center of the
antiquity, human psychology, and the convincing represen- relief, the beast recognized the divine presence and fell to its
tation of reality made him an ideal candidate to undertake knees. Church doctrine was confirmed and heresy refuted
work in Padua. by a beast of burden—a reminder of St. Francis’s own use of
animals in his preaching and miracles and a confirmation of
The Santo Altarpiece Anthony’s effectiveness as a defender of orthodoxy.

The entire ensemble for the high altar of the Santo (Fig.
11.18) was modeled and cast in less than two years, tempo- 11.18 High Altar, the Santo, Padua, 1446-53, commissioned by the
rarily assembled for the saint’s feast day on June 13, 1448, governors of the Santo from Donatello. Bronze, partially gilt

but still not completely chased and polished when Donatello The arrangement of the statues does not correspond to their original
left Padua in 1454. Intended to give glory to the city’s disposition, which included an architectural canopy for most or all of the
figures, perhaps roughly comparable to the architectural structuring of
beloved, miracle-working saint, the altar included four Mantegna’s San Zeno Altarpiece (see Fig. 14.32). Donatello’s bronze
large reliefs of St. Anthony’s miracles, six life-sized statues crucifix was not part ofthe altar program.

262 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 Donatello imagined the event as both momentous—and 11.19 The Ass of Rimini, 1446-53, detail of the high altar, the Santo,
therefore worthy of a grand setting—and emotionally and Padua, commissioned by the governors of the Santo from Donatello.
Bronze, partially gilt, 224” x 4’ 4 % “ (S7 x 123 cm)
spiritually transforming, as suggested by the intense, per-
sonal reactions of the attending figures. The action takes
place before three huge barrel vaults, whose monumentality
suggests those of the basilica of Maxentius and Constantine
in the Roman Forum. Donatello enlivened the cavernous
space with classical pilasters, putti in the arches’ spandrels,
and rectangular coffering which leads the eye back to iron
grates through which yet deeper spaces can be seen. The
strategic application of gilding keeps the complex volumes
of the architecture legible, although the figures seem to
stand right on the front edge of the relief plane.
On the other hand, Donatello’s Madonna and Child,
around which his other figures on the altar are grouped,
is traditionally iconic in its composition, representing in
its strict frontality the allegory of Mary as the Throne of
Wisdom as she supports an equally severely frontal Christ
Child. The Madonna is both formidable and approachable.
As regal as a Byzantine empress in her headdress of winged
cherubs, she presents the worshiper with the true and palpa-
ble body of Christ, a literal counterpart to the presentation
of the Host in the relief discussed above. Surrounded by the
parting drapery of her gown, the Christ Child seems born
before our very eyes.

The Gattamelata Monument

While Donatello and his large workshop were producing the

altar for the Santo, they were also engaged in creating an
over-life-sized bronze equestrian statue of the Paduan-born
11.20 Equestrian Monument to Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata), 1447-53,
leader of the Venetian army, Erasmo da Narni, known to commissioned by his wife and son from Donatello to be placed outside
history by his nickname Gattamelata (“honeyed cat”; Fig. the Santo, Padua. Bronze, height 12’ 2” (3.7 m)
11.20). The earliest recorded payments for this work date This is a cenotaph monument. Gattamelata’s actual tomb monument and
from 1447; in 1453 the work was appraised and in place. burial site are located inside the Santo.

EXCURSUS: DONATELLO IN PADUA 263

It was financed by the late general’s wife and son but made Donatello’s Bronze David and Judith
possible only by authorization of the Venetian government. and Holofernes
The epitaph composed by the humanist Giantonio P orcello
de’ Pandoni for Gattamelata’s tomb inside the Santo Donatello’s bronze David (Fig, L121) is one of the best
phrased it succinctly: “The Senate and my pure faithfulness known of the Medici commissions and vet one ot the most
perplexing Despite recent dating ot the statue trom as
rewarded me with worthy gifts and an equestrian statue,”
Occupying a prominent position in the piazza in frontof early as the late 1420s to as late as the mid-1460s, and
the Santo, the monument to Gattamelata is extraordinary recent interpretations of the figure’s purported androgyny,
in many ways. Not only is it a major technical and artistic his sexuality, and his homoerotic charge (Fig. 11.22),
achievement—the first surviving monumental bronze eques- there are no factual records of its commission or of its
trian statue since antiquity—but it confers the Roman impe- patron, The David is first recorded in 1469 in a deseriptuon
rial dignity of this form to a person of less than sovereigt of the wedding festivities of Piero’s son, Lorenzo, and
status, the Venetian republic’s hired military leader. Previous Clarice Orsini. The slightly smaller than life-sized statue
Venetian condottieri had been portrayed in poniemporst)
guise, in much more humble materials, and inside churches;
exterior equestrians throughout northern Italy had been
reserved for rulers such as the della Scala (see Fig. 9.9) or
Niccolo II d’Este, whose bronze monument in Ferrara (now
destroyed) was commissioned by Leonello dEste shortly
before Donatello began work in Padua, a measure of the
learned princely pretensions of rulers in the eae Italian
courts. Donatello not only added some Roman features to
worl nATtras
Gattamelata’s armor, he also created ar alized DOTTrart ot

a Roman hero, whose stoic features reflect the Roman civic

virtue of gravitas. Gattamelata sits astride a massive horse,
whose pose and features sugs V4ot fy a rossbreed OL
c the
}orses
44

fatcrans in Rome in a position

E comparable
i to Gattamela
ran ++
L

placement before the Santo. In this formidable image the

state and the individual are inextricably fused.
By removing Gattamelata from the present and recasting
him as an ancient hero, Donatello avoided calling attention
to the facts—discomforting to both parties—that Gattamelata
represented the military force of Venice, which had con-
quered Padua, and that he w leSS SUCCeSSTUL aS a

soldier than the Venetians hoped he might be. Sisnificantly,

the monument never received an inscription, which would
have tied it to a specific time and place. Instead
is every hero, an embodiment of vir

-
he does, a model py for
Site ne
all viewers
= =
whatever
lL a+
their
= fhosr *
political
leeral
o1 =
ideological allegiance.

The Medici and Donatello’s

Late Work

When Donatello finally returnec ence in

after having been courted by pera of tl
of Siena, it was to work for the Medi gain in the civic 11.21 D s ss ost likely by Piero de’ Medic
medium of bronze, the rial of his most recent successes ‘rom Donatello. Bronze, height S’2" (1.58 th) (Museo Nazionale de
in Padua. According to sources fi od, Cosimo de a ;
Medici and Donatello had a wart friendship, but ‘ s © artist, An Inscription, now
Cosimo’s son, Piero, may well have been the actual commis- : : 2 ea
r Prep ‘ : ; : ; Lan ¢ Cw s Oever Gerenas the Fatheriana. Gog crushes \ ©
sioner for some of Donatello’s late works for the famil\ an enormous foe:©. Beholal
FONOK A OOW
be cuereane © aa OIraat :
OVOIES Gene. ro
vra WCORngUE eRe ENS

264 FLORENCE: THE EDIC!] AND POLITICAL PROPAGAND

then stood on a column in the courtyard of the Medici The Medici were, of course, aware that Donatello’s earlier
Palace, although there is a slight possibility that the figure marble statue of David (see Fig. 10.9) stood in the Palazzo
may have been made for another site. The sleekly sensual della Signoria, placed in front of a wall which was painted
depiction of the adolescent David, who stands in a languid blue and decorated with gold fleurs-de-lys, one of the
pose, his left foot carelessly resting on Goliath’s severed symbols of Florence. David had become a metaphor for
head, is remarkable for its naturalism. Donatello departed the city, strong in protecting its freedoms from external
however, from familiar images of David by presenting threat. Piero’s placement of the David in the private context
him nude, in the manner of a classical ephebe or slim, of the palace thus appropriated civic imagery for the Medici,
pre-pubescent boy. The unusual representation of the just as Uccello’s battle paintings had (see Fig. 11.16).
David, departing as it does both from the biblical text and Contemporary awareness of this strategy of appropriation
from classical forms of heroism, suggests that Donatello can be found in two later events. In 1476 Lorenzo and
intended to convey more than just the narrative of David Giuliano de’ Medici sold to the Signoria a traditionally
and Goliath. clothed bronze David by Andrea del Verrocchio (1435
Florence-1488 Venice) in their collections for placement in
the Palazzo della Signoria, thus parting with the less prob-
lematic of their two Davids. In 1495, after the expulsion
of the Medici from the city, the Signoria transported
Donatello’s bronze David from the Medici palace to the
courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria. A new inscription
made explicit recognition of the civic iconography that the
statue must also have carried in the family setting of the
Medici Palace.
David’s youthfulness is key to understanding its place-
ment in the center of the palace courtyard (see. Fig. 11.12)
where it would have been visible from the street when the
main doors of the building were open. The Medici were
consistent in the 1450s and 1460s in their appropriation of
the imagery of youth. The young St. John for the altarpiece
of their palace chapel (see Fig. 11.15) and the youthful
magus standing in for Lorenzo in the same space (see Fig.
11.14) are both cases in point, as was the 1459 civic proces-
sion honoring the pope and Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Thus
David, John the Baptist, and the young magus merge civic,
religious, and personal imagery as visual propaganda for
Lorenzo. Piero must have suspected that his virulent gout
would truncate his life, and he worked very hard to insure
that his son would be able to take the reins of his family
in a smooth transition. No one would have forgotten that
David became King David, one of the most respected rulers
of the Old Testament and founder of a dynasty. Nor would
anyone have forgotten that David’s history was one divinely
ordained. Donatello’s David provided the Medici with a
powerful image of rulership that extended beyond the figure
depicted—or metaphorically represented—into the future,
a return to the dynastic imagery they had earlier used in
the Old Sacristy and in the San Marco altarpiece.
Some modern historians have challenged the identity of
the figure as David, proposing Mercury instead. Depictions
of Mercury from the fifteenth century show the god with a
particular hat called a petasus, similar to that worn by the
11.22 David (rear view), 1460s (?) most likely commissioned by Piero de’ David. A viewer’s position beneath the statue would have
Medici from Donatello. Bronze (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence) made the decapitated head barely visible and its identity as
Recent restoration (for comparison, Fig. 11.21 was taken pre-restoration) has Goliath or Argo (whose head was cut off by Mercury) hard
revealed that David’s hair was completely gilt and that numerous other details to ascertain. Interpretation of the statue as a Mercury would
of the statue were also highlighted in gold.
have allowed the Medici to avoid the charge of appropria-
tion of public imagery for private use, Mercury being the

THE MEDIC! AND DONATELLO’S LATE WORK 265

 patron god of merchants as well as of the arts (see Fig. 4),
and thus an appropriate symbol for the family. In fact, the
statue did not have to read either as David or as Mercury, but
could have been read as both.
The sensuality of the figure still needs further study in
the light of evolving understanding of gender and sexuality
for the period. Since facts about Donatello’s personal life are
virtually non-existent, it is risky to associate the erotics of
the David with Donatello’s purported homosexuality. The
reference in Angelo Poliziano’s Daybook to Donatello “paint-
ing” his workshop assistants has a slightly kinky edge to it
but falls well within the traditions oflubricious story telling
of this time: it may hint at something real or it may simply
be an all-too-familiar witticism at the expense of another’s
sexuality. On the other hand, Poliziano and his contempo-
raries would have known that a paint brush (pennello) was a
slang reference to penis, giving the story a more pointed
meaning. The feathered wing sliding up David’s right leg,
invisible from the front of the statue, but clearly evident
from the rear view that one would have had when re-entering
the courtyard from the relaxed garden space behind the
palace (see Fig. 11.22) has been used as a formal clue to the
homoerotic content of the figure and thus to Donatello’s
homosexuality. Insofar as “bird,” then as now, also refers to
penis, Poliziano’s story seems one that provides evidence
if not of Donatello’s own sexuality, then of a kind of wit
based on double-entendre present in the literature of the
day and most insistently, in fact, in Lorenzo the Magnificent’s
poetry. Recognizing this erotic charge does not, of course,
explain how such meanings might have been read when the
statue was in the courtyard of the Medici Palace, although
the conventions that it represented were well enough inte-
grated into the emotional and intellectual life of the period
to allow the David an honorable presence in the central
courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria after 1495.
Paired with the David in Medici imagery was Donatello’s
bronze statue ofJudith and Holofernes (Fig. 11.23) situated in
the small garden area just beyond the main courtyard of the
Medici Palace. As a woman who saved the Jewish nation
from foreign domination by slaying the Assyrian general
Holofernes, Judith is obviously a counterpart of David.
In that respect she is also a civic icon. The statue is an early
example ofsculpture meant to be seen in the round, with no
single viewpoint fixed for the observer. Judith’s heavy gar-
ments contrast with the near nakedness and overtly sensual

11.23 Judith and Holofernes, late 1450s (?), commissioned most likely
by Piero de’ Medici from Donatello for the garden of the Medici Palace.
Bronze with traces ofgilding, figure group height 7’ 9” (2.36.m)
(Palazzo Vecchio, Florence)

A second inscription on the original column supporting the sculpture read:

“Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues; behold the neck
of pride severed by the hand of humility.” When the statue was moved to
the Palazzo della Signoria in December 1495 a new inscription was placed
at the top ofits new base: “The citizens placed this example of public health
[here in] 1495.”

266 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

fleshiness of Holofernes. Judith’s foot is placed squarely on liberty (as if he were not in control of the state) while at the
Holofernes’s groin as her hand rises for the second time to same time including as part of the garden’s decorations a
strike at his already partially severed head. Were the Judith newly reconstructed (by Mino da Fiesole) ancient statue of
intended originally as fountain, it would have had water Marsyas, a satyr horrifically punished by flaying for daring
trickling from spouts (still not drilled through) in the faces to challenge a god. Like the palace itself, its decorations were
of the triangular base on which the figures are placed—a designedto provide messages of civic propriety, virtue, and
startling addition of a gurgling sound to the already grisly (sometimes not very subtle) political control.
scene. The sculpture could be interpreted simply as virtue
overcoming vice, this metaphorical separation from a par- The San Lorenzo Pulpits
ticular narrative perhaps underscored by the stilled raised
right arm of Judith and the unprotesting body of Holofernes. Although Piero had taken charge of most Medici painting
However, a political meaning is clearly implied by the and sculpture commissions by the mid-century, his father,
inscription that Piero originally placed on the group: “Piero, Cosimo, was, according to Vasari, responsible for one last,
son of Cosimo, has dedicated the statue of this woman to critically important commission; that for the reliefs now on
that liberty and fortitude bestowed on the republic by the two bronze pulpits in San Lorenzo (Figs. 11.24 and 11.25).
invincible and constant spirit of the citizens.” Even in the The original commission for the reliefs modeled and cast by
relaxed space of a garden, Piero made reference to political Donatello and his assistants is still unclear, since they were

11.24 South
pulpit, c. 1460-66
(placed on present
column supports
between 1558 and
1564; completed
with reliefs by
later sculptors),
commissioned by
Cosimo de’ Medici
from Donatello
for San Lorenzo,
a a Florence. Bronze,
is ter ers pO. sae Of, 1, ia Oi pe Be VN!
Jee TtTe] AAD ATK AOAT AO WTNBABAD WD V2) APN NSD ADADAD) 9) ASADADADADADADADAS ASAD,
a (1:23'x)'2292'm)

11.25 North
pulpit, c. 1460-66
(placed on present
column supports
between 1558 and
1564; completed
with reliefs by
later sculptors),
commissioned by
Cosimo de’ Medici
from Donatello
for San Lorenzo,
Florence. Bronze,
ANGI x 92 Vo"
Tey YT Nay TT
runes (1.37
x 2.8 m)

THE MEDIC!| AND DONATELLO’S LATE WORK 267

not completed at the time of Donatello’s death in 1466 and Ficino (1433-99), and Lorenzo himself wrote poetry, based
were not incorporated into pulpits until 1515. Suggestions on classical and traditional Tuscan models. Although he
that they were begun as reliefs for a tomb for Cosimo, which commissioned relatively few paintings and sculptures,
would have been placed in the choir of San Lorenzo, or for Lorenzo used his family’s resources to fund new architec-
the high altar are compelling, but as yet unsubstantiated. tural projects and to amass a collection of antique carved
Their delayed placement in the church resulted in their hav- gems and goblets made from semiprecious stones which was
ing minimal impact on near-contemporary sculpture. one of the most remarkable of its time. He also advised a
The reliefs on the south pulpit (see Fig. 11.24) narrate number ofother families in their commissions, encouraging
the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, while those on the north the arts even when works were to enhance the prestige of
pulpit (see Fig. 11.25) contain scenes of the Harrowing of others—thereby establishing himself as the arbiter of taste
Hell, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Martyrdom of within the city.
St. Lawrence. The reliefs for both pulpits are extraordinary in
their expressionistic, occasionally violent, portrayal of these
events. The action is compressed into a compacted space;
the figures writhe and lunge. Drapery details and physical
features seem gouged into the bronze, as if Donatello were
deliberately rejecting the heavy volumes characteristic of
his early work. The compositions of some reliefs are abruptly
cut at the edges, leaving figures sliced in half, as if the image
continued beyond the frame. Donatello also placed figures
in front of the pilasters separating the reliefs of the south
pulpit so that they blur the boundaries between what is out-
side and what is inside the frame. In these reliefs Donatello
has taken the expressionistic aspects of his earlier reliefs for
the baptismal font in Siena (see Figs. 10.46 and 10.48) and
for the high altar of the Santo in Padua (see Fig. 11.19) to
increased intensity.

The Golden Age and Lorenzo

the Magnificent

When Lorenzo de’ Medici took charge of his family, on the

death of his father Piero in 1469, he was just twenty years
old. Although a masterful political tactician, Lorenzo did
suffer one serious threat to his power in the city. On Sunday
April 26, 1478, members of the Pazzi family and their
cohorts, having been encouraged by Pope Sixtus IV, attacked
Lorenzo and his younger brother Giuliano during Mass in
the cathedral. Giuliano was murdered, suffering twenty-
seven knife wounds, but Lorenzo, though wounded, man-
aged to escape. The Pazzi Conspiracy, as the attack is known,
11.26 Tomb of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici, c. 1470-72, commissioned
was brutally put down, with Medici supporters rallying in
by Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici from Andrea del Verrocchio for
the streets of the city. The men responsible for the attack San Lorenzo, Florence. Marble, red porphyry, green serpentine, bronze,
were either murdered or sent into exile. One insurrectionist and pietra serena; height of arch 14’ 9%” (4.5 m), width ofplinth 7’ 10%”
even fled as far as Constantinople, only to be extradited to (2.41 m), depth of plinth 3’ 6 4” (1.08 m)

Florence by the sultan as a favor to Lorenzo; he was hanged The inscription running around the marble base reads: “Lorenzo and Giuliano,
sons of Piero, placed [this tomb here
from a window of the Palazzo della Signoria as a warning to for their father and their uncle
MCCCCLXXII [1472].” The inscription on the green serpentine tondo facing
any others who might challenge Medici hegemony. Lorenzo’s the sacristy (as in the illustration) reads: “Piero lived 53 years, S months, and
power clearly extended far beyond the walls of the city and 10 days; Giovanni lived 42 years, 4 months, and 28 days.” The inscription on

remained unchallenged after the Pazzi Conspiracy until his the similar tondo on the other side of the tomb reads: “To Piero and Giovanni
de’ Medici, sons of Cosimo Pater Patriae H[oc] M[onumentum] H[eredem]
death in 1492. N[on] S[equatur].” This last formula, like all the Latin on the tomb, is pure
Lorenzo was known as “the Magnificent” in his own classical Latin, indicating a refined and erudite classicist such as Pietro Bembo
lifetime because of the extensiveness of his patronage and as the author. As a legal formula it indicates that the property is inviolable and
cannot pass to its neighbors. It is thus a learned humanist translation of Piero’s
his position within the social structures of Florence. He was motto Semper (“always”) into an appropriate antique indication of permanence
a friend of famous writers, notably the Platonist Marsilio built on legal right.

268 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

The Tomb of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici

Lorenzo’s first major commission, the tomb of his father

and his uncle (Fig. 11.26), was one he undertook with his
brother Giuliano about 1470. The sculptor for the project
was Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-88), who was to remain
active in Medici commissions. The tomb was placed in an
open arch in the wall between the Old Sacristy of the church
of San Lorenzo and the double chapel owned by the Medici
in the adjacent transept (see Fig. 11.1, nos. 2 and 3). The red
porphyry sarcophagus is decorated by lush bronze acanthus
leaves and circular green marble inserts. It is supported by
lion feet, and the platform on which it rests is itself sup-
ported by four bronze tortoises. Piero’s heraldic diamond
ring modeled in bronze tops the sarcophagus. Every detail
of the monument bespeaks imperial power. Red porphyry is
a material that was reserved in antiquity for the sarcophagi
of emperors and their families. The lion is a traditional sym-
bol of sovereignty and had been used as a Florentine state
symbol for at least two centuries. Even the tortoises, attached
to the motto Festina lente (“Hurry slowly”), refer to Augustus
and Constantine, from whom Piero had adopted the motto.
In commissioning this tomb monument, Lorenzo and
Giuliano proved that they had learned their lessons well,
for the tombs of both their grandfather and their great-
grandfather (see Fig. 11.3) had employed red porphyry.
The elegant style characteristic of this tomb was to develop
in the following years into a symbol of a golden age under
Lorenzo; however, at the beginning ofhis career a number of
styles existed concurrently in Florence, each of which offered
possibilities for future development.
11.27 Incredulity of St.Thomas, 1465-83, commissioned by the tribunal
of the Mercanzia from Andrea del Verrocchio for their niche at Or San
The Mercanzia Niche at Or San Michele Michele, Florence, bought from the Guelf Party. Bronze, height (Christ)
7' 6%" (2.3 m), (Thomas) 6’ 6%” (2 m) (Museo di Or San Michele; copy
In 1463 the guilds’ juridical tribunal, known as the now in niche)
Mercanzia, bought the niche belonging to the Guelf Party
at Or San Michele and commissioned Verrocchio to replace from the south would replicate Thomas’s position and be
Donatello’s St. Louis of Toulouse (see Fig. 10.0) with a new invited to make his movement theirs, thus actively recapitu-
bronze group, the Incredulity of St. Thomas (Fig. 11.27). Piero lating the biblical narrative.
de’ Medici had been involved in this project from its outset, This subject frequently appeared in Tuscan town halls
and before his death his place on the building committee as a symbol ofjustice, and was thus appropriate for the
was taken by his son Lorenzo; so it is not surprising that the Mercanzia. Perhaps as a result of the nearly two decades
St. Louis, the most important public symbol of their political it took Verrocchio to complete this commission, there are
rival, the Guelf Party, was removed. Placed on the facade slight stylistic differences between the two figures, hardly
of Santa Croce, a center of Guelf activity, the image of the noticeable given the variant poses of the two men. Yet if one
Franciscan St. Louis could be assimilated into the order’s compares the comparable swags of drapery swinging over
iconography and thus be drained ofits political potency. the lower right legs of Thomas and Christ or the similar
Verrocchio’s Christ and St. Thomas have a monumental- forms at the waists of the two figures, it appears that the
ity commensurate with Donatello’s splendidly classical niche material of Thomas’s garment is more intricately folded
in which they stand, projecting outward from its confines, than Christ’s, which recalls the heavy drapery in Donatello’s
Thomas’s right foot placed over the edge of the platform early public sculpture (see Fig. 10.14). The complicated
on which he stands. The daring nature of Verrocchio’s com- folds of material, the flowing curls of the men’s hair, and
position is most evident to passersby on the street below. the extraordinarily realistic and sensual details of the men’s
Those coming from the north would see the apostle’s body bodies suggest a lyrical language far removed from the
gently turning on axis as if moving from street to niche to severities of the law—as if style were separating the idea of
place his finger in the side of Christ. Those approaching justice from its earlier civic context.

THE GOLDEN AGE AND LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT 269

The Devotional Image picture plane—provides a sharp, linear block to the back-
ground, the river and landscape to the left move into a hazy
Beginning in the early 1470s, Verrocchio’s pupil Leonardo and undefined distance. Where the Baptist’s revealed body
da Vinci (1452 Vinci-1519 Amboise) began to make his pres- parts are separated from each other by drapery that decora-
ence felt in his teacher’s workshop. Leonardo’s interventions tively disguises the body’s adherence to the frontal plane,
in Verrocchio’s Baptism ofChrist (c.1472-75; Fig. 11.28) indi- the figure of Christ slowly turns on axis in a continuous
cate. The differences between Verrocchio’s and Leonardo’s flow of movement in space. Most telling of all are the two
artistic hands are evident throughout the Baptism of Christ, angels, one of whom—seemingly paying no attention to the
whether in the figures or in the landscape, and the tensions event being depicted—is only partially shown, but whose
between the two painters’ styles are indicative both ofinher- individual units are sharply differentiated from one another,
ent Florentine conservatism and of an intellectual drive for even down to the strands of hair and the shadows cast on
the expansion and development of painterly ideas that had the flesh that definitively separate light from dark, so that
been in development in that city for a century and a half. one could virtually draw a line between the two. The fore-
The baptism ofChrist in the river Jordan by John the Baptist ground angel, understood now to be by Leonardo, torques
is here taken out of context; no crowds of John’s followers on axis as a witness to the main scene; its complex, multi-
are anywhere in evidence and two angels kneeling at the left directional shifts from one section of the body to another
have been added to the biblical narrative. The event plays are radically different in conception from that of the almost
across a narrow plane of space at the very foreground of hidden angel. Light and shadow on the face and on the
the composition with the main figures extending nearly costume of the nearer angel merge imperceptibly with one
the entire height of the panel. The individual details of the another, providing continuous contours of form. Even the
painting are so extraordinarily rendered and the narrative individual strands of hair stop and start, as if the highlights,
is so close to falling out of the picture plane that the odd picked out in gold like the jewels on the collar and the
discrepancies between different parts of the painting and embroidery of the drapery, have momentarily caught the
between the individual figures are easy to ignore. Where light, but whose reflection is as evanescent as the surfaces
the rocky outcropping to the right—virtually parallel to the of the companion angel are still and sculpturally firm. Such
differences illustrate not only Leonardo’s interven-
tions in Verrocchio’s commission, but also his
teacher’s willingness to accept the younger artist’s
extraordinary innovations in the depiction of
movement, space, light, and the constantly shifting
relationships between them in the natural world.
Leonardo’s first major independent commission
was an Adoration ofthe Magi (begun 1481; Fig. 11.29)
for the Augustinian canons of the convent of
San Donato at Scopeto, just outside the walls of
Florence. Preliminary drawings show how Leonardo
struggled with opening up the space that contains
the narrative and with allowing the participants to
engage—physically, intellectually, and emotionally—
with the scene they are witnessing. A carefully struc-
tured single-point perspective drawing for the
painting (Fig. 11.30) shows an overarching architec-
tural scheme that forces the composition toward
the frontal plane of the image, especially at its sides.
Although this architecture remains in a residual
manner in the planned painting, it has been pushed
into the distance and much abbreviated with ani-
mated figures moving in front of and within its
spaces. In the drawing, the perspective controls the
image; in the painting, the figures create not just
solid volumes but also spatial environments within

11.28 Baptism of Christ, 1472-75, commissioned by the monks

of San Salvi from Andrea del Verrocchio. Oil and tempera on
panel, 5' 10” x 4’ 11" (1.77 x 1.51 m) Andrea del Verrocchio
with the assistance of Leonardo da Vinci (Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence)

270 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 11.29 Adoration of
the Magi, begun
1481, left unfinished in 1482,
commissioned by the Augustinian
monks of San Donato a Scopeto
from Leonardo da Vinci. Panel,
8’ x 8' 1" (2.44 x 2.46 m)
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

11.30 (below) Perspectival study

for Adoration of the Magi, c. 1481,
Leonardo da Vinci. Pen and ink,
traces of silverpoint and white on
paper, 6% x 11%” (16.3 x 29 cm)
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

Ol
rT

THE GOLDEN AGE AND LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT 271

 11.31 Adoration of the Magi,
early 1480s, Sandro
Botticelli. Tempera and oil on
panel, 27% x 41” (70 x 104
cm) (Andrew W. Mellon
Collection, National Gallery
of Art, Washington, D.C.)

and between groups. In the drawing, the architecture creates the space created by the residual perspective scheme in the
an artificial structure to the narrative, albeit one that cer- upper left. Some of this can be seen in the lighter areas of
tainly fits the innovations of perspective construction; in the painting. Although sfwmato is technically a finishing
the painting, the protagonists in the narrative are the moti- operation added to a painting once the forms have been
vating forces for our understanding of the story being told. depicted, the underdrawing of the Adoration seems
Leonardo left the Adoration of the Mag unfinished with to indicate that even at the early stages of the painting
just the underdrawing and perhaps some initial ground Leonardo was preparing to use this revolutionary technique.
painted in; recent technical investigation suggests that at By 1482 Leonardo had left Florence for Milan, however,
a later time someone added the present thick and muddy and his painterly innovations were not assimilated into the
shading to make it look even more like a Leonardo (but, studio traditions of Florence until he returned nearly twenty
anomalously, a Leonardo darkened by time and dirt). The years later. The Adoration, for all of its excitement, was an
painting shows the Virgin and Child seated, surrounded by event without an immediate sequel.
the retinue of the Magi, who kneel to present their gifts. The A contemporary painting of the same subject by Sandro
head of the Virgin is at the center of the composition, and Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi; 1445
her body marks the apex of a triangle created by the kneeling Florence-1510 Florence; Fig. 11.31), a pupil of Filippo Lippi,
figures. Despite the active, gesturing poses of the other is much more typical of its time, although its relatively small
figures and the subordinate scenes in the distance, the main devotional size may have something to do with its style.
protagonists are locked into a stable compositional order Botticelli—also a student of Verrocchio—ordered his compo-
which focuses the viewer’s attention on them. In addition to sition, too, along a carefully plotted triangle, in this case
the diagonal movement into the composition, the figures reinforced by the beams of the decaying classical architec-
themselves contribute, through their poses, to the illusion ture of the stable, a reference to the passing of the Old Law
of space. The Virgin’s head and body are composed of a into the New with the birth of Christ. Each of the figures,
series of oval shapes, nesting one inside another—head however, is linearly separated from its adjacent form, the
inside upper torso, torso inside the curve of the arms. Each traditional Florentine sense of disegno (in this case “drawing
of these shapes turns in opposing, tilting directions, creat- with line” or with outline to define a sculptural volume)
ing not only a convincingly rounded figure, but also a sense isolating rather than uniting solid forms. Clarity of color
of energy in the surrounding space. and a landscape that looks like a stage backdrop, rather
Leonardo’s concern for unifying his composition than a continuous extension into space, are other tradi-
extended to his use ofthe painterly device ofsfumato (“smok- tional aspects of this work. Along with the artificiality of the
iness”) where light washes of pigment would have created background, the Virgin has an unnaturally elongated torso,
shadows to blur the borders between one form and another, which gives her a courtly elegance somewhat at odds with
fusing them as if their physical forms were as continuous as the biblical stable, but echoed in the elaborated drapery

272 FLORENCE: THE MEDICI AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

folds of the surrounding figures. This somewhat chilly arti- patron Piero—have provided a challenge to the viewer/
ficiality with a motion seemingly stilled in space is typical of reader. Although the text of the book on the desk is also
Botticelli’s work through his career. quite legible—and written in modern humanist script meant
The potentialities for this elegant and somewhat airless to suggest the most advanced classical philology of the
depiction of narrative can be seen in the work of Filippino time—only partial lines are visible because of the way that
Lippi (1457/S8 Prato-1504 Florence), the son of Fra Filippo the book is placed on Bernard’s makeshift desk. Thus the
Lippi and the nun Lucrezia Buti. His Vision of St. Bernard writing would serve merely as a visual clue to the Benedictine
(Fig. 11.32) was commissioned by Piero del Pugliese for monks of the church about a text with which they were
his chapel in the Benedictine church of Le Campora outside presumably very familiar—a test of their scholarship and
the walls of the city. Piero appears at the lower right of the devotion. It would also remind them (and others) of their
composition in the conventional—albeit remarkably natu- patron’s own scholarship, since he himself had carefully
ralistic—profile pose of the donor, in this case apparently copied Bernard’s writing and given the manuscript to
having a vision of St. Bernard having a vision. Bernard the monastery library. The evident precision with which
is seated, dressed in the robes of a Benedictine monk, in an Lippi produced the two opposing scripts suggests that new
ascetic stony landscape. His library shelves are outcroppings scholarship provided a route to understanding old truths
of rock which also conceal grotesque demons (at right). and is a reminder that humanist research was as much
Their evil work is foiled by the miraculous aid that the involved with theological as with antique texts.
Virgin gives to the tired St. Bernard.
A close reading of the painting, however, suggests that Family Chapels
overcoming evil is not merely the work of divine interven-
tion. The text that St. Bernard has propped up on the rock Such altarpieces were parts of larger ensembles in chapels
(close to the Virgin’s face) records in legible Gothic minus- where they provided a focal point to devotional practice.
cules the gospel account from St. Luke of the Annunciation Two styles predominate in the large fresco cycles painted
to Mary, the subject, indeed, of one of Bernard’s treatises, a for family chapels during this period, although in each there
quotation from which appears on the lower edge of the is an overwhelming sense of the wealth and social status of
altarpiece’s frame. This gospel book provides the text for the the patron.
manuscript that Bernard is writing with the inspirational
guidance of the Virgin in the painting. But Lippi—and his The Sassetti Chapel Francesco Sassetti was the general
manager of the Medici bank. His burial chapel, in the church
of Santa Trinita, painted by Domenico del Ghirlandaio
(Domenico Bigordi, 1449 Florence-1494 Florence) is com-
posed of scenes from the life of St. Francis, Francesco’s
patron saint (Fig. 11.33). Sassetti and his wife, Nera Corsi,
are buried in all’antica black marble sarcophagi embedded
in the left and right walls of the chapel; their portraits as
kneeling donors are painted on either side of the altarpiece
much as Masaccio had earlier portrayed the Lenzis in his
Trinity painting (see Fig. 10.42). The altarpiece itself, repre-
senting the Adoration of the Shepherds, also includes a number
of classical references, attesting to Sassetti’s reputation as a
patron of classical scholarship.
The fresco on the altar wall just under the vault depicts
the Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule, while the one immedi-
ately below it shows Francis’s Miraculous Resuscitation ofaBoy
of the Spini Family (a hagiographic invention). In each case the
scene is depicted in a Florentine location; the Confirmation
shows the Piazza della Signoria in the background (although
the event took place in Rome), and the supposed miracle
in the Piazza Santa Trinita shows the church to the right
and the Palazzo Spini (with the child falling from a window)
in the left background. Ghirlandaio treated these scenes
as historical narratives, placing contemporary Florentines
11.32 Vision of St. Bernard, c. 1485-90, commissioned by Piero del Pugliese in rows at the left and right as witnesses to the scenes. The
from Filippino Lippi for a chapel in the Church of Le Campora, Marignole
clarity and didacticism of their portrayal are reminiscent
(outside the Porta Romana, Florence, and belonging to the Badia
Fiorentina), owned by Piero del Pugliese from 1479. Panel, 6’ 10” x 6’ S" of historical frescoes such as the Consecration of St. Egidio (see
(2.08 x 1.96 m) (Badia Fiorentina, Florence) Fig. 10.53).

THE GOLDEN AGE AND LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT 273

 Sassetti appears at the right of the Confirmation scene the company of their tutors, led by Poliziano. This fresco
with his young son. Immediately to his right stands Lorenzo provides unquestionable evidence of Sassetti’s status as a
the Magnificent, and entering the space from a sunken close associate of the city’s de facto ruler. Directly over the
stairway are Lorenzo’s three children (Giuliano, Piero who entrance arch to the chapel, the Cumaean Sibyl predicts the
was the eldest, and Giovanni who became Pope Leo X) in birth of Christ to the emperor Augustus, a scene appropriate
both for the Nativity below and for the evocation of agolden
age used by the panegyrists around Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Such imagery gave Lorenzo a visible presence in the city (and
outside his own neighborhood) without the possibility ofa
charge that he was asserting himself in ways inappropriate
for a private citizen.
Ghirlandaio also. painted the Adoration of the Shepherds
(Fig. 11.34) which serves as the altarpiece for Sassettt’s
chapel. It could be argued that the choice of the humble
shepherds is a pointed variation of Gentile da Fabriano’s
Adoration of the Magi for the Palla Strozzi Chapel (see Fig.
10.30), the room immediately adjacent to the Sassetti
Chapel; and indeed the Magi can be seen winding their way
through the landscape at the far left of Ghirlandaio’s paint-
ing. Stylistically, however, the shepherds are close imitations
of the shepherd figures that appear in Hugo van der Goes’s
altarpiece painted in Flanders for Tommaso Portinari. This
painting had arrived in Florence in 1483 just as Ghirlandaio
was beginning work for Sassetti and was placed on the
high altar of the hospital church of Santa Maria Nuova, a
Portinari benefice (see Fig. 10.53). This quotation is a vivid
measure of how Flemish oil painting, meticulously detailed
and symbolically loaded, impacted Florentine artists at
the end of the century and how Florentine patrons and
collectors embraced the importation of art from abroad.
At the same time that Ghirlandaio integrated Flemish
elements of style and technique into his painting, he
also utilized elaborate Romans classical references that
underscore the humanist learning that Sassetti patronized.
The Christ Child lies on the central axis of the painting,
immediately aligned with the vision of the priest saying
Mass there, his head seeming to rest on the base of aRoman
sarcophagus, now empty and filled with straw that served
as a manger. The partially damaged sarcophagus and its
use as a manger indicates the supplanting of Roman rule
by Christianity. Its carefully incised inscription verbally
underscores this visual cue: “While Fulvius, auger of Pompey,
was falling in Jerusalem, he said: ‘The urn that contains
me shall bring forth the divine, ” clearly what Ghirlandaio
has depicted in the altarpiece. The theme of replacement is
echoed by the Roman triumphal arch in the left background
that bears another inscription that says that Hircanus, the
high priest [of the temple in Jerusalem] erected the arch in
honor of the same Pompey, who in the first century B.C.E.
spared the temple when the Romans conquered-the city.
This story came from the first-century ¢.k. Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus’s Jewish Wars, a book well enough known
for a new edition to have been published in Florence in
11.33 Sassetti Chapel, 1483-86, commissioned by Francesco Sassetti,
1493, just a few years after Ghirlandaio painted this
with frescoes by Domenico del Ghirlandaio and black marble tombs altarpiece. According to modern scholarship, no high priest
attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo, for Santa Trinita, Florence named Hircanus lived at the time of Christ’s birth, nor is it

274 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA :

 Ghirlandaio also portrayed himself as the youngest
of the shepherds, gesturing toward the Christ Child.
Although artists had depicted themselves before in
Vit

dt : AA ON ins \ CN
such narrative scenes, Ghirlandaio’s proximity to the
manger (closer even than the patrons) and the high-
lighting ofhis facial features give him a special promi-
nence and liveliness in the painting. Moreover, if one
follows his gaze, it is aimed directly at Francesco
Sassetti, painted in fresco on the wall immediately to
the right, seemingly directing the older man in a
sequence of movements from eye to hand to Christ
Child. Clearly the relationship between painter and
patron was a special one, whether or not it would con-
form to our modern notion of friendship, and indi-
cates the growing social importance of the artist in the
commerce of art at this time.

The Strozzi Chapel The Strozzi Chapel in Santa

Maria Novella (Fig. 11.35 and see Fig. 4.10, no. 4) illus-
trates an alternative style in frescoes for family chap-
els. Filippo Strozzi, its patron, returned to Florence in
1466 from the exile that had been imposed on the
Strozzi by the Medici, first in 1434, then renewed in
1458. In order to re-establish his family’s prominence
in the city, Filippo embarked on a number of artistic
11.34 Adoration of
the Shepherds, 1485, commissioned by Francesco Sassetti
projects, his funerary chapel being among the most
from Domenico Ghirlandaio for the altar of the Sassetti Chapel, Santa
Trinita, Florence. Panel, 5’ 5%" x 5' S%" (1.67 x 1.67 m)

likely that a high priest would have erected a triumphal arch

to anyone, let alone to a conquering ruler. Nonetheless, the
story, tied to the Roman architectural references in the
painting, and its appearance in this painting is descriptive
of Florentine humanism at the end of the fifteenth century,
which sought to synthesize all human learning into a single
unified system. Moreover, the story is telling in its sugges-
tion of a peaceful coexistence of opposing religious and
political groups, a peace known in the first century as the
Pax Augustana, and a peace roughly comparable to that
which Lorenzo himself had brokered between opposing
political factions on the Italian peninsula after the Pazzi
Conspiracy of 1478. The past, even a fictionalized one, could
be used as a moral exemplar that would usher in a time of
peace and prosperity—in spite of the fact that all those who
would have read the inscription on the triumphal arch
would also have known that the emperor Vespasian subse-
quently ravaged Jerusalem in the first century and burned
the temple to the ground. Clearly, as the chief manager of
the Medici bank, Sassetti had a vested interest in portraying
his employer in a favorable light, as well as portraying him-
self as a particularly well-educated man of wealth and piety.

11.35 Strozzi Chapel, 1487-1502, commissioned by Filippo Strozzi, with

frescoes of the lives of St. Philip (right) and St. John (left) by Filippino
Lippi and tomb and relief tondo of the Madonna and Child by Benedetto
da Maiano, for Santa Maria Novella, Florence +
 provide a stylistic measure of traditional values from a fam-
ily that had been central to the Medicean power structure
(the Sassetti), as opposed to pictorial novelty from a patron
whose family (the Strozzi) had recently returned from a
prolonged exile decreed by the Medici. Filippo Strozz1
asserted a fantastical all’antica style which definitively set
him apart from Medicean public painting in the city while
at the same time recalling the opulence of earlier Strozzi
commissions such as Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the
Magi (see Fig. 10.30).

Portraiture
The stylistic differences that are evident in fresco cycles
also appear in portraiture. Leonardo’s Ginevra de’ Benci and
Ghirlandaio’s Giovanna de’ Tornabuoni (Figs. 11.37 and 11.38)
illustrate two distinct possibilities for portraiture during
this time. Leonardo painted a perfected and perhaps ideal-
ized representation of the physical appearance of Ginevra,
“whose alabastrine and simplified ovoid head is haloed with
a bush ofjuniper (the homophonic ginepro in Italian), thus
clearly identifying her. A sickly woman, Ginevra faces the
11.36 Raising ofDrusiana, detail of the left wall of the Strozzi Chapel,
commissioned by Filippo Strozzi from Filippino Lippi for Santa Maria viewer with a calm, if not chilly, expression, the triangular
Novella, Florence. Fresco shape of her carefully posed body enhancing the air of
stillness nerated by her fixed gaze_A sun-filled landscape,
lavish. The chapel’s frescoes, best seen from a distance, were reminiscent of Flemish ~painting of the time, provides a
\
painted by Filippino Lippi between 1487 and 1502. Their — spacious and stfntiffating Backdyop to the portyait as
elaborate, classicizing, illusionistic architecture and fictive ae Mer sos
sculptural reliefs frame a stained-glass window showing \ \ f

large figures of the dedicatory saints, John and Philip

(Filippo), also designed by Lippi. Beneath the window and
behind the altar, Benedetto da Maiano provided a marble
tomb whose simplicity of form belies its costly materials and
ambiguous position. From outside the chapel the black
marble sarcophagus appears to lie beneath the altar table,
rather than behind it; this position is normally reserved for
specially venerated persons such as saints. The arch contain-
ing a white marble tondo of a Virgin and Child flanked by
flying angels is the same width as the altar and thus “reads”
as a carved rather than a painted altarpiece for the chapel.
On the left wall of the chapel the Raising ofDrusiana (Fig.
11.36, a subject which also appears in one of Donatello’s
tondi for the Old Sacristy) tells of St. John’s miraculous
revival of adead woman—appropriate for a funerary chapel,
but also metaphorically referenced to the Strozzi’s return
to Florence after over thirty years of exile. All the figures
are in animated poses, their costumes elaborate confections
adding both energy and elegance to the scenes. The imag-
ined Roman architecture 1s also intricately detailed, an echo
of Filippino’s experiences in Rome during the time these
frescoes were painted. The fabulous settings for the narra-
tives and allegories lend a sense of elegance and richness to Ud Ginevra de” Benci, c. 14742 and 1478/80, probably commissioned by
the Strozzi Chapel which makes the Sassetti Chapel appear aan Bae ed eed. SA ee Ors PEneh Wax Le
ry eee serena eae ee | oe ier are 98.3 x 36.8 cm) (Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
staid and decorous by comparison—a manifestation of civic 5
This painting has been cut down at the bottom and at the left,
virtue as opposed to the courtly splendor that characterized lower arms
arms afand hands;
eliminating the sitter’s
noee : are : ands; itsIts form would
Y ori ginally have conformed
conf i
to a frontal i
version
Strozz1 Florentine commissions. The two fresco cycles of the pose depicted in Fig. 11.38.

276 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 to suggest both propriety and beauty)—surpass the powers
of art to depict. Clearly implied, however, is the notion that
art has succeeded in depicting everything else of importance.
Ginevra, on the other hand, is rather more simply attired,
with little conspicuous evidence of the wealth of her family
on her body, suggesting that the painting les outside
the bounds of formal portraiture commissioned to mark
significant events in the sitter’s life. An inscription on the
reverse of the painting reads “Beauty Adorns Virtue” and
describes a timeless state of being for the sitter, not unlike
that implied for Giovanna. The motto is carried on a scroll-
ing ribbon that twines around a small juniper branch and
extends left and right to a circlet made of a stem of laurel
and palm frond. This emblem, it turns out, is also personal
to Pietro Bembo, the Venetian ambassador to Florence on
two separate occasions (1475-76, 1478-80). Bembo’s own
motto, similar to Ginevra’s, was “Virtus et Honor” (“Virtue
and Honor”) and was originally the decoration on the
reverse of the portrait before Ginevra’s device was painted
Over it, suggesting an exchange of the painting between
them. Whatever the relationship shared by Bembo and
Ginevra (both were married), the painting functioned as a
special mark of the friendship between the two—Ginevra,
like Bembo, was apparently a poet—and thus exists outside
the conventions so carefully adhered to by Ghirlandaio
for domestic or marriage portraits. Leonardo must have felt
emboldened to break with convention and so portrayed
Ginevra full-face staring out from the painting, though
she does not quite encounter the viewer, reinforcing expec-
tations of modesty for women in polite society. She is as
still as Giovanna de’ Tornabuoni. Her immovable porcelain
11.38 Giovanna de’ Tornabuoni, 1488, commissioned from Domenico
Ghirlandaio. Tempera on panel, 29% x 1934” (76 x 50 cm) (Museo features glow in front of darker, more freely painted foliage,
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) originally a vivid green foil to her shining hair and soft
velvet dress. In the distance Leonardo softened much of the
Ginevra is placed on a very slight diagonal responding both detail and suggested atmosphere, intentionally smudging
to the space and to the possibility for Ze ggested some of the surface with his own fingers and depicting the
by the glints of light shimmering through her hair. Giovanna, furthest trees, towers, and horizon in blue.
on the other hand, sits in stiff profile within a confining
architectural (domestic) setting. Although each detail of The Architecture of Magnificence
figure and costume is meticulously presented, the bright
overall light and the ramrod pose give the figure an unnatu- The Facade of Santa Maria Novella
ral quality. Giovanna is dressed formally in an extraordinar-
ily luxurious costume, her hair arranged both artfully and Families other than the Medici also initiated important
meticulously, and she wears a large jewel around her neck architectural projects in Florence during the middle years of
with another in the cupboard behind. Both dress and jewels the fifteenth century. Members of the Pazzi family built the
function as symbols of her husband’s wealth, telling details chapter house for the monks at Santa Croce (known as the
in that the painting is a posthumous portrait. She is both Pazzi Chapel and left unfinished after the downfall of the
subject of the portrait and object_of social s within family in 1478; now no longer thought to be by Brunelleschi);
the wealthy mercantile and banking culture of Florence. Folco Portinari built the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova
Her very body is encased by metaphors of male success. The (see Fig. 10.53); and both the Pazzi and the Spinelli built
inscription from Martial on the small paper behind Giovanna large and important palaces. But perhaps the most notable
reinforces the idea of her role. It reads: “O art, if you were of these patrons was Giovanni Rucellai, known best for four
able to depict the conduct and the soul, no lovelier painting impressive architectural projects: the facade of his palace
would exist on earth.” Thus Giovanna’s conduct and the (still incomplete; see Fig. 32) which began a radically new
pureness of her soul—glossed by the presence of the book of ordering of the traditional Florentine palace facade with its
hours in the cupboard behind her (and paired with the jewel antique cornices and a rising complexity of capitals from

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MAGNIFICENCE 277

the ground story to the roof line; the triple arched loggia marble columns that extend the height of the first story
modeled on the Loggia della Signoria built across from the at the left and right ends of the facade and flanking the
palace as a frame for important public family events; the main portal are also classical insofar as they are capped
facade of Santa Maria Novella (Fig. 11.39); and his tomb with Corinthian capitals. On the other hand, Alberti was
chapel in the church of San Pancrazio, a miniature version constrained to retain the medieval avelli or tombs running
of the Tomb of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. the length of the facade because the patron family of the
The facade of Santa Maria Novella—the only completed two side doors, the Baldesi, thought that their commission
church fag¢ade in fifteenth-century Florence—was designed granted them rights to the entire facade. The law suit that
by Leon Battista Albert, who was apparently the house the Baldesi brought against Giovanni Rucellai was solved
architect for Giovanni Rucellai since he was responsible for in part because Alberti found a way to incorporate their
all four of the Rucellai projects (with the possible interven- earlier decoration into his new design. Alberti and Giovanni
tion of Bernardo Rossellino in the execution of the palace Rucellai, like Brunelleschi before them, also chose to refer
facade). A number of problems faced Alberti in designing to the indigenous Florentine Romanesque exterior design
this facade. Chief among them was the desire to unify the of geometrical units of white and black marble, like the
low side aisles of the building with the high Gothic nave of baptistry (see Fig. 4.3), cathedral (see Fig. 4.22), and, in
the church in a coherent compositional structure, here done this case, San Miniato al Monte—all revered structures of
in part with the architectural scrolls that curve from high in the city. Even the Corinthian columns can be seen as part
the upper structure to the exterior edge of the lower story. of the decorative ensemble of the baptistry, an instance of
Alberti designed a modular facade whose main unit—the the difficulty of separating out Tuscan Romanesque from
second story temple form—is a perfect square with the width classical Roman and a warning about reading classicizing
equal to the height from the top of the pediment to the forms in Florence exclusively as antique, even if the architect
cornice that forms its base. This module and proportions is a humanist scholar trained in antique forms and texts.
derived from it are repeated a number of times in the units
for the decorative elements of the facade, further unifying The Strozzi Palace
the overall composition.
Alberti also clearly struggled to provide a modern—that is Filippo Strozzi’s other great commission besides his burial
classicizing—facade for the Gothic church of Santa Maria chapel (see Fig. 11.35) was the construction of a family
Novella. The pedimented structure rising into the upper palace in the heart of Florence (Fig. 11.40). The building
story of the facade imitates Roman classical temple forms, was most likely designed by Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445
despite the rose window of the old building that interrupts Florence-1516 Florence) who, with his brother Antonio,
the classical order. Alberti used a Roman religious building provided a wooden model for the building in 1489. By the
type as the model for his modern religious building, giving time of this commission, Sangallo had already built a
some sense of decorum in architectural imitation. The black number of other palaces in thescity, including that of the

11.39 Santa Maria Novella,

facade, 1458-70,
commissioned by Giovanni
di Paolo Rucellai from Leon CC ae
Battista Alberti
l
The inscription across the
facade ofthe building reads:
“Giovanni Rucellai, son of ‘
Paolo, [made this] in the year
of Salvation 1470.”

278 FLORENCE: THE MEDICI AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 Classical Antiquity and the
Golden Age

One of the critical innov e late fifteenth century

was the emergence a subject matter for
large-scale imagery. Sandro otticelli’s Birth of Venus (Fig.
11.42) shows particular stylistic aspects of this new iconog-
raphy. Unlike sculpture, there was little in terms of ancient
painting, other than vase painting, that was accessible to
artusts in the fifteenth century, although the buried imperial
Roman palaces were beginning to become accessible by the
1470s. Roman and Etruscan vase painting with its linear
treatments of form as well as Etruscan incised bronze vessels
did give Florentine artists a possible vocabulary for figural
depictions on a two-dimensional surface that was, in fact,
leer compatible with the formal language of disegno in which
they had been trained. In Botticelli’s painting, the figures

TAH
exist at the frontal plane of the composition, spread over the
surface as if in a very shallow stage space, the background
mtL7
Rea
>

fon of the sea from which Venus was born being little more than
a flattened stylized backdrop incommensurate in scale with
the figures. Thus the figures float on the surface of the
11.40 Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1489-1507, commissioned by Filippo
painting as do figures on ancient vases. Both the zephyr
Strozzi from Giuliano da Sangallo with contributions from Cronaca (wind) figures at the left and the figure of the Hour at the
(Simone de! Pollaiuolo) right moving to the center of the composition to clothe
Venus are posed in a manner that flattens them across rather
than into the space of the painting. In fact, it is virtually
Florentine chancellor, Bartolomeo Scala, and he had worked impossible to imagine how to construct the legs of the
on a number of architectural projects for Lorenzo the female zephyr, so abstractly is she conceived as lyrical sur-
Magnificent. Sangallo’s training had been as a woodcarver, face movement. The figures’ forms are clearly outlines, each
but by 1465 he had traveled to Rome to study classical distinct from the other. The artificiality of the painting—its
antiquity, his extensive notebooks now being one of the removal from realism—gives it a quality of otherworldliness
most important sources available to document the appear-
ance of these monuments in the fifteenth century. Sangallo
was assisted on the Strozzi Palace by Cronaca (Simone del

eSOCeKAL
Pollaiuolo; 1457 Florence-1508 Florence), who had also
- TS soca e in:
spent an extended period of time (c. 1475-85) in Rome
studying ancient monuments.
The exterior cornice of the building provided by Cronaca
derives from the Forum of Nerva, a classical cap for a build-
ing that otherwise retains a conventional Florentine severity
PARAS x .
> ADA Ag
eae
|
of masonry structure on the exterior, most notable in the
smaller Medici Palace (see Fig. 11.11). Here the rustication is i Se
byV eV
enNe OPC .
carried up through all three stories, the last use of an eek
IN6]
ry al e ES txt
entirely rusticated facade in Florence. The plan (Fig. 11.41)
ORO
shows that the building is symmetrical along its short cen-
tral axis, each half designed for one of Filippo’s two sons—a
» RY,
% Vas

y
bold statement of dynastic continuity in the city after the
family’s long exile. Filippo Strozzi supposedly asked Lorenzo OAT
de’ Medici’s advice on the building of his palace and was
encouraged by him to pursue the project. Thus Filippo
believed that he had avoided possible reprisals from the
Medici for an architectural project which overshadowed
11.41 Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, plan of lower floor
the Medici Palace in size, while at the same time Lorenzo
enhanced his reputation as artistic arbiter. 1 Via Strozzi; 2 Piazza Strozzi; 3 Via Tornabuoni

CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY AND THE GOLDEN AGE 279

11.42 Birth of Venus, 1480s,
Sandro Botticelli. Tempera
and oil on canvas, 5’ 9” x
OO 2E (Meroe 7g m)
(Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence)

that is appropriate for mythology and for the poetics of Chloris on the right side of the painting. Mercury completes
the classical literary sources from which the tales derive. the composition at the far left, perhaps part of the same
The central figure of Venus being born from the sea, her extended family iconography as Donatello’s David~Mercury
identifying seashell being propelled to shore by the figures in the Medici Palace (see Fig. 11.21). There is little interaction
of the winds, is a virtual copy of aRoman statue, known in between the figures; Mercury, the three dancing figures,
many copies as the Venus pudica. Thus Botticelli chose as Venus, and the group at the right remain isolated from
his model a figure whose identification was the same as the adjacent figures. The compacting of the pictorial space, the
one he was to depict. At the same time he transformed the elongated proportions of the figures, their attenuated limbs,
model in a way that no sculptor could have done: a vertical the sensuousness of costume, and the tapestry-like land-
axis drawn from the supporting left foot of Venus runs scape make this painting one of the most self-consciously
along her right side, indicating that the entire weight of the artificial images of the century. The reading of the painting
figure lies to the right ofthe line, a physical impossibility for is episodic, moving from one figure to another. Connections
any standing figure. are rarely made, leaving the viewer to pair figures and
Despite considerable scholarly attention, the meaning_ embroider the narrative freely, while necessarily displaying
of many_mythological paintings of this period remains his or her classical learning.
elusive. Botticelli’s Primavera (Fig. 11.43) is a case in point. The overt, albeit cool, eroticism of the female figures,
The painting (whose title means “Spring”) seems to have whose diaphanous drapery does more to reveal than to
belonged to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a cousin of conceal their bodies; the rape of Chloris at the right (and her
Lorenzo the Magnificent, though this is far from certain. subsequent marriage to Zephyrus); the suggestively entwined
The painting presents a tapestry-like frieze of figures on a fingers of the three dancers, and the location in the Garden
flowered ground. Space is pushed to the frontal plane by the of Venus suggest to some historians that the painting might
grove of orange trees (the mala medica) behind the figures. be a very elaborate allegory on marriage in honor of Lorenzo
Venus, the goddess oflove, stands very slightly to the right di Pierfrancesco’s wedding to Semiramide d’Appiano in 1482.
of center, with Cupid aiming his arrow over her head. Whether the painting need be connected to a particular
She is haloed by a laurel bush, a homophonic reference event is debatable. What is certain is that Botticelli, here as
(lauro or alloro in Italian) to Lorenzo. At the far right, an icy in the Birth of Venus, invented a new type of monumental
blue Zephyrus, the wind god, begins his embrace of Chloris, painting which defies all the conventions of naturalism
the spring nymph. A leafy vine extending from her mouth and narrative focus traditionally considered to typify the
mingles with the blooms on Flora’s dress beside her, Renaissance. Along with Filippino Lippi, Botticelli gener-
suggesting that the fweswomen are two manifestations of ated a new courtly art—a visual poetry comparable to the
the single conce The three women at the left, Petrarchan love poetry written by Lorenzo the Magnificent
usually identified as the Three Graces but recently suggested and his close associates—for a city that still feigned beliefin
to be the classical Hours, are the counterpart of Flora and its republican traditions.

280 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

 Further complex linkages to and equations with antique so completely described by ancient authors and thus gave a
art can be seen most vividly in Botticelli’s Calumny ofApelles clearer sense of how contemporary painters measured up to
(Fig. 11.44). The small size of the painting—and thus the their predecessors.
miniature-like and extraordinarily refined detailing of the The painting described in the written sources depicts a
tiny figures making up the fictive sculpture decorating every foolish king seated at the right with Ignorance and Suspicion
surface of the background architecture—indicates that it whispering in his enlarged donkey ears, a physiological
was meant to be studied closely, each detail savored for its detail present in Lucian’s text but not in Alberti’s rendition
beauty and technical accomplishment and each individual of it, indicating Botticelli’s concern for rendering the origi-
sculptural unit puzzled over to unravel its identity. The nal with some degree of accuracy. Calumny, beautiful but
Calumny is simultaneously a narrative about the Greek crafty with a torch in her left hand, moves toward the king,
painter Apelles who was wrongfully accused of treason by an dragging a helpless male clothed only in a violet loincloth
envious fellow painter and a reconstruction of his painting behind her. Envy and Fraud braid Calumny’s hair and tend
depicting this calumny, known through a description pro- to her garment, obviously making the morally reprehensible
vided by the Greek writer Lucian. Thus anyone examining figure deceptively attractive. A brutish and meanly clothed
the painting would have been presented with a moral alle- male figure of Hatred stands between the king and Calumny,
gory about deceit, envy, and calumny and at the same time pulling her forward with his right hand and extending the
an elaborate visual essay that equated Botticelli with Apelles long-nailed fingers of his left hand toward the unseeing eyes
and his painting with the very finest art of classical antiq- of the king. At the left of the painting a nude female repre-
uity. Lucian’s Calumny was first translated from the original senting Truth is paired with a dejected, black-draped figure
Greek into Latin in 1408 by Guarino of Verona, and it was of Penitence, the two being opposite in all of their character-
from that text that Leon Battista Alberti derived his descrip- istics of body and clothing. Truth derives from a figure on
tion of Apelles’ painting which he presented in some detail an antique sarcophagus that was used both by Vittorio
in his De Pictura/Della Pittura of 1435/36. Alberti recom- Ghiberti (1418 Florence-1496 Florence; Lorenzo Ghibertt’s
mended this painting for emulation most likely because it younger son) for the Eve at the base of the right embrasure
was one of the few pictures from classical antiquity that was to the south doors ofthe baptistry (see Fig. 4.25) and also by

11.43 Primavera, c. 1482, commission ascrilped to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici from Sandro ee Panel, 6’ 8” x 10’ 4” (2.03 x 3.1 n 5! =

aie
(Galleria degli| Uffizi, Florence)

F YWRS CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY AND THE GOLDEN AGE 281

hav iS
11.44 Calumny of Apelles,
1497-98 (?), Sandro
Botticelli. Panel, 24%” x 36”
(63 x 91 cm) (Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence)

Bertoldo di Giovanni for his bronze Battle Reliefin the room The reason for Botticelli’s choice of subject, other than
of Lorenzo the Magnificent in the Medici Palace. Botticelli the artistic, is not clear. He ultimately gave the painting to
spread this cast of characters—each a personification of an Antonio Segni, a Florentine banker who worked with the
abstract concept—across the frontal plane of the composi- papal Curia, becoming master of the papal mint in 1497.
tion, compressing the bodies to conform—relief-like—to the When or why Botticelli did this is not certain. Nonetheless, he
pictorial surface. must have assumed that Segni would have understood the
The elaborate architectural frame backing the figures is complex antique references that the painting depicts. Segni’s
covered with detail that relates more to the notion of son, Fabio, added an inscription.to the painting that Vasari
Botticelli’s abilities as a painter and a reproducer of antiq- saw when he was preparing his Lives for publication: “This
uity than to the subject of Calumny. The relief on the main little picture warns the rulers of the earth to shun the tyr-
step of the throne parallel to the plane of the painting anny of false judgment. Apelles gave its like to Egypt’s king
depicts a family of centaurs, a sly doubling of the main refer- [Ptolemy IV Philopator]. That king was worthy of the gift
ence to Lucian, since it is another replication of an antique and it of him.” The inscription, although later, is instructive
painting by Zeuxis described in Lucian’s Zeuxis. Diagonally in suggesting the exchange that occurred in gift giving ofthis
adjacent to it is a relief of Jupiter and Antiope, with Jupiter period, one ofintellectual reciprocity as well as patronage.
taking the form of ashepherd to approach the nymph, itse
a form of deceit. Not all the fictive reliefs depict classicél Antiquarianism
myths. The vault of the left arch has reliefs depicting
Boccaccio’s tale of Nastagio degli Onesti, a story that From the beginnings of humanist study in the fourteenth
Botticelli himself had painted for Lorenzo the Magnificent. century, objects of antiquity were prized because—like
The vault of the second arch from the left depicts scenes ancient manuscripts—they helped people to_ for
from the history of the Roman general Mucius Scaevola, a sivilization. By the later part of the
moral exemplum opposed to the immoral tale of the fifteenth century princely connoisseurs throughout central
Calumny. The standing female figure in the niche at the and northern Italy were amassing significant collections of
far right represents Judith with the head of Holofernes at ancient sculpture, coins, and gems. Lorenzo de’ Medici
her feet, a shift from antique to Christian subject matter. added to the collections of these objects begun by earlier
Thus each of the sculptures challenges the viewer’s grasp generations of his family and acquired ancient goblets and
of mythology, ancient history, and Christian narratives, here plates made of precious materials which were displayed on
intertwined compositionally and suggesting a syncretistic special occasions as a sign of his magnificence. In fact the
knowledge that ignores differences between different times first mention of Donatello’s David (see Fig. 11.21) focuses
and cultures. on a display of gold plate that was arranged beneath its

282 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

column support. In an inventory of Lorenzo’s collections
made at his death in 1492 the costliest object was a sardonyx
cameo cup 8 inches (20 centimeters) in diameter, now
known as the Farnese Cup, which was valued at 10,000
florins, roughly one-third the cost of the Strozzi Palace
(see Fig. 11.40). As a further comparison, twelve years later
Michelangelo received approximately 400 florins for over
three years’ work carving the David (see Fig. 16.1).
When the antique is refabricated in a self-conscious man-
ner, however, its feigned presence requires careful scrutiny.
In one of his most noteworthy acts of patronage, Lorenzo
the Magnificent commissioned Giuliano da Sangallo to
build a country villa at Poggio a Caiano. Different from tra-
ditional, irregularly shaped, crenellated villas (see the exam-
ple in the background of Fig. 11.14), the residence Sangallo
designed was worthy of a humanist prince (Figs. 11.45 and
11.46). He arranged the rooms symmetrically, raised the
building on a platform (recalling Vitruvius’s comments
about the nobility of raised buildings), and marked the
entrance itself with a Roman temple portico. Like Botticelli’s 11.47 Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, c. 1492, Michelangelo. Marble,
Primavera or Filippino Lippi’s now ruined fresco of the 33% x 35%" (84 x 89 cm) (Casa Buonarroti, Florence)
Laoco6én myth in the entrance portico of the villa itself, the
SS
villa creates another world, evocative in its claims to the
ideal, but fundamentally romantic in its artificiality. The appropriation of the antigtie seen at Poggio
fo}
a Caiano
was taken to much greater lengths in an early work by an art-
ie | 11.45 (left) Villa Medici,
ist destined to be antiquity’s greatest rival, Michelangelo
le EY ina Poggio a Caiano, plan of Buonarroti (1475 Caprese-I564 Rome). Most likely carved in
te upper floor a studio maintained by Lorenzo the Magnificent in a garden
This plan shows the area bordering the piazza in front of the monastery church
presumed original position of San Marco, the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs (Fig.
of the outside stair ramps. 11.47) is a small relief masquerading as a work of antique
sim
me
sculpture. As on Roman battle sarcophagi, the figures twist
not just to suggest the animated frenzy of the battle but also
—__ .

to maintain the relief plane of the sculpture. Space for the

. . s
11.46 (below) Villa Medici, densely compacted figures extends vertically rather than
ee
Ln
|
i.
oe
oe
Poggio a Caiano into a recessional background. The relief seems to adhere
(outside Florence), 1480s,
both to antique conventions in sarcophagi and to late medi-
commissioned by Lorenzo
de’ Medici from Giuliano eval uses of those same conventions. The Battle of the Lapiths
da Sangallo and the Centaurs, like Pollaiuolo’s Hercules and AnteusBee Fig.
11.17) and the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caianof blurs the
boundaries between the real antique artifact and‘she coun-
terfeit so that the possessor can claim the attributes—and
the power—of the culture he atesLhis is not a new idea
in the history of art. But Pe tO He as collectors’
items suggests that the value of the image—and its mes-
sage—resides in its being perceived as an object of art. The
connection between collector and ruler would haye~been
obvious, since great rulers in antiquity were known to have
amassed extensive and notable collections of art.
The Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent was one in which
republican and civic imagery and values were increasingly
displaced by princely and aristocratic ones. While bank man-
agers like Francesco Sassetti continued to commission works
rooted in a formal everyday reality, the elite in the social
hierarchy—notably the Medici and the Strozzi—supported
artists who created lyrical visions of classical antiquity.

CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY AND THE GOLDEN AGE 283

Savonarola and Reform power of the printed book and its illustrations to carry the
preacher’s message, and to act as a powerful propagandistic
In 1490 a new voice in Florence began to condemn the very device for carrying the ephemeral preached word to a wider
luxury that such objects represented. Girolamo Savonarola audience over time.
began his successful preaching in Florence then, and in Savonarola’s reforms ultimately involved him in Florentine
1491 he became prior of the monastery of San Marco, the politics. He (wrongly) saw the French king as a potential ally
very foundation that Cosimo de’ Medici had so generously in moral reform, particularly of the Church, then headed by
patronized. Despite his particularly demanding approach Pope Alexander VI, one of the most licentious popes of the
to personal morals and ecclesiastical reform, his public Renaissance. Savonarola’s pro-French politics ran afoul of
sermons drew many hundreds of listeners. He used the this Spanish pope whose policies were antu-French. His
model of traditional Florentine youth confraternities as preaching became more and more rabidly apocalyptic, lead-
ways of mobilizing young men and boys as leaders of his ing him at one time to claim that in a vision he had seen a
moralizing crusade which included the famous bonfires of sword hanging over Florence that was interpreted as a French
the vanities when, during Lent in 1497 and 1498, Florentines threat of invasion. Savonarola’s castigation of the pope
were encouraged to burn objects of luxury and of profanity caused Alexander to excommunicate him in 1497, an excom-
in large public bonfires in the Piazza della Signoria. We have munication that the friar ignored, thus putting the political
little information about what actually was burned, but relationship between the city of Florence and the papacy in
along with jewelry, cosmetics, cards and other gambling jeopardy. The anger of the pope and the increasing threat of
items, and most likely some books, there may also have been French invasion ultimately caused the Florentine republic to
profane paintings. act. Savonarola was forcibly hauled out of San Marco, tor-
Many of Savonarola’s sermons were published in the tured, tried as a heretic, hanged with two of his companions
vernacular and provide strict moral lessons for the Christian until they were nearly dead, and then burned at the stake. His
life. Some of these sermons are accompanied by illustrations ashes were later thrown into the Arno so that no relics would
(Fig. 11.48) that provide simple visual lessons that would remain. Savonarola’s popularity had been intense and con-
have been quicker to comprehend than the sermons. In The tinued in an abated manner after his politically motivated
Art of Dying Well both devils and angels wait for the death of execution, although his followers—called piangnoni or weep-
the sick man lying in bed. This competition for the souls ers—were considered suspect by the state and thus became
of the dead is quite conventional (see Figs. 8.1 and 8.2); on very circumspect in their activities, making it especially dif-
the other hand, the setting is a domestic interior that gives ficult to posit Savonarolan meaning in images of the period.
a human dimension to the issue of a life well or badly lived One of the very few paintings that can be connected
that will determine whether angel or devil is successful in to Savonarolan reform is Botticelli’s Mystical Nativity (Fig.
carrying away the soul of the dying man. Interestingly, 11.49). Botticelli has depicted a standard nativity scene at
before Martin Luther, Savonarola clearly understood the the center of the composition swith two shepherds at the
right and three kings at the left. But he framed the familiar
with the addition at the top ofa ring of angels—descending
in a dance-like movement from a circular golden hole in the
heavens—and at the bottom of three nearly identical pairs
of embracing angels and men placed before a rocky ledge
at the base of which are small demons apparently prostrate
{
in defeat because of the union of the earthly and divine.
The angels at the top, swinging what appear to be crowns,
descend from a light-filled but undefined space, just as
did angels in mystery plays with stage machinery designed
by Brunelleschi. Thus, despite the elongation and lilting
repeated rhythms of the figures, and the radical shifts in
scale between the different figural groups, the painting
would have recalled popular theatrical imagery of the time
in a curious mix of realism and artificiality. Across the top

:
of the panel is a lengthy and complicated inscription in
Greek: “This picture, at the end ofthe year 1500, 1n the trou-
bles of Italy, I Alessandro, in the half-time after the time,
painted, according to the eleventh [chapter] of Saint John,
in the second woe of the Apocalypse, during the release of
the devil for three-and-a-half years; then he shall be bound
11.48 The Art of Dying Well, c. 1497, Unknown Master. Woodcut, in the twelfth [chapter] and we shall see [him buried] as in
8% x 6%" (21.9 x 16.2 cm) this picture.” The eleventh and twelfth chapters of the Book

284 FLORENCE: THE MEDIC! AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

of Revelations refer to the birth of Christ, to the death and As with earlier historical periods and with the art of other
resurrection of prophets—albeit two rather than three as we Icalian cities, Florentine art of the fifteenth century, despite
see in the foreground of the painting, and to the confound- its clear innovations in volumetric presentation and rational
ing of the devil by the angels—apparently what we see in the spatial environments, also manifests a variety of styles that
lower section of the painting. Whether Botticelli painted depended upon patron, typology, and the intentions carried
this picture for himself
(“I Alessandro”), since he was a sym- by the image. It would be difficult to draw a direct line of
pathizer of Savonarola’s (and his brother was a piangnone) or development from Masaccio to Botticelli, but not so diffi-
for a patron learned in Greek is not clear from the inscrip- cult to see stylistic relationships between Gentile da Fabriano
tion. But the references to the Apocalypse seem clearly con- and Botticelli. The personality of the artist was certainly one
nected to Savonarola’s preaching and to the visionary component in the evolution of style in fifteenth-century
nature of Revelations. The fact that the picture is a small, Florence and of subsequent interpretations of it, as Fra
private devotional image indicates how careful its owner was Angelico’s nickname (“the angelic one”) indicates, but site,
being, given the prosecution of piangnoni after 1498. Indeed, subject matter, and patron also played a role in developing
there seem to be no large-scale images that can be securely the rich and sometimes contradictory character of Florentine
connected to Savonarola or his preaching. art of this time.

SESS THNSIRMHNEN TORT SAEPIORRS SESS ETSAEN TARSIA 2TPISITARAS

ANE ANAPGS HHMIXPONOTE! PASONTATA
UTS ARRIOA NNXCEN TROPA RA AVES OYALEN TAY SEIN NEHM EYER, LALENT(
— BAEYSMENTE NONWOMOWN T Hel PABE EA?
ne

11.49 Mystical Nativity,

1500, Sandro Botticelli.
Tempera on canvas,
QMO A SOOM I
(WES 7S)
(National Gallery,
London)

SAVONAROLA AND REFORM 285

 Rome: Re-establishing Papal
Power

with the removal of the papal court to Avignon,

and was followed in 1378 by the Great Schism
KOKOKUAGTOLOAOR?
LILLE LE and a period at the end of the fourteenth century
and the beginning of the fifteenth when two or
sometimes three men claimed to be the head of
the Church.
Martin was a member of one of Rome’s oldest
and most powerful families, the Colonna, which
gave him a local power base. When he finally
entered Rome in September 1420, he found a city
that was essentially an urban backwater, having
suffered a century of neglect by the papal court,
which had been its chief source of artistic patron-
age. Things had not significantly improved when
Eugenuus IV (r. 1431-47) was elected pope in 1431.
Venetian by birth and not accepted by the Roman
population, Eugenius’s popularity had reached
such a low ebb by June 1434 that he fled the city,
disguised as a monk, sailing down the Tiber in a
little boat. He was received by the city of Florence,
where he lived in the papal apartments at Santa
Maria Novella until his success in uniting the
Eastern and Western Churches at the Council of
Ferrara-Florence in July 1439 gave him enough
support to consider returning to Rome, which he
finally did in 1443.
By mid-century conditions were improving
markedly in the city and for the papacy, so
upon his election in 1446, Nicholas V (r. 1447-SS)
declared that the year 1450 would be a Jubilee
Year—an event designed to focus attention on
t the beginning ofthe fifteenth century Rome remained the strength of the Church and on Rome. The Jubilee
the cultural and economic backwater described at the necessitated the continuing renovation of both civil and
beginning of Chapter 2, since the papacy had spent nearly a religious structures in the city in order to accommodate
century away from the city. Despite a brief period of revival the thousands of pilgrims that were expected and that
at the end of the thirteenth century and the continuing did arrive.
lure of the city as a pilgrimage site, Rome had essentially Martin V, Eugenius IV, and Nicholas V were each well
collapsed to an area along the Tiber River (see Fig. 2.1), aware that traditions in Rome overrode drastic change; thus,
unpoliced and dangerous. with varying success, each referred to the history of the
papacy and to well-established sites of papal patronage as he
Martin V, Eugenius IV, and Nicholas V attempted to re-establish the papal office on a sure footing
after a long period of schism and absence from the city. They
The election to the papacy of Martin V (Oddo Colonna, were keenly aware that while the papacy functioned as an
r. 1417-31; see Fig. 9.25) at the Council of Constance in absolute monarchy within Rome, it was an elected and nota
1417 ended more than a hundred years ofdisruption within dynastic one; so their legitimacy depended upon establish-
in the rulership of the Church, which had begun in 1308 ing strong links with their predecessors.

286
A Cautionary Fresco had their right hands cut off, they were burned at the stake
while an accomplice was hanged from a tree.
The unsettled and sometimes threatening aspects of urban The original frescoes thus commemorated a theft that
life in fifteenth-century Rome that papal urban projects had occurred in the very place in which they were painted
were intended to counter can be seen in a set of sixteenth- and indicate that contemporary secular events could form
century drawings of now lost frescoes from the left transept part of the decorative program within a church. This narra-
of the papal basilica of St. John Lateran. The frescoes repre- tive is portrayed in a straightforward, didactic, and hard-
sented the arrest and execution, in 1438, of two men who hitting manner—although its warning of the punishments
had stolen precious gems from the reliquary busts of saints awaiting those who stole Church property was not always
Peter and Paul kept in the tabernacle over the main altar of heeded. Papal coats of arms, prominently displayed in the
the basilica. The criminals were taken to the church of Santa frescoes, also suggest a warning to anyone who would dare
Maria in Aracoeli on the Capitoline Hill, stripped of their to attack the papacy, whose church this was, an offence tan-
clothing before the high altar, placed in a wooden cage tamount to the gross sacrilege of defiling relics.
(Fig. 12.1), and taken to the Campo dei Fiori, one of Rome’s
oldest and most popular open markets. There, after having The Papal Basilicas

In 1427 Pope Martin V issued a bull ordering building and

restoration at the Lateran Palace, St. John Lateran, St. Paul’s
Outside the Walls, and the portico of Old St. Peter’s, clearly
an impressive attempt to renew the Church; like St. Francis,
Martin had a sense that he was “rebuilding the church” in
both a literal and a figurative manner. In choosing these
major sites of earlier papal patronage, with the continuity
that this implied, Martin attempted to draw a veil over the
papacy’s absence from Rome during the previous century.
These basilicas were important because they were built as
imperial foundations during Christianity’s early years as the
state religion in Rome. As such they had become important
symbols of papal rulership, enriched over time through
repeated papal decorative interventions and through gifts of
important relics. Thus they became important pilgrimage
sites that not only manifested the great strength of
Christianity but also demonstrated its governance by a long
line of popes extending back to St. Peter.

Santa Maria Maggiore At the basilica of Santa Maria

Maggiore, located in the traditional enclave of the Colonna
family in the city and previously the recipient of Colonna
patronage under Nicholas IV (see Fig. 2.6), Martin (or
another member of his family) commissioned a large dou-
12.1 Execution of Capocciola and Garofalo, sixteenth-century drawing after
ble-sided altarpiece (Fig. 12.2) from the Florentine painters
a fresco commissioned by Angelotto da Foschi in 1438-40 for St. John
Lateran, Rome. Ink on paper glued to cardboard (Archivio Capitolare Masolino and Masaccio (there being no local school of art-
Lateranense, Rome) ists because of the papacy’s century-long absence from the
The drawn record of these destroyed frescoes suggests the existence of other city). Presumably intended for the main altar, the Santa
contemporary secular history painting, almost all of which is now lost. Maria Maggiore altarpiece was the first such painting to be

For
commissioned in Rome since the Stefaneschi altarpiece for
the canons’ chapel of Old St. Peter’s over a century earlier
(see Fig. 2.13). Masolino was responsible for this now dis-
membered triptych, although Masaccio contributed figures
Forli for the Vatican Libraty, Rome. resco now detached and transferred
to canvas, 12’ 14" x 10' 4” 15 m) (Musei Vaticani, Rome) for at least one of the side panels. The central panel of the
altarpiece facing the congregation depicted the Assumption
The inscription beneath the figures, over which Platina’s cape extends,
reads: “Sixtus, because you restored the churches, hospital [i.e. Santo Spirito;
of the Virgin, an appropriate subject for a Marian basilica.
see Fig. 12.20] palace, streets, forums, walls, bridges, and the Acqua Vergine From the nave of the building this subject would have
(Trevi) which had been abandoned, [and] though you are determined to aligned with the mosaic of the Coronation of the Virgin in
restore the ancient benefits of a harbor to sailors, and to encircle the Vatican
Hill, yet the city owes more to you for the library which was in obscure decay
the apse (see Fig. 2.6). On the central panel of the side of the
and is now in a famous location.” altarpiece facing the apse is a depiction of the foundation of

MARTIN V, EUGENIUS IV, AND NICHOLAS V 287

12.2 Santa Maria Maggiore altarpiece, commissioned by Martin V (?) from Masolino (with collaboration by Masaccio) for the high altar (2?) of Santa
Maria Maggiore, Rome, c. 1423-27. Shown in the illustration is the Founding of Santa Maria Maggiore, tempera on panel, 4’ 8 % x 2’ 6” (144 x 76 cm)
(Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples), flanked by side panels representing St. Jerome and St. John the Baptist (attributed to Masaccio) (left) and St.
John the Evangelist and St. Martin of Tours (right). Tempera, oil, and tooled gold on panel, 3’ 9 4" x 1! 9" (155 x 55 cm) and 3’ 3 %” x 2’ 8 4" (100 x 52 cm)
(National Gallery, London, and John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia Museum ofArt)

the church by Pope Liberius, with the Virgin and Christ the Vatican Hill, the burial site of the first pope and a
looking down from a roundel. This event took place in site connected as no other with the office of the papacy.
August 352, when a miraculous fall of snow formed the plan Thus when Eugenius made his first, interrupted return to
of the building on the ground. The same subject is depicted the city after his flight in 1434, he made sure to mark that
in the mosaics on the facade of the basilica; the altarpiece event with a major artistic commission at Old St. Peter’s:
thus emphasizes the continuous history of the Church. a set of silver-gilt bronze doors for the main entrance to the
In the panel to the right of the Founding is a figure basilica (Fig. 12.3). Commissioned from Filarete (Antonio
of St. Martin of Tours, dressed in his bishop’s regalia. His Averlino, c. 1400 Florence-1469 Rome?), the doors were
cope is embroidered with heraldic Colonna columns (the not completed and installed until 1445. The upper two
meaning of the family name), which—along with his strongly panels represent enthroned figures of God and the Virgin.
characterized features—suggests that this figure may also Here the Virgin is again a metaphor for the Church, as in
be a portrait
of Martin. All the figures share the intense late medieval Roman apse mosaics (see Fig. 2.6): The papal
expressions and weighty presence of those in the Brancacci saints, Peter and Paul, are the subjects of the central panels.
Chapel frescoes (see Fig. 10.37), despite being placed on a Eugenius IV, his name clearly inscribed, kneels as a donor
gold ground in an iconic, rather than a narrative, context. before St. Peter, his predecessor and the saint to whom the
church is dedicated. Below each of the saints is a narrative
St. Peter’s Of all the papal basilicas, none could rival the relief depicting the scene of his martyrdom, echoing similar
importance of Old St. Peter’s and the adjoining palace on painted images in the then extant atrium of Old St. Peter’s.

288 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 Silvering and inlaid colored glass originally brightened the
major reliefs of the doors.
Filarete’s doors for St. Peter’s could not be more different
from Ghiberti’s breathtakingly naturalistic doors for the
Florentine Baptistry (see Figs. 10.5 and 10.60), which he
must have known. The four isolated single figures in the
upper four panels are flattened against an essentially
blank background and are posed in a stiff, iconic manner,
deliberately alluding to an Early Christian style, appropriate
for this building, built in the mid-fourth century. The two
large narrative reliefs of martyrdom have the slightly
disjointed quality of Roman relief friezes from Trajan’s
Column. It is clear that Filarete wished to convey a sense of
distance and spatial recession, despite the vertical perspec-
tive he employs.
The curving foliate pattern filling the outside frames of
the doors is also related to stylized imperial Roman exam-
ples, although the figurative and animal forms that enliven
it are naturalistically rendered. Within the circular curves of
the vegetation, Filarete included roundels of male and female
heads, some of which derive from ancient Roman coins,
extending the interest in medallic art that had already
appeared in northern Italy in the late fourteenth century
(see Fig. 9.14) and which was being promoted in Filarete’s
lifetime by Pisanello (see Figs. 14.1 and 14.2).
In the narrow horizontal strips between the panels,
Filarete inserted diminutive narrative scenes of the Holy
Roman Emperor Sigismund in Rome in 1433 for his corona-
tion in St. Peter’s (Fig. 12.4) and of the arrival of the
Byzantine court in Italy for the meeting of the Council of
Ferrara-Florence. Eugenius’s concern to have these impor-
tant successes of his reign accurately and fully recorded is
evident in the careful labeling of people and places in the
reliefs and in the portraits they contain. Contemporary and
biblical history, then, rely on models that support the claims
of the papacy to rulership by making Roman imperial forms
an official papal language. Ironically, despite the admoni-
tory fresco in St. John Lateran showing the punishment of
12.3. Doors of Old St. Peter’s, 1445, commissioned by Eugenius IV
thieves, Filarete himself, although “artist to the Pope,” had
from Filarete (Antonio Averlino) for the main entrance of Old St. Peter’s,
Rome. Silver-gilt bronze, 20’ 8” x 11’ 9” (6.3 x 3.58 m) overall to flee Rome in 1447, having been charged with stealing the
(St. Peter’s, Rome) reliquary head ofSt. John from the Lateran Basilica.

12.4 Doors of Old St. Peter’s,

1445, detail of left valve under
St. Paul showing Emperor
Sigismund Returning to the Castel
Sant’Angelo, with Antonio de
Riddo, the castellan, at the left,
and the emperor and the pope
approaching him on horseback

Eugenius’s coats-of-arms are

shown on the right shield hanging
from the portal ofthe castle.
The inscription above the relief
refers to the union of the Greek,
Armenian, and Ethiopian
churches with Rome as a result of
the Council of Ferrara-Florence.

MARTIN V, EUGENIUS IV, AND NICHOLAS V 289

 salvo in the transformation of the Vatican into a new impe-
rial city. Nicholas also planned to move the ancient obelisk
erected by the Roman emperor Augustus, then at the side of
Old St. Peter’s, to the piazza in front of the basilica, a change
of location that did not happen until the end of the six-
teenth century. With these Roman remains Nicholas
asserted claims to the temporal power of the Roman emper-
ors just as he claimed the spiritual power of Peter.

The Vatican Palace

Simultaneously with his work at St. Peter’s, Nicholas initi-

ated major architectural projects at the Vatican. These con-
sisted of new fortifications to protect the Vatican from
outside attack and from internal Roman factionalism (see
Fig. 12.5), a renewal of the area from Old St. Peter’s to the
Tiber, designed to house the Curia (the administrative
offices of the Church), a new wing and decorations for the
Vatican Palace, substantial enlargements and repairs for Old
St. Peter’s, and a large new piazza in front of St. Peter’s to
accommodate pilgrims and to provide a suitably grand
space for papal appearances. In these plans Nicholas may
have been helped by Leon Battista Alberti, an acquaintance
from their days together in the humanist circles of Florence,
when Nicholas as a young scholar had served as a tutor to
the Strozzi and Albizzi families. It was this humanist train-
ing as well as Nicholas’s desire to reinvent Rome as an impe-
rial city that gave his building projects their classical cast.
Alberti, a cleric in minor orders and then a member of the
papal Curia, was also a theorist who wrote extensively about
the arts and a scholar steeped in the history of classical
antiquity, an obvious choice to advise Nicholas on these
critically important papal projects.
On the upper floor of his addition to the Vatican Palace,
12.5 The Vatican, Rome, c. 1450-1590 (after Torgil Magnuson). Nicholas commissioned Fra Angelico to paint a fresco cycle
See also upper portion of Fig. 2.1 of the lives of saints Lawrence and Stephen in his small pri-
1 Old St. Peter’s, c. 330; 2 Atrium of Old St. Peters, from fourth to fifteenth vate chapel (Figs. 12.6 and 12.7). The choice of these saints
century; 3 Nicholas V’s plan for enlarging apse and transept areas ofOld St. ties Nicholas V’s chapel to Nicholas HI’s Sancta Sanctorum
Peter’s; 4 New St. Peter’s, begun 1506; 5 Belvedere Courtyard; 6 Castel
(see Fig. 2.3), which also contains frescoes of these two early
Sant’Angelo, originally Hadrian’s Tomb; 7 Tiber River; 8 Foot of the Janiculum
Hill; 9 Leonine Wall; 10 Crest of the Vatican Hill; 11 Wall of Nicholas III Christian deacon-saints. Fra Angelico’s frescoes contain
around the Pomerius; 12 Leonine Wall; 13 Great Tower of Nicholas V images of the ordination of each saint and the distribution
of alms by them, emphasizing the power of the pope to
confer office, as well as the charity offered by the Church.
Nicholas V, Eugenius’s immediate successor, had even The gold details of St. Lawrence’s dalmatic (the costume
more ambitious plans for Old St. Peter’s (Fig. 12.5). His new of adeacon) and the cope worn by Sixtus II give some indica-
choir increased the length of the nave of the basilica by a tion of the original luxury of this chapel. Fra Angelico’s
third, and new transepts provided substantial additional figures stand in a relatively narrow apron space close to the
space around the main altar marking the burial site of picture plane. Yet their grouping along diagonal axes or in
St. Peter in the crypt below. Like his predecessor Nicholas III semicircular arrangements around a central pivotal figure,
(r. 1277-80), Nicholas V intended to enhance the burial site and their solid forms placed before a schematic yet deeply
of Peter, thus emphasizing his lineage from the first pope recessional architecture, give the scenes a spaciousness and
and underscoring the continuous spiritual power of the monumentality befitting a papal commission and quite
papacy. To this end, he had four large columns taken from different from Fra Angelico’s earlier work in the meditative
the Pantheon to St. Peter’s, an acquisition asserting equality spaces of the cloister of San Marco in Florence (see Fig
between Nicholas and the emperor Hadrian, builder of the 11.10). Behind St. Lawrence, Fra Angelico included a simpli-
Pantheon—one that would have been an important opening fied image of the nave ofSt. Peter’s and Nicholas’s project

290 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Ruins and Dreams

Ancient Rome had always held power over the most beautiful and magnificent of all college of priests, and the letters inscribed
the imaginations of pilgrims to the city those that either have been or shall be, the on it refer to it as a work completed in one
and of the humanist scholars who studied city which was described by Lucian, the hundred and thirty days, from the will of
its history. Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459) learned Greek author, when he was writing Ponthus Clamela. | am the more amazed,
wrote this lament on the fickleness of to a friend of hiswho wanted to see Rome, since this inscription still survives entire,
fortune in 1430, just as the papacy was as not so much a city as a bit of Paradise. that the most learned Francesco Petrarca
beginning to re-establish itself in the city How much the more marvellous to relate wrote in one of his letters that this is the
and to restore some of its most venerated and bitter to behold, how the cruelty of tomb of Remus. ...
structures. Poggio’s Rome, however, was fortune has so transformed its appearance “This will perhaps seem trivial, but it
not the Rome of the popes but the Rome and shape, that, stripped of all beauty, it moves me greatly, that to these monuments
of the emperors, sadly all but disappeared now lies prostrate like a giant corpse, | may add—of the once almost innumerable
by the time of his writing. At the heart of decayed and everywhere eaten away. colossi and statues, of both marble and
Poggio’s text is an implied claim that con- “Surely this city is to be mourned over bronze (for it is less surprising that silver
temporary civilization was a quiet echo of which once produced so many illustrious and gold statues were melted down), which
what it had been during antiquity. He also men and emperors, so many leaders in war, were erected in honour of illustrious men
insinuates that a reconstruction of ancient which was the nurse of so many excellent because oftheir greatness of character, not
Rome, known to him more through ancient rulers, the parent of so many and such to mention the various figures set up by the
texts than through actual monuments, was great virtues, the mother of so many good state for the sake of art and public enjoy-
to be gained through precise scholarship arts, the city from which flowed military ment—only these five marble statues, four
and the collecting and accurate reading of discipline, purity of morals and life, the in the baths of Constantine, two standing
inscriptions—an area in which he criticizes decrees of the law, the models of all the beside horses—the work of Phidias and
no less a humanist than Petrarch. virtues, and the knowledge of right living. Praxiteles [the Horse Tamers|—two reclining
She who was once mistress of the world is [the Nile and the Tigris River Gods] and the
Not long ago, after Pope Martin left Rome now, by the injustice of fortune, which fifth in the forum of Mars, a statue which
shortly before his death for a farewell visit overturns all things, not only despoiled of today bears the name of this forum. And
to the Tuscan countryside, and when her empire and her majesty, but delivered there is only one gilded bronze equestrian
Antonio Lusco, a very distinguished man, over to the basest servitude, misshapen statue, which was presented to the Lateran
and | were free of business and public and degraded, her ruins alone showing basilica by Septimius Severus [Equestrian
duties, we used to contemplate the desert forth her former dignity and greatness. ... statue of Marcus Aurelius now on the
places ofthe city with wonder in our hearts “Yet truly these buildings of the city, Capitoline; see Figs. 21.9 and 21.10].
as we reflected on the former greatness of both public and private, which it seemed “It is indeed most grievous and scarcely
the broken buildings and the vast ruins of would vie with immortality itself, now in to be related without great amazement
the ancient city, and again on the truly part destroyed entirely, in part broken and that this Capitoline hill, once the head and
prodigious and astounding fall of its great overturned, since very few are left which center of the Roman Empire and the cita-
empire and the deplorable inconstancy of preserve their original greatness—these del of the whole world, before which every
fortune. And once when we had climbed buildings were believed to lie beyond the king and prince trembled, the hill ascended
the Capitoline hill, and Antonio, who was a reach of fortune. ...” in triumph by so many emperors and once
little weary from riding, wanted to rest, we Then | answered, “You may well wonder, adorned with the gifts and spoils of so
dismounted from our horses and sat down Antonio, at the injury wrought by fortune many and such great peoples, now lies so
together within the very enclosures of the on this mother ofcities, now so cruelly dam- desolated and ruined, and so changed
Tarpeian ruins, behind the great marble aged that, as | wander through it today, from its earlier condition, that vines have
threshold ofits very doors, as | believe, and surveying it, | am compelled not only to replaced the benches of the senators, and
the numerous broken columns lying here marvel but to lament that almost nothing the Capitol has become a receptacle of
and there, whence a view of a large part of survives intact, that there are so few remains dung and filth. ...
the city opens out. ... of the ancient city, and those half-consumed “The forum, which, properly speaking,
“You may turn all the pages of history, and lying in ruins. For of all the public and was the most famous place in the city, after
you may read all the long-drawn-out private buildings ofthis once free city, only the laws had been passed which called the
records ofthe authors, you may examine all some few broken remnants are seen. ... people together and created the magistracy
the historical annals, but you will find that “The pyramid set in the walls ofthe city and the distinguished assembly, has
fortune offers no more striking example of near the Porta Ostia [is one]; this is the become, by the malignity of fortune, a
her own mutability than the city of Rome, noble tomb ofC. Cestius, a member ofthe neglected desert, here the home of pigs and
wild deer, and there a vegetable garden.”

(from “The Inconstancy of Fortune,” in Latin Writings of the Italian Humanists. Ed. F. A. Gragg. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927)

MARTIN V, EUGENIUS IV, AND NICHOLAS V Dom

 ia.

12.6 St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church from Pope Sixtus Il and began major building and decorative programs at St. Peter’s,
St. Lawrence Distributing Alms, 1448-c. 1455, commissioned by Nicholas V which were to go on for the remainder of the century.
from Fra Angelico for the Chapel of St. Lawrence (now known as the
The real incentive for his work in the basilica seems to have
Chapel of Nicholas V), Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco
been his knowledge that in May ofthat year, when the Turks
invaded the Peloponnesus, Thomas Paleologus, a member
for the choir. The classicizing details of the painted architec- of the imperial family of Constantinople, had rescued the
ture, like Nicholas’s choice of Alberti as his architect, suggest relic of the head of St. Andrew, St. Peter’s brother, from
that while Nicholas sanctioned the destruction of ancient its burial place in Patras, in Greece. Pius had immediately
Roman monuments in order to provide building materials sought to have the head brought to Rome. To reunite it
for new structures, he also saw the potential for borrowing with relics of the heads of saints Peter and Paul, then in the
antique stylistic references to represent a new state control- Lateran, would represent a union ofthe Eastern and Western
led by a strong ruler. churches against the Turks and would have supported
Pius’s ardent wishes for a crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands
Pius II for Christianity. Pius received the relic in a carefully staged
series of public processions during Easter week of 1462.
Pius II (Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, r. 1458-64) was born By then St. Peter’s already bore the stamp ofhis patronage.
to a noble Sienese family, studied with the classical scholar Pius began his work at St. Peter’s by transforming the
Filelfo in Florence, and became a leading humanist. An early area before the atrium of the old basilica into a magnificent
career in the papal curia led to travel throughout Europe—as piazza. He also planned a benediction loggia, which was to
far away as Scotland—and a position in the court of extend across the entire facade of the atrium (see Fig. 2.1,
Frederick III where he was recognized as an international n. 8), and a grand staircase leading to it. The loggia provided
diplomat. Pius was also a prolific writer. In addition to Latin Pius with a monumental classicizing architectural frame
comedies based on classical sources, his Commentaries are for appearances to vast crowds of the faithful during cere-
the only memoir written by a Renaissance pope. Despite his monial occasions in the large piazza extending out from it.
fondness for high living, he had a strong devotional bent This project realized the grand scheme of Nicholas V forthe
that governed much of his patronage in Rome.
Pius was away from Rome for eighteen months shortly 12.7 (opposite) St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church from
Pope Sixtus Il and St. Lawrence Distributing Alms (detail), 1448-c. 1455,
after his election, attending the Congress of Mantua, where
commissioned by Nicholas V from Fra Angelico for the Chapel of
he attempted—unsuccessfully—to interest European leaders St. Lawrence (now known as the Chapel of Nicholas V), Vatican Palace,
in a crusade. On his return to Rome in 1460 he immediately Rome. Fresco

292 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 enhancement of the site, although the stairs, built with mar-
ble quarried from the Colosseum, were not of the imperial
porphyry and green marble specified for Nicholas’s plan.
To bracket each end of the stairs, Pius commissioned
Paolo Romano (Paolo di Mariano di Tuccio Taccone, active
c. 1445-70) to carve colossal statues of Peter and Paul.
Although little is known of Paolo Romano he was responsi-
ble, along with collaborators such as Mino da Fiesole and
Isaia da Pisa (active 1447-64 Rome) who had migrated to
Rome from other cities at this time, for a number of impor-
tant sculptural commissions in the Rome of Pius II. These
works—mainly tomb monuments and altars for reliquaries—
were to serve as propaganda, transforming Roman church
interiors into a visual history ofits powerful elites and into
focal points for the devotion of pilgrims coming to Rome
from all over the Christian world.
Paolo’s statue of St. Paul was carved between 1461 and
1462 for the right side of the stair base (Fig. 12.8). The rhe-
torical bombast ofits aggressive pose would have projected
over the immense space of the piazza. Its rigid drapery folds
bear the same relationship to Early Christian sculptural
style as do Filarete’s main doors ofSt. Peter’s (see Fig. 12.3),
suggesting a consistent referencing over time to the fourth-
century origins of the basilica.
To prepare for the placement of St. Andrew’s head inside
St. Peter’s, Pius cleared the interior of the building of hun-
dreds of years of accreted decoration, had its more impor-
tant monuments moved to the side walls, and commissioned
Paolo Romano and Isaia da Pisa to make a tabernacle and
altar for the relic (Figs. 12.9 and 12.10). The Reliquary
Tabernacle of the Head of St.Andrew was destroyed when the
new St. Peter’s was built, leaving only remnants ofits original
a

12.8 (above) St. Paul, 1461-62, Vrofpes ia parts wetevis Vaticane Basile Teg }
r. Pont. Max nous Qyahe Tenge’ Be
commissioned by Pius II from as Sip as a ped Fg ae : % ‘
Paolo Romano for the right side pee cum alsa bus Gbovy _ ae z" Cecheriy ar tifiorere. COMMBnatione, =
of the stairs of Old St. Peter’s, Pou oo 4 a
Rome. Marble (Vatican Yr u- fee
Apartments, Rome) <% a

The statue originally carried gilt ‘ .

attributes; the right arm carrying a :
the sword was raised.
\
fh

ony
a

12.9 (right) Interior of Old St. we Re

Peter’s with Reliquary Tabernacle of
the Head of St. Andrew highlighted
at left, c. 1463, commissioned
by Pius Il from Paolo Romano
and Isaia da Pisa (with Giovanni
Dalmata); from Giacomo
Grimaldi, Descrizione della Basilica
Antica di S. Pietro in Vaticano,
1619 (Vatican Library, Vat.Barb.
Lat.2733, fols. 104v/105r, Rome)

294 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 Fiesole to cover the main altar (Figs. 12.11 and 12.12), similar
to the one by Arnolfo di Cambio in Santa Cecilia in
Trastevere (see Fig. 2.9). Now dismembered, the tabernacle
had marble reliefs on each ofits upper faces depicting events
related to the basilica, like earlier tabernacles in St. Peter’s
and St. John Lateran.
Duplicating the imagery of Masolino’s and Masaccio’s
Santa Maria Maggiore altarpiece (see Fig. 12.2) and the
mosaic on the facade of the basilica, Mino carved a relief for
the ciborium to face the nave depicting the miraculous
12.10 Reliquary Tabernacle of the Head of St. Andrew, relief, c. 1463,
commissioned by Pius II from Isaia da Pisa, one ofthree by different
August snow that yielded the plan of the basilica. Behind
artists that originally formed the upper faces of the tabernacle. Marble two groups of figures the architecture creates a deep per-
(Grotte Vaticane, Rome) spective, leaving the center of the composition open for the
fall of snow, with God and the Virgin initiating the miracle
sculpture. The iconic appearance of this sculpture again from above. D’Estouteville, archpriest of Santa Maria
recalls the favored Early Christian style. In form, the monu- Maggiore, looks out of the relief immediately to the right of
ment copied earlier reliquary tabernacles, such as the one over the pope, here a portrait not of Liberius but of Pius II. The
the main altar of St. John Lateran housing relics of the heads lateral arrangement of the figures, their placement in front
ofsaints Peter and Paul. This form raised the relic high in the of an architectural backdrop, and the alignment of their
church, so that crowds of people could see it, and also pro- heads all evoke classical Roman relief style and testify to a
vided security for the precious reliquary which contained it. renewed and energetic investigation of the antique in the
court of Pius IL.
Cardinals’ Commissions The French cardinal, who had hoped to be elected pope in
the conclave of 1458 which elected Pius II and who retained
Cardinals in the papal court were also expected to enhance that hope throughout his lifetime, claimed the focal point
the beauty of Rome by commissioning new buildings and of one of the major pilgrimage sites of the city, declaring
new painting and sculpture for existing structures. Perhaps his wealth and his power—as well as his generosity—on no
the most powerful cardinal in Rome during the mid-fifteenth uncertain terms. Although there could only be one leader
century was the Frenchman Guillaume d’Estouteville. For of the Church, there were many aspirants for the throne of
the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, d’Estouteville ordered St. Peter, and their worthiness could be proclaimed at least
a marble baldachin from the Florentine sculptor Mino da in part through their artistic patronage.

RRR ROR
AAG Fi vapl- Vit oh) Wadinbacinie

el
A
ae
¥
Dy
\;
SU mith
= L
w¢ \ =?

12.11 Tabernacle for Santa Maria Maggiore, 12.12 Tabernacle for Santa Maria Maggiore, detail showing the Miraculous Fall of Snow, c. 1461-63,
c. 1461-63, reconstruction by Paolo de Angelis, commissioned by Guillaume d’Estouteville from Mino da Fiesole for Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
Basilicae S. Mariae Maioris ... descriptio et delineatio, (now immured in the wall of the apse ofthe basilica)
auctore Paulo de Angelis, Rome, 1621, 93

PIUS Il 295
Pienza

Of Sienese lineage, Pius had actually

been born in a small hill town
south of Siena called Corsignano.
Beginning in 1459, he attempted to
establish this town as a papal seat.
In 1462 he rechristened it Pienza in
honor ofhimself, raised it to a bish-
opric, and hired Bernardo Rossellino,
who had previously been a capomaes-
tro on Nicholas V’s new apse and
transepts for St. Peter’s and had
worked in an elaborated classicizing
style in Florence (see Fig. 10.59), to
transform its center into a suitably
coherent setting for the town’s new
status. Rossellino’s plan was deter-
mined in part by pre-existing streets,
by the medieval town hall at the
site, and by the precipitous drop of
the hill where Pius planned a new
cathedral. To either side of the cathedral Rossellino placed 12.13 Main square, Pienza, c. 1462, commissioned by Pius II from
the bishop’s palace and Pius’s own palace, forming a Bernardo Rossellino

trapezoidal piazza (Figs. 12.13 and 12.14). Pius’s own coat

of arms appears prominently in the gable of the cathedral,
whose triple-arched facade recalls ancient Roman triumphal refers to Pius II, who canonized her in 1461, as does, nomi-
arches. Each structure of this program refers to well- nally, the figure of Pius I next to her, leaving little doubt
established building types; like the humanist rhetoric in about the painting’s patron.
which Pius had been trained, clarity of meaning is enlivened Despite the fact that the Pienza altarpieces were com-
by variety of form. The interior of the papal palace, intended pleted in 1463, their style recalls that of the great Sienese
as a pleasant country retreat, renounces the formality of artists of the beginning of the previous century—not
the public square, being built around a courtyard whose surprising since Pius clearly had in mind a contemporary
south side opens onto a garden and a view of Monte Amiata reprise of the program of altarpieces around the main
in the distance. Although the cathedral has a classical
appearance, its plan derives from German Gothic hall
churches that Pius had admired during his travels for the
papal Curia in Austria. In his Commentaries Pius describes
the church and its decorations fully, providing virtually the
only real description by a Renaissance patron of his or her
architectural accomplishments.
For the church’s interior, whitewashed to give it a sense
of light, Pius commissioned five altarpieces by painters he
referred to as “illustrious Sienese artists.” The Assumption of
the Virgin (Fig. 12.15) is by Vecchietta (Lorenzo di Pietro;
1410 Siena-1480 Siena), a painter, sculptor, and architect
who later produced the extraordinary bronze tabernacle
for the Ospedale della Scala in Siena (see Fig. 11) that was
to mark one of the first substantive explorations of this
new type ofecclesiastical furnishing. Like the front panel of
Masolino’s Santa Maria Maggiore altarpiece (see Fig. 12.2
illustrating the rear), Vecchietta’s painting depicts the
Assumption in the center panel, flanking it with side panels
of standing saints, thus connecting this church to one of
the major papal basilicas in Rome. The appearance of St.
Catherine of Siena (c. 1347-80) at the right of the altarpiece 12.14 Main square, Pienza, plan

296 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

12.15 Assumption of the Virgin, 1463, commissioned by Pius II from
Vecchietta for the second chapel on the left of the nave of Pienza
Cathedral. Tempera on panel, 9’ 2%" x 7’ 4%" (2.8 x 2.5 m)

altar of Siena’s Duomo (see Fig. 5.2). The lyrical poses

of Vecchietta’s figures, the simple ovoid shapes of
their heads, the arabesques of drapery, and the
gilded background of the panels stamp a
Sienese presence in Pienza as clearly as does
Pius’s heraldic device on the facade of
the cathedral. However, Vecchietta’s stately
lateral saints indicate his exposure to Florentine
painting of the mid-fifteenth century, as does
the deeply receding landscape at the base of the
central panel.
These projects in Pienza show the wide reach of
the papacy, not just in matters religious, but artistic
as well. Just as the papacy was a dominating pres-
ence at San Francesco in Assisi from the building
of the basilica through to its decoration (see pages
67-72), so subsequent popes, like Pius I, could
assert the presence of their office and their own
personalities in a wide variety of places: to their
birth cities, to the cities where they had been titular
cardinals, and to special pilgrimage sites through-
out Christendom. Their patronage was a singularly
important factor in the spread of new or dominat-
ing styles throughout the Italian peninsula.

Paul Il
Pius died in Ancona in August 1464, while pre-
paring to embark on a crusade to regain the Holy
Land for the Christians. His successor, the Venetian Palazzo Venezia
Pietro Barbo, who took the name Paul II (r. 1464-71), had
been made cardinal by his uncle, Eugenius IV, and was thus In 1455, before his election to the papacy, Paul had begun
the first of the Renaissance popes whose road to office was building his cardinal’s palace in Rome next to his titular
clearly paved by the widespread practice of nepotism. church of San Marco, strategically located at the foot of the
Paul II’s activity as a patron of the arts had begun during Capitoline Hill and at the head of the Corso, the main street
his years as a cardinal in Rome. His keenness for the art, into the city from the north, thus giving it great prominence
archaeology, and coins of ancient Rome led him to collect in the city. The palace, possibly designed by the poorly
antique gems and coins; by the time of his death he had documented Jacopo da Pietrasanta or Francesco del Borgo,
amassed the foremost collection of this kind in Italy, and was never completed, despite Paul’s expanded plans for it
it was eagerly purchased by Lorenzo de’ Medici from his after he became pope in 1464 (Fig. 12.16). The courtyard
estate. During his papacy Paul II paid for major restorations of the Palazzo Venezia (as it is known because of Paul’s
of the Pantheon, repairs in 1466-68 to the gilt-bronze Venetian origins), with its superimposed arcades and applied
equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius then standing outside half columns, is reminiscent of the Colosseum. Ample
St. John Lateran, and a restoration of the Arch of Titus (in open arches would have provided a grand interior courtyard
1466). He also enacted civic statutes aimed at the protection to the palace, every detail of which imitated ancient
of Roman antiquities—until then simply used as quarries Roman architectural forms. In 1467, Paul arranged for the
for new building projects. Even more than Pius II, known for red porphyry sarcophagus of Santa Costanza (now in the
his classical training, Paul II seems to have wished to con- Vatican Museums) to be moved to the piazza in front of San
nect himself with important ancient Roman monuments, Marco. Paul’s appropriation of this Roman imperial tomb,
uniting pagan and Christian history in one seamless fabric traditionally thought to be that of Constantine’s own
and, like Nicholas V before him, linking his patronage as daughter, suggests that he intended his own palace, in the
pope with famous Roman emperors. heart of Rome, to carry imperial connotations of rulership

PAUL || 297
 than Latin, indicating that it was addressed to the female
residents of the convent for whom knowledge of Latin
would have been an unusual achievement. As the first depic-
tions of asaint whose cult had been authorized only in 1460
(she was not formally canonized until 1608) these frescoes
clearly suggest the patrons’ wish to establish a canonical his-
tory of her life and miracles as a support to the canonization
process. The Communion depicts two of these miracles. At
the left, as a response to St. Francesca’s devotion, the Virgin,
seated in glory at the apex of the triangular composition,
sends St. Peter to give the saint Communion; St. Paul,
dressed as a deacon, but holding his identifying sword,
looks on. At the right St. Peter, dressed in full papal regalia,
has arrived to consecrate St. Francesca in her religious life.
The fresco cycle is a somewhat naive and straightforward
rendition of the saint’s life, bearing little resemblance to the
classicism practiced in architecture and sculpture at this
time, but appropriate for its didactic purpose and for bring-
ing the popes, whose patron saints were Peter and Paul, into
sympathy with the process of canonization.
A processional banner depicting the Roman pope St.
Mark (r. 336; Fig. 12.18), painted at about the same time as
the St. Francesca cycle by Melozzo for Paul II’s titular church
12.16 Palazzo Venezia, Rome, begun 1455, commissioned by Pietro
Barbo (later Paul I!) from Jacopo da Pietrasanta or, more probably, of San Marco, and probably at his command, suggests the
Francesco del Borgo possibilities for including classical forms in traditional con-
texts. The banner shows the patron saint of the church in a
hieratic frontal pose, seated in full regalia on a classicizing
and power, in this case associating himself with the emperor throne. The rigid pose—reminiscent of late Roman imperial
who had legitimized Christianity and, moreover, made it a
state religion.

A Roman School of Painting

During the papacy of Paul Il a Roman school of painting

began to flourish. The leaders in this development were
Antoniazzo Romano (Antonio Aquili, active c. 1452-1512)
and also Melozzo da Forli (Melozzo degli Ambrosi; 1438
Forli-1498 Forli). Both painters spent part of their early
careers painting copies of Madonna and Child paintings
piously thought to have been painted by St. Luke himself—
the sort of mass-market painting that was understandably
popular in Europe’s leading pilgrimage city. At the same
time, each sought to assimilate the innovations of style
brought to Rome by painters visiting the papal court.
Antoniazzo’s fresco cycle of the life of St. Francesca
Romana (1384-1440) was painted in 1468 for a group of
laywomen founded by Francesca Romana who lived together
and dedicated themselves to acts of charity around the city.
It tells the story of aRoman matron who had lived the life
of a nun after her husband’s death. In the Communion of
St. Francesca Romana (Fig. 12.17) it 1s easy to see why these
frescoes, with their simplified architecture and gentle | Qmola glonofauergme matrexe
vo reeipruolateaafrance Scan
5 « fecelacomumcare etcOnfacrare m cieloperlemanor fancts frets sroelo ee
Poftolo ~K<«x..
rather doll-like figures, were long confused with the work of
Benozzo Gozzoli, one of Fra Angelico’s assistants at the
: k ; , ; : 12.17 Communion of St. Frar H
Vatican Palace (see Fig. 12.6). A didactic label in late Gothic Te l
Oratory of the Oblates cae Romana, ) Ais ean eager
of San Francesca in the Tor de’Specchi, Rome.
lettering explicates the events portrayed in Italian rather Fresco

298 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 Sixtus IV: Roma Caput Mundi
The history of the papacy—and of the city of Rome—during
Francesco della Rovere’s reign as Sixtus IV (r. 1471-84) is one
of expanding power, expressed in increasingly monumental
artistic commissions. Although Sixtus had begun his clerical
life as a Franciscan, he had a clear sense that the character of
the papal office was most appropriately conveyed through
lavish display. His intention, following upon the ground-
work laid by Nicholas V and Paul II, was to re-establish
Rome as the caput mundi, the “head of the world.”
In one of his first public acts after his election, Sixtus
placed a collection of antique sculpture on the Capitoline
Hill (Fig. 12.19), the site of civic government in Rome.
Although Martin V and Eugenius IV had set their personal
papal crests at the Capitoline Hill it was Nicholas V who
had initiated significant papal intervention at the site. He
restored the Senators’ Palace and built and planned new
towers for its corners; he also built a new palace fronted by
a portico for the Conservators (civic magistrates) of the city.
Like Nicholas, Sixtus understood that the papal claim for
temporal as well as spiritual power over the city needed to be
manifest. Sixtus’s gift of sculpture seemed like a benign way
to give the pope visibility at the seat of urban governance,
but the messages the gift conveyed were nonetheless quite
pointed. The statues came from the papal collections at the
Lateran and included two colossal heads: one in marble,
known to represent Constantine, and one in gilt bronze,
believed also to represent this emperor who, according to the
12.18 Processional banner of Pope St. Mark, 1469-70, presumably Donation of Constantine—a forged document of the eighth
commissioned by Paul II from Melozzo da Forli for San Marco, Rome. century—had given the popes control over Rome when he
Tempera on red silk
re-established the capital of the empire in Constantinople in
330. The gift of these statues was a manifestation of Sixtus’s
portraits—does not, however, detract from the full-blown connection to Roman imperial power at the very site where
naturalism of the figure, with its deep folds of drapery and it might be the most contested—especially since, like most
fleshy, craggy face. The classical decoration that covers every popes, he was not a Roman.
surface of the throne probably derives
more from the early work of Mantegna
(see Fig. 14.32) than it does from any
painting that Melozzo might have seen in
Rome. In the spring of 1459 Piero della
Francesca was in Rome, painting in one
of the Vatican Palace rooms recently
constructed by Nicholas V and perhaps
also in Santa Maria Maggiore; his frescoes
in the palace may have provided a model
for the monumentally scaled figures that
appear in the Pope St. Mark banner and
that Melozzo developed more fully in his
work of the 1470s for Pope Sixtus IV.

12.19 The Capitoline Hill, Rome, as it appeared

c. 1554-60, showing the Senator’s Palace with
left corner tower and bell tower built by Nicholas V
and the Conservators’ Palace (Musée du Louvre,
Cabinet des Dessins, Paris)

SIXTUS IV: ROMA CAPUT MUNDI 299

The Papal Family

Nowhere is Sixtus’s concept of an imperial papacy more

clearly evident than in the fresco by Melozzo da Forli record-
ing the pope’s generosity to the Vatican Library and his
support of humanist scholarship. The fresco (see Fig. 12.0)
shows the pope seated in a pose familiar from Roman impe-
rial sculptural reliefs, in which only the emperor is shown
seated. Bartolomeo Platina, the humanist scholar whom
Sixtus had made papal librarian in 1475, kneels before the
pope. The cardinal standing to the right of Platina is
Giuliano della Rovere, Sixtus’s nephew and later pope Julius
Il. The cardinal behind Sixtus is Raffaello Riario, another
nephew. Each of the figures presents a careful study in por-
traiture, Melozzo having both captured the physical features
and suggested the personality behind them, especially
Ruario’s venality. 12.20 Hospital of Santo Spirito, Rome, 1473, commissioned by Sixtus IV
The life-sized figures are placed in an imposing room, The high octagon at the right is the chapel that separated the men’s and
constructed with meticulous attention to perspective and women’s wards of the hospital.

adorned with a wealth of classical details. The capitals and

the coffered ceiling are embellished with gold to suggest the
grandeur ofSixtus’s reign. Sixtus’s support ofletters and his
fondness for his family (leading to an extraordinary degree
of nepotism) are clear messages carried by the fresco. At the
same time the classically inspired inscription that forms the
base of the painting, and which is formally integrated into
it by the way that Platina’s drapery illusionistically overlaps
its border, refers more broadly to Sixtus’s role as patron of
the arts throughout the city. It specifically mentions Sixtus’s
work to bring the city back from squalor, to build churches
(templa is the first word of the inscription), a hospital,
piazzas, walls, and roads, and to repair fountains, especially
the Acqua Vergine, later reworked and known today as the
Trevi Fountain. The statement is hardly inflated, given the
scale of Sixtus’s artistic projects.

The Hospital of Santo Spirito

The hospital mentioned in the inscription of Melozzo’s 12.21 Sixtus IV with His Nephews in the Papal Library, 1470s, detail of
fresco is the Hospital of Santo Spirito, built originally in biographical cycle, Hospital of Santo Spirito, Rome, Fresco
the thirteenth century by Pope Innocent III (Fig. 12.20). The
hospital is located near the entrance to the Vatican, in the Franciscan and then rise to power within the Church. Unlike
Borgo, a neighborhood then inhabited by Rome’s English Melozzo’s grand image of Sixtus in his library (see Fig. 12.0),
colony. Situated in a propagandistically ideal location on these frescoes, with their doll-like figures representing the
the banks of the Tiber (see Fig. 2.1, n. 9), the hospital faces same members of the papal court who appear in Melozzo’s
the Ponte Sant'Angelo, the bridge connecting the Vatican to fresco, use a didactic and popular style, appropriate for the
the rest of Rome. As appropriate for its function, the hospi- audience of patients in this charity hospital for the poor. For
tal’s architecture is simple and direct. A two-story gabled the benefit of literate visitors, each image of the cycle was
hall allowed unobstructed floor space for the patients’ beds. accompanied by a long inscription, thus making Sixtus’s
Regularly placed windows at the upper level allowed light beneficence clear both visually and verbally.
and air into the hospital, which was divided into men’s and
women’s wards, with a chapel between them. A cycle of fres- Roman Churches
coes (Fig. 12.21) by an unknown painter or studio, executed
in a manner as direct and unassuming as the building itself, Santa Maria del Popolo Sixtus was also conscious of his
provides a carefully constructed history of Sixtus IV, includ- role as spiritual head of the Church and of the need to
ing his mother’s purported vision that he would first be a enhance the religious life of the city. One ofhis first projects

300 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

12.22 Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome,
1472-c. 1480, commissioned by Sixtus IV , 2
from Baccio Pontelli (?) a 1a 4

as pope was the complete rebuilding

of the church of Santa Maria del
Popolo (Fig. 12.22). The church held
the miraculous image of the Virgin
and Child thought to have been
painted by St. Luke and a relic of Pope
See coitus [ (1. L1S=12Se), a patron
saint of Sixtus IV. Significantly, Santa
Maria del Popolo stood immediately
adjacent to the gate to the city used
by virtually all visitors traveling along
the Via Flaminia from the north. In
rebuilding Santa Maria del Popolo,
Sixtus visually dominated access to
the city along this important route.
Subsequent popes acknowledged this
symbol of papal control by making it
the first stop on their ceremonial entrance into the city to toward the center. Were these segments continued into the
assume their office. central unit of the facade they would just graze the frame
Sixtus’s architect for Santa Maria del Popolo was most of the round window, indicating that Pontelli, like Alberti,
probably the Florentine-trained woodworker and architect used a precise geometry to determine the composition of
Baccio Pontelli (Bartolomeo di Fino; c. 1450 Florence-1492 the facade.
Urbino). For the facade Pontelli echoed the recently com- Pontelli designed a grand interior space (Fig. 12.23), now
pleted facade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (see Fig. transformed by later remodeling. The pentagonal chapels
11.39), although in this case using travertine rather than the along the side aisles were the first of their kind in Rome
typically Florentine geometric marble revetment. The tem- and established discrete spaces for individual patronage
ple form of the upper story is echoed in the pediments ofthe within the church. Three of these chapels were patronized
doors. The lower part of the facade extends the width of the by members of Sixtus’s family, the della Rovere, establishing
building, although the pilasters are set in high enough relief their presence in a concrete way within the powerful social
to suggest the constituent units of the interior spaces that structures of the city. The groin vaulting, the massing ofthe
lie behind. The partial segmental pediment form arching travertine piers, with their attached columns, and the steady
up from the left and right wings of the facade (taking the rhythm ofthe arches of the nave recalled—albeit in a reduced
place of Alberti’s scrolls at Santa Maria Novella) intersect— scale—the monumentality of classical Roman architecture
somewhat awkwardly—with garlanded forms descending such as imperial basilicas like that of Maxentius and
from the top of the upper story, but provide brackets for Constantine (then known as the Temple of Peace) on the
the extremities of the building that turn attention back Roman Forum.

12.23 Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome,

1472-c. 1480, reconstruction of the
original interior on the longitudinal axis
(0)
l a ee
0 30m

(9) (2) (0)

a — Go lz \

SIXTUS IV: ROMA CAPUT MUNDI! 301

 its formal elements. Papal tombs had previously been large
and made of costly materials; now cardinals, too, and other
important clerics emulated the popes with elaborate wall
tombs in their titular churches. The leading workshop in
developing this type of monument was that of Andrea
Bregno (1418 Osteno, near Como-1503 Rome), who had
arrived in Rome from northern Italy in the 1460s. The tomb
of Cardinal Pietro Riario (Fig. 12.25), another of Sixtus’s
nephews—and his favorite—is a fully developed example of
this type of tomb. The effigy of the dead cardinal, who died
unexpectedly at age twenty-eight, lies on a bier above a

12.24 Sant’Agostino, Rome, 1479-83, commissioned by Guillaume

d’Estouteville perhaps from Giacomo da Pietrasanta

Sant’Agostino Sixtus’s example was followed closely by

his cardinals. In the last years of construction at Santa
Maria del Popolo, the long-lived Guillaume d’Estouteville
began rebuilding his own titular church of SantAgostino
(Fig. 12.24) and marked his extraordinary patronage—
rivaling that of the pope—by having his name prominently
inscribed across its facade, much as Giovanni Rucellai had
done at Santa Maria Novella in Florence (see Fig. 11.39).
Despite the awkwardness of the heavy-handed scrolls added
to conceal the buttressing and to distract attention from
the disproportion between the central and side doors, this
church is important in helping to establish a model for
church facades. The upper story accommodates the height
of the nave, the lower story extends laterally to include the
aisles, its cornice doubling to suggest a broken pediment
and to unite—however tentatively—the lower and upper sto-
ries. Scrolls, as at Santa Maria Novella, effect the transition
between the two stories. Confined in a small space near the
Piazza Navona, Sant’Agostino rises grandly from a high
podium, its pilasters springing from a tall base. The whole is
topped by a pediment, suggesting a temple. The interior also
employed a classical Roman vocabulary, with a Composite
STA: EX ORDINE MINORVM CAR-S-SIXTI:PATRIARCHAE |

order and lofty arches. In emulating Sixtus’s Santa Maria Hit} CONSTAN TINOPOLITANO ARCHIEPISCOPO
PERVSIL VMBRIAE QVE LEGATO
FLOREN
i
SIXTVS INL: PONT MAX NEPOTI BENE MERENTI [f
del Popolo, d’Estouteville connected himself to the official POSVIT 1
VIX ANN XX VII MEN VIL D:VI-GRATIA LINERALITATE AC ANIM >
language of the papacy, and 1n taking responsibility for the MAGNITVDINE INSIGNIS TOTIVS ITALIA LECATIONE F YNCTVS
MORITYR MAGNO DE SE IN TAM FLORIDA AETATE DESIDERIO RELICTO
QVIPPE QV MAIORA MENTE CONCOEPERAT ET POLLICEBATVR
entire building project (rather than merely building a grand VT AEDES MIRO SVMPTY APVO APOSTOLOS INCOHATAE O$TENOVNT
’ MCCECLXXIMY

chapel in a pre-existing building), he gave notice of his own

designs on the papacy and of the increasing power and
financial means of members of the papal court.

Commemorative Monuments

12.25 Tomb of Cardinal Pietro Riario, 1474-77, commissioned

During the reign of Sixtus IV the grandly scaled classicizing by Sixtus
\V from Andrea Bregno (?), with assistance from Mino da Fiesole and
funerary monument became a common designation of sta- Giovanni Dalmata, for Santi Apostoli, Rome. Marble, 21’ 4” x 11/2”
tus for the Church hierarchy, one increasingly codified in (6.5 x 3.41 m)

302 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 his new building. Its finely dressed stone courses
and rhythmic alternation of windows and pilas-
ters recall Alberti’s Rucellai Palace (see Fig. 32) and
the papal palace in Pienza (see Fig. 12.13). The
slightly projecting bays at the ends help to give a
sense of completion to the 300-foot (92-meter)
facade (and are a feature previously used only on
government buildings). The great size, regular
composition, and classicizing decoration of this
building, as well as its domination over the urban
landscape, its creation ofa piazza on its entrance
facade, and its presence on the papal processional
route, all made it a model for later Roman palaces.

The Sistine Chapel

The monument for which Sixtus IV is best remem-

bered is a chapel built within the Vatican Palace
to accommodate the increasing size of the papal
court and to house the conclaves of cardinals that
met to choose a new pope. Designed most likely
by Baccio Pontelli (1450 Florence-1494 Urbino,
12.26 Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome, planned shortly after 1483,
underway by 1485, mostly complete in 1489, facade finished in 1495, who had already worked for Sixtus at Santa Maria del
additions between 1503 and 1511, commissioned by Raffaello Riario Popolo (see Fig. 12.22) or by Giovannino de’ Dolci, the
as his cardinal’s palace Sistine Chapel (Fig. 12.27) was built from 1479 to 1481
When Cardinal Riario was discovered to have participated in a plot against
Pope Leo X in 1516 he was forced to deed the palace to the papacy as part of
his fine. The building was then used as offices for the papal chancellery, thus
giving it its Current name.

sarcophagus decorated with festoons, putti, and other motifs.

The decoration of the pilasters and entablature and the
mourning erotes at either side of the base all employ a classi-
cal vocabulary. Riario appears a second time, in the relief
above his effigy, being presented by his name saint, Peter, to
the Virgin and Child. His brother Girolamo kneels at the
right with St. Paul. His connection to Sixtus IV is marked
by the papal crest at the top of the monument and again
by an inscription in good Roman lettering at the base,
which describes Pietro’s virtues and success in the Church
and indicates Sixtus as the donor. Sixtus used this monu-
ment, as he was later to do with Melozzo’s library fresco
(see Fig. 12.0), to assert the presence of the papal family in a
city where they were foreigners and where their success was
in large measure dependent on the papal office holder.

The Cancelleria

The most important—and certainly the most imposing—

palace built in Rome during the late fifteenth century was
that of the Cancelleria (Fig. 12.26). It was built by Sixtus’s
nephew Raffaello Riario, who appears in Melozzo’s Vatican
Library fresco (see Fig. 12.0) and who was also created a car-
dinal by the pope. The architect of the palace is unknown.
Cardinal Riario tore down pre-existing structures at the site, 12.27 Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1477-81, commissioned by Sixtus IV from
including his titular church which he then rebuilt as part of Baccio Pontelli or Giovannino de’ Dolci

SIXTUS IV: ROMA CAPUT MUNDI 303

 12.28 Sistine Chapel, Rome, reconstruction of the
interior at the time of Sixtus IV. Frescoes completed
1481-82

were Umbrian artists. It was Perugino who

painted the fresco altarpiece (later covered
by Michelangelo’s Last Judgment but known
from a drawing by a member ofPerugino’s
shop), representing the Assumption ofthe
Virgin, to which the chapel was dedicated.
Sixtus assumed a prominent role in the
lost altarpiece as a kneeling donor, his
papal tiara placed conspicuously on the
ground in front of him. St. Peter stood
behind Sixtus, touching him on the shoul-
der with his key, simultaneously present-
ing the pope to the Virgin and symbolically
conferring the papal office on his succes-
sor, a reference to the unbroken succes-
sion of papal authority.
Between the windows of the upper walls
of the chapel, Botticelli and his assistants
between the existing papal palace and Old St. Peter’s; it painted standing figures of the popes who were saints of
replaced an existing fourteenth-century structure known the Church, beginning with Peter on the wall over the
as the Great Chapel. The chapel retains a crenellated altar (also later destroyed for Michelangelo’s Last Judgment).
fortress-like appearance on the exterior, conforming to the These popes establish a continuous lineage for the papacy
refortification of the Vatican initiated by Nicholas V. and repeat an iconography used in St. John Lateran, where
The simple rectangular, box-like interior (Fig. 12.28) was roundels containing painted portrait busts of the popes
designed without protruding architectural elements other ran the length of the nave on both walls. At the lowest level
than the molding running beneath the windows, suggesting of the chapel the walls are painted to look as if they were
that extensive fresco cycles to cover its walls were intended hung with draperies woven in alternating panels with gold
from the outset, much as the architecture of the Scrovegni and silver thread. Sixtus’s coat of arms and the papal keys
Chapel (see Fig. 3.6) implies a fresco cycle as part of its form part of the woven pattern, again clearly identifying
planar surfaces. The chapel has the same proportions as the patron.
the Temple of Solomon described in the Old Testament, an A double cycle of biblical narratives occupies the middle
architectural conceit that would have implied a connection level of the chapel and constitutes the main theme of
between King Solomon’s position as ruler of Jerusalem (and Sixtus’s decorative program. Stories from the life of Moses
Israel) and the pope’s claim to rule Rome. run the length of the left wall, and parallel stories from the
Sixtus’s claims to temporal sovereignty are implied with life of Christ decorate the right wall (Figs. 12.29 and 12.30).
more complexity in the frescoes he commissioned for the The rare appearance of Moses as a subject in painting ofthis
Sistine Chapel. Beginning under a vaulted ceiling, which may period suggests that Sixtus intended to remind viewers of
have been painted with gold stars on a blue ground, all four the biblical patriarch’s role as priest, lawgiver, and ruler,
walls of the chapel were completely frescoed (see Fig. 12.28); three critical aspects of his own office.
even the architectural frames of the paintings are painted Botticelli’s Punishment ofCorah (Numbers 16:1-35) shows
illusions. Sixtus brought a number of painters to Rome to Corah and three others rebelling against the authority of
work on the frescoes to guarantee their completion in a short Moses and Aaron (see Fig. 12.29, right section). When they
period of time and to insure their high quality. The partici- and 250 of their followers attempted to make an unlawful
pation ofFlorentine painters such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, offering to Yahweh (the Hebrew name for God), Moses raised
and Cosimo Rosselli (1439 Florence-1507 Florence) sug- his rod, and the earth opened and swallowed up the four
gests that Lorenzo de’ Medici may have arranged for a group leaders, and their families, as depicted at the left of Botticelli’s
of Florentine artists to work for the pope as a gesture toward fresco, At the center of the painting Moses appears again
re-establishing amicable Florentine-papal relations after before the sacrificial altar condemning those who unlawfully
Sixtus’s ill-advised participation in the Pazzi Conspiracy assumed a priestly role; the censers of the rebels become
of 1478. Two other painters, Pietro Vanucci, called Perugino unnaturally agitated as they are consumed by fire. At the
(c. 1450 Citta del Pieve-1523 Fontignano), and Bernardino right of the scene the Israelites flee Yahweh’s punishment.
di Betto, called Pinturicchio (c. 1452 Perugia-1513 Siena), As in other paintings of this period, the figures extend

304 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 u CALA
BS

»SCRI PTAE- “A MOISE:

12.29 Testament of Moses and Punishment of Corah, 1481-82, commissioned by Sixtus IV from Luca Signorelli and Botticelli for the left wall of the Sistine
Chapel, Rome. Fresco, each scene c. 11’ 6” x 18’ 9” (3.5 x 5.72 m)
The inscription over the Punishment of Corah reads: “Challenge to Moses, bearer ofthe written law.”

12.30 Christ Giving the Keys to Peter and the Last Supper, 1481-82, commissioned by Sixtus IV from Pietro Perugino and Cosimo Rosselli for the right wall
of the Sistine Chapel, Rome. Fresco, each scene 11’ 5%" x 18’ 8%" (3.49 x 5.7 m)

The inscription over Christ Giving the Keys to Peter reads: “Challenge to Jesus Christ, bearer of the law.” The two arches in the background contain a single inscription
between them: “You, Sixtus IV, unequal in riches, but superior in wisdom to Solomon, have consecrated this vast temple.”

across a band of space at the front of the composition while wealth. The triumphal arch that anchors the center of the
a vast expanse oflandscape opens into the background, add- composition is a close rendering of the Arch of Constantine
ing to the monumentality of the whole image. This fresco in Rome. The gilded Latin inscription on it translates as
glitters with gold leaf throughout—the metal censers, the “No one can assume the honor [of the Bae hood] unless
light emanating from Moses’s head, and decorative details he is called by God, just as Aaron was.” Thus the fresco
of clothing and architecture. Despite the horrific tale it tells, is a warning to anyone who might challenge the divinely
the Punishment of Corah conveys a sense of lavishness and ordained power of the pope.

SIXTUS IV: ROMA CAPUT MUNDI 305

 [he Testament of Moses (see Fig. 12.29, left section) is by in his left hand a replica of Longinus’s lance, reputed to
Luca Signorelli (c. 1441 Cortona-1523 Cortona?), a pupil of have pierced the body of Christ, a relic he received in 1492
Piero della Francesca. Signorelli may have gained access to from the Sultan Bajazet II (r. 1481-1512) for having detained
this important commission from Piero, who ts documented the sultan’s threatening brother, Prince Djem, in Rome,
in Rome as early as 1459, where he had painted at Santa an attempt to stave off Turkish advances in the West. To
Maria Maggiore and at the Vatican Palace—or, more likely, enshrine this lance Innocent commissioned a reliquary tab-
through the intervention of Lorenzo the Magnificent, since ernacle comparable to that holding the head of St. Andrew
Signorelli, sitting on the town councils of Arezzo, a client ordered by Pius II (see Fig. 12.9). Innocent’s tomb is novel,
state of the Medici, seems to have supported Medicean posi- however, insofar as he appears in the seated pose typical
tions and claims. Signorelli’s scene from the life of Moses ts, of an emperor (used by earlier popes in civic monuments)
like others in the cycle, heavily decorated with gold, and, like and insofar as his double representation adheres to the type
Botticelli’s scene, presents several moments of the narrative. of the prince’s tomb (see Fig. 6.15), further stressing his
To the right Moses reads, presumably from the Laws, to the
Israelites, while at the left he hands the rod ofleadership to
Joshua. His death is depicted in the distant left landscape.
The nude in the center of the composition has been inter-
preted as a reference to the Gentiles, “the stranger in the
camp” referred to in Deuteronomy 29:11.
On the other side of the chapel Perugino’s Christ Giving
the Keys to Peter (see Fig. 12.30) emphasizes the continuity
between the New Law and the Old. Perugino set his scene in
an unnaturally open piazza whose perspective system leads
quickly to the ideal, centrally planned temple in the distance.
Triumphal arches like that in Botticelli’s fresco again recall
ancient Rome. An inscription continuing over both of the
arches compares Sixtus’s patronage of his chapel to
Solomon’s building of the Temple and suggests that Sixtus
is greater than Solomon because the new religion has sup-
planted the Old Law. Sixtus’s control of the New Law is
asserted in the foreground as Christ hands the keys of tem-
poral and spiritual power to a kneeling Peter. The vast space
and serenely ordered geometry of figures and architecture
give a sense of grandeur and rhetorical import to the event
depicted. By extension, they also enforce theological argu-
ments about the papacy’s quasi-dynastic succession from
Peter. In virtually all of the narrative scenes in the Sistine
Chapel frescoes now unidentifiable members of the papal
court stand as mute witnesses to the events depicted and as
manifest records oftheir allegiance to what was arguably the
most impressive and learned court in Europe.

Innocent VIII and Alexander VI:

Power and Pleasure

Sixtus’s successors continued his references to Roman

imperial rulership and elaborate contemporary court life.
The tomb of Innocent VIII (r. 1484-92; Fig. 12.31), by the
Florentine sculptors Antonio and Piero (1443 Florence-1496
Rome) del Pollaiuolo, transforms the traditional wall tomb
type by showing the deceased not only as a recumbent effigy
but also seated and gesturing as in life, reclaiming imagery
12.31 Tomb of Innocent VIII, c. 1492-98, commissioned by Lorenzo
first used in the burial chapel of Pope Boniface VIII (see Cibo from Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo for St. Peter’s, Rome. Bronze
Fig. 2.11). In the original form of the tomb the seated figure with gilding
with its flanking virtues was below the effigy, which lay The tomb was first moved in 1507 with the beginning of the new
St. Peter’s:
immediately beneath the crowning lunette. Innocent holds it was disassembled in 1606 and reconstructed in its current position
in 1621.

306 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

temporal powers and his papal office. In the medieval sense as small metal braziers in the Medici collections, were deco-
of the king’s two bodies, that of his person and that of rated with Kufic script, as were the hems of the garments of
his office, the tomb depicts the end of Innocent’s earthly prophet figures carved for the Florence Cathedral or of
life with his corpse and the continuation of the office of Madonna figures painted throughout Italy. Interactions
pope, indicated by the full papal regalia worn by the seated between East and West were the norm, and historians are
Innocent. The figures of the pope appropriately use a natu- just beginning to detail how rich and varied they were.
ralistic representation to recall the dead pontiff, whereas the Roderigo Borgia, a Spaniard and the nephew of Pope
female personifications of virtues in the niches and in the Calixtus HI (r. 1455-58), became pope as Alexander VI in
mandorla at the top are idealized, classicizing figures. 1492. He maintained a lavish court for himself and his
The lance, held by Innocent, had both religious and family which has become a byword for licentiousness and
political significance and served as a reminder of the ongo- corruption and was the target of Savonarola’s reform preach-
ing diplomatic ties between East and West, between Islam ing. Having bribed his way to the papacy, he lived openly at
and Christianity, during this period—despite sporadic wars the Vatican with his mistress and made gifts of papal prop-
between them. Indeed, earlier in the century the sultan of erties to his family—particularly to his son Cesare Borgia,
Constantinople had, at the request of Lorenzo the one of the most feared courtiers and condottieri of his time.
Magnificent, returned Bernardo di Bandino Baroncelli, one Asa patron, Alexander concentrated on works that would
of the assassins of Lorenzo’s brother, to Florence in enhance his image as a Renaissance prince. The most famous
December 1479 where he was hanged from a window of the of these are the decorations for the papal apartments in
Palazzo della Signoria. Although the incident seems isolated the Vatican Palace, which had been built by Nicholas V.
in Medici history, the fact that Lorenzo wrote the sultan and Pinturicchio, who had worked as Perugino’s assistant in
received the desired response indicates that he, like Alexander the Sistine Chapel, frescoed each of the rooms with a
interacting with Bajazet I, must have had sufficient diplo- degree of lavishness unsurpassed in the papal residences.
matic contacts to allow such favors to be granted. We know Although his Disputation of St. Catherine (Fig. 12.32) imitates
that objects of Near Eastern manufacture were part of the decorous poses and disposition of figures seen in the
domestic interiors probably from the time of Marco Polo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, the entire surface of the painting is
travels in the thirteenth century; indeed, metal objects, such elaborately patterned with different luxurious materials and

CR SEER

12.32 Disputation of St. Catherine, 1492-95, commissioned by Alexander VI from Pinturicchio for the Room ofthe Saints, Vatican Palace, Rome.
Fresco with gold leaf

INNOCENT VIII AND ALEXANDER VI: POWER AND PLEASURE 307

further adorned with gold. Even the landscape takes on a Cardinals’ Commissions
decorative cast, with trees silhouetted against the sky, not
unlike Flemish paintings of landscape. Their leaves, how- Members of the courts of Innocent and Alexander aided the
ever, are speckled with gold and provide both sparks of light popes in the continuing transformation of the city into a
on the surface and abstract patterns comparable to those vision of agrand and prosperous state, as those courtiers of
on the costumes of the figures. A rendition of the Arch of earlier fifteenth-century popes had done. In particular, car-
Constantine in the distance—appropriately crowned with dinals’ commissions—in architecture, funerary monuments,
the Borgia heraldic bull—is prominently inscribed with gold and private chapels—were, like those of these two popes,
letters “To the Cultivator of Peace,” a reference to Alexander remarkable acts of self-aggrandizement.
but also to Constantine, whose triumphal arch bears com-
parable inscriptions. Since Turkish advances into Europe The Carafa Chapel The private chapel was an especially
were one of the threats to peace, the appearance at the right effective means of denoting status within the Church
of the mounted Prince Djem seems particularly ironic, given hierarchy. The Carafa Chapel at Santa Maria sopra Minerva
the failure of papal policy in this area. Djem was detained in (Fig. 12.33), commissioned by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa from
the Vatican and was a pawn in papal politics with the sultan, Filippino Lippi, is among the most ornate of the period.
an attempt to give the latter free rein in exchange for staving It interrupted Filippino’s painting of the Filippo Strozzi
off Turkish advances in the Christian West. Chapel in Florence (see Figs. 11.35 and 11.36) and provided
an important incentive to the painter’s
stylistic development. Every decorative
detail displays an archaeological accuracy,
suggesting the new discoveries of ancient
Roman buildings on the Palatine Hill.
The frescoed altarpiece shows Carafa, the
Cardinal Protector of the Dominican
order, as a witness to the Annunciation; St.
Thomas Aquinas, to whom the chapel is
dedicated along with the Virgin Annunciate,
stands behind him as his advocate. The
Carafa family claimed kinship with the
Aquinas family, making this a particularly
poignant image. In the fresco surrounding
the altarpiece, Lippi painted an Assumption,
thus presenting the first and last miracu-
lous moments of the Virgin’s life. Lippi
opened the wall of the chapel illusionisti-
cally to landscape beyond, giving an even
grander sense of space and scale than the
already very large chapel would allow. The
sumptuousness of the decorative details
and the elegance of the individual figures
give this prince of the Church an image
comparable to that of temporal princes in
Italy and testify to the secure re-establish-
ment of the papacy and its extensive court
in Rome by the end of the fifteenth century.

12.33 Carafa Chapel, 1489-93, commissioned by

Oliviero Carafa from Filippino Lippi for Santa Maria
sopra Minerva, Rome. Fresco

On the right wall of the chapel is a representation of

the Triumph of St.Thomas Aquinas over heresy and, in the
lunette above, scenes from the life of the saint. The four
reclining female figures in the vaults are figures of sibyls.

308 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 CONTEMPORARY SCENE |

mart and the Collector

Since a reverence for classical antiquity was competitive spirit among individual collec- Early in his career Michelangelo deliber-
a natural outgrowth of humanist scholar- tors. Piero de’ Medici’s illegitimate brother, ately forged an Eros figure for sale in Rome
ship and education during the Renaissance, Carlo, complained that he had been forced as an antique. He may have done the same
it is not surprising that collectors began to relinquish a collection of important with the Bacchus (Fig. 12.34), seen in a
to assemble objects such as ancient Greek Roman coins because Pope Paul || wanted drawing from the period standing amid
and Roman sculpture, gems, and coins, them for himself. Lorenzo the Magnificent antique fragments in the sculpture garden
both for study and as signs oftheir learning subsequently triumphed in this collectors’ of Jacopo Galli, a Florentine banker and
and culture. Already in the early fourteenth contest when he bought virtually all of Paul’s friend of Michelangelo’s. Today it is valued
century Oliviero Forzetta (1300-72), a collection from his successor, Sixtus IV. as an early work of outstanding delicacy
merchant from Treviso, was seeking such Agents were active for private collectors, and sensuality by Michelangelo, but when
objects from dealers in Venice. In the seeking to provide their employers with the it was made in 1496, by a young and virtu-
mid-fifteenth century, the sculptor Lorenzo best examples of classical sculpture and ally unknown sculptor, and grouped with
Ghiberti claimed in his Commentaries to often resorting to overstatements of value ancient sculpture, it could well have seemed
have a small collection of ancient sculp- and to outright stealing to achieve their an exceptionally well-preserved antique
ture, and Donatello was sometimes called goals. Although small objects such as coins statue. By the time Heemskerck drew this
upon to appraise the authenticity and were kept in private studies, marbles were view of Jacopo Galli’s garden, the family
value of newly discovered works. Artists placed in the gardens of private palaces, was apparently dispersing the collection.
became important players in the burgeon- often in a random manner. When the Nonetheless the drawing does give some
ing market for objects of ancient art. Since Laocoén (see Fig. 39) was discovered in a indication of the picturesque nature of
large-scale free-standing ancient sculpture Roman vineyard on January 14, 1506, it such gardens, themselves giving every
was still extremely rare in the early fifteenth was appropriated by Pope Julius II for his appearance of a site of classical ruins.
century, collections tended to be of smaller collection, which already included the Some of the sculptural fragments lie
objects such as gems and coins, as well as Apollo Belvedere, and placed ina niche at the propped against walls as if they were put
reliefs and fragments. Thus the precious end ofthe Belvedere Courtyard constructed down in the first available space when they
appearances of the collections echoed especially to house it. were carried in, while others, like the figural
those amassed in the previous century by The rarity of such free-standing large- relief, were set into the wall, and still oth-
the French royal house and the dukes scale figures made them so desirable that a ers, like the reclining figure in the back-
of Berry. Because of their rarity, such virtual cottage industry of replication—and ground, were placed on columns,
objects were greatly prized and aroused a forgery—developed to meet the demand. themselves probably antique fragments.

12.34 Jacopo Galli’s

(os fos.
WU rary
Garden in Rome,
c. 1532-35, Martin van
Heemskerck. Pen and
ink on paper (first
volume of Heemskerck’s
sketchbook, fol. 72r,
Staatliche Museen,
Berlin)

The central standing

figure is Michelangelo’s
Bacchus (1496). The
————
Bacchus was apparently
Re es:
E/

~ dk
=] / \
i seidf
i, O it
commissoned by
; On | i
Wie al Cardinal Raffaelle Riario,
but for some reason
never became part of
his collection, instead
finding a home in the
garden of Riario’s banker,
Jacopo Galli.

INNOCENT VIIl AND ALEXANDER VI: POWER AND PLEASURE 309

Michelangelo’s Pietd The lure of patronage at the papal death, carries the meaning of his human incarnation.
court brought large numbers of artists from across Italy to The group is unprecedented in Italian sculpture in its
Rome, as it had since the time of Giotto. Not the least among iconographic form, but relates instead to northern wooden
these was Michelangelo. Having completed his Bacchus in sculpture groups of this devotional type, perhaps a gesture
1496 (see Fig. 12.34), Michelangelo received a commission to Michelangelo’s French patron. As he was to do repeatedly
from the French cardinal Jean Bilhéres de Lagraulas (Jean in his long career, the young Michelangelo here quite
de Villiers de la Groslaye) for a Pieta for his funerary chapel deliberately set himself apart from the norm as one way of
(Fig. 12.35). The contract for the work bravely asserts that establishing his presence in the competitive environment of
the completed statue would be the most beautiful statue in Rome. The story told by his biographer that Michelangelo
Rome, leaving open just what was meant by such a claim. hid in St. Peter’s in order to add his signature (on the belt of
Nonetheless, the finished statue is a technical tour de force: the Virgin) to the sculpture after he had heard it attributed
palpable flesh, distended veins, extended limbs, lustrously to a Lombard artist, illustrates his keen sense that the work
polished surfaces, and complexities of drapery folds and was a demonstration piece for his talent. His signature also
gatherings whose only excuse could have been to show off proudly declares that he is Florentine. Moreover, in using
the skill of the sculptor. The simplified oval form of the the imperfect verb form of the Latin faciebat, he not only
Virgin’s face and the gentle and welcoming movement ofher references his work to that of Praxiteles, whom Pliny credits
extended arm lend a calm serenity to what in other instances with this verbal oddity; he also suggests, like Praxiteles, that
would have been an expression-filled moment in the the statue is still in process. This boast, that as
narrative of the Passion of Christ. Mary’s cradling of extraordinary as the sculpture may now be, it will
her son in her lap recalls another aspect of Marian only get better, also refers to the trajectory of his
iconography, that of the Madonna and Child, thus career as a sculptor. Such a claim—for himself
linking Christ’s birth and death in a single sculpture and for the history of Roman art—was truer than
and providing the critical reference points in the even Michelangelo could have imagined.
redemption narrative. The youthful face
of the Virgin, at first seemingly
12.35 Pieta, 1498-99, commissioned by
incongruous for a woman Cardinal Jean Bilhéres de Lagraulas (Jean de
in her late forties, allows Villiers de la Groslaye) from Michelangelo
the still stone to provide for his funerary chapel at St. Peter’s,
Rome. Marble, 5’ 8” (1.74 m) high,
a meditation over Christ’s
width at base 6’ 5” (1.95 m) (Rome,
entire life,’ much — as St. Peter’s)
the incredibly beautiful,
The cardinal’s burial site was in
soft, eroticized body of the round domed church of
Christ, devoid of any St. Petronilla attached to the
but the most reti- left nave of Old St. Peter’s.
This chapel was also known
cent indications of
as the chapel of the Kings
his torture and of France.

310 ROME: RE-ESTABLISHING PAPAL POWER

 Ven ice
Present
: Aff irm ing the Pas t and
century palace, with its graceful Gothic loggia
and pink and white stone diaper patterns (see
Fig. 7.14). The column capitals, which echo or
repeat the subjects of the lagoon fag¢ade, cele-
brate the richness and variety of life lived in a
good and just society. Besides emphasizing con-
sistency and stability, this continuation of the
fourteenth-century wing on the Piazzetta side
greatly enhanced the presence of the palace (the
largest civic palace in Italy), giving it a majestic
air, rivaling the enormous scale of the palaces of
Venice’s chief rival, Milan (see Fig. 9.10).

Sculpture on the Doge’s

Palace

By the mid-1430s work must have been suffi-

ciently advanced to award two special commis-
sions, one for a near life-sized sculpture of the
Judgment of Solomon (Fig. 13.1) at the corner ofthe
building nearest St. Mark’s and another virtually
adjacent to it for a new monumental portal,
now known as the Porta della Carta, which
opens into the palace’s courtyard (Fig. 13.0).
The Judgment of Solomon is set at an angle
around the corner of the palace so as to be fully
visible to anyone approaching the entrance
from St. Mark’s. It depicts the story in which
two women appeal to Solomon, each claiming
to be the mother of a child. The king blandly
orders a soldier to cut the baby in half and give
one half to each woman, whereupon the true
mother, aghast, relinquishes her claim in order
to save the child’s life. The drama 1s eloquently
conveyed by the facial expressions of the main participants:
nly a year after taking office in 1423 the young Solomon appears impassive, befitting impartial justice;
and ambitious Doge Francesco Foscari (r. 1423-57) the true mother, horrified, as she leans forward to prevent
demolished the entire twelfth-century wing of the Doge’s the soldier from obeying the order; the imposter at the far
Palace between St. Mark’s Basilica and the fourteenth- right, dispassionate.
century wing facing the lagoon. Although the Senate had
committed itself to this action before Foscari took office,
13.0 Porta della Carta, 1438-42, commissioned by Francesco Foscari
it was a bold and daring act in tradition-conscious Venice. from Bartolomeo Bon the elder, for the Doge’s Palace, Venice. Red and
To compensate for this rip in Venice’s otherwise continuous white marble and Istrian stone
historical fabric and to ensure visual unity, the new wing The head of the doge and the winged lion were knocked down by Napoleonic
faithfully repeated the distinctive design of the fourteenth- troops; the present forms are modern replacements.

Sil
 of the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Bon became Venice’s
leading local sculptor and architect, capable of working in
a wide variety of modes. His vigorous portrait of Foscart
on the Porta della Carta captures every well-earned wrinkle
of this indomitable doge (Fig. 13.2). Lips and mouth firmly
set, the veins on his temples pulsing with life, Foscari’s eyes
are intent on the Lion ofSt. Mark. We are clearly in the pres-
ence ofa living individual, the proud and determined leader
of the Venetian state. Foscari’s features are recorded with
documentary accuracy—not to celebrate him as an individ-
ual, for such self-aggrandizement by the doge was officially
proscribed by the state, but as the chief representative of the
republic before whose symbolic leonine representation he
kneels, humility and splendor characterizing both the man
and the office.

The Palazzo Foscari

Like most political leaders, however, Francesco Foscari was
neither modest nor self-effacing. The palace he built for
himself and his family, starting in 1450 (Fig. 13.3), openly

13.1 Judgment of Solomon, 1430s, commissioned under Francesco Foscari,

possibly from Bartolomeo Bon the elder, for the Doge’s Palace, Venice.
Istrian stone

The biblical/historical portrayal of the virtues of the

Venetian state seen in the Judgment of Solomon is comple-
mented in more contemporary form on the Porta della Carta
(see Fig. 13.0). This magnificent doorway, the new formal
entranceway into the Doge’s Palace, celebrates Venetian
ideals with eye-catching detail. Tall Gothic niches along
the side borders hold female personifications of the virtues
of Temperance, Charity, Fortitude, and Prudence. Over the
entrance the larger than life-sized figure of Doge Foscari
kneels before the Lion of St. Mark, clearly conceived as
the servant of the state. Above them, the crisp tracery of the
tripartite window, with its quatrefoil roundels, recalls that
on the palace’s loggia. A segmented Gothic pediment above
it frames three angelic figures displaying a bust of St. Mark.
Putti cavort up the portal’s final ascent to the seated figure
of Justice, who originally rose free against the sky as did the
finials of the flanking turrets.
The creator of this splendid composition, Bartolomeo
13.2 Head of Francesco Foscari, 1438-42, commissioned
Bon the elder, proudly carved his name on the doorway’s by Francesco
Foscari from Bartolomeo Bon the elder, for the Porta della rate
architrave. He received the contract along with his father and Doge’s Palace, Venice. Marble, 1’ 2” high (36 cm) (Museum of the
teacher, Giovanni. Bartolomeo came from a family of stone- Doge’s Palace)
workers, his earliest surviving work being a wellhead for the The end of the doge’s nose and much ofhis left eyebrow are modern
Ca’ d’Oro (discussed below), which shows an appreciation replacements.

312 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

 TK Ca’Oro>
ant for splendor had a long tradition in
Venice. The Palazzo Contarini is known as the Ca’ d’Oro
(“house of gold”; Fig. 13.4) because of the gold leaf that
originally embellished the intricate carving on its facade.
This was the home of Marino Contarini, scion of one of
Venice’s most venerable noble families, who took personal
responsibility for overseeing the entire project. It was a
confident and aggressive assertion of his family’s wealth
and social prestige, built on the Grand Canal, the city’s most
important thoroughfare.
The basic organization of the palace follows a well-estab-
lished type (Fig. 13.5). As with many small and moderate-
sized Venetian Gothic palazzi, the facade is asymmetrical.
The main entrance, on the ground floor, is eedeye
simplest of the three loggias. Behind it is the
androne,
a great_
open hall, which served the practical purpose of receiving

13.4 Ca’ d’Oro (Palazzo Contarini), Venice, 1421-37, commissioned by

Marino Contarini Fe AGiGantisna carole bap es ee
and others

The facades of this and other Venetian noble palaces were regularly enhanced
with gold leaf, bright colors, and varnish.

13.3 Palazzo Foscari, Venice, begun 1450, commissioned by

Francesco Foscari e

imitates the Doge’s Palace, both in tracery on its

facade and the placement of its main reception
halls at the top of the double-tiered loggia. The
geometric orderliness of the facade, balancing sym-
metrically arranged windows on either side of the
central loggias, was typical of larger Venetian palaces.
Classicizing putti display the Foscari coat of arms on
a large relief which runs across the facade, echoing
Florentine forms. Like their smaller counterparts
on the Porta della Carta, they document a taste for
the antique that was just beginning to be felt in
Venice at this time, although still mainly restricted to
decorative elements.
The form and extraordinarily large size of the
palace permanently associated Foscari and his family
with the office of doge. Cosimo de’ Medici was
making similar claims for his family in Florence,
where the Medici Palace (see Fig. 11.11) clearly evoked
associations with the Palazzo della Signoria. Foscari
may have felt free to stretch the limits of typical
Venetian luxury, since he held the office of doge
longer than any of his predecessors. He was also
enamored of pomp and display. Foscar1’s reception in
1438 for the Byzantine emperor John VIII Paleologus
stupefied even the Venetians, who were accustomed
to lavish pageantry: twelve floating theaters accom-
panying the doge’s Bucintoro (“barge”) welcomed the
imperial visitor.

Wills CAP DY ORY Syihs}

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Finishing Touches
Today the Ca’ d’Oro remains one of the And to fill in the background of the said And next | wish that all of the crowning
most beautiful of Venetian palazzi, with its capitals with fine ultramarine blue. cornice ... to be finished with white oil
exquisite white marble tracery. One can And in the same way to gild the two lions paint, and that all of the crenellations are
scarcely imagine how spectacular it must which are above the said capitals, with the to be darkened in the manner ofmarble. ...
have appeared when completed—lavishly [Contarini] arms that they hold in their And then | wish that all of the red
painted and gilded according to the speci- paws, the which arms | wish to be finished stonework that is in the said facade and all
fications laid down by its owner, Marino with ultramarine blue. of the red dentil [courses] are to be
Contarini. And the plinths where the said lions are ‘finished with oil and varnish so that they
positioned | wish to be gilded at the front. appear red.
This is the work which ... Marin Contarini And below, | wish it to be fine ultramarine And then | wish that all of the roses and
... wishes to be done in the painting of the blue with small gold stars. ... vines that are on the said facade are to be
facade of his house at Santa Sofia on the And next | wish to be gilded the rope finished with white oil paint, and to paint
Grand Canal. mouldings on the twenty roundels, and the the fields with black oil paint so that it
And firstly to gild all of the little balls that balls, and also twelve flowers, all gilded. appears well. ...
are on top ofthe crenellation, and to gild And next | wish to be gilded the large coat All of which work is to be done by maestro
all of the discs of the crenellations that are of arms, that is, the shield with the dentils Zuan da Franza, painter, of Sant’Aponal,
below the flowers. and foliage, and | wish the stripes to be of all at his own expense, and | intend that
And to gild the rosettes which are at the ultramarine blue applied in two coats so the said maestro is to use ultramarine blue
bottom of the little arches. that it will appear excellent; and this is all at a cost of XVIII ducats per pound, and
And to gild all of the leaves of the two large the work that | wish to be gilded on the he is to receive for his work as described
capitals at the corners, which have the said facade. 60 gold ducats.
lions on the top.

(from RichardJ.Goy. The House of Gold: BuildingaPalace in Medieval Venice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 287-88)

and dispensing shipments of goods; alongside were assorted

storerooms. (Many Venetian nobility owed their fortunes
to trade, unlike their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.)
Farther back is a courtyard and garden. Above the androne,
fronted by another loggia—the most elaborate of the three,
with its quatrefoil tracery—is the gran salone, the main recep-
tion hall, flanked by smaller reception rooms; this floor is
known as the piano nobile (noble or main floor) in Italian.
The upper floors contain more private rooms. Providing
adequate light for all these rooms was problematical, given
the scarcity of land and the narrowness of flanking canals,
which meant that palaces stood close together. For this rea-
son the facades were designed with large windows.
As was common practice in Venice, Contarini issued
; contracts to builders, sculptors, and painters, He entrusted
the tracery of the main loggia Wayman
1389-1434), one of the chief sculptors at Milan’s cathedral
and perhaps a contributor to the sculptural program of the
Doge’s Palace. To simulate the sheen of marble, painters
applied white lead and oil to the Istrian stone. Red
Verona marble details were oiled to bring out their richest
tonalities, and the balls on the facade’s parapet, along with
the window finials, capitals, and architectural moldings
13.5 Ca’ d’Oro, Venice, plan of lower floor were all gilded. Though more extravagant than most private
1 Grand Canal; 2 Entrance portico (riva); 3 Central hall (androne); 4 Courtyard; residences in Venice, it epitomizes the luxuriant tenor of
5 Wellhead; 6 Alleyway (Calle di Ca Giustinian) much Venetian art.

314 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

 s
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Foscari from Michele Giambono and others

This multimedia complex of colored marbles and mosaics survives almo st completely intact.
The Cappella Nova Venetian painter and mosaicist Michele Giambono (Michele
di Taddeo or Michele di Giovanni Bono; 1400 Venice-
In 1431 Doge Foscari enlisted the assistance of two noble c, 1462 Venice). In the Annunciation, depicted in the lunette
allies and procurators to create a new chapel in the left of the altar wall (see Fig. 13.6), Giambono sets Gabriel and
transept of St. Mark’s (Fig. 13.6), probably as an ex voto to Mary on a bare stage against a gold ground, overlooked by
the Virgin after a failed assassination attempt on March 11, God the Father at the top and the descending dove of the
1431 (1430 Venetian style since the new year did not begin Holy Spirit at the upper right, reminiscent of the hauntingly
until March 25). Known as the Cappella Nova, or “New powerful, isolated Byzantine-sty le figures who hover in the
Chapel,” until the seventeenth century, when it was taken mosaics elsewhere in the east end of the church. Despite
over by the Confraternity of the Mascoli whose name it now their solid volumetric shapes (so at odds with the spaceless
bears, the barrel-vaulted chapel contains an elegant marble environment in which they are placed) Giambono’s quietly
altarpiece showing the Madonna and Child flanked by two introverted figures also display a melancholy air characteris-
saints, perhaps evangelists. An inscription above them tic of Venetian-Byzantine figural art.
records the names of the chapel’s founders and the founda- In the scenes of the Birth of the Virgin (Fig. 13.7) and her
tion date. Mosaics surrounding an oculus in the lunette and Presentation in the Temple on the left side of the barrel vault,
on the barrel vault depict scenes from the life of the Virgin. Giambono faced the challenge of depicting a continuous
Variegated marble covers the lower walls; the original tracer- narrative. These stories had been very rarely represented in
ied balustrade still survives at the chapel’s entrance. Venetian art up until this time. For inspiration, Giambono
The chapel’s decoration demonstrates the power of thus turned to the most extensive and best-known Virgin
Venice’s Byzantine past, which continued to furnish models cycle in Venetian territory, Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni
for figures and compositions while also providing a matrix Chapel in Padua (see Fig. 3.6). In the background and to the
in which to incorporate new forms imported from outside left of the Birth of
the Virgin, the same patient servant waits
the republic. In charge of the mosaic decorations was the outside the birthing chamber, which has been modernized
with balconies, porches, and Gothic tracery
that relate both to contemporary architec-
ture and to the complex architecture oflate
fourteenth-century Paduan frescoes (see Fig.
9.20). More important, he took into consid-
eration the fact that the chapel’s location in
the corner of the basilica’s left transept and
the marble barrier in front of it forced most
viewers to look at the composition from
outside the chapel and to the right. Thus he
set his action and the Virgin’s birthplace
obliquely across the field ofvision, encourag-
ing onlookers to move into the action as it
evolves continuously from left to right. The
clear colors of the figures’ garments stand
out against the gray and white buildings,
making the composition easy to read in spite
of itscomplex settings. The continuous gold
background unites the scenes as well, joining
them in a long rectangular field which con-
forms to the format of the other narratives
in the church,

13.7 Birth of the Virgin, early 1430s, commissioned

by Francesco Foscari from Michele Giambono for
the Cappella Nova (now known as Mascoli Chapel)
)
St. Mark’s, Venice. Mosaic

316 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

The Vivarini School their model to a different use as an emblem of the Scuola.
The Virgin’s celestial court is vividly rendered with marbled
The most prolific painters of mid-fifteenth century Venice pink and gray architecture, rich deep colors, costly robes,
were Antonio Vivarini (c. 1418 Murano-1476/84 Venice) and gilt pastiglia, and lovingly observed plant life. Unlike Venetian
his brother-in-law Giovanni d’Alemagna (d. 1450 Padua). altarpieces of this and earlier periods, the work represents
They ran an extremely well-organized shop that specialized the supernatural in a physically specific world. Whatever
in multitiered, multipaneled altarpieces and fanciful Gothic naturalness the space conveys is countered, however, by the
frames, which they subcontracted to various woodworkers. elaborately curved platform on which the figures stand.
In 1446 they signed and dated a large panel painting of the
Madonna and Child with Saints for the wall behind the officers’ Jacopo Bellini
bench of the recently expanded albergo (officers? meeting
room) of the Scuola della oe (now part of the Accademia Jacopo Bellini (c. 1400 Venice-1470/71 Venice) was an even
painting gallery; Fig. 13.8). sembling an altarpiece—which greater synthesizer than Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna,
it is not—but functioning likeSimone Martint’s Maestd in the being equally at home with Byzantine, Gothic, northern
Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (see Fig. 5.18) as an inducement European, and central Italian types and modes. He was the
to good decision-making, this monumental painting shows foremost student of Gentile da Fabriano and the founder of
the four Doctors of the Church (saints Gregory and Jerome an artistic dynasty, being the father of both Gentile and
at the left, Ambrose and Augustine at the right) in a court- Giovanni Bellini and father-in-law of Andrea Mantegna.
yard around a massive Madonna and Child. Jacopo’s Madonna and Child Surrounded by an Aureole of Angels
While the unified space in the Scuola della Carita painting (Fig. 13.9), probably created as a private devotional object,
may have been inspired by a now dismembered altarpiece reveals several aspects of his artistic personality. Still in
that the Florentine artist Filippo Lippi had created for a its original frame, the image expresses a sadness typical of
church in Padua in the 1430s, the two Venetian artists put traditional Veneto-Byzantine Madonnas. A shower of gold

13.8 Madonna and Child with Saints, 1446, commissioned by the Scuola della Carita from Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna for the a/bergo of the
Scuola della Carita, Venice. Oil on panel, 11’ 3%” x 15’ 7%" (3.44 x 4.77 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

JACOPO BELLIN! 317

dots flickers across the Virgin’s robe, evoking the glimmer of
Venetian mosaics. The painting also betrays Jacopo’s study
of northern European paintings. As in certain works byJan
van Eyck and his school, the figures are set behind a parapet
which sharply defines the pictorial space. The Child’s pleas-
ant, open demeanor and soft, golden curls captivate and
charm, even as the Virgin keeps him in the realm of the holy
by holding her hand in front of and across his little body.
Jacopo was also a prolific draftsman. A series of 220
drawings by him has been preserved in two volumes, one
set on parchment, the other on white paper. They seem to
have been created for his own study, not preparatory to any
specific commissions, nor necessarily for the instruction of
students in his studio. Jacopo purchased the paper unbound
in quires (sets of twenty-four or twenty-five sheets), working
on the drawings over several decades. His widow called these
works “drawn paintings,” an apt characterization of their
status as works of art in their own right. They are the first
works of their kind.
One of the principal artistic challenges that Jacopo
addressed in his drawings was how to adapt scientific per-
spective to Venetian and Paduan preferences for imagining

13.10 Dormition of the Virgin, c. 1450, page from the notebooks of Jacopo
Bellini. Leadpoint on parchment with later pen retouchings, 16% x 11%”
(42.5 x 28.5 cm) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

narrative in highly complex environments (see Fig. 9.20), a

tradition that grew out of a beliefin the documentary value
of art. To be true to life, narratives in the Venetian tradition
needed to be complicated and filled with anecdotal detail.
In a drawing of the Dormition ofthe Virgin (Fig. 13.10) repre-
senting the display of the Virgin Mary’s corpse, Bellini
constructs an expansive urban space in which all diagonal
lines merge toward a single vanishing point at the eye level
of the figures within the drawing, just as prescribed by
Alberti in his Della Pittura. But Bellini was not content to
create the spare and highly focused compositions preferred
by Tuscan artists. He shows, instead, a typically Venetian
delight in complex architecture. These buildings appear
irregular, spontaneous: they are filled with figures going
about their business—one on a balcony, another coming
down the stairs, another group gathered far to the right
background around the column of an arcade.
In the midst of this rich world Bellini placed the apostles
mourning over the body of the deceased Virgin Mary, whose
soul in the form of aminiaturized body is received by Christ
in the small aureole of angels at the very top.of the drawing.
13.9 Madonna and Child Surrounded by an Aureole of Angels (Madonna
Just below it rises a radically foreshortened balcony seen
ofthe Cherubim), 1450s, Jacopo Bellini. Tempera on panel, 37 x 26” from below. This introduces a new dimension. Paradoxically,
(94 x 66 cm) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice) what had seemed natural and true-to-life suddenly becomes

318 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

contrived and disturbing, much as the fallen soldiers and figure hovering at a believably great height above the build-
regularly arranged lances on the ground in Paolo Uccello’s ings, now comes close to the viewer, as do the apostles and
panel paintings (see Fig. 11.16) appear artificial. Jacopo the Virgin’s bier.
began to domesticate scientific perspective in such composi- Castagno probably produced the cartoon for the Cappella
tions but still left room for experimentation. Nova mosaics before leaving Venice in 1442, though the
project was left to languish until the late 1440s, when Venice
The Cappella Nova in the Late 1440s was more receptive to Florentine style. Then Bellini and
Giambono added their own figures to the right side, sug-
Jacopo’s spatial experiments account for the mosaics added gesting either that Castagno left the work unfinished or
to the right side of the barrel vault in the Cappella Nova that it was damaged in the intervening years. The Venetians
in St. Mark’s (Fig. 13.11 and see Fig. 13.6), probably between preferred seeing figures subordinate to their setting, as in
1448 and 1451. As in Giambono’s compositions in the Jacopo’s drawings, rather than dominating it. They also
chapel of the early 1430s (see Fig. 13.7), the field contains added a little balustrade atop the triumphal arch to soften
two major scenes, the Visitation at left and the Dormition at its Tuscan severity.
right. The two scenes are conceived separately, however, each Jacopo Bellini seems to have been assigned the task of
placed before its own illusionistic architectural backdrop. designing the Visitation mosaic to accompany Castagno’s
The distinctive styles of the Florentine Andrea del composition. The work tells us much about the Venetian
Castagno (see Fig. 10.44), of Michele Giambono (see Fig. response to Castagno’s example. Except for the classicizing
13.7), and of Jacopo Bellini (see Fig. 13.10), all three of language ofits architectural elements and the large scale of
whom worked on the full-scale preparatory cartoons for its figures, the entire scene reads as a rather severe critique
the mosaics, are visible in the Dormition. Although depicting of Castagno’s work. Mary and Elizabeth encounter one
the same subject as Bellini’s drawing, the composition another im the space under the central arch, not in front of
for the Cappella Nova mosaic is evidently not by him but by it, the area behind them enlivened with a variety of doors,
Castagno. Florentine in conception, it gives prominence to windows, a balcony, a flowering window box, and a framed
the main actors. Castagno’s composition is decidedly more view of a tall tree, rather than Castagno’s plain and deserted
dramatic and legible than Bellini’s, but it sacrifices faithful street facades. Bellini also included chambers at the left and
rendition of visual experience and spatial expansiveness for right for witnesses to the sacred encounter, so important to
visual clarity. Castagno places only two apostles to the left Venetian documentary expectations. In the upper story a
of his powerfully large figure of the deceased Virgin—the young woman looks on from a window filled with objects,
huddled groups at right bear the imprint of Giambono’s more of which appear, along with a monkey, on the right.
and Bellini’s intervention. The seated figure, God the The composition is as legible as Castagno’s but even more
Father, who in Bellini’s drawing had appeared as a small delightful and intriguing to explore.

13.11 Visitation and

Dormition ofthe Virgin,
1448-51, commissioned
from Jacopo Bellini,
Andrea del Castagno, and
Michele Giambono for the
right half of the barrel
vault of the Cappella Nova
(Mascoli Chapel), St.
Mark’s, Venice. Mosaic.
(see also Fig. 13.6)

THE CAPPELLA NOVA IN THE LATE 1440S 319

 At mid-century Venetian artists were increasingly cogni- inscription to either side of the portal, surely recognized the
zant of and ready to experiment with scientific perspective triumphal significance ofits form, as did other Italian rulers
and classical vocabulary. Not only Jacopo Bellini but also the who also built structures inspired by ancient Roman arches
builders of the Palazzo Foscari and the carvers of the Porta in these decades (see Figs. 14.13, 14.16, and 14.22). Indeed,
della Carta showed interest in incorporating new elements the Venetians later celebrated their leading role in the naval
into their works. At the same time, traditional commit- Battle of Lepanto—where they finally crushed Ottoman
ments to visual richness and elaboration as an affirmation forces threatening to take over the entire Mediterranean by
of local accomplishments, as well as an ongoing tendency adding another inscription above the doorway in 1571. As
toward synthesis, meant that new elements were not merely heirs to the Byzantine Empire, the Venetians flanked their
adopted but fused with older ones. Eclectic combinations of gateway with columns crowned by Byzantine-inspired
style and motifs were never richer nor more varied. basket capitals, not classical ones. Venetians were as much
heirs of the East as the West.
Venice: Heir of East and West
Religious Architecture
In 1457 the extraordinarily long dogeship of Francesco
Foscari came to an abrupt and ignominious end as the old Patrons seized upon Early Christian as well as Byzantine
man was forced from office following several scandals and models for much religious architecture in this period, as is
the execution of his son for treason. Always a controversial evident at the monastery church of San Michele in Isola
figure, especially in his commitment to creating a mainland (Figs. 13.13 and 13.14). It was rebuilt beginning in 1469 by
empire for Venice, Foscari was vindicated in the next decade Mauro Codussi (c. 1440 Lenna-1504 Venice), who came to
as Venice’s holdings on the Italian mainland began to turn Venice from the subject city of Bergamo and became an out-
a profit. At the same time, Venetian artists and patrons standing proponent of a new classical style. The facade’s
undertook a major new synthesis of their traditional stylis- classically inspired pilasters and arched upper story, mask-
tic preferences. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman ing the side aisles and top of the nave, suggest Codussi’s
Empire in 1453 had brought large numbers of Eastern acquaintance with Leon Battista Alberti’s designs for the
scholars and immigrants to the city, encouraging the city Rimini Temple (see Fig. 14.16), but the general scheme may
to fashion itself as the rightful successor to the glory of the just as credibly derive from the traditional shape of Venetian
fallen Byzantine Empire. In the 1460s and 1470s this vision parish church facades, many of which culminated in arches
began to be expressed in works that exploited ancient over the nave and side aisles. More original is Codussi’s sure
Roman architectural and decorative vocabulary while also handling of rustication—even of the pilasters, which gives
making repeated reference to the city’s own past. Gothic the facade’s lower story a weight and monumentality remi-
forms diminished in frequency, but when they were used it niscent of some palace facades (see Fig. 32). The upper story
was with a reverent appreciation for their associative a

meanings. The same was true for Byzantine models

and motifs, which were exploited—in painting as well
as architecture—for their capacity to communicate reli-
gious and civic values.

The Arsenal

The first structure built in Venice that consciously

adopted ancient and Byzantine models was a new
entrance to the Arsenal (Fig. 13.12), the massive civic
shipyards. Signaling a distinct stylistic break with the
Gothic extravagance of Francesco Foscari (see Figs. 13.0
and 13.3), the new gateway announced Venice’s claims to
imperial dominion. Doge Pasquale Malipiero (r. 1457-
62), whose name appears proudly in the dedicatory

13.12 Arsenal Gateway, 1457/58-1460, commissioned by Pasquale

Malipiero and the Avogadori di Comun (Leone Molin, Albano
Capello, and Marc’Antonio Contarini) for the entrance to the
Arsenal, Venice. Marble and Istrian stone

Later additions include the sixteenth-century statue of Santa Giustina

above the pediment, the terrace with Mars and Neptune added in 1682,
bronze doors commemorating the Venetian reconquest of the Morea in
the 1690s, and lions brought to Venice from Athens.

320 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

13.13 San Michele in Isola, Venice, 1469, commissioned by Pietro Dona
from Mauro Codussi

The church now serves as the mortuary chapel for Venice’s island cemetery.

13.15 San Michele in Isola, Venice.

is ingeniously modeled: the pilasters that frame the central This photograph was taken from just inside the barco (choir screen) that still
portion of the facade wrap around the corners to suggest divides the entrance end ofthe church from the rest of the nave.
piers, seemingly grasped by the moldings of the flanking
arches; the arches themselves are embellished with fluting.
The simple columnar supports and ample nave arcade
of the interior (Fig. 13.15) recall other Venetian churches
(see Fig. 7.15), but now classicized with a flat ceiling and
round arches. The patron, Abbot Pietro Dona, spent exten-
sive time in Ravenna reforming the abbey of Sant Apollinare
in Classe. The Early Christian and Byzantine basilicas of
that city provided stylistic means for this monastic reformer
to link his home abbey with the early, presumably purer,
days of Christianity. The resulting space then resembles
Brunelleschi’s Santo Spirito and San Lorenzo in Florence
(see Fig. 11.2), but Codussi’s space feels different because
he seems to have thought of the church interior as a unified
spatial volume rather than as an interplay of carefully artic-
ulated and positioned walls and arcades. Exploiting the soft
white color of Istrian stone, Codussi’s supports blend with,
rather than stand out from, the gently illuminated space.
In 1483, five years after completing his work at San
Michele, Codussi was given responsibility for the even more
prestigious project of completing the new church of the
Benedictine convent of San Zaccaria, begun in 1458 by the
1 Venetian builder Antonio di Marco Gambello (active 1458-
13.14 San Michele in Isola, Venice, plan 81 Venice) but stalled for decades. The abbess, Lucia Dona,
1 Lagoon; 2 Choir screen; 3 Cloister; 4 Emiliani Chapel (later addition) was a relative of the abbot of San Michele in Isola and, like

RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE 321

most of the nuns, came from a prominent Venetian family. this crowd, Gambello had designed the apse with an
Che facade of San Zaccaria (Fig.13.16) vividly documents ambulatory and radiating chapels, a feature of pilgrimage
the stylistic changes sweeping Venetian architecture in this churches such as the Santo in Padua. Codussi’s hand is
period. The lower story up to the height of the main door- evident around the ambulatory in the clusters of antique
way was designed by Gambello, who in late Gothic fashion marble columns which carry basket capitals recalling those
broke the area down into numerous quadrants of red-orange at San Michele. Above them rise polygonal piers and a
Verona marble framed by twisting colonettes and boldly pro- pointed arched arcade containing Gothic tracery, consciously
jecting moldings. ‘Large rectangles swathed with festoons archaic elements meant to associate the new choir with the
and enclosing bust length representations of four bearded past. Above, Codussi turned to even more ancient, Byzantine,
prophets demonstrate only cursory interest in antique models, crowning the apse with a semi-dome and squeezing
prototypes. Codussi rejected Gambello’s overall colorism, ovoid hemispheres into the bays of the ambulatory, evidence
simplifying and rationalizing the design with a carefully of a Byzantine revival that pervaded much Venetian church
balanced composition of layer after layer of niches, arches, architecture well into the early sixteenth century. In the
and paired columns and pilasters artfully coordinated with three-aisled nave, which may have been laid out by Gambello
numerous windows. His composition is fashioned almost before Codussi took over, the columnar supports stand
entirely out of white Istrian stone, only occasionally enriched on high pedestals, like the commemorative columns in the
with soft white and gray marbles. While Codussi’s palette ancient fora of Rome and Constantinople. Their imperial
is more subdued, the effect is in some ways richer, for the associations are made explicit by eagles carved on the capt-
facade suggests a monumental triumphal arch, capped at its tals, repeating forms that appeared in the earlier, twelfth-
summit with a statue of the resurrected Christ, especially century church and were said to have been granted to the
appropriate insofar as the doge and the city’s senators vis- nuns by the Byzantine emperors.
ited the church annually on Easter afternoon.
The unusually complex form of the church’s apse and Painting
choir (Fig. 13.17) can be explained by San Zaccaria’s special
place in Venetian history and ceremony. The doge and the In a society as conscious of tradition as Venice, the success
city’s senators annually paid homage to a symbolic replica of of new works depended on their ability to evoke and blend
Christ’s sepulchre located over the high altar (today marked with the past. So as Codussi was meeting his patrons’
by a sixteenth-century domed tempietto). To accommodate desires to incorporate Early Christian, Byzantine, and
Gothic elements into classically informed
buildings, painters, too, were creating
works that effectively married classical and
non-classical forms.
One alternative, promoted by Antonio
Vivarini’s younger brother Bartolomeo
Vivarini (active 1440-1501 Venice) and
embraced by his primarily aristocratic
patrons, was to accentuate classicizing
forms with lush decoration and highly
pitched color, making his paintings visu-
ally compatible with the dynamic, swirling
forms of gilt, Gothic frames that had long
been popular in his family’s workshop.
The figures in the St. Mark altarpiece
(Fig. 13.18), which Bartolomeo Vivarini
produced for the Corner family’s chapel at
the Franciscan church of Santa Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari, explicitly recall the work
of Andrea Mantegna (see Fig. 14.32) in
their demeanor, poses, and clinging dra-
pery, but all their garments are on fire with
color. The sky behind the figures glints like

13.16 San Zaccaria, facade, Venice, 1458-89,

commissioned by Abbess Lucia Dona and the
resident Benedictine nuns from Antonio di Marco
Gambello, succeeded by Mauro Codussi

322 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

13.17 San Zaccaria,
Venice, 1458-89,
commissioned by Abbess
Lucia Dona and the
resident Benedictine nuns
from Antonio di Marco
Gambello, succeeded by
Mauro Codussi

Dark paintings along the nave

walls were added in later
centuries. Candle smoke has
also distorted the brightness
of the space, darkening the
columns and arches, which
are made oflight-colored
Istrian stone, not the gray
stone commonly used in
central Italy.

gold, shifting dramatically from nearly white on the horizon The same is true ofa series of altarpieces produced in the
to midnight blue at top. The carving on St. Mark’s marble 1470s by-oneofVenice’s most talented and adaptable paint-
throne, though inspired by classical models, is as dense and eyS, Giovanni Bellini429/30 Venice?-1516 Venice), Jacopo’s
tightly wound as the tracery on the altar’s frame. The altar- sO gna’s brother-in-law. Giovanni continued to
piece “works” visually because Vivarini thought ofhis panels pay homage to Venetian traditions even as he transformed
and their frame as an integral, decorative whole. the relationship between painting and frame. In the San

13.18 St. Mark altarpiece

(detail), 1474, commissioned
by the Corner family from
Bartolomeo Vivarini for
the Corner Chapel, Santa
Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,
Venice. Tempera on panel,
central panel 65 x 26%”
(165 x 68 cm), side panels
65 x 22%" (165 x 57 cm)

PAINTING 323
 Giobbe altarpiece (Fig. 13.19), commissioned by the
Confraternity of St. Job, Giovanni set his figures before a
glimmering, mosaic- marble-encrusted apse which
and
evokes the same traditions as the domes and columns at
San Zaccaria, underlining the continuity of Venetian and
Byzantine history. At the same time, Bellini ruptures the
traditional Venetian conception of an altarpiece as a collec-
tion ofdistinct panels—a tradition with venerable Byzantine
roots in the famous Pala d’Oro on the high altar of St. Mark’s
(see Fig. 7.6). Bellini now systematically coordinated his
illusionistic architecture with an actual stone frame—also
probably designed by him. The sense of reality is heightened
by the light entering the painting from the right, as though
from the actual windows in the church. St. Francis, at the
left, reveals the stigmata on his hand and seems to invite the
__worshiper to draw nearer, further bridging the gap between
~tealty andpaincingGrovanni’ painted architecture reflects
the simple, classicizing forms of the church’s domed
chancel, burial place of Doge Cristoforo Moro (r. 1462-71),
enriched with a coffered barrel vault, marble panels, and
mosaics. Perhaps Bellini’s patrons asked him to create an
altarpiece that would compete openly with the chancel,
since Doge Moro’s tomb had dislodged the altar of St. Job
from the apse.
Bellini’s innovative solution was favored by the altarpiece
being commissioned from a confraternity rather than an
aristocratic patron. As was the case earlier in the century for
the niche sculptures at Or San Michele in Florence (see Figs.
10.16, 10.18 and 10.19), where the lesser guilds commissioned

13.19 San Giobbe altarpiece, before 1478,

commissioned by the Confraternity of St. Job
from Giovanni Bellini for San Giobbe, Venice.
Oil on panel, 15’ 4” x 8’ 4" (4.71 x 2.58 m)
(Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

The original stone frame for this altarpiece

remains in situ—but empty—in the church of
San Giobbe.

13.20 Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints,

1475-76, commissioned by Pietro Bon from
Antonello da Messina for San Cassiano,
Venice. Oil on panel, three fragments;
center Madonna 45% x 25” (115 x 63 cm),
left 21% x 13%” (55.5 x 35 cm), right 22% x
144%" (56.8 x 36 cm) (Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna)

324 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

works from the stylistic mavericks Donatello and Nanni di
Banco while the major guilds appreciated the more ornate
manner of Ghiberti, so in Venice aristocratic families like
the Corner at the Frari imposed their taste for the Gothic
while Bellini worked with more experimental models and
forms for less formidable patrons.
Undoubtedly, formal, artistic considerations also influ-
enced the San Giobbe altarpiece. Around 1475 Bellini
encountered the works of Antonello da Messina (c. 1430
Messina-1479 Messina), a Sicilian probably trained in the
Flemish manner in Naples, who may have been invited to
Venice by Pietro Bon, a galley owner and Venetian consul
in Tunis. Bon commissioned Antonello to produce an
altarpiece for San Cassiano (Fig. 13.20), which originally
contained eight standing saints and an enthroned Madonna
and Child. Because the altarpiece has been cut down and
dismembered, it is impossible to reconstruct Antonello’s
spatial setting, but the remaining figures share much in
common with Bellini’s. At the left a bishop saint, like
St. Francis in the San Giobbe altarpiece, looks out at the
worshiper, and Antonello’s Madonna and Child both raise
their hands, beckoning the viewer to approach and receive
their blessing. Antonello, like Bellini, composes with light,
describing full forms, free of the linear quality characteristic
of earlier painting. Exploiting the technique of painting
with oils, which he probably learned in Naples and which he
promoted in Venice (though it had already been introduced
there), Antonello made his paintings glow with luminous
detail, even catching reflections and refractions on transpar-
13.21 St. Jerome in his Study, before 1475 (?), Antonello da Messina.
ent objects such as crystal and glass. Oil on panel, 18 x 14%” (46 x 36 cm) (first documented in a Venetian
Scanty documentation does not permit an exact recon- collection in 1529, now National Gallery, London)
struction of the events that led to the similarities between
Antonello’s and Giovanni Bellini’s work. Both artists seem documented in a Venetian collection in 1529, Antonello
to have learned from one another and to have shared com- may have brought it with him from southern Italy as a dem-
mon artistic goals. Bellini, for one, may have been aware of onstration piece. The architectural setting recalls Neapolitan
contemporaneous Central Italian paintings such as Piero models, as does the framing arch, which resembles the
della Francesca’s altarpiece for Federico da Montefeltro popular depressed form seen around the entrance to the
(see Fig. 14.0). Bellini, too, and most likely Antonello as well, Palazzo Penna in Naples (see Fig. 6.17). He counterfeits the
set his figures on diagonals in space toward the throne of natural flaws and joining of their stone material both with
the Virgin and Child. The trabeated opening at the right paint and with tiny gashes and incisions in the panel’s
of the San Giobbe altarpiece provides the source oflight for surface. The still, contemplative mood seems almost sacral,
the entire scene, gently caressing the sensual body of the reinforced by the fact that Jerome has removed his shoes and
nearly nude St. Sebastian at the right and sending light left them at the base of the stairs. Warm, glowing light picks
flickering over the strands of his hair. The resonant color out his books, the containers, and the edges of the vaults.
and occasional impressionistic effects, such as the daubs Strikingly similar to work by van Eyck and Memling (to
of paint which Bellini uses to suggest the sheen of mosaic whom sixteenth-century sources say it was sometimes attrib-
tesserae, diverge significantly, moreover, from Piero’s cool uted), the painting reveals its Italian origin in Antonello’s
colors and characteristically precise, Tuscan delineation. The expert use of scientific perspective. Laying out a grid of tiles
glow suffusing the space of the painting—achieved in part that leads to open windows and views ofidyllic landscapes
by glazes on the painting surface—creates a quiet meditative and birds gliding against clear blue skies, Antonello fully
image where even the figures’ movements seem to be slowed tames the problems of spatial description, just as he domes-
in the warm languid light. ticates Jerome’s lion, strolling in the shadows at the right.
Antonello’s mastery of the oil medium and its suitability Giovanni Bellini and his patrons, too, responded posi-
for describing objects both precisely and softly is most tively to Flemish realism and the new luminous capacities of
evident in his best-preserved work, a small panel showing the oil medium. In one of his panels, commissioned for a
St. Jerome in his study (Fig. 13.21). Although the work is patron who must have had a profound appreciation of

PAINTING 325
 13.22 St. Francis in the Desert, 1470s,
Giovanni Bellini. Oil and tempera
on panel, 49 x SSA” (124 x 142 cm)
(© Frick Collection, New York)

13.23 Madonna Lochis, 1470s,

Giovanni Bellini. Tempera on panel,
18% x 13%" (47 x 34 cm)
(Accademia Carrarra, Bergamo)

Franciscan symbolism (Fig. 13.22), St. Francis stands in

the midst of a landscape which is replete with the complex
symbolic allusions of Flemish art—plants, animals, and
household objects alluding to Franciscan ideals of poverty
and humility. Resembling a stigmatization (a depiction of
St Francis receiving the wounds of Christ), this scene may
be, rather, a meditation on Francis’s identification with
creation. It is dawn, the rocks a cool gray-green, except
where the first rays of the sun begin to warm the earth.
Prancis stretches out his arms and looks skyward, where, in
traditional Franciscan stigmatizations, one would expect to
find a seraph (see Fig. 1.4), perhaps eliminated when the
panel was cut down on top or just as likely absent from the
original scheme. Natural beauty and light are sufficient,
here, to describe the divine, which Francis himself had done
in his Canticle of the Sun.
This was but one of many modes in which Bellini
conceived his religious paintings. The artist’s prolific out-
put of devotional paintings dedicated to the Madonna
and Child ranged from highly naturalistic to iconic images.
His Madonna Lochis (Fig. 13.23) negotiates several modes,
blending the melancholy of one transcendent, shimmering
Byzantine Madonna with the energy of a wriggling Christ
Child, evocative of Hellenistic sculpture. As in an earlier
painting by his father (see Fig. 13.9), the Madonna is seen
at half-length, as in Byzantine icons, but the traditional
immobility of such figures 1s ruptured by the lively Christ Bh OANNES BELLINVS

326 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

Child who seems to be crawling away from her. Placing In his panel for San Giovanni Evangelista, Gentile
her right hand under Christ’s slightly exposed genitals, the commemorates the annual procession of all the scuole and
Madonna calls the viewer’s attention to his indisputably leading citizens marking the feast of Corpus Christi.
human as well as divine nature. Warm light resolves the Members carry the Scuola’s cherished relic of the True Cross,
inherent tension in the subject and unifies its iconic and protected by a red canopy, across the Piazza San Marco.
narrative modes. White robes declare their group identity, while portrait
likenesses distinguish each individual—a long-standing
tradition in group portraits of scuole members. In fact, the
painting depicts a specific historical event: a miracle that
Purely narrative painting in late fifteenth-century Venice is occurred in 1444, when a terminally ill child was cured when
best studied today in works produced for the scuole, charita- his father—shown in red to the right of the canopy—dropped
ble lay organizations which were dominated by the citizen to his knees to adore the relic. In Florentine art (see Fig.
class (nobles being explicitly prohibited from holding 11.33) the miracle would have been set front and center, the
office in the scwole). There was a great deal of civic-minded occurrence rearranged for narrative emphasis. Here, instead,
competition among the scuwole in this period, each seeking Gentile sets the event in real time and space, the surround-
to enhance its own position within the city as well as con- ing crowds and minute description of the buildings on the
tribute to the city’s overall fame. Giovanni Bellini and his piazza testifying to the truth of the miracle. Just as Venetian
older brother Gentile (c. 1429/30-1507) were members of historians in this period preferred to intersperse family
the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, for whose matters with public events, recording history in chronicles
officers’ meeting room Gentile produced the Procession in as it occurred rather than separating public from private
St. Mark’s Square (see Fig. 7.3). Gentile is less renowned than and organizing their writings by grand schemes, so Gentile,
Giovanni as an artistic innovator, but because of his senior- like his brother Giovanni (see Fig. 13.22), portrays the divine
ity in the family he preceded Giovanni in receiving govern- intervening naturally in the world around him.
mental honors, including the opportunity in 1479 to sign The bustle of urban life dominates the paintings for
the long-sought peace treaty that ended the Turkish Wars the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. In the
with Sultan Muhammad I, whose portrait Gentile painted. Miracle at Rialto (Fig. 13.24) Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1460/66

13.24 Miracle at Rialto, c. 1494,

commissioned by the Scuola
Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
from Vittore Carpaccio for the
albergo of their Scuola, Venice.
Oillonieanvasediy Wiles 1.26974"
(3.65 x 3.89 m) (Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice)

Carpaccio seems to have taken great

delight in depicting the decoratively
designed chimney tops that vented
Venetian fireplaces.

THE SCUOLE AND LAY COMMISSIONS 327

Venice?-1525/6 Venice) records every plank of the city’s assigned to the workshop of Pietro Lombardo (Pietro Solari,
principal wooden drawbridge (replaced by the present c. 1435 Carona-1515 Venice). As his name suggests, Pietro
bridge in 1588-92) and catalogs numerous variations on hailed from Lombardy, as did most of the stoneworkers in
Venetian chimney pots. Carpaccio’s precise training is not Venice, who were attracted by guild laws enacted in the
known, but he was clearly influenced by the work of both 1460s prohibiting the importation of work from outside the
Giovanni and Gentile Bellini. As in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s lagoon but encouraging outsiders to move to Venice. Pietro,
earlier allegories in Siena (see Fig. 5.23), Carpaccio celebrates who did much to popularize classical architectural forms,
the living city, catching figures on rooftops as well as in was a sculptor as well as an architect, enriching his composi-
gondolas and on the streets. Almost incidentally the relic tions with delicate carvings. On the facade of the Scuola
of the Holy Cross performs another miracle, this time on a Grande di San Marco his son Tullio (c. 1455 Venice-1532
balcony at the left. Other surviving paintings by Carpaccio Venice) revived the ancient custom of trompe loeil relief
for smaller scwole, in this same anecdotally rich manner, sug- sculpture, uniting the outer panels of each section of the
gest that the Venetian public as a whole enjoyed imagining facade in perspectival compositions focusing on their respec-
sacred events in familiar settings (see Fig. 2). tive doorways. True to the Scuola’s dedication, lions (symbol
During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, of St. Mark) emerge from fictive barrel vaults at the sides of
costs for building and enlarging the scuole which contained the main entrance. St. Mark himself baptizes and cures the
these paintings grew so high that the government allowed sick in illusionistic porticoes on the right, a subject chosen
the mayor scuole to increase their income by enlarging their to emphasize the charitable activities of the Scuola. As in
membership and by classifying their building projects as Giovanni Bellini’s San Giobbe altarpiece (see Fig. 13.19),
“charitable works.” This freed them from some of their pre- Tullio’s illusionism is one with its framing, blurring distinc-
scribed spending on the poor and destitute. The standard tions between real architecture and its representation.
for elaboration was established by the Scuola Grande di The Lombardi were well known to the citizen leaders of
San Marco in construction projects to replace buildings the Scuola Grande di San Marco because of their previous
destroyed by fire on the night of March 31, 1485. The new work in the same neighborhood on the votive church of
facade (Fig. 13.25) is composed in two distinct but related Santa Maria dei Miracoli (Figs. 13.26 and 13.27). A precious
units, reflecting the larger structure of the main meeting jewel box of a building, the structure was erected by local
hall (sala del capitolo) on the left and the smaller rooms used citizens to house a miracle-working image of the Madonna.
by the officers (sala dell’albergo) on the right. The project was Originally located at the corner of a local shop, the image

13.25 Scuola Grande

di San Marco,
Venice, 1485-90s,
commissioned by the
Scuola Grande di
San Marco from Pietro
and Tullio Lombardo,
succeeded by Mauro
Codussi in 1490

The church just visible to

the right is the Dominican
church of SS. Giovanni e
Paolo. The equestrian
statue also at the right is
Andrea del Verrocchio’s
Monument to
Bartolomeo Colleoni.

328 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

13.26 Santa Maria dei
Miracoli, Venice, 1481-85 ?

interior, commissioned
by members ofthe local
neighborhood from
Pietro Lombardo and his
sons for their own devotions
and those of resident
Clarissan nuns.

13.27 (below) Santa

Maria dei Miracoli, Venice,
1481-85, exterior

proved so prodigiously beneficent—believers were rescued

from sure death and evil deeds were short-circuited by her
miraculous intervention—that neighbors decided to erect a
church and convent to protect and honor the Madonna’s
image. The exterior revetment, composed of carefully bal-
anced rectangles, arches, and circles, evokes the splendor
of Venice’s most important civic church, St. Mark’s (see Fig.
7.4), indicating that this was more than a neighborhood
church. Indeed, the Council of Ten ordered the participa-
tion of all the Scuole Grandi in the cornerstone laying.
Panels of porphyry placed to either side of the doorway and
fashioned into cruciform patterns and decorative roundels
higher up on the facade confirm the church’s high status,
as does the use of the lavish Corinthian and Ionic orders,
playfully rendered and positioned without regard to classi-
cal rules that expected the Corinthian, not the Ionic order,
to occupy the upper story. Carvings of griffins and sea crea-
tures mingle equally freely with busts of saints and angels.
Inside, lay worshipers occupied the lower zone of the rec-
tangular nave; the resident Clarissan nuns worshiped from
an enclosed balcony at the back of the nave opposite the
unusually high, raised presbytery. Like the earlier Clarissans
at Santa Maria Donnaregina in Naples (see Figs. 6.7 and
6.8), they enjoyed a privileged position from which to pray

THE SCUOLE AND LAY COMMISSIONS 329

for the souls of fellow citizens. Inspired by the Florentine sculpture, arranged in a classically restrained but imposing
example of Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy (see Fig. 11.3), the 49-foot (15-meter) high composition. The sculpture includes
chancel is crowned by a centralized dome on pendentives, representations of the Annunciation (a traditional allusion
but the effect is completely different, recalling antique and to the founding of Venice), the Resurrection, virtues, and
Early Christian precedents in Ravenna more than contem- warriors. The doge is represented both by a recumbent
porary Florentine examples. effigy, and by a life-sized standing portrait—the latter
previously reserved in Venice for military heroes. A highly
Commemorative State Commissions legible, laudatory inscription set above the statue and below
the doge’s sarcophagus justifies this manner of portraying
Whereas earlier generations had hesitated to provide even him, emphasizing Tron’s acquisition of Cyprus and active
an effigy of the leader of the republic, wealthy Venetian participation in the war against the Turks. The inscription
families now emulated aristocrats at the Italian courts by also commemorates his controversial reform of Venetian
commissioning multilevel monuments for their illustrious coinage, on which he placed his own portrait—common in
relatives. In 1476 Filippo Tron, son of Doge Niccolo Tron autocratic states (see Fig. 9.14) and visually referenced by
(r. 1471-73) commissioned a tomb (Fig. 13.28) from roundels of Roman rulers on Tron’s sarcophagus, but so
Antonio Rizzo (before 1440 Verona-1499 Foligno?), who contrary to traditional Venetian values that the practice was
had begun his career in Verona. Located on the left wall of outlawed for his successors. Doges were expected to serve
the Frari’s chancel, the Tron tomb consists of five tiers of and promote the state and their office, not themselves or
their family.
Although the Venetian government continued through-
out this period to limit the doge’s actual power, he was
presented to outsiders as the prestigious head of state.
In 1485 the Senate decreed that the forthcoming coronation
of Doge Marco Barbarigo (r. 1485-86) and the reception
of ambassadors and visiting dignitaries would take place on
a new Staircase in the courtyard of the Doge’s Palace which
was on an axis with the campanile of St. Mark’s and the
Porta della Carta (see Fig. 13.0). The design of this staircase
(Fig. 13.29) was assigned to Rizzo, who made the authority
of the doge and the government implicit by locating a
prison cell under its landing, putting eight personifications
ofVictories in reliefon the projecting ends, and covering the
sides with colored marbles arid dense, classicizing ornament
featuring marine and military motifs that allude to Venetian
control of both land and sea. The arms of the Barbarigo
family are also greatly in evidence, Agostino Barbarigo
(r. 1486-1501) having succeeded his brother Marco as doge
in 1486 in an unprecedented and potentially worrisome
election for a state that viewed ruling dynasties with abhor-
rence. The Barbarigo brothers’ penchant for grandeur did
little to assuage such fears: Agostino scandalized his fellow
Venetians by insisting that visitors kneel before him and
kiss his hand.
In 1488 Agostino commissioned a seemingly more
humble image of himself kneeling before the enthroned
Virgin and Child for the Doge’s Palace (Fig. 13.30). It is a
rare survivor of a common type. Doges and other officials
in Venice regularly commemorated their election and
13.28 Tomb of Doge Niccolo Tron, 1476-80, commissioned by his son
Filippo Tron from Antonio Rizzo for the chancel of Santa Maria Gloriosa
underscored their piety by hanging devotional paintings
dei Frari, Venice. Marble containing portraits of themselves in state offices. However,
The inscription beneath the sarcophagus reads: “Nicold Tron was an
a close examination of the painting’s iconography suggests
unexcelled citizen, an unexcelled senator, an unexcelled prince ofthe that this is not an innocent image. As expected, Agostino
aristocracy. Under his most blessed leadership, the most flourishing state of wears the solemn and even burdensome ceremonial garb of
the Venetians received Cyprus into its empire. With the king of the Parthians,
he joined arms against the Turks. He restored the value of money with his living
office and kneels reverently before the enthroned Madonna
image. His son Filippo has erected this well-earned monument to his most and Child, but while all previous doges had been recom-
innocent shades for divine aid in everlasting perpetuity.” (Trans. Debra Pincus) mended by their name saints, here St. Mark stands directly

330 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

 13.29 Scala dei Giganti, 1485, commissioned by
the Venetian government from Antonio Rizzo for the
courtyard of the Doge’s Palace, Venice

implication, cedes him the office of doge.

Ironically, the two were infamous rivals
and Marco is said to have lambasted his
brother from his death bed, but Agostino
did everything in his power to mask their
strained relationship, including commis-
sioning an unprecedented double tomb in
Santa Maria della Carita for their com-
mon burial. In the painting Bellini
includes three birds that refer to fraternal
harmony: a partridge on the pavement, a
peacock on the railing, and a stork just
behind the parapet were all associated by
Renaissance authors with familial con-
cord and sacrifice.
Bellini bathes this highly calculated
work in cool, serene light, treating the eyes
behind Agostino and puts his hand on the doge’s shoulder; of the city-bound inhabitants of the Doge’s Palace to views
his namesake, St. Augustine, stands in the shadows on the of verdant countryside, heavily wooded on the left, open and
right. This suggests daring dynastic pretensions insofar guarded by a castle on the right. The only elements that
as St. Mark was not only patron of the city but also of disturb the preternatural calm are the angel heads that float
his brother Marco, who preceded him as doge and here, by above eye level. Agostino must already have been planning

13.30 Votive Picture of Doge Agostino Barbarigo, 1488, commissioned by Agostino Barbarigo from Giovanni Bellini for the Doge’s Palace.
Oil on canvas, 7’ %o" x 12' %” (2 x 3.2 m) (San Pietro Martire, Murano)

Only recently have scholars realized that this work was commissioned for the Doge’s Palace, not for the Barbarigo Palace.

COMMEMORATIVE STATE COMMISSIONS 331

for the work’s final resting place at the convent of Santa stirrups, Colleoni glares imperiously at potential foes. The
Maria degli Angeli (Saint Mary of the Angels) in Murano, exaggerated folds and intense eyes under his furrowed brow
where two of his daughters were nuns. In his will he left the typify the leonine portrait type symbolic of strength and
painting to the convent and asked that it be framed as an command that Verrocchio’s student, Leonardo da Vinci, was
altarpiece for the high altar where the nuns would “always later to use so effectively (see Fig. 16.6).
pray for our soul and for the souls of all our [kinsmen] who Despite their vacillation in allowing Colleoni’s equestrian
have passed from this life.” statue a site in their city, the Venetian authorities must have
Sull, Venetians always remained wary of individual understood its resonance within the civic iconography that
commemoration. When Bartolomeo Colleont, their famed coursed through the streets from the moment one embarked
military captain and successor to Erasmo da Narni on the Piazzetta San Marco from the sea. There, another
(“Gattamelata”; see Fig. 11.20), left a substantial bequest warrior, St. Theodore, guarded the Palazzo Ducale and only
to the city on the condition that he be honored with an a few feet away, the Horses of San Marco over the main door
equestrian monument in Piazza San Marco, city fathers of the basilica gave indication of both Venice’s military
demurred. They saved face, however, by authorizing its conquests and her diplomatic skills. Even well-established
erection in the square in front of the Scuola Grande di San imagery like the equestrian warrior could be seamlessly
Marco (see Fig. 13.25). woven into the fabric of civic propaganda that had been part
Florentine sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio created a of the history of the city since the late Middle Ages.
dynamic work (Fig. 13.31) that
seems about to charge off its pedes-
tal. Emulating the energy and lithe
musculature of the late antique
bronze horses that stood on the
facade of St. Mark’s, Verrocchio
lifted his horse’s left leg and hoof
high off the ground. The graceful
switls of the horse’s mane and the
decorative harness contrast with
the taut tendons of the horse’s legs
and the distended muscles of the
animal’s neck. Colleoni wrenches
his body to the back and cranks
his head to the left. Despite the dis-
play nature of the horse, Colleoni
appears fiercely animated by the
spirit of battle, the very reason that
the Venetians had hired him in the
first place. Standing high in his

13.31 Equestrian Monument to Bartolomeo

Colleoni, commissioned by the Venetian
Senate from Andrea del Verrocchio,
Venice, Piazza di SS. Giovanni e Paolo,
Venice. Bronze with marble base,
height c. 19’ (5.75 m)

The considerable technical feat of casting

the statue—in model form at Verrocchio’s
death in 1488—was given to the local Venetian
ets
bronze founder Alessandro Leopardi, who eeep RARAS ABASERAE
we ~
SSS:

also supervised the erection of the handsome, i pesdnssenens a aes

calumniated marble pedestal on which the
work stands (see Fig. 13.25).

332 VENICE: AFFIRMING THE PAST AND PRESENT

 Courtly Art: The Gothic
aGEGlassic

models, especially those that increased their magnifi-

cence and reinforced their power and authority. In so
oing they set new standards for competitive display.

errara: The Este Family

The Este family took control of Ferrara in the late
thirteenth century. From then on the city, located
midway between Bologna on the south and Venice
on the north, acted as a neutral buffer state among
the otherwise fractious city-states of northern Italy.
Niccolo IH, first marquis of Ferrara, Reggio, and
Rovigo (r. 1393-1441), won renown for his singular
commitment to peace. When his son Leonello (1404-
50) succeeded him in 1441, Leonello immediately
decided to celebrate his father’s accomplishments
with a bronze equestrian sculpture now lost. This
was the first full-scale bronze of this subject since
antiquity. Leonello, who had been tutored by
Guarino of Verona (see Contemporary Voice, p. 335),
was very adept at exploiting ancient prototypes to
political ends. An inscription on the monument
lauded Niccolo d’Este as “three times creator of
peace” and gave credit to the civic authorities who
financed the project, testifying to the Este family’s
successful efforts in cultivating a reputation as
amicable rulers both at home and abroad. At the
same time, the equestrian type underlined Este power
and dominion. —_
= hoo 1s CHS ¢
Medals for Leonello d’Este

Leonello collected antique coins and jewels, and

constructed a special study in which to examine and
enjoy them. One ofhis most notable acts of patron-
age was commissioning portrait medals from Vittore
Pisano, called Pisanello (c. 1395 probably Pisa-1455
probably Rome). An artistic virtuoso, Pisanello worked
| the fifteenth century the Este family of Ferrara, the new across the breadth of Italy. Pisanello and Leonello were
Aragonese dynasty in Naples, the Malatesta of Rimini,
the Montefeltro of Urbino, the Gonzagas of Mantua, and
14.0 Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by Federico da Montefeltro,
the Sforzas of Milan brought the ideal of the perfect identity
c. 1472-74, commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro from Piero della
between a prince and his court to clear and felicitous expres- Francesca, perhaps for Federico’s burial chapel. Oil on panel, 8’ 2” x S’ 7”
sion. Initially wedded to the prestigious, effulgent forms (2.51 x 1.72 m) (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan)
of the International Gothic Style (see pages 194-99), courtly Federico was buried in the church of San Bernardino, which he founded outside
patrons also experimented with and developed antique the walls of Urbino.

S33
14.1 Medal of Emperor John VIII Paleologus, obverse and reverse, 14.2 Medal of Leonello d’Este, obverse and reverse, 1444,
c. 1438, perhaps commissioned by Leonello d’Este from Pisanello. commissioned by Leonello d’Este from Pisanello. Bronze, 4” (10.16 cm)
Bronze, diameter 4” (10.16 cm) (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence) (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

Medals were produced in a variety of media, ranging from relatively inexpensive,

soft metals, like lead, to precious silver and gold.

inspired both by humanist studies and contemporary pag- Leonello d’Este popularized Pisanello’s medals, using
eantry, specifically the visit of the Byzantine Emperor John them as diplomatic gifts to cement relationships with digni-
VIN Paleologus to Ferrara during the great ecumenical taries throughout Europe. In one example, announcing
council begun there in 1438. Dedicated to reuniting the Leonello’s marriage to Mary of Aragon, natural daughter of
Orthodox and Western branches of Christendom, and thus King Alfonso of Naples (Fig. 14.2), Pisanello anchors his
lending support to the Byzantine rulers as their empire was patron’s bust with a Latin inscription across his shoulders
crumbling, the conference brought great numbers ofEastern that translates as “Leonello d’Este Marquis.” The qualifying
officials to Ferrara. Pisanello made sketches of many of descriptor “of Ferrara and Modena” appears in the curve
them, and thus was able to give the image of the Byzantine beneath. The abbreviation “ge r ar” hovers like a coronet
emperor which appeared on one ofhis medals (Fig. 14.1) an above his head, a clever rendition of the Latin words meaning
air of authenticity. “Son-in-law of the King of Aragon.” The obverse provides, as
Humanists may have suggested the medallic form to do many of Pisanello’s medals, a charming commentary on
Pisanello and Leonello, understanding that the genre had the event. At the right Cupid patiently points out musical
been favored by the ancient Roman emperors, from whom notes on a scroll to a very meek lion, tail between his legs,
John VII Paleologus’s title of emperor descended. They also who is learning to sing—an ingratiatingly modest image of
would have known oflarge gold medallions commemorat- the awkward but diligent bridegroom Leonello (“little lion”).
ing the emperors Heraclius and Constantine which the In the background an eagle (one of the devices of his father-
Parisian goldsmith Michelet Saulmon (active 1375-1416) in-law) keeps watch. Dated 1444 and carrying Leonello’s
had created for the duke of Burgundy at the beginning of personal emblem of the column and sail on a stele, the work
the century. Following both ancient and medieval examples, is inscribed with Pisanello’s name above Cupid’s head.
then, Pisanello placed John Paleologus in profile on the
obverse (front), surrounded by an identifying inscription (in Pisanello in Verona
Greek). On the reverse (back) Paleologus again appears in
profile, on his horse, stopping to pray at a roadside cross. He Pisanello was also a remarkable painter. In the 1430s he
is also shown departing across the rock-strewn landscape at collaborated with a Florentine sculptor, Michele da Firenze
the left. Inscriptions in both Latin and Greek name Pisanello (master of the Pellegrini Chapel; active 1404-43), on the
as the medal’s creator. decoration of the Pellegrini Chapel in the church of
The custom ofissuing commemorative medals had been Sant’Anastasia. Over the entrance arch of the chapel,
re-established earlier in the small classicizing medals of Pisanello painted a fresco of St. George and the Princess (Fig.
Francesco da Carrara in Padua (see Fig. 9.14). But whereas 14.3), now cut into two pieces. To add to the horrific effect,
the rulers of Padua appeared in Roman guise, Pisanello Pisanello portrays the dragon’s long reptilian tail slithering
chose to commemorate a.living individual in contemporary amidst them, leading the viewer's eye up to the monster’s
garb. Pisanello’s “revival” of the ancient Roman medal con- own bloated body and howling head. While clearly a fantas-
sisted of taking a form that the Paduan and Burgundian tic creation of the artist’s imagination, the dragon sports
courts had already salvaged from antiquity and giving it a scales and feet based on close natural observation. Careful
contemporary aspect. Stylistically, Pisanello’s medals were study also informs Pisanello’s representation ofa dead deer
not Roman at all—an incongruity of little concern to a and of a lion stalking another unfortunate victim above.
courtly patron who doubtless saw himself as a fancier and On the right St. George, the golden-haired hero of the
reviver, not a slavish imitator, of antiquity. story, has dismounted after rescuing the princess, who

334 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

 14.3 St. George and the Princess,
detail and whole arch, 1430s,
commissioned by the Pellegrini
family from Pisanello for the
exterior of the entry arch into the
Pellegrini Chapel, Sant’Anastasia ?

Verona. Fresco

stands in regal profile to the side of his horse. Most of the boat sailing toward shore; horsemen whose physiognomy
gold and silver that were glued onto the fresco have fallen suggests they may come from eastern Europe or Asia; two
away, but the sheer length of the princess’ train and the hanged men on gallows; a shining, magical city of Gothic
elaboration of St. George’s armor suggest how alluring towers and delicate tracery in the background; and hunting
the surface must have been. Everywhere there is something dogs rendered with loving accuracy, all combined in a fairy
to delight the eye: a body of water at the far left and a tale of chivalry and romance.

Praise for Pisanello

Pisanello’s work received an enthusiastic A good example of ekphbrasis survives in a horse and tremble at the blare of trumpets.
reception among north Italian humanists, description of Pisanello’s work by Guarino When you paint a nocturnal scene you
many of whom were heavily influenced da Verona (1370-1460), Chrysoloras’s make the night-birds flit about and not
by the Greek scholar Manuel Chrysoloras most famous pupil. one of the birds of the day is to be seen;
(c. 1355-1415). Chrysoloras popularized you pick out the stars, the moon’s sphere,
the Greek tradition of ekpbrasis, or ... you equal Nature’s works, whether you the sunless darkness. If you paint a winter
extended, descriptive praise. Because of the are depicting birds or beasts, perilous scene everything bristles with frost and the
compatibility between Pisanello’s work straits and calm seas; we would swear leafless trees grate in the wind. If you set
and humanist rhetoric, it was he—not the we saw the spray gleaming and heard the the action in spring, varied flowers smile in
classicizing Donatello, Brunelleschi, or breakers roar. | put out a hand to wipe the the green meadows, the old brilliance
their compatriot Masaccio—who received sweat from the brow ofthe labouring peas- returns to the trees, and the hills bloom;
most praise from early Italian humanists. ant; we seem to hear the whinny ofa war here the air quivers with the songs of birds.

(from Michael Baxandall. Giotto and the Orators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971, pp. 92-93. Trans. from Epistolario di Guarino Veronese. Ed. R. Sabbadini.
Venice, 1915, pp. 554-57)

FERRARA: THE ESTE FAMILY 335

 CONTEMPORARY SCENE

Art and Punishment

Pisanello drew these figures of 14.4 Hanged Men and Two Portraits,
hanged men (Fig. 14.4) as pre- 1430s, Pisanello. Metalpoint and
pen on paper, 11% x 7%" (26.6 x
paratory studies for his fresco of
19.7 cm) (© British Museum,
St. George in Verona (see Fig. no. 1895.9.15.441, London)
14.3). Carefully observed and
detailed, they depict one of the men, as some of their garments
grimmer aspects of life in medi- fall away, revealing their naked-
eval and Renaissance Europe, ness. Prostitutes were often pun-
where the executions ofcriminals ished by being stripped to the
were public events and where waist and paraded through the
bodies or parts of bodies were streets as a form ofpublic humil-
left on view in the landscape or iation. In times of insurrection
in designated parts of the city people were sometimes hanged
as warnings to the population from windows of the city halls
at large against breaking the where they had moments earlier
law. London Bridge, for exam- been sentenced to death—swift
ple, often carried decapitated justice in a period of inflamed
heads exposed on spikes. And passions. In Florence, images of
at the Senator’s Palace of the hanged criminals were painted
Capitoline Hill in Rome, men on the facades ofthe Palazzo del
were tortured by having their Podesta (the governor’s palace,
hands tied behind their backs now known as the Bargello)
with a rope, by which they were and the Palazzo della Signoria.
then hoisted into the air and Both Castagno and Botticelli
then repeatedly dropped a cer- are known to have painted such
tain distance. This punishment, images; Castagno was even
called strappato, tore the muscles known as Andrea of the Hanged
of their arms, yet the men were Men, supposedly for the number,
left hanging from the facade if not the fame, of his works
ofthe building between applica- jn this genre. Accompanying
tions of the torture. Bodies inscriptions identified the crimi-
placed on wheels, with their limbs brutally transitional rites of Christian burial which nals, and the images remained as a long-
broken over the rim, the bones piercing were meant to usher the soul into the after- term reminder, not only of the individuals
the skin, were erected on tall poles on open life. Even though confraternities assumed but of the shame that they had brought to
fields where they attracted carrion-eating the duty of praying with and for the con- their families. These portraits of infamous
birds. demned prisoner, and even accompanied men, as they were known, served as a vivid
Pisanello’s fresco shows the gallows him up the ladder to the gibbet with counterpart to the portraits of virtuous
placed outside the city wall, as was the exhortations to repentance, the final act citizens that decorated the walls of family
usual custom, in order that the criminal of execution left the criminal alone and chapels and the facades of confraternities
dead should not defile the city itself. Thus unattended, spatially and spiritually sepa- and churches (see Fig. 8.18). In their own
punishment put the trespasser literally rated from the community (see Fig. 12.1). way they are a measure of the power of
outside the bounds of society. Moreover, Pisanello’s drawing also graphically sug- the visual image to convey messages about
it denied to the criminal the normal gests the degradation of the condemned civil order.

A similar aesthetic dominates the walls of the chapel, He also adds charming, almost naive detail quickly
lined with twenty-four terracotta reliefs by Michele modeled in the terracotta: a parade of the Magi and their
da Firenze. The reliefs narrate mainly events from the entourage among the hills at the upper right; lilies,
Passion and Resurrection. They also include a few scenes ferns, and flowers growing as large as and larger than the
from the early life of Christ (Fig. 14.5). In the Adoration of the trees; and an angel and eight-pointed star above a thatched
Magi, Michele reverses his master Lorenzo Ghiberti’s shed sheltering the obligatory ox and ass. Diversity
portrayal of the same subject from the second set of and complexity here take precedence over dramatic unity
bronze doors for the Baptistry in Florence (see Fig. 10.5). and coherence.

336 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

14.5 Scenes from the Life of Christ, detail of the
Adoration of the Magi, 1430s, commissioned by the
Pellegrini family from Michele da Firenze for the
Pellegrini Chapel, Sant’Anastasia, Verona. Terracotta

Pisanello and Michele probably collaborated on

this project, which is typical of multimedia decorative
complexes in this period. Besides providing a fresco
for the entrance to the chapel, the painter may have
participated in polychroming the relief sculpture.

Borso d’Este

Borso d’Este (1413-71), Leonello’s half

brother, succeeded him as marquis of Ferrara
in 1450. Few Renaissance princes were as
enamoured of courtly display. Renowned
for his broad smile and splendid attire,
Borso moved freely among his subjects in
full court dress, winning loyalty and admira-
tion through a conscious display of the princely virtues of
magnificence and jocundity. Succeeding the equally image-
conscious but more restrained and scholarly Leonello,
Borso acted the part ofa great prince. He earned the title of
duke of Modena and Reggio in 1451 and recognition as the
first duke of Ferrara in 1471. Ferrarese art under Borso was
extravagant and flamboyant, high-pitched, coloristic, and heipurliter Ecclcfinites..
full of decorative verve. While some observers found Borso’s
penchant for luxury a bit overwhelming—Pope Pius H
snidely remarked that Borso wished merely to appear, rather
than to be, grandiose and generous—there was no denying
the opulence of the Ferrarese court.
joer tir
uaedie de ee
Borso’s Bible Borso and his artists upheld and enhanced
el We |
the accomplishments of his predecessors, a strategy for ah
Abies i)

maintaining dynastic power that is made explicit in his

commission for the decoration ofa deluxe illuminated Bible
(Fig. 14.6). Borso’s ducal chamberlain made a contract with
Taddeo Crivelli (active 1451-died before 1479 Bologna) and
his assistant, Franco de’ Russi (active c. 1453-82), illumina-
tors who had earlier worked for the Malatesta family on the i
|
Adriatic coast. The contract stipulated not only the usual |

matters of format, price, and completion date of the work,

but also instructed the artists to emulate a deluxe French
Bible that scholars have identified as a work illuminated
by Belbello da Pavia for Borso’s father Niccolo III. Since the
two Bibles are quite different in the arrangement of their
pages, spatial conceptions, and specific style, the artists
must have been asked not to copy the earlier work but to use
it as a standard of excellence to equal or exceed.
The opening page of the Old Testament book of
14.6 Bible of Borso d’Este, page from Ecclesiastes, 1455-61, commissioned
Ecclesiastes is clearly marked on a fluttering orange ribbon by Borso d’Este from Taddeo Crivelli and Franco de’ Russi (Biblioteca
in the center of the upper border and in red lettering in the Estense, Ms. V.G. 12 = Lat. 422, |, fol. 284r, Modena)
left column. An enormous floriated initial begins the text The Bible was produced in two large volumes at two different rates of
itself, surrounded in the border by equally brilliant, nearly remuneration, the higher one reserved for the opening pages of each book
enameled flowers laid on a ground of fine gold filigree. of the Bible.

FERRARA: THE ESTE FAMILY 337

reardrop-shaped openings reveal heraldic imagery; a deer decoration that wraps around the room just below a carved,
and leopard in the upper corners reclining on woven baskets polychromed, and gilded coffered ceiling bearing shields
of green grass recall much prior courtly imagery (see Fig. with Borso’s personal emblems. Putti stand amid cornuco-
9.26). Lavender cornucopias and a golden vase improbably pias and thick garlands which serve as a kind of celestial
but splendidly tie the border to an equally fantastic but court of honor for female personifications of virtues
more illusionistic landscape and pavilion below. enthroned in shell-topped niches: Charity, Faith, and Hope
Inside a perspectivally constructed pavilion courtiers and on the wall contiguous with the duke’s chambers and
their ladies perform’a circle dance accompanied by trumpet- Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance on the wall adjoining
ers standing at the right. At the left, however, the king for the reception hall.
whom they perform looks away, contemplating the golden In a sense, the decorative program of the palace was
glow of the sky, part of a naturalistic landscape that flanks not complete unless Borso himself was present. Borso saw
the pavilion left and right, creating spatial illusions distinct himself as the embodiment ofJustice, the only virtue absent
from the flatness of the writing surface and decorative from the iconographic program of the Hall of the Stuccoes.
motifs above. The king is the wise ruler of the text of Dressed lavishly, in keeping with the splendor of his
Ecclesiastes, who heeds the writer’s condemnation of all surroundings, he would have greeted his most important
worldly accomplishment and pleasure as “vanity of vanities.” guests in this room and then have had the pleasure of
How ironic and yet telling for a patron so enamored of leading them back into the larger main reception room,
display as Borso. where the fresco cycle began with a portrayal of the duke
Borso’s extravagant Bible with its more than one thou- and his courtiers under a portal clearly labeled “Justice.”
sand illuminations served as much more than a splendid Art and court life were perfect mirrors of one another.
personal devotional object. It was shown to
ambassadors, and Borso carried it when he went
to Rome at the end of his life to be invested as
duke of Ferrara. Since Borso spent most of
his reign working to make Ferrara a duchy, he
had to look, act, and spend like a duke, being
especially conscious of the example of the dukes
of Milan and Burgundy, who were also lavish
patrons of manuscript illumination (see Fig. 9.28).
The Bible’s great expense, some 5,000 ducats or
fully one hundred times the average yearly rent
for an entire house in Ferrara, placed him firmly
in their league.

The Palazzo Schifanoia Around 1465 Borso

]
began renovating a late fourteenth-century p Le as-

ure palace in the southeast corner of Ferrara.

Known as the Palazzo Schifanoia (literally “away
with boredom” but implying casting one’s cares to
the wind), the palace had traditionally been used
as a guest house and site for court entertainments.

Substantial remains of its decorative program can

sull be admired in the main reception hall, the
so-called Hall of the Months (Fig. 14.7), and the
smaller audience hall and antechamber to Borso’s
l

private apartment, the Hall of the Stuccoes (Fi YG

14.8). As its name implies, the Hall of the Stuccoes
is renowned for a wide band of stucco (plaster)

14.7 Hall of the Months, detail of April and May, 1469-70

commissioned by Borso d’Este from Francesco del Cossa
Ercole de’ Roberti, and others according to de
provided by Cosmé Tura for the Palazzo Schifar
42°09
 14.8 Hall of the Stuccoes, 1467, commissioned
by Borso d’Este from Domenico di Paris and
Buongiovanni da Geminiano for the Palazzo
Schifanoia, Ferrara. Stucco with polychromy
and gilding

chained as her prisoner. He should

probably be understood as Mars, the god
of war, who according to Tito Vespasiano
Strozzi’s Borsiade (a classicizing biogra-
phy of Borso) objected to Jupiter’s
pronouncement that Borso would usher
in a reign of peace. Venus, goddess of
love, persuaded Mars to change his
mind. Amorous young couples confirm
that Venus and Borso have triumphed.
Numerous pairs of rabbits, renowned
for their fecundity, graze across the lav-
ender and green landscape.
Borso had very good reason to be
The principal subject of the Hall of the Months (see Fig. pleased with Cossa’s work. It was visually alluring, learned,
14.7), was an astrological and calendrical cycle resembling witty, and filled with intriguing detail. It may come as a
schemes such as those at Trent in the early fifteenth century surprise to learn, then, that Cossa complained about his
(see Fig. 9.30). The cycle runs counterclockwise around the compensation and that his requests for additional pay fell
room, beginning with March, the first month of the year on deaf ears. Borso paid him by the square foot for his
in most Renaissance calendars. It and the adjacent scene of efforts, rather than by time or by figure. A persuasive theory
April are the best-preserved paintings, having been executed suggests that Cossa was paid on this basis because the
largely in buon fresco by an enterprising local artist, Francesco duke’s salaried court artist, the slightly older Cosmé Tura
del Cossa (c. 1435 Ferrara-1476/77 Bologna). The lower (c. 1430 Ferrara-1495 Ferrara), provided detailed drawings
band of the central bay representing April is dominated for each of the compositions.
at the right by a classically detailed white, green, and pink
pavilion, suggesting the Este’s armorial colors of red and The Palazzo dei Diamanti
green. In its center foreground stands the rotund, smiling
Borso and a group of courtiers; his coat and those of two After Borso’s death in 1471, his half brother Ercole d’Este
of the more splendid youths are embellished with real gold. (1431-1505) created an entire district of classically
A doorway later cut into the wall at the left truncates a inspired buildings along clear, straight avenues emanating
composition of Borso engaged in the hunt, both a literal directly from the Este palace compound at the center of
depiction of an aristocratic activity and a metaphorical the city. At the crossroads of the district’s main axes,
allusion to Borso’s maintenance of peace in the countryside Ercole’s brother, Sigismondo (1433-1507), constructed the
as well as in the city. The two scenes pivot around the ruins extraordinary Palazzo dei Diamanti, so-called for the 8,500
ofa classical arch, behind which stretches a vast landscape diamond-faceted blocks that erupt from its facades (Fig.
and in front of which sits the charming figure of a courtier, 14.9). Designed by the court architect Biagio Rossetti, who
now largely effaced, whose crossed legs seem to extend out was responsible for the layout of the neighborhood as well
into the viewer’s space. Above the hunting scene Cossa has as for numerous churches and residences within it, the
squeezed in a representation of the Palio di San Giorgio, an building subtly evokes the fortified character of the Este
annual race among the city’s neighborhoods. Roman ruins Castle in its raked plinth and insistent rustication. Rossetti
at the left blend with a medieval tower and crenellated domesticated these forms by applying them decoratively
wall, suggesting, along with the Roman arch at the center of to a classically organized rectangular structure recalling the
the full panel, that Ferrara is heir to ancient glories now Palazzo Medici in Florence (see Fig. 11.11). Reversing the
revivified under the virtuous Borso d’Este. usual Tuscan practice of adominant ground story, Rossetti
All these mundane activities are given a celestial gloss enlarged the main, upper story, punctuating it with large
in the upper zone of the wall by a representation of the pedimented windows. Smaller windows, those on the
Triumph of Venus, her float drawn into safe harbor by a entrance side capped by entablatures, illuminate the lower
pair of swans. A knight in golden armor kneels before her, story. The corner, from which the Este were both to admire

FERRARA: THE ESTE FAMILY 339

 14.9 Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, 1493,
commissioned by Sigismondo d’Este from
Biagio Rossetti

The palace stands midway between the Este Castle in the

old city and what was to have been the site of a 55-foot
(17-meter) tall equestrian statue of Duke Ercole.

Brancacci, the commissioner of Masaccio’s

and Masolino’s frescoes (see Fig. 10.37),
and resident in Felice’s house during his
Florentine visit, Rainaldo would have been
keenly aware of the new art in Florence.
Thus, when it came time to plan his own
tomb monument, it is not surprising that
he chose the sculptural team that Donatello
had formed with Michelozzo. The practical
matter of there being no sculptural work-
shop in the Naples of that period able to
handle such a project undoubtedly played a
decisive role in his decision. Brancacci
neces
placed his tomb in a frescoed chapel,
eeereemnemneenerse
GER
Sant’Angelo a Nilo, at his newly endowed
hospital near the Brancacci family home in
the center of Naples. The tomb, carved
their new straight streets and appear splendidly to their sub- largely in a workshop that Donatello set up in Pisa and then
jects, is accented with two lavishly carved, superimposed assembled in Naples, is a mix of Florentine and Neapolitan
pilasters and a balcony. Every element is exquisitely detailed, elements, an exported style conforming to local traditions.
down to the diamond-shaped blocks, whose facets shift from The classical, fluted columns, paired pilasters, classicizing
level to level so that they point upward from the bottom, caryatid figures carrying the tomb chest, and the schiacciato
appear perfectly centered in the middle zone, and slightly relief decorating the chest are characteristic of Florentine
tilt downward from the piano nobile. art, but the shape of the tomb with its baldachin-like archi-
tectural frame and the angels standing behind the figure of
Naples: A New Aragonese Dynasty the dead cardinal and pulling apart the draperies as if to
reveal it are typical of earlier Neapolitan tombs (see Fig.
On July 5, 1421, the childless Queen Giovanna II of 6.18). Although the poses of the winged putti blowing trum-
Naples adopted Alfonso of Aragon (c. 1396-1458) as her heir, pets at its sides may be classically inspired, they serve the
giving him claim to a kingdom that stretched across the same kind of decorative function as the pinnacle figures on
Mediterranean, from Spain to Italy. Two years later Giovanna the tomb of King Ladislas and the cathedral portal (see Fig.
had second thoughts about empowering the already 6.16). This is definitely not a work intended for the sculp-
formidable Aragonese king, preferring instead to recognize tors’ native Florence, where surviving tombs are not usually
the claims of her Angevin cousins. Despite the twenty years supported by caryatids nor crowned by such an elaborate
of fierce fighting that ensued because of this vacillating canopy. Its eclectic fusion of classical and Gothic elements
policy and competing claims to the kingdom of Naples, a perfectly suited the sophisticated Neapolitan court.
number of important artistic projects initiated a significant Whatever Donatello’s and Michelozzo’s reputations, they
shift in style from the Gothic preferred by the Angevin clearly had to conform to local traditions.
rulers of Naples to a new classicism that was to blossom
under Alfonso. Alfonso the Magnanimous: Military and
Humanist Ruler
Donatello and Michelozzo in Naples
When Alfonso of Aragon was finally able to ride in triumph
One of the chief instruments in this shift in style was a through his new capital city in 1443, more than twenty
commission from the Neapolitan Cardinal Rinaldo Brancacci years after Giovanna II had named him her heir and then
to Donatello and Michelozzo for his tomb. Rinaldo had rescinded her decision, he was determined that his artistic
come to know the work of the two Florentine sculptors commissions would both proclaim and ensure his sover-
during his stay in Florence in 1419/20 with the papal court eignty. This involved projects that demonstrated both his
of the newly elected Martin V. Most likely related to Felice military power and his benign rulership as a humanist king.

340 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

The Castello Aragonese Alfonso repeated the early Angevin and rhetoric, as well as the site of cold-blooded scheming.
strategy of importation and imposition. He allotted the It presents a resolutely military aspect, providing lofty
construction of the castle’s greatly enlarged moats and interior spaces and efficient defense against newly powerful
new, defended forecourt, the so-called Citadella, to Italians, cannons. By contrast, its entryway suggests an ancient
but followed the examples of fortifications in Spain and triumphal arch, celebrating Alfonso’s conquest of the city
southern France in the renovations of the castle (Figs. 14.11 (Fig. 14.13). The five enormous towers at its corners rise
and 14.12). The building was at once fortress and palace, the from splayed bases which functioned as defense against
congenial home to studies of ancient philosophy, literature, heavy artillery.

14.11 Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo), Naples, renovated after 1443,

commissioned by King Alfonso |. See also Fig. 14.13.

Alfonso’s triumphal arch extends between the two towers at the far right.
A great fortified forecourt once stood in front ofthe castle.

14.10 Tomb ofCardinal Rainaldo Brancacci, c. 1425, commissioned 14.12 Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo), Naples, plan of upper floor
by Rainaldo Brancacci from Donatello and Michelozzo for Sant’Angelo 1 Triumphal arch; 2 Sala dei Baroni; 3 Chapel; 4 Harbor
a Nilo, Naples. Marble, height of each caryatid c. 5’ 5" (1.65 m)

NAPLES: A NEW ARAGONESE DYNASTY 341

f a

aa
ey

wy \

Se
oe
reks LO |
ee at
as
=
[ner esbeka
14.14 Sala dei Baroni, Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo), Naples, begun 1452, commissioned by Alfonso | from Guillermo Sagrera

An intense fire in 1909 destroyed many of the more subtle architectural details, which included intricate keystones and balustrades filled with complicated tracery.

The castle’s most important ceremonial space, the Sala Alfonso and punctuate the inner points of the star. No won-
dei Baroni (Fig. 14.14), occupies one corner of the building, der Pope Pius II exclaimed that even the palace of Darius,
which faces an ample interior courtyard. Its stunning star ancient king of Persia, could not have been grander.
vault is the work of the Catalan architect Guillermo Sagrera Although the room’s structure was clearly Gothic, its scale
(active 1397 Felanity, Mallorca-1454 Naples). He began rivaled the most celebrated accomplishments of antiquity.
the work in 1452; it was fully complete by April 15, 1457,
when Alfonso inaugurated the space with a banquet in An Arch for a Humanist Ruler Within his formidable
honor ofhis nephew. Sagrera’s experience as architect of the and splendid castle Alfonso gathered some of the fifteenth
cathedral of Palma in Mallorca and his designs for the thin, century's most renowned humanist scholars. Intensely
spiraling piers of that city’s Lonja del Mar served him well as interested in the study of Greek and Latin literature, Alfonso
he undertook the task of vaulting the 85-foot (26-meter) had Caesar’s Commentaries read to him on the battlefield
square space to a height of nearly 92 feet (28 meters). and even claimed, somewhat disingenuously, to have learned
Sagrera transformed the square space into an octagon by more about war from the ancient authors than he had from
constructing squinches in its corners. He then sent eight practical experience. Every day after dinner, he and his
main ribs springing directly out of the wall, creating an coterie of scholars retired to his library to engage in spirited,
impression of organic spontaneity. The vaults are subdi- often heated, exchange.
vided into smaller units, all the ribs converging toward a In 1453 Alfonso’s interests in ancient civilization took
central oculus. Carved bosses bear the devices of King on substantive form in the triumphal arch built as the
entrance to his castle (see Figs. 14.11 and 14.13). This was
intended to commemorate the temporary arch that had
14.13 (opposite) Triumphal Arch of King Alfonso of Aragon,
been erected in front of the cathedral when he entered the
Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo), Naples, 1453-58 and 1465-71.
Commissioned by Alfonso from Pere Joan, Pietro da Milano, and others. city in triumph in 1443. Typifying Alfonso’s dependence on
See also Fig. 14.11. Spanish staff, the Catalan master Pere Joan (active 1400-58)

NAPLES: A NEW ARAGONESE DYNASTY 343

ee EO NI NEE TNE NN
AAR UES

14.15 The Triumphal Entry of Alfonso of Aragon into Naples, 1453-58, upper story sculpture 1465-66, commissioned by Alfonso | from Pere Joan, Pietro da
Milano, and others for the Triumphal Arch, Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo), Naples. Marble

oversaw the project. Under his direction Pietro da Milano Rimini: Sigismondo Malatesta
(c. 1410 Milan-c. 1473 Naples), a Lombard sculptor who
had spent his early years working in Ragusa in Dalmatia, In Rimini, a small papal vassalage on the Adriatic coast,
supervised the work of at least five master sculptors and antiquity and chivalry also proved effective tools of propa-
thirty-three assistants. Sculptural work was allocated to dif- ganda for Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-68), one of
ferent workers, ensuring a speedy completion ofthe project. the most notorious despots of the Renaissance. Sigismondo
The multiple-storied arch, made of white marble, fills (whose surname means “bad head”) was flagrantly disloyal
the opening between two of the main towers of the castle. to those who engaged his services as a condottiere and inflicted
The lower section accurately imitates an actual Roman appalling cruelties on his enemies. His use of art, literature,
monument, the Augustan Arch of the Sergii at Pula, in and classical learning for unrepentant self-promotion was
modern Croatia, which Pietro may have seen while working clearly intended to counteract this horrendous reputation.
in Dalmatia. Paired fluted Corinthian columns stand on He so outraged Pius II that the pope publicly condemned
pedestals to either side of the barrel-vaulted entrance, him to hell during his lifetime. Still, papal vilification of
itself enhanced with classical coffers, while a relief of The_ Sigismondo cannot be taken at face value, especially since
Triumphal Entry ofAlfonso into Naples (Fig. 14.15) decorates he maintained good relations with other popes and rulers.
the attic story of this arch. In this relief, groups of figures, He even appears in Gozzolt’s frescoes for the Medici family
all carefully coordinated in size and scale, even though chapel in Florence (see Fig. 11.14, where he is the horseman
carved by different hands, enact an idealized and simplified at the far left). Sigismondo seems to have been well liked
version of Alfonso’s triumphal entry into Naples a decade by the citizens of Rimini, who reveled in the way their
earlier. The sculptors evoke the character and decorum of leader claimed equal footing with the great powers of the
early Roman imperial reliefs in the proud, calm bearing of Italian peninsula.
nobles who process behind Alfonso, enthroned and elevated The key to understanding Sigismondo lies in his renova-
on a canopied processional cart, and in the more active tion of the church of San Francesco in Rimini, the traditional
figures of the musicians and horsemen who lead the way. burial place of the Malatesta lords (Pigs. 14.16 and 14.17).
The fire at Alfonso’s feet, however, comes from Arthurian Medals cast to commemorate its foundation and dedicatory
legends
o
popular at all the Italian courts and represents the inscriptions on the sides of the church report that Sigismondo
Siege Perilous (“dangerous seat”) which could be occupied “erected at his magnanimous expense this temple to the
safely only by Sir Galahad, the knight destined to find the Immortal God and to the City, and left a memorial worthy
Holy Grail. Since Alfonso now occupied that seat symboli- of fame and full of piety.” Sigismondo was fulfilling a vow
cally, he was to be seen as a chivalric hero as well as a Roman he had made during wars between Florence, Venice, and the
victor. Thus antique and medieval traditions merged to Sforza contingent of Milan on the one hand and Naples, the
create a powerful image of kingly rule. pope, and the Visconti of Milan on the other, He emerged as

344° COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIE ANDY EEASSIC

the decisive player, switching sides in 1447 to fight for the 0 10yds
eventual victors, the Florentines, which may explain why 0 ne N pees Pre-existing
both the architecture and its sculptural decoration were 1 ae | Built to Alberti’s
commissioned from Florentine artists, and why he appears design

in the Medici Chapel fresco. ANG Later additions

At first Sigismondo only seems to have intended to erect

a chapel to his name saint, Sigismund, but by 1450 he had
committed to a grander project: renovating the old church LEELA
VILLE
en
of San Francesco with classical elements. He contracted the
humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti for the design, but
entrusted the supervision of the construction (see Fig. 33)
Y YLT
to the builder and artist Matteo de’ Pasti (born Verona;
active 1441-64). Alberti’s solution was to wrap the entire
existing Gothic church in a marble classical skin, articulated
with arches. Alberti also intended to erect a massive hemi-
spherical dome modeled on the Pantheon over a new choir,
although that part of the project was never realized. The
facade evokes the forms of an actual Roman Augustan gate 14.17 San Francesco
in Rimini—an indication of Sigismondo’s rulership inten- (the Rimini Temple),
Rimini, plan
tions. On the church, fluted attached columns divide the
lower part of the facade into three arched bays. The span- 1 Chapel of the Ancestors;
2 Chapel of the Virgin;
drels above the arches are decorated with roundels, while a
3 Chapel ofthe Playing
triangular pediment marks the door. Alberti enhanced this Children; 4 Chapel ofthe
imperial imagery with geometric inlays of serpentine and Arts and Sciences; 5 Chapel
of the Planets; 6 Chapel of
porphyry, again recalling Roman precedents in their design
San Michele; 7 Cella of the
and material. For the upper part of the facade Alberti Relics; 8 Chapel of San
planned a broad pediment with an arch at the center (not Sigismondo
completed), flanked by fluted pilasters. The central arch
may have been intended to frame the tomb of Sigismondo’s

saintly brother, Galeotto Roberto, whose miracle-working

14.16 San Francesco (the Rimini Temple), Rimini, 1447-50, renovations
commissioned by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta from Leon Battista tomb then stood in front of the original church. The trium-
Alberti and Matteo de’ Pasti phant imagery, suggesting victory over death, thus would
have combined Christian and familial themes.
The rebuilt church was to include the tombs
of Sigismondo, his mistress and, later, wife
Isotta degli Atti, and other members of the family.
On the outside, arches along the side of the
church, which allowed light to enter the interior,
each framed a sarcophagus recalling in their shape
ancient types visible in nearby Ravenna, once capt-
tal of the Western Roman Empire. The sarcophagi
were reserved for illustrious humanist scholars
and members of the court, including Basinius of
Parma, author of the epic Hesperis which relates
Sigismondo’s exploits as a condottiere, and the
military writer Roberto Valturio, who cataloged
much of Sigismondo’s war machinery.
A more ornate, chivalric character prevails in
the interior of the church (Figs. 14.17 and 14.18),
designed by Agostino di Duccio (1418 Florence-
after 1481 Perugia), a student of Donatello who
had earlier worked in Modena. Whereas Alberti
had concealed the Gothic elements of the pre-
existing church with a classical skin, Agostino,
like most of his contemporaries, preferred to

RIMINI: SIGISMONDO MALATESTA 345

14.18 San Francesco interior
(che Rimini Temple), Rimini,
1450s-60s, renovations
commissioned by Sigismondo
Pandolfo Malatesta from
Agostino di Duccio

The exposed wooden trusses

in the ceiling and the rib vaults
partially visible in the side
chapels all predate Malatesta’s
renovations, having been
part of an existing Franciscan
church on the site.

14.19 (below) Luna,

c. 1453-56, commissioned
by Sigismondo Malatesta
from Agostino di Duccio
for the Rimini Temple,
Chapel ofthe Planets, San
Francesco, Rimini. Marble

apply classical vocabulary over and around Gothic struc-

ture, retaining pointed arches and framing double tiers of
Gothic window tracery with classical rinceaux. Agostino’s
manner is lavish, enhanced by polychromy and the recurrent
appearance of coats of arms, chivalric helmets, and such
exotic motifs as elephants, the Malatesta family emblem.
A relief representing Luna (the moon; Fig. 14.19) exempli-
fies Agostino’s work within the context of this highly
sophisticated court. It forms’ part of the decoration of
the so-called Chapel of the Planets (see 5 on Fig. 14.17),
which was actually dedicated to St. Jerome but whose
walls Agostino lined with marble reliefs depicting the seven
planetary gods and the associated signs of the zodiac.
This highly sophisticated program, which Valturio said
“could attract those skilled in literary studies,” may have
been planned by his fellow humanist Basinius of Parma,
who composed a richly detailed poem called Astronomica
in these very years. Agostino’s reliefs ingeniously combine
references to it and other ancient and modern sources,
including Petrarch’s evocative description of a similar
cycle he imagined in the palace of Syphax. As had been tra-
ditional from at least the fourteenth century, Agostino’s
Luna holds a crescent in her hand while standing in a
double-wheeled chariot drawn by two horses. More unusual
is the rushing stream over which they travel, including
ocean life that may reference a Homeric hymn to.the Rising
Moon. Equally unprecedented are Luna’s exposed arms
and legs and billowing, diaphanous gown, hallmarks of
many of Agostino’s figures that may derive from neo-Attic
prototypes which allowed Agostino to suggest the energy
and dynamism evoked by many ancient texts abesit the
gods and planets.

346 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

Urbino but he had lost his ri e and part of the bridge of his
nose in a tournament in 1450, probably accounting for
The relative isolation of Urbino, a small hill town 48 miles Piero’s decision to show the left side of his face and having
(77 kilometers) inland from the central Adriatic coast, him face his wife rather than having her at his left (see Figs.
required that its lord, Federico da Montefeltro (1422-82), 20.18 and 20.19). Py,
cast a wide net for artistic talent. His success as a military Piero pairs the couple heraldically. In each case (their
captain and diplomat was matched by a reputation for collars are aligned with chehorizon) linkin them subtl»but
being especially humane and learned. He created a great firmly to continuous but distinct physical worlds. Federico
library at Urbino, purchasing many of his deluxe editions “appears before a glowing world of lakes, rivers, and boats
from the humanist bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci which would allow him to venture far beyond the hills of
in Florence. Urbino. Battista, who had been his most trusted confidant € BR
and had attended to affairs in Urbino during his frequent
Portraits absences, is shown in front of an enclosed and fortified
landscape denoting traditionally proscribed limitsof ferate
A double portrait b\ Piero della Francesc (whose earlier activity. The_heavy shadows may allude to her recent
work we discussed on pages 238-40) presents both Federico death. Both/landscape§ recall elements in popular portraits
da Montefeltro and his recently deceased wife Battista by Hans Memnling of Bruges (c. 1440-94), an indication of
Sforza (Fig. 14.20). Piero adopted the traditional convention Piero’s acquaintance with northern European painting and
of profile representation appropriate to the couple’s high of its high prestige at Federico’s court.
status, giving dignity to Federico’s less than handsome On the reverse of the diptych Federico and Battista
features. Not only did Federico suffer from a skin disease, appear in two sober triumphs (Fig. 14.21). This type of

lots

14.20 Battista Sforza and Federico da

Montefeltro, c. 1472, commissioned by
Federico da Montefeltro from Piero
della Francesca. Oil and tempera on
panel, each 18% x 13” (47 x 33 cm)
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

The paintings are not in their original frames,

which may have been hinged like a book.

14.21 Triumphs of Federico da Montefeltro

and Battista Sforza (reverses of Fig. 14.20),
c. 1472, commissioned by Federico da
Montefeltro from Piero della Francesca.
Oil and tempera on panel, each 18% x 13”
(47 x 33 cm) (Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence)

Beneath each of the triumphal carts, Latin

inscriptions in Roman capitals appear to
be carved in the stone parapets, suggesting
the long-lasting bonds of husband and
wife. They extol the gendered virtues of
Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza.
Federico’s reads: “He that the perennial
fame of virtues rightly celebrates holding
the scepter, equal to the highest dukes, the
illustrious, is borne in outstanding triumph.”
Battista’s reads: “She that kept her modesty
in favorable circumstances, flies on the
mouths ofall men, adorned with the
praise of the acts of her great husband.”

URBINO 347
 image was popularized by Petrarch’s poems on the Triumphs often hung in many chapels dedicated to the Virgin during
of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Divinity. Latin the Middle Ages and Renaissance (see the numerous eggs
inscriptions in fine Roman capital letters indicate Federico’s hanging from the choir screen and the main cross beam in
high respect for the written word and humanist scholarship. Fig. 2). The egg in this painting may have also served as a
His triumph celebrates active, masculine rulership, personi- veiled heraldic device, for one of Federico’s personal emblems
fied by the four women sitting on his chariot: the cardinal was the ostrich itself.
virtues Justice, Prudence, and Strength facing out and The altarpiece has been trimmed slightly at the sides and
forward; Temperance is seen from the back facing into a by fully one-ninth ofits height (an entire plank of wood) at
landscape similar to the one shown in Federico’s portrait on the bottom. Even so it impresses with its remarkably large,
the other side of the panel. Battista, too, rides in front of a ample space. In only one case did Piero alter normal propor-
landscape that is a continuation of that shown in Federico’s tions, enlarging the figure of the Madonna so that she is
triumph but, once again, dominated by earth rather than larger than life-size. Identified closely with the building in
water. She is deeply engaged in reading what is probably a which she sits, she should be understood as@n embodiment
prayer book. Her inscription, written in the past tense—in of both this building and the universal Church for which
contrast to Federico’s living present—extols her modesty it stands. Jn kneeling here in front of the Virgin, Federico is
and her role as the famous man’s spouse. The source of her clearly pledging his devotion not just to the Madonna but
fame is the traditional feminine virtue of Chastity, under- to the institutional Church—a wise move indeed, as he
scored by the unicorns drawing her cart. Facing outward at sought in these very years to dispel suspicions of disloyalty
the front of the chariot and emphasizing her piety is Faith. that had fallen upon him because of his service against the
Pride of place, however, is given to an unusual depiction of papacy in the Battle of Rimini in 1469. As the loyal son of
Charity, a woman clad in a dark dress and holding 3 pena, the Church, he offers his gleaming armor and pious soul to
“a bird which, according to legend, picks its breast until it the Madonna representing the Church. Federico’s offering
bleeds so as to give sustenance to its young—an apt image for was both accepted and rewarded when in 1474, at the time
a woman whose numerous pregnancies may, according to of the completion of the painting, Pope Sixtus IV named
later writers, have caused her death at the age of twenty-six. him gonfaloniere of the Holy Roman Church.
Although not securely identified, the two women standing
behind the figure of Battista may be intended to personify The Palazzo Ducale
her much lauded modesty and piety.
The restrained elegance and balanced order of Piero’s imag-
Altarpieces ined architecture mirrored actual forms in Federico’s palace
in Urbino, which dominates the city both physically and
Also dating from the period soon after Battista’s death, symbolically (Figs. 14.22 and 14.23). Much of the work in
when Federico may have been contemplating his own the western part of the complex, designed as early as 1465 by
mortality, is a devotional work by Piero (see Fig. 14.0). the Dalmatian architect Luciano Laurana (c. 1420/25 Vrana,
Mesmerizing in its stillness, the altarpiece shows Federico Dalmatia-1479 Pesaro), required substantial engineering
kneeling in glinting armor before the enthroned Madonna since it follows the edge ofa steep valley that separates the
and Child, in the company of mainly mendicant and earlier part of the palace, begun in 1447, from a fortification
penitential saints (John the Baptist, Bernardino, and Jerome to the north. On the west side, facing the main road that
on the left; Francis, Peter Martyr, and John the Evangelist on circled around the city from the coast, Laurana erected a
the right). Piero constructs his imaginary space with great ceremonial facade for the palace, both proudly militaristic
precision. The saints and Madonna and Child sit and stand in its twin multistoried, round towers and frankly celebra-
in the crossing of a meticulously detailed church reveted tory and classicizing in the four superimposed arches at
with marble panels, fluted pilasters, and classical moldings. the center. Overtly recalling the comparable imagery of
Coffered barrel vaults cover the transept arms and chancel King Alfonso’s arch in Naples (see Fig. 14.13), Laurana’s
behind them, where accompanying angels stand on more design allows ample space between the individual elements
darkly colored pavement. Two jutting cornices, one in and opens the arches to serve as loggias, both for enjoying
shadow at the upper left of the painting and the other in a splendid sunset and for giving Federico platforms on
light on the right, both connected to the architecture of the which he could appear high above guests approaching and
original frame, suggest that Federico may instead be kneel- entering the city.
ing in the nave just in front of them all, distinguishing his Laurana’s design for the palace’s central courtyard is
aman status fiom that of the holy figures and angels. justly famous for its lucidity and understated ele ance,
ressive ostrich egg hanging from the shell- again in keeping with Federico’s own character (Fig. 14.24).
topped apse can be understood as(an image of birth and Five bays wide and six bays deep, it offers the appearance
resurrection, }the emergence of a baby bird from an egg from one of the shorter sides of being a perfectly balanced
symbolizing SENG miraculous Virgin Birth and his square, thanks to the effects of perspective foreshortening.
dramatic release frdm the tomb Ostrich eggs were, in fact, Originally this part of the palace was only two stories tall;

SAS MEGOURTEY SARI: iiniE G@mniGyAINDEGIEAS

Ss|
 The handsome inscription running around
both frieze levels of the courtyard was not
added until after 1474, when Federico was
formally named duke of Urbino, but in many
ways it sums up the intentions of Federico
and his architect(It gives his titles as duke of
Urbino and gonfaloniere of the Holy Roman
Church and says that having won all his
battles, assisted by the virtues of Justice,
Clemency, Liberality, and Religion, Federico
“built this house to his glory and that of
his successors.’
Inside the palace Federico and his guests
enjoyed several handsome suites of rooms.
On the lower level were a small series of
ancient-style baths, heated by an underground
furnace, so that he could follow the approved
Roman sequence of hot, warm, and cold
water. On the middle level are two tiny rooms,
one called the Chapel of Pardon and the other
dedicated to the classical Muses. Federico
14.22 Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, western facade, mid-1450s-80s, found nothing incompatible about his Christian and
commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro from Luciano Laurana, Roman-inspired beliefs, preferring a syncretist view which
Francesco di Giorgio, and others
found value in a wide range of thought and revelation.
The crowning glory of Federico’s private suite was his
even with the additional two stories, the space is much studiolo (“small study”; Fig. 14.25). The densely carved,
lighter and more open than any of its Central Italian gilded, and coffered ceiling carries Federico’s personal
counterparts—a perfected distillation of elements from new emblems and an inscription giving his noble titles and the
Tuscan trends (the graceful arcade, whose proportions recall date 1476, the decoration being part of extensive renova-
those in Brunelleschi’s Foundling Hospital, see Fig. 10.24, tions and enhancements begun in 1474. As was the case in
and the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici, see Fig. 11.12) Leonello d’Este’s much earlier, but now destroyed, studiolo,
and from Rome. Laurana gave the corners of the arcade the lower walls are lined in trompe Voeil wood intarsia.
an increased sense of stability with L-shaped piers, faced Books, scholarly equipment, musical instruments, and even
with pilasters. Federico’s armor are all convincingly rendered, mimicking
the actual objects kept behind the cupboard doors and even
the small work table that folded down in the right niche.
It is a breathtaking essay in perspective, composition, and
craftsmanship, probably executed by Florentine craftsmen
in the workshop of the architect and woodworker Giuliano
da Maiano (1432 Maiano-1490 Naples), following designs
by several artists, including Botticelli. Tellingly, a book
stand is portrayed over Federico’s desk, an appropriate
contemplative image contrasting with emblems of the active
life, Federico’s armor, momentarily consigned to a closet
but partially falling on the counter in the left niche. War was
never far from peaceful contemplation and study.
To modern eyes the intarsia shown at center right may
look like merely an elaborate still life of a basket of fruit
and a squirrel set on the edge of a carefully constructed
piazza and monumental classical arcade, but the unusual
presence under the scene of a panel of interlocking Gothic
fretwork—by 1476 associated primarily with religious archi-
tecture and choir stalls—suggests that this composition
should be read_allegorically, along with the images of
14.23 Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, plan of upper floor the active and contemplative life to either side of it. The
1 Courtyard; 2 Studiolo; 3 Entrance on lower floor; 4 Hanging garden squirrel’s habits of industriousness and saving for the future

URBINO 349
14.24 (above) Palazzo Ducale,
Urbino, courtyard, mid-1460s,
commissioned by Federico da
Montefeltro from Luciano Laurana

The clock and the top story with small

square windows are not original.

14.25 Studiolo, 1476,

commissioned by Federico da
Montefeltro probably from the
workshop ofGiuliano da Maiano
(inlaid woodwork) and from Justus
of Ghent (panel paintings) for
his private quarters in the Palazzo
Ducale, Urbino. Intarsia, height
7 BE Pom)
Most ofthe original paintings are
represented by large photographs,
the originals having been removed
to museums throughout Europe.
Federico himself appears in the
intarsia panel set in the left niche
of the room.

350 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

(in this case represented by the full basket of fruit) made by a papal council that met in Mantua in 1459. Alberti
the animal a recognized image of the prudent ruler. The accurately understood Ludovico’s criteria and addressed
state for which he provides is founded in religion, alluded practical considerations in a letter of October 1470:
to by the Gothic fretwork, and embodied in the idealized
city square and also in the view of the luminous landscape I understood in these days that your Highness and
and city in the background. Because of Federico’s pious these your citizens were thinking of building here at
thought and prudent actions his realm will flourish. Sant'Andrea. And that your principal intention was to
Above these allegories two rows of paintings depict have a great space where many people would be able to see
paired exemplars of the major fields of scholarly learning the Blood of Christ. I saw that modello of Manetti’s. I liked
from antiquity through to Federico’s own time, arranged it. But to me it does not seem suited to your intentions.
much as the books were arranged in his own library. Ponder and imagine this which I send you. This will be
Typically, classical and Christian authorities were juxta- more capacious, more lasting, more worthy and more
posed. Since the scheme consists of portraits, for which felicitious. It will cost much less. This type of temple was
northern European artists were particularly renowned, known among the ancients as the Etruscan. Should you
Federico commissioned most of the paintings from a like it, I shall see to drawing it up in proportion.
Flemish artist, Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhove; active (Translated in E. Johnson, Sant'Andrea in Mantua, p. 8)
1460-80), who came to work at Federico’s court. In the stu-
diolo, then, Federico brought together a wide range oflearn- What patron could resist so solicitous and level-headed a
ing, both ancient and modern, Christian and pre-Christian, proposal—for a building that would be both grander and
and also several contemporary artistic styles. To Federico less expensive than originally projected!
our categorically opposed labels of “ancient” and “modern,” Alberti’s design for the facade of Sant'Andrea, like that
“Italian” and “Flemish,” “Gothic” and “Renaissance” would of his Rimini Temple for Sigismondo Malatesta (see Fig.
have seemed strangely and unnecessarily exclusive. Neither 14.16), draws its inspiration from Roman triumphal arches,
he nor the artists who worked for him were disturbed by the but the Mantuan church takes the idea much further,
variety within his decorative scheme. If anything, rich diver- its design at once more monumental and more complex,
sity gave the scheme much ofits particular power. adapting a classical form rather than seeking to replicate it.
The huge central arch of the exterior portico, with its
Mantua: The Gonzaga Family coffered barrel vault, prefigures the height and vault of the
nave. It is flanked by proportionately smaller openings,
The Gonzaga family gained control of Mantua in the early
fourteenth century. Their city, located on the edge of three
marshy lakes in the midst of the plain between Milan and
Venice, was highly susceptible to floods, plagues, and
threats from outside powers. So, like Sigismondo Malatesta
and Federico da Montefeltro, the Gonzaga hired themselves
out as condottieri to the highest bidders. They were adept at
juggling alliances and softened their reputation as merce-
naries by encouraging literary studies and by trading on the
history of their city as the birthplace of the Roman poet
Virgil, a favorite of the emperor Augustus. As elsewhere,
chivalric and classical values co-inhabited the same court.

Sant’Andrea

In 1470 Alberti produced designs for the basilica of

Sant’Andrea (Figs. 14.26, 14.27, and 14.28) in the center of
Mantua. The site was particularly important to Ludovico
Gonzaga (1412-78), marquis of the city, because it stood
close by the Gonzaga Palace and contained a relic, the sup-
posed Blood of Christ, that had been recognized as genuine

14.26 Sant’Andrea, Mantua, designed 1470, begun 1472, commissioned

by Ludovico Gonzaga fom Leon Battista Alberti, construction overseen by
Luca Fancelli

The peculiar arch rising above the pediment imitates the barrel vault of the nave’
ofthe building.

MANTUA: THE GONZAGA FAMILY 351

14.27 Sant’Andrea, Mantua, interior, designed 1470, begun 1472, commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga from Leon Battista Alberti, construction
overseen by Luca Fancelli

(18.3-meter) wide coffered barrel vault, notably the largest

since classical times. To support it, he followed Roman prec-
edent, using not columns but huge piers, between which he
placed side chapels. Alberti’s careful coordination of elements
throughout the entire structure, interior and exterior
alike, as well as his use of large, bold forms, gave Ludovico
Gonzaga the distinction of being patron of the first truly
monumental, classicizing structure of the fifteenth century.

The Palazzo Ducale

14.28 Sant’Andrea, Mantua, plan The Sala Pisanello Ludovico’s tastes had not always
been so overtly classical. Like King Alfonso of Aragon in
which provide access to the narthex and the screened lateral Naples and Sigismondo Malatesta in Rimini, he surrounded
entrances, and by a giant order of paired Corinthian pilas- himself with both chivalric and antique imagery. Around
ters. Their smooth surface complements the richly coffered 1447-48 Ludovico commissioned Pisanello to paint a series
surfaces of the arch, while their height helps to unify the of frescoes for the main reception hall of his immense pri-
different levels of the composition. A boldly framed triangu- mary residence, the Palazzo Ducale (Figs. 14.29 and 14.30).
lar pediment crowns the facade. Depicting the history of Bohort, a cousin of Lancelot from
Inside the church Alberti honored his promise to provide the Arthurian legends, they show a tournament in which
excellent visibility of the high altar and its sacred relic, Bohort defeats sixty opponents in order to acquire the right
creating a broad, single-aisled space covered with a 60-foot to marry a princess. Above each wall appears a frieze of

352) GOURTEY ARTe THE GOFI GyAND GEASS G

heraldic devices, dominated by Ludovico’s personal emblem Pisanello imagined the tournament as a great mélée of
of the flower and heraldic collar of the German imperial knights and other people, capturing the spirit of the written
Order of the Swan, of which he and his wife, Princess texts and their rich detail. Figures—seen from above, below,
Barbara of Brandenburg, were the only Italian members. behind, and to the side—charge, lurch, turn, and fall. They
The focus on a brave, noble, and successful knight can be are evenly disposed, tapestry-like, over the wall. Almost all
seen as a graceful compliment to Ludovico’s activities as a semblance of spatial depth is foregone in favor of a two-
condottiere. The Arthurian legends were also popular in dimensional surface, although buildings are placed on a
Mantua because the knights’ search for the Holy Grail was diagonal to emphasize their volume, and individual figures
linked in the popular imagination to the relic of the Blood are carefully modeled. Fragments of faces peer out from
of Christ which the city protected. helmets that would once have been bright with silver foil.

14.29 (above) Legend of

Lancelot, c. 1447-48,
commissioned by Ludovico
Gonzaga from Pisanello for
the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua.
Fresco

The surviving figures are

missing a good deal offinal
detail that would have been
added a secco. They are also in
a somewhat damaged state,
having been plastered over
following the collapse of a
ceiling in 1480; they were
rediscovered only in the 1960s.

14.30 Legend ofLancelot

(detail), c. 1447-48,
commissioned by Ludovico
Gonzaga from Pisanello for
the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua.
Fresco

MANTUA: THE GONZAGA FAMILY 353

Foreshortening dramatizes the fate of those knights who to abandon the project, leaving the creations of the younger
have fallen to the ground; their plaintive features document artists to dominate the chapel.
the wide range of Pisanello’s artistic talent. Unfortunately, Taking into account an actual viewing position slightly
he never completed the frescoes because he was called to above eye level, Mantegna imagined the scene of St. James
work in the royal court of Naples. Being Led to His Execution from a worm’s-eye view (Fig.14.31),
that is, from beneath the figures’ feet, who seem to loom
Andrea Mantegna, Court Artist above us. The effect is dramatic, illusionistically opening
a theatrical space into the wall. The coffered barrel vault of
In 1457 Ludovico hired Andrea Mantegna (1430/31 Isola di a triumphal arch at the left and the cornice ofalarge house
Cartura, Padua-1506 Mantua) to replace Pisanello, who had at the right sweep in bold angles down and into the picture
left Mantua nearly a decade earlier; Mantegna finally entered space. A Roman soldier at the far right belligerently moves
Ludovico’s service in 1460. Mantegna was the son-in-law of the crowd out of the way, while another, in front of the saint,
Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini (see pages 317-20). While raises his hands amazed at the miraculous conversion and
Mantegna probably admired Jacopo’s work and benefited healing of the man kneeling at the saint’s feet. The events
from the Bellini family’s professional connections, he had seem to take place at only an arm’s reach from the picture
been trained in Padua by the quirky Francesco Squarcione, plane, a distance Mantegna nearly eliminated in the adjacent
an artist entrepreneur who was also his adoptive father. scene of the saint’s execution, where he placed the martyr’s
Squarcione introduced Mantegna to antiquity and the work head in the extreme foreground, just before it was to be
of Donatello in Padua (see pages 262-64), through which severed. High drama, a recurrent theme in Paduan narrative
Mantegna developed his own uniquely stern and archaeo- fresco painting, had found a powerful new exponent.
logical style. Ludovico Gonzaga’s humanist education Predictably, Mantegna’s accomplishments—especially his
prepared him to appreciate Mantegna’s classicism; however, mastery of perspective—brought him wide attention and
in the late 1450s Mantegna’s paintings were novel, their praise. Writers such as Alberti and the Paduan Michele
sculptural toughness quite different from the dreamy ideal- Savonarola (not the famous religious reformer with the
ism of much court painting (see Fig. 14.7). At this time the same surname) used perspective, with its foundation in
duchess of Milan was sending her court painter Zanetto
Bugatto (active 1450s-1476) to Bruges to study with Rogier
van der Weyden, not Rome to study ancient sculpture. In
hiring Mantegna, then, Ludovico Gonzaga was taking some- ai e) LES NE
yr eereMeNTCT NNTNNTANTONLATLA

thing ofa risk, especially for the head ofa small court that
had heretofore followed, rather than led, artistic fashion.

Prior experience in Padua and Verona

Mantegna probably came to Ludovico’s attention on

account of his precocious works for patrons in Padua and
Verona, northeast of Mantua. Mantegna’s first major fresco
cycle, scenes from the lives of saints James and Christopher
for the mortuary chapel of Antonio di Biagio degli Ovetari
in the church of the Eremitani, Padua, was almost com-
pletely destroyed in World War II. Pre-war photographic
documentation and surviving fragments in the chapel, how-
ever, indicate that all the scenes took place in distinctly clas-
sical settings. In his own day Mantegna’s work raised a good
number of eyebrows. The patron of the chapel, Ovetari’s
widow, Imperatrice, sued Mantegna when the artist failed
to show all twelve apostles in a scene of the Assumption
of the Virgin on the apse wall. From the start she allotted
half of the frescoes to the well-established Venetian team
of Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna, who had
provided the impressive polyptych for the Scuola della
Carita in Venice (see Fig. 13.8). Their richly decorative
14.31 St. James Being Led to His Execution, c. 1455-56, commissioned
manner dominated the vault. Probably so as to expedite the Imperatrice Ovetari from Andrea Mantegna for her husband Antonio’s
by

work, Mantegna and a young Paduan artist, Niccold Pizzolo burial chapel in the church ofthe Eremitani, Padua. Fresco
(1421-53), were assigned the other half of the chapel. But Only shattered fragments of the original fresco cycle still survive,
carefully
when Giovanni d’Alemagna died in 1450, Vivarini decided reassembled after extensive bomb damage during World War
II.

354 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

14.32 San Zeno altarpiece, 1456-59, commissioned
by Gregorio Correr from Andrea Mantegna for the
high altar of San Zeno, Verona. Tempera on panel,
height 7’ 2" (2.2 m)
The predella panels are copies ofthe originals, which
are now in France. Ga

mathematics, theory, and philosophy, as

one oftheir primary bases for claiming that
painting was a liberal (i.e. intellectual) art
rather than a mechanical one (i.e. a craft).
Such a distinction must have mattered a
great deal in a university town like Padua,
as did Mantegna’s studious evocation of
ancient Roman models. Paduan scholars
had been active in antiquarian studies
for well over a century, having in 1315
revived the ancient practice of crowning a
poet laureate and long having celebrated
famous citizens like the historian Livy
(S9 B.C.E.-C.E. 17) whose supposed bones
were discovered in a local monastery
in 1413. The itinerant scholar Cyriac of
Ancona, who had traveled around the
Mediterranean collecting inscriptions and
making drawings of Roman ruins, affirmed
local interest in elegant Roman epigraphy.
Paduan scholars delighted in these acts of learning and of the altarpiece, the frame and the courtyard just barely
revival. On one occasion Mantegna and some friends dressed separated from one another by swags offruit and vegetables.
up and imagined themselves as Romans while they spent a In the main panel of the triptych, Mantegna once more
carefree day boating on Lake Garda. simulates Roman architecture and sculpture, both for the
Soon after completing the frescoes in the Ovetari Chapel, throne of the Madonna and Child, flanked by Donatellesque
Mantegna was given an opportunity to work directly with a angel musicians, and for the carved roundels and putto
serious humanist scholar, the Venetian nobleman Gregorio frieze which appear on and above, respectively, the sturdy
Correr. Correr was abbot of the monastery of San Zeno in rectilinear piers. His command of perspective allows him to
Verona and a man of advanced tastes. For him, Mantegna lay out the inlaid marble floor with masterly foreshortening
imagined a fully classicizing, spatially unified altarpiece and to place the saints in the two flanking panels back
(Fig. 14.32), perhaps comparable in its disposition offigures along the sides of the portico and well into the space. For
to the original structuring of Donatello’s altar of the Santo devotional and hieratic purposes he positions the throne of
in Padua (see Fig. 11.18). The work consists of aMadonna the Madonna and Child well forward in the central panel,
and Child enthroned in the midst of a courtyard and sur- giving Mary and Christ a prominence that serves traditional
rounded by standing saints. The wooden frame 1s sumptu- religious expectations in new, more illusionistically convinc-
ously gilded, as was the regular practice for altarpieces; but ing ways. The altarpiece also sings with bright color—reds,
instead of using the still popular pinnacles and elaborately yellows, and greens—probably both in response to local
cusped, pointed arches that continued to surround most critics who had complained that the Eremitani frescoes
north Italian altarpieces well into the 1470s (see Fig. 13.18), looked like tinted statues and owing to the fact that panel
Mantegna followed Donatello’s lead and framed his subjects painting allowed Mantegna to produce richer, brighter
with classically detailed pedestals, fluted columns, a rich tones than were possible in fresco.
architrave, and a curved pediment terminating in graceful In the Crucifixion panel at the center of the predella
volutes. The unusually large fields of the rectangular (Fig. 14.33) Mantegna sets Christ’s last hours on a rocky
predella panels clearly evoke the scale of Donatello’s narra- outcropping far outside the walls of Jerusalem. The primary
tive reliefs on the Santo altar (see Fig. 11.19). fissures in the rock all converge toward Christ’s cross, which
The frame of the San Zeno altarpiece serves as a portico establishes a clear axis separating good from evil. Nearly
toa marble courtyard that embraces the entire pictorial field all the Roman soldiers and a few collaborators appear on

ANDREA MANTEGNA, COURT ARTIST 355

 14.33 Crucifixion, 1456-59, commissioned
by Gregorio Correr from Andrea Mantegna
for the San Zeno altarpiece, Verona.
Panel, 26 x 35%” (66 x 89.2 cm)
(Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Christ’s left (sinister) side, set against a shadowed cliff along Mantegna makes this clear in the inscription which he
with the unrepentant thief. Longinus, who will later pierce depicted as carved Roman letters on a gold plaque over the
Christ’s side with his lance and become a believer, stands in entrance to the room:
a depression in the foreground just to Christ’s right, close
to the company of the good thief, the grieving St. John, and For the illustrious Ludovico, second Marchese of Mantua,
the fainting Virgin. In contrast to the convulsing faces of best of princes and most unvanquished in faith, and
the Virgin’s companions, the Roman soldiers are oblivious for his illustrious wife Barbara, incomparable glory of
to the consequences of their actions. They relieve their bore- womanhood, his Andrea Mantegna of Padua completed
dom by talking to one another, looking up at the writhing this slight work in the year 1474.
thief, and gambling for Christ’s seamless cloak. This is
the kind of event that has taken place many times before, This “slight” work (in the obsequious language required of
as witnessed by the cold pile of skulls and bones thrown artists until modern times) was, in fact, a grand paean both
into the corner behind the grieving St. John, an allusion to to Mantegna’s employer and to his own talents as illusion-
the literal meaning of the site of the Crucifixion, Golgotha ist, portraitist, and consummate court artist. The frescoes in
(place of the skull). Foot soldiers and horsemen come and the Camera Picta became instantly famous, attracting just
go, meticulously diminishing in size as Mantegna imagines the sort of positive attention to Mantua that Ludovico had
them leaving the execution site and climbing the steep road been cultivating since early in his reign.
back to Jerusalem. Every detail, whether near or far away, The room is a masterpiece of trompe loeil. On two
is rendered with merciless precision as Mantegna seeks to adjacent walls, which served as background for Ludovico’s
capture the actual historical moment of the Crucifixion. bed, Mantegna painted splendid gold brocade curtains,
a visual link with the actual bed hangings. From his bed,
The Camera Picta Ludovico could gaze at the panorama depicted on the other
two walls, in which he, his wife, their children, courtiers
Mantegna brought this new style with him to Mantua in and attendants appear engaged in various activities. The
1460, and five years later exploited it fully for the decoration exact subject of these court scenes remains in dispute; they
of Ludovico’s newly renovated bedroom and audience may relate to events surrounding the raising of Ludovico’s
chamber—what contemporaries called the Camera Picta son Francesco to the cardinalate (he is shown in the scene
(“painted chamber”; Fig. 14.34 and p. 200) in the part of the to the right of the door) but do not seem to portray any
Palazzo Ducale known as the Castello di San Giorgio. one event as it actually happened. The effect is rather like a
Mantegna worked on the frescoes for almost nine years, a publicity film of life at the Gonzaga court, with its members
singularly long time for the sort of commission that was
usually carried out in a matter of months as a prince pre-
14.34 (opposite) Camera Picta, ceiling, 1465-74, commissioned by
pared for a wedding or state visit. The main intent of the Ludovico Gonzaga from Andrea Mantegna for Castello San Giorgio,
frescoes must have been to glorify the Gonzaga family. Mantua. Fresco

356 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND €LASSIC

 soing about their “normal” business and leisure pursuits.
VC putto. All of these elements are painted in grisaille against
Mantegna has used the mantel over.the fireplace as the gold backgrounds and modeled as though lit from below so
support for a dais, on which Ludovico himself sits with as to simulate relief sculpture. The spandrels between the
his wife, Barbara of Brandenburg, surrounded by their chil- vaults bear more fictive reliefs showing the deeds of the clas-
dren, court advisors, and even a female dwarf. In contrast sical heroes Arion, Orpheus, and Hercules. Clearly Mantegna
to his elegantly dressed wife and courtiers, Ludovico wears and Ludovico wished to associate the Gonzaga reign with
a simple dressing gown and slippers—perhaps an allusion the grandeur of Roman antiquity, but it must have been a
to the room itself, as his semi-private domain; he holds a rather tenuous connection, for Roman literary sources make
letter possibly bearing the news of his son’s appointment it clear that the character and deeds of some of the emperors
or perhaps news of the sudden illness of his employer, made them somewhat dubious models for an enlightened
Francesco Sforza of Milan. He turns his head to hear what Christian ruler. Nevertheless, the grandeur and the classical
an attendant or messenger is saying. image must have been effective.
Above these images of courtly life, Mantegna transformed The gravitas is delightfully shattered by the oculus at the
the simply vaulted ceiling into a brilliant display of faux center of the ceiling—a spectacular example of illusionism.
stucco work. A network of“ribs,” apparently embossed with Here Mantegna imagines a view into a blue sky through
scrollwork, divides the ceiling into segments which are filled an elaborate balustrade, alive with cavorting putti. Their
with a profusion of ornament. The eight main fields each foreshortened bodies illustrate most strikingly Mantegna’s
carry a bust of one of the first eight Roman emperors, sur- mastery of di sotto in su construction (depiction of objects
rounded by a laurel wreath carried on the back of awinged as though seen from far below). Mantegna draws us

14.35 The Picture Bearers, canvas 1 of the Triumphs of Caesar, 1490s, commissioned b y
Francesco Gonzaga, perhaps
following the lead of his grandfather, Ludovico, from Andrea Mantegna
for the Cor te Vecchia of the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua.
Distemper on canvas, 8’ 84" x 9! 1" (2.66 x 2.78 m) (The Royal Collection, London,
© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II)

358 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CEASSIE

further into his make-believe world with the playful putti Male and Female Decorum
sticking their heads through openings of the balustrade
and with the smiling faces of three servants and a plant- After Ludovico’s death in 1478, Mantegna continued to
filled washtub balancing perilously on a pole, on the work for his successors, fueling their growing passion for
other side of which a court lady seems to be whispering to a antiquity. Chief among them was the young marchesa of
visitor or court retainer from Eastern lands. Is the curiosity Mantua, Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), who had been reared
of the viewer below about to be punished with a shower at the court of Ferrara. Her husband, Francesco Gonzaga,
of greenery—or, worse yet, by a crashing fall of the grandson of Ludovico, was a military man who had few
washtub itself? Mantegna’s visual joke suggests that scholarly interests of his own, but even he encouraged the
looking is a potentially dangerous exercise—while at the production of revivalist works, though they were tellingly
same time he rewards it with all the artistry at his different from those commissioned by Isabella.
command, providing a fiction that is both witty and As we saw in Piero’s double portrait of Federico da
ennobling of the Gonzaga court, and particularly for the Montefeltro and Battista Sforza (see Figs. 14.20 and 14.21),
ruler lying in his bed below. the virtues, deportment, and activities associated with a

14.36 Virtue, c. 1499-1502, commissioned by Isabella d’Este from Andrea Mantegna for her studiolo in the uses
Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of
| ‘
Ducale, Mantua. Tempera on canvas, 5’ 3” x 6' 3%" (1.6 x 1.92 m) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

The theological virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity) appear in the cloud in the upper right corner of the
painting. -}

ANDREA MANTEGNA, COURT ARTIST 359

ee CONTEMPORARY
VOICE

Fighting for Chastity

Isabella d’Este commissioned Perugino to of the body, on her crown and garland, or battle. On the bank ofthe said river or sea
paint the conflict between Love and on a veil she may have around her; and stands Jupiter with other gods, as the
Chastity for her studiolo in Mantua (Fig. part of Diana’s raiment will have been enemy of Chastity, changed into the bull
14.37), and she clearly had in mind a singed by the torch of Venus, but nowhere which carried off the fair Europa; and
definitive treatment ofthe subject. Her let- else will either of them have been wounded. Mercury as an eagle circling above its prey,
ter to Perugino is exhaustive in its specifi- Beyond these four deities, the most chaste flies around one of Pallas’s nymphs, called
cations, although she does leave a few nymphs in the trains of Pallas and Diana, Glaucera, who carries a casket engraved
minor details to his own judgment and in whatever attitudes and ways you please, with the sacred emblems of the goddess.
acknowledges that he might find it diffi- have to fight fiercely with a lascivious crowd Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, chases
cult to accommodate all the figures. of fauns, satyrs and several thousand Galatea, and Phoebus chases Daphne, who
Perugino dutifully followed Isabella’s cupids; and these cupids must be smaller has already turned into a laurel tree; Pluto,
instructions, documenting a patron’s than the first, and not bearing gold bows having seized Proserpina, is bearing her off
power to define artistic activity. and silver arrows, but bows and arrows of to his kingdom of darkness, and Neptune
some baser material such as wood or iron has seized a nymph who has been turned
Our poetic invention, which we greatly or what you please. And to give more almost entirely into a raven.
want to see painted by you, is a battle of expression and decoration to the picture, | am sending you all these details in a
Chastity against Lasciviousness, that is to beside Pallas | want to have the olive tree small drawing, so that with both the writ-
say, Pallas and Diana fighting vigorously sacred to her, with a shield leaning against ten description and the drawing you will be
against Venus and Cupid. And Pallas it bearing the head of Medusa, and with able to consider my wishes in this matter.
should seem almost to have vanquished the owl, the bird peculiar to Pallas, perched But if you think that perhaps there are too
Cupid, having broken his golden arrow and among the branches. And beside Venus | many figures in this for one picture, it is left
cast his silver bow underfoot; with one want her favourite tree, the myrtle, to be to you to reduce them as you please, pro-
hand she is holding him by the bandage placed. But to enhance the beauty a fount vided that you do not remove the principal
which the blind boy has before his eyes, of water must be included, such as a river basis, which consists of the four figures of
and with the other she is lifting her lance or the sea, where fauns, satyrs and more Pallas, Diana, Venus and Cupid. !f no
and about to kill him. By comparison cupids will be seen, hastening to the help of inconvenience occurs shall consider
|
Diana must seem to be having a closer Cupid, some swimming through the river, myself well satisfied; you are free to reduce
fight with Venus for victory. Venus has been some flying, and some riding upon white them, but not to add anything else. Please
struck by Diana’s arrow only on the surface swans, coming to join such an amorous be content with this arrangement.

14.37 The Battle of Love

and Chastity,
commissioned by
Isabella d’Este from
Pietro Perugino for her
studiolo in the Palazzo
Ducale, Mantua.
Canvas; 5'.3” x.6' 3%"
(1.6 x 1.91 m) (Musée
du Louvre, Paris)

(from D.S. Chambers. Patrons and Artists in the Italian Renaissance. London: P
an Macmillan, 1970, pp. 136ff.)

LEER CHELLIS ATH DESL TIN! AB IIE WISE OFSIEE CDT EE IIIS CR SPEEA IDTEESE ETERSOEIEE
VEBS ELATE
DAT CEEOC CIN ERR ES RO

360 COURTLY ART: THE GOTHIC AND CLASSIC

ruler and those associated with his consort were quite detail and communicates allegorically, rather than in the
distinct. Alchough both men and women collected small- historic mode of the Triumphs. It illustrates dramatically
the
scale works of art, men were largely responsible for erecting traditional assumption that theleader’s consort was respon-
buildings and attending to public self-promotion; women sible for upholding moral values in the court, while givin
more usually commissioned devotional works and organ- this idea a new twist. Popular wisdom held that education
ized court entertainments and musical events. These was incompatible with female virtue; but here, in a painting
distinctions are evident in two works created by Andrea intended for the first known studiolo created for a woman,
Mantegna: a series of nine large paintings entitled the Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom and war, strides forward
Triumphs of Caesar, for Francesco Gonzaga (Fig. 14.35), and to
to banish the vices from her realm. Her handmaids lunge
Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, commis- toward Lust, represented by the languorous, nearly nude
sioned byIsabella d’Este (Fig > Triumphs paintings female standing on the back ofa centaur. As befits the room
have been badly damaged over the centuries, partly through of a lady, the vices are depicted with a nice balance of
clumsy restoration, but in their present condition they repulsiveness and good taste; their genitals are discreetly
still eloquently convey Mantegna’s goal: to present Caesat’s hidden or miniaturized, as in the case of the typically
triumphal return from the Gallic Wars with the greatest lascivious satyr carrying a baby at the right of the painting.
authenticity. His close study ofancient sculptural reliefs can Some of them are identified pictorially—for example, the
be seen in the accurate Roman togas and armor worn by armless Sloth being dragged by a servant—while others are
the participants in the first painting of the series, The Picture identified with labels.
Bearers. Acquaintance with Flavio Biondo’s (1392-1463) Given the relatively modest funds at her disposal, Isabella
scholarly research on ancient Rome informed his long, relied on letter-writing campaigns to secure many of the
straight trumpets, the standards topped with bronze works for her collections, snatching what she could from
statuettes, and banners carrying images of captured cities. artists’ estate sales and hounding other artists for whatever
Unlike some of Mantegna’s earlier paintings, which tend they might release to her. Her patronage was thus less sys-
to be stiff and marmoreal, these paintings are relaxed and tematic than that of some of her male counterparts, but was
much more natural. Banners flutter in the breeze, and ironically prophetic of asubtle shift beginning to take place
figures turn and pivot with ease. The three figures at the in the relationship between patron and artist—artists becom-
right of The Picture Bearers, led by a sympathetically painted ing gradually more independent and, as we shall see in later
African in parade armor, look behind them, encouraging the chapters, occasionally willful. When Isabella did comman-
viewer to move on to the next canvas in the series. deer artists to illustrate her complex allegorical schemes, the
Mantegna’s painting for Isabella, by contrast, was con- quality of their work sometimes suffered, in large part
ceived and executed in more precious and delicate terms, because she left so little to their imaginations. By collecting
destined for the restricted realm of the studiolo where she rather than commissioning works by others, she increased
kept her collection of small luxury objects. Isabella’s court their reputations. Long after the Renaissance was over, this
advisor, the poet Paride da Ceresara, devised a program of would lead to the peculiarly modern expectation that the
classical allegories for the room, one of which was awarded artist rather than the patron should exercise primary con-
to Mantegna. The painting is crammed with anecdotal trol over a work of art.

ANDREA MANTEGNA, COURT ARTIST 361

 Sforza Milan: Ducal Splendor

The Sforzas
Francesco Sforza became ruler of Milan in 1450.
A brilliant condottiere, he earned the honor of marry-
ing Duke Filippo Visconti’s illegitimate daughter
and sole heir, Bianca Maria, because of his military
successes for the Visconti. However, when Filippo
died in 1447, the Milanese citizenry rebelled and set
up their own government, the so-called Ambrosian
Republic (1447-50), which was named for St.
Ambrose, the founder of Christianity in the city.
Francesco spent the next three years gaining control
of Milan’s subject cities and then, after a three-
month siege, recaptured Milan. Having been assisted
financially by the Medici Bank and politically by the
Medici family in Florence—then interested both in
dominating international finance and in eliminat-
ing Milanese threats to Florence’s liberty—Francesco
welcomed central Italian merchants, bankers, and
artists to Milan. At the same time, his shaky claims
to legitimate rulership impelled him to forge visible
links with the Visconti past to which he was tenu-
ously linked through his marriage. He encouraged
his artists to restore and enhance the frescoes at the
Castello Visconteo in Pavia (see Fig. 9.10), and he
resumed construction of the nearby Certosa. As if
to drive the point home, he even played the role of
Giangaleazzo Visconti, one of his predecessors, in a
court costume ball.
Francesco’s sons, especially Ludovico Sforza
(1451-1508), followed the same policy of claiming
the right of rulership through appropriation of
Visconti imagery. Called “tl Moro” (the Moor)
because of his dark complexion, Ludovico
dominated Milanese culture and politics for the
entire last quarter of the fifteenth century,
in spite of the fact that he was the illegitimate and
younger son of Francesco Sforza. After the death
in 1476 of his elder brother, the wanton Galeazzo
ilan was the most powerful and influential of the Maria Sforza, Ludovico managed to oust his sister-in-law
A courts in the second half of the fifteenth century. as regent for his young nephew, Gian Galeazzo Maria, and
A military and commercial giant, the city nurtured and secured effective control of the state. In 1494 he succeeded
attracted some of the very best talent from across Europe. in having himself proclaimed duke of Milan—a title
Local and foreign trained artists responded to the majesty he would enjoy for only five years. Obviously, both he
of Milan’s imperial past and created monumental works for and his father needed to deploy the visual arts to legitimate
the newly installed Sforza dynasty. their rule.

362
 15.1 (left) The Certosa,
Pavia, facade
commissioned by
Galeazzo Maria Sforza
from Antonio and
Cristoforo Mantegazza
and Giovanni Amadeo
in 1473, present
arrangement of lower
stories commissioned by
Ludovico Sforza in 1492

15.2 (below) Certosa,

Pavia, plan, begun
1396, commissioned by
de a eea ss Giangaleazzo Visconti

1 Main entrance;
2 Church of Santa Maria;
3 Small cloister;
4 Monks’ cells

EEREECE:
Completing Visconti Ecclesiastical
Foundations elite OT IIA
aa 100PAV IS
ANN0S/ |Hy)
The Certosa No monument was more intimately iERnBANc2oET
dce ME
Nabe
if bes i i

linked with the Visconti—and therefore crucial to PNG FS |

the Sforzas—than the Certosa di Pavia (Figs. 15.1, DA
RAIS
EN AV
in
KR

15.2, and 15.3) As we have seen (p. 191), it was

aX
built in conscious emulation of similar founda- BUDAt EAT ' Lp
Bed
tions by the dukes of Burgundy and was intended ffs me el
} i H4 x
fo

ay jae
to house the remains of Giangaleazzo Visconti,
the first duke of Milan. Construction at the
Teo
monastery had proceeded haltingly throughout a n: i} >
the first half of the century. Under Francesco’s
1 | ’ Ki u
patronage, work sped up on the nave and on the tes
|
cloister nearest the church (see Fig. 15.3), which is |
! |
! P|"
embellished with a profusion of terracotta reliefs. 1 {r4
4 ! i} 4

ray
E - 5 a 7 Re ees ee
i
rc3 °
x| rT és : a 27G =
3 =
15.0 Madonna of the Rocks, 1483-1508, commissioned by the
Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception from Leonardo ant atalallafl4 fue
da Vinci for their chapel in San Francesco Grande, Milan. Oil
on panel, 6' 6%” x 4’ (2 x 1.22 m) (Musée du Louvre, Paris) ty

A recent restoration (2010) of another version ofthis painting in

London—formerly thought to have been painted predominantly
by students—makes a strong case for Leonardo’s participation in
both, though the poor surface condition of the Louvre version Ser — a
continues to cloud a clear reading of style.

THE SFORZAS 363

 by the Mantegazza brothers—Antonio (active 1473-95
Milan and Pavia) and Cristoforo (active 1464-81 Milan
and Pavia)—Lombard sculptors who specialized in intricate
carving of flattened figures evoking the character of ancient
gems and cameos. The relief centers around the seated
Christ, covered in drapery executed 1n the wet, clinging man-
ner seen in some ancient sculpture. A triumphal arch leads
back to another antique image: a fanciful equestrian statue
on a very tall pedestal which may recall the Mantegazzas’
model for a never executed equestrian monument of
Francesco Sforza. A crowd of onlookers, the two most
forward of whom taunt Christ with their coarse faces and
clenched fists, recall north Italian traditions of narrative
verism (see Fig. 9.18). The Roman street scene is a sculptural
variation on Andrea Mantegna’s archaeological reconstruc-
tions in Padua (see Fig. 14.31) and the spatial illusionism of
Vincenzo Foppa in Milan (see Fig. 15.9). Typically Lombard
15.3 Cloister, Certosa, Pavia, 1460s, commissioned by the Carthusians in its complexity and extravagant decoration, the relief
with the support of Francesco Sforza from Guiniforte Solari. Terracotta
also calls to mind the terracotta decorations in one of
the Certosa’s own cloisters (see Fig. 15.3), here in the more
Gaily cavorting putti and lush garlands and vegetation prestigious material of marble.
decorate the arches and friezes, making reference to Milan’s
proud Roman imperial heritage. Busts emerging from The Cathedral As work on the Certosa neared completion,
roundels in the spandrels recall the classical prototype of Ludovico pushed forward with plans to enhance Milan’s
the imago clipeata, often found along with putti and garlands chief shrine, the cathedral. In 1487 the original tower over
on ancient sarcophagi. Everything is full of movement, the crossing was. dismantled because it was structurally
every figure and molding fresh and exuberant, testifying to unsound; but instead of merely replacing the tower, the
Lombard delight in decorative complexity and to native
facility with clay and brick.
The present facade of the Certosa (see Fig. 15.1) reflects
the overall design by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (1447
Pavia-1522 Milan), approved by Ludovico in 1492. Amadeo
was the leading local sculptor, architect, and engineer in
Lombardy, active in Bergamo as well as Pavia and Milan.
His facade incorporates marble reliefs that had been com-
missioned in 1473 by Galeazzo Maria Sforza for a somewhat
less elaborate design. Neither facade was to have been
less than sumptuous, however; the Sforza brothers were
renowned throughout Italy for their extravagant pomp and
display. For example, Galeazzo’s state visit to Florence in
1471 had overwhelmed spectators with a parade of 2,000
horses, 500 pairs of dogs, and 1,000 courtiers and attend-
ants dressed in velvet and silk. The marble facade of the
Certosa is as intricate and unabashedly costly, for its size, as
the ivory altarpiece that its founder, Giangaleazzo Visconti,
had commissioned for the high altar (see Fig. 9.22). The
source of patronage of the project is suggested by a series of
medallions at the base of the facade depicting Roman
emperors. Like the images on the ceiling of the Camera Picta
in Mantua (see Fig. 14.34), they point to the historical roots
of Ludovico’s autocratic power. Biblical reliefs on the next
level Christianize the program, completed by dozens of
standing saints and prophets.
All of the reliefs have suffered damage and weathering,
15.4 The Mocking ofChrist, 1482-92, commissioned by Ludovico Sforza
but The Mocking of Christ (Fig. 15.4) is sufficiently well from Antonio and Cristoforo Mantegazza for the facade of the
Certosa,
preserved to sustain closer examination. It was produced Pavia. Marble

364 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

 Fabbrica called a competition for a new, more elaborate
structure. All the leading builders and sculptors in Milan
submitted plans, including Giovanni Amadeo, Leonardo da
Vinci, and Donato Bramante. Tellingly, the judges decided
in favor of Amadeo’s Gothic spire, with its spiraling exterior
staircases (Fig. 15.5). They justified their decision on the
grounds that it was more important for the tower to match
the style of the rest of the building than to follow the
fashion for classical forms. The structure also gave Milan a
cathedral unlike any of the other major Italian city-states
and underscored its relations with trans-Alpine cities. In
addition, the tower was much less heavy than a classical
dome might have been, requiring no reinforcement of the
pre-existing church.

Private Commissions

Local tastes and traditions also affected the form of com-

missions undertaken by foreigners in Sforza Milan. When
officials of Cosimo de’ Medici established the Medici Bank
headquarters in the city, ina building given him by Francesco
Sforza in 1456, his branch manager, Pigello Portinar,
rebuilt the structure to resemble those currently being
erected in Florence, but enhanced it with more opulent
decoration. The facade of the Medici Bank (Fig. 15.6),
known through a drawing in the Treatise on Architecture by
the Florentine sculptor and architect Filarete, imitates the
heavy roof cornice, double-lancet windows, and fortress-like
ground story of the Medici Palace in Florence (see Fig.
15.5 Crossing tower, Milan Cathedral, designed 1487/90, commissioned
11.11), but the scheme was enriched with lush terracotta
by the Fabbrica of Milan Cathedral with the support of Ludovico Sforza
from Giovanni Amadeo decoration, as in the new cloister at the Certosa. Paying
homage to Milan’s rich Gothic heritage, the windows of the
Commissions continued to be granted for Gothic architectural designs in Milan
throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially for the upper story were set within pointed arches; the main portal
completion of unfinished churches. was overlaid with numerous heraldic motifs and devices.
Sober Tuscan models took on a courtly, celebratory air.

- —
aS EPCs ve ist ¢ aSeesBS
bay *
wy ane

oo,

; aoe ~~ oe gS Se ss _
Ph a ace OS Pa Eis ae aS

15.6 Medici Bank, Milan, facade, c. 1465, probably commissioned by Piero de’ Medici and Pigello Portinari from Filarete, Treatise on Architecture
(Biblioteca Nazionale, Magl. 11.1. 140 fol. 20, Florence)

In this treatise, Filarete also imagined and described the buildings of agreat new city he called Sforzinda in honor of Francesco Sforza.

THE SFORZAS 365

 15.7 Portinari Chapel, Sant’Eustorgio, Milan,
c. 1468, commissioned by Pigello Portinari,
frescoes commissioned from Vincenzo Foppa

The tomb ofSt. Peter Martyr at the center of the

chapel originally stood in its own chapel in the nave
of the church. During the Renaissance, the head of
the saint was displayed in the chapel.

15.8 Portinari Chapel, Sant’Eustorgio, Milan,

east-west section

15.9 (below) Miracle of the Cloud and Miracle ofthe

False Madonna, c. 1468, commissioned by Pigello
Portinari from Vincenzo Foppa for the right wall of
the Portinari Chapel, Sant’Eustorgio, Milan. Fresco

366 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

 Pigello Portinari also supervised the construction of a
burial chapel for his family at the church of SantEustorgio
Ludovico t| Moro and a Grand
(Figs. 15.7 and 15.8). Its Florentine and specifically Medici- Classical Style
associated patronage is evident in its plan and elevation,
which consciously recall the Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo Santa Maria presso San Satiro
in Florence (see Fig. 11.3). Here again, however, there are
significant alterations to both the proportions and the After a madman attacked a Madonna and Child on the exte-
decoration. In deference to Milanese traditions, Pigello’s rior of the small centralized church of San Satiro, the paint-
architect inserted a drum under the dome, increasing the ing began to bleed and work miracles. Community members
height and providing a field in which polychromed terra- quickly organized a confraternity to care for the image,
cotta angels dance and swing heavily laden festoons. The and, as had been the case with the foundation of the church
delight in color, so different from Brunelleschi’s spare, of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice (see Figs. 13.26 and
bichromatic scheme, continues in the vault, where frescoes 13.27), they commissioned a small but impressive church to
simulate multiple rings of red, yellow, green, and blue over- house it. Called Santa Maria presso San Satiro (Figs. 15.10
lapping tiles. The sequence of colors is that codified by and 15.11), the structure began as a long narrow oratory—
Dominicans in the early fourteenth century as constituting today the transept and chancel of the church, attached at an
the rainbow: a heavenly vision for Pigello, who was buried in eccentric angle to San Satiro so as to respect the course of
the floor directly under the dome and whose coat of arms a pre-existing street. Donato Bramante (Donato di Angelo
appeared in the lantern above. di Antonio; 1443/44 Monte Asdrualdo/Fermignano-1514
Highly illusionistic frescoes by the Milanese painter Rome) provided its design, echoing and enlarging upon the
Vincenzo Foppa (c. 1428-1515) bring the walls to life. Their central dome and barrel-vaulted arms of the Pazzi Chapel
primary subjects, the Annunciation and Scenes from the Life at Santa Croce in Florence (traditionally said to be by
of St. Peter Martyr (Fig. 15.9) ingratiated Pigello to the Brunelleschi but perhaps by Michelozzo). A native of Urbino,
Sforza regime: Francesco Sforza had formally entered Milan Bramante became one of the most influential architects of
on Annunciation Day 1450, and Peter Martyr, buried at the Renaissance. He had grown up on the impeccable classi-
Sant Eustorgio (though not as now in the Portinari Chapel; cism and geometric order of Piero della Francesca and
see Fig. 9.6), continued to be honored as the city’s most Luciano Laurana (see Figs. 14.22 and 14.24), enriching their
important Dominican saint. example with the gravity and dignity he found in the work
On the right wall Foppa cunningly exploits scientific of Alberti in Mantua (see Fig. 14.27) and ancient buildings
perspective and clear, rich color to place figures and archi- in Milan, as evidenced in the building’s coffering, bold
tecture into deep illusionistic space. The scene on the left, cornices, and hemispherical dome. Piero’s fascination with
showing the saint preaching, repeats the basic configuration scientific perspective became especially crucial for Bramante
of Andrea da Firenze’s earlier fresco of St. Peter Martyr when midway in construction the confraternity purchased
in Florence (see Fig. 8.8). Now, however, figures diminish in land behind the oratory to create a nave, impelling him to
size according to their distance from the viewer, and their create an illusionistic apse on what had previously been
reactions to his preaching are more subtle and varied. In the entrance wall. Though the chancel appears to be a four-
the middle background Foppa steeply foreshortens one of bayed extension of the barrel-vaulted nave, nearly equivalent
the men’s faces so that he can be seen to observe a black in depth to the transepts, it is in fact nearly flat, modeled
thunder-cloud in the upper sky. According to legend, the like monumental relief sculpture on a scale even grander
cloud was a blessing to the crowd, which had been suffering than Tullio Lombardo’s similar essays for the facade of
in the blazing August sun. the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice (see Fig. 13.25).
On the right Peter Martyr steps up to an altar with the The effect of Bramante’s composition is most compelling
Eucharistic host in his hand to reveal what seems to be a at mid-nave and diminishes as one approaches the altar
statue of the Madonna and Child but is actually an idol. or views it from the transept arms, but its sheer cunning
Both mother and child suddenly sprout horns. Onlookers, ensured the architect’s fame in Milan.
several of them clearly portrait likenesses, react in shock and
amazement. A Cathar priest garbed in a red turban holds a Santa Maria delle Grazie
sulphurous yellow cloak up to his nose, visualizing the
stench of abomination. He skulks away discredited, much as Bramante soon came to the attention of Ludovico Sforza,
Giotto had shown the sultan’s clerics doing in St. Francis’s who hired him for both painting and architectural projects.
trial by fire (see Fig. 4.15). Admirably straightforward, the In the early 1490s, Ludovico Sforza put the finishing
frescoes recall, too, nearly contemporary scenes from saints’ touches on his brilliantly successful scheme to marry his
lives by Benozzo Gozzoli, one of the artists favored by niece Bianca Maria Sforza to Emperor Maximilian, securing
Pigello Portinari’s employers, the Medici. The frescoes as himself imperial investiture as duke of Milan in 1494, the
well as the architecture, then, make reference to the patron’s year after the marriage. It seemed an appropriate time to
Florentine origins, translated into a rich Lombard mode. build a dynastic mausoleum in a grand, classically inspired

LUDOVICO IL MORO AND A GRAND CLASSICAL STYLE 367

 =e,Ny bi, VV
wo vy vy (e) a
= =
ii

15 11 Santa Maria presso San

Satiro, interior, Milan, begun
1480 > commissioned by Ludovico
Sforza from Donato Bramante

368 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

 Likely inspired by the impressive size of late antique build-
ings in Milan itself (see Fig. 22.6) and by Ludovico’s ambi-
tions, the tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie is an essay in
volumetric expanse, the space and massing, not the walls,
being of primary architectural interest. Its scale and gran-
deur ensured that, when Bramante moved to Rome upon
Ludovico’s fall from power in 1499, he was ready both to
learn from the imposing ruins of the ancient city and to
fashion his architectural masterpiece: the original central-
ized plan for the new St. Peter’s basilica (see Fig. 17.7).
In keeping with the imposing scale of Santa Maria delle
Grazie’s tribune, nearly 65 feet (20 meters) square, the archi-
tectural details within it are relatively simple. The numerous
oculi in the pre-existing church and in the new apses
are echoed by the large painted roundels that adorn the
arches and by the laced circles between the ribs of the dome.
The monochrome sgraffito decoration on the walls respects
AA the Dominican commitment to austerity. The effect is one
of luminous expansiveness.
When Beatrice d’Este, Ludovico’s young wife, died
15.12 Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, plan of the church and monastery
unexpectedly in 1497, he commissioned a tomb (Fig. 15.14)
1 Tribune; 2 Refectory; 3 Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper for the new tribune at Santa Maria delle Grazie from
Cristoforo Solari (Il Gobbo; 1468/70 Milan-1524 Milan).
style for himself and his family. The site he chose was the Solari came from Milan’s foremost family of builders and
sul quite new church of Santa Maria delle Grazie not far architects, some ofits members having supervised construc-
from his residence, the Castello Sforzesco. tion both at the Certosa and on the earlier nave of Santa
The resulting building (Figs. 15.12 and 15.13)
may have been a collaboration atnong Bramante,
Amadeo (whose workshop probably provided much
of the exterior detail), and Leonardo da Vinci, whose
notebooks from the early 1490s include several
drawings of centrally planned, domed churches.
While retaining the long nave of the existing church,
the architect(s) added a large tribune consisting of
a domed crossing, a choir, and three semicircular
apses, which evoke associations with the triple apses
in the transepts and choir of the Visconti burial site
at the Certosa (see Fig. 15.2).
The general scheme of the tribune ultimately
derives from Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy (see Fig.
11.3)—a suitable model insofar as the Florentine
structure served as a burial place for the Medici
family—but the design departs remarkably from
this precedent and other fifteenth-century varia-
tions ofit (for example, Pigello Portinari’s chapel at
Sant’Eustorgio in Milan, see Fig. 15.7, and the chan-
cel of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice, see Fig.
13.26). All the prior buildings were modestly dimen-
sioned, recalling antiquity in their constituent
parts, but lacking Roman scale and monumentality.

15.13 Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, tribune, begun 1493,

commissioned by Ludovico Sforza possibly from Donato
Bramante collaborating with Amadeo and Leonardo da Vinci

The roundels in the tympanum arches are fictive, painted

architectural decorative details.

LUDOVICO IL MORO AND A GRAND CLASSICAL STYLE 369

 15.14 Tomb of Beatrice d’Este
and Ludovico Sforza, after 1497,
commissioned by Ludovico Sforza
from Cristoforo Solari for Santa
Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Marble
(Certosa, Pavia)

15.15 The Last Supper, 1494?-97/98 probably commissioned by Ludovico

; , PAN s ) Sf;
co Sforza ;
and Beatrice d’Este frc Sees
Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Painting (tempera and oil) on plaster, 13’ 9” x 29! 19” (468 aot ste from Leonardo da Vinci for the Refectory, Santa

The work is peu)

ruinous, havi
having i
been painted i an experimental
In rime edi
medium :
that ‘
began deteriorating soon after it was applied. Despite yates 8 ;
away from Christ to the viewer’s left is the young St. John the Evangelist, not Mary Magdalene Sees »espite popular fiction, the figure leaning
é ) iy, g ene.

370 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

Maria delle Grazie. He has worked the marble slab so that it proudly in the central lunette over the composition; to
appears as malleable and fluid as the cloth and flesh it either side are the emblems of their sons and successors,
portrays. The couple seems merely resting, ready to rise to Massimiliano (r. 1512-15) and Francesco I (r. 1521-24, 1525,
meet their ducal obligations, Ludovico in his flowing cloak, 1529-35), yet another dynastic image.
Beatrice in her satin gown overlaid with the braided and Leonardo had been in Milan since 1481 or 1482 when
knotted cords she had popularized in courtly fashions. The he wrote a letter to Ludovico offering his services as a
two recumbent figures are also remarkable insofar as double military and city planner, sculptor, and sometime painter,
tombs of this sort are quite rare in Italy. Most Italian men an indication that whereas we now esteem Leonardo mainly
were buried with their male relatives, women with other for his surviving paintings and drawings, he gauged that his
women. Pairing Ludovico and Beatrice speaks of more than skills in engineering were more likely to be appreciated by
their affection: it also reinforced Sforza claims to high aris- a potential patron.
tocratic status. French royal tombs brought king and queen The subject of the Last Supper was traditional for refecto-
together, if only in effigy (see Fig. 6.4), emphasizing dynasty ries (see Figs. 4.21 and 10.44), but Leonardo invested it with
and lineage, much as we must assume Ludovico intended. a new sense of drama, which has made it one of the most
memorable images in Western art. Selecting the moment just
Leonardo da Vinci after Christ announces that one of his disciples will betray
him, Leonardo imagined the apostles’ confusion and self-
The Last Supper The Sforzas also commissioned artists doubt, and portrayed their agitated reactions. He arranged
to enhance the living quarters of the Dominicans at Santa them in four groups, linked by their gestures and turning
Maria delle Grazie. For the refectory they commissioned a bodies. Christ (Fig. 15.16) becomes the calm fulcrum in
fresco of The Last Supper (Fig. 15.15) from Leonardo da Vinci. the midst of this turbulence, with all the human energy, as
Ludovico’s and Beatrice’s names and coats of arms appear well as the strong diagonals of the deeply tunneling space,

15.16 Christ and Apostles (detail of The Last Supper), 1494?-97/98, probably commissioned by Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d’Este from Leonardo da Vinci
for the Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Painting (tempera and oil) on plaster

LUDOVICO IL MORO AND A GRAND CLASSICAL STYLE 371

resonating around his stable, pyramidal form. Casting his located, that is, from above and to the sides of the lunettes
eyes down toward his open left hand, Christ makes a gesture containing the Sforza family’s coats of arms, causing the
of sacrifice, offering his mystical body through the symbol illusionistic space to tunnel much more quickly than the
of a piece of bread. At the same time, he embraces his des- actual space occupied by the viewer. These devices serve to
tiny, reaching out with his right hand to share a portion focus special attention on Christ and the apostles, creating
with Judas, whose shadowed face and body—and the an exalted vision of an event central to the Christian theol-
fact that he alone is not protesting—indicate his treachery. ogy of redemption.
By placing Christ against a luminous landscape, Leonardo Leonardo’s wall painting was like none that ever had been
was able to dispense with a conventional halo; nature here seen before. Novel in its composition and emotional tenor,
embodies and symbolizes the divine. it was also produced in an experimental technique, largely
Leonardo’s perspective system is also highly expressive. applied a secco using a mixture of tempera and oil, allowing
Constructed from Christ’s eye level, just to the left of his Leonardo time to achieve effects similar to oil painting.
head, it creates a deep and measurable space, much more He carefully rendered every stitch of embroidery on the
capacious than earlier versions of the scene (see Fig. 10.44). tablecloth, the alternately convex and concave depressions
Doorways between the tapestries on the left wall—revealed of its crisply pressed folds, the glint of light on the wine
in recent restorations—and niches between the ones on the glasses, the dull sheen of the ceramic bowls, and the crusty
right create cross axes, extending the space beyond the goodness of the bread. But for the most part Leonardo’s
perimeters of the room. And yet Leonardo has pushed the pigments did not adhere to the wall, causing the surface to
apostles’ table curiously close to the picture frame, locking deteriorate soon after it was completed. A doorway later
his figures in the embrace of the receding walls. He also punched into the center of the base literally added insult
extended the orthogonals along the edges of his ceiling to injury. Modern conservation (see Fig. 38) has been able to
to the upper corners of the refectory in which the fresco is do little more than consolidate spotty patches of pigment.

CONTEMPORARY VOICE

A Man of Many Talents —

When, in 1481/82, Leonardo da Vinci wrote and battle, easy and convenient to lift and and useful forms, out of the common type.
to Ludovico il Moro offering his services, it place. ... (8) Where the operation of bombardment
was his prowess as a military engineer that (2) | know how, when a place is besieged, might fall, | would contrive catapults ...
he stressed. A few brief references to his to take water out of the trenches, and make and other machines of marvellous efficacy
artistic abilities were added near the end of endless variety of bridges, and covered ways and not in common uée.
the letter, almost as an afterthought. and ladders, and other machines pertain- (10) In time of peace | believe | can give
ing to such expeditions. ... perfect satisfaction and to the equal of any
Most Illustrious Lord,—Having now suffi- (4) Again, | have kinds of mortars; most other in architecture and the composition
ciently considered the specimens of all convenient and easy to carry; and with of buildings, public and private; and in
those who proclaim themselves skilled these | can fling small stones almost resem- guiding water from one place to another.
contrivers of instruments of war, and that bling a storm; and with the smoke ofthese Item. | can carry out sculpture in marble,
the invention and operation of the said cause great terror to the enemy, to his great bronze, or clay, and also | can do in paint-
instruments are nothing different to those detriment and confusion. ing whatever may be done, as well as any
in common use: | shall endeavour, without (9) [8] And if the fight should be at sea | other, be he whom he may.
prejudice to anyone else, to explain myself have kinds of many machines most efficient [32] Again, the bronze horse may be
to your Excellency, showing your Lordship for offence and defence. ... taken in hand, which is to be the immortal
my secrets, and then offering them to your (S) Item. | have means by secret and tortu- glory and eternal honour ofthe prince your
best pleasure and approbation to work ous mines and ways, made without noise father of happy memory, and ofthe illustri-
with effect at opportune moments on all to reach a designated [spot], even if it were ous house ofSforza.
those things which, in part, shall be briefly needed to pass under a trench or a river. And if any one of the above-named
noted below. (6) Item. | will make covered chariots, safe things seem to anyone to be impossible
(1) | have a sort of extremely light and and unattackable. ... And behind these, or not feasible, | am most ready to make
strong bridges, adapted to be most easily infantry could follow quite unhurt and the experiment in your park, or in whatever
carried, and with them you may pursue, without any hindrance. place may please your Excellency, to
and at any time flee from the enemy; and (7) Item. In case of need | will make big whom | commend myself with the utmost
others, secure and indestructible by fire guns, mortars, and light ordnance of fine humility.

(from J.P. and I-A. Richter. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1939, pp. 273-75)

NESTE CTS

372 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

Had it not been for the strength of the overall
composition and for copies the work immedi-
ately inspired, it would be impossible to imagine
the impact it once made, however briefly.

Madonna of the Rocks In commissioning Leonardo

to paint The Last Supper, Ludovico was doubtless
confident that it would display at least some
of the pictorial subtlety Leonardo had already
demonstrated in court portraits and in an altar-
piece that the artist began soon after arriving
in Milan, the Madonna ofthe Rocks (see Fig. 15.0).
Commissioned by the Confraternity of the
Immaculate Conception for their new chapel in
the Franciscan basilica of San Francesco Grande,
the painting was the centerpiece of a larger
wooden structure which included side panels
by the Milanese de Predis brothers—Ambrogio (c.
1455 Milan-after 1508) and Cristoforo (d. 1486)—
who probably assisted Leonardo in breaking into
the Milanese market prior to Ludovico’s offer of
employment at court. Thick, yellowed varnish
has dulled Leonardo’s coloristic effects, but oth-
erwise the painting is well preserved. Dramatic
but soft spotlighting picks out the figures, recall-
ing a remark Leonardo made in his notebooks
about the beauty of faces seen in the subdued aee:

light of a courtyard. Exquisitely detailed rocks,

ey
%
=

mists, water, and plant life, all studied carefully x sseeSe

ip =
from nature, surround the figures. fs Ss
:
ke:
s te,
PR
Curiously, for a commission that requested never:

only a Madonna and Child accompanied by & fies RAGES

ssa

angels, Leonardo’s Madonna of the Rocks includes a

prominent figure of an infant John the Baptist kneeling to 15.17 Star of Bethlehem Flower, 1508-13, Leonardo da Vinci. Pen and ink
adore the Christ Child from under the protective right arm over red chalk on paper, 7% x 64" (19.8 x 16 m) (Royal Library, Windsor)

of the Virgin. Christ reciprocates with a blessing, accompa-

nied by a figure traditionally identified as an angel, who As Leonardo was finally finishing the Madonna ofthe Rocks
points at the Baptist. Coming from Florence, Leonardo he was also at work on a series of botanical studies that
would have seen numerous images ofthat city’s patron saint would have accompanied a scientific treatise. His drawing
as a child, often in the company of aMadonna and Child in of a Star of Bethlehem and other grasses and flowers
a rocky setting, such as Filippo Lippi’s Adoration of the Christ (Fig. 15.17), like the vegetation in the Madonna ofthe Rocks,
Child (see Fig. 11.15). Even so, once Leonardo had the idea of pulsates with life. Flower stalks emerge out of a vortex of
using this imagery, he must have had to be sure that it also grasses that suggest dynamic growth, closely related to his
made sense for its Milanese context. Efforts to connect the own fascination with flowing waters and currents that
unusual subject with the cult of the Immaculate Conception, previously animated the hair of Ginevra de’ Benci (see Fig.
to which the commissioning confraternity was dedicated, 11.37) and enlivened his now lost Leda and the Swan, with
have proven fruitless: but since the confraternity’s chapel which the drawing has been connected both as a study for
was located in a Franciscan church, the identification of an actual plant that was to grow between the swan’s gawky
St. Francis as a second John the Baptist by Francis’s official legs and as inspiration for the entwined hairdo he invented
biographer, Bonaventure, may have made the confraternity for Leda. Whether vegetal, animal, or mineral, the forces
amenable to John’s inclusion. They were impressed enough of nature all fascinated Leonardo. Better to serve his investi-
with Leonardo’s preliminary work that even though the gations, Leonardo employed a variety of drawing styles on
work remained unfinished for several decades, they neither this page: first a sketch in soft red chalk at the top of the
commissioned another altarpiece nor assigned its comple- page to capture the forms, then a consolidation of those
tion to another artist—though they did instigate legal action observations in pen, and tighter pen and ink analyses of
that finally forced Leonardo to complete the work in 1508. other plants at the bottom.

LUDOVICO IL MORO AND A GRAND CLASSICAL STYLE 373

Leonardo at Ludovico’s Court Although it was not uncom-
mon for Leonardo to leave his paintings incomplete—his
inquisitive nature impelled him on to new studies and
experiments—the confraternity may have been willing to
exercise patience over the Madonna of the Rocks since
Leonardo’s services were also claimed by Ludovico Sforza; it
is Not wise to antagonize an autocrat. Leonardo’s notebooks
were full of designs for fortifications and machinery that
were potentially of use to the Milanese state. Many of his
“inventions” are actually ingenious improvements upon
military equipment already described by ancient authors
and by fifteenth-century military treatises, including designs
for crossbows, catapults, lightweight bridges, cannons, and
armored vehicles; but Leonardo’s extraordinary powers of
visual analysis and description make his renditions more
convincing than prior illustrations. Leonardo also turned
his intelligence to new matters, including the possibility of
15.19 Study for the Sforza monument, c. 1488, commissioned by
human flight (Fig. 15.18), which distinguished him from his Ludovico Sforza from Leonardo da Vinci. Silverpoint on white paper
contemporaries. His design for an enormous bowl-shaped covered with a blue preparation, 5% x 7%” (14.8 x 18.5 cm) (Royal
helicopter—Leonardo’s notes indicate he was imagining a Library, RL12358r, The Royal Collection, Windsor, England © Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth I!)
structure 40 feet (12 meters) across with a wingspan twice

that size—depends on a man standing in the middle of the

machine moving treadles with his right hand as well as his
feet. Unaware of the principles of airflow and lift, in spite of
his careful study of the flight of birds, Leonardo was unable
to design a workable vehicle. Nonetheless, his sheer inven-
tiveness and knowledge of pulleys and gears, essential to his
work as a military consultant, gave him a technological base
upon which to build.
Leonardo challenged (and nearly overcame) the limits
of his generation’s mechanical expertise in plans for a
twice life-sized, bronze equestrian monument honoring
Ludovico’s father, Francesco Sforza. Preparatory drawings
(Fig. 15.19) show that Leonardo once again rethought a
standard artistic type (see Fig. 13.31), imagining a rearing
horse whose hoofs rise over a fallen enemy while the rider
leans back and to his side to fight off any other challengers.
After turning the rider to a more usual, frontal pose, he was
able to complete a full-scale model for the imperial wedding
in 1493. Set in the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco,
the group declared the authority and legitimacy of the
Sforza dynasty on a colossal scale that ancient authors said
: 5 was more appropriate to the gods than mere mortals. Never
Se
t . wot Doma RRar
cast because Ludovico requisitioned the necessary bronze
to produce cannons in an ill-fated attempt to keep French
Ae opt troops from invading Italy, the model was destroyed when it
prod Ba was used for target practice by soldiers after Ludovico’s fall
from power in 1499,
Ludovico and Leonardo were well suited to one another.
Both were masters of grand gestures and dreams, more than
15.18 Study of a Flying Machine, c. 1490, from the notebooks of
practical accomplishments. Their mutual delight in address-
Leonardo da Vinci (Institut de France, ms. B, fol. 80r, Paris) ing complex problems, as much for intellectual stimulation
as for practical purposes, is evident in Leonardo’s paintings
Leonardo’s notes are written in a mirror script as they are throughout his
notebooks. He was left-handed and probably found it easier—and more for Ludovico’s audience chamber in the Sforza Castle,
private—to record his personal observations this way. the Sala delle Asse (Fig. 15.20). Leonardo’s design has been

374 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

heavily overpainted, but its witty complexity is still evident. Instability and Religious Fervor in
In place of classical motifs, as used by Mantegna on the ceil-
ing of the Camera Picta in Mantua (see Fig. 14.34), Leonardo
the Milanese Court
turned to natural “architecture,” imagining the room as a
vast tent of interlacing mulberry trees, one of Ludovico’s Milan then entered a thirty-six-year period of political
heraldic devices. At their apex appears Ludovico’s coat turbulence, ruled alternately by the French, the Spanish,
of arms, quartered with those of his recently deceased and Ludovico’s two eldest sons. In these circumstances there
wife, Beatrice d’Este. Since Beatrice popularized knotted was little new building in Milan, but the need for military
ornament at court, the intertwining branches may refer on and engineering expertise, as well as talents in the arts of
a personal level to the bonds that united Ludovico and pageantry and display, continued unabated. In May 1506,
Beatrice. However, plaques knitted into the branches on the French governor, Charles d’Amboise, lord of Chaumont,
each of the four sides of the room announce Ludovico’s petitioned the Signoria of Florence to allow Leonardo da
primary aim: a celebration of his dealings with and ties to Vinci to return to Milan. Charles, like so many Milanese
the court of Emperor Maximilian. leaders before him, did not seek a radical break with the
Sull, imperial connections could not save Ludovico from past. Instead, he employed Leonardo, the most famous
his own ineptitude. In 1499 the French royal army deposed artist of the Sforza court, to create works that would, he
him, claiming authority for their king through earlier inter- hoped, seamlessly insert his regime into Milanese history.
marriage with the Visconti. Leonardo, Bramante, and others Leonardo, unusually apolitical for a person of his era, seems
fled Milan to Florence and Rome, where patrons readily to have found no difficulty in working for Charles in spite
embraced the grand manner which had been promoted by of his eighteen years of service for Ludovico Sforza. That
Ludovico Sforza. the Florentine Signoria agreed to release Leonardo to the

15.20 Decorations of the Sala delle Asse, c. 1497, commissioned by Ludovico Sforza from Leonardo da Vinci for the Castello Sforzesco, Milan. Fresco

Although the intricate interlace design is original, the fresco was heavily repainted during the nineteenth century, perhaps indicating that the current inscriptions may
not accurately reproduce their exact original content.

INSTABILITY AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR IN THE MILANESE COURT 375

 definition his art stood outside normal local expecta-
tions. Moreover, any continuation of Leonardo’s stylistic
principles in a radically changed political and religious
climate became increasingly problematic.

Leonardo at Court

When Leonardo returned to Milan from Florence he

once again became the chief court artist, designing
pageants, advising on the choir stalls of the Duomo,
proposing architectural and urban projects, and attend-
ing to military matters. Leonardo traveled widely for
Charles. During this period he also began his first
series of systematic notes on geology and atmospheric
effects, including an examination of marine fossils
on mountain heights which led him to the radical
conclusion that these objects had not been deposited
15.21 Two Mountain Ranges, Leonardo da Virici. Red chalk on red
prepared paper, 6% x 9” (15.8 x 23 cm). Royal Collection © 2004, Her
there by the biblical Flood, as generally believed, but that
Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11)

governor, even though he had not completed painting

a fresco commissioned for the Palazzo della Signoria
(see Fig. 16.6), indicates respect for the power of
Milan’s French conquerors.
For a while Leonardo traveled back and forth
between Milan and Florence, but in the summer
of 1508 he settled in Milan, where he remained until
1513. His renewed presence in northern Italy deeply
affected the work of a good number of followers,
but many only mimicked the outer trappings of his
style, not its substance, and yet other artists proposed
boldly realistic and emotional alternatives to his
idealized manner. In the end, Lombard art continued
its long commitment to naturalism, reinforced by
Leonardo’s studies of nature but invigorated even
more profoundly by contact with Venetian painting
and the wide circulation of German prints. While
Leonardo was certainly the most famous artist active
in the region in the early sixteenth century, numerous
patrons and artists worked outside the tight court
circle he dominated and paid little attention to his
example, seeking instead to express more native
values and sentiments. As we shall see, their work
is sometimes shockingly different from Leonardo’s,
causing some art historians to term them anti-
classicists, but such a designation assumes that
these artists were rebelling against Leonardo’s classi-
cal style, when, in fact, it seems simply not to have
served their needs. Leonardo was a genius, but by very

MA
15.22 Madonna and Child with St. Anne, c. 1505 (?)-13,
Leonardo da Vinci. Oil on canvas, 5’ 7” x 4’ 2%" (1.7 x 1.29 m)
(Musée du Louvre, Paris)

This work, like the Mona Lisa (see Fig. 16.8), remained in the artist’s
personal possession until his death.
\ {

376 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

this land had once formed part of the ocean floor. His draw-
ings of mountain peaks (Fig. 15.21), suggestively rendered
in soft red chalk on red paper, offer magisterial panoramas
replete with shadow and mist. In the extensive notes
accompanying the drawing illustrated, Leonardo marvels at
the color of mountain flowers seen at a distance through
the thin mountain air, which he obviously experienced first
hand and at a great height, almost seeming to fly over the
vast terrain.
Leonardo’s studies of the Alps bore artistic results in
the background of his altarpiece of the Madonna and Child
with St. Anne (Fig. 15.22). Leonardo never completed the
drapery on the main figures, gracefully and dynamically
interlaced with one another, focusing his attention rather
on the mist-covered mountains in the background. His
astute observations on the perception of color and light
under differing atmospheric conditions, carefully recorded
in his notebooks, led him to a radically different depiction
of nature than appears in his earlier Madonna of the Rocks
(see Fig. 15.0). Abandoning the uniformly precise rendition
of details characteristic of much fifteenth-century art,
Leonardo expands his vision to planetary dimensions. At the
foot of the painting he describes every rocky striation and
pebble, but as he moves to the back, his brushstrokes soften
and then dissolve into light-saturated mists enveloping
Alpine crags. He also enlarges the scale of his figures so that
they themselves form a mountainous mass, making the
entire work seem larger and more imposing than the
Madonna ofthe Rocks in spite ofthe fact that the earlier paint-
ing is actually somewhat taller.
Leonardo’s art was complex and challenging; it naturally
attracted imitators and admirers, but most painters and
15.23 Madonna, Child, and Infant St. John the Baptist, c. 1510-20 (2),
patrons in Milan and Lombardy appreciated only isolated commissioned by the Carthusian monks of San Michele alla Chiusa,
aspects of his work. Leonardo’s subtle half-statements and Milan from Bernardino Luini for their hospice. Fresco transferred to
visual innuendos never fully displaced the declarative clarity canvas, 5’ 5%" x 3’ 8%" (1.66 x 1.14 m) (Brera Gallery, Milan)
and down-to-earth naturalism of local artists such as
Vincenzo Foppa (see Fig. 15.9). Bernardino Luini (Bernardino
Scapi; 1480-85 Luini-1532 Lugano), for example, owned Commemorative Commissions
Leonardo’s cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne and
the Infant St. John now in London, which is closely related to When Charles d’Amboise died in 1511, Leonardo continued
the master’s Madonna and Child with St. Anne (see Fig. 15.22), in the service of the new co-governors, the French nobleman
but in a fresco of the Madonna, Child, and Infant St. John the Gaston de Foix and the Milanese nobleman Giangiacomo
Baptist (Fig. 15.23) Luini shows little interest in Leonardo’s Trivulzio. Both were renowned military men. Trivulzio, for
highly evolved and sophisticated compositions and subjects, whom Leonardo designed a commemorative tomb monu-
choosing instead to translate Leonardo’s composition back ment (Fig.15.24) had served as condottiere for Ludovico il
into the highly accessible artistic language of the fifteenth Moro before joining and then leading the French forces that
century. Rather than suggesting cosmic grandeur, Luini’s toppled the Sforza government. As soon as he assumed
figures bridge the gap between the sacred and the secular, power he began building a centralized burial chapel reminis-
insisting ona religious experience that is humble and rooted cent of aRoman emperor’s mausoleum at the church of San
in everyday reality—themes that Church reformers, too, were Nazaro Maggiore, a potent civic site which had been founded
soon to stress. Indeed, the fresco’s direct charm and simplic- by St. Ambrose and was, until the late sixteenth century,
ity were particularly well suited to its location for a hospice lined with splendid Roman revetments and reliefs, which
in the strict Carthusian monastery of San Michele alla must have given the church a distinctly imperial air.
Chiusa; two of the monks can be seen just to the left of the Leonardo’s drawings indicate that Trivulzio intended to
Madonna’s shoulder walking across the landscape in their appropriate the triumphant imagery that the artist had
white hooded habits. devised for the ill-fated Sforza equestrian monument

INSTABILITY AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR IN THE MILANESE COURT 377

 figures in Roman guise. To specify their patronage, a huge
roundel with Trivulzio’s coat of arms hangs from a heraldic
border composed of the arms of the noble houses with
which he was allied. Inside this self-celebratory frame,
figures stand before reconstructions of Roman porticoes
and cityscapes wearing brilliantly colored Roman togas and
armor. Oversized male orators represent each month, Latin
inscriptions at their feet giving words to their gestures of
praise and exhortation. Since the verse for the month April
states that the earth becomes green once again and breaks
into flower, preparing for joys and games, Bramantino’s
figures approach the orator with bowls filled with flowers.
In the background human-headed topiaries glisten with
new leaves. Despite such ingenious devices, the tapestries
are impressive more for their size than for their quality,
compromised as they are by the speed of their execution.
What was remarkable was the precocious attempt at classi-
cism in a medium that had for so long been dominated by
chivalric themes.
Trivulzio’s co-governor Gaston de Foix died at the Battle
of Ravenna on April 11, 1512, less than a year after taking
office. He thus had little opportunity to develop his own
visual iconography, but the French royal house immediately
seized upon the occasion of his death to commission an
extravagant tomb monument exalting his accomplishments
and celebrating French rule in Milan. The project was
commissioned from Agostino Busti, known as Il Bambaia
oe
sta
ee
eae
se Neen
(1483 Busto Arsizio?-1548 Milan), who had been trained
in the somewhat precious manner of the Pavia workshops
15.24 Studies for an equestrian tomb monument, c. 1511, tomb (see Fig. 15.4). It called for an idealized effigy resembling
commissioned by Giangiacomo Trivulzio, co-governor of Milan, from Cristoforo Solari’s reclining figures of Ludovico il Moro and
Leonardo da Vinci for San Nazaro Maggiore, Milan. Pen and bistre (?) on
coarse grayish paper, 11 x 7%" (28 x 19.8 cm) (Royal Library, RL12355r,
Beatrice d’'Este (see Fig. 15.14), as well as a great number
The Royal Collection, Windsor, England © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I!) of highly detailed historical reliefs in marble (Fig. 15.26)
to be set within a free-standing architectural framework
which would have borne similarities to the lower level of the
(see Fig. 15.19): a galloping horse and rider rearing over Trivulzio monument, as well as the structure ofFrench royal
a cowering foe. Reduced to life size, the group was to have tombs. The effect was to have been exquisite. Each relief
stood over a chamber containing Trivulzio’s effigy and pulsates with innumerable figures that are so fully carved
sarcophagus. The smallest of Leonardo’s sketches suggest that the entire foreground seems composed of freely mod-
that he was considering a tripartite structure in the form of eled statuettes. Landscape settings and intricately entwined
a triumphal arch; another shows the same theme of conquest figures rival the complexity of even the most remarkable of
expressed in the form of human captives tied to columns. earlier Lombard reliefs (see Fig. 15.4). The work was so labor
Trivulzio was not a popular ruler. His heavy hand is intensive that in 1517 it was estimated that Bambaia and
already evident in commissions that pre-date his assumption his assistants from the cathedral workshops would require
of full power, including a series of twelve huge tapestries at least four to six years to complete the work—wishful
depicting the months ofthe year (Fig. 15.25). Commissioned thinking, it turns out, for a monument that was eventually
from Bramantino (Bartolomeo Suardi; c. 1465 Milan-1530 abandoned unfinished.
Milan), a local artist who earned his nickname from the fact
that he was the protégé of Bramante, the tapestries were Alternatives to Leonardo
woven throughout 1508 and 1509 by masters who worked
into the night so that the hangings could be displayed The extravagant complexity, preciosity, and sheer costliness
during the traditionally lavish court festivities at Christmas. of works of art commissioned by the rulers of Milan in the
Unlike the frescoes depicting the same subject at the early sixteenth century contrast sharply with commissions
Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trent (see Fig. 9.30), which outside the capital. Religious leaders and worshipers may in
feature people dressed in contemporary garb in real settings, part have been poorly informed of Leonardo’s work—little,
Bramantino’s cycle consists of allegories populated by after all, had actually been completed—but more important,

378 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

 15.25 April, 1508-9,
commissioned by Giangiacomo
Trivulzio from Master Benedetto,
following designs by Bramantino.
Tapestry (Museum of Castello
Sforzesco, Milan)

Z
i
SOLU VIRERE DACNOVO
FLOREMOS FIORE SVFFCIT»
Cit GAVDIA-APPARAT JOCOS2S
APRILIS VNDIOVE ET NITET>
=

15.26 The Capture of Brescia, after

1517, probably commissioned
by Odet de Foix, governor of
Milan, and financed by the French
royal family, including Francis I,
ee eet Oe Oe PNA EN WS) eS
from Il Bambaia for Santa Marta,
Milan. Marble, 37% x 46% x 74"
(96 x 118.5 x 19 cm) (Museum
of Castello Sforzesco, Milan)

INSTABILITY AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR IN THE MILANESE COURT 379

thev were used to works of art that were less artificial, and and torches by night, leading to particularly powerful and
they preferred more concrete expression of their intense emotional responses. What worshipers had read about
religiosity. The kind of religious fervor that had gripped and contemplated in their hearts came alive before their
Florence through the preaching of Savonarola in the late very eyes. Little wonder that there are numerous reports of
fifteenth century continued unabated in northern Italy, visitors moved to tears.
where there was widespread awareness, and sympathy for The experience was intensified by the way in which artists
the reforming spirit in nearby Germany that would soon created total environments of architecture, painting, and
lead to Martin Luther’s posting the Ninety-Five Theses sculpture. Leading the endeavor was the locally trained
against the abuses of the Catholic Church on the doors of Gaudenzio Ferrari (1475-80 Valduggia near Vercelli-1546
Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517. German devotional prints, Milan). As worshipers entered his Crucifixion Chapel (Fig.
many produced by pedestrian woodcut makers and engrav- 15.27) they stepped directly into history. Life-sized sculp-
ers, others by sophisticated artists like Albrecht Durer, who ture fashioned out of polychromed terracotta and dressed
worked in Venice in 1494/95, flooded into Italy, offering in actual clothes and wigs of human hair swarmed around
apocalyptic and bloody visions of Christian history. The them, directing their attention to Christ and the two thieves
defense of and return to traditional religious values and writhing in agony alongside him. At the far left a pot-bellied
practices, which by this time meant in part revisiting the old man with the sort of gnarled facial features that fasci-
mendicant reforms of the thirteenth century, were incom- nated Leonardo and that worshipers had come to expect in
patible with an art that espoused what some saw as “pagan” emotional Lamentation groups, popular in many churches
artistic models and values. As in our own day, unsettled of the period (see Fig. 23), raises his hand in greeting.
times bred conservatism and reactionaries. It is noisy and dirty, with nowhere for the worshiper to hide.
The Franciscans and Dominicans—Bernardino da Siena Indeed, the work of art was only complete once worshipers
and Girolamo Savonarola most notably—had led successive joined it. A painted crowd mirroring the actual one pushes
waves of religious reform throughout the fifteenth century. in from the back wearing contemporary clothing, while in
True to their tradition and ever resourceful, the Franciscans the sky angels throw up their hands and tumble through
continued to imagine new ways to engage the general popu- and around large clouds in frenzied grief. In the front,
lace through their preaching, acts of charity, and by organ- sculptures ofvillainous solders throw dice for Christ’s cloak
izing pilgrimages. But with the fall of Constantinople in and a mounted horseman dashes through the crowd. At the
1453, failed attempts at crusade, and a consequent wariness far right (not visible in our illustration) the Three Maries
to make the arduous journey to the Holy Land, religious and John the Evangelist stand at the foot of the cross
leaders sought alternative experiences for their flocks. On consumed with grief and compassion.
December 21, 1486 Fra Bernardino Caimi, an Observant This search for an unmediated, highly emotional, and
Franciscan whose own pilgrimage inspired him to recreate cathartic religious experience also provides the context
the holy sites of Jerusalem in the foothills of the Alps, for understanding a series of frescoes commissioned for
received papal authorization to build a
convent and begin the construction of what
he called the “New Jerusalem.” The Sacro
Monte in Varallo was to include a replica
of the Holy Sepulchre—the main goal of
all Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem—as well
as individual chapels featuring dioramas
of significant events in Christ’s life. A
guidebook published by Gottardo da Ponte
indicates that twenty-eight chapels were
completed or under construction by 1514.
Gottardo urged the pilgrim to immerse
him- or herself in the moment, identifying
completely with what was represented,
imagining sounds and even smells that
accompanied the event. Contemporary
reports indicate that many times pilgrims
to the Sacro Monte meditated by day and
then visited these chapels with lamps

15.27 Crucifixion Chapel, Sacro Monte di Varallo,

c. 1510-23, commissioned from Gaudenzio Ferrari

380 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

15.28 Massacre of the Innocents, 1516, commissioned by the
masseri of Cremona Cathedral from Altobello Melone for the
nave of Cremona Cathedral. Fresco

the interior of Cremona’s cathedral, southeast of

Milan. Often brutally and exaggeratedly melo-
dramatic, they brought the fervor of religious
pilgrimage to the very center ofcivic life. Tellingly,
the one group of paintings that has received the
greatest praise from art historians for its sophis-
ticated color, lighting, composition, and antique
references seems to have found little favor with
local officials, whose needs and desires ran at
cross currents to what is usually understood to be
the triumph of classicism in the early sixteenth
century throughout Italy.
The fresco cycle began inauspiciously in 1507
with bland paintings of the life of the Virgin
and the childhood of Christ. Their tenor changed
remarkably when, in December 1516, the massari
(supervisors and commissioning officers of the
cathedral) decided to hire a favorite son, Altobello Melone re-envisioning of the biblical story but also a record of the
(c. 1490 Cremona-before May 3, 1543 Cremona), to continue slaughters all north Italians had witnessed in the recent
this series. Altobello had once trained and collaborated with French and German invasions, here given pictorial bite from
the Brescian Girolamo Romanino (1484/87 Brescia-1560? models Altobello found in Albrecht Direr’s Small Passion
Brescia) through whom he became highly aware of contem- and other Northern European prints.
porary developments in Venetian and German art. As had To students raised on the idea that painting in the
been common for centuries, Altobello’s Massacre of the early sixteenth century is characterized either by the lyricism
Innocents (Fig. 15.28) exploits the violent and disturbing and grace of Leonardo and Raphael or by the heroicism
nature ofits subject matter, but Altobello’s rendition is even of Michelangelo, Altobello’s work appears aberrational and
more unsettling than usual, fueled in part by the contradic- willfully anti-classical, an artistic revolt of the first order.
tory stipulations of his commissioners. The massari explic- It is not at all clear, however, that Altobello and his patrons
itly required that he make his composition as beautiful as would have seen his work in those terms. First, Lombard
those of his predecessors while also graphically recording art had its own long tradition of gripping naturalism, as we
the pitiful “disheveled women” and “diverse cruelties of the have just seen in the work of Gaudenzio Ferrari. Altobello’s
men” who were attacking their babies. Altobello responded patrons are likely to have been as impressed with the suita-
by setting his horrible mélée in a classically detailed marble bility of German and other northern European models to
courtyard whose detailing recalls the cool classicism of their goal of presenting powerfully engaging religious drama
contemporary Venetian architecture (see Fig. 20.15). Herod, as they would have been uninterested in artificial constructs
seated at the right and dressed in contemporary northern such as “classical idealism,” whatever that term might mean.
European garb, not biblical robes, kneads the fingers of From our point of view, Altobello appears more a pragma-
his right hand and stares vacantly and dispassionately at tist than a rebel, an artist who seized upon Venetian models
his victims while his advisors icily eye both the scene and the for his fictive architecture while at the same time respond-
spectator from under their stylish large hats. The mood and ing positively to northern European prints for their emo-
the very mode of painting alter radically in the lower part tionality. Polyglot, not purist, he did not have to choose
of the composition where Altobello’s brush lashes across sides; he could have it all, especially when that was exactly
the plaster as foot soldiers, clearly identifiable as German what his patrons had demanded of him.
mercenaries, do Herod’s dirty work with their daggers. Altobello’s example and the demands of his patrons
While the young mother fallen at Herod’s feet is a contem- proved critical to a shift in the style of Girolamo Romanino,
porary beauty, the hideousness of the fate awaiting her child with whom he had worked closely before the cathedral
is evident in the cowering dog sniffing a cadaver behind her commission. In October 1517 the massari hired Romanino
and in the grotesque lips and goiter of the running nurse- to assess Altobello’s frescoes, offering him his own place on
maid at the left. Under the arch above her another baby 1s the scaffolding two years later. Never before nor after were
thrown upside down above the head of a turbaned figure Romanino’s paintings so gripping and emotionally charged
whose massive hands hold the child in place so that 1t can as when he worked in Cremona. In his Christ before Caiaphas
be slaughtered by his companion. This is not simply a vivid (Fig. 15.29) the viewer confronts Christ’s suffering firsthand.

INSTABILITY AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR IN THE MILANESE COURT 381

15.29 Christ before Caiaphas, 1519-20,
commissioned by the masseri of Cremona Cathedral
from Girolamo Romanino for the nave of Cremona
Cathedral. Fresco

While nothing is as ruthless as in

Altobello’s fresco, we cannot help but
empathize with the humble, shrinking
figure of Christ, just dragged across town
by a soldier and now confronting the
forces of evil personified by the shadowed
Mephistopholean features of Cataphas.
A woman—Mary Magdalene or even
perhaps Veronica?—attempts to comfort
Christ, but her efforts are literally lost
in the shadows. Christ’s public humilia-
tion takes place right in the streets, a
kind of eyewitness reporting similar
to the work of artists such as Carpaccio
in Venice (see Fig. 13.24) and seen in
German prints of the period, updated
with the glowing, brilliant light of Venice’s most dramatic and more energetic Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis, known
young painter, Titian. Fluent and sophisticated, down to the as Pordenone for the name of his birthplace (1483?
reclining nudes Romanino painted over the city gate and his Pordenone-1539 Ferrara).
stunning rendering ofpieces of armor strewn on the steps of Pordenone’s Crucifixion (Fig. 15.30) occupies the entire
Caiaphas’s palace, the fresco strikes most viewers today as a back wall of the nave of Cremona’s cathedral. It is a raw and
brilliant success, but it seems not to have been sufficiently brutal work, appropriate both to the subject and to the fren-
gritty and down-to-earth to please the massari, who expected zied emotional tenor Altobello and his patrons had initiated
a less idealized naturalism. They canceled his contract for with his Massacre of the Innocents but which Romanino had
a second set of frescoes and replaced him with the bolder been unable or unwilling to replicate fully. Once again,
German prototypes abound: the
unusual asymmetrical and off-
center placement of the crosses,
the figure of the centurion
standing at the center and
pointing to the cross, the horse-
man in his plumed hat, and the
screeching emotions all derive
from trans-Alpine models. It is
the moment immediately after
Christ has given up the ghost,
the sky has grown dark, and
the earth is literally quaking,
Opening into a chasm that will
soon swallow the horseman on
the right and perhaps his com-
patriots, who include turbaned
infidels and a man riding on a
donkey, a medieval symbol for

15.30 Crucifixion, 1520-21,

commissioned by the masseri of
Cremona Cathedral from Pordenone
for the retrofacade of Cremona
Cathedral. Fresco, 29’ 6” x 39’ 4”
(OEXe 12am)

382 SFORZA MILAN: DUCAL SPLENDOR

synagogue. It 1s now time for soldiers to put the crucified reveals a strain of realism that characterized much art in
out of their suffering, and so a soldier climbs a ladder to the the Lombard region (see Figs. 22.10 and 22.11). In Savoldo’s
unrepentant thief and breaks his legs. While these figures St. Matthew, a subject appropriate for the Milanese mint
derive from works that Pordenone saw at the Vatican before insofar as the saint was a tax collector, an angel appears
he came to Cremona (see, for example, Figs. 17.27 and in the darkness to inspire the seated evangelist. Strangely
17.31), they have lost all their idealization and nobility. A distorting light and shadows play across their drapery and
storm swirls around the scene, and in the left foreground faces, the result ofillumination from a small oil lamp placed
the Virgin, fully empathetic with her son’s death, swoons on like a footlight on the table below and in front of them.
the ground, while behind her, Longinus, riding a brown In the dark recesses at the right, two men attend to a seated
horse and holding the spear with which he will pierce figure, probably St. Matthew in the house of the queen of
Christ’s side, clasps his hand to his heart and recognizes Ethopia’s eunuch after he had preached and discredited
Christ’s divinity. To any who would be foolish enough to some local magicians. Flames and sparks from the fireplace
doubt the wisdom of his revelation, the centurion holding a throw the three figures into relief, catching St. Matthew’s
cross-shaped sword at the center of the fresco glares us into hands and face with their light, but consigning the rest of
recognition of his famous utterance, “Surely this was the his body to near total darkness. At the far left four small
son of God.” Never before had a Crucifixion been so theatri- figures wander along a moonlit street. Matthew’s peasant’s
cal or compelling, fully realizing his patrons’ demands for hands, rumpled clothes, contorted neck, and slightly scruffy
an art that could convert and subdue heresy, an ever more beard all contribute to the immediacy of the scene, so
pressing need as the Reformation and challenges to Church convincingly real as to be unsettling.
doctrine and authority spread rapidly in these years. Thus as we move on to look at more familiar Florentine
Another artist who employed dramatic settings with and Roman masterpieces from the first halfof the sixteenth
particular attention to luminous night skies was Giovanni century it will be crucial to keep in mind that there were
Girolamo Savoldo (active 1506-48 Venice), who acquired a numerous alternative expressions available to patrons and
reputation for such work with his paintings for the mint artists who sought them. As we shall see in Part IV of this
in Milan. Vasari called his works “nocturnes, with fires, very book, by the 1560s it was realism, directness, and emotional-
beautiful” (Fig. 15.31). Savoldo spent most of his career ism—the hallmarks of much Lombard art in the early
working in Venice, but he called himself “da Brescia” (from sixteenth century—that came to dominate Italian devotional
Brescia), a commercial center east of Milan, and his work art, not classicism and idealism.

15.31 St. Matthew

and the Angel,
c. 1534,
commissioned from
Girolamo Savoldo
for the Ducal Mint,
ilan. Oil on
canvas, 3' %4" x 411"
93.4 x 124.5 cm)
Metropolitan
useum ofArt,
ew York)

X-rays show that

Savoldo originally
planned a praying
woman, perhaps
a donor, at the
bottom right of
the canvas, but he
painted her out

INSTABILITY AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR IN THE MILANESE COURT 383

 The First Half of the Sixteenth
Century

16 Florence: The Renewed Republic 386

17 Rome: Julius Il, Leo X, and Clement VII 396

18 Florence: Mannerism and the Medici 424

19 Mantua, Parma, and Genoa: The Arts at Court 439

20 Venice: Vision and Monumentality 451

ae first half of the sixteenth century was an era of stylistic and political realignment.
Invasions by foreign troops, challenges to Church authority by Protestant reformers,
and a return to inter-city warfare shattered the tranquility of prior decades. In Lombardy
some artists and patrons confronted these challenges directly, but elsewhere most
commissioned and created works that purposefully masked these hard realities. A heroic
classical style in Florence at the beginning ofthe century served to bolster the city’s tenuous
return to republicanism. In Rome the popes encouraged Raphael and Michelangelo to
paint the wallsof the papal apartments and chapel with optimistic visions of stability.
and harmony, and commissioned Bramante to envision a new St. Peter’s and papal
palace that implied a universal order under the Roman papacy. In a Venice threatened
by the pan-European military force of the League of Cambrai, noble patrons responded
enthusiastically to Giorgione’s and Titian’s poetic evocations of an idyllic golden age, when
humans supposedly lived harmoniously with nature and one another. In all these centers
altarpieces and narrative frescoes became increasingly dynamic and imposing. Everyday
reality often became subject to grand notions of a perfect world modeled on classical
idealizations, perhaps inspired in part by new realizations ofa greatly enlarged world after
1492. These inclinations were confirmed by the discovery of such awe-inspiring works of
ancient art as the Hellenistic Laocodn group (see Fig. 39), whose exaggerated musculature
and compositional tour de force artists soon sought to surpass.
Artists and patrons across Italy were also increasingly willing to bend the principles
of composition and design formulated over the course ofthe fifteenth century. Looking
more at the concerns of narrative presentation than at formal compositional rules, many
artists experimented with new ways of organizing their compositions and articulating
their buildings, counting on sophisticated patrons to appreciate novelty and invention.
(opposite) Marriage of Cupid Mannerism and its many variations proved an adaptable tool for expressing the autocratic
and Psyche (detail), 1518-19, values that increasingly dominated the peninsula. Artists enjoyed a gradual shift in social
commissioned by Agostino position, moving away from the lower social status associated with the craft tradition
Chigi from Raphael and his
and capitalizing on the growing recognition oftheir individual genius. This, the era of
_ studio for the Villa Chigi
~ (now Villa Farnesina), Rome. Michelangelo, found visual artists writing poetry and treatises even as patrons still kept
Fresco a close eye on everything they commissioned.

385
 Florence: The Renewed Republic

then, when the French invader was on the

doorstep, by allying himself with the French
king, Charles VII.
Public attention at this time turned to
Savonarola, the Dominican preacher whose
sermons fired popular devotion and reform.
He used Piero’s exile and the republic’s
struggling attempts at reforming itself to
attempt the superimposition ofa theocratic
model of government on the city and
its governors. His powerful preaching of
Christian reform gave such a theological
cast to republican values that the meeting
room of the Great Council was referred
to by some as the Hall of Christ. Yet
Savonarola’s interventions in the workings
of the state proved his undoing and, as we
have seen, he was executed in 1498 in front
of the very town hall whose policies he
sought to influence. Thus twice in a decade,
in 1494 and in 1498, Florence had freed
itself from what it perceived as tyranny.

The Republic as Patron

With Piero in exile and Savonarola dead,
the citizens of Florence turned to the task
of reconstructing their cherished republic
and reinventing a visual mythology and
stylistic language to express its ideals. The
Signoria thus embarked on a number of
commissions which were to transform the
iconography of the Florentine state. These
commissions for the renewed republic did
two things. They provided the physical
site of government with a powerful new
series of images designed to establish an
iconography of restored republican power, and they evoked
n November 1494, after sixty years of de facto rule, the history of the earlier republican city, both in their
Medici control of Florence came, temporarily, to an end. iconography and in their placement. .
Having ruled for a mere two years, Piero de’ Medici (known Even before the new works were commissioned, the
to history as “the Unfortunate,” in marked contrast to his intentions of the new government were clear. In 1495,
not
father, Lorenzo “the Magnificent”) was forced by a mob of quite a year after Piero’s forced exile, the Signoria ordered
his fellow Florentines to leave the city. Politically inept, he the removal of several works of art from the Medici Palace.
had responded to threats from rival factions within the city Donatello’s bronze David (see Figs. 11.21 and 11.22)
was
and from the French by allying himself with Naples and placed inside the Palazzo della Signoria, joining both
his

386
 marble David (see Fig. 10.9), which had been moved there in
1416, and Verrocchio’s bronze David, which Lorenzo and
Giuliano de’ Medici had sold to the Signoria in 1476.
Donatello’s bronze Judith (see Fig. 11.23) was moved from
the garden of the Medici Palace to the platform immediately
to the left of the main entrance of the Palazzo della Signoria.
An inscription was added to the statue at that time which
said that the citizens placed the statue there as an “exem-
plum” of public well-being (“salus publica”). In both cases
references to the protection of the state from tyrannical
forces could not have been clearer. Paintings by Pollaiuolo
of the Labors of Hercules, a civic hero central to the mythol-
ogy of Florence, and by Uccello of the Battle of SanRomano
(see Fig. 11.16), an important event in the political and mili-
tary history of the state, were also taken to the Palazzo della
Signoria from the Medici Palace.

A New Civic Hero: Michelangelo’s David

Besides reclaiming civic imagery which had been appropri-

ated by a private family, the placement of these sculptures
and paintings at the Palazzo della Signoria initiated a
program of state symbolism whose most memorable com-
ponent is Michelangelo’s David (Fig. 16.1). The statue was
originally commissioned for the north tribune of the cathe-
dral to continue the decorative program begun by Nanni di
Banco and Donatello in 1408-09 (see Figs. 10.8, 10.9, and
10.10) during a golden age of the republic. The block from
which it was carved had lain in the cathedral workshops
since 1466 and had, in fact, been partially carved according
to a model that still existed in the Opera when Michelangelo
received his commission in 1501. When completed in 1504
the David was, instead, placed just to the left of the entrance
of the Palazzo della Signoria, having been suspended in a
wooden frame and rolled on fourteen greased logs by over
forty men over a period of four days from the cathedral
workshops to the Palazzo della Signoria. There it displaced
Donatello’s Judith and in the process assimilated Judith’s
meaning of the “salus publica.” Had the statue not suffered
over 360 years of exposure to the weather and a disastrous
cleaning in 1843 with hydrochloric acid that further abraded
its surface (before being taken inside in 1873) the sculpture
would have had a lustrous polish and suggestive sensuality
that would have approximated the sheen of the dead Christ
in the Roman Pietd (see Fig. 12.35) or the slightly later nudes
for the tomb ofJulius II in Rome (see Fig. 17.10).
The David is striking both for its realistic representation of
16.1 David, 1501-04, commissioned by the Consuls of the Arte della the male human body and for the idealism that Michelangelo
Lana from Michelangelo for the north tribune of Florence Cathedral, but has projected onto the body. The figure is simultaneously
on completion installed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence. understandable as an ordinary man, essentially free of
Marble, height 17’ 4” (5.22 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence)
attributes that would readily identify him (the presumed
In October 1504 the tree stump supporting the David was gilded, a gilt garland sling being virtually hidden from sight), and as a hero. The
was placed on the figure’s head, and a belt of twenty-eight gilt-bronze leaves
was fixed around its waist (See Contemporary Voice, p. 489). colossal size of the figure—nearly three mes life size—implies
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THE REPUBLIC AS PATRON 387

misses the deliberate tension in the figure between real and Sculpture at the Cathedral
ideal, the suggestion that the ordinary can be transformed
te
into the extraordinary by a decisive moment of action. Other sculptural commissions at the cathedral indica
The nudity of the figure was unusual for a representation the seriousness of the republic’s intentions to associa te
of David, Donatello’s bronze David (see Figs. 11.21 and itself with the artistic commissions of the city before the
11.22) notwithstanding. The biblical text (I Samuel 17:38- Medici assumption of power. In 1503, even before the David
39) leaves little room for interpreting David as a nude. The had been completed, Michelangelo was commissioned by
pose of the figure and David’s mature body, along with the the Opera of the cathedral to carve twelve apostle figures,
nudity, suggest, instead, a classical statue of Hercules. like the David recalling the projects of the earlier period.
Moreover, the rocky terrain on which the figure stands, as Michelangelo began only one of these statues before his
well as the blasted tree trunk behind David’s right leg, derive contract was dissolved in 1505 when he went to Rome to
from the well-known tale of Hercules at the Crossroads. work for Pope Julius II. This figure, a S¢. Matthew (Fig. 16.2),
Faced with a choice between virtue and vice, allegorically is torqued around its central axis, a spasm of movement far
represented as, respectively, a sere and rocky landscape and different from the quite traditional pose of the David, indi-
a lush and flowering landscape, Hercules chose the first. No cating how anomalous the David is within Michelangelo’s
one entering the Palazzo della Signoria could have missed sculpture at this time. Even in its very unfinished state,
the moral and political meaning of the statue nor the refer- Matthew’s massive musculature suggests a deep reservoir of
ence to the classical hero who had appeared on the state seal pent-up energy and divine inspiration.
of Florence since the end of the thirteenth century. Another After a brief delay the apostle commission was begun
of Florence’s civic symbols may be alluded to in the con- anew in 1511, with a contract to Jacopo Sansovino (Jacopo
tracted muscles of David’s brow and in his fierce stare (see Tatti; 1486 Florence-1570 Florence), a sculptor and archi-
Fig. 16.0). This physiological type, known as the leonine tect who trained under Andrea Sansovino (Andrea Contucct;
type, recalls the Florentine marzocco, or heraldic 1467/70 Monte San Savino-1529 Monte San Savino)
lion, a gilt marble example of which stood at and, like other artists, took his master’s name.
the other end of the platform before the This led to the completion of four apostle statues
Palazzo della Signoria from the David. by four different sculptors by 1518. While
The great richness of meaning for the indebted to Michelangelo’s St. Matthew in its
David lies in Michelangelo’s strategy of contrapposto movement, Sansovino’s St. James
stripping the figure of all but the most (Fig. 16.3) does not have the coiled torsion
minimal iconographical elements so that of that figure. Like the St. Matthew it also
it may slip back and forth between mean- refers to earlier figures such as Donatello’s
ings, thus embracing the widest possible St. Mark (see Fig. 10.18) in the pose and
range of civic references and traditions. relationship to the niche. The apostle com-
The reason that the David so quickly mission seems not only to be linked to
became an icon for Florence was not just earlier moments in Florentine republican
Michelangelo’s extraordinary skill in fash- history, but also to be an active attempt
ioning a statue from a block of marble to regain the civic space of the cathedral
that had been quarried and partially interior that Lorenzo de’ Medici had begun
carved during the previous century, but to appropriate for himself, especially with
tiat he presented an heroic figure that plans from the early 1490s to decorate
resonated with the most telling symbols of its main chapel (dedicated to St. Zenobius,
republican Florence. At the same time, the one of Florence’s chief patron saints)
nudity of the figure and the virtual absence with mosaics.
of attributes also permitted the work to be
viewed simply as a work of art, a measure
The Imagery of State
of Michelangelo’s extraordinary skills and
his ability to compete with and surpass the A major renovation project was underway
sculptural successes of classical antiquity. within the Palazzo della Signoria during
Referred to in the documentary records as a the time that Michelangelo was carving the
“colossus,” the David recalled the Colossus David. Expansion of the Florentine Great
of Rhodes (one of the wonders ofthe ancient Council to five hundred members in 1495,
world), a statue that also guarded a gateway. imitating the Maggior Consiglio ofVenice,
meant to ensure that no single family or
16.2 St. Matthew, 1503-08 (unfinished), commissioned faction like the Medici would once more
by the Opera del Duomo from Michelangelo. Marble, gain sole power over the state. This in turn
height 8’ 11” (2.71 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) necessitated the enlargement of spaces in the

388 FLORENCE: THE RENEWED REPUBLIC

building to accommodate the new members, and, although
little remains of this project for the Hall of the Great
Council (Sala dei Cinquecento [Room ofthe 500] or the Sala
del Gran Consiglio), the program for its decoration is
known (Fig. 16.4).

The St. Anne Altarpiece An impressive altarpiece, two large

frescoes, carved wooden benches, and a marble sculpture
were the main components of the program. In 1498 Filippino
Lippi received a commission to paint an altarpiece for the
center of one of the long walls of the room, directly opposite
the gonfaloniere’s bench. His death in 1504 caused delays in
the project, but it was eventually assigned to Fra Bartolomeo
(Baccio della Porta; 1472 Florence-1517 Florence), then a
friar at San Marco, the very monastery from which the
forces of the republic had taken Savonarola in 1498. Fra
Bartolomeo had trained with Cosimo Rosselli and then set

16.3 (right) St. James, 1511-18, commissioned by the Opera del Duomo
from Jacopo Sansovino for the interior of Florence Cathedral. Marble
(nave of Florence Cathedral)

16.4 Sala del Gran Consiglio (Hall of the Great Council), Palazzo
della Signoria, Florence, reconstruction of the walls and ceiling showing
proposed decorative projects initiated by the renewed Republic (after
Johannes Wilde)

This plan depicts the ceiling of the room with the walls extending from it, as
if hanging from their upper edges. Folding the walls along the lines of juncture
with the ceiling would provide a three-dimensional model of the room.
1 Michelangelo, Battle of Cascina; 2 Leonardo da Vinci, Battle of Anghiar1;
3 Fra Bartolomeo, St. Anne Altarpiece; 4 Jacopo Sansovino, San Salvatore,
marble statue projected for architrave over the bench of the gonfaloniere

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THE REPUBLIC AS PATRON 389

up a workshop with his fellow student Mariotto Albertinelli placement at the center of the composition—where they
(1474 Florence-1515 Florence) until 1500, when he began receive the energy directed toward them by the other figures
a term as a Dominican novice, ultimately joining the order and are, at the same time, the source of it—recall the work of
in 1501 at San Marco. Fra Bartolomeo’s St. Anne altarpiece Leonardo (see Figs. 11.29 and 15.22), who had been an active
(Fig. 16.5) was probably similar in iconography to Lippi’s presence in Florence from 1500, when he returned from
earlier, unexecuted work. In Fra Bartolomeo’s painting Milan, to 1506 when he again left the city for Milan.
(left unfinished in 1512 when the Medici returned to power At the same time, the altarpiece is thoroughly integrated
and aborted the program of the Hall of the Great Council) into its political context. Each saint depicted in it was
the Virgin and Child sit raised on a platform in the center intended as a reference to a specific Florentine historical
of the symmetrically constructed scheme, with St. Anne, the event that had occurred on the day of the saint’s feast. The
Virgin’s mother, sitting behind them. These three figures painting, then, is both a devotional image and a record of
link with the kneeling male saints in the foreground in civic achievement. The image of St. Anne symbolizes the
a triangular composition which, along with the stately expulsion in 1343 of Walter of Brienne from Florence.
background architecture, provides a stable armature for the Walter had actually been invited by the Florentines to serve
animation of the figures. Each of the principal figures as ruler of the city, but he overstepped his power and was
is conceived in an active pose, his or her body turning in expelled on the feast day of St. Anne, a day that hencefor-
contrapposto so that the surrounding space is enlivened and ward was freighted with overtones of freedom from tyranny.
attention directed to other forms in the composition. The The original contract for Lippi’s painting explicitly called
Virgin looks toward her right, but her lower body turns in for representations of St. John the Baptist, the main patron
the opposite direction toward the kneeling figure in the saint of Florence; St. Zenobius, the city’s first bishop; and St.
right foreground of the painting. The interlocking forms of Victor, on whose feast day in 1364 the Florentines defeated
the Virgin and Child, their simplified ovoid faces, and their the Pisans at the Battle of Cascina. The connection between
past and present was also manifest in plans to have Andrea
Sansovino carve a figure of the Redeemer to place over the
gonfaloniere’s seatopposite the St. Anne altarpiece, for it was
on the feast of the Savior (November 9) that Piero de’ Medici
had been expelled from the city in 1494 and that the new
government had legislated as a civic holiday.
In fact, in 1501 Leonardo had apparently exhibited a
cartoon (now lost) for a painting of St. Anne with the Virgin
and Child and a lamb (see Fig. 15.22) in a room attached
to the church of Santa Annunziata in Florence, one of the
city’s major cult churches. Since preparatory drawings seem
to have had little intrinsic value at this time outside the
artist’s studio, the tale told by Vasari that large numbers of
Florentines lined up over the course of two days to see the
drawing because it was by a famous native son does not
ring completely true. Given that Leonardo subsequently
modified this iconography in another large cartoon
(London, National Gallery) by substituting for the lamb a
figure of the infant John the Baptist, the patron saint of
Florence, this story suggests that the image participated
in the history of St. Anne as a civic symbol at just the time
that Michelangelo was asked to complete work on the
unfinished block of the David.

The Battle Paintings Civic history was also to be repre-

sented on the walls of the room on either side of the gonfalo-
mere’s seat. In 1503 the Signoria commissioned Leonardo
to paint the Battle of Anghiari against the Milanese (1440)
on one side, and in 1504 they commissioned the younger
Michelangelo to paint the Battle of Cascina against the
Pisans on the other side. Michelangelo’s subject had particu-
16.5 St. Anne altarpiece, 1510-12 (unfinished), commissioned by the
lar resonance since the Florentines were again warring with
Signoria from Fra Bartolomeo for the Sala del Gran Consiglio, Palazzo Pisa in a protracted conflict which lasted until 1509.
Such
della Signoria, Florence. Oil on canvas (Museo di San Marco, Florence) battle paintings enlivened the walls of many Italian
town

390 FLORENCE: THE RENEWED REPUBLIC

 16.6 Battle ofAnghiari, commissioned
by the Signoria from Leonardo in
1503 for the Sala del Gran Consiglio,
Palazzo della Signoria, Florence;
central section of the projected fresco
representing the battle for the standard,
copy by an unknown sixteenth-century
Italian draftsman, enhanced by Peter
Paul Rubens, 1600-08. Black chalk,
pen and ink, heightened with gray and
white, 17% x 25" (45.2 x 63.5 cm)
(Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Leonardo began the fresco in 1505, and

left it in 1506. His unfinished section was
framed in 1513 and ultimately replaced by
Vasari’s paintings after 1563.

structured unit around a central

axis, in which arms and swords
link with one another, provid-
ing both a stable composition
and violently animated move-
ment through it; each figure
demands individual attention.
The movement implicit in
Leonardo’s early Adoration of the
halls, commemorating great moments in communal history Magi (see Fig. 11.29) is here unleashed so that it becomes
(see Figs. $.19 and 5.21). The Signoria pitted Leonardo and part of the subject of the painting. Leonardo wrote in his
Michelangelo against one another in a clear attempt to urge notebooks of the filth and stench of war; in his depiction
each to his creative limits and at the same time to push for of the battle he gives each of his figures leonine faces as
a speedy completion of the project—a familiar mode of if to suggest the bestiality of the event, but he also trans-
assigning projects. They were successful in the first respect forms them into slightly brutish forms, using the pictorial
but not in the second, for Leonardo completed only a small convention of ugliness as a denotation of error or sin. This
part of the actual fresco, and Michelangelo apparently never subtext of meaning is a far cry from the emblematic notions
moved beyond the stage of the cartoon. Yet the preparatory of triumphal victory on a bloodless battlefield that
drawings for their frescoes were to influence Florentine characterized so many earlier historical battle paintings in
artistic developments for years to come, and they still offer Tuscan town halls.
a textbook description of opposing pictorial possibilities for Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina is known only from his
the early years of the sixteenth century. preliminary drawings and from copies (Fig. 16.7), but it is
The section of Leonardo’s Battle
of Anghiari (Fig. 16.6), shown here
in a sixteenth-century Italian copy
later reworked by Peter Paul Rubens
(1577-1640), was to form the center
of the whole fresco, embedded in a
vast expanse of landscape containing
various moments ofthe battle. Horses
and bodies twist violently, their
movement accentuated by details of
realistically rendered costume and
musculature. Despite the frenzied
action, the figures form a tightly

16.7 Battle of Cascina, commissioned by the

Signoria from Michelangelo in 1504, copy of
1542 by Aristotele da Sangallo (?). Grisaille
on panel (Lord Leicester Collection, Holkham
Hall, England)

THE REPUBLIC AS PATRON 391

 lear from what remains that he, too, made significant
changes in the established iconography of civic military
victories. He chose a moment when the Florentine troops,
bathing in a river, were called to readiness by their leader.
This choice allowed Michelangelo to concentrate on the
nude body in motion, providing a virtual studio portfolio
of poses. Michelangelo pushed his figures forward in the
composition, in a frieze-like manner reminiscent of figures
on Roman sarcophagi. Opportunities to depict spatial
volume seem deliberately rejected as figures move laterally
across the space, both physically and psychologically inde-
pendent of one another. Leonardo’s insistent naturalism 1s
here subordinated to the hard sculptural form of the male
nude and to the invention of complex, yet graceful, poses for
the figures, not unlike the St. Matthew which Michelangelo
was designing at the same time (see Fig. 16.2)—almost as if
he wished deliberately to provide an alternative to the Battle
of Anghiari. Where Leonardo’s figures fuse in the shadows
of his sfwmato technique, Michelangelo’s are each clearly
delineated, with crisp outlines separating light from dark.
In this way, Michelangelo adhered absolutely to the
pictorial conventions of Florentine disegno. While the tor-
sions of Leonardo’s figures are determined by the immedi-
ate moment of the battle in which they participate, the
poses of Michelangelo’s soldiers are isolated depictions of
self-conscious grace and willed complexity that seem only
tangentially connected to the moment of alarm, despite
the trumpeter in the background. Thus where Leonardo’s
figures are mired with the sweat and noise and terror of
battle, Michelangelo’s figures seem far from war, absorbed
16.8 Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1513 (?), Leonardo da Vinci. Oil on panel,
in their own individual physical artfulness. 38% x 21” (97.8 x 53.3 cm) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

At one time the figure was flanked by columns whose bases aye just visible
Private Patrons on the ledge behind her. The identity of the figure is uncertain. Vasari was
the first to use the name Mona [Madonna] Lisa, leading to an identification
of the figure as Lisa Gherardini, who married Francesco Bartolomeo del
Portraits
Giocondo in 1495. Another writer who had seen the painting in France in
1517 when he visited Leonardo indicated that the painting had been made for
Like the public commissions for the Palazzo della Signoria, Giuliano de’ Medici when Leonardo was in Rome, making the identification
private commissions during the early years of the sixteenth of Mona Lisa unlikely

century indicate a development of earlier painting styles.

The presence of the revered Leonardo in Florence coincided
with the emerging power of the mature Michelangelo and His Mona Lisa, showing an unidentified woman, seated,
the assimilative mind of the young Raphael (Raffaello against the background of a rocky and watery landscape
Sanzio; 1483 Urbino-1520 Rome), newly arrived in the city (Fig. 16.8), epitomizes this achievement, based in part on
from his native Urbino, where he had trained with his contemporary developments in Venetian painting which
father, Giovanni Santi, also a painter, and from Perugia, Leonardo would have seen when he visited that city in 1500
where he had been impressed by the light and jewel-like on his way to Florence after having fled Milan. Her crossed
coloring of Perugino’s painting (see Fig. 12.30 for an exam- arms form the base of a triangle with her head as its apex.
ple of Perugino’s work in Rome). Although we have virtually Her face is an idealized oval. emphasized by the sharp, semi-
no documentation concerning interactions among Raphael, circular delineation between the crown of her head and the
Leonardo, and Michelangelo, the intellectual exchanges sky behind. The contours of her face, hands, and.body are
among them are manifest in their work. rendered with the utmost sensitivity, so that convex merges
One of Leonardo’s greatest accomplishments as a painter into concave in a continuous movement. Leonardo’s
te
was his transformation of the portrait from an icon of of the sfumato technique—at least as it can be currently
status to the representation ofa person fully engaged with understood from this quite dirty painting—blends light
and
the viewer, something he had begun with his portrait of dark and one form with another to enhance the
unity of
Ginevra de’ Benci before his move to Milan (see Fig. 11.37). the composition. The lady turns gently to recognize
the

392 FLORENCE: THE RENEWED REPUBLIC

16.9 Maddalena Strozzi Doni, c. 1506, commissioned by Agnolo Doni from 16.10 Agnolo Doni, c. 1506, commissioned by Agnolo Doni from Raphael.
3K
Raphael as a pendant to Doni’s own portrait. Oil on panel, 24% x 17% Oil on panel, 24% x 17%” (63 x 45 cm) (Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti,
(63 x 45 cm) (Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence) Florence)

presence of the viewer, her slight smile—the subject of clearly his inspiration. Raphael’s figures are placed in the
endless speculation—inviting conversation. Unlike many same three-quarter pose as the Mona Lisa, looking out at
portraits of women during this period, Mona Lisa 1s the viewer as if to break down the barrier of the picture
represented without any of the normal attributes of wealth; plane. They maintain, however, the crisp linear definition
she wears no rings or other jewelry, although her dress seems of form of central Italian disegno that Leonardo had so
made of fine materials. Her hair hangs loose, and a scarf completely rejected very early in his career with his use of
seems casually thrown over her left shoulder, adding an the sfuwmato technique. Perhaps this technique was a hold
unusual air of informality to the picture. These anomalies, over from Raphael’s early training, but it may also have been
tied to contemporary accounts indicating that Leonardo in response to Dont’s wishes since he had at the same time
worked on the painting while he was in Rome after 1513, commissioned Michelangelo to paint a Holy Family which
suggest that, like many of the artist’s paintings, the Mona utilized the clarity of form traditional in Florentine paint-
Lisa had a long history. Whatever painting Leonardo may ing. Yet in pockets of space and at the edges of Raphael’s
have begun in Florence, he may well have modified it at figures, where light plays over rounded surfaces, the painter
a later date so that it became much more than a portrait. seems to have experimented in these portraits with the
It seems to be a meditation on ideal feminine beauty and an blurred shadowing that was so characteristic of Leonardo’s
exploration of the sitter’s (and perhaps the artist’s) psyche. work. Apparently the young Raphael was working very hard
The rivers, streams, and mist-covered mountains in the to assimilate the novelties of form and style that he encoun-
background and the careful alignment of the sitter’s eyes tered in Florence. Nonetheless in the Portrait of Maddalena
with the horizon mark her as fully part ofa larger universe. Strozzi Doni Raphael reverted to earlier formal conventions,
When Raphael painted the wedding portraits of in which a woman’s social position was marked by her fine
Maddalena Strozzi and Agnolo Doni (Figs. 16.9 and 16.10), dress and jewelry (provided by her husband and remaining
the Mona Lisa (at some early stage in its conception) was in his possession) and in which the formality of the image is

PRIVATE PATRONS 393

enhanced by the staring gaze and stiff pose of the figure, sensuously across her bodice. The stances of the two men
as was the case with Ghirlandaio’s Giovanna de’ Tornabuoni holding the body seem determined by the dead weight they
(see Fig. 11.38). The few strands of hair that escape on support. The pristine clarity of the landscape, with trees and
Maddalena’s right side are a rather cautious attempt at a crosses silhouetted against open sky, betrays Raphael’s
natural effect, far removed from the flowing tresses of training with Perugino and the contemporary popularity of
the Mona Lisa. In manipulating the marriage portrait type Flemish painting. Raphael’s interest in classical models is
(see Fig. 14.20), Raphael could only make certain formal evident in the figural group as a whole, which is a quotation
changes such as the shift from a profile to a three-quarter from a Roman sarcophagus representing the dead Meleager,
frontal pose without the meaning of the image being lost. an appropriate reference for Atalanta’s dead son since the
In the Portrait of Agnolo Doni Raphael brings forward the classical hero had died as a result of an act of vengeance by
parapet in front of which Doni sits so that the sitter can rest his mother—also called Atalanta—provoked by Meleager’s
his arm on it, both lending him an air of informality while brothers. The seated figure at the right is also a quotation,
at the same time enhancing the illusion of volumetric space this time froma painting ofthe Holy Family by Michelangelo
in the painting. Dont’s steady stare is not exactly an invita- made just before Raphael painted this work.
tion to conversation, his Florentine mercantile wariness Although Raphael’s composition derives from an engrav-
suggesting a calculated appraisal of any information that he ing of the same subject by Mantegna, a drawing for the paint-
might share with the viewer. (One is reminded that Dont ing (Fig. 16.13)—one of a series—suggests how concerned
apparently tried to pay Michelangelo less than the agreed Raphael was to follow the lead of Leonardo and Michelangelo
upon price for the image of the Holy Family, leading the in activating the movement of his figures to give them a
artist to raise the price: a rare time that Doni’s business greater sense ofparticipating in an ongoing narrative action
acumen did not match his business partner’s.) Just as there rather than a static tableau vivant. Whereas the drawing—an
was a system for female decorum in portraiture, so also were intermediate stage in the development of the final composi-
there conventions of male portrayal. Conventional models tion—shows the figure of Christ parallel to the picture plane,
could, however, more easily be manipulated for male than with the other figures in a frieze-like arrangement, perhaps
for female portraits if the poses of Doni and his wife are
any indication. Despite Raphael’s technical facility and the
rapidity with which he assimilated the new work being pro-
duced in Florence after his arrival in 1504/05, Maddalena
Strozzi Doni and Agnolo Doni rely strongly on older portrait
models, as if the new elite in the city wished to ensure their
position by lip-service to established conventions.

Religious Painting

Raphael’s Madonna ofthe Baldachin (Fig. 16.11), painted for

the Dei family but left unfinished, uses the conventional
symmetrical composition of the enthroned Virgin and Child
flanked by saints. The figures are placed in an austerely
classical architectural setting. Despite the availability of
Leonardo’s and Michelangelo’s studies for their battle
paintings, Raphael here shows little sign of sharing the older
artists’ fascination with movement and _ physical energy.
Only the angels holding the drapery of the baldachin at the
top of the painting are animated, suggesting that Raphael
may have been incorporating the new vocabulary slowly,
in ancillary figures. He may also have been constrained by
the commission itself to produce a familiar image, in which
movement was by convention restrained.
Raphael’s interest in the new work of Leonardo and
Michelangelo is evident, however, in his Entombment
(Fig. 16.12), painted for Atalanta Baglione of Perugia to
16.11 Madonna of the Baldachin,
commemorate her dead son, killed at his mother’s door by 1508, commissioned by Rinieri di
Bernardo Dei from Raphael for the Dei Chapel, Santo Spirito,
supporters of the uncles and cousins he had murdered. The Florence
left unfinished when Raphael moved to Rome
in 1508. Oil on canvas
group of men around the dead Christ creates a centrifugal Oe 7 al (2.74 x 2.24 m)
movement away from the body at the same time that The illustration shows the Painting in its original state,
without the additions
the Magdalene moves toward it, her golden hair blowing of a later date to the upper part of the altarpie
ce.

394 FLORENCE: THE RENEWED REPUBLIC

 physical tension despite the fact that Christ is dead. The
muscular young man lifting Christ’s legs in the painting
thrusts back, countering the movement ofChrist into space,
different from his frontally disposed predecessor in the
drawing. And what had begun in the drawing as a rather
conventional lamentation scene has in the finished painting
been transformed into an astonishing conflation of deposi-
tion, lamentation, and entombment iconographies.
By the time Raphael completed the Entombment he had
obviously integrated into his work the recent innovations of
Florentine painting, but he also equally clearly understood
their implicit contradictions. Like the Battle of Cascina, the
Entombment deviates from the commonly accepted idea that
painting of the early sixteenth century is characterized by a
single focus within the narrative, a stable symmetrical com-
position, and a clear relationship between the individual
forms—in short, that it adheres to classical principles. It is
no accident that both paintings are narratives with a
strongly implied story line, rather than conventional reli-
gious images. Moreover, Raphael obviously struggled in his
search for a solution to the opposing possibilities for narra-
tive and compositional structures presented by the battle
16.12 Entombment, 1507, commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni of Perugia paintings of Leonardo and Michelangelo (see Figs. 16.6 and
from Raphael to commemorate the death of her son, Grifonetto Baglione.
16.7). The rupture in the composition of the Entombment at
Oil on panel, 5S’ 11%" x S' 9%" (1.82 x 1.76 m) (Galleria Borghese, Rome)
the right, where Mary and her attendants are separated from
the main group, and the residual planar structure of the
inspired by the Roman sarcophagus relief of Meleager, males at the left, despite the illusion ofa deep space beyond,
the painting shows Christ turned at an angle into space. attest to the difficulties facing any painter of this period—
The shoulders of the painted Christ have a slight torsion even one with Raphael’s extraordinary skills—in coming to
and his head both falls heavily back and turns off axis terms with the divergent visions for the future of painting
with the body toward the viewer, giving the figure a decided embedded in the two battle paintings.

16.13 Entombment, c. 1507,

Raphael, preparatory drawing for
Fig. 16.12. Ink on paper, 8% x 12%"
(20.9 x 32 cm) (British Museum,
London)

PRIVATE PATRONS 395

 Rome: Julius Il, Leo X, and
Clement VII

The Imperial Style under

Julius Il

As pope, however, Julius’ patronage needs

changed dramatically. Having been elected
on a platform of reform, specifically oppos-
ing himself to the hedonistic life that
characterized the papacy of his predecessor,
Alexander VI, Julius had to find a new
visual language that would look different
from Alexander’s courtly papacy to express
this change. Such a language also needed
to reflect an enlarged Church, which now
reached to the Americas and to southern
and eastern Asia. The very name he took
upon becoming pope (not to mention
his self-stylization as “Julius Caesar” on one
of his commemorative medals) leaves little
doubt that Julius wished his office and his
person to be viewed in terms of Roman
imperial models.
For his first commissions as pope, Julius
concentrated on the Vatican, choosing
Donato Bramante to express architecturally
his vision of power. Before moving to Rome
in 1499, Bramante had worked for the
Sforza in Milan (see Figs. 15.11 and 15.13),
and he was thus already familiar with the
requirements of absolute rulers. The earliest
collaboration between Julius and Bramante
resulted in the transformation of the exist-
ing papal palace by the addition of a huge
enclosed courtyard uniting the medieval
living quarters with a summer house, called
the Belvedere because of its view, which
Innocent VHI had built at the top of the Vatican Hill
hen Giuliano della Rovere became pope as Julius II (Figs. 17.1 and 17.2). Although considerably altered later
(r. 1503-13) he already had a long history as a in the century, the Belvedere Courtyard clearly illustrates
generous patron of the arts. As the nephew of Sixtus IV he the imperial scale of Julius’s thinking from the outset of
had taken responsibility for completion ofhis uncle’s tomb his papacy. Long arms of architecture some 300 yards (275
by Pollaiuolo and had renovated his own titular church of meters) in length engulfed a vast open space, ordering the
San Pietro in Vincoli, adding to it a palace where he kept his sloping hill into three discrete levels connected by stairs and
collection of antique sculpture, the most famous example of ramps. The courtyard provided both a formal garden at the
which was the Apollo Belvedere. This early patronage, while upper level and a space for theatrical display with viewing
extensive, fell comfortably within conventions of the time. loggias at the lower level adjacent to the formal
rooms of

396
 17.1 Belvedere
Courtyard, Vatican
Palace, Rome, begun
1504, commissioned by
Julius Il from Donato
Bramante, drawing
by Antonio Dosio,
c. 1558-61, showing
the courtyard under
construction

the palace. The sources for such a grandiose scheme lay

in the multistoried Roman imperial palace, in ancient
Roman country villas that stretched horizontally over the
landscape, and—in the courtyard’s lower level—in the three-
storied, arcaded Colosseum. The iconography of the
architecture was therefore appropriate to Julius’s self-
representation as a caesar.

A New St. Peter’s

The boldest ofJulius’s early projects was his plan to demolish

the old St. Peter’s, which dated to around 330, and to replace
it with an entirely new church. Since Old St. Peter’s had been
built by Constantine as an imperial donation, Julius’s
rebuilding also equated him with the power of that Roman
emperor, the last to have controlled all of Europe and the
Mediterranean basin and the first to legitimize Christianity
as a state religion.
17.2 Vatican Palace and St. Peter’s, Rome, plan
Bramante’s plan for the new St. Peter’s supplanted the
1 St. Peter’s (Michelangelo’s plan, with seventeenth-century extension by Carlo
Early Christian basilica, composed of nave and side aisles,
Maderna); 2 Sistine Chapel; 3 Belvedere Courtyard; 4 Stairs; 5 Ramps; 6 Statue
with a domed centralized plan (see Fig. 17.6). This type of Court; 7 Porta Giulia
structure, also tied to architecture of the Early Christian
period, was known as a martyrium and typically marked
the place where a saint was buried, thus appropriate for the revered as the place of St. Peter’s crucifixion (Fig. 17.3).
site of the tomb of St. Peter, the first pope. Known as the Tempietto because of its small size and
Bramante had already used the martyrium form for classical allusions, this pilgrimage chapel exists in what was
the small free-standing chapel he had designed for King to have been the central unit of a redesigned courtyard
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to mark the site at San Pietro in Montorio, one of the Spanish churches in
Rome. Bramante’s plan for the Tempietto, its columns
17.0 Jonah, 1508-12, commissioned byJulius II from Michelangelo for the aligned to columns of the surrounding loggia and its niches
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome. Fresco aligned to niches and openings in the redesigned courtyard,

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS II 397

 was completely ordered and symmetrical, providing a space
for the pilgrim which mirrored the forms of the symbolic
architectural cosmos of the building at the center. Deep in
the center of the crypt of the building was a hole in the
ground which according to pious legend was the site where
Peter’s cross was placed in the sandy earth.
A commemorative medal coined at the time of the
ground-breaking for the new St. Peter’s in 1506 (Fig. 17.5)
and Bramante’s still extant plans indicate his original
scheme for the new St. Peter’s (Figs. 17.6 and 17.7). His refer-
ences to the Pantheon in the dome of the building and to
colossal Roman -basilicas remained consistent points of
departure for all subsequent plans for the building. In its
simplest form the plan for the new St. Peter’s is an elabora-
tion of circles and squares, the perfect geometrical units
mentioned by Vitruvius (active 46-30 B.c.£.), the architect of
the ancient Roman emperor Augustus. Leonardo’s drawing
of Vitruvius’s text from De architectura (Fig. 17.8) places the
human figure at the center of a perfectly ordered universe,
the same geometrical metaphor used by Bramante for his
plan for St. Peter’s and for the Tempietto. Bramante added
the additional symbolic form of the cross in the open spaces
extending out from the domed area at the center of the
building, fusing Christian and pagan in architectural form
as Julius sought to combine Roman imperial splendor with
his role as the spiritual leader of Christendom.

The Tomb ofJulius II

17.3. Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, inscription of 1502,
commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain from Donato Bramante At the very time that his building projects were getting
under way in 1505, Julius commissioned Michelangelo to
design his tomb. Michelangelo’s first scheme for the tomb
was for a colossal free-standing, three-storied monument
Entrance
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17.4 Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, proposed plan by Donato 17.5 Foundation medal of St. Peter’s, Rome, showin
g Donato
Bramante (after Sebastiano Serlio) Bramante’s first plan for St. Peter’s, 1506,
by Caradosso
The colonnaded courtyard planned by Bramante to surround the Tempietto (Cristoforo Foppa). Bronze (© British Museum
, London)
was never built.

398 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

17.6 St. Peter’s, Rome, plans by (A) Bramante (1506), (B) Sangallo (1539), and (C) Michelangelo (1546; after Ackerman)

For discussion of the Sangallo and Michelangelo plans for St. Peter’s see pages 498-99.

containing an internal oval burial chamber (Fig. 17.9). The The tomb was to measure approximately 23 feet 6 inches
free-standing tomb type recalls Pollaiuolo’s tomb ofJulius’s by 35 feet 6 inches (7.2 by 10.8 meters), which would have
uncle, Sixtus IV, the construction of which Julius had over- made it Michelangelo’s first real essay in architecture and a
seen. The tiered shape of the tomb with a door to an interior patent challenge to the restrained forms of Bramante.
burial chamber, niches, and sculpture at the lowest level,
and a figure of the deceased at the top recalls Roman impe- Set ae aT ny TR 7 ul \ IT TREES mf

2% Arie AF one aps ve porMais « moet Gonen nu] Aone tone afore + ost: i i
rial funeral pyres shown on the backs of imperial coins; at
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the apex of the tomb Michelangelo probably intended to wp

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place a figure of Julius himself, again imitating Roman : badge depart nh sous ah ai naae :

imperial funerary monuments. Thus the abstract shape of te aoe : Wilh

the tomb, like the formal properties of Julius’s architecture

and its iconography, gives it an imperial significance and
once again marks Julius’s pretensions as a new caesar.

17.7 St. Peter’s, Rome,

axonometric view after
Donato Bramante’s second
plan of 1506 (after Brusch1)

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17.8 Vitruvian Man, c. 1487, Leonardo da Vinci. Pen and ink, 13% x 9%"
(34.3 x 24.5 cm) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS | 399

 Hebrew word meaning “ray oflight”) or perhaps even trans-
forming these “horns” from a distance into emanations
from the charged mind of Moses. The turn of the body on
its axis and the pulling back of the left leg, while suggesting
the figure’s imminent motion off the block on which
he is seated, serve also to accommodate its intended corner
placement on the mezzanine story of the tomb, directing
the viewer’s attention from one face to another of the
huge lower story.
The meaning of the standing male nudes (see Fig. 17.10)
still remains incompletely understood. Michelangelo’s
biographer, Ascanio Condivi, maintained in 1553 that they
represented the arts, expiring at the death ofJulius H, their
greatest patron. They are also commonly—and misleadingly
—referred to as “slaves” or “captives,” a terminology deriving
from the bands of material that seem to constrict the move-
ment of the most completely carved of these figures. Such
OB
Q =)
a
Q
Q
qd
Q
8)
Oo

17.9 Tomb ofJulius Il, reconstruction of project of 1505 (after Tolnay),

commissioned byJulius || from Michelangelo

The figure of the pope on the top tier of the tomb is conjectural, as is the
disposition of the figures at the mezzanine level. Michelangelo’s biographer,
Ascanio Condivi, states simply that the tomb was to have been capped by two
angels carrying a sarcophagus. Conventionally, papal sarcophagi (and others)
showed a recumbent figure of the deceased on the lid.

Around the lower level Michelangelo planned niches con-

taining sculptures of allegorical representations ofVictories
standing over conquered territories—a reference to Julius’s
military attempts to reconquer papal lands given away
by his predecessor. Each of the niches was to be flanked
by an over-life-sized male nude (Fig. 17.10); only six of the
projected total of at least sixteen such figures were ever
begun. At each corner of the middle level there would have
been a seated figure: Moses, St. Paul, and personifications
of the active and the contemplative life. Moses (Fig. 17.11),
the only one of the figures to have been carved, refers to the
same aspects of leadership—priest, lawgiver, ruler—that
Sixtus IV had signified in his commission for the fresco cycle
of the Sistine Chapel (see Fig. 12.29). Now placed at floor
level, the statue’s intended location above the viewer’s head
accounts for the curious aspects of the figure that the
frontal view gives. Like Donatello’s St. John for the facade of
the Florence Cathedral which it so obviously imitates (see
Figs. 10.13 and 10.14), the Moses was carved with optical 17.10 Male nude for the Tomb of Julius Il, commissioned byJulius
Il in
corrections in mind. Thus the upper torso would have 1505 from Michelangelo, begun after 1512. Marble,
height 7’ 6” (2.29 m)
(Musée du Louvre, Paris)
sprung more energetically from the seated body, the drapery -

would not have bulked so awkwardly over the right knee, In 1546 Michelangelo offered the sculpture
as a gift to Ruberto Strozzi in
Lyon, who gave it to Francis |, who in turn gave
and the head would have gazed forcefully into the distance, de Montmorency for his chateau at Ecouen,
itto the Connétable Anne
re sulting in its eventually goin
all but obscuring the horns (a known mistranslation for a to the Louvre
‘ eae:

400 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

 the continuity of the papal office in this place. The new
St. Peter’s with its cosmological symbolism of the dome and
its linkage as a palatine chapel to the Vatican Palace, recalls
an architectural iconography of sovereignty known since
classical antiquity and most brilliantly exemplified in Italy
in the uniting of the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica in
Vemice(see Figs 73):

The Sistine Ceiling

There are indications that as early as 1506 Julius I intended

to have the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted, but
Michelangelo did not sign a contract until May 1508. The
first plan for the ceiling called for figures of twelve apostles
in the spandrels between the windows and various ornamen-
tal motifs in the main section. However, Michelangelo
apparently persuaded the pope that this initial project was
unworthy of the chapel and embarked on the program
which exists today (Figs. 17.12 and 17.13).
Michelangelo worked until 1512 on the ceiling, standing
on a bridge-like scaffold which he had constructed across
the width of the building at the upper cornice level and
which was moved from the entrance to the altar wall of
the chapel as work progressed. He articulated the smooth
17.11 Moses (detail of Tomb ofJulius Il) commissioned byJulius I!
vaulted space of the chapel with fictive architecture similar
from Michelangelo, c. 1515. Marble, 7’ 9” (2.35 m) high (San Pietro to the forms he had proposed for Julius’s tomb. At the
in Vincoli, Rome) extremities of the ceiling, narrow bands of blue sky appear
as if through an opening in the architecture, illusionistically
an identification also relates to the Victory figures which suggesting a limitless space beyond the vault of the ceiling.
they were to flank, although each Victory seems to have Particularly at the altar end of the ceiling the large unframed
stood astride its own captive. The torsion ofthe pose height- narrative panels seem to participate in this vision of space
ens the sense of movement only implied in Michelangelo’s beyond the confines of the room. Three groups of three
earlier David (see Fig. 16.1) and is slightly more lyrical in alternating large and small narrative panels extend the
its slow turning than his St. Matthew (see Fig. 16.2). In the length ofthe ceiling. These tell the Genesis story of Creation
uncarved rock supporting two of the nudes Michelangelo (from the altar wall), the creation and fall of Adam and
included the figure of a monkey, barely sketched in the Eve (in the center), and the story of Noah (at the entrance
stone but unmistakably looking out toward the right, just end of the chapel), humanity’s fall from grace and promise
beneath the left thigh ofthe illustrated figure. Often used as of redemption. The paintings, however, are oriented for a
a symbol for lust, the monkey also stood for the concept of viewer facing the altar. Looking up and moving from the
art aping nature (ars simia natura), a realism emphasized in entrance of the chapel toward the altar, one sees the figures
this sculpture by the sliding pose and by the sensuousness right side up and traces the history ofthe fall of humankind
of the figure. Thus Michelangelo seems to have entered into backward in time toward Creation, as if to emphasize a new
the dispute known as the Paragone which debated whether beginning and a return to pre-lapsarian grace. Prophets and
painting or sculpture was the more noble of the arts. One of sibyls (Fig. 17.14)—men and women who Christians claimed
the lines of argument in this debate concerned whether foretold the birth of the redeemer in both the Jewish and the
painting or sculpture more convincingly depicts a narrative, ancient Roman traditions—alternate in the large spandrels
the former by placing figures in an illusionistic setting, the between the windows while family groups of Christ’s ances-
latter by creating figures in actual space. tors rest in the lunettes (see Fig. 37).
But the real meaning of the tomb derives as much from The colors of the ceiling, newly revealed in the recent
its setting as its constituent parts. While its precise intended cleaning of the frescoes, are intense and often applied in
location is uncertain, Julius clearly intended to be buried in broad areas. Michelangelo also used the technique of
St. Peter’s, thus joining himself physically with the first changeable color, in which contrasting colors are placed side
pope, Peter, who was buried there, and reviving the tradi- by side to produce highlighting effects, rather than mode-
tions of the Middle Ages that saw many of the Church’s ling the dominating color with shadows and highlights.
leaders entombed in the old St. Peter’s (see Figs. 12.9 and This technique may have been chosen in order to accommo-
12.31). This association with the past serves to underscore date the great distance between the viewer on the floor of

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS I! 401

17.12 (opposite) Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1508-12, commissioned by 17.13 (left) Sistine Chapel, Rome, plan ofceiling scenes (after Hibbard)
Julius Il from Michelangelo. Fresco, 45 x 128’ (13.7 x 39 m)
A recent suggestion that the panel traditionally identified as the Sacrifice
of Noah represents instead the Sacrifice ofAbel would both remove the single
chronological inconsistency in the arrangement of the narratives on the
Entrance Wall ceiling and also conform to the identification of the panel given by
Michelangelo’s early biographers.

David and ‘Mechanan :Judith and the chapel and the figures on the ceiling, but it also served
Goliath Holofernes :
as an alternative to Leonardo’s> sfwmato technique,
: :
just as
ee eeD] Michelangelo’s composition for the Battle of Cascina had
area)

i | eee eee | ee been opposed to Leonardo’s companion painting. The

ceiling was not only a complex Old Testament exegesis but
Drunkenness of
a demonstration of the possibilities for painting at the
Noah
beginning of the sixteenth century, making it a constant
are source of study for painters of the next generation.

jaqeqosoz
[~~ |
Saal
Sacrifice of Noah
Eritrean Siby| (or Sacrifice of
Abel)

Temptation and
Expulsion

Creation
of Eve

Creation
of Adam

Separation
of Land
from Water

Creation of Sun,
Moon, Planets

Separation of Light
from Darkness

[&[santa
xRas |

h of

Altar Wall 17.14 Libyan Sibyl, 1508-12, the first sibyl on the right as one faces the
altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, Rome. Fresco

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS Il 403

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE Paradise in Florence (see Fig. 10.62). Both Michelangelo and
Ghiberti drew visual parallels between Noah’s pose and that
of Adam in their creation scenes (see Figs. 10.61 and 17.16);
Michelangelo the Poet thus the parallel roles of Adam and Noah as populator and
repopulator of the world, as well as perfect man and fallen
In addition to his formidable gifts in the visual arts, man, are graphically visualized in this reclining pose.
Michelangelo possessed considerable talent as a poet, and his Insofar as the chapel is dedicated to the Virgin it 1s
poems were greatly admired by his contemporaries. In this appropriate that the center panel shows the creation of Eve,
sonnet, one of his best known, he compares the struggle of the archetype of Mary, who, according to tradition, began
finding love to the failure of art to ward off death. the redemption necessitated by the sin of Eve and Adam.
Eve also appears as an incipient companion for Adam in
Sonnet 151 (c. 1538-44)
the Creation of Adam panel (Fig. 17.16), where she looks
Not even the best ofartists has any conception
out anxiously toward Adam from under the left arm of God
that a single marble block does not contain
within its excess, and that is only attained
(see Fig. 17). Adam rests on a schematic green-tinged brown
by the hand that obeys the intellect. mound since his name translates as “Earth,” although
The pain | flee from and the joy | hope for nowhere in the ceiling (or anywhere else in his paintings)
are similarly hidden in you, lovely lady, does Michelangelo show any interest in depicting anything
lofty and divine; but, to my mortal harm, more than the most minimal landscape features. Adam’s
my art gives results the reverse of what | wish. muscularity recalls the ancient Belvedere Torso in the papal
Love, therefore, cannot be blamed for my pain, collections, and his left hip, raised to display his genitals like
nor can your beauty, your hardness, or your scorn, Noah in the earlier panel, makes reference to his future pro-
nor fortune, nor my destiny, nor chance, creation of humankind. Adam’s lifeless lassitude is paired
if you hold both death and mercy in your heart
with the whirling energy of God the Father. At the moment
at the same time, and my lowly wits, though burning,
before their fingers touch in life-giving energy, however,
cannot draw from it anything but death.
there is a powerfully charged void as if two like-charged
magnetic fields were inhibiting contact.
(from James Saslow. The Poetry of Michelangelo. New Haven: Yale Above the altar platform of the chapel, Michelangelo
University Press, 1991, p. 302)
showed God forming the universe. In Creation of the Sun,
Moon, and Planets (Fig. 17.17), God appears in very similar
poses from the front and the back hurling the heavenly bod-
Michelangelo began his cycle with the Drunkenness of 1es into orbit (Copernicus had not yet determined that it was
Noah (Fig. 17.15), showing the Old Testament patriarch actually the earth that orbited about the sun). Both figures
lying nude on the ground and mocked by one of his sons of God are essentially pleated, deeply bent at the waist and
while the other two cover his nakedness. All four figures are knees, giving them an explosive energy capable of propelling
positioned in a narrow frontal plane, its spatial recession themselves across the space of the panel. The central glowing
blocked by the colossal vat of wine and the flat wall that yellow sun anchors the composition with a now ghost-like
extends across three-quarters of the
background. Michelangelo recalled a
variety of sources in his composi-
tions, including woodcuts from an
early printed Bible and well-known
sculpture. The figure at the left
hoeing is a near quotation ofJacopo
della Quercia’s relief of Adam after
the fall on the facade of San Petronio
in Bologna (see panel at the lower
left of the door in Fig. 10.49), which
Michelangelo would have known
from his time there in 1494-95. His
Noah, instead, derives from Ghiberti’s
similarly posed figure on the Gates of

17.15 Drunkenness of Noah, 1508-12,

commissioned byJulius II from Michelangelo
for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
Fresco

404 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

 17.16 Creation
of Adam, 1508-12,
commissioned
byJulius II from
Michelangelo for
the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel,
Rome. Fresco

17.17 Creation of
the Sun, Moon, and
Planets, 1508-12,
commissioned
by Julius Il from
Michelangelo for
the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel,
Rome. Fresco

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS II 405

moon at the right and the barest reference to the earth in the further extends the space. Typically for Michelangelo, space
green branches at the lower left. Michelangelo used abstract is devoid of naturalistic reference, except, in this case, for
patterns of drapery to emphasize the motion ofboth figures the oak branch at the left which is one ofJulius’s symbols.
of God, who has the same visage as the Moses for Julius’s At the same time Jonah’s counterfeit ancient form echoing
tomb (see Fig. 17.11). the Laocoén is a pictorial equivalent of Bramante’s classical
The images of God are nearly three times the size of the architecture at St. Peter’s, reinventing Roman models to give
figures in the Noah panel; only their pleated positioning Julius a consistent classical vocabulary for all of his arts.
allows their formidable size to fit into the frame of the The pendentive areas in the corners of the room show
panel. This large size is part of the overall increase in scale of male and female heroes of the Old Testament. David and
the figures on the ceiling as Michelangelo progressed in his Judith at the entrance wall carry overtones ofJulius’s wars
painting from one end of the ceiling to the next; freed from against usurpers ofpapal territories. Scenes from the lives of
the more heavily populated subjects of the early panels, he Moses and Esther in the pendentives at the altar end of the
became increasingly sensitive to legibility and confident building again suggest Julius’s power as a divinely ordained
of his own painterly skills. In the next and last narrative leader of his people. Moses and the Brazen Serpent (Fig. 17.18)
scene on the ceiling, the Separation of Light from Darkness, to the right of Jonah is one of the last of the major fields
Michelangelo paints God with bold and impressionistic that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling and takes both
strokes of paint, a daring evocation of God’s and his own compositional structure and figural form to new expressive
creative energy. levels. The story from Numbers (21:6-9) tells of the Hebrews
The lunette figure of Jonah (see Fig. 17.0) over the altar setting up a brazen serpent in the desert, an open act of
completely integrates the interaction of figure and space apostasy that unleashed Moses’s wrath but which was
initiated in the twisted pose of the Libyan Sibyl. Jonah both turned to positive ends by St. John who wrote in his gospel
extends forward into space, his left foot lifting off the that “... as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
ground and his right foot seemingly extending out of the so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
frame of the painting, and spirals back toward the architec- Thus near the altar where Christ’s death was remembered,
ture, his massive, muscled body providing an animated and next to Jonah, an Old Testament antetype for Christ,
diagonal and his left arm a moving volume with the hand Michelangelo depicts another image of Christological
pointing even farther away. The effect is especially remark- sacrifice, albeit pushed into the distance and isolated from
able when seen in person, because the wall curves forward surrounding figures. The figures are all in contorted poses
where Jonah’s body moves back. Michelangelo further com- meant to express their emotional reaction to God’s venge-
plicated his figure with clear references to various parts of ance as they are attacked—like Laoco6n—by serpents. The
the Laocoon group (see Fig. 39)—the spread legs and raised wildly posed and convulsive bodies on the right belie the fact
feet of Laoco6én, the crossed arm of the son at the left and that they are also out of scale with the other figures at the
his upturned head, for example—but he has recombined left of the spandrel. The view of these figures from behind
them in such a knowing and imaginative
way that he seems to be replicating the
spirit of the work rather than its parts.
Jonah is a symbol for the Resurrected
Christ, since he was in the belly of the
whale for three days, as Christ was in
the tomb for three days, a connection
made explicit in the Gospel of Matthew
(12:38-40). The reference was appropriate
for placement over the altar of the
chapel, since the Eucharist is a permanent
embodiment of Christ. Jonah also directs
our attention to the divine by his glance
out toward the first Creation scene above.
The whale, here in the form of a very
large fish, is placed on a cross diagonal
toward the right, disappearing into the
depth of Jonah’s throne. The sharp
shadow thrown by the pier next to it

17.18 Moses and the Brazen Serpent, 1508-12,

commissioned byJulius Il from Michelangelo for
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome. Fresco

406 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

may seem to rupture the bounds of decorum for a papal architecture. They recall both the tense movement of the
chapel, but their poses when seen from the far end of the figures of the Battle of Cascina (see Fig. 16.7) and the sensu-
chapel are far less disconcerting than any photograph made ousness of the nudes for Julius’s tomb (see Fig. 17.10). Their
looking directly at the pendentive since their position on the illusionistic reality is thrust into space by the architecture
curving surface places them nearly along the side wall; thus and enhanced by the opposition of their naturally colored
Michelangelo may have been making some optical correc- bodies to the figures of what appear to be carved marble,
tions to account for viewers in the main body of the chapel. paired male and female putti that flank them. Again
The nudes framing the smaller narrative panels (see Fig Michelangelo seems to be using the nude as a reference to
17.12) present the most insistent projections into the space the critical trope of art imitating nature. The della Rovere
of the chapel as they are posed in front of the illusionistic heraldic symbols of the oak (rovere in Italian) and acorn

CONTEMPORARY SCENE
Atteand Dissent
It is a commonplace to refer 17.19 Pasquino, c. 1550,
to art “speaking” to the viewer, Nicholas Beatrizet, collected
but during the Renaissance this and published by Antoine Lafréry
(Antonio Lafreri) in Speculum
idea was given a more literal
Romanae Magnificentiae, Rome,
sense. The painted wooden
1550. Engraving
crucifix in the church of San
Damiano in Assisi that allegedly responsible for their coining,
spoke to St. Francis in 1205, no one would be prosecuted
admonishing him to “rebuild for the sentiments expressed.
my church” and thus setting Cardinal Carafa arranged that
the stage for the foundation the statue be dressed each
of the Franciscan order, is the April (near the feast of Easter—
most familiar of a number of Pasqua in Italian) in the
such painted and sculpted costume of a different classical
crucifixes believed to act as Roman mythological figure,
conduits ofdivine will. lending a festive atmosphere
The tradition of speaking of street theater to the city in
sculpture also extended to the spring. In 1513 the statue
works of antique art—found appeared as Apollo, in honor
mostly in Rome—that carried of the election of Giovanni de’
written messages for the public Medici as Pope Leo X (a refer-
weal. Perhaps the most famous ence to the new pope’s passion
of these was the Pasquino for music). Beginning in 1509
(Fig. 17.19), a fragment (6 feet the comments of the Pasquino
3 inches [1.92 meters] high) of were collected, provided with a
a sculptural group representing ie printed frontispiece, and pub-
lished on an annual basis as
Menelaus Carrying the Body of
Patroclus (although during the political and social satire of a
Renaissance it was also thought sharply critical and sometimes
austen “ROMAB-co
to represent Hercules vanquish- obscene nature. Humanist
ing Geryon). According to one writers, who delighted in the
local tradition, the statue received its name 1501. It quickly became the source ofwitty, rhetorical skills of the Pasquino, accused
because it had lain in the yard ofa school- scandalous, and politically and religiously the morally conservative Pope Hadrian VI
master named Pasquino. A story from charged comments which were written of wanting to throw the statue into the
the mid-sixteenth century claimed that the in humanist Latin (scholarly rather than Tiber in order to rid the city of its corrupt-
sculpture had really been found near the ecclesiastical Latin) on scraps of paper and ing influence. Threats against the sculpture
shop of a free-speaking tailor—also called attached both to it and to the wall behind were also made during the religious refor-
Pasquino—famous for his criticisms of the it. These pithy jibes passed for the words mation of the mid-sixteenth century, but
pope and the papal court. The Pasquino of the Pasquino itself, allowing the venting the Pasquino continued to issue a running
was installed near its present location, at of popular opinions in the safety of ano- commentary on the foibles of the famous
what was then the corner of the Palazzo nymity and with a commonly accepted and on the social order ofthe city well into
Orsini, by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa in understanding that since the Pasquino was the nineteenth century.

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS II 407

17.20 Stanza della Segnatura,
Vatican Palace, Rome, 1508-11,
commissioned by Julius Il from
Raphael, view showing Parnassus
wall on the left and the School of
Athens on the right. Fresco

In Julius’s time the room was a library.

It became a room where papal
documents were signed only later,
when it received its modern
designation of the “Room ofthe Seal.”

17.21 School of Athens, 1510-11,

commissioned byJulius II from
Raphael for the Stanza della
Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome.
Fresco, height 19’ (5.79 m)

The statues in the two facing niches

represent Apollo and Minerva. Plato
is thought to represent Leonardo da
Vinci, the seated figure of Heraclitus
leaning on the block in the center
foreground Michelangelo, and the
bending bald-headed Euclid at the
right Bramante. Raphael included
his own youthful self-portrait in the
foreground at the far right.

408 ROME: JULIUS Il, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

appear throughout the ceiling to identify Julius as the group around Plato and Aristotle at the center (Fig. 17.21);
patron of the work, and the gilt-bronze military shields car- Religion in the Disputa, where theologians present their
ried by the nudes refer to Julius’s persistent warfare. With writings about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
Michelangelo’s frescoes, Julius completed the program which is displayed at the very center of the painting
begun by his uncle, Sixtus IV, on the walls of the room below (Fig. 17.22); Poetry in the Parnassus, where writers from both
(see Figs. 12.28, 12.29, and 12.30), so that all of Christian the ancient and the modern worlds group around a seated
history—from the Creation on the ceiling to the Resurrection Apollo and figures of the Muses (Fig. 17.23); and Law, where
on the short entrance wall—is represented in the chapel. the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude
sit beneath Justice depicted immediately overhead in a
The Stanza della Segnatura roundel in the ceiling. The School of Athens and the Disputa,
facing one another across the room, have become the para-
Julius commissioned Raphael to decorate his private apart- digms for the classical style in painting under Julius. In each
ments in the Vatican Palace, now called simply the Stanze case, Raphael painted an architectural frame much like a
(“rooms”). His choice of artist was an implicit rejection proscenium (the wall itself is actually flat and unadorned
of the style and history of his predecessor, Alexander VI,
whose own apartments on the floor immediately below had
17.22 Disputa, 1510-11, commissioned byJulius Il from Raphael for the
recently been painted by Pinturicchio (see Fig. 12.32). In its Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco, height 19’ (5.79 m)
grand stateliness Raphael’s style directly opposed the lush
The standing figure in full papal regalia on the right side ofthe fresco is a
elegance of Pinturicchio’s frescoes. portrait of Sixtus IV, Julius’s uncle. Seated at the left and right ofthe altar
The work began in the Stanza della Segnatura (Fig. 17.20). are the four Doctors of the Church, Gregory the Great and Jerome at the
left, Ambrose and Augustine at the right. The figures seated on the cloud bank
There Raphael’s images portray four main bodies of human
are from the left St. Peter, Adam, St. John the Evangelist, David, St. Stephen,
knowledge: Philosophy in the School of Athens, where the best Jeremiah, and, to the right of Christ, Judas Maccabeus, St. Stephen, Moses,
known philosophers and intellectuals of the ancient world St. Matthew (?), Abraham, and St. Paul.

THE IMPERIAL STYLE UNDER JULIUS || 409

 17.23 Parnassus, c. 1511, commissioned byJulius II
from Raphael for the Stanza della Segnatura,
Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco, height 19’ (5.79 m)

Apollo is seated top center, flanked by the muses.

To the left of the image Dante appears in profile, in
red, and to his right the blind Homer. To the right
of Homer, looking toward Dante, is the Roman poet
Virgil who guided Dante through Hell and Purgatory
in the Divine Comedy. The hooded man just behind the
tree at the left is Petrarch; Sappho leans out from the
window embrasure.

is holding a globe is Ptolemy; the bearded

figure directly in front of him who is
holding a celestial sphere is most likely
Zoroaster; to their right and toward whom
they are looking is a very young man, the
self-portrait of Raphael, looking directly
out at the viewer; the man at the farthest
right in the white cloak has been variously
identified as the Sienese painter Sodoma
or the painter Perugino, Raphael’s teacher,
both of whom had worked in the papal
quarters prior to Raphael. Euclid has
been identified as Bramante, whose con-
temporary plans for Julius II of the new
architecturally), which effects a transition between the real St. Peter’s are referenced in the building that provides the
space of the room and the illusionistic space of the fresco. spatial backdrop for the entire scene. The mathematics of
He also used the arching shape of the wall as the underlying geography, astronomy, and architecture are united here in
geometrical structure for the composition, so that in the a single compositional scheme, implying that Julius’s new
Disputa, for example, banks of clouds create a semicircular, basilica is a microcosm of the universes represented by
apse-like space in the picture, as do the figures at the ground Ptolemy and Zoroaster.
level. A similar arched shape appears on the vertical axis Raphael repeatedly broke the limitations of the frame in
for the mandorla around the central figure of Christ, these frescoes. In the School of Athens, figures rush into the
echoed by a complete circle for the radiance
around the dove of the Holy Spirit and
for the monstrance on the altar. Every
element of the painting is locked into this
geometrical order.
In the School of Athens the arch is repeated
in the barrel vaults of the architecture
behind the figures. In this image the single-
point perspective system is structured so
that it moves to a point between the heads
of Plato and Aristotle, emphasizing their
seminal importance for the discipline of
philosophy. The slightly overscaled figure of
Euclid at the right foreground (Fig. 17.24)
bends over a slate, demonstrating a point of
geometry with a pair of calipers to young
students. To the right of Euclid, four stand-
ing men group together; the crowned young
man in the brilliant yellow-orange cloak who

17.24 Euclid and his Students (detail of School of Athens),

1510-11, commissioned byJulius II from Raphael
for the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome.
Fresco

410 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

scene at the left and out of it at the right. In the Disputa distinct from that employed by the papacy. Jacopo Ripanda’s
the figure at the right foreground leans over painted archi- (b. Bologna?; active 1490-1516 Rome) frescoes depicting
tecture as if into the space of the room. In the Parnassus scenes of the Punic Wars in the Palazzo dei Conservatori
(see Fig. 17.23), Raphael achieved an illusionistic tour de on the Capitoline Hill are a case in point (Fig. 17.25). Each
force where figures like the seated Sappho on the left are of the walls of the room in which they are painted retells
depicted as if in front of the painted frame of the window, a story from Livy’s history of Rome’s war with Carthage.
even casting illusionistic shadows on the fictive architec- Importantly, the narratives chosen are histories, not mythol-
ture. The contrapposto pose of Sappho indicates that Raphael ogies, suggesting a continuous link between the Rome of
had looked carefully at Michelangelo’s figures in the nearby antiquity and its later governors meeting in this room.
Sistine Chapel and was quickly incorporating their formal Insofar as the frescoes are in a formal seat of civic govern-
innovations in his own work. ance, they use a stately and formal language deriving from
Pope Julius’s presence is constantly evident in this room, Roman sculpture then visible in the city. Even though
whether in the symbolic oaks of the Parnassus, which trans- Ripanda had worked with Pinturicchio (see Fig. 12.32), he
form the ancient Mount Parnassus into the Vatican Hill, or avoided the overtly decorative vocabulary of his teacher’s
in the far more obvious double inscription of Julius’s name painting, instead employing a didactic classicism in some
in the interlace pattern on the altar frontal in the Disputd. ways appropriate to the illustration of aRoman historian’s
Equations between Julius and ancient imperial patrons narrative. The quadriga, for example, is a slightly modified
appear in the grisaille paintings under the Parnassus, where quotation from one of the reliefs of the Arch of Titus, while
Alexander is shown placing the poems of Homer in the other figures in the painting are direct copies of figures
tomb ofAchilles, and Augustus is depicted saving the Aeneid from those antique reliefs and others. It is just this straight-
of Virgil from the flames, just as Julius preserved the work forward antiquarianism—unassimilated as it had been in
of other writers in his library. In the wall of the Law fresco earlier paintings, such as Sixtus IV’s frescoes for the Sistine
Julius appears beneath the Cardinal Virtues in a life-sized Chapel (see Figs. 12.29 and 12.30) and not transformed
portrait as Gregory IX receiving the code of canon law. into new idealized models as contemporaries like Raphael
No one could have entered this room without being struck were doing (see Fig. 17.21)—that give these frescoes their
byJulius’s presence as a patron, as a ruler, and as a lawgiver. curious didacticism. As in other painting of the time, the
figures in this fresco spread across a stage apron at the
Roman Civic Imagery foreground of the composition, while a grand landscape
stretches like stage scenery behind them. Yet, in choice
Not all art in the city of Rome was controlled by the papacy. of subject matter and in mode of depiction, the Triumph
Constant tensions between the Roman civic government of Rome over Sicily provides a telling, albeit brief, moment
and the papacy over control of the city led both bureaucra- in the history of Roman art when the civic government
cies to assert their presence on the Capitoline Hill, the asserted its connections to its Roman past and therefore
traditional seat of Roman civil government. While the popes its legitimacy, and did so, moreover, with a style that
marked the place with their collections of antique sculpture, itself can be said to distinguish the paintings from those
city authorities evolved a visual vocabulary decidedly commissioned by the papacy.

17.25 Triumph of Rome over

Sicily, 1507-08, commissioned
by the Conservators of Rome
from Jacopo Ripanda,
Palazzo dei Conservatori,
Room of the Punic Wars

ROMAN CIVIC IMAGERY 411

 from Prison (Julius’s titular church as cardinal was San Pietro
The Stanza d’Eliodoro
in Vincoli [St. Peter in Chains]), the Mass at Bolsena, and
Raphael’s invention of a powerful language of personal Leo the Great Repulsing Attila the Hun Outside Rome. Each
and institutional leadership in the Stanza della Segnatura of these subjects depicts a miracle worked by a pope or a
led to a commission to paint an adjoining room (Fig. 17.26). religious leader, implicitly underscoring papal leadership.
Containing frescoes on the theme of divine intervention, it In the Expulsion of Heliodorus, from the Second Book of
is named for the fresco depicting the Expulsion ofHeliodorus Maccabees (3:1-33) in the Old Testament, the chancellor
(Fig. 17.27) on one of its walls. The room also contains other of King Seleucus, Heliodorus, was ordered by the king to
images of divine intervention, including the Freeing ofPeter confiscate the treasure of the Temple in Jerusalem. As he was

17.26 View of the

Stanza d’Eliodoro,
Vatican Palace,
Rome} toll25
commissioned by
Julius Il from
Raphael

17.27 Expulsion of
Heliodorus, 1512,
commissioned
by Julius Il from
Raphael for the
Stanza d’Eliodoro,
Vatican Palace,
Rome. Fresco, base
21' 8" (6.6m)

412 ROME: JULIUS Il, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

fleeing with the booty, a mounted horseman and two other portrait (Fig. 17.28), showing the pope with a beard he had
figures appeared miraculously and beat him to the ground, grown when the papal city of Bologna declared independ-
thus preserving the Temple treasury intact. Later, the high ence from his rule in 1510, he depicted Julius as a slightly
priest, Onias, seen kneeling in the center background of the stooped old man, pensively staring into space. The painting
fresco, prayed for Heliodorus’ recovery. The apparitions functioned as an ex voto for the high altar area of Santa
reappeared, healing Heliodorus and leading to his belief in Maria del Popolo, a church built for Julius’s uncle, Sixtus IV
the sacredness and inviolate nature of the Temple, here an (see Figs. 12.22 and 12.23) and to which Julius added a
antetype for the Church. Julius, carried on a papal throne, new choir designed by Bramante. There 1s a record that the
appears at the left of the painting looking toward Onias image was placed on the main altar, although it seems more
who is, like the pope, bearded—their roles as high priests likely to have hung on a nearby pier. The psychological
given physical manifestation in their similar appearances. As insight of the painting marks a new departure in the history
a witness to the event seemingly staged for his benefit, Julius of portraiture, a strangely personal, introspective, and
is nonetheless made an actor in the narrative as if to suggest melancholic image for such a public and formal space and
his control over the fate of contemporaries who would for a man with such grand imperial designs. Yet Raphael still
despoil the papal territories. The frescoes in the room—all surrounded Julius with symbols of his power: the papal keys
miracle scenes—suggest that Julius had, however, lost some are woven into the brilliant green fabric behind the pope,
confidence in his power and counted upon miraculous the della Rovere acorn appears as the finials on the chair
divine power to ensure the success of his policies. back, his costume defines his office, and the handkerchief
Despite the success of the balanced composition and held in his hand refers to the mappa, a symbol of office
perfected geometrical order of the Stanza della Segnatura carried by Roman consuls, important governing officials
frescoes, the style which they exemplify seems to have of the ancient empire. The representation is both intimate
been short-lived. Raphael structured the Expulsion, like the and official.
paintings in the Stanza della Segnatura, around a single-
point perspective system, but the composition fragments
into three distinct sections, with the critical action of the
priest virtually lost in the background because of the welter
of figures to the left and right. A number of pictorial curi-
osities also distinguish the composition from the stately
order of the Segnatura frescoes. Heliodorus, fallen at the
right of the fresco, and the twisting female figure kneeling
in front ofJulius’s entourage are of a different scale from
nearby figures, thus calling attention to themselves and
their poses. Heliodorus derives from an antique river god
statue, then on the Quirinal Hill, but moved to the Capitoline
in 1517 during the time that Raphael served as Prefect of
the Antiquities of Rome (1515-20). The female figure seems
to have no role to play in the narrative except to enhance
the drama of the moment by her expressive pose. The figure
climbing up the wall and clutching the column at the
left certainly breaks the decorum of behavior appropriate
for a temple. In each case the figure rewards the viewer’s
own cleverness in recognizing its source in antique art or
appreciation of the artist’s skill in rendering complex and
dramatic forms, issues far removed from the narrative or
even the symbolic content of the fresco.

Portraits
Despite the triumphal images of order and control which
Raphael produced forJulius II in the Stanze, the pope’s hold
on the Christian empire was far from secure. Toward the end
ofhis reign, papal territories were in revolt, and his absolut-
ist control over the institution of the Church was threatened
from within by some cardinals and bishops who wished 17.28 Julius Il, c. 1512, commissioned byJulius II for the altar area
for shared rule through open councils, leading finally to a of Santa Maria del Popolo from Raphael. Oil on panel, 42% x 31%”
movement to depose him. When Raphael painted Julius’s (108 x 80 cm) (National Gallery, London)

PORTRAITS 413
 CONTEMPORARY VOICE.

The Courtier as Artist

Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) was most of the liberal arts; subsequently, a purposes: thus a knowledge ofthe art gives
himself a courtier at the highly civilized public law was passed forbidding it to be one the facility to sketch towns, rivers,
court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro in taught to slaves. It was also held in great bridges, citadels, fortresses and similar
Urbino. The Book of the Courtier, his best- honour among the Romans, and from it things, which otherwise cannot be shown
known work, sets out in detail the charac- the very noble family of the Fabii took its to others even if, with a great deal ofeffort,
teristics of a cultivated person, including name, for the first Fabius was called Pictor. the details are memorized. To be sure,
good manners and various accomplish- He was, indeed, an outstanding painter, anyone who does not esteem the art of
ments, such as drawing and painting. and so devoted to the art that when he painting seems to me to be quite wrong-
painted the walls of the Temple ofSalus he headed. For when all is said and done, the
“Before we launch into this subject,” the signed his name: this was because (despite very fabric of the universe, which we can
Count replied, “I should like us to discuss his having been born into an illustrious contemplate in the vast spaces of heaven,
something else again which, since | family, honoured by so many consular so resplendent with their shining stars, in
consider it highly important, | think our titles, triumphs and other dignities, and the earth at its centre, girdled by the seas,
courtier should certainly not neglect: and despite the fact that he himself was a man varied with mountains, rivers and valleys,
this is the question of drawing and of of letters, learned in law and numbered and adorned with so many different
the art of painting itself. And do not be among the orators) Fabius believed that varieties oftrees, lovely flowers and grasses,
surprised that | demand this ability, even if he could enhance his name and reputation can be said to be a great and noble paint-
nowadays it may appear mechanical and by leaving a memorial pointing out that ing, composed by Nature and the hand
hardly suited to a gentleman. For | recall he had also been a painter. And there was of God. And, in my opinion, whoever can
having read that in the ancient world, and no lack of other celebrated painters belong- imitate it deserves the highest praise. Nor
in Greece especially, children of gentle birth ing to other illustrious families. In fact, is such imitation achieved without the
were required to learn painting at school, from painting, which is in itself a most knowledge of many things, as anyone who
as a worthy and necessary accomplish- worthy and noble art, many useful skills attempts the task well knows.”
ment, and it was ranked among the fore- can be derived, and not least for military

(from Baldassare Castiglione. The Book of

the Courtier. Trans. George Bull. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967, pp. 96-97)

Raphael provided another penetrating essay ‘on the

character of one of his sitters in a portrait of Baldassare
Castiglione (Fig. 17.29). Castiglione came from Raphael’s
native city of Urbino, whose court was characterized by
learned conversations and witty repartee which Castiglione
codified in The Book ofthe Courtier, published in 1528 but
actually written between 1508 and 1518. Emphasizing
artistic grace, decorum, and nonchalance, the speakers in
Castiglione’s book address such topics as speech, dress,
effortless work by the amateur, desirable qualities in
women, duties of good government, and the true nature of
love. Their seemingly casual but highly calculated remarks
are palpably visible in Raphael’s portrait of the author.
Castiglione quietly but intensely looks out at the viewer
through silver blue eyes, his utter composure and self-
confidence manifest in his firmly clasped hands as he turns
gently on axis to respond to the viewer’s presence. As
was
courtly fashion in the sixteenth century, he wears
subdued
but luxurious black velvet, silvered fur, and
white silk.
Nothing—not a chair nor a window nor
an inscription—

17.29 Baldassare Castiglione, c. 1514, commissioned

by Baldassare
Castiglione from Raphael. Oil on canvas, c.
32% x 26%" (81.9 x 67.3 cm)
(Musée du Louvre, Paris)
.

414 ROME: JULIUS I], LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

 Donna Velata, or the veiled woman, because of their similar
poses and similar facial features, the Fornarina breaks
the boundaries of these standard female portraits where
the woman is richly clothed, resituating the image of the
woman as a sexualized being.

Leo X: Papal Luxury

The Stanza dell’Incendio

By 1514 Raphael was at work for Julius’s successor, Leo X

(Giovanni de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent), in
another room of the papal apartment, the Stanza
dell’ Incendio, which takes its name from the painting of The
Fire in the Borgo (Fig. 17.31) on one of its walls. Each of the
walls in this room depicts an event in the life of a previous
pope named Leo, clearly intended to aggrandize the current
pope. In the Fire it is Leo IV (r. 847-55), who put out a fire
in the area known as the Borgo in front of Old St. Peter’s,
merely by raising his hand in a gesture of blessing. Once
again the clearly defined perspective system disguises the
fact that very little in the painting makes logical sense, even
though the vanishing point is at the entrance to Old St.
Peter’s depicted in the far distance of the image. There are
shifts in scale among the figures; the woman in the center
foreground, for example, is larger than many of the other
figures surrounding her. The water carrier at the far right
could hardly balance the vase on her head if she were in a
17.30 La Fornarina (The Baker Woman), c. 1518, Raphael. Oil on panel, hurry to get to the fire; her pose is stilled for appreciation of
33% x 23%" (85 x 60 cm) (Galleria Nazionale, Rome) its gracefulness. The nudity of the male figures on the left
(Fig. 17.32) seems gratuitous, the man hanging with all his
distracts from his spotlit visage, an understated, sophisti- muscles tensed from the wall at the left (which seems unat-
cated, and intelligent ideal. tached to a building, see Fig. 17.31) does so for no reason,
In one ofhis last portraits, the so-called La Fornarina (Fig. since the ground is only a short distance beneath his feet;
17.30), Raphael painted what today we read as an unusual the figure appears as a meditation on the extended muscu-
portrait, although a number of extant contemporary paint- lature, the grimacing faces, and the twisting poses of
ings referred to as the Mona Lisa nuda indicate that such Laoco6n’s sons in the ancient sculpture uncovered in 1506
depictions were not uncommon within certain intellectual and the centerpiece of the papal collections of antiquities
circles. Whether or not the painting is a true portrait, or the (see Fig. 39). Leo IV, in the loggia in the distance, is barely
simulacrum of awoman transformed into a sexualized love visible, although he is supposedly the main character in the
interest (as indicated by the placement of each of her hands) painting. While tied to the history of the papacy and to its
is not known. The painting is normally discussed as a traditional iconography, this fresco relaxes the narrative
portrait by Raphael of his own lover, an assertion that has focus so that each element in the painting becomes interest-
some credibility given the artist’s signature on the bracelet ing in its own right rather than as a component of the story.
on her upper left arm. The painting, however, may have been Leo X 1s reputed to have said, “God has given us the papacy,
completed by someone in Raphael’s shop after the artist’s let us enjoy it”; in The Fire in the Borgo Raphael provided an
early death in 1520, accounting for the slightly frozen facial essay in visual enjoyment.
features. Like more traditional and certainly more decorous
marriage images such as Raphael’s own Maddalena Strozzi The Sistine Tapestries
Doni (see Fig. 16.9), the Fornarina wears precious jewels—not
only the bracelet, but a sizable pearl, attached in this case The compositional oddities of the Fire and the Expulsion of
to her rich and fantastical headdress. Thus she is marked Heliodorus disappear in another commission for Leo X that
with the gifts that commodify her within the economics Raphael worked on at approximately the same time. In a
of marriage and love during this period. Often compared series of cartoons for tapestries for the lower walls of the
with a slightly earlier portrait by Raphael known as the Sistine Chapel (see Fig. 12.28, which shows the painted

LEO X: PAPAL LUXURY 415

 17.31 The Fire in the Borgo, begun 1514, commissioned by Leo X from
Raphael for the Stanza dell’Incendio, Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco, base
22! 1" (6.73 m)

trompe l'oeil drapery covering the lower walls of the chapel)

Raphael used a pictorial decorum that both took into
account the official nature of the papal chapel (where Leo
himself had been elected pope) and the grand classicism of
the frescoes already in the room. The tapestries depict
scenes from the lives of Peter and Paul, appropriate for a
papal chapel. They also carry the narrative of the 1481-82
cycle immediately above them (see Fig. 12.30) into the
future, taking the history of mankind begun on the ceiling
(see Fig. 17.12) into the history of the early Church and
its leadership by Peter. In The Miraculous Draught ofFishes (Fig.
17.33), the two heroically muscled fishermen in the right
boat make reference to Michelangelo’s nudes on the ceiling
above and yet are appropriately strong for the labor that
they pursue. Their self-conscious poses also recall the fig-
ures of The Fire in the Borgo, yet their tensed musculature is
directly responsive to the heavy net loaded with fish that the
two men are attempting to lift into the boat. The boatman

17.32 The Fire in the Borgo (detail), begun 1514, commissioned by Leo X
from Raphael for the Stanza dell’Incendio, Vatican Palace. Rome.
Fresco

416 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

17.33 The Miraculous Draught of
Fishes,
c. 1515-16, commissioned by Leo X from
Raphael for the lower walls of the Sistine
Chapel. Gouache on paper, later laid on canvas
lining, 10’ $4" x 13' 1" (3.19 x 3.99 m)
(London, Victoria and Albert Museum)

As the tapestries for which these cartoons were

designed were woven from behind, the cartoons
were themselves created in reverse to accommodate
this technical process.

does suggest a rather self-conscious

quotation of an antique river god
statue, yet the overall composition
of the cartoon is compellingly natural-
istic, with an apparently unbroken
movement into a deep recessional
space that adds a heroic frame to the
entire narrative. Reflections of the men
in the boats shine on the water in the
foreground, light glints on the surface
of the water in the midground, and the
distant horizon blurs naturalistically
into a blue-gray haze. The two apostles
gesturing toward Christ reveal—as
conventional theory since Alberti had
postulated—the workings of their minds through the
motions of their bodies. Yet the uncertain pose of the
standing apostle suggests the vety real precariousness
of a person standing in a small boat. Here, where the
site demanded grand drama, Raphael brought a dramatic
realism to the history of Christ and the apostles who
were, theologically, the predecessors of the pope and the
cardinal bishops who met in this building.

The Suburban Villa and

Sybaritic Pleasure

Outside the papal court, fascination with the elegant and

mannered style of the later Stanze is evident among the
wealthy elite. When Agostino Chigi, a fabulously rich
Sienese banker, built a palace in an undeveloped area
along the Tiber, he intended it as a suburban villa where
he and his guests would be free of the formal cares of the
city. For a ground-floor loggia facing out into the garden,
Chigi commissioned Raphael and his studio to paint
an illusionistic arbor through whose fruit- and flower-
decorated trellis shines a painted sky, imitating an actual
garden bower (Fig. 17.34). Along the length of the ceiling
Raphael designed two large painted fields depicting the
marriage of Cupid and Psyche and Psyche being received
on Mount Olympus as if they were tapestries strung

17.34 Loggia of Psyche, view, 1518-19, commissioned by Agostino Chigi

from Raphael and his studio for the Villa Chigi (now Villa Farnesina),
Rome. Fresco

THE SUBURBAN VILLA AND SYBARITIC PLEASURE 417

17.35 Loggia of Psyche, detail showing arbor and the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche from the western half of the ceiling, 1518-19, commissioned by Agostino
Chigi from Raphael and his studio for the Villa Chigi (now Villa Farnesina), Rome. Fresco

overhead (Fig. 17.35 and p. 384). This lush and seductive

arbor is populated with nude figures of gods and goddesses,
painted in a cool, classical vocabulary as if they were part
of a painted sculptural relief, echoing Raphael’s study of
classical sculpture. At the same time, many are depicted in
suggestive poses that are glossed by the phallic vegetables
and opened fruits of the garlands.
Inside another room of Chigi’s villa, Raphael and
Baldassare Peruzzi (1481 Ancaiano-1536 Rome) painted
other images that continued the strain of erotic pleasure
and clever illusionism that characterizes the ceiling of the
Loggia. Raphael’s Galatea (Fig. 17.36), based on a poem by
Angelo Poliziano, depicts the story of a sea nymph who
laughingly dismissed the love song crooned to her by the
giant Polyphemus (painted by Sebastiano del Piombo on
a nearby wall). She is drawn across a stylized sea by a pair
of dolphins, symbols of Venus and thus of love. Flanked
on either side by mythological sea creatures like the hippo-
gtyph in the right background, Galatea turns in a spiraling
pose reminiscent of Michelangelo’s unfinished St. Matthew
(see Fig. 16.2), but with a greater sense ofinhabiting a volu-
metric space; her movement is one ofslow grace as opposed
to the spasm of revelation that characterizes St. Matthew’s
body. A red billowing drapery provides a dramatic counter-
point to her movement, blowing left as Galatea is drawn

17.36 Galatea, 1513, commissioned by Agostino Chigi from Raphael

for the Sala di Galatea, Villa Chigi (now Villa Farnesina), Rome. Fresco,
OSI x7 AB (29556 2257cm)

418 ROME: JULIUS Il, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

 17.37 Sala delle
Prospettive, 1509-11,
commissioned by
Agostino Chigi from
Baldassare Peruzzi
for the Villa Chigi
(now Villa Farnesina),
Rome

right. In the Galatea Raphael painted his own response to by Giulio Romano (1499? Rome-1546 Mantua), then work-
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (see Fig. 11.42). The subject matter ing in Raphael’s studio and soon to take over his master’s
of each is a classical literary conceit, each is an incentive shop when Raphael died. Known as I Modi (The Positions),
to erotic reverie, and each is simultaneously naturalistic they were engraved by Marc’Antonio Raimondi (1470/82
in the volumetric immediacy of the central figure and yet Argini-1527 Rome) (Fig. 17.38). Raimondi established an
completely artificial in its seascape setting. Like poetry, active engraving school in Rome and popularized the art of
where abstractions such as meter and rhyme are essential his contemporaries in the print medium, an important con-
to meaning, the formal properties of these two paintings tribution to the dissemination of the novelties of Roman
become integral aspects of their narrative. As active as all
of the figures are, Raphael has struck a remarkable balance
between poise and movement, making this painting one of
the central moments of the classicizing style in Rome at the
beginning of the sixteenth century.
Opposed to the poetry of the Galatea is Peruzzi’s essay
in illusionistic cityscape painting (Fig. 17.37), which appears
rooted in observable fact. On opposite walls in the central
room on the upper floor of the villa, directly over the Loggia
of Psyche, Peruzzi painted perspective scenes that seem
to eliminate the walls entirely, opening the space out onto a
fictive loggia through which one can see the city of Rome
beyond and some ofits major monuments. The illusion is,
of course, a lie, but a witty essay in craft, scientific perspec-
tive, and imagination that is in full accord with the relaxed
and playful life of the suburban villa.
The erotic pleasures so vividly suggested in Chigi’s pri- 17.38 | Modi, c. 1517, drawn by Giulio Romano and engraved by
vate residence found another form ina set of erotic drawings Marc’Antonio Raimondi (© British Museum, London)

THE SUBURBAN VILLA AND SYBARITIC PLEASURE 419

style to other urban centers. Raimond1’s
prints also helped to establish the
reputations of artists like Raphael, who
not only provided him models with
their work but who also provided him
figure drawings from which he could
compose more complicated composi-
tions. His engravings of IModi were not
the only prints of this type in Rome at
the time, but these acrobatic variations
of positions for sexual intercourse
landed the engraver in jail, even in the
sybaritic environment of Leo’s Rome.
The scopophilic pleasures of the print
were apparently condemned not simply
because of the subject’s pornographic
nature, but because they presumably
extended such imagery to an audience
outside the narrow circle of court
intimates. These courtiers would have
known that the imagery derived from
antique texts and images, particularly
from ancient coins (spintria) that depict
sexual activity, some of which Giulio
Romano may have owned. So sexual
pleasure could be overlaid with a veneer
of classical, humanistic scholarship to
give it a claim to decorum, somethin g
that would not have been the case in f

the more open circulation of prints

REI.
= &

through the culture. ree

ee
a
Such prints and paintings like
ge

the Fornarina (see Fig. 17.30) were part

of the charged environments created
by Raphael and Peruzzi. They created
an Olympus of luxury and license for
Chigi, his mistress, and his guests that
was unmatched in the city of Rome. For
a patron whose gestures of grandeur
included having a banquet served on
gold plates and then tossing the dishes out of the window 17.39 Interior of the Villa Madama, Rome, c. 1515-21, commissioned by
into the Tiber as a demonstration of his enormous wealth Giulio de’ Medici from Raphael (decorations by Giulio Romano, Giovanni
da Udine, and Baldassare Peruzzi)
(although servants were stationed below to retrieve the
plate), Raphael was obviously challenged to provide fanciful
illusionism, references to classical learning, opulence, and symmetrical plan of the villa as Raphael actually planned it,
erotic pleasure, all aimed to delight the worldly and sophis- and the small part ofit that was actually built (Fig. 17.39)
ticated participants in the villa environment. show that Raphael intended the entire project to be a recrea-
Raphael’s work as an architect is not as well known as tion of the past. Not only is the architectural vocabulary
his work as a painter, but here, too, he demonstrated both evocative of Roman antiquity in terms of arches, pilasters,
enormous imagination and a profound understanding of and marble revetments, the stucco decorations that illus-
classical antiquity. In the Villa Madama, built on Monte trate nearly all of its upper surfaces derive from similar
Mario just outside Rome for Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici ancient forms that had been uncovered on the Palatine Hill
(who was to become Pope Clement VII in 1523), Raphael in Rome toward the end of the fifteenth century and that
designed a modern version of an ancient Roman country had become part of the fictive vocabulary of painting used
villa. Spreading over the landscape to incorporate elaborate by Raphael himself in rooms like the Stanza @Eliodoro
gardens and different landscaping levels into its design, the (see Fig; 117.26),

420 ROME: JULIUS Il, LEO X, AND CLEMENT VII

Raphael and Michelangelo
In 1518, at the time he had begun the Villa Madama,
Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici also ordered two paintings for
the cathedral of Narbonne, France, where he was bishop.
This commission for Raphael’s Transfiguration (Fig. 17.40)
and The Raising of Lazarus (Fig. 17.41) by Sebastiano del
Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani; c. 1485 Venice-1547 Rome)
renewed the competition between Raphael and Michelangelo
initiated by Julius Ha decade earlier in the Stanze and the
Sistine Chapel, because Michelangelo apparently provided
drawings as well as advice for Sebastiano’s Lazarus paint-
ing—as he did on numerous other occasions to help his
friend. Although Michelangelo was in Florence working for
the Medici, his clever intervention in Sebastiano’s commis-
sion allowed him to maintain an active presence in Rome
where Raphael was the dominant artist in papal circles.
Sebastiano’s painting shows Lazarus removing the wind-
ing sheets from his body after Christ, still gesturing at the
center of the painting, has miraculously brought him back
to life John 11:1-44). Raphael’s painting depicts two dis-
tinct but consecutive biblical narratives: one in which Moses
and Elijah miraculously appear with the transfigured Christ,
witnessed by Peter, James, and John, and a subsequent
episode in which the other apostles, failing to cure a boy
possessed by demons, await the return of Christ from the
mountain above (Matthew 17:1-20). Both paintings depict
gospel narratives of Christ and both are manifestations
of his divine power. Giulio Romano, Raphael’s heir, may
have painted some of the figures in the lower background
area of the Transfiguration since the painting was apparently
not finished when Raphael died in 1520. The importance of
the painting in Raphael’s career was apparently recognized
immediately, since it was placed on Raphael’s tomb in the 17.40 Transfiguration, 1518-20, commissioned by Giulio de’ Medici from
Pantheon at the time of his burial. Raphael for Narbonne Cathedral, where he was bishop. Oil on panel,
These two paintings exemplify many of the artistic 13’ 54" x 9! 2" (4.1 x 2.79 m) (Musei Vaticani, Rome)
currents in Rome at the time of their commissioning
and suggest that Raphael and Sebastiano/Michelangelo by being highlighted against a dark ground. Active poses
had achieved an integration of new ideas from a variety are given added tension because of the compacted space in
of sources. Since being cleaned, the paintings indicate that which they are placed. Pose, highlighting, and gesture
the brilliant coloring of the Sistine ceiling had finally had enhance figural motion throughout the paintings. These
an impact on panel painting. The kneeling woman at the paintings give some sense of the importance of Rome as an
foreground of the Transfiguration (virtually a mirror image of international center for art by the beginning ofthe sixteenth
the comparable figure in Raphael’s Expulsion of Heliodorus; century, a place where artists coming from different regional
see Fig. 17.27) wears an icy pink tunic inexplicably sliding centers like Venice, Urbino, or Florence could find new ideas
off her body. Each of the major figures is clothed in a bright in the work ofothers and begin an integration ofvery differ-
color, perhaps to respond to the large size of the painting. ent modes of painting into a coherent new style.
Both Sebastiano, whose training was in Venice where he had
been trained in the shop of Giovanni Bellini, and Raphael Clement VII: The Dissolution of
use typically Venetian chiaroscuro techniques which add Papal Power
luminous effects to the surface and enhance the sense of
changing atmospheric conditions in the background. Both
the possessed boy and Lazarus have the heavy musculature The stylistic developments so notable in the work of Raphael,
characteristic of Hellenistic sculpture such as the Laocoon Sebastiano, and Giulio Romano were cut short in Rome by
and of Michelangelo’s figures. The animated gesturing a number ofevents, not the least of which was a radical shift
of the figures in each painting is thrown into sharp relief in the group of artists working 1n the city. Bramante died in

CLEMENT VII: THE DISSOLUTION OF PAPAL POWER 421

17.41 The Raising ofLazarus, 1517-19, commissioned by
Giulio de’ Medici from Sebastia
12' 6" x 9' 6” (3.81 x 2.9 m) (National Gallery, London) no del Piombo for Narb
onne Cathedral. Oil on
canvas,

422 ROME: JULIUS II, LEO X, AN CLEMENT VII

1514, Raphael in 1520. Giulio Romano, Raphael’s successor,
departed Rome for Mantua and lucrative commissions there
in 1524. Michelangelo left Rome for Florence, where he
worked on Medici commissions at San Lorenzo.
As important as these figures were for giving Julius I and
Leo X a coherent and triumphal visual language for their
conceptions of the papal office as a leading player in a newly
expanded world and within the strengthened monatrchical
political structures of Europe, artistic personalities alone
were not the sole engines driving artistic development.
When Leo X died in 1521 he was succeeded by a Dutch
cardinal who took the name Adrian VI (r. 1522-23). Adrian
began a series of long overdue reforms in the government
of the Church and in the morals of the papal court. These
reforms led to a drastic reduction of artistic patronage—
seen as the manifestation of an extravagant court—at just
the tme that a younger group of artists such as Rosso
Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo; 1494 Florence-1540
Fontainebleau?) and also Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco
Maria Mazzola; 1503 Parma-1540 Casalmaggiore) had
come to Rome, from Florence and Parma respectively,
and were promising to develop a new courtly International
Style there. By the time of Adrian’s short reign, Protestant
reformers, led by the German monk Martin Luther, had
issued a serious challenge to the Church that was to lead to
a split in Western Christendom. Thus, at the very time that 17.42 Dead Christ, c. 1524-27, commissioned by Bishop Leonardo di
Lorenzo Tornabuoni probably for his cathedral church at Sansepolcro,
the boundaries of the Church had expanded to encompass
from Rosso Fiorentino. Oil on panel, 52% x 41” (133.5 x 104.1 cm)
newly explored territories in the Americas and in Asia, its (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
center began to collapse.
At the time of the Sack of Rome in 1527 Rosso apparently left this painting
There was loud rejoicing when Giulio de’ Medici became with the Franciscan nuns of the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna for
pope as Clement VII in 1523, but he was never able, in safe-keeping. Immediately after the Sack, Rosso was imprisoned in the palace
of Cardinal della Valle. When he subsequently tried to retrieve the painting
his eleven-year reign, to reinstitute the impressive scale of
the nuns at first refused to give it up. Sometime shortly afterward it entered
patronage of Julius II and Leo X. The myth of Rome’s into a private collection and never served as an altarpiece, although that was
sacrosanctity in the European imagination was shattered in its original purpose.
1527 when the troops of the Hapsburg emperor Charles V
(1500-58), ostensibly in Italy to fight the French, sacked the The sharp contrasting colors of the angels’ clothing—deep
city and despoiled many of its most hallowed sites. Given red, green, and white on the left angel and orange, blue, and
the short period of time between Clement’s accession to the violet on the right—play against the white candles they hold
office of the papacy and the Sack, as well as the destruction and give some indication of how important the brilliant .
of artists’ workshops by the German soldiers, it is not palette of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling (known to us only
surprising that little concrete evidence remains for artistic since its recent cleaning, see Fig. 17.12) was for the new gen-
activity in Rome during the early years of Clement’s reign. eration of artists experiencing it for the first time in Rome>
The Dead Christ (Fig. 17.42) by Rosso Fiorentino is one of The golden corkscrew curls of the angels are reminiscent of -
the few paintings that can be assigned with anysecurityto the hair of the Sistine Ceiling nudes, and indicate how care-
this period. Painted for Lorenzo Tornabuoni, a relative of fully artists looked at even the small details of Michelangelo’s
the pope who in 1523 or 1524 was made bishop of work, even if the end result of their painting differs signifi-
Sansepolcro (meaning “Holy Sepulchre,” thus perhaps cantly in form from the older artist. The soft eroticism of
explaining the painting’s subject matter), the panel shows a Rosso’s painting, even as it emphasizes the humanity of the
nude dead Christ flanked by angels. Symbols of the Passion divine Christ, suggests that imagery in the Clementine court
lie on the foreground step and illusionistically extend into would have returned to the refined and charged sensibilities
space. The creamy expanse of Christ’s sagging body—mod- of Leonine Rome, a deliberate rejection of the austerities
eled in part on one of the sons in the antique statue group under Adrian VI. The Sack all too quickly put an end to this
of the Laocoon in the papal collections (see Fig. 39)—glows in style of painting in Rome, leaving artists like Rosso a hostage
the sharp light coming in from the left; its details—the red to German troops who destroyed much of their work and
hair, the disembodied hand touching the wound in his side, caused them eventually to abandon the city that had only
the pubic hair—only enhance the sensuality of the figure. recently promised extraordinary new patronage possibilities.

CLEMENT VII: THE DISSOLUTION OF PAPAL POWER 423

 Florence: Mannerism and the
Medici

changes—about how they are to be interpreted, or if they

are consistent enough from one artistic center to another
to allow describing them as a discrete style.
Numbers of contradictory questions have been raised
about the origins and nature of what is called Mannerism.
Were artists rebelling against established conventions,
especially the relatively restrictive formal aspects of
classicism? Or were they simply extending prior ideas?
Should certain shifts in style be read as “anti-classical”?
Or were these changes essentially “non-classical”? Was
there a loss of artistic talent, ambition, and new insights
that caused serious shifts or aberrations in established
styles? In this regard the death of Leonardo (1519) and
Raphael (1520) or the artistic diaspora caused by the
Sack of Rome in 1527 are often cited. Does this art
reflect troubled and changing times or is it primarily
the vision of neurotic and troubled individuals? Is this
art essentially secular and non- or even anti-religious, or
does it arise from and depict deeply spiritual concerns
given the challenges of the Protestant Reformation? Is it
the result of a newly refined court culture (throughout
Europe and not just in Italy) searching for an appropri-
ate visual language to define its place in the world?
hene All these questions and others like them testify to the
¥
fascinating and often contradictory nature of this art—a
visual record that demands and rewards detailed and
open discussion, taking into account arguments from
LEMME
CHG:
conflicting points of view.

Emerging Transformations of the

Classical Style

Some of the more obvious stylistic aspects of what is

commonly understood as Mannerism can be discerned
rather quickly by comparing two paintings: the Madonna
of the Harpies (Fig. 18.1) by Andrea del Sarto (Andrea
@Agnolo; 1486 Florence-1530 Florence) and the
iscussions of Mannerism, a term derived from the Visdomini altarpiece (Fig. 18.2) byJacopo Pontormo (Jacopo
Italian word maniera for manner or style, usually Carucci; 1494 Pontormo-1557 Florence). They were both
begin with paintings made by a new generation of artists important commissions painted within a year of one another
in Florence beginning in the second decade of the sixteenth in the same city and represent the same subject matter ofa
century. Here we see some of the earliest evidence of fissures Madonna and Child enthroned and flanked by saints,
mak-
in the classicizing style that had characterized a good deal, ing their comparison particularly telling. Andrea probably
although not all of Italian art at the beginning of the trained with the quirky painter Piero di Cosimo, though his
century. There is no consensus about the causes for these works reveal the varied influences of Leonardo, Raphael,

424
 Opposites can be seen in Fra Bartolommeo’s St. Anne
altarpiece (see Fig. 16.5) and in many of the paintings of this
time in Florence.
In the Visdomini altarpiece Pontormo flattened the space
that Andrea had gone to such careful lengths to form in the
Madonna of the Harpies. Its shallowness is emphasized by his
deployment of the figures across the picture plane. There is
no overlap to suggest spatial recession, but, rather, a vertical
space with figures appearing to be above rather than behind
one another in the composition. If the kneeling St. Francis
at the right were to stand, he would be considerably taller
than the figure next to him—a drastic inconsistency of scale
that ruptures any realism of form that one might encounter
in the painting. None of the figures seems to focus within
the composition. While a viewer looks in toward the figures,
they look outward in different directions, scattering any
possible unified connection to them. Yet Pontormo simulta-
neously indicated that he knew the “rules” of good painting.
The Virgin is on a central axis and the figures create a
carefully structured and stable diamond shape in the center
of the composition (although there is nothing at the center
of that shape). Almost as a
jest, the small putti and the child
Jesus and John the Baptist playfully betray some knowledge
of contrapposto figural structure, the figures twisting to
18.1 Madonna of the Harpies, 1517, commissioned from Andrea del Sarto
suggest a hollow created by the positions of their arms. By
for the high altar of San Francesco, Florence. Oil on panel, 6’ 9%" x 5’ 10" contrast all the adult male figures are flattened, with areas
(2.07 x 1.78 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

Michelangelo, and Fra Bartolomeo. Pontormo was Andrea’s

student (and may also have studied with Leonardo), but
his painting deviates noticeably from the classicizing ideals
that Andrea had helped to establish as a norm in Florence
and which he practiced virtually all of his life. In Andrea’s
Madonna of the Harpies, the simple sacra conversazione is set
within a severe architecture broken only by the harpies—
mythological creatures guarding the underworld—at the
corners of the Virgin’s pedestal. The niche behind the Virgin
is shadowed to suggest depth. St. Francis looks out at the
left and St. John the Evangelist at the right. Each figure
stands in a pose that suggests imminent movement, while at
the same time the figures are given stability by the architec-
ture behind them. The gravitas of the figures echoes classical
rhetorical dicta for self-presentation in matters of serious
import. The bright, fully saturated primary colors of the
drapery of the Virgin provide a dramatic focus on the main
figures of the painting, while the opposing figures at either
side are linked to the central figures through an implied
compositional rhombus extending from the head of Mary
to the heads ofthe two saints and then down along the arms
of the saints to the pedestal, locking the figures into an
overall compositional structure, even though each figure
retains a spatial independence. This union or balancing of
Son aR

18.0 Entombment, 1525-28, commissioned by Ludovico di Gino Capponi 18.2 Visdomini altarpiece, 1518, commissioned by Francesco di Giovanni
from Jacopo Pontormo, Barbadori-Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicita, Pucci from Jacopo Pontormo for San Michele in Visdomini, Florence.
Florence. Oil and tempera on panel, 10’ 3” x 6’ 3" (3.13 x 1.92 m) Oil on paper, 7’ x 6’ 1” (2.13 x 1.85 m)

EMERGING TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE CLASSICAL STYLE 425

of possible spatial recession and volume—such as overlapping A New Social Order
legs or twisting shoulders—deliberately suppressed by dra-
pery or impenetrable shadow. All of these formal elements If we consider the patronage—or more extensively, the social
in Pontormo’s Visdomini altarpiece are too consistent and context—in which the young Pontormo worked, it is clear
too much a part ofa unified presentation to be the mistakes that it differed markedly from the environment in which
of a young painter, or the serendipitous manipulation Andrea del Sarto had matured as an artist. The Medici
of form by a willful artist (nor by a madman, as Pontormo is had returned to power in Florence in 1512. Even with
sometimes portrayed—especially late 1n his career). French support, the new Florentine republic was unable
The stylistic properties evident in Pontormo’s Visdomini to withstand the combined opposition of the papacy and
altarpiece could be read simply as attempts by one of a its allies who supported the Medici. A Spanish army forced
new generation of painters to distinguish and to distance the republic to submit to Medici rule, first to Piero the
himself from the rules of contemporary classicism. Thus Unfortunate’s brother Giuliano and then, a year later, to
this would be an example of “anti-classicism,” as it was his son Lorenzo. The Medici quickly realized that they had
referred to early in the twentieth century, or a deliberate to overcome the very powerful and successful visual propa-
breaking of the rules of balance, proportion, and focused ganda that the republic had initiated. And, with a clear
order. Such an anti-classicism, if that is what it really 1s, understanding of the new political order, the Signoria (now
must be understood in terms of artistic practice of the early stacked with Medici partisans) revoked all laws passed since
sixteenth century in Florence and not as a denial of the the Medici expulsion in 1494 and aborted the outstanding
art of classical antiquity, however; Pontormo seems to be artistic commissions that had been undertaken by the
quoting the head of the antique statue Laocoén (see Fig. 39) republic, most notably the projects undertaken for the Hall
in the figure second from the left, thus maintaining defini- of the Great Council (see Figs. 16.4-16.7). In fact, in that
tive references to ancient art which is, itself, extremely varied instance, the Medici ordered that the elaborately carved and
in form. So “anti-classicism” as a descriptive term raises as very expensive wooden benches already made for the new
many questions as it answers. council hall be burned—a dramatic attempt to erase the
Another interpretation would then call attention to memory of the recent republic.
the willful self-consciousness evident in Pontormo’s art. In The Medici’s position in the city was guaranteed when
looking at his Visdomini altarpiece a viewer can become as Giovanni de’ Medici, the second son of Lorenzo the
interested in the artist’s manipulation of forms and in his Magnificent, became pope in 1513. As Leo X, he brought the
inverting accepted rules in a subject matter that is, after all, full weight (and wealth) of the papacy to bear upon his fam-
still devotional. The oddities of the painting end up being a ily’s control of Florence. When Lorenzo the Magnificent’s
demonstration of the artist’s presence, emphasizing artifice son, Giuliano, married into the French royal house in 1515
at the expense of a clear reading of the subject matter of the and was given the title of the duke of Nemours by Francis I,
painting, again a change from the classical style. This may and when Piero the Unfortunate’s son, Lorenzo, dlso
be rebellion, but it could just as easily be a demonstration married French royalty, the linkage of French and papal
of skill, not unlike Michelangelo’s carefully posed figures in power assured Medici strength in the Florentine state. The
the Battle of Cascina of 1504 (see Fig. 16.7) or even Mantegna’s merchant-banker status of the family had definitively been
quite artificial display ofhis classical learning and control of transformed, and with it their concept of political control of
an antique style in his 1470s print of the Battle of the Sea Gods the city. Florence was on its way to being a court culture,
(see Fig. 35). This mannered self-conscious style, calling despite ongoing sentiments of republicanism among its
attention to the hand of the artist’s action in the painting, older families. A new visual language had to be found that
provides a source for the term maniera whose root word in would not only provide appropriate imagery for this new
Italian is the same as hand (mano). At the same time, such social order, but would also have to be distinguishable from
an assessment also raises questions insofar as it places the the stylistic language used by the republic. While artists may
development ofstyle squarely within the personal peculiari- have begun to experiment with new modes of expression out
ties of the artist, in this case a young man seeking to find a of purely personal or formal concerns, questioning older art
way for himself outside the rules of form laid down by his or seeing new possibilities within it, their innovations could
elders—men of such daunting genius as Leonardo and such always be harnessed to new social and political ends. We
painterly brilliance as Pontormo’s own teacher, Andrea del have no evidence that patrons in Florence willed a new style
Sarto. This position resonates with Vasari’s construction of into existence after 1512—as had been the case with Abbot
art history based on the lives of the artists and in our own Suger and the creation of the Gothic architectural style in
modern fascination with the psyche and individual genius France, for example—but they did establish a new SOCLOpo-
ofartists. Yet it ignores both the patron for whom the paint- litical context in which deeply imaginative artists could
ing was made and the audience for whom it was intended, experiment with stylistic innovation.
although the issue of intentionality implied by such a state- | Moreover the Medici and their artists had a sophisticated
ment, it must be admitted, is one of the more vexing issues idea of how style could connote social order and political
ofartistic interpretation. history, and, thus, they supported stylistic attributes that

426 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDICI

were meant to be in opposition to the visual language of the
renewed republic between 1494 and 1512. The Medici had
to move very cautiously in the first years of their return, but
their awareness of the emotional power over the public
imagination of earlier commissions like Michelangelo’s
David was evident in their response to the suggestion by
Baccio Bandinelli (Bartolomeo Bandinelli; 1493 Gaiole in
Chianti-1560 Florence) that they replace Donatello’s bronze
David (see Fig. 11.21) with a new sculpture of the same
subject for the courtyard of the Medici Palace. Donatello’s
figure had been taken by the Signoria to the courtyard of
the Palazzo della Signoria from the Medici Palace in 1495.
There it became a symbol for the republic’s victory over
Medici tyranny and thus a loaded political image. Cardinal
Giulio de’ Medici, the illegitimate son of Giuliano de’
Medici (who had been assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy
of 1478), refused the suggestion of a David, clearly under-
standing that replacing such a loaded political image in the
family palace could only be read as an affront to a still viable
current of republicanism in the city, a provocation that they
could little afford.
Instead Giulio commissioned an Orpheus (see Fig. 11.12)
for the courtyard from Bandinelli, then in his early twenties
and the son ofa goldsmith in the Medici employ, thus giv-
ing him an opening wedge into the Medici household where
he became essentially the house sculptor. Given the interest
in music of Pope Leo X, the family’s most eminent member,
Orpheus, a demigod known for his playing ofthe lyre, was a
reasonable choice of subject especially since his return from
the underworld also served as a fitting metaphor for Medici
return to power. Also Orpheus could not be associated with
earlier public sculpture, so the Medici could not be accused
of placing a civic image within their private dwelling. The
Orpheus was, however, modeled on the Apollo Belvedere, then
18.3 Hercules and Cacus, 1525-34, commissioned by Cosimo | de’ Medici
one of the focal points of the papal collections of antique from Baccio Bandinelli for the Piazza della Signoria, Florence. Marble,
sculpture, making it both an appropriate reference to Pope height 16’ 3” (4.96 m)
Leo X, the head of the family, and to the Medici history of
collecting antiquities. Its convincing imitation of antique Michelangelo’s David on the other side of the main portal of
style also made the statue a strong statement of the young the town hall. Originally the commission for this colossal
Bandinelli’s abilities as a carver, equating him with the statue had been given by the gonfaloniere of the republic
greatest artists of the classical past and, not inconsequen- to Michelangelo in 1508, thus making overt the Hercules
tially, equating Leo with the ancient rulers who patronized iconography that Michelangelo had so carefully built into
those sculptors. Although Bandinelli was later to copy the his earlier figure. The block from which the statue was to be
Laocoon (see Fig. 39), it is significant that in this case he carved was not delivered until 1525, however. At that time
chose a very different stylistic model: the elegant, graceful, the Medici assumed the commission and gave it to Bandinelli
and sensual Apollo Belvedere. In other words he chose a model rather than Michelangelo, even though Michelangelo was
far removed from Michelangelo’s last commission from the then in their employ. When the Medici family fell from
republic, the St. Matthew (see Fig. 16.2), but one having the power briefly between 1527 and 1530, Michelangelo was
same sleek stylistic sensibility as Donatello’s bronze David. once more asked by the renewed republican government
Thus the Medici could have a statue in their courtyard that to take over the carving of the stone. During this time
at a quick glance was quite new, both in terms ofits classical Bandinelli traveled to Genoa to work for Andrea Doria
quotation and its subject matter, but that clearly referenced (see Fig. 19.12), giving clear indication that he was so closely
the David stylistically as a part of family history. associated with the Medici family that it would have been
The power of artistic style to be charged with political unwise—not to say unprofitable—to remain in Florence. But
significance is nowhere more clearly evident than in the when the Medici returned to power in 1530 they returned
commission for a Hercules and Cacus group to pair with the project to Bandinelli.

A NEW SOCIAL ORDER 427

 Hercules and Cacus (Fig.18.3), the first major work of produced for a discerning, classically trained audience. An
Medici visual propaganda after their return, was put in place elite style, 1t derived much of its attraction from being clever
in 1534 to the right side of the door of the Palazzo della and elegant or making learned allusions to other works of
Signoria. Indebted to extant, colossal ancient Roman sculp- art and recondite literature. It also came in many forms:
ture such as the Horse Tamers in Rome, Bandinelli’s Hercules rather severe and even forbidding in many public commis-
seems to claim both an ancient precedent of greatness and sions, more relaxed and playful in private and domestic
imperial patronage. When Benvenuto Cellini referred to the spheres, wilder and sometimes shocking in its earliest
Hercules and Cacus as a “bag of melons” he began a tradition Florentine manifestations, irreverent in some ofits courtly
of pejorative criticism of Bandinelli’s work that has lasted appearances, and hyper-elegant and refined in others.
uncritically until the present. Yet with his Orpheus Bandinelli Whatever its form, it was always visually intriguing and well-
had proved that he was capable of carving an elegant classi- suited to manipulation and exploitation by wily patrons.
cizing figure comparable to anything that antiquity then
had to offer. So the somewhat overblown stylistics of the Domestic and Villa Decoration
Hercules and Cacus must be seen as a deliberate choice on
Bandinelli’s part to carry explicit meaning for the work. When Piero Francesco Borgherini married Margherita
Carving the work as he was for the Medici, and in direct Acciaiuoli in 1515, his father commissioned a series of small
opposition to Michelangelo and the existing republican panels depicting the life of Joseph from the Old Testament
David (see Fig. 16.1) at the site, Bandinelli had little other from a number of Florentine artists, including Andrea
option but to choose a style for his statue that was as differ- del Sarto and Pontormo. They were to decorate the couple’s
ent from the David as he could imagine. Thus the Hercules 1s bedroom. Although the subject matter of ayoung boy sold
stilled, with both of the hero’s feet firmly planted on the into slavery by his brothers seems curious for wedding
ground whereas that of the David, despite its frontality, paintings, they were apparently treasured by the Borgherini
implies a slow graceful movement by the raised left foot and couple, for, according to Vasari, when an agent came to
turn of the head. remove the paintings during Borgherini’s enforced political
The shifting back and forth of this commission between absence, Margherita refused to give them up and rudely
Michelangelo and Bandinelli—between the Republic and turned the agent out of her home. Pontormo’s Joseph in Egypt
the Medici—marks the political fortunes of the city, the role (Fig. 18.4) depicts a standing Joseph at the far left in the role
that art played in reinforcing the dominant political order, of the pharaoh’s governor with his brothers approaching
and the association of individual
artists with particular power struc-
tures in the city. Bandinelli’s
Orpheus and his Hercules and Cacus
indicate that artists and patrons—
and viewers—were aware of the
political and symbolic value ofstyle
as a form of public discourse.
On the other hand, Mannerism
could not and perhaps never was
intended to appeal to the general
populace. It could impress gener-
ally by its complexity or sheer
physical beauty, but it did not
speak directly or simply. Often it
may have seemed confusing or
incomprehensible to all but the
most sophisticated viewers—not
unlike Botticelli’s mythological
paintings of the previous century
(see Figs. 11.42 and 11.43), also

18.4 Joseph in Egypt, c. 1518, commissioned

by Francesco Borgherini from Jacopo
Pontormo for his son’s nuptial chamber,
Palazzo Borgherini (now the Palazzo
Rosselli del Turco), Florence. Oil on panel,
3' 2" x 3' 7 K" (97 x 110 cm) (National
Gallery, London)

428 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDICI

him, the latter not knowing that he is the person whom they Mannerist inventions, the more their expressionistic aspects
had years earlier sold into slavery. The episodic narrative came to dominate the artistic scene.
is one of revelation, recognition, and reconciliation, with A critical moment in this transformation occurred when
Joseph’s youngest brother revealing to their father at the Pontormo joined Andrea del Sarto and others in a commis-
upper right that his son, whom he had thought dead, was sion from the twenty-five-year-old Ottaviano de’ Medici on
not only alive but successful and would save them from behalf of Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici and his cousin Leo X
the famine that gripped Israel. As in Pontormo’s Visdomini for decorations celebrating the pope’s father, Lorenzo the
altarpiece, the space is fragmented (as is the narrative) and Magnificent, and other family members inside the family’s
discontinuous so that it is unclear how any of the actors in villa at Poggio a Caiano (see Fig. 11.46). As appropriate for a
the frontal plane of the composition could possibly move suburban villa, Pontormo’s fresco celebrates Vertumnus and
into the mid-ground where figures huddle behind strange Pomona, the ancient god and goddess of harvests and fruit
and inexplicable landscape formations, or how figures trees (Figs. 18.5 and 18.6). The male god is portrayed as an
mounting the dangerously unbalustered curving stairway of old peasant at the far left of the fresco, and the goddess
the odd building at the right might actually enter the room is imagined as a handsome young woman reclining on the
within. Figures are not consistent in scale and are elongated far right garbed in green and white and holding a sickle.
and attenuated, giving them a sinuous grace. Joseph as the Pontormo signed his work with the initials “IFP” under
main protagonist may understandably be the largest figure, Vertumnus and provides clues to the subject matter with
but his proportions are severe manipulations of the realities three other inscriptions. The most important of these
of human proportion. Moreover, there are curious pairings appears above the large oculus window on a cartouche hung
of figural forms that call attention to their odd roles in the from golden ropes. It is a truncated version of a quotation
narrative. A statue atop a column in the mid-distance is from the Georgics (I, 21), Virgil’s ancient celebration of
painted to make it appear as marble, while in the foreground country life: “O gods and goddesses, all, whose love guards
at the foot of the stairs an actual child dances precariously our fields”—indicating that in spite of their casual poses and
atop a column on a parade cart reminiscent of festival per- demeanor, the primary figures reclining across Pontormo’s
formances of the period. Remembering that the painting narrow garden wall and ledge are probably all deities gracing
was made for a bedroom, this figure may read as the hoped- a Medici villa and its properties.
for male child of the marriage (and thus appropriately a Throughout the fresco Pontormo calls attention to the
point of focus in the composition), but it is nonetheless a plane of the wall and carefully flattens the presumed space
curiosity within the overall painting. Pontormo adds further of the painting. The walls on which the figures are seated are
contradictions by depicting a Germanic gatehouse in the simple slabs parallel to the painting’s surface; no diagonals
back, a feature he borrowed from a print by Albrecht Diirer. give any indication of recession, nor do the figures diminish
Here it should be remembered that Florentine and Umbrian in size from the front to the rear step. The figures them-
painters of the fifteenth century had carefully imitated selves are disposed in a zigzag pattern with no overlap
Flemish painting for their wealthy patrons. Thus Pontormo’s between them, each presented as a discrete unit despite their
patrons may well not have been troubled by the northern participation in a clear overall compositional structure. The
references in his work in the same way that Vasari was later figures’ adherence to pattern is reinforced by the positions
in the century when he hada particular agenda of propagan- of their limbs, which are either at right angles to the steps or
dizing Tuscan art. extended parallel to them; virtually every diagonal possible
Such self-conscious inconsistencies of presentation seem within their bodies is suppressed. Yet Pontormo has still
to have appealed to the oligarchic factions in Florence after modeled the figures to give a sense of their mass.
the fall of the republic in 1512. Yet too close a tying of style Comparable to the contradictory nature of the figural
to social factions may be an oversimplification of the subject composition, the unconventional representation ofthe gods
of style in Florence at this time; the political situation was leaves their identification anything but clear. The young
unsettled and it was not clear whether the Medici, or the nude at the far left, indecorously splaying his legs and
traditional oligarchy, or a new form of revived republican- leaning back, may be Apollo but also Liber and the Sun; his
ism would ultimately control the political life of the city. female counterpart dressed in red on the right may be Luna
Moreover, since this suite of paintings for the Borgherini (the moon) and also imply Diana and Ceres; the others may
bedroom also contained paintings rather classically con- relate to the seasons—all emphasizing the cyclical nature of
structed by Andrea del Sarto, the patron may simply have time as did the earlier glazed terracotta reliefon the entrance
been trying to furnish the interior of the Borgherini Palace portico of the villa. Such an interpretation makes sense
as quickly as possible after the wedding had been con- in the agricultural context of a villa, though it refers even
tracted, choosing the leading painters in Florence who had more cogently to Medici preoccupations with their turning
already proved their abilities and who had worked together fortunes: a disk below the window carries the inscription,
effectively. At the very least it is clear that the rich and pow- “GLOVIS,” the motto of Lorenzo de’ Medici, duke of Urbino
erful appreciated Mannerist as well as classicizing art, and (died 1519), which was designed to be read backwards as
the more they and the artists who worked for them saw of “si volge” (“it turns”), a witty visualization of its verbal

DOMESTIC AND VILLA DECORATION 429

18.5 Interior, Villa Medici, Poggio a Caiano, 1480s, building commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici from Giuliano da Sangallo. Frescoes commissioned by
Ottaviano de’ Medici on behalf of Giulio de’ Medici and Leo X from Jacopo Pontormo and others

meaning. The fresco indicates that this is to be a turn for Leo’s nephew Lorenzo, had been made duke of Urbino in
the better, made explicit by the putti sitting at the top of 1516 after his uncle, on false pretences, seized control of the
the oculus on truncated laurel branches (an unmistakable duchy from the della Rovere (who had succeeded to the
Medicean emblem since the days of Lorenzo the Magnificent) dukedom through intermarriage with the Montefeltro),
that are sprouting extravagant new growth. The putti hold Unfortunately for the new young duke, his reign was not
banners declaring “Jupiter the Father wishes it,’—it being uncontested by the della Rovere and he died worn out by
the rejuvenation of the Medici family. This was of no small disease and battle wounds in 1519, the year before the
concern at the time. The brightest rising star of the family, frescoes were begun, thus essentially ending the male line
of

430 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDICI

 18.6 Vertumnus and Pomona,
1520-21, commissioned by
Ottaviano de’ Medici on
behalf of Giulio de’ Medici
and Leo X from Jacopo
Pontormo for the Villa
Medici, Poggio a Caiano.
Frescom only xo 2 aa.
(4.61 x 9.9 m)

18.7 Capponi Chapel,

1525-28, commissioned by
Ludovico di Gino Capponi
from Jacopo Pontormo,
Santa Felicita, Florence

The commission included a

now lost fresco in the ceiling
of God the Father, pendentive
roundels of the four Evangelists
(with assistance from Agnolo
Bronzino), a stained-glass
window by Guillaume de
Marcillat, the Entombment
altarpiece (see Fig. 18.0) and
a fresco of the Annunciation.

the Medici extending from Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Playful, erudite, and at the same altogether serious in
terms of the Medici family’s political ambitions and
hereditary concerns, Pontormo’s frescoes are much more
than personal fantasies.

Altarpieces
Having worked for the Medici, Pontormo continued to
receive commissions from the highest echelons of
Florentine society. Pontormo’s commission from Ludovico
di Gino Capponi marks one of the few extant decorative
ensembles of early Mannerism (Fig. 18.7). The chapel
itself was built by Brunelleschi against the entrance wall
of the convent church of Santa Felicita for the Barbadori
family at the beginning of the fifteenth century. When
Capponi acquired the space in 1525 as a funerary chapel
for himself and his male heirs, he retained a reference to
the earlier dedication to the Annunciation with frescoes
of that subject on the window wall. An inscription also
indicates a dedication to “pieta,” suggesting not only piety
but the subject of Pontormo’s altarpiece: the dead Christ
in the company of his mother and other mourners (see
Fig. 18.0). If this is an Entombment—the precise subject of
the work is contested by art historians—it is curiously
dissociated from identifying elements of the historical
narrative, unlike Raphael’s painting of this subject (see
Fig. 16.12), in which Golgotha is shown in the distance
and the rock tomb is indicated at the left. in the Capponi
Chapel those narrative elements appear in a separate
stained-glass window on the wall over the Annunciation.
In the altarpiece the Virgin, larger in size than any other
figure in the painting and captivating in her cascading

ALTARPIECES 431
 apery, and the coolly liquid figure of the dead Christ
command attention, Yet these very figures are embedded in
a welter of billowing drapery and empty hand gestures,
which make any single focus impossible. The color, deriving
in part from the Sistine Ceiling (especially in the shot hues
of the foreground figure), also disperses attention in its
brilliant areas of pink against blue, even though the light
that spotlights the figures suggests that it comes from the
window of the chapel itselfand perhaps from the now lost
figure of God the Father in the dome of the chapel. The
space of the painting, like the earlier Visdomini altarpiece, 1s
sharply vertical, with no indication of where the background
figures are standing, although the overall composition and
tigural poses take into account the semicircular form of the
upper part of the painting. While the individual details of
the painting are compelling in their realistic depiction of
form and volume, the figures are both idealized in their
simplified volumes and gracefully attenuated both at their
extremities and in their overall proportions. This ts perhaps
most evident in the Virgin, whose legs (at the center of the
composition), hands, and head are thinned in comparison
wich che mass of her body. Curious impossibilities occur
throughout the painting: it ts difticult, for example, to
understand how the Virgin’s legs, shown on a diagonal,
connect to her torso, shown parallel to the picture plane,
or how the kneeling male figure in the foreground could
possibly support a dead body, balletically positioned as he 1s
on his toes, or how the male figure on the left can support
that same dead body apparently with one hand. Such explo-
rations of weight and support are quite contrary to Raphael’s
treatment of support in his Entombment.
Che perplexing aspects of the painting are nowhere more
evident than in the left hand of Christ, which seems to
be held out by two disembodied hands. These hands appar-
ently belong to a figure whose head is immediately above
18.8 Deposition, 1521, commissioned by the Compagnia della Croce di
the head of Christ, but who ts all but indistinguishable from Giorno from Rosso Fiorentino for San Francesco, Volterra. Panel,
the overall blue coloration of the surrounding figures and 12' 4" x 6’ 5" (3.75 x 1.96 m) (Pinacoteca, Volterra)
the consciously showy patterns of drapery that flow through
the painting; there seems, furthermore, to be little actual
space tor any body beneath that head. In this work Pontormo Since the classical style had been employed as the language
transformed the devotional altarpiece into a spasm of of the republic after 1494 it would have been inappropriate
emotional reactions cto the event of Christ’s death. Depicted for the newly restituted Medici rule after 1512 and their
through the dramatic gestures of the bodies and through deliberate dismantling of the republic. Mannerism provided
the icy brilliance of the intensely contrasted colors, this piety the language for the emerging aristocracy under the Medici
is clearly directed outward by the kneeling foreground male, in Florence. Yet even within the self-conscious artifice of
who looks pointedly out of the painting in a gaze of com- Mannerism there are characteristics suggesting a develop-
munion with the viewer. Without undermining the purpose ment of the classicizing tradition rather than a mere rejec-
of the altarpiece as an incentive to piety, Pontormo has both tion of it. From Leonardo onward, painters seem to have
upped its emotional charge and clothed it with an elegance realized that
regardless of how realistically they were able
that responds to the idealizations of the previous generation to reconstruct the physical forms of nature, they could
of painters and the changing social needs of the patron. never capture the critical element of motion. The curiously
An interpretation based on the concept of a reaction slipping poses of Pontormo’s figures and their unstable
“against” the prevailing classicizing style is but one possible positions are formal means of suggesting incipient move-
way to read Mannerism. It isolates the shift in style obvious ment, analogous to the contorted figures in Leonardo’s and
in Pontormo’s painting within the formal aspects of the Michelangelo’s fresco dtrawings for the Palazzo della Signoria
work and ignores the context in which the work was created. battle paintings (see Fiigs. 16.6 and 16.7). It is the ghostly

432 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDICI

images of these battle paintings with all their implications
of motion, emotion, grace, torsion, and monumental
Michelangelo and the Medici
grandeur that lie behind Pontormo’s style, implying
that Mannerism should not simply be read as anti-classical, The Medici Chapel
but also as a profound understanding and development of
painterly issues that lay at the root of the classical style in Michelangelo was in Florence at the very time that this new
the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo. style blossomed into maturity. When Pope Leo X entered
Pontormo was hardly alone in testing and pushing the Florence in triumph in 1515, he and his cousin Giulio (later
limits of both tradition and innovation. Rosso Fiorentino, Pope Clement VIJ) initiated a series of commissions at San
whose sensuous Dead Christ we examined in our discussion Lorenzo which built upon the projects of their Medici ances-
of Clementine Rome (see Fig. 17.42), had previously put tors at that church. The New Sacristy, now generally known
high-pitched color and brilliant, fracturing light to dra- as the Medici Chapel (Figs. 18.9 and 18.10), was designed as
matic use in a highly emotional altarpiece of the Deposition a burial pantheon for the Medici family (see genealogical
(Fig. 18.8). Like Pontormo, Rosso spent his early years asso- chart), especially for the brothers Lorenzo the Magnificent
ciated with Andrea del Sarto, in whose workshop the two (Leo X’s father) and Giuliano (Cardinal Giulio’s father),
young artists probably encouraged one another’s artistic and also for Giuliano, the duke of Nemours (1478-1516;
explorations. In some ways Rosso was the wilder of the two, Leo’s brother), and Lorenzo, the duke of Urbino (1492-
renowned for owning a disrespectful pet monkey and paint- 1519; Piero the Unfortunate’s son). Michelangelo’s New
ing works that early patrons openly rejected or asked to be Sacristy was designed to mirror Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy
overpainted. Lack of success in Florence may have caused (see Fig. 11.3). Yet within these constraints, Michelangelo
him to seek patronage in provincial Volterra, where the provided new expressive possibilities for architecture. Where
Compagnia della Croce di Giorno, a local penitent group Brunelleschi’s decorative elements respected the plane of
which held its devotions in a semi-independent chapel the wall, Michelangelo transformed surface into sculpture.
attached to the local Franciscan church, received a relic of The structural integrity of the space is enhanced visually
the True Cross in 1513. Already decorated with a True Cross by the framework of gray pietra serena stone outlining the
cycle on its side walls, the chapel, like the confraternity, was main architectural features. Within this ordering system
dedicated to the Cross and to the Virgin Mary. This dual Michelangelo pushed the central units of the side walls back
dedication may explain the fact that while the subject of into tripartite marble triumphal arches and pushed forward
the altarpiece obviously focuses upon Christ’s body being tombs and sculpture, which, if executed as planned,
lowered from the cross, Mary Magdalene, positioned at would have included reclining river gods on the floor in
its foot, doesnot cling to it, as was often the case, front of the sarcophagi. Drawings for a Resurrection
but instead rushes to embrace the fainting Virgin. indicate that Michelangelo also intended to fill the
Rosso’s altarpiece disrespects many classical conven- lunettes over the tombs with frescoes. The coffered
tions of representation: the figures and Christ’s cross, ceiling was painted with birds and vines by
cut short by the sides of the altarpiece, are pushed Giovanni da Udine (1487 Udine-1564 Rome),
to the foreground; the sky is blank; the figures Raphael’s chief decorative assistant at the
are inconsistent in scale; the men on ladders are Vatican Palace. Thus the room was envisaged
placed in impossibly precarious positions; and as an integrated work of painting, sculpture,
blinding light flattens the drapery, faceting it and architecture, giving the coloristic effects
into stark planes of color. All these features of earlier non-Florentine renditions of the
and the whirlwind of energy created by the Old Sacristy (the Portinar1 Chapel in Milan,
gesticulating and screaming figures around for example; see Fig. 15.7) an only slightly
Christ’s body and the intensity of grief more Florentine cast.
expressed by the arms of the Magdalene and The tombs of the two dukes show an
in the despondent John at the right were active Giuliano and a contemplative Lorenzo,
well suited to the confraternity’s devo- both turning away from the altar to face
tions, whose rules urged them to con- the wall where their forebears, Lorenzo the
front Christ’s Passion and identify Magnificent and his brother, were to be bur-
fully with his death, the source of ied in a double tomb (unfortunately never
their salvation. The very strangeness built). Thus the dukes would have directed
of this altarpiece gave it its power. attention to their ancestors, and also to
the Virgin and Child, now provisionally
installed on that wall—the traditional
fusion of devotional and familial
18.9 New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence,
images. But Michelangelo endowed the
worm’s eye view (after Apolloni) chapel with allegorical complexities well

MICHELANGELO AND THE MEDICI 433

 dy
AD

18.10 New Sacristy (also known as the Medici Chapel), San Lorenzo, Florence, 1519-34, commissioned by Leo X and Giulio de’ Medici (later Clement
Vil) from Michelangelo as a funerary chapel for their fathers and for recently deceased members oftheir family who had played leadership roles in
restoring Medici power in Florence

The photograph is taken from the position ofthe priest celebrating Mass at the altar of the chapel.

beyond any funerary monument then existing in Florence. and the contemplative life, here held in balance by the
The four river gods projected for the base of the tombs were sculptures’ symmetrical positioning in space. In fact, their
to represent the four rivers of eternal Paradise, while the blank faces essentially provide masks for the men, disguis-
allegorical figures of Dusk and Dawn on the sarcophagus ing their emotions and forbidding any real contact. Whether
of Duke Lorenzo and Night and Day on the sarcophagus of their images were simplified in deference to their ancestors,
Duke Giuliano represent diurnal time. Thus the chapel’s whose effigies were planned for the altar wall, or whether
iconography was to embrace issues of time and immortality. Michelangelo perversely stripped them of any accurate his-
The centralized plan of amartyrial structure and the dome torical references because of his opposition to Medici con-
with which it is crowned imply both Christian resurrection trol of the city we will never know.
and the cosmological order under the Medici princes. The allegories of the Times of Day reclining on the
The two dukes are studies 1n opposites, the one com- sarcophagi of the side walls are heroic nudes that seem to
monly referred to as Giuliano (Fig. 18.11) is clothed in embody in their physical forms their meanings, although
parade armor and leans energetically forward out of the only Night bears any identifying attributes. In the Dawn and
small niche in which he is placed. Lorenzo sits calmly and Dusk pair on Lorenzo’s tomb (Fig. 18.12; the figures are gen-
passively, his hand to his chin and the visor of his fantastical dered female and male according to the Italian nouns)
helmet casting a shadow over his eyes. When contemporar- Dawn begins to lift her limbs into movement, turning her
ies complained that the sculpted images of the dukes did head toward the viewer, while Dusk sinks back into quiet,
not look like the men they were meant to represent, withdrawing his gaze. The slight curves of their bases would
Michelangelo is said to have replied “they will.” Traditionally have been met by opposing curves of the river gods that
the two dukes are referred to as allegories of the active Michelangelo planned to place on the floor beneath them,

434 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDIC!

 18.13 Night, 1524-34, commissioned by Leo X and Giulio de’ Medici
from Michelangelo for the tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, the New Sacristy
(also known as the Medici Chapel), San Lorenzo, Florence. Marble, length
6’ 4%" (1.94 m)

providing a stable oval composition as well as active move-

ment forward and backward in space. The composition
would have countered the sense of slipping that the statues
now give and that is sometimes misleadingly used as an
aspect of Michelangelo’s involvement with Mannerism.
The figure of Night (Fig. 18.13) can be identified by her
symbols of the owl, the poppies, and the mask. She is
18.11 Duke Giuliano, 1524-34, commissioned by Leo X and Clement VII
oe oe é
from Michelangelo for the tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, the New Sacristy
twisted into an uncomfortable torsion of form that P
proba-
(also known as the Medici Chapel), San Lorenzo, Florence. Marble, height bly accounts for Michelangelo elongating her torso. Her
5’ 6" (1.73 m) heavily muscled body is as much part of the heroic rhetoric

18.12 Dusk and Dawn, 1524-34, commissioned by Leo X and Clement VII from Michelangelo for the tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the New Sacristy
(also known as the Medici Chapel), San Lorenzo, Florence. Marble, length 6' 9" (2.06 m) and 6' 4%" (1.95 m), respectively

MICHELANGELO AND THE MEDIC! 435

 e
of death that Michelangelo used for the chapel as it is due to definition for Mannerism in painting, it is also not adequat
che fact that Michelangelo could not have used nude female for designating the New Sacristy as Mannerist architecture.
models. The conventions worked on her physical form are Regardless of how inventive Michelangelo may have been
hardly more exaggerated than those used for the figure of with individual architectural forms, he was also conscious of
Giuliano above her. The mask beneath Night's left shoulder the overall space of the room and of the commemorative
is telling insofar as it is the only facial image in the entire and devotional practices which took place there. Thus had
chapel that has distinctive features. It furthermore calls the chapel been completed, the priest at the altar would have
by staring directly at the viewer, unlike any
attention to itself stood on axis with the Virgin and Child on the opposite wall
of the other faces in the room. Michelangelo was to tell his and would have been able to see the tombs of all four of the
biographer ofan antique faun’s mask that he had replicated Medici family members for whom he was praying. The two
when Lorenzo the Magnificent had invited him to work Medici dukes on the side walls would have emphasized
in the Medici sculpture garden. Indeed the mask of Night the focal point of the devotions by their gaze toward the
is a self-portrait by the artist. It serves both as a signature image of the Virgin and Child and also to their ancestors,
and as a remembrance of his indebtedness to the long- making clear dynastic linkages between generations, similar
dead Lorenzo, who was to be reburied only a few feet away. to Donatello’s sculpture for the Old Sacristy. And the
Michelangelo’s literary fiction unites him with Lorenzo central vertical axis of the room would have drawn attention
as a father figure and both of them to antiquity. The droll to the light at the lantern of the dome, referencing the
strategy of a mask being a portrait of the artist while the divine, again repeating symbolism used in the Old Sacristy.
portraits of the dukes are unrevealing masks has some The clarity of this visual order and its messages precludes
of the mordant wit that would have been appreciated by a description of the space simply as Mannerist.
Florentines, while at the same time it reveals in a cryptic
way some of Michelangelo’s deepest reflections about his The Laurentian Library
relations with this powerful family.
If there are competing interpretations of Mannerism in Michelangelo experimented even more boldly with
painting there is little coherent discussion of what would architectural form in the vestibule (ricetto) of the Laurentian
constitute a definition of Mannerism in architecture. Library (Fig. 18.14). Giulio de’ Medici commissioned the
Although Michelangelo’s architecture at San Lorenzo is library complex when he rose to the papacy as Clement VI
often called Mannerist, this designation is made solely on in 1523, most likely as a way to leave his own imprint on
the basis of its individual formal components rather than the fabric of San Lorenzo. The library with its long reading
on the overall structure, thus seriously compromising the room and soaring vestibule was built over the pre-existing
applicability of the term. Michelangelo was undoubtedly cloister of San Lorenzo to house the enormous book and
boldly inventive in his manipulation of canonic forms in the manuscript collection of the Medici family and to provide a
New Sacristy. The tabernacle niches over the doors of the place for study.
room are good examples as they are the largest architectural Michelangelo used the same skeletal membering of gray
forms in the chapel and overwhelm the doors beneath pietra serena stone against a painted off-white stucco in the
them in scale. The segmental pediment extends so far out vestibule that had characterized building at San Lorenzo
from the wall that its support by the thin pilasters is com- since the beginning of the Brunelleschian plan at the start of
promised; at the same time its base rests on a line with the the fifteenth century. He originally planned a glass ceiling
bases of the Corinthian pietra serena capitals, giving it visual for the room, but the pope complained it would be impos-
stability within the overall structure of the room. These sible to keep clean. Such a ceiling would have realized the
pediments have interrupted bases and their arcs are broken, illusion that Michelangelo had created in the first and last
undermining their visual power as a capping architectural bays of the Sistine Ceiling (see Fig. 17.12), where sky shows
form. However a rectangular niche intrudes into the pedi- through the architectural membering, and that Raphael had
ment and spills into its sides, supporting the pediment at depicted in the bower he painted in the Loggia ofPsyche (see
just the point where it breaks forward and creating a richly Fig. 17.34) for Agostino Chigi. Michelangelo clearly intended
textured movement of forces both into and out from the that the room be a light-filled and pleasant environment,
wall. Here as in other places in the chapel no single architec- complemented by the cleverness of the architecture. Paired
tural unit functions as a discrete form but interacts in a columns are atypically recessed in the walls where they
lively manner with adjacent forms, tying the entire surface actually function as weight-bearing elements; these allowed
of the wall together. Although each form—niche, tabernacle, Michelangelo to thin the wall and lessen its weight so that
pediment—echoes canonic structures, none falls comforta- the earlier walls beneath would support the room. In the
bly within conventional usage. corners of the room Michelangelo bundled the energies of
If willful manipulation of classical form were enough for
a definition of Mannerism, then these tabernacles would
qualify for placement within that stylistic category. But just 18.14 (opposite) Vestibule, Laurentian Library, San
Lorenzo, Florence
as such willfulness is not sufficient to provide a convincing 1523-59, commissioned by Clement VII from Michela
ngelo

436 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDICI

mee

erence
eecece : as
che columns by placing a pier between them which reads as on the door to the reading room and access to the library.
a reverse corner. The pilasters of the wall tabernacles From the top of the stairs looking back into the vestibule
taper downward, again providing an atypical architectural the viewer is at a level with the niches whose forms, despite
language, although from the space below their tapering is their innovations, are simple and unbroken—unlike the tab-
optically corrected. ernacles of the Medici Chapel, and whose sobriety befits the
The staircase leading from the vestibule to the library seriousness of the study taking place in the reading room
reading room a story above nearly fills the entire room and behind. That room (Fig. 18.15) is as reticent in its forms as
pressures the remaining space outward against the walls. A the vestibule is playful. Architecturally everything has been
number of drawings (see Fig. 31) indicate that Michelangelo done to lighten the weight of the walls carried to the old
developed the plan for this staircase through a series of walls below and to allow as much light as possible into the
designs, beginning with a simple double staircase extending room to accommodate the readers. The walls are stepped
left and right along the side walls from the library door back at the window level and essentially removed in the sim-
to the complex one which today spills into the space of ply framed blank tabernacles at the attic level. The pilasters
the room. Since this room was also left unfinished when between the windows align with the wooden stalls (also
Michelangelo left for Rome in 1534 the stairs were built designed by Michelangelo) for books and readers, setting up
from a model which he later sent back to Florence. The a steady grid of quietude through the space. Small details
staircase of the vestibule provides a dramatic entrance to the such as the hanging socles on the upper sides of the win-
library and is the first of its kind in the early modern period. dows or the overhanging cornices of the windows recall the
Had it been built out of rich walnut, as early designs seem formal inventiveness of the vestibule, but they are clearly
to indicate, it would have provided a warm coloristic link held in check to maintain the sobriety of the working space.
to the wooden desks, intricately coffered ceiling, and inlaid Clearly Michelangelo responded to the complex needs
terracotta floor of the reading room just beyond. of the library spaces—for serious study and for respite, for
The stairwell is trapezoidal in overall form so that it grand entrance and for serene and light-filled study space—
creates a visual perspective toward the entrance of the and united them in an environment in which the viewer
library. Each of the steps in the central flight ofstairs bulges is conscious of purpose and direction, despite the witty play
forward at the center, setting up a contrary slow flowing of form along the way. For Michelangelo wit was a form
movement toward the bottom of the stairs. Small sworls of intelligence. His architecture is a visual response to the
are carved into the ends of the central stairs, adding to high seriousness of the library and to the creative minds
their organic, sculptural quality, but also making it difficult that worked there.
to walk at the edges of the staircase
where the balustrade would offer
some support. The connection of
the side stairs to the central flight of
steps 1s screened by the balustrade,
making them visually independent
units whose bordering podia double
as seats and disguising the fact that
there are ten risers on the central

|I
flight and eleven on the side stairs to il
reach the same platform two-thirds
of the way up the stairwell.
Although every unit in the vesti- BLOTTED
RAED
7a

bule of the Laurentian Library has

been imaginatively reinvented, pro-
viding diversion for the readers com-
ing to or from the serene and serious
space of the reading room, the stair-
case focuses the viewer’s attention

18.15 Reading Room, Laurentian Library,

San Lorenzo, Florence, 1523-59,
commissioned by Clement VII from
Michelangelo

438 FLORENCE: MANNERISM AND THE MEDIC!

Mantua, Parma, and Genoa:
The Arts at Court

Se small cities of Mantua and Parma and the major

maritime city of Genoa were centers of particularly
sophisticated artistic production in the early sixteenth
century. Following the lead of the self-absorbed papal courts
of Leo X and Clement VII and of the newly emboldened
and artistically adventurous upper classes of Florence, pro-
vincial aristocratic patrons commissioned works intended
to appeal to elite audiences, promoting artifice and formal
invention as primary values. Unabashedly luxurious and
often precious, the arts were shaped to appeal to connois-
seurs and literati who had developed a seemingly insatiable
appetite for classical antiquity, scholarly allusions, visual
puns, and illusionistic effects. Instead of art mimicking life,
life now mimicked art—every aspect of speech, dress, and
comportment shaped to create a purposefully artificial and
refined effect.

Mantua: The Pleasure Palace

The Roman followers of Raphael wittily investigated and
extended many of their master’s fecund imaginings. In
Rome Raphael himself and his closest follower, Giulio
Romano, had already felt free to explore surface pattern and
graceful design to an unprecedented degree (see Fig. 17.40).
At Mantua, where Isabella d’Este had attempted to impose
moralistic propriety on the court (see Fig. 14.37), her son
Federigo Gonzaga instead engaged Giulio Romano to
satisfy his considerable libido with bawdy decorations for
a pleasure palace on the outskirts of the city where he
stabled his horses and housed his mistress. Giulio arrived in
Mantua from Rome in 1524, personally recommended and
escorted by the Gonzaga’s cultural agent in Rome, Baldassare
Castiglione (see Fig. 17.29); he set to work in the Palazzo del
Té, a name deriving from the island on which it was situated.
The general decorative scheme of the room that contains
«his Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche (Fig. 19.1) 1s indebted to
Raphael’s designs for the Villa Farnesina in Rome (see Fig.
17.35), also built as a retreat for the patron and his mistress.
But Giulio and Federigo flaunted the bawdy delights of the
gods with a blatant disregard for decorum. Everything that

19.0 Jupiter and lo, early 1530s, commissioned by Federigo Gonzaga from
Correggio for his pleasure chamber in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Oil on
canvas, 2’ 5 4" x S’ 4" (74 x 163 cm) (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

439
19.1 Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche, 1527-30, commissioned by Federigo Gonzaga from Giulio Romano for the Sala di Psiche, Palazzo del Té, Mantua.
Fresco

Emperor Charles V enjoyed dining alone in this room with Federigo as his steward. As a complement to the frescoes on the walls, a marble statue of Venus stood at
the center of the room.

is cool and idealized in Raphael is here flush with color and commentary, all knit together with long, sinuous line and
heat. Cupid has matured into a fleshy adult, reclining on his graceful exaggerations.
marriage couch at the right, nude along with his voluptuous In the frescoes of the Sala dei Giganti, which were created
bride, Psyche, and their lascivious and inebriated guests. for the second visit of Emperor Charles V to Mantua, Giulio
The lovers turn their heads to receive marriage wreaths from reproduced in paint the spectacular effects of court enter-
an amorino who balances at the top of their couch, while tainments. These productions, some of which he himself
the rumpled and cascading sheets beneath them suggest designed, employed vast machinery to hoist figures up and
a heated and energetic coupling, not too far removed from down from the heavens. In the Fall of the Giants from Mount
Giulio’s drawings for I Modi (see Fig. 17.38). (Wittily and Olympus (Fig. 19.2), the densely crowded dome of heaven
somewhat crudely Giulio echoes the poses and cupidity of culminates in a vertiginous and off-center gallery, clearly
the two through a pet dog stretched out in the lower folds meant to recall and surpass the oculus in Mantegna’s palace
of the sheets.) To the left of the couple, Bacchus barely holds decorations for Federigo’s great-grandfather (see Fig. 14.34).
himself upright on the corner ofa table displaying fine gold In so doing, Giulio underlined Federigo’s distinguished
and silver plate. Behind him Silenus’s donkey brays uncon- pedigree as a patron of the arts while also asserting the
trollably. Even Apollo—depicted at the left of the table in a superiority of his generation to those who came before
serene profile pose derived directly from ancient cameos— him. Beneath the gods, in a melodramatic representation
receives the attention of the Muses. Above in the lunettes which neither Ludovico Gonzaga nor Mantegna would
and ceiling Giulio tells the story of Cupid and Psyche have countenanced, the giants tumble to earth, seeming
and the conquests of Jupiter with similar sexual energy to destroy the walls around them that pretended to be
emphasized by erotically charged views of nude bodies the actual walls of the room, thus threatening the merely
seen from below. Nothing is immune from playful, erotic human-sized spectator within the space. Giulio’s paintings

440 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

entertain with all the subtlety and grace of an amusement four wings of an ample courtyard, which leads on to a larger
park fun house, offering coarse humor and exaggeration portico, fish pools, and eventually a large open expanse
as an antidote to the potentially tedious idealism of much for exercising and displaying Federigo’s prize horses. While
antique-revival art. Although the Sala dei Giganti is often Giulio articulated the eastern facade of the palace facing the
used as a centerpiece in discussions of Mannerist art (see our horse field with a pedimented facade, in the courtyard he
discussion in Chapter 18), it should be pointed out that employed unorthodox combinations of seemingly finished
Giulio’s stylistic choices are appropriate for the subject and and unfinished forms, different architectural orders, and
intended use of the room, a place to surprise and amuse varying wall systems. Many of them collide, delighting con-
guests. Form and content are as carefully knit here as they noisseurs who knew the rules of ancient architecture so well
are in Raphael’s School ofAthens (see Fig. 17.21). that they enjoyed seeing them willfully disobeyed. Equal
The playful and extravagant, at times even wanton, flavor bays appear on the northern and southern wings but alter-
of Giulio’s paintings was intended to complement the nating narrow and wider bays on the east and west. The ends
tongue-in-cheek architectural forms he designed for addi- are further distinguished from the sides by Giulio’s witty
tions to the palace itself (Fig. 19.3). In this suburban retreat, violation of the architrave, a triglyph hanging down as
Giulio expanded a modest, pre-existing rectangular building though it is dislodged over every bay. Throughout, baseless
(now incorporated into the northern wing of the courtyard) pediments are invaded by keystones—more appropriate to
into an impressive, multizoned complex (Fig. 19.4). Entering arches—which split them at their apex. For all this building’s
through a rustic portico, the visitor is surrounded by the apparent massiveness, Giulio seems to say, it 1s really a stage

del Te,
19.2 Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus, 1530-32, commissioned by Federigo Gonzaga from Giulio Romano for the Sala dei Giganti, Palazzo
Mantua. Fresco
walk
This room has very peculiar reverberating acoustics that turn any conversation into cacophony. The floor was originally set with pebbles making it difficult to
as well as hear.

MANTUA: THE PLEASURE PALACE 441

19.3 Palazzo del Té, Mantua, courtyard, begun 1525, commissioned by Federigo Gonzaga from Giulio Romano

set, which the architect and his sophisticated patron can

shape at will, exploiting stucco and brick to mimic carved
masonry and columns and playing on normal expectations
of courtly decorum. Some critics have seen Giulio’s fantastic
paintings and architecture as symptoms of a troubled
and shattered world embodying the so-called “psychosis” of
Mannerism. But in the context ofa pleasure palace, none of
Giulio’s aberrations were actually disturbing. Instead, they
served to give Federigo and his guests a sense of superiority
over normal mortals, reinforcing increasingly autocratic
and authoritarian political and social realities—as well as
pleasure in being able to comprehend the sly wit of the
building and its decorations.

The Loves of Jupiter In his main palace in Mantua Federigo

Gonzaga intended to create his own version of his uncle
Alfonso d’Este’s set ofpaintings for the Camerino d’Alabastro
of the Palazzo Ducale in Ferrara (see Fig s. 20:16 and 20:17).
Combining his interest in erotic subject matter and identifi-
cation with the Olympian gods, Federigo asked Antonio
Allegri, knownas Correggio (1489 Correggio- 1534 Correggio),
to paint a series of works depicting the loves of Jupiter-
subject matter comparable to what we have seen at the
19.4 Palazzo del Té, Mantua. plan of lower floor
Palazzo del Té, but here in a more formal urban environ-
ment and using a local painter. Correggio complied by creat- 1 Entrance; 2 Courtyard; 3 Sala di Psiche: 4 Sala dei Giganti; S$ Fishponds;
6 Tennis court; 7 Garden; 8 Stables
ing some of the most sensuous paintings of the sixteenth The hemicycle at the far end of the garden was built much later
and may not
century. In his Jupiterand Io (see Fig. 19.0) the king of the correspond to Giulio’s intentions

442 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

gods appears to the mortal Io in the guise of a cloud.
Enfolding her in his nebulous form, Jupiter plants a kiss
upon her receptive cheek. Io abandons herself to intense,
physical pleasure, her outstretched limbs, fingers, and toes
charged with delight. Although Correggio seems to have
developed his painter’s skills without any direct contact
with progressive centers such as Venice and Rome, relying
on prints after Raphael for Io’s complex pose, his native
ability in rendering the different textures and temperatures
of cloud, flesh, fabric, and other materials made him well
suited to provide visual delights for Federigo’s intimate
retreat. Here careful observation of nature, so critical to the
evolution of painting during this period, and the imitation
of revered models such as antiquity or, in this case the near
contemporary Raphael, place paintings such as this within
the mainstream of artistic development and well outside the
deliberately artificial conventions of Mannerism.

Parma: Elegance and IIlusionism

Correggio spent most of his career working in Parma, a short
distance from Mantua. Though the city had established
a proud artistic tradition in the Middle Ages with the con-
struction of its Romanesque cathedral and pink and white
baptistry, it had fallen into provincial obscurity as a depend-
ency of the Visconti and Sforza of Milan. On becoming part
of the Papal States in the early sixteenth century, the city
experienced a cultural revival.

Correggio at San Paolo and the Cathedral

Among the first patrons to exploit Correggio’s talents 19.5 Camera di San Paolo, 1519, commissioned by Abbess Giovanna da
was Giovanna da Piacenza, the sophisticated abbess of the Piacenza from Correggio, Parma. Fresco
Benedictine nunnery of San Paolo. Correggio’s
2 decorations
for a room in her private apartments (Fig. 19.5) demonstrate
the extent to which antique subject matter had become in a luminous vortex of swirling clouds, saints, and angels.
accepted and perhaps expected in any major commission The Virgin’s ascent seems especially dramatic by contrast
from an educated patron, even a nun. Unlike Federigo with calm representations of the four patron saints of
Gonzaga, however, the abbess predictably stipulated chaste Parma in the squinches: Bernard, Thomas, Hilary of Poitiers,
and uplifting subject matter. The precise meaning of the and John the Baptist. Above them, a fictive balustrade barely
program has yet to be unraveled—an indication that it was constrains excited onlookers, who crane their necks to
specially prepared by a scholar familiar with a wide range catch a glimpse of the rapidly disappearing Virgin, visible
of antique texts—but the dominating presence over the only when one has begun to climb the broad stairs leading
fireplace of Diana, the chaste huntress, indicates its high from the nave to the much higher transept and apse. The
moral character. Correggio used grisaille to depict figures viewer's identification with the Virgin’s ascent ts intensified
from antiquity in the lunettes around the room, reserving by the progressively smaller scale of the figures in each ring
rich color for a verdant trellis on the vaulted ceiling. of the composition, far exceeding what would be necessary
Innocent putti displaying emblems of Diana cavort in the to achieve normal foreshortening. At the very center,
oval openings of the trellis, adding symbolic purpose to the composition finally comes to rest in a peaceful and
their usual playfulness. cloudless sky.
Correggio was a consummate illusionist. Being particu- Correggio left Parma immediately after completing the
larly adept at theatrical visual effects, he was the logical dome frescoes. Because the details of his composition must
choice to decorate the domes of two of the city’s largest always have been difficult to read—Correggio was more
churches, San Giovanni Evangelista and the cathedral. interested in the bold, overall effect than the precise rendi-
His frescoes for Parma Cathedral (Fig. 19.6) catch the Virgin tion of any single figure—it was rumored that his patrons
of the Assumption, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, were dissatisfied with the work. However, admiring remarks

PARMA: ELEGANCE AND ILLUSIONISM 443

 19.6 Assumption of
the Virgin, 1522-30,
Correggio, Parma
Cathedral. Fresco,
diameter c. 36’ (11 m)

from contemporary visitors—including Queen Christina of appearances (Fig. 19.7). Intriguingly, the work is both a
Sweden, who would not believe that the balustrade around transcription of what he saw of himself in a small convex
the base of the dome was a fiction until she went to see for murror and a careful meditation on its distending effects. It
herself—indicate that he may merely have sought a rest after is painted on a small disk of turned wood physically mim-
having completed such a demanding commission. icking contemporary mirrors, and indeed, Parimigianino’s
own hand dominates the foreground, where it appears
Parmigianino and Self-Conscious Artifice elongated and boneless, the remarkable tool of his creative
intellect. His lovely, almost childlike countenance, the
In Correggio’s absence, a young native painter trained by source of his effortless art, looks out at the viewer from the
his printmaker father and uncles returned to Parma from center of the composition surrounded by an aureole of
Rome, having established himself as the darling of the light, naturally explicable as illumination reflected from the
cultural elite. While in his teens, Parmigianino (Girolamo window on thé left of the painting but also clearly contrived
Francesco Maria Mazzola; 1503 Parma-1540 Casalmaggiore) to underscore his divine talent. The room in which he
had worked alongside Correggio. Later at the papal court sits swirls around him, but he remains still and calm, the
he acquired an international reputation and cosmopolitan utter master of his art and environment. No artist had
sophistication. Hailed upon his arrival in Rome in 1524 as a ever before created such a cerebral and self-celebratory self-
new Raphael, he was young, intelligent, and suave, both in portrait, clear evidence of why he enjoyed such success in
personal manner and in his work, epitomizing the courtly papal Rome. of
ideal of an artist. His self-portrait, which he painted as a Parmigianino’s brilliant career in Rome was cut short
demonstration piece just before going to Rome, documents by the city’s infamous Sack in 1527. Initially retreating
his extraordinary skill at rendering elegantly distorted to Bologna, he returned to Parma in 1530, where he received

444 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

 in contemporary Roman art. Clearly Parmigianino’s expert-
ences away from home allowed him to provide his patrons
with an artful cosmopolitan style not available locally.
Parmigianino transformed the broad barrel vault in front
of the main apse into a sumptuous gilt, blue, and red field
which seems to be bounded by protruding arches overlaid
with interlacing gilt strapwork. Only the bosses at the
center of the coffers are actually three-dimensional; every
other figure, niche, and decorative detail is a fiction. The
three female figures performing a balletic balancing act
} ona fictive ledge carry empty lamps which characterize
them as the unprepared Foolish Virgins of one of
| Christ’s parables; their wise, mirror-image counterparts
appear on the opposite side of the vault. While there are
some stylistic affinities with the art of Correggio in these
paintings, the elongated figures with their attenuated
extremities, the graceful, lyrical poses (the Foolish Virgin
on the left being a quotation from The Fire in the Borgo by
Raphael [see Fig. 17.31]), and the incipient eroticism of both
male and female figures align this commission with aspects
of Mannerist style not seen in the earlier painter.
Parmigianino’s art offered the Parmesan aristocracy
extraordinary opportunities for self-promotion. In his
portrait of Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale, count of Fontanellato
19.7 Self-Portrait in a Mirror, 1524, Parmigianino. Oil on panel, diameter (Fig. TO), whose villa Parmigianino brightened with

ORS Ste ere pe Museum, Vienna) inspired variations on Correggio’s frescoes in the Camera
di San Paolo, the sitter’s self-confidence is extraordinary.
a commission to decorate the vaults and main apse of a The count stares out at the viewer, calmly daring anyone to
new, centrally planned church dedicated to the Virgin, the challenge his innate physical and intellectual superiority.
Madonna della Steccata (Fig. 19.8). This project gave him _In his right hand he displays a bronze medal marked with
the opportunity to refine Correggio’s illusionistic effects the mysterious ciphers “7” and “2,” which must have had
and promote an even more elegant and graceful style which significance for him and his close circle of friends, but whose
allied his patrons with the most sophisticated developments __inscrutability serves to distance him from the rest of human-
ity. Even so, the portrait is engaging;
Parmigianino’s artful arrangement
of the count’s helmet, mace, and
costume, along with his masterly
coordination of the simple back-
ground with the figure in front ofit,
fully embody Castiglione’s courtly
value of sprezzatura (confident but
relaxed grace and ease), typified by
the very graceful left hand on the
arm of the chair. At the same time
there are some deliberately uncom-
fortable aspects of the depiction that
call attention to the artificiality of
the whole portrait enterprise. Not
the least among these was Sanvitale’s
frozen stare, so at odds with the

19.8 Three Foolish Virgins Flanked by Moses

and Adam, 1531-39, commissioned by the
Confraternity of the Madonna della Steccata
from Parmigianino for the vault in front
of the main apse, Madonna della Steccata,
Parma. Fresco

PARMA: ELEGANCE AND ILLUSIONISM 445

 medieval literary conceits pervaded courtly circles. Thus the
exaggerated length of the limbs of the Virgin and her son, as
well as the presence of columns in the background of the
painting, are not contrived merely for their decorative value,
but clearly signal the painting’s religious meaning. Similarly,
the Virgin’s engorged nipples need to be understood as
emblems ofher ability to nourish the faithful. When Vasari
saw the painting in the mid-sixteenth century he noted
another religious emblem in it: a cross, now barely visible,
on the vase that one ofthe angels offers to the Madonna and
Child, indicative of Christ’s fate as sacrifice and spiritual
food for humanity.
Admittedly, Parmigianino’s expression of these religious
concepts is so refined and contrived that both the unedu-
cated worshiper of his own day and the modern, secular
viewer could easily mistake his intentions. Because there is
hardly an element in the painting that faithfully reproduces

19.9 Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale, Count of Fontanellato, 1524, commissioned by

Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale from Parmigianino. Oil on panel, 3’ 7” x 2' 7 %"
(109 x 81 cm) (Museo Nazionale, Pinacoteca, Naples)

apparent naturalism of the depiction and the setting; there

is little way to enter into relaxed ongoing conversation with
someone appearing so fixed in time. Moreover, Sanvitale’s
body, though hidden in his heavy clothing, must be twisted
in a most uncomfortable pose since the chair in which he
is apparently seated is placed perpendicular to the picture
plane (if the arm is any indication) while his face is parallel
to the surface of the painting. There is nothing natural
about this pose.
Exquisitely contrived beauty also rendered power to
Parmigianino’s religious paintings, their refinement
employed as a metaphor for the perfection of God and the
saints. One of his most famous religious paintings and an
outstanding example of Mannerism is the altarpiece known
as the Madonna ofthe Long Neck (Fig. 19.10). Commissioned
by the noblewoman Elena Baiardi for her family chapel
in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Parma, the paint- 19.10 Madonna of the Long Neck, begun 1534, commissioned by Elena
ing takes its subject from a simile in medieval hymns to Baiardi from Parmigianino for the Baiardi Chapel, Santa
Maria dei Servi,
the Virgin which likened her neck to a great ivory tower or Parma. Oil on panel, 7’ 1" x 4’ 4” (2.16 x 1.32 m) (Galleria degli
Uffizi
Florence)
column. Appropriate to the traditional understanding of the |
The painting was left unfinished in 1540, accounting
Virgin as an allegorical representation of the Church, this for some of its visual
peculiarities, including numerous column bases and
imagery was also exploited in poems penned by Andrea shadows but only a single
distinct column in the background, and a disembodied
foot next to the prophet
Baiardi, the patron’s father. Consciousness of such recondite at the lower right of the frame.

446 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

nature, the viewer is constantly required to question the
artist’s decisions, to comment on his skill, and to recognize
that the subject ofthe painting is as much the craft of paint-
ing and the artist’s intellectual agility as it is a Madonna
and Child. Typical of courtly styles in this period, the
shift in scale is so great that there is no way to move from
foreground to background in the painting. The six angels
at the left are compacted into a space so constricted that one
cannot imagine how their bodies fit into it. The Madonna
is much larger than any other figure in the painting; her
proportions are distended unnaturally and her hands and
head have been elongated to emphasize their elegance. At the
same time, the perfect oval of the Virgin’s head is crowned
with a complicated hair style reminiscent of some figures
in Leonardo drawings—a reminder that, regardless of its
distortions of form, Parmigianino’s art drew considerable
inspiration from older masters.
Elements of overt sensuality belie the commission of this
work as an altarpiece. The Virgin’s right hand moves caress-
ingly over her breast, which is revealed by a wet drapery
technique borrowed from antique sculpture. Sliding along
the left side of the painting is a smooth, long leg whose
sensuous nudity is emphasized by the big toe of the Christ
Child which presses suggestively against it. It is easy to
understand how the metaphor linking artificial and elegant
physical grace to a spiritual state of grace could be lost in the
sheer artfulness and sensual beauty of the painting.

Genoa: A Princely Republic

Genoa suddenly emerged as a major center of courtly 19.11 Andrea Doria, 1526, commissioned by Clement VII from
patronage in the late 1520s. Nominally a republic, this great Sebastiano del Piombo. Oil on panel, 5’ x 3’ 6” (1.53 x 1.07 m)
(Palazzo del Principe, Genoa)
maritime center on the northern coast of the Ligurian sea
had always been dominated by powerful clans of nobles.
Now Andrea Doria (1466-1560), an extraordinarily talented man of conspicuous determination whose grasp on the
naval commander from an impoverished branch of an control of Genoa was singularly fierce. When, for example,
ancient local family, catapulted himself
and the city into the the rival Fieschi family conspired to overthrow him in 1547,
international arena. By commanding impressive fleets and he had the clan obliterated. Dressed in black, Doria stares
driving hard bargains for compensation with King Francis I coldly at the viewer, staccato light catching prickly white
of France, Pope Clement VII, and Emperor Charles V, he suc- stubble on the right side of his face. Shadows mask his
ceeded in enriching himself and re-establishing Genoese features—and full intentions—on the left, leading the view-
independence after protracted domination by the French. er’s eye down to the half round shadow of his head on the
Charles V admitted him to the prestigious imperial Order of back wall and his imperious, gesticulating right hand below.
the Golden Fleece, and his fellow citizens named him Prince All that is calm and reserved in Raphael’s similarly mono-
(“Principe”) and Father of the Homeland (“Pater Patriae”). chromatic portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (see Fig. 17.29)
He and Genoa’s oldest noble families set to refashioning their is charged here with ominous drama. While scholars have
city—still markedly medieval in its dense urban fabric and succeeded in identifying the actual Roman relief on which
precipitously narrow streets—to reflect the city’s re-emer- Sebastiano based the naval motifs to which Doria is point-
gence as a major player in Italian and international politics. ing, their hieroglyphic meaning remains obscure, adding to
the powerful allure of this portrayal.
Doria Portraits Doria’s self-assured virility—not to mention his position
as commander of the imperial navy—allowed him to identify
Doria’s commanding presence and indefatigable will—he easily with Neptune, the ancient god of the sea. Soon
lived to the remarkable age of ninety-four—is ably captured after he liberated the city from the French in 1528, city
in a portrait by Sebastiano del Piombo, produced in Rome fathers (presumably with Doria’s blessing) commissioned
for Doria’s employer Pope Clement VII (Fig. 19.11). This is a an over-life-sized marble statue of him as Neptune from the

GENOA: A PRINCELY REPUBLIC 447

 formidable effort needed to carve terraces from the promon-
tory against which the villa is situated. On the southern,
seaward side, a three-armed portico reaches out to a terrace
on which stood a fountain featuring an over-life-sized
stucco version of Doria as Neptune (the statue visible in Fig.
19.13 is a permanent replacement carved in 1599). Divine
imagery was as at home in his villa as in the public square.
Doria entrusted the design and decoration of much of this
complex to Perino del Vaga (Pietro di Giovanni Buonaccors1;
1501 Florence-1547 Rome), one of Raphael’s students, who,
like Bandinelli, escaped papal Rome during its fateful sack
by imperial troops in 1527. Perino’s common artistic roots
with Giulio Romano, another of Raphael’s talented pupils,

19.12 Andrea Doria as Neptune, 1528-29 and 1537-38, commissioned by

the Signoria of Genoa from Baccio Bandinelli for a city square. Marble
(Piazza del Duomo, Carrara)

Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli (Fig. 19.12). This, the

first Renaissance portrayal of a contemporary ruler as a
nude Roman god, presented Doria as the pacific (peaceful) 19.13 Villa Doria (now Palazzo del Principe), Genoa, 1521-33,
Neptune astride two dolphins who spout water into the commissioned by Andrea Doria from Perino del Vaga and others
antique-imitation basin below. The classicizing image is
alert and vigilant, a bearded counterpart to Michelangelo’s
Florentine David (see Fig. 16.1), whose stance and bearing
Bandinelli clearly emulated. Like David, Doria was to be
seen as the city’s liberator and a man of the people—a useful
conceit for a “prince” in a city claiming to be a republic.

Villa Doria

Befitting his unique status in Genoa, Doria built himself

a splendid seaside villa just outside the city’s western gate
(Fig. 19.13). An inscription on its facade claimed it was
his “retirement” home, but here he hosted dignitaries for
months at a time and acted—away from the formal halls of
government within the city—the effective lord of Genoa. The
site afforded superb views of the city and its harbor, opening
onto vistas like ancient Roman country villas and the villas
of contemporary would-be princes (see Fig. 11.46).
The Villa Doria also resembled Roman suburban retreats
19.14 Design for the north facade of the Villa Doria (Palazzo del
like Agostino Chigi’s villa in Rome (see Fig. 17.34) in its
Principe), Genoa, c. 1532, commissioned by
Andrea Doria from
general form, incorporation of loggias, and the surrounding Perino
; del Vaga. Ink drawing on Paper, 11% x 14x” (29.4
x 36. 2 cm)
gardens. The importance of gardens is suggested by the (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

448 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

 19.15 Fall of the Giants,
c. 1530, commissioned
by Andrea Doria from
Perino del Vaga for
the Salone dei Giganti,
Villa Doria (Palazzo del
Principe), Genoa. Fresco

Perino was responsible

for the entire decoration
of the room, which
included very large and
elaborate fireplaces built
according to his designs.

is evident in the designs he made for the street-side facade of the Vatican Disputa and the relaxed grace of the Parnassus
of the Villa Doria (Fig. 19.14). As Giulio had done at the (see Figs. 17.22 and 17.23). At the center Jupiter swings
Palazzo del Té for Federigo Gonzaga in Mantua (see Fig. through the blue ring of the zodiac like God the Father in
19.3), Perino conceived of the facade as a field for architec- Michelangelo’s Creation of Sun, Moon, and Planets (see Fig.
tural and decorative fantasies. Befitting the “rustic” setting 17.17). He is supported by an eagle that is fortuitously both
of a villa, both designers employed what look like large the imperial symbol, and thus a compliment to Emperor
rusticated blocks of stone, even imbedding the shafts of Charles V, and a reference to Charles’s commander Doria,
some of their columns in stacked blocks of stone—though whose family emblem was the eagle. The indecorously
Perino’s facade depicted in the drawing 1s likely to have been posed, yet elegantly distributed, bodies of the giants in the
executed almost entirely in illusionistic fresco. Perino’s basic lower half of the composition display Perino’s knowledge of
attitude toward antique motifs is also very different from anatomy and lighting effects. At the far left appears a lamb’s
Giulio’s. Giulio tended toward the grandiloquent and some- head and fleece, yet another Dorian reference, in this case to
times even melodramatic, especially at Federigo’s pleasure the Order of the Golden Fleece, whose legend had it that the
palace, where he intended to entertain and delight. For fleece was stolen by one of the giants.
Doria’s more stately civic villa, on the other hand, Perino In this suburban retreat Roman conventions of figural
developed the elegant side of both Raphael and Michelangelo. form (used also by Parmigianino in Parma) were transported
The clearly composed scenes of Furius Camillus expelling from a center of their inception to a site where they also had
the Gauls from Rome (a clear reference to Doria’s having resonance as artful, aristocratic, stylish manifestations of an
driven the French from Genoa) recall Raphael’s narrative elite culture. Thus Perino’s figures are posed in complicated
genius, while the paired nudes reclining above the pedi- contorted positions whose gracefully arranged limbs seem
mented windows derive from the ignudi on the Sistine inappropriate for the violence of a fall from a great height.
ceiling (see Fig. 17.12). Inside the villa, further allegories and Shifts in scale create an inconsistent space in the painting
scenes from antiquity thinly veiled Doria’s autobiographical .and the obsessive gesturing of the figures calls attention to
intents. His ancestors appear in Roman military garb on the their hands (and to Perino’s “hand”), especially in their
upper loggia, re-establishing his distinguished lineage, while completely artificial arrangement of spidery fingers. Genoa
in the main reception hall Perino crowned the splendidly might be a republic, but Doria clothed himself with the
appointed room—hung with gold and silver tapestries illus- visual language ofa princely aristocracy.
trating the loves of Jupiter—with a representation of the Fall
of the Giants (Fig. 19.15). Once again the contrast with Giulio Genoa in the Second Half of the
Romano’s rendition of the same theme (see Fig. 19.2), Sixteenth Century
is dramatic. Perino, like Parmigianino, seized upon the
artificial beauty of Raphael’s art, arranging the Olympian Doria’s wholesale adoption of Roman artists and artistic
gods at the top ofthe panel ina semicircle recalling the form models initiated a period of remarkable creativity in Genoa

GENOA: A PRINCELY REPUBLIC 449

 was to endure well into the seventeenth century. In reflecting its function as a gathering space as well as a
his Palazzi Moderni di Genova (Modern Palaces of Genoa, 1622) communication route.
Peter Paul Rubens extolled the city as one of the most In its initial stages, the street was also notable for its
spectacular urban ensembles in Europe. He was particularly bilateral symmetry. The first six buildings on the street
impressed with the Strada Nuova (“new” street, Figs. 19.16 (at the far right in Fig. 19.17) function as pairs: their main
and 19.17) and published engravings of its grand residential portals are located directly opposite one another, and they
structures as well as many of the city’s churches. Laid out are grouped by size. The first two are the shortest and nar-
for a select group of “old” noble families whose status was rowest on the street, the next were the same height but wider
being challenged by newer clans around 1550, the street was than the first (renovations and additions have subsequently
promoted by them as a civic rather than a private project. altered their proportions), and the third were as wide as
Profits from the sale of lots were shared with the cathedral. the second but taller yet. Given the effects of perspective
Still, only a few noble families benefited from the construc- diminution, reinforced by the substantial length and
tion, and others—notably the Franciscans, who found straightness of the street, the distinctions would have
the city brothel relocated near their doorstep—definitely blurred somewhat, contributing to the sense of an organized
suffered. Urban renewal has always had its problems. and coherent program. Each clan adopted its own general
Built up against a hill on what was then the edge of the scheme for its fagades—a rustic and highly sculptural Doric
city, the Strada Nuova is not technically a strada (street). mode for the Pallavicino palaces, flat frescoed blocks for the
It was never meant to be a thoroughfare but a modernized Spinola, for example. Familial ties and loyalties overruled
version of a traditional Genoese albergo (extended family strict symmetry. The interiors of the palaces on the Strada
compound). The latter was entered at one end from a small Nuova are particularly distinctive insofar as they had to
existing piazza and, ending at a garden wall, it was a closed accommodate the steeply sloping site along which they were
space primarily intended for friends and relatives of the very built. Those on the city side of the street required the con-
exclusive group of families who lived there. One scholar struction of vast underpinnings to elevate terraces and view-
has usefully described the Strada Nuova as a “street piazza,” ing loggias; those on the hillside required just the opposite:
complex engineering to move up the hill in elegant, broad
stages. The expense and difficulty of their construction, the
sheer amplitude and splendor of their spaces and interior
furnishings, and the glorious vistas and gardens made these
residences the epitome of aristocratic urban life for genera-
tions to come, an urban theater for the aristocracy.
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19.16 Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), Genoa, initiated 1550,

construction begun 1558, commissioned by the city government and noble
families of Genoa perhaps from Galeazzo Alessi
Some ofthe buildings on the far end of the street date from as late as the
eighteenth century. 19.17 Strada Nuova, Genoa. plan

450 MANTUA, PARMA, AND GENOA: THE ARTS AT COURT

 Venice: Vision and Monumentality

across the lagoon from the city. Over eight centuries

of independence seemed on the verge of ending.
Through immense sacrifice, self-determination,
and a good deal of luck, Venice did prevail. It
regained its prize possession, Verona, in January
1517. Twelve years later, in 1529, the city obtained a
final peace, which affirmed its right to holdings
nearly as extensive as before the war. Near miracu-
lous in its recovery, Venice became the subject ofa
carefully formulated civic myth which stressed that
the city had been saved because of its unique site
and history, its maritime origins having produced
an especially stouthearted and selfless citizenry,
willing to sacrifice personal profit for communal
gain. Although modern historical research has
shown that the Venetians were as likely as other
Italians to avoid civic duty, especially when it con-
flicted with their business interests, it is true that
traditional communal values helped to bolster local
pride and encouraged the Venetians to persevere.
In the midst of often bleak and dangerous
times, harshly contrasting with the prized values of
stability and serenity which had earned the republic
its epithet of La Serenissima, some Venetian patrons
naturally preferred the familiar artistic styles of the
past, continuing to commission works from such
“eyewitness” painters as Carpaccio (see Fig. 13.24).
But many others embraced a new style, which
was evocative and often ambiguous rather than
descriptive. They also sought solace and delight
in nostalgia for the remote classical past, many of
whose myths and idyllic images had become newly
accessible through Venice’s printing industry, one
of the most productive and important in Europe.
Faced with challenges for which local history and
civic rhetoric did not provide ready answers, artists
created ideal and elevated images of reassuring
) y the beginning of the sixteenth century, a period of beauty, in the process inventing new types of painting (such
iY successful expansion onto the Italian mainland had as the pastoral landscape) and reinvigorating old forms
earned Venice the jealous enmity of the pope, the Holy (such as the portrait) with new expressive possibilities.
Roman Emperor, the king of France, and the lords of Milan.
In 1509 these powers formed the League of Cambrai, a
military alliance dedicated to stripping Venice of its main- 20.0 (above) Pesaro altarpiece, 1519-26, commissioned by Jacopo
land possessions. Psychologically and militarily unprepared, Pesaro from Titian for the Pesaro Chapel, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,
Venice. Oil on canvas, 15’ 11” x 8’ 10” (4.85 x 2.69 m)
Venice watched incredulously as its empire dissolved and
foreign troops advanced on the community of Mestre, just The kneeling figures at the bottom are all Pesaro family members.

451
Visual Poetry
An important innovation in Venetian art of this period
was the poesia, or painting that was meant to oper-
ate in the indirect manner of poetry. Foremost among
painters of the new manner was Giorgione (c. 1477-78
Castelfranco-1510 Venice), a painter from a small town
northwest of Venice. A painting known since 1530 as the
Tempesta (Fig. 20.1) because of the storm that thunders
in the background clearly demonstrates his originality.
Despite the drama of the storm and the commanding pres-
ence of the landscape—itselfa novelty in Italian painting at
this time—it is the figures that command our attention. A
virtually nude woman sits on a hillock at the right nursing a
baby. A man carrying a halberd, but dressed in an unkempt
manner hardly appropriate for a soldier, stands looking
toward them from the left. Contrary to accepted traditions,
Giorgione has pushed these figures to the sides of the paint-
ing, so that attention is drawn back to the watery middle
ground and to a bolt of lightning that flashes eerie light
across the walls of a city.
X-ray photographs of the painting (Fig. 20.2) reveal that
Giorgione originally painted a female nude bathing where
20.2 La Tempesta (radiograph of underpainting), c. 1509 (?), perhaps
the man now stands. The change in figures, their ambigu- commissioned by Gabriele Vendramin from Giorgione
ous relationship to the landscape and to each other, and
the unpopulated cityscape and ruins have led some writers
to believe that the painting simply lacks a subject, in the traditional sense of that word. This argument is upheld
by the fact that Giorgione painted over the female in the
lower left replacing her with the standing male soldier; the
artist was clearly changing the fundamental components
of the painting as he went along, precluding a definite,
preordained subject ordered by a patron. The soft, feathery
leaves, moist landscape, and sparkling highlights give the
painting the air of aromantic tale that the viewer’s imagina-
tion must complete.
Other scholars have sought explanations in ancient
mythology and the Bible, seeing the nursing woman as rep-
resenting such diverse and contradictory characters as Eve,
Venus, Ceres (the goddess of grain), or Mater Tellus (Mother
Earth). Others see the work not as a narrative concerning
one of these figures but as allegorical, which more easily
accounts for but does not fully explain its compositional
peculiarities and abstruse subject.
Yet another reading sees the painting as a martial
allegory. This interpretation depends on the assumption
that the Venetian nobleman Gabriele Vendramin, in whose
collection the work is first documented in 1530, was the
patron of the work. His uncle and brothers were heavily
involved in the Cambrai Wars, especially the early and suc-
cessful campaign to regain Padua. The arms of the Carrara
family, who ruled Padua until its annexation by Venice in
1406, appear on some of the towers in the background of
Giorgione’s painting along with a separate representation
20.1 La Tempesta, c. 1509 (?), perhaps commissioned by Gabriele
of Venice’s Lion of St. Mark. The specific imagery may be
Vendramin from Giorgione. Oil on canvas, 32% x 28%" (82 x 73 cm) related to a statement ascribed by later historians to Doge
(Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice) Leonardo Loredan (r. 1501-21), who asked young Venetia
n

452 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

noblemen to take up arms to regain Padua, which had been Poliphili (The Dream of Poliphilus; see Fig. 34, from the same
lost due “to a certain fatal tempest.” In combination with book). Thus the painting may be interpreted as a poetic
the image of the broken columns at the left of the painting, evocation of a classical idyll.
which may refer to fortitude, and the nursing mother at the But no amount of poetic mythology or political allegory
right, who evokes traditional images of charity, the painting can override the sensual nature of the image. Apart from her
could then be an allegory of patriotism—the storm in the pose, this Venus bears no resemblance to female nudes from
background referring to war and unpredictable fortune. ancient Roman sculpture. Instead, she looks like a contem-
Whatever the painting’s intended subject, it is clearly a porary Venetian woman who has removed her clothes. Her
revolutionary work, one in which evocative color, form, and left hand seems not to be modestly hiding her genitals but
light seem both to demand and to frustrate attempts at a apparently pleasuring them (and at the exact vertical center
literal reading. With this painting visual poetry was born. of the painting). According to gynaecological treatises of the
time, female masturbation made a woman more fertile. Such
Eroticism and Antiquity a representation of Venus would have been appropriate if—
as the horizontal format of the painting suggests—it was
One way in which Giorgione and his patrons exploited the integrated into a piece of bedroom furniture, perhaps com-
new style was through sensual subject matter. The Sleeping missioned around October 1507 when Girolamo Marcello
Venus (Fig. 20.3) is a case in point. The reclining figure was (who owned the Sleeping Venus) married Morosina Pisani.
originally accompanied by a small figure of Cupid holding a Reclining nude men or women appeared regularly on the
bird at the right side of the painting, but this figure was inside covers of dowry chests, alluding to the fertility hoped
painted over in 1843. for in marriage. In fact, the first reference to a sleeping
Giorgione placed the Venus across the whole width ofthe Venus in classical literature seems to have been in a poem by
painting. She stretches one arm behind her head, making the Roman poet Claudianus, written in 399 to celebrate the
a long, continuous slope of body whose gentle curves echo wedding of two friends. Since the primary goal of marriage
the hills of the landscape behind and suggest some form of was to produce a male child, Venus may well have been a
connection between the female depicted and nature. Painted talisman to guarantee Morosina and Girolamo an heir.
at just the moment when Venice was defending its claims on Perhaps even more obvious an example of the poetic,
the terra firma, it may, therefore, be possible to read Venus pastoral tradition initiated by Giorgione’s Tempest is his
(Venere) as Venice (Venezia). Pastoral Concert (Fig. 20.4), a painting sometimes also
Venus’s sensuality is heightened by her red lips and by attributed to the young Titian (Tiziano Vecelli; c. 1488 Pieve
the deep red velvet and white satin drapery upon which di Cadore-1576 Venice), a painter from the Dolomites
her creamy body lies. Significantly, she is asleep, so the issue who early in his career collaborated with Giorgione and then
of decorum is bypassed. Her sleep implies dreaming and went on to become Venice’s most eminent Renaissance
transport of the figure to another world like Poliphilus, painter. Here pastoral references, with a shepherd and his
whose dream took him, accompanied by a nymph, through flock in the middle distance to the right, are obvious, as is
an imagined ancient bucolic world in the bestseller printed Giorgione’s poetic juxtaposition of opposites. Two men are
by Aldus Manutius in Venice in 1499, the Hypnerotomachia seated in the lush country landscape, one dressed in the
elegant costume of a Venetian
nobleman, the other barefoot
and wearing rustic clothing.
They are accompanied by two
nude women. Despite their
sixteenth-century costumes,
the men in this poesia are
enveloped in a romantic evo-
cation of pastoral antiquity.

20.3 Sleeping Venus, c. 1507-10,

perhaps commissioned by
Girolamo Marcello from Giorgione,
completed by Titian. Oil on canvas,
3' 6%" x 5’ 8%" (1.08 x 1.75 m)
(Gemaldegalerie, Dresden)

The thatched, steeply sloping roofs of

the buildings in the background are
not typically Italian and suggest that
Giorgione copied them from Northern
European prints.

EROTICISM AND ANTIQUITY 453

 (he men’s faces are shadowed as they turn toward one all point to peace between city and country, but once again
another, creating a private interaction between themselves a precise meaning and subject seem purposefully avoided.
from which the viewer—not to mention their companions— Since it allowed a variety of interpretations, viewers could
is excluded. In fact, they seem completely oblivious of have made allusions to classical literature and have demon-
the women, one of whom is seated immediately in front of strated their learning in their comments.
them and facing them. The other stands outside the central The integration of landscape painting and mythology
group to the left, her body in a complicated contrapposto into the traditions of Venetian art is evident in Sacred and
position as she empties a glass ewer, reversing the normal Profane Love (Fig. 20.5) by Titian. Even more elongated than
practice of taking water from a well. Giorgione has sug- the Sleeping Venus, the painting almost certainly served to
gested more than delineated the forms of the ewer and her adorn a piece of furniture. The facial resemblance between
body. His paint brush barely touches the surface of the can- the two women suggests that they may be the same person
vas in some areas, allowing
l the tinted weave to provide tex- in two guises. The presence of Cupid behind the sarcopha-
ture and substance to the women’s flesh; on the base and gus stirring the waters of love within it indicates that the
side ofthe ewer, thick impasto gives substance to reflected nude figure is the celestial Venus, representing divine love.
light. For the first time in European painting, the artist She holds a burning lamp aloft, its tiny flame silhouetted
openly acknowledges the nature of his materials while against the clear blue sky, while her fluttering red satin
simultaneously marshalling them to illusionistic effect. cloak billows dramatically along the left side of
The painting is held together compositionally by the her body, a marked contrast to her creamy smooth flesh.
soft light that suffuses the entire landscape, uniting the The woman at the left, dressed in heavy, luxurious clothing
psychologically distant figures. The compositional elements and wearing gloves, would then be the earthly Venus, for the

20.4 Pastoral Concert, c. 1509-10, probably by Giorgione, although the painting Is sometimes
attributed to Titian. Oil on canvas. 43% x 54%"
(110 x 138 cm) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

The landscape in this painting extends remarkably far into the distance to a misty pl ain and Mountains reminisce nt of Leonardo da Vinci (see Figwelowe2)e

454 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.5 Sacred and Profane Love, c. 1514, commissioned by Niccold Aurelio on his marriage to Laura Bagarotto in 1514 from Titian. Oil on canvas, 3’ 10 4” x
9 1%" (1.18 x 2.79 m) (Galleria Borghese, Rome)

materials of her clothing appeal to the human senses, as do

her low-cut dress and open bodice. The slash of red sleeve
against the cool blue of her dress adds to the sensuousness
of the satin.
The painting reflects the new classical learning of the
period and the new Venetian fascination with landscape
while it simultaneously celebrates married sexual love. The
floral wreath in the hair and flowers in the lap of the dressed
Venus signal fertility, underscored by emblems of fecundity:
the stallion on the sarcophagus and the rabbits in the land-
scape at the left. The shield on the sarcophagus identifies
the patron as Niccolo Aurelio, the vice-chancellor of the
Venetian republic. Nearly hidden in the silver bowl on the
edge of the sarcophagus is a second crest belonging to
Laura Bagarotto, whom Aurelio married in 1514. Sacred and
Profane Love is certainly a marriage painting for this couple,
its purpose to remind the wife of her virtuousness and her
procreative powers by the double guise of Venus and, unsub-
tly, by the rabbits. It was also to provide the husband with a
charged erotic image whose moral message nonetheless
maintains the boundaries of decorum.

Poetic Altarpieces
A more poetic approach also characterized religious paint-
ing in Venice at this time. Perhaps around 1505, Giorgione
painted an altarpiece for the cathedral of his home town,
Castelfranco (Fig. 20.6). The painting shares the shimmer-
ing light and trompe Voeil effects of Giovanni Bellini’s San
Giobbe altarpiece of two decades earlier (see Fig. 13.19),
making specific reference to Bellin1’s figure of St. Francis,
20.6 Enthroned Madonna and Child with St. Liberale and St. Francis, c. 1504 (?),
here shown in a mirror image, and again inviting the commissioned by Tuzio Costanzo, perhaps to commemorate the death
worshiper to enter a sacred realm. But Giorgione’s figures of his son, Matteo, in 1504, from Giorgione for Castelfranco Cathedral.
are set at a distance, no longer existing in a world directly Panel, 6’ 6%" x 5’ (2 x 1.52 m)

POETIC ALTARPIECES 455

 adjacent to the viewer’s space. Instead, a pavement inter- This new manner finds parallels in the late work of
venes, and the Madonna and Child appear as in a vision on Giovanni Bellini himself, exemplified by an altarpiece for
top of an altar-shaped throne. Giorgione’s considerable one of the side chapels of San Zaccaria (Fig. 20.7). As at
illusionistic and descriptive powers do more than counter- San Giobbe (see Fig. 13.19), Bellini surrounds his figures
feit reality: they enhance and exalt it. Balancing the with classicizing architecture, but the space inhabited by the
armor-clad St. Liberale and the fortified landscape on the holy figures is no longer a literal extension of the actual
left with a barefoot St. Francis and a glowing scene of church. Instead, the scene opens to trees and sky at left and
peaceful nature on the right, Giorgione groups his figures right, suggesting an airy setting for contemplation. As in
into a highly calculated, pyramidal organization very Giorgione’s exactly contemporaneous work, Bellini sets
different from the almost casual gathering of Bellini’s ear- his figures farther back in space, reduces their number,
lier altarpiece. and casts their eyes down or slightly obscures them with
shadows. Bellini may have been inspired by
Giorgione’s work, though it is just as likely
that the younger artist drew inspiration
from Bellini’s example. Whatever the pre-
cise relationship between the two artists,
they both promoted a new, more evocative
style which quickly came to dominate
Venetian painting.
One of the most gifted young artists to
follow and promote the new style was
Sebastiano del Piombo. Between March
1510 and spring 1511, when he left Venice
for the papal court in Rome, Sebastiano
painted an altarpiece for the parish church
of San Giovanni Crisostomo (Fig. 20.8). The
church had recently been reconstructed
on a Byzantine-inspired Greek cross plan
devised by Mauro Codussi, and Sebastiano
responded to its open and essentially
centralized plan by turning his composition
(uc sia
vrerereren
at an angle into space. This necessitated a
break with the traditional frontal placement
of his saints, allowing for more complex
groups, who are set before a monumental
colonnade which reaches above and beyond
the frame. Moving from the left, the figures
are disposed in a diagonal back into space.
This axis is then countered by the tilt and
gaze of John the Baptist from the opposite
side of the canvas, crossing at the central
figure of the seated St. John Chrysostom.
The work, like Giorgione’s and Titian’s
secular poesie, is psychologically complex
and offers the attuned viewer numerous
visual surprises. First there is the reaction of
the woman on the left, who looks rather
askance at the presumed viewer. Next, while
St. John Chrysostom, the major dedicatee of
the altarpiece, serves as the central fulcrum
of the composition, he is lost in both

20.7 Enthroned Madonna, Child, and Saints, completed

1505, commissioned for the Benedictine nuns of
San Zaccaria from Giovanni Bellini for San Zaccaria,
Venice. Oil on canvas transferred from wood,
Ws Se "(Se DSS aah)

456 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.8 San Giovanni Crisostomo
altarpiece, 1510-11, Sebastiano
del Piombo, San Giovanni
Crisostomo, Venice. Oil on canvas
(perhaps transferred from panel),
662x155" (261.65 mn)

The painting is now in poor

condition, but its novel composition
merits special attention.

shadow and thought as he writes in a large tome. John the In 1516 Germano da Caiole, prior of the Franciscan basilica
Baptist at the far right poses gallantly and peers inquisitively of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, commissioned Titian to
at the saint, the inscription on his unfurling banderole produce a large Assumption ofthe Virgin for the church’s high
changed from the usual “Ecce Agnus Dei (“Behold the altar (Fig. 20.9). The epoch-making painting was unveiled
Lamb ofGod,” referring to Christ) to “Ecce Sanctus” (“Behold on May 19, 1518, a day significant for Venice as well as for
the Saint”), returning the worshiper’s attention to John the Franciscans because it was the eve of the feast of San
Chrysostom. The soft-focus realism of the figures and the Bernardino of Siena, a Franciscan reformer and one of the
fusion of form and shadow allowed by the medium of oil city’s official saintly protectors. It immediately set a new
paint create an evocative rather than descriptive painting, standard for monumentality and drama, confirming Titian’s
establishing a mood ofmystic reverie. position as the undisputed leader of Venetian painting. In
the altarpiece, its subject being derived from the principal

Energized Altarpieces dedication of the church to the “glorious” Virgin, Titian cre-
ated a highly charged representation of the Virgin’s bodily
Titian was more of a story teller than either Giorgione or ascent into heaven. He also succeeded in establishing a focal
Sebastiano, and his altarpieces, whether of actual narrative point for this spacious church. Flanked by two ofthe largest
subjects or traditional devotional themes, offered Venetian of the doges’ tombs in the city (see Fig. 13.28), the altarpiece
patrons a strikingly dynamic alternative to the usually quiet stands directly in front of a multistoried screen of stained-
and contemplative character of Venetian devotional art. glass windows that fill the apse with rich, glowing light.

ENERGIZED ALTARPIECES 457

 :
responded to this imposing setting by breaking the clouds and cherubs below who surround the Virgin. She
swirl
his composition into two stories, coordinated with clear stands firm and erect, even as her dress and cloak .
around her and she lifts her watery eyes, picked out with
divisions in the tracery in front of which it stands. He also
made his figures larger than life, dressing them in sonorous white highlights, toward her heavenly reward. Seen from as
shades of red, blue, and green, and directing their gestures far away as the church’s entrance, Titian’s bold composition,
. . ° b]

heavenward, where God the Father hovers in a circle of eloquent gestures, and pulsating light dominate the church’s
golden clouds. A fiery aureole of angel heads echoes the elaborate interior.
curving top of the altarpiece, completed as a full circle in Given the resounding success of the painting as a celebra-
tion of the Virgin’s Assumption—a central
element in Franciscan theology, and as the
visual culmination of nearly two centuries of
construction at the Frari, it may seem surprising
that Titian’s patrons expressed concern about
the composition while he was painting it. In
particular, they complained that the apostles at
the bottom of the composition were too large.
But Titian countered that his strategic shadow-
ing of the apostles’ gesticulating forms would
diminish their apparent importance in the com-
position, while still retaining their function as
an essential foil to the light-drenched, heavenly
realm above. His self-assurance was a milestone
in relations between artist and patron, further-
ing the then novel idea of the artist as main
begetter of the work.
In an altarpiece commissioned for a side
chapel in the Frari by the Pesaro family (see Fig.
20.0), Titian built on the example of Sebastiano’s
San Giovanni Crisostomo altarpiece (see Fig.
20.8), placing his figures against enormous
columns, steps, and the corner of a classically
detailed palace. The setting seems as grand as,
if not grander than, the vast space of the Frari.
He also set his figures on a diagonal, so that
the worshiper walking down the nave is drawn
up and into the composition from the kneeling
donor to the Virgin and Child.
The clarity of the composition masks the
complexity ofits program, which addresses doc-
trinal, personal, and familial concerns. The altar
above which it stands had been dedicated to the
Virgin of the Immaculate Conception before
Jacopo Pesaro, donor of the altarpiece, acquired
patronage rights to it. Since the very doctrine of
the Immaculate Conception was so dear to the
Franciscans, and because a confraternity dedi-
cated to the doctrine celebrated its feast at this
altar, Jacopo seems to have been unwilling or

20.9 Assumption of the Virgin, 1516-18, commissioned

by Germano da Caiole from Titian for the main apse
of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Venice. Oil on
panel,
22TH Net (6.9 x 3.6 m)

The painting stands in its original frame, which

is inscribed
with the name ofthe patron. Statues of the Risen
Christ
St. Francis, and St. Anthony stand on
its summit.

458 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

 appear on the shimmering victory banner held by a soldier
behind him. The turbaned figure at the left, behind the
kneeling figure of Jacopo, represents the conquered Turk
brought to Christianity, the leadership of which is symbol-
ized by St. Peter. Some of Jacopo’s male relatives, kneeling
at the right, are recommended to the Virgin and Child by
St. Francis, who points with his right hand to his namesake
Francesco Pesaro, the head of the clan.
Titian’s accomplishments at the Frari led the way to
numerous other commissions for dramatic, energized altar-
pieces. In a towering composition dedicated to St. Lawrence
(Fig. 20.10), painted two decades later, Titian again paid
particular attention to the painting’s location within the
church. Taking into account that the altarpiece was to be
located on the right side of the church, Titian drew the
worshiper into the martyr’s world by setting the action on
the diagonal, a device he previously used, in reverse, in the
Pesaro altarpiece (see Fig. 20.0). Titian broke new ground by
setting the saint’s horrific martyrdom in deep nocturnal
darkness, his blazing grill an ironic counterpart of St.
Lawrence’s words in the Golden Legend (a book oflives of the
saints): “My night hath no darkness; all things shine with
light!” Embers burn white-hot under the grill, torches flare
red and yellow in the night air, and rays of light break
through the dense clouds to offer the saint divine recogni-
tion and reassurance. All other forms are left in shadow,

20.10 Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 1548-57, commissioned by Lorenzo

Massolo in 1548 (and confirmed by his widow, Elisabetta Querini,
in 1557) from Titian for his chapel in the right aisle of Santa Maria
dei Crociferi, Venice. Oil on canvas, 16’ 4%” x 9’ 2%" (5 x 2.8 m)
(Chiesa dei Gesuiti, Venice)

This is Titian’s first major depiction of a nocturnal event.

unable to alter the dedication. Titian may have underscored

the theme with his two columns and ring of clouds, which
evoke a phrase in Ecclesiasticus 24:7 used by the Franciscans
to defend the doctrine: “my throne was in a pillar ofcloud.”
The unusual inclusion of St. Peter at the physical center of
a Marian altarpiece—though deftly handled by placing him
at a less exalted height than the Virgin—is accounted for by 20.11 Vesta and Temple Columns (detail of Martyrdom ofSt. Lawrence),
1548-57, commissioned by Lorenzo Massolo in 1548 (and confirmed
an incident in Jacopo Pesaro’s life. In 1502 Jacopo was the
by his widow, Elisabetta Querini, in 1557) from Titian for his chapel
leader of papal forces who defeated the Turks at the [onian in the right aisle of Santa Maria dei Crociferi, Venice. Oil on canvas
island of Santa Maura for Pope Alexander VI, whose arms (Chiesa dei Gesuiti, Venice)

ENERGIZED ALTARPIECES 459

suggesting the transience of worldly glory, which Titian Tullio Lombardo: Classicism for
imagines in terms of imperial Rome. This classical imagery
Ecclesiastical Patrons
includes a representation of the goddess Vesta on the
pedestal at the left (Fig. 20.11). Smoking and burning
torches cast a ghostly pallor over her form, pick out the During the Cambrai Wars, only the most urgent building
edges of small figures on the steps of her temple, and reveal projects (which included the rebuilding of the Rialto busi-
the glow of its polished marble columns. This close atten- ness district after a fire in 1514) went forward; this included
tion to a temple precinct probably derives from Titian’s work on the nearby church of San Salvatore (Figs. 20.12
reading of a poem by the fourth-century Roman Christian and 20.13), laid out by the head of civic works in Venice,
writer, Prudentius, whose work was published in Italian in Giorgio Spavento (active 1486-1509 Venice), but continued
Venice by the Aldine Press: “The death the holy martyr died by Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455 Venice-1532 Venice), son of
was in truth the death of the temples. That day Vesta saw her Pietro Lombardo. Abandoning his father’s rather precious
Palladian house-spirits deserted and no vengeance follow. and sometimes fussy detail, Tullio successfully emulated the
All the Romans who used to reverence Numa’s libation cup dignity and monumentality of ancient Roman architecture,
now crowd the churches of Christ and sound the martyr’s filtering it, as was usual in Venice, through Byzantine
name in hymns.” The saint’s searing torture is thus to be sources. The church’s link with St. Mark’s Basilica can
understood as an image of ultimate Christian victory and be seen in the nave, which consists of three interlocking,
Titian’s nocturnal effects as an emblem of the transition centrally planned units, each surmounted by a dome and
from benighted paganism to full divine illumination. flanked at the corners by smaller domes. Tullio Lombardo,
who had already evolved a spare, impressive classicism in
his reliefs for the facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco
(see Fig. 13.25), gave visual coherence to the interior with a
series of proportionally interrelated pilasters distributed
between the nave and the corner units. Crisp but substantial
moldings, elegant Corinthian capitals, and broad barrel
vaults add to the building’s serene elegance.
The revived classicism evident at San Salvatore also
informs Tullio’s work for the Santo in Padua. His relief
of the Miracle of the Miser’s Heart (Fig. 20.14) forms part of
an unprecedentedly rich scheme of nine large compositions
lining the walls of the saint’s chapel in the left transept of
the Santo. The entire program was designed to bolster the
cult of the city’s miracle-working saint at the very moment
that Protestants in northern Europe and even some of the
professors at Padua’s university were attacking traditional
notions of saints and relics. Tullio and his collaborators

i
i§
i

nas.
ol
oy
= Baus, OF
pa,
>

ao) a fo
PS,

pi to 7

N ‘ |

20.12 San Salvatore, Venice, 1507-32, commissioned by Antonio

Contarini from Giorgio Spavento and Tullio Lombardo

A silver gilt altarpiece on the high altar resembles the Pala d’Oro (see Fig. 7.6).
It is exposed only from August 3-5; otherwise it is covered by a badly damaged
Transfiguration (c. 1560-65) by Titian. 20.13 San Salvatore , Venice, plan

460 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.14 Miracle of the Miser’s Heart, 1520-25, commissioned as a result of abequest given by Francesco Sansone (1414-99), minister general of
the Franciscan order, by the governors of the Santo from Tullio Lombardo for the Chapel of St. Anthony, the Santo, Padua. Marble, 4’ 3 4” x 8’
(1.3 x 2.45 m)

Tullio boldly asserted his authorship ofthis relief by inscribing it on the base of the dead man’s bier: “This is the work of Tullio the Lombard, son of Pietro, 1525.”
All the figures are daringly undercut, leaving them nearly free-standing.

went on the offensive, presenting the saint’s miracles as Venetian Artists Working for
nobly and dramatically as possible. Tullio’s work centers
around the corpse of a miser who St. Anthony, shown
Alfonso d’Este
preaching at the left, predicted would be found to have lost
his heart in his money box—here poised at the back corner Venetian sculptors and painters found an extremely
of his classically designed bier. The whole composition hospitable environment at the court of Duke Alfonso d’Este
reads like a Roman imperial relief, its large figures deeply (r. 1505-34) in Ferrara. Like most members of his family
carved and arranged in a uniform row across the composi- (especially his sister Isabella, marchesa of Mantua) Alfonso
tion. Inspired no doubt by the dramatic intensity of was an avid antiquarian. He employed agents to purchase
Donatello’s bronze reliefs in the same church (see Fig. 11.19), Roman antiquities and commissioned artists to revive
Tullio also exploits the vigor and emotional gestures of ancient subject matter in classical style.
Hellenistic sculpture, such as the recently discovered Laocoon
(see Fig. 39). Classicism was as adaptable to religious as The Studio di Marmi
secular subject matter and could be marshalled to promote
traditional values, thus ensuring its widespread adoption Alfonso assembled some of the most sophisticated decora-
and popularity. tive ensembles of the early sixteenth century at his castle

VENETIAN ARTISTS WORKING FOR ALFONSO D’ESTE 461

in the center of the city. Here he asked Antonio Lombardo The Camerino d’Alabastro
(c. 1438 Venice?-1516 Ferrara), elder son of Pietro Lombardo
and Tullio’s brother, to create a “Studio of Marbles” (Studio In October 1511, just as work was coming to a conclusion on
di Marmi), a private study lined entirely in marble, making the Studio di Marmi, Duke Alfonso asked his sister Isabella’s
it even more precious and expensive than Federico da court humanist, Mario Equicola, to devise a program of bac-
Montefeltro’s renowned studiolo in Urbino (see Fig. 14.25), chanalian subjects for his Camerino d’Alabastro (“Alabaster
which itself had been inspired by Este precedents. In Ferrara, Room”), a small chamber containing alabaster decoration,
Antonio was responsible for narrative reliefs, friezes, inscrip- also by Antonio Lombardo, adjacent to the study. This room
tions from classical authors, and even the marble floor. For too was to present classical subject matter, but in the form
the most part he adopted the calm and idealized manner of frankly sensual and celebratory paintings, counterbalanc-
of ancient Greek and Augustan art, underlining the room’s ing the lofty themes of wisdom, peace, and strength domi-
function as a meditative retreat intended for the duke’s nating the Studio. Alfonso sent Equicola’s written
leisure and tranquility; but for the dramatic subject of instructions to Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Fra Bartolomeo,
The Birth of Athena at the Forge of Vulcan (Fig. 20.15) Antonio and Raphael, who were each assigned a composition. For the
turned to the pathos of Hellenistic sculpture. At the left painters it was an opportunity to pit their talents against
a writhing, bearded figure representing Zeus is one of one another; for Alfonso, an opportunity to create a gallery
the earliest surviving direct quotations from the Laocoén of works by the most renowned painters of his day—a con-
group (see Fig. 39). The quotation served to enhance scious ploy to compete with Isabella (see Figs. 14.36 and
Alfonso’s reputation as a patron and collector who had up- 14.37) and other eminent patrons. In the end Fra Bartolomeo
to-date knowledge of ancient art. It also gave expression to and Raphael died before they could fulfill the commission,
the pain Zeus must have experienced after Vulcan’s axe and Bellini completed only one, so Titian painted three can-
(being forged by the nude figures at the brazier in the center vases, and yet another was allotted to the resident court art-
of the relief) released Athena, fully formed, from his head. ist, Dosso Dossi (Giovanni Luteri; 1480-1542), who also
The leg of the priest who performed the act can be seen provided friezes with ten scenes from Virgil’s Aeneid.
behind Zeus, while Athena, calm patroness of wisdom and Bellini’s contribution, known as the Feast of the Gods
peace, stands sedately in the niche above. (Fig. 20.16), initiated the cycle with a depiction of ancient

ve

20.15 The Birth of Athena at the Forge of Vulcan, c. 1508-11, commissioned by Alfonso d’Este from
Antonio Lombardo for the
Studio di Marmi, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara. Marble, width 3’ 5 34” (1.06 m) (Hermitage Museu
m, St. Petersburg)

462 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

 20.16 Feast of the Gods, 1514/29,
commissioned by Alfonso d’Este
from Giovanni Bellini for the
Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo
Ducale, Ferrara. Oil on canvas
S/O (lee<eleS Oamm)
(Widener Collection, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)

The background ofthe painting was

altered by Dosso Dossi and Titian.

gods and goddesses associated with the winter solstice. literary subject into a visually satisfying painting—a task
Like the rest of the paintings it revolves around themes that his almost exact contemporary Andrea Mantegna
of love, in this case represented by three couples: a nature had approached with less sympathy in his heavily labeled
goddess and Neptune (actually a portrait of Alfonso) sitting allegory for Isabella d’Este (see Fig. 14.36). At the same time
behind the large bowl of fruit to the right of center, Ceres there is something delightfully naive about this work, mark-
(Mother Earth) and Apollo (the sun god) to the right, and ing it as the product of an older generation. Their approach
the lusty Priapus leering over the sleeping nymph Lotis at to antiquity is very different from that of Antonio Lombardo,
the far right. They originally rested in front of acontinuous for example, whose gods and goddesses capture both the
background, the grove of trees at the right extending across spiritual and fleshly aspects of antiquity. In this regard,
the entire canvas until Titian added the hill, trees, and Mantegna had surpassed Bellini and his generation, but
sky at the left and repainted the foliage (already altered even his passion for archaeology had not allowed him to
by Dosso Dossi) to coordinate with his later paintings in revivify the sensuous spirit of antiquity fully.
the same room. The celebration, first described in the first It was left to Titian to bring classical mythology to full,
book of Ovid’s Fasti, takes place during the peaceful, so- pulsating life. In the second of his paintings for Alfonso’s
called halcyon days, marked explicitly by the tiny kingfisher Camerino, the Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne (Fig. 20.17), an
([h]alcyon in Latin), who was said to mate at this time and so * exuberant Bacchus leaps from his triumphal chariot (drawn
is shown perched on a little twig at the left foreground. by cheetahs Titian had observed in Alfonso’s menagerie)
Though it is the end of a long day of revelry, the infant to rescue Ariadne, shown in a reciprocating but wary
Bacchus, god of wine, stoops to fill yet another crystal half-turning pose at the left. Having been abandoned by her
pitcher from a wine cask just above the bird. Behind him is former lover, Theseus, on the island of Naxos, she can hardly
Silenus, another god of revelry, whose donkey will soon start be very reassured by Bacchus’s noisy parade of carousing
braying, warning Lotis of the lascivious intentions of her nymphs and satyrs, their frenzy intensified by the inclusion
would-be suitor, clearly indicated by the protruding drapery of another direct quotation from the snake-entwined Laocoén
between his legs. group. The head ofa stag has been dropped on the ground
Probably in his eighties when he painted this canvas, in front of the figure, while behind him another Bacchic
Bellini was in full control of his art, turning a complex reveler wields an animal’s leg. It has been freshly torn from

VENETIAN ARTISTS WORKING FOR ALFONSO D’ESTE 463

 ' E Raph
»0.1 \ »f Bacchus
\riadne, 1522-23
commissioned by Alfonso
d’Este from Titian for the
Camerino d’Alabastro,
Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara.
Oil on canvas, 5’ 9” x 6’ 3"
(1.75 x 1.9 m) (National
Gallery, London)

This painting has been over

cleaned, with most of the
varnishes removed, resulting
in some flattening of form,
too brilliant and sharp
coloration, and an absence
of the atmospheric subtleties
present in better-preserved
works by Titian.

its socket, presumably in the wild frenzy that ancient sources Julius II, Urbino retained and enhanced its earlier reputa-
said Bacchus induced in his followers. Maidens clang cym- tion for intellectual and behavioral sophistication. Here
bals and tambourines, signaling the way for the debauched, Baldassare Castiglione (see Fig. 17.29) participated in conver-
paunchy Silenus in the background—small in scale but sations and court rituals which, through the publication of
highly visible thanks to Titian’s brightening the green of his Book ofthe Courtier, codified courtly behavior throughout
the tree over his head. Titian contains these unruly figures Europe. Worldly and yet extraordinarily decorous, court
in an isosceles triangle defined by an imaginary line that culture in Urbino demanded
dilapccsen esas 2 that a ea
painter closely gauge his
runs from the lower left to the upper right corner of the subjects and respect expectations about their representation,
canvas. It grazes the edge of abronze vase and yellow drape— In creating a pair of paintings of Francesco Maria della
seemingly casually thrown on the ground but essential to Rovere and Eleonora Gonzaga (Figs. 20.18 and 20.19), duke
the pictorial structure—and proceeds under Bacchus’s foot, and duchess of Urbino, Titian predictably reprised many of
through the trees, and into a small patch of blue sky. This the themes seen in Piero della Francesca’s double portrait of
diagonal is echoed in Bacchus’s leap from his chariot to the their predecessors, Federico da Montefeltro and Battista
relatively tranquil left portion of the composition. Still, a Sforza (see Fig. 14.20). Once again, the male portrait is more
calm resolution is in sight, the limpid sky displaying the rugged and individualized, emphasizing military exploits
constellation that will commemorate Ariadne’s peaceful and adventures. Francesco Maria poses alert in his stun-
marriage to Bacchus. A safe harbor also awaits her at the city ningly rendered, glinting armor, his right arm and baton
in the background, its subdued color and execution a delib- dramatically thrust out into the viewer’s space. Behind him
erate contrast with the splashily painted revelers at the right. a splendid, plumed parade helmet, reflecting the vibrant,
pulsating red of a velvet drape, faces a jauntily angled set
Titian in Urbino of lances. In marked contrast, Eleonora Gonzaga sits primly
in her chair, immobile within her highly detailed but Aveen
Another court that called upon Titian’s talents was Urbino. less lovingly depicted court dress. Described by Castiglione
Ruled from 1508 by members of the della Rovere family, as embodying “wisdom, grace, beauty, intelligence, discreet
whose fortunes had risen high under the papacy of Pope manners, humanity and every other gentle quality,”
she was

464 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.18 Francesco Maria della Rovere, 1536-38, commissioned by the sitter 20.19 Eleonora Gonzaga, c. 1538, commissioned by the sitter or
from Titian. Oil on canvas, 3’ 9” x 3’ 3 %” (1.14 x 1 m) (Galleria degli Francesco Maria della Rovere from Titian. Oil on canvas, 3’ 8 4" x 3' 4%"
Uffizi, Florence) (1.14 x 1.02 m) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

confined to a much more circumspect existence. Even her lacking in verve and emotion as Eleonora’s. This is partly
pet dog—a symbol of fidelity—lies bored on a table in front due to the fact that Isabella asked Titian to copy an earlier,
of a window. Titian’s landscape is expansive but untraversi- youthful portrait, a clear sign that she, like Eleonora, was
ble, marked by a church tower in its idealized blue distance. complicit with the roles and ideals men held about women.
Only when Titian was painting ideal women—always In offering a lackluster portrait of Eleonora, Titian was most
young—do they seem to come alive. A nearly contemporary likely exercising decorum and restraint, flattering her even
portrait of the fiery and determined Isabella d’Este is as as he confirmed societal stereotypes.

20.20 Reclining Nude (“Venus” of Urbino),

c. 1538, commissioned by Guidobaldo
della Rovere from Titian. Oil on canvas,
3/11" x 5’ 5" (1.19 x 1.65 m)
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

TITIAN IN URBINO 465

 When it came to painting purportedly mythological Among the illustrious refugees fleeing to Venice after the
subject matter for a bedchamber, ‘Titian enjoyed greater Sack of Rome was the forty-one-year-old Jacopo Sansovino
freedom to express female sensuality and desirability. The (Jacopo Tassi; 1486 Florence-1570 Venice), who intended
so-called “Venus” of Urbino (Fig. 20.20) is a live seductress, to stay only a few months but instead spent the second
unabashedly called a “nude woman,”
>
not an ancient god- half of his extremely long life reshaping the face of the city.
dess, in contemporary documents. Instead of placing her 1n Sansovino had spent his youth in Florence (see Fig. 16.3)
a poetic landscape (see Fig. 20.3), Titian presents his object and his early adulthocd in Rome, where he was deeply
of desire inside a handsome palace, displaying herself on impressed by the works of Bramante, Michelangelo, and
white satin sheets and pillows upon a luxurious red couch. Raphael. He thus brought with him a thorough appreciation
Her golden tresses cascade alluringly over her shoulder to of the grand manner of ancient Roman architecture which
her braceleted right arm and hand, which toys with a small had been revived byJulius II; but instead of merely importing
bouquet offlowers, while her left is placed provocatively over and imposing Roman prototypes, he produced a distinctively
her genitals. Cool and dispassionate as the morning light Venetian interpretation of classical forms. Always extremely
which appears in the window at the rear of the room, this sensitive to the purpose and function of the buildings
woman is nonetheless alert and available—her small pet dog, commissioned from him, Sansovino worked in a number
in this case a twin symbol of fidelity or lust, having fallen of different modes, adjusting his architectural vocabulary,
asleep at her feet. Servants in the background search dili- massing, and ornamentation to the problem at hand.
gently for garments to adorn her alluring and self-confident
beauty. Calling to mind the sophisticated and renowned The Zecca
world of Venetian courtesans and court mistresses, whose
physical beauty was expected to be accompanied by pleasant Soon after arriving in Venice, Sansovino employed his con-
and learned conversation—unlike the conventional verbal siderable technological knowledge of ancient and modern
reticence usually expected of Renaissance women—Titian’s vaulting to strengthen and restore the domes of St. Mark’s,
“nude woman” is a female “worthy” of male companionship. a job that earned him the position ofproto (architect and
While the duchess of Urbino was presented in the public chief building superintendent) of St. Mark’s from 1529 untul
halls of the palace in the armor of female virtue—erect his death in 1570. This position, along with commissions
posture, tightly belted court dress, and covered head—her from the Venetian government, gave Sansovino extraord1-
husband’s nights in the bedchamber were presided over by nary opportunities within the city’s center, beginning in
a freely tressed, nonchalant, reclining sybarite. Once again 1535, when he entered the competition to rebuild the Zecca,
intended audience, function, and location played a major the state mint, on the quay facing the city’s ceremonial
role in determining the character of an artist’s work. waterfront entrance.

Refashioning the City Triumphant

While both Constantinople and Rome were humiliated by
foreign armies—the Byzantine capital in 1453 and Rome
in the fateful Sack of 1527—Venice remained inviolate. The - =)

Venetians benefited directly from their rivals’ woes, opening Vheet GEbE) Tedd
their arms to fleeing artists and scholars.
ve eee
all~ ,~~ @ ~ ri

20.21 The Zecca (Mint), Venice,

1535-47, commissioned by the
Council of Ten from Jacopo
Sansovino

An upper story later added to the

building has been removed from this
photograph to give a better sense
of the Zecca’s original relationship
to the library at the right.

466 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

 Venice’s Council of Ten selected Sansovino’s design for the proportions of the triglyphs and metopes or extending the
Zecca in 1536. The massive new building (Fig. 20.21), origi- architrave awkwardly beyond the corner column. Sansovino
nally only two stories high, confidently announced the city’s provided an elegant solution by ending his colonnade with
recovery from the economic difficulties of the preceding dec- a pier rather than a column, at the same time reinforcing
ades of war. Its great cost was financed by government orders the solidity of the building’s corners. He was so proud of
that freed slaves in Venice’s dependency of Cyprus for 50 his solution—and convinced that no one else would think
ducats a head. Fireproof, thanks to Sansovino’s use of stone of it—that in 1539 he sent out disingenuous requests
vaulting throughout the structure, the Zecca proclaims its for assistance from architects across Italy, to establish that
impregnability through a bold use of rustication. Above the the idea was his alone. The subsequent publication of his
rugged ground-story arcade (leased to cheese sellers, who solution marked a new level of concern for, and success in,
had traditionally sold their products at the site), the second self-promotion.
story employs the Doric order in a highly original way, with Still, Sansovino’s bravura did not free him from subservi-
banded attached columns that appear to be squeezed at the ence to his patrons. When the stone vault of the main
top between double lintels over the large windows. Making reading room of the library collapsed during unusually cold
use of forms he would have known from his experience in weather in December 1545, Sansovino was unceremoniously
Rome and from contemporary work such as Guilio Romano’s thrown in jail. Though soon released—following interven-
more playful buildings in Mantua (see Fig. 19.3), Sansovino tion from Titian and the ambassador of Emperor Charles V,
thus suggests the compressive processes used to create coins among others—Sansovino was further penalized by having
as well as the strength and dignity of a city gate or fortress— his salary suspended for two years and was commanded to
themes well suited to the building’s site and function. make repairs at his own expense.

The Library The Loggetta

Soon after Sansovino began work on the Zecca, he was In 1537 the Procurators had added to Sansovino’s responsi-
also engaged to build a splendid public library, one of the bilities by commissioning him to design a new loggia at the
first of its kind (Fig. 20.22). It was intended to redress the base of the campanile (see Fig. 20.22). Known as the
embarrassing lack of apermanent home for the renowned Loggetta, it was to replace a pre-existing structure which had
collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts that Cardinal
John Bessarion, a Greek emigré, had given to the state in
1468. The anteroom adjoining the main reading room was
to be home to a school, ensuring the ongoing promotion
of humanist values among young Venetian nobles. In its
conscious emulation of the public libraries of classical
antiquity, it also underscored Venice’s image as the succes-
sor to the legacy of imperial Rome and Constantinople.
The forceful architectural vocabulary of the adjacent
Zecca was inappropriate to such acommission, so Sansovino’s
patrons must have requested more elegant forms. He com-
plied by creating an airy palace, which purposefully contrasts
in height, scale, and detail with the Zecca (see Fig. 20.21).
Taking his cue from the Doge’s Palace, directly opposite,
Sansovino set two open arcades one upon another but inter-
preted the scheme in classical language—a Doric order on
the ground floor, Ionic above, and, on the top, a balustrade
punctuated with statues. Lush garlands bedeck the friezes,
and sensuous figures recline in all the spandrels. The effect
is lavish and ornate, in emulation of the most splendid
examples from antiquity.
A showpiece of classical values, the library won interna-
tional renown for its elegance and Sansovino’s clever solution
to a previously unresolved dictum of Vitruvius. The Roman
architect had stipulated that a Doric frieze should end with
a half metope, the blank surface between triglyphs; but since 20.22 Library, 1537-91, and Loggetta, 1537-45, commissioned by
triglyphs were placed over columns it would have been impos- the Procurators of St. Mark’s from Jacopo Sansovino, Piazzetta San
Marco, Venice
sible to have even a half metope at the corner ofa building
supported by a colonnaded loggia without altering the The Loggetta was rebuilt after the Campanile collapsed in 1902.

REFASHIONING THE CITY TRIUMPHANT 467

been the traditional meeting place of Venetian noblemen 20.24 Palazzo Corner,
Venice, plan oflower floor
but was now considered inadequate for its location among
such imposing buildings. The new Loggetta was intended to 1 Grand Canal; 2 Entrance
portico (riva); 3 Central hall
serve as a permanent civic stage set, providing a handsome
(androne); 4 Courtyard
gathering place for the city’s nobles and celebrating Venice
as a wise, imperial power. Adopting the appropriately sym-
bolic form of a Roman triumphal arch, Sansovino placed
allegorical reliefs alluding to Venice’s maritime possessions
Cyprus and Crete on the attic story and filled the ground-
story niches with bronze statues of ancient gods and god-
desses. Pallas, at the far left, stood for the wisdom ofVenice’s
patriciate; Apollo, the sun god, represented the city’s unique-
ness and its remarkable harmony; Mercury, messenger of
the gods, symbolized eloquence; and Peace emphasized the
republic’s commitment to non-belligerence. Sansovino’s 10yds
deft use of red Verona and other white and gray marbles en
0 10m
enriched the site beyond its relatively modest dimensions
while linking it visually to the brick tonalities of the cc? %
campanile, the then brick piazza, and the pink and white
detailing of the Doge’s Palace.

The Palazzo Corner to abdicate the throne of Cyprus that she had inherited
from her husband so as to return control of the island to
Sansovino’s elegant and monumental classicism proved a the Venetian government. Already wealthy merchants, they
powerfully expressive vehicle for one of Venice’s wealthiest received special concessions and huge land holdings from
families, the Corner. The Palazzo Corner della Ca Grande, the government, and also claimed rights to Caterina’s dowry,
although only half as large as the family’s original concept, which was deposited with the state. After a fire completely
set a new standard for its huge size and rigorous Vitruvian destroyed the family’s palace in 1532, they successfully pet-
detail (Figs. 20.23 and 20.24). The Corner (rhymes with tioned to release half the dowry for the new construction.
“forbear”) were an old patrician family whose wealth was However, divisions of the family inheritance prevented
greatly enhanced in the late fifteenth century by their major work from beginning until around 1545.
success in persuading their kinswoman, Caterina Corner, Sansovino organized the palace in typical Venetian
fashion, providing three large openings on the canal for the
receipt of merchandise. The rest of the structure—including
an unprecedentedly large courtyard—resembled contempo-
rary Roman palaces. Above the rusticated Doric ground story,
he set an Ionic and then a Corinthian story, each of their
seven bays divided from its neighbors by attached double
columns set on pedestals. These features give the facade
unprecedented weight and substance.

Titian: Images for the

is €
International Elite
0 ea 5 PA
The Vendramin Family

While Sansovino was exploiting the architectural vocabu-

lary of Renaissance Rome to give new status and prestige to
Js 4) ase his public and private commissions in Venice: Titian built
= 4)Byoe |
<hool
rs tal upon his own experience at the court of Paul III (see Fig.
21.0). Returning to Venice from Rome in 1546 he created
a remarkable group portrait of the male members of the
Vendramin family (Fig. 20.25). Here Titian domesticizes
20.23 Palazzo Corner, Venice, c. 1545, commissioned by Zorzi Corner official works such as Bellini’s votive portrait of Doge
from Jacopo Sansovino Agostino Barbarigo (see Fig. 13.30) as well as frescoes
he had

468 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

 20.25 Male Members ofthe Vendramin
Family, c. 1547, commissioned by Andrea
Vendramin from Titian, probably for the
Palazzo Vendramin, Venice. Oil on
canvas, 6’ 7” x 9' 104” (2.06 x 3 m)
(National Gallery, London)

20.26 Equestrian Portrait of Emperor

Charles V, 1548, commissioned by
Charles V from Titian. Oil on canvas,
NOY WO Se" (B51 Se 279) tan)
(Museo del Prado, Madrid)

Charles wears the armor he actually wore

in the decisive Battle of Muhlberg where
he trounced his Protestant opponents.
The armor is preserved in the Royal
Armory in Madrid.

seen in the papal apartments in Rome. While the painting

has the look of an impromptu gathering, it is rooted in
prestigious models that betray political motives on the part
of Titian and the Vendramin. Titian adapted elements such
as the steps, massive altar, flickering candles, and groups
of onlookers from Raphael’s Mass of Bolsena at the Vatican
as a suitably impressive setting for the Vendramin family’s
adoration of a reliquary of a fragment of the True Cross.
Although the relic was owned by the Scuola Grande di San
Giovanni Evangelista, the Vendramin family was closely
associated with it: one of their ancestors had donated the
relic to the Scuola, and an Andrea Vendramin, namesake of
Titian’s patron, was famous for having rescued it when it fell
into a canal. Titian suggests the intimacy of the family’s
relation to the relic by placing the current head ofthe family
(also named Andrea) in the center of the composition, with
one hand on the altar as he looks out of the picture, inviting
the viewer’s participation. At the left, two other family mem-
bers, dressed in senatorial red, pay their eloquent devotion
to the relic, the middle-aged man reaching out as if to share
his adoration with others. Titian records and contrasts the
emotions ofhis subjects; the sober obedience of the adoles-
cents at left and the innocent play of the children at right
serve to underscore the maturity and depth of the adults’
piety, a civic as well as personal virtue.
obedient head eloquently conveys Charles’s authority over
Charles V it. His power and invincibility are underscored by the aura of
gleaming light reflecting off his armor and the glowing,
In 1548 Emperor Charles V called Titian to Augsburg, where radiant sky toward which he advances from the dark trees
he painted a life-sized equestrian portrait that set the stand- and ominous clouds at the left. In keeping with traditions of
ard for regal portraiture for well over a century (Fig. 20.26). royal portraiture, Charles appears as virtuous as a saint and
Titian captured the emperor at the height of his powers, as stoic as a Roman hero. Yet he ts also vigorously alive, chin
calm and erect upon a charging horse. The contrast between set high and eyes focused forward, the epitome of a human
the emperor’s resolute confidence and the horse’s bowed, ruler with superhuman powers and responsibilities.

TITIAN: IMAGES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL ELITE 469

Mythology and Sensuality Bacchus and Ariadne (see Fig. 20.17 Pushed to the fore-
ground of the composition, the scantily clad Europa rolls on
Much of Titian’s international fame and recognition also the bull’s back in what a male viewer was surely intended to
rested on the allure of his superb mythological paintings. In read as ecstatic sexual abandon, her right leg bent up, her
a series of paintings he produced for King Philip I of Spain left leg and right arm swept in a single, slightly
t curving line
(r. 1555-98) illustrating the loves of Jupiter, the ae was up the painting. Her raised arm casts a shadow across her
literally to imagine himself as a god; and all his conquests face, her own serious expression Sugges ting that Europa
}
mere mortals. One of the most openly sensual of these may yet need to be incited to passion by the amorini (com-
images, the Danaé of 1554 (Fig. 20.27), represents a develop- panions of Cupid) who rush after her, wo tumbling in the
ment of ideas informing earlier im ages of female nudes (see sky and one riding a dolphin. In the bac kground at an enor-
Figs. 20.3 and 20.20). The myth relates how Jupiter trans- mous distance from Europa, her maidservants run to the
formed himself into a shower of gold in order to possess a shore vainly flailing their arms, their gestures and forms
lovely — woman guarded by an old crone. Given the o reflected in the passive waters in frontof them, so different
woman’s avaricious collection of some of the gold in ie from the seething, foamy brine around Europa, the bull, and
form of actual coins, and Danaé’s receptivity to Jupiter's the amorino pursuing them. Titian’s extremely free brush-
advancese expressed by her parted legs and dreamy expres- work is superbly adapted to the composition and contrasts
sion, the story’s associations with prostitution are clear. markedly with th e more polished surfaces of his earlier
Titian had earlier offered to paint Donna Olimpia, a famous work. Here he exploi the actual physical texture and pres-
Roman courtesan and the reputed lover of Cardinal ence of his paint, not just its color. Light glints off thick
Alessandro Farnese, in the appropriate Ccguise of Danaé deposits of color suspended in oil, Se in the fore-
According to the cardinal’s agent, who saw Titian working ground, and softens when it encounters more thinly painted
on that painting in Venice, the image made the duke of surfaces in the distance. Shifting color as well as texture,
Urbino’s reclining nude (see Fig. 20.20) look like a nun. In Titian masterfully turns his brown rocky coast blue and
this version for Philip II, Titian’s extraordinarily free brush- then dissolves it into the sunset tones of the evening sky.
work—especially on the curtain and sheets, and in theorgas- Europa’s textural, ee blood-red drape seems all the
mic outburst in the sky—further enhance Danaé’s palpably more dramatic for being set in front of such a remarkable,
physical reactions to Jupiter’s approach. Only the ostensibly freely painted sky.
mythological subject and Danaé’s classically inspired pose,
adapted from statues of ancient Roman river gods, made the Colorito versus Disegno
painting socially acceptable, although King Philip appar-
ently kept curtains over some of these images so that the The loose, painterly quality of Titian’s mature and late
modesty of women in the court would not be offended. works contrasts markedly with the more precise, essentially
Titian’s imagination and painterly technique continued graphic approach of central Italian painting. Venetian paint-
to expand as he worked on further paintings for Philip II’s ers had always been more interested than others in effects of
erotic cycle. In the Rape ofEuropa (Fig.
20.28), the story of a nymph’s abduc-
tion by Jupiter in the guise of a bull,
whose horns she had been plaiting
with flowers—itself asexually charged
image—Titian abandoned the usual
representation of a sedate, side-sad-
dle trot. He chose instead to represent
an impassioned romp, moving in an
ascending diagonal across the picture
surface, as in his earlier Meeting of

1aé, 1554, commissioned by

Spain from Titian. Oil on canvas,
1.28 x 1.78 m) (Museo del

470 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.28 Rape of Europa, 1559-62, commissioned by Philip Il of Spain from Titian. Oil on canvas, 5S’ 94" x 7’ 8%" (1.76 x 2.04 m) (Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum, Boston)

glimmering color and light, whether in the gilded richness evocative rather than analytic description. To express the
of Jacobello del Fiore’s Justice (see Fig. 7.20) or the mosaic- ‘central Italian conception of art as something predomi-
encrusted apse of Giovanni Bellini’s San Giobbe altarpiece nantly cogitated and rational, Vasari adopted the noun
(see Fig. 13.19). In the mid-sixteenth century, literary praise disegno, meaning a combination of drawing and good
and defense of this propensity became more systematic design. The Venetians, on the other hand, chose colorito, a
and took on distinctly patriotic tones. While central Italians past participle which by its linguistic nature acts as both a
such as Vasari were promoting the values they saw most verb and adjective. Literally signifying the quality of being
evident in the art of Michelangelo—sculptural solidity, “colored” and the state of “having been colored,” the term
tightly controlled compositions and space, clear delineation, emphasized the rich textural and visual effects of oil paint
anatomical accuracy—in Venice critics including Pietro and glazes laid thickly on rough canvas. The values encapsu-
Aretino championed an alternative set of values epitomized lated in colorito and disegno effectively divided sixteenth-
by Titian—spontaneity, mobility, evanescent colors, and century art into opposing camps.

COLORITO VERSUS DISEGNO 471

 or other indication of his trade. Instead, he emphasizes that
litian: The Artist as his Own Patron
his work is intellectual, not manual, the basis for high social
Titian’s wide-ranging patronage gave him extraordinary standing and respect. The painting 1s unfinished, tellingly in
wealth and status, both of which were manifest in the large the hands and arms, which are merely the vehicles for his
house, the Casa ai Biri, hich he purchased on the northern creative intellect. Bold dashes of paint on the artist’s collar,
edge of the city. Here he met clients, entertained fellow buttons, and sleeves suggest the vigor of his intensely
artists and scholarly guests, and set up his own gallery where ee mind and spirit.
examples of his painting were available for admiration and A deeply disturbing and haunting Flaying of Marsyas
analysis, but not for sale (Fig. 2030) 4also seems to have been in Titian’s house at his
Giorgio Vasari visited Titian at his home in 1566 and death. Titian mayae e become fascinated with the subject
admired a self-portrait “finished by him four years ago, very on hearing reports _ 1571 that the Venetian nobleman
fine and natural,” probably to be identified with a painting Marcantonio Bragadin had been flayed alive by the Turks,
now in Berlin (Fig. 20.29). In it Titian proudly wears the but Titian’s rendition is more a meditation on his own
gold chains of the Order of the Golden Spur, which Charles spirituality and mortality than on the last gruesome events
V had awarded him along with a knighthood 1533: attending the Turkish Wars. At the center of the canvas the
Dressed in an expensive fur jacket Titian does not look satyr Marsyas hangs upside down from a tree while Apollo
straight out at the viewer—the simplest pose for an artist crouches to the left and skins him alive. King Midas, a
who must study his own features in a mirror—but instead self-portrait of the artist, sits and broods at the right wear-
lifts hi s head to the side as if in recognition of some person ing a crown over the donkey ears he earned by foolishly
or force of inspiration beyond him. Since Titian had earlier preferring Pan over Apollo in a musical contest. Marsyas,
used a similar pose for a portrait of his good friend the poet too, challenged Apollo. The raucous, earthy tunes of his pan
and critic Pietro Aretino, he may have intended this self- pipes were no match for the ethereal strains of Apollo’s
portrait as a meditation on his own intellectual and creative lyre—a metaphor for the superiority of the soul over the
powers. Not only is it relatively rare in this period for an art- body—and Apollo exacted a terrifying revenge. But while the
ist to paint an independent self-portrait, but unlike most tempestuous background and details like the dog eagerly
others (see Figs. 6 and 22.12) Titian displays no paint brush licking up Marsyas’s blood testify to the horror of the event,
emphasized by the slashing and oozing oil paint, Titian
shows only regret, not pain on Marsyas’s face, as Apollo
gingerly, even tenderly removes his flesh. This is not the
image of Marsyas that the Medici, for example, presented to
their visitors in a blood-red stone sculpture flanking the
entrance to their garden: a thinly veiled warning to any who
would challenge their authority. Instead, Titian’s painting is
best seen as a neo-Platonic meditation on the need to free
oneself from the world of the flesh and seek the higher, spir-
itual self, a painful process to be sure, but one which Titian
in his own old age was confronting daily. A second figure of
Apollo, or according to some interpretations, Orpheus, the
visitor to the underworld, appears in the upper left bathed
in cool, clear light raising his eyes, instrument, and bow on
high, past the shadowed forms of the earthbound pan pipes,
to some more glorious future. Michelangelo had already
imagined a similar fate for himself in the disembodied skin
of St. Bartholomew in the Last Judgment (see Fig. 21.1), and
Titian now uses veils of quivering paint and shifting color to
suggest his own more hopeful beliefin his redemption.
Titian addressed the same theme in Christian terms in a
Pieta, which he painted for the altar above his own tomb
in
the right aisle of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (Fig.
20.31).
The huge canvas remained in Titian’s home, partly
unfin-
ished at the artist’s death on August 27, 1576. The
flying
angel and certain parts of the architectural moldings
a7

were
judiciously completed by Palma Giovane (Jacopo Negrett
i;
c. 1548-1628), who understood that the painting was
20.29 Self-Portrait, 1560s, Titian. Oil on canvas, 2’ 5 %" x 3’ 1 Titian’s personal testament and so chose neither
to emulate
(75 x 96c C (Gemaldegalerie, Berlin) nor to disturb the master’s freely painte
d forms. Only

472 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

decades of painterly exploration had made it possible for (see Fig. 13.19), now made evanescent with daubs of
Titian to create a work of such evocative intensity. Here
dematerializing paint. Although never placed over the altar
again he built his figural composition on a diagonal. At for which it was intended, the painting continues to elicit
lower right, a balding penitent kneels and reaches out to deep emotions about life and death, a fitting testimony to
touch the dead but radiant body of Christ. A small votive Titian, his art, and his beliefs.
panel leans against Titian’s family coat of arms and the base
of the sibyl, suggesting that the penitent should be under-
stood as Titian himself. At the left, a grieving Magdalene
Narrative Imagery in the Scuole
runs forward, giving voice to the silent agony at the center. The confraternal charitable associations known in Venice
In the background, a massive rusticated niche reverberates as scuole continued to be major patrons of architecture and
with light, which suggests the burnished glow of Byzantine painting in the sixteenth century. One of the artists whose
altarpieces and more recent evocations of the style in work 1s most intimately associated with the scuole is Jacopo
paintings such as Giovanni Bellini’s San Giobbe altarpiece Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti; 1519 Venice-1594 Venice).

20.30 Flaying of Marsyas, 1570s, probably created by Titian for himself. Oil on canvas, 6’ 11%" x 6’ 8" (2.12 x 2.07 m).
(Archepiscopal Palace, Kromeriz)

NARRATIVE IMAGERY IN THE SCUOLE 473

 hough not always as rigorous and methodical as his plete until the mid-sixteenth century, so when Tintoretto
sometime teacher, Tittan—he often took on more commis- began working there in 1564 he found an essentially blank
sions than he could handle and completed many works at slate. After winning the competition by sneaking into the
breakneck speed—Tintoretto shared Titian’s enthusiasm for officers’ chamber (albergo) of the Scuola and installing his
complex human drama and used painting to evoke strong full-scale painting of atriumphant San Rocco on the ceiling,
emotions. He made his reputation in Venice with the Miracle he covered the walls with tumultuous scenes of Christ’s
of St.Mark, which he completed in 1548 for the altar in the Passion. In 1577 he promised to provide three paintings a
main hall of the Scuola Grande di San Marco (Fig. 20.32). year free to the Scuola (of which he was a member). His
No earlier surviving depiction of a story from a saint’s life paintings, then, became signs of his personal devotion.
for a Venetian scuola had been so charged with energy— For the main upper meeting hall (Fig. 20.33) Tintoretto
perhaps the reason why its members were uncertain whether covered the ceiling and walls with parallel scenes from
to accept the finished work. They may also have disapproved the Old Testament and the life of Christ that emphasize
because this work and others in the series gave untoward the charitable aims of the Scuola. The vast open space
importance to Tommaso Rangone, chief officer ofthe scwola. was characteristic of all the scuole grandi, allowing hundreds
He appears alone, rather than accompanied by his fellow of members to meet together at a single time. Ineligible for
officers, at the far left in the Miracle of St. Mark and takes membership in the Great Council, which met in a room of
center stage in Tintoretto’s other canvases, a disturbing similar proportions but grander dimensions in the Doge’s
breach of Venetian corporate etiquette. Palace (see Fig. 20.35), scuole members actively participated
There is also something unsettling about Tintoretto’s in their own self-government at the community level. In
blatant quotation of non-Venetian, specifically Roman Moses Drawing Water from the Rock (Fig. 20.34) the subject
sources, for a work dedicated to Venice’s patron saint. At alludes to the brothers’ commitment to provide food and
the center of the composition a tumbling apparition of drink for the poor. At the center of the canvas, Moses strikes
St. Mark is based on Tintoretto’s study of Michelangelo’s a rock and powerful streams of water erupt from it, filling
Sistine ceiling. At the left, the pivoting mother and child plates, bowls, and jars held out eagerly by the parched
evoke similar figures in Raphael’s The Fire in the Borgo (see Israelites. Tintoretto uses many of the same dramatic devices
Fig. 17.31). They and other agitated figures provide the he had employed nearly thirty years earlier for the Scuola
frame for the foreshortened, nude body of a devotee of di San Marco: sharp contrasts between light and dark,
St. Mark whom legend said infidels repeatedly attempted rich color, forceful gestures, exaggerated foreshortenings,
to mutilate and martyr. St. Mark’s inter-
cession rendered their tools ineffective,
as shown by the broken implements in
the foreground of the painting and the
splintered axe held aloft by the turbaned
executioner. Pulsating with color, the
work gave the Scuola, which finally
accepted it in 1562—fourteen years after it
was painted—a vivid means of promoting
the cult of their patron saint.
Soon Tintoretto earned commissions
from other scuole as well. None was more
successful in securing his services than the
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, not founded
until the late fifteenth century but very
popular because its patron saint was
renowned for offering protection from the
plague, an increasingly common threat.
The Scuola’s headquarters were not com-

20.31 Pieta, begun c. 1570, left unfinished in 1576,

painted by Titian for his own burial site at the Altar
of the Holy Cross, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,
Venice, completed by Palma Giovane. Oil on canvas,
117 6%" x 12’ 9%" (3.51 x 3.89 m) (Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice)

Titian’s tomb in the Frari is now marked by an

extravagant marble monument created 1838-52
by Pietro and Luigi Zandomeneghi.

474 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

20.32 Miracle of St. Mark, 1548, commissioned by the Scuola Grande di San Marco from Jacopo Tintoretto for the main hall of the Scuola Grande di San
Marco, Venice. Oil on canvas, 12’ 10%" x 10’ 4%” (3.93 x 3.17 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

and even a figure flying through the sky (in this case God Tintoretto painted several large ceiling panels for the
the Father). Appropriate to its placement on the ceiling elaborate program, which emphasized Venice’s military
rather than on a wall, however, the subject is composed achievements (especially in the eastern Mediterranean),
from well below. The Israelites seem in danger of slipping celebrated the city’s unique form of government, touted
down a steep hill into the viewer’s space; streams of water civic freedom, and claimed Venice’s parity with the papacy
appear to pour out over the room. Thanks to the artist’s and the Holy Roman Empire. Tintoretto’s most important
lightning-quick brushstrokes and highlights, the action contribution to the enterprise was the replacement of
seems caught for just a moment, not frozen in a tableau as Guariento’s 1365 Coronation of the Virgin (see Fig. 7.18),
in the earlier painting. ‘located behind the dais on which the doge and leading patri-
cians sat during meetings of the Great Council (Fig. 20.35).
Celebrating the City in the Perhaps because of his artistic willfulness and discussions
about the relative lack of finish in many of his works,
Doge’s Palace Tintoretto was not the first choice for this commission,
which was initially assigned to Paolo Veronese (Paolo
Major fires in the Doge’s Palace in 1574 and 1577 necessi- Cagliari; 1528 Verona-1588 Venice), and Francesco Bassano
tated the wholesale renovation of its pictorial decoration, (Francesco dal Ponte the Younger; 1549 Bassano-1592
and artists received explicit instructions about subject Venice). When Veronese died in 1588 the work had not
and even composition, the idea being to emulate the visual been begun, but it had been decided that it would continue
authority of the destroyed works as closely as possible. to center around Christ and Marty, preserving the general

CELEBRATING THE CITY IN THE DOGE’S PALACE 475

 bevond in order to accommodate the multitudes of celebrat-
us of Tintoretto’s composition was to be Christ ing people stipulated in the commission. At the base,
Mary, eliminating the flanking scenes of the Venice’s smiling subjects seem undisturbed by the enor-
Knnuncianion and setting Christ as the supreme authority, mous size and energy ofcareening horsemen in their midst,
to whom Mary is subsidiary. The seething crowds of saints reminders of Venice’s considerable military might.
and angels purposefully suggest a Last Judgment, remind- Illusionistic foreshortenings and dramatic light effects serve
ng Great Council members of the gravity and enduring to give political allegory a previously unimagined dynamism
of their deliberations and actions. and visual excitement.

COSTS O} Chi ce, one of thirty-five panels on the Patronage of Commercial and
ceiling of the same
of clouds,
room (Fig. 20.36). Rising above a bank
the royally garbed personification of Venice sits
Ecclesiastical Projects
enthroned between the twin towers of the city’s Arsenal,
about to be crowned with laurel by flying victories. Arrayed Equally crucial to the city’s self-image in the second half
her feet and offering her wise counsel are personifications of the sixteenth century were ongoing improvements to the
of Peace, Abundance, Fame, Happiness, Honor, Security, urban infrastructure, the renovation of civic commercial
and Freedom. An especially splendid triumphal arch, fronted facilities, and the erection of churches that enjoyed close
by owisting columns, marks the top of an enormous balcony associations with civic devotion and ritual. With Sansovino’s
which seems to burst through the ceiling into the ether major enhancements to the area around San Marco well

70 22
20.33 Perper
terior wit Gala
of Sala (cra nin Crt > = a m = c
Grande, Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, completed 1560, ceilingg= and wall paintings by Tintoretto

476 ENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

 20.34 Moses Drawing Water from the Rock, c. 1577,
commissioned by the Scuola Grande di San Rocco
from Jacopo Tintoretto for the ceiling of the main
meeting hall of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco,
Venice. Oil on canvas, 18’ x 17’ 1" (5.5 x 5.2 m)

The ceilings and walls of the entire Scuola are covered

with paintings by Tintoretto. A commission ofthree
Scuola members was charged with examining, judging,
and approving the paintings.

20.35 Paradise, after 1588, commissioned by

the Venetian government from Jacopo Tintoretto
for the Great Council Hall, Doge’s Palace, Venice.
Oil on canvas

PATRONAGE OF COMMERCIAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL PROJECTS 477

20.36 Apotheosisof
Venice, probably 1585,
commissioned by the

Venetian gov ernment

from Paolo Veronese

for the ceiling of the
Great Council Hall,
Doge’s Palace, Venice.
Oil on canvas, 29' 8”
x 19’ (9.04 x 5.79 m)

20.37 Fabbriche
Nuove, Venice,
1554-56, extended
1557, commissioned
by the Proveditori
sopra la Fabrica del
Ponte de Rialto from
Jacopo Sansovino

478 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

underway (see pages 466-68), city leaders could pay more but must have accommodated some business activities
critical attention to the mundane and commercial needs of as well. The simple articulation of the building’s facade—a
the city. At the same time, the need for divine protection rusticated ground floor and simple Doric and ionic pilasters
against natural and human disasters inspired the renova- framing single pedimented windows in the repetitive bays
tion and creation of highly visible and newly monumental above—contrasts markedly with the opulence of Sansovino’s
houses of worship. design for the San Marco Library (see Fig. 20.22), not a sign
of Sansovino’s flagging energy as an architect but a manifes-
The Fabbriche Nuove tation of the structure’s commercial function.

Ever since two disastrous fires in the Rialto business district The Rialto Bridge
in 1S0S and 1514, city officials had been rebuilding and
renovating shops, storerooms, and offices in this extremely Throughout this period, city officials turned again and again
vital and cramped part of the city. During the Cambrai Wars to the prospect of rebuilding the old wooden drawbridge
expenditures were kept as low as possible, often meaning at Rialto (see Fig. 13.24), located just up the Grand Canal
that new structures reused old foundations and few changes from Sansovino’s Fabbriche Nuove. Despite numerous
were made to the urban plan, which was a maze of private complaints, followed by official discussions and plans
and public ownership. Finally in 1550 the government submitted by Sansovino, as well as Michelangelo and others,
decided to demolish some indecorous, decaying wooden the Venetian government did not commit to its reconstruc-
shops along the Grand Canal and build a single large tion until 1588, making it the last of the century’s major
structure housing shops and warehouses for the city’s fruit urban renewal projects. The chosen design (Fig. 20.38)
market. Commerical leases paid the construction expenses. is by Antonio da Ponte (1512 Venice?-1597 Venice), a
The elderly Jacopo Sansovino, still the dominant architect master builder who worked on some of the most important
in the city, designed and oversaw the project (Fig. 20.37), civic projects in Venice, including military fortifications.
though a quirk of politics—the architect evidently made His bridge is consummately Venetian, leaping the canal in
some serious enemies during his work on the Zecca and a single 157-foot (48-meter) span and avoiding much of
the Library (see Figs. 20.21 and 20.22)—assured that he was the complication of earlier proposals. It is also pragmatic,
never formally elected as supervisor of the work. In order to respecting the necessity of providing shops, lit from front
enlarge the site slightly, Sansovino was allowed to encroach and back, on both sides of the bridge and tall enough at the
on the Grand Canal, whose curving course he respected by center to allow boats to pass under it easily. The bridge
bending the building at its midpoint. Employing brick and is also sensitive to human needs, featuring a gentle gradient
stone for all the walls and foundations, Sansovino made the and the reward of an open viewing platform at its summit.
structure fireproof, not even including any fireplaces in the With its completion, the city’s commercial center at Rialto
two upper stories, which were mainly intended for storage was as worthy a site of civic pride as Piazza San Marco.

20.38 Rialto Bridge, Venice,

1588-91, commissioned by
the Venetian government
from Antonio da Ponte

Throughout the fifteenth

and sixteenth centuries the
Venetians replaced hundreds
of small wooden bridges
with stone structures. A local
chronicler indicated that
bridges took on new, higher
profiles to accommodate
the cabins that had become
popular on the gondolas of
the nobles. At Rialto, the
steep curve allowed large ships
and barges to pass easily.

PATRONAGE OF COMMERCIAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL PROJECTS 479

Palladio vaults. The rigorous geometry underlying the plan and
determining the relationship between all the structural
One of the architects whose design for the Rialto Bridge was members is relieved by the slight swelling of the applied
rejected (probably because government officials were not columns and pilasters—the classical principles of entasis
keen to disturb private businesses by expropriating land on used creatively with the Corinthian order rather than the
either end of the bridge necessary to fulfill his plans) was usual Doric. A softly bulging cushion molding intervenes
Andrea di Pietro of Padua, known as Palladio (1508 Padua- between the columnar supports and the strongly projecting
1580 Vicenza). Palladio was given his classical nickname
(after Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom) by Gian Giorgio
Trissino, a humanist patrician of Vicenza on the Venetian
mainland who discovered the young stonemason and pro-
vided him with the education that both unleashed and har-
nessed his formidable creative talents. Palladio had learned
the building trades from the ground up; with tutoring from
Trissino and several trips accompanying his patron to
Rome, he became his generation’s most eloquent promoter
of antique building types and by the 1550s had established
a thriving practice in Vicenza. In 1554 he published his
own little guidebook to the antiquities of Rome, followed
in 1556 by illustrations for Daniele Barbaro’s commentaries
on Vitruvius. Palladio’s writings culminated in 1570 with
The Four Books on Architecture, a treatise organized by build-
ing types in which he laid out the rules of ancient architec-
ture, illustrating them with numerous examples from
his own buildings. The clean lines and clear geometry of
his designs made them suited to graphic representation,
assuring the dispersion of his ideas throughout Europe and
to colonial America.

San Giorgio Maggiore

20.39 San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, begun 1565, commissioned by
In 1565 Palladio began rebuilding the Benedictine church Abbot Andrea Pampuro da Asolo from Andrea Palladio
and monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore on the island The doge and the Venetian senators made an annual visit to San Giorgio on
directly across the lagoon from the Doge’s Palace (Figs. 20.39 the feast of St. Stephen (December 26).
and 20.40). The form and grandeur of the church depend
directly on its location, highly visible from the representa-
tional and celebratory center of the city at San Marco. Every 20.40 San Giorgio Maggiore,
year on the day after Christmas the doge and senators made Venice, plan
a solemn visit to the church. In his Four Books, Palladio
advocated a central plan as the most suitable for a church
because it was “most apt to demonstrate the Unity, the
infinite Essence, the Uniformity and Justice of God.” Here
as elsewhere, however, he respected the preference ofecclesi-
astical and civil authorities for a long nave and ample tran-
septs—in this case to accommodate the annual procession of
the doge—devising a Latin cross plan crowned with a dome
at its crossing. He also made concessions to the needs of his
monastic patrons by placing their choir in the apse, behind
the high altar, rather than in the traditional rows in front
of it; this was in response to new Church directives that x
the laity have an unobstructed view of the altar. Palladio’s ee .

nave, with its rhythmic interplay of attached columns and N

pilasters, is impressive and yet welcoming. Unlike the impos-

ing but dark churches of the Byzantine revival, whose 20yds
domes were originally unilluminated, the church is filled ——_———
20m
with light from large thermal windows directly under the

480 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

entablature. The effect is lucid and harmonious, space
modeled by, and yet flowing around, the building’s struc-
tural supports.

The Redentore

The end of a particularly virulent outbreak of the plague

in the summer of 1576 resulted in Palladio’s receiving a
commission for another church, this one built on the
adjacent island of the Giudecca. During the plague the doge
had vowed that when it ended the city would erect a church
to Christ the Redeemer in gratitude. Work began on the
church almost immediately; and the following year, on the
feast of the Redeemer (the third Sunday in July), the Venetian
government established the custom—still observed—of a
civic procession over a bridge of boats to a service of thanks-
giving in the church.
Palladio’s design for the Redentore (Fig. 20.41) gives
great prominence to the facade. Raised on a podium and
approached by a broad stairway, well suited to the frontal
approach dictated by the annual ceremony, the facade
employs a subtle arrangement of interlocking triangles,
pilasters, and attached columns. Palladio’s design provided 20.41 The Redentore (Church of the Redeemer), Venice, begun 1577,
an ingenious solution to the problem of adapting a Roman commissioned by the Venetian government from Andrea Palladio

CONTEMPORARY |

Plague in Venice
This account of the plague that devastated to one “of suspicion,” | was compelled to such a way that from one day to the next all
Venice in 1576-77 was written by a spend forty days confined at home. bodies were buried. The dead from the city
Venetian notary, Rocco Benedetti, some The fate of those who lived alone was who had been assessed as “of concern”
years after the event, in 1630. Nevertheless, wretched, for, if they happened to fall ill, were taken for burial in their coffins at
it conveys vividly the terror and despair there was no one to lend them any assist- Sant’Avario di Torcello. And, because nei-
experienced by the citizens at the time. ance, and they died in misery. And, when ther the Certosa nor any ofthe other places
two or three days had passed without their assigned for airing goods was big enough,
The plague continued, killing more people appearing and giving an account of them- and because goods had to be aired for as
with every hour that passed, and every day selves, their deaths were suspected. And long as forty days, so that most were
inspiring greater terror and deeper com- then the corpse-bearers, entering the ruined by exposure to air, wind and rain by
passion for its poor infected victims. houses by breaking down the doors or day and by night, permission was given to
Onlookers wept as these people were car- climbing through the windows, found those with spacious houses to air [their
ried down to their doors by their sons, them dead in their beds or on the floors or goods] themselves at home or in other suit-
fathers and mothers, and there in the pub- in other places to which the frenzy of the able places.
lic eye their bodies were stripped naked and disease had carried them ... To sum it all up, in maintaining so many
shown to the doctors to be assessed. The When the bodies could no longer be people and bearing such expense the Doge
same had to be done for the dead, and | burned because ofthe great stench, a cem- spent a huge sum of money. Administration
myself had to carry down three whom | had etery was established a little way offon the became chaotic, so that all the Savi [offi-
lost: my mother, my brother, and a nephew. Lido, at a place called Cavanella, and there cials] were bewildered, not seeing how to
Neither in life nor in death had they shown very deep pits were dug. Following the provide for so great a need, nor which
any symptom of plague, but they were practice at the Lazzaretto, a layer of corpses course to take to protect us from such a
assessed by the parish doctor as “of con- was placed in them, and then a layer of hail of arrows, showered down in all direc-
cern” and, since there was an order that lime, and then a layer of earth, and so on tions by the plague.
[two] cases “of concern” were equivalent from layer to layer until they were full, in

(from D.S. Chambers and B. Pullan withJ. Fletcher. Venice: A Documentary History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, pp. 117-19)

PALLADIO 481
20.42 Villa Barbaro, Maser, 1555-59, commissioned by Daniele and Marc’Antonio Barbaro from Andrea Palladio

Palladio’s villas were built of economical materials faced in tinted stucco, unlike his city palaces, which were usually faced in stone.

temple front to the high nave and lower side aisles of the At the Villa Barbaro in Maser (Figs. 20.42 and 20.43), his
church. He combined two temple fronts: a tall, narrow patrons, the brothers Daniele and Marc’Antonio Barbaro,
one for the center unit fronting the nave with pilasters at explicitly sought to recreate a Triclinium described by Pliny
either side and attached columns emphasizing the entrance, the Younger at his commodious seaside villa outside ancient
and a broad, lower one recessed behind the first. For all its Rome, opening all four sides of the building to a cross-
complexity, the design manages to convey an impression shaped, barrel-vaulted, central hall. Given the paucity of
of serene simplicity. The attic story over the main pediment physical evidence on Roman villas available to Palladio and
evokes associations with the Pantheon in Rome, while,
rising triumphantly above these classical forms, the bulbous
Venetian dome flanked by turrets proudly proclaims the
city’s Byzantine heritage.

Villa Barbaro

By the mid-sixteenth century, Venice’s maritime activities

were in permanent decline, weakened both by the Turks and
by fellow Europeans, who had rounded the Cape of Good
Hope and had begun exploring the Americas. Venetian
nobles acquired land in the countryside between their city
and Vicenza and built impressive villas, not only because
they wanted and needed a country retreat, but also as a
gesture of defiance 1n the face of challenges to their
mainland empire. Unlike the suburban villas of papal Rome
(see Figs. 21.13 and 21.14) or such pleasure palaces as that
built by Federigo Gonzaga in Mantua (see Fig. 19.3), these
buildings were the functional centers of large working
farms, many built on recently drained swamps. To ennoble
these sites and bring them into conformity with Venetian
nostalgia for the supposedly idyllic rural life of antiquity,
a number of Venetian noblemen hired Palladio as the 20.43 Villa Barbaro, Maser, plan, from Andrea Palladio,
Quattro Libri
architect for their villas. Palladio centered his villa designs dell’Architettura, 1570

around a main residence fronted by a classical portico. 1 Courtyard; 2 Main residence: 3 Service wings;
4 Nymphaeum

482 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTALITY

his patrons, the complex fails as an archaeological recon- bodice, which may indicate that she is Giustiniana’s loyal
struction, but it is an inspired evocation of antiquity; some nursemaid (a small dog, symbol of fidelity, sits pertly in
of its unusually ornate sculptural decoration may be the front of her). The jarring contrast between the two serves to
work of Marc’Antonio Barbaro himself, who was an ama- emphasize Giustiniana’s superior social status and fecund
teur painter and sculptor. Making a virtue of necessity, youth, while at the same time suggesting the close bonds
Palladio increased the apparent size of the house by extend- among all female members of the household. Next to them,
ing it with an arcaded gallery which joins it to twin service the youngest Barbaro boy, still presumably directly in his
buildings accommodating stables, storerooms, and wine mother’s care, peers at a parrot from the left side of one of
cellars. The plan Palladio published in his Four Books (see the spiraling columns. On the opposite side of the room,
Fig. 20.43) indicates that the side buildings and the agrarian two older and presumably more independent boys read
activities that took place in them were to have been partially and attend to a hunting dog, while a pet monkey gambols
obscured by enclosed forecourts, while the residence itself was across the parapet. Together these figures declare this a
to have been preceded by a classically inspired hemispherical domestic space, one which was ordered and administered
entrance wall, repeated in the shape of anymphaeum at the by Giustiniana in the Barbaro brothers’ frequent absences.
far side of the house. Rigorously symmetrical, as were all his Tellingly, at the center, in an octagonal oculus, a female
designs, the plan established two clear axes, giving symme- figure dressed in white and sitting on a beast probably
try and order to the villa’s multiple functions. represents Divine Love, who has conquered strife (the beast)
The decoration inside the villa seems to have been entirely and now imposes order on the universe. Personifications of
assigned to Paolo Veronese whose frescoes and stucco works the signs of the zodiac surround her. Vulcan, Cybele,
enhance and elaborate Palladio’s rather severe architectural Neptune, and Juno sit on clouds in the pentagonal corners
forms. Veronese’s rich decorative style and sumptuous but of Veronese’s imagined architecture, alluding to the four
delicate colors made him the favorite
painter of the Venetian nobility. The
specific program is difficult to eluci-
date and is often described as lacking
a specific subject, but in his transla-
tion and commentary on Vitruvius,
Daniele Barbaro said that painting,
like literature and music, “must have
intentions and represent some effect
that controls or directs the entire
composition.” The predominance of
allegorical figures and landscapes
suggests that Barbaro intended to
celebrate the natural world and the
virtues of his family.
On the ceiling of the central room
at the back of the residence (Fig.
20.44), overlooking the nymphaeum,
Veronese took inspiration from
Mantegna’s famous illusionistic com-
position in the Camera Picta in
Mantua (see Fig. 14.34). At the sides,
arching above idealized landscapes,
are illusionistic balconies. On one
side stands the splendidly garbed lady
of the house, Giustiniana Giustinian,
next to a swarthy old servantwoman
with one breast covered by the cloth
of her shawl but distinctly outside her

20.44 Allegory of Divine Love, after 1559,

commissioned by Daniele and Marc’Antonio
Barbaro from Paolo Veronese for Villa
Barbaro, Maser. Fresco

PALLADIO 483
 Palladio’s villas, the exterior is rather plain. fhe setting
ents of fire, earth, water, a
nade it grand and inspired to give each side of the
each of the four seasons recline
house, built on a centralized plan (Fig. 20 46), a pedimented
in the spandrels between them.
loggia, so as to enjoy, in the architect’s words, “beauuful
views on every side, some of which are limited, others more
The Villa La Rotonda
distant, and sul on.” Each
extremely
The Church dignitary and humanist Monsi r Paolo portico is approached
Almerico chose a site overlooking the gentle deployment rectangie

residences in that it was built primarily as a suburt etreat

rather than as a working farm. As was the case
“2 all ofof
withth all upon
uf which it rests. Passageways onginally interrupted the

20.45 Villa La Rotonda, Vicenza, begun late 1560s, commissioned by Paolo

A later owner, Mario Capra, inserted his name on tablets the middle of each entabler The mtennr ort ea ee
eighteenth century. Bae lea "a ;

20.46 (left) Villa La Rotonda

ie 1 Seating: 2 Pros nm
3 S&

ae ee Ske
\<

484 VENICE: VISION AND MONUMENTAL

center of each of the building’s four exterior staircases to the apparent depth of the stage. Following classical practice,
allow carts easy access to ground-floor work areas, which however, nearly all the dramatic action took place in front
contained internal staircases leading to an attic granary. The of the proscenium. Members who contributed funds for
building’s main floor was designed for gracious and luxuri- the construction received commemoration with a statue,
ant entertaining, with symmetrically disposed rectangular inscription, and their coat of arms on one of the pedestals of
reception rooms encircling a domed central hall. the columns on the proscenium and in niches surrounding
the seating. Many donors were decidedly negligent in their
The Teatro Olimpico payments, however; the inaugural performance, in 1585, of
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, was made possible only because the
Palladio’s masterful appreciation of ancient buildings academy’s president (known as the “prince”) took out his
and long-standing relationship with Vicentine humanists own personal loan to underwrite the extravagant costs.
earned him the unusual honor of being named a member of Ancient models had come alive both in Venice and on the
the Olympic Academy, formed in 1555 to encourage the Venetian mainland, but Palladio’s archaeological recreation
revival and production of ancient theatrical works. For this at the Teatro Olimpico was exceptional. In order to fashion
group of scholars, Palladio designed his most thoroughly a new world that celebrated themselves and their city,
archaeological creation, the Teatro Olimpico (Figs. 20.47 and most patrons preferred that their artists and architects
20.48), which was completed after his death—as were many adapt, respond to, and create novel variations upon ancient
of Palladio’s projects—by the Veronese architect Vincenzo precedents while at the same time respecting the city’s other
Scamozzi (1548 Vicenza-1616 Venice). The seating was long traditions. Masking the realities of a slow and inevita-
arranged as a series of concentric steps facing a richly ble decline in Venice’s fortunes throughout the sixteenth
articulated proscenium resembling the facade of a grand century, this art and architecture helped to sustain the city’s
palace, with several openings. Scamozzi added street vistas independence and triumphalist self-imaging well into the
set in perspective behind the openings so as to increase eighteenth century.

ywf :ry[

20.48 Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, 1555-1616, commissioned by the Accademia Olimpica from Andrea Palladio and completed by
Vincenzo Scamozzi

PALLADIO 485
 _ The Later Sixteenth Century

21 The Rome of Paul III 488

22 Northern Italy: Reform and Innovation 501
23 Florence under Cosimo | 517
24 Rome: A European Capital City oot

ong nature of artistic production changed irrevocably during the later part of the
sixteenth century. Major religious reforms, the coalescence oflarge national states—
led.by strong kings and queens—and a renewed and truly universal Church proved
dominant in a radically reordered geographical world. Increased urbanization throughout
Europe, the waning ofthe international economic power of small independent city-states
in Italy, and the emergence of new economic forces within the cultures of Europe as a
whole also deeply affected artistic production and reception. Distinct regional styles
waned in favor of a uniform style promoted both by the Church and by autocratic rulers
sharing similar designs on power. The print medium (both individual images and books)
fostered artistic exchange between cities, allowing new ideas to travel much more quickly
than before and transforming local styles as artists more and more shared a common
body of references. The role of the artist also changed. Artistic academies burgeoned
across Europe, a cottage industry of prescriptive artistic treatises arose, and artists and
patrons gained direct access to artistic history and ideas through compendia like Vasari’s
Lives. With the explosive growth ofcities and an expansion ofthe burgher class, new
genres of painting like the still life also evolved, free of earlier typologies and conventions.
The processes ofthis exciting transformation ofthe arts in Italy was complicated as
old centers of activity waned and new centers of support grew. By the end of the century
Rome had become the center of artistic creativity not only for Italy but for all of Europe,
a role that it maintained until the late eighteenth century when Paris superceded it as the
European artistic capital. »

(opposite) Christ in Limbo,

(detail), 1552, commissioned
by Giovanni Zanchini from
Agnolo Bronzino for the
Zanchini Chapel, Santa
Croce, Florence. (Museo di
Santa Croce)

487
 The Rome of Paul III

of the papacy and of the Church. But

as triumphalist as his architectural
projects were in claiming a universal
religious order and a controlling
power in the city, Paul’s other com-
missions suggest the struggles inher-
ent in attempts to reassert control
over a Church and state that had radi-
cally changed prior to his papacy.
Having spent some years of his
youth in the Florentine court of
Lorenzo the Magnificent, Paul was
well versed in the power of art to
enhance the position of the patron.
Made a cardinal in 1493 (although
not ordained as a priest until 1519),
he had also witnessed the develop-
ment of the arts in Rome under Julius
II and Leo X. Paul’s projects were care-
fully chosen, historically charged in
their siting and context, and ulti-
mately of amagnitude comparable to
those of Julius I] and appropriate for
someone who, like Julius, claimed a
universal rulership. Moreover, they
were at a scale indicating that, despite
the Reformation and the Sack of
Rome, the Church had triumphed
over adversity.
Paul’s two greatest legacies to the
Church were his support of new
religious orders, especially the Jesuits,
to whom he gave official recognition
in 1540, and his opening, albeit reluc-
tantly, of the Council of Trent in
1545. The Jesuits, a powerful new teaching order, soon had
hen Alessandro Farnese was elected to the papacy as an international network of communities. The Council of
Paul III in 1534, he was the first Roman to hold that Trent, which continued intermittently until 1563, gave new
office since Martin V in the early fifteenth century. As a guidelines for a post-Reformation Roman Church which
Roman he must have felt keenly the city’s humiliation in the were to affect its teachings and its liturgy, and therefore its
Sack of 1527. He faced the double task of bringing new art, for the next four hundred years.
order to the social and political life of the city and of renew-
ing the tenets and practices of the Church that had been Michelangelo’s Last Judgment
heavily challenged by many Protestant reformers. Since Paul
enjoyed the longest reign of any of the popes of the six- Paul’s
)- at
first
ae
major
.
commission
>
in 1534 was for the Sistine
.: & C:

teenth century, he had ample time to reconstruct the image Chapel, giving little doubt of his intentions to affilia
te his

488
 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

A Word of Advice
In this letter from the poet Pietro Aretino aspires. So, then, that Michelangelo stu- The pagans when they made statues
(1492-1557) to Michelangelo, the writer pendous in his fame, that Michelangelo | do not say of Diana who is clothed, but
takes the artist to task for what he claims renowned for prudence, that Michelangelo of naked Venus, made them cover with
are indecencies in the Last Judgment. The whom all admire, has chosen to display their hand the parts which should not
irony is that Aretino was himself the to the whole world an impiety of irreligion be seen. And here there comes a Christian
author of many lascivious works, includ- only equalled by the perfection ofhis paint- who, because he rates art higher than faith,
ing the famous Sonnetti lussuosi (“Luxurious ing! Is it possible that you, who, since you deems a royal spectacle martyrs and virgins
Sonnets”), which were illustrated with are divine, do not condescend to consort in improper attitudes, men dragged down
pornographic images comparable to I Modi with human beings, have done this in the by their genitals, things in front of which
(see Fig. 17.38). After his hypocritical greatest temple built to God, upon the brothels would shut their eyes in order not
closing, Aretino adds a postscript promis- highest altar raised to Christ, in the most to see them. Your art would be at home in
ing to tear up his own copy of the letter; sacred chapel upon the earth, where the some voluptuous bagnio [bathhouse], cer-
but when Michelangelo did not reply, mighty hinges of the Church, the venerable tainly not in the highest chapel of the world.
he published a slightly altered version of priests of our religion, the Vicar of Christ, Less criminal were it if you were an infidel,
the letter. with solemn ceremonies and holy prayers, than, being a believer, thus to sap the faith
confess, contemplate and adore his body, of others. Up to the present time the splen-
To the Great Michelangelo Buonarroti in his blood, and his flesh? dor of such audacious marvels has not gone
Rome If itwere not infamous to introduce the unpunished; for their very superexcellence
comparison, | would plume myself upon is the death of your good name. Restore it
Sir, my discretion when | wrote La Nanna. | to good repute by turning the indecent parts
When | inspected the complete sketch of would demonstrate the superiority of my of the damned to flames, and those of the
the whole of your Last Judgment, | arrived prudent reserve to your immodesty, blessed to sunbeams; or imitate the mod-
at recognizing the eminent graciousness seeing that I, while handling themes lascivi- esty of Florence, who hides your David’s
of Raffaello in its agreeable beauty of ous and immodest, use language comely shame beneath some gilded leaves [see Fig.
invention. and decorous, speak in terms beyond 16.1]. And yet that statue is exposed upon a
Meanwhile, as a baptized Christian, | reproach and inoffensive to chaste ears. public square, not in a consecrated chapel.
blush before the license, so forbidden to You, on the contrary, presenting so awful a As | wish that God may pardon you, |
man’s intellect, which you have used in subject, exhibit saints and angels, these do not write this out of any resentment ...
expressing ideas connected with the high- without earthly decency, and those without (November 1545, in Venice. Your serv-
est aims and final ends to which our faith celestial honors. ant, The Aretine)

(from J.A. Symonds, trans. The Life of Michelangelo. London: J.C. Nimmo, 1899, pp. 333-36)

papacy with those of Sixtus IV and Julius II. For the fresco Judgment for the altar wall. The commission entailed the
of the Last Judgment (Fig. 21.1) Paul brought Michelangelo destruction of pre-existing frescoes on that wall, including
back to Rome from Florence, where he had been working Perugino’s altarpiece and Michelangelo’s own work from
on Medici commissions at San Lorenzo. Michelangelo had earlier in the century.
previously discussed with Clement VII the possibility of a For many years the Last Judgment was so obscured by grime
large fresco of the Fall of the Rebel Angels for the entrance ‘that its outlines, not to mention its original colors, were all
wall of the chapel; but Paul changed both the subject and but indiscernible. The cleaning of the fresco, finished in
the placement of Michelangelo’s work, insisting on a Last 1994, shows that Michelangelo used some of the same
intense colors that he had employed on the ceiling of the
chapel and that even in the darker areas of the painting at
21.0 (opposite) Pope Paul Ill and His Grandsons, Cardinal Alessandro the lower edge, where the dead arise from their graves at the
Farnese and Ottavio Farnese, 1546, commissioned by Pau! III from Titian. left and the damned are faced with hell on the right, he was
Oil on canvas, 6’ 6%" x 5! 8%" (2 x 1.74 m) (Gallerie Nazionali di
concerned with details of the human (and demonic) bodies.
Capodimonte, Naples)
The heroically scaled and dramatically posed bodies may
This painting is usually euphemistically called “Pope Paul and his Nephews,”
be considered a development of Michelangelo’s figural style
obscuring the fact that many Church leaders had illegitimate children in
this period. seen in the ceiling above (see Fig. 17.12). Yet their fleshy,

THE ROME OF PAUL III 489

21.1 Last Judgment, 1534-41, commissioned by Paul Ill from Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel,
Rome. Fresco, 48 x 44’ (14.6
x 13.41 m)

490 THE ROME OF PAUL III

21.2 Christ and the Virgin (detail of Last Judgment), 1534-41,
commissioned by Paul III from Michelangelo for the Sistine
Chapel, Rome. Fresco

overdeveloped muscles also refer to Hellenistic

sculpture like the bronze Hercules given by Sixtus IV
in 1471 to the Capitoline Hill (where Michelangelo
was also working in these years) and to the Roman
copy in marble of Lysippus’s statue Hercules Resting
in the collection of Francesco Piccolomini (Pius
Il), another of Michelangelo’s patrons.
The fresco is unusual in that Michelangelo did
not include an architectural frame, as he had
done for the ceiling. Its absence implies absence of
wall, as if the chapel had been blasted out by
the Judgment Day itself. In this terrifying vision,
Christ appears in the band offigures aligned with
the window area of the side walls (Fig. 21.2). He
is neither seated, in the traditional manner, nor
standing, but half-crouched, his body turning
in a corkscrew movement suspended in space. The
Virgin, readily visible in her ice-blue drapery, turns
in on herself, the only figure in the composition
psychologically disengaged from the surrounding
tumult, perhaps because her intercessory powers
no longer pertain at the moment of the Last
Judgment. St. Peter stands in the group of figures
to the right; he is the largest figure in the fresco
and clearly a potent image of the papal office,
wielding the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven sym-
bolically given to him by Christ. A large-scaled St.
Simon ofCyrene, the man who helped Christ carry
his cross, has a prominent position at the far right
edge of the fresco in a pose that appears designed
to help him balance the cross on his back but that
in its upper body approximates that of Christ at the center fictions of human beings in his sculpture and painting, an
of the fresco. “affectionate fantasy that made art an idol and sovereign”
By and large the saints who fill the wide upper band of as he was to write in a later poem.
the fresco are unidentified. Some few, however, are telling St. Blaise, holding the carding combs with which he was
in their references. Just beneath Christ and the Virgin, martyred, and St. Catherine of Alexandria, holding the
St. Lawrence, a saint used repeatedly in papal iconography broken wheel with spikes protruding from its rim which
at least as early as the frescoes in the Sancta Sanctorum at was an instrument of her torture, are among the more
the end of the thirteenth century (see Fig. 2.3), appears with curious figures in the painting. A contemporary print by
his symbol ofthe gridiron. He is paired with St. Bartholomew, Giorgio Ghisi (1520 Mantua-1582 Mantua) indicates that
whose flayed skin was one of the most important relics St. Catherine was originally painted nude (Fig. 21.3), look-
collected by Martin Luther’s protector, the elector of Saxony "ing up at a threatening Blaise hovering above her. Both
in Wittenberg, where Luther famously tacked his theses to were later painted over by Michelangelo’s student Daniele
the cathedral door. Michelangelo gave the flayed skin held da Volterra (Daniele Ricciarell1; 1509 Volterra~1566 Rome).
by St. Bartholomew, at the center right, his own features— Daniele clothed Catherine so that Blaise would not appear
perhaps a mordant comment on his fears about his own to be threatening her nude body as he approached from the
salvation, since he is the only one of the resurrected throng rear, and he gouged out the existing paint surface and
not to have regained his bodily form. The flayed skin may replastered it so that he could reconfigure Blaise’s head to
possibly also be a reference to the skin of Marsyas, the satyr look away rather than down at Catherine.
who challenged Apollo to a musical contest and was flayed Diminution of scale within these large groups of figures
for his hubris, since the “divine” Michelangelo was also suggests a vastness of space, although there are abrupt
acting in competition with God in “creating” convincing changes of scale throughout, size being used conventionally

THE ROME OF PAUL III 491

 21.3 Sts. Blaise and Catherine and
St. Sebastian (detail after Michelangelo’s
Last Judgment), 1545-50, Giorgio Ghisi
(after Michelangelo). Engraving
(British Museum, London)

HAG
HD
Uej

to indicate status. It has been proposed that a turbaned

figure at the upper right of this roiling group of figures 1s a
self-portrait of the artist, thus giving him two appearances
in the fresco, one as a hollow, sagging piece of flesh held by
St. Bartholomew, bodiless amid all the monumentally struc-
tured figures in the fresco, and one corporeal among the
very physically resurrected crowds of humanity surrounding
Christ. Immediately to the left of this possible self-portrait
are two nude men embracing and to the right two men
kissing, figures that may have had personal meaning for
Michelangelo but which others seem to have found disturb-
ing: they were changed in subsequent small painted copies
of the fresco as well as in prints made of the Last Judgment.
The inclusion of the Virgin in the mandorla of the
Divinity suggests references to earlier Last Judgment ico-
nography (see Fig. 8.2), where Mary, as the personification
of Ecclesia, enjoys a position of equality with Christ. Mary’s
shrinking pose in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment is a notable
change in this iconography and may have opened questions
about the Church’s power to grant salvation, despite
St. Peter’s dominating presence. The issues of doubt that
are scattered throughout this fresco are vividly depicted in
a figure isolated spatially above Charon’s boat (Vig. 21.4).
In traditional paintings of the Last Judgment (see Fig. 3.13)
figures in the lower right quadrant represented the damned,
but in Michelangelo’s version, it 1s difficult to read this
bulky figure, his body folding in on itself, his face partially
hidden by his left hand, and his right eye staring straight
out of the picture, as moving downward toward the residual
hell that appears at the far right corner. The figure seems,
rather, frozen in space, oblivious to the demons beneath
and behind him who are ineffectually attempting to pull
21.4 Man being Dragged to Hell (detail of Last Judgment), 1534-41,
him downward. His torment seems completely internal and commissioned by Paul III from Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel
personal, as if his fate depended on his own individual Rome. Fresco

492 THE ROME OF PAUL III

actions rather than on the examples of institutional inter-
vention and demonic power that otherwise populate the
painting. Whether this extraordinarily emotionally charged
figure was meant to focus our attention on the utter terror
of everlasting damnation or whether Michelangelo discon-
nected him compositionally from Hell because of his own
doubts about the very existence of such an end, is not clear.
Ambiguity would have been a form of protection for the
artist, guarding him against charges of heresy. Contemporary
criticism ofthe Last Judgment which focused on the propriety
of so much nudity in a papal chapel and not on the
ambiguities so pervasive in the fresco, may have had, as a
subtext, a diversionary role to play in clouding the paint-
ing’s disguised messages about the role of the Church in
salvation. While the implied doubts of orthodox Church
teaching discussed above are conjectural, it is important to
remember that the Last Judgment was painted at a moment of
some of the severest criticism of the Church from Protestant
reformers and some of the widest rethinking of traditional
doctrine by leading intellectuals within the Church—includ-
ing Michelangelo himself. Whatever the theological implica-
tions of Michelangelo’s fresco, its anomalies in comparison
with other depictions of the Last Judgment continue to
challenge interpretation.

The Deposition
Michelangelo’s own intense personal questioning of the
routes to salvation increased after his meeting with the
poet Vittoria Colonna shortly after beginning work on the
Last Judgment. Through his friendship with Colonna, he met
some ofthose within the Church—such as Cardinal Reginald
Pole of England and the Spaniard Juan de Valdés—who
wished to introduce reforms into Church beliefs and
structures which many within the hierarchy found heretical.
Michelangelo’s Deposition (Fig. 21.5), planned by the
sculptor for his own tomb when he was about seventy,
21.5 Deposition, c. 1546-55, Michelangelo; smashed by the sculptor in
suggests the intensity of his concern for his own salvation. 1555 and pieced together and continued by his student, Tiberio Calcagni.
The vertical axis of the group is defined by the sinking Marble, height 7’ 8” (2.34 m) (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence)
but severely torqued and muscular body of Christ and the Calcagni seems largely to have completed the small female figure at the left
standing hooded figure of Nicodemus who had provided thought to represent Mary Magdalene.
myrrh andaloes for Christ’s burial (John 19:39). Michelangelo
gave Nicodemus his own features (a much more positive
self-representation than the skin held by Bartholomew in often connoting sexual intercourse, in this case suggesting
the Last Judgment), thus clearly aligning himself with the the marriage of Christ with the Church.
promise of redemption offered by Christ. Although the
v

Virgin receives the body of Christ, as in conventional Pieta Triumphalist History

iconography (see Fig. 12.35), Michelangelo displaced her
to the right, assuming for himself the primary role, on the Although these works by Michelangelo may give some
central axis of the composition. If the Virgin is interpreted insight into both his personal conflicts and the deeply felt
as Ecclesia, Michelangelo would then have been suggesting religious questions he shared with others of this time about
heretically that he could take salvation (Christ) into his own Reformation theology and new efforts of reform within the
hands, thus supplanting the intervention of the Church. Roman Church, Paul II consistently attempted to declare
It is not surprising that in 1555 he smashed the unfinished that his papacy was strong and to blur over the difficulties
statue, which may also have raised eyebrows because Christ’s of previous decades in ways that would suggest unbroken
left leg was originally slung over the Virgin’s lap, a pose institutional strength. One sign of this was his decision to

TRIUMPHALIST HISTORY 493

restore the Castel Sant’Angelo, the fortress at the entrance he commissioned from Giorgio Vasari for his palace of
to the Vatican to which Clement VILhad fled in 1527 at the the Cancelleria (Fig. 21.7), which had been seized by Leo X
time of the Sack of Rome. By turning what had been a place in 1513 from Rafaello Riario because of the latter’s involve-
of shame for his predecessor into a splendid retreat, Paul, ment in an assassination plot against the new pope; the
in effect, suppressed its previous ignominious history. In palace subsequently became papal property. As in ancient
the major room of the building, he hired Perino del Vaga, Roman art, the paintings recording the deeds of Paul III
newly returned to Rome after having worked in Genoa combine history and allegory. In Paul III Directing the
after the Sack (see Fig. 19.15), to paint a series of frescoes Construction of St. Peter’s, the standing pope points to St.
depicting ancient emperors—including Alexander the Great, Peter’s in the background, whose building he had immedi-
since Paul’s name was Alessandro Farnese—a clear sign of ately taken up upon becoming pope. The colossal size of the
the universal power he claimed for the papacy. One entire project asserts the renewed strength of the Church as well
wall of the building (Fig. 21.6) imitates an earlier image of as the centrality of the papacy, since the building celebrates
St. Michael overcoming evil by Raphael and the nudes and the first pope. Allegorical figures of Architecture hold out
shields ofthe Sistine ceiling by Michelangelo (see Fig. 17.12). the plans of the building for Paul to see, much as personifi-
Since Perino had worked in Raphael’s workshop, these cations of abstract concepts accompany classical images of
quotations may not seem unusual, especially given the Roman emperors. Despite the elegant and complex poses of
frequency with which works by Raphael and Michelangelo the foreground figures, the didacticism and clarity of this
were quoted during the sixteenth century. But the overtones imagery—far removed from the conceits of Mannerism—
of the Sistine commission are so strong as to suggest that suggest that the patron had called for a grand yet relatively
Paul actively encouraged these stylistic references as a way straightforward narration of the deeds of his grandfather.
to equate his own papacy with the accomplishments of The complex workings of the papal family within the
Julius and Rome before the Sack. larger papal court are evident in a psychologically charged
Paul’s grandson, also named Alessandro Farnese, used a portrait of Paul III with two of his grandsons (see Fig. 21.0).
comparably grand rhetorical vocabulary in paintings that As the guest of the pope in the Vatican, Titian painted the

21.6 Sala Paolina, 1545-47, commissioned by Alessandro Farnese from Perino del
Vaga for Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome. Fresco

494 THE ROME OF PAUL II!

21.7 Paul Ill Directing the Construction of St. Peter’s, detail of Life of Paul III], 1544, commissioned by Alessandro Farnese from Giorgio Vasari for the Sala dei
Cento Giorni, Cancelleria, Rome. Fresco

This room is called the Room of the Hundred Days because it was supposedly completed in the amazingly rapid time of one hundred days. When Michelangelo was
told of this feat he purportedly replied in a typically sharp and succinct manner, “Si vede” or “It looks it.”

group portrait either for Paul II, as a gift with political The pope’s grandsons serve as a study in contrasts.
overtones for the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, or for Alessandro, one of the most important Roman patrons in
the pope’s cardinal-“nephew” (in reality his grandson), his own right and a man of fabulous wealth, stands as
Alessandro Farnese, who appears at the pope’s right hand as an embodiment of the official Church, one assured of his
the apex of a weighty red and white pyramid anchored by power in a volatile court environment. Ottavio, however,
Paul II and the table. Titian captured the undiminished subservient and meek in his bent approach to his grand-
mental powers of the seventy-eight-year-old pope, physically father, appears to understand that his role in the world
stooped but obviously aware (perhaps even suspicious) of was dependent on the aged Paul III. In 1547, aware that Paul
his other “nephew”/grandson Ottavio Farnese’s fawning had been unsuccessful in arranging with the emperor for
approach. The painting, never finished, is far from the tradi- "his assumption of the control of the duchy of Parma and
tion of formal papal family images typified by the fresco of Piacenza, Ottavio associated with his father’s murderer to
Sixtus IV Confirming Platina as Papal Librarian (see Fig. 12.0), gain possession of the cities, an act that undermined
and even from earlier somewhat introspective papal por- Paul’s papal and family authority. Paul’s shift of political
traits such as Raphael’s votive portrait ofJulius II (see Fig. allegiance from Charles V to the French king, and Titian’s
17.28), which Titian had used as a model for an earlier por- perceptive—one might say unflinching and unflattering—
trait of Paul III. Here Titian transformed the personal rela- reading of the personalities involved may explain why the
tions into an emotionally and intellectually compelling painting was never completed. Yet the astuteness of Paul III
narrative, his brushstrokes leaving lightning reflections on remains a dominant feature of the painting, a witness to his
the pope’s velvet cape and a charged emphasis on the pope’s awareness of his office, its history, and the demands that lay
left hand far in excess ofits sketchy description. at the heart of his patronage.

TRIUMPHALIST HISTORY 495

Urbi et Orbi: The City The Capitoline Hill

The papal blessing is traditionally given “urbi et orbi” (“to the After becoming pope, Paul used his experience of space and
city and to the world”). This double focus of the papacy scale at the Palazzo Farnese in a more sophisticated manner
governed its commissions throughout the early modern on the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio; Figs. 21.9 and Ziel):
period. The popes had to speak to Rome, which they ruled, Since classical times this site had been the political center of
despite the existence of a Roman senate and civil govern- the city—and its pre-Christian religious center also, crowned
ment, and to the world, for which they claimed to be by the temple ofJupiter. For the visit to Rome in 1536 of the
spiritual rulers and which, in the sixteenth century, had Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Paul planned a triumphal
ever-increasing parameters. In 1517, while still a cardinal, procession through the city which was to include the
Paul III had begun building a palace in Rome that was Capitoline Hill. Embarrassingly, the area was too rough and
clearly intended to broadcast his pre-eminence to his fellow overgrown to accommodate the procession (see Fig. 12.19).
citizens. The design for the Palazzo Farnese (Fig. 21.8), This incident inspired Paul to renovate the area—probably
by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483 Florence-1546 in cooperation with the Conservators (urban magistrates
Terni), then one of Raphael’s assistants as architect at responsible for finances and administration), whose palace
St. Peter’s, made the building one of the greatest private was standing there. For the project he engaged Michelangelo.
residences in the city, comparable to Cardinal Riario’s Paul’s first move—which was opposed by Michelangelo—was
Cancelleria (see Fig. 12.26). When Paul became pope in to transfer the bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus
1534, he enlarged the original design for the facade from Aurelius from the papal palace at St. John Lateran to the
eleven to thirteen bays. At Sangallo’s death in 1546, Paul center of the piazza. Paul thus echoed the gesture made
assigned the completion of the building to Michelangelo, by Sixtus IV who, in 1471, had donated other ancient statues
who planned the third story with its colossal cornice and to the site including fragments of a colossal statue of
added the large central window in the facade as a papal Constantine. Paul’s own gift was considered particularly
benediction loggia. Since Paul III never lived in the building significant, for at the time it was thought that the eques-
after assuming office, the building functioned as a propa- trian statue also represented Constantine, the emperor who
gandistic symbol of papal power rather than as an actual had legitimated Christianity as a state religion and who,
papal residence. The building is larger than any other in the according to papal political fiction had ceded temporal
area. The huge public square in front of it was apparently power over Rome to the papacy when he moved the seat of
meant to be paved in a grid design tied to the width of government to Constantinople in 330.
each bay, thus locking the building with the urban space. Whatever misgivings Michelangelo may have had about
The stolid regularity of the facade, with its alternating repositioning the statue, he designed a magnificent archi-
triangular and curved pediments on the second story, cre- tectural space to frame it. The statue stood at the center
ates an overwhelming impression of strength and grandeur. of the complex on a slightly mounded pavement which was
The central axis of the palace was aligned with a short street to have been decorated by an interlocking stellate pattern,
leading to the Campo dei Fiori, one of the oldest of the whose twelve points refer to the signs of the zodiac, thus
city’s markets and a site of civic justice (see Fig. 12.1), again adding cosmological significance to the site. A long ramp, or
extending the presence ofthe building—and ofthe Farnese— cordonata, led from the medieval city below to the top of the
through the urban fabric. hill, directly on axis with the Marcus Aurelius and the center

21.8 Palazzo Farnese, Rome, begun

1517, commissioned by Alessandro
Farnese from Antonio da Sangallo the
Younger, continued by Michelangelo
in 1546

496 THE ROME OF PAUL III

21.9 (above) Capitoline Hill,
Rome, decision to rebuild made
in 1536, commissioned by Paul III
from Michelangelo; double stair
begun in 1544, cordonata (ramp)
begun under Pius IV in 1561,
Conservators’ Palace begun
in 1563

The pavement, although apparently

planned by Michelangelo, was not
laid until 1940 when Mussolini
recognized the historical importance
of the Capitoline as a symbol of
governance. The gilded bronze
equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius,
which stood at the center of this
architectural complex, has recently
been cleaned and removed to the
protection of the museum in the
Palazzo Nuovo at the left of the site.

21.10 Capitoline Hill, Rome,

reconstruction of Michelangelo’s
project (after Etienne Dupérac)

Ores [Ef (ORIEN Walle Ke iMnye 497

portal of the Senators’ Palace, approached by a long double- Michelangelo introduced a wryly playful Ionic order, flank-
ramped staircase, one of the first of the renovations to be ing the piers at ground level. The volutes ofthe capitals twist
built (see Fig. 12.19). The niche at the center of the staircase elastically around each column, and grotesque masks peek
was intended to house a large statue of Jupiter, the king out at the very top of the capitals. Michelangelo’s inventive-
of the gods (it now houses a too-small figure of Roma). ness is everywhere evident in the complex. Two vocabularies
A baldachin, another symbol of rulership, was to crown are employed at the Conservators’ Palace—one decorous and
the staircase before the main door of the building. The formal, the other willfully manipulating the rules of the
Conservators’ Palace, to the right, was also to be given a order. The first is appropriate as an official language of the
new facade, one bay in depth, and an identical building state, the second perhaps for the diurnal activities of the site
facade was to be constructed across from it to complete the as a bureaucratic center.
symmetry of the piazza.
The scheme was not completed until the late seventeenth St. Peter’s
century, a hundred years after Michelangelo’s death, and its
design was modified in some respects by the Lombard- In 1546 Paul appointed Michelangelo chief architect of St.
trained Giacomo della Porta (c. 1532 Porlezza-1602 Rome). Peter’s in a push to complete the project begun by Julius II
However, the result is essentially as Michelangelo intended: in 1506. Paul had earlier entrusted the continuation of the
a spacious exterior room which could function as a stage set construction to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, his pre-
for ceremonial events. Michelangelo’s renovations and add1- ferred architect. Sangallo’s plan for St. Peter’s (see Fig. 17.6)
tions had to take into account already existing buildings had maintained some of the characteristics of Bramante’s
and also be responsive to the meanings attached to the site. second plan for the building, although he extended one arm
The trapezoidal shape of the plan was forced upon of the cross to create a nave, thus destroying the centrally
Michelangelo by the fact that the old Senators’ and planned scheme so important to Bramante. Sangallo con-
Conservators’ palaces stood at an 80-degree angle to each structed a huge wooden model ofhis plan between 1539 and
other; however, visual distortions at the top of the cordonata 1546; by 1543 he had actually vaulted part of the nave, as
make the trapezoid look like a square, and the oval pave- can be seen in the Cancelleria fresco (see Fig. 21.7).
ment like a circle—geometrical figures considered ideal by Michelangelo reverted to Bramante’s initial central plan,
Renaissance theorists. Michelangelo structured the facade thickened the exterior walls, removed secondary spaces, and
of the Conservators’ Palace, and that of the Palazzo Nuovo in so doing unified the spatial volumes of the structure and
across the piazza, with a colossal order, uniting the entire made the interior especially luminous (Fig. 21.11). This plan
facade. This was a structuring of surface that Bramante had, (see Fig. 17.6) necessitated the destruction of an ambulatory
significantly, experimented with at the Belvedere Palace on Sangallo’s south hemicycle (1548-49), a bold move con-
in the Vatican for Julius II. Corinthian pilasters rise up sidering the building costs already incurred.
through both stories—rather than through only one in For the exterior of the building (Fig. 21.12) Michelangelo
the traditional manner—and support a proportionately again used a colossal order and maintained an appropriately
heavy cornice topped with a balustrade. This colossal order formal vocabulary throughout. His employment of the
unites the entire facade. Within this majestic framework huge flat pilasters around the building’s curves and corners
creates a rippling, muscular surface, accentu-
ated by the step-like movement of the cornice.
YRTHOGRAPIUA PARTIS-INTERIORIS .\ TEMPLI:DIVI-PETRIGIN: VATICANO
Where the hemicycles meet the central square
MICHAEL ANGEL
STEPHAN
4S
YS
BONAROTAINVENIT
DY PERAC: FECTTL
of the plan, Michelangelo added a diagonal
wall unit which softens the contours of the
building, eliminating the sharp corners indi-
cated on the Sangallo plan. Michelangelo’s
original design called for a hemispherical dome,
which, like Bramante’s, would have symbolized
cosmological power for St. Peter buried beneath
and, by extension, for the papacy. That dome
provides one further connection between
Julius’s conceptions of the Church and Paul’s:
, single, worldwide religious power despite the
inroads of the Reformation sects which, at the

21.11 St. Peter’s, Rome, reconstruction ofinterior

presumably based on Michelangelo’s plans (after Etienne
Dupérac) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

498 THE ROME OF PAUL III

 21.12 St. Peter’s, Rome, new project of 1546
using plans by Michelangelo

The building continued after Michelangelo’s death

in 1564 under Giacomo Vignola. On the death of
Vignola in 1573 Giacomo della Porta became the
architect of St. Peter’s; his project for the dome,
significantly altering the hemispherical shape
originally planned by Michelangelo, was approved
in 1586 and was brought to completion from
1588 to 1590. The lantern was completed
between 1590 and 1593.

NS
;
kit
= Private Commissions
The Villa Giulia

After Paul II’s grand schemes for the

restoration of the city of Rome, the
villa planned by his successor, Julius II]
(r. 1550-55), seems quite playful, even
given its nature as a suburban retreat
(Figs. 21.13 and 21.14), indicating
that religious and political reform did
not necessarily extend to personal
beginning ofhis reign Paul III still thought he could reinte- social activity. The Villa Giulia is the work of several differ-
grate into the Roman Church. Even in the form of the ogival ent architects: Vasari, Ammanati, and Giacomo Barozzi da
dome which was ultimately built, this symbolism remains.
The dome is raised on a high drum (partially constructed 21.13 (below left) Villa Giulia, Rome, view into the nymphaeum from the
southeast, 1551-55, commissioned byJulius III from Giacomo Vignola,
1555-57) to give it visibility over the mass of the building.
assisted by Bartolomeo Ammanati and Giorgio Vasari
Like the walls of the building, the drum is treated as a sculp-
tural volume, with applied double columns disguising the 21.14 (below right) Villa Giulia, Rome, plan oflower floor
mass ofthe buttresses that support the dome and with large 1 Entrance to the villa (Vignola); 2 Courtyard
pediments breaking the wall mass over the windows. (Ammanati, 1552); 3 Gardens; 4 Nymphaeum (Ammanati)

PRIVATE COMMISSIONS 499

Vignola (1507 Vignola~1573 Rome), with contribution from The Farnese Hours
Julius himself. Although there is a fortmal entrance—includ-
ing a papal benediction loggia facing the roadway from the Private patronage for personal enjoyment, rather than for
city—the remainder of the villa plays games with the viewer’s public effect, also flourished in Rome. Cardinal Alessandro
expectations of architectural space and the standard forms Farnese commissioned Giulio Clovio (Juraj Klovic; 1498
of palace and villa architecture. There is a clear axis set up Grisone [Grizane], Croatia~1578 Rome) to paint a book of
through the center of the villa, but no way to follow it from hours now known as the Farnese Hours (Fig. 21.15). Biblical
the entrance to the small garden at the opposite end of narratives are paired with apocryphal stories; all are framed
the complex. A loggia screens the first courtyard from the with elaborate architectural borders decorated with sensu-
succeeding spatial areas. Beyond that loggia, the space ous nudes, masks, and floral swags, hardly a manifestation
drops two stories into a nymphaeum, access to which is hid- of the biblical accuracy and decorum demanded by the
den by doorways and stairwells in the walls. At the lowest Protestant or Catholic Reformation, but certainly some-
level of the nymphaeum all of the preceding areas disappear thing Clovio would have remembered from his training with
from sight, leaving the viewer isolated in a small space Giulio Romano before the latter left for Mantua in 1524.
with cool, quiet pools and water-spouting statues imitating In addition to the wonderfully fanciful Farnese Hours,
classical herms, a magical evocation of an actual ancient Alessandro Farnese also commissioned a variant of one of
Roman nymphaeum. Titian’s more lascivious paintings, the Danaé (see Fig. 20.27),
From the entrance of the building the viewer is also where Jupiter has transformed himself into a shower of
invited to follow a semicircular vaulted loggia which leads gold in order to possess the female figure reclining nude
on either side of the complex to walled gardens, completely on her bed. Even in the works of a single artist such as El
unadorned architecturally and thus totally different from Greco (Domenico Theotocopouli; 1541 Candia, Crete-1614
the building itself. Within the villa, wit and play disorient Toledo), who lived for a short time in the Palazzo Farnese
the viewer; views are clear but access is denied, and passage while he was in Rome between 1570 and 1575, Alessandro’s
from one area to another is enlivened by a continual shift eclectic taste is evident. The two El Greco paintings that he
of scale and decoration. The architects have manipulated owned, the traditional biblical scene of Christ Healing the
not only canonic forms but also the visitor’s experience Blind (c. 1570) and an enigmatic and very unusual genre-like
of space. In this building both formal elements and the image of a Boy Lighting a Candle (c. 1570-75), illustrate the
handling of space provide one of the clearest architectural breadth of subject matter in his collection. Such commis-
explorations of Mannerist style of the period. sions are reminders of the cosmopolitan nature of Rome,
a city with an interna-
ES BA ates
¥.
tional court and an
es
itinerant international
artistic community. No
single style or type of
subject matter could
maintain exclusive con-
trol in such an environ-
ment. Nevertheless, a
significant attempt was
initiated during
this
period to regularize and
control religious art and
to assert the moral
power that such art had
traditionally possessed.

21.15 Farnese Hours, pages

showing Annunciation to the
Shepherds and Augustus and the
Sibyl, 1538-46, commissioned
by Alessandro Farnese from
Giulio Clovio. Vellum, each
page 6% x 4%" (17.2 x 11 cm)
(The Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York)

500 THE ROME OF PAUL III

 Northern Italy: Reform and
Innovation

accorded special devotion to the Eucharist

as embodying the true presence of Christ.
These two points—the intercessions of the
saints and the nature of the Eucharist—were
obvious reinforcements of traditional posi-
tions and in clear opposition to Protestant
theology. Thus the changes in the Roman
Church legislated by the Council at its
closing in 1563 can be seen both as a refor-
mation and as a counter-reformation, one
directed to ongoing processes from within,
the other directed to challenges from with-
out. To see the changes in Church teach-
ings—and consequently in its art—merely as
a “Counter-Reformation” is to see only one
part of the picture.
The needs of the reformed Roman
Church after the last session of the Council
of Trent stimulated both renewed and
revised artistic activity, not only in Rome
but throughout Catholic Europe. As a
Church newly secure after the threats of the
Protestant Reformation, Rome attempted
once again to assert its universality, now ina
world that included the Americas and parts
of Africa, India, and eastern Asia. The arts
were an effective form of propaganda with
which to articulate the new confidence of
the Church and its claims to dominance
over the Christian faith. Regulations for
the arts resulting from the decrees of the
IE response to the call for reform within the Catholic Council were, like earlier Protestant treatises, promulgated
Church and to the criticisms made of Rome by Protestant through the print medium and helped to bring about a
leaders, Paul II] convened cardinals and bishops for lengthy uniformity of style and common concerns for propagating
discussions about the future of the Church, its doctrines, orthodoxy in the arts not only for Italy but for all of Catholic
and its practices. Known as the Council of Trent, after the * Europe and its colonies as well.
north Italian city in which four plenary sessions took place Long after the closing of the Council of Trent its
beginning in 1545, the Council argued for liturgical and importance was underscored in a didactic and journalistic
ecclesiastical reform and a return to the principles of the fresco (Fig. 22.0) painted as part of an otherwise elegant and
early Church—issues on which Rome concurred with the
Protestants. It also stated unambiguously, however, that the
22.0 The Council of Trent, 1588, Pasquale Cati da lesi (?), Chapel of
cult of the Virgin and the saints and their relics, which had
Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome, built
grown to such enormous proportions through the Middle by Martino Longhi the Elder. Fresco
Ages, was to be retained, maintaining that the saints were The Council is sometimes called the Tridentine Council, after the Latin name
not only aids to devotion but also efficacious intercessors for the city, Tridentum. The coat of arms on the left wall behind the cardinals
for the redemption of the faithful. Additionally, the Council in red is that of Pius IV, the pope at the time ofthe closing of the council.

501
classicizing decorative program fora chapel built by Vignola’s by the Council proliferated in the last third of the sixteenth
protegé Martino Longhi the Elder (c. 1534 Viggiti-c. 1591 century. Those written by churchmen, such as Charles
Rome) for one of Rome’s leading churchmen, Cardinal Borromeo’s Instructiones fabricae et supellectilis ecclestasticae
Marco Sittico Altemps. Participants in the Council session (Instructions on Ecclesiastical Buildings and Furnishings, 1577),
are spread row upon row across the top of the composition, Gabriele Paleotti’s Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane
their faces directed forward or turned in profile as if to (Discourse About Sacred and Profane Images, 1582) and his later
record as completely and accurately as possible the individ- De imaginibus sacris (On Sacred Images, published in Germany,
ual members. At the lower right of this pictorial chronicle of 1594), Robert Bellarmine’s Disputationes (1586 edition dedi-
the event, however, allegorical personifications of the virtues cated to Pope Sixtus V), and G. A. Gilio da Fabriano’s Degli
crown a figure representing the Roman Church with a papal Errori de’ Pittori (On the Errors of Painters, 1564) were prescrip-
tiara. A globe at the lower left shows Europe, Africa, and tive; but in general all called for a style different from the
parts of Asia. Thus, the Church appears not only victorious, courtly conceits of Mannerism. These theologians were each
but extending far beyond Europe, where Protestantism centered in different, but heavily populated urban areas and
had recently made such dramatic inroads. In this fresco critically important episcopates: Borromeo in Milan, Paleotti
the didactic stylistic language of the historical chronicle in Bologna, and Belarmine and Gilio da Fabriano in Rome.
is spliced—albeit somewhat awkwardly—with a classical Their audiences were, therefore, large and influential. And,
stylistic revival appropriate for allegories of dominating importantly, because their sermons, writings, and lectures
political power. were printed they reached an even wider audience than had
the International Style of the early fifteenth century, open-
The Council of Trent and Decrees ing the way for the first truly pan-national style in the arts
since classical antiquity.
on the Arts A small painting of Noli me Tangere (Fig. 22.1) by Lavinia
Fontana (1552 Bologna-1614 Rome), daughter of aBolognese
The decrees of the Council of Trent stipulated
that art was to be direct and compelling in its
narrative presentation, that it was to provide an
accurate presentation of the biblical narrative or
saint’s life, rather than adding incidental and
imaginary moments, and that it was to encour-
age piety. The Council also maintained the effi-
cacy of religious images to convey the messages
of the new Church, contrary to the belief
of some
—although not all—of the Protestant churches:

.. the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of

God, and of other saints are to be placed and
retained especially in the churches...
.. let the bishops diligently teach that by means
of the stories of the mysteries of our redemption
portrayed in paintings and other representations
the people are instructed and confirmed in the
articles of faith.
. through the saints the miracles of God and
salutary examples are set before the eyes of the
faithful, so that they may give God thanks for
those things, may fashion their own life and
conduct in imitation of the saints and be moved
to adore and love God and cultivate piety.

Perhaps because the Council’s formal decrees

on art were both limited and vague tn their direc-
tives, treatises on art and architecture provoked

22.1 Noli me Tangere, 1581, Lavinia Fontana. Oil on

canvas, 2' 7 4" x 2’ 1 %" (80 x 65.5 cm) (Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence)

§02 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

artist and a prolific portraitist in her own right, indicates that “[t]he most disgusting aspect of this age is the fact you
some of the character of the art favored by these reformers. come across pictures of gross indecency in the greatest
Fontana began the small canvas just as Cardinal Paleotti, churches and chapels, so that there one can look at all the
secretary for the discussions on art and imagery at the bodily shames that nature has concealed, with the effect of
Council of Trent, was preparing his Discorso for publication. arousing not devotion but every lust of the corrupt flesh.”
Paleotti emphasized that the visual arts had particular Paintings such as Parmigianino’s Madonna ofthe Long Neck
power because everyone could understand them, even the (see Fig. 19.10) come to mind when reading such passages.
illiterate; therefore, art had to be historically and doctrinally The sensuality of Parmigianino’s Virgin cannot help but
accurate and accessible. Fontana’s subject, Mary Magdalene, intrude on any devotional thoughts of the viewer, especially
the penitent prostitute, encounters the risen Christ, whom since the Christ Child seems to be slipping away from his
she mistakes for a gardener. The subject was common in mother in order to reveal more of her torso beneath the
earlier art (see Fig. 6.10), but doubts had arisen about St. clinging drapery. It is perhaps not surprising that the paint-
John’s account of this episode in the gospels until its cano- ing remained unfinished. But incompleteness is relatively
nicity was confirmed by the Council of Trent. Her choice of benign in comparison to defacement. Michelangelo’s Last
subject, then, reinforced Church orthodoxy. What is more, Judgment (see Fig. 21.1) stands as a primary example of con-
the story of the Magdalene was gaining great popularity temporary attacks on religious images that were considered
among reform-minded women—Michelangelo’s close friend offensive. Immediately after Michelangelo’s death in 1564,
Vittoria Colonna owned a painting of the saint by Titian Daniele da Volterra and others painted pants over the
that brought tears to her eyes—because of the Magdalene’s genital areas of anumber of the nude figures in the fresco,
reputation for extraordinary penance. According to Paleotti which earned them the nickname “braghettont,” or “breeches-
and other writers, such paintings would not only teach painters.” (These “breeches” were left in place during the
doctrine but could lead to deep spiritual cognition. recent cleaning of the fresco.) Within the heart of the
The small size of Fontana’s canvas suggests that it was Vatican, support for such a modification of Michelangelo’s
made for private devotion. She derived the elegant poses work by pope and cardinals—as well as by secular writers
of her protagonists from a painting of the same subject like the scurrilous Venetian poet Pietro Aretino—could only
by Correggio then in Bologna but made several significant have supported the efforts of “reformers” like Molanus.
changes. Christ is now clearly garbed as a gardener to make Although regulations proliferated, they were not, of
his mistaken identity clearer, and the context for their course, always followed. Veronese’s grand painting with
encounter, which had been completely ignored by Correggio, life-sized figures of the Feast in the House of Levi (Fig. 22.2 and
is now self-evident. In the background, the Magdalene p. 504), originally painted as a Last Supper for the Dominican
appears again with her head down, exemplary in her humil- monastery of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, is a case in
ity and grief, accompanied by female companions as they point. On July 18, 1573, Veronese was called before the court
approach the empty tomb. They encounter a glowing angel of the Inquisition because it found his treatment of the
whose resurrection report is visibly confirmed by the pres- subject inappropriate. Since the figures about which he was
ence of Christ in the garden and the intensely yellow sunrise questioned were certainly not part of the biblical narrative,
in the distance. Religious art could still be beautiful and full Veronese’s reply that he thought such figures would enliven
of naturalistic detail, but it had to be legible, believable, and the story did not satisfy the Inquisition. Although Veronese
emotionally compelling as well, completely different from did not substantially alter the painting, the Inquisition
the artificial, contrived, and spatially ambiguous nature of took no formal action against him, perhaps because of his
Mannerist religious art (see Fig. 23.19). judicious tactic of changing the title of the painting from
the Last Supper to the Feast in the House ofLevi, thereby provid-
Reform and Censorship ing a context for which the festive courtly figures he had
already depicted would be appropriate. Although Veronese’s
During the nearly twenty years when the Council of Trent response was opportunistic and clever, benefiting from
was in session, reforms begun under Paul III took unfore- relaxed Venetian attitudes toward the Inquisition, the whole
seen and stringently moralistic forms. The Roman "episode does indicate a new concern on the part of the
Inquisition (or official inquiry into heresy) instituted under Church authorities for regulating the accuracy of religious
Paul III in 1542 took a particularly virulent turn under Paul painting and asserting a renewed orthodoxy.
IV Carafa (r. 1555-59) in an active effort to assert orthodoxy.
One of the concerns of the “reformers”—one quite familiar Milan and Lombardy
to modern ears—was to expunge perceived lasciviousness
from religious images. It should be noted, however, that Milan was an especially vibrant center for reform in the
overt eroticism continued unabated and uncontested in visual arts. Bereft of native rulers (the last Sforza had died
images made for private contexts. Johannes Molanus’s De in 1536) and dominated by Spain, the city looked in the
picturis et imaginibus sacris (On Sacred Pictures and Images), pub- mid-sixteenth century to its local bishop for leadership, as it
lished in Louvain in 1570, quotes an earlier writer in saying had done earlier in its history. Charles Borromeo (1538-84;

MILAN AND LOMBARDY 503

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Veronese Before the Inquisition

Called before the Inquisition to answer Q: In this Supper which you made for SS. Q: Do you not know that in Germany
charges against his painting of the Last Giovanni e Paolo what is the significance of and in other places infected with heresy
Supper (now known as the Feast in the House the man whose nose is bleeding? it is customary with various pictures full
of Levi), Veronese acquitted himself well, A: | intended to represent a servant whose of scurrilousness and similar inventions to
giving some indication of his working nose was bleeding because of some mock, vituperate, and scorn the things of
practice and ofhis awareness ofart outside accident. the Holy Catholic Church in order to teach
Venice. bad doctrines to foolish and ignorant
Q: What is the significance of those armed
people?
men dressed as Germans, each with a A: Yes that is wrong; but | return to what
Venice, July 18, 1573. The minutes of
halberd in his hand? ... | have said, that | am obliged to follow
the session of the Inquisition Tribunal of
A: We painters take the same license the what my superiors have done.
Saturday, the 18th ofJuly, 1573 ...
poets and thejesters take and | have repre-
Questioned about his profession: sented these two halberdiers, one drinking Q: What have your superiors done? Have
Answer: | paint and compose figures. and the other eating nearby on the stairs. they perhaps done similar things?
They are placed there so that they might A: Michelangelo in Rome in the Pontifical
Q: Do you know the reason why you have
be of service because it seemed to me Chapel painted Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
been summoned?
fitting, according to what | have been told, His Mother, St. John, St. Peter, and the
A: No, sir.
that the master of the house, who was Heavenly Host [see Fig. 21.1]. These are
Q: Can you imagine it? great and rich, should have such servants. all represented in the nude—even the Virgin
A: | can well imagine. Mary—and in different poses with little
Q: And that man dressed as a buffoon with reverence.
Q: Say what you think the reason is. a parrot on his wrist, for what purpose did
A: According to what the Reverend Father, you paint him on that canvas? Q: Do you not know that in painting
the Prior of the Convent of SS. Giovanni e A: For ornament, as is customary ... the Last Judgment in which no garments
PAO; ca. tolkel Ine; an Wow? lLexrelelalyers or similar things are presumed, it was not
had ordered him to have painted [in the Q: Who do you really believe was present necessary to paint garments, and that
picture] a Magdalen in place of a dog. at that Supper? in those figures there is nothing that is
| answered him by saying ! would gladly A: | believe one would find Christ with not spiritual? There are neither buffoons,
do everything necessary for my honor and His Apostles. But if in a picture there is dogs, weapons, or similar buffoonery. And
for that of my painting, but that | did not some space to spare | enrich it with figures does it seem because of this or some other
understand how a figure of Magdalen according to the stories. example that you did right to have painted
would be suitable there for many reasons this picture in the way you did and do
Q: Did any one commission you to paint
which | will give at any time, provided | am you want to maintain that it is good
Germans, buffoons, and similar things in
given an opportunity. and decent?
that picture?
A: No, milords, but | received the commis- A: Illustrious Lords, | do not want to
Q: What picture is this of which you have
sion to decorate the picture as | saw fit. defend it, but | thought | was doing right.
spoken?
A: This is a picture of the Last Supper that It is large and, it seemed to me, it could | did not consider so many things and |
Jesus Christ took with His Apostles in the hold many figures. did not intend to confuse anyone, the more
house of Simon ... so as those figures of buffoons are outside
Q: Are not the decorations which you of the place in a picture where Our Lord
Q: At this Supper of Our Lord have you painters are accustomed to add to paint- is represented.
painted other figures? ings or pictures supposed to be suitable
A: Yes, milords. and proper to the subject and the principal After these things had been said, the judges
figures or are they for pleasure—simply announced that the above named Paolo
Q: Tell us how many people and describe would be obliged to improve and change
what comes to your imagination without
the gestures of each. his painting within a period of three
any discretion or judiciousness?
A: There is the owner of the inn, Simon;
A: | paint pictures as | see fit and as well months ... and that if he did not correct the
besides this figure | have made a steward, picture he would be liable to the penalties
as my talent permits.
who, | imagined, had come there for his imposed by the Holy Tribunal. Thus they
own pleasure to see how the things were Q: Does it seem fitting at the Last Supper decreed in the best manner possible.
going at the table. There are many figures of the Lord to paint buffoons, drunkards,
there which | cannot recall, as | painted the Germans, dwarfs and similar vulgarities?
picture some time ago ... A: No, milords.

(from E.G. Holt. Literary Sources ofArt History. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1947, pp. 245-48)

REE ERS EI TIE ALENT IS OTE TOSI NI FOREN

REES OS

§04 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 SATOWNCRNAS)

22.2 Feast in the House of

Levi, 1573, commissioned from Paolo Veronese for the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.
Oil on canvas, 18’ 3” x 42’ (5.56 x 12.8 m) (Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice)

canonized in 1610) was appointed cardinal and archbishop had in mind as he directed the discussions of the Council
of Milan in 1560 by his very conservative uncle Pope Pius IV and as he wrote his own treatise on church art and architec-
(r. 1559-65). While holding this position, he actively directed ture. Moretto worked largely in Brescia, although he assimi-
the last session of the Council of Trent and was instrumen- lated Venetian painting technique early in his career. Given
tal in drafting the decrees it published in 1563. As a personal its proximity to Milan, Brescia was culturally and religiously
witness to the demands for reform made by the Council, dependent upon the Lombard capital being part of its
Charles gave away all his considerable personal wealth, thus archdiocese in spite of belonging to Venice’s mainland
providing the Milanese with a compelling model ofreligious empire. In the altarpiece Moretto placed the Cross and the
simplicity and severity. With the assistance of new religious pathetic figure of Christ accusingly before the worshiper,
orders such as the Jesuits and the Theatines, both of whom the weeping angel in the background demonstrating an
Charles brought to Milan, the city led all of northern Italy in appropriately repentant and grieving response. Very limited
implementing Church reforms. in its palette and chilled by a gray, sepulchral light, the altar-
piece was probably inspired by contemporary devotional
Devotional Painting books such as Giovanni da Fano’s L’arte dell’unione (The Art
of Union), which set its mystical reunion with Christ in a
Lombard religious leaders had from the outset of the palace where the spat-upon, beaten, and crowned Christ
Reformation been quick to counter Protestant challenges was attended by an anguished and sorrowful angel. The dull
to the Roman Church, perhaps because of their proximity "orange-red steps serve as a none-too-subtle reminder of
to Germany and also perhaps because of constant threats Christ’s blood, shed for humanity. Nothing in the painting
of northern political domination. Encouraging art that was detracts the viewer’s attention from the object of devotion
simple, powerful, direct, and free ofpreciosity and artificial- or from the appropriate response one should have to this
ity (see Figs. 9.18, 9.20, and 15.27), they had laid the ground- tragic (and a-historical) icon. The painting could hardly be
work for the prescriptions of the Council of Trent long more different from Rosso’s Mannerist version ofessentially
before the formal publication of the Council’s decrees in the same subject (see Fig. 17.42).
1563. It was this Lombard tradition, typified in the mid- Even subjects that were not concerned directly with
sixteenth century by works such as the Ecce Homo (Behold the Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion took on a new severity
Man; Fig. 22.3) by Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino; in this period. The altarpiece of the Virgin in Glory with St.
1498 Brescia-1554 Brescia) which Borromeo may well have Barbara and St. Lawrence (Fig. 22.4), painted by Moretto’s

MILAN AND LOMBARDY SOS

 Chapel in the church of San Marco with an ambitious
scene of the Glory of Angels (Fig. 22.5), building on the dual
example of Correggio (see Fig. 19.6) and Giulio Romano.
Rank upon rank of sober-faced but rapturously intertwined
angels stand with their heads tipped back to contemplate
the vertiginous heights of heaven. Extravagant and self-
consciously clever foreshortenings and dense figural group-
ings could be tolerated because they so effectively evoked a
vision of heaven.
Lomazzo ended his career early because of blindness, but
he dictated and published two treatises that promulgated
his artistic ideas: the Trattato dell’arte de la pittura, scoltura
et architettura (Treatise on the Art of Painting, Sculpture, and
Architecture, 1584) and Idea del tempio della pittura (Idea of the
Temple of Painting, 1590). These books were to be as influen-
tial for northern Italy as Vasari’s Lives were for central Italian
art and art theory. Typical of artists participating in paint-
ing academies, Lomazzo constructed a system of ideals—
in his case based on neo-Platonism—to which he believed

22.3 Ecce Homo, c. 1550-54, commissioned by the Confraternity of the

Holy Cross from Moretto da Brescia for their chapel in Brescia Cathedral.
Oil on canvas, 7’ 4" x 4’ 1 &" (2.14 x 1.25 m) (Pinacoteca Tosio
Martinengo, Brescia)

pupil Giovanni Battista Moroni (c. 1520/24 Albino?-1578

Albino) for a church in Bergamo, is also spare and somewhat
forbidding. In keeping with the Church’s reaffirmation
of the crucial intercessory role of saints, Barbara stands
as a gatekeeper to heaven, while the Madonna and Child
are set distantly in the clouds. There is little to distract or
beguile the eye, the relative emptiness of the landscape and
prosaic description of the sky encouraging the worshiper
to meditate upon the arduous task of seeking salvation
through the Church.
While altarpieces emphasized sacrificial aspects of
Christianity, appropriate to their placement above altars
where priests celebrated Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, dome
frescoes invited worshipers to contemplate the awe-inspiring
splendors of heaven. In Milan, Gian Paolo Lomazzo (1538 22.4 Virgin in Glory with St. Barbara and St. Lawrence,
1550s, Giovanni
Milan-1600 Milan) painted the half-dome over the Foppa Battista Moroni. Oil on canvas (Pinacoteca di Brera,
Milan)

506 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 22.5 Glory of Angels,
c. 1570, commissioned
from Gian Paolo Lomazzo
for the Foppa Chapel,
San Marco, Milan. Fresco

artistic practice should aspire. He uses a round temple form structure were brilliantly overcome by the architect and
recalling Bramante’s Tempietto (see Fig. 17.3) as a device engineer Martino Bassi (1544 Seregno-1591 Milan), who
to structure his discussion. The imaginary building’s very supervised a team that carefully sifted through and meas-
form recalls the cosmological significance of centralized ured the ruins. While replicating the quatrefoil plan and
structures and the concept of the divine that they embody. general elevation of the original church, including its
At the same time, his temple is an idealized fantastical
concoction with statues of seven exemplary artists serving
as the columnar support system for the entire structure.
While somewhat arcane in its elaboration of the painterly
attributes of these seven sixteenth-century artists, each of
whom Lomazzo associates with a planet and the conven-
tional astrological notion of personality traits identified
with that planet, the Idea del tempio is nevertheless an impor-
tant discussion of beauty as reflective of divine order. Other
parts of Lomazzo’s temple give him a chance to talk about
such central issues as proportion, perspective, and light.

Milanese Architecture

When the mid-fourth-century octagonal church of San

Lorenzo Maggiore (Fig. 22.6) suddenly collapsed on June S,
1573, Borromeo immediately recognized the propagandistic
value of reconstructing the building on its ancient founda-
tions. It had, after all, been built when Milan was serving as
the capital of the western Roman Empire. The project was
sure to feed civic pride and offered a unique opportunity for
demonstrating that the institutional Church of his own day
was capable ofreplicating the accomplishments of Christian 22.6 San Lorenzo Maggiore, Milan, fourth century (rebuilt after 1573
antiquity. The technical challenges of building this large respecting the original plan)

MILAN AND LOMBARDY 507

 classical vocabulary, the reconstructed building is, nonethe-
less. cold and austere. In Charles Borromeo’s Milan, auster-
ity had become a primary value which even the example of
Roman antiquity could not dislodge.
Some exceptions were made for church facades, but only
if, at Santa Maria presso San Celso (Fig. 22.7), elaboration
as
served a didactic purpose. In this case the Genoese architect
Galeazzo Alessi (1512 Perugia-1572 Perugia) laid out a
Peli SS meaner
scheme of unfluted pilasters to serve as a foil for sculptures
of prophets and reliefs of scenes from the life of the
Virgin. As at the earlier Certosa in Pavia (see Fig. 15.1),
the design is largely additive, a distinctively Lombard
accumulation of stories and levels unconcerned with
accurately reproducing classical precedents which both
vexed and inspired architects in other parts ofItaly (see Fig.
20.45). Even though the sculptural reliefs and free-standing
figures recall Michelangelo’s unexecuted plan for the facade
of San Lorenzo in Florence, and the reclining figures over
the doors recall Michelangelo’s Times of Day for the Medici
Chapel (see Fig. 18.12), the facade still subordinates the
sculpture to the tightly structured architectural composi-
tion—itself rather severe despite the doubled columns and
stepped surfaces.
Echoes of central Italian design can also be seen in the
Jesuit church of San Fedele (Fig. 22.8), commissioned by
22.7 Santa Maria presso San Celso, Milan, facade designed before 1570 Charles Borromeo. In this instance Borromeo forced the
by Galeazzo Alessi and completed by Martino Bassi
Jesuits to accept the plans ofhis favorite architect, Pellegrino
Alessi was responsible only for the facade of the building. The building project Tibaldi (1527 Puria di Vasolda-1596 Milan) rather than
was begun in 1485; by 1493 Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono appears as its
those of an architect member of their own order, furthering
architect. A number ofother architects and sculptors contributed their
expertise to the building before Alessi added the facade. a consistency in his reforming designs throughout his

pull

:
3

22.8 San Fedele, Milan, designed 1567, commissioned by Charles Borromeo for the Jesuits from
Pellegrino Tibaldi

508 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 22.9 Palazzo Marino, Milan, begun 1558, commissioned by Tommaso Marino from Galeazzo Alessi

diocese. Yet San Fedele betrays the influence of the Gest patron’s newly purchased title, “Duke of Terranova,” across
in Rome in its plan and elevation (see Fig. 24.3) and suggests the palace’s densely detailed facade, where every window is
the overlap between local demands and a new religious framed by both aedicules and a columnar main order. The
order’s desire for self-identification through design. Tibaldi emphasis is on novelty and luxury: bold rusticated blocks
had been in Rome with Borromeo in 1564 when the Gest alternate with smooth shafts around the ground-floor win-
was in its final design stages and when Michelangelo had dows; tapering surrounds, many capped by human and
begun his work at Santa Maria degli Angeli, a project (begun animal heads, enrich the upper stories. The extraordinarily
1563) that involved converting part of the huge complex of costly construction was abandoned for lack of funds in
the Roman Baths of Diocletian into a Christian church. In 1565. Marino died insolvent in 1572, and the unfinished
the extremely wide church of San Fedele, Tibaldi surpassed building was confiscated to pay debts—an architectural
Vignola at the Gest: in subordinating the side chapels to the warning against self-promotion and reliance on worldly
nave, treating them as niches 1n the nave’s supporting walls wealth. Yet the extravagant vocabulary of Italian suburban
rather than as discrete and therefore competing elements. villas, which Alessi had known from his time in Genoa (see
Bold but simple moldings and large clerestory windows Figs. 19.13 and 19.14), had entered the city.
ensure that the Milanese space is bright and clearly ordered,
while giant, free-standing columns and tympanum win- Bergamo, Cremona, and Bologna
dows, which derived from Michelangelo’s Santa Maria degli
Angeli, bring a classical austerity to the church, despite the Italian cities always nurtured their own particular artistic
pink coloration of the surfaces. This triumphalist language traditions, even in the later sixteenth century when smaller
of forms seems to have developed in several places at once, municipalities increasingly came under the control of larger
a suitable style for the reformed Church in Europe. “powers. In the case of Bergamo, Milan held political sway;
Charles Borromeo and the reforms he promoted cast a in Cremona, the Holy Roman Emperor; and in Bologna,
long shadow over Lombardy and Milan, dampening, though the pope, but along with imposed authority came cultural
never completely suppressing, the region’s propensity sophistication and cosmopolitanism. Aristocrats sought to
for conspicuous display. The archbishop must have looked present themselves in newly erudite ways and sometimes
askance at projects such as the gargantuan family palace even engaged in actual artistic production, expanding
built by Tommaso Marino, not far from Milan Cathedral the long-standing courtly tradition of musical and literary
(Fig. 22.9). Marino was a nouveau-riche banker intent on proficiency. At the same time, the merchant class was
claiming a place for himself among the patriciate. The becoming increasingly well educated and worldly, encourag-
building’s architect, Galeazzo Alessi, previously worked for ing the invention and dissemination of new artistic genres
the Genoese aristocracy (see Fig. 19.16) and emblazoned his and subjects.

BERGAMO, CREMONA, AND BOLOGNA 509

Portraiture Count Fortunato was a literary scholar and friend of figures
such as Ludovico Dolce and Pietro Aretino and would
In a climate where individuals found it increasingly in their have known and perhaps appreciated the moody portraits
best interest to avoid ostentation for fear of accusations of invented by Giorgione. Yet Moretto here offers a distinctly
vanity, or even heresy, the art of portraiture was necessarily Lombard alternative to the suggestive and atmospheric
suspect. A likely portrait of Count Fortunato Martinengo qualities of Venetian painting: a clear-eyed realism that
Cesaresco (Fig. 22.10) by Moretto da Brescia exemplifies contemporaries, including Titian, recognized as their forte.
Lombard portraiture before mid-century reforms, contrast- Sixteenth-century writers recommended Lombard painters
ing markedly with his religious painting (see Fig. 22.3), for producing portraits “from nature”—not always a compli-
and, as we shall see, with later portraiture. In the early 1540s ment in highly sophisticated circles which assumed that the
Moretto was responding both to Mannerist court portrai- artist should improve upon his model and delve deep into a
ture by Parmigianino (see Fig. 19.9) and the light-filled, sitter’s psyche. Moretto, however, clearly combines psycho-
psychological essays of Titian (see Fig. 20.18), though his logical and visual realism with aplomb and intelligence.
work is more thoroughly naturalistic and visually honest. A very different mood pervades the later Portrait of Gian
Moretto describes the velvet arms ofthe sitter’s chair as care- Gerolamo Grumelli (Fig. 22.11) by Moretto’s student Moroni.
fully as the sitter’s flesh; everything is observed down to the The figure is dressed in splendid red attire; bits of classical
last gold thread and bristle of fur. The young sitter plays the antiquity along with an obscure motto in Spanish (“more
melancholic lover with one hand to his face, reinforced by the last than the first”) attest to his worldly sophistication.
an amatory inscription which appears on the badge attached Yet Moroni presents Grumelli’s features with a disarming
to his hat—perhaps referring to his upcoming marriage. honesty. His cavalier seems not so much standing for a

22.10 Portrait of aYoung Man,

Perhaps of Count Fortunato
Martinengo Cesaresco, c. 1542,
Moretto da Brescia. Oi! on
CANVAS TOmOus Ont
(114 x 94.4 cm) (National
Gallery, London)

510 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 one brother, to whom their humanist father gave extraordi-
nary classical educations. He promoted them and their work
shamelessly, sending Sofonisba’s drawings to Michelangelo
and eventually securing her service as lady-in-waiting to
the queen of Spain, Elizabeth ofValois (1545-68), a position
that gave her opportunities for painting formal court
portraits that followed the norms for that type of imagery.
While in Spain she married the brother of the Viceroy of
Sicily. Upon his death she remarried and moved to Genoa
and finally to Palermo in Sicily where she retired and was
famously visited in her very old age by Anthony van Dyck.
Aristocratic, intelligent, extraordinarily well-connected, and
highly talented, she amazed all her contemporaries, even
Vasari, who wrote somewhat chauvinistically that “she has
shown greater application and better grace than any other
woman of our age.” He appreciated her craft (“application”)
and gentility (“grace”), obviously generated as much by
Sofonisba’s social status as by her artistic accomplishments.
Of Sofonisba’s inventiveness Vasari says nothing.
Sofonisba’s painting of her teacher, Bernardino Campi
(1521 Cremona-1594 Reggio Emilia), painting her portrait
(Fig. 22.12)—a story within a story—demonstrates how she
negotiated her male-dominated world. Anguissola’s gaze
rivets the viewer of the painting, forcing consideration of
what appears to be the inscribing of male authority on the
body of the female. Campi’s gaze complicates matters, how-
ever, since as he paints he, too, looks out of the painting
toward what the picture indicates must be his subject,
Anguissola. Thus the viewer in front of the painting plays
a double role: that of the subject of the painting within
the painting, namely Anguissola herself, and of an engaged
viewer—watched by both Campi and Anguissola—made
complicit in Anguissola’s destabilizing of contemporary
social norms.
Tellingly, as the actual painter of the canvas, Anguissola
placed her head higher than Campv’s. Thus, according to
the social rules of the period concerning position, she was
22.11 Portrait of Gian Gerolamo Grumelli, 1560, commissioned by the sitter
from Giovanni Battista Moroni. Oil on canvas (Collection of Count
conferring on herself a status greater than her teacher’s—
Antonio Moroni, Bergamo) both in terms of social position and in terms of artistic
accomplishment. Anguissola’s assertion of superiority is
portrait as caught off guard as he goes about his daily ironically underscored by the aligned placement of the
business. Crumbling architecture, piles of dust, and frag- two visible hands in the painting: Campi’s identifies him
mented sculpture attest to the fleeting and transitory nature as someone who works with his hands for a living,
of human fame and endeavor. The image is distinctly self- whereas Anguissola’s—holding a pair of gloves—indicates
deprecating rather than self-absorbed, as Count Fortunato’s her nobility.
portrait had been, and it is appropriate for the man who Anguissola herself was the real painter of the canvas,
hosted Charles Borromeo on the latter’s visit to Grumelli’s yet she has hidden her right hand which would have been
home city of Bergamo. The realism of the depiction in the action of painting and made her head, the seat of the
sharpens the sense of Grumelli as the main subject of a intellect, slightly larger than Campi’s. Thus, Anguissola’s
framing allegory. construction in the painting of her own artistic and social
One of the period’s most inventive portraitists came status as a woman is paired with her presentation of the
from Cremona. The noblewoman Sofonisba Anguissola changing role of the artist from manual labourer to concep-
(1532 Cremona-1625 Palermo) created wry and witty por- tual creator, an inversion of the patriarchal norms voiced
traits of family members and acquaintances, a subject by Filarete a century earlier: as presumed patron of the
largely imposed upon her by societal restrictions on female painting within the painting she is the “father” of the image,
access to models and patrons. She was one of six sisters and and as the actual artist she is also the “mother.”

BERGAMO, CREMONA, AND BOLOGNA $11

 22.12 Bernardino
Campi Painting
Sofonisba Anguissola,
late 1550s, Sofonisba
Anguissola. Oil on
canvas, 3’ 6 4” x 3'7”
(1.08 x 1.09 m)
(Pinacoteca
Nazionale, Siena)

That women could be intellectually accomplished and their status emphasized by the rich surface detail on their
highly rational, even strategic, are the complementary brocaded clothes and the fine Turkish carpet set over their
themes of a family portrait showing Anguissola’s three table. What is more, the entire game has been invented by
sisters playing chess (Fig. 22.13). In this painting, which their eldest sibling, Sofonisba, whose proud signature on
Vasari saw hanging in the artist’s family home in Cremona the side of the chess board declares that she painted the
in 1566, the erotic and chivalric game of chess takes place subject from life (ex vera)—presumably the life of the mind,
in an idealized landscape familiar in late medieval courtly not merely quotidian reality.
images of the game (see Fig. 8.20) and not in the tavern Obviously self-aware and politely subversive, Anguissola
or other questionable locale seen in other contemporary seems to have been willing to challenge even Michelangelo
representations of gaming. On the far left Lucia looks out at in both craft and wit. Her father had arranged for the most
the viewer, dominating our gaze as her arm and obvious famous artist of the age to be shown one of his daughter’s
expertise dominate the chessboard. She has removed two drawings of a laughing child—an obvious ploy to certify her
of Minerva’s pieces from the game and this younger sister talent for undertaking a task that Leonardo had described
opens her mouth and raises her hand as if to speak. Their in his notebooks as requiring rare talent and nuance in
youngest companion, Europa, smiles gleefully at the order that the figure not appear pained or angered instead.
match, carefully observed by an old maid servant at the far Michelangelo begrudgingly admitted its proficiency and
right. The three young Anguissola women are members of perversely claimed that showing a crying child would be
a natural nobility capable of entertaining themselves, even more difficult. Anguissola responded with
a now

512 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

22.13 Portrait of the Artist’s Sisters Playing Chess, 1555,
Sofonisba Anguissola. Oil on canvas, 2’ 4 4" x 3' 2 \"
(72 x 97 cm) (National Museum Poznan, Poland)

heavily damaged presentation drawing (Fig. 22.14)

which Michelangelo gave to Tomaso dei Cavalieri,
a frequent recipient of Michelangelo’s generosity
and homoerotic attention. The scene seems a
logical enough response to Michelangelo’s remark:
one of Anguissola’s younger sisters calms their
only brother who is being bitten by a crawfish. But
the subject itself may not be innocent, possibly
referring to the story of a boy and a poisonous
scorpion in a collection of fables by the Cremonese
humanist Gabriele Faerno. More pointedly, while
the girl is calm and assuring, she makes no effort
whatsoever to remove the crawfish from her
brother’s finger. She eyes him coolly as he cries and
wags his small hand, trying to shake the crawfish
loose. Sofonisba undoubtedly knew the contemporary Leonardo’s treatise. But also of interest is that Sofonisba
proverb that referred to the crawfish’s tiny brain: “A little replies with a drawing very far removed in style from
of the brains of the crab (or crawfish) would make him Michelangelo’s disegno. Her figures are softly drawn in and
wise.” Clearly the boy is the witless one of the two figures their edges created more by patches of shadow rather than
portrayed. This carefully constructed presentation drawing by Tuscan line. Even allowing for the worn and abraded
responds to Michelangelo’s demanding comment in a surface of the drawing, it is clear that Sofonisba is opposing
number of different ways that indicate Sofonisba’s keen her mode of drawing to Michelangelo’s. Then she has
perception of the artistic world in which she worked. At the taken Faerno’s story and made a playful mockery of it by
simplest level, the drawing is a response to Michelangelo’s substituting the crawfish for the deadly scorpion, indicating
upping the ante of her first gift of a drawing: she has no that she both understands the male game of translating
trouble with the more difficult subject of the crying child, literary sources into painting and that she is not willing to
replying simultaneously to Michelangelo’s letter and to play it. Literary male heroics become domestic trivia.
Sofonisba’s drawing engages both the
artist’s skill demanded by Leonardo
and Michelangelo and contemporary
theory about what constitutes art. Just
as the young girl in the drawing is in
control of the situation that has the
little boy in such distress, Sofonisba
is in control of the intellectual and
technical demands that governed her
existence as an artist.

22.14 Asdrubale Bitten by a Crawfish, c. 1554,

Sofonisba Anguissola. Black chalk and charcoal
on brown paper, 12% x 14%" (32.2 x 37.5 cm)
(Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Museo Nazionale
di Capodimonte, Naples)

BERGAMO, CREMONA, AND BOLOGNA 513

Still-Life Painting the normal patronage systems, if the mystery of their early
histories is any indication), a foreign market is documented
New forms of portraiture were not the only novelties of as well. In 1580 Hans Fugger, a member of the leading
subject matter developing in the northern Italian cities German banking family, ordered a set of five still-life
during the second half of the sixteenth century. The domes- paintings from Campi for his home in Kirchheim, where
tic scenes that were a distinct category of painting within they still are. Clearly by then Campi had a reputation for
Anguissola’s career are paralleled in the new pictorial genre such pictures, which themselves derive from similar images
of the still life that emerged there during the 1570s and by Flemish artists like Pieter Aertsen (1507/08-74) and
1S80s. The history of the evolution of still-life painting and Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533-73) whose paintings were
assessments of its meaning are only now emerging with already in the Farnese collections in Parma. These northern
some clarity. The genre first appeared in Lombardy with the painters were themselves part of acommercial and burgher
work ofVincenzo Campi (1530/35 Cremona-1591 Cremona) culture in which a growing group of new patrons sought
although Bartolomeo Passarroti (1529 Bologna—1592 possibilities uniquely theirs for conveying both the events
Bologna) made similar explorations virtually simultane- and the meanings of their own history.
ously in Bologna. A number of reasons might be given Similar though the still lifes of Campi and Passarrot! may
for the appearance of still life in northern Italy at this be to northern examples, they have a number of distinctive
time, especially in Campi’s and Anguissola’s native city of characteristics that respond to local traditions and needs.
Cremona, which had been taken from Milanese control by Campi’s Fishmongers (Fig. 22.15) shows a peasant man in
the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1522, eventually rough clothing at the far left—nearly edged out of the
passing it on to his son, Philip Hf of Spain. Situated on a painting—eating a bowl of beans, a fishing net strapped to
major trading route from Italy to Germany, Cremona seems his back. A plump smiling woman, somewhat more finely
to have had equal access to both the Italian and northern clothed, sits in front of him, also eating from a bowl of
traditions of painting, with commerce in art moving in both beans balanced precariously on a small table where there is
directions. With no local ruling family, the citizenry was also a hunk of rough dark bread. A squalling baby sits in
dominated by merchants and tradespeople with a strong her lap, his grimace obviously caused by the crawfish that
urban middling class whose fascination with the results of is attached to his extended left hand; the reference, similar
their financial success might have made them sympathetic to that used by Sofonisba Anguissola in her drawing for
to the imagery ofplenty that typified early still life painting. Michelangelo (see Fig. 22.14), is already a clue that the
Not only did there seem to be a local market for Campi’s painting 1s more than a simple still life or peasant market
sull-life paintings (perhaps sold from the studio outside scene. In the right two-thirds of the painting an abundance

22.15 Fishmongers, c. 1580, Vincenzo Campi. Oil on canvas, 4’ 9” « 7! 54" (1.45 x 2.15 m) (Pinac
oteca di Brera, Milan)

514 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 22.16 The Butcher’s Shop, 1580s,
Bartolomeo Passarroti. Oil on
CanlVasyom Om xno alexa toe)
(Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica
di Piazza Barberini, Rome)

of various fishes is spread out for view, some hanging within the culture. They were doubly dangerous for being so
from hooks, others on a table, and yet others in baskets seductive to look at and for such clever jokes.
or on the ground under the table. Like a good market Bartolomeo Passarroti’s The Butcher’s Shop (Fig. 22.16)
stall, the fishes are separated by type, so that the result is seems to fall into the same category of still life as Campi’s
one of distinction and clarity of form rather than simply Fishmongers, although masquerading as a more evident
of plenitude. depiction of a contemporary market stall. Two butchers,
But apparently it is not only the fish that is being classed one older than the other, look out engagingly over their
in paintings like the Fishmongers. For, despite the piling up of counter at the viewer. Carcasses of various animals hang
countless different textures, colors, and surface lights that behind them, suggestively alternating animal and human
mark the artist’s skill and provide sheer visual delight to the across the surface of the painting. The raw meat (“carne” as
viewer, a more sinister message apparently underlay such both meat and flesh) in Passarroti’s painting, like the beans
images, particularly in the disguised visual puns of a social in Campi’s Fishmongers, is a cue for cupidity and unbridled
or a sexual nature. In Campi’s painting the coarse man at sexuality. Since red meat was also considered far less refined
the far left holding a bowl of beans is a cue both for stupid- a diet than game birds, The Butcher Shop also suggests that
ity and incipient sexual intercourse since beans were thought issues of social stratification are embedded in the image.
to increase the production of sperm in males; on the same The anomalous one live animal, a sparrow, perches on the
issue contemporaries also thought that such peasant food board of hooks behind the head ofthe left butcher. The bird
led to the generation of ugly and oafish children. The small serves as the signature for the painter whose name means
dog seeming to want to jump on to the lap of the woman is sparrow in Italian, but it also refers to two Greek sculptors,
a cue for lust, a cue doubled with the provocative extension Batraco and Sauro, each of whom signed his work with an
of the woman’s left foot from her skirt. When Lomazzo image of the animal signified by his name, a frog for the
referred to such paintings as pitture ridicole (ridiculous or * former, a lizard for the latter. Even in a simple detail such as
silly paintings or trifles) in 1584 he helped set the stage the signature sparrow, the antique is not far away.
for reading them as of secondary interest, outside the main The gap-toothed butcher at the right serves as a further
stream of serious painting. They were apparently hardly clue that the picture may not be as obvious in its meaning
that. In a socially tense environment where urban elites as the simple depiction of a meat stall, any more than
attempted to keep country folk in a state of subservience, Campvi’s painting represents a fish stand. His left arm,
paintings such as these, where the male peasant is made a leaning on the block between him and the viewer—clearly
crude boor, his wife the focus of sexual jokes, and their foregrounded across the plane of the picture—is carefully
witless child condemned as if by natural selection to remain muscled, perhaps a result of his having lifted and hauled
as coarse as his father, could act as a powerful visual sides of beef like those behind him for years. On the other
propaganda to maintain repressive notions of social caste hand, the muscles and the contrapposto pose of the figure

BERGAMO, CREMONA, AND BOLOGNA 515

recall the heroics of classical sculpture, modest examples leadership the University of Bologna became the center for
of which Passarroti apparently owned and also depicted in study of plant and animal life around the world. Eighteen
portraits of collectors. The arm also suggests Passarroti’s volumes containing over 2,900 of Aldrovandi’s watercolors
own studies of human dissections, first documented in show both how wide-ranging his interest was and how
1574, for a book on anatomy that he was still pursuing precise his observations were in cataloging the specimens
in the mid-1580s at the time that The Butcher’s Shop was that were kept in his natural history “museum” and in the
painted. A chair in anatomy was established at the University university’s botanical garden, founded in 1587 (although
of Bologna in 1570, which may have supported his interest his interest in biological aberration such as Siamese twins
in human form. sometimes was tinged with imagination). His drawings are
More significant for Passarroti’s subject as a whole is instructive as a measure of the perceived possibility that one
the expanded science curriculum at the university during could, indeed, catalog nature completely, one specimen at a
Passarroti’s lifetime—most particularly in the natural time piling up in endless sheaves of drawings (Fig. 22.17).
sciences, an expansion that led to Ignazio Danti’s teaching The variety and overwhelming quantity of Aldrovandi’s
there. One of the more prominent members of the univer- material is comparable to the incredible varieties of fish and
sity faculty was Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 Bologna-160S the presentation of meat spread out almost diagramatically
Bologna) who, although a doctor, received the chair of natu- in paintings like those of Campi and Passarroti (who knew
ral sciences at the university in 1561. Under Aldrovandi’s Aldrovandi), although the naturalist’s depictions of plant
and animal life are more didactically presented than those
of the paintings. Yet the mode of presentation in Campi’s
Fishmongers is important. Each type of fish is presented as a
separate formal unit, carefully laid out across the surface of
the paintings as if the taxonomy ofspecies was as interesting
to him as it was to Aldrovandi. Despite the clear differences
in intention and result in the work of a naturalist like
Aldrovandi and painters like Campi and Passarrou, they
all seem to share a sense of wonder in the actuality of the
objects that form their world.
Recent study also suggests that, at least in later paintings,
such imagery disguises enormously erudite references to
classical and contemporary humanistic literature, even if
such references are themselves also scatological. One ancient
writer even postulated that the term “satire” stems from
the Roman word “satura,” an offering to the gods of a plate
heaped with food. Thus images like Campi’s Fishmongers and
Passarroti’s Butcher’s Shop suggest the richness of doubled
meanings in satire. Even Pliny wrote favorably in his Natural
History of a painter, Piraeicus, who had painted “barbers’
shops and cobblers’ stalls, asses, viands and the like,” who
had been called a “painter of sordid subjects.” Significant
for our understanding of the commercial culture of the
Italian middling class of the sixteenth century, Pliny also
indicated with a verbal pun that these paintings gave “exqui-
site pleasure” [“consummata voluptas”| and that “they fetched
bigger prices than the largest works of many masters.”
New subject matter, new patronage groups, growing cities,
inherent class tensions, and expanded modes of artistic
commerce all suggest an expanding role for artistic imagina-
tion. However, the artist’s inventive imagery was still
profoundly tied to the social matrix of which it was part,
22.17 Page from a volume of drawings of specimens of nature, Ulisse
making the deciphering of these innovative genre paintings
Aldrovandi, watercolor, 18% x 14%" (46.5 x 36 cm) (University of Bologna, of the late sixteenth century a key to unlocking significant
Biblioteca, Bologna) shifts and strains within the social order. :

516 NORTHERN ITALY: REFORM AND INNOVATION

 Florence under Cosimo |

supported the republic by carving figures such as the David

(see Fig. 16.1) and by designing fortifications for the short-
lived republic during the siege of 1527-30, refused to serve
Cosimo and went into self-imposed exile in Rome, leaving
a younger generation to come forward to fashion a new
and calculated official style for the autocratic ducal regime.

Portraits
From the time of the first Medici return to power in
1512, members of the family had used portraiture to build
historical connections to the past in support oftheir control
of the present. Cosimo and his artists seem to have sensed
the importance both of repeating his own image (and that
of other individuals in his family) as a form of propaganda
and ofdeveloping new types of portraiture which would add
credibility to his position as ruler.
Cosimo diffused his image throughout Tuscany on coins,
medals, bronze and marble sculpture, and painting. One
of the most riveting of these portaits is an over-life-sized
bronze bust (Fig. 23.0) created by the Florentine goldsmith
and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500 Florence-1571
Florence). Active at the papal court in Rome from 1519
to 1540 and at the royal court of Francis I in France for
the next five years, Cellini probably created the exquisitely
ae: last expulsion of the Medici family from Florence detailed portrait as a way of ingratiating himself with a
lasted from 1527 to 1530 and was directly tied to the potential patron. Shown wearing a military breastplate,
fortunes of the papacy under Clement VII. When armies Cosimo appears both in the guise of aRoman emperor and
of the German emperor sacked Rome in 1527, forcing the as a contemporary military leader whose ruthlessness is
pope to flee to the protection of the Castel Sant’ Angelo and, indicated by the roaring lion’s head on the armor at his right
ultimately, to leave the city, the Florentines took the oppor- shoulder, an iconographical reference that also connects
tunity to oust the Medici regime and declare the restitution Cosimo with the old Florentine political symbol of the mar-
of the republic yet again. Three years later, after restoring zocco, or lion, here subordinated to the city’s new leader. The
relations with Charles V, Clement was able to restore the active turn of his head and the precise details of his features
Medici to power by using the same imperial forces that had give vitality to the portrait. Another contemporary portrait
sacked Rome against his native city. But it was not until “of Cosimo, by Pontormo’s most talented student, Agnolo
an eighteen-year-old boy, a Medici on both his father’s and Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano; 1503 Monticelli
his mother’s side of the family, assumed power after the -1572 Florence), also shows him in military armor (Fig. 23.1),
Battle of Montemurlo in 1537 and slaughtered his political providing Cosimo with an image reflecting his control over
enemies, that the Medici regime was truly secure in the city.
Providently named Cosimo at the time ofhis birth through
23.0 Cosimo |, 1545-47, Benvenuto Cellini, in the collections of Cosimo |
the intervention of Leo X, who envisioned him as the reviver by 1553, probably having been purchased shortly after its completion.
of his family’s fortunes, just as his namesake had been Bronze, originally partially gilt with enamel eyes, height 3’ 74” (1.1 m)
at the beginning of the fifteenth century, he became duke (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

of Florence in 1537 and later was crowned grand duke Cellini claims to have made the bust for his own “pleasure” but it was most
of Tuscany by Pius V in 1569. Michelangelo, who had likely a way to curry favor with Cosimo I.

SUe/
 the powerful court of Charles V, not to mention numerous
children whom he could marry to European aristocracy and
thereby extend Medici power into the highest echelons of
international society. What 1s more, access to Eleonora’s
vast personal wealth—she often loaned the duke money—
enhanced Cosimo’s ability to look and act the prince.
By all accounts Eleonora was a doting mother and
loving wife, but she brought severe Spanish protocol to the
Florentine court. Bronzino shows her virtually imprisoned
in an elaborately embroidered dress prominently featuring
golden pomegranate designs, common in such deluxe
fabrics but here appropriately referencing her fertility
and Medici dynastic ambitions. Her social position is pro-
claimed in a traditional manner by the extraordinary size
of her jewels. Surprisingly, unlike the images of Cosimo,
Eleonora looks directly out of the painting, yet the alabas-
trine perfection of her features—flattened by the strong
lighting—distances her from the viewer. Bronzino refers to
paintings like the Mona Lisa (see Fig. 16.8) in the pose, the
shape of the face, and even in the slight smile of the figure,
but Eleonora still projects as an iconic representation of
the state whose continuity is assured by her progeny.
Other portraiture of the period betrays this same aloof-
ness and detachment. For example, Bronzino’s Portrait of
a Young Man (Fig. 23.3) shows an elegantly dressed man in

23.1 Cosimo !, c. 1545-46, commissioned by Cosimo | from Agnolo

Bronzino. Tempera on panel, 2’ 5” x 1’ 10 %" (74 x 58 cm) (Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence)

the state and a reminder that his father, Giovanni delle

Bande Nere, was a respected Florentine military leader who
had fought against the imperial troops on their way through
Italy to Rome. Cellini’s portrait was sent to the fortress
of Stella (the Star) in Portoferraio on the island of Elba
in 1557 to mark Cosimo’s conquest of the island and
control of shipping in this part of the Mediterranean. Its
banishment to Elba gives a telling insight into Cosimo’s
reaction to it, especially in comparison to the Bronzino
portrait. Apparently Cellini’s bronze bust, with its vivid
sense of motion and its soft depiction of the flesh of
Cosimo’s face, was simply too naturalistic, representing
what Cellini himself called the “fiery movements of life.” In
Elba, it seems, the bronze portrait bust communicated
Cosimo’s determination that Florence become an aggressive
maritime power. Official urban court portraiture, on the
other hand, demanded the impassive icon of rulership and
civic stability that Bronzino so aptly provided.
Cosimo’s concerns for dynastic continuity are evident in
the images of himself, his family, and his ancestors that
began to crowd his living quarters. Bronzino’s portrait of
Cosimo’s wife, Eleonora of Toledo, and their two-year-old
son Giovanni (Fig. 23.2) is typical of the portraiture of
Cosimo’s court. Eleonora was the daughter of Don Pedro di
23.2 Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son, Giovanni. c.
Alvarez di Toledo, Charles V’s viceroy in Naples (1532-53). 1546, commissioned
by Cosimo | from Agnolo Bronzino. Oil on panel,
3’ 9 SS eee
Cosimo’s marriage to her brought him an alliance with (115 x 96 cm) (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
)

§18 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO |

 The Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo
In 1540, soon after marrying Eleonora, Cosimo moved from
the Palazzo Medici into the Palazzo della Signoria, publicly
proclaiming his dominance over all civic institutions. No
Florentine could have misunderstood Cosimo’s inhabiting
of the Palazzo della Signoria (subsequently called the
Palazzo Ducale) as anything but a manifestation of the end
of the republic and its definitive transformation into a ducal
state. Cosimo remodeled the building to accommodate his
expanding family and commissioned elaborate decorative
programs of the histories of his ancestors, of his own
military conquests, and of dynastic portraiture to fill its
vast spaces. Eleonora took up residence with their children
on the upper floor of the former city hall in apartments that
had been used by the city’s republican priors; its entrance
was through their former chapel. At the opposite end of the
long suite of rooms, Cosimo constructed a smaller, cubical
chapel for his wife’s private devotions, completely decorated
by Bronzino with imagery that ostensibly referred to
Christian redemption but which barely veiled his dynastic
and political intentions (Fig. 23.4). The wall frescoes all
depict scenes from the life of Moses, an uncommon subject
in Christian chapels though one which the popes had

23.3 Portrait of aYoung Man, c. 1540-45 (sometimes dated as much as a

decade earlier), Agnolo Bronzino. Oil on panel, 3’ 1 4" x 2’ 5 4" (95.5 x
74.9 cm) (H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs H. O. Havemeyer,
1929 [29.100.16], Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New York)

an architectural space that is as difficult to comprehend as

he is. His every gesture is self-conscious, from his slow gaze
downward toward the viewer to his claw-like finger, marking
his place in the book, and perhaps identifying him as a
friend from within the literary circles familiar to Bronzino
and his wife Laura Battiferri, themselves both accomplished
writers and poets. His left hand, resting on his hip, shows an
unnatural arrangement of thumb and fingers. The costume
is elaborately cut in the latest fashion, with multiple slashes
through which another material appears. Laces with gold
points decorate both the hat and the codpiece, itself a
curious development in the history of costume at this time,
calling attention to the presumed virility of the figure. For
all the detailing of the costume, the face of the man 1s
exceedingly bland and refined—in striking contrast to the
grotesque head carved on the arm of the chair to the
right. The man’s eyes, moreover, are not aligned, making
any attempt at communication tentative at best. Bronzino
includes a witty internal comment on the impenetrable
mask-like aspect of the figure with the swag of material
carved into the table at the lower left corner; it, too, reads as
a flaccid grotesque head, quite unlike the crisp perfected
features of the young man. Complexity, refined elegance,
self-consciousness (on the part of both sitter and artist), and
wit make this portrait a touchstone of maniera, what one art 23.4 Chapel and altarpiece of Eleonora da Toledo, Palazzo Vecchio,
historian has aptly called “the stylish style.” Florence, c. 1540, commissioned by Cosimo | from Agnolo Bronzino

THE CHAPEL OF ELEONORA OF TOLEDO 519

 23.5 Crossing of the Red Sea, c. 1540, commissioned by Cosimo | from Agnolo Bronzino for the chapel of Eleonora
da Toledo, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Fresco, 16’ 1” (4.9 m) wide

deployed most effectively at the Sistine Chapel in Rome to draw attention to themselves as elegant and graceful ele-
to stress their right of rulership (see Fig. 12.29). In the ments within the overall composition, but not particularly
Crossing of the Red Sea (Fig. 23.5) Moses, seen crouching to clarify the narrative (see Fig. 17.31). Similarly, instead of
and gesticulating on the right in a pose highly dependent on flailing and resisting their demise, the doomed Egyptian
Michelangelo’s sculpture of the same subject (see Fig. 17.11), horsemen are frozen in the glassy stillness of the sea. Bright
is about to drop his hand after having led the Israelites light flattens the figures into complex surface patterns, in
out of their exile in Egypt; the pharaoh’s defeated horsemen spite of the exaggerated perspective and figural diminution
drown in the returning waters. Theologians interpreted Bronzino deploys in the background. In later frescoes in the
this as a salvific act prefiguring Christ’s victory over death, chapel he abandoned perspective altogether, verticalizing
but for Cosimo the story could also refer to the Medici’s his space and contorting his figures into ever more difficult
rightful return to power after repeated exiles and an overt —and therefore praiseworthy and stylish—poses.
indication of the fate awaiting those who opposed him. The altarpiece currently in the chapel, depicting the
The presence of an obviously pregnant woman to the right Lamentation, 1s a replica Bronzino made in 1553 of his 1545
and behind Moses promises a fecund period of Medicean original (which was sent to France as a diplomatic gift).
and Florentine renewal. Bronzino also removed the original flanking panels of St.
The style employed by Bronzino in these frescoes resem- John the Baptist, patron saint of the city, and St. Cosmas,
bles the cool, calculated manner we have seen in his por- onomastic of Cosimo, which clearly stated Cosimo’s civic
traits. Bronzino arranged the Israelites more artfully than intentions and his personal presence in the space, and
expressively on the shore, demonstrating his close study of replaced them with side panels depicting the Annunciation
ancient as well as modern works without giving much con- sull visible in the chapel. The design of the altarpiece clearly
cern to their presumed emotions of gratitude and relief. derives from Pontormo’s Capponi altarpiece (see Fig. 18.0)
A partially nude standing male figure at the left languidly but with crucial differences. Bronzino has put Christ’s body
corkscrews his body to face a seated female who fetchingly back on his mother’s lap as was traditional in Pieta groups
draws a long braid ofhair between her exposed right breast (see Fig. 12.35), and while the Space 1s compressed and
and her left breast, which is hidden but nonetheless vividly individual figures seem psychologically disengaged from
suggested by her cupped left hand. It is not clear what this one another, the entire composition is more grounded and
exchange between the two figures signifies, except in artistic weighty than his teacher’s hallucinatory vision. The subject
terms. In its pose and the artificial array of drapery around matter is also more theologically orthodox. The figures in
his lower torso, the male recalls earlier figures positioned the foreground are easily identifiable as the saints John

520 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO |

and Mary Magdalene; Bronzino dresses the aged Virgin buried. Thus Duke Cosimo I not only inserted himself in
Mary humbly as a nun; and Joseph of Arimathea and the long and illustrious tradition of Medici patronage
Nicodemus look on from the right rear. Flying putti carry in San Lorenzo but he also associated himself with his
explicit emblems of the Passion, timely aids to worship and namesake, the founder of Medici hegemony in the city
orthodox belief at a moment when religious reformers were of Florence.
beginning to call on artists and patrons to rein in their Pontormo’s fresco cycle included scenes from Genesis, a
inventive fantasies. As had been true for centuries in chapel Last Judgment, and the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, the titu-
decorations, Bronzino’s devotional altarpiece was more lar saint of the church. The scenes from the story of Noah
conservative than the narrative frescoes that surround them. which would have been on the left wall of the chapel were
Just after Bronzino finished the chapel decorations part of a revival of an old myth which proposed that Noah
Cosimo commissioned Pontormo to fresco the unfinished had founded Florence after the Flood. Thus, as ruler of the
choir of San Lorenzo, which Cosimo Pater Patriae had city, Cosimo I was once again connected with the leaders of
reserved for his own in 1442 and before which he was the Old Testament. Known mostly from drawings, the fig-
ural style of these frescoes recalls the work of Michelangelo,
despite the soft fluidity of Pontormo’s own draftsmanship.
In the Christ in Glory and the Creation ofEve (Fig. 23.6), drawn
for a fresco on the center of the upper wall of the choir
aligned axially with the nave, the ambiguous sitting/stand-
ing pose of the Christ figure imitates the comparable figure
in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment (see Fig. 21.1) and the roiling
nudes around Christ repeat in a slightly more languid fash-
ion the complex poses of their counterparts. Pontormo’s
friendship with Michelangelo allowed reverberations of
Michelangelo’s style in the main chapel at San Lorenzo,
although the master himself steadfastly refused to work for
the city’s new ruler, who had so thoroughly subverted the
republican ideals that Michelangelo held dear.

Church Reform and Local Politics

Almost as soon as artists codified the new Medicean style,
political and religious forces outside the city encouraged
Cosimo and his court artists to temper some of their extrav-
agances, largely owing to Cosimo’s desire to ingratiate him-
self with the papacy, an alliance tied to his desire to become
grand duke of Tuscany. His negotiations—both political and
artistic—were rewarded in 1569 when Pius V gave him the
title. Thus Cosimo’s patronage of religious programs in
Florence’s major churches must be seen not just in terms of
his own local needs, but as a reflection of the papacy’s goals
as well, in this case tied to the religious reforms promul-
gated by the Council of Trent. In short, political orthodoxy
could be mirrored in the new religious orthodoxy. This was
the case in the renovation projects begun in 1565 at the
Florentine churches of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella
(see Figs. 4.7 and 4.9). Cosimo I initiated the redecoration of
7

these major Franciscan and Dominican churches, choosing

Giorgio Vasari as his architect in both instances. Vasari
removed existing choir screens to permit the laity to see the
altar, in accordance with the Council’s dictate; he also white-
washed fourteenth-century frescoes and supplanted their
outdated style with classicizing architectural tabernacles
23.6 Christ in Glory and the Creation of Eve, preparatory drawing for framing new devotional paintings. The resulting interiors of
the frescoes of the choir of San Lorenzo, Florence, frescoes painted the buildings have a stripped-down, uniform, and modern
1546-56, destroyed in 1742, commissioned by Cosimo | from Jacopo
appearance. For Santa Croce, Vasari also designed a huge
Pontormo. Black chalk on paper, 12% x 7” (32.6 x 18 cm) (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence) Eucharistic tabernacle which dominated the newly opened

CHURCH REFORM AND LOCAL POLITICS 521

central space of the church, giving a focus to the sacrament, Trent in programs that demanded new naturalism and
as explicitly demanded by Trent. accuracy to the narrative text.
The extensive obliteration of the past in these churches Perhaps the most developed example of this new style
left their interiors appropriate for the new golden age under and the devotional reforms that lie behind its appearance
his rule. The awareness of Cosimo’s other-than-religious is Santi di Tito’s (1536 Sansepolcro-1602 Florence) Vision
motives is evident in the suit that the Alberti family brought of St. Thomas Aquinas (Fig. 23.9) depicting a miraculous event
against him, claiming that, in removing the choir screen in the life of the Dominican saint when Christ spoke to
of Santa Croce, Cosimo was ostensibly claiming the space him from a painted crucifix. This painting shows Thomas
before the main altar of the church where their ancestors kneeling in religious rapture before a crucified Christ,
had been buried for over two hundred years. The Alberti flanked by St. Catherine of Alexandria, the Virgin Mary,
claimed the presbytery and choir as their own—a space stull Mary Magdalene, and St. John, who seem to have moved out
today marked by their coats of arms high on the piers to the of the painting depicted on the walls of the niche behind
left and right of the main altar. Not surprisingly, the Alberti them into physical space. Here Thomas’s devotion is so
lost their suit. It is also no surprise that the building intense that the icon has disappeared to be replaced by the
committees for these projects were composed of men loyal real event. Contrary to his hagiography, Thomas does not
to Cosimo I and that in most cases these men were allotted levitate in the painting, but exists as a surrogate for the
the new altar chapels for their own use. Local politics and devout viewer kneeling before it—in this case perhaps mem-
Church reform enjoyed reciprocal benefits in Florence. bers of a confraternity dedicated to the saint. Protestant
Unlike previous practice, the owners of the new private criticisms of icon worship are here answered by the Catholic
chapels at Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella were not
allowed to determine the architectural forms of their chap-
els or to select the subject of the altarpieces that adorned
them. The altarpieces were prescribed in Vasari’s program.
All are of narrative events, as if to bring the viewer into a
closer relation with the historical fact of the biblical text and
to ensure a more active involvement with its message, as the
Council of Trent had stipulated; conventional Madonna
and Child representations are completely absent. For Santa
Croce, Vasari devised a program of Christ’s Passion and
post-Passion histories which provided a continuous narra-
tive from one altar to the next (see Fig. 4.8). A comparison
of Bronzino’s Christ in Limbo (Fig. 23.7 and p. 486), already in
Santa Croce when Vasari began his renovations, and Vasari’s
own Incredulity of St.Thomas (Fig. 23.8) also demonstrates a
change in style from maniera to what has come to be known
as the counter-maniera, indicating its opposition to the
complexities of Mannerism. Bronzino’s altarpiece, painted
before Cosimo’s and Vasari’s renovations, is distinctly like
his other high-style works (see Fig. 23.4). Although the fig-
ure of Christ is centrally placed in Bronzino’s painting, the
welter of figures around him and the torsions of their poses
compete for the viewer’s attention. The complex positions
of the limbs, the soft sensuality of the bodies, and the vague-
ness of the figures were all criticized by Vasari’s friend and
advisor Raffaello Borghini in his I/ Riposo of 1584. Vasari’s
painting, by contrast, shows Christ and St. Thomas at the
center, framed by arches, with the subordinate figures focus-
ing attention toward the narrative center of the painting,
Space is rationally constructed and ordered around a single-
point perspective system. The twisted pose of the crouching
St. Peter to the far right employs Mannerist conventions,
but the allegories of Hope and Sorrow floating above
are decorously clothed, unlike the fetching angelic figure
in Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck, for example
23.7 Christ in Limbo, 1552 , commissioned
by Giovanni Zanchini from
(see Fig. 19.10). Vasari, adept in the Mannerist style, could Agnolo Bronzino for the Zanchini Chapel,
S anta Croce, Florence. Oil on
bring it to conform to the demands of the Council of panel, 14’ 6%” x 9’ 6%" (4.43 x 2 91m) (Museo
di Santa Croce)

522) (FEORENGE UINDERTEO SIMON

 that he had already known in Florence. Santi also appar-
ently visited Venice in 1571-72 and assimilated at that time
both Venetian colorism and dramatic composition. He was
able to integrate these various experiences when he returned
to Florence, joined the Accademia del Disegno (1564), and
worked with its leader, Vasari, ultimately developing a style
quite different from Vasari’s and attaining a position as the
outstanding painter in the city at the end of the century.
Clearly in Florence, but throughout Italy as well, responses
to the Council of Trent, to religious reform, and to a renewed
role for the arts in religious practice cannot be viewed
in a singular manner. Overlaps between the religious and
the political, the individual needs of different patrons, and
different local traditions inflected the legislation of the
Council and provided various possibilities for following or
circumventing its directives.

23.8 Incredulity of St.Thomas, 1572, commissioned by Tommaso and

Francesco Guidacci from Giorgio Vasari for the Guidacci Chapel, Santa
Croce, Florence. Oil on panel

claim that images are merely a means to approach the

figures depicted—in this case a successful means—in order
to transform devotional practice into an immediate expert-
ence of the divine. A diagonal axis into the painting invites
the viewer to imitate the experience, assisted by the gestur-
ing St. Catherine at the left, who, like a figure in a flanking
panel in a traditional altarpiece, stands atemporally in
relation to the Crucifixion. In this devotional moment she
acts as another human to collapse the lived moment of the
prayerful viewer into the ever present, sacral redemptive
moment of Christ’s sacrifice.
The realism of the figures and the intensity of their
engagement in the drama of the narrative are a radical
shift away from the work of Bronzino (see Fig. 23.19), who
had been one of Santi’s teachers, and from the bombast
and quotational classicism of Bandinelli (see Figs. 19.12
and 18.3), who had also taught him. Santi’s stay in Rome
between 1558 and 1564, where he worked in the papal court, 23.9 Vision of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1593, commissioned by Sebastiano
put him in touch with the new spiritual movements there Pandolfini del Turco from Santi di Tito for the del Turco Chapel,
and with the return to the classical traditions of Raphael San Marco, Florence. Oil on panel, 11’ 9" x 7’ 7" (3.62 x 2.33 m)

CHURCH REFORM AND LOCAL POLITICS 523

Art as a Symbol of the well-lit figure, albeit more swarthy in appearance, represent-
ing Chronos, or Time. He extends a blue drapery across the
Advanced State background of the composition, essentially throwing the
figures before it into relief. This drapery extends to the front
At least since the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the of the painting, where it functions as a rumpled sheet on
Medici—like other statesmen—had used objects of art and which Venus is seated, its icy blue color playing against the
artists themselves as ways to build alliances between them- steely red of the cushion on which Cupid kneels.
selves and other powerful rulers. Bronzino’s Allegory with Chronos and Giuoco are paired in a set of visual opposi-
Venus and Cupid (Fig. 23.10) was commissioned as one ofa tions: young/old, light/dark, curly-headed/bald, smiling/
long series of important gifts of art to Francis I of France, frowning. These suggest an interior dialogue on the actions
who in his later years increasingly preferred subject matter of Venus and Cupid, although neither Giuoco nor Chronos
of an overtly erotic nature. The lasciviously entwined figures actually looks at the main protagonists. Chronos looks
of an adolescent Cupid and his mother, Venus, were toward the upper left corner of the painting at a figure vari-
obviously aimed at this sensibility, but there is more than ously identified as Fraud or Oblivion, whose head is really
salaciousness to the painting. The golden orb which Venus an empty shell, cut off behind the ear in mask-like fashion,
holds in her left hand represents the golden apple given her and not unlike the two masks of Deceit lying at the bottom
by Paris when he judged her more beautiful than Juno right. She is one ofa trio of troubling shadowy figures in the
and Minerva, but it also refers to the orb of royal rule. In cramped middle ground that includes a haggard, howling
her right hand she suggestively displays an arrow plucked male tearing his hair at the far left and, just behind Giuoco,
from Cupid’s quiver. A third brightly lit figure, this of a a beautiful young woman extending a sweet honeycomb.
young boy identified as Giuoco—or Playfulness, appears The male figure, once identified as a female Jealousy, is now
ready to shower them with the roses he holds in his hand, thought to be a representation of pain (“dolor” is gendered
oblivious of the thorn at his foot. Above Giuoco 1s another male) or the “morbo gallico,” known now as syphilis. At the
time syphilis was called the “French disease” in part
because its first recorded epidemic appearance
occurred with the French troops who had invaded
Italy in 1494. The female figure represents either a
problematic Pleasure or Fraud, since her body, seen
to the right of Giuoco, is that of a dragon, its tail
curving past the two masks of Deceit to end in a
stinger held in the figure’s own right hand.
This esoteric imagery, still disputed by scholars,
accords with elaborate Mannerist conceits and par-
allels the complexity of the poses. Cosimo sent this
painting not only as a demonstration of painterly
excellence, but as a demonstration of Florentine
intellectual cleverness, necessary both for the inven-
tion of the imagery and for its unraveling. A princely
ruler addressing a king chose an elevated and
artificial language as the appropriate one to convey
their mutual god-like status while at the same time
playing to the king’s taste for the erotic.

A Dynasty Supported by History and Myth

Cosimo was determined to reshape the public as
well as the private face of Florence to reflect the
city’s new political realities. For a major sculptural
commission in the Piazza della Signoria, he turned
to Benvenuto Cellini. Cellini lacked the reticence
normally preferred at court; his flamboyant and

23.10 Allegory with Venus and Cupid, mid-1540s, commissioned

by Cosimo | from Agnolo Bronzino as a gift to Francis | of
FrancOil e.on panel, 5’ 1” x 4’ 8 %" (1.55 x 1.43 m)
(National Gallery, London)

§24 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO

openly countercultural lifestyle included, on separate occa-
sions, dressing one ofhis male assistants as a young woman
to accompany him to a party and gilding another’s skin. But
Cellini also possessed both the technical knowledge and
artistic vision to continue the Medicean decorative program
for the exterior of the Palazzo della Signoria initiated
by Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus (see Fig. 18.3). Cellini’s
over-life-sized bronze Perseus (Fig. 23.11) depicts the slaying
of the Gorgon Medusa, so hideous that to look upon her
meant instant death by being turned to stone in sheer
fright. Designed for the place where it still stands, under
the left arch of the Loggia della Signoria, the Perseus would
have been a companion piece not only for the Hercules and
Cacus but, more notably, for Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes

23.12 Perseus (detail of torso), 1545-54, commissioned by Cosimo | from

Benevenuto Cellini for the Loggia della Signoria, Florence. Bronze

(see Fig. 11.23), which then stood under the right arch ofthe
loggia. The act of decapitation, the arm extended in space,
and the sensuality of the male body (Fig. 23.12) are compa-
rable in each statue, so it is not unreasonable to see Cellini’s
bronze in competition with Donatello’s sculpture of the
previous century. The Perseus is also a critique of the extrava-
gantly muscled body and tormented face of Bandinelli’s
“male nude immediately to its left. Inscriptions on the base
of Cellini’s group indicate that the Perseus was conceived as
a reference to the Medici as saviors of the public good who
had freed the citizenry from tyrants—an ironic displacement
of their own obsession for power. The sculpture’s spatial
pairing with the Judith and Holofernes would, then, have
undermined the inscription placed on that statue in 1495
when it was moved to the Palazzo della Signoria and would
23.11 Perseus, 1545-54, commissioned by Cosimo | from Benvenuto
Cellini for the Loggia della Signoria, Florence. Bronze, height 10’ 6" once again have claimed it for the Medici.
(3.2 m) Cosimo’s plans for the Piazza della Signoria, the civic
The base and bronze statuettes are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. heart of Florence, did not stop at such oblique propaganda

ART AS A SYMBOL OF THE ADVANCED STATE 525

 CONTEMPORARY VOICE

Casting the Perseus

This passage from Cellini’s unfinished scraps, which were placed according to the grate. The oak that | used, by the way,
autobiography is one of the most famous rules of our art, that is, so piled up that the burns much more fiercely than any other
of the artist's descriptions of his own flames would be able to play through kind of wood, and so alder or pinewood,
technical brilliance. In it he pairs his them, heat the metal more quickly, and which are slower burning, is generally pre-
own return to life with that of the bronze melt it down. Then, very excitedly, | ordered ferred for work such as casting artillery. ...
cast and plays on his role as Creator the furnace to be set alight. ... the work- When they saw the metal beginning to
through his revivification of the near- shop caught fire and we were terrified that melt my whole band of assistants were so
failed casting. In this case his divine the roof might fall in on us, and at the keen to help that each one of them was
spark is one of superb technical know-how same time the furnace began to cool off as good as three men put together.
rather than of intellectual design, itself a because ofthe rain and wind that swept in Then | had someone bring me a lump of
witty inversion of the academic arguments at me from the garden. pewter, weighing about sixty pounds,
then current. | struggled against these infuriating which | threw inside the furnace on to the
accidents for several hours, but the strain caked metal. By this means, and by piling
| clothed my Perseus with the clays | had was more than even my strong constitution fo) n
prepared some months previously in order could bear, and | was suddenly attacked the fuel and stirring with pokers and iron
to ensure that they would be properly by a bout offever. ... | told my housemaids bars, the metal soon became molten. And
seasoned. When | had made its clay tunic, to bring into the workshop enough food when | saw that despite the despair of
as it is called, | carefully armed it, enclosed and drink for everyone, and | added that all my ignorant assistants | had brought a
it with iron supports, and began to draw | myself would certainly be dead by the next corpse back to life, | was so reinvigorated
off the wax by means of a slow fire. It came day. They tried to cheer me up, insisting that | quite forgot the fever that had put
out through the air vents | had made—the that my grave illness would soon pass the fear of death into me.
more of which there are, the better a and was only the result of excessive tired- At this point there was a sudden explo-
mould fills. After | had finished drawing off ness. Then | spent two hours fighting sion and a tremendous flash of fire, as
the wax, | built round my Perseus a funnel- off the fever, which all the time increased if a thunderbolt had been hurled in our
shaped furnace. It was built, that is, round in violence, and | kept shouting out: midst. Everyone, not least myself, was
the mould itself, and was made of bricks “?m dying!” ... struck with unexpected terror. When the
piled one on top ofthe other, with a great In the middle of this dreadful suffering glare and noise had died away, we stared
many gaps for the fire to escape more | caught sight of someone making his way at each other, and then realized that the
easily. Then | began to lay on wood, in into my room. His body was all twisted, cover ofthe furnace had cracked open and
fairly small amounts, keeping the fire going just like a capital S, and he began to that the bronze was pouring out. | hastily
for two days and nights. moan in a voice full of gloom, like a priest opened the mouths of the mould and at
When all the wax was gone and the consoling a prisoner about to be executed. the same time drove in the two plugs.
mould well baked, | at once began to dig “Poor Benvenuto! Your work is all Then, seeing that the metal was not
the pit in which to bury it, observing all the ruined—there’s no hope left!” running as easily as it should, | realized that
rules that my art demands. That done, On hearing the wretch talk like that | the alloy must have been consumed in
| took the mould and carefully raised it let out a howl that could have been heard that terrific heat. So | sent for all my pewter
up by pulleys and strong ropes, finally echoing from the farthest planet, sprang plates, bowls, and salvers, which num-
suspending it an arm’s length above the out of bed, seized my clothes, and began bered about two hundred, and put them
furnace, so that it hung down just as | to dress. My servants, my boy, and every- one by one in front of the channels, throw-
wanted it above the middle ofthe pit. Very, one else who rushed up to help me found ing some straight into the furnace. When
very slowly | lowered it to the bottom of themselves treated to kicks and blows, and they saw how beautiful the bronze was
the furnace and set it in exact position with | grumbled furiously at them ... melting and the mould filling up, everyone
the utmost care: and then, having finished | went at once to inspect the furnace, grew excited. ...
that delicate operation, | began to bank and | found that the metal had all curdled, [!] cried out loud: “O God, who by
it up with the earth | had dug out. As | had caked as they say. | ordered two of infinite power raised Yourself from the
built this up, layer by layer, | left a number the hands to go over to Capretta, who kept dead and ascended into heaven!” And
of air holes by means of little tubes of a butcher’s shop, for a load of young oak then in an instant my mould was filled.
terracotta of the kind used for drawing off that had been dried out a year or more So | knelt down and thanked God with all
water and similar purposes. before and had been offered me by his my heart. ... This was so amazing that-it
| had had the furnace filled with a great wife, Ginevra. When they carried in the first seemed a certain miracle, with everything
many blocks of copper and other bronze armfuls | began to stuff them under the controlled and arranged by God.

(Benvenuto Cellini. Autobiography. Trans. George Bull. Harmondsworth,

UK: Penguin 1956)

EET
N N SI OORNOSIT SN O NR a

526 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO |

23.13 Fountain of Neptune, 1550-75, Neptune
figure completed in 1565, commissioned by
Cosimo | from Baccio Bandinelli, ultimately
made by Bartolomeo Ammanati and others
for the Piazza della Signoria, Florence.
Marble and bronze, height 18’ 4%” (5.6 m)

as the Perseus or the earlier Hercules

and Cacus. Bandinelli received a com-
mission for a large fountain in this
space and, with the intervention of
Eleonora of Toledo, who apparently
despised Cellini, was eventually
awarded the central marble
statue
of Neptune. Bandinelli’s death in
1560 unleashed a frenetic competi-
tion among a number of sculptors
vying for his privileged position as
artist within the court. The major
part of the work was ultimately
awarded to Bandinelli’s student
and a friend of Michelangelo, Bartolomeo Ammanati (1511 Cosimo’s death) the Neptune/Cosimo was aligned spatially
Settignano-1592 Florence). He gave the gigantic marble with both Michelangelo’s David and Bandinelli’s Hercules
Neptune surmounting the Fountain of Neptune (Fig. 23.13) and Cacus, toward which it looked, thus assimilating their
the features of Cosimo, leaving little doubt that the gener- meanings as both biblical and mythological heroes into
ous gift of water to the center of the city was the duke’s. In Cosimo’s propagandistic aims. Stylistically, the Neptune
this fountain Cosimo, like a Roman emperor, was deified, hovers between these earlier statues. Cosimo had claimed
repeating an image of power that Bandinelli had used for the republic, making their stylistic opposition unnecessary.
Andrea Doria in Genoa (see Fig. 19.12).
Representing Cosimo as Neptune, the god of the sea, was Restructuring Civic Space: The Uffizi
highly appropriate since he had recently conquered the city
of Pisa, thus opening the Mediterranean to Florentine inter- In conjunction with Cosimo’s sculptural commissions
ests. By the time of the fountain’s completion in 1575 (after he also ordered the building of the Uffizi (Fig. 23.14).
Designed to house all the civil offices
(the meaning of uffizi), the guilds, and
Medici court artists, the Uffizi is
an architectural symbol of a unified
bureaucracy under Medici rule. Giorgio
Vasari (1511 Arezzo-1574 Florence),
the architect of the complex and the
impressario of Cosimo’s most impor-
tant artistic commissions after 1555,
built a long, U-shaped building whose
colonnades at ground level imitate
those in the Roman Forum. The refer-
ence to imperial rule was made explicit
by including Vincenzo Dant’s (1530
Perugia-1576 Perugia) statue of Cosimo

23.14 Uffizi, Florence, 1560-80, commissioned

by Cosimo | from Giorgio Vasari, completed by
Bernardo Buontalenti and Alfonso Parigi

ART AS A SYMBOL OF THE ADVANCED STATE 527

as Augustus (Fig. 23.15) in a niche in the cross-arm of the ments alternate over the windows in an a-b-a pattern and
building. The statue, showing the emperor in military cos- by breaking and extending the cornice lines forward at the
tume, was appropriate for Cosimo I, whose reputation as a separation of each bay. Nonetheless, the unremitting repeti-
military leader was well understood (see Fig. 23.1). Although tion of forms sets up a sense of oppressive order in the urban
the appropriateness of such an image within this civic (not landscape which could be related to Cosimo’s control over
military) context might be questioned, the Arno, flowing the state. As an extension of the Piazza della Signoria, and
west to Pisa, which Cosimo had taken for Florence, could be with its virtual attachment to the Palazzo della Signoria and
seen through the open archway at the end of the axis of the the Loggia della Signoria (see Fig. 4.0), the Uffizi marks the
building. Danti had studied with Michelangelo and Daniele imposition of Cosimo’s ducal government over all aspects—
da Volterra in Rome before coming to Florence in 1557, and political, mercantile, and artistic—of civic life.
thus he know both the traditions of ancient military statues
of emperors and the conventions of twisting body poses and The Sala del Gran Consiglio
fantastical armor (see Fig. 18.11) that were part of contem-
porary artistic vocabulary. Vasari was also responsible for major renovations inside the
Vasari ordered the difficult site by dividing the facades Palazzo della Signoria, soon to be renamed the Palazzo
into tripartite bays in which triangular and segmented pedi- Vecchio (“old” palace). Besides being commissioned to
decorate rooms explicitly dedicated to Cosimo’s ancestors—
Cosimo Pater Patriae, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and Leo X
(Giovanni de’ Medici)—Vasari designed a program for the
Hall of the Great Council (Fig. 23.16). His scheme covered
ceiling, soffits, and walls, necessitating the destruction of
the remains of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari and erasing
all memory of the projects for this room initiated by the
republic of 1494-1512. At the center of the focal short wall
of the room is an over-life-sized seated marble figure of
Leo X by Bandinelli, a recognition of Cosimo’s debt to the
ancestor who had named him and who had brought
Florence back under Medici control after 1512. Medici
dynastic imagery is somewhat heavy-handedly displayed
in the overall set of commissions of which the Leo image is
the center: Cosimo’s father, the military general Giovanni
delle Bande Nere, appears to the left of the pope and
Alessandro, his cousin and the first duke of Florence, to his
right (both by Bandinelli). The ceiling program merged
the history of the city of Florence with Cosimo’s military

23.15 Cosimo as Augustus, 1568-72, commissioned by Cosimo | from

Vincenzo Danti for the cross-arm ofthe Uffizi, Florence. Marble, height
9" 2x" (2.8 m) (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)

The statue repeats the pose of Michelangelo’s Bacchus (see Fig. 12.34), which
Francesco de’ Medici bought for the ducal collection in 1572. Francesco seems
to have been involved with this commission, at least in its early stages. He
replaced the statue in 1595 with Giambologna’s figure of a standing Cosimo |
now still in place. 23.16 Interior of Sala del Gran Consiglio, Palazzo della
Signoria, Florence

§28 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO |

23.17 Apotheosis of Cosimo, 1562, commissioned
by Cosimo | from Giorgio Vasari for the

dT ONDId
centerpiece of an elaborately coffered and
painted ceiling in the Sala del Gran Consiglio, € 1d
Palazzo della Signoria, Florence

victories. Each narrative carries a didac-

tic inscription. At the center of the
enormous room, in a circular panel in
the ceiling, is an image of the Apotheosis
of Cosimo (Fig. 23.17), surrounded by
the heraldic shields of the commune,
the people and the city of Florence,
and of the twenty-one guilds of the
city. This image replaced one of the
Glorification of Florence in an earlier
plan. Now Flora (Florence) obediently
crowns a mask-like Cosimo, dressed in
formal military attire, and a small
putto holds the ducal crown in the
background. When Cosimo finally
secured the title of grand duke of
Tuscany from Pope Pius V in 1569—an
honor that had eluded him in his
negotiations with Charles V in 1537—
he had already fashioned the public
spaces and images that would confirm
his exalted position.

The Florentine Academy

Just as Cosimo reordered the govern-

ment of Florence, so the founding of the Accademia del suggested that the woman could be Andromeda, the wife of
Disegno (Academy of Design) by Vasari and others in 1562 Perseus, clearly an attempt to unify the program of the log-
realigned the arts in Florence. The patron and sponsor of gia and to connect father and son as patrons/rulers of the
the academy was the duke himself, to whom Vasari had city. But Raffaello Borghini, a leading member of the acad-
dedicated the first edition of his Lives in 1550. Art and the emy, proposed the Sabines as the subject, a designation
state were clearly linked, even as artists were encouraged to which has remained ever since. Although the self-conscious
invent new conceptual structures for their work. The acad- complexities of the physical movements and interactions—
emy placed a strong emphasis on history and theory, thus interesting in themselves, divorced from content—place this
removing the arts from the craft traditions which had previ- sculptural group well within the conventions of Mannerism,
ously governed their existence. it is the changed role of the artist, supported by the acad-
It also encouraged artists to develop their talents and emy, which made the exploration of formal issues a content
ideas free oftraditional conventions relating to content. The in its own right.
work of Giambologna (1529 Douai-1608 Florence) is a case These purely artistic concerns—at least as they appear in
in point. Trained in his native Flanders by an Italianate “the fully developed maniera—reached their climax in such
sculptor, he himself went to Rome in 1554 and then to paintings as Bronzino’s late masterpiece, the Martyrdom of
Florence in 1556, where he soon came to the attention ofthe St. Lawrence (Fig. 23.19), which was another commission for
Medici. His The Rape of the Sabines (Fig. 23.18) was apparently the Medici’s parish church of San Lorenzo. There is hardly
begun as a free invention during his stay at the academy, a stylistic reference that does not appear in this feverish
intended as a demonstration ofhis ability to solve difficult painting: an academic recreation of aRoman city, decorated
compositional problems, in this case with no particular nar- with quotations from classical sculpture; quotations from
rative in mind. When Cosimo’s son, Grand Duke Ferdinand the paintings of Michelangelo, the father figure of the
I (r. 1587-1609), saw the work, he decided it should be academy; figures, like that in the lower right, who are part
placed in the Loggia della Signoria as a pendant to his of the narrative space, but whose inclusion is more for
father’s Perseus. Asked to name the work, Giambologna their references to classical sculpture; a gratuitous use of

ART AS A SYMBOL OF THE ADVANCED STATE 529

 nudity as a reference to classical antiquity; animated figures
whose poses are notable more for their inventiveness and
complexity than as reasonable depictions of the actions
they pursue; a tour de force of complex compositional
arrangements, as if the painter had a limitless supply of
imagination from which he could effortlessly draw; a
peopling of the figures by those who seem emotionally
unaffected by the grisly martyrdom of the central figure,
who himself reacts rather too gracefully to the flames
that begin to burn his body; and portraits inserted at a
reduced scale in the mid-ground, as if the sitters wished
to assert their presence within an artistic event rather
than participate in a narrative at which none of them
bothers to look.
This focus on art and artfulness served both the artists,
in their attempts to claim an elevated social role in the
culture, and Cosimo I, as the titular head of the academy,
in his efforts to bring all aspects of Florentine life under his
control. Mannerism and its refined final phase of maniera
had proven once again how style could effectively serve
social and political ends.

23.18 The Rape of the Sabines, 1579-83, Giambologna, Loggia della 23.19 Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 1565-69, commissioned
Signoria, Florence, replaced Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes in 1582 and by Cosimo | from
Agnolo Bronzino. Fresco (San Lorenzo, Florence)
was completed the following year. Marble, height c. 13’ 5%" (c. 4.1 m) hae

§30 FLORENCE UNDER COSIMO |

 Rome: A European Capital City

an international cultural capital supported by the

pan-national nature of the papal court, where artists
came from throughout Europe to learn and to work.
It was not only the successes of the artistic projects
already discussed, but the renewed sense that all
roads—artistic, religious, political—led to Rome as an
international city that gave it its special character—
and where artistic ability was measured more criti-
cally and by a wider range of viewers than in any
other city in Europe.

New Religious Orders

EP PN Bae OT BATON S.

One of the major factors of Rome’s increasing

prominence on the world stage was the burgeoning
of new religious orders in the sixteenth century
occasioned in part by the Council of Trent and
reforms within the Church. Like the Franciscans and
Dominicans in the thirteenth century, these orders—
most notably the Jesuits (formally, the Society of
Jesus), the Oratorians, and the Theatines—were soon
enlisted by the papacy to instill orthodoxy and devo-
tion on the part of the faithful and to convert new
members to their ranks. The Jesuits were founded by
a Spaniard, Ignatius of Loyola (14912-1556); their
order was confirmed by Paul III in 1540 and grew
to worldwide prominence as an agent of teaching,
conversion, and reform. Although it is overstating
the case to read a “Jesuit style” in the visual arts,
their home church of the Gest: in Rome (Figs. 24.1,
24.2, and 24.3) clearly illustrates architectural and
pictorial responses to the Council’s directives.

The Gest

” The importance of the Gest in its own time can perhaps be

y the end of the sixteenth century Rome had achieved understood by the simple fact that it was the largest church
unique status as a true capital city. In little under two to have been built in Rome since the sack of the city in 1527.
hundred years, the city had developed from a run-down Although Ignatius had hoped for a new church for his order
ghost of its ancient greatness with cows grazing within its virtually from the time ofits confirmation, the slow process
walls to a city that provided the model for urban planning
for other large, emerging European capitals like Paris and
24.0 Acqua Felice, Rome, begun 1589, commissioned by Sixtus V from
London. Unlike earlier periods in which Rome was seen pre- Leonardo Sormani (statue of Moses), Giovanni Battista della Porta
dominantly as a religious center, it had been transformed (the relief on the left depicting Aaron Leading the Jews to a Well), and
into an image of a worldwide power with claims over more Flaminio Vaca and Pietro Paolo Olivieri (the reliefon the right depicting
people than any European monarch could imagine and into Gideon Leading His Soldiers and the Jewish People over the Jordan). Marble

531
24.1 The Gest, Rome, of acquiring property in the center of Rome and raising
lan adequate funds delayed its construction until December
1 Chapel of the Passion 1550: and then it was based on a rather pedestrian plan for
both church and cloister by Nanni di Baccio Bigio (Giovanni
Lippi; 1S 12/13 Florence-1568 Rome), the Florentine assist-
ant of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Difficulties with
the site ultimately led the Jesuits to involve Michelangelo
with the project; he agreed in 1554 to produce drawings and
a model, but apparently nothing came of this other than a
few drawings—in part perhaps because ofIgnatius’s death in
1556 and tensions between the Jesuits and Paul IV, who had
been elected in 1555. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese inter-
vened in 1561 when the project was floundering, providing
24.2 (below) The Gest, funding for much of the building, with the stipulation that
Rome, present building no other patron be allowed at the site and that he be buried
begun in 1568,
commissioned by
in the church. Alessandro’s name is emblazoned across the
the Jesuits with the facade of the church as a public statement ofhis patronage.
patronage of Alessandro Giacomo Vignola, whose work at the Palazzo Farnese
Farnese from Giacomo
(see Fig. 21.8) from 1549 brought him in close contact with
Vignola; facade and
dome by Giacomo the family, was associated with the Gest: from 1563, when
della Porta —————— he provided an unusual oval plan (ultimately not accepted)
for the building. The publication in 1562 of his treatise
on the five architectural orders, Regole
delli cinque ordini di architettura, had made
him one of the best-known architects in
Europe. After Vignola’s death the dome
of the church was completed by Giacomo
della Porta.
The exterior of the Gest reflects
the sculptural treatment of architectural
surfaces employed by Michelangelo in
his commissions for the papacy. Typically
for this period, the facade ofthe building
was considered a separate commission.
Alessandro Farnese chose the design of
Giacomo della Porta over those submit-
ted by Vignola and Galeazzo Alessi.
Recalling and enlarging upon the great
fifteenth-century facades of Sistine
Rome (see Figs. 12.22 and 12.24), della
Porta deployed paired pilasters across
the facade to give it additional dignity
while retaining the integrity of the archi-
tectural surface. Columns frame, and
thus accentuate, the central portal and
the benediction loggia above it. The com-
bination of double pediments over the
portal, broken entablatures across the
facade, and the projection of the central
unit of the building forward® toward
the piazza give the surface a muscular
strength. Despite the energy of the
facade, however, its decoration is quite
restrained and decorous, and is thus
appropriate to the concept of reform in
the Church, supported by the Jesuits.

532 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

24.3 The Gest, Rome

The interior of the Gest 1s an open, single-vessel barrel- program for the high altar and the side chapels is directly
vaulted space with truncated transepts and a single wide related to Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises (1548), a very popular
apse (see Figs. 24.1 and 24.3). Side chapels line the nave, and form of directed prayer and meditation that in its most
although there are connecting passages between them, they extensive form involved a retreat of thirty days. The entire
function as distinct spaces. The paired pilasters provide a project was apparently overseen by Giuseppe Valeriani
dynamic surface comparable to the exterior of the building. (1542 L’Aquila~1596 Naples), himself a Jesuit priest who
The colossal order, like that used by Michelangelo for St. had joined the order in 1572, thus guaranteeing a faithful-
Peter’s (see Figs. 21.11 and 21.12) gives a sense of grandeur ness to the wishes of the order’s founder for sequenced
to the interior, whose thick cornice extends the length of the and cumulative devotional practices. In the chapel dedi-
nave, and at the same time connects the Gesu to the central cated to the Passion of Christ, Valeriani and Gasparre Celio
church of Christianity and to the papacy. The unified space (1571 Rome-1640 Rome) planned and painted the Crucifixion
of the church, recalling Alberti’s designs for the pilgrimage ” (Fig. 24.4) under the direction of another Jesuit, Giovanni
church of Sant’Andrea in Mantua (see Fig. 14.27), affords an Battista Fiammert. In this painting they dramatically lit
uninterrupted focus on the altar, as demanded by the the body of Christ nailed to the cross, pushing it forward
Council of Trent, and facilitates preaching by concentrating and isolating it at the center of the composition, so that it
the congregation in one area. becomes a devotional icon within the historical narrative.
The Christ is immediately over the passageway leading from
Painting for the Gest’ The painted decoration of the one side chapel to another, suggesting that the figures to
chapels of the Gest is among the earliest in Rome to the left and right may spill forward into the viewer’s space.
respond to the concerns for clarity, historical accuracy, and Jerusalem can be seen over the hillside in the background.
compelling emotional impact voiced by the Council of The Roman soldier on the right, modeled on an antique
Trent and its interpreters. More importantly, the decorative statue and thus well within the academic conventions of

NEW RELIGIOUS ORDERS 533

\ WP mete ee Ae 24.4 Crucifixion, c. 1589-90,
SENTPLTTTLEL ULE LEVET EYP NNT INE ULV E ECVE TEETLETTVENETETTOVENTE
OTT PTETELETETELTTN ETT TTT ORT STESL PLIST PSLTSL POPES OFTIIT IIL PLT LOLSEPSS POL EEE PESTA SELL EL ELS
commissioned by Bianca Mellini
from Giuseppe Valeriani and
Gasparre Celio for the Chapel
of the Passion in the Gesu, Rome.
Oil on canvas

24.5 (below) Lamentation, 1591,

commissioned 1589/90 by Bianca
Mellini from Scipione Pulzone
for the altar of the Chapel of the
Passion in the Gesu, probably
through the intervention ofthe
Jesuits and Giuseppe Valeriani.
Oil on canvas, 9’ 6” x 5’ 8”
(2.9 x 1.27 m) (Purchase,
Anonymous Gift, in memory of
Terence Cardinal Cooke, 1984
[1984.74] © 1984 Metropolitan
Museum ofArt, New York)

The painting was most likely

removed from the Gesu in 1798
during the French occupation ofItaly
nu = when virtually everything ofvalue in
MLR EL MLE, OLED
the church was appropriated by the
occupying forces.

the period, rushes into the scene, his arms extended in a

spasm of emotion, which adds to the immediacy of the
scene and is clearly intended to induce a similar internal
response in the worshiper. The Lamentation (Fig. 24.5)
painted by Scipione Pulzone (Scipio Gaetano; 1500 Gaeta-
1598 Rome) for the altar of this chapel, also demonstrates
the new style of religious art following the Council of
Trent. Pulzone was a pupil of the Mannerist painter Jacopino
del Conte and had studied Flemish and Venetian painting
as well as the work of Raphael. In the Lamentation, Christ’s
body takes central place in the composition close to the
picture plane. The close focus and the naturalistic rendering
of the figures—red-eyed with weeping and yet decorously
restrained—give immediacy to the drama as each figure
shows a concentrated personal reaction to the event, invit-
ing viewers to share their emotions. Despite the moderation
in the movement of the figures and the carefully orches-
trated rhetoric of poses and gestures, the glowing unblem-
ished body of Christ—giving no indication of the violence
done to it—1s placed against the brilliant red garment of
Joseph of Arimethea, a purely painterly echo of his recent
bloody ordeal.
Upon his election in 1573, Pope Gregory XII (Ugo
Boncampagni, r. 1572-85) declared that 1575 would be a
Holy Year. The Holy Year became a public declaration of the
success of Church reform; a number of projects begun as
part of the reform were brought to completion and the Holy
Year itself provided a conceptual closure for the first phase
of the reinvigoration of the Church after the Reformation
and the Sack. Gregory Martin, an English priest living
in Rome from 1576 to mid-1578, wrote a guide to the city
in 1581 in which he mentioned the building boom in ce
city and its effect:

534 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

 It were to[o] long to number and name the Churches, building new fountains as a way of making the city a wel-
Chappels, Oratories, and aultars, built, garnished, come place for pilgrims and of propagandizing the success
enriched, namely agaynst this last year of Jubilee 1575. of reform. His papal bull of 1574 defended the confiscation
And so we see concerning this poynte also that Rome of private property in order to effect these alterations by
daily florisheth and excelleth, advancing Christian and stating explicitly that the “common good and the beautify-
Catholike Religion not without cause of the Auncient ing of the city must always be considered before the cupidity
fathers called Romanum, that is the Romane religion. or even the desires ofindividuals.”

The completion of the facade for the Gest: in 1575 (see San Stefano Rotondo
Fig. 24.2) is but one manifestation of this activity. There
were many others. Old altars were removed from the central The centrally planned sixth-century church of San Stefano
spaces of the major pilgrimage basilicas such as Santa Rotondo was restored under Gregory XIII, partly in accord-
Maria Maggiore to provide large unencumbered spaces ance with his papal bull of 1580 uniting the colleges for
for pilgrims, as well as to respond to the Council’s wishes German and Hungarian Jesuits at the site. This church was
that congregations have a clear view of the main altar and a center for clergy being trained to return to their home
the Eucharistic celebration there. countries to propagate the faith, and in many instances
One goal of the leaders of the newly reformed Church to meet the hostility of Protestant reformers. Around the
was to bring it back to the purity of its Early Christian periphery ofits interior, Niccolo Circignani (Il Pomarancio;
beginnings—the very point made by reformers both within c. 1517/24 Pomerance-1596 Citta di Pieve), who had worked
the Church, like Erasmus, and outside it, like Luther. for the pope at the Vatican Palace, led a team of artists
Renovations of the main Early Christian basilicas for the that painted a fresco cycle (Fig. 24.6) of thirty-one scenes
Holy Year served to reaffirm this goal. Like his predecessors, of explicitly graphic martyrdoms. Beginning with Christ’s
Gregory also initiated a program of widening streets and Crucifixion, it continues through the executions of the

Circignani and
24.6 San Stefano Rotondo, Rome, martyrdom scenes commissioned in 1582 by the German and Hungarian College from Niccolé
Matteo da Siena

NEW RELIGIOUS ORDERS 535

 postles and the early Christian saints—appropriate TANQVAM AVRVM IN FORNACE PROBAVIT ILLOS -SAP-TII}
subjects for this Early Christian martyrial structure. The
cycle derives from a book commissioned by Ignatius of
Loyola to instruct the faithful and to provide a focus for
meditation on the Gospel stories through both notes and
images. The frescoes are notable for their blatant didacti-
cism, uniting words to images—rather like captions in a
newspaper article—so there can be no doubt about the desire
to instruct. Each martyrdom carries a hortatory biblical
inscription across the top and each has a double caption
below—one text in Latin, another translating the Latin into
Italian—which identifies the figures in the paintings.
In one of the last scenes in the cycle, representing
the Martyrdom of St. John, St. Paul, St. Bibiana, and St. Artemius
(Fig. 24.7), the bodies of the four dead saints are sequenced
in a neat row from the foreground into the space of the
painting, each extending the entire width of the image;
other scenes of martyrdom are depicted in the background.
Far removed from the conventions of Mannerism, these

ADRIANO IMPERATORE:
A+ EVSTACHIVS cum als in ceneo tawro cremantur -
B~ ALEXANDER Rom Pont: inter/icitur-
C+ SYMPHOROSA in prrofluentem deturbatur.
D+: SEPTEM eu, Aly dinernir crucdanbus necantur-

24.8 Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi
fide certamina, Rome, 1583, Giovanni Battista de Cavallieri, scene from the
ninth fresco of San Stefano Rotondo, Rome, showing St. Eustache and his
companions being cremated in a bronze bull, one of the torture
instruments ofthe period. Engraving

The inscription at the top from the Book of Wisdom recalls Old Testament
prototypes: “Like gold were they tested in the furnace.”

frescoes depict in a naturalistic, almost journalistic, manner

the grisly details of martyrdom. The heads of the closest
two men are severed from their bodies, and blood trickles
from the neck of St. Bibiana, the third figure from the front.
The body of St. Artemius, crushed under the weight of a
huge stone, pours blood over the lower stone on which it
is laid; his eyes are gouged out and his entrails ooze from
his torso. Large black letters label each group offigures and
are coordinated with the legends in Latin and Italian under
each scene. The paintings were intended as a meditation
on saintly martyrdoms which had strengthened the early
Church, and as exemplars of the courage that the students
in the German and Hungarian College would need in their
dangerous missions. In images such as these—an art of
24.7 Martyrdom of St. John, St. Paul, St. Bibiana, and St. Artemius, 1582,
instruction—issues of aesthetics played a minimal role.
commissioned by the German and Hungarian College from Niccold
Circignani and Matteo da Siena for San Stefano Rotondo, Rome. The power of the martyrdom scenes at San Stefano
Fresco, 10’ x 6’ 10%” (3.05 x 2.1 m) Rotondo led to their immediate reproduction in printed

536 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

form, which made them accessible to an even wider audi- splendor. Despite the brevity of his reign, he essentially
ence. Just as the Lutherans had used the new print medium completed its development as the model European capital
as an effective mode of proselytizing, so did the later reform- city begun by Paul IJ and Michelangelo. He was a Franciscan,
ers in the Roman Church. In Giovanni Battista de Cavallieri’s like Sixtus IV and Nicholas IV before him, and once again
Ecclesiae militantis triumphi, published in Rome in 1583 and commissioned projects whose scope and grandeur belie
again (a measure ofits popularity) in 1585, the frescoes of the rule of poverty central to the Franciscan order. For all
San Stefano Rotondo are reproduced along with their these Franciscan popes, the demands of their office and
inscriptions (Fig. 24.8) as if they were a catechism for the their responsibilities as temporal rulers overrode whatever
newly reformed Church returning to its Early Christian Franciscan qualms they may have had.
roots, an incentive both to piety and to action. To ensure that his extensive rebuilding of Rome would
be remembered, Sixtus commemorated his architectural
Sixtus V and Replanning Rome commissions in a series of prints and publications. One of
these (Fig. 24.9) shows him surrounded by his building
In that same year, Sixtus V (Felice Peretti: r. 1585-90) was projects in much the same way that early saints’ altarpieces
elected pope. Like so many of his predecessors, he sought to showed saints surrounded by narratives of their miracles
assert the legitimacy of his office with references to papal (see Fig. 1.4 and p.46). Each of the small illustrations 1s
history and established Rome as the dominant European diagramatically represented and carefully labeled so that
power by adding his own contributions to its physical there can be no doubt about Sixtus’s accomplishments.

Ee
impapal] Odio S

"
| Acravium Romanar Eccluie —

} ug

24.9 Invicti quinaril

numeri series quae
summatim a superioribus
pontificibus et maxime a
——
Sixto Quinto res praeclare
ViPAPA ONTEALTVS-SE DIT:
dies wy wacaust fedes dies x10- lec prnvisa capit quadriennio gestas
a
adnumerat, fol. 3,
showing a portrait of
Sixtus V surrounded by
images of his building
projects, Rome, 1589,
Giovanni Pinadello
(apud Franciscum
Zannettum)
(Metropolitan Museum
jalahum cum foohbusin Quirnal)=
Be |
of Art, New York)

SIXTUS V AND REPLANNING ROME 537

 24.10 Rome, showing Sixtus V’s urban
planning and that of his sixteenth-
century predecessors (after Gerhard
Kramer)

A 1 Via Giulia; 2 Piazza Farnese and Via dei

aa { Baullari; 3 Via del Corso (Via Flaminia);

4 Via Babuino (Via Paolina); 5 Via

. A
Vatican PSs
Condotti; 6 Via Gregoriana; 7 Via Sistina;
8 Strada Pia; 9 Via Panisperna; 10 Street
linking Santa Maria Maggiore and Porta
San Lorenzo; 11 Via Merulana; 12 Via
Santa Croce di Gerusalemme; 13 Street
oe caren bres inking St. John Lateran and the
*.
Colosseum :
A Fortifications around Belvedere; B St.
Peter’s; C Castel Sant’Angelo; D River
Tiber; E Palazzo Farnese; F Campidoglio
and Santa Maria in Aracoeli; G Santa
Maria Maggiore; H Colosseum; J St. John
Lateran and Lateran Palace; K Santa
Croce in Gerusalemme; L Porta San Paolo
and road to San Paolo fuori le Mura;
tei». Nvedieval core M Porta San Sebastiano and road to San
-------— Julius 1 Sebastiano fuori le Mura; N Porta San
eres Leo X Lorenzo and road to San Lorenzo fuori
le Mura; O Porta Pia (Michelangelo);
=e ees Pull lilll

Pius IV P Porta del Popolo

—ep—eo—eo—
—+—+—+-—+— Gregory XIll lL Week
res, Sieis M

0 2000yds
Css 2000m

Each of the projects depicted on Sixtus’s didactic print

fits within an overall scheme of urban planning designed
to make Rome more accommodating and more impressive
to the visitor. Drawing on earlier traditions of widening
and straightening streets to provide safety and clear
access within the warren of medieval Rome, Sixtus and his
architects, most notably Domenico Fontana (1543 Melide,
Lake Lugano-1607 Naples) planned major axes through
the urban fabric to unite its main pilgrimage basilicas
(Fig. 24.10).
Unlike Pope Nicholas V’s plans to unite the bureaucratic
offices of the papacy in his urban renewal of the Borgo
Leonino stretching from St. Peter’s to the Tiber, or Pope
Julius Is plans to link historically important areas of the
city with the Via Giulia, Sixtus’s concentration on the major
basilicas simultaneously suggests the vitality of the reformed

24.11 Della trasportatione dell’obelisco vaticano et delle fabriche di nostro signore

papa Sisto V, Rome, 1590, Domenico Fontana, Domenico Basa, fol. 35r.
Engraving

This page from Fontana’s book shows the obelisk of Augustus newly moved
to the piazza in front ofSt. Peter’s. Eight hundred men, 140 horses, and 40
winches were involved in moving and erecting it, accompanied by the ringing
of bells and music by Palestrina. Moving the obelisk was such an extraordinary
accomplishment that Sixtus made Fontana a Knight of the Golden Spur and
gave him the status of aRoman patrician.

§38 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

24.12 Moving the Augustan Obelisk at St. Peter’s (detail), 1586, Natale Bonifacio after Giovanni Guerra, The Moving of the Vatican Obelisk in 1586, tome IV, 1704

The print shows the south flank of Old St. Peter’s, the atrium ofthe old basilica with Giotto’s mosaic of the Navicella on the inside entrance wall, a view into the
sacristy of St. Peter’s through the wall breached to make room for the pulleys and winches used for moving the obelisk, and the new St. Peter’s under construction.
See Fig. 24.11 for the completed process, which lasted from April to September 1586.

Church and recalls its unbroken history back to the Early focal points in the city. The prominence of the obelisks in
Christian period. The major axis of Sixtus’s grand urban the upper corners of the 1589 print (see Fig. 24.9) indicates
plan extended across the entire city from the Piazza del Sixtus’s pride in these accomplishments. The obelisk now
Popolo at the north, one of the main gateways into Rome in the piazza in front of St. Peter’s (Fig. 24.11) was the
and a prominent ceremonial site, to Santa Maria Maggiore, most notable example of these repositioned obelisks; others
which was the major basilica in the center of the Roman include the one in the Piazza del Popolo, one marking the
city and also a Franciscan church. The street then further culmination of the Via Sistina at Santa Maria Maggiore, and
extended to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme at the southeast, one at the Lateran Palace. Others were earmarked for reloca-
another pilgrimage basilica built near the walls at the tion, but these projects were delayed because of time and
opposite side of the ancient city. Named the Strada Felice cost constraints. Sixtus claimed the relocated obelisks as his
in honor of Sixtus—whose given name was Felice (“happy” own and as a manifestation of the triumph of the Church
in Italian)—and to suggest a new happiness in the city over antiquity, both by adding inscriptions to that effect and
under his rule, the street was constructed for most of its by capping each of them with his emblem of three stylized
projected length, from Santa Croce as far as Santa Trinita mountains (seen in the lower left of the 1589 print) and, in
dei Monti, above the Spanish Steps; it still exists as a promu- the case of the St. Peter’s obelisk, a Christian cross.
nent axis on the plan of modern Rome. The very expansive- The obelisks were associated with the Roman emperors
ness of this project is a measure of the scope of Sixtus’s who had originally brought them to Rome from Egypt.
plans: an entire city unified through an axis of happiness Those that Sixtus chose for St. Peter’s and for Santa Maria
used as an emblem for order in the world through the suc- Maggiore were taken from monuments of Augustus and
cess of the Roman Church. were carefully inscribed as such, providing a clear reference
not only to the international power of the first Roman
Urban Monuments emperor, but to the concept of the pax augustana (age of
peace under Augustus) and the ensuing golden age for
The Obelisks At considerable expense and through the which he was known. The engineering feats involved in
impressive engineering skills of his architects, particularly moving these obelisks were also of amagnitude reminiscent
Domenico Fontana, Sixtus also moved a number of Egyptian of ancient Roman technology and were perceived to be so
obelisks from their ancient Roman sites to new ones, which remarkable that Fontana published a folio volume detailing
pinned down the axes ofhis urban plan and established new the various stages of the moving process (Fig. 24.12).

SIXTUS V AND REPLANNING ROME 539

 Of course the obelisks are also freighted with Christian Marcus Aurelius. The artists for these two statues, Leonardo
references. The Augustan obelisk for Santa Maria Maggiore Sormani (? Savona-1589 Rome) and Bastiano Torrigiani
served as a visual reminder that Christ was born during (? Bologna-1596 Rome), were part of astable of artists and
the reign of Augustus, and that the main relics of this architects whom Sixtus used for his numerous projects.
event, the cave of the Nativity and the crib, were housed at Essentially as house artists, they worked well together
that basilica. But all the resituated imperial obelisks are and understood their patron’s wishes. Although working
associated with churches and thus underscore one of the on different projects, they were essentially part of a large
traditional tenets of the papacy—that it was both a spiritual workshop directed by Sixtus’s master architect, Domenico
and a secular power. Fontana, and controlled by the pope. Sormani’s muscular
St. Peter has an active striding pose, the figure turning on
The Roman Columns In the lower corners of the 1589 axis as he extends his keys into space. The exaggerated facial
print are images of the historiated columns of Trajan features, perhaps’ necessitated by the great height of the
and Marcus Aurelius, too large to consider moving, but figure from the ground, recall those of earlier papal images
appropriated by Sixtus nonetheless. On December 4, 1587, as well as the leonine portrait type seen also in the fearsome
he capped Trajan’s Column with a large bronze statue of lion-like features of Michelangelo’s David (see Fig. 16.0).
St. Peter (Fig. 24.13), and on October 27 of the following In the case of Trajan’s Column, Sixtus was returning to a
year he placed a bronze figure of St. Paul atop that of monument that Paul I] had had excavated and around
which Michelangelo had planned a new piazza, a scheme
accepted by the Communal Council in 1558. Sixtus allowed
his artists to despoil both Roman and Early Christian
monuments to cast these statues. The St. Peter, for example,
was made from bronze melted down from half a cannon
from the Castel Sant Angelo; from medieval bronze doors
from SantAgnese, Old St. Peter’s, and the Scala Santa at
the Lateran; and from part of a bronze pilaster stripped
from the Pantheon. The presence of these two saints on top
of monuments to Roman emperors gave graphic expression
to the triumph of the papacy and the Church over the
ancient world. As if to underscore this triumph, the statues
were positioned so that they faced St. Peter’s.

The Acqua Felice Sixtus provided special gifts to the

Roman people in the form offountains, the most notable of
which is the rather heavy-handed Acqua Felice (Fig. 24.0),
the name referring to his own, to the water’s ability to make
the populace happy (felice), and to the pleasant sound of
the flowing water in the urban setting. It is difficult now to
imagine how important this project was for a city whose
aqueducts had been in a ruinous condition for centuries
and whose limited water sources occasionally forced its
inhabitants to carry water from the Tiber. But the Acqua
Felice—which appears just below Sixtus’s name in the 1589
print (see Fig. 24.9)—was of such significance that it is men-
tioned on Sixtus’s tomb, along with one other project, the
completion ofSt. Peter’s. The fountain takes the form ofa
triumphal arch, in keeping with the triumphal theme of
Sixtus’s plan as a whole. In the center arch is a marble statue
of Moses striking the rock in the desert to produce a mirac-
ulous flow of water for the Israelites. Sormani, again Sixtus’s
choice of sculptor for the major figure, produced a dramati-
cally posed Moses whose scale not only fills the central arch
but carries the power ofthe figure across the piazza in front
of the fountain. Like the St. Peter atop Trajan’s Column, the
24.13 Trajan’s Column crowned with the statue ofSt. Peter, statue
finished and put in place in 1587, statue commissioned by Sixtus V from
Moses had to function within a large urbanistic context, in
Leonardo Sormani, Tommaso della Porta, and Bastiano Torrigiani. this case addressing both the piazza and the street at the left.
Bronze, height of statue 13’ 1%” (4 m) the Via Pia that had been built by Pope Pius IV (r. 1559-65),

540 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

terminating at the city walls with a fantastical gate designed allegorical figures of Religion and Justice. The effect of the
by Michelangelo. tomb is of a decorously correct, if chilly, classicism—a fore-
The connection between Moses and Sixtus as leaders of taste of Sormani’s imperial stylistic associations in Sixtus’s
their people is obvious and carries much of the same mean- later projects. The tomb is as interesting for the inscriptions
ing that Sixtus IV had wished to convey with the frescoes on that the future pope had placed on it as it is for its sculpture
the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel from a century earlier and architecture. Explicit mention 1s made of Nicholas IV as
(see Fig. 12.29), and that Julius I had intended with the a professor, philosopher, and theologian; as a converter of
Moses for his tomb (see Fig. 17.11). heretics; as a foreign legate; as a peacemaker between kings;
as a restorer of the papacy; as a patron of St. John Lateran
Papal Basilicas and Santa Maria Maggiore; and as a man ofjustice and reli-
gious duty. Although the inscription praises the thirteenth-
Santa Maria Maggiore Sixtus’s projects for Santa Maria century pope, the words could not but echo as a description
Maggiore demonstrate that his determined association with of the patron. They provide an autobiographical self-fash-
earlier important popes began even before his election to ioning for Sixtus as cardinal that gives a clear picture of his
office. Sixtus first became a patron of the building in 1573 own intentions as patron and later as pope.
when the tomb of Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope (see Immediately upon his election to the papacy in 1585
pages 59-62), was rediscovered in the left transept. At that Sixtus began work on a large chapel off the right aisle of
time old altars were being cleared from the crossing of the Santa Maria Maggiore (Fig. 24.16) which was ultimately
building in preparation for the Holy Year of 1575 and in to house his own tomb as well as that of the saintly Pius V
response to the legislation of the Council of Trent which had (r. 1566-72), who had been his own great patron. The cen-
stipulated that the main altar should be clearly visible to the trally planned Cappella Sistina, designed by Sixtus’s favorite
congregation. In Nicholas’s honor, Sixtus, then a cardinal architect Domenico Fontana, is the size of a small church.
and like Nicholas a Franciscan, ordered Domenico Fontana It is decorated with marble revetment, two large opposing
to design a new tomb for the remains of the thirteenth- wall tombs (probably also designed by Fontana, but carved
century pope (Fig. 24.14), and commissioned Leonardo by at least four different sculptors, including two Flemish
Sormani to provide the sculpture of the seated pope and ones), and an extensive painting project. Fontana also

24.14 Tomb of Nicholas IV,

commissioned in 1573 by Felice
Peretti from Domenico Fontana
and Leonardo Sormani for Santa
Maria Maggiore, Rome. Marble

SIXTUS V AND REPLANNING ROME 541

 CONTEMPORARY SCENE

Art, Pilgrimage, and Processions

24.15 Pilgrims Visiting the Seven
Be
ae s Gear Churches of Rome during the Holy Year
Te et
of 1575, c. 1575, Antoine Lafréry
(Antonio Lafreri). Engraving
(Metropolitan Museum ofArt,
New York)

number fell off the bridge and

drowned in the river below.
Such processions served to mark
the destined site as a place of impor-
tance within the culture and also to
suggest the idea of a spiritual journey
of preparation for their destination.
Processions for religious holidays
intensified the piety of the partici-
pants through spoken prayer and
€ S07TE Quite DI ROMA | song, a public reaffirmation of com-
Per cece semis
munal devotion to the saints that
protected both individuals and state.
For example, the procession of
Duccio’s Maesta through the city of
Siena in 1311 was used as an oppor-
tunity to reaffirm the city’s dedication
to the Virgin. Icons, banners (see
Pilgrimage and procession were familiar greeted by apparitions of the name saints Fig. 12.18), wooden statues (see
aspects ofurban life in the Middle Ages and of the major basilicas. St. Peter with his Donatello’s naturalistically painted cruci-
the Renaissance. Sites of major relics such keys is at the bottom ofthe print, standing fix, Fig. 22), or precious relics (see the reli-
as Rome, Assisi, Padua, Chartres, Cologne, outside his own church in the Vatican, quaries of San Gennaro in Naples, Fig. 6.3,
Santiago de Compostela, and Canterbury as it appeared at that time, before the and the jaw of St. Anthony in Padua, Fig.
drew pilgrims in a constant stream, their lengthening of the nave and the addition 9.19) often provided a visual focus for such
attention focused on the redemptive pow- of the facade we know today; the dome processions. But processions through cities
ers of the saint or saints whose relics they is only partially completed. Pilgrims kneel were not limited to religious events or even
had come to venerate and upon whose before him. to civic celebrations. Criminals were
intercessions they believed their salvation Apart from the basilicas, most of the paraded through cities (see Fig. 12.1) to
depended. As the hub of Christianity, city has disappeared into barren terrain, the place of their execution, the route
Rome had the greatest concentration of a metaphor for the penitential role that punctuated with stops to exhort the pris-
shrines and relics in Europe, and its seven pilgrimage was meant to play. The depic- oner to prayerful penitence or to torture
(an appropriately symbolic number) major tion of pilgrims marching two by two from him as an example to bystanders of the
basilicas formed a well-defined pilgrimage basilica to basilica is misleading, however, dangers of criminal behavior. Processions
route within and immediately outside the in its suggestion of order and decorum. such as these were intended to strengthen
walls of the city itself, imitating the extended Pilgrimages had their unruly moments: in the social order by bringing its structures
pilgrimage routes that crisscrossed Europe the Holy Year of 1450 pilgrims pushed and into the visual field of the population at
and extended to the shrines of the Holy jostled so much on the bridge crossing the large, just as processions of confraternity
Land. An engraved depiction of the Holy Tiber from the main part of the city to the members (see Fig. 7.3) enhanced individual
Year of 1575 (Fig. 24.15) shows the pilgrims Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican that a social position within the community.

masterminded another major engineering feat to enhance was lowered into a new subterranean site (Fig. 24.17). Thus
the prestige of the chapel. The reliquary shrine of the crib Sixtus essentially commandeered one of the major relics of
of Christ from Bethlehem was extracted from the rock of the city for his own use and was later to have the honor of
the crypt of Santa Maria Maggiore, where it had been the being buried adjacent to its miraculous powers.
site of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. Encased in a A decree of the Council of Trent stupulating that the
wooden frame, it was moved to Sixtus’s new chapel, where it Eucharistic host be conserved on the main altar of achurch

542 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

 24.16 Cappella
Sistina, Santa
Maria Maggiore,
Rome, begun
1585,
commissioned by
Sixtus V from
Domenico
Fontana

in full view of the congregation, rather than in some Given the size of the Cappella Sistina, it is possible to
nearby tabernacle or chapel—as had traditionally been the “argue that Sixtus thus provided a worthy position for the
case, required building renovation in virtually every Catholic Eucharist which allowed the faithful to focus their worship
church. This decree was obviously a response to Protestant in a manner intended by the Council. Notably, the two
denial of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist. Nevertheless, most prominent “worshipers” in the space are the sculpted
contrary to this liturgical reform (which as a theological kneeling figures of the two popes, Pius and Sixtus, who,
adviser to the council he knew only too well) Sixtus trans- from the central niches of their tombs, provide a model for
formed his chapel into a Sacrament Chapel and commis- the laity.
sioned Bastiano Torrigiani to make a large and dramatic The messages of the Cappella Sistina are complex and are
container for the Eucharist in a form imitating the building conveyed through a variety of means. The imperial scale
itself. This tabernacle is now the focal point of the chapel, and lavishness of appointment alone convey the enormous
aligned with the entrance to the crypt housing the crib. power and assurance of the patron as a universal ruler.

SIXTUS V AND REPLANNING ROME 543

 The marble reliefs decorating the tombs are typical of
sixteenth-century papal combs in containing both illustra-
tions of important events in the individual papacies and
personifications of virtues. They are therefore much like
Roman imperial historical reliefs: conventional in their
iconography and didactic in their intentions. Interestingly,
in the case of Sixtus, the reliefs depict his attempts to make
Rome a safe city. Thus, emulating Augustus’s establishment
of peace throughout the Empire, Sixtus freed the country-
side from bandits (Fig. 24.18) and attempted—with only
partial success—to make it secure. Like so many of his
projects, including the Acqua Felice, these narrative reliefs
underscore Sixtus’s civic projects, his care as a ruler for his
people, rather than simply depicting religious histories.
The Cappella Sistina in Santa Maria Maggiore also dis-
plays signs ofits patron’s wish to emulate its more famous
namesake built by an earlier Sixtus across the Tiber (see Fig.
12.28). Its papal status is clearly indicated by the bishop’s
chair, centrally placed before the wall opposite the entrance.
And the painted figures of Old Testament ancestors of
Christ in the ceiling echo those of Michelangelo in their
style. Such artistic emulation reflects not only reverence
for the stylistic models but also the need ofa pope to forge
links with his predecessors and thus assert his legitimacy.
Sixtus also employed an international group ofartists for
the sculpture of the Chapel. Although their early histories
are undocumented, it seems that both Egidio della Riviera
(Gillis van den Vliete; ? Mechelen/Malines-1602 Rome) and
Niccolo Pippi (Nicolas Piper; ? Arras-1601/04 Rome) came
from northern Europe and brought with them traces ofa
Flemish style, visible in the decorative aspects of the drapery
patterns and the vertical placement of the figures against
an increasingly shallow plane to suggest space. These non-
Roman details are hardly to be viewed as “foreign” elements
that the sculptors had not yet excised from their stylistic
24.17 Della trasportatione dell’obelisco vaticano et delle fabriche di nostro signore
papa Sisto V, Rome, 1590, Domenico Fontana, Domenico Basa, fol. 53, vocabularies; rather they might be seen as a manifestation
showing the installing of the manger of Christ in the Cappella Sistina, of the incorporative, international nature of the Church.
Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. Engraving Egidio also worked at restoring ancient sculpture early
in his career, as did Vasoldo (Giovanni Antonio Paracca;
? Vasoldo-1597 Rome), so the relief maintains a classicizing
The siting of the funerary chapel at Santa Maria Maggiore style appropriate for the new ruler of Rome, whose heraldic
rather than at St. Peter’s, then nearing completion, mani- lions appear as supports for the obelisk behind Peace.
fests Sixtus’s Franciscan background, as well as his devotion
to the cult of the Virgin, revered in this church in a miracle- The Dome ofSt. Peter’s Perhaps Sixtus’s greatest symbolic
working icon, the salus publica (the public well-being), and architectural triumph was the completion of the dome of
thus carrying civic overtones. His initiative in providing a St. Peter’s (see Figs. 21.11 and 21.12). Covering the tomb
suitable funerary monument for Pius V demonstrates filial of St. Peter, the dome emphasized Sixtus’s lineage from the
devotion to the man responsible for supporting Sixtus in his first pope and also connected him to Julius Il, who had
career and for making him cardinal. The two popes facing begun the building, and to Paul II, who had reinitiated
one another across the expanse of the chapel—Sixtus a the construction after Rome was sacked. It also provided
Franciscan and Pius a Dominican, their monastic back- him with a cosmological form traditionally connoting
ground precisely noted both by inscription and by the saints universal power. The dome completed the transformation
that flank the tombs (Francis and Anthony for Sixtus, of St. Peter’s into a building that differed stylistically from
Dominic and Peter Martyr for Pius)—also provide an image all the other early Christian pilgrimage sites in the city,
of dynastic continuity for the papacy, as well as an image of thus providing a symbol for a renewed, invigorated, and
concord and conversion within the newly reformed Church. modern Church.

544 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

 Although Michelangelo seems to have planned an ogival and power in the Church in an ever more complicated and
dome, della Porta most likely intervened with his own expanding world. The potency of that symbolic message
version after Michelangelo’s death to give it its present form, was so great that over the next two centuries the dome of
resolving the complex engineering problems of the dome’s St. Peter’s echoed repeatedly in both the ecclesiastical and
lateral thrusts. The double shell construction (planned by secular architecture of Europe and the Americas, claiming
Michelangelo at the early stages of its development when he a universal presence for a state religion and an ideal social
envisioned a hemispherical interior dome) allows the dome order as well. The domes of St. Paul’s in London, the
to rise high above the skyline of the city, providing a focus Pantheon in Paris, and the Capitol in Washington are the
for attention among all the competing structures and activ- most obvious of a long line of such symbolic forms.
ities of urban life and marking the power of the papacy that The search initiated by Nicholas HI at the end of the
was able to build such an extraordinary structure. Over a thirteenth century for a visual language which would convey
century earlier Alberti had written that Brunelleschi’s dome the dual nature of the papacy—temporal and spiritual—ends
for the cathedral of Florence “covered the entire Tuscan with Sixtus, whose plans for the urban transformation of
people with its shadow.” Such a metaphorical claim to Rome definitively changed European cityscapes, ultimately
territorial control certainly would have applied to the dome providing a language of temporal, not spiritual authority.
of St. Peter’s as well, suggesting renewed order, stability, The world—mirrored in the microcosm of the city—had
changed, and with it so had the visual vocabulary necessary
to express its meaning.

Women as Patrons
An important aspect of Church reforms at the end of the
century in Rome lay in the role that women played both in
the support of the new religious orders and in notable build-
ing projects in the city. Bianca Mellini, of a Roman patrician
family, was the patron of the Chapel of the Passion at the
Gest which contained Pulzone’s Lamentation (see Fig. 24.5).
Although women had always played roles in commissioning
works of art (see Fig. 4.21)—most notably as executors of
their husbands’ estates—the continued growth of the size of
dowries that had occurred over the course of the fifteenth
century gave women increased economic power within the
arts during the sixteenth century, and especially once they
had gained the relative financial independence that came
with widowhood. Particularly in Rome—where the restitu-
tion of the papacy, the success of the Council of Trent,
the founding of new religious orders, and the growth of the
city as a pilgrimage center called for an astonishing amount
of building activity, renovation, and decoration, and where
estates were divided between all children rather than just
between the male heirs—women played important roles
as patrons of the arts. They were especially active with
new religious orders which needed their help and which
were perhaps more receptive to non-traditional avenues
of patronage.
Although most of these women came from wealthy
families and had powerful connections in the Roman civil
and ecclesiastical hierarchies, they built mainly to provide
housing and security for other women wishing sequestered,
conventual living and, if they were widows, to free them-
24.18 Sixtus V’s Temporal Government with Justice and Peace, detail of Tomb selves from the social strictures of their widowhood. They
of Sixtus V, commissioned by Sixtus V, design by Domenico Fontana,
modeled themselves mainly on earlier female donors,
sculpture by Egidio della Riviera (Gillis van den Vliete), Niccolo Pippi of
Arras (Mostaert), and Vasoldo (Giovanni Antonio Paracca da Vasoldo),
some of whom were known from the first developments
Cappella Sistina, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. Marble of church architecture in the Early Christian period. Fulvia
Conti Sforza, for example, chose to rebuild her convent
The soldiers carry the severed heads of bandits, against whom Sixtus was
especially severe. church of Sant’Urbano in Rome, originally constructed

WOMEN AS PATRONS 545

24.19 San Bernardo alle Terme, Rome, consecrated in 1600, commissioned by Caterina de’ Nobili Sforza, stucco statues by Camillo Mariani and others

by Giacoba Bianchi in 1264; she retained the inscription to her family and to herself (St. Catherine of Alexandria and
of the first patron over the door of the new building as if St. Catherine of Siena). For the first time outside of royal
to assert a continuing female presence at the site and to commissions, the independent (and sometimes contested)
legitimate her own patronage. patronage of women took on a public scale equal to that
Since the goal of such women patrons was often to leave of male donors.
the world for the convent or for a female lay religious
community and not to use their patronage to advance their Continuity and Change
position in society at large, their building projects were
generally modest and unostentatious. Yet women patrons The evolving of both the Protestant and Catholic reforma-
could also match their male counterparts in asserting their tions, the coalescing of new nation states, the explosion
family’s prominence through the visual arts. Caterina de’ of mass communication through the printed word, and the
Nobili Sforza built the circular church of San Bernardo alle astonishing expansion of the known boundaries of the
Terme (Fig. 24.19) out of the ruins of one of the circular physical world had drastically altered social structures
pavilions at the corners of the ancient Baths of Diocletian. throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. Once again the
Each of the bays around the Pantheon-like structure is visual arts responded and gave meaning to experience. Tied
decorated with an inscription commemorating members to economic sources, they flourished most expansively in
of her family. She commissioned Camillo Mariani (1567? the ever enlarging urban centers of Europe, as they had
Vicenza-1611 Rome), newly arrived from the Veneto, where in the major cities of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and
he had specialized in decorative plasterwork for Palladian Naples discussed in this book. Balancing tradition and
villas, to fill the niches with heroic-sized statues referring innovation, artists and patrons shaped their cities and the

546 ROME: A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

art within them with renewed strength and power, more genius—a discourse that would have paralleled the more
often than not employing a classicizing vocabulary which structured and self-conscious discussions occurring in the
was to remain the norm until the nineteenth century. ever-expanding number of academies in Europe.
Grand urban centers like the piazza before St. Peter’s or Development of novel new forms like the still life were
the Capitoline Hill, wider streets, and points of triumphal paralleled by the evolution of official histories of art that,
focus—like Sixtus’s obelisks—all provided messages about initiated by Vasari in 1550, grew by the seventeenth century
the importance of the site and the people who governed it. into a significant cottage industry in European intellectual
Although the monumentality of these forms and the classi- history. In tandem with these histories were increasing
cal style used to carry their messages were more marked in numbers of treatises on the arts, beginning with Alberti in
the arts of the sixteenth century, they were also part of a the mid-fifteenth century. Some were written by practicing
long series of developments which this book has charted. painters, sculptors, and architects, but many of the authors
Paul IITs decision to place the equestrian statue of Marcus came from outside the arts. Thus artists had to respond not -
Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, for example, was much only to the traditions inherent in the objects they produced
more than a simple act of Roman revival. It recognized a but also to the literary constructions of their history and
lively tradition of equestrian imagery from the previous to the increasingly academic canons of artistic treatises, all
several centuries, encompassing fourteenth-century works disseminated by the still-novel printed book—a medium
such as the monuments of Bernabo Visconti in Milan and that made for a wider and better-informed public.
Cansignorio della Scala in Verona and the more classicizing Changes such as these occurred within the period itself.
fifteenth-century imagery of Donatello’s Gattamelata in To these must be added subsequent re-evaluation of the
Padua and Leonardo’s proposed Sforza monument in Renaissance in our own time. Emerging feminist studies, for
Milan. History and the meanings attached to types of artis- example, have rediscovered the names of women artists of
tic form continued to matter, tying the future to the past by the Renaissance and have begun to reinstate their work into
providing a vocabulary that was familiar, accessible, and accounts ofthe period. More importantly, they have focused
therefore meaningful to the population at large. attention on the critical roles women played as patrons
Within such continuities it is important to underscore within the economic structures of the culture and have
changes in artistic production. Although artists were by analyzed how the very structures of presentation of women—
and large still economically tied to a patronage system at the and men—in Renaissance art can throw new light on social
end of the sixteenth century, the Renaissance had begun order. Interdisciplinary work by economic and political his-
a transformation of that hierarchical relationship which torians and by cultural anthropologists has also expanded
led ultimately in the modern world to the creation of works understanding of the period by suggesting the richness of
of art relatively free of the demands of the purchaser. the relationships between artists and the various publics they
Ironically, this development also allowed art to be treated as addressed. Rather than discussing simply the artists and
an economic commodity divorced from the functional roles their work, studies of the period now consider the relation-
it had previously played within society and thus from wide- ship between artist and patron, between patron and public,
spread accessibility. between artist and public, between art and the history of the
Not only did the relationship between patron and artist site in which it was placed. They also look at a range of
alter, but so did the social order of the patron and the very objects that had earlier been outside the frame narrowly
nature of works of art available for purchase. Shifts in the construed as art—the domestic and liturgical arts, for exam-
economic structures of Europe and the emergence of a ple, where artists are for the most part anonymous, thus
middle class meant that a new type of patron with radically existing outside the biographical methods defined by Vasari
different needs made new demands on artists. Furthermore, for constructing artistic history. Recently, the increased over-
the removal of traditional religious imagery from some lap between material culture and art has provided new ways
Protestant churches initiated a rethinking of appropriate to construct the visual field of the period and to suggest
subjects for painting and sculpture. This led to an explosive how visual ideas entered the lived realities of their viewers.
expansion of new genres such as portraiture, still life, and The facts of the Renaissance are continually recon-
landscape within a burgher culture not only in northern structed by new interpretation. This book is part of that
European countries but in Italy as well, as the paintings process. It has attempted to suggest some of the diversity of
of Campi and Passerotti indicate. Moreover, the expansion current historical thought while still focusing on art as a
of the print trade not only broke down parochial boundaries compelling, provocative, and instructive carrier of meaning.
of local styles, giving artists a virtually international audi- We have repeatedly pointed out that each work of art is
ence, it also put art in the hands of people who would never not an independent aesthetic object, but a site embodying
have been able to afford to commission their own paintings. a complex nexus of social relationships where we can
Prints, because of their size, also insisted on the very view and analyze both the coordinated and the conflicted
personal relationship between viewer and object, opening ideas of a culture. Studying the arts of the Renaissance,
meditative discourse not simply about the subject matter then, gives enlivened meaning not just to the past but to our
depicted, but about technique, style, craft, and artistic own time as well.

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE 547

 Genealogies
The following genealogies have been simplified where necessary in the interests of clarity.

Illegitimate line

1. Angevin rulers of Naples

CHARLES I
Count ofProvence
Count ofAnjou and Maine
King ofSicily, 1266-85
Senator of Rome
Imperial Bishop of Lombardy
Signore of Piedmont
Alto signore of Acaia
King ofAlbania and Jerusalem
= (1) Beatrice of Barcelona heiress of Provence
= (2) Margherita of Borgogna, Countess of Tonnerre

T ]
CHARLES II PHILIP ISABELLA BEATRICE
Prince ofSalerno 1285-1309 Prince of Acaia = Ladislas IV of Hungary = Philip of
= Maria, daughter of Stefano V King of Thessalonika Courtenay,
of Hungary = Isabella Villehardouin, ticular emperor
Princess of Acaia of Constantinople

T I T T T T I ]
CHARLES MARTEL LOUIS ROBERT BIANCA MARIA GIOVANNI PIETRO RAIMONDO MARGHERITA BEATRICE ELEONORA FILIPPO CATERINA DI
King of Hungary Bishop of THE WISE = Giacomo = Sancio Count of Gravina Count ofEboli BERENGARIO — d. 1329 = (1) Azzo = Federico Prince of Taranto, COURTENAY,
d. 1296 Toulouse Duke of Calabria Il of Aragon King of Mallorca Duke of Durazzo Count of Andria = Carlo VIII d’Este III ofSicily titular emperor of titular empress of
= Clemenza of d. 1299, Saint 1309-43 = (1) Matilde of and Piedmont Count of Valois = (2) Bertrand (Trinacria) Constantinople Constantinople
Rodolfo I emp. = (1) Violante of Hainault princess of Baux = (1) Ithamar = Carlo, Count
Pietro III of Aragon of Acaia Count of Andria (Caterina) of Epiro ofValois
= (2) Sancia di = (2) Agnese of = (2) Caterina
Mallorca Talleyrand of Valois

i T fins T T l
CARLO ROBERTO CARLO OF CALABRIA MARIA LUIGI ROBERTO CARLO FILIPPO ROBERTO FILIPPO LUIGI CATHERINE OF
King of Hungary Duke ofCalabria of Aquino Count of Gravina Prince of Duke of Durazzo —_Despot of Prince ofAcaia Prince of Taranto King of Sicily VALOIS,
1308-1342 d. 1328 d. 1362 Morea = Maria of Anjou Romania and Romania, and Acaia, titular (Naples) titular empress of
= (1) Caterina di = Margherita of (Naples) = Violante of titular emperor emperor of = Giovanna I Constantinople
Alberto I King of Germany Roberto Sanseverino Giacomo II of of Constantinople Constantinople Queen ofSicily = Filippo of Taranto
= (2) Maria di Valois Aragon = Maria of Borbone = (1) Maria of (Naples)
Anjou (Naples)
= (2) Elisabetta of
Schiavonia (Anjou)

Sea Tome al ]
Andrea Louis the Great GIOVANNA I MARIA CARLO III MARGHERITA GIOVANNA AGNESE CARLO GIOVANNA MARGHERITA
d. 1345 King of Hungary Countess of Provence = (1) CARLO, Count of = Carlo III of Duchess of d. 1383 Prince of Taranto (Irene) = (1) Edward Balliol
1342-82 1343-82 Duke of Durazzo Gravina Naples Durazzo = (1) Cansignorio and Acaia = Ochin of pretender ofScotland
deposed 1383 = (2) Roberto 1381-86 d. 1412 d. 1393 of Scala Armenia = (2) Francesco ofBalzo
= (1) Andrea of of Balzo = Margherita = Roberto of = (2) Jacopo Duke of Andria
Anjou-Hungary = (3) Filippo, of Anjou- Artois of Balzo
= (2) Luigi of Prince of Taranto Durazzo CountofEu Duke of Andria
Anjou-Taranto |
= (3) Giacomo al
pretender ofMallorca GIOVANNA II LADISLAS
= (4) Ortone of Queen ofNaples 1386-1414
Brunswick-Grubenhagen 1414-35 = (1) Costanza Chiaromonte
= (1) Guglielmo, Duke of Austria = (2) Maria di Giacomo, King of Cyprus
T ] = (2) Giacomo of Bo rbone, Count oflaMarche = (3) Maria d’Enghien, Countess of Lecce and widow of
CARLO MARTELLO Francesca Caterina Raimondo of Balzo Orsini, Duke of Andria, Prince of Taranto

548
 2. Aragon rulers of the FERDINAND I “THE JUST”
King of Aragon and Sicily 1412-16
b, 1379

Kingdom of Naples

I, ALFONSO I “THE MAGNANIMOUS” PIETRO JUAN

(ALFONSO V OF ARAGON) King of Aragon and Sicily 1458-79
King of Aragon 1416-58 = Blanche of Navarre
King of Naples 1443-58
b.1396

FERDINAND II
King of Aragon 1479-1516
= Isabella of Castile

II. FERDINAND I (FERRANTE)

King of Naples 1458-94
b.c. 1431
= (1) Isabella of Clermont, d. 1465
= (2) Giovanna of Aragon,d. 1517

| i } 1
at eae ul GIOVANNI BEATRICE ELEONORA V. FEDERICO FRANCESCO FERDINANDO many others
Rie eS Cardinal d. 1508 ¢ b. 1450 King of Naples 1496-1501 Duke of Duke of Montalto
Duke of Calabria " b. 1456 = Matthias Corvinus d. 1493 d. 1504 Monte Sant’ Angelo d. 1542
King of Naples 1494-95 d. 1485 King of Hungary = Duke Ercole d’Este Marquis ofBisceglie = Castellana di Cardona
b. 1448 x of Ferrara b. 1461
= Ippolita Maria Sforza d. 1486

IV. FERDINAND II (FERRANDINO) ISABELLA OF ARAGON PIETRO ALFONSO

King of Naples Jan.—Feb. 1495 and b. 1470 b. 1472 Duke ofBisceglie
July 1495-Oct. 1496 d. 1524 d. 1491 b.c. 1481
b. 1467 = Giangaleazzo Maria Sforza d. 1500
= Giovanna of Aragon Lucrezia Borgia

3. Visconti rulers of Milan

UBERTO VISCONTI
d. 1248

OBIZZO VISCONTI

TEBALDO VISCONTI
d. 1276
|
I. MATTEO I VISCONTI
Captain of the People 1287-1302
Imperial Vicar 1311-22
; L250
P1322
Bonacossa
(oe di Squarcino Borri, d.1321

[ I 1
I. GALEAZZO I VISCONTI V. GIOVANNI VISCONTI IV. LUCHINO STEFANO VISCONTI
ignore of Milan and Imperial Vicar 1322-27 Archbishop of Milan 1339-54 Co-Signore of Milan 1339-49 Signore of Arona 1325
C1277 Co-Signore of Milan 1339-49 w L292) d. 1327
. 1328 Signore of Milan 1349-S4 . 1349 = Valentina Doria
Beatrice d’Este, d. 1334 b. 1290 (1) Violante of Saluzzo
d. 1354 (2) Caterina Spinola
‘riact
(3) Isabella Fieschi
I. AZZONE VISCONTI f I
pore of Milan 1329-39 VI. MATTEO II VISCONTI VII. BERNABO VISCONTI VII. GALEAZZO II VISCONTI
Co-Signore 1354-SS Co-Signore of Milan 1354-78 Co-Signore 1354-78
Catherine ofSavoy, d. 1388 b.c. 1319 . 1323 = Blanche ofSavoy, d. 1387
= Gigliola Gonzaga, d. 1356 . 1385
| ‘ Regina
ioe della Scala, d. 1384
CATERINA ANDREINA
d. 1382 Nun
= Ugolino Gonzaga
I T T ay al T T T ag ] ] ]
{ARCO LUDOVICO CARLO VERDE TADDEA LUCIA AGNESE VALENTINA ANTONIA MADDALENA — ELISABETTA CATERINA
1382 d. 1404 d. 1404 d. 1403 d. 1381 d. 1424 d. 1391 d. 1393 = Everard III d. 1404 d. 1432 d. 1404
Elizabeth = Violante Visconti = Beatrice = Leopold III Stephen HI = Edmund Holland = Francesco = Peterl
of Lusignan Count
of Wiirttemberg = Frederick = Ernest = Giangaleazzo Visconti
F Bavaria of Armagnac Duke of Austria Duke of Bavaria Duke of Kent Gonzaga King of Cyprus Duke of Bavaria Duke of Bavaria

I T T
VIOLANTE ia VIII. GIANGALEAZZO VISCONTI BEATRICE MARIA
d. 1386 Signore of Milan 1378-95 d. 1410 d. 1362
(1) Lionel, Duke of Clarence Duke of Milan 1395-1402 = Giovanni Anguissola
“ou (2) SecondettoPaleologo bat3si
Marquis of Monferrato = (1) Isabella of Valois,d. 1372
(3) Ludovico di Bernabé Visconti (2) Caterina di Bernabo Visconti
- T
IX. GIOVANNI MARIA VISCONTI X. FILIPPO MARIA VISCONTI VALENTINA
Duke of Milan 1402-12 Count ofPavia 1402-47 b. 1370
b. 1388 Duke of Milan 1412-47 d. 1408
= Antonia Malatesta b. 1392 = Louis ofValois
3 Beatrice, Countess of Tenda, d. 1418 Duke of Orléans
oon 2) Maria of Savoy, d. 1469 |
CHARLES
Duke of Orléans
(Ambrosian Republic 1447-S0) BIANCA MARIA
d, 1468
= Francesco I Sforza LOUIS XII
Duke of Milan 1450-66 King of France 1498-1515
Marquis of Ancona (ruled Milan 1499-1512)

GENEALOGY 4, SFORZA

GENEALOGIES 549
 M UZIO ATTENDOLO SFORZA
Ce ount of Cotignola
b. 1369
d. 1424

4. Sforza rulers of Milan XI. FRANCESCO I SFORZA

Duke of Milan 1450-66
Marquis of Ancona ALESSANDRO
b. 1401 Signore of Pesaro 1445-73
= (1) Polissena Ruffo, Countess of Montalto, d. 1427 b. 1409
d. 1473
(2) ? Caldora
(3) Bianca Maria Visconti, d. 1468

T ]
XII. GALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA_ IPPOLITA MARIA FILIPPO MARIA SFORZA XIII. LUDOVICO MARIA SFORZA “IL MORO” ASCANIO MARIA ELISABETTA MARIA
Count of Pavia b. 1445 Count of Corsica MARIA Duke of Bari 1479 Bishop ofPavia, Novara, b. 1456
Duke of Milan 1466-76 d. 1488 b. 1448? Duke of Bari Duke of Milan 1494-99 and 1500 Cremona, and Pesaro d. 1472
b. 1444 = Alfonso Hof Aragon d. 1492 b. 1451 b, 1452 Cardinal 1484 = Guglielmo VIII
betr. Dorotea Gonzaga, d. 1467? d. 1479 d. 1508 b. 1455 Paleologo :
= Bona of Savoy, d. 1503 = Beatrice d’Este, d. 1497 d. 1505 Marquis of Monferrato ;

[i pe aeons
Oo ve RT
I I
XVI. FRANCESCO II SFORZA MADDALENA BIANCA LEONE GIAM PAOLO ‘
XV. MASSIMILIANO SFORZA
Prince of Pavia 1499 Duke of Milan 1521-24, 1525, 1529-35 = Matteo Litta d. 1497 Abbot Marquis of Caravaggio
Duke of Milan 1512-15 Prince of Pavia 1530 = Galeazzo d. 1501 Count ofGalliate
d. 1530 d. 1535 Sanseverino d. 1535
= Christina of Denmark, d, 1590 = Violante Bentivoglio

ISOTTA POLISSENA TRISTANO, SFORZA “SECONDO” DRUSIANA FIORDELISA GIOVANNI MARIA

b. 1428 b. 1428 b, 1429 Count of Borgonovo b. 1437 b. 1452 Archbishop of Genoa
d. 1485 or 1487 d. 1449 d. 1477 b. 1433 d. 1474 ‘ d. 1522 d. 1520
= (1) Andrea Matteo Acquaviva = Sigismondo Malatesta = Beatrice d’Este d. 1501 = Jacopo Piccinino = Guidaccio Manfredi
Duke ofAtri Signore of Rimini da Correggio
= (2) Giovanni Maurizi

CATERINA GALEAZZO OTTAVIANO

RIA b. 1463 Count ofMelzo Bishop ofLodi
XIV. GIANGALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA ERMES MARIA BIANCA MARIA ANNA MA
d. 1509 b, 1476 and Arezzo
Duke of Milan 1476-94 Marquis of Tortona b. 1472 b. 1476
= (1) Girolamo Riario d. 1515 b. 1477
b . 1469 b. 1470 d. 1510 d. 1497
Signore of Imola d. 1541
= Isabella of Aragon, d. 1524 d. 1503 Maximilian I = Alfonso d’Este
= (2) Jacopo Feo
Holy Roman Emperor
= (3) Giovanni de’ Medici

i T
BATTISTA COSTANZO GINEVRA
b. 1446 b. 1447 b.c. 1440
d. 1472 d. 1483 d.c. 1507
= Federico da Montefeltro = Camilla of Aragon = (1) Sante Bentivoglio
Duke of Urbino Signore of Bologna
= (2) Giovanni Bentivoglio
Signore of Bologna
GIOVANNI GALEAZZO
b. 1466 d.1519
d. 1510

ISABELLA
b. 1503
d. 1561
= Cipriano del Nero

5. Gonzaga rulers of Mantua

I. LUIGI
First Captain of Mantua 1328-60
b. c. 1268

Il. GUIDO
Captain of Mantua 1360-69
b. c. 1290

Ii. LUDOVICO
Captain of Mantua 1369-82
b. 1334
Alda d’Este, d. 1381

IV. FRANCESCO I
Captain of Mantua 1382-1407
b. 1366
Margherita Malatesta, d. 1399

V. GIANFRANCESCO
Captain of Mantua 1407-33
Marquis of Mantua 1433-44
b. 1395
Paola Malatesta, d. 1453

VI. LUDOVICO CARLO MARGHERITA GIANLUCIDO CECILIA ALESSANDR

Marquis 1444-78 Condottiere b. 1418 Be 1423 b Tae Herp eead
b, 1412 b. 1417 d. 1439 d. 1448 d. 1451 d. 1466
= Barbara of Brandenburg d. 1456 = Leonello d’Este
d. 1481 = Lucia d’Este
p= == |
ys ne Aes ! I l ]
arquis — ardina . +9 b, 145 b. 1455 Bishop of Mantua
b. 1441 b. 1444
b. 1463 rd of Zz ether
d. 1467? d. 1495 d. 1505 b 1460. q se pete ae seis
= Margaret of Bavaria d, 1483 = (1) Anna de’ Malatesta = Eberhard a 1511 = hecnherd b 1446 ete
d. 1479 = (2) Caterina Pico Duke of Wurteemberg Count of Gérz d iao8
= Antonia del Balzo
d. 1538

f T J T T 1
CHIARA VIII. FRANCESCO II SIGISMONDO ELISABETTA MADDALENA s1OVy 1
b. 1465 Marquis 1484-1519 Cardinal b. 1471 b iayoe Sha
d. 1503 or 1505 b. 1466 b. 1469 d. 1526 d. 1490 Rie LUDOVICO PIRRO
= Duc de Montpensier = Isabella d’Este, d. 1539 d. 1525 = Guidobaldo da Montefeltro = Giovanni Sforza wre d. 1549 Lord of Bozzolo
Duke of Urbino of Pesaro ae San Martino
dall’Argine
d, 1529
LUIGI “RODOMONTE”
i T T T | Lord of Sabbioneta
ELEONORA IX. FEDERICO IPPOLITA ERCOLE LIVIA Bort Seat eee
BPae Marquis of Mantua 1519-30 Nun ¢ ardinal Nun oN 2 E Guliae olen! d. 1570
pao, Duke of Mantua 1530-40 b. 1501 b. 1505 b. 1508 tince of Guastella Seas nes
= Francesco Maria della Rovere b. 1500 d, 1570 d. 1563 a 1569 1539-S7
Duke ofUrbino = Margherita Paleologo 5 b. 1507
of Monferrato, d. 1566 Isabella of Capua

550 GENEALOGIES
 ODDO ANTONIO
Lord of Monte Copiolo

I, ANTONIO

6. Montefeltro rulers Count of Montefeltro 1154-55

of Urbino
Il. BUONCONTE
Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1213-41

II, MONTEFELTRANO
Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1241-55

IV. GUIDO “IL VECCHIO”

Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1292-96
b, 1255
d, 1298
= Costanza

V. FEDERICO I
Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1296-1322

+
VI. NOLFO VI. ANTONIO
Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1323-59 Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1377-1404
= Agnesina dei Prefecti di Vico

VIII, GUIDANTONIO
Count of Montefeltro and Urbino 1404-43
b. 1378
= (1) Rengarda Malatesta, d. 1423
(2) Caterina Colonna, d. 1438 X. FEDERICO IT AURA
Signore of Urbino 1444-74 = Bernardino Ubaldini della Carda
EL Duke of Urbino 1474-82
Signore of Fano 1463-82
X. ODDANTONIO BIANCA VIOLANTE AGNESINA SUEVA
oe . 1422
(1) Gentile Brancaleone, d. 1457
Duke of Urbino 1443-44 b. 1427 = Domenico Malatesta = Alessandro Gonzaga d. 1478
». 1427 (2) Battista Sforza, d. 1472
= Guidantonio Manfredi — (Malatesta Novello) of Castiglione = Alessandro Sforza OTTAVIANO
of Faenza Signore of Cesena ; of Pesaro

| T T T T
-LISABETTA GIOVANNA COSTANZA AGNESINA VIOLANTE CHIARA XI. GUIDOBALDO I ANTONIO GENTILE
|. 1461 d. 1514 = Antonello Sanseverino = Fabrizio Colonna = Galeotto Malatesta Nun Duke of Urbino 1482-1503 = Emilia Pia da Carpi = Agostino da
Roberto Malatesta = Giovanni della Rovere Prince of Salerno Lord of Marino . 1472 Campofregoso
ignore of Rimini . 1508
eonElisabetta Gonzaga, d. 1526

| T 1
-EDERICO XII. FRANCESCO MARIAI DELLA ROVERE MARIA COSTANZA DEODATA ASCANIO COLONNA VITTORIA COLONNA
died young) Duke of Urbino 1508-16, 1521-38 =(1) Venanzio Varana, d. 1503 d. 1507 Claimant of Urbino 1522-30 Marchioness of Pescara
a b. 1490 = (2) Galeazzo Sforza
d. 1538
= Eleonora Ippolita Gonzaga, d. 1570

I, AZZOL
7. Este rulers of Ferrara Signore of Ferrara 1209-12
b. 1170
eel
I. ALDOBRANDINO I I. AZZO I
Signore of Ferrara 1212-15 Signore of Ferrara 1215-22, 1240-64

RINALDO
d. 1251

IV. OBIZZO I
Signore of Ferrara 1264-93
b. 1247
= acopina Fieschi

===
= (2) Costanza della Scala

V. AZZO IT VI. ALDOBRANDINO II

Signore of Ferrara 1293-1308 Signore of Ferrara 1308 (abdicated)
(1) Giovanna Orsini = Alda Rangoni
(2) Beatrice of Anjou
(Venetian then papal rule 1308-17)
r T
VII. RINALDO Vii. NICCOLO I IX. OBIZZO II
So-Signore ofFerrara 1317-35 Co-Signore of Ferrara 1317-44 Co-Signore of Ferrara 1317-52
b. 1294

ie T
x. ALDOBRANDINO HI XI. NICCOLO IL XII. ALBERTO
Signore of Ferrara 1361-93
Signore of Ferrara 1352-61 Signore ofFerrara 1361-88
b. 1347
9. 1335 b. 1338

XIII. NICCOLO II
First Marquis of Ferrara, Reggio,
and Rovigo 1398-1441
(1) Gigliola da Carrara, d. 1397
(2) Parisina Malatesta, d. 1418
uo
(3) Ricciarda di Saluzzo, d. 1431

TV. ELLO (legitimated

iti XV. BORSO ISOTTA BEATRICE
B E BIANCA MARIA — many LUCIA GINEVRA
G ER
XVI. . ERCOLE I SIGISMONDO
Marquis of Ferrara 1450-71 b. 1425 b. 1427 b. 1440 others b. 1419 b. 1419 Duke of Ferrara, Modena, b. 1433
te ae ead Coe aad toto 1441-50 and Reggio and Count of Rovigo d. 1507
| 1407 : ‘ First Duke of Ferrara 1471 d. 1456 d. 1492 d. 1506 , d. 1437 d. 1440
zaga, d. 1435 Duke of Modenaand Reggio = Oddantonio = (1) Niccolo = Galeotto Pico = Carlo Gonzaga = Sigismondo _ 1471-1505
: eri Minlareern GORim Dima ol
a a T444 and Count of Rovigo 145 eT da Montefeltro da Correggio della Mirandola
3 ee = Eleonora of Aragon
a eS | ce b. 1413 = (2) Tristano Sforza

RANCESCO NICCOLO
b. 1438 :
d. 1476

I I T | :
i I
7 2 LUCREZIAae GIULIO
BEATRICE XVII. ALFONSO I FERRANTE IPPOLITO I SIGISMONDO
b. 1480 d. saat Se me b. 1478
See b. 1475
d. 1497
Duke of Ferrara 1505-34
b. 1476
b. 1477
d. 1540
Cardinal
b. 1479 d 1524 SU aciioslepencyostic d. 1561
"1539 = (1) Anna Sforza, d. 1491 d. 1520
Francesco II Gonzaga = Ludovico Maria Sforza
“Tl Moro” = (2) Lucrezia Borgia, d. 1502

GENEALOGIES 551
 8. Medici rulers of Florence®
“Although the Medici functioned as de facto rulers of
Florence after 1434 they did not act officially in that
capacity until after their return from exile in 1512. AVERARDO, called BICCI
d. 1363
= (1) Giovanna Cavallini
= (2) Giacoma de’ Spini
a
FRANCESCO GIOVANNI DI BICCI
d. 1402 b. 1360
d. 1429
= Piccarda Bueri, d. 1433
aa
I. COSIMO “PATER PATRIAE” LORENZO
b. 1389 b. 1395
d. 1464 , d. 1440
= Contessina de’ Bardi, d. 1473 = Ginevra Cavalcanti, d. after 1464

Il. PIERO “IL GOTTOSO” [THE GOUTY] GIOVANNI PIERFRANCESCO THE ELDER
b. 1416 b. 1421 b, 1430
d. 1469 d. 1463 d, 1476
= Lucrezia Tornabuoni,d. 1482 = Ginevra degli Albizzi, d. after 1476 = Laudomia Acciaiuoli

al
Ill. LORENZO “IL MAGNIFICO”, BIANCA LUCREZIA (NANNINA) GIULIANO MARIA COSIMINO
b. 1449 d. 1488 d. 1493 b. 1453 = Leonetto Rossi b. 1454?
d. 1492 = Gugliemo de’ Pazzi = Bernardo Rucellai d. 1478 Sa ae he 5 d. 1459 LORENZO “IL POPOLANO”
= Clarice Orsini, d. 1488 p : b, 1463
| VI. GIULIO ae d. 1503
ROO (POPE CLEMENT VII) ; = Semiramide d’Appiano, d. 1523
:
Archbishop ofFlorence Governor
b 1478 ofFlorence 1519-23 Cardinal GIOVANNI “IL POPOLANO”
b. 1467
d. 1534 ] ] d. 1498 PIERFRANCESCO THE YOUNGER
= Caterina Sforza, d. 1509 b. 1487
| [a CONTESSINA —_ LUCREZIA d. 1525
b. 1470 = Maria Soderini
IV. PIERO MADDALENA GIOVANNI LUISA GIULIANO Beyee
d. after 1548
b. 1472 b. 1473 (POPE LEO X)_b. 1477 Duke of Nemours Sipiccoidela = Giacomo Salviati
d. 1503 d. 1519 b. 1475 d. 1488 b. 1479
= Alfonsina Orsini, d. 1520 = Francesco Cibo d. 1521 d. 1516 |
= Philiberte of Savoy, d. 1524 | ] LORENZINO MADDALENA
ee INNOCENT MARIA SALVIATI=GIOVANNI DELLE BANDE NERE (LORENZACCIO) d. 1583
Cardinal b. 1499 b. 1498 b. 1514 = Roberto Strozzi
V. LORENZO THE YOUNGER CLARICE VII. IPPOLITO NICCOLO FRANCESCA LORENZO @ 1543 ch Hee ruses GIULIANO!
Duke of Urbino 1516-19 b. 1493 Cardinal Cardinal b. 1482 = Riccarda | Archbishop of
b. 1492 d. 1528 Governor of Florence 1524-27 d. 1546 Malaspina IX. COSIMO I E Aix-en-Provence
d.1519 = Filippo Strozzi b. 1511 = Octaviano de’ Medici Duke ofFlorence 1537-69 LAUDOMIA b. 1520
= Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, d. 1519 | d. 1535 ae Duke of Tuscany 1569-74 b 1518 d. 1588
1519 1518
\preedencaass PIERO ALESSANDRO d. 1574 d pce :
: = Laudomia de’ Medici (POPE LEO XI) = (1) Eleonora of Toledo, d, 1562 a (2) = SS ee
a"? A 5 =(2 erc ‘OZZ
VIII. ALESSANDRO CATHERINE ieeee
S ko) Canale Marre S20
Duke ofFlorence 1532-37 b. 1519 : | ee ee eee
b, 1511 d. 1589 ]
Sern Be eee ean een _ MARIA X. FRANCESCO I ISABELLA GIOVANNI LUCREZIA GARZIA XI, FERDINANDO I PIETRO VIRGINIA GIOVANNI
atpareliok AUSttiayc, Ing OF france b. 1540 Grand Duke of Tuscany 1574-87 b. 1542 Cardinal b. 1545 b. 1547 Grand Duke of Tuscany 1587-1609 _b. 1554 b. 1568 b. 1565
Neste ORS d.1557__b. 1541 d. 1576 b. 1543 d. 1561 d.1562_b. 1549 d. 1604 d 1615 4.1655
: ; d. 1587 , = Paolo Orsini d. 1562 = Alfonso d’Este d. 1609 = Eleonora of Toledo, = Cesare d’Este = Eleonora
GIULIO GIULIA = (1) Joanna ofAustria, d. 1578 Duke of Bracciano Duke of Ferrara = Christine of Lorraine, d. 1637 d. 1576 degli Alberti
d. 1600 Sipararderc = (2) Bianca Cappello, d. 1587 |
de’ Medici f | | | ] | ] |

FRANGOIS II CHARLES IX HENRI Ill ELIZABETH CLAUDE MARGUERITE FRANGOIS SAGO COE
King of France King of France King of France = Philip I = Henri = Henri Duke of Alencon Grand Duke of Tuscany 1609-20
= Mary Stuart = Elizabeth Hapsburg = Louise of Lorraine King of Spain Duke of Lorraine King of Navarre,
Queen ofScotland later Henri IV of France
d. ey
162
Maria Maddalena Hapsburg

§52 GENEALOGIES
List of Popes
Nicholas Ii (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, Gregory XII (Angelo Correr, of Venice), Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere,
of Rome), 1277-80 1406-15 (deposed by Council of Pisa of Savona; b. 1414), 1471-84
Martin IV (Simon de Brion, of Montpincé 1409; abdicated 1415; d. 1417) Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cibo,
in Brie), 1281-85 of Genoa; b. 1432), 1484-92
Honortus IV (Iacopo Savelli, of Rome), POPES AT AVIGNON Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, of Valencia,
1285-87 Clement VII (Robert ofSavoy, of Geneva), Spain; b. c. 1431), 1492-1503
Nicholas IV (Girolamo Masci, of Lisciano 1378-94 Pius III (Francesco Todeschini-
di Ascoli), 1288-92 Benedict XII (Pedro de Luna, of Aragon), Piccolomini, of Siena; b. 1439),
St. Celestine V (Pietro Angeleri da 1394-1423 September 22-October 18, 1503
Morrone, of Isernia), July S~-December Julius I (Giuliano della Rovere, of Savona;
13, 1294 (abdicated; d. 1296) ANTIPOPES AT AVIGNON b. 1443), 1503-13
Boniface VHI (Benedetto Gaetani, Clement VUI (Gil Sanchez Munoz, of Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici, of Florence;
of Anagni), 1294-1303 Barcelona), 1423-29 b. 1475S), 1513-21
Blessed Benedict XI (Niccolé Boccasini, Benedict XIV (Bernard Garnier), 1425-30 [?] Adrian VI (Adrian Florisz Dedel, of
of Treviso), 1303-04 Utrecht, Netherlands; b. 1459), 1522-23
Clement V (Bertrand de Got, of POPES AT PISA Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici, of
Villandraut, near Bordeaux), 1305-14 Alexander V (Pietro Filargis, of Candia), Florence; b. 1478), 1523-34
John XXII (Jacques d’Euse, of Cahors), 1409-10 Paul II (Alessandro Farnese, of Camino,
1316-34 John XXIII (Baldassare Cossa, ofNaples), Rome, or ofViterbo [?]; b. 1468),
Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier, of 1410-15 (deposed; d. 1419) 1534-49
Saverdun, near Toulouse), 1334-42 Julius HI (Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del
Martin V (Oddo Colonna, of Genazzano,
Clement VI (Pierre Roger de Beaufort, Monte, of Monte San Savino, near
near Rome; b. 1368), 1417-31
of Chateau Maumont, near Limoges), Arezzo; b. 1487), 1550-55
Eugenius IV (Gabriele Condulmer, of
1342-52 Marcellus IH (Marcello Cervini, of
Venice; b. 1383), 1431-47
Innocent VI (Etienne d’Aubert, of Mont, Montefano, Macerata; b. 1501),
near Limoges), 1352-62 [Felix V (Amadeus, duke, of Savoy), 1439-49, April 9-30, 1555
Blessed Urban V (Guillaume de Grimoard, d. 1451] Paul IV (Giovanni Pietro Carafa, of
of Grisac, Languedoc), 1362-70 Capriglio, Avellino; b. 1476), 1555-59
Gregory XI (Pierre Roger de Beaufort, Nicholas V (Tommaso Parentucelli, Pius IV (Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici,
of Chateau Maumont, near Limoges), of Sarzana; b. 1397), 1447-55 of Milan; b. 1499), 1559-65
1370-78 Callixtus II (Alfonso Borgia, of Xativa, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri, of Bosco
Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prigano, of Naples), Spain; b. 1378), 1455-58 Marengo, near Tortona; b. 1504),
1378-89 Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, 1566-72
Boniface IX (Pietro Tomacelli, of Naples), of Corsignano, now Pienza; b. 1405), Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, of
1458-64 Bologna; b. 1502), 1572-85
1389-1404
Innocent VII (Cosimo de’ Migliorati, Paul II (Pietro Barbo, of Venice; b. 1417), Sixtus V (Felice Peretti, of Grottammare;
1464-71 b. 1520), 1585-90
of Sulmona), 1404-06

List of Venetian Doges

Marino Morosini, 1249-53 Marco Corner, 1365-68 Agostino Barbarigo, 1486-1501
Raniero Zen, 1253-68 Andrea Contarini, 1368-82 Leonardo Loredan, 1501-21
Lorenzo Tiepolo, 1268-75 Michele Morosini, 1382 Antonio Grimani, 1521-23
Iacopo Contarini, 1275-80 Antonio Venier, 1382-1400 Andrea Gritti, 1523-38
Giovanni Dandolo, 1280-89 Michele Steno, 1400-f3 Pietro Lando, 1539-45
Pietro Gradenigo, 1289-1311 Tomaso Mocenigo, 1414-23 Francesco Donato, 1545-53
Marino Zorzi, 1311-12 Francesco Foscari, 1423-57 Marcantonio Trevisan, 1553-54
Giovanni Soranzo, 1312-28 (deposed) Francesco Venter, 1554-S6
Francesco Dandolo, 1329-39 Pasquale Malipiero, 1457-62 Lorenzo Priuli, 1556-59
Bartolomeo Gradenigo, 1339-42 Cristoforo Moro, 1462-71 Girolamo Priuli, 1559-67
Andrea Dandolo, 1343-54 Nicolo Tron, 1471-73 Pietro Loredan, 1567-70
Marin Falier, 1354-55 (deposed Nicolo Marcello, 1473-74 Alvise I Mocenigo, 1570-77
and decapitated) Pietro Mocenigo, 1474-76 Sebastiano Venier, 1577-78
Giovanni Gradenigo, 1355-56 Andrea Vendramin, 1476-78 Nicolo da Ponte, 1578-85
Giovanni Dolfin, 1356-61 Giovanni Mocenigo, 1478-85 Pasquale Cicogna, 1585-95
Lorenzo Celsi, 1361-65 Marco Barbarigo, 1485-86 Marino Grimani, 1595-1605

SOs.
Time Chart

1339 Beginning of the Hundred 1346 Bardi and Peruzzi banks 1395 Giangaleazzo Visconti
POLITICS 1204 Venetians sack
fail in Florence named Duke of Milan
Constantinople Years’ War
1347 Cola di Rienzo takes 1397 Medici Bank founded
1215 King John of England
control of Rome in Florence
signs the Magna Carta
1347 First reported outbreak 1406 Venetians gain control
1265 Charles of Anjou claims
of Black Death; it strikes of Padua
Kingdom of Naples
Italy with devastating 1409 King Ladislas of Naples
1295 Visconti assume power
losses in suinmer 1348 gains control of Rome
in Milan
1297 The serrata in Venice closes 1355 The Nine fall from power and Papal States
in Siena Florence, Venice, and the
and defines membership in
the governing noble class 1385 Giangaleazzo Visconti papacy ally against Milan
unites rule of Milan Catasto (property tax)
and Pavia established in Florence

1309 Papacy establishes 1368 St. Catherine of Siena 1417 Council of Constance
RELIGION 1215 Fourth Lateran Council
codifies major aspects of permanent residence experiences a mystical deposes competing popes
Church doctrine in Avignon marriage with Christ and elects Martin V
1223 St. Francis establishes first 1378 Beginning of the Great 1420 Pope Martin V enters
Nativity scene at Greccio Schism Rome
1228 Canonization of St. Francis 1431 Joan of Arc burnt at the
1234 Canonization of stake
St. Dominic
1262 Bonaventure commissioned
to write the Legenda Maior;
completed 1266
1300 Pope Boniface VIII declares
first Jubilee in Rome

LITERATURE AND St. Francis composes 1308 Dante begins the Divine 1341 Petrarch crowned poet 1396 Florentines invite the
Canticle of the Sun Comedy in Ravenna laureate on Capitoline Hill Byzantine scholar Manuel
LEARNING Chrysoloras to revive the
c. 1330 Galvano Fiaamma revives 1351 Boccaccio completes the
classical notion of Decameron study of Greek in Italy
magnificence 1379 Publication of Petrarch’s 1410 Rediscovery of Ptrolemy’s
Famous Men Geography
1387 Chaucer begins the
Canterbury Tales

VISUAL ARTS 1265 Operai of Siena Cathedral 1302 Enrico Scrovegni c. 1343 King Robert of Anjou 1390 Francesco the Younger
commission pulpit from commissions Giotto to gives directions for his Carrara commissions
Nicola Pisano fresco Arena Chapel, Padua tomb monument in antique coins of his father
1266 Venetians enlarge and pave 1308 Operai of Siena Cathedral Santa Chiara, Naples in Padua
Piazza San Marco commission Maesta from 1345 Doge Andrea Dandolo 1390s Giangaleazzo Visconti
c. 1290 Last Judgment for Santa Duccio renovates Pala d’Oro in commissions Ivory Triptych
Cecilia in Trastevere 1310 Queen Sancia of Mallorca Venice from Baldassare Embriachi
commissioned from founds Santa Chiara, c. 1363 Bernabé Visconti for the Certosa, Pavia
Cavallini Naples commissions equestrian 1401 Competition for Baptistry
1299 Palazzo della Signoria 1330 Arte del Calimala monument from Bonino doors, Florence
begun in Florence commissions bronze doors da Campione 1414 Queen Giovanna of Naples
for Florence Baptistry 1370s Lupi family commissions commissions tomb for her
from Andrea Pisano frescoes for St. James brother King Ladislas from
c. 1330 Azzone Visconti builds Chapel in the Santo, Andrea and Matteo Nofti
palace complex at San Padua, from Altichiero 1421 Marco Contarini oversees
Gottardo, Milan 1373 Florentines begin construction and
construction of Loggia decoration of his family
della Signoria home, the Ca’ d’Oro, Venice
c. 1424 Felice Brancacci
commissions Masaccio and
Masolino to fresco the
family chapel, Santa Maria
del Carmine, Florence

554
 1465-1500

1433 Medici exiled from Florence; 1478 Pazzi Conspiracy fails in 1501 Amerigo Vespucci sails to 1537 Cosimo I de’ Medici |
1565 Foundation of
return following year its attempt to overthrow South America assumes power in Florence St. Augustine, Florida
Triumphal entry of Alfonso the Medici in Florence 1509 League of Cambrai unites 1569 Cosimo I de’ Medici
of Aragon into Naples 1479 Venetians establish peace major powers against named Grand Duke
1447 Establishment of with Turks and Sultan Venice of Tuscany
Ambrosian Republic Muhammad II 1512 Medici return to control 1571 Turkish fleet defeated
in Milan 1486 Portuguese explorers in Florence by Spaniards and
1450 Francesco Sforza assumes round the Cape of Good 1519 Magellan begins Venetians at Battle
power in Milan Hope circumnavigation of of Lepanto
1452 Borso d’Este acquires Columbus lands in the the globe
title of Duke of Ferrara Indies S27, Mercenaries of Charles V
and Reggio Ludovico Sforza named sack Rome
1453 Fall of Constantinople to Duke of Milan 1530 Charles V crowned
the Turks King Charles VIII of Emperor in Bologna by
1454 Peace of Lodi establishes France invades Italy Pope Clement VII
boundaries of major Medici expelled from
powers in Italy for most Florence
of the rest of the century

1438 Council of Ferrara 1497 Savonarola institutes 1507 Pope Julius II issues 1536 John Calvin publishes 1563 Council of Trent issues
1439 Council of Florence unites “Bonfires of the Vanities” indulgences to rebuild Institutes ofthe Christian final decrees
Eastern and Western in Florence St. Peter’s Religion 1566 Publication of the Roman
Churches 1517 Luther issues his 95 Theses 1540 Ignatius Loyola founds Catechism
1444 St. Bernardino of Siena calling for Church reform Society of Jesus (Jesuits) 1573 Veronese appears before
dies 1521 Diet of Worms condemns 1545 Pope Paul III opens the Inquisition
1450 Pope Nicholas V declares Luther Council of Trent 1582 Pope Gregory XIII reforms
Jubilee in Rome 1557 Cardinal Carafa issues first the calendar
Index of Prohibited Books

1435 Alberti’s treatise 1465 First printing press in 1509 Publication ofPraise of 1537 Aretino declares Titian’s 1561 Francesco Guicciardini
On Painting Italy set up in Subiaco, Folly by Erasmus manner as his aesthetic begins publishing History
1443 Della famiglia by Alberti near Rome 1513 Machiavelli writes The model ofItaly
1456 Gutenberg produces first 1466 Marsilio Ficino begins Prince 1543 Publication of 1562 Vasari founds Accademia
printed Bible translations of Plato’s 1516 Publication of Orlando Copernicus’s On the del Disegno, Florence
Dialogues Furioso by Ariosto Revolution of Heavenly Orbs 1570 Palladio publishes The
1468 Cardinal Bessarion leaves 1516 Publication of Thomas 1543 Andrea Vesalius publishes Four Books ofArchitecture
his library to the Venetian More's Utopia first scientific text on 1575 Tasso at work on Jerusalem
state 1528 Publication of human anatomy Liberated
1475 Sixtus IV establishes the Castiglione’s Book of 1550 Vasari publishes first 1577 Charles Borromeo publishes
Vatican Library the Courtier edition ofLives of the Artists treatise on church decoration
1490 Aldus Manutius establishes USS Olympic Academy founded 1596 Shakespeare’s Romeo
Aldine Press in Venice in Vicenza and Juliet

1431 Doge Francesco Foscari 1469 Abbot Dona commissions 1506 Pope Julius II breaks 1534 Pope Paul III commissions 1565 Cosimo de’ Medici and
commissions the San Michele in Isola from ground for new St. Petet’s Last Judgment for Sistine Giorgio Vasari strip and
decoration of the Cappella Mauro Codussi 1508 Michelangelo signs Chapel from Michelangelo refurbish Santa Croce
Nova, St. Mark’s, Venice 1476 Federigo da Montefeltro contract with Julius II for 1537 Venetian government and Santa Maria Novella,
Cosimo de’ Medici commissions intarsia Sistine Ceiling commissions Library from Florence
commits to paying for decorations for his studiolo 1516 Abbot Germano Gaiole Jacopo Sansovino 1566 Benedictines of San
construction of nave of in Urbino commissions Assumption 1548 Titian in Augsburg Giorgio Maggiore, Venice,
San Lorenzo, Florence 1477-81 Pope Sixtus IV builds the Altarpiece from Titian for working for Emperor commission new church
1447 Ludovico Gonzaga Sistine Chapel high altar, Santa Maria Charles V from Palladio
commissions Lancelot 1481 Monks of San Donato, Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice c. 1560 Duke Cosimo 1568 Cardinal Farnese provides
frescoes in Mantua from Scopeto, commission 1525 The Medici commission commissions Uffizi from funds for the Gest
Pisanello Adoration ofthe Magi from Hercules and Cacus from Giorgio Vasari 1573 Charles Borromeo orders
1452 Alfonso of Aragon Leonardo da Vinci Baccio Bandinelli rebuilding of San Lorenzo
commissions Sala dei 1485 Scuola di San Marco, Maggiore, Milan
Baroni, Naples, from Venice, commissions new
Guillermo Sagrera headquarters from Mauro
1462 Pope Pius II transforms Codussi after fire
birthplace into Pienza c. 1493 Ludovico Sforza
commissions new tribune
for Santa Maria delle
Grazie, Milan, probably
from Bramante

TIME CHART 555

 Glossary

asecco See fresco. centering Temporary wooden scaffolding and crenellation A pattern of open notches built into
aedicule A decorative architectural frame around supports erected in the construction ofvaults, the top parapets and battlements of many
a door, window, or niche consisting of an arches, or domes. _ fortified buildings for the purpose of defense.
entablature and pediment supported by two chancel The eastern portion ofa Christian church, crocket In Gothic architecture, a decorative feature,
columns or pilasters. reserved for the clergy and choir and often usually shaped like a curling leaf, projecting at
alVantica \n Greek or Roman classical style. separated from the main body of the church by regular intervals from the angles of spires,
ambulatory A vaulted passageway or aisle that a screen, rail, or steps. The term is also used to pinnacles, and gables.
leads around the apse of a Christian church. describe the entire east end of achurch beyond cruciform Shaped like a cross, such as the plan of
antipope Any pope elected in opposition to the crossing. a church.
another held to have been canonically chosen. chiaroscuro An Italian word literally meaning cupola A rounded, convex roof or vaulted ceiling
apse A semicircular or polygonal recess at the “light-dark,” used to describe the dramatic (dome).
end of the major axis of aRoman basilica or contrast oflight and dark in painting to create cusping In architecture, a pair of curves tangent to
Christian church. effects of three-dimensionality. the line defining the area, decorated and meeting
architectonic Relating to architecture or ciborium A type of baldacchino: a canopy supported at a point within the area.
resembling the spatial and structural aspects on columns over the altar or other place of diaper A pattern of small, identical, nonfigurative,
peculiar to architecture. sacred significance in a Christian church; also usually geometrical, units adopted as a means of
architrave The lowest part of an entablature, used to refer to small architectural wall enclosures covering a surface or as a background for
beneath the frieze and cornice, resting directly used for the reservation of the elements of the figurative work.
on the capital of acolumn; also the frame over Eucharist between religious services. diaphragm arch A transverse arch across the nave
a door or window. cloisonné A multicolored surface made by pouring of achurch partitioning the roof and the space
articulated Defined, normally by distinct enamels into compartments outlined by bent of the building into sections.
architectural features. wire fillets or strips. diptych A work consisting of two images (usually
attached column A column that is attached to a coffering Recessed panels, square or polygonal, paintings on panel) side by side, traditionally
background wall and is therefore not completely that decorate a vault, ceiling, or the underside of hinged to be opened and closed.
cylindrical; also referred to as an engaged column. an arch (soffit). disegno Literally “design” or “drawing,” a term used
attic story In classical architecture the story above colorito A term characterizing Venetian painting in central Italian art to describe the creation of
the main entablature. of the sixteenth century where form is created figures and volume through a sharply defined
Augustan Relating to the reign of the Roman by the pre-application of pigment on the painted drawn line; opposite of colorito.
Emperor Augustus from 27 B.C.E. to 14 CE. surface and by the building of forms through a elevation The vertical organization of the face of
baldacchino A canopy placed over an honorific or successive layering and interaction of pigment; a building; also an architectural drawing made as
sacred space such as a throne or church altar. opposite of disegno. if projecting on a vertical plane to show any one
banderole A narrow handheld scroll, usually Composite order Architectural system using a side, exterior or interior, of abuilding.
flowing free as if blown by the wind, and normally column capital consisting of two rows of acanthus entablature The upper part of a classical
carrying an inscription. leaves at the bottom and Ionic volutes above. architectural order above the columns and
barrel vault A ceiling in the form ofa semicircular compound pier A pier or large column with several capitals and comprising architrave, frieze,
vault. engaged shafts or pilasters attached to it on one and cornice.
basilica In ancient Roman architecture, a large or all sides. These structural supports are found entasis The slight swelling in the shaft of a
rectangular public building with an open interior in both Romanesque and Gothic architecture. column as it tapers toward the top to give added
space, usually with side aisles separated from console A bracket, usually formed ofvolute scrolls, vertical thrust to the column and a visual vitality
the main space by rows of evenly spaced columns. projecting from a wall to support a lintel or other to the form.
The structure was later adopted as a building type member. ex voto An offering made by a worshiper to the
for Early Christian churches. contrapposto Italian for “set against” or “counter- deity or saint being prayed to, either in
basket capital A column capital decorated with a posed.” Derived from ancient art, it gives freedom thanksgiving or supplication.
latticework pattern resembling basketweave. to the representation of the human figure by fictive Surrogate, or painted to look as if the image
bole A red claylike pigment used as the ground for counterpoising parts of the body around a central represents an actual object; normally used as part
gold leaf. vertical axis. Most of the weight is placed on one of wall decorations, for example feigning tapestry
burin A tool with a sharp, triangular-shaped metal leg with an S-curve in the torso. Normally or niches.
point used for cutting lines to be printed from movement of engaged and relaxed parts alternates figural (or figurative) Representing the likeness
metal and wood blocks. left-right through the figure. of a recognizable human (or animal) figure; also
cantoria The Italian word for a balcony for singers Corinthian column An order in Greek architecture a work whose principal subject consists of
and musicians. characterized in part by its elongated and refined representations of human beings.
cartoon A full-scale preparatory drawing on paper forms, including column capitals composed of fresco A wall painting technique in which pigments
which is used to transfer the outline of a design deeply cut and symmetrically arranged acanthus are applied to a surface of wet plaster (called buon
onto the surface to be painted; from the Italian leaves. fresco). Painting on dry plaster (called fresco a secco)
“cartone,” meaning heavy paper. cornice The uppermost, projecting portion of is a less durable technique as the Paint tends to
cassone Italian for “large case” or “large chest,” an entablature; also the crowning ornamental flake off with time.
referring to carved and painted chests used molding along the top ofa wall or arch. frieze The flat middle division of an entablature
to hold clothing, often given as gifts to a counter-maniera Term used to indicate a style usually decorated with moldings, sculpture,
prospective bride for her dowry by her future opposed to Mannerism, using direct and or painting. Also used loosely to describe any
husband. naturalistic presentation of the subject. sculpted or decorated horizontal band.

$56
gonfaloniere Literally the standard-bearer or the nymphaeum A form ofsecluded antique garden sacristy In a Christian church, the room where
person who carried the flag (gonfalone), a term architecture often involving pools or fountains, the priest’s vestments and the sacred vessels are
referring to an elected head ofa republican state or, meant to call up the playful woodland housed.
sometimes, a confraternal order, environments of nymphs. schiacciato Italian for “squashed,” referring to very
gesso A fluid white coating of finely ground plaster
oculus In architecture, a circular opening in a wall thin reliefs often barely incised on a surface.
and glue used to prepare a painting surface or dome. scuola A Venetian term for a religious confraternity
(such as a wooden panel for tempera painting) Opera The board of works ofa cathedral, normally oflaypeople.
so that it will accept paint readily and allow presided over by an official—sometimes elected, sgraffito A decorative technique in which a surface
controlled brushstrokes. sometimes appointed—called an operaio. layer of paint, plaster, or slip is incised to reveal
giant (colossal) order A form of architectural order One of the architectural systems (Doric, a ground of contrasting color.
decoration in which applied columns or pilasters lonic, Corinthian) used by the Greeks and soffit The underside of an arch.
extend over more than one story of a building Romans to decorate and define the post and squinch An arch or system of concentrically wider
from the ground to the cornice, uniting the entire lintel system of construction; also a monastic and gradually projecting arches placed diagonally
structure in a single compositional scheme. society or fraternity. to support a polygonal or circular dome ona
glair A glaze or size made of egg white. orthogonals Diagonal lines moving to the centric square base.
grisaille A painting in various shades ofgray, point in a painting or relief, in accordance with stele An upright slab with an inscription or relief
sometimes suggesting low relief. the laws of linear perspective. carving, usually commemorative.
Hellenistic Relating to the time from the death of pastiglia Raised plaster detailing. stringcourse A continuous horizontal band
Alexander the Great in 323 B.c.k. to the first pendentive An inverted, concave, triangular area decorating the face of a wall.
century B.C.E. of wall serving as the transition from a square tabernacle A canopied recess containing an image;
hemicycle A semicircle or semicircular structure. support system to the circular base of adome. or an ornamental receptacle for the consecrated
herm Used in architectural decoration, this is a pietra serena A clear gray Tuscan limestone used host, usually in the form of aminiature building
rectangular plain pillar which terminates in the in Florence. placed on an altar.
head and torso of ahuman. pilaster A decorative structural feature looking tempera Paint consisting of pigment dissolved
iconography Visual conventions and symbols used like a flattened column, projecting slightly from in water and mixed with a binding medium,
to portray ideas and identify individuals and the face ofa wall. usually the yolk (but sometimes also the white)
attributes in a work of art. plate tracery Decorative framing within an of an egg. Egg tempera was the principal
illusionistic A type of art in which space and objects opening, usually a window, in which details are technique for panel painting from the thirteenth
are intended to appear real by the use ofartistic inscribed on the surface rather than cut free. to the fifteenth centuries, when it was gradually
devices such as perspective and foreshortening. podesta A chief magistrate in Italian medieval towns superseded by oil painting.
impasto Oil paint thickly applied. and republics. tempietto A small temple-like structure, usually
impost block A decorative block with splayed sides poesia Literally “poetry,” an evocative form of round or polygonal.
placed between the abacus and capital ona narrative presentation meant to suggest rather terra verde Italian for “green earth,” the color
column or pier. than describe possible interpretations. used for the underpaint of flesh tones in tempera
intarsia The decoration of wood surfaces (panelled polychromy The use of many colors in a painting, painting; sometimes used for monochrome
walls, chests, and choirstalls) with inlaid designs sculpture, or building; also the coloring applied painting.
created from colorful and contrasting woods and to the surface of sculpture and architectural tondo A painting or relief of circular shape.
other materials such as ivory, metal, and shell. details. trabeated An architectural system using a
lancet window A tall, slender window with a polyptych A painting or relief, usually an horizontal beam over supports (synonymous with
sharply pointed arch (like a lance), common in altarpiece, constructed from multiple panels and post and lintel).
Gothic architecture. sometimes hinged to allow for movable side tribune The apse of a basilica; also an alternative
lantern [n architecture, a small circular turret with panels or wings. term for a gallery—the upper story over an aisle—
windows all around, crowning a roof or dome. predella The platform on which an altarpiece is in a Romanesque or Gothic church.
loggia The Italian term for a room or small set, often decorated with narrative sculpture or triglyph In a Doric frieze, the rectangular area
building open on one or more sides with columns painting relating to the main subject. between the metopes, decorated with three
to support the roof. punch work Decorative designs that are stamped vertical grooves.
lost-wax process Also known as cire-perdue. A onto a surface such as leather, metal, or the trilobed Having three lobes.
method ofcasting metal such as bronze by a gilded plaster background of panel paintings triptych A painting, usually an altarpiece, made up
process in which wax is used to coat an original using a handheld metal tool (punch). of three panels, the center one of which is usually
rough model, which is then worked in finer detail. putto(i) The Icalian term for a full-length cherub larger than the other two.
The finished model is coated with plaster, then figure—normally male. trompe-Voeil An illusionistic painting intended to
heated so that the wax melts away, leaving an quatrefoil panel A decorative four-leaf clover shape “deceive the eye” into believing that the subject
empty space into which molten metal is poured. superimposed on a diamond, used in Gothic depicted actually exists in three-dimensional
mandorla An upright almond (mandorla) shape architecture and art. reality.
representing a radiance oflight in which a sacred reliquary A receptacle, often made of precious truss In architecture, a framework of wood or metal
figure, such as Christ, is represented. materials, used to house a sacred relic. beams, usually based on triangles, used to support
Mannerism A style most commonly associated rinceau(x) A garland ofleafwork. a roof or bridge.
with the arts of central Italy during the sixteenth Romanesque An artistic style of the Middle Ages two-point perspective In linear perspective
century, characterized by its extreme artificiality (c. 1000-1200) drawing its name from the drawings, the representation of a three-
and elegance. use of rounded arches, turtnel vaults, and other dimensional form viewed from an angle, so that
martyrium A church or other building erected on features of Roman architecture. In painting the lines formed by its horizontal edges will
a site sacred to Christianity, symbolizing a place and sculpture works are often broad and appear to diminish to two different vanishing
of martyrdom or marking the grave of amartyr. monumental, with an emphasis on two- rather points on the horizon.
membering The subordinate architectural than three-dimensional design. tympanum A semicircular area formed by the
structural features ofa building. rondels Small round windows, or motifs intersection of a wall and an arch or vault; often
metope In architecture, the square area between resembling such apertures. decorated with sculpture.
the triglyphs of aDoric frieze, often decorated rustication The appearance of rough-cut masonry vault An arched ceiling or roof made of stone, brick,
with relief sculpture. blocks on a wall achieved by beveling edges so or concrete which spans an interior space.
narthex An enclosed rectangular porch or vestibule that the apparent joints are indented. verism A style capturing the exterior likeness of an
at the main entrance of achurch which extends sacra conversazione Italian term for “sacred object or person, usually by rendering its visible
across the entire facade of the structure. conversation”; in art, the depiction of the Virgin details in a finely executed, meticulous manner.
niche A concave recess in a wall, often used to and Child flanked by saints in such a way that volute The spiral scroll on capitals of Ionic
house statuary. they occupy a single pictorial space. columns.

GLOSSARY 597
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National Gallery, London/Scala; 12.2 (center) Foglia; 12.2 (right) Art Resource, New York/Scala; 22.0 Morris; 22.1 Quattrone; 22.2
frontispiece Cameraphoto; 0, 1 Quattrone; 2 Cameraphoto; 3 © The Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala; 12.3, Cameraphoto; 22.3 Scala; 22.4 Alinari; 22.5 Studio Fotografico
Quattrone; 4 © BM; S$ Quattrone; 6 © Isabella Stewart Gardner 12.4 Morris; 12.6, 12.7, 12.8 Vatican; 12.9 © 2011 Biblioteca Perotti, Milan; 22.6, 22.7 Alinari; 22.7 Alinari; 22.8 Publifoto,
Museum, Boston, MA, USA/Bridgeman; 8 RMN/Michéle Bellot; Apostolica Vaticana, Vat.Barb.Lat 2733, fF 104v/10Sr; 12.10 Milan; 22.9 Alinari; 22.10 © 2011 The National Gallery, London/
9 Quattrone; 10, 11 Lensini; 12 © 2011 The National Gallery, Morris; 12.12 Alinari; 12.13, 12.15 Scala; 12.16, 12.18 Pirozzi: Scala; 22.11 © Archivio Electa/Index; 22.12 Scala; 22.13
London/Scala; 13 Quattrone; 14 Scala; 15, 16 Quattrone; 17 12.19 RMN/Jean-Gilles Berizzi; 12.20 Pirozzi; 12.21 Scala; 12.22 Bridgeman; 22.14 Scala; 22.15 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera; 22.16
Vatican; 18 Yale University Art Gallery, University Purchase from Pirozzi; 12.24 Morris; 12.25 Alinari; 12.26 Pirozzi; 12.27 Morris: Pirozzi; 22.17 Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna, Volume
James Jackson Jarves/Scala; 20 Foglia; 21 © Kunsthistorisches 12.29, 12.30 Vatican; 12.31 courtesy Fabbrica di San Pietro in miscellaneo di animali e piante, c.12; 23.0, 23.1, 23.2 Quattrone;
Museum Vienna; 22 Quattrone; 23 Foglia; 24 Quattrone; 25 Vaticano; 12.32 Scala; 12.33 Morris; 12.34 Scala /BPK' 23.3 © 2010 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource
Francesca G. Bewer; 26 © The Frick Collection, New York; 27 The Bildagentur fuer Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin; 12.35 © Scala; 23.4, 23.5 Quattrone; 23.6 Scala; 23.7, 23.8 Quattrone;
Governing Body, Christ Church, Oxford; 28 RMN; 29 Lensini; Araldo De Luca, Rome; 13.0, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13,4, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, 23.10 © 2011 The National Gallery, London/Scala; 23.11,.23.12,
30 Quattrone; 31 Casa Buonarotti, Florence; 32 Scala; 33 13.9 Cameraphoto; 13.10 RMN/Gérard Blot; 13.11, 13.12, 13.13, 23.13 Quattrone; 23.14 Scala; 23.15, 23.16, 23.17, 23.18, 23.19
© Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Bibliotheque de !’Arsenal) LOWS) U6. weaviy, eaue oul) Cameraphoto; 13.20 © Quattrone; 24.0 Morris; 24.2 Pirozzi; 24.3 Alinari; 24.4 Morris;
Ms-630-foll126r°; 35 Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna; 13.21 © 2011 The National 24.5 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Anonymous
Reproduced by permission of the Chatsworth Settlement Gallery, London/Scala; 13,22 © The Frick Collection, New York; Gift, in memory of Terence Cardinal Cooke, 1984 (4984.74) ©
Trustees; 36, 37 Vatican; 38 Quattrone; 39, 40 Alinari; 41 13.23 Alinari; 13.24, 13.25, 13.26, 13.27, 13.28 Cameraphoto; 1984 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Scala; 24.6 Canali 24.7
Quattrone; 42 Ministero peri Beni e le Attivita Culturali Bologna; 13.29 Archivio Fotografico Musei Civici di Venezia; 13.30, 13.31
Morris; 24.9 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha
43 Quattrone; 44, 45 Alinari; page 46 Scala; 1.0, 1.1 Scala; 1.2, 1.3, Cameraphoto; 14.0 Scala; 14.1, 14.2 Alinari; 14.3 Cameraphoto; Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
1.4 Quattrone; 2.0 Canali; 2.1 Fotomas Index; 2.2 Vatican; 2.3 14.4 © BM; 14.5 Index/Soprintendenza B.A.S, del Veneto, Verona; (49.95.146(4)) Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art
Vatican/A.Bracchetti, 1994; 2.4 Vatican/D.Pivato, 1994; 2.5 14.6 Biblioteca Estense, Modena Ms Lat. 42 V.G. 12, I, 280 V;
Resource/Scala; 24.11 Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of
Alinari; 2.6 Courtesy of the Right Reverend Monsignor DJ. David 14.7 Cameraphoto; 14.8 Alinari; 14.9, 14,10, 14.11 Scala; 14,13, Art, London; 24.12 Biblioteca Hertziana, Rome; 24.13, 24.14
Lewis, Vicar Capitular and Administrator, Basilica Santa Maria 14.14, 14.15 Foglia; 14.16, 14.18, 14.19 Scala: 14 20) 14021 Morris; 24.15 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Maggiore; 2.7 Scala; 2.8 © Photo Vasari, Rome; 2.9, 2.10 Scala; Quattrone; 14.22, 14.24, 14.25 Scala; 14.26 LKP Archives, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1941 (41.72 1[12])/Scala; 24.16 ©
2.11 Alinari; 2.12 Photo Biblioteca Vaticana (Vat.Barb, Lat 2733, London/Ralph Liebermann; 14.27, 14.29, 14.30 Scala: 14.31 Photo Vasari, Rome; 24.17 Conway Library, Courtauld Institute
ff 146v/147r); 2.13 Scala; 3.0, 3.1, 3.3 Quattrone; 3.4 Scala; 3.5, Alinari; 14.32 Scala; 14.33 Josse; 14.34 Quattrone; 14.35 The of Art, London; 24.18, 24.19 Morris,

566
 Index

Numbers in bold refer to illustrations, either as Altichiero da Zevio 151-2, 189; frescoes, Oratory Arnolfo di Cambio 63; baldachin, Santa Cecilia,
figures (1 or 1.1) or as pages (p. 12) of St. George, Padua 190, 9.20; frescoes, St. Rome 63-4, 2.9; Cathedral, Florence 96;
James Chapel, Padua 189, 9.0, 9.18 Palazzo della Signoria, Florence 81, 4.0;
A Altobello Melone 381; frescoes, Cathedral, Portrait Bust ofPope Boniface VIII 64-S, 2.11;
Accademia del Disegno, Florence 523, 529 Cremona 381, 15.28 Santa Croce, Florence 4.7
Adoration ofthe Christ Child (Filippo Lippi) Amadeo, Giovanni Antonio 364; Certosa, The Art ofDying Well (Unknown Master) 284,
260, 11.15 Pavia 364, 15.1; Santa Maria delle Grazie, 11.48
Adoration ofthe Magi (Bartolo di Fredi) Milan 369, 15.13; spire, Cathedral, Milan Arte del Calimala 80, 96, 164, 170, 203-4, 213,
109, 5.14 B65 15.5 245
Adoration ofthe Mag (Botticelli) 272-3, 11.31 Ambrogio di Baldese: Orphans Assigned to their Arte della Lana 77, 96, 203, 210
Adoration ofthe Magi (Gentile da Fabriano) 223, New Parents 171-2, 8.18 Arte della Seta 168, 215, 217
10.30, 10.31 Ambrosian Republic 363 The Artist with his Nephews (Licinio) 20, 7
Adoration ofthe Magi (Ghiberti) 207, 209, 10.6 Ammanati, Bartolomeo: Fountain ofNeptune, artists, statues of 17-18, 20
Adoration ofthe Magi (Leonardo) 270-2, Palazzo della Signoria, Florence 527, 23.13; Ascension of St. John the Evangelist (Giotto) 90, 4.16
11.29, 11.30 Villa Giulia, Rome 499-500, 21.13 Asdrubale Bitten by a Crawfish (Anguissola)
Adoration ofthe Magi (Michele da Firenze) Andrea del Sarto 424-5, 426, 429; Madonna of the 512-13, 22.14
336, 14.5 Harpies 424, 425, 18.1 The Ass of Rimini (Donatello) 262-3, 11.19
Adoration ofthe Magi (Nicola Pisano) 44, 44 Andrea Pisano 96, 98; Baptistry doors, Florence Assisi 67-72; San Francesco 51, 67-72, 3.1-3.5
Adoration ofthe Shepherds (Ghirlandaio) 273, 96-8, 204, 4.25-4.27 Assisi Master: Crib at Greccio 71, 3.5; St. Francis
274-S, 11.34 Andriolo de’ Santis: frescoes, St. James Chapel, Kneeling Before the Crucifix ... 70-1, 3.4
Adrian VI, Pope 407, 423 Padua 189, 9.0, 9.18 Assumption of the Virgin (Correggio) 19.6
Aertsen, Pieter 514 Angelico, Fra 254, 285; altarpiece, San Marco, Assumption of the Virgin (Titian) 457-8, 20.9
Agostino di Duccio: San Francesco, Rimini Florence 254-6, 11.9; Annunciation 256, Assumption of the Virgin (Vecchietta) 296,
345-6, 14.17, 14.18 11.10; frescoes, Vatican Palace, Rome 290, DIEM. Weil)
Alberti, Leon Battista 290, 292; Della Pittura 41, 12.6, 12.7 Aurelio, Niccolé 455
218, 219, 237, 281, $47; Palazzo Rucellai, Anguissola, Sofonisba 511, 512-13, 514; Avignon Papacy 65, 156, 286
Florence 34, 277-8, 32; on perspective 237, Asdrubale Bitten by a Crawfish (drawing)
318, 354-S; San Francesco, Rimini 345, 512-13, 22.14; Bernardino Campi Painting B
14.16; Sant’Andrea, Mantua 351-2, 14.26, Sofonisba Anguissola 511, 22.12; Portrait of the Baboccio, Antonio: portal, Naples Cathedral
14.27; Santa Maria Novella, Florence 278, Artist’s Sisters Playing Chess 512, 22.13 132-3, 6.16
Miso Annunciation (Fra Angelico) 256, 11.10 Bacchus (Michelangelo) 309, 12.34
Alberti family 169, 170, 218, 522 Annunciation (Lorenzo Monaco) 221-2, 10.28 Bad Government and the Effects ofBad Government
Aldrovandi, Ulisse 516; botanical studies Annunciation (Martini) 106-7, 108, 5.11 in the City (A. Lorenzetti) 117-18, 5.24
S116722.17 Annunciation to the Shepherds (T. Gaddi) 92, 4.19 Baldassare degli Embriachi: ivory altarpiece 191,
Alessi, Galeazzo 508, 509, 532; Palazzo Marino, Anthony, St. 72, 189; reliquary of his jaw 9219222
Milan 509, 22.9; Santa Maria presso San 542, 9.19 Baldini, Baccio: Mercury (attrib.) 17, 4
Celso, Milan 508, 22.7; [?]Strada Nuova, antiquarianism 282-3, 297, 299, 355, 461; Il Bambaia (Agostino Busti) 378; tomb of
Genoa 450, 19.16, 19.17 collectors 43, 282-3, 297, 299, 309, 333 Gaston de Foix 378, 15.26
Alexander III, Pope 119, 120, 136, 151; Antonello da Messina 22, 325; Enthroned The Bambino of Aracoeli 60, 2.5
Scenes from the Life... (Spinello Aretino) Madonna and Child with Saints 325, 13.20; Bandinelli, Baccio 17-18, 40, 427, 428, 523, 525,
119-20, 5.26 St. Jeromein his Study 325, 13.21 527, 528; Andrea Doria as Neptune 447-8,
Alexander VI, Pope 284, 307, 396 Antoniazzo Romano 298; Communion of 19.12; Fountain ofNeptune, Palazzo della
Alfonso I of Aragon, King of Naples 135, 340-1, St. Francesca Romana 298, 12.17 Signoria, Florence 527, 23.13; Hercules and
343-4 Antonio da Ponte: Rialto Bridge, Venice 479, Cacus 427-8, 18.3; Orpheus 427; Self-Portrait
Alfonso II, King of Naples 23 20.38 > 17-18,6
Allegory of Divine Love (Veronese) 483-4, 20.44 Apotheosis of St. John (Donatello) 252-3, 11.5 Baptism ofChrist (Verrocchio) 270, 11.28
Allegory ofGood Government (A. Lorenzetti) 112, Apotheosis of Venice (Veronese) 476, 20.36 Baptism of the Neophytes (Masaccio and Masolino)
116-18, 5.22 Aquinas, St. Thomas 156; Apotheosis of... 228, 230, 10.39
Allegory with Venus and Cupid (Bronzino) 524, (Bonaiuti) 159, 163, 8.9; Glorification of Barbari, Jacopo de’: View ofVenice 137, 7.2
23.10 ... (Lippo Memmi) 158-9, 8.5; Vision of... Barbarigo, Doge Agostino 330, 331-2; Votive
Altarpiece of St. Clare, Santa Chiara, Assisi 53, (Santi di Tito) 522-3, 23.9 Picture (Giovanni Bellini) 330-2, 13.30
p- 46 architects 21, 22, 33-S Barbaro, Daniele and Mare’ Antonio 482-3
Altarpiece of St. Francis (Berlinghieri) $3, 1.4 Arena Chapel, Padua see Padua: Scrovegni Bardi Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa Croce
Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse (Martini) 129, Chapel Baroncelli Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa
6.0, 6.11 Aretino, Pietro 471, 472, 489, 510 Croce
Altarpiece of the Magi, Sant’ Eustorgio, Milan Arezzo: San Francesco frescoes 238-9, 10.51, Bartolo di Fredi: Adoration of the Magi 109, 5.14
180-1, 9.7 10.52 Bartolomeo, Fra (Baccio della Porta) 389-90,
altarpieces 14, 53, 84-6, 93-4, 223-7, 506 Aristotle 177, 409, 410 462; St. Anne Altarpiece 389, 390, 16.5

567
Basa, Domenico 24.11 Bon, Bartolomeo, the Elder 312; Ca’ d’Oro, Bulgarini, Bartolomeo 109
Basinius of Parma 345, 346 Venice 13.4; head of Francesco Foscari 312, Buongiovanni da Geminiano: Hall of the
Bassano, Francesco 475 13.2; [?|Judement of Solomon 311-12, 13.1; Stuccoes, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara
Bassi, Martino: San Lorenzo Maggiore, Milan Porta della Carta, Venice 312, 13.0 338, 14.8
507-8, 22.6; Santa Maria presso San Celso, Bon, Giovanni: Ca’ d’Oro, Venice 13.4 Buontalenti, Bernardo: Uffizi, Florence 23.14
Milan 508, 22.7 Bonaiuti, Andrea (Andrea da Firenze) 159; Burckhardt, Jacob: Kultur der Renaissance in
Battista d’Antonio 218 Apotheosis of St. Thomas 159, 163, 8.9; Italien 43
Battle ofAnghiari (Leonardo) 390, 391, 392, Crucifixion 159, 8.7; Scenes from the Life of The Butcher’s Shop (Passarroti) 515-16, 22.16
$28, 16.6 St. Peter Martyr 159, 8.8; Way of Salvation Buzzacarini, Fina 187
Battle of Cascina (Michelangelo) 390, 391-2, 16.7 161, 163, 8.6 Byzantine art 48, 51, 52-3, 55, 61-2, 76, 320
The Battle of Love and Chastity (Perugino) Bonaventure of Bagnoreggio, St.: Legenda Maior
360, 14.37 $0552) 69570571 G
The Battle ofSan Romano (Uccello) 261, 387, 11.16 Boniface VIII, Pope 64-S, 128; bust (Arnolfo Caimi, Fra Bernardino 380
Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs (Michelangelo) di Cambio) 64-S, 2.11; Pope Boniface VIII Calcagni, Tiberio 21.5
283, 11.47 Impartinga Blessing... 64, 2.10 Calumny ofApelles (Botticelli) 281-2, 11.44
Battle of the Sea Gods (Mantegna) 35 Bonifacio, Natale: Moving the Augustan Obelisk ... ‘Cambria, League of 385, 451
Bearded Prophet [David?] (attrib. to Donatello) 24.12 Campi, Bernardino 511; Bernardino Campi
208-10, 10.10 Bonino da Campione 181; Cathedral, Milan Painting Sofonisba Anguissola (Anguissola)
Belbello da Pavia 337 193, 9.23; Equestrian Monument of Bernabo SI, 2741192
Bellarmine, Robert 502; Disputationes 502 Visconti 181-2, 547, 9.8; Funerary Monument Campi, Vincenzo 514, 516; Fishmongers
Bellini, Gentile 327; Procession in St. Mark’s Square of Cansignorio della Scala 182, 547, 9.9 514-15, 22.15
LS OSTAONS 275 753 Bonvicino da Riva, Fra 176, 185 Cansignorio della Scala 182; funerary
Bellini, Giovanni 323, 325-6, 327, 456, 462; Borgherini family 428, 429 monument (Bonino da Campione) 182,
altarpiece, San Giobbe, Venice 323-24, 325, Borghini, Raffaello $22, 529 547, 9.9
13.19; altarpiece, San Zaccaria, Venice 456, Borgia family 307, 308 Capella Nova, Venice see Venice: St. Mark’s
20.7; Feast of the Gods 462-3, 20.16; Madonna Borgo, Francesco del [?]: Palazzo Venezia, Rome Caracciolo, Sergianni 135
Lochis 326-7, 13.23; St. Francis in the Desert 297-8, 12.16 Caracciolo Chapel, Naples see Naples: San
325-6, 13.22; Votive Picture ofDoge Agostino Borromeo, Charles, Archbishop of Milan 502, Giovanni a Carbonara
Barbarigo 330-2, 13.30 $03, 505, 507, 508, S09; Instructiones Caradosso (Cristoforo Foppa): medal 398, 17.5
Bellini, Jacopo 317, 318, 319, 354; Dormition of fabricae...S02 Carafa, Cardinal Oliviero 308, 407
the Virgin (drawing) 318-19, 13.10; Madonna Botticelli, Sandro 272, 280, 282, 285, 304; Carafa Chapel, Rome see Rome: Santa Maria
and Child Surrounded by an Aureole of Angels Adoration of the Magi 272-3, 11.31; Birth sopra Minerva
317-18, 13.9; Visitation and Dormition ofthe of Venus 279-80, 11.42; Calumny of Apelles Carpaccio, Vittore 328, 451; Miracle at Rialto
Virgin (mosaic) 319, 13.11 281-2, 11.44; Mystical Nativity 284-5, 11.49; 327-8, 13.24; The Vision of Prior Ottoban in
Bembo, Pietro 277 Primavera 280, 11.43; Punishment of Corah Sant Antonio di Castello 14, 2
Benci, Ginevra de’: portrait (Leonardo) 304-5, 12.29 Carradori, Francesco: Instruzione elementare ... 19
276-7, 11.37 Bracciolini, Poggio 291 Carrara family 72, 150, 185
Benedetti, Rocco 481 Bramante, Donato 367, 369, 375, 385, 413, 421, cassone with painted front panel 22, 12
Benedetto da Maiano: tomb of Filippo Strozzi 423; Belvedere Courtyard, Vatican Palace Castagno, Andrea del 227, 234-S, 319; Last
276, 11.35 396-7, 17.1; St. Peter’s, Rome 397, 398, 498, Supper, Crucifixion, Entombment and
Benedict, St. 170; Scenes from the Life ... (Spinello 17.5-17.7; Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan Resurrection 235, 10.44, 10.45; mosaics,
Aretino) 170, 8.17 369, 15.13; Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Capella Nova, Venice 319, 13.11; St. Jerome
Bergamo 321, 506, S09, S11 Milan 367, 15.11; Tempietto, San Pietro in and the Trinity 23-4, 14, 15
Berlinghieri, Bonaventure 53; Altarpiece of Montorio, Rome 397-8, 17.3, 17.4 Castellani family 170
St. Francis 53, 1.4 Bramantino (Bartolomeo Suardi) 378; tapestries Castiglione, Baldassare 414, 439, 464; Book of
Bernardino of Siena, St. 112, 380, 457 378, 15.25 the Courtier 414, 464; portrait (Raphael)
Berry, Jean de, Duke of Burgundy 191, 196, 198 Brancacci, Cardinal Rainaldo 340; tomb 340, 414-15, 17.29
Bertini, Pacio and Giovanni: tomb of Robert of 14.10 Catherine of Alexandria, St. 13, 85, 158,
Anjou 132, 6.15 Brancacci, Felice 228, 232, 249, 340 491, 546
Bertoldo di Giovanni 281-2 Brancacci, Pietro 228, 232 Catherine of Siena, St. 163, 296, 546
Bettini, Giovanni: reconstruction of San Brancacci Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa Cavalca, Fra Domenico 156
Francesco, Rimini (drawing) 34, 33 Maria del Carmine Cavalieri, Tomaso dei $13
Betto di Gert: silver altar 164, 166, 8.10, 8.11 Bregno, Andrea 302; tomb of Cardinal Pietro Cavallieri, Giovanni Battista de: Ecclesiae
Beuckelaer, Joachim 514 Riario 302-3, 12.25 militantis triumphi ... 537, 24.8
Bianchi, Giacoba 545-6 Bronzino, Agnolo $19, 523; Allegory with Venus Cavallini, Pietro 62-3, 65, 69, 71, 127;
Bible ofBorso d’Este (Crivelli and Russi) and Cupid 524, 23.10; Christin Limbo 522, Birth ofthe Virgin 62, 2.7; David 127, 6.9;
337-8, 14.6 p- 486, 23.7; Cosimo I 517-18, 23.1; Eleonora The Last Judgment 63, 2.0, 2.8
Biccherna Cover: The Virgin Protects Siena ... 5.0 ofToledo with her Son, Giovanni 518, 23.2: Celano, Thomas of 52, 53
Bicci di Lorenzo 240; Consecration of St. Egidio frescoes, Chapel of Eleonora da Toledo, Celio, Gasparre: Crucifixion 533-4, 24.4
240, 10.53 Florence 519-21, 23.4, 23.5; Martyrdom Cellini, Benvenuto 31, 524-5, 526; Cosimo I 517,
Biringuccio, Vannoccio: De la pirotechnia 31 of St. Lawrence 529-30, 23.19; Portrait ofa 518, 23.0; Perseus $25, 526, 23.11, 23.12
The Birth ofAthena at the Forge of Vulcan Young Man 518-19, 23.3 Cennini, Cennino 41; The Craftsman’s Handbook
(A. Lombardo) 462, 20.15 Brunelleschi, Filippo 204, 215, 256-7; Baptistry 18, 20, 219-20
Birth of the Virgin (Cavallini) 62, 2.7 doors, Florence 204, 205, 10.4; dome, Cesaresco, Fortunato Martinengo, Count:
Birth ofthe Virgin (Giambono) 316, 13.7 Florence Cathedral 216-19, 10.26; (model) portrait [?] (Moretto) 510, 22.10
Birth ofthe Virgin (P. Lorenzetti) 107-8, 5.12 33, 217, 30; Foundling Hospital, Florence Charles d’Amboise 375, 377
Birth ofVenus (Botticelli) 279-80, 11.42 215-16, 10.24; San Lorenzo, Florence Charles I of Anjou, King of Naples 122, 123,
Birth Plate (attrib. to Masaccio ) 10.25 250-2, 11.2, 11.3; single-point perspective 124,125
Black Death 153, 158 233-4, 10.43 Charles Il of Anjou, King of Naples 124,
Bologna 509; San Petronio portal 237-8, 10.49, Bruni, Leonardo 244, 245; tomb 244, 10.59 126, 128
10.50; university 516 Buffalmacco 154 Charles Martel 128, 131

568 INDEX
Charles V, Emperor 423, 447, 472, 495, 496, 514, Crib at Greccio (Assisi Master) 71, 3.5 11.8; Equestrian Monument to Erasmo da
517; Equestrian Portrait (Titian) 469, 20.26 Crivelli, Taddeo 337; Bible of Borso d’Este 337-8, Narni (Gattamelata Monument) 263-4,
Chigi, Agostino 417, 420 14.6 547, 11.20; Joshua 210; Judith and Holofernes
childbirth and art 217 Cronaca (Simone del Pollaiuolo): Palazzo 266-7, 387, 11.23; pulpits, San Lorenzo,
Cholet, Cardinal Jean 62-3 Strozzi, Florence 279, 11.40, 11.41 Florence 267-8, 11.24, 11.25; St. George
Christ before Caiaphas (Romanino) 381-2, 15.29 Crossing of the Red Sea (Bronzino) 520, 23.5 210-11, 10.16; St. George and the Dragon
Christ Giving the Keys to Peter (Perugino) Crucifix (Cimabue): San Domenico, Arezzo S1, 211-12, 10.17; St. John 210, 10.13, 10.14; St.
306, 12.30 1.2; Santa Croce, Florence 52, 1.0 Lawrence and St. Stephen 253, 11.6; St. Lowis of
Christ in Glory and the Creation of Eve (Pontormo) Crucifix (Donatello) 29, 22 Toulouse 215, 269, 10.0; St. Mark 212, 10.18;
221; 23.6 crucifixes 29, 0-2, 53, 84; by Jacopo di Marco tomb of Rainaldo Brancacci 340, 14.10
Christ in Limbo (Bronzino) 522, p. 486, 23.7 Benato 7.10; San Damiano Crucifix 49, 50, Doni, Agnolo 394; portrait (Raphael) 393,
Chrysoloras, Manuel 335 407, 1.1 394, 16.10
Cimabue (Cenni de Pepi) 51, 65, 69, 71; Crucifixion (Andriolo de’ Santis and Altichiero) Doria, Andrea 447, 448; portrait (Sebastiano
Crucifix (San Domenico) 51, 1.2; Crucifix 9.0, 9.18 del Piombo) 447, 19.11; statue, as Neptune
(Santa Croce) S2, 1.0; Crucifixion 52, 69, Crucifixion (Bonaiuti) 159, 8.7 (Bandinelli) 447-8, 19.12
1.3; Enthroned Madonna and Child (Maesta) Crucifixion (Cimabue) $2, 69, 1.3 Dormition of the Virgin (J. Bellini) 318-19, 13.10
84-S, 86, 4.11 Crucifixion (Pordenone) 382-3, 15.30 Dossi, Dosso 462, 463
Ciompi Revolt 164, 168, 220 Crucifixion (Valeriani and Celio) 533-4, 24.4 drawings 21, 32-3; cartoons 24; silverpoint 33;
Circignani, Niccolé: frescoes, San Stefano sinopte 23-4, 32
Rotondo, Rome 535-7, 24.6, 24.7 D Duccio di Buoninsegna 93; Enthroned Madonna
cire-perdue (lost-wax casting) 31 Daddi, Bernardo 166 and Child (Maesta) (Rucellai Madonna) 85-6,
city states in Italy $5 dalle Masegna, Jacobello and Pierpaolo 144; 104, 4.12; Maesta (Siena Cathedral) 103-6,
Clare, St. $3, 130, p. 46 choir screen, St. Mark’s, Venice 144-5, 107, 111, 5.7-5.10
Clement IV, Pope 122 Te oN) Dufay, Guillaume 218
Clement V, Pope 65 Dalmata, Giovanni 12.9; tomb of Cardinal Diirer, Albrecht 380, 381
Clement VII, Pope (Giulio de’ Medici) 420, 423, Pietro Riario 12.25
436, 439, 447, 517 Danaé (Titian) 470, 500, 20.27 E
clientelismo 16 Dandolo, Doge Andrea 141, 143, 145, 146; Ecce Homo (Moretto) 505, 22.3
Clovio, Giulio: Farnese Hours S00, 21.15 Chronica extensa 141; tomb 143-4, 7.7, 7.8 Effects ofGood Government in the City and in the
Codussi, Mauro: San Michele in Isola, Venice Daniele da Volterra 491, 503 Country (A. Lorenzetti) 117, 5.23
320-1, 13.13-13.15; San Zaccaria, Venice Dante Alighieri 65; Inferno 72, 156, 157 ekphrasis 335
321-2, 13.16, 13.17; Scuola Grande di San Dant, Vincenzo: Cosmo as Augustus 527-8, 23.15 Eleonora of Toledo 518, 519, 527; portrait with
Marco, Venice 13.25 Dawid (Cavallini) 127, 6.9 son, Giovanni (Bronzino) 518, 23.2
Colaccio, Matteo 12 David (Donatello): bronze 264-6, 282-3, 386, engravings 35
Colleoni, Bartolomeo 332; equestrian 427, 11.21, 11.22; marble 208, 209-10, 265, Enthroned Justice Flanked by St. Michael the
monument (Verrocchio) 332, 13.31 386-7, 10.9 Archangel and the Angel Gabriel (Jacobello del
Colonna, Vittoria 493, 503 David (Michelangelo) 37, 387-8, 16.0, 16.1 Fiore) 150-1, 7.20
Colonna family 56, 59, 61, 286, 287 David (Verrocchio) 265, 387 Enthroned Madonna, Child, and Saints (Giovanni
colorito 471 Dead Christ (Rosso Fiorentino) 423, 17.42 Bellini) 456, 20.7
Communion of St. Francesca Romana (Antoniazzo Death ofJacob and Joseph (from Liber Pantheon) Enthroned Madonna and Child (Cimabue) 84-S,
Romano) 298, 12.17 177, 178, 9.3 86, 4.11
Consecration ofSt. Egidio (Bicci) 240, 10.53 della Rovere, Francesco Maria: portrait (Titian) Enthroned Madonna and Child (Guido da Siena)
Contarini, Marino 313, 314 464, 20.18 15,3
contracts, artists’ 21-2, 27 della Rovere family 301, 407, 409, 413, 430, 464 Enthroned Madonna and Child (Rucellai Madonna)
Coppo di Marcovaldo: mosaics, Florence Deposition (Michelangelo) 493, 21.5 (Duccio) 85-6, 104, 4.12
Baptistry 81, 4.4 Deposition (Rosso Fiorentino) 433, 18.8 Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints
Corner family 322, 325, 468 disegno 17, 279, 392, 393, 471 (Antonello da Messina) 325, 13.20
Coronation of
the Virgin (Filippo Lippi) Disputa (Raphael) 409-10, 411, 17.22 Enthroned Madonna and Child with St. Liberale and
226-7, 10.35 Disputation of St. Catherine (Pinturicchio) St. Francis (Giorgione) 455-6, 20.6
Coronation of
the Virgin (Guariento) 150, 7.18 307-8, 12.32 Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by Federico
Coronation of
the Virgin (Jacobello del Fiore) Dolco, Giovannino de’ [?]: Sistine Chapel, Rome da Montefeltro (Piero della Francesca) 348,
150, 7.19 SOS IZ 7, 14.0
Coronation of
the Virgin (Leonardo da Besozzo) Dome of Heaven (Menabuoi) 9.17 Entombment (Pontormo) 18.0
13526519, Domenico di Paris: Hall of the Stuccoes, Palazzo Entombment (Raphael) 394, 395, 16.12; drawing
Coronation of
the Virgin (Lorenzo Monaco) Schifanoia, Ferrara 338, 14.8 394-5, 16.13
222, 10.29 Domenico Veneziano 256; St. Lucy Altarpiece 227, equestrian monuments 181, 182, 332, $47
Coronation of the Virgin (Torriti) 61-2, 2.6 10.36 Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata): equestrian
The Coronation of the Virgin (workshop of Giotto) Dominic, St. $1, 105 M4 monument (Donatello) 263-4, 547, 11.20
93-4, 4.20 Dominicans 51, 83-4, 145, 153, 155, 156, 157, Esau Before Isaac (Isaac Master) 69, 3.3
Correggio (Antonio Allegri) 442, 443; 158-9, 161, 163, 180, 380 Este, Alfonso d’ 461, 462
Camera di San Paolo, Parma 443, 19.5; Donatello 207-8, 217, 227, 241, 262, 266, 309, Este, Beatrice d’ 375; tomb 369, 371, 15.14
frescoes, Cathedral, Parma 443-4, 19.6; 340; altarpiece, Santo, Padua 262-3, 11.18, Este, Borso d’ 337, 338, 339; Bible 337-8, 14.6
Jupiter and Io 442-3, 19.0 11.19; Apotheosis of St. John 252-3, 11.5; Este, Isabella d’ 32, 359, 360, 361, 439, 461,
Correr, Gregorio 355 The Ass ofRimini 262-3, 11.10; baptismal 462, 465
Cosmatus, Master: Sancta Sanctorum, Lateran font, Siena 236, 237, 10.46, 10.48; Bearded Este, Leonello d’ 264, 333-4; medal 334, 14.2
Palace, Rome 58-9, 2.3 Prophet [David?] (attrib.) 208-10, 10.10; Este, Niccolo HI 264, 333, 337
Cossa, Francesco del 339; Hall of the Months, cantoria, Cathedral, Florence 242, 243-4, Este family 333, 339
Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara 338, 339, 14.7 10.56, 10.58; Crucifix 29, 22; David (bronze) Estouteville, Cardinal Guillaume d’ 295, 302
Council of Trent see Trent: Council of 264-6, 282-3, 386, 427, 11.21, 11.22; David Eucharist Tabernacle (Vecchietta) 21, 10, 11
Cremona 509, 511, 514; Cathedral frescoes (marble) 208, 209-10, 265, 386-7, 10.9; Eugenius IV, Pope 218, 253, 286, 288, 289,
380-3, 15.28-15.30 doors, San Lorenzo, Florence 253-4, 11.7, 297 a299

INDEX 569
Nwlogy or Ghangalareco Vicon (Micheline da Palazzo della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio) 81-2, Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor 120, 136, 151;
Resoreo) 19067, 9.28, 9.29 122, 386-7, 888, $19, $25, 527, $28, 40, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa Receiving
Ryeowtion of Capoceiola amd Garofalo (leaving) 4,5; Chapel of Eleonora da Toledo S19-21, Entreaties ... (Pisanello) 151-2, 7.21
287, 1a 23.4, 23.5; Fountain ofNeptune (Bandinelli fresco technique 22-6
Rydon from Aaweise (Masaceio) 228, and Ammanati) $27, 23.13; Sala del Gran Fugger, Hans 514
LOA, L041 Consiglio 388-9, 528-9, 16.4, 23. 16, 23.17; Funeral of St.Francis cycle (Giotto) 40, 88-9,
Rypesion of Holiodones (Raphael) 412-13, 17.27 (battle paintings) 390-2, 528, 16.4, 16.6, 40,41
Ryprdion ofJarobin (Giotto) 74, 38 16.7; (St Anne Altarpiece) 389, 390, 16.5 The Funeral of theVirgin (Taddeo di Bartolo)
Palazzo Rucellai 34, 288, 277-8, 32 119, 5.25
p ‘ Palazzo Strogri 278-9, 11.40, 11.41
Rall ofdhe Gianey (Perino del Vaga) 449, 19.15 Piazza della Signoria $24, $25, $27, 528 G
Ral ofthe Giants frome Monnet Olymprs (Ghalio San Lorenzo 250-4, 257, 111-118; frescoes Gaddi, Agnolo 20, 220, 241; Legend ofthe True
Romano) 440.1, 192 (Pontorme) $21, 23.6; Laurentian Library Cress 169-70, 8.15, 8.16; Loggia della
Rancelli, Lucas Sant andrea, Mantua 436-8, 31, 18.13, 18.14) Medici Chapel Signoria reliefs 173
14.26, 1427 433-6, 18.9-18,13; pulptts 267-8, 11.24, Gaddi, Taddeo 20, 21, 90; frescoes, Baroncelli
Rarnese, Alessandro 488, 496 see aise Paul I 11.25; comb of Piero and Giovanni de’ Chapel, Florence 90-2, 4.18, 4.19; frescoes,
Barnese, Dement (grandson of Paul TU) 470, Medici 269, 11.26 Santa Croce Refectory, Florence 94-S, 4.21;
49S, S00,S3 San Marco 254, 256, 284, 389; altarpiece Presentation ofthe Virgin in the Temple 21, 8, 9
Barnese, Orfavio 49s (Fra Angelico) 254-6, 11.9 Galatea (Raphael) 418-19, 17.36
Rammese Howes (Clovio) S00, 21.48 San Miniato al Monte 170, 278, 8.17 Galiti, Nunzio: View ofMilan 9.1
Raat in the Howse of Lend (Veronese) $03, S04, 22,2 Santa Croce 84, 87, 183, $2 1-2, 4&7, 48, 8.18; Gambello, see di Marco: San Zaccaria,
Raat of Hered (Giotto) 90, 4.17 altarpieces 93- 4,4.20; Bardi Chapel 40, Venice 321-2, 13.16, 13.17
Raat of e Goes (Giovanni Belling) 462-3, 2016 87-9, 40, 41, 4.14, 4.18; Baroncelli Chapel ~ Gaston de Foix 377 378; tomb 378, 15.26
Rederico da Montefeltro 347, 348, 349, 351; 90-2, 418, 4.19; (altarpiece) 93, 4.20; Legend gastronomy and art 185
Rattive Qorea and Redentcoda Monieseliry ofthe True Crass (Gadd) 169-70, 8.15, 8.16; Gates ofPansdise (Ghiberti) 245-8, 10.60-10.65
(Piero della Francesca) 347, 24.20; -azzi Chapel 277; Peruzzi Chapel 89-90, Gattamelata Monument (Donatello) 263-4,
Buadroned Madonna and Sains Adored 4.14, 4.16, 4.17; Refectory frescoes 94-5 11.20
by Redentio da Montaiiire (Piero della 4.21; tomb of Leonardo Bruni 244, 10.59 Genoa 439, 447, 449-50; Strada Nuova (Via
Brancesca) 348, 14.0) Tamphs af Redenco Santa Felicita: Cappont Chapel 431-2, 18.7 Ganbaldi) 450, 19.16, 19.17; Villa Dora
da Monteiro and Barina Sree (Piero della Santa Maria degli Angeli 220, 222 448-9, 19.13-19.15
Francesca) 347-8, 14.21 Santa Maria del Carmine 228, 10.37; Gentile da Fabriano 22, 196, 285; Adonation ofthe
Ferrara 3323, 461; Palazzo dei Diamant 339-40, Brancacci Chapel frescoes 228-32, 10.37- Magi 223, 10.30, 10.31; Quaratesi altarpiece
14.9; Palazzo Ducale 461-4, 20.18; Palazzo 10.41 223-4, 10.32
Sehitanola S88-9, MAF, 148 Santa Maria Novella 84, 8S, 87, 186, 232-3, Gerini, Niccolé di Pietro 171; Orphans Assigned to
Perrari, Gaudenaio 380, 38: Crucifixion Chapel, 278, S21, $22, 49, 410, 11.39; Guidalord their New’ Parents 171-2, 8.18
Sacra Monte, Varallo 380, 15.27 c shaped 189-63, $.6-8.9; Strozzi altarpiece Ghiberti, Lorenzo 41, 185, 204, 214-15, 218,
Riamma, Galvano 176, LPF, US (Oreagna) 187-8, 159, 8.4) Strozzi Chapel 223, 227, 235-6, 241, 309; baptismal
Rilarete (Antonio averiing) £6 289 doors, Old 186-7, 275-6, 8.0, 8.3, 11.338, 11.36 font, Siena 235-7, 10.46, 10.47; Bapustry
St Peter's, Rome 288-9, 12.3, 12.4 Medic Santa Trinita: altarpiece (Cimabue) $4-S, 411; doors, Florence 204-7, 237, 245-8, 10.3,
Rank, Milan 308, 15.6 Bartolini-Salimbeni Chapel: (altarpiece) 10.5-10.7, 10.60—10.65; StJobn the Bapast
The Rive a the Bove (Raphael) 41S, 17.31, 17.32 221-2, 10.28; (frescoes) 220-1, 10.27; 36, 213, p. 12, 10.21; Se. Matthew 213-14,
Redmongers \ Campi) S 14-16, 22.18 Sassetti Chapel 273-S, 276, 11.33, 11.34 10.22. 10.23
Riggetlaction af Chey (Ghibert) 207, 10.7 Strozai Chapel 223 Ghiberti, Vittono 281
RhoneofManus (ean) 47 2, 2040 Uffizi $27-8, 23.14 Ghirlandaio, Domenico 27, 273, 274, 277, 304;
Rlorence SS, 78-9, $1-2, $3, 86-7, 147, 183, Via dei Girolami 42 Giorunna de° Tornabuoni 276, 277; Sasseta
LOS BOQ, VIS, VSS, 289-40, 249, WS, Fontana, Domenico 338, 339 PausesSistina, Chapel, Florence 273-5, 11.33, 11.34
“198
S8G-7, 42027, STF SAG, py TS (map), 41, 46 Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome S41-2 Ghisi, Giorgio 491, 21.3
Raprstey 80: b43, 422) doors 208-7) A 2416-2418; Della trasportadione dell’ odelixe Giacomo da Pietrasanta [?]: SantAgostino,
Pisat nO 96 S, 204, 4.23-4.27% Branelleschi 24.11; tomb of Nic holas W S41, 2414 Rome 12.24
204, 20S, 104 Ghiderti 204-7, 257, 248-8, tomb of Sixtus V 544, 2418 Giambologna $29; The Rape ofthe Sabines
LOS, LAS= 10.7, 10.60- 10.638: mosaics Sh Fontana, Lavinia: Ned me Tangere 502-3, 22.1 $29, 23.18
4&4 Sher altar 164, 166, S1Q, S11 Poppa, Vincenzo: sapere Portinart Chapel, Giambono, Michele: mosaics, Capella Nova,
Rargello (iPalazzo det Pariesta) Sl Milan 367 7,138.9 Vemice 316, 319, 13.6, 13.7, 13.11
Cathedral (Duome) 82, 95-6, 164, 4.22-4.24 Foppa Chapel we pany San Marco Gilio da Fabriano, G. A. 502; Deg Erreri de”
IQA (we ake Saprseryh cantoes 242-4, La Rornarma (Raphael) 415, 17.30 Pere
Taad 502

LASS—1IASS dome 216-19, 10.26: (model) Porzetta, Oliviero 309 Grorgione (Giorgio del Castelfranco) 385, 452,
RX 217, 3% Porta della Mandoria 202, Foscani, Doge Francesco SLE, 312-15, 316, 320; 453, 510: Enthronad Madonna and Child...
10.2: sculptures 202, 207-10, 388, 10.2, head (B. Bon) 312, 13.2 455-6, 20.6; Pastoral Comeert 453-4, 20.4:
LOS-1TAI4 162, 13 Fowr Crowned Saints (Nanni) 212 S, LQ19, 10.20 Sleeping Venas 453, 20.3; La Tempest 452-3,
Roandiine Hasnir icale GO
Gessis
TOURTARY TOSOATAL (Ospxdale Romy Me anacle Scenes (T. Gada) 44, 4.21 20.1, 20.2
at
AOCOR ie, 124 Francesco da Carrara 184-5, 187. , 334 medals Grotto di Bondone 22, 65-6, 69, 71-2, 90, 98,
Loggia della Sigmorta 172-3, 216, $25 ISS, 944 128, 177: Cathedral, Florence96: The
328 229 Francesco di Giorgio: Bicchens Corer. 5.0: Coronation of the Virgin (workshop of) 93-4,
Meche: Palace a8 2 QO 1, ULLAL, La: Palazzo Ducale, Urbino 14.22 4.20; frescoes, Bardi ‘Chapel, Flerenee 40,
chapel 282-62. 1, 114 TLS Fran aslo of France 426, >
447. So
S7-9, 40. 41, 4.14, 4.15; frescoes, Peruzm
Museo Bards ‘
aR
Chapel, Florencé 89-90. 444 4.16 4.17:
Or San Machete 82. 166, 1Q18: 2Pa tii) 0-1, S$ frescoes, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua 72-7
of Se. Thomas (Verrocehio) 268, 11.27. Hrancscans
RD ~O~a re
49,yo =50, 67, S$-4, 130, 185,
7
168, 3.6-3.9, 3.11-3.13; Navwellz 65, 66, din
scriprures 210 1S, 100, 1016-1023 380. 407
Ognissanti Madonna and Child (Maesta) 86.
1S& Is S12. 8.13 TAROO. .G WCOMIL (sO Gi Peeomoens ot domme 4.13; Stefaneschi altarpiece 65, 66, 2.13; P]
~>
moan trescoes 173, $.20 TROT RIS 7.3 Vamalory 177, 9.3

$70 INDEX
Giovanna II, Queen of Naples 135, 340 | Last Supper (T. Gaddi) 94, 4.21
Giovanni d’Ambrogio: Prudence 173, 8.19 Ignatius of Loyola 531, 532; Spiritual Exercises Last Supper (C. Rosselli) 12.30
Giovanni da Fano: L’arte dell’unione 505 533 The Last Supper (Leonardo) 37, 39, 371-3, 38,
Giovanni da Udine 433, 17.39 illuminated manuscripts see manuscript 15.15, 15.16
Giovanni d’Alemagna 317, 354; Madonna and illumination Laurana, Francesco: Isabella ofAragon [?] 28, 21
Child with Saints 317, 13.8 Incredulity of St. Thomas (Vasari) 522, 23.8 Laurana, Luciano: Palazzo Ducale, Urbino
Giovanni del Biondo: St. John the Evangelist Incredulity of St.Thomas (Verrocchio) 269, 11.27 348-9, 14.22, 14.24
168, 8.14 Innocent VIII, Pope 396; tomb 306-7, 12.31 Laurentian Library, Florence see Florence: San
Giovanni di Balduccio 180; tomb ofSt. Peter Inquisition 503, 504 Lorenzo
Martyr 178-80, 9.6 International Gothic style 150, 194-9, 201, 222, Legend ofGuiron le Courtois 183-4, 9.11
Giovanni di Turino: baptismal font, Siena 236, 223, 235, 248, 333 Legend of Lancelot (Pisanello) 352-254, 14.29,
237, 10.46 Isaac Master 71; Esau Before Isaac 69, 3.3 14.30
Giovanni Pisano 102; Cathedral, Siena Isabella of Aragon: portrait [?] (Laurana) 28, 21; Legend of the True Cross (A. Gaddi) 169-70,
102-3, 5.5 tomb 123-4, 6.4 8.15, 8.16
Giuliano da Maiano: studiolo, Palazzo Ducale, Isaia da Pisa: Reliquary Tabernacle ofthe Head of Legend of the True Cross (Piero della Francesca)
Urbino 349, 351, 14.25 St. Andrew 294-5, 12.9, 12.10 238-9, 10.51, 10.52
Giuliano d’Arrigo 241 Isaiah (Giovanni Pisano) 103, 5.6 Lenzi, Domenico 232-3
Giulio Romano 423, 439, 17.39; I Modi 419, Isaiah (Nanni) 208, 209-10, 10.8 Leo X, Pope (Giovanni de’ Medici) 274, 407, 415,
420, 17.38; Palazzo del Té, Mantua: Italy: city states $5; map p. 54 423, 426, 427, 433, 439, 488, 517
courtyard 441-2, 19.3; frescoes 439-41, Leonardo da Besozzo: Coronation of
the Virgin
LOIS, J SoG 9)
Giunta Pisano S0-1 Jacobello del Fiore 150; Coronation of the Virgin Leonardo da Vinci 21, 32, 270, 277, 371, 372,
Glory of the Angels (Lomazo) 506, 22.5 150, 7.19; Enthroned Justice ... 150-1, 7.20 374, 375-6, 377, 390, 392, 424, 512,
Godefroyd, Etienne: Reliquary Bust ofSan Gennaro Jacopino da Tradate: Pope Martin V 194, 9.25 513; Adoration of the Magi 270-2, 11.29,
124-5, 6.3 Jacopo da Pietrasanta [?]: Palazzo Venezia, 11.30; Battle ofAnghiari 390, 391, 392,
Goffredo da Viterbo: Liber Pantheon 177-8, 9.4 Rome 297-8, 12.16 528, 16.6; botanical studies 373, 15.7;
Gonzaga, Eleonora: portrait (Titian) Jacopo da Voragine: Golden Legend 169 equestrian tomb monument (studies)
464-S, 20.19 Jacopo di Marco Benato: crucifix 7.10 377-8, 15.24; frescoes, Castello Sforza,
Gonzaga, Federigo 439, 442 Jacopo di Piero Guidi 173 Milan 374-S, 15.20; Ginevra de’ Benci
Gonzaga, Francesco 359, 361 Jesuits 488, 508, 531, 532 276-7, 11.37; inventions 374, 15.18;
Gonzaga, Ludovico 351, 352, 353, 354, 356 Johann, Master 193 The Last Supper 37, 39, 371-3, 38, 15.15,
Gonzaga family 333, 351 John the Baptist, St. 13, 80; sculpture (Ghiberti) 15.16; Madonna and Child with St. Anne 377,
Gothic style 98, 101, 102, 131, 152, 193, 228 36, 213, p. 12, 10.21 390, 15.22; Madonna of
the Rocks 373,
see also International Gothic style John VII Paleologus, Emperor 313, 334; medal 374, 15.0; Mona Lisa 392-3, 16.8; Santa
Gottardo da Ponte 380 334, 14.1 Maria delle Grazie, Milan 369, 15.13;
Gozzoli, Benozzo 259, 298; frescoes, Medici Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (Properzia) 42-3, 43 Sforza monument (study) 374, 15.19;
Palace Chapel, Florence 259-60, Joseph in Egypt (Pontormo) 428-9, 18.4 Two Mountain Ranges (drawing) 377, 15.21;
11.0, 11.14 Joshua (Donatello) 210 Vitruvian Man 398, 17.8
Grassi, Giovanni dei 195; notebook 195-6, 9.27; Judgment ofSolomon ({?|B. Bon) 311-12, 13.1 Leonardo di ser Giovanni: silver altar 164, 166,
Visconti Book of Hours 195, 9.26 Judith and Holofernes (Donatello) 266-7, 8.10, 8.11
El Greco (Domenico Theotocopoult) S00 387, 11.23 Licinio, Bernardino: The Artist with his Nephews
Gregory IX, Pope 52, 67 Julius II, Pope 39-40, 300, 309, 396-7, 401, 409, 207;
Gregory XIII, Pope 534, 535 421, 423, 466, 488, 544; portrait 413, 17.28; Lippi, Filippino 273, 280, 389; Carafa Chapel,
Grumelli, Gian Gerolamo: portrait (Moroni) tomb 398-401, 17.9-17.11 Rome 308, 12.33; frescoes, Strozzi Chapel,
$10-11, 22.11 Jupiter and Io (Correggio) 442-3, 19.0 Florence 275-6, 11.35, 11.36; Vision of
Guariento di Arpo: Coronation of
the Virgin Justice with Cicero ... (Taddeo di Bartolo) 120, 5.27 St. Bernard 273, 11.32
150, 7.18 Justus of Ghent: studiolo, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino Lippi, Filippo 225, 226, 227; Adoration of the
Guarino of Verona 281, 333 351, 14.25 Christ Child 260, 11.15; Coronation of
the
Guerra, Giovanni 24.12 Virgin 226-7, 10.35; Tarquinia Madonna
Guidalotti, Mico 159, 163 K 225-6, 10.34
Guidalotti Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa Kiss ofJudas (Giotto) 75-6, 3.11 Lippo Memmi: Glorification of St. Thomas 158-9,
Maria Novella Kiss ofJudas (Roman Master) 69, 3.0 8.5; Maesta 112, 114, 5.20
Guido da Siena 85; Enthroned Madonna and Child Lippo Vanni 114; Victory of the Siennese Troops at
LS 10553 L the Val di Chiana... 112, 5.21
Guillaume of Verdelay: Reliquary Bust of San Ladislas, King of Naples 132, 133, 135; tomb Lomazzo, Gian Paolo 506, 515; Glory of the Angels
Gennaro 124-S, 6.3 135, 6.18 506, 22.5; treatises on art 506-7
Lafréry, Antoine: Pilgrims Visiting the Seven Lombardo, Antonio 462; Camerino d’Alabastro,
H Churches of Rome ... 542, 24.15 Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara 462; Studio
Hanged Man and Two Portraits (Pisanello) 336, Lamberti, Niccolo 210; St. Mark 210, 10.12 di Marmi, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara 462,
14.4 Lamentation (Giotto) 75, 76, 3.12 20.15
Hawkwood, Sir John 241, 242; portrait (Uccello) Lamentation (Mazzoni) 23 Lombardo, Pietro: Santa Maria dei Miracoli,
23, 240-2, 13, 10.54 Lamentation (Pulzone) 534, 545, 24.5 Venice 328-30, 13.26, 13.27; Scuola Grande
Healing of the Cripple and The Raising of Tabitha Laocoon and His Sons (Agesander et al.) 39-40, di San Marco, Venice 328, 13.25
(Masolino) 230-1, 10.40 SO), Bist), Se, Lombardo, Tullio: Miracle of the Miser’s Heart
Heemskerck, Martin van: Jacopo Galli’s Garden in Last Judgment (Giotto) 72, 76-7, 3.13 460-1, 20.14; San Salvatore, Venice 460,
Rome 309, 12.34 Last Judgment (Master of the Triumph of Death) 20.12; Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice
Henry III, King of France 147 153, 156, 8.2 BAe, NALS
Hercules (Pollaiuolo) 31, 26 Last Judgment (Michelangelo) 15, 489-93, 503, Lombardo della Seta 188
Hercules and Anteus (Pollaiuolo) 261, 11.17 21.1-21.4 Longhi, Martino, the Elder: Chapel, Santa Maria
Hercules and Cacus (Bandinelli) 427-8, 18.3 The Last Judgment (Cavallini) 63, 2.0, 2.8 in Trastevere, Rome 502, 22.0
humanism 43, 282, 334 Last Supper (Castagno) 235, 10.44, 10.45 Loredan, Doge Leonardo 452-3

INDEX 571
Lorenzetti, Ambrogio 108, 114; Allegory of Mantua 333, 439; Castello San Giorgio: Medici, Giovanni delle Bande Nere 518, 528
Good Government 112, 116-18, 5.22; Bad Camera Picta 356-9, 14.34; Palazzo del Te Medici, Giovanni di Bicci de’ 250-1, 252, 253,
Government... 117-18, 5.24; Effects ofGood 439-42, 19.1-19.4; Palazzo Ducale frescoes 254, 256
Government... 117, 5.23; Purification of the 352-4, 14.29, 14.230; Sant’Andrea 351-2, Medici, Giuliano de’ (1453-78) 26S, 268,
Virgin 108-9, 5.13 14.26-14.28 269, 427
Lorenzetti, Pietro: Birth of the Virgin 107-8, manuscript illumination 34, 122-3, 177-8, Medici, Giuliano de’ (1479-1516) 274, 426
§.12 183-4; International Gothic style 195-7 Medici, Giulio de’, Cardinal 421, 427, 433
Lorenzo Monaco 220-1; Annunciation 221-2, Manutius, Aldus: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili see also Clement VII
10.28; Coronation of the Virgin 222, 10.29; 453, 34 Medici, Lorenzo de’ (“Il Magnifico”) 14, 259,
Marriage ofthe Virgin 10.27 Mariani, Camillo: sculptures, San Bernardo alle 260-1, 264, 265, 268-9, 274, 275, 279, 280,
Lorenzo the Magnificent see Medici, Lorenzo de’ Terme, Rome 546, 24.19 282-3, 304, 307, 309
(“Il Magnifico”) Maringhi, Francesco 226 Medici, Lorenzo de’ (1395-1440) 252, 256
lost-wax casting 31, 25 Marino, Tommaso 509 Medici, Lorenzo de’, Duke of Urbino 430
Louis of Toulouse, St. 128-9, 131; Altarpiece ... Mark, St., Pope 298; banner portrait (Melozzo) Medici, Piero de’ (1416-69) 253, 257, 258,
(Martini) 129, 6.0, 6.11; bronze (Donatello) 298-9, 12.18 259-60, 264, 267, 269; bust (Mino da
215, 269, 10.0 Marriage of Cupid and Psyche (Raphael) 417-18, Fiesole) 258-9, 11.13; tomb 269, 11.26
Luca della Robbia see Robbia, Luca della p- 384, 17.35 Medici, Piero de’ (1471-1503) 274, 386
Luca di Tommé: Madonna and Child 110, 5.15 Marriage ofthe Virgin (Lorenzo Monaco) 10.27 Medici Chapel, Florence see Florence: San
Luini, Bernardino 377; Madonna, Child, and Infant Martin, Gregory 534-S Lorenzo
ShJOnnN.. 377, 15.23 Martin da Canal 139-40; Les Estoirs de Venise Medici family 249, 250, 253-4, 256, 264, 26S,
Lupi family 188-9, 190 143 282, 283, 362, 386, 426-7, 433, 517, 528
Luther, Martin 380, 423, 535 Martin V, Pope 218, 232, 286, 287, 291, 299, 340, Meeting at the Golden Gate (Giotto) 74-S, 3.9
488; relief carving (Jacopino da Tradate) Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne (Titian) 37,
M 194, 9.25 463-4, 20.17
Madonna, Child, and Infant St. John the Baptist Martini, Simone 93, 106, 129, 201; Altarpiece Mellini, Bianca $45
(Luini) 377, 15.23 of St. Louis ofToulouse 129, 6.0, 6.11; Melozzo da Forli 298, 299; banner 298-9, 12.18;
Madonna and Child (Niccolo di ser Sozzo and Annunciation 106-7, 108, 5.11; Maesta 107, Sixtus IV Confirming Platina as Papal Librarian
Luca di Tommé) 110, 5.15 111-12, 5.18 300, 12.0
Madonna and Child Surrounded by an Aureole of Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (Bronzino) 529-30, Menabuoi, Giusto de’ 187; frescoes, Padua
Angels (J. Bellini) 317-18, 13.9 23.19 Baptstry 187-8, 9.17
Madonna and Child with Saints (A. Vivarini and Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (Titian) 459-60, Mercury (attrib. to Baldini) 17, 4
Giovanni d’Alemagna) 317, 13.8 20.10, 20.11 Michelangelo Buonarroti 22, 45, 283, 309, 310,
Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Leonardo) 377, Mary of Hungary, Queen 126, 130, 131; tomb 385, 388, 392, 401, 404, 421, 423, 427, 438,
390, 15.22 131-2, 6.14 471, 479, 489, 493, 494, 509, 512-13, 517,
Madonna Lochis (Giovanni Bellini) 326-7, 13.23 Masaccio (Tommaso di ser Giovanni) 201, 224, 532; Bacchus 309, 12.34; Battle of Cascina
Madonna of the Baldachin (Raphael) 394, 16.11 ZA0, 24235; altarpiece, Santa Maria 390, 391-2, 16.7; Battle of the Lapiths and the
Madonna ofthe Harpies (Andrea del Sarto) 424, Maggiore, Rome 287-8, 12.2; Birth Plate Centaurs 283, 11.47; Capitoline Hill, Rome
425, 18.1 (attrib.) 10.25; frescoes, Brancacci Chapel, 496-8, 21.9, 21.10; David 37, 387-8, 16.0,
Madonna ofthe Long Neck (Parmigianino) 446-7, Florence 228, 230-2, 10.37-10.39, 10.41; 16.1; Deposition 493, 21.5; frescoes, Sistine
503; 19.10 Pisa altarpiece 224-5, 10.33; The Tribute Chapel, Rome 24, 37, 401-7, 409, 17, 36,
Madonna of the Rocks (Leonardo) 373, 374, 15.0 Money 231-2, 233, 10.41; Trinity 24, 232-3, 37, 17.0, 17.12-17.18 (see also Last Judgment);
Maecenas, Gaius Cilnius 16 234, 241, 16, 10.42 Last Judgment 15, 489-93, 503, 21.1-21.4;
Maesta (term) 15-16 Mascoli Chapel, Venice see Venice: St. Mark’s Laurentian Library, San Lorenzo, Florence
Maesta (Cimabue) 84-S, 86, 4.11 Maser: Villa Barbaro 482-4, 20.42-20.44 436-8, 31, 18.14, 18.15; Medici Chapel,
Maesta (Duccio): Cathedral, Siena 103-6, 107, Masolino 228; altarpiece, Santa Maria Florence 433-6, 18.10-18.13; Palazzo
111, 5.7-5.10; Rucellai Madonna 85-6, 104, Maggiore, Rome 287-8, 12.2; frescoes, Farnese, Rome 496, 21.8; Pieta 310, 12.35;
4.12 Brancacci Chapel, Florence 228, 230-1, St. Matthew 388, 16.2; St. Peter’s, Rome
Maesta (Giotto) 86, 4.13 10.37-10.40 498-9, 545, 17.6, 21.11, 21.12; tomb of
Maesta (Lippo Memmi) 112, 114, 5.20 Massacre ofthe Innocents (Altobello) 381, 15.28 Julius I 398-401, 17.9-17.11
Maesta (Martini) 107, 111-12, 5.18 The Massacre ofthe Innocents (Nicola Pisano) Michele da Firenze: reliefs, Pellegrini Chapel,
Magdalene Altarpiece (Magdalene Master) 24, 101, 5.3 Verona 334, 336, 14.5
39,18 Master of the Triumph of Death: Last Judgment Michelet, Jules: Histoire de France 43
Magnanimity with Curius Dentatus ... (Taddeo di 153-4, 156, 8.2; Triumph ofDeath 153-S, 8.1 Michelino da Besozzo 196; Eulogy for
Bartolo) 120, 5.27 Matteo da Siena: frescoes, San Stefano Rotondo, Giangaleazzo Visconti 196-7, 9.28, 9.29
Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo 223, 344-5 Rome 24.6, 24.7 Michelozzo di Bartolommeo 257; Medici Palace,
Malatesta family 333, 344 Mazzoni, Guido: Lamentation 23 Florence 256-7, 11.11, 11.12; San Marco,
Manetti, Antonio: Life of Brunelleschi 204, mecenatismo 16 Florence 254; tomb of Rainaldo Brancacci
2055233 Medici, Carlo de’ 309 340, 14.10
Manetti, Gianozzo 244 Medici, Cosimo de’ (1389-1464) 2 228, 249, 250, Mignot, Jean 193
Mannerism 385, 424-6, 428, 429, 432-3, 446, S) 260, 264,
251, 252, 253, 254, 256-7, 258, Milan $5, 174, 176-8, 180, 183-4, 333, 362, SHS
$22, 524, 529, 530; architecture 436 267-8, 313, 365 503, 50S, 546, p. 175 (map), 9.1
Mantegazza, Antonio and Cristoforo 364; Medici, Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany Castello Borromeo frescoes 198-9, 9.31
Certosa, Pavia 364, 15.1, 15.4 41, 517-18, $19, 521, 522, $24, 527, 530: Castello Sforza: Sala delle Asse frescoes
Mantegna, Andrea 354-S, 356, 358-9; altarpiece, Apotheosis ofCosimo (Vasari) 529, 23.17; bust (Leonardo) 374-5, 15.20
San Zeno, Verona 355-6, 14.32, 14.33; (Cellint) $17, 518, 23.0: portrait (Bronzino) Cathedral 191-4, 364-5, 9.23-9.25, 15.5
Battle of the Sea Gods (print) 35; Camera 517-18, 23.1; statue (as Augustus) (Danti) Medici Bank 365, 15.6
Picta, Castello San Giorgio, Mantua 356-9, 527-8, 23.15 Palazzo Marino 509, 22.9
14.34; Pallas Expelling the Vices ... 361, 14.36; Medici, Ferdinand I de’ 529 San Fedele 508-9, 22.8
The Picture Bearers 361, 14.35; St. James Being Medici, Giovanni de’ (1421-63) 253, 258: tomb San Gottardo 178; tomb of Azzone Visconti
Led to His Execution 354, 14.31; Triumphs of 269, 11.26 9.5; tower 176, 9.2
Caesar 361, 14.35 Medici, Giovanni de’ (1475-1521) see Leo X San Lorenzo Maggiore 174, 507-8, 22.6

$72 INDEX
 San Marco: Foppa Chapel 506, 22.5 Niccolo di ser Sozzo 109-10; Madonna and Child Parler, Heinrich 193
Sant’Eustorgio: Altarpiece of the Magi 180-1, 110, 5.15 Parma 439, 443; Camera di San Paolo 443, 19.5;
9.7; Portinari Chapel 367, 15.7-15.9; tomb Nicholas de Bonaventure 193 Cathedral 443-4, 19.6; Madonna della
of St. Peter Martyr 178-80, 9.6 Nicholas III, Pope 57-9, 62, 290, 545; Nicholas III Steccata 444-5, 19.8
Santa Maria delle Grazie 369, 371, 15.12, Kneeling before Christ 59, 2.4 Parmigianino (Giralomo Francesco Maria
15.13; The Last Supper (Leonardo) 371-3, Nicholas IV, Pope 59, 61, 287, 541; tomb 541, Mazzola) 423, 444-5; frescoes, Madonna
15.15, 15.16; tomb of Beatrice d’Este and 24.14 della Steccata, Parma 444-5, 19.8; Gian
Ludovico Sforza 15.14 Nicholas V, Pope 156, 286, 290, 292, 294, 299, Galeazzo Sanvitale ..... 445-6, 19.9; Madonna
Santa Maria presso San Celso 508, 22.7 304, 12.19 of the Long Neck 446-7, 503, 19.10; Self-
Santa Maria presso San Satiro 367, Nicola Pisano: Adoration of the Magi 44, 44; pulpit, Portrait in a Mirror 444, 19.7
15.10, 15.11 Pisa baptistry 44, 101-2, 43; pulpit, Siena Parnassus (Raphael) 411, 17.23
Milet d’Auxerre: Reliquary Bust of San Gennaro Cathedral 101-2, 5.3, 5.4 Pasquino 407, 17.19
124-5, 6.3 Nofri, Andrea and Matteo: tomb of King Passarroti, Bartolomeo 514, 516; The Butcher’s
Mino da Fiesole 258, 267; bust of Piero Ladislas 135, 6.18 Shop 515-16, 22.16
de’Medici 258-9, 11.13; tabernacle, Santa Noli me Tangere (follower ofGiotto) 128, 6.10 Pasti, Matteo de’: San Francesco, Rimini 345,
Maria Maggiore, Rome 295, 12.11, 12.12; Noli me Tangere (L. Fontana) 502-3, 22.1 14.16
tomb of Cardinal Pietro Riario 12.25 Pastoral Concert (Giorgione) 453-4, 20.4
Minutolo, Cardinal Enrico 132, 133 O patrons 15, 16-17, 32, 62-4, 188-9, 547; women
Miracle at Rialto (Carpaccio) 327-8, 13.24 offerings (in churches) 14 16, 32, 94, 126, 157, 187, 545-6, 547
Miracle of St. Mark (Tintoretto) 474, 20.32 Ognissanti Madonna and Child (Giotto) 86, 4.13 Paul II, Pope 297-8, 299
Miracle of the Cloud and Miracle ofthe False oil painting 26 Paul III, Pope (Alessandro Farnese) 468, 488-9,
Madonna (Foppa) 15.9 Old Testament Picture Book 123, 6.2 493-4, 495, 496, 498-9, 501, 503, 531,
Miracle of the Miser’s Heart (T. Lombardo) Olivieri, Pietro Paolo: Acqua Felice, Rome 24.0 544, 547; Paul LI Directing the Construction
460-1, 20.14 Orcagna (Andrea di Cione) 156; Strozzi of St. Peter’s (Vasari) 494, 21.7; Pope Paul II
miracles 60 altarpiece, Florence 157-8, 159, 8.4; and His Grandsons ... (Titian) 494-5, 21.0
The Miraculous Draught ofFishes (Raphael) tabernacle 166, 168, 8.12, 8.13 Paul IV Carafa, Pope 503, 532
416-17, 17.33 Orphans Assigned to their New Parents (Gerini and Pavia 181, 362; Castello Visconteo 183, 9.10;
The Mocking ofChrist (A. and C. Mantegazza) Ambrogio di Baldese) 171-2, 8.18 Certosa 191, 362, 363-4, 15,1-15.4; (ivory
364, 15.4 Orpheus (Bandinelli) 427 altarpiece) 191, 9.21, 9.22
I Modi (Giulio Romano) 419, 420, 17.38 Ovetari, Imperatrice 354 Pazzi Conspiracy 268, 304
Molanus, Johannes: De picturis et imaginibus Pazzi family 268, 277
sacri 503 P Pellegrini Chapel see Verona: Sant’Anastasia
Mona Lisa (Leonardo) 392-3, 16.8 Padua 72, 184-5 Pere Joan 343-4; Triumphal Arch, Castello
Montorsoli, Giovanni 40 Bapustry 186-7, 9.16, 9.17 Aragonese, Naples 14.13, 14.15
Moretto da Brescia 505, 510; Ecce Homo SOS, Eremitani Church: Ovetari Chapel frescoes Perino del Vaga 448-9, 494; Sala Paolina, Castel
22.3; Portrait of a Young Man... 510, 22.10 354, 14.31 Sant’Angelo, Rome 494, 21.6; Villa Doria,
Moroni, Giovanni Battista 506, $10; Portrait Gattamelata Monument 263-4, 11.20 Genoa 448-9, 19.13-19.15
of Gian Gerolamo Grumelli 510-11, 22.11; Oratory of St. George 9.20; frescoes 190 Perruzzi, Baldassare 418, 17.39;
Virgin in Glory...S0S-6, 22.4 Santo (Sant’Antonio) 12, 188-9; altarpiece Sala delle Prospettive, Villa Farnesina,
Morosini, Doge Michele: tomb 146, 7.12 (Donatello) 262-3, 11.18, 11.19; Miracle Rome 419, 17.37
mosaic techniques 26-7 of the Miser’s Heart (T. Lombardo) 460-1, Perseus (Cellini) 525, 526, 23.11, 23.12
Moses Drawing Water from the Rock (Tintoretto) 20.14; reliquary of the jaw of St. Anthony perspective 318, 372; Alberti’s system 237, 318;
474-S, 20.34 189, 9.19; St. James Chapel (San Felice) single-point 233-4, 270, 10.43, 11.30; two-
Mystical Nativity (Botticelli) 284-5, 11.49 189, 9.18 point 75, 3.10
Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel 72-7, 3.6-3.13 Perugino (Pietro Vanueci) 304, 392; The Battle of
N university 72 Love and Chastity 360, 14.37; Christ Giving the
Nanni di Baccio Bigio 532 Pala d’Oro, Venice see Venice: St. Mark’s Keys to Peter 306, 12.30
Nanni di Banco 17, 18, 207, 208, 217; Four Paleotti, Cardinal Gabriele 502, 503; De Peruzzi Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa
Crowned Saints 212-13, 10.19, 10.20; Isaiah imaginibus sacris 502; Discorso intorno ... Croce
208, 209-10, 10.8; St. Luke 210, 10.11; $02, 503 Pesaro, Jacopo 458-9
Sculptor’s Workshop 17, 28, 5 Palladio (Andrea di Pietro) 480, 485; Four Peter Martyr, St. 178; Scenes from the Life ...
Naples 55, 122-5, 333, 340, S46, p. 124 (map), Books on Architecture 480, 483, 20.43; The (Bonaiuti) 159, 8.8; comb 178-80, 9.6
6.1 Redentore, Venice 481-2, 20.41; San Petrarch, Francesco 44-5, 184-S, 194, 291;
Castello Aragonese (Castel Nuovo) 122, 341, Giorgio Maggiore, Venice 480-1, 20.39, “Africa” 43; De viris illustribus 172,
343-4, 14.11-14.14 20.40; Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza 485, 20.47, 176-7, 185, 188, 9.3; Petrarch in His Study
Cathedral portal 132-3, 6.16 20.48; Villa Barbaro, Maser 482-3, 20.42, (illuminated manuscript) 184-5, 9.15
Palazzo Penna 133, 135, 6.17 20.43; Villa La Rotonda, Vicenza 484-5, Phaedra and Hippolytus Sarcophagus 44, 45
San Domenico Maggiore frescoes 128, 6.10 20.45, 20.46 » Philip IL of Spain 470, 514
San Giovanni a Carbonara: Caracciolo Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue Philip II of Aragon 123, 124; relief 6.4
Chapel 135, 6.19; tomb of King Ladislas (Mantegna) 361, 14.36 Piacenza, Giovanna da 443
135, 6.18 Palma Giovane 472-3, 20.31 The Picture Bearers (Mantegna) 361, 14.35
San Lorenze Maggiore 125, 6.5, 6.6 panel painting 24-6 Pienza 296, 12.13, 12.14; Cathedral
Sant’Angelo a Nilo: Brancacci tomb Paolo Romano: Reliquary Tabernacle of the Head 296-7, 12.15
340, 14.10 of St.Andrew 294-5, 12.9, 12.10; St. Paul Piero della Francesca 238, 299; Battista Sforza
Santa Chiara 130-1, 6.12, 6.13; tomb of 294, 12.8 and Federico da Montefeltro 347, 14.20;
Robert of Anjou 131, 132, 6.15 Paolo Veneziano 141; Pala d’Oro 141, 143, Enthroned Madonna and Saints ... 348, 14.0;
Santa Maria Donnaregina 126-7, 131, 6.7, 7.0, 7.6 Legend of
the True Cross 238-9, 10.51, 10.52;
6.8; frescoes 126-8, 6.9; tomb of Mary of Papal States SS Triumphs ofFederico da Montefeltro and Battista
Hungary 131-2, 6.14 Paradise (Nardo di Cione) 157, 8.3 Sforza 347-8, 14.21
Nardo di Cione 156; Paradise 157, 8.3 Paradise (Tintoretto) 475, 476, 20.35 Pieta (Michelangelo) 310, 12.35
Navicella (Giotto) 65, 66, 2.12 Parigi, Alfonso: Uffizi, Florence 23.14 Pieta (Titian) 472-3, 30.31

INDEX 573
Pietro da Castelletto: Eulogy for Giangaleazzo Portrait of aYoung Man (Bronzino) 518-19, 23.3 Rimini 333, 344; San Francesco (Rimini Temple)
Visconti 196 Portrait ofthe Artist’s Sisters Playing Chess 34, 344-6, 33, 14.16-14.18
Pietro da Milano 344; Triumphal Arch, Castello (Anguissola) 512, 22.13 Ripanda, Jacopo 411; Triumph of Rome over Sicily
Aragonese, Naples 14.13, 14.15 Prato: Santa Maria delle Carceri 60 ABT ileal eli
piety and art 112 Presentation ofthe Virgin in the Temple (T. Gaddi) Riviera, Egidio della 544; tomb ofSixtus V
pilgrimages 380, $42 PM beh, @) 544, 24.18
Pinadello, Giovanni: Invicti quinarit ... 24.9 Primario, Gagliardo: Santa Chiara, Naples Rizzo, Antonio: Scala dei Giganti, Doge’s Palace,
Pinturicchio (Bernadino di Betto) 304, 307; 130-1, 6.12, 6.13; comb of Mary of Venice 330, 13.29; tomb of Doge Niccolo
Disputation of St. Catherine 307-8, 12.32 Hungary 131-2, 6.14 Tron 330, 13.28
Pippi, Niccolé 544; tomb of Sixtus V 544, 24.18 Primavera (Botticelli) 280, 11.43 Robbia, Luca della 31, 242; cantoria,
Pisa 44, 153, 156, 158 print media 35, 419-10 Cathedral, Florence 242-3, 10.55, 10.57;
altarpiece (Masaccio) 224-S, 10.33 Procession in St. Mark’s Square (Gentile Bellini) Resurrection 24
Bapustry pulpit 44, 43 139, 140, 327, 7.3 Robert of Anjou, King of Naples (“the Wise”)
Campanile (Leaning Tower) 96 Prudence (Giovanni d’Ambrogio) 173, 8.19 128-9, 130, 131, 132; tomb 131, 132, 6.15
Camposanto 44, 153; frescoes 153-6, 8.1, 8.2 Pulzone, Scipione: Lamentation 534, 545, 24.5 Roberti, Ercole de’: Hall of the Months, Palazzo
Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) 151, 289, 333-4, Punishment of Corah (Botticelli) 304-S, 12.29 Schifanoia, Ferrara 338, 339, 14.7
335, 354; Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ... Purification ofthe Virgin (A. Lorenzett1) Roman Master: Kiss ofJudas 69, 3.0
151-2, 7.21; fabric design 32, 28; 108-9, 5.13 Romanino, Girolamo 381, 382; frescoes,
frescoes, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua 352-4, Cathedral, Cremona 381-2, 15.29
14.29, 14.30; frescoes, Pellegrini Chapel, Q Rome 55, 56-66, 147, 286, 423, 466, 487, 488,
Verona 334-5, 14.3; Hanged Man and Quaratesi altarpiece (Gentile da Fabriano) 496, 517, 531, 537-8, 546, p. 58 (map), 2.1,
Two Portraits 336; medals 333, 334, 14.1, 223-4, 10.32 24.10 (map)
14.2; St. George and the Princess 334-S, Quercia, Jacopo della 121, 237; baptismal font, Acqua Felice 540-1, 24.0
14.3 Siena 236, 10.46; Fonte Gaia 32, 120-1, 5.28, Capitoline Hill 299, 496-8, 547, 12.19,
Pisano, Andrea see Andrea Pisano 5.29; portal, San Petronio, Bologna 237-8, 21.9, 21.10
Pisano, Giovanni see Giovanni Pisano 10.49, 10.50 Castel Sant’Angelo 56, 494, 21.6
Pisano, Nicola see Nicola Pisano columns 540, 24.13
Pius II, Pope 259-60, 292, 294, 29S, 296-7, 344 R The Gest: 509, 531-5, 24.1-24.3
Pius IV, Pope S05, 540 Raimondo, Marc’Antonio 419-20; I Modi 419, Hospital of Santo Spirito 300, 12.20
Pius V, Pope 517, 521, 541, 544 420, 17.38 Lateran Palace 287; Benediction Loggia 64,
Pizzolo, Niccold 354 Raising ofDrusiana (Filippino Lipi) 276, 11.36 2.10; Sancta Sanctorum 58-9, 2.3, 2.4
plague 146, 163, 481; Black Death 153, 158 The Raising ofLazarus (Sebastiano del Piombo) obelisks 539-40, 24.11, 24.12
Platina, Bartolomeo 300; Sixtus IV Confirming 421, 17.41 Palazzo dei Conservatori frescoes 411, 17.25
Platina as Papal Librarian (Melozzo) Rape of Europa (Titian) 470, 20.28 Palazzo della Cancelleria 303, 12.26
300, 12.0 The Rape of the Sabines (Giambologna) 529, 23.18 Palazzo Farnese 496, 21.8
poesta 452, 453 Raphael (Raffaello Santi) 385, 392, 393, 413, Palazzo Venezia 297-8, 12.16
Poggio a Caiano: Villa Medici 283, 429-31, 420, 421, 423, 424, 439, 462, 494; Agnolo St. John Lateran 57; frescoes 287, 12.1
11.45, 11.46, 18.5, 18.6 Doni 393, 394, 16.10; Baldassare Castiglione St. Paul’s Outside the Walls 57, 62, 63, 287
Poliphilus in a Wood (Manutius) 34 414-15, 17.29; Entombment 394, 395, St. Peter’s: New 397-8, 401, 498-9, 17.2, 17.5-
Poliziano, Angelo 274; Daybook 266 16.12; (drawing) 394-S, 16.13; The Fire in 17.7, 21.11, 21.12; (Dome) 544-5;
Pollaiuolo, Antonio del 387; Hercules 31, 26; the Borgo 415, 17.31, 17.32; La Fornarina Old 56, 57, 287, 288, 290, 292, 294-6,
Hercules and Anteus 261, 11.17; tomb of 415, 17.30; frescoes, Loggia of Psyche, Villa 397, 12.9; (altarpiece) 65, 66, 2.13; (doors)
Innocent VIII 306-7, 12.31 Farnesina, Rome 417-18, p. 384, 17.34, 288-9, 12.3, 12.4; (mosaic) 65, 66, 2.12
Pollaiuolo, Piero del: tomb of Innocent VIII 17.35; frescoes, Stanza d’Eliodoro, Vatican San Bernardo alle Terme 546, 24.19
306-7, 12.31 Palace, Rome 412-13, 17.26, 17.27; frescoes, San Pietro in Montorio: Tempietto 397-8,
Pontelli, Baccio [?] 301; Santa Maria del Popolo, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, 17.3, 17.4
Rome 300-1, 12.22, 12.23; Sistine Chapel, Rome 409-11, 17.20-17.24; Galatea 418-19, San Stefano Rotondo frescoes 535-7,
Rome 303, 12.27 17.36; Julius II 413, 17.28; Maddalena Strozzi 24.6-24.8
Pontormo, Jacopo 424, 425, 426, 429, 431, Doni 393-4, 16.9; Madonna ofthe Baldachin Sant’Agostino 302, 12.24
432-3; altarpiece, Capponi Chapel, Santa 394, 16.11; Marriage ofCupid and Psyche Santa Cecilia in Trastevere 62-4, 2.0,
Felicita, Florence 431-2, 18.7; Christ in Glory 417-18, 2.8,2.9
and the Creation of Eve (drawing) 521, 23.6; p- 384, 17.35; The Miraculous Draught of Santa Maria del Popolo 300-1, 413,
Entombment 18.0; frescoes, San Lorenzo, Fishes 416-17, 17.33; Transfiguration 421, 12.22, 12.23
Florence 521, 23.6; frescoes, Villa Medici, 17.40; Villa Madama, Rome 420, 17.39 Santa Maria in Trastevere: Chapel of Cardinal
Poggio a Caiano 429-31, 18.5, 18.6; Joseph Raverti, Matteo: Ca’ d’Oro, Venice 314, 13.4 Marco Sittico Altemps 502, 22.0; mosaics
in Egypt 428-9, 18.4; Vertumnus and Pomona Reclining Nude (“Venus” of Urbino) (Titian) 466, 62, 2:7
429-30, 18.6; Visdomini altarpiece 424, 20.20 Santa Maria Maggiore 59, 61-2, 287, 535,
425-6, 18.2 Rediscovery of the Relics of St. Mark (Paolo 539, 541; altarpiece (Masaccio and
Poor Clares 53, 130 Veneziano) 141, 143, 7.0 Masolino) 287-8, 12.2; Cappella Sistina
Pordenone (Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis) Reliquary Bust ofSan Gennaro (Godefroyd, $41-4, 24.16-24.18; mosaics 61-2, 2.6;
382; frescoes, Cathedral, Cremona Guillaume of Verdelay and Milet d’Auxerre) tabernacle 295, 12.11, 12.12; tomb of
382-3, 15.30 124-5, 6.3 Nicholas IV 541, 24.14
Porta, Giacomo della 498; dome, St. Peter’s, Reliquary Tabernacle ofthe Head of St. Andrew Santa Maria sopra Minerva: Carafa Chapel
Rome 545; the Gest, Rome 532, 24.2 (Paolo Romano and Isaia da Pisa) 294-S, SUS Leno
Porta, Giovanni Battista della: Acqua Felice, 12.9, 12.10 Sistine Chapel 303-6, 12.27, 12.28;
Rome 24.0 Renaissance (term) 43-5 frescoes 24, 37, 304-6, 401-7, 409, 17, 36,
Porta, Tommaso della: statue ofSt. Peter 24.13 restoration of artworks 15, 35-40 37, 12.29, 12.30, 17.0, 17.12-17.18; Last
Portinari, Folco: Santa Maria Nuova, Resurrection (Luca della Robbia) 24 Judgment (Michelangelo) 489-93, 503,
Florence 277 Ruario, Cardinal Pietro: tomb 302-3, 12.25 21.1-21.4; tapestries 415-17, 17.33
Portinari, Pigello 367 Riario, Cardinal Raffaello 300, 303 Strada Felice 539
Portinari Chapel see Milan: Sant’Eustorgio Rienzo, Cola di $5 Trajan’s Column 540, 24.13

574 INDEX
 Vatican and Vatican Palace 56, 57-8, 290, 292, St. Peter Healing with his Shadow (Masaccio and Sforza, Caterina de’ Nobili 546
307, 12.5, 17.2 (see also Sistine Chapel; St. Masolino) 228, 230, 10.38 Sforza, Francesco 199, 362, 363, 365, 367;
Peter’s); Belvedere Courtyard 396-7, 17.1; Salutati, Coluccio 172 monument (design by Leonardo)
frescoes 57-8, 290, 2.2, 12.6, 12.7; Stanza San Gimignano: Palazzo Publico 112, 114 374, 15.19
WEliodoro 412-13, 17.26, 17.27; Stanza Sancia of Majorca, Queen 128, 130, 131 Sforza, Fulvia Conti 545-6
dell’Incendio 415; Stanza della Segnatura Sangallo, Antonio, the Younger 278, 496, 532; Sforza, Galeazzo Maria 259-60, 362, 364
409-11, 17.20-17.24 Palazzo Farnese, Rome 496, 21.8; St. Peter’s, Sforza, Ludovico (“il Moro”) 362, 364, 367, 369,
Villa Farnesina 417-21, p- 384, 17.34-17.37 Rome 498, 17.6 371, 372, 374, 375; tomb 371, 15.14
Villa Giulia 499-500, 21.13, 21.14 Sangallo, Aristotele da [?]: copy of Battle ofCascina Sforza family 174, 333, 362, 364, 371
Villa Madama 420, 17.39 (Michelangelo) 391, 16.7 sfumato 272, 392, 393
Rosselli, Cosimo 304; Last Supper 12.30 Sangallo, Giuliano da: Palazzo Strozzi, Florence Siena $5, 99-100, 118, 119, 120, 147, p. 100
Rossellino, Bernardo 278; main square, Pienza 278-9, 11.40, 11.41; Sassetti Chapel, (map)
296, 12.13, 12.14; tomb of Leonardo Bruni Florence 11.33; Villa Medici, Poggio a Baptistry: baptismal font 235-7, 10.46-10.48;
244, 10.59 Caiano 283, 11.45, 11.46, 18.5 drawing 33, 29
Rossetti, Biagio: Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara Sano di Pietro: St. Bernardino Preaching in the Cathedral (Duomo) 99-103, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5,
339-40, 14.9 Campo 112, 5.17 5.6; altarpieces 106-10, 5.11-5.15 (see also
Rossi, Properzia de’ 41, 42-3; Joseph and Potiphar’s Sansovino, Andrea 388, 390 Duccio: Maesta); pulpit 101-2, 5.3, 5.4
Wife 42-3, 43 Sansovino, Jacopo 388, 466, 467, 476, 479; Fonte Gaia 32, 120-1, 5.28, 5.29
Rosso Fiorentino 423, 433; Dead Christ 423, Fabbriche Nuove, Venice 479, 20.37; Library, Palazzo Publico 99-100, 111, 112, 5.16,
17.42; Deposition 433, 18.8 Venice 467, 20.22; Loggetta, Venice 467-8, 5.19; altarpiece 104; frescoes 111-12, 114,
Rubens, Peter Paul 450; copy of Battle ofAnghiari 20.22; Palazzo Corner, Venice 468, 20.23, 116-20, 5.18, 5.19, 5.21-5.27
(Leonardo) 391, 16.6 20.24; St. James 388, 16.3; the Zecca, Venice Signorelli, Luca 306; Testament of Moses
Rucellai, Giovanni 258, 277-8 466-7, 20.21 306, 12.29
Rucellai Madonna (Duccio) 85-6, 104, 4.12 Santi di Tito 523; Vision of St. Thomas Aquinas Simone da Orsenigo: Cathedral, Milan 193, 9.23
Russt, Franco de’ 337; Bible of Borso d’Este $22-3, 23.9 Sistine Chapel, Rome see Rome
337-8, 14.6 Sanvitale, Gian Galeazzo, Count of Fontanellato Sixtus IV, Pope 268, 299, 300-1, 302, 303, 304;
445; portrait (Parmigianino) 445-6, 19.9 Sixtus IV Confirming Platina as Papal Librarian
S Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) 226, 255 (Melozzo) 300, 12.0; Sixtus IV with His
Sacred and Profane Love (Titian) 454-S, 20.5 Sassetti, Francesco 273, 274, 275, 283 Nephews...(anon.) 300, 12.21
Sacrifice ofIsaac (Brunelleschi) 204, 10.3 Sassetti Chapel, Florence see Florence: Santa Sixtus V, Pope 537-45, 24.9; tomb 541,
Sacrifice ofIsaac (Ghiberti) 204, 10.4 Trinita 544, 24.18
Sagrera, Guillermo 343; Sala dei Baroni, Castello Saulmon, Michelet 334 Sleeping Venus (Giorgione) 453, 20.3
Aragonese, Naples 343, 14.14 Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo 383; St. Matthew and Solari, Cristoforo 369; tomb of Beatrice d’Este
St. AnneAltarpiece (Bartolomeo) 389, 390, 16.5 the Angel 383, 15.31 and Ludovico Sforza, Milan 369, 371, 15.14
St. Bernardino Preaching in the Campo (Sano di. Savonarola, Girolamo 284, 285, 307, 380, 386 Solari, Guiniforte: cloister, Certosa, Pavia 15.3
Pietro) 112, 5.17 Savonarola, Michele 354-5 Sormani, Leonardo: Acqua Felice, Rome 24.0;
St. Francis in the Desert (Giovanni Bellini) Scamozzi, Vincenzo 485; Teatro Olimpico, statue ofSt. Peter $40, 24.13; tomb of
325-6, 13.22 Vicenza 485, 20.48 Nicholas IV 541, 24.14
St. Francis Kneeling Before the Crucifix ... (Assisi Scenes from the Life ofAlexander LI (Spinello Spavento, Giorgio: San Salvatore, Venice 460,
Master) 70-1, 3.4 Aretino) 119-20, 5.26 20.12
St. George (Donatello) 210-11, 10.16 Scenes from the Life of St. Benedict (Spinello Aretino) Spinello Aretino 119, 220; Scenes from the Life of
St. George and the Dragon (Donatello) 211-12, 170, 8.17 Alexander III 119-20, 5.26; Scenes from the
10.17 Scenes from the Life of St.Peter Martyr (Bonaiuti) Life of St. Benedict 170, 8.17
St. George and the Princess (Pisanello) 334-S, 159, 8.8 Squarcione, Francesco 21, 32, 354
p. 200, 14.3 Scenes from the Life of the Virgin (T. Gaddi) 90, stained-glass techniques 26-7
St. George Baptizing King Servius (Altichiero) 190, 94, 4.18 Stefaneschi, Cardinal Bertoldo 62
9.20 Schedel, Hartmann: Liber chronicarum 56, 2.1 Stefaneschi, Cardinal Jacopo 65
St. James (Sansovino) 388, 16.3 School of Athens (Raphael) 409-11, 17.21, 17.24 Stefaneschi altarpiece (Giotto) 65, 66, 2.13
St. James Being Led to His Execution (Mantegna) Scrovegni Chapel, Padua see Padua: Scrovegni still-life painting $14-16, 547
354, 14.31 Chapel Story of the Chatelaine of Vergi 173, 8.20
St. Jerome and the Trinity (Castagno) 23-4, 14, 15 Scrovegni family 72 Strozzi, Filippo 275, 279; tomb 276, 11.35
St. Jerome in his Study (Antonello da Messina) Sculptor’s Workshop (Nanni) 17, 28, 5 Strozzi, Maddalena: portrait (Raphael)
O25, Lak Scuola della Carita, Venice 317 393-4, 16.9
St. John (Donatello) 210, 10.13, 10.14 Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, Strozzi, Onofrio 223, 254
St. John the Evangelist (Giovanni del Biondo) Venice 327, 469 Strozzi, Palla 223, 228, 249, 254
168, 8.14 Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice 328, Strozzi altarpiece (Orcagna) 157-8, 159, 8.4
St. Lawrence and St. Stephen (Donatello) 253, 11.6 474, 13.25 Strozzi Chapels, Florence see Florence: Santa
St. Lawrence Distributing Alms (Fra Angelico) Scuola Grande di San Roccoy Venice 474-5, 20.33 Maria Novella; Santa Trinita
12.6, 12.7 Sebastiano del Piombo 456; altarpiece, San Strozzi family 223, 254, 27S, 276, 283
St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church ... Giovanni Crisostomo, Venice 456-7, 20.8;
T
(Fra Angelico) 12.6 Andrea Doria 447, 19.11; The Raising of
St. Louis of Toulouse (Donatello) 215, 269, 10.0 Lazarus 421, 17.41 Tacuinum Sanitatis (health handbook) 184, 185,
St. Lucy Altarpiece (Domenico Veneziano) Segni, Antonio 282 S291
227, 10.36 Self-Portrait (Bandinelli) 17, 6 Taddeo di Bartolo 118-19; The Funeral of
St. Luke (Nanni) 210, 10.11 Self-Portrait (Titian) 472, 20.29 the Virgin 119, 5.25; Justice with Cicero ...
St. Mark (Donatello) 212, 10.18 Self-Portrait in a Mirror (Parmigianino) 444, 19.7 120, 5.27
St. Mark (Lamberti) 210, 10.12 Sforza, Battista 347, 348; Battista Sforza and Talenti, Francesco: Cathedral, Florence 164
St. Matthew (Ghiberti) 213-14, 10.22, 10.23 Federico da Montefeltro (Piero della Francesca) tarot cards 199, 9.32
St. Matthew (Michelangelo) 388, 16.2 347, 14.20; Triumphs of Federico da Montefeltro Tarquinia Madonna (Filippo Lipp) 225-6, 10.34
St. Matthew and the Angel (Savoldo) 383, 15.31 and Battista Sforza (Piero della Francesca) Tavola Strozzi 122, 6.1
St. Paul (Paolo Romano) 294, 12.8 347-8, 14.21 tempera 25-6

INDEX 575
La Tempesta (Giorgione) 452-3, 20.1, 20.2 Vv monument (Bonino da Campione) 182,
Temptation ofAdam and Eve (Masolino) 10.37 Vaca, Flaminio: Acqua Felice, Rome 24.0 547, 9.9; San Zeno altarpiece (Mantegna)
Testament
of Moses (Signorelli) 306, 12.29 Vainglory ([2|Giotto) 177, 9.3 355-6, 14.32, 14.33; Sant’Anastasia:
Three Foolish Virgins Flanked by Moses and Adam Valeriani, Giuseppe $33; Crucifixion 533-4, 24.4 Pellegrini Chapel 334-6, 14.3, 14.5
(Parmigianino) 445, 19.8 Valturio, Roberto 345, 346 Veronese, Paolo 475, 503, 504; Allegory of Divine
Tibaldi, Pellegrino 508, 509; San Fedele, Milan Varallo: Sacra Monte 380, 15.27 Love 483-4, 20.44; Apotheosis of Venice 476,
508-9, 22.8 Vasari, Giorgio 44, 45, 53, 65, 201, 232, 267, 390, 20.36; Feast in the House of Levi 503, 504, 22.2
Tino da Camaino 131, 132; tomb of Carlo of 426, 471, 472, 521-2, 523, 529; Apotheosis of Verrocchio, Andrea del 269, 270; Baptism of Christ
Calabria 28, 20; tomb of Mary of Hungary Cosimo $29, 23.17; drawing books 32, 27; 270, 11.28; David 265; Equestrian Monument
131-2, 6.14 Incredulity of St. Thomas 522, 23.8; Lives of to Bartolomeo Colleoni 332, 13.31; Incredulity
Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) 473-4; frescoes, the Artists 41-3, 45, 282, 529, 547; Paul III of St. Thomas 269, 11.27; tomb of Piero and
Doge’s Palace, Venice 475, 476, 20.35; Directing the Construction of St. Peter’s 494, Giovanni de’Medici 269, 11.26
frescoes, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, 21.7; Santa Croce, Florence 521-2; Santa Vicenza: Teatro Olimpico 485, 20.47, 20.48; Villa
Venice 474-5; Miracle of St.Mark 474, Maria Novella, Florence 521, 522; Uffizi, La Rotonda 484-S, 20.45, 20.46
20.32; Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice Florence 527-8, 23.14; Villa Giulia, Rome Victory of the Siennese Troops at the Val di Chiana in
20.33, 20.34 499-500, 21.13 1363 (Lippo Vanni) 112, 5.21
Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) 385, 453, 457, 462, 464, Vasoldo (Giovanni Antonio Paracca) 544; tomb Vignola, Giacomo: The Gest, Rome 509, 532,
468, 470, 471, 472, 474, 510; altarpiece, of Sixtus V 544, 24.18 24.2; St. Peter’s, Rome 21.12; Villa Giulia,
Pesaro Chapel, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Vecchietta (Lorenzo di Pietro) 296; Assumption Rome 499-500, 21.13
Frari, Venice 458-9, 20.0; altarpiece, Santa of the Virgin 296, 297, 12.15; Eucharist violence and art 147
Maria dei Crociferi, Venice 459-60, 20.10, Tabernacle 21,10, 11 Virgin and Child images see Maesta
20.11; altarpiece, Santa Maria Gloriosa Vendramin, Gabriele 452 Virgin in Glory with St. Barbara and St. Lawrence
dei Frari, Venice 457-8, 20.9; Danaé 470, Vendramin family 469; portrait (Titian) (Moroni) 505-6, 22.4
500, 20.27; Eleonora Gonzaga 464-5, 20.19; 468-9, 20.25 Visconti, Azzone 176, 177, 178, 180; tomb
Equestrian Portrait of Emperor Charles V Venice 55, 136, 140-1, 147, 311, 320, 451, 466, W/S59°9
469, 20.26; Flaying ofMarsyas 472, 20.30; 476, 479, 546, 7.1, 7.2 Visconti, Bernabo 181, 183, 192; Equestrian
Francesco Maria della Rovere 464, 20.18; Male Arsenal 136, 320, 13.12 Monument (Bonino da Campione) 181-2,
Members of the Vendramin Family 468-9, Ca’ d’ Oro 313-14, 13.4, 13.5 547, 9.8
20.25; Meeting ofBacchus and Ariadne 37, Doge’s Palace 137, 146, 311, 7.3, 7.4; exterior Visconti, Bianca 199
463-4, 20.17; Prieta 472-3, 30.31; Pope Paul 146, 148-9, 151, 311-12, 7.14, 7.16, 7.17, Visconti, Federico, Archbishop 44
IL and His Grandsons ... 494-5, 21.0; Rape of 13.1; frescoes 150-2, 475-6, 7.18, 7.20, Visconti, Galeazzo 181
Europa 470, 20.28; Reclining Nude (“Venus” of 20.35; Porta della Carta 13.0; Scala dei Visconti, Galeazzo II 183
Urbino) 466, 20.20; Sacred and Profane Love Giganti 330, 13.29 Visconti, Giangaleazzo 118, 190-1, 192-3, 195,
454-5, 20.5; Self-Portrait 472, 20.29 Fabbriche Nuove 479, 20.37 241, 363; Eulogy (illuminated manuscript)
Tornabuoni, Giovanna de’: portrait Library 467, 20.22 196-7, 9.28, 9.29
(Ghirlandaio) 276, 277, 11.38 Loggetta 467-8, 20.22 Visconti Book of Hours (Grassi) 195, 9.26
Torrigiani, Bastiano 543; statue of St. Peter Palazzo Corner 468, 20.23, 20.24 Visconti family 120, 174, 176, 180-1, 183, 184,
540, 24.13 Palazzo Foscari 312-13, 13.3 TOASTS L979 O5 362-363
Torriti, Jacopo 65; Coronation ofthe Virgin Piazza San Marco 137, 138, 7.3 Visdomini altarpiece (Pontormo) 424,
61-2, 2.6 The Redentore 481-2, 20.41 425-6, 18.2 -
Traini, Francesco 154 Rialto Bridge 136, 479, 20.38 The Vision ofPrior Ottoban in Sant Antonio di
Transfiguration (Raphael) 421, 17.40 St. Mark’s 39, 138, 139-40, 145, 466, Castello (Carpaccio) 14, 2
Translation of the Relics of St.Mark (mosaic) 476, 479, 7.3-7.5; Baptistry 143-4, 7.7; Vision of St. Bernard (Filippino Lippi) 273, 11.32
139-40, 7.5 Capella Nova (Mascoli Chapel) 316, 319, Visitation and Dormition of
the Virgin
tratteggio 39, 38 13.6, 13.7; choir screen 144-S, 7.9, 7.10; (J. Bellini, Castagno and Giambono)
Tree of Life (T. Gaddi) 94, 4.21 Pala d’Oro (Veneziano) 141, 143, 7.6 S19 SIS
Trent: Castello del Buonconsiglio frescoes San Giobbe altarpiece (Giovanni Bellini) Vitruvian Man (Leonardo) 398, 17.8
197-8, 9.30; Council 488, 501-2, 503, SOS, 323-4, 325, 13.19 Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus 41, 398, 467
SZ O22 OZ OMOo
ll POSO O47 042, 22.0 San Giorgio Maggiore 480-1, 20.39, 20.40 Vivarim, Antonio 317, 354; Madonna and Child
Trial by Fire (Giotto) 88, 4.15 San Giovanni Crisostomo altarpiece with Saints 317, 13.8
The Tribute Money (Masaccio) 231-2, 233, 10.41 (Sebastiano del Piombo) 456-7, 20.8 Vivarini, Bartolomeo 322; altarpiece, Corner
Trinity (Masaccio) 24, 232-3, 234, 241, 16, 10.42 San Michele in Isola 320-1, 13.13-13.15 Chapel, Venice 322-3; St. Mark altarpiece,
Triumph of Death (Master of the Triumph of San Salvatore 460, 20.12, 20.13 Corner Chapel, Venice 13.18
Death) 153-5, 8.1 San Zaccaria 321-2, 13.16, 13.17; altarpiece
Triumph of Rome over Sicily (Ripanda) 411, 17.25 (Giovanni Bellini) 456, 20.7 WwW
Triumphs of Caesar (Mantegna) 361, 14.35 Santa Maria dei Crociferi altarpiece (Titian) wall painting 22-6
Trivulzio, Giangiacomo 377, 378 459-60, 20.10, 20.11 Walter of Brienne 390
Tron, Doge Niccolo: tomb 330, 13.28 Santa Maria dei Miracoli 60, 328-30, Way of Salvation (Bonaiuti) 161, 163, 8.6
Tron, Filippo 330 13.26, 13.27 Wedding Feast ofCupid and Psyche (Giulio
Tura, Cosmé 339; Hall of the Months, Palazzo Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari: altarpiece Romano) 439-40, 19.1
Schifanoia, Ferrara 338, 339, 14.7 (Titian) 457-8, 20.9: Corner Chapel women: as artists 41, 42, $12, 547 (see also
Two Mountain Ranges (drawing) (Leonardo) 377, altarpiece (B. Vivarini) 322-3, 13.18; Anguissola, Sofonisba; Fontana, Lavinia:
15-211 Pesaro Chapel altarpiece (Titian) 458-9, Rossi, Properzia de’); as patrons 16, 32, 94,
20.0; comb of Doge Tron 330, 13.28 126, 157, 187, 545-6, 547
U Santi Giovanni e Paolo 145-6, 7.11 woodcuts 35
Uberti family 82 Santo Stefano 147-8, 7.15 workshops, artists’ 17-18, 21, 22, 34, 4: painting
Uccello, Paolo 227, 240, 260, 261; The Battle scuole 317, 327-8, 469, 473-4, 13.25 studios 22-6; sculpture studios 17, 22,
of San Romano 261, 387, 11.16; Sir John The Zecca (Mint) 466-7, 20.21 27-31, 5,19
Hawkwood 23, 240-2, 13, 10.54 Venier, Doge Antonio 144-5
Urbino 333, 347, 464; Palazzo Ducale 348-51, Venus ofUrbino (Titian) 466, 20.20 ZL
14.22-14.25 Verona 182, 451: Cansignorio della Scala Zocchi, Giuseppe: Florence Cathedral 10.1

576 INDEX
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