The Pazzi Conspiracy: A Tour through Florence

Now, with a nod to Cheryl Tucker, whose concept for this walk was first published In Florence, Sights and Landmarks:

Let us begin at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi (see post of Sun, Jan 29, 2012), at the corner of Via Cavour and Via de' Gori. The conspirators had originally set their sights on this palace to carry out their attack on the two Medici brothers, but as Guiliano was not in attendance, the site was changed to the duomo, one long block away, down Via de Martelli:

We'll walk around the north side of the cathedral, taking note of the fact that Lorenzo hid in the North Sacristry until it was safe to get back to the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (see post of Feb 3, 2012 for more info on the duomo).  We'll proceed to the street facing the east side of the cathedral,  the Via del Proconsolo, and we'll turn south, going about a block to the corner where Borgo degli Albizi meets Via del Corso.  This is the Canto dei Pazzi (see post of Nov 25, 2012), where the Pazzi and their compatriots would have run from the melee that ensued after the murder of Guilano and the attempt on the life of Lorenzo.

Looking up we can see the Pazzi coat of arms (see post of Sep 28, 2012), and on the ground level we can take note of the entrance to the Palazzo Pazzi Quaratesi.  If we had been here Sep 21 & 22, 2012 and if we had purchased a 15 euro "wine card," as part of the Wine town 2012 festivities, we would have been able to enter (see <www.winetown.it> for details).  Since we missed that opportunity, we'll continue south along Proconsolo another long block or so until we see the Bargello.

Today the Bargello is the National Sculpture Museum, but in the time of the Medici it was a prison, and it was in this place that many of the low-level conspirators were hanged.  There will be more on the Bargello, one of my favorite museums, in a later post.   From here we cross the tiny Piazzi di San Firenze, turning right at Via di Gondi, which is also the most northeast corner of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Walking around to the front of the Palazzo, we see the windows at the top which served as a continuous gallows during those three days after the attempted coup.  The bodies of the major conspirators--Francisco de' Pazzi and the Archbishop of Pisa among them--were each left dangling by a noose above the crowd below (see post of Oct 20, 2012).  In all, about a hundred people were killed in three days.

I don't know about you, but one of the things that impresses me most about Florence is its permanence. Living in Southern California as I do most of the year, I have become accustomed to public, commercial, and private buildings being continuously torn down and replaced.  It gives me great reassurance to walk around Florence and see that the major landmarks are still there, as they were three, four, five hundred years ago.

Canto dei Pazzi

Another reminder of the Pazzi family that we can still see today is the Palazzo Pazzi Quaratesi, or the Pazzi Quarter (neighborhood).  Today, when we walk north up Via del Proconsolo and turn left at Borgo degli Albizi to go to the Duomo, we look up and see "Canto die Pazzi," which means the Pazzi corner.  There we find the main Palazzo Pazzi, which was rebuilt 1462-72 for Jacapo de' Pazzi.  When the Pazzi were executed or exhaled, this property was seized by Lorenzo.  We next hear of it when it becomes a wedding present . . .

Also in the neighborhood is the three-story Palazzo Pazzi-Ammannati, which today houses Florence's small museum of natural history and is also the site of temporary exhibitions.

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The Pazzi Chapel

Of course, the Pazzi should not only be remembered for their bad deeds, their participation in the Pazzi Conspiracy, but also for their good deeds.  The Pazzi Chapel, designed by Brunelleschi, who also designed and completed the dome over the cathedral, is located in the Santa Croce complex.  One passes through the chapel when leaving the church before going to the museum.  Construction was begun in 1442, in the iconic style of Brunelleschi, and is made of pietra serena and white plaster, and is unrelieved by color.

So, while the Medici and their friends were temporarily successful in stripping the Pazzi of their possessions, their properties, their florins (and therefore their dowries--there's another story), in the long run, the Pazzi name continues still today to be visible in Florence. 

Clarice and the Children after the Conspiracy

Above, we see a portion of a fresco by Ghirlandaio in the Sassetti Chapel of Santa Trinita, Florence.  Poliziano is seen here with his pupils, Lorenzo's sons and nephew.

In 1478 , after the Pazzi conspiracy, when the Pope was stirring up war against the Medici he hated, Lorenzo sent his wife and children to Pistoia, where they were the guests of the Panciaticchi, for safety.  With them went Angelo Poliziano as tutor to Piero the eldest boy, then about six years of age.  The stiff, proud Roman, Madonna Clarice, had never know how to gain her husband’s love, and did not get on well with his brilliant, sarcastic, rather Bohemian friends.  She particularly disliked Poliziano’s growing influence over Piero, and at the end of the year there was an open rupture, when she dismissed him with scant courtesy.  One pities them both.  Clarice, already far gone in consumption, was irritable and anxious about her husband, whose attitude towars the Holy See she, with her education, could not approve;  while Poliziano, used to the brilliant talk in the Medici palace, where he measured his wit with Luigi Pulci, Matteo Franco, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, etc., and Lorenzo himself, was bored to death and always longing to be back in Florence.

from Lives of the early Medici as told in their correspondence, as a point of information, most likely by Janet Ross, who translated and edited the letters, which were published in 1910.

Bianca de' Medici Pazzi

The painting, Botticelli's Madonna of the Magnificat, today in the Uffizi, is said to portray the family of Piero de' Medici, de facto lord of Florence from 1464.  His wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni as Mary, Lorenzo as the young man with the ink-pot, flanked by his brother Guilano de' Medici who is holding a book.  Behind the two boys is Maria, while the two older sisters are holding the crown in the background, Bianca on the left and Nannina on the right.   The newborn would be the daughter of Lorenzo, Lucrezia de' Medici.  One would think that the one dressed in white would be the one called "Bianca," which translates "white," and while I don't know if there is any truth to the story that it is the Medici family portrayed hereit makes a pretty story. 

More on Bianca:  Because she had married Guglielmo Pazzi in 1458, he was allowed exile as his punishment for being a member of the family creating the conspiracy.  Bianca and Guglielmo had a large family, at least 14 children who lived to adulthood.  In a letter Bianca wrote to her mother Lucrezia in 1479, after the conspiracy, she is again pregnant.

Revenge

The plan had effectively misfired, but the plotters were relying on the support of the people.  Archbishop Salviati and Jacopo Pazzi with a group of their companions immediately leapt to their horses and rode to the Piazza della Signoria shouting "Freedom!"  In the meantime a meeting of the Signoria had been urgently summoned by the gonfonieri Petrucci, who had been informed of what had happened.  Salviati requested in vain to be received with the intention of obtaining the support of the public authority:  instead he was cast into prison and later hanged.  Just a few hours after the conspiracy, his body and that of Francesco Pazzi, who had been wounded himself in the attack, dangled from the nooses outside the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria.

Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli, another of the conspirators, initially managed to escape as far as Constantinople, but he was recognized and handed over to the Florentine authorities who condemned him to be hanged.  There is a sketch on a sheet by Leonardo da Vinci, which shows him dangling from a noose from one of the windows of the Palazzo del Bargello (see above).

All the members of the Pazzi family were either killed or exiled and their goods confiscated.  In addition they were also condemned to a sort of damnatio memoriae; the coats of arms of the family were demolished and erased from the florins of their bank, while their names were banished from all official documents in the city.

For more information go to:   http://www.palazzo-medici.it/mediateca/en/schede.php?id_scheda=160   

And the Plot Thickens . . .

Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino, shown above as he appears in his portrait in the Uffizi, is now known to be the major orchestrator of the Pazzi Conspiracy.  Long thought to be a friend of Lorenzo de' Medici, Montefeltro was in fact conspiring with the Pope to unseat the Medici and put the more malleable Pazzi in their place.

More than five hundred years after the attack in the Duomo on the Medici brothers, a Renaissance scholar, Marcello Simonetta found concrete evidence of Montefeltro's prominent role in the plot.  Working in a private archive in Italy, he stumbled on a coded letter written by Frederico to Pope Sixtus IV.  Using a codebook written by his own ancestor to crack its secrets, Simonetta unearthed proof of an all-out power grab by the Pope for control of Florence.

Marcello Simonetta's book, The Montelfeltro Conspiracy, was published in 2008, and is a fascinating read on the complex politics of Renaissance Italy.  On the Random House web-site, there is a You-tube  entry with great photos:  http://www.randomhouse.com/quizzes/index.cgi?Montefeltro.

Pope Sixtus IV, one of the conspirators . . .

 . . . in the Pazzi conspiracy, whose posthumous portrait by Titian appears above, is better known for building the Sistine Chapel.  This pope, who was born in Liguria in modest circumstances as Francisco della Rovere, was an ambitious man who used nepotism to the advantage of his family.  Six of the many cardinals he created were his nephews.  Pope Sixtus IV wanted to expand the Papal States to the north by purchasing the lordship of Imola, a stronghold on the border between the Papal States and Tuscany.

     Fearing the Pope's ambitious expansion, Lorenzo refused to provide the financing, at which point the Pazzi, a rival banking family in Florence, stepped in.  As a reward, Sixtus IV granted the Pazzi a monopoly at the alum mines at Tolfa--alum being an essential mordant in dyeing in the textile trade that was central to the Florentine economy -- and he assigned to the Pazzi bank lucrative rights to manage Papal revenues.

     I think this portrait might be at the Pitti Palace Museum in Florence, but I have not been able to verify that.

     

The Pazzi Conspiracy

"It's one of the most dramatic stories in 15th century Florence.  In 1478, the Pazzi, a well-established Florentine banking family, with support from Pope Sixtus IV, the King of Naples, and the Archbishop of Pisa, and others, hatched a plot so daring as to almost appear ridiculous:  to kill Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici in order to take control of Florence.  On Sunday, April 26, during High Mass in the Duomo, assassins, armed with knives, attacked the two brothers.  Francesco de' Pazzzi and Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli stabbed Giuliano nineteen times, killing him.  Two armed priests went for Lorenzo, but Lorenzo fled with only a wound and locked himself in the north sacristy."  (from Florence Sights and Landmarks, by Cheryl Tucker.

The Pazzi coat of arms is pictured above.  I haven't been able to find any information about the significance of what appears to be two dolphins.  I'll be looking for clues in Medieval History, as the Pazzi (means "crazy men"?) were an old family who allegedly participated in the First Crusade.

This Handsome Young Man . . .

 . . . is Giuliano de Medici, brother to Lorenzo.  This portrait, by Botticelli, hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and was most likely done posthumously, as Giuliano was murdered in the Duomo in Florence, on Sunday, April 26, 1478 in the Pazzi Conspiracy (more later on that).

     At the time of his death, Giuliano was no longer enamored of Simonetta Vespucci, as she herself had died exactly two years earlier, on April 26, 1476.  Giuliano had taken as his lover Fioretta Gorini, the daughter of a tradesman.  Fortunately for the Medici family, Giuliano had taken some of his friends into his confidence, and after his death, it was revealed to Lorenzo that Giuliano had had a love affair which was to result in the birth of a boy on May 26, 1478.   Lorenzo reportedly sought out Fioretta, and "without much difficulty, persuaded her to let him have the rearing of the child."  (per David Loth, in Lorenzo the Magnificent)

     The child was named Giulio, and was raised along side the other children of Lorenzo and Clarice.  Giulio was later to become Pope Clement VII.
   

Is this Simonetta Vespucci?

This detail is one of the "three graces" in Botticelli's "Primavera," which hangs in the Uffizi in Florence.  But who is she?  And is she the same model, or inspiration, for the central figure in Botticelli's "Birth of Venus,"  which also hangs in the Uffizi?

For centuries, people have speculated on this matter.  A pretty story is that she is Simonetta Cattaneo de Candia Vespucci (1453-1476), a young noblewoman, perhaps from Liguria, who married a distant cousin of Amerigo Vespucci when she was 15 or 16.  She met Marco, her husband-to-be, in Genoa, but they were married at the Medici Palazzo in Florence because of Marco's connections to the Medici family.

Soon all of Florence was in love with Simonetta.  She was feted at a Joust held in Piazza Santa Croce in 1475, where Lorenzo's brother, Giuliano, carried a banner painted by Botticelli on which was created a likeness of her.

Unfortunately, she died the very next year.  Her image continued to be recreated by Botticelli for many years to come.  And he asked to be buried at her feet in the Church of Ognissanti when he died some 34 years later.

More on the Medici Villas

Here, in a drawing by an unknown artist, is the Medici Villa in Fiesole, the hilltown above Firenze.  This hilltop dwelling, commissioned by Giovanni, Cosimo il Vecchio's second son, with its view over the city, is the very first example of a Renaissance villa: that is to say it follows the Albertian criteria for rendering a country dwelling a "villa suburbana".  Once believed to have been designed by the architect Michelozzo, current attribution is given to Alberti.

Unlike the other Medici in the countryside, which are the centers of agricultural operations, this villa has around it only a very beautiful garden.  Visitors to the garden are allowed, in groups, with advance reservations by fax:  (+39) 055 2398994.   

This villa, and 13 other Medici villas, has been nominated for inclusion in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  More information, and a way to sign the petition is here:

http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/intoscana2/export/TurismoRTen/sito-TurismoRTen/Contenuti/Elementi-interesse/Siti-storici/visualizza_asset.html_334468815.html

Clarice, lonely for Lorenzo, writes . . .

From Clarice de' Medici to her husband Lorenzo at Florence (from Lives of the early Medici as told in their letters):

"By the bearer we send you seventeen partridges which your falconers took to-day.  I should have been glad had you come to enjoy them with us;  we have expected you until the third hour (an hour before sunset) for the last three evenings.  I was astonished you did not come and fear something extra-orrdinary must have happened to keep you.  I beg that if it is so you will let me know, for surely it is in any case better  we should be together than one in France and the other in Lombardy.  I expect you at all events to-morrow and pray if it is possible that we should not await you in vain.  The children are well and so are all of the rest of the family.  I commend myself to you, and beg you to come and to bring Madonna Lucrezia."  Cafaggiuolo, August 20, 1476

Married Life for Clarice and Lorenzo

From "Lives of the early Medici, as told in their correspondence:"

On March 15, 1472 Lorenzo di Piero di Medici began his memoirs, in which he wrote:

"I, Lorenzo, took to  wife, Clarice, daughter of Lord Jacopo Orsini, or rather she was give (i.e. betrothed) to me in December 1468, and the marriage was celebrated in our house on June 4, 1469.  Till now I have by her two children, a girl called Lucrezia, of  . . . years, and a boy names Piero, of . . . months.  Clarice is again with child.  God preserve her to us for many years and guard us from all evil.  Twin boys were born prematurely at five or six months, they lived long enough to be baptized."

Clarice spent the majority of her married life at the Villa Careggio, pictured above, a building still in use today.

What Clarice Wore at her Wedding . . .

Of course, the young woman in the portrait is not Clarice, but it is likely the fabric shown on the sleeve of Pollaiolo's "Portrait of a Lady" (c. 1475, currently in the Uffizi) was similar to the fabric used for Clarice's gown.

From a letter written by Piero di Marco Parenti  to (most likely) Filippo di Mateo Strozzi , published in Lives of the early Medici as told in their correspondence:

“On Tuesday the bride left (a tournament was held first), and returned to the house of the Alessandri in the same dress in which she came to be married.  This was a robe of white and gold brocade and a magnificent hood on her head, as is used here.  She rode the same horse and was accompanied b the same youths, whose rich dresses of silver brocade embroidered with large pearls and jewels baffle description.  From what they tell of courts of great princes nothing was ever seen like it save certain jewels of great value worn by some great Lords.  Of the women I say nothing!  Such jackets and robes of silk, all of them embroidered with pearls."

The Costa Concordia

I saw the shipwrecked Costa Concordia on a recent visit to the island of Giglio, off the coast of southwest Tuscany.  An American company has been awarded the contract for the demolition, which is set to begin soon.  Most likely the Heils, the American couple who perished here, were distant relatives of our family, as the Heil name was common only in one small village near Darmstadt, Germany.  What a tragedy, and an avoidable tragedy at that.

What Clarice would have seen . . .

in the Medici Palazzo courtyard was this stunning sculpture of Donatello's David.  This David (circa 1440s) is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant.  Today it stands in the Bargello, the National Sculpture Museum, and having recently undergone a restoration, stands in all its gleaming glory.  I wonder what Clarice thought when she first encountered this David?

More about Florins and the Wealth of the Medici

According to Hibbert's The House of Medici:  It's Rise and Fall, Lorenzo came across an account book covering the thirty-eight years 1434 to 1471 (so spending by Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo himself), a total of 663,755 florins were spent on "buildings, charities, and taxes."  In the middle of the quattrocento the Palazzo Medici was said to be worth about 5000 florins.  The Medici contributed significantly to rebuilding their neighborhood church, San Lorenzo, shown in my own photo above.  Other buildings included the Duomo, San Marco, and the Ospedale degli Innocenti.  The Archbishop of Florence was a good friend of Cosimo's, and so it was said, they talked often of usury and how that "besetting sin of a banker life might be expiated."   Fortunately for us, most of the buildings the Medici built or restored are still in use today.  But one has to wonder if that's the amount they spent on building, charities and taxes,"  what was the profit of the Medici bank and their investments over that time?

But there was another woman . . .

Like every year at carneval time, in 1469 the Guelph Party organized the traditional joust in Piazza Santa Croce, appropriately decorated and enclosed. The participants in the event were young nobles from the leading Florentine families, as well as famous condottieri and foreign knights.  The joust of 7 February 1469 is documented by contemporary sources that describe it in detail, in particular, La giostra by Luigi Pulci and the anonymous Ricordo, transcribed by Pietro Fanfani.

In the “mostra” or parade that preceded the equestrian contest, the mounted participants with their respective corteges made up of damsels, grooms and trumpeters, flaunted apparel, harness, standards, arms and other objects of the most superb quality and precious workmanship.

The star of the joust was the young Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici who dedicated his victory to Lucrezia Donati, to whom the female figure portrayed on his standard may allude.  (from the archives at the Medici-Riccardi Palazzo).


Quite the bachelor party!  And just to put that dowry in perspective, the accoutrements of Lorenzo and his ‘brigade’ or retinue, were valued at 10,000 florins!

And this dedication to Lucrezia Donati is not the last we hear of her . . .

More on the florin . . .

The Italian florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard.  The "fiorino d'oro" of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century. As many Florentine banks were international supercompanies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions.

The design of the original Florentine florin was the distinctive Florentine lily, the badge of the city on the front side (see post of Mar 5) and on the other a standing facing figure of St. John the Baptist wearing a hair shirt.  St John was the patron saint of the city, taking the place of Mars, the Roman god of war and the previous protector of the city.  Nowadays the Patron Saint is celebrated with the feasting and fireworks that are set off at Piazzale Michelangelo on the evening of June 24th.

The Dowry of Clarice Orsini . . .

. . . was 6000 florins.  When we ask how much money that is in today's world, we could either calculate using the value of gold (one florin had 54 grains of nominally pure ('fine') gold (3.5g, 0.1125 troy ounce-- check my math, but I think one florin is around $200 US), perhaps $1,200,000.  Not a paltry sum, but let's consider what florins would buy at the time Clarice married Lorenzo:

Using an income calculation and consulting Frick in her book (now available on Kindle), Dressing Renaissance Florence, a family of four could live at a basic level on 56 to 70 florins a year, and Brunelleschi as foreman for the Duomo, made 100 florins a year. A famous university professor and a successful lawyer each made 200-500 florins a year.  So let us add three 000's to that 6000 florins, and now we see that the Orsini contribution was perhaps closer to six million dollars.

Going forward, we'll be looking at what six million dollars would buy in Renaissance Florence.  A 15 acre vineyard was valued at 120 florins; a middle class artisan could rent housing in the Olt'arno for 10 florins a year.  A wedding feast cost 67 lire (about 10 florins), and included 52 brace of capons, 530 loaves of white bread, 140 eggs and half a barrel of red wine. 

Of course, barter and trade, as well as an extensive system of credit and lending, favors and obligations,  further complicate the issue of comparing the lives of Renaissance women to that of our own.

The Wedding of Clarice and Lorenzo

 
"The wedding was celebrated in the Church of San Lorenzo. The bride brought with her a small Book of Hours with gold writing on ultramarine pages and bound in crystal and silver, given to her by Gentile Becchi.
No expense was spared in the celebrations. For the five banquets that continued over three days, 150 calves and 4,000 capons had been procured, and many kegs of wine from Italy and abroad. Over the festivities 17 tons of sweetmeats and sugared almonds were consumed. The magnificent tables were set up in the garden and courtyard of the palazzo. The banquets were attended, among others, by fifty young ladies seated at the table of Clarice, set beneath the loggia in the garden; the older ladies instead sat with Lucrezia in the upper balcony. The young ladies and gentlemen enlivened the feasts with dancing. Copper goblets holding wines of various kinds were placed in the garden around the pedestal of Donatello’s David, set in the centre." (from the web-site for the Medici Palace:  http://www.palazzo-medici.it).

While the above portrait is widely held to be that of Clarice, from the looks of it, it seems to be a plate done in the 19th century.  I have not been able to find the source.  The collar looks more finely constructed than was common in the Quattrocento.

A Wife for Lorenzo . . .

Clarice Orsini, on the left, with possibly Lorenzo himself (look at that nose!) dressed as a woman,* in the fresco cycle "John the Baptist," at Santa Maria Novella. In an effort to strengthen Medici ties to the Papal States, Lucrezia, Lorenzo's mother went to Rome to find a wife for her son.  In a letter to her husband, Piero, Lucrezia wrote:

"As I said she is of good height and has a nice complexion, her manners are gentle, though not so winning as those of our girls, but she is very modest and would soon learn our customs.  She has not fair hair, because here there are no fair women; her hair is reddish and abundant, her face rather round, but it does not displease me.  Her throat is fairly elegant, but it seems a little meager, or to speak better, slight.  Her bosom I could not see, as here the women are entirely covered up, but it appeared to me of good proportions.  She dies not carry her head proudly like our girls, but pokes it a little forward; I think she was shy, indeed I see no fault in her save shyness.  Her hands are long and delicate.  In short I think the girl is much above the common, though she cannot compare with Maria, Lucrezia, and Bianca.  Lorenzo has seen her and thou canst find out whether she pleases him.  Whatever thou and he determine will be well done, and I shall be content.  Let us leave the issue to God."

P. 108 and 109 of “Lives of the early Medici as told in their correspondence," on openlibrary.org.  As translated by Janet Ross in 1910. 

 *correction!!!  Behind this richly dressed young woman is a portait of an older woman, plainly dressed, which has been identified as /p. 72: the patron's sister, Lucrezia Tornabuoni. According to fifteenth century manuals on behaviour and manners, clothing had to be appropriate not only to social rank and income, but also to age. Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who belonged by marriage to the most powerful Florentine family, the Medici, plays here only a supporting role, with her simple gown almost hidden by a cloak and a white cloth which covers her head (from Paola Tinagli, Women in Italian Renaissance Art: Gender, Representation, Identity (Manchester, 1997).

Fra Angelico's Annunciation

Not far from the Medici Palace is the Convent of San Marco where Fra Angelico's beautiful frescoes adorn the hallways and individual monks' cells.  The Dominican Order appealed to Cosimo the Elder in 1437 when the church and convent needed renovation.  Cosimo entrusted the work to Michelozzo, the same architect who had designed the Medici Palace.   The decoration of the walls was carried out between 1439 and 1444 by Giovanne of Fiesole, whom we know today as Fra Angelico.  He had several assistants, including the young Benozzo Gozzoli, who would later do the Medici Chapel.  Today the convent is a museum, open to the public.  More information, including a wonderful catalog of the frescoes:  http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_san_marco.html

Lorenzo il Magnifico, si' o no?

 

This image has been taken from a fresco called "Procession of the Magi" in the family chapel of the Medici-Riccardi Palace.   In 1459 Piero de' Medici commissioned Benozzo Gozzoli  to decorate three walls of this chapel.   The fresco cycle contains many figures, including Piero himself, as well as Lorenzo's grandparents, Cosimo and Piccarda.  From the web-site www.museumsinflorence.com, we learn the following:  "The sumptuous and varied costumes with their princely finishings make this pictorial series one of the most fascinating testimonies of art and costume of all time."  While the portrait above is widely held to be an idealized version of Lorenzo, when he grew to manhood he had very dark hair and a rather misshapen nose.   The frescoes were restored recently (1987-1992) and  now the richness of the original colors and the complex composition can be truly appreciated.

The Annunciation . . .

. . . was a common theme, especially in the art of the early Quattrocento.  Here we see Ghiberti's effort, part of the North Doors of the Baptistry.  Ghiberti won the contest in which he was pitted against Brunelleschi, among others, for the privilege of creating these doors, of which there are 28 quatrefoil designs.  He worked on these gilded bronze reliefs from 1404 until 1424.  Ghiberti's later doors, on the east side of the Baptistry, were called "the Gates of Paradise" by Michaelangelo.  I have to wonder if baby Lorenzo was carried in through one of these set of doors for his baptism, which would have occurred, according to custom, very soon after his birth.

A gift from Piero to Lucrezia . . .

. . . on the occasion in 1449 of the birth of their first-born, Lorenzo (later known as Lorenzo the Magnificent), was this birth tray (desco da parto).  The scene is of 28 men on horseback pledging allegiance to Fame, a beautiful winged woman holding a sword and a statuette of Cupid as she stands on a globe atop an enormous pedestal.  The work was done in tempera, gold and silver on wood; the artist was Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guido, known as Lo Scheggia, brother to the more famous painter Massacio.  The rear of the tray shows the Medici and Tournabuoni arms and devices.  This tray is the best executed and preserved of perhaps 28 known trays from the Renaissance period.  It was included in the list of possessions in Lorenzo's bedroom upon his death in 1492.  Today it hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Lucrezia was an educated woman . . .

. . . a rarity in her time.  The Cohens, in their book "Daily Life in Renaissance Italy," estimate that only one in three males and one in eight females were literate.  She would have had at her disposal the manuscript collection of her father-in-law, Cosimo the Elder, which at the time of his death numbered 150 books and was housed at the Palazzo Medici on Via Larga.  Today, that collection has grown to over 120,000 volumes and is located at the Laurentian Library, which is next to the San Lorenzo basilica.  San Lorenzo was the Medici family church which is one block from the palazzo.  Above is a photo of the inside of the library, which wasn't actually built until the 16th century. 

Mary Magdalene, another sculpture by Donatello . . .

. . . would have been familiar to Lucrezia, as it stood in the Baptistry next to the Duomo.  According to custom, in Tuscany a cathedral complex consisted of three buildings:  the campanile (bell tower), the baptistry and the church itself.  One could not go into the church until one was first baptized.  This sculpture of the penitent Mary, which Donatello most likely worked on in the period 1445-55, was a potent reminder that inner beauty prevails even when outer beauty fails.  Unlike most sculpture of the time, which was done in bronze or marble, this piece was carved of poplar wood.  It was badly damaged in the Flood of 1966, but after restoration stands in the Opera del Duomo, a separate museum housing many works related to the cathedral complex.

What Lucrezia saw in her garden . . .

. . . and what might have inspired one of her literary creations, is this sculpture by Donatello, "Judith and Holofernes."  Currently this sculpture is in the Hall of Lilies in the Palazzo Vecchio, and a copy has been placed outside, in the Piazza della Signoria, but when first commissioned by the Medici family, this sculpture along with Donatello's more famous "David" graced the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici (see post of Jan 29).

One of the stanzas of Lucrezia's poem about this biblical story from the Book of Judith reads:  

 Once she had said her prayer

Judith rose, her heart resolved,

and in one hand she grasped a sword she had found

leaning against a column or the wall,

and so well did the young woman brandish it

it would have been fitting for a strong and sturdy man;

she struck him twice, with force,

and his head rolled away from his shoulders.

Lucrezia Tornabuoni . . .

. . . married Piero  de' Medici, Cosimo and Contessina's oldest son, in 1444 when she was 19. Over the next ten years she had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood, including Lorenzo ("the Magnificent").  In 1464 when Cosimo died, the reins of Medici power fell to Piero, who was known as "Piero the Gouty."  His illness meant that much of the Medici business, including Florentine politics, was conducted at the newly built Medici Palace (see post of Jan 29, 2012).  From infionline.net, we learn:  "Scholars and artists came as well: like his father, Piero supported vernacular literature and the work of local artists. As a result of all this activity at her home, Tornabuoni began to play a role closer to that of the duchesses of the princely Italian states than to that of the wife of a republican merchant-banker. Favor-seekers asked for her intercession with Piero; vernacular poets read her their work and exchanged sonnets with her. It may have been at this period that she began to take her own writing seriously."

Brunelleschi's Dome . . .

. . . was being constructed during the early years of the marriage of Cosimo and Contessina.  Although the duomo had been conceptualized in 1299, the huge cupola remained incomplete until Brunelleschi conceived of a method for its construction.  Cosimo and the other city fathers were involved in the decision to award the project to Brunelleschi, who was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.  Work on the dome continued throughout the 1420's and was essentially complete when Pope Eugenius IV dedicated the cathedral in 1436.  The photo above was one I took in 2006 when I was fortunate enough to live on the top floor of a 19th century palazzo directly east of the duomo.

Villa Medici at Careggi

Cosimo actually died here, at Villa Medici at Careggi, which is located in the hills outside Florence.  Patrician families maintained their villas in the countryside for several purposes.  Perhaps the most important function was to keep the family supplied with olive oil, wine, fresh fruit and vegetables, poultry and game.   Hunting was a sport that also produced meat for the table.  Medici children and their caretakers (wet-nurses, servants, tutors) were often raised primarily at the country villas, as the country air was believed to be more healthful.  Most likely Contessina was tasked with directing the daily flow of goods and services between the palazzo in the city of Florence and the country villas.

The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi . . .

. . . was commissioned in 1444 by Cosimo the Elder, Contessina's husband, and completed in 1460.  Above is my photo of the ground floor Courtyard.  This was the first truly Renaissance palazzo, and today it is used for city offices and special exhibitions.  When Contessina and Cosimo moved in, which they did in 1454 even though the third story was not yet finished, they had already been married nearly 40 years and had two adult sons, Piero and Giovanni.

Cosimo died in 1464, and was awarded by the Signoria, the governing body, the title of "Pater Patriae," or Father of the Country.  While he lived, Cosimo governed from behind the scenes.  Aeneas Sylvius, Bishop of Siena and later Pope Pius II, said: "Political questions are settled in [Cosimo's] house. The man he chooses holds office...He it is who decides peace and war...He is king in all but name." Quoted by C. Hibbert in The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, 1974.

The Bardi Chapel, Santa Croce

The Bardi Chapel, with frescoes by Giotto, has recently been restored, and is well worth a visit.  This chapel is to the right of the main altar, and was commissioned by the Bardi family early in the trecento (1300's).  Giotto is considered the "father of Renaissance painting," and we note here the characteristic individuation of features.  Unlike his contemporaries, who were still doing full frontal faces, Giotto did profiles and three-quarter views.  This chapel was commissioned by the Bardi family several decades before they lost their fortune due to bad loans.

Another Medici Wife, Contessina de' Bardi

Contessina de' Bardi (c. 1390-1473) married into the Medici family with very little in the way of a dowry, but with very good connections. Up until a few decades before Cosimo (the Elder) married Contessina, her family had been the wealthiest family in Florence and were the leading bankers of Europe.  But the Bardi went bankrupt when King Edward III of England defaulted on their loan to him, around 1345.  Marriages were arranged between families and were viewed as opportunities to build connections, improve social standing, and increase wealth.  The Medici were "nouveau riche," so to speak, and needed to marry into one of the old noble families in order to have influence and power on the political stage.

Piccarda Bueri de' Medici . . .

. . . was the wife of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici and the mother of Cosimo the Elder.  She lived from 1368 until 1433 and is entombed next to her husband in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo.  Piccarda was the daughter of an old noble Tuscan family, and Giovanni made the first large banking fortune for the Medici family when he backed one of the successful candidates for the papacy.  Giovanni had received little in the way of an inheritance when his father died, but he may have gotten a significant cash infusion early in life with the dowry of his wife.  Dowries were an important part of Renaissance life, and accounted for the large number of women entering convents, as it cost the family less to fund the dowry for a Bride of Christ.

Disaster off the coast of Tuscany

On Friday the 13th (!) a cruise ship struck a reef off the coast of Isola del Giglio, causing a
Titanic-like disaster.  While I have never been to Giglio, I have spent many a meal time looking at it from the terrace on the west coast of Argentario, the peninsula off the coast of Tuscany.  Here's a photo of Giglio; the cruise ship would have been traveling just about where the sun is going down.  For more information:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910

Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici

Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici was the last of the House of Medici.  She was born in the Pitti Palace in 1667 and died there in 1743 at the age of 75.  In perhaps the most fortuitous ruling ever made for the welfare of the city, Anna Maria Luisa gave all the great wealth of her family to the city of Florence, provided that none ever leave the city.  Had it not been for this provision of her will , no doubt many of the treasures we are privileged to view today would be scattered throughout the world.

The Borgias, by Jean Plaidy

 Originally published in the 1950's, Jean Plaidy's two novels about Lucrezia Borgia were re-packaged as one novel and re-issued in 2011.  Jean Plaidy was one of the first writers to present Lucrezia not as a conniving, sex-crazed wielder of poisons, but rather a pawn in the power-grab of Renaissance Rome.  Here's the intro:

The most beautiful woman in Rome, Lucrezia Borgia, was born into a family—and a destiny—she could not hope to escape . . .
Fifteenth-century Rome: The Borgia family is on the rise. Lucrezia’s father, Pope Alexander VI, places his illegitimate daughter and her only brothers, Cesare, Giovanni, and Goffredo, in the jeweled splendor—and scandal—of his court. From the Pope’s affairs with adolescent girls to Cesare’s dangerous jealousy of anyone who inspires Lucrezia’s affections to the ominous birth of a child conceived in secret, no Borgia can elude infamy.

Young Lucrezia gradually accepts her fate as she comes to terms with the delicate nature of her relationships with her father and brothers. The unbreakable bond she shares with them both exhilarates and terrifies her as her innocence begins to fade. Soon she will understand that her family’s love pales next to their quest for power and that she herself is the greatest tool in their political arsenal.

More on Lucrezia . . .

An excellent, and very readable resource on the life of Lucrezia Borgia. is the book of that name by Sarah Bradford.  When I read an historical novel I look for those with named resources, dense with facts, but woven together in a readable style.  No need to enhance the plot with the Borgias, so I am puzzled as to why the Showtime series is embellishing Lucrezia's role in the negotiations with Charles VIII of France.

First of all, Renaissance women of the rank of Lucrezia and Guilia Farnese (the Pope's mistress) wouldn't have been a party of two traveling between the Adriatic coast and Rome.  They would have been accompanied by their servants and various other household members.  Historical records do show that Guilia Farnese, along with 20 or 30 others, was indeed taken hostage by Charles VIII, and that the Pope paid 3000 ducats to the French king to have Guilia returned to him.  Then several months elapsed before Charles and the French army went on to Naples.

In spite of various criticisms I have of the Showtime series, I plan to continue to watch, for the spectacle it is.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the costumes alone are worth the viewing.  Note the sumptuous fabrics, the empire waistline (practical in an era when pregnancy was a continuous state), and the tie-on sleeves through which the undergarment, the camicia (chemise, fr. or shift, eng), is pulled and then puffed.

Lucrezia Borgia . . .

. . . the Pope's daughter, is played by actress Holliday Grainger (pictured here) on the Showtime series, "The Borgias."  I've just seen the first season on Netflix and find it worthwhile for the spectacle, if nothing else.  If one is not familiar with these Renaissance names, such as the Orsinis, the Colonnas, and the della Roveres, it might be difficult to follow the plot.  I also have some reservations about the historical accuracy of some of the plot developments.  But the costumes are wonderful!