The Cappella Rucellai, also known as Santo Sepolcro, was quickly executed and concluded in 1467, as is attested to by the date inscribed in Latin above the entrance door, and is a scale copy of the building in Jerusalem (said to be Christ’s original tomb) which circulated in numerous drawings in the Renaissance. It was the modest tomb chapel of the patron, Giovanni Ruccellai, who was pretty much the second richest man in Florence at the time.

The idea to have a chapel in this shape occurred to other rich men too, like to Georg Emerich who, after having become knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in 1465 (thanks to a pilgrimage there), had a scale copy of the building made in Görlitz (Germany, eastern border). Other copies in Germany and Poland followed. (See this book, page 120) Differences between the Northern and Italian reconstructions of the tomb in Jerusalem are chalked up to the idea that Alberti’s version is an ideal reconstruction.

The marble decorations are attributed to Giovanni di Bertino, and consist of finely sculpted gigli up top, thin fluted pilasters, and numerous geometric and floreal intarsiated insertions in the building’s square units. There are, in fact, 30 squares and each holds a symbol that is related either to the patron and members of the Medici family (to whom he wished to suck up), or to astrology. For a detailed analysis of the musical symbolism in this work see the study by Angela Pintore here.

The interior consists of a single altar and painting (I was unable to find out who the painting is by).

Visiting this chapel was very important in the 15th century – in 1471, a papal bull accorded an indulgence (5 years!) to anyone who visited it over Easter.

The visit to the museum and chapel will be FREE on the weekend of February 16&17. Concurrently there is the launch of an app that uses QR codes to explore Marino Marini’s life and works, that also includes an Alberti itinerary through the city. The museum has activated free wifi to allow visitors to use the app.

For other works by Alberti for the Rucellai family, see Palazzo Rucellai or visit the facade of Santa Maria Novella, which features the puffed sail, the patron’s symbol.

For offline reading, see a list of Books by Leon Battista Alberti on Amazon.com

Visitor information

Entry via Museo Marino Marini
Piazza San Pancrazio, Firenze
Opening hours: 10:00 – 17:00, Closed tuesdays, sundays and holidays
Ticket cost: Museum + Cappella Rucellai: €4
www.museomarinomarini.it

25 people will be permitted to enter every 30 minutes.

Photo source: Press photos, credit Dario Lasagni – not for reproduction

Stumped for a gift giving idea? Look no further than the Medici Archives, conveniently digitalized for us by the Medici Archive Project. This year I was thinking of some Tuscan delicacies in a gift basket, preferably a very large one in order to contain live game animals, a barrel of olives, a Peruvian pig and the rib of a saint. To follow are some of the best gifts given to and from the Medici family, with my suggestions for a modern equivalent. Some of them might fit under your tree.

1) Trout

Francesco I has a predilection for trout, but he didn’t inherit it from his father. At first read, 1575 sounds like it must have been a lean year in Barga, for Baldovini Baldovino sends trout to Florence excusing himself by saying “Here in Barga I have nothing else with which to honour your Highness so I’m sending a few trouts.” However trout appears to be a favourite in this branch of the Medici family and Baldovini must have known it; in 1581 someone else sends trout to Francesco I and in 1587 the Gonzaga’s of Mantua send him more trout. In fact, 48 records reported by the Medici Archive project cite trout; in one case the ducal family went fishing for it in the Seravezza area, but most of the time they’re speaking directly of edibles. In one unfortunate case, the live trout being sent to Cafaggiolo met death en route. All this makes one wonder how the Medici were preparing the fish, although in one instance (1566) we read that the trout were expressly intended for a fountain.

However, the earlier generation of Medici’s did not care for it at all. A very polite thank you note from Cosimo I de’ Medici in November 1549 acknowledges Ferrante Gonzaga’s effort in sending trout pies (by refrigerated courrier?) but says that his wife can’t eat it “because she is on a diet due to a certain disposition, so please don’t go to the trouble of sending any more because she can’t eat them and it is not my nature to be crazy for fish.” As in “thanks but no thanks.” A lesson in tact, eh?

Modern equivalent: Smoked salmon in a wooden gift box. A standard from my family in Canada to my Italian in laws, who love it served with cream on fettuccine. Buy salmon gift box on amazon.

2) Religious gifts

In our modern culture, a scented candle is a standard gift that stocks all Americans’ re-gifting closet (Italians, it seems, do not re-gift, though I have evidence below). In Early Modern Europe, candles were less likely to be scented; it was the thought that counted more. In 1610 someone mailed the Grand Duchess a blessed candle, which surely was worth a lot more than just the wax with which it was made.

A religious gift is always a good gift. In 1611 on December 9, right about ready to put under the tree, the Archbishop of Siena Camillo Borghese sends a small piece of the rib of Santa Caterina da Siena to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Maria Maddalena d’Austria, noting that it was not easy to get. Religious poems and books are also frequently objects of exchange, usually by some obsequeious writer who wishes to garner favour.

Modern equivalent: This Tuscany-inspired scented candle with modern lines and faux leather box. It ain’t saintly, but it’s a nice décor item.

3) Exotic animals

A far cry from gifting a kitten, in the Renaissance, parrots, exotic animals in general, turkish horses and hunting dogs make recurring good gifts. In one case the Turkish horses are procured intentionally for regifting, making it clear that there is nothing wrong with regifting if you are a duke. In the documents we read of grey partriges (though no pear trees), a Tunisian cow, gazelles, falcons, an eagle or two, an ostrich and the fossilized horn of a unicorn (no live unicorns though).

A turkish horse, of course. Source? http://dariocaballeros.blogspot.com

Sometimes these animals were more pain than they were worth. In 1572, Antonio Scaramuccia of Torino thanks Francesco de’ Medici for the lynx received as a gift, saying that the animal is quite nice with people it knows, but with others it is quite vicious, as the bearer of this letter might attest. Other letters note the non-arrival of horses sent via the Poste Italiane. I seem to remember once reading about a giraffe that died at sea but can’t dig up the archival evidence at the moment.

Modern equivalent: I don’t believe in giving live animals as gifts, so suggest virtual or stuffed ones. I recommend the virtual stuffed Webkinz hedgehog or one of the endangered species series pictured below, useful to teach kids who think they want a puppy the real value of a pet that cannot get hit by a car.

4) Game Meat and condiments

Wild boar

Antonio Maria Del Monte, abbot of Anghiari, gives Cosimo I a present of two goats and four jack rabbits for the famed 1565 wedding of Francesco I. He has to apologize for not managing to catch this game in a net since the Duke had requested them live: “Dolghomi di non havere possuto haver gratia (sì come desideravo) di farli dare nelle rete per mandarli vivi.” Speaking of game meat, some ducks met their fate in 1572 and were sent with citrus fruit which probably made an excellent condiment. Ditto the large barrel of olives, excellent for aperitivo parties, that Cosimo I sent in 1540 to Giovanni dell’Antella. But what party would be complete without cheese, fruit, salami and wine? Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo, who lived in Massa Carrara, seems to have been true to his last name, as many of his letters mention sending gifts of food to Cosimo I, including cheese, fruit, salami and Trebbiano wine, as well as an eagle (presumably for hunting) and some marble samples from Carrara.

Modern equivalent: Well, it’s against EU regulations to ship cinghiale and other meats, but the Pratese gourmet food distributor Borgo de’ Medici has some meat-free Tuscan delicacies in their gift baskets which can be purchased by email through their facebook-exclusive christmas gift tab; shipping is by UPS.

5) Imported products

Francesco I de’ Medici’s love for the New World has been object of recent scholarly study; he loved receiving gifts of unique items from abroad as much as your average American today adores gifts from Florence. Some of the objects sent are decidedly bizarre – in fact, they’re noted as such in the documents, such as the 1584 shipment from Seville of “dua uccelli bizarrj, un porchetto salvatico del Perù” – two bizarre birds and a wild Peruvian pig.

The Montiero's Hornbill is a bizarre bird. Source: http://www.zestforbirds.co.za/longbill02.html

Modern equivalent: The term “exotic” depends on where you are! If you’re looking for great gifts from Florence and Tuscany, I’ve written about this for The Florentine newspaper!

It’s not over yet

Don’t forget to say thank you after Christmas! Make like Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici who in 1627 cordially thanks Caterina de’ Medici for a Christmas gift in longhand; now sms and facebook messages are also acceptable. Feel free to type the following Medici text into your cell phone:

“Troppo cortese è meco V.A. mentre ogni anno vuol mandare a regalarmi nel tempo del Natale. La ringrazio però infinitamente di quanto ella mi ha inviato.”

Finally, remember that in Italy, Christmas doesn’t end with December 25, as stockings need to be filled on January 6. “Liberalissima è stata con noi la Befana havendoci così bele cose portate” says the Duchess of Mantua Caterina de’ Medici-Gonzaga who found in her Epiphany stocking a pietra serena table from the Florentine court. If heavy marble tables are not your thing, in my family tradition puts a scratch and win lottery ticket and some chocolates in the stocking.

With best wishes for the holiday season from my family to yours,
Alexandra

Italy Blogging Roundtable

This post is part of a monthly blogging project in which five of us write about a chosen theme. While we usually reveal the theme only on the day we post our articles, December is an exception as we’ve asked other bloggers to participate by writing an “Italian gifts” themed article. Each one of us has picked a few of our favourite contributions and are sharing links to them.

From the regulars at the Blogging Roundtable

• Jessica: 8 of My Favorite Italy Gifts
• Melanie and the gift of Italian culture
• Rebecca writes of the blogging gift (which she certainly has)
• And Gloria has a dang good excuse for not posting her blog on time – she was busy bringing new life into the world. Congratulations to Gloria and Marcel!!

From our holiday season guests – we said we’d pick our favourite five, so with thanks to ALL who contributed, here are just some of them:

• Keith from Velvet Escape talks about Tuscany’s gifts to the world – all the good things that make up my chosen region.
• Letizia aka Madonna del Piatto reminds us that gifts can be non-commercial; in her case it’s the satisfaction of a product well made (organic olive oil) and the appreciation that garners – see her gifts.
• A very nice post on “Cross Polinate” shows firsthand research to find gifts that are 100% made in Florence, by artisans.
• Ashley comes up with some very clever art history geek gifts for Italian Futurists
• Roberta K muses about when we GET our christmas gifts and what to bring to Italian hosts.

This autumn the BIF is launching a range of short courses of 4 or 5 days on specific themes. As with all our art history course offerings, these are open to all ages and backgrounds, from the interested traveller to the seasoned art buff, local resident, or gap-year student.

First up in September (5th-9th) we have Experiencing the Renaissance Workshop. Through a mix of site visits, lectures and, above all, studio-based hands-on sessions, you can get to grips with the nitty-gritty of an apprentice’s training, learning the main drawing techniques (silver-point, pen and ink, chalk), as well as egg tempera painting with gold leafing, and fresco painting. The great thing is that no previous artistic training is necessary, and actual talent is an optional ! Dr Alan Pascuzzi, art historian and professional artist, has you copy for each technique a Renaissance image, and you get to take your masterpiece home with you. One of the sessions looks at the history of forgeries from antiquity to the Renaissance, and the hands-on class has you putting into practice forgery techniques in drawing and painting. The BIF, naturally, declines any responsibility for what you might do with these skills !

The Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi has gained a reputation for some stunning exhibitions in recent years. The must-see show this autumn – Money and Beauty – Bankers, Botticelli, and the Bonfire of the Vanities – examines the birth of the modern banking system and the relationship between art, power and money in Renaissance Florence. We have created a 4-day course, over a long weekend, which connects with the main themes of this cross-disciplinary exhibition which is already creating such a buzz that we will be running the course twice. Exploring Money and Beauty (29th September-2nd October, and 28th- 31st October ) through tours and lectures will concentrate on the great Florentine banking families and their tastes, collecting and cultural sponsorship. The visit to the exhibition will include an informal talk by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi Director General, James Bradburne.

For almost 100 years The British Institute of Florence (affectionately known as “the BIF”) is noted above all for its stunning library of some 50,000 volumes housed in the Palazzo Lanfredini overlooking the Arno, its archive of 19th and 20th century Anglo-Italian resident literati, its eclectic cultural programme of lectures and concerts open to all comers on Wednesday evenings, and for its language centre for the teaching of Italian and English. It is perhaps less well-known for its art history department, although this was recently given some airing because it was here that the Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. Kate Middleton) attended the classic trio of art history courses spanning the Middle Ages to the High Renaissance. The professors are of high caliber and the BIF provides adults with an opportunity to go “back to school”.

Prices: Experiencing the Renaissance Workshop: € 470,00; Exploring Money and Beauty: € 425,00
For further information on these courses, and if you wish to enrol please contact alspollen@britishinstitute.it
For more information on our art history offerings and language courses please see www.britishinstitute.it

The talk by John Hoenig is titled “Disegni Magnifici: The Uffizi’s Collection of Drawings by Bernardo Buontalenti; it’s at 6pm on Thursday April 28, 2011 at at Florence University of the Arts Sala Michelangelo, Via Magliabechi 1 (Florence).

Here’s the abstract:

The Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi contains almost two hundred unframed sheets in the hand of Buontalenti. All are working drawings commissioned by the Medici family with whom Buontalenti spent his entire career. Although the majority of the drawings are generally scaled technical and decorative designs for both architectural and ephemeral projects – and many contain marginalia that reveal much of the artist’s thought process and working practice – there are some intriguing works which are clearly intended for presentation and worthy of further inspection.

Collecting & Display was founded in 2004 as a global forum for the discussion of all areas connected with the history of collections and their display. From 2005 the independent and interdisciplinary working group has been running regular seminars in London and for the last two years in Florence and has organised international conferences in several European cities.

John Hoenig has had an extensive career as a director and lighting designer in theatre and special events. Since moving to Florence to become an independent scholar, he has been undertaking research at the Uffizi and the V&A into Buontalenti’s theatrical and architectural designs. In the past year, John has presented papers in Florence and London on Buontalenti, Bronzino and the work of his father, Laszlo Hoenig, a Hungarian architect and designer. He continues to produce ephemeral events.

This course situates the role of women in Renaissance and Baroque Italian art: as persons depicted, as patrons, and as producers. Topics covered are (1) the moral, social, and religious models for women as they were constructed both implicitly and explicitly through visual art and literature. (2) female patronage – the limits to which women were subjected in this field of public expression. (3) biographies of and works by female artists. The bibliography below this reflects these three branches of the field.

Women and art bibliography

Primary Sources:

Alberti, Leon Battista, I tre libri della famiglia/ The Family in Renaissance Florence (written 1434-7), ed. Trans. Renée Watkins (University of South Carolina Press, 1969).

Cereta, Laura, Collected letters of a Renaissance Feminist, Ed. Trans. Diana Robin (University of Chicago Press, 1997).

Firenzuola, Agnolo, On the Beauty of Women (written 1541), ed. Trans. Konrad Eisenbichler (Univerity of Pensylvania Press, 1992).

Strozzi, Alessandra. Selected Letters, ed. Trans. Heather Gregory (University of California Press, 1997).

Various topics

Bernstein, Joanne, “The Female Model and the Renaissance Nude: Durer, Giorgione, and Raphael,” in Artibus et Historiae Vol. 13, No. 26, (1992), pp. 49-63.

Cohen, Elizabeth S., “Courtesans and Whores: Words and Behavior in Roman Streets,” in Women’s Studies 19 (1991): 201-8.

Emison, Patricia, “Truth and Bizzarria in and Engraving of Lo Stregozzo,” Art Bulletin 81:4 (Dec. 1999), pp. 623-636.

Ferino-Pagden, Sylvia, “Pictures of Women, Pictures of Love” in Bellini Giorgione Titian and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting (exhibition catalogue, 2006), pp. 190-235.

Joan-Kelly Gadol, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” in Becoming Visible (1987).

King, Catherine E. Renaissance Women Patrons: Wives and Widows in Italy 1300-1550 (Manchester University Press, 1998).

Matthews-Grieco, Sara and Geraldine Johnson, Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy (Cambridge UP, 1997).

Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie, The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy (Yale University Press, 1999).

Neave, Dorinda, “The Witch in Early 16^th-century German Art,” Woman’s Art Journal 9:1 (1988), pp. 3-9.

Radke, Gary. “Nuns and Their Art: The Case of San Zaccaria in Renaissance Venice,” in Ren Quart 54:2 (Summer 2001), pp. 430-59.

Randolph, Adrian, “Performing the bridal body in 15^th-century Florence” in Art History 21 (1998), 182-200.

San Juan, Rose Marie, “The Court Lady’s Dilemma: Isabella d’Este and Art Collecting in the Renaissance” in Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, (1991), pp. 67-78.

Simons, Patricia, “Women in Frames: The gaze, the eye, the profile in Renaissance portraiture,” in History Workshop 25 (Spring 1988), pp. 4-30.

Stefaniak, R. “Correggio’s Camera di S. Paolo: An Archaeology of the Gaze,” Art History 16(1993): 203-238.

Tinagli, Paola. Women in Italian Renaissance Art. Gender Representation Identity (Manchester University Press, 1997).

Trexler, Richard, The Women of Renaissance Florence (Power and Dependence, Vol. II) (SUNY Binghamton, 1993; reprint of earlier articles).

Joyce de Vries, “Caterina Sforza’s Portrait Medals: Power, Gender, and Representation in the Italian Renaissance Court,” in Woman’s Art Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring – Summer, 2003), pp. 23-28.

Women artists

Bal, Mieke (ed.), The Artemisia  files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and other thinking people (University of Chicago Press, 2005).

Bohn, Babette, “The antique heroines of Elisabetta Sirani” in Renaissance Studies 16: 1 (2002), pp. 52-79.

“   “Female Self-Portraiture Renaissance Studies 18:2 (2004), pp. 239-286.

Cohen, Elizabeth S. “The Trials of Artemisia Gentileschi: A Rape as History,” in Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 47-75.

Garrard, Mary D. “Here’s Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist,” Ren Quart XLVII: 3 (1994): 556f.

“   Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton UP, 1989).

“   Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The shaping and reshaping of an artistic identity (University of California Press, 2001).

Gaze, Delia (ed.), Dictionary of Women Artists 2v. (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997).

Jacobs, Fredrika H., “Woman’s capacity to create: The unusual case of Sofonisba Anguissola,” in Ren Quart XLVII: 1 (1994): 74f.

Lincoln, Evelyn, “Making a Good Impression: Diana Mantovana’s Printmaking Career”, in Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Winter, 1997), pp. 1101-1147.

Markey, Lia, “The Female Printmaker and the Culture of the Reproductive Print Workshop” in Rebecca Zorach (ed.), Paper Museums: The Reproductive Print in Europe (Chicago, Smart Museum, 2005).

Murphy, Caroline P., “Lavinia Fontana and Le Dame della Città: understanding female artistic patronage in late sixteenth-century Bologna”, in Renaissance Studies 10:2 (1996): 190f.

“   “Lavinia Fontana and female life cycle experience in late sixteenth-century Bologna”, in Sara Matthews-Grieco and Geraldine Johnson (eds.), Picturing Women.

“   Lavinia Fontana. A painter and her patrons (Yale University Press, 2003).

Nelson, Jonathan (ed.), Suor Plautilla Nelli (1523-1588): The First Woman Painter of Florence – Symposium, May 27, 1998 (Edizioni Cadmo, 2000).t]

“   Plautilla Nelli (1524-1588): The Painter-Prioress of Renaissance Florence (Syracuse University Florence Press, 2008). [I own this book, you can borrow it]

Robin, Diana, Anne Larsen, and Carole Levin (eds.), Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance (Oxford, ABC Clio, 2007).

Strinati, Claudia and Jordana Pomeroy (eds.), Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque (Skira Editore, 2007).

Students from a local high school that has a fashion program will stun you with their ability to minutely recreate historical fashion from the 13th century to the present. This love of past artisanship and study of history is an important step towards creating a future in fashion; these students look forward to a bright one. Set up in the suggestive new gallery that links two important streets in downtown Florence, this free exhibit will allow you to step momentarily into the romantic past of bell skirts, detachable sleeves, and corsets.

If you thought high school students couldn’t sew, or didn’t make gorgeous mature-looking models, think again. These dresses are absolutely stunning.

Two exemplary works of relatively early Renaissance sculpture are set up for a classic art history comparison in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence: the Cantorie by Donatello and Luca della Robbia.

In the late 1420′s the Operai del Duomo di Firenze decided upon a program that, likely from its inception, included two “organ pulpits” over the two sacristy doors at the apsidal end of the Duomo . Although they have nothing to do with singing galleries, the modern term for these works are “Cantorie” and they are examples of sculptural-architectural works by Donatello and Luca della Robbia from the 1430s. The two works are set up in the same room at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence, permitting close analysis and comparison.

The commission of an organ decoration (“perghamo degli orghani“) from Luca della Robbia probably dates to 1431, but work commenced in 1432 and lasted until 1438. Donatello was in Rome in 1432-3; when he returned he was given the commission for a second “pergamo” which, in the contract itself, was put into comparison with the work by Luca in that the cost of Donatello’s work was not to exceed that of Luca’s. The two works are almost the same size (to within a few inches) and both depict dancing children inspired by Antique sources. Luca della Robbia’s shows the importance of real children in Renaissance Florence, while Donatello’s shows the influence of the Antique motif of putti (pudgy nude children) on this period.

Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria illustrates Psalm 150, “Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius…” To alleviate any doubts that this is the case, the entire passage is expressely carved in three friezes on the work (although these friezes are not in the present museum display, see below). There are eight groups of idealized music-making adolescents and children of both genders disposed on two levels and separated vertically by double fluted pilasters, as well as two thinner side panels. Luca’s antiquizing tendancies have long been noted, and various models in Muse and child sarcophaghi as well as in Greek coins have been proposed for elements in this work. However, it has also been demonstrated that these children are modeled on the real youths of the city who belonged to the laudesi youth confraternities that were gaining popularity at the time . We know this because the older children on the top panels wear contemporary costume – for example, see the very chastely draped young women playing authentic fifteenth-century citharas in the third panel of the top register or the short tunics worn by any of the male trumpeters. Luca made careful notes of Antique precedents but also made observations from nature, resulting in a harmonious combination of which Alberti was the prime exponent. Although often used as a foil for the “greater renaissance work” of Donatello, Luca’s reliefs are breathtakingly realistic, delicate and powerfully observed.

Like Luca’s, Donatello’s Cantoria is composed on two levels. The upper level consists of a continuous frieze of putti similar to those in Prato in that the figures are winged and wear shifts, but the Florence composition has greater internal force due to the multidirectional movement of the higher relief figures across a larger plane. Their movement is not limited by pilasters as in the Prato Pulpit and in Luca’s Cantoria, but rather they pass behind independent, round columns covered in mosaic. The lower level is divided into four squares by heavily sculpted consoles. Here there are two bronze portrait roundels (one of which may be Antique) and two plaques with pairs of unwinged naked putti flanking a central, antiquizing object. Every surface of the work is encrusted with a variety of antique and medieval motifs including vases, seashells, rosettes, egg and dart, and acanthus, although these are nineteenth-century reconstructions based on fragments and hence not to be taken too much into consideration. Unlike Luca della Robbia’s work, which we have seen illustrates Psalm 150, the subject of Dontello’s Cantoria is obscure to us, although numerous proposals have been made in the last century of scholarship, none of which is entirely satisfactory.

Near-contemporary sources tell us that when the works were installed, high over the apsidal sacristy doors, they were rather hard to see. Vasari says that Donatello took this into mind and left his sculptures roughly finished so that the eye would adjust to them better in position, and that as a result his work was better than Luca della Robbia’s. While this has been repeated for about 400 years, it is completely untrue. Donatello was working under a tighter deadline than Luca, and also had another similar project going on in Prato. So he cut corners and didn’t highly finish the work, perhaps taking into account the fact that nobody would notice it as the work was so high up. But this was certainly not an aesthetic decision on Donatello’s part. While Vasari and the generation that follow valued the “non-finito” of sculpture, this aesthetic derives from an appreciation of Michelangelo’s unfinished works, and cannot be extended backwards one century to Donatello.

Both Cantorie were dismounted from their original position in the Duomo in 1688 on the occasion of a Medici wedding. Some parts were probably reused for other works. Luca’s was reconstructed in 1883 but dismounted again for the recent restoration, and the museum has decided to only put up the relief panels in the present display (the photo above was taken before the cantoria was dismantled). I don’t know where they put the two remaining friezes of text! The reconstruction of Donatello’s work dates to around the second world war and cannot be considered entirely reliable.

Bibliography about Donatello

*Janson, Horst W. The Sculpture of Donatello (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957). [This is the book from which I pieced together most of the above story, and I could not live without this on my bookshelf. It's out of print but worth every penny: Janson, Sculpture of Donatello]
Marquand, Allen. Luca Della Robbia (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1914).
Mode, Robert L. “Adolescent confratelli and the cantoria of Luca della Robbia,” Art Bulletin LXVIII/1 (Mar., 1986), pp. 67-71.
Pope-Hennessy, John. Luca della Robbia (Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1980).
Pope-Hennessy, John. Donatello Sculptor (NY: Abbeville Press, 1993). [Donatello: Sculptor amazon link]
Rosenauer, Arthur. Donatello (Milan: Electa, 1993).

Located in the center of Florence, this is a rare FREE museum, and* if you use this guide to learn what you’re looking at, it’s very interesting to both adults and children. You can explore it freely and get a sense of what life was like during the Renaissance. This is one of my favourite places to bring visitors to Florence, especially kids.

Open weekdays, 8.15 – 13.30, 2 euros. Via porta Rossa. *Right, no longer free.
Updated Jan 2010 with new photos and text.

EARLY HISTORY

The palazzo was commissioned in the mid 14th century by the Davizi family, who were members of the Arte della Calimala (wool guild). The Davizi had to sell in 1516 due to financial difficulty, and the building changed hands twice before being owned by the Davanzati family (that give the building its name), who had it until 1838; at which point it was converted into apartments and fell into a state of disrepair.

A cassone in metal and velvet

Purchased in 1904 by the antique dealer Elia Volpi, It was restored and opened in 1910 as a museum. The collection of this museum was always in flux, since Volpi also used it partially as an antique showroom and the objects were for sale! In his restoration, the frescoes were enthusiastically in-filled, and the furnishings reflected the scholarship of the day on how the early Renaissance palazzo must have looked. This initiative must be taken into consideration in light of the late 19th century revival of the Florentine Trecento, fathered by Americans like Bernard Berenson (the art historian) and Herbert Horne (the collector; his place is also a museum).

A complicated history characterizes the war periods, with lots of changing of hands. In the 50′s the palazzo reopened as a state museum, but the money for restoration was not enough to keep it standing. It was closed in 1995 because the building was falling down. It is now being opened again after 10 years of restoration.
The restoration has been major. The whole building had to be secured; floors were taken up and relaid, walls consolidated and frescoes repainted. The architectural framework is now safe and the work that is left to be done is on the walls and then the refurnishing of the museum. It’s an interesting place to visit already, and will be even more so when completed. Hopefully the scholars on board will take into account the vast scholarship now available on domestic architecture and furnishings, which has blossomed in the past 40 years, when choosing how to set up the new museum. New literature on the Palazzo Davanzati would also be a big step, since there are only a few books on it and they are not highly informative.

Palazzo Davanzati facade

EXTERIOR

The facade was added to a grouping of medieval tower houses that were purchased with the intent of unifying them. The topmost level is an open loggia that was added in the 16th century.

INTERIOR: Ground Floor

The palazzo is in some ways typical of trecento family architecture in that it is rather well reinforced. The ground floor, now accessed by large doors set in arches, was before an open space (loggia) for commercial use. These kinds of spaces were typical of Florentine palaces of the 14th century, and can be related to the city’s strong merchant population. The loggia was used for storage or business, while the family lived upstairs, in this case with two levels of living quarters and the top level dedicated to cooking and servants.

The entrance loggia is now used as an exhibition space. Usually on display is the prized birth tray by Lo Scheggia, the younger brother of Masaccio [2010: this is now exhibited in the upstairs bedroom]. A birth tray is an object commissioned either to celebrate or to encourage a birth in the family. The front of Lo Scheggia’s tray shows the “gioco della civetta“, a game that youths played apparently in a piazza. Although this game continued into the 19th century i have been unable to figure out exactly what was involved, other than that three participants are required, and that the one in the middle has to place his feet on top of those of his companions… !! The back of the tray shows two little boys, or “putti”, also playing. They are trying to grab each others’ private parts.

Through the loggia you reach an open courtyard and a stone stairway reaching to the first floor. Notice that, beyond the first floor, the upper part of the stairway is built in wood, not stone. This might be done so that, in case of riot, the family could hole up upstairs and knock down the stairway so that nobody could get at them. This remains part of tower-home mentality. On the other hand, the concept of a courtyard as a communicative space for the whole building is rather new. It indicates a certain amount of spatial planning. Also, the courtyard was a private space for the family. The use of a courtyard as both a practical and a familial space was theorized in the 15th century, and the courtyard became a standart part of palace architecture.

UPSTAIRS

Great room on first floor, view to right

On the first floor above ground, the “piano nobile” in Italian, the front room was for business affairs. In correspondence with the three openings of the loggia below are three holes in the ground that can be revealed by opening up trap doors. These permitted the owner to check who was coming in, and in case of undesireables, drop heavy things on their heads. A storage nook in the wall behind one of these holes now contains a stone ball and I imagine this space was used to store defense objects like that. The room has a few pieces of furniture and paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries now on display, suggestive of what it might have looked like before. On the central wall of this room, adjacent to the courtyard, take note of the well, which permitted residents to draw water throughout the whole house.

The room of the Parrots

The Sala dei Pappagalli (room of the parrots). A room adjacent to this one is set up like a dining room, and has a large fireplace. The much-restored frescoes on the wall (at this point more rightly called wall paintings than true frescoes) have a pattern of diamonds and parrots after which the room is named.

A very small room in between this one and the next was a bathroom, with a potty hole. Florentines reinvented indoor personal hygeine, which was known to the Ancients but lost in the middle ages.

Next to this bathroom was the study, or studiolo. Its wall paintings are now lost, but it is suggestively set up with objects that one might find in the man of the house’s room used for storage of business and recreational items. On display are a forziere (safe or strongbox), a cassone covered with velvet (more rightly found in a bedroom), some chairs, some small bronze statuettes, and some paintings with mythological scenes.

Accessed from the hallways is a bedroom set up with an antique bed and crib, as well as with other objects that would be found in the Renaissance home, like devotional paintings and a cassone. There is an “ensuite bathroom” with wash basin and other apparatus (though no hole connected to the central drainage system here).

Sections of the upper floors of the buliding are still under restoration, but each has the same layout as the first floor, and was used for family living.

The third floor hosted the kitchens, since this was most convenient for dispelling the heat of cooking, as well as in case of fire. There is an interesting display of practical objects from everyday life, like spinning tools and cooking pots. Servants’ quarters were also up here. As of Summer 2009, the kitchens are open for guided visits (free with entry) every hour on the hour. You must phone to reserve a slot, or be available to wait until there is a free space on the tour.

CONCLUSIONS

The walls of all these rooms were once decorated with frescoes; where they do not represent realistic scenes they were patterned in imitation of the tapestries that would have hung on special occasions or in winter to keep warm. Those that are now on view are heavily restored (ie, in-painted). They must be taken only as illustrative of the “early renaissance palazzo” but not considered for stylistic elements.

The art-historic significance of this palazzo is mainly its architecture, as an example of a typical domestic building of the mid trecento. However, the various changes in the quattrocento and the major restorations of the 19th and early 20th century make it hard to use as a “document”. However, many forward thinking elements, like the courtyard that gives access to all the rooms, and the desire to create a logical space for family life, are important predecessors of the great 15th century palaces, like those built by the Strozzi and Medici.

FOR FURTHER READING

-Highly recommended for quality of scholarly text as well as images: Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, Art, Marriage, and Family in the Florentine Renaissance Palace (YUP 2009).
-Marta Ajmar and Flora Denni’s At Home in Renaissance Italy is the catalogue of a wonderful exhibition at the V&A in 2006