MONTEPULCIANO's PALAZZO COMUNALE, 1440 – C.1465: RETHINKING CASTELLATED CIVIC PALACES in FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURAL and POLITI
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MONTEPULCIANO’S PALAZZO COMUNALE, 1440 – c.1465: RETHINKING CASTELLATED CIVIC PALACES IN FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS Two Volumes Volume I Koching Chao Ph.D. University of York History of Art September 2019 ABSTRACT This thesis argues for the significance of castellated civic palaces in shaping and consolidating Florence’s territorial hegemony during the fifteenth century. Although fortress-like civic palaces were a predominant architectural type in Tuscan communes from the twelfth century onwards, it is an understudied field. In the literature of Italian Renaissance civic and military architecture, the castellated motifs of civic palaces have either been marginalised as an outdated and anti-classical form opposing Quattrocento all’antica taste, or have been oversimplified as a redundant object lacking defensive functionality. By analysing Michelozzo’s Palazzo Comunale in Montepulciano, a fifteenth-century castellated palace resembling Florence’s thirteenth-century Palazzo dei Priori, this thesis seeks to address the ways in which castellated forms substantially legitimised Florence’s political, military and cultural supremacy. Chapter One examines textual and pictorial representations of Florence’s castellation civic palaces and fortifications in order to capture Florentine perceptions of castellation. This investigation offers a conceptual framework, interpreting the profile of castellated civic palaces as an effective architectural affirmation of the contemporary idea of a powerful city-republic rather than being a symbol of despotism as it has been previously understood. Chapters Two and Three examine Montepulciano’s renovation project for the Palazzo Comunale within local and central administrative, socio-political, and military contexts during the first half of the fifteenth century, highlighting the Florentine features of Montepulciano’s town hall despite the town’s peripheral location within the Florentine dominion. Chapter Four casts light on the effective agency of Michelozzo’s castellated design in facilitating an architectural dialogue between civic and military, medieval and Renaissance, classical and modern, and centre and periphery, enhancing civic coherence in the town, as well as across the whole Florentine state. 2 By looking at Michelozzo’s mid-fifteenth century design, this thesis demonstrates the interdependence of communal palaces’ castellated forms and their civic functions. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 7 ABBREVIATIONS 16 CALENDAR, CURRENCY, AND MEASURES 17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 18 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION 20 INTRODUCTION 21 CHAPTER ONE: FLORENTINE PERCEPTIONS OF CASTELLATED PALAZZI COMUNALI, c.1250 – 1500 39 Introduction 39 1.1 Approaching Fifteenth-Century Perceptions of Castellation, c.1250 – c.1400 41 A Political Campaign 43 A Promised Domain 45 A Measurement 55 A Link to Rome 59 1.2 ‘The fortress of the fortress’: the Castellated Palazzo dei Priori in Early Fifteenth-Century Textual Representations 64 1.3 Fortifications in Fifteenth-Century Pictorial Representations 71 An Agent of Civic Ethics 73 The Face of Power 81 Conclusion 87 CHAPTER TWO: THE COMMUNE OF MONTEPULCIANO AND ITS PALAZZO COMUNALE, c.1281 – c.1465 89 Introduction 89 2.1 The Palazzo Comunale before 1440 91 The Palazzo Comunale in the Thirteenth Century 92 The Palazzo Comunale in the Context of the 1337 Statutes 95 The Palazzo Comunale in 1365 103 The Palazzo Comunale in a Painting of the 1390s 106 2.2 The Palazzo Comunale in Transition, 1440 – c.1465 108 4 For ‘Honour, Utility and Common Good’: the Façade Act of 27 February 1440 109 The Commencement of the Façade Project, 1440 115 The Façade Project, 1443 – 1447 117 The Completion of the Façade and the Unification of the Old and New Palaces, 1451 – c.1458 121 The Tower Project and its Operai, 1458 – 1460 126 Montepulciano’s Communal Structures under Florentine Rule 129 Conclusion 130 CHAPTER THREE: THE CASTELLATED PALAZZO COMUNALE OF MONTEPULCIANO IN ITS MILITARY CONTEXT, c.1440 134 Introduction 134 3.1 The Dieci di Balìa and the Control of Montepulciano after c.1390 137 3.2 The Càssero of Montepulciano in the Crisis of the Visconti Wars, 1392 – 1397 144 3.3 The Façade Act for Montepulciano’s Palazzo Comunale and Florence’s Military Preparation before the Battle of Anghiari, c. 1437 – 1440 155 3.4 Montepulciano’s Palazzo Comunale in the Aftermath of the Battle of Anghiari (29 June 1440) 166 3.5 Montepulciano: a Florentine Gateway to Rome 170 Conclusion 175 CHAPTER FOUR: A CASTELLATED DIALOGUE BETWEEN CENTRE AND PERIPHERY: FLORENCE, ROME, MONTEPULCIANO, AND OTHER CIVIC PALACES IN TUSCANY 177 Introduction 177 4.1 Montepulciano’s Castellated Façade and Quattrocento Architectural Principles 178 4.2 From Presence to Dominance 188 Tower and Belfry 189 The Machicolated Gallery and Crenellations 192 Travertine Masonry 195 Tiered-Plinth 206 4.3 Montepulciano’s Palazzo Comunale in its Quattrocento Urban Setting 209 Conclusion 214 CONCLUSION 216 5 VOLUME II TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 ILLUSTRATIONS 3 APPENDIX 1: TIMELINE OF THE BUILDING HISTORY OF MONTEPULCIANO’S PALAZZO COMUNALE 183 APPENDIX 2: SELECTED DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO THE RENOVATION FOR MONTEPULCIANO’S PALAZZO COMUNALE, 1440 – c.1465 186 Document 1: ASM, "Copialettere," vol. 3, 68v, 29 February 1440 186 Document 2: ASM, "Copialettere," vol. 3, 87v, 16 October 1440 188 Document 3: ASM, "Copialettere," vol. 3, 91r, 7 December 1440 190 Document 4: ASM, "Copialettere," vol. 3, 151v, 4 April 1443 192 Document 5: ASM, "Deliberazioni del Consiglio generale e dei Priori," vol. 38, 104r-104v, 3 November 1458 194 APPENDIX 3: SELECTED DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO MONTEPULCIANO – FLORENCE POLITICAL AND MILITARY COOPERATIONS, 1437 – 1440 197 Document 1: ASM, ‘Copialettere’, vol. 3, 24v, 11 Decembre 1437 197 Document 2: ASM, ‘Copialettere’, vol. 3, 80v, 17 June 1440 199 Document 3: ASM, ‘Copialettere’, vol. 3, 82v, 2 July 1440 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED 203 Unpublished Primary Sources 203 Published Primary Sources 203 Secondary Sources 205 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Michelozzo (attrib.): Montepulciano, Palazzo Comunale, renovated 1440- c.1465 Figure 2 Florence, Palazzo dei Priori (Palazzo Vecchio), 1299-1314 Figure 3 Volterra, Palazzo dei Priori, c.1208-1257 Figure 4 San Gimignano, Palazzo Vecchio del Podestà, after 1210 Figure 5 Poppi, Castello dei Conti Guidi, thirteenth century Figure 6 Florence, Palazzo del Podestà (Palazzo del Bargello), 1250-1255 Figure 7 Florence, Palazzo dei Priori, 1299-1314, ground plan Figure 8 Florence, Palazzo del Podestà, 1316-c.1346, evolution of the building complex Figure 9 Andrea Orcagna (attrib.), The Expulsion of the Duke of Athens, 1344-45, fresco, 257 x 290 cm, Palazzo dei Priori, Florence Figure 10 Jacopo di Cione, Coronation of the Virgin, detail of the View of Florence, 1373, 350 x 190 cm, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence Figure 11 Mariotto di Nardo, Saint Anne, detail of the view of Florence, late 14th century, fresco, Orsanmichele, Florence Figure 12 Circle of Bernardo Daddi, The Madonna of Mercy (La Madonna della Misericordia), detail of the view of Florence, c.1342, Museo del Bigallo, Florence Figure 13 Jacopo di Cione, Saint Ottaviano, detial of the view of Volterra, c.1383, Sala del Consiglio, Palazzo dei Priori, Volterra Figure 14 Taddeo di Bartolo, Assumption of the Virgin, c.1401, triptych, Cathedral, Montepulciano Figure 15 Taddeo di Bartolo, San Gimignano in trono, detail of the view of San Gimignano, 1401, tempera on panel, Palazzo del Podestà, San Gimignano Figure 16 Florence, Palazzo del Podestà, 1250-1255, tower Figure 17 Florence, Palazzo del Priori, after 1310, Arnolfo’s Tower Figure 18 Domenico Benzi, Specchio Umano, 1335-1347, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, ms. Tempi 3, fol. 58r Figure 19 Rome, Forum of Augustus, 2 BC Figure 20 Rome, Porta Maggiore, A.D. 52 Figure 21 Rome, Torre delle Milizie (Nero’s Tower), c.1210 Figure 22 Anonymous, Inscription on the West Façade of the Palazzo del Podestà, c.1255, Florence Figure 23 Anonymous Florentine Master, St. Zenobius with the Palazzo Vecchio, 1415-20, 173 x110 cm, Palazzo dei Priori, Florence Figure 24 Workshop of Verrocchio, Madonna with Saints. Saint Zenobius offers Florence to Mary, detail of the model of Florence, c.1475, San Martino a Strada, Grassina 7 Figure 25 Masaccio, The Distribution of Alms and the Death of Ananias, detail of a white fortress, c.1427, fresco, 230 x 162 cm, Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence Figure 26 Master of Apollo and Daphne, Susanna and the Elders, 1490s, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Figure 27 Filarete, Trattato di architettura, Codice Magliabechiano, fol. 41v & 42r Figure 28 Zanobi Strozzi, Susanna and the Elders, 1440s, 43 x 170 cm, Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon Figure 29 Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good and Bad Governments, 1338-1339, Sala dei Novi, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena Figure 30 Domenico Ghirlandaio, Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule by Pope Honorius III, 1479-85, Santa Trinita, Florence Figure 31 Gherardo di Giovanni, Triumph of Chastity, c.1475, tempera on panel, 42.5 x 34.9 cm, Galleria Sabauda, Turin Figure 32 Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Triumph of Chastity, detail of the background fortresses, c.1464, tempera on panel, 37 x 121 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Figure 33 Filippino Lippi and Sandro Botticelli, The Story of Esther, c.1475, panel, central panel in Condé Museum, Chantilly, France; Esther at the Palace Gate in National Gallery of Canada, Vashti Leaving the Palace, Museum of Horne, Florence