Animal Imagery in the Service of Political Imaging

Chapter 5 Animal Imagery in the Service of Political Imaging

This chapter marks the beginning of the second part of this study, which focus- es on animals as a motif in art. Drawing on a select range of frescoes, paintings, tapestries, sculptures, and more functional decorative objects commissioned by the Medici family, the argument explores the ways in which images of un- usual and exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles were deployed by the Medici to choreograph their courtly identity and political legacy. The works of art discussed relate to two themes that have been discussed in earlier sections of the book: hunting and gift exchange. The pursuit of the aristocratic hunt and the reciprocal participation in the diplomacy of gift-giving were important indica- tors of courtly status, and to a newly emerging dynasty, such as the Medici, it was clearly important to convey to contemporary and future audiences the ability to participate in these shared courtly practices. The arts provided an ideal medium for the Florentine rulers to construct the family’s political and cultural history. In this endeavour, animals as motifs in art assumed an important role as symbols of power.

1 Beasts of the Hunt in Gozzoli’s Frescoes of the Procession of the Magi

Images of fine horses, hunting dogs, majestic birds of prey, cheetahs, leopards, a caracal, and even a monkey contribute to the enduring appeal of Benozzo Gozzoli’s (c.1420/1422–1497) fresco cycle of the Procession of the Magi (Fig. 42).1 Painted on three walls of the family chapel at the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence, the frescoed scheme, with its many allusions to the noble sport of

1 The bibliography is large, and I shall limit myself to the following key works: Cristina Acidini Luchinat, “La Cappella medicea attraverso cinque secoli”, in Il Palazzo Medici Riccardi di Firenze, eds. G. Cherubini and G. Fanelli (Florence: Giunti, 1990), pp. 82–91; Cristina Acidini Luchinat, ed., The Chapel of the Magi: Benozzo Gozzoli’s Frescoes in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, trans. E. Daunt and D. Kunzelman (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994); Diane Cole Ahl, Benozzo Gozzoli (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996); Roger J. Crum, “Roberto Martelli, the Council of Florence, and the Medici Palace Chapel Author(s)”, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 59, 3 (1996), 403–417; Dale Kent, Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine Renaissance: The Patron’s Oeuvre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000); Cardini, The Chapel of the Magi.

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Figure 42 Benozzo Gozzoli, Procession of the Magi, west wall, 1459–1462, Florence, Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. the chase, represents a magnificent affirmation of the Medici’s passion for the hunt. The fresco cycle was commissioned by Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici (1414–1469) in 1459 and completed in 1462. This time frame places the work outside the ducal and grand-ducal period of Medici rule considered in this study. However, the ambitious mural deserves a brief discussion here for two