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Four Altarpieces from the Church of Santo Spirito in Florence (1485-1500)

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Four Altarpieces from the Church of Santo Spirito in Florence (1485-1500) ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: DECORATING THE HOUSE OF WISDOM: FOUR ALTARPIECES FROM THE CHURCH OF SANTO SPIRITO IN FLORENCE (1485-1500) Antonia Fondaras, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Dissertation directed by: Professor Meredith J. Gill Department of Art History and Archaeology This dissertation examines four altarpieces by different artists painted between 1485 and 1500 for Santo Spirito, the church of the Augustinian Hermits in Florence, in light of the Hermits’ influence on the paintings’ iconography. I argue that each of the altarpieces expresses a distinct set of Augustinian values and suggests appropriate modes of devotion and praxis. Together, the paintings represent an attempt on the part of the Florentine Hermits to convey their institutional and religious identity as heirs to Augustine’s spirituality. The first chapter reviews the history and thought of the Augustinian Hermits, the history of the convent of Santo Spirito and the building and decoration of its church. The second concerns Sandro Botticelli’s 1485 Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist , which displays a nursing Virgin in a garden of scriptural quotations. The altarpiece portrays Holy Wisdom as the garden of Ecclesiasticus 24, as the Virgin immaculate created before all things, and, most importantly, as the Christ Child whose engorged breasts feed mankind. The third chapter addresses Piero di Cosimo’s 1490-1498 Visitation with Saints Nicholas of Bari and Anthony Abbot . Mary and Elizabeth’s junctio dextrarum seals, under the impression of the Holy Spirit, the union of the Testaments and the unity and authority of Ecclesia and accomplishes the “kiss of Justice and Peace” of Psalm 84. The third chapter discusses Filippino Lippi’s 1494 Madonna and Child with Saints Martin of Tours, Catherine of Alexandria, the Young Saint John the Baptist and Donors : Within a multilayered composition based on Augustine’s City of God , the donors apply to familial relationships the model of Saint Martin’s charity displayed in the chapel window. Finally, Agnolo del Mazziere’s 1495-1500 Trinity with Saints Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria , discusses ways of seeing and imaging the Trinity in light of Augustine’s De Trinitate . My close reading of these altarpieces and my focus on religious context breaks ground in revealing how, in Renaissance Florence, an order could fashion, through independent altarpieces, a program that promoted its institutional values and stimulated modes of viewing that served its devotional and educational needs. DECORATING THE HOUSE OF WISDOM: FOUR ALTARPIECES FROM THE CHURCH OF SANTO SPIRITO IN FLORENCE (1485-1500) By Antonia Fondaras Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland at College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Defense Committee: Professor Anthony Colantuono Professor Barbara Haggh-Huglo Professor Meredith J. Gill, Chair Professor Marjorie Venit Professor Arthur Wheelock ©Copyright by Antonia Fondaras 2011 Disclaimer The dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner’s copyright. A complete version of the document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park’s library collection. ii Acknowledgments I owe a very real debt of gratitude to my advisor Meredith J. Gill for her continuous and patient encouragement over many years and her extensive editorial and substantive contributions. My writing also benefitted significantly from the careful reading and editorial advice of Marjorie Venit. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 I: The Augustinian Hermits and the Church of Santo Spirito ....................................................... 10 A. The Augustinian Hermits ..................................................................................................... 10 B. The Augustinian Convent of Santo Spirito .......................................................................... 20 C. The Fifteenth-Century Church of Santo Spirito .................................................................. 39 D. The Church Décor ............................................................................................................... 45 E. Augustinian Contributions to Santo Spirito ......................................................................... 60 II. “Our Mother the Wisdom of God”: Nursing in Botticelli’s Bardi Altarpiece ......................... 72 A. The Altarpiece and the Chapel ............................................................................................. 74 B. Intercession........................................................................................................................... 86 C. The Virgin of Wisdom ........................................................................................................ 87 D. The Virgin Immaculate ........................................................................................................ 99 E. Nursing as the Transmission of Wisdom............................................................................ 103 F. Christ as Mother ................................................................................................................. 111 G. The Bardi Madonna as Madonna Lactans ......................................................................... 116 iv H. The Bardi Madonna as Ecclesia ......................................................................................... 121 III. “The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace”: ................................................................... 130 Piero di Cosimo’s Visitation with Saints Nicholas of Bari and Anthony Abbot ........................ 130 A. The Altarpiece: Commission and Subject Matter .............................................................. 132 B. Composition ....................................................................................................................... 138 C. The Augustinian Beholder ................................................................................................. 156 D. The Landscape as Story ..................................................................................................... 169 E. The Inscription.................................................................................................................... 183 F. The Junctio Dextrarum ...................................................................................................... 192 G. The Kiss of Justice and Peace ............................................................................................ 206 IV. Caritas and Family at Santo Spirito: Filippino Lippi’s Nerli Altarpiece ............................. 222 A. Background ........................................................................................................................ 224 B. City of God and City of Man ............................................................................................. 236 C. Narrating Charity................................................................................................................ 265 D. Caritas and the Augustinian Hermits................................................................................. 293 E. Practicing Charity in the Nerli Altarpiece .......................................................................... 302 V. Seeing God at Santo Spirito: Agnolo Del Mazziere’s Holy Trinity with Saints Mary Magdalenee and Catherine of Alexandria ................................................................................... 343 A. The Altarpiece: Background .............................................................................................. 344 B. The Saints in Contemplation .............................................................................................. 367 v C. The Trinity as Throne of Grace .......................................................................................... 377 D. Saint Augustine and the Vision of God ............................................................................. 404 E. Painting the Trinity ............................................................................................................. 419 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 444 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 458 vi LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1: Santo Spirito Interior (before 1574). Uffizi, Florence. Fig. 2: Santo Spirito Interior, location of chapels. Fig. 3: Sandro Botticelli. The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist (the Bardi altarpiece). Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. 1485. Fig. 4: Piero di Cosimo. The Visitation with Saints Nicholas of Bari and Anthony Abbot . National Gallery, Washington, DC. 1490-1498. Fig. 5: Filippino Lippi. The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Martin of Tours, Catherine of Alexandria, the Young John the Baptist and Donors (the Nerli altarpiece). Santo Spirito, Florence. Ca. 1494.
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