Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information PUBLIC PAINTING AND VISUAL CULTURE IN EARLY REPUBLICAN FLORENCE Street corners, guild halls, government oices, and confraternity centers contained paintings that made the city of Florence a visual jewel at pre- cisely the time of its emergence as an international cultural leader. This book considers the paintings that were made speciically for consideration by lay viewers as well as the way they could have been interpreted by audi- ences who approached them with speciic perspectives. Their belief in the power of images, their understanding of the persuasiveness of pictures, and their acceptance of the utterly vital role that art could play as a propagator of civic, corporate, and individual identity made lay viewers keenly aware of the paintings in their midst. Those pictures airmed the piety of the people for whom they were made in an age of social and political upheaval as the city experimented with an imperfect form of republicanism that often failed to adhere to its declared aspirations. George R.Bent is the Sydney Gause Childress Professor of the Arts at Wash- ington and Lee University, where he has taught in the Department of Art and Art History since 1993. A Fulbright scholar, Bent has written about the art of Lorenzo Monaco, Florentine painting of the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, and manuscript production in the fourteenth century. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information PUBLIC PAINTING AND VISUAL CULTURE IN EARLY REPUBLICAN FLORENCE GEORGE R. BENT Washington and Lee University © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, usa Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107139763 C George R. Bent 2016 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2016 Printed in The United States of America by Sheridan Books A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data Names: Bent, George R., author. Title: Public painting and visual culture in early republican Florence / George R. Bent. Description: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identiiers: lccn 2016021810 | isbn 9781107139763 (hardback) Subjects: lcsh: Painting, Italian – Italy – Florence – Themes, motives. | Public art – Italy – Florence – History – To 1500. | Art and society – Italy – Florence – History – To 1500. | Florence (Italy) – Civilization. | BISAC: HISTORY / Europe / General. Classiication: lcc nd621.f7 b47 2016 | ddc 701/.03–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021810 isbn 978-1-107-13976-3 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information CONTENTS List of Illustrations page vi Acknowledgments xiii INTRODUCTION: PUBLIC PAINTING AND VISUAL CULTURE IN EARLY REPUBLICAN FLORENCE, 1282–1434 1 1 PAINTINGS IN THE STREETS: TABERNACLES, PUBLIC DEVOTION, AND CONTROL 17 2 IMAGES OF CHARITY: CONFRATERNITIES, HOSPITALS, AND PICTURES FOR THE DESTITUTE 65 3 ART AND THE COMMUNE: POLITICS, PROPAGANDA, AND THE BUREAUCRATIC STATE 105 4 PICTURES FOR MERCHANTS: THE GUILDS, THEIR PAINTINGS, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER 135 5 PUBLIC PAINTING IN SACRED SPACES: PIERS AND PILASTERS IN FLORENTINE CHURCHES 185 6 MURALS FOR THE MASSES: PAINTINGS ON NAVE WALLS 221 7 MASACCIO’S TRINITY AND THE TRIUMPH OF PUBLIC PAINTING FOR COMMON PEOPLE IN EARLY REPUBLICAN FLORENCE 273 Notes 289 Bibliography 311 Index 325 v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information ILLUSTRATIONS color plates appear between pages 158 and 159 I. Giottino, Lamentation of Christ, ca. 1360, Uizi Galleries, Florence II. Giottino, Madonna della Sagra, 1356, Accademia, Florence III. Andrea del Bonaiuto, Madonna of Humility, ca. 1375, Via San Gallo, Florence IV. Madonna dei Malcontenti, ca. 1385, Via dei Malcontenti, Florence V. Jacopo del Casentino, Madonna della Tromba, ca. 1335–1340, Palazzo Arte della Lana, Florence VI. Santa Maria della Tromba, Codice Rustici, fol. 22, 1442–1447, Biblioteca Seminario Maggiore, Florence VII. Bernardo Daddi, Madonna of Orsanmichele, 1347, Orsanmichele, Florence VIII. Bernardo Daddi, Cruciix (recto), ca. 1345, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan IX. Bernardo Daddi, Cruciix (verso), ca. 1345, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan X. Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, Flagellation of Christ,ca.1390, private collection XI. Workshop of Bernardo Daddi, Allegory of Mercy, 1342, Museo del Bigallo, Florence XII. Niccolò di Pietro Gerini and Ambrogio di Baldese, Abandonment of Children and the Reuniication of Families, 1386, Museo del Bigallo, Florence XIII. Reconstruction, Abandonment of Children and the Reuniication of Families, 1386, Museo del Bigallo, Florence XIV. Jacopo di Cione, Madonna Lactans, ca. 1375, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. XV. Workshop of Lorenzo Monaco, Double Intercession,ca.1400, Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Cloisters), New York XVI. Giotto (?), Enthroned Madonna with Symbols of the City, 1334–1336, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence XVII. Andrea di Cione (?), Expulsion of the Duke of Athens, ca. 1345, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence vi © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information ILLUSTRATIONS vii XVIII. Jacopo di Cione, Coronation of the Virgin, 1373, Accademia, Florence XIX. Fra Angelico, Madonna and Child, 1435, Museo di San Marco, Florence XX. Mariotto di Nardo, Madonna and Child with Saints Stephen and Reparata, ca. 1385, Accademia, Florence XXI. Incipit Page, Arte della Lana 4, fol. 6, ca. 1335, Archivio di Stato, Florence XXII. Sala d’Udienza, Palazzo Arte della Lana, Florence XXIII. Madonna della Lana, ca. 1315, Palazzo Arte della Lana, Florence XXIV. Nardo di Cione (?), Judgment of Brutus, ca. 1345, Palazzo Arte della Lana, Florence XXV. Bernardo Daddi, Saint Paul, 1333, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. XXVI. Giovanni del Biondo, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, ca. 1376, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence XXVII. Jacopo di Cione and Giovanni del Biondo, Saint Zenobius, ca. 1390, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence XXVIII. Nardo di Cione, Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Zenobius, and Reparata,ca.1360, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York XXIX. Giovanni del Biondo, Saint John the Evangelist,ca.1380, Accademia, Florence XXX. Andrea di Cione and Jacopo di Cione, Saint Matthew and Scenes from His Life, 1369, Uizi, Florence XXXI. Lorenzo Monaco, Agony in the Garden, ca. 1396, Accademia, Florence XXXII. Saints Mary Magdalene, Nicholas, Miniato, Andrew, and Christopher, ca. 1380–1390, San Miniato al Monte, Florence XXXIII. Coronation of the Virgin, ca. 1300, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence XXXIV. Last Judgment and Biblical Scenes, detail, Last Judgment (southwest, west, and northwest vaults), ca. 1275–1300, San Giovanni, Florence XXXV. Last Judgment and Biblical Scenes, detail, east vault, John the Baptist Imprisoned, ca. 1275–1300, San Giovanni, Florence XXXVI. Andrea di Cione, Triumph of Death, ca. 1345, Santa Croce, Florence XXXVII. Masaccio, Holy Trinity, 1427, Santa Maria Novella, Florence XXXVIII. Pulpit, Santa Maria Novella, Florence XXXIX. View of the Trinity from the east portal, Santa Maria Novella, Florence © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13976-3 — Public Painting and Visual Culture in Early Republican Florence George R. Bent Frontmatter More Information viii ILLUSTRATIONS black and white figures 1. Fra Angelico, Deposition of Christ, 1435, Museo San Marco, Florence page 3 2. Bernardo Daddi, Madonna del Bagnuolo, ca. 1335, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence 7 3. Isometric project of Santa Croce with tramezzo, before Vasari’s renovation 10 4. Sketch of Santa Croce with tramezzo 11 5. Niche, Piazza Santo Spirito, Florence 19 6. Taddeo Gaddi, Madonna and Child, ca. 1340, Via Antonino, Florence 20 7. Niccolò