Birmingham City University The Fresco Decoration of the Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino: Piety and Charity in Late-Fifteenth Century Florence 2 Volumes A Thesis in Art History by Samantha J.C. Hughes-Johnson Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016 Volume I Abstract Despite the emergence of various studies focusing on Florentine lay sodalities, the Procurators of the Shamed Poor of Florence, otherwise known as the Buonomini di San Martino, have received little attention from social historians and much less consideration from historians of art. Consequently, there are several distinct research gaps concerning the charitable operations of this lay confraternity and the painted decorations within its oratory that beg to be addressed. The greatest research breach pertains to the fresco decoration of the San Martino chapel as, despite the existence of various pre- iconographic descriptions of the murals, comprehensive iconographic and comparative analyses of these painted works have never before been carried out. Moreover, the dating of the entire cycle and the attribution of one of its lunette paintings is questionable. Accordingly, the present study addresses these deficiencies. Central to the current research is an original, in-depth art historical analysis of the frescoed paintings. Involving the methodologies of iconographic and comparative analyses alongside connoisseurship, the present investigation has allowed the researcher to establish the following: the art historical significance of the oratory murals; the dating of the fresco cycle; the attribution of an executor for the Dream of Saint Martin fresco; the identification of portraits of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici within the Buonomini cycle; the disclosure of the shamed poor as non-patrician representatives of Florence. Furthermore, by placing data gained from the Buonomini’s archived primary sources and the oratory’s murals in juxtaposition with other contemporary Florentine literary and visual materials for the purpose of analysis, the researcher has been able to elucidate the term ‘lay piety’ and define a set of criteria which the shamed poor must meet in order to be termed so. This sustained use of artworks as documents, supported by other pertinent textual and visual sources has also allowed for further insight into the following spheres: religious doctrines supporting the acts of pilgrimage; the state of the Florentine pilgrim trade and the hospitality associated with this business during the quattrocento; the rituals surrounding the burial of poor people and early Medici patronage of the sodality. Additionally, the present research has more extensive implications: it contributes to material culture studies with regard to the lives of the less-than-wealthy and cruicially gives a voice to the silent poor; it reveals that the complex messages contained within the sodality’s painted cycle provide more than just a set of instructions to confraternal members. Crucially their content has repercussions beyond the microcosm of confraternal life and their advice and intimations extend onwards into the macrocosm of the civic sphere. For a beautiful girl in yellow shoes. Table of Contents Volume 1: Text List of Figures 1 List of Abbreviations and Dating 14 Weights and Measures 15 Note on Transcriptions, Translations, Language, Spelling and Protocol 16 Acknowledgements 17 Chapter 1: Introduction 22 1:1 Objectives 27 1:2 Methodology 30 1:3 Critical Review of Textual Sources 41 Chapter 2: Florentine Sodalities and the Buonomini di San Martino 68 2:1 Florentine Confraternities: form, function and hierarchy 69 2:2 The Foundation Documents, Cosimo ‘Il Vecchio’ de’ Medici and Antonio Pierozzi 79 2:3 The Siting of the Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino: practical, social and political considerations 96 Chapter 3: The Fresco Cycle of the Oratorio 105 3:1 Pre Iconographic Description of the Frescoes 106 3:2 The Iconography of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy 113 3: 3 Historiography of Attributions 123 3:4 Ghirlandaio and the Buonomini di San Martino 128 Chapter 4: Piety, Patronage and Ritual Space: The Lay Confraternity of the Buonomini di San Martino During the Medicean ‘Golden Age’ 141 4:1 Aspects of Lay Piety 142 4:2 Early Medici Patronage and the Buonomini di San Martino (addressing Releasing the Debtor from Gaol) 164 Chapter 5: The Shamed Poor: Behind the Veil 187 5:1 The Poveri Vergognosi 188 5:2 Fashioning Family Honour (addressing Feeding the Hungry and Giving Drink to the Thirsty, Clothing the Naked, Visiting a Woman in Childbed, An Initial Visit by the Buonomini to a Vulnerable Family and The Ring Ceremony) 207 5:3 Catering for Continuing Need: The Case of Filippo (Pippo) di Baldo 259 Chapter 6: Spiritual Journeys in This Life and the Next 267 6:1 ‘He Who Would Valiant Be’: Pilgrimage and Hospitality in Early Modern Florence (addressing Taking in Pilgrims) 268 6:2 A Fitting End to an Honourable Life: Obsequies and the Poveri Vergognosi in Quattrocento Florence (addressing Burying the Dead) 284 Chapter 7: The Saint Martin Frescoes 308 7:1 Divergent Hands: Two Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours in the Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino 309 7:2 Lorenzo di Credi and the Buonomini 333 Chapter 8: Conclusion 342 Bibliography 350 Appendices 378 Appendix I – Transcription of Membership Details from the Codice dei Capitoli 379 Appendix II - Transcription of the Buonomini Capitoli (translated in part) 381 Appendix III – Transcription of Note #Pandofo Rucellai from the Quaderno del Camarlingo o Sia Proposto dal 147401482 386 Appendix IV - Poor Families Entered in the Quaderno on 1 May 1466 387 Appendix V – The Frescoes and the Most Recent Restoration 390 Volume II: Illustrations 1 List of Figures Figure 1 Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino (exterior), 2011, San Martino, Florence. Figure 2 Piazza del Cimatore, 2011, Florence. Figure 3 Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino (interior), 2011, San Martino, Florence. Figure 4 Map of Florence Showing the Location of the Oratory of the Buonomini di San Martino. Figure 5 Ground Plan of the Oratory of the Buonomini di San Martino Showing the Position of the Frescoes. Figure 6 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Saint Martin Dividing his Cloak for the Beggar, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 7 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Taking in Pilgrims, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 8 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Burying the Dead, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 9 Lorenzo di Credi, The Dream of Saint Martin 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 10 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Initial Visit by the Buonomini to a Vulnerable Family, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 11 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giving Food to the Hungry and Drink to the Thirsty, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 12 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, detail of the lion from Giving Food to the Hungry and Drink to the Thirsty, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 13 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, detail of the children from Giving Food to the Hungry and Drink to the Thirsty, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. 2 Figure 14 Andrea Orcagna, Tabernacle, 1359, marble, lapis lazuli, gold and glass, Orsanmichele, Florence. Figure 15 Cell Corridor, Museo di San Marco, Florence. Figure 16 Michelangelo Cinganelli, Saint Antoninus Founds the Company of Good Men at San Martino, 16th century, fresco, Museo di San Marco, Florence. Figure 17 Giovanni Rustici, The Church of San Martino and Saint Martin Dividing his Cloak for the Beggar, c.1450, Codex Rustici, fol. 25v. Seminario Maggiore Arcivescovile, Florence. Figure 18 Wall Detail, Canto di Quarciona, 2012, Florence. Figure 19 Domenico Ghirlandaio, Resurrection of the Boy, 1483-85, fresco, Santa Trinita, Florence. Figure 20 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Releasing the Debtor from Gaol, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 21 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Ring Ceremony, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 22 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Clothing the Naked, 1486-1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 23 The workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Visiting a Woman in Childbed, 1486- 1490, fresco, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Florence. Figure 24 The workshop of Bernardo Daddi, The Madonna of Mercy, 14th century, fresco, Museo del Bigallo, Florence. Figure 25 Ridolfo Ghirlandio, Tobias and Tobit Bury the Dead Before the Bigallo Loggia, 1515, tempera and oil on panel, Museo del Bigallo, Florence. Figure 26 Anonymous Milanese, Male Members of a Confraternity, c.1500, oil on silk or linen and mounted on wood, The National Gallery, London. Figure 27 Attributed to Benvenuto di Giovanni, Saint Catherine of Siena Protects Some of the Night Oratory, 16th century, oil on panel, Oratorio della Compagnia di Santa Caterina della Notte, Siena. Figure 28 Spinello Aretino, Saint Mary Magdalene Holding a Crucifix, c. 1395, tempera on canvas with ground gold, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 3 Figure 29 Niccolo Gerini and Ambrogio di Baldese, The Captains of the Misericordia Entrust to Mothers the Abandoned Children, 1386, fresco, Museo del Bigallo, Florence. Figure 30 Lorenzo Filippo Paldini, Giving Drink to the Thirsty, 1585, glazed terracotta, Ospedale del Ceppo, Pistoia. Figure 31 Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Marriage of the Virgin, 1486-1490, fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Figure 32 Domenico di Bartolo, Marriage of the Foundlings, c.1444, Santa Maria della Scala, Siena. Figure 33 Bernaert van Orly, The Last Judgement, 1519-1525, oil on panel, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. Figure 34 Paolo Schiavo, detail from The Virgin of Humility, after 1440, tempera on panel with gold, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.