THE SANTISSIMA ANNUNZIATA OF FLORENCE, MEDICI PORTRAITS, AND THE COUNTER REFORMATION IN ITALY by Bernice Ida Maria Iarocci A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Bernice Iarocci 2015 THE SANTISSIMA ANNUNZIATA OF FLORENCE, MEDICI PORTRAITS, AND THE COUNTER REFORMATION IN ITALY Bernice Ida Maria Iarocci Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto 2015 A defining feature of the Counter-Reformation period is the new impetus given to the material expression of devotion to sacred images and relics. There are nonetheless few scholarly studies that look deeply into the shrines of venerated images, as they were renovated or decorated anew during this period. This dissertation investigates an image cult that experienced a particularly rich elaboration during the Counter-Reformation – that of the miracle-working fresco called the Nunziata, located in the Servite church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. By the end of the fifteenth century, the Nunziata had become the primary sacred image in the city of Florence and one of the most venerated Marian cults in Italy. My investigation spans around 1580 to 1650, and includes texts related to the sacred fresco, copies made after it, votives, and other additions made within and around its shrine. I address various components of the cult that carry meanings of civic importance; nonetheless, one of its crucial characteristics is that it partook of general agendas belonging to the Counter- Reformation movement. That is, it would be myopic to remain within a strictly local scope when considering this period. The evidence nonetheless also demands more than a simple broadening of “context”. This thesis shows that key aspects of the material articulation of the Nunziata’s cult were deeply integrated with actions and attitudes emanating from the Church’s policy centres, in particular, Rome and Milan. At the same time, the sanctuary was a chief site for the expression of ii the power and privilege of the Medici, who were the ruling family of Florence and most prominent patrons of the fresco’s cult. My study therefore accounts for the intertwining of two strains of representation --the Medici as ideal Counter-Reformation princes and the Santissima Annunziata as a powerful miracle-working image. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been realized without the help of many persons. I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Philip Sohm, whose extraordinary scholarly erudition and imagination is matched only by his generosity as a teacher and mentor. He has been my primary model of intellectual ambition and integrity since my undergraduate days. His contribution to my work is immeasurable. I also owe a great deal to Evonne Levy, who has, throughout this project, unfailingly shared her profound knowledge of the Counter-Reformation and has repeatedly inspired the development of my ideas and professional activity. The other members of my dissertation committee at the University of Toronto, Giancarla Periti and Jill Caskey, also added many excellent points and arguments that completed and elevated my own. I extend a special thanks to Megan Holmes, the external reader of this dissertation. It is clear that it draws substantially from her scholarship, but beyond this, she has offered uncountable further insights and a great deal of encouragement. “Generous” does not even begin to describe her engagement with and contribution to my work. All the above members of my committee have responded to this project with an enthusiasm and generosity of spirit that has buoyed my own. Whilst researching and writing, I received invaluable aid from Odir Jacques Dias, archivist for the Servite Order in Rome, as well as Father Conrad Borntrager, OSM, at the Servite library in Chicago. Padre Eugenio Casalini also graciously shared his deep erudition about the Nunziata when I interviewed him in Florence at an early stage of the project. I presented a preliminary version of Chapter One at a 2009 conference on the Nunziata at the Kunsthistoriches Institut, Florence. I am grateful to the attendees who responded with many interesting points and questions, not least the organizers of the conference, Drs. Alessandro Nova, Heiko Damm, and Sabine Hoffmann. iv Many others at the University of Toronto have encouraged me and this project in various ways and at different points in time. I am sincerely grateful to them for their knowledge, help, and friendship: Ethan Matt Kavaler, Michael Koortbojian, Christine Kralik, Nina Kurtovic, Elizabeth Legge, Betsy Moss, Colin Murray, Alexander Nagel, Elisabeth Neumann, Sandra Richards, Chris Rowe, Alison Syme, and Flora Ward. I also owe many thanks to Peggy Haist, Gaby Sparks, Steph Sullivan, and Joanne Wainman. I have been sustained by the support and love of friends and especially my family: my mother Josephine and my late father, Mario, who both instilled in me a love of knowledge; my siblings, Tony, Louisa, and Angela; Maria and the late Stan Filarski; and Brian and Lucia McLaren. I have been lucky to experience every day the humour, optimism, and support of Andrew and Gina Filarksi. Renaissance people recognized love as a power that drives the imagination; Andy and Gina are certainly the animating force behind all my thinking. v Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 The Nunziata in the Counter-Reformation period: The Making of a Holy Face 1.1 A Tale of Two Faces: The Nunziata and a Holy Face 1.2 Medici Patronage at the Nunziata, with a Focus on the Holy Face 1.3 The Nunziata’s costume, the Holy Face, and the Countenance of the Grand Duke 1.4 Christ, the Nunziata, and Grand Ducal Power 1.5 The Medici and Portrait Copies of the Nunziata: the Dissemination of Privilege 1.6 The Nunziata as a Holy Face and Counter-Reformation Strategies 1.7 “She appears to be him, and he her” Chapter 2 Medici Votive Portraits and the Santissima Annunziata 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Nunziata’s Votives: Materials and Forms 2.3 The Preciousness of Silver 2.4 Votive Portraits, with a Focus on Wax 2.5 Votive Portraits and their Purposes: Knowns and Unknowns 2.6 Changes to the Display of the Votives: Chronology 2.7 Renewal of the Votive Culture c.1600 2.8 Mancini’s Schemes in the Seventeenth Century: Radical Culling and Creation 2.9 Didacticism and Temporality in the Counter-Reformation Interior vi Chapter 3 Medici Portraits at the Santissima Annunziata 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Power and Presence in Votives and Publically Displayed Portraits 3.3 Medici Silver Votives: Creating a Dominant Presence 3.4 Medici Wax Statues: Creating a Dominant Presence 3.5 The Scope of Significance: Florence and Rome 3.6 The New Votive Scheme and the Medici as Counter-Reformation Rulers: the Prince as Instrument of Civic Order 3.7 Medici Portraits in the Piazza SS. Annunziata: Civic Order and Roman Connections 3.8 The Equestrian Monument of Ferdinand I: Bees, Mise-en-abyme, and Significance Beyond Florence 3.9 The Paliotto of Ferdinand I: Exemplarity, Imitation, and Order 3.10 The Portraits of Vitale and Alessandro de’Medici, and the Sacristy of the Nunziata as a Votive 3.11 Jewish Conversion, the Medici, and Rome Chapter Four The Paliotto of Ferdinand I de’Medici and a Counter-Reformation Image Type in Florence 4.1 Introduction 4.2 A Counter-Reformation Image Type and Significances of Kneeling 4.3 The Enactment of Devotion as an Image Type in Florentine Art c.1600 4.4 The Medici Paliotto: the Image Type as a Votive Relief Conclusion Figures vii List of Figures Introduction 0.1 Annunciation, fresco, church of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence 0.2 Tabernacle Shrine (or Tempietto) of the Santissima Annunziata, church of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence 0.3 Michelozzo Michellozzi, Tempietto of the Santissima Annunziata, commissioned by Piero di Cosimo de’Medici, 1448, church of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence 0.4 Detail, Annunciation, fresco, church of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence 0.5 Jacques Callot, engraving, illustration from Giovanni’s Angelo Lottini, Scelta d’alcuni miracoli e grazie della Santissima Nunziata di Firenze, 1619, p.20 Chapter 1 1.1 Mandylion from S. Silvestro in Capite, 6thC, Capella S. Matilda, Rome, Vatican 1.2 Egidio Leggi, Silver altar frontal, 1600, Tempietto of the SS. Annunziata, church of the SS. Annunziata, Florence 1.3 View of the altar in the Tempietto of the SS. Annunziata, showing the silver frame (1618) donated by Don Lorenzo de’Medici 1.4 Detail of Frame of the SS. Annunziata (1618) and additional silver ornament over the frame (1624; the angels are replacements dating to the 19th C), both donated by Don Lorenzo de’ Medici 1.5. Andrea del Sarto, Salvator Mundi, c.1515; painting is 47 x 27 cm., Church of SS. Annunziata 1.6 Fresco of the Annunciation, with the Holy Face between the Virgin and the Angel Gabriel, at Sakli Kilise at Göreme, eleventh century 1.7 Sandro Botticelli, Annunciation (The Cestello altarpiece), with an Ecce Homo and Holy Face in the predella, 1489-90, Uffizi Gallery, Florence viii 1.8 Matteo Nigetti, Tabernacle Frame for Andrea del Sarto’s Salvator Mundi, silver inlaid with precious stones, 1618 1.9 Matteo Nigetti, Base (gradino) of frame for Andrea del Sarto’s Salvator Mundi, 1618, detail 1.10. Lily, Pietre dure revetment in the Coretto adjoining the Shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1630-71 1.11 Detail of Figure 1.10 Lily, Pietre dure revetment in the Coretto 1.12 Alessandro Allori, Copy after the head of the Archangel from the fresco of the SS. Annunziata, 1580, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan 1.13 Alessandro Allori, Copy after the head of the Virgin from the fresco of the SS.