Naldini Alegory Dream

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Naldini's Allegory of Dreams in the Studiolo of Francesco de' MediciAuthor(s): Harvey HamburghSource: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 679-704Published by: The Sixteenth Century Journal

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SixteenthenturyJournalXXVII/3 1996)

Naldini's Allegory fDreams in the Studioloof Francesco de' Medici

HarveyHamburghMontana tate UniversityThis article ffers new interpretationf Giovambattistaaldini's heAllegoryfDreams,ommissionedor he tudiolo fFrancesco de' Medici, n thePalazzoVec-chio,Florence. rucial o the ymbolismf thepaintingmust e thenodalobjectheldby a female iguren thecentral oreground.Thedentificationnd nterpreta-tionof this lass bject, asedon ancient nd contemporaryources n dreams, otonly lluminateshe llegorical eaning fthepaintingnd tsfunctionn the tudi-olo,but lsoprovidesvidence fthepersonalnvolvementf Medicipatron hosepursuitsnthe rts nd ciencesrerevelatoryfthe onsciousnessf nera.

GIOVAMBATTISTAALDINI'S LEGANT,YSTERIOUS PAINTINGnown asTheAllegoryfDreamsfig.1) was commissioned s one ofthirty-fouranels datingfrom 571 to1574 thatdecoratethe private tudiolo of Francesco de' Medici (1541-1587) inthePalazzoVecchio, Florence fig. ).The panel byNaldini (1537-1591) seems tohaveheld personal ignificance or he secretive rince.1Nevertheless, he ntrica-cies of itsunique iconographyhave neverbeen fully xplicated, nd it is thepur-pose here to propose a new interpretation f the paintingand its significancewithin hestudiolo.The paintingsof the studiolo concealed cabinets containing the dilettanteprince's ollections fpreciousgems and artifacts.Whatittle s known of theorig-inal programforthe exquisite room,devisedby the humanist cholarVincenzoBorghini, omes in a seriesof etters o GiorgioVasari, who was commissioned o

1Ovalpanel, 51 cmx89 cm. t s signed Batista aldini" n thedarkenedtep efore heportaldepictedn the eft ackground.ee ScottJaychaefer,he tudiolof rancescode'Medicinthe alazzoVecchion FlorencePh.D. diss., rynMawr College,1976),384-386. On Naldini's areer,ee AdolfoVenturi,toria ell'artetalianaMilan:UlricoHoepli,1932),vol.9,pt.5, pp.252-268;PaolaBarocchi,"Itinerarioi Giovambattistaaldini,"Artentica Moderna1-32 July-December965):244-288;andS-1Jreedberg,aintingn taly, 500-1600 Baltimore:enguin ooks, 970),422-423.SeeKarlFrey,er iterarischeachlass iorgioasarisMunich:GeorgMUller, 930), :886-888.The room, ariouslyalled tudiolo,tanzino,r scrittoion documents, as plannedn 1568 and carvedoutof space reated ythe earrangementf he taircaseo theSaladeiCinquecento,uilt ixty earsbefore;eeSchaefer,Europe ndBeyond: n Some Paintingsor rancesco'studiolo,"nGianCarloGarfagnini,d.,Firenze la Toscana eiMedici ell'Europael 500, 3 vols. Florence: lschki, 983),3:926;927,nn.8,9; 928.The general orm f the tudiolomusthavebeen almost ompleted y Sep-tember 7, 1569,but constructionontinued n and offuntilMarch7, 1573; Schaefer ranslatesBorghini'setter fAugust0, 1570, tatinghat he oom wasto serve s a cabinet or arendpreciousthings aving o do with othNature ndArt, achaiding heother oproduce omethingeyond hecapabilityf eitherlone." ee Schaefer,tudiolo,ppendix , p. 597,for list fobjectsmentionedyBorghinindVasarin their orrespondence,ncludingewels,medals, lass,medicines, echanical ad-gets,obeplacednthe oom'sndividualabinets.679


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680 SixteenthenturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)

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Fig.1.GiovambanistaaldiniAlkegoryfLDreamslorence,alazzoVecchio, he tudiolo.(Photo:GabmeneoDFotograficoela SoprintendenzaeniArtistici Storici iFirenze,sedbypermission)

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Naldini's Allgry ofDreams" n Francesco's Studiolo 681

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682 Sixteenth enturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)decorate t.Borghini discusses generaltheme nvolving heaffinitynd conjunc-tionof theartsof man and theproductsof naturebut describesonly the decora-tions of the ceiling.The panel paintingsrange fromdepictions of the prince atwork in his various laboratories to mythological hemes.3The latterhave beeninterpreteds allegories fmetamorphosis elating o man'spower to transformheraw materials f nature nto art, cience, and technology.Man, located betweenspirit ndmatter,can shape materials o his own purposes, mitating he functionof God, and imposingbeauty and formon the ower ordersof Creation." In thecentral anel of theceiling, rometheus, hown receiving he gifts f Nature, s thebenefactor romwhom deriveall aspectsofhuman civilization, very cience andevery rt.5The Prometheus ymbolultimatelys identifiablewith humangenius,andit s to this hatFrancesco's tudiolo s certainly edicated.Francesco awhim-self s participatingn thisglory.Fig. 2 shows the west wall, witha doorway eading to the prince'sbedroom,and a lunette n which we see the tondoportrait f theprince'smother, leanoraofToledo. His father, randDuke Cosimo I, is representedn the opposite wall,abovethedoor openingonto thegreathall of thepalace,with tsfrescoes onoringthe political achievements f the grand duke.6The reportedlymelancholy rinceshowed much less interestn the affairs f state nd withdrew ntohis researchesand collections.7He spentmuchof his timedabblingn theactivities f thevarious

3Michael inehart,A Document or heStudiolo fFrancesco," nArt, he peofNature:tud-ies nHonor fH.W.Janson,d.Moshe Barasch,Patriciagan, ndLucyFreemanandlerNewYork: .N.Abrams,981), 76.The room nd tsdecorations,hichncluded ight ronze igures,egan obedismantleds early s 1586, yearbefore he prince's eath; ee Rinehart,Document," 75,n. 5.Schaefer,tudiolo,9, rgues hat rancesco'sransferfhis ollectionothe ribunaftheUffizimarksthe rigin f heUffizis a museum.ased on theBorghini-Vasariorrespondenceetween ugust 9and October , 1570,Giovanni oggiwas able to dentifyheroom nd reconstitutetsdecorationsn1908.For diagram f tspresenteconstruction,ith achwalldedicated o one ofthe our lements:earthn thewest,iron the ast,he ongwalls fwaternthe outh,ndfire nthenorth,eeWalterVitzthum,o StudioloiFrancescoFirenzeMilan: ratelliabri, 965), ; andLucianoBerti,I Principedello tudioloFlorence: ditrice dam,1967), 4.4The quotations from discussionf theRenaissance iew of humankind;ee Herschel aker,The mage fMan NewYork: arper orchbooks,961), 46.5For his resco y FrancescoMorandini,alled l Poppi, urroundedy other anels epictingallegorical iguresf theelementsndembracingutti ignifyingheir onjunction,ee MarioBucci,Lo StudioloiFrancesco(Florence:adeaEditori, 965),pl. 36. See also Schaefer,tudiolo,10-215.The Promethean yth ealswith he ransformationfnature.ee Aeschylus,rometheusound,:436-506,discussednOlga Raggio,TheMyth fPrometheus,"Journalf heWarburgndCourtauldnstitutes21 (1958):44-62.Pompanazzi rote hat hedestinyf llphilosophersascomparableo thefate fPrometheus;heyllmust ufferor he ake ftheirnquiry;ee Raggio, Myth fPrometheus,"5.6For nextensiveibliographyn the conographyfthe ala Grande,ee Loren artridge,Tri-umphalism:ThealaGrande nFlorencendthe1565Entry,"nArtsf ower:Threealls f taten taly,1300-1600, d.Randolph tarnnd LorenPartridgeBerkeley: Californiaress, 992),175, .96.7Cosimo bdicatedn favor f his ononMay 1,1564, utretainedhetitle fduke. rancescoattained ull oweruponCosimo'sdeath n 1574; eeBerti,I Principe,78,andSchaefer,tudiolo,.Contemporaryeports ftheprince'smelancholynclude hat ftheVenetianmbassadorriuli n1566,when heprincewas twenty-five;ee Gaetano ieraccini,a Stirpe e'Medici i Cafaggiolo,ol.2,pt.1 (Florence:Vallechi,925), 128,144. G. E. Saltini,LEducazione del PrincipeFrancesco e'Medici," rchiviotoricotaliano,er. , 11 (1883): 53, attributesrancesco's isposition,usterend dis-dainful,o hisSpanishmother. is "relativeackof nterestn [the oleofgoverning]ecame bviousimmediatelyndthe tudiolo,rancesco'small rivate mbientn themorepublicPalazzoVecchio,remainsisgreatestegacy" ccordingoSchaefer,Europe ndBeyond,"26.



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NaldiniP AllegoryfDreams" nFrancesco's Studiolo 683workshops hathe set up at the palace as well as at theCasino di SanMarco.A 1585codex byGiovanBattistaNardi recordsFrancesco's ecretsformakingporcelain,melting ockcrystal, orkingwith glass ndpietre ure, reparing namel, nd peel-ing pearls.8 he prince had botanical and zoological interests,nd various docu-ments attest to his alchemical experimentation. In the studiolo painting byGiovanniStradano, he prince s identifiable s thefigure t the owerright eceiv-ing instructionn laboratory rocedures fig.3).9 The representationf alchemywithinthe studiolo s fully onsistentwitha programdedicated to expressinghecorrespondences, ympathies,nd conjunctionswithina living and animate uni-verse, macrocosmwhose affinitivearts an be understood, ontrolled,nd trans-formed through the intervention f humans. Natural magic and alchemy playunmistakableoles n thestudiolo, nd Francesco'sparticipationspartofa Medicipattern.10Naldini'sdark and enigmaticpainting eems anomalous in itscontext, eingneither n illustration f a specific egend nora technical ctivity.n a style erivedfrom hesculpturalmode of Michelangeloand the fantasticmagery fPontormo,

8Schaefer,tudiolo,90.TheVenetianmbassador ussoni n 1576 citedFrancesco'studies fmathematics,osmography,nd suoi segreti aturaliabbrica distilla eleni"; ee Pieraccini,a Stirpede'Medici,27.For discussionsf Francesco'scientificctivities,eeG.Targioni-Tozzetti,otizieullastoria ella cienzefisichenToscanaFlorence,852), 35-258; Berti,I Principe,51-159; ndSchaefer,Studiolo,86-196.9For hepanel, igned Ioanes Stratensislandrus,570," ee Schaefer,tudiolo,14-418, andBerti,I Principe,8. For a descriptionftheoperationsepicted,ee MaurilioAdriano,ArtiagicheelRinascimentoFirenzeFlorence: onechi, 981): 102-108.Targioni-Tozzetti,otizie, 55, cites wounpublishedlchemicalmanuscriptsedicated oFrancescon theBibliotecaNazionale, lorence.n1594,FynesMoryson aw many bjects romheprince's tudiolo ollection,ncludinga nailehalfeturnedntogoldbyTornesernAlchemist";eeSchaefer,Europe ndBeyond," 28,n. 12.Francesco'sprofoundnterestn thepractice f lchemysshown y letterrom arma ated pril 0, 1575, romtheRiminese rotherraPacifico, hich ummarizesheresultsf "tentativoitransmutazionenellarte rande)"nda request or hefinancingf nalchemicallibrodi moltamportanza";eeGarfag-nini, irenzela ToscanaeiMedici,: 396.10The ibliographyf alchemicalourceshat ppearsnGiovanni attista azari, ellaTramu-tazione etallicaogni re Brescia, 564),ncludes work yCosmusde'Medici; eereprintfthe1599editionMilan:Arche, 967),137.Lynn horndike, HistoryfMagic ndExperimentalcienceNewYork: olumbiaUP, 1941),4:347,referso a fraudulentalchemicalpistle" scribed oCosimode'Mediciwritteno Pope Pius I; Gabriel lumenthal,"Thecience ftheMagi:TheOldSacristyfSanLorenzo nd theMedici," ource (Fall1986): 1-11, projects osimothepatriarchs alchemistndmagus. here s a representationfalchemistsn the vaultof theSala di Cosimo lVecchio n thePalazzoVecchio.Theoint s thatVasariells heyoung rince rancesco hatike hework f strolo-gers, oets, ndgeometricians,hese artshavebeenfavored,dopted,ndrewardedyCosimo de'Medici"; eeJerryee Draper, asari'secorationn the alazzoVecchio:heRagionamentiPh.D.diss.,NorthCarolina tChapel Hill;AnnArbor: niversity icrofilms,973),226,pl.80.The alchemicalpoemChrisopoeiaeyGiovanni urellio ugurelloVenice, 515)wasdedicatedotheMediciPopeLeoX;seeGarfagnini,irenze la ToscanaeiMedici,:399.Forthe nterestsfFrancesco'sather osimo nalchemyndmagic, ee ibid., 24. Montaigne aid ofFrancesco,il estprince oingneusnpeu del'archemie";ee Francesco andolfo, Dolce empo: istica,rmetismoSogno elCinquecentoRome:BulzoniEditore, 978),285, n.28. GiulioLensiOrlandi, 'Arte egreta:osimo Francescoe' MediciAlchimistiFlorence: ardini, 978), nterpretsachand every spect ftheprogramfthe tudiolonalchemicalerms,nd he relatest tothedecorativerogramfthepalace s a whole, ut he pproachseems xcessivend he uthor'sources renotreferenced.s for herole fmagicnthe tudiolo,wopaintingseal xplicitlyith he heme: irolamo acchietti's edea ndAesonndStradano'sircendthe ompanionsfUlysses;ee Schaefer,tudiolo,42-344,409-411.



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684 SixeenthCenturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)

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Fig.3. Giovanni tradano.heAlchemyAboratoryfFrancescoFILoence,alazzoVecchio,the tudiolo.Photo:GabinettootograficoellaSoprintendenzaeniArdstici Storici iFirenze,sedbypermission)



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Naldini' "AllegoryfDreams" nFrancesco's Studiolo 685Naldini depicts lumbering igures urrounded y hallucinatoryorms nd spectres.While scholarshavediscussed heprince's cientific nterestsnd theencyclopedicworldview f the period,which ed to the formation f prototypical atural istorymuseums,11Naldini'spainting emains oo obscureto be fit omfortablynto thegeneral ssumptionsbout the purposesofthe room.Luciano Bertiwas thefirst o recognizethat he nclusionof a panelof anAlle-gory fDreamsn thestudioloborea particularlyersonalmeaningfor heprince,12since we know thatFrancescohimselfdesigned a masquerade on the theme of"The TriumphofDreams" held on February2, 1566, forthe celebrationofhismarriage o the daughter fthe Holy Roman Emperor,GiovannaofAustria. heiconographyof thiscavalcadewas described in detailby Giambattista ini andincluded n the 1568 editionofVasari's ives.13n additionto severaldirect epre-sentations f the princein the studiolo,Naldini's paintingcan be viewed as evi-dence of Francesco's personal involvement n the program, s a patronwhosepursuitsn the arts nd sciences re revelatoryftheconsciousness f an era.As forNaldini himselfVasari ellsus thatthe artist, ho as a childhad been adoptedbythe painter ontormo,was closely ssociatedwiththe conographer onVincenzoBorghini, nd had workedon the decorations fthemarriage estivities.14In II Riposo (1584), Raffaelo Borghini cites two paintingsby Naldini forFrancesco's scrittoio," ne representinghe gathering f ambergrisnd the otherreferred o as "il sonno co' sogni attorno."15 The iconographyrelates to theinvenzioneorthecavalcadeof dreams,ncludingvarious figures,he setting f theHouse of Sleep, and the twinportalsofSleep describedbyHomer andVirgil-allelements hat re brought ogethern one passageofVincenzoCartari'smytholog-

1'See OlivermpeyndArthur acGregor,ds., heOriginsfMuseums:heCabinet uriositiesnSixteenthnd eventeenthenturyuropeOxford: larendon,985).12Berti,I Principe,8,66-67.13Giambattistaini,"Descrizionedell'apparato..,"in GiorgioVasari, e Opere,d. GaetanoMilanesiFlorence:ansoni ditore,878-1885), :517-617; ee 580-586for Del Trionfo e'Sogni."See alsoAloisM. Nagler, heatreestivalsf heMediciNew Haven:YaleUP, 1964),13-24, ndMarcoDezzi Bardeschi,d., Lo StanzinoelPrincipen PalazzoVecchio:concetti,e mmagini,l desiderioFlo-rence:TA,PalazzoVecchio,980),10-15.14Vasari,e Opere,: 288-289,7: 610-11,8: 620.Vasarinformss that ollowingontormo'sdeath, aldini tudiednRome,returningoassist asarinhis decorationsfthePalazzoVecchio. orevidenceupportingVasari'seferenceso Naldini's riendshipith onVincenzoBorghini,ndthe at-ter's ole n thepainter'sducation,eeAlessandroecchi, Borghini,Vasari,aldini la"Giuditta' el1564," aragone8 January,977):101-107,andZygmuntWazbinski,GiorgioVasari VincenzoBorghiniomemaestriccademici:l caso diG.B. Naldini,"n Giorgioasarira ecorazionembientalestoriografiartistica,d.GianCarloGarfagniniFlorence: lschki, 985), 85-299.1Raffaelo orghini,I Riposo 1584;reprinted,ildesheim: eorgOlms,1969),614. Schaefer,Studiolo,81,describes aldini's ther aintings showingheguttingfa whale n thebackground,withmbergriseing resentedna tray o a seatedmperorn the oreground,urmiseshat he hememay ealwith heprince'snterestnperfumes,utcannotocate source or he conography.ee alsoFreedberg,aintingn taly,ig. 73. Rinehart,A Document," 79,basedon the discoveryfa newdocumentn thehand fVincenzoorghini,rgueshat he erm studiolo"eferso a cabinet,ottheroom sa whole,which s usually eferredo in documentss "stanzino"r "scrittoio,"nd that hepresenteconstructionf theroom nd tspaintingss incorrectnddoesnot take nto ccount heplacementf thecabinet.he sheet fnotes y BorghiniArchivio i Stato, irenze,artetrozziane,primaerie,33, ol. 39)provideshefirstvidence fBorghini'slanfor heplacementfthepaint



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686 SixteenthenturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)ical handbook of 1556.16Virgil Aeneid :893-899) writesof "two Gatesof Sleep,theone ofhorn, hroughwhich genuine dreams' asilymake theirway, he otherofglisteningvory, romwhich falsedreams' o forth."'17Renaissance dreamtheoryderiveswith ittlemodification rom ncient andmedievalwritings; et handbooks of dream nterpretationroliferatedn the six-teenth entury,18 uch as they do on theNew Age shelvesof today's ookstores.A major texton dreams,Girolamo Cardano's Somnium ynesiorumBasel,1562), isparticularlyelevant orus because the writings f Cardano on naturalmagic are nkeepingwiththe concepts associate withthe studiolo.As Eugenio Garinwrites,"Magic is a practical ctivitywhich aimsat the transformationf naturebyinter-feringwith the laws of naturethrough echnicalknowledge of how they oper-ate.''"9 he bulkofCardano's book is not so much about dreams ut aboutthe awsof sympathyhatbind the world together, ased on the principle of similitudewithin nature's lements.Dreams are a phenomenonof nature, pen to inquiry,and divination hrough reams s seen as a natural artof a divine and harmonious

ingson thewalls.Whilenot referringo either ainting y Naldini, orghini ssociates our airs fpaintingsy other tudiolortists-whichikeNaldini's air onsist f n oval nd a rectangularaint-ing-to particular alls elated o thefour lements. inehart,A Document," 82 and n. 39, nfersthat he two panels yNaldini houldbe placed together erticallyn the wall dedicated o waterthemes,nd inks he heme f leepto that f mbergris,valued ormedicinal urposesnantiquity,"byway f "passagenPlinyn which nhalationsf he ennetf whale rerecommendeds a remedyagainstethargy."fthe wopaintingsy Naldiniwere ndeed xecuted ogether,henwe can date heAllegoryfDreamso 1571, ince letter rom orghini oVasari n April , 1571,notes hat hepanelof"laRaccoltadell'ambra"adbeendelivered;ee Frey, er iterarischeachlass,: 578. Foryet notherreconstructionfthe tudiolo aintings, odifyinghat fRinehart,ee PhilippeMorel, Le Studiolode Francesco de'Medici t '6xonomie ymboliqueupouvoir u PalazzoVecchio'"n Symbolese aRenaissance,d vol. Paris: resses e l'Ecolenormale uperieure,982),185-205, ig.16Vincenzoartari,e Imagini egli ei degl'antichi,irstppearednVenice, 556; eefirstllus-trated dition Venice, 571; reprint, ewYork: Garland ublishing,976), 330-334. Cartari itesOvid,Hesiod,Homer,Virgil,ndMacrobius monghis conographicources.Jeaneznec, heSurvivalof he aganGodsNewYork: antheon, 953), 82,writeshat heresno doubt hat artari's anualinfluencedorghini'srogramor rancesco'sMascherata,"utR. A. Scorza, Vincenzo orghinindInvenzione:Thelorentinepparatof 1565,"Journalf heWarburgndCourtauldnstitutes4 (1981):58,argues hat heresno evidence hatBorghinimade use of Cartari, rthathe was nvolved ith hedesign ftheFebruaryMascherata."17ErnesteslieHighbarger,The Gatesof Dreams:An Archaeological xamination fVergil,AeneidVI,93-899," heJohnsopkins niversitytudiesnArchaeology0 (1940):1.SeealsoTheOdysseyofHomer,rans. . H. Butchernd A. Lang (NewYork: ranklin atts, 969),316.ForRenaissancecommentariesn Homer ndVirgil,eeDon CameronAllen,Mysteriouslyeant: heRediscoveryfPagan ymbolismndAllegoricalnterpretationntheRenaissanceBaltimore:ohnsHopkinsUP, 1970).Cristoforoandino's amaldulensianialogues,ublishedn 1480,provides FlorentineeoplatonicexpositionftheAeneid,nwhichLandinonterpretsirgil'sreammageryhrougherviusnd othersources;ee MichaelMurrin,heAllegoricalpic Chicago: ChicagoPress, 980), 7-42.18For multitudef ixteenth-centuryublicationsndmanuscriptsfthe o-called ream ookofDaniel, eeThorndike,istoryfMagic, :475-476,478;suchcompilations eremodeledon theOneirocritonfArtemidorusca.A.D. 140), Greek dition fwhichwaspublishednfive olumes ytheAldine resstVenicen1518.A major heoretical orkwasAuger errier,iber eSomniisLyon,1549);Ferrier asphysicianoCatherine e'Medici.19Eugenio arin, ciencendCivicLife nthe talian enaissance,rans. eterMunz (NewYork:Doubleday, 969),146.



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Naldini's AllegoryfDreams" nFrancesco's Studiolo 687order.20 hus, forFrancesco Gandolfo, hesubject of dreams s appropriate o thestudiolo program n its nvestigation f the productsof nature, nd he speculatesthatcertaingems,recommendedby Cardano for creating onditionsfavorable o"true" dreams,were kept n the cabinethidden by Naldini'spainting.21Cardano paystributen the titleof his book to the dreamtheory f Synesius,whose Neoplatonic essayhad been translated y Ficino. For Synesius, he mmate-rial magination n the dream tate omes closest o the pure Being; through reamswe have a pledge of divinity.n dreamswe enter nto a relationship ith thegods,who counsel us. Also in dreams hreatening lots are revealed nd efficacious em-edies for llnesses re discovered.22 he latter wopointsweresurely f nterest o atroubled rince who dabbled n medicines.Another Greek Neoplatonist translated by Ficino, Iamblichus (ca. 250-ca.325),had much to sayabout divinationn dreams.amblichusdividedthedreamexperience nto "human" and "divine"categories, hefirstnducedby perceptionsand dailyconcerns, he second by the iberation fthesoul from he sleepingbodyfor the purpose of divine instruction.23Clearly there is a need to distinguishbetween the trivial nd the nspired ream.AsAlice Browneputs t, the belief hatdreams renonsense eemsalways o have coexistedwiththe belief hat heymeansomething."24Medieval theologianshad to facethisproblem and take ntoaccountthat heBible indeed providedmodels of dreams hatwere propheticor God-sent.WalterClyde Curry notes that herewas agreement ather han controversymong phi-losophers, strologers, edical men, and theologiansregarding he existencebothof the somnium aturalewhichwas meaningless) nd the somniumoelestedivinelyinspired). sAverroeshad asserted:

To those men who deny the significance f the dreamand maintain hatit comes merelyby chance, would saythatperhaps t is sent fora pur-pose; all dreamsseem to be fallaciousonly because these ignoramusescannotdistinguishetweenthe false nd the true.2520SeeAlice LaviniaBrowne, Sixteenth entury eliefsnDreamswith pecialReference oGirolamo ardano's omniumynesiorumibri' (master'shesis, London, 971), 3;andGandolfo,IIDolce empo,79-283.21Gandolfo,Dolce empo,84-287.22SeeManfred eidhorn, reamsnSeventeenthenturynglishiteratureThe Hague:Mouton,1970),20-21;MurrayWrightundy, heTheoryf maginationn ClassicalndMedievalhoughtUrbana:U Illinois ress, 927),150; and De Insomniis"nTheEssays ndHymnsf ynesiusfCyrene,rans.Augustineitzgerald,vols. London:Oxford P, 1930), :331,346.23Steven . Fischer,heDreamntheMiddle ighGermanpic Bern: eter ang, 978),19. SeeIamblichusfChalcis, n theMysteries,d. Stephen onan Tunbridge ells: hthonius ooks, 989).ForFicino's xtensivese of amblichus,ee MichaelJ.B.Allen, hePlatonismfMarsilioicinoBerke-ley:U Californiaress, 984).24Browne,Sixteenthenturyeliefs,"4.25This tatementyAverroes asquoted yPetrus eAbano; eeWalter lydeCurry, haucerndtheMedievalciencesNewYork: xford P, 1926), 08.Petrus eAbanomakes he lassificationf om-nium aturale,riginatingromodily omplexionsndhumors,omniumnimale,pringingrom nxi-ety nd perturbationf thewakingmind,nd somniumoeleste;ee ibid., 07. For Ficino's amiliaritywith etrus eAbano,ee hisfrequenteferenceso thewritern De vita;Marsilio icino, hree ooksonLife,rans.arolV. aske ndJohn . Clark Binghamton:UNY,1989).



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688 SixteenthenturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)Significant reams henare for hose predisposed o receivethem through hedevelopment f theirrational aculties. or Ficino, leep is understood s a formofvacatio, haracterizedby a blockage of the external enses, llowing the internal

senses to bettercontemplate nd communicatewith the divine.The capacityforrevelatory reams s reserved or few elect who, placating heir assions nd aban-doningtheir mbitions, evote their ives to the desirefor truth.26 rancesco de'Medici saw himself s such a qualified eeker n dreams.In his studiolo Francesco strove orunderstanding,orwhich thedream couldbe a powerful ool.The greatworkofalchemy,n some sources,depended on therevelatoryknowledge obtained in dreams.27A manuscript n the LaurentianLibrary n Florence providesprovocativemiscellaneousmaterial hat inks PrinceFrancesco to interests n astrology, lchemy, nd dreams.28That Borghini andFrancesco understood he dream s potentially ivine can be deduced fromCini'sdescription f thebanner that ed the 1566 cavalcade ofdreams, bannerbearinga griffonhalf ion and halfeagle) on a fieldof redpoppies,withthe explanatorydevice: "I am neither agle norlion,but I share n both, ust as sleephas itsdivineand itshumanaspects." 9The depictionof dreams mongthethemesrepresentedin the studiolo would indicate that Francesco conceived of a unity of naturalknowledge and received ruth.Ifwe peer into the darkness f thebackgroundofNaldini'spainting,we seescepter-brandishingacchantes eading forth utterfly-wingedutti,phantasms,and Boschlike fantasies rom othportals.AlthoughcottJay chaefer ays hat he

26Gandolfo,DokeTempo,7.27See the ftenitedmystical orks fZosimos,a.A.D. 300, he arliestlchemical riter hosepersonaldentitys known. isdescriptionsf lchemicalrocessesame n theform fdream evela-tions ent y God. See F. herwoodTaylor,"TheVisionsfZosimos,"Ambix(May1937):88-92;JohnM. Stillman, he Story fAlchemyndEarly hemistryNewYork:Dover,1960), 162-165; and C. G.Jung, khemicaltudies,rans. . F.C. Hall,Bollingen eries, 0 (Princeton:rinceton P, 1967),57-108. Nazari's1564 Della Tramutazioneepresentedhe lchemical pus n theform f an allegoricaldream arrativeseen. 10above).28Firenze,ibliotecaMedicea Laurenziana,luteo89, Sup.35, Ms. lat. t. ecc.14-17,cart. c 4:302,cm21.5x 14.5, c 8v-10r, onsistsf everal andwrittenages,ncluding horoscope xecutedfor heprince ythe strologeriovan attista uididaCerreto,atedMarch 1, 1568; notherttheprince's equestor he nuovoPrincipe 'Hispagna" ated ebruary, 1571; Latin ext itledTesti-moniumSalamonis"; fifteenth-centuryersionn Italian f the keyof dreams ttributedo theprophet aniel,which ists nterpretationsfvarious ream mages i.e., aquila-significaene"; lettobellissimoarere:i avere amoglia edelissima,"ponti edere-sicurta");n inserted ngravingfthealchemical,riple-headed ercuryn the ct ofkilling rgus, epicteds a dragon iting tsowntail,whichhasbeen een s close ngraphictyleo that fFrancesco'slose ssociate,ernardo uontalenti;a drawing f HermesTrismegistus;nd six watercolorshat ppear o be allegorical epictions falchemicalperations.hesepieceshavebeen seen as evidence f a "hermeticulture"urroundingFrancesco.ee Gandolfo,l Dolce empo,84-286,n. 28; figs. 3, 44; and Garfagnini,irenze la ToscanadeiMedici, : cat.3.7.24.Forthe mportancefastrologicalymbolismn the tudiolo,uch s in theimagery fthe unettes,nd nFrancesco'smpresen the eiling,eeJanet ox-Rearick, ynastyndDestinyn Medici rt Princeton:rinceton P,1984),283-291.AlbertusMagnus thoughthat heinterpretationf dreamswas thekey o astrologicalnfluence;eeJames . Weisheipl, lbertus agnusand he ciencesToronto:ontificalnstitutefMedieval tudies, 980),182.29Nagler,heatreestivalsf heMedici,2. "Non soloaquila e questo non eone/ Ma l'uno el'altro: osi 1sonno ncora/ Et umana divina a condizione"; iorgio asari, e Vite e'piu ccelentipittore,culturearchitettori,d.AldoRossi Milan: dizioni er lClub de Libro, 966), :145.



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Naldini's AllegoryfDreams" n Francesco's Studiolo 689Gate of Ivory s to the left nd Gate of Horn on the right,30t is not possible todiscernwhich s which or to distinguish ifferencesnthe ephemeral reatures hoissue from hem.Naldini has left he situation urposely mbiguous. n the gloomof the centralbackground one perceives a plunging perspective, arrel-vaulted,withobscurelydecorated golden friezes nd capitals above a canopied bed withsleepingfigures. his evokes the cave of sleep describedby Ovid, whereJuno sentIris to coax the god of sleep to counterfeit dream Metamorphoses1:591-649).Here,where no sunlight vercomes but poppies bloom, the god slumbers n a bedwithan ebony frame, overed n black, urroundedby insubstantial reams.Ovidand Cartari lso cite thepresenceofMorpheus, celos or Phobetor, nd Phantaso.The "Casa del Sonno" had been represented y Taddeo Zuccaro in the Cameradell'Aurora f the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, a. 1565.31But who are the youthfulntroductory igures,major figuresnterplaying ithminorones,both infantile nd aged, posed by Naldini in complexrhythmseforehis maginative rchitecturaltage et?They twist nd pivotupon angled steps, uchasare found nthe foregroundsf several f the manneredpaintings fthestudiolo.Two naked puttiplay with and amid cut poppy pods. (Schaefer urmises hattheprince kept opium-based sleep-inducingdrugs n the cabinet closed by Naldini'soval panel.)32 One putto turnsand cocks his head behind his shoulder, s if inparodyoftheposturing fthetall, eminudebeautyatthe center fthegroup.Herindirect aze from ehind a shoulder vokes an elusivepose thatNaldini has fluidlyadaptedfrom favoritemotif fhis master, ontormo.33 he reclining ontrappostoofthe counterbalanced eclining igures,male and female, onjurethe famed sar-cophagus llegoriesof Michelangelo'sMedici Tombs at San Lorenzo (1519-1534),

30Schaefer,tudiolo,85. feelustifiedn referringo thefemale iguress "bacchantes,"otonlybecause f their emeanor utbecause f thereferenceo Bacchus n the 1566cavalcade f dreams,wherehe is depicted n "il grandissimoarro"withthe.nscription:Bacco del Sonno sei tu veropadre";Vasari,e Opere,:584.31The conographicchemewasdevised yAnnibalCaro, nd ncluded nVasari, e Opere, :115-129.Edmund illsbury,Jacopo ucchi:His Life ndWorks" Ph.D. diss., ourtauld nstitutefArt, 973), 9, notes hat he chemewas adopted or n invenzioneor bedforCosimo , ca. 1567,byJacopo ucchi, ne of thepaintersn the tudiolo. ee Gandolfo,i DokeTempo,99-235, nd fig.45 for ucchi's rawingfa cavelikeCasa delSonno" Leipzig:Graphischeammilung,useumderBildenden iinst); lso ClareRobertson,Annibal aro as Iconographer:ourcesndMethod,"Journalof heWarburgndCourtauldnstitutes5 (1982):161.Formore n the onventionsfdream epresenta-tion n theRenaissanceeeMarianne ehnpfennig,'Traum'und Vision' nDarstellunges16. und17.Jahrhunderts"Ph.D. diss., berhard arlsUniversitat,ubingen, 979);and Patricia mison,"Asleepn the Grass fArcady: iulioCampagnolo's reamer," enaissanceuarterly5 (Summer,1992): 71-292.32Schaefer,tudiolo,86.33See, .g., heover-the-shouldertare f female igureromontormo'srescofVertumnusndPomona,520-1521,VillaMedici,Poggio Caiano; see Frederick artt, istoryf talian enaissanceArt, d ed. NewYork:HarryN. Abrams,987), ig. 95.Janet ox-Rearick, le DrawingsfPontormo2 vofs.NewYork:HackerArtBooks,1981),1:5,believes hatNaldini, s Pontormo'snlypupil, adaccess o themaster'srawingsfdiverseeriods.Thereremany ontormo rawingsf imilarosesintheUffizi ollection;ee, .g.,Florence,ffizi, abinetto isegni Stampenv. os.6601FV, 615F,6616FV,673F, 714F. wo drawingsntheGabinetto y Naldini inv. os.671 E, 6450 E) areassoci-atedwith heAllegoryfDreams.ee Scott chaefer,The Studiolo fFrancesco de' Medici:A Check-list ftheKnownDrawings," asterrawings0 (Summer 982):128.



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690 SixteenthenturyJournal XVII /3 (1996)which were certainly tudied by Naldini. 3 Schaefer dentifiesMorpheus andPhantasoamong the foreground igures, ith Diana on the right.35Giulio LensiOrlandi labels this eaning figure, mplifiedwith rosy drapery,s Selene, and hermale counterpart s Endymion.Like Schaefer, e leaves the central igure niden-tified.36 andolfo s moreconvincingwith his nterpretationf the trio as Day asthemale figure n the left, awn in the center, nd Night as the woman on theright.37 he last contrappostoigure s associatedwith the same symbols-the owl,themask, nd thepoppies-that are found as attributes f Michelangelo'smoretormented emalefigure f La Notte rom he Medici Tombs,who also wears thecrescent orns of the moon in herhair.And, ike thefigure fNightdescribed nthe 1566 cavalcadeof dreams, he leans on a badger,making pillow of thisnoc-turnal nimal.The prominencegivento Dawn (Aurora)also is consistentwith awagon described n thecavalcade;thecave ofsleepwas surmounted ythe beau-teousfigure fDawn, herblonde hair dewy and moist,ust as Naldiniportrayshisfigure.38Prominently isplayed gainst niche in thestepbeneath thefigure fNightis a mask.The motif f the maskhad found ts ssociationwiththethemeof Night,as seen mostrelevantlyn the sculptureby Michelangelo and as an attribute fNight nVasari's rogram ffrescoesn thenearby ala degliElementi.39Naldini'smask bears a resemblance o the hawk-nosed, cowling maskin the Exposure fLuxury, ainted n the 1540s byBronzino, masterwith whom Naldini was wellacquainted. n Bronzino'swork the maskhas been regarded, ecause of its natureas a disguise,s a fiction,o be symbolic fDeceit or Fraud.Theduality f all sym-bols, however,s demonstratedythe fact hat he removal fa mask, s here, ym-

34SeeHartt, istory,igs. 69-570.Themotif f figureooking ackover ts houlders a strongone here s well.Wazbinski,GiorgioVasari,"90, ites everal rawingsyNaldini opiedfrom iguresin theMedici chapel. he maletorsowithhanging rm, o the eft f the tudiolo anel,may lso beindebted o Pontormo's ead Christ n theEntombment,ta.Feliciti, lorence,r even o Pontormo'ssource,Michelangelo'sietd,aintPeter's, ome,whichNaldiniwouldhaveknown rom isRomansojourn;eeHartt, istory,l.78 andfig. 72.35Schaefer,tudiolo,85.36Lensi rlandi, 'Arte egreta,51-154.37Gandolfo,Dolce empo,76.38"Manella ommitAella pelonca redettai vedeva a bianca, bella, lucidaAlbaj on a bion-dissimahioma uttaugiadosa molle; ssendo ' pie della peloncamedesima on untasso,heguan-cial e faceva,oscuraNotte, a quale percioch6 e' veraci ognimadre tenuta.. ";Vasari, e Opere,:584. As for heuncomfortableadger, eanChevalier nd Alain Gheerbrant,izionario ei imboli(Milan:Rizzoli,1986), :454, efero"il tasso" s "pigro, iffidentesolitario,mblema el sonno."39In heRagionamenti8:24),Vasarindyoung rancesco iscuss he eiling aintingsy l Docenoin this oom n the PalazzoVecchiodepicting ay, male figure,nd Night, female hownwithattributesfa lamp, wls,bats, imepieces nd masks. You certainlyeft utnothing octurnal,"remarksheprince; ee Draper, asari'secoration,03. For discussionfthe omplexityfmask co-nography,ee MosheBarasch,Masks nRenaissance rt," cripta ierosolymitana9 (1967):75-87.JohnT. aoletti,Michelangelo's asks,"Artulletin4 (September992):423-440, lsonotes he lu-sivenessfmaskymbolism.Thisrticles a goodsource or hemasksepresentedn theMedici hapel,inMichelangelo'srawing,heDreamLondon, ourtauldnstitute)ndVasari'sorenzoheMagnificent(Florence, ffizi).



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Naldini' "AllegoryfDreams" n Francesco's Studiolo 691bolizes the revelation ftruth.40 he foreground isplay f the mask n thispanel,therefore,eems appropriate o a paintingwhose subject shall nterpret s the dis-cernment f truth romdeception.

Naldini'sforeground igures anbe read as a kindofchoreography ortrayingthe adventof Dawn; the male figureof Day seems to be awakeningas La Notteretreats eforeher. Naked, progressivelyged women are linked to Night, and agrizzledmale head is uxtaposed to Day,thus uggesting he relentless yclesof timereminiscentf the allegoriesof the Medici chapel.Yet believe that he key to Nal-dini'smeaning residesnot withthese elementsof derivative conographyrepre-sentedbythesubsidiary igures, ut rathern the centralityfAurora's ole.With ethereal, vasivegrace, he saffron-clad urora holds beforehera largeoval object,which not onlyrepeats he shape of Naldini's panel but becomes theverynode of the composition.Naldini seems to have designedAurora's ose so thatthe perfect urve of her back resounds and completes the oval of this form. hisobject mustbe crucial to thepainting's conography.t resembles he oval mirrorsoften een in Renaissance paintings. chaefercalls t a mirror. ensi Orlandi alsoidentifiesheobject as a mirror nd links t tomysticnd hermetic onceptsofthemirror s revelation f deeper realitiesn dreams. 1 In therecent taliancatalogueof mirrormagery,dited by Umberto Eco, the mirrors presented s theperfectsymbol fdreams,withNaldini's studiolopainting itedas an example.42If one pursues the allegorical possibilitiesof mirrors nd dreams,definite

40SeeBarasch, Masks," 3-84. For Bronzino's ainting,ondon,NationalGallery,ee Hartt,History,l.102. ris Cheney,Bronzino's ondonAllegory:Venus,upid,VirtuendTime," ource(Winter 987): 12, ndJohn .Moffitt,A HiddenSphinx yAgnoloBronzino,"enaissanceuarterly46 (Summer 993):280, nterpet ronzino'smasks s symbols f deceptionnd duplicitousness,hileJ.F.Conway,SyphilisndBronzino's ondonAllegory,"Journalf heWarburgndCourtauldnstitutes9(1986): 255, calls hem masks f vice." he concepts f fraud nd vice makethemask symbol fNight, ecausenight rovides cover or ice and engendersraude.g.,Hesiod, heogony,erse 23);see GuyDe Tervarent,Attributst ymbolesans 'art rofane450-1600 Geneva: roz,1958), 62.Ripausesmasks s attributesf"Bugia,"Fraude,"nd Inganno" ut lsoofDeath; ee Barasch,Masks"ndPaoletti,Michelangelo's asks," 40. EdgarWind,PaganMysteriesn theRenaissanceNewYork:WW,Norton, 968),165, ssociateshemaskwithdeath hroughheLatinwordformask, larva."n thisregard,hechildren f Night re Sleep and Death (Hesiod,Theogony11-212,758-759), nd High-barger,The Gatesof Dreams," elates he Gatesof Horn and vory eographicallyo the GatesofHades ndthemes f ife nd death.41Lensi rlandi, 'Arte egreta,54-155. See Schaefer,tudiolo,85. For llustrationsf mirrorsoval nshape epictednRenaissancert ee G.E Hartlaub,auber es piegels:eschichtendBedeutungdes piegelsnder unstMunich: iperVerlag,951), ncludingn ovalFlorentine irror,. 1520-1530,Rome,Bassanti ollectionfig. 2).Mirrorsredepictednotherontemporaryrescoesf hePalazzoVecchio,ncludingwo ntheroomof Ceres-Vasari xplainsne as a symbol f Prudence ndTem-perance,nd nother eldbyone ofthe hreeGraces s themirrorfWisdom;nothern theroom fJoves explainedssignifyinghePresent;nd,nthe oom fCosimo lVecchio rudenceooks ther-self n a mirror,sdoes ntelligencenanother resco;eeDraper, asari' ecoration,61-162, 66, 06,217.Also, n the eiling f thevestibule f theSala Dugento n allegoricalemale olds large valmirroreflectingheface f n old beardedman.42Umbertoco, ed.,Lo SpecchioilDoppio Torino: abbri, 987),173.Thiscataloguellustratesseveralarge valmirrorsnRenaissance rt. orother iscussionsfmirrorymbolismeeJurgis al-trusaitis,eMiroir:evelations,cience-fictiontfallaciesParis: lmayan, 978), nd BenjaminGoldberg,TheMirrorndMan Charlottesville:P ofVirginia,985).



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692 Sixteenth enturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)connections an be made.43Yet, for ll theirwealthof metaphorical ssociation,nno otherrepresentationsf the Renaissanceperiod do we findmirrors epicted nthe contextof a mythology f dreams. his gold-rimmed val,balanced so lightlyby thepivotingbeauty, s indeed something ike a mirror, ut it is not a mirror.Upon lengthy nspectionofthe darkpanel at the Palazzo Vecchio, have come torule out the mirror nterpretation.Thewelling bject maybe glass, ut t does notreflect he image of her who displays t,not her overlapping rm nor any part ofherbody which a painterwould depict n portraying mirrorheld at this angle.One sees instead the same slate gray floor of the ambient space beyond, andAurora'svaguelyrendered efthand,which mustbe read as glimpsed,ndpossiblydistorted, hrough he convexity f glass.The object is a lensrather han a mirror,and Gandolfo was correct n referringo it as such,thoughhis ustification iffersfrom hat dvanced below.44What kind of mprobablynormous ens is this? t isan allegoricalkindthatonlycould be displayedn such a mannerbyan allegoricalwoman.Of course,there s no precedentfor enses appearingin representationsfdreammythology.enses are altogether are n any representationeforethe sev-enteenth entury. aldini's conography s unique,but thenhis haunting cene isundeniably riginal nmany ways.The dreamtraditionallys described s a visualperception, s a vision.PindarandAeschylus efer o the eyeof thesoul,which is opened atnight, istinct romthecorporal ensations ftheday.45 lato also conceived of thesoul as like an eyeand spokeof"an eyeofthemind"or"innereye."LaterAlbertusMagnus,who hada keen interestn the role of the internal enses n dreams, imilarly poke of "ourinterior yes."46 Seeing" in dreams s a recurrentopos.For Cicero "it is when the

43Plato,imaeus,0-72, ssertshat mirrorlikeower,wellingn the iver, ives s the bilityndreams o reflectnour ower aturehe ruthsrrivedtby hehigher oul; eeDialoguesf lato,rans.B.JowettNewYork: harles cribner'sons, 899), :562-563. n Plato's iver-mirroree alsoBundy,Theoryf magination,1-52.The Neoplatonistynesiuspoke f the maginationn dreams s a pow-erful eflecting irror f mages rom hepast, f existinghings,nd of futurevents;ee EssaysndHymns,rans. itzgerald,50.44Gandolfo'snterpretations that t s somehow symbol f the concatenazioneterna egliopposti he e iltempo....La lentediviene osiuna orta istrumentoagico, ientitAoncava con-vessa nsieme he, ometale, ontienense stessa'unitAei contrari livello eometricocondensanquesta ua forma'ideaditrapassormonico ttraversouell'unico ramitehee iltempo mano"; eeGandolfo,Dolce empo,76-77.45SeeLensi Orlandi, 'Arte egreta,53. See Aeschylusumenides04-105: Look atmy carswith he nward ye that ees n the darknesshingsnseen y day";TheHouse fAtreus,rans. ohnLewin Minneapolis: Minnesota ress, 966), 3.46The imaginationnables s to form nimage efore ur nterior yes prae culisnterioribusfaceremaginem)";ee EdwardP.Mahoney, Sense, ntellectnd ImaginationnAlbert, homas andSiger,"nTheCambridgeistoryfLaterMedieval hilosophy,d.NormanKretzmann,nthony enny,andJanPinborg Cambridge: ambridgeUP, 1982),603. For Plato's oncepts ee Bundy, heoryfImagination,4, 50, 53; alsoAllen,PlatonismfMarsilioicino, 7. E. H. Gombrich, ymbolicmages:Studiesn the rt f heRenaissanceLondon: haidon ress, 972),147,notes hatnPlatonic hought,"seeing ecomes yvirtue f ts peed nd mmediacyfavoredymbolfhigher nowledge."elatedis thebasic enet f Gnosticism:thebelief hat rue nowledgegnosis)ouldbe attained nly hroughrevelationffordedy heDivineGod, n ecstaticxperience hich ame hroughhe yes f he oul";H.J. heppard,GnosticismndAlchemy,"Ambix,no.2 (December 957):91.



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Naldini' "AllegoryfDreams" nFrancesco's Studiolo 693body sleeps thatthe soul most clearly manifests ts divine nature, or when it isunfetterednd free t seesmany things hat are to come."47Avicenna 980-1037)maintained hatwhen we dreamour common senses re dead to theexternalworldwhile theimagination s stimulated o present mages to the mind as if theywerephysically resent.These magescan embody inspiration rom ome divinesource,depending on the state of the dreamer's soul, including for some whose virtusimaginativa as most powerful, hehighest ruth.48 orMaimonides (1135-1204),the imaginative acultyn dreams sees the thing as if t came fromwithout, ndperceives t as through he medium ofbodilysenses."49n dreams, orJohn fSal-isbury 1115-1180), the spirit ontemplates ruth, ot in intellectual erms, ut as"seenbytheeyesfuillynd in itsown true form."50 homasAquinas (1225-1274),discussing ivination, sserted hat n dreams divine revelations nd foresightffuture vents reperceived ll themore clearly."51 ardano also viewed dreamingas a formof perception,n which imagesof future vents, omehow already xis-tent, ike those of the past andpresent, loat bout,ready o be picked up by recep-tive ouls.Still, t is difficult,ardano asserted,o unravel clearmeaningfrom hetangled llogicalitiesof dreamexperience.52The problemforFrancesco and allhumanity s how to tell the good dream from he bad, the true from he false. ftruth s to be seen in dreams,tmustbe seen clearly.Macrobius is a vital source of dreamtheory, s well as Platonism,for theMiddle Ages and the Renaissance,and documents attest hatBorghiniwas wellversed n his writings.53n his Commentaryn theDreamofScipio,whichpreservesthe closing portionof Cicero's lost Republic,Macrobius came up with a fivefoldclassificationf dreamtypes,which werewidelyused andwhich ncludepropheticdreams nd insignificantightmares.n one type, alledthephantasmarvisum,hedreamermaginesthathe sees specters, ifferingromnatural reatures n size andshape,rushing t him,and hosts of vague,diversethings itherdelightful r dis-turbing.54his concept could well account for Naldini'sgallery f spectral rea-turesflying ut of themurkyportals.Macrobius also has much to sayabout thespecial experience ofprivileged dreamers, mong whom theprince of Florencecould include himself.He states hatScipio was grantedpropheticdreamsofhistriumph over Carthage because "he was learning the secrets of nature;for he

47Dino .Cervigni, ante's oetryfDreamsFlorence:eo S.Olschki, 986), 6.48Kathryn.Lynch, heHighMedievalream isionStanford:tanfordP,1988), 6,n.63.49Bundy,heoryf magination,14.50Lynch,ighMedievalream ision,5,n.60).51Cervigni,ante's oetryfDreams,5,n. 51.52SeeBrowne,Sixteenthentury eliefs, -10.53Anna aria estaverdeatteini,La Biblioteca rudita iDonVincenzoBorghini, irenzelaToscanaeiMedici,:627; Borghini'swn nventoryfhis ibrary,atable o1576, ists our olumes fMacrobiusin carta ecora egato n asse." or a long istofprinted ditions f Macrobius' ssay ndreams rom 472to1585, ncludingditionstVenicen 1472,1528, nd1565, eeMacrobius,om-mentarynthe reamf cipio,rans.Williamarris tahl NewYork: olumbiaUP, 1952),60-61.'4Macrobius,ommentary,k. 1,chap. , p. 89.



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694 Sixteenth enturyJournalXVII / 3 (1996)excelled as much in philosophy s in deeds of courage."55But most nterestingshis analysisof the twin portals of dreams takenfromHomer. Quoting from heCommentariesfPorphyry, acrobius wrote:

All truth s concealed. Nevertheless, he soul,when it is partially isen-gaged from odily functions uring leep, t timesgazes and at timespeersintently t the truth, ut does not apprehend t; and when it gazes it doesnot see with clear and direct ision, ut ratherwith a darkobstructing eilinterposed.... If,during leep, hisveil permits he vision of the attentivesoul to perceivethetruth,tis thought o be made ofhorn, henatureofwhich is such that,when thinned,tbecomes transparent.Whenhe veildulls the vision and preventstsreaching the truth,t is thoughtto bemade of ivory,hecompositionof which is so dense thatno matter owthina layerof tmaybe, t remains paque.56Thus, the gazing soul, n its search for true dreams, equires n aid to clearvision.This s thegrand enswhichNaldiniprovides t the center fhisallegory.tis entirely ppropriate hat he central igurewiththe ens be interpreteds Dawn,poisedbetweenwakeningDay and fleeingNight,because of thewidelyheldbeliefin the clarity, ignificance,nd validity f morning dreams. ince late antiquitythadbeen asserted hat hedivine sbestrevealed n dreams owardmorning,whenthemind s leastoppressedby humors nd in best condition.57Dante,who spokerepeatedly f"seeing" n dreams, cceptedthenotionof the "true dreams" ne hasnear morning.58The so-called Anonimo iorentinoomments on Dante: "But attimesat daybreak, ince the food has been digestedand the soul's power is notdirected owardman'sphysical ense, or hesoul is all gathered nd united n her-self, he at timesdreamstrue dreams and sees ahead ofherself lmostpropheti-cally."59 etrusdeAbano, n a medicalbook published nVenice n 1476,wrote thatthe somniumoeleste:... is never withoutsome significancewhich the celestial ntelligenceswish to impress pon the mind ofthe sleeper, nd even this atter s morecredible n themornings, ecause at that imethemind,being calm andunoppressed ythehumorsor depletions f the body, s in its fitteston-ditionto receivea clear mageofthe divine mpression.6055SeeMacrobius, ommentary,k. 1,chap. , pp.91-92; he also assertedhat dreamsoncerningthewelfaref the tate"re ignificantnlywhendreamed y militaryrcivil fficers,nd that thepurpose fthedream sto teach sthat he ouls fthosewhoserve he tatewell rereturnedo theheavens fter eath, nd these njoy verlastinglessedness."56Macrobius,ommentary,k. 1,chap. , pp.91-92.57SeeWeidhorn, reams,1-32, 68.For a discussionf theveracityf morning reamss citedby ncient uthors,ncluding orace,Ovid,Moschus, hilostratus,ndTertullian,ee Cervigni,ante'sPoetryfDreams,0,n.59.58Cervigni,ante's oetryfDreams,8,29. 59Ibid., 1.60Curry,haucerndtheMedievalciences,08; see also Browne,Sixteenth entury eliefs,"6.For similareasons,icino lsowrote fthe ncreasedapacityor evelatoryreams oward awn; eeGandolfo,I Dolce empo,7,n. 39.



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Naldini's AllegoryfDreams" n Francesco's Studiolo 695Dawn presents s with a clarifyingens.61

* * *

Lenses werewellknown nEurope long beforeGalileo combined a convex objec-tive ens with a strong oncave eyepiece to form n effectiveelescope n 1610, buttheywere rarely iscussed n scientificiterature, erhapsbecause theywere com-monlyconsidereddistortingnd deceptive.62Naldini'sdepiction ofthis ens maybe theearliestmajor, ffirmativereatmentn artof whatwas to be so crucialto sci-entific rogress. espite their nvention n Italy n the thirteenthentury,ensesremained uriositiesn literature ntil Giambattista ella Porta n his 1589 editionof NaturalMagic finally eferred o themas "molto necessarioalla vita umana."63Perhaps he ong neglectof enses n the iteraturewes to the unfortunate ivorcewhich existedbetween the scholar nd the artisan.64 ut their ctivitieswere soonto be conjoined.This synthesismay owe muchto the sixteenth entury ascinationwith naturalmagic, s exemplified ythe studiolo:

61Theres an ntriguingossibilityhat hebeauteous londe igurefDawn, o importanto theallegory,eldpersonalmeaningor rinceFrancesco.ven before ismarriage,rancesco adbegunhis ffair ith heblondeVenetianiancaCappello. he poems oundna codice rethoughto be inthehands fFrancescondBianca; ee Francesco,Poesie i DonFrancescoeiMedici Mad:Bianca ap-pello rattea uncodice ella orrel GallodalConte aoloGalletiFlorence:tabi ipi Fiorentino,894),17, nd appendix . Constantlyhroughouthese oemsBianca s addresseds"l'Alba," ithmany ef-erences oher chiome ionde" s n"Bianc'Alba,"Bianca uce NuovaAlba," Bianca urora,"s wellas a poem describing'Albawithflowersn herhair, ike thefigure ortrayedy Naldini.n severalpoems heprince eferso himselfs"Delfino moroso"; ee ibid., 0-51,55-56, 61-62, 73, 76, 78-79,90-91.62ForGalileo's elescope,ee Carl psen, Coglionariarionfanter theDevelopmentfEarlyOpti-cal Instruments"unpublished anuscript,.d.,Florence,Museo di StoriadellaScienza,Misc. 565.13), 1, 4,13.See alsoAlbert anHelden, The Invention f theTelescope,"ransactionsf he mericanPhilosophicalociety7,pt.4 (une 1977):5-67,and dem,Galileo nd theTelescope,"nNovita elestie crisi el apere:AttielConvegnonternazionaleeStudiGalileiani,d. P.Galluzzi Florence: iunti ar-bera, 984),149-158.For therarementionf enses nphilosophicaliterature,ncludinghat fthesixteenthentury,eeIpsen,Coglionaria,",andVincentlardi,Eyeglassesnd ConcaveLensesnFif-teenth-Centurylorence ndMilan:New Documents," enaissanceuarterly9 (1976):343-344,whonotes hat, raftsmenside,enseswere onsidered eceitfulevices nd thereforenworthyf eriousstudy."Vanelden, InventionftheTelescope,"0,writes hatenses remainedrafttemswhichdidnot ttracthe ttentionfwritersnoptics, ecause hese cholars orked ithin he lassicalraditionofdealingwith efractionhroughntirepheres."n nterestingxample fthis istrustsexpressedna poembyGiovanni ucellaipublishedn1539.Looking t a bee through magnifyingens, e sawaprobiscusike hat f n elephantnd proclaimedt a false mage, ingannevole infido";ee GiovanniRucellai, crittiiOttica,d.Vasco onchi Milan: dizioni nPolifilo,968), 4.63Ipsen,Coglionaria,"1; see JohnBaptista orta,NaturalMagick,d. DerekJ.Price London,1658 ranslationf1589ed.;reprint,ewYork: asicBooks,1957), k.17, hap. 0,p.368.64Vasco onchi,Lenti erOcchiali,th ed. (Florence: accini e Chiappi, 976),8,discusseshisestrangementetween sefulrtisanshipnd scientificheoryndspoke f long congiura el silen-zio,"which hanged ecisivelynthe ixteenthentury.The ethodologicalbstacle hat mpededci-encefor hree undredears asnotduetoa philosophicalistrustf he ense f ighttself,spositedbyRonchi, ccordingo David C. Lindberg,The SenseofVision ndtheOriginsfModern cience,"inStudiesn the istoryfMedieval pticsLondon:Variorumeprints,983), 1. Relevant o our rgu-ments, indberg,7 n.40, cites everalmedievaluthors n theprimacyfvision. or example, ohnofJandunrguedhat ision is themost nowingmaximeognoscitivus)fthe enses" nd visions themost piritualnd mmaterialfthe enses,nd materialitympedes ognition."



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696 Sixteenth enturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)The bridge between the theoretical nd the practical-between contem-plative knowledge and knowledge applied to more practical nds-is tobe found .. in the various aspects f magic,which experienceda revivalin the Renaissance.Through magic [one sees] the essentialmanipulativeelemententering he preoccupationsofEuropean naturalphilosophersduring he period.65The representationf Prince Francesco as physicallynvolved n the activitiesof thevarious bottegheepicted n the studiolopaintings emonstrates is interestin the practical. ella Porta wrote that he magus mustbe well versed n astrology,distillation, athematics,nd optics. As nature nd artcomplement ach other, o,too,do practiceand knowledge,forone without the other s butvain,and to no

purpose."'66As foroptical theory,t is notable that the first dition of Euclid'sOttica, he foundationfor the geometric theoryofvision,was first ublishedinItalian 1573) in an edition dedicatedto Francesco's ather, osimo I.67Florence playedan important ole n the development foptical nstruments,and there s strong vidence of the Medici involvementn this xciting rocess.Weknow thatspectacleswith convex, converging enses to correctdefects f visionwere invented nTuscany round1280. Documents published n 1976 byVincentIlardirevealthatFlorence was producing oncave lensesformyopia n the mid-fif-teenthcentury,hat twas "the leading manufacturingenterofhigh quality eye-glasses," nd that tsproductswere sought after y the court of Milan.68 In 1462Duke Francesco Sforza ordered threedozen "because there are so many whorequestof us eyeglasseshat remade there n Florence, ince t s reputed hat heyare made moreperfectlyherethan n anyotherplace in Italy."69 f course,Flo-rencewas the siteof the optical research hatgave theworld linearperspective.Ghibertidoes not discuss yeglasses,uthis Commentaryoesmentionobjectsseenwith convex and concave glassesand mirrors,nd Leonardo refers o the use oflenses in Codex W (ca. 1490-1516).70 Leonardo,whose optical inventionswerepatronizedby Giuliano de' Medici, describedand illustratedhe earliestprecisionmachinery or hegrinding f enses.71 lardi rgues hatFlorence was responsiblefor n almostunbroken ine ofopticaladvancesfrom heappearanceof eyeglassesinto the early eventeenthentury," hen Galileo and Torricelli ucceeded in cre-ating the first ruly optical glass,of finercomposition and grindingthan any

65VanHelden, Invention ftheTelescope," 2; see also Frank . Borchardt,The Magus sRenaissanceMan,SixteenthenturyJournal1 (1990):57-76.66Schaefer,tudiolo,38-239.67SeeGarfagnini,irenzelaToscanaeiMedici,:144.For he heory f heperiod, oneof t rev-olutionary,eeDavidC. Lindberg,Optics nSixteenth-Centurytaly,"nNovitacelesti,31-148.68Ilardi,Eyeglasses,"41,351.69Ilardi,Eyeglasses,"45.70See lardi,Eyeglasses,"51,355;Julius onSchlosser,d.,Lorenzo hibertisenkwairdigkeiten:CommentariBerlin:VerlagonJulius ard, 912), 6, 121,169-172,184,190-217, 20; andTheLiter-aryWorksf eonardoaVinci,d.J. .Richter(NewYork:over, 970), :168.71The nstrumentsorworkingphericalurfacesrefound n CodexAtlanticus,s.B,fol. 1v,asdiscussedn SilvioA.Bedini,LensMaking or cientificnstrumentationntheSeventeenthen-tury,"Appliedptics ,no.5 (May 1966):688. ForGiuliano's atronagenRome after513, ee MartinKemp, eonardoa Vinci:The arvellous orksfNaturendMan London:J. . Dent andSons, 981),



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Naldini's AllegoryfDreams" n Francesco's Studiolo 697previous pectacle ens.72Despite the dearthof citations egarding enses n Renaissance literature, eare aware of theirusage.MillardMeiss maintains hatmagnifying lasses nd spec-tacleshad been invaluable o artists nd patrons f ntricateGothic manuscripts.3In Raphael's 1518 portrait f Pope Leo X with cardinals, he Medici pope andpatronof thearts s shownexamining sumptuousBiblewith hismagnifying lass(figs. and 5). Leo,who sufferedotoriouslydimeyesight,as turnedhis ens to apassage fromJohn promising a lightthat shineth n the darkness"John 1:5).74There are several xisting eferenceso lenses associatedwith Pope Leo whichwereconservedbyhisMedici heirs nd listed n the firstnventoryf the tribuna f theUffizi 1589).75 Althoughwe do not have direct vidence thatFrancescohad lensesin his studiolo cabinets, t is significanthatthe tribuna s the place where thestu-diolo collectionswere relocated n 1586.76Lenseswere cited n the nventories fother studiololike collections in the sixteenthcentury.77n a 1549 document(which seemsto me strangely eglectedbyhistorians foptical science,who gen-erally ttributehe nvention f thetelescopeto thefirst ecade of the seventeenthcentury)Paolo Giovio refers o Leo X's use of a tubular elescopelike nstrument(cannocchiale)o helphimobserveatgreatdistance hehunt,his favorite astime.78

90, Leonardowas a strongdvocate or asing cience n experience,speciallyisual,nd referredothe ye s "lord fthe enses"; eeMartin emp, eonardondPaintingNewHaven:Yale P, 1984),10,18,20-21, 32.Althoughindberg,Optics," 31,n.4,writes hat eonardo'spticalwork wastotallywithoutnfluence,"A.C.rombie,AugustineoGalileo: heHistoryf cience.D. 400-1650 [London:FalconPress,952], 80,writeshat eonardo'smanuscriptsere opied n the ixteenthenturyndhismechanicaldeaspillaged yCardano." ardanowrote f theuseof glassensfor camerabscura,a device lsodiscussed yLeonardo, e Subtilitate,(1550).SeeA.C. Crombie, cience,ptics,ndMusicinMedieval ndEarlyModernhoughtLondon: HambledonPress, 990), 205, 219. For moreonCardano's iscussionf enses eeRonchi, crittiiOttica,7-48.72llardi,Eyeglasses;'55.73Millard eiss, renchaintingn the ime fJean e Berry:heLateFourteenthenturynd thePatronagef he uke London: haidon, 967),1:5.74Bernice Davidson, aphael'sible:A tudyf he aticanoggeLondon: ennsylvaniatateUP,1985), 2-14.Forcitationsf enses that s, yeglasses)nartisticepresentationee Ilardi,Eyeglasses,"357-358, ndthe llustrationsnFritz athschiiler,a Lente:toria,cienza,uriosityttraversoacollezioneFritzRathschaler:atalogoeltamostra,enova, marzo-5 iugno 988,Museo ivico i storia aturaleG.Doria" Genoa: CIG, 1988).Neither ource akesnto ccount heRaphaelpainting.75The irstnventoryists unocchiale cristallo i monte oncerchio 'ebano manicod'ossoconsua catena 'argento'icono ssere'occhiale ipapaLeone" nd otherenses, hich eem o havethen een ost,withno trace fter 766.See Giuseppe offito,L'occhiale il cannocchiale elpapaLeoneX,"Atti ella ealeAccademiaelle cienze iTorino2 (1926-27): 59-60.TheUffizinventoryf1704-1714 istsN. 82: "un vetro onvesso i. s. 2.4.di diamterooncerchio ttorno i ebano scorni-ciato iscio manico imile.. ete la famosaente he usava apaLeone X."The nventarioelle recioseantichitdf1753,n.95,reads: Al.1509.Un vetro ondoconvesso.... la famosaente he usavaPapaLeoneX." See Giuseppe lbertotti,A proposito ella ente iconvessai Papa LeoneX,"Atti elRealeIstitutoenetoi cienze,ettered rti 9 (1929-30):539-542.76See n. 3.above77Lenses re istedn thecollections fartificiliafAntonioGiganti'studio, irst eferredo in1563,nthe ollection fmineralsndmedicines fLodovicoSettalanMilan, nd nthekunstkammerofRudolf I atPrague.ee Impey ndMacGregor,ds.,OriginsfMuseums,1,26,53.78Thedocuments P.Giovio, llustrumivorumitaeFlorence,549),109,quoted nDavidson,Raphael's ible,4. See alsoAlbertotti,A propositoella ente," 40-41.



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698 Sixteenth enturyoumal XXVII / 3 (1996)

I _

Fig. .Ra2phaeLopeLeo X with ardinals iulio e'MedidindLuigide' Rossi. loireine,UffizialleryPht: Ahinari-sedbypermfission)



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Naldni's "AllegoryfDreams" nFranmesco's Studiolo 699

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.!.......__r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An-I r a ;.i W ,

Fig 5.RaheLPp LeoX with ardinals isdio e' edd andLiedgie' Rossidetail.Flo-rce,Uffizi allery~PhotoAlinari, sedbypermisson)Galileo's successful elescope,as Albertvan Helden notes, had helped himobtain thepatronage ftheMedicis thathe had desired o fervently."79wo factorswere essential or heproduction fgasof thequality equired or ffectiv pticallensessuchas would be demand~edbyGalileowhen he eft adua in 1610 toreturnto Florenceand thepatronage f GrandDuke Cosimo H de'Medic~iFirst,heglassmustbe transparentnd fr-eefirpeficton; second,theremustbe workers apa-ble of the requisitegrnigand poihn. During th mae iquecento, theMedici rulersf Florenceook strideso accomplishhis.We now hat etween1525and 1550 theVenetianasindustry tMuranohad been ableto achievetransparentndpuregasresemblingnaturalrystal,hich hey alled aistailo80Cosimo I and his son Francescoencouragedthe development f gasbotteghe n

Florence,hopingto competewithVenice in thisart. n orderto do this,Cosuimo79van Heden"GGalieol 156.'See Ipsen,"CGOio i," 15-16;Vannoccio BIn co praised theclarity fMuano glss in his1540De e -'-hica; see bidL,5,n.30,citing h ProalmiaofVmxao ,irun tons Cyril can-ly Smithand MuathaTeach GnudL WYorkAmerican Institu ofMining and MetIlurigical Engi-nees, 1942),131.ThencianAngelo Baroviers craeditedith he nventm fder coloress wall,seeAntonioNeri,L'Ai Vetwi (1612),cL RoauBawier MentasciMlOan: dzioni il P alifilo,98),

...ii



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700 Sixteenth enturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)had to importVenetian masters nd their secretsfromMurano starting round1567. Cosimo brought the industry nder statecontrol and also set up a glassworkshop n Pisa. By 1569 Cosimo was makinggifts f Florentine lass not onlyto Roman prelates ut also toVenetian mbassadors.81Francesco continuedto importVenetian orkers orhis privateglass nd crys-tal workshops at the Casino di San Marco. The working of glass was forhimanother spectofhislove ofexperimental ciencesas celebratedn the studiolo.Apainting n the studiolo by Giovan Maria Butteri (fig. 6) gives us a glimpse ofFrancesco's vetreriaglass factory). utteri depictsthe visitingprince being pre-sented with specimensof blown glass.Save for the putti blowing glass trumpetsbelow, his s a genrescene showing heactivities round aVenetian-style lassfur-nace andmay be the first ccuratedepictionof themanufacture f glass.82 urtherevidence of Francesco's involvementwith glass technologyis seen in anotherButteripanel in thestudiolo fig. ), formerlydentified sTheLanding fAeneasnItaly, ut now recognized as a scene of the accidental Discovery f Glass in theancientworld, s relatedby Pliny.83Medici patronagemayhave contributed o thefact hat he first ractical reatise n theproductionof glass omesfrom lorence,notVenice. hiswasAntonio Neri's 1612 L'ArteVetraria,ublishedunder the spon-sorshipof Francesco's son (supposedly by Bianca Cappello), Don Antonio deiMedici (1576-1621).84Of course, enses are not "made or blown at the furnace" s seen in Butteri'spainting. ome early enses wereproduced bymirrormakerspolishing heets cutfrom ylinders f cristalloromMurano.85We know that Francesco fostered hemanufactureftransparentristallothisfonderiat the Casino di San Marco on thevia San Gallo.86Silvio Bedini notes thatFlorentineglasswas sodium-potassic ndthusmorecolorless hanVenetian lass,which had a darktint.87n Padua in 1609,

81SeeSchaefer,tudiolo,94, nd GuidoTaddei, 'Arte elVetron Firenze nel uodominioFlo-rence: eliceLe Monnier, 954), 7-51.The census fFlorence rdered y Cosimo in 1561 ists wo"botteghe iocchialai"eyeglass akers);eeTaddei, 'Arte elVetro,5.See Schaefer,tudiolo,00-302,pl.25, nd thedetail fthefurnacenBucci, o Studiolo,l.29.This s seen s a faithfulllustrationf thefurnace fBartolod'Alvise, Venetian roughto Florenceby Cosimo n 1569.This master as activenFlorence or ourteen ears.eeTaddei, 'Arte elVetro,48; Neri,L'Arte etraria,iv; nd DeitlefHeikamp,Studien urmediceischenlaskunst,"itteilungendesKunsthistorischennstitutsnFlorenz0,nos.1/2 1986):267.83The story,rom linyNatural istory6.65,was repeatednNeri,L'Arte etraria;ee Schaefer,Studiolo,96-99,pl.24b.84Neri, closefriend fGalileo,hared on Antonio's assion or lchemy;eeHeikamp,Stu-dien," 68-69.See alsoTaddei, 'Arte elVetro,2.Productionsf Francesco'slassworksrepreservedinFlorence's useo degliArgenti;eeNeri, 'Arte etraria,lix.85Ipsen,Coglionaria"7-18.86See addei, 'Arte elVetro,0,and etter oFrancesco romNiccoloSisti,July4, 1580,ASF,Archivio ediceoAvantilPrincipato37.c. 74, ppendix,oc.28.87Potash asused o ightenVenetianlass, ut heFlorentinelasswas quite imilaro Bohemianglass sedfor pticalpurposesn morerecent imes....Florentine orkersccasionallyubstitutedquartz romheVersiliarfragmentsfrock rystal.. in anattemptoobtain productfgreaterlar-ity"; edini,LensMaking,"88.Schaefer,Europe nd Beyond," 29, nterpretshecentral anelofthe eiling f the tudiolos a sceneofPrometheuseceiving pieceof crystalrom aturen ordertopresentt to Francesco elow." eeBucci, o Studiolo,l.36.



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Naldini' "AflegoryfDreams"nFrancesco's Studiolo 701

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702 Sixteenthenry JournalXXVII / 3 (1996)

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Naldini' "AllegoryfDreams" n Francescos Studiolo 703Galileo, in efforts o obtain cristallo,xpressed dissatisfaction ith the quality ofMurano glass, ought ources for enses n Florence, nd affirmed hatthe qualityof Florentine lasswas superior o thatofVenice.88 ventually, ith the patronageof Cosimo II in Florence,Galileo was able to successfully rindoptical glassforhisown purposes.His skilled ssistantwas Ippolito Francini, n operaio f the Opificiogranducale ellepietre ure. rancinihad been trained s a lapidary n the Mediciworkshopsof pietre ure.89 rince Francesco's shops were much involved n theworkingofrock crystalndpietre ure, nd there eemed to be a close connectionbetween the glassworksand the stonecutting,both activities located at theCasino.90The grinding nd polishingof the hardstone, he manufacture f glassand cristallo-such ctivities fFrancesco'spatronage rovided heskills nd mate-rials essential o the production of optical glass.Francesco's xperiments ink thefascinationwith lensesof theMedici Pope Leo to the Grand Duke Cosimo II'spatronage f Galileo.There are variousunprovable heories bout what Francescokept n the cabi-net hiddenbehind Naldini'sAllegoryfDreams. ome saygemsoropiates ndsleep-inducing drugs.Perhapsthe major motifof the painting uggests he presence oflenses n the studioloas well.Each of the walls ofthestudiolo was dedicated o themes elated o one of thefour lements. would assert hat heAllegoryfDreams hould be placednot on thesouth wall where tis to be seen today,urrounded ythemesofwater, ut on thenorthwall,where Stradano's epiction of alchemy fig. ) and other hemesrelatedto theactivityf fire re to be found. n this agreewithSchaefer's econstruction,whichplacestheAllegoryfDreams djacentto Butteri's ainting f TheDiscoveryfGlass whichshouldbe placedbeneathTheGlassFactoryythe samepainter).Thereasonfor hisrevised lacement s notbecause, s Schaefer ays, he cabinetbehindNaldini'spainting ontaineddrugs nd elixirs like so manyof the cabinets n thewall devotedto Fire,"91 ut because of Naldini'srepresentationf the ens, notherproductof the agency of fire.Francescodesiredclear vision and lack of deception n dreams.One shouldrecall his invenzione orthe 1566 Trionfoe' Sogni, specially hesquads of mascherewho led the cavalcade.The first roupsof the entourage ymbolized heprincipalunrestrained esires fhumanity.his conceit,Nagler wrote,

held the pursuitof fame,glory, eauty and riches to be a vain gropingafterchimeras, which, when exposed, reveal the evanescence of allworldly nticements. ehind Love,Ambition, eauty, lutus, ndBellona[thedesireforwar]followedMadness,or Pazzia, withher retinue.Who-everyields o suchphantoms nds a prisoner ffolly.9288Seereferences ade n correspondence ithEnea PiccolimininTaddei, 'Arte elVetro,8;Ipsen,Coglionaria,"0.89See addei, 'Arte elVetro,5; Bedini,LensMaking," 87.90For rancesco's atronagef "Florentinemosaic"orpietreure,ee Schaefer,tudiolo,92;Bedini, LensMaking,"88;Neri,L'Arte etraria,liv-xlvii.91Schaefer,tudiolo,70 andpl. 5n.See also n.15above.92Naglet,heatreestivals,1.SeeVasari, e Opere,:583.



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704 Sixteenth enturyJournal XVII / 3 (1996)Unlike the personifications fthe first ive squads, who "wore bat wings whichcharacterized hem as the abortivechildrenof dreams,"93 olly and her cohortswore no such wings. Madness is no phantom ike therest, ut real, n contrast otheprecedingvalues,which are "nothingbut dreams nd disguises" "sogni vera-mente e larve").94At several ointsof the city hecavalcade halted o that hesonsofsleepcould sing canzone lluding o thecentral hemeof theTrionfo.n this ongFrancescowarnsonce again against oolish houghts fAmor, ama,Narciso, ellonaand Ricchezza,whose paths ead but to madness: "Do not disturbyourfatewithsuch vainart, o matter ow thesemonsters nticeyouwith sweetpromises; pendyourtime betterwiththatwhichyou ask ofnature."95Francescononethelesswas a dreamer. is questions f naturewereexplored nthe shops and laboratories,but also in his retirement o his secretiveStudiolo,where he could contemplate hemysteriesf nature nd culture. his leads us toconsider another aspect of Francesco's fascinationwith the dream. A letter ofBorghini'sto Vasari ofJanuary 2, 1571, refers o a small bedroomforFrancescothatwas connectedto theStudiolo.This amerino as decoratedwith a lostpaintingby Stradano of The DreamofSolomon.96 rancescomaywell have identifiedwithSolomon,who similarlynherited kingdomconsolidatedbyhisfather,nd whomarried he daughter fPharoah.When the Lord appeared to him in a dreambynight 1 Kings 3:5-15), saying,"Askwhat shallgivethee," olomon askednot forrichesbut forunderstandingnd the ability o discern ruth. s noted, Francesco'sprecious Studiolo opens out onto thevast alone f the PalazzoVecchio,where thepoliticalpower of Cosimo's state s celebrated. ut in the tinyyetcosmic studioloFrancesco retreated rom ll else and sought, ike Solomon, to penetrate hemys-teriesof nature. s in thecanzone f the Cavalcade,this s thehigherwisdom.The great ens of Naldini'sallegory s only possible n the fantasticworld ofdreams.tsvery ize makes tunrealwhile,paradoxically,t is theagentof"seeing"the truth.Naldini uxtaposedit to a symbolofwisdom, he owl.The lens s a prod-uctofnature nd art.Like allhuman art,t has thepowertomagnifynd transformthe natural.This s the theme ofthestudiolo,where Francesco de' Medici dreamedofdistinguishinglearly he truefrom hefalse.

93Naglet,heatreestivals,2.94Naglet,heatreestivals,3. SeeVasari,e Opere,:581.95"Perche1folle ensiero/ man i scorga,he seguendo iso/ mor, ama,Narciso,/ Bellona,e Ricchezza n van entiero/a notte 1giornontero/'aggira,l fine nsieme/ erfrutto a apazziadel suo belseme./ ccorte rdunque lvostro/empomiglior pendeten ci6 chechiede/Natura,nonmaifede/ ggiate l'Arte, he quasi spromostro/ intodi perle d'ostro/olce vinvita, pure/Son le promesse OGNI e larve cure." thank ve Borsookforher translation.ee Nagler, heatreFestivals,4, nd Berti,nPrincipe,8-9.96ARS. od. XLVIII,no.36, n Frey, er iterarischeachlass iorgio asaris,:561.The bedroom,lost nnineteenthentury estorationsf thepalace,may riginallyavebeen Cosimo's. eeVasari, eOpere,:617-18; Berti,I Principe,8 and75,n.31;andSchaefer,tudiolo,46-148.