Rosso Fiorentino's Betrothal of the Virgin: Patronage and InterpretationAuthor(s): David FranklinReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 55 (1992), pp. 180-199Published by: The Warburg InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/751423 .Accessed: 18/06/2012 19:03

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ROSSO FIORENTINO'S BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN: PATRONAGE AND INTERPRETATION*

David Franklin

osso's altarpiece of the Betrothal of the Virgin with Saints Anne, Apollonia and Vincent Ferrer is still in place in the second chapel in the right nave of San Lorenzo in Florence (P1. 35). It is signed and dated 1523 on the step below

the high priest.' We must imagine the picture today without its crude, imitation pietra serena wooden frame, which belongs to a nineteenth-century restoration.2 No information has been found about the original frame. This was the last public com- mission which Rosso produced in his native city and the painting is of outstanding interest for its unusual content and refined style. Its patronage and iconography have been the subject of only one study, by Graham Smith.3 This article will offer a new interpretation of the altarpiece with the help of newly-discovered documents.

The patron of the work, Carlo di Leonardo Ginori (1477-1527), was one of the wealthiest Florentine merchant bankers of his day.4 The youngest son of Leonardo Ginori and Maddalena Martelli, Carlo came to be seen as the most successful Ginori of the Renaissance. He enjoyed a lucrative banking career based in the Mercato Nuovo and also served in communal government, being elected to various offices: signore della Zecca in 1512, prior in 1513, a gonfaloniere di Compagnia in 1514, and finally gonfaloniere di Giustizia in the last year of his life. We have no informa- tion regarding Ginori's initial contact with Rosso, but he was a serious patron of architecture and painting with sympathy for a range of styles. According to Vasari he owned two Virgin and Child paintings by Andrea del Sarto which later passed to Ottaviano de' Medici.5 These have not been identified but judging from the chron- ology of the Sarto Life they were early works by the artist, executed prior to Rosso's

* This article is a revised version of a chapter of my PhD dissertation (Courtauld Institute, 1991). I should like to thank my supervisors Michael Hirst and Patricia Rubin for their guidance. I also thank Gino Corti for his assistance with the transcriptions, and Sig. Baglioni of the Archivio Ginori Lisci for allowing me access to the family's private archive.

1 'RUBEUS A[NNO] S[ALUTIS] MDXXIII'. There is a second signature in the open book held by Apollonia: 'RUBEUS FLORENTINO' (first noted in Mostra del '500 Toscana, exhib. cat., Florence 1940, no. 9). The high priest's hat is inscribed 'TETRAGRAMMATON', a sub- stitute for the four Hebrew letters used to stand as a name of God. The panel measures 325 x 247 cm.

2 P. Roselli and 0. Superchi, L'edificazione della Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence 1980, pp. 29-30.

3 G. Smith, 'Rosso Fiorentino's Sposalizio in San Lorenzo', Pantheon, xxxiv, 1976, pp. 24-30.

4 In 1522 only Filippo Strozzi received higher interest payments through the Otto di Pratica on loans to

Florence: M. Bullard, Filippo Strozzi and the Medici, Cambridge 1980, p. 134, note. Brief biographies of Carlo Ginori exist in P. Ginori Conti, La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Firenze e la famiglia Ginonr, Florence 1940, pp. 209-12, and L. Passerini, Genealogia e storia della famiglia Ginori, Florence 1876, pp. 42-45. Passerini's genealo- gical data can be supplemented from the tables found in Florence, Archivio di Stato, Raccolta Sebregondi 2606. See also Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Poligrafo Gargani 962. There is information still to be gleaned from F. W. Kent, 'Ottimati Families in Florentine Politics and Society, 1427-1530: The Rucellai, Capponi and Ginori', unpublished PhD diss., University of London 1971, though much of this material was published in his Household and Lineage in Renaissance Florence, Princeton 1977.

5 G. Vasari, Le vite de' pift eccellenti architetti, pittori et

scultonr italiani (2nd edn, Florence 1568), ed. G. Milan- esi, 9 vols, Florence 1878-85, v, pp. 14-15.

180

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Instztutes, Volume 55, 1992

ROSSO FIORENTINO 181

San Lorenzo altarpiece commission. The facade of Ginori's new palace in the Via de' Ginori (to which he gave its name) was frescoed in grisaille with scenes from the life of Samson by Mariano da Pescia, a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio who was active around 1514 and died in 1520.6 Carlo may also have been involved in other commissions, such as that for Pontormo to paint the drapelloni for the funeral in 1519 of his eldest brother, Bartolomeo.7

The large number of surviving wills for Carlo Ginori provide invaluable source material for a study both of his burial chapel, and of the background to Rosso's painting. Ginori's first testament was drafted on 13 November 1510, when he was thirty-seven, and attests to the initially humble intentions of a man destined even- tually to create a rich new chapel in the church.8 In it he asked to be buried in the family vault at San Lorenzo, in the chapel established by his grandfather there: 'without any worldly pomp, but simply, as is appropriate for a true Christian'. These plans were transformed, however, in the codicil to the will, written on 22 April 1516.9 He now recorded a wish to establish his own chapel in San Lorenzo, to con- tain a sepulchre for himself and his wife and cost a generous 500 gold florins. Masses were to be said every other day in the upper church, by the chapel's own priest, with a special requiem mass every Friday in the lower church. Ginori clearly intended to purchase a chapel not simply in Brunelleschi's church-the part the public could enter-but also in the lower church where his tomb would be placed.

Such a major change in his plans created the need for a new will, which was made six weeks later on 6 June 1516.10 It is clear from the wording of both this and the amendment to the first will that Ginori had not acquired a site in San Lorenzo by that date.1" If death should prevent him from acquiring one personally, his heirs were to do so on his behalf within two years, and were authorized to spend up to 200 gold florins. He wished his projected chapel to be dedicated to Saints Anne and Apollonia.12 In fact, he was probably prevented from from making an immediate purchase of a site in San Lorenzo by the initial financial commitment to his new city palace.'3 The second will also refers to the churches outside Florence which were traditionally supported by the Ginori, and to the cost of the maintenance and expansion of his Baroncoli villa.14 These large architectural undertakings, necessary for the immediate comfort of his own family, took pride of place over the private

6 Vasari/Milanesi, op. cit., vi, p. 543. 7 Ibid., vi, p. 260; this type of decoration is described

in detail in the Life of Bugiardini: ibid., iii, p. 216. 8 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano

V358 (Lorenzo Violi, Testamenti, 1511-19), fols 274v- 84r. For the preamble see Appendix, Doc. la.

9 Appendix, Doc. lb. 10 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano

R292 (Bartolomeo Rosso, Testamenti, 1504-23), fol. 103.2 and six unpaginated sheets held in a separate folder marked R292. As far as I can gather the 1510 and 1516 wills remained unknown to previous scholars. The version of the 1516 will in the Archivio di Stato is probably a copy by a notary other than Bartolomeo Rosso, because it is written in the vernacular and the opening protocol is omitted. The hand is also neater than Bartolomeo's incomparably messy one. 11 Appendix, Doc. 2b. H. Burns, 'San Lorenzo in

Florence before the Building of the New Sacristy: an

Early Plan', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, xxiii, 1979, pp. 145-54, fig. 1, publishes a draw- ing that he believes records the interior of the church in a completed state at the beginning of the 16th century. 12 Appendix, Doc. 2c. 13 L. Ginori Lisci, I Palazzi di Firenze nella stonia e

nell'arte, i, Florence 1972, pp. 347-54, offers a detailed discussion of the palace construction. 14 Appendix, Doc. 2a. Following a clause in the next

(1523) will, we can infer that Ginori's Baroncoli villa was finally near completion by that date. The feudal tower with a stone gallery was about to be constructed (Bartolomeo Rosso, Testamenti, as in n. 10, fol. 339r). Carlo's patronage in the country is fully covered by L. Ginori Lisci, Baroncoli: la dimora rurale di Carlo il Vecchio de' Ginonr, Florence 1950.

182 DAVID FRANKLIN

needs of his soul, which were in any case already provided for by the two existing Ginori chapels in San Lorenzo. Even if it had been possible for him to pay for and supervise all these projects at once, to do so would have run contrary to conven- tional Renaissance prudence-as expressed by Alberti, for example, who dictated that a patron should delay less essential patronage so as to have the leisure to avoid mistakes, either financial or of taste.'5 Ginori's concern at this first stage of the proposal was with ensuring the creation of a chaplain.16 If the site had not been acquired by the time of his death, Masses were to be said for him in the chapel specified in his first will, dedicated to St Francis and St Jerome and popularly known as the chapel of Mary Magdalene.'7

Ginori also wished an altarpiece to be produced for his chapel, 'from the hand of a good master'.'s If he should die before placing the commission, his heirs had a year to do so in his stead, with a substantial fifty gold florins at their disposal. The subject followed from the dedication and was to be 'a Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary in her lap and a Saint Apollonia on her right-hand side'. This reference securely identifies the two anachronistic female saints at the bottom of the steps in Rosso's painting, for although the principal subject of the altarpiece was sub- sequently changed to the Betrothal of the Virgin to suit the dedication of the chapel eventually secured, the two saints were retained from the original concetto. Ginori's reasons for favouring them are not indicated in the will, but the death of all his children and his subsequent childlessness may have been a reason for his devotion to Anne. Both she and Apollonia were popular saints in Florence and there would have been nothing surprising in his choice of them. He would certainly have hoped to increase the Ginori family's identification with popular feasts celebrated in San Lorenzo.

On 18 October 1520 Carlo and his brother Filippo appeared before the vicar-general of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici to receive the transfer of a chapel in San Lorenzo owned by the Masi family.'9 The Ginori had petitioned Giulio for the site earlier in the year. Carlo agreed to reimburse the Masi for the entire cost of the chapel, to provide an annual revenue for it of one hundred lire and to pay twenty- five gold florins a year to its chaplain. A new chaplainship was established two years later with the appointment of Giovanni Norchiati.20

The 1516 will had not indicated a preference for any particular site in the church, but the Masi had been unable to provide for the upkeep of their altar so it was probably an obvious choice.21 The chapel was located in the most recently

15 L. B. Alberti, I Libri della famiglia, ed. G. Mancini, Florence 1908, pp. 197-99. 16 Appendix, Doc. 2d. 17 Appendix, Doc. 2e. According to Florence, Archivio

di Stato, Decima Repubblicana 26, fol. 417v, Carlo and his two brothers partially owned a shop creating revenue for the legacy of this chapel. 18 Appendix, Doc. 2f. 19 The transfer document was discussed and partially

published by Ginori Conti (as in n. 4), pp. 88-90, 275- 77. It is included in the Appendix as Doc. 3. All of the documentation suggests that Carlo controlled the project personally, but it was usual at the time of the actual transfer to maintain a collective public face, as he did by appearing with his one surviving brother, Filippo.

20 Appendix, Docs 4a, b. The financial transaction was made by Ginori on 9 April 1522, the date of Doc. 4b, with a payment of 126 lire: for the account see Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Archivio di San Lor- enzo, vol. 1490 (Debitori e creditori, Rosso A, 1505-25), fol. 297 left side. Norchiati was the uncle of the sculptor Montorsoli (Vasari/Milanesi, as in n. 5, vi, p. 630) and was later made a canon at San Lorenzo. He appears in Vasari's Life of Michelangelo (ibid., vii, p. 227 and n.) and in Michelangelo's correspondence (Carteggio di Michel- angelo, ed. P. Barocchi and R. Ristori, iii, Florence 1973, pp. 380, 428, 441-42). For his biography see D. Moreni, Continuazione delle memorie istoriche dell' Ambrosiana Im- perial Basilica di San Lorenzo in Firenze, ii, Florence 1817, pp. 146-53.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 183

constructed part of the church but according to the document of 1520 it had already been neglected. It cannot be ruled out that Giulio himself personally urged Ginori to accept the chapel in order to raise it to a magnificence worthy of the Medici parish and burial church, for the Medici cardinal had been trying to bring San Lorenzo to completion in these years. Yet whether or not this was the case, it would be a mistake to see the transaction as an instance of the power the Medici supposedly had over the spiritual life of the other important families in the parish. It is more likely to have been simply one of the frequent financial dealings between neighbouring families.22 There was nothing unusual about the logistics of the transfer. Since Piero de' Medici had secured for his family the right of granting permission to erect the remaining chapels, any other family had no choice but to apply to the Medici for a site. The Ginori especially had no reason to consider themselves inferior in San Lorenzo (and Carlo may even have harboured a resent- ment against the Medici since Lorenzo had refused to make him a Guelf party captain in 151423). They were one of the original families who had contributed to the enormous cost of rebuilding the eleventh-century foundation by paying for chapels.24 Carlo's was the third such. Coming at the end of the interior construc- tion, his patronage was a culmination of over a century of Ginori involvement in San Lorenzo and of the initiative taken by his ancestor, Zanobi di Gino, who in his 1406 testament obliged his heirs to found a chapel in honour of the family. The Ginori would thus have viewed their patronage as complementary rather than as subservient to that of the Medici.

Carlo's third and final will, dated 6 April 1523, reveals considerably more information about both his plans for the chapel in San Lorenzo, and the wider extent of his financial commitments as one of the major patrons of his day.25 One clause refers specifically to the panel, stating that Rosso 'has had part of the money'.26 The payments are said to be recorded in one of the patron's account books, described as marked with the letter 'H'. This proves that the painting had already been ordered by that time. However, some newly-discovered payments to Rosso confirm that it was begun rather earlier.27 These are listed in a bank book of Carlo and Filippo Ginori surviving in the family archive: a payment of six ducats on 20 December 1522, by which time the work was definitely in progress; a further six ducats on 29 February 1523; followed by ten ducats on 8 November 1523. This book is marked with the letter 'F' and cannot be the one referred to in the will. The payments total twenty-two gold ducats, but they are apparently incomplete so Rosso 21 Little is known about the Masi patronage of the

chapel. If Lodovico Masi projected any ornamentation for it, the documentation has not been found. He did place his coat of arms there, because Giulio had to grant the Ginori family the right to replace it with their own, which is still visible on the underside of the arch today. 22 For the functioning of the clergy and the patronage

of the chapels in San Lorenzo see R. Gaston, 'Liturgy and Patronage in San Lorenzo, Florence 1350-1650', in Patronage, Art and Society in Renaissance Italy, eds E W. Kent and P. Simons, Canberra and Oxford 1985, pp. 111-33. On the special nature of Medici-Ginori rela- tions see Kent, 1977 (as in n. 4), pp. 178-79, 211-19, 283.

23 Kent, 1971 (as in n. 4), p. 336. 24 On the Ginori chapels in San Lorenzo in general

see Ginori Conti (as in n. 4), pp. 86-90. See also Kent, 1977 (as in n. 4), pp. 102-4. Roselli-Superchi, L'edific- azione (as in n. 2), is the most careful study of the entire church. For a summary of the early building history of the church see V. Herzner, 'Zur Baugeschichte von San Lorenzo in Florenz', Zeitschriftfiir Kunstgeschichte, xxxvii, 1974, pp. 89-115. 25 Appendix, Docs 7a-i. 26 Appendix, Doc. 7f. 27 Appendix, Doc. 6.

184 DAVID FRANKLIN

may have been occupied on the altarpiece longer than the ten-and-a-half month period covered by them. Another newly-discovered document shows that the painter had been renting a house in the Canto a Monteloro, near to the church, since 2 October 1522;28 and therefore that he had been living in Florence from at least that date.

The mention in the will of a contract in the form of a 'scritta' suggests that the agreement made between the parties was a written one. 29 The use of a scritta, that is, a private contract drafted in the vernacular and signed by both parties, rules out the existence of a notarial instrument. As a patron familiar with commercial practices, Ginori was comfortable with informal private records and would have troubled with a notary only for transactions involving large sums. Copies of scritte were rarely, if ever, given to the order controlling the church and the deed does not form part of the collected material for the San Lorenzo foundation. Sadly, the contract does not survive in the family archive either. (Many of Ginori's own books were deliberately burned, in a fire started by one of his cashiers to destroy evidence of the employee's misappropriation of funds. 30)

For the structure of the chapel, Ginori projected a burial chapel in the crypt, with its own altar and two sepulchres in the form of stone cassone: one to contain the bodies of his mother and father, the other those of himself, his wife and the children who had died.31 One hundred sealed florins were left for the construction and to pay for a weekly Mass there. His idea of a final resting place was thus considerably more elaborate than that suggested by the terms of the codicil to his first will, where only a floor tomb was envisaged, to contain both his remains and those of his wife. Ginori also created some minor bequests, providing for a barrel of oil to fuel a lamp in the chapel, for commemorative meals, for weekly Masses, and for special Masses to be performed every year during Lent.32 He also promised to supply vestments."3 In making these provisions he followed the standard procedure of endowing a chapel with income derived from landed property-the securest way of ensuring the continued payment of bequests. The canons at San Lorenzo could easily reinvest the income themselves. To further lessen the likelihood of a funding collapse it was safest to derive such revenue from a variety of holdings, and this strategy was also chosen. Cash was paid for perishables like meals and vestments, whereas for long term funding Ginori put aside the proceeds derived from a shop he owned near Pisa and the rent taken from a house on the Via della Stufa.34

Such caution with regard to his finances was doubtless prudent, for he had a great many other commitments. Further reading of the third will discloses some new information about an expansion in Ginori's patronage to the church of San Gallo.35 This was another Medici-sponsored foundation, but related to the ancestral area of both families as it was situated on the road leading into the Via de' Ginori.

28 Appendix, Doc. 5. The site corresponds to the corner of the present day Borgo Pinti and Borgo degli Alfani. It may also be relevant that one of the witnesses in the agreement was a Ginori named Niccol6 di Taddeo, who was from an obscure branch of the family. 29 Appendix, Doc. 7f. 30 This story is related in G. Cambi, 'Istorie di

Giovanni Cambi', Delizie degli eruditi toscani, ii, ed. I. Di San Luigi, Florence 1786, pp. 289-92.

31 Appendix, Doc. 7a. 32 Appendix, Docs 7b-d. 33 Appendix, Doc. 7e. 34 Bartolomeo Rosso, Testamenti (as in n. 10), fol. 335v. 35 Vasari/Milanesi (as in n. 5), iv, p. 274, provided an

account of the construction of the Augustinian church outside the Porta San Gallo. Two drawings were con- nected with the church by C. von Fabriczy, Die Hand- zeichnungen Giuliano's da Sangallo, Stuttgart 1902, p. 104.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 185

Carlo must have purchased a site there just prior to 1523, because his will mentions the commencement of work on a chapel dedicated to Nicholas of Tolentino. 6 At least 400 gold florins were to be spent on the construction of the chapel and a Mass was to be said there on the feast of Saint Nicholas.37 There are no allusions to

painted decoration, but Ginori did order walnut choir stalls, which were to be put in within three years of his death. Whether or not this was done, however, we are

unlikely ever to know, for the church and monastery were destroyed in the Flor- entine 'scorched earth' measures before the siege of 1530.

Ginori organized his ecclesiastical patronage himself and made careful pro- vision for its continuance after his death. Lacking a direct male heir, he foresaw the

complications of an indirect inheritance. His fears were realised, because in 1536 the chapter of San Lorenzo was obliged to take legal action against the family over arrears on the chapel fund and to ensure continued payment in the future.38 A

compromise was reached by which financial responsibility for the chapel was split between two groups of Carlo's relatives. The burden of his nephews, who were his eventual heirs, was in fact slighter than it would have been if all of his plans for the

chapel had been fulfilled. They did not have to assume the cost of construction in the lower church, since a combination of war and plague appears to have foiled their uncle's scheme for an elaborate crypt.39 In the codicil added to his third will, made in Lucca on 26 September 1527, Ginori stated his wish to be buried in the vast Dominican church of San Romano if he should die in Lucca. He fell victim to the plague and indeed died there several months later. It is probable, therefore, that he was buried in San Romano; but I have no physical confirmation of this because the church is now deconsecrated and firmly closed.40 No mention of the San Lorenzo chapel was made in the codicil.

His planned burial chapel may not have reached the state of completion for which he had hoped, but Ginori would have been comforted to know that the

altarpiece of the Betrothal of the Virgin is still held there today. The iconography of the painting merits particular study because the chapel's dedication to both the Virgin and Joseph was rare in that period. Moreover it is clear that this choice was motivated by Ginori's direct wishes and not simply inherited from the previous patron, because according to the 1520 transfer document the dedication surviving from the Masi ownership was to the Virgin alone.41 The first mention of the expanded dedication occurs in the two documents of 1522 which are transcribed here in the Appendix.42 They overturn Ginori's earlier intention, expressed before he had considered a particular site for his chapel, to dedicate it to Saints Anne and Apollonia.

36 Appendix, Doc. 7g. It can be no coincidence that the oldest Ginori chapel in San Lorenzo carried the same dedication. 37 Appendix, Doc. 7h. 38 The extensive records of the dispute over the fund-

ing of the chapel between the church and Ginori's heirs are found in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Archivio di San Lorenzo, vol. 2367, 1st insert. See the discussion in Ginori Conti (as in n. 4), pp. 90ff. 39 There is no remaining trace of Carlo's projected

subterranean chapel. Roselli and Superchi (as in n. 2),

p. 29, lament the general loss at the basement level of San Lorenzo. 40 One of Carlo's heirs made a bequest of 100 ducats

to San Romano in 1527 for the purchase of 'paramenti sagri'. See 'La Cronaca del convento domenicano di S. Romano di Lucca', in Memorie domenicane, eds A. F. Verde and D. Corsi, n.s., xxi, 1990, p. 528. 41 Appendix, Doc. 3. Smith (as in n. 3), p. 24, wrongly

claimed that the dedication to Joseph and the Virgin went back to the Masi ownership. 42 Appendix, Docs 4a, b.

186 DAVID FRANKLIN

Normally, the dedication of a chapel was followed predictably by the subject of its altarpiece. Ginori apparently respected this practice in selecting the Betrothal of the Virgin, which is moreover the only subject that includes the couple together without the Child. In this case, however, the protracted process of organizing the

chapel led to an accumulation of saints for representation on the panel. Ginori gave Rosso the problem of working Saints Anne and Apollonia into the design as remain- ders from his original projected scheme, as well as adding Saint Vincent Ferrer.43 The need to include these saints in the composition must have been an additional consideration in his choice of a subject for the altarpiece. For example, it cannot be ruled out that patron and painter considered a conventional Virgin and Child with lateral saints as a possible subject. But this would have seemed insufficient, because whichever saint was placed closest to the Christ Child would have been seen as more

significant than Joseph. Also, at this period Joseph rarely appeared as a saint in his own right in Italian art, because his cult was just starting to develop. Though he ap- peared in particular narrative-based subjects like the Nativity or the Betrothal, there are only a few examples of his appearance as a saint in Florentine painting about this time independently of the Virgin and Christ.44 The most recent comparison would have been Pontormo's Pucci altarpiece of 1518 for San Michele Visdomini, in which attention is drawn away from the Virgin by various compositional and icono-

graphic means.45 However, the San Michele Visdomini altar was dedicated to Joseph alone; Pontormo's solution would have been less suitable for the Ginori chapel because of the explicit dedication to both saints.

Rosso's picture is an example of an altarpiece drawn from a single episode of a narrative, but with the requirements of the iconic Virgin and Saints format imposed upon it to provide a clearer focus for devotion. The primary sources for the Be- trothal in the Gospels, Matthew and Luke, mention it only in passing. The cere-

mony necessarily took place before the wedding proper, because the Annunciation occurred between the two events;46 but the Gospels do not relate the story of

Joseph's miraculous selection. Texts like the Golden Legend, however, were popular documentary sources for an early sixteenth-century patron and artist. The Golden

Legend in fact gives full accounts of both Selection and Betrothal, in the descriptions of the Feasts of the Annunciation and especially the Nativity: Thus nothing such as the voice of God predicted took place, wherefore the high priest again took counsel with the Lord, Who said that he alone to whom the Virgin should be espoused, had not brought his branch. Being thus discovered, Joseph placed a branch upon the altar, and straightway it burst into bloom, and a dove came from Heaven and perched at its sum- mit; whereby it was manifest to all that the Virgin was to become the spouse of Joseph. And when the espousals were completed, Joseph went back to his city of Bethlehem to make

43 Borghini's criticism of Rosso for including a Domin- ican saint in a story occurring prior to the existence of the Order is of course unfair to the painter, who was simply following the wishes of his patron (R. Borghini, II riposo, Florence 1584, p. 112). This was recognized by G. M. Ciocchi, La pittura in Parnaso, Florence 1725, p. 109. 44 A Joseph altar was founded in the Cathedral on 12

June 1520 and later decorated with a painting of the saint alone by Lorenzo di Credi. See S. Grossman, 'Two New Paintings by Lorenzo di Credi. A Contribution to

the Painter's Late Style', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, xiv, 1969-70, pp. 161-82. 45 See D. Franklin, 'A Document for Pontormo's S.

Michele Visdomini Altarpiece', Burlington Magazine, cxxxii, 1990, pp. 487-89. 46 For the legal basis of the distinction in the Gospels

between Betrothal and Marriage of the Virgin, see The Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to Luke I-IX, ed. J. A.

Fitzmyer, New York 1981, pp. 343-44.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 187

ready his house, and to dispose all that was needful for the wedding. Mary, however, retired to her parents' house in Nazareth, with seven virgins of her age who had been nurtured with her, and whom the high priest had given to her as companions because of the miracle. And it was in those days that the angel Gabriel appeared to her as she knelt in prayer and an- nounced to her that she was to give birth to the Son of God.47

Or, according to a contemporary vernacular version:

Onde non apparendo neuna cosa che si concordasse a la voce di Dio, il pontefice ando un'altra volta a consigliarsi con Domenedio; il quale rispuose che solo quegli che non porto la verga sua, era colui al quale la Vergine dovea essere disposata. Adunque il detto Gioseppo da poi ch'ebbe portata la verga sua, ed ella ebbe messi i fiori, e ne la sua vetta fue discesa la colomba e riposatavisi suso, apertamente, fu manifesto a tutti che a lui dovea essere di- sposata la Vergine. Disposata a Gioseppo la Donna del mondo, ritornossi Gioseppo ne la sua cittade di Betleem a ordinare la casa sua, e a provvedere de le cose ch'erano necessarie a le nozze; e la Vergine beata torno& a Nazaret a casa [de] i parenti suoi, accompagnata da sette vergini di quella medesima etade e nutricate insieme, le quali ella avea ricevute dal Sommo sacerdote per dimostramento del miracolo. Et stando la beata Vergine a casa sua in quel di, orando lei, si l'apparve l'angelo Gabriello, e annunziolle che'l figliuolo di Dio dovea nascere di lei.48

It would have been as important to turn to pictorial tradition.49 In Florence the Betrothal was depicted on predellas or as part of cycles devoted to the Life of the Virgin. As treated by painters the subject was generally a rich one, involving crowds of people of all ages with portraits and gesturing figures, whilst in contradiction to the written sources the episode often takes place out of doors. Rosso's painting has many of these aspects. General parallels aside, however, there is no major debt in his altarpiece to any previous representation of the theme. The rare dedication placed him in an unusual position as a designer: his commission lacked a model in a large-scale, vertical altarpiece format in Florence, and he is unlikely to have known the recent Umbrian representations of the subject such as those by Perugino and Raphael. All of this contributed by necessity to both the iconographical and formal uniqueness of his Betrothal. He did not have to interpret the dramatic potential of the subject as he would have done if he had been treating the same episode as part of a cycle. His young Joseph, striding with serene confidence to place the ring on the Virgin's finger, displaces the anecdotal distractions of the subject to lend a positive, timeless dignity to the exchange.

From a compositional point of view, Rosso's painting departs from the traditional elements of a Marian fresco cycle in several important ways. The high priest looks towards Joseph as if to emphasize the husband's role. Through a unique hand gesture he seems to urge Joseph to put the ring on the Virgin's finger, instead of advancing her hand towards him as was more usual. The artist has transposed Joseph from his accustomed position on the left side of the composition, to the

47 The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, tr. G. Ryan and H. Ripperger, edn Salem 1991, p. 524.

48 J. da Varagine, Leggenda aurea (Vulgarizzamento tos- cano del trecento), ed. A. Levasti, Florence 1926, iii, p. 1117. 49 See C. Hope, 'Altarpieces and the Requirements of

Patrons', Christianity and the Renaissance, eds T. Verdon

and J. Henderson, Syracuse 1990, p. 544. On Joseph in art see also M. B. Foster, 'The Iconography of Saint Joseph in Netherlandish Art 1400-1550', PhD diss., University of Kansas, Ann Arbor 1978.

188 DAVID FRANKLIN

right.50 He has also reconsidered the encroaching suitors, mentioned in the sources and frequently emphasized in representations of the subject, who intend to do violence to Joseph. The main suitor is located directly behind him, but others rush in behind from the upper right. Their gesticulations are relegated to the dark background, where they distract least from the ceremony (they appear much more

prominent in photographs than when the painting is viewed in the church). Finally, although in narrative stories the scene normally takes place out of doors and on the

steps of a temple, Rosso's Betrothal is set in a crepuscular atmosphere, its mood

resonating with the particular intimacy of the chapel for which it was painted. Many of these changes have the effect of giving a more positive and

concentrated image to the subject, as befitted an altar dedicated to Joseph and the

Virgin. The painter's desire for a positive focus is particularly evident in his depic- tion of Joseph as a young man: the most startling single departure from tradition.51 As one of his attributes Joseph carries the rod that miraculously bloomed to select him as the Virgin's husband.52 He is dressed in a bright blue tunic, an ample orange cape and laced boots mainly coloured bright red, while the round button closing his tunic appears to be gilt.51 His transformation from an old man to a beardless

youth can be partially explained as part of a Renaissance trend to make him

younger, more confident and more handsome in order that he would appear to be an acceptable foster father to Christ and guardian to the Virgin. But Rosso went

beyond this trend by making Joseph a counterpart in years to his young bride. His

youth is represented as a metaphor for the confidence and divine significance of his action. He is depicted with his tunic partially opened to reveal his upper chest and his sleeves are rolled up. Moreover the implications of his youth and forward

bearing in the picture were not simply cosmetic. Two problems were raised by such a representation, one symbolic and the other practical. Firstly, it would have been considered wrong to present Joseph as a potential threat to Mary's virginity. Whether or not one believed he was already a widower with four sons, as some

apocryphal accounts claimed, a doting old Joseph avoided the issue by being physically unprovocative. The second difficulty was that there was no textual

justification for depicting Joseph as the Virgin's equal in years. The Gospels imply by their silence that he died before Christ's public life and Passion, and even the most recent theological literature on him did not fully sanction Rosso's approach. There was a major increase in the literature devoted to Joseph in this period, especially from the Dominicans, but none of it advocated a young Joseph. Early sixteenth-century theologians favoured a reduction in his age at the Betrothal, but

they were attempting to suppress apocryphal notions that he had a previous family

50 It may be significant that this transfer allowed the Virgin's face to receive the light directly. 51 Lorenzo Costa's Betrothal of the Virgin of 1505, now

in the Bologna Pinacoteca (formerly in SS. Annunziata in Bologna), contains the only other representation known to me of a truly young, beardless Joseph from this period. See R. Varese, Lorenzo Costa, Milan 1967, pl. 47. 52 In the painting by Lorenzo di Credi mentioned

above (n. 44), Joseph is depicted holding the flowering staff with a dove hovering above. He appears independ- ently with the same attribute in a Visitation now attrib-

uted to Raffaello Botticini in San Procolo in Florence (R. Kiippers, Die Tafelbilder des Domenico Ghirlandaio, Strasbourg 1916, pl. xxvi.b). In the Virgin and Child with Four Saints, attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, now at the Certosa, he holds only the flowering rod (La 'Cer- tosa' del Galluzzo a Firenze, ed. C. Chiarelli and G. Leon- cini, Milan 1982, fig. 17).

53 Thus G. Richa, Notizie istoriche delle chiese fliorentine divise ne'suoi quartieri, v, Florence 1757, p. 25, pointed out that Rosso's Joseph was too young, and improperly dressed for his humility.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 189

and was therefore not a virgin. They still accepted that Joseph married Mary at a mature age. For example, one of Joseph's major supporters, the Milanese Domin- ican Isidor de Isolani, allowed only that he was between twenty-seven and fifty at the time of the Betrothal, that is long after adolescence but before old age.54 However reformed one's theological views were about Joseph, he remained an older man and a prudent husband and father.55 Despite the efforts made on his behalf, Joseph's cult remained a controversial one, and his feast was not universally cel- ebrated until the seventeenth century.

It would be intriguing to know Ginori's reaction to Rosso's treatment of Joseph. There seems little reason to doubt that the decision to include a youthful Joseph was the painter's own: this was, after all, the area into which a painter would be expected to show his own expertise. While the patron would normally have selected the basic iconographic elements for a commissioned altarpiece, such as the subject and the names and number of saints, he would have left the interpretation of that subject matter to the artist. The case is thus an important reminder of the way in which Renaissance images can overreach and even undermine theological truths. Rosso's Joseph attests that the notion of decorum was not always as strong as an artist's desire for idealisation and invention.56

Yet in another aspect, Rosso was less inventive. The three saints were placed below and in front of the main scene. In earlier altarpieces with narrative subjects and added saints, anachronistic figures are often set in this position, as in Piero di Cosimo's Washington Visitation.57 It was unusual, however, to have an odd number of saints additional to the Virgin and Child in an altarpiece, and Rosso had the problem of distributing the three figures whilst retaining some sort of balance. He weighted the picture to the right by placing two of them on that side. Correggio reacted to a similar problem more imaginatively in his Virgin and Child with Saints Sebastian, Geminian and Roche in Dresden, by setting all three in a row along the bottom of the painting.58

Both female saints are depicted kneeling on brown earth below the steps at the bottom of the picture, looking up in profile at the ceremony. The peculiar icon- ography of the commission produced the very rare case of Saint Anne appearing separated from the Virgin. Rosso placed the withered old saint on the same side of the Virgin to maintain a relationship to her and help the viewer to identify her. She clasps her hands in active prayer and intercedes for the devout viewer before the Virgin and Joseph. She wears a turban-like head shawl to cover her head completely and her draperies are modestly coloured in dull ochres and pale off-whites.

The virgin martyr Apollonia kneels on the opposite side but slightly higher in the design. Her usual attribute of pincers is included, with a single tooth. Apollonia is placed on the right side of the panel where her drapery catches the light. She is depicted more frontally than Anne and her frankly sensual drapery is obviously

54 Isidor de Isolani published in 1522 a strict compen- dium of all the knowledge about Joseph that could be collected: see L. A. Rebigonda, 'La Summa de donis sancti Joseph di Isidor de Isolani', in Cahiers deJosephologie, xxv, 1977: Saint Joseph a l'epoque de la Renaissance, pp. 203-21. 55 For the important reformist writings about Joseph

by Isidor de Isolani's teacher, Cardinal Cajetan, see T.

Sparks, 'Cajetan on Saint Joseph', Cahiers de Josephologie (as in n. 54), pp. 255-82. 56 A parallel may be drawn with Donatello's David in

the Bargello. 57 See M. Bacci, Piero di Cosimo, Milan 1966, pl. 8. 58 See C. Gould, The Paintings of Correggio, London

1976, pl. 100.

190 DAVID FRANKLIN

inspired by an antique torso (Rosso perhaps justified her sensuality to the patron by this formal reference). She is elaborately coiffured and wears bright colours such as turquoise, pale green and poppy red to accentuate her physical beauty. On one thigh she balances an open book with a text containing a nonsense script inter- spersed with Rosso's signature on the right-hand page (P1. 36a). There was no tradition for this, but Rosso frequently gave books to saints who had no association with them, particularly in the case of female martyrs, such as Saint Catherine in his Dei altarpiece of 1522, now in the Pitti.

The third anachronistic saint is the fourteenth-century Dominican preacher from Valencia, Vincent Ferrer. He is the mature monk kneeling on one knee below Joseph at the right frame of the painting, and can be positively identified by the pictographic representation in his halo of a Last Judgement Christ with two trum- peting angels.59 This saint was often depicted with a small-scale image of Christ as judge in a glory above his right hand,60 and an inscription from Revelation 14.7:

Timete Deum et date illi honorem quia venit hora iudicii eius et adorate eum.61

A painting in the Uffizi attributed to Francesco Botticini provides an example from late fifteenth-century Florence (P1. 36b). Rosso's placing of these attributes in an historiated halo, however, was wholly original and is unprecedented in the history of art.62 Vincent Ferrer holds a closed book as another attribute, and fulfils a tradi- tional function in the altarpiece design by pointing at the main figures whilst looking directly at the viewer. The gesture of the outstretched right arm and index finger pointing towards heaven was also an attribute of the saint and in itself enough to identify him, as in Fra Bartolommeo's representation now in the Acca- demia in Florence. Vasari's description of that painting is an indication of the severity associated with Vincent Ferrer, which is also evident in Rosso's picture, although here it is more subdued:

For the arch above a door he made ... a Saint Vincent of their order, depicting him as preaching the Last Judgement, and consequently one sees in his actions and particularly in his face, that terror and fury seen in the expressions of preachers, when they try their hardest, threatening with the justice of God, to lead obstinate men from sin to a perfect life. 63

Rosso economized brilliantly by having the gesture perform a double function.

59 His identity was first noted by Richa (as in n. 53, pp. 24-25), but this was not universally accepted. Smith (as in n. 3, p. 27), saw a likeness of Carlo Ginori in the figure. He supported this identification with a much later portrait of Carlo (ibid., fig. 7), but there is no rea- son to believe that it records a contemporary likeness, and in any case the portrait does not look particularly like the saint in Rosso's painting. None of the three saints were identified by Vasari or other 16th-century commentators, such as Borghini or Bocchi.

60 There is a good example in a subsidiary panel of Domenico Ghirlandaio's high altar of Santa Maria Novella (formerly in Berlin, now destroyed), in which the saint points to a small Christ floating above his pointing finger: see C. von Holst, Francesco Granacci, Munich 1974, pl. 131.

61 Vincent Ferrer was associated with this prophecy because he thought the Great Schism signalled the end of the world. 62 Smith (as in n. 3), fig. 6, provides a detail of the

halo that clearly shows the historiation. 63 Fece sopra l'arco d'una porta...un San Vincenzo

dell'ordine loro, che figurando quello predicar del Giudizio, si vede negli atti, e nella testa particolarmente, quel terrore e quella fierezza che sogliono essere nelle teste de' predicanti, quando pif) s'affaticano con le minacci della giustizia di Dio di ridurre gli uomini ostinati nel peccato alla vita perfetta. Vasari/Milanesi (as in n. 5) iv, p. 189.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 191

It would be interesting to know more about the patron's reasons for choosing these three saints in particular. They were not name saints of either Carlo or his immediate family, so his desire that they be included in the altarpiece cannot be explained in that way. More likely is that they were selected because Ginori was particularly devoted to them and wished to honour them. There was a pronounced cult of Apollonia in Florence, centred since the fourteenth century on a Benedic- tine convent not far from San Lorenzo.64 Anne also had a strong cult in Florence and this helps to account, on a general level, for Ginori's attraction to her.65 His now childless marriage and the loss of his only children may provide further ex- planations for his (and his wife's) favouring of both Anne and Joseph. Like most Florentines of his social standing, Ginori was intensely preoccupied with dynastic issues. He had constructed a country villa and a city palace in ancestral areas, and ensured in his last will that the house would stay in the family for ever. It is not difficult to imagine how someone interested in a self-conscious, concrete way in family dignity and continuity would have been attracted to saints like Anne and Joseph, who belonged to the family of Christ.

The third anachronistic saint in the altarpiece requires more discussion. Ginori favoured the Dominican Order when he asked in his final will to be buried in their Observant church in Lucca; nevertheless, why Vincent Ferrer in particular was se- lected is a more perplexing question. He was a relatively modern saint having been canonized as recently as 1455, and his reminder of the afterlife was of course appropriate in the decoration of a burial chapel. It is possible that Ginori associated him with the Dominicans' desire during this period to enhance the status of Joseph;66 however, this would suggest an unusual interest in theology on Ginori's part and the idea can probably be discarded. More relevant perhaps is the fact that the family appears to have traditionally sent its daughters to Dominican convents. Carlo had four cousins, the only daughters of Simone di Giuliano Ginori, all of whom had been placed in Dominican houses prior to the commissioning of Rosso's altarpiece.67 Simone's decision to send all his daughters to Dominican convents was unusual and implies a fervent devotion to the order. Two of his daughters, Mad- dalena and Ginevra, were placed in Santa Caterina in Florence, while the other two, Angelica and Lisabetta, went to San Vincenzo in Prato. Carlo seems to have been attached to San Vincenzo and this Lisabetta, for he left a general bequest to the convent in his final will, as well as fifty florins to pay for her means.68 Perhaps his choice of Vincent Ferrer for the altarpiece was linked to this family attachment to San Vincenzo in Prato, through the connection with Lisabetta. Equally, and inde- pendently, he may have been attracted by the stark message preached by this famous Dominican, whose apocalyptic prophecy seems at first sight unduly severe

64 For the origins of the Convent of St Apollonia in the 14th century see A. Fortuna, 'Altre note su Andrea dal Castagno', L'arte, n.s., xxvi, 1961, pp. 165-74. 65 For the cult of Saint Anne in Florence see most

recently T. Verdon, 'La Sant'Anna Metterza: riflessioni, domande, ipotesi', Gli Uffizi: studi e richerche, v, 1988, pp. 33-58. 66 M. Gracia Miralles, 'Doctrina josefina en San Vi-

cente Ferrer', in Cahiers de Josiphologie, xix, 1970: Saint Joseph durant les quinze siecles de l'Iglise, pp. 396-408.

67 Passerini (as in n. 4), pp. 34-35 and family tree facing p. 25. 68 These two bequests are found in the last will: Flor-

ence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano, R292, fols 340r-v. For San Vincenzo in general see S. Bardazzi and E. Castellani, II monastero di S. Vincentio in Prato, Prato 1982.

192 DAVID FRANKLIN

beside the joyous scene which is the main subject of Rosso's painting. If one recalls the self-deprecating tenor of Ginori's first will, it is possible to reconcile these two

contradictory attitudes, at least for this particular patron. It is invariably difficult to reconstruct the personal motives that inspired an

individual's devotion to a particular saint. In a sense, in this case it is not particularly important, because the three saints in the foreground of the Ginori altarpiece do not hold any key to the mystery of the Betrothal. It was not necessarily the purpose of altarpieces to contain a message unified among all of the represented saints. Rather, saints acted as a focus for devotion, and as intermediaries to respond to

prayers and to help release souls from purgatory. To this degree any saint was suitable for an altarpiece, no matter what was represented as the central subject. A

patron did not need complex reasons for selecting a particular saint for representa- tion, just as there was no obvious objection to the multiplication of one's favourite saints. For most patrons, altarpieces were the only public religious images spon- sored in his or her lifetime, which was all the more reason why the pious message they contained should be reasonably vague. Ginori's decision to select saints like

Apollonia who had a local and not, apparently, a personal significance, would more- over have had the effect of focussing public attention on his altarpiece. The delay in

founding the chapel led to a cumulative subject as his devotions developed. The documentation allows us to trace this evolution, which otherwise we would be at a loss to explain with any confidence. Rosso's San Lorenzo Betrothal of the Virgin is thus revealed as an example of the flexibility of the altarpiece format for combining according to the desires of both patron and artist a number of anachronistic saints with a narrative subject.

LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD

DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX

EXTRACTS FROM THE FIRST WILL OF CARLO GINORI (13 NOVEMBER 1510)

Document lal

Inprimis l'anima sua allo omnipotente Dio humilmente et con devotione racomando: et la sepulctura del suo corpo quando l'anima sarga separata da quello elesse et vuole che sia nella sepulctura delli sua predecessori, posta nella chiesa di San Lorenzo et nella parte di socto della loro cappella, senza alcuna pompa di mondo: ma semplicemente come si conviene ad uno fidele christiano [right margin addition, but cancelled] et che'l corpo si soterri di [ ?] nella

sepoltura in San Lorenzo [left margin amendment] non essendo anchora facta la cappella et sepoltura che di sotto si dira.

1 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano, V358 (Lorenzo Violi, Testamenti, 1511-19), fol. 275r.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 193

Document 1b2

Item si facci una capella in San Lorenzo che vi si facci una sepoltura per lui e per la donna e lascia a decta capella fiorini 500 larghi d'oro in oro per fare entrata a decta capella, con

oblligo di dirvi ogni venerdi una [messa] de'morti sotto le volte della chiesa, e poi ogni altro di, di sopra. Et non possa il cappellano havere altra capella, et havendola perda questa.

EXTRACTS FROM THE SECOND WILL OF CARLO GINORI (6 JUNE 1516)

Document 2a3

Item volle e lascio et lego che non essendo finito di murare la chiesa del glorioso protho- martyre San Stephano a Sommaia si debba fra uno anno finire secondo il disegno comin- ciato spendendo almeno fiorini ducati d'oro in oro larghi con quella si fusse speso di che ne

appare uno libro per cio facto.

Document 2b4

In primis il predecto testatore raccomando l'anima sua a Dio et alla gloriosa Vergine Maria volle e lascio che il corpo suo sia sepellito di di [sic] coi parenti in la chiesa di San Lorenzo di Firenze. In la sepultura vuole si faccia come di sotto si dird dove vuole se mettano suo padre et figlioli gia defuncti e in deposito.

Document 2c5

Item lascio e volle che se alla morte sua non havesse facto o previsto il sito de fare una

capella nella chiesa di San Lorenzo di Firenze la quale vuole si debba intitulare in Sancta Anna e Sancta Apolonia, potendo havere decto sito, e non gli havesse facta la dota che decta

capella debba havere, provede et ordina per il presente testamento che gli heredi suoi dal di della morte sua fra sei mesi debbino havere speso in beni inmobili fiorini cinquecento larghi d'oro in oro per assignare ala decta capella per intrata per uno capellano per officiare decta

capella ogni mattina una messa per l'anima de decto testatore. Con obligo che una volta la

septimana debbi celebrare la messa di sotto al altare dove sari decta sua capella e sepultura. Et che decta messa sia di morti cioe con requiem eternam... // Et in casu che decto testa- tore in vita sua non havesse proveduto [ ?], o non havesse potuto provedersi di decto sito di

capella, vuole che li suoi heredi infra uno anno, o al piu in sino in dua, debba fare ogni opera e diligentia di havere uno sito per fare decta capella che si intitoli come di sopra, nel

quale sito possino spendere per haverlo insino alla summa di fiorini 200 larghi di grossi.

Document 2d6

Et vuole decto testatore che si elega per gli heredi uno prete sacerdote di buona fama e costumi di anni almancho vinticinque finiti e completi. E piui che a tale electione vi habbi ad essere presente il priore di San Lorenzo che sarai pro tempore, e similiter [?] il priore di San Marco di Firenze del'ordine [dei] predicatori che sari pro tempore. Et che tale prete electo a decta officiatura non possa havere ne altra capella ne altro beneficio. Et se altrimente s'intenda puo e[ssere] casso di decta capella, e habbesi affare un'altra electione come di

sopra, ne anchora possa officiare altra capella o chiesa ne mettare substituto senza causa legitima di infirmita o altra simile e iusta causa. E cosi non celebrando ogni mattina senza predecta iusta e legitima causa la quale sia notificata al priore o prisidenti di decto San

2 Ibid., fol. 283v. 3 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano,

R292 (Bartolomeo Rosso, Testamenti, 1504-23), un- paginated [fol. 5r].

4 Ibid., fol. 130.2r 5 Ibid., fol. 130.2r-v 6 Ibid., fols 130.2v to unpaginated [2r] (inserted

pages).

194 DAVID FRANKLIN

Lorenzo quando tre volte cosi in uno mese manchasse, vuole e intende decto testatore che decto capellano // sia privo et casso a dichiaratione del capitolo della prenotata chiesa di San Lorenzo et che si faccia nuova electione come di sopra.

Document 2e7

Et in questo caso non si havendo il decto sito da fare la capella decta sia obligato il decto

capitolo ad dare decta messa nella capella de Ginori intitulata in San Francesco e San

Hyeronimo volgarmente la capella di Sancta Maria Magdalena.

Document 2f 8

Item previdde et ordino il decto testatore che in caso lui havesse provisto in vita sua del sito della decta cappella di San Lorenzo della quale di sopra si fa mentione, et non vi havesse facta la tavola a decta cappella che allora et in tal caso i suoi heredi infrascripti siano tenuti infra un anno dal di della morte del testatore far fare una tavola d'altare a decta cappella di mano di buon maestro nella quale si spenda almeno fiorini cinquanta d'oro in oro. Et siano

dipinto per la propria figura una Sancta Anna colla Vergine Maria in grembo et una Sancta

Appolonia a mana diritta.

PERMISSION GRANTED TO CARLO GINORI TO ERECT A CHAPEL DEDICATED TO THE VIRGIN IN SAN LORENZO (18 OCTOBER 1520)

Document 39

Iulius, miseratione divina, tituli Sancti Laurentii in Damaso presbiter Cardinalis de Medicis, Sancte Romane Ecclesiae vice cancellarius, in civitatibus Bononiae et Placentiae et Exarcatu Ravennae, nec non tota provincia Romandiolae Tusciaeque Apostolicae Sedis de latere

legatus, dilecto nobis in Christo Ecclesiae nostrae Florentinae vicario in spiritualibus et

temporalibus generali, salutem in Domino sempiternam. Ex incumbenti nobis ab Apostolica Sede legationis officio, quo, meritis quamvis

imparibus, fungimur in hac parte, circa ea libenter intendimus per que nostrae provisionis ope ecclesiarum omnium utilitas etiam in eis cultus augmentum valeat procurari.

Exhibita nobis si quidem pro parte dilecti nobis in Christo Caroli Leonardi de Ginoris, civis Florentini, petitio continebat, quod, postquam olim parochialis ecclesia et collegiata ecclesia Sancti Laurentii Florentiae, cum quampluribus cappellis sive altaribus in ea, a bonae memoriae Cosmo de Medicis, nostrum secundum carnem proavo, non pauca impensa, constructa et hedificata fuerit, nonnulli cives Florentini, zelo devotionis accensi, cupientes in dicta ecclesia proprias cappellas, sive propria et particularia, cum eorum familiae propriis insignis, in ea altaria habere, certam pecuniarum summam eisdem de Medicis propter restitutionem impensarum in fabrica ecclesiae et altarium huiusmodi per eos factarum reddere et persolvere, et ad singula inibi altaria, que propterea elegissent, singulas perpetuas cappellanias, que de iure patronatus illorum familiae huiusmodi essent, fundare et dotare et

erigi facere consueverunt; inter quos quondam Ludovicus de Masis, etiam civis Florentinus, dum viveret, ad effectum praemissum, quandam cappellaniam ad altare Beatae Mariae

Virginis situm in dicta ecclesia apud cappellaniam dictae Beatae Mariae Virginis specialiter elegit et dictam pecuniarum summam dictis tunc de Medicis persolvit seu restituit; sed eius postea superveniente obitu, incuria, forte, vel negligentia, seu impotentia heredum et

7 Ibid., fol. 130.2v. 8 Ibid., unpaginated [fol. 6r]. 9 This extract was published in P. Ginori Conti, La

basilica di San Lorenzo in Firenze e la famiglia Ginori, Florence 1940, pp. 275-77. The copy of the document

in the family archive is according to the present archivist missing. Ginori Conti lists a copy in Florence, Archivio Vescovile, but the archivist there looked for this with me, also without success.

ROSSO FIORENTINO 195

successorum suorum, nulla inibi perpetua cappellania erecta, seu per eos dotata fuit et, sicut eadem petitio subiungebat, si ad altare Beatae Mariae huiusmodi una perpetua cappellania pro uno perpetuo cappellano, qui inibi singulis hebdomadis, ad instar aliarum cap- pellaniarum eiusdem ecclesiae, missas et alia divina officia celebrare teneretur, nondum erecta est, erigeretur et institueretur ac ius patronatus et praesentandi personam idoneam ad dictam cappellaniam, dum eam pro tempore, etiam ab ea primeva erectione, vacare

contingeret priori pro tempore eiusdem ecclesiae ad praesentationem huiusmodi instituendam eidem Carolo ac heredibus et successoribus suis reservaretur et concederetur, ipse Carolus cappellaniam huiusmodi de propriis bonis condecenter dotaret et pecuniarum summam per dictum Ludovicum aut alios propterea forsan, ut prefertur, solutam, illis

quorum interest, restitueret, et propterea nobis supplicari fecit ut ad dictum altare Baetae Mariae unam perpetuam cappellaniam pro uno cappellano qui inibi [ut supra] si nondum erecta sit erigere et instituere, ac ius patronatus et presentandi personam ydoneam ad dictam cappellaniam... [etc.], eidem Carolo ac heredibus et successoribus suis, postquam cappellaniam huiusmodi condecenter dotaverit et pecuniarum summam huiusmodi

persolverit seu restituerit dictis de Masis, ut praefertur, ipsorum de Masis quorum interest

expresso consensu, reservare et concedere nec non ius patronatus huiusmodi, ex dicta

pecuniarum solutione, seu alias forsan acquisitum in dictum oratorem et eius heredes et successores praedictos, de consensu praedicto transferre et eos, illorum loco, quo ad ius huiusmodi, surrogare ac ius patronatus huiusmodi eidem Carolo et successoribus praefatis, postquam eis reservatum fuerit, ut praefertur ex fundatione et dotatione pertinere, ac si a

principio cappellam seu altare huiusmodi funditus construi et haedificari fecissent et

cappellaniam ipsam sufficienter dotassent... [etc.].

TERMS OF A CHAPLAINSHIP FOR THE BURIAL CHAPEL OF CARLO GINORI (7 & 9 APRIL 1522) 10

Document 4a11

[Margin: Electio. Redditum ut hic.] In Dei nomine amen. Universis et singulis presentis publici instrumenti paginam ac seriem

inspecturis, lecturis pariter et audituris, pateat evidenter et notum sit quod anno incarnationis domince MDXXII, indictione decima, die vero septima mensis Aprilis, Reverendissimo in Christo patre et domino, domino Adriano Sancti lohannis et Pauli

presbitero Cardinali dertusiensi ad Summi apostolatus apicem electo. Vacante perpetua capellania ad altare Beate Marie Virginis et Sancti loseph, situm in ecclesia collegiata Sancti Laurentii florentini, nuper in dicta ecclesia auctoritate apostolica erecta a sui primeva erectione, nobilis Carolus olim Leonardi de Ginoris, civis florentinus, tamquam patronus dicte capellanie ex iuris dotatione et fundatione, volens dicte capellanie de idoneo providere rectore ad laudem omnipotentis Dei et gloriose Virginis Marie, in rectorem et ad

regimen capellanie prefate in illius rectorem, sic ut premittitur vacantis, elegit et nominavit venerabilem virum lohannem Michaelis de Norchiatis de Podio Bonitio, presbiterum Florentine diocesis, tanquam habilem et idoneum ad dictam capellaniam obtinendam, et per quem sperat dictam capellaniam bene regi et laudabiliter gubernari, presentem et dictam electionem acceptantem. Et qui ser Iohannes electus sponte et ex eius certa scientia et omni meliori modo quo potuit, promisit dicto Carlo presenti et acceptanti, omnia onera

10 For these documents see also Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Archivio di San Lorenzo, vol. 2367 (Contratti, 1518-30), fols 90v-91v; there is another copy of Doc. 4b in vol. 2257, in the 4th insert of the 3rd filza. One of the witnesses to Doc. 4a was Giuliano

Bugiardini. The painter was connected to San Lorenzo through his father, who regularly appears in their accounts. 11 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano,

B227 (Raffaello Baldesi, 1521-23), fol. 52r-v.

196 DAVID FRANKLIN

dicte capellanie sibi incumbentia supportare, et pro vera dicti iuris patronatus recognitione, anno quolibet in festo Purificationis Virginis Marie dare dicto Carolo et successive maiori natu eorum qui in ius patronatus succedent, unam falculam medie libre cere albe, et in die Palmarum unum ramum olivarum cum palmis. Obligans se et suos dicta capellania succes- sores, cum omnibus et singulis clausulis et renuntiationbus consuetis. Super quibus omnibus et singulis dicti eligens et electus petierunt sibi per me notarium publicum infrascriptum fieri atque confici presens publicum // [fol. 52v] instrumentum et instrumenta unum et seu

plura. Acta fuerunt premissa omnia et singula Florentie, in domo habitationis prioris Sancti Laurentii florentini, presentibus ibidem providis viris ser lohannepetro Bernardi Dominici de Certaldo presbitero, et ser luliano Petri de Bugiardini cive florentino populi Sancti Laurentii predicti, testibus ad premissa omnia et singula vocatis, habitis atque rogatis.

Document 4b12

[Margin: Data copia die 9 Iulii 87. Donatio amore Dei. Redditum ut hic Capitulo.] In Dei nomine amen. Universis et singulis presentis publici instrumenti paginam ac seriem

inspecturis, lecturis pariter et audituris, pateat evidenter et sit notum quod anno incarnationis dominice millesimo quinqentesimo vigesimo secundo, indictione X, die vero nona mensis Aprilis, Reverendissimo in Christo patre et domino, domino Adriano tituli Sancti lohannis et Pauli presbitero cardinali dertusiensi in pontificem electo. // Coram me notario infrascripto ac testibus infrascriptis presens ac personaliter constitutus nobilis vir Carolus olim Leonardi de Ginoris, civis florentinus principalis principaliter pro se ipso, per se et suos heredes et successores, ex eius certa scientia et spontanea voluntate, amore Dei et ad hoc ut capellanus perpetuus capellanie ad altare Beate Marie Virginis et Sancti loseph, per eum noviter in dicta ecclesia Sancti Laurentii florentini constructe et auctoritate apost- olica erecte, habeat a capitulo prefate ecclesie distributiones quottidianas aliis capellanis dicte ecclesie divinis interessentibus dari solitas, ex titulo et causa donationis irrevocabilis et

que dictur inter vivos, ac cum pactis et conditionibus infrascriptis, dedit et donavit dicti

capitulo collegiate ecclesie Sancti Laurentii de Florentia et dictis reverendis dominis priori et canonicis ibidem capitulo congregatis, presentibus et acceptantibus, ducatos decem et octo auri in auro largos quolibet anno in perpetuum quos ducatos XVIII auri in auro largos dictus Carolus promisit solvere anno quolibet in perpetuum camerario dicti capitoli, pro dictis distributionibus per dictum capitulum anno quolibet capellano dicte capellanie pro tempore existenti, dandos et modo et forma et prout aliis capellanis in dicta ecclesia divinis interessentibus dari consuevit. Cum hac tamen condictione et pacto in principio presentis contractus apposito et ubique repetito, quod quotienscumque dictus Carolus vel sui heredes

consignaverint dicto capitulo equivalentum annuum redditum in bonis immobilibus dicti annui redditus ducatorum XVIII auri largorum in auro facta dicta actuali consignatione, eo

ipso sit liber et absolutus a dicta annua prestatione dictorum ducatorum XVIII auri

largorum in auro. Et cum pacto etiam quod ad dictum altare per proprium capellanum dicte capellanie vel alium capellanum dicte ecclesie Sancti Laurentii, qualibet die celebretur saltim una missa. Et insuper teneatur dare dicto capellano pro tempore existenti, unam cameram in claustro dicte ecclesie Sancti Laurentii. Et sic promiserunt // [fol. 57V] dicti

priori et canonicis dicto Carolo presenti et ut supra recipienti et acceptanti. Et cum pacto quod dictus Carolus de Ginoris, pro dicta annua prestatione dictorum ducatorum XVIII

largorum in auro, anno quolibet solvendorum, teneatur dare in fideiussorum principaliter obligatum hospitalarium Sancte Marie Nove de Florentia. // Que omnia et singula supra- scripta dicti contrahentes, dictis modis et nominibus promiserunt sibi in invicem et vicissim per solempnem stipulationem hinc inde intervenientem perpetuo attendere et observare et contra nullo modo facere, dicere vel venire per se vel alium seu alios aliqua ratione iure

12 Ibid., fol. 57r-v

ROSSO FIORENTINO 197

modo vel causa, sub hypotheca et obligatione sui ac omnium et singulorum bonorum suorum mobilium et immobilium, presentium et futurorum, et sub omni iuris et facti renuntiatione ad hec necessaria pariter et cautela. Obligans dictus Carolus se et suos heredes prefatos et bona omnia et singula presentia quam futura in pleniori forma camere

apostolice consueta, cum iuramento, constitutione procuratorum et aliis renuntiationibus et clausulis consuetis. Quibus partibus contrahentibus et sic volentibus precepi ego Raphael, iudex ordinarius et notarius publicus Florentinus, per guarantigiam prout mihi licuit et licet ex forma statutorum et ordinamentorum Comunis Florentie, quatenus predicta omnia et

singula faciant et observent prout supra promiserunt, continetur et scriptum est. Super quibus omnibus et singulis dicte partes contrahentes petierunt per me notarium publicum infrascriptum fieri atque confici presens publicum instrumentum et instrumenta, unum et seu plura. // Acta fuerent premissa in sacrario dicte ecclesie Sancti Laurentii, loco eorum

capituli, presentibus ibidem providis viris ser lohannespetro Bernardi Dominici de Certaldo, presbitero Florentine diocesis, et ser lohannebaptista Pierantonii de Paghanuccis, notario

publico florentino, testibus ad premissa omnia et singula vocatis habitis et rogatis.

ROSSO RENTS A HOUSE IN THE CANTO A MONTELORO (2 OCTOBER 1522)

Document 513

[Margin: Locat[i]o] Item postea, dictis anno [1522], inditione, et die IIa Octobris. Actum Florentie et in populo Sancti Laurentii, presentibus testibus etc. Paulo Betti de Bramantibus et Niccolao Taddei de Ginoris, civibus florentinis. Angelus olim Nofri alterius Nofri, calzaiuolus populi Sancti Petri Maioris de Florentia, omni modo etc. dedit et locavit etc. Rossio [sic] olim lacobi Guasparri, pi[c]tori populi predicti, presenti etc. unam domum cum terreno et curia et suis pertinent- iis [sic], positam Florentie et in via dicta Via Nuova dal Canto a Monteloro, cui a primo via, a secundo lacobi del Zacheria, a III societatis Peregrini de Florentia, a IIII Capelle Sancti Niccolai della via de'Bardi, infra predictos confines etc. pro tempore anni unius proximi futuri initiandi dicta die, pro pensione florenorum X largorum de auro in auro, solvend- orum de sex mensibus in sex menses, pro rata. Que bona dictus locator promixit etc. defendere etc. cum pacto quod possit dictus conductor dicta bona alteri locare etc. Et e converso dictus conductor promixit etc. pensionem solvere et pro alio non confiteri etc. et uti arbitrio boni viri etc. et in fine temporis relaxare etc. eo modo et forma qua est ad

presens, si qua mutasset etc. et potius meliorata etc. Et que omnia etc. promixit attendere etc. pena duplici etc. que etc. qua etc. Pro quibus etc. obligaverunt etc. Renuntiaverunt etc.

guarantigia etc.

PAYMENTS FOR THE SAN LORENZO ALTARPIECE (20 DECEMBER 1522-8 NOVEMBER 1523)

Document 614

+ Yesus MDXXII Charlo di Lionardo Ginori, nostro maggiore, conto proprio, de'dare ... E addi XX di Dicembre [1522], ducati sei d'oro larghi, per noi da Carlo Ginori e Compagni del bancho, quali si dettono al dipintore che dipigne la tavola per [sic] in Sancto Lorenzo, porto detti Ginori del bancho, avere in questo c.143- ducati VI-

13 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano, F501 (Francesco Domenico da Catignano, 1520-24), fol. 272r.

14 Florence, Archivio Ginori Lisci, III.7.60 (Libro di debitori e creditori bianco, seg. F, di Filippo e Carlo di Leonardo Ginori e compagni battilori, 1518-33), fol. 154 left side.

198 DAVID FRANKLIN

E fino addi XXVIIII di Febraio [1522 (modern 1523)], ducati sei d'oro, per noi da Carlo Ginori e Compagni, avere in questo, per dare al Rosso, dipintore, c.159- ducati VI- E fino addi VIII di Novembre [1523] ducati X d'oro larghi, per noi da Carlo Ginori e

Compagni, per dare al detto, porto detti, avere [in] questo c.159- ducati X-

EXTRACTS FROM THE THIRD WILL OF CARLO GINORI (6 APRIL 1523) 15

Document 7a16

Item dixit et asseruit dictus testator instituisse et ordinasse in ecclesia Sancti Laurentii de Florentia unam cappellam seu sitam cappelle intitulatam in Beatam Mariam et Sanctum

loseph et circha modum et formam dotandi dictam cappellam et quomodo ibi celebrari debeant misse et divina offitia et quomodo et per quos debeat deputari presbiter seu capel- lanus pro officianda dicta cappella, dixit se convenisse cum dicto priore et canonicis et pres- biteris dicte ecclesie et de quibus dixit apparere publicum instrumentum manu publici notarii sub suo tempore per ser Raphaelem de Baldesis vel alium notarium... Et voluit et

disposuit dictus testator quod sub dicta cappella debeant fieri duo cassones de lapidibus pro sepulcris ubi erit altare fiendo sub cappella predicta adeo quod altare remaneat in medio dictorum duorum cassonum et in altero ipsorum mittantur corpora patris et matris dicti testatoris, et in alio corpora eius filiorum iam defunctorum ut supra et dicti testatoris et eius uxoris. Et voluit et disposuit quod pro fiendis dictis sepulcris et pro construenda dicta

cappella sub terra ut supra expendatur ad minus summa florenorum centum largorum infra tres annos post mortem dicti testatoris ad minus. Et voluit et disposuit quod cappellanus dicte cappella teneatur saltim semel qualibet egdomada celebrare unam missam ad altare dicte cappelle sub terra de qua supra fit mentio.

Document 7b17

Item lascio a' preti e capitolo della chiesa di Sancto Lorenzo di Firenze fiorini cento di

suggello, con incharicho et obligho in perpetuo che decti preti di Sancto Lorenzo sieno tenuti celebrare in decta chiesa nel tempo di quaresima ciaschuno anno un'offitio di morte con messa tenuto almeno, et uno cantando, con i paramenti convenienti per rimedio dell'anima di decto testatore et de' sua padre et madre et della sua donna e de' sua

precedessori, i quali fiorini cento di suggello vuole si paghino per gli infrascripti sua heredi almeno infra uno anno dal di della sua morte.

Document 7c18

Item a chierici scripti et alla sacrestia di Sancto Lorenzo fiorini uno d'oro in oro la settimana da dovere per uno anno immediate dopo la morte sua con incaricho ch'el sacrestano di decta chiesa sia tenuto fare celebrare alla decta capella di Sancto Lorenzo al sabato mattina una messa cantando all'altare della gloriosa Vergine Madonna et una al lunedi mattina o el mercoledi per l'anima di decto testatore, et ogni settimana [de'] decti danari sia tenuto

15 There is a copy of this will in the family archive: see F. W. Kent, Household and Lineage in Renaissance Florence, Princeton 1977, p. 144. A further two copies are in the San Lorenzo archive. One is contained in vol. 2257, in the 4th insert. The other, according to C. Sodini, II gonfalone del Leon d'Oro, Florence 1979, p. 83, is in vol. 2479. The clearest version is one made in 1527 by a Lucchese notary, Giuseppe Piscillen, with a codicil drafted by Ginori in the year of his death. This docu- ment is in Florence, Archivio di Stato, Diplomatico Sant'Orsola, 6 April 1523, and is cited by Ginori Conti

(as in n. 4), p. 90. I used this version for my transcrip- tion, checking it against the original, which I found in the protocols of Bartolomeo Rosso, the original notary. See also, in the Archivio di Santa Maria Nuova, vol. 1130 (Atti civili, no. 43), filza 2, and lxxiv, 1, Testamenti, fols 348v-350r, for excerpts from the 1523 will relevant to the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova.

16 Florence, Archivio di Stato, Notarile Antecosimiano, R292, Bartolomeo Rosso, Testamenti, 1504-23, fol. 335v.

17 Ibid., fol. 337v. 18 Ibid., fol. 341r

ROSSO FIORENTINO 199

pagare a decti cherichi soldi 3 per uno et el resto per chi chanterai la messa et per la sacrestia.

Document 7d19

Item lascio un barile d'olio in perpetuo per una lampada che stia sempre accesa alla

cappella sua in Sancto Lorenzo di Santa Maria et San Guxeppo per decta lampada che stia accesa di et notte.

Document 7e20

Item che della bottegha della seta che dice Filippo e Carlo Ginori et compagni si tenga conto che si faccia uno paliocto et una pianeta con camicie, stola et sua fornimenti da brocade biancho con pelo spagnuolo tre oncie d'oro in oro almeno per lavoro, per la

cappella di decto testatore in decta chiesa di Sancto Lorenzo almeno infra anni cinque dal di della sua morte.

Document 7f21

Item dixe decto testatore havere ordinato di fare una tavola all'altare della cappella per lui ordinata et facta in decta chiesa di Sancto Lorenzo di Firenze di facta [ ?] se n'e facto una conventione [cancelled 'scritta'] con Rosso dipintore che ha havuto parte di danari come

appare per ricordo a libro del banco di decto Carlo et compagni 'ricordanze et cambi'

segnato H [blank]. Pero volse che in caso non fussi finita decta tavola coi sua debiti forni- menti et ornamenti che infra anni dua almeno dal di della sua morte si debba fare et finire a

spese di decti et infrascritti sua heredi.

Document 7g22 Item dixe decto testatore havere ordinata et cominciata una cappella nella chiesa di San Gallo allato alla cipta di Firenze intitolata in San Niccolo, et obligo modo di fare decta

cappella, et suo sito dixe apparire in strumento publico, pero volse et comand6 che in caso che decta cappella non fussi finita al tempo della sua morte che si finischa et di questo ne

gravo et grava la decta madonna Cassandra sua donna che sia tenuta a farla fare et a sua

spese al caso che lei habbia allegato dell'usufructo di decti sua beni inmobili come di sopra e decto, se non che si faccia a spese di decti et infrascripti sua heredi et che dopo la sua morte si debba spendere almeno fiorini cinquanta d'oro in oro infra sei mesi dopo la sua morte et dipoi ogn'anno fiorini cinquanta d'oro in oro tanto che sia finita decta cappella et la mole et altare di ipsa cappella, et che si spenda almeno insino in fiorini 400 larghi d'oro in oro.

Document 7h23

Item a San Gallo per fare la festa di San Nicholo da Tolentino durante lo usufructo a di

sopra madonna Cassandra, et nel giorno di decto San Nicholo lire 15 piccioli per l'anno, et dopo la morte di decta madonna Cassandra si faccia uno officio di morti in la cappella di Sancto Nicholo infrascripto in perpetuo per l'anima di decto testatore et habbino havere lire 20 l'anno per decto ufficio ... Item fra decti tre anni obligo gli heredi, sendo manchata la decta madonna Cassandra et non stando ne beni altri legati in usufructo come di sopra, che si faccia uno coro in decta cappella di San Nichol6, che si spenda fiorini 10 d'oro in oro larghi piut [?], di noce conveniente lavorato a decta cappella, et stando lei ne' beni lo facia, lei manchando innanzi sia finito, gli heredi habbino a finire in tre anni almeno dopo la morte sua.

19 Ibid., fol. 340r. 20 Ibid., fol. 3413r 21 Ibid., fol. 339".

22 Ibid., fol. 342v. 23 Ibid., fol. 340v.

ROSSO FIORENTINO Plate 35

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