The Ugly Renaissance (63 page)

“what is that thing I see sticking out”:
Ibid., 276–77.

“learn to put the devil back in Hell”:
Ibid., 279.

Performed on a positively funereal carriage:
For a discussion of this
canto
, see Prizer, “Reading Carnival.” The text—with translation—is given at ibid., 185–87.

“How beautiful is youth”:
Medici,
Poesie
, 261:

Quant’è bella giovinezza

Che si fugge tuttavia!

Chi vuol esser lieto, sia;

Di doman non c’è certezza.

“forgetful of their excellence”:
Bartolomeo Facio,
De hominis excellentia
, trans. in Trinkaus,
In Our Image and Likeness
, 1:227.

Opposing the tough and uncompromising morality:
There is some evidence to suggest that Manetti composed at least some of the
De dignitate et excellentia hominis
as early as 1449, but it is generally accepted that the work—in its final form—was prompted by a discussion that Manetti had with King
Alfonso of Naples during the former’s embassy in 1452. Although Alfonso had read Bartolomeo Facio’s
De hominis excellentia
, it seems he had become rather disaffected with the author and asked Manetti to write a response. Happy to oblige, Manetti finished his demolition of Facio’s argument in late 1452 or early 1453. For a general survey of Manetti’s life and career, see Martines,
Social World of the Florentine Humanists
, 131–38.

“the most beautiful, the most ingenious”:
Giannozzo Manetti,
De dignitate et excellentia hominis
, trans. in Trinkaus,
In Our Image and Likeness
, 1:245.

Aurelio Lippo Brandolini:
On Brandolini, see Mayer,
Un umanista italiano della corte di Mattia Corvino, Aurelio Brandolino Lippo
. The
Dialogus de humanae vitae conditione et toleranda corporis aegritudine
was composed while Brandolini was living in Budapest and was dedicated to the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. It proved to be rather popular and was printed several times from 1498 on.

“Since a certain pleasure”:
Aurelio Lippo Brandolini,
Dialogus de humanae vitae conditione et toleranda corporis aegritudine
, trans. in Trinkaus,
In Our Image and Likeness
, 1:302–3 (amended).

“It will be difficult”:
Manetti,
De dignitate et excellentia hominis
, trans. in Trinkaus,
In Our Image and Likeness
, 1:254–55 (amended).

“Those [pleasures] which are generally”:
Ibid.

Truculent, irascible, and powerfully argumentative:
Valla had a rather frustrating habit of continually revising and updating his works, and seems almost never to have settled on a final text for any of his treatises. The
De voluptate
is no exception. Although it was first written in 1431, he subsequently reworked the text in its entirety, issuing it under the title
De vero falsoque bono
some years later. In what follows, I shall refer only to the original
De voluptate
. The text can be found (with facing German translation) in Valla,
Von der Lust
. The classic survey of Valla’s life and thought remains Camporeale,
Lorenzo Valla
.

Conceived as a dialogue between three friends:
An accessible and thorough discussion of
the place of Valla’s treatise in the context of the
vita activa
/
vita contemplativa
debate can be found in Panizza, “Active and Contemplative in Lorenzo Valla.”

Valla began by observing that Aristotle:
Valla,
De voluptate
, 2.28.2; Valla,
Von der Lust
, 210; cf. Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics
, 1097b1–4.

Since happiness had to be an absolute state:
Valla,
De voluptate
, 2.28.3; Valla,
Von der Lust
, 210.

Even if one could speak of a contemplative life:
Valla,
De voluptate
, 2.28.5; Valla,
Von der Lust
, 212.

“Here in your lovely face”:
Michelangelo,
Poems and Letters
, no. 83.

But far from showing any surprise, Ganymede:
Michelangelo’s source for the story is Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
, which he probably knew best in the Italian translation of 1497. Ovid,
Met
. 10.143–66. On Michelangelo’s knowledge of Ovid, see Wallace,
Michelangelo
, 41; Hirst,
Achievement of Fame
, 17.

As a young man in the household:
For a lively and general introduction to Michelangelo’s relationship with the Florentine Neoplatonists, see Panofsky, “The Neoplatonic Movement and Michelangelo,” in
Studies in Iconology
, 171–230.

“Neo-Neoplatonists”:
Mackenney,
Renaissances
, 146–49.

Although there has been some doubt:
See Hankins, “Myth of the Platonic Academy of Florence.”

“a divine influence emanating”:
Marsilio Ficino,
Theologia Platonica
, 10.7; the remainder of this book repays close study; see Ficino,
Platonic Theology
, 3:106–96.

“Everything which is in the totality”:
Pico della Mirandola,
Heptaplus
, 188, trans. in Gombrich, “Icones Symbolicae,” 168.

This was all a matter of contemplation:
See Ficino,
Theologia Platonica
, 2.2; Pico della Mirandola,
Oration on the Dignity of Man
.

“the soul withdraws from the body”:
Kristeller,
Renaissance Thought and the Arts
, 94.

6. T
HE
A
RT OF
P
OWER

On the afternoon of April 17, 1459:
This description of Galeazzo Maria Sforza is derived from Pius II,
Commentaries
, II.26, 1:311.

an important diplomatic mission:
Galeazzo Maria Sforza had officially been sent to escort
Pope Pius II on his journey from Florence to Mantua, where the pontiff had convened a diet to proclaim a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. Pius arrived in Florence eight days later, on April 25, 1459. An account of Galeazzo Maria Sforza’s arrival in Florence can be found in Francesco Filarete’s
Libro cerimoniale
; a translation of the relevant section is given at Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 77–82.

“fairy world of gaiety”:
Gombrich,
Story of Art
, 256.

Absolutely no expense had been spared:
On the decoration of the Magi Chapel, see Hatfield, “Cosimo de’ Medici and the Chapel of His Palace.”

Although there was a deliberate echo:
Since at least 1390, the
Compagnia de’ Magi had staged spectacular processions through the city each Epiphany, and the pageantry of the event had provided a focal point for the affirmation of political and social unity. From the mid-1420s onward, the Medici had forcibly assumed a central role in these events. Muir, “Representations of Power,” 228; Trexler,
Public Life in Renaissance Florence
, 298, 401–3, 423–25; Hatfield, “Compagnia de’ Magi.”

“participants in, or witnesses to”:
Najemy,
History of Florence
, 330. Florence was, indeed, full of examples. Masaccio, for instance, depicted two donors leaning on either side of Saint John and the Virgin Mary in the
Trinity
(ca. 1425–27). The identity of these two figures is, however, not known with any certainty. It has, however, been suggested that they might be members of either the Lenzi or the Berti family. For a recent discussion of their identities, see Comanducci, “ ‘L’Altare Nostro de la Trinità.’ ”

“never before had an entire family”:
Najemy,
History of Florence
, 330.

“When giving an audience”:
Hibbert,
Rise and Fall of the House of Medici
, 97–98.

“Ah, how much discretion”:
Landino,
Xandra
, III.1, lines 23–24, in
Poems
, 141.

Petrarch advised Francesco “il Vecchio” da Carrara:
Petrarch,
Sen
. 14.1, in Kohl and Witt,
Earthly Republic
, 74–76.

Machiavelli viewed the true prince:
Machiavelli,
Prince
, chap. 21, pp. 70–73.

“I should like our courtier”:
Castiglione,
Book of the Courtier
, I, p. 90.

For Castiglione, it behooved the courtier:
Ibid., 96–97.

“large and very beautiful model”:
Vasari,
Lives
, 1:164–65.

“legitimate [the Medici’s] domination”:
Muir, “Representations of Power,” 228.

“Cosimo was refused nothing”:
Pius II,
Commentaries
, II.28, 1:317.

By surrounding themselves with portraits:
See Muir, “Representations of Power.”

“presented themselves as worthy companions”:
Ibid., 228.

The collapse of imperial authority:
The classic accounts of this process remain Jones, “Communes and Despots”; Jones,
Italian City-State
; Waley,
Italian City-Republics
; Hyde,
Society and Politics in Medieval Italy
; Martines,
Power and Imagination
. Despite the serious questions that have been raised about the interpretation contained therein, much profit can be derived from the early chapters of Skinner,
Foundations of Modern Political Thought
.

“sophisticated and, in some cases, highly professional”:
Muir, “Representations of Power,” 227.

The town halls of Florence:
For a useful introduction to the conception and design of civic palazzi, see Cunningham, “For the Honour and Beauty of the City.”

the Council of Nine called in Ambrogio Lorenzetti:
Lorenzetti’s frescoes have been the subject of intense and ongoing debate. The classic readings remain Rubinstein, “Political Ideas in Sienese Art”; Rubinstein, “Le allegorie di Ambrogio Lorenzetti nella Sala della Pace e il pensiero politico del suo tempo”; Skinner, “Ambrogio Lorenzetti”; Skinner, “Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s
Buon Governo
Frescoes.”

But even though he tried to do some good:
Marco Parenti,
Memorie
; the relevant section is translated in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 69–71, here 70.

“illegitimate lord”:
Pius II,
Commentaries
, II.28, 1:319.

“He was most magnificent”:
Lubkin,
Renaissance Court
, 87.

Galeazzo Maria took it into his head:
Ibid., 102. On the Sforza family’s patronage of the arts more generally, see Welch,
Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan
.

Filled always with the sound:
Lubkin,
Renaissance Court
, 102–21; Merkley and Merkley,
Music and Patronage in the Sforza Court
.

Suspecting him (not without reason):
Machiavelli,
Florentine Histories
, 7.33, p. 313: “Galeazzo was lecherous and cruel; frequent examples of these two things made him very much hated, because not only was it not enough for him to corrupt noble
women, but he also took pleasure in making this public. Neither was he content to put men to death unless he killed them in some cruel mode. Nor did he escape the infamy of having killed his mother, because it did not appear to him that he was prince so long as she was there. He behaved toward her in such a mode that she came to want to retire to her own dower residence in Cremona, on the journey to which she was suddenly taken ill and died—whereupon many judged that her son had had her killed.”

Even nuns were not safe:
For a pleasant overview of Galeazzo Maria Sforza’s foibles, see Simonetta,
Montefeltro Conspiracy
, 9–16.

7. T
HE
M
EN WITH THE
M
IDAS
T
OUCH

“anxious to remain in the background”:
Gutkind,
Cosimo de’ Medici
, 124.

Galeazzo Maria would have heard rumors:
See Hale,
Florence and the Medici
, 23–24, 31–32.

“indecipherable sphinx”:
Padgett and Ansell, “Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici,” 1262.

Cosimo de’ Medici personally made a profit:
Najemy,
History of Florence
, 265; see also de Roover,
Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank
, 35–70.

If Giovanni Rucellai’s estimate is to be believed:
Rucellai,
Zibaldone
, 1:62, in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 75.

they had begun as humble pawnbrokers:
This is given credence by the Medici’s coat of arms. Although the seven red
palle
(balls) that appear against a golden field could symbolize pills, it is more plausible to suppose that they represent coins, the traditional emblem of pawnbrokers.

Although Pegolotti’s
Pratica della mercatura
included:
Pegolotti,
La pratica della mercatura
, 287–92.

Two Medici, Ugo and Galgano, set up shop:
Brucker, “Medici in the Fourteenth Century,” 3.

It was this profession that offered:
See Hunt and Murray,
History of Business in Medieval Europe
, 63–67; Spufford, “Trade in Fourteenth-Century Europe,” 178.

This all made trade a good deal easier:
What follows is a highly simplified account of the extremely complex changes of the period. For fuller details of the general European context of these developments, see de Roover,
L’évolution de la lettre de change
; Spufford,
Money and Its Use in Medieval Europe
. For the specifically Florentine dimension, see Goldthwaite,
Economy of Renaissance Florence
, 408–83.