Day 382 - Florentine households and a late Botticelli


 October 28, 2024

Gallery 604 holds mostly small religious paintings, especially ones of the Madonna and Child, but also a number of other pieces, including a couple of marble reliefs, also of the Madonna and Child (one discussed on Day 229), two substantial wooden chests, a charming Mino da Fiesole marble bust of John the Baptist as a young boy, a large painted tray that was created to celebrate the birth of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and lusterware from Spain, The introductory signage notes that these works are meant to  represent the kinds of objects that might be found in the home of a noble family in Renaissance Italy, where they served as wedding gifts, celebrations of ancestors and other relatives,  and objects of private devotion. The placard also states that "household inventories show that nearly every home, even the most modest, had an image of the Madonna and Child hanging on its walls." Maybe so, but I have to say that I'm dubious of this claim. Really, did the most modest homes have inventories made at all?  I Google "Household inventories in Renaissance Florence" and find, to my surprise, that this was something our old family friend, Dick Goldthwaite, wrote about; if I had a JStor account, I could look up what he had to say. Bt unless virtually all families had inventories made, I think some skepticism about this claim is warranted.

Today's object is a painting Botticelli made around 1500 entitled "three Miracles of Saint Zenobius."  Measuring roughly 48 inches wide and 24 inches tall, it shows three scenes i nwhich Zenobius, who was a 5th century bishop of Florence, raises the dead. What strikes me is how different this is from the other Botticellis I've seen - it's devoid of sinuous, curving lines, of graceful, sensuous figures. The setting is stark and simple, the palette vibrant and agitated. I know that Botticelli became a devote of Savonarola; his conversion didn't do his painting style any favors, in my opinion.

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