Piazza Spread

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Now that

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you have a basic idea of the political history of Florence, we’re going to discuss the sculpture in the piazza.

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There are many ways

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to analyze this art, of course- you can talk about the materials and techniques involved, the artistic style, and so on, but our discussion of the sculpture will concentrate on a particular theme,

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which is

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the relationship between the art work here and the political history of Florence.

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Essentially

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what we’re interested in is how these sculptures fit into the story Sean just told you.

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My goal, today, folks,

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is this- I want it to be clear to you that this piazza is not just an outdoor sculpture gallery, and the purpose of this art was not just to make the piazza more pretty or more interesting.

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The statues

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embodied certain political ideas- in a way similar to the monuments in Washington D.C.- and those are the meanings that we’re going to try to get at today.

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The story

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starts here, with the lion of Florence, properly called the Marzocco.

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In 1353

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the Florentine government commissioned the very first statue to be placed in the piazza,

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and that statue was

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a gilded Marzocco perched on the corner of the ringhiera, the stone porch that went here along the base of the palace.

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The Marzocco is a symbol

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of Florence, and in particular of the city’s republican government.

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Now there were many

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stone and marble statues of the Marzocco around Florence, still are- for instance in the Loggia dei Lanzi, right here, there are over 50 lions, large and small-

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but by far

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the most important Marzocco was the one that stood right here.

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Why

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was this one so important?

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Well, it was this statue

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of the Marzocco that during certain state ceremonies would be crowned with a gold crown-

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they would

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literally place a crown on the lion's head.

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A crown, as

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as everybody knows, is a symbol of power and authority, that’s why kings wear them-

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the one who

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wears the crown is the one who's in charge.

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So, first question, coming

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at you, who can figure out what it meant to place the crown of authority on the Marzocco?

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I just told

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you that the Marzocco was the symbol of- what?

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The correct answer is:

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Crowning the Marzocco meant that the republic was supreme rather than any individual.

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Crowning the Marzocco said:

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this city is not ruled by a prince, it is ruled by the citizens!

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If the city were

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ruled by a single individual, there would be a statue of that person here in the piazza.

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Eventually,

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about two hundred years after the republican government placed this statue here,

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the republican

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government would fall, and a prince would take control of the city.

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And once these princes

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had establshed their rule here, they would set up a statue to show that they were in charge- that statue over there, the man on the horse.

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Folks, this the

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central theme for our discussion today, which is going to pass through our analysis of every one of these statues-

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the struggle to

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prevent one individual or one faction from getting a monopoly of power in the city, th struggle to defend the republic, and the eventual demise of the republic.

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…

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…

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So, the first

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sculpture to be placed in the piazza, the Marzocco, is the symbol of the Florentine republic, and of the idea that the city was ruled by the citizens, not by a single individual.

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Now there is

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another side to the coin, another use of the Marzocco: as a symbol of Florentine dominance over other cities.

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When Florence

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conquered a neighboring city, a statue of the Marzocco would be placed in that city’s main piazza to remind everyone that Florence was in charge.

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The arrival of

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the Marzocco in your piazza meant the end of your political independence.

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So- notice how

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a statue can have a double meaning. In Florence, the Marzocco was a symbol of rule by the people, republican government. Outside the city, the Marzocco was a symbol of Florentine tyranny.

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Now, before we

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move on, a word about the Marzocco we’re looking at today- because this is not the original 14th century Marzocco-

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that one

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was replaced in the 1800s by a Marzocco carved by the sculptor Donatello around 1420.

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This is

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a copy of the one by Donatello, the original of which was moved into the great sculpture museum of Florence, the Bargello, and you’ll be going there soon.

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The important thing is

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that we know from old paintings that the 14th century Marzocco stood more or less in the same place and at the height as the one you see here, so for our purposes this one makes a fine stand-in for the original.

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Ok, turn

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to your right,

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this is

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the statue of Judith and Holofernese made by Donatello in the 1450s, though once again what we're looking at is a copy.

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The original is

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inside the Palazzo, and of course you should go see it.

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You must

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always seek out the original version of an artwork! You know, don’t be satisfied looking at copies.

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Now, let's begin with

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the story. Does anyone have any idea who Judith and Holofernes are?

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The story goes

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like this. The Assyrian army has laid siege to a city in Israel. Judith, a rich, beautiful, and very clever Jewish widow devises a plan to save her people, who are just about to surrender.

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She dresses

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in her finest clothes, and in the evening, she enters the enemy camp and convinces the Assyrians that she has abandoned her people.

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She then

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seduces the Assyrian general Holophenres -notice the pillow: that detail goes with the setting, because they’re in Holofernes’ tent.

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So Judith

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sweet talks Holofernes, gets him drunk, and then- [cutting motion] cuts off his head.

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When the Israelites

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showed his head to the Assyrian army, they gave up.

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And so there she

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is, Donatello's got her right at the moment before she destroys the tyrant.

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Now, the

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key for understanding the political meaning of this statue is that it was not originally intended to be placed here in the Piazza.

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It was commissioned

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by a member of the Medici family in the 1450s to be placed in the gardens of the family palace, and it only arrived here in the piazza in the 1490s, when the Medici were expelled from the city.

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So we have

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two locations to consider. First we’ll look at the political meaning of the statue in its original spot, in the Medici gardens, then we’ll see how that meaning was transformed when the statue was moved into the Piazza.

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Now, the story of Judith and Holofernes was

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a well-known allegory of virtue conquering vice, and in particular, humility, conquering pride.

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And, in fact, the Medici had

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a pedestal made for the statue, and on the pedestal were inscribed the words triumph of humility over pride.

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So, on the one hand,

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it was a standard message of Christian morality: Pride was the worst of the seven deadly sins, pride had caused satan and his angels to rebel and be cast out of heaven

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while Humility

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was in one’s awareness of human insignificance compared to the greatness of God.

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But on another level

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this virtue of humility meant something else to the Medici. Remember, the Medici started out as bankers at the beginning of the 1400s, and grew powerful in Florence by manipulating the republican system of government.

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How can

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a republican state based on government by the people be manipulated?

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Well, just like

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today- you rig elections, you offer favors, you bribe people, you intimidate, you threaten.

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But-

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and this is crucial- whatever you do, you must not to destroy the illusion that the democratic structure is still in place.

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If you want to

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grasp for power in a republic, the illusion of humility, of humbleness, is indispensible, because the idea is that a republican government exists of the benefit of all citizens, not just one.

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It's an idea that is not

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lost on many politicians in our own time.

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And the founding members

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of the Medici bank cultivated this image of humility.

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A writer from

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the 1400s said of Cosimo de’Medici that “Whenever he wished to achieve anything, to avoid envy he gave the impression,

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as far as

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possible, that it was others who had suggested the thing, not he.”

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By the 1490s, however,

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the Medici had ceased to pretend they

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While Cosimo