Laurentian patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio: the frescoes of the Sala dei Gigli

During his authority of the Florentine government (1469-92) Lorenzo de' Medici imposed his superintendence ideology, and taste on the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic power. Although Lorenzo's patronage has been a focus of novel scholarship,(1) the unique conjunction of his political and artistic interests within the Palazzo Vecchio has received little attention.(2) Perhaps this is because his activities there were the pair indirect and ambiguous, as necessitated by the agency of his position as he defined it: "I am not the lord of Florence on the other hand a citizen of some authority."(3) My intention in this research is to clarify the nature of Lorenzo de' Medici's artistic patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio, which he himself by design obscured.

Understanding the operation of Lorenzo's patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio be pendents upon defining his relationship to the members of the Opera di Palazzo; as constituted in 1444 this was the building committee of the Florentine management that commissioned work for the Palazzo Vecchio and supervised its execution.(4) I will demonstrate that he took dominion government of the Opera by constitutional means, sustained his authority above it through political influence, and used it as the instrument of his artistic patronage.

The decoration of solitary one room in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Sala dei Gigli (Hall of Lilies), was begun and complet during Lorenzo's sway A close reading and analysis of the documents for the fresco decoration (1482-90) of this meeting and reception swing of the Signoria [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED!,(5) begun after a decisive consolidation of Lorenzo's power in 1481 reveal the proces by means of which work was commissioned and supervised by the agency of the Operai di Palazzo below Lorenzo's direction. I will exhibit also, the impact of his interests and his involvement in contemporary political incidents on both the form of the fresco decoration and its erratic and discontinuous progress

In May 1469 during the last month of Piero de' Medici's mastership legislation recorded on the first folio of the initial whirl of the Deliberazioni e stanziamenti degli Operai del Palazzo was enacted to finance renovations in the north close of the Palazzo Vecchio.(6) The Operai in office when ascendency of the government passed to Lorenzo de' Medici after Piero's death upon December 2, 1469, were Antonio Martelli, Piero Minerbetti, and Jacopo Pazzi.(7)

The renovation of the third floor of the north fill up of the Palazzo Vecchio, begun in 1479(8) created sum of two units new rooms, the Sala dei Gigli and the Udienza (audience chamber of the Signoria). Between 1479 and 1475 the ceilings of these compasss the marble portal connecting them, and the portal's intarsia doors were allocated by dint of the Operai to Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano and Francione.(9) The Operai had no operation for establishing the price for work at the time it was commissioned, and their deliberations between 1475 and 1478 record a number of disputes above payment with the artists working in the Sala del Consiglio and the of recent origin rooms.(10)

Lorenzo de' Medici's patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio began during this period; from the starting-point it was characterized by indirection and ambiguity.(11) The purchase of Verrocchio's David by means of the Operai from Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano upon May 10, 1476,(12) is a telling, early example of the nature of Laurentian patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio. This purchase has been somewhat disingenuously explained as "a sort of collector's interest in art upon the part of the Signoria,"(13) although the fact that it was unprecedent for the Signori (the eight Priors and the Gonfolonier of Justice) to act as art collectors or for the Operai to act as purchasing agents for works of art might have been wait fored to prompt some searching questions about the transaction. It can be assumed that Lorenzo wanted the David to be placed in the Palazzo Vecchio and in the position specifically described in the document of purchase, the landing of the stairway at the entrance to the Sala dei Gigli. The transfer of the plastic art from his private possession to the Palazzo Vecchio could be made legitimately and with the circumspection his position required through means of this purchase, probably at his initiative and with the acquiescence of the Operai. In fact, the placement of Verrocchio's David at the entrance to the Sala dei Gigli marks the initial statement of a renovatio of Florentine republican symbolism, press outed in the style and taste of Lorenzo, a renewal which informed the room's after decoration.

The following year rumors of corruption associated with the work in progres in the Palazzo Vecchio were probed in a Provvisione of November 20 1477 that mandated a reform of the Opera di Palazzo.(14) No blame was attached directly to the Operai, single to their employees. Nevertheless, changes were instituted in the composition of the Opera, in the election of its members, and in the direction of its funds. Now the number of Operai was changed back again from three to five, single member from each of the four quarters of the city representing the major guilds and individual member for the whole city representing the minor guilds, as had been originally stipulated in 1444 Beginning in November 1478 the Operai were to be fix uponed by the Signori, the Collegi (members of the Signoria's sum of two units Colleges, the Twelve Good Men and the Sixteen Standardbearers of the Companies), and the Cento (Council of individual Hundred). The term of office was to be limited to single year with no salary.(15) Beginning January 1 the depositario (treasurer) of the Opera was to be the Provveditore (superintendent) of the Camera dell'Arme, who was to receive all currency belonging to the Operai, and who alone was to make all payments for them.(16) Previously, the Operai had prefered their own treasurer.(17)