Week 9: Orsanmichele
Please explain the link between Saint George, and the Academy of the Bran
1) Saint George is always beautiful and always young, thus he does not force me to find another partner every two years 2) He does not get annoyed if I stare at him for hours and hours 3) and he is not the subject of attention of other sodomites 4) he does not hang around taverns and brothels, Saint George is the perfect lover, he concludes
How many where the major guilds? Can you name at least 2 of the major guilds?
7 major guilds 1. Cloth merchants (Calimala) 2. Bankers (Cambio) 3. Wool producers (Lana) 4. Silk producers (Seta) 5. Judges and Notaries 6. Physicians and Apothecaries 7. Furriers and skinners 14 minor guilds
What decision made it possible for Orsanmichele to become a sort of official guild centre in 1339?
7 major guilds, plus the 5 most important minor guilds, should be charged with decorating 12 exterior pilaster faces of the loggia of Orsanmichele with images of their patron saints
What happened in 1348 in Europe, and in Florence?
Black Death hit Europe
What institution obtained the niche after the Guelf party?
Christ and Saint Thomas was installed in the niche at Orsanmichele
Why did the Tribunal of the Merchants choose Doubting Saint Thomas as a story that represented its mission?
Christ and St Thomas were thought to personify two essential aspects of a just magistrate: clemency and the desire for truth
Who was the sculptor of Saint George?
Donatello
What Guilds did Ghiberti work for?
Guild of Bankers Guild of Merchants
What Guild did commission the statue of Saint George?
Guild of Gunsmith
Why did the Guelf party first obtained a niche in Orsanmichele?
Having supported the merchant class against the landed aristocracy, the Guelphs were represented at Orsanmichele as the party of the Guilds
What were its consequences?
Increased the wage-earning power of the surviving population, which had much less need of the charity dispensed by the Confraternity A flood of bequests from so many deceased people.
What Guild was in charge of the reconstruction of Orsanmichele after the fire of 1304?
Silk Guild (Arte della Seta)
Why was Orsanmichele created?
The Church of Orsanmichele summarizes all the main aspects of Florentine life and artistic achievements (Guilds' activities and governments, religious spaces, spiritual life of confraternities, economy, patronage, artistic achievements)
Write a detailed summary of the story of Doubting Saint Thomas.
The Mercanzia seems not to have had an official patron saint, but the incredulity of Saint Thomas was a very appropriate subject for a merchants' court since, in the fifteenth century, it was typically associated with justice and, specifically, the truth sought by Thomas and the clemency of Jesus. The Medici seem to have been particularly fond of Saint Thomas; since both Piero de' Medici and, later, his son Lorenzo were on the committee in charge of the commission, their influence was probably also at work. The subject must have appealed to the guilds in general, since it placed a statue of Christ on the most important pilaster of Orsanmichele - as if, appropriately, in charge of the other saints.
What was the purpose of the ground floor of Orsanmichele originally? What were the top floors used for?
The ground floor (originally an open, arcaded loggia) was a grain market that shared space with a much-venerated image of the Virgin Mary The two top floors were devoted to grain storage
What was the task of the Company of the Mary of Orsanmichele?
To sing hymns to the image of the Virgin and administer the considerable charitable donations that the miraculous image attracted
What is peculiar in the group called the Four Crowned Martyr Saints?
a) they lived in Roman times
What is Nanni Di Banco's and his sculpture's relationship with the Guilds?
artist who created the Four Crownded Martyr Saints
Lorenzo Ghiberti was
b) member of the popolo
What was the surplus capital used for?
commission of a splendid marble tabernacle created by Andrea Orcagna to enshrine the paining of Daddi's Madonna religious and guild functions gained in importance over the grain market turning space into proper oratory church boom in sculptural activity
What was Verrocchio's relationship with the Medici family?
leading sculptor in Florence and something of an official Medici artist
Why did the Guild of Bankers choose Saint Matthew as their patron saint?
realistic, elegantly balanced, style influenced by classical culture
How do we know so many details about the creation of the statue of Saint Matthew?
the first page of Matthew 1:1-3 Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
