Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood
Encyclopedia
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
by Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello , born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian painter and a mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Artists wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his...
, commemorating English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
condottiero
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
John Hawkwood
John Hawkwood
Sir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary or condottiero who was active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Jean Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto...
, commissioned in 1436 for Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
's Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The fresco is an important example of art commemorating a soldier-for-hire
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
in the Italian peninsula and is a seminal work in the development of perspective
Perspective (graphical)
Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...
.
The politics of the commissioning and recommissioning of the fresco have been analyzed and debated by historians. The fresco is often cited as a form of "Florentine
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
propaganda" for its appropriation of a foreign soldier of fortune as a Florentine hero and for its implied promise to other condottieri of the potential rewards of serving Florence. The fresco has also been interpreted as a product of internal political competition between the Albizzi
Albizzi
The Albizzi family was a Florentine family originally based in Arezzo, who were rivals of the Medici and Alberti families. They were at the centre of Florentine oligarchy from 1382, in the reaction that followed the Ciompi revolt, to the rise of the Medici in 1434...
and Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
factions in Renaissance Florence, due to the latter's modification of the work's symbolism and iconography during its recommissioning.
The fresco is the oldest extant and authenticated work of Uccello, from a relatively well-known aspect of his career compared to the periods before and after its creation. The fresco has been restored (once by Lorenzo di Credi
Lorenzo di Credi
Lorenzo di Credi was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor. He first influenced Leonardo da Vinci and then was greatly influenced by him.-Life:...
, who added the frame) and is now detached from the wall; it has been repositioned twice in modern times.
John Hawkwood
Great Company
The Great Company may refer to one of several armies of mercenaries in the late medieval period:*The free companies that ravaged France and Italy* Catalan Company, sometimes called the Catalan Great Company...
" which harassed the Avignon Papacy
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....
. After gaining command of the "White Company
White Company
The White Company was a 14th Century Italian mercenary Company of Adventure , led from its arrival in Italy in 1361 to 1365 by the German Albert Sterz and later by the Englishman John Hawkwood...
" from Albert Sterz in the 1360s, Hawkwood led the company across the Alps
Principal passes of the Alps
This article lists the principal mountain passes and tunnels in the Alps, and gives a history of transport across the Alps.-Main chain:From west to east:-Other passes:Detailed lists of passes are given by Alpine subdivision, see the following articles:...
in 1363 in the employ of John II, Marquess of Montferrat
John II, Marquess of Montferrat
John II Palaeologus was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1338.He was the son of Theodore I of Montferrat, with whom he was associated in the government from 1336. He had great fortune in extending the boundaries of the margraviate against his neighbours...
, to take part in his war against Milan
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan , was created on the 1st of may 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, purchased a diploma for 100,000 Florins from King Wenceslaus. It was this diploma that installed, Gian Galeazzo as Duke of Milan and Count of Pavia...
. Hawkwood and the "White Company" remained in Italy, accepting money from many city-states
Historical states of Italy
Italy, until the present era, was a conglomeration of city-states and other small independent entities. The following is a list of the various states that made up what we now know as Italy during the past...
, both to wage war and to refrain from it. Hawkwood's reputation as one of the ablest condottieri in the peninsula developed in the ensuing decades, during which he was employed (by both sides) in the Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
n–Florentine War (1363–1364), notably winning the Battle of Cascina
Cascina
Cascina is a comune in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 60 km west of Florence and about 13 km southeast of Pisa....
(1364) for Florence, in the wars of Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
against the Pope (1369), and in the service of Bernabò Visconti
Bernabo Visconti
Bernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...
in his war against a coalition that included Pisa and Florence, and even (in 1372) the Marquis of Monteferrato.
Hawkwood then entered the service of Pope Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI
Gregory XI was pope from 1370 until his death.-Biography:He was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort, in Maumont, in the modern commune of Rosiers-d'Égletons, Limousin around 1336. He succeeded Pope Urban V in 1370, and was pope until 1378...
in his wars against Milan (1372–1375) and in the War of the Eight Saints
War of the Eight Saints
The War of the Eight Saints was a war between Pope Gregory XI and a coalition of Italian city-states led by Florence, which contributed to the end of the Avignon Papacy.-Causes:...
(1375–1378), during which Hawkwood helped put down the Florentine-instigated rebellions in the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. During the conflict, Hawkwood was paid 130,000 florins—which was extracted from local clergy, bishops, abbots, monasteries, and ecclesiastical institutions—to confine his activities to suppressing the rebellions in the Papal States, rather than directly attacking Florence. Hawkwood also received a 600 florin annual salary for the next five years and a lifetime annual pension of 1,200 florins.
Hawkwood married Donnina, the illegitimate daughter of Bernabò Visconti
Bernabo Visconti
Bernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...
, in 1377. In that same year he defected to Florence. Hawkwood's 1377 massacre at Cesena
Cesena
Cesena is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini, on the Savio River, co-chief of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. It is at the foot of the Apennines, and about 15 km from the Adriatic Sea.-History:Cesena was originally an Umbrian...
during the twilight of his papal employment in the War of the Eight Saints continues to tarnish his legacy. Thus, until 1377, Hawkwood had principally served the Visconti
House of Visconti
Visconti is the family name of two important Italian noble dynasties of the Middle Ages. There are two distinct Visconti families: The first one in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century who achieved prominence first in Pisa, then in Sardinia where they became rulers of Gallura...
of Milan and their allies in Pisa, Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
, and Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, usually against the interests of Florence, making him an ironic candidate for a monument in the Duomo of Florence. At the bidding of Pisa, Hawkwood attacked the Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...
family's Villa Petraia in Castello, burned Florentine subject territories around Incisa after defeating Florentine condottiero Ranuccio Farnese il Vecchio
Ranuccio Farnese il Vecchio
Ranuccio Farnese was an Italian nobleman, feudal lord and condottiero.Born in Ischia, he is considered the founder of the fortunes of the Farnese family. In 1416 Ranuccio succeeded his father as commander-in-chief of the Republic of Siena's troops, and defeated the Orsini of Pitigliano...
, and even taunted Florence from outside the city walls.
However, Hawkwood was the de facto commander-in-chief (Captain-General
Captain General
Captain general is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...
) of Florence's military from 1377 until immediately prior to his death in 1394. Hawkwood won many victories for Florence, including his suppression of the Ciompi revolt
Ciompi
The Revolt of the Ciompi was a popular revolt in late medieval Florence by wool carders known as ciompi , who rose up in 1378 to demand a voice in the commune's ordering....
in January 1382, but contemporary Florentines would have regarded Hawkwood's successful retreat from Milan late in his career, across three rivers—including the notorious Oglio
Oglio
The Oglio is a left-side tributary of the Po River in Lombardy, Italy. It is 280 km long....
—and across a barren countryside, as his "greatest military feat".
Hawkwood, now in his seventies, made preparations to return to England, where he had been sending money to acquire land, and set up a chantry
Chantry
Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...
. Just as he was liquidating his affairs in Italy, he died, on March 17, 1394.
In 1395, Richard II of England
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
petitioned Florence for the return of Hawkwood's body, as he had done for Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland
Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland
Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England.-Royal favour:...
, the local magnate to the Hawkwood family in England, in whose service he had begun his military career. Florence acquiesced to Richard II's request in a June 3, 1395 letter:
Our devotion can deny nothing to the eminence of your highness. We will leave nothing undone that is possible to do, so that we may fulfill your good pleasure. So, therefore, although we consider it reflected glory on us and our people to keep the ashes and bones of the late brave and most magnificent captain John Hawkwood, who, as commander of our army, fought most gloriously for us and who at public expense was interred in the principal church of Santa Reparata […] nevertheless, according to the tenor of your request, we freely concede permission that his remains shall return to their native land.
However, it remains an open question whether Hawkwood's remains were ever transferred to England, to the tomb prepared for him at St. Peter's in Sible Hedingham
Sible Hedingham
Sible Hedingham is a large village and civil parish in the Colne Valley in Braintree District of Essex, in England. It has a population of 3,665....
, or whether his remains were reburied in 1405 under the old choir of the Duomo, of which record has been lost since it was repaved in the 16th century. In any case, the tomb monument would have run into difficulty, as a ban on tombs above floor level in the Cathedral was passed on April 5, 1400.
Context
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
, it was traditional for condottieri
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
like Hawkwood to be buried in major public churches, even when their careers had produced mixed results for the city-state in question. The genre of the equestrian statue was revived during the Quattrocento for the purpose of commemorating condottieri; Donatello's
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata (c. 1447–1453) in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
is the first surviving bronze equestrian statue since Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. Tibertino Brandolino was interred at San Francesco in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
; Jacopo de’ Cavalli at SS. Giovanni e Paolo
Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Rome)
Santi Giovanni e Paolo is an ancient basilica church in Rome, located on the Celian Hill. It is also called Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio or referred to as SS Giovanni e Paolo....
in Rome; Paolo Savelli at Basilica dei Frari in Venice, along with a wooden equestrian statue on a marble sarcophagus, which—along with the bronze horses on the façade of St. Mark—may have inspired Uccello's Hawkwood; and Konrad Aichelberg at a church in Pisa. When such burials were not possible, frescoes were an acceptable substitute: Guidoriccio da Fogliano was painted on horseback by Simone Martini
Simone Martini
Simone Martini was an Italian painter born in Siena.He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style....
in Palazzo Pubblico
Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podestà and Council of Nine....
in Siena in 1328; Pietro Farnese
Pietro Farnese
Pietro Farnese, also called Piero de Farneto or Petruccio di Cola was an Italian condottiero. He was co-lord of Farnese, Canino, Ischia and Cellere, Captain General of the Papal Army and Capitain General of the Florentine Army.-Biography:Little is known of his youth...
was depicted in a papier-mâché
Papier-mâché
Papier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
equestrian monument atop a sarcophagus in the Florence Cathedral in 1363.
Holding ever more lavish funeral ceremonies for fallen condottieri was only one way in which Italian city-states competed with each other to attract the services of the most skilled mercenaries. Hawkwood's funeral was sandwiched between the funerals in Siena of Giovanni d’Azzo degli Ubaldini—who had been poisoned by the Florentines in the Visconti wars—and Giovanni “Tedesco” da Pietramala. The commissioning of Uccello to repaint the fresco came at the "climax" of a war with Lucca, which had recently begun a monument to honor Niccolò Piccinino
Niccolò Piccinino
Niccolò Piccinino was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:He was born at Perugia, was the son of a butcher.He began his military career in the service of Braccio da Montone, who at that time was waging war against Perugia on his own account, and at the death of his chief, shortly followed by that of...
, in contrast to Piccinino's pittura infamante
Pittura infamante
Pittura infamante is a genre of defamatory painting and relief, common in Renaissance Italy in city-states in the north and center of the Italian peninsula during the Trecento, Quattrocento, and Cinquecento...
in the Palazzo della Signoria
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...
in 1428, depicting him hanging upside-down in chains, which was "depaint[ed]" in April 1430.
Background
On August 20, 1393—when the SignoriaSignoria of Florence
The Signoria was the government of medieval and renaissance Florence. Its nine members, the Priori, were chosen from the ranks of the guilds of the city: six of them from the major guilds, and two from the minor guilds...
, at the suggestion of Coluccio Salutati, voted to erect a marble statue of Hawkwood in the Duomo, "that brave men may know that the commune of Florence recompenses true service"—Hawkwood was liquidating his Tuscan properties and preparing to return to England. It was unprecedented for the Signoria to vote to erect a monument to a living person in the cathedral. The ambiguous plans of the Signoria—which likely was aware of Hawkwood's health status—might well have been for a tomb rather than a cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
; Hawkwood died soon after, on March 17, 1394. The Signoria went to great lengths (unsuccessfully) to entice Donnina to remain in the city—voting to transfer various sums of money to her (in exchange for Hawkwood's Tuscan fortress), despite "thorny legal issues" which required multiple acts of the city council—indicating to some extent the market value of Hawkwood’s symbolic capital.
Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio....
, continued to the Battistero di San Giovanni, where his body was placed on the baptismal font for public viewing, and culminated in the Cathedral, at a cost of 410 florins, not counting the substantial expenses of the Guilds.
The plans for Hawkwood's commemoration were modified on December 2, 1395, when it was decided to also rework the wooden monument of Pietro Farnese, the hero of the Pisan war, and to place marble tomb monuments to Farnese and Hawkwood on the north aisle, facing the high altar. Painters Agnolo Gaddi
Agnolo Gaddi
Agnolo Gaddi was an Italian painter. He was the son and pupil of the painter Taddeo Gaddi.Taddeo Gaddi was himself the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto...
and Giuliano Arrighi were selected by a committee to sketch directly onto the Duomo wall models for the Hawkwood and Farnese tombs. Although neither tomb was realized, documentary evidence suggests that a painting of Hawkwood—with a figure of Hawkwood by Gaddi and a sarcophagus by Pesello
Francesco di Pesello
Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects recounts that Pesello was an Italian painter who flourished from about 1390 and died after 1457. He gives the artist’s full name as Francesco di Pesello...
—was completed by June 16, 1396. Historian Frances Stonor Saunders
Frances Stonor Saunders
Frances Hélène Jeanne Stonor Saunders is a British journalist and historian.A few years after graduating with a first-class Honours degree in English from St Anne's College, Oxford, she embarked on a career as a television film-maker...
speculates that Uccello may have based his representation of Hawkwood on this early painting and that the earlier painting may have been based on a death mask
Death mask
In Western cultures a death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits...
of Hawkwood. The Hawkwood fresco is situated in the third bay of the northern wall, today flanked by paintings of Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
(c. 1455) and a similar fresco monument
Equestrian Statue of Niccolò da Tolentino
The Equestrian Statue of Niccolò da Tolentino is a fresco painting by the Italian early Renaissance master Andrea del Castagno, executed in 1456. It is housed in the Florence Cathedral, Italy...
to fellow mercenary Niccolò da Tolentino
Niccolò da Tolentino
Niccolò Mauruzzi , best known as Niccolò da Tolentino was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:A member of the Mauruzi della Stacciola family of Tolentino, he fled from that city in 1370 after a dispute with his relatives. He therefore fought under several condottieri...
(1456, by Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Tommaso Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral in Florence...
); fictive tombs in fresco of two humanist ecclesiasts—Bishop Corsini (c. 1422, probably by Giovanni dal Ponte) and Fra Luigi de' Marsigli (c. 1439 by Bicci di Lorenzo
Bicci di Lorenzo
Bicci di Lorenzo was an Italian painter and sculptor, active in Florence.He was born in Florence in 1373, the son of the painter, Lorenzo di Bicci, whose workshop he joined. He married in 1418, and in 1424 was registered in the Guild of Painters at Florence. His son, Neri di Bicci was also a...
), an Augustinian monk who founded a literary academy—are much smaller than those of the two condottieri. The fresco probably came to replace the tomb (rather than serving as a place marker for it) for reasons of expedience and frugality, although on these points there is little documentary evidence.
Fresco
The fresco was initially commissioned, decades after Hawkwood's death, in May 1433 by the Albizzi government, just months before the regime's collapse. Perhaps the project was an attempt by the Albizzi to hearken back to a time when the oligarchic elite of Florence had been more aligned with their own conservative interests. On July 13, 1433, design competition notices for the new monument were placed at the Duomo, the Baptistry, and OrsanmicheleOrsanmichele
Orsanmichele is a church in the Italian city of Florence...
. The instigators of the renewed project were the grandsons of Guido di Soletto del Pera Baldovinetti, one of the ambassadors who (unsuccessfully) pleaded with Hawkwood to return to Florence's service in 1389, and Donato Velluti, a 14th-century military and political historian. It is almost inconceivable that the commissioners of the monument would not have regarded Hawkwood as a self-interested mercenary, knowing that he often acted against the interests of Florence. After the launching of the design competition, in September 1433, Cosimo
Cosimo de' Medici
Còsimo di Giovanni degli Mèdici was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" and "Cosimo Pater Patriae" .-Biography:Born in Florence, Cosimo inherited both his wealth and his expertise in...
and Averardo de' Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
were exiled from Florence, for—among other things—allegedly attempting to embroil Florence in a war with Lucca.
Recommissioning
After Cosimo's triumphant return to Florence, rather than scrapping the project, in May 1436 the Medici regime hired Uccello to replace the Gaddi and Pesello fresco. Hugh Hudson suggests that it would have been too risky for the Medici to cancel the Albizzi project, so they instead shrewdly modified it to fit their interests. There is, of course, some weakness to attributing the commissioning and re-commissioning of the monument to Albizzi or Medici intrigues, as only two (maybe three) of the eight operai on July 13, 1433 were members of the Albizzi faction and only one was a Medici when it was resumed on May 18, 1436; yet the influences of both factions doubtlessly did not require blood relation. Around this time, documents attest to multiple repairs of a nearby window, opening the possibility that the original fresco had experienced water damage, and would have needed to be restored in any case. Others have suggested that the recommissioning was part of the "refurbishing" of the cathedral associated with its rededication as Santa Maria del Fiore by Pope Eugene IVPope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...
in March 1436. Yet, Borsi concludes that "undoubtedly under pressure from the Medici" the operai discarded their plans for a straightforward restoration of the Gaddi fresco and opted for a completely new monument.
Uccello
Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti , born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.-Early life:...
from June 1407, busying himself polishing the "Gates of Paradise", may have been an attempt to find a painter knowledgeable in bronze and statuary, which the fresco was to mimic. For centuries, art historians have regarded Uccello as a less-prominent artist at the time of the Hawkwood commission: he is not mentioned in the preface of Alberti
Leone Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath...
's De Pictura, nor in Domenico Veneziano
Domenico Veneziano
Domenico Veneziano was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany.Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have been born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved to Florence in 1422-23 as a boy, to become a pupil of Gentile da Fabriano. He...
's 1438 letter to Piero di Cosimo de' Medici
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici , , was the de facto ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance. He was the father of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Giuliano de' Medici-Biography:Piero was born in Florence, the son of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder and Contessina de' Bardi...
listing the major contemporary painters; nor have art historians even attempted to speculate that he studied the frescoes at the Brancacci Chapel
Brancacci Chapel
The Brancacci Chapel is a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, central Italy. It is sometimes called the "Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance" for its painting cycle, among the most famous and influential of the period. Construction of the chapel was commissioned by...
. One difficulty for art historians attempting to gauge Uccello's reputation at the time of the Hawkwoods commissioning is the 10-year blind spot in the reconstruction of Uccello's career between 1415—when Uccello was made a member of the Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries
Guilds of Florence
The guilds of Florence were secular corporations that controlled the arts and trades in Florence from the twelfth into the sixteenth century. These Arti included seven major guilds , five middle guilds and nine minor guilds...
(Arte dei Medici e Speziali)—and his trip to Venice in 1425. Similarly, all the works of Uccello's Venetian period are either missing or else of uncertain attribution: Uccello is thought to have made a no-longer-existing mosaic of St. Peter on the façade of St. Mark's Basilica, to have collaborated on the design of architectural structures for the mosaics in the Mascoli Chapel of St. Mark's by Michele Giambono
Michele Giambono
Michele Giambono was an Italian painter and mosaicist of the Early Renaissance in Venice. Giambono's style, in general, remains archaic and iconic, and seems generally unaffected by Florentine experimentation with perspective and dimensionality of figures...
, and possibly to have made some geometrical pattern decorations for the interior of St. Mark's.
Uccello was known to have been in Venice in 1427 and to have returned to Florence by 1431, allowing a second window for historiographical speculation: some say he may have gone to Rome; others say he went directly to Florence. Uccello probably painted the Creation of the Animals and Creation of Adam (c. 1431) in the upper part of one of the bays of the Chiostro Verde (the "Green Cloister") in Santa Maria Novella, which—like the Hawkwood, as specified in its commission—is in the "terra verde" grisaille
Grisaille
Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
manner. Perhaps Uccello worked on the stories from the life of the Virgin
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
and St. Stephen in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption in the Prato Cathedral
Prato Cathedral
The Cathedral of Prato is the main Catholic church of Prato, Tuscany, Central Italy and seat of the bishop. It is dedicated to St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It is one of the most ancient churches in the city, existing already in the 10th century and having been built and in several...
around 1435, although Pope-Hennessy, Pudelko, and Salmi all dispute this attribution.
Thus, the Florence Cathedral is the repository of all the extant works of Uccello whose attribution is firmly rooted in contemporary documents: two murals—the Hawkwood and the Clock Face with Four Heads of Prophets or Evangelists (1443)—and two stained glass windows—Resurrection (1443–1444) and Nativity (1443–1444). The Hawkwood is Uccello’s "earliest dated and fully authenticated extant work".
Modifications
Uccello's Hawkwood was completed, only to be ordered redone by the capo maestro of the Opera del Duomo, on June 28, 1436. Uccello was found not to have been at fault on July 6, and paid for both his first and second versions, the latter of which was finished before August 31. Incidentally, the second version—copied from the original, rather than direct observation—is the only true extant testimony to Hawkwood's appearance. The demanded redesign—which was ordered soon after post-Albizzi members secured a majority among the operai—is at the heart of any discussion about the political implications of the fresco. For centuries, art historians have argued that the rejection was rooted in questions of perspective and color, while more recent scholarship suggests it was the content of the fresco to which the capo maestro objected. The specific objections of the capo maestro are not documented—except that the fresco was "not painted as it should be", but it is clear that only the portion containing the horse and rider was to be erased and redone. A preparatory drawing in the UffiziUffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
with the same static scene is the primary clue to the appearance of the original fresco, in which Hawkwood was apparently more armored, taller, and—along with his horse—in a more militaristic stance. The Hawkwood thus both participated in and reinforced the Quattrocento trend that every Florentine public monument to a soldier of fortune employ a parade horse rather than a battle charger, in less than complete armor, and at a pace more suited for reviewing troops than charging into battle. A study which subjected the drawing to ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
rays confirmed that Uccello had originally depicted Hawkwood as "more threatening", with his baton raised and horse "at the ready".
The fresco's current appearance is not identical to the version redone by Uccello. The frame with candelabra
Candelabra
"Candelabra" is the traditional term for a set of multiple decorative candlesticks, each of which often holds a candle on each of multiple arms or branches connected to a column or pedestal...
-pattern decorations was added by Lorenzo di Credi
Lorenzo di Credi
Lorenzo di Credi was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor. He first influenced Leonardo da Vinci and then was greatly influenced by him.-Life:...
in 1524, when he restored the fresco. In 1688, it was restored again, in refurbishments celebrating the marriage of Ferdinand de' Medici and Violante of Bavaria. The fresco was restored and transferred to canvas in 1842 by Giovanni Rizzoli and moved to the west wall of the Duomo, only to be moved back to the north wall in 1947, after being mounted on a masonite
Masonite
Masonite is a type of hardboard invented by William H. Mason.-History:Masonite was invented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason. Mass production started in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s Masonite was used for many applications including doors, roofing, walls, desktops, and canoes...
and aluminum support. It has been argued, based on Uccello's alleged use of Masaccio's
Masaccio
Masaccio , born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense...
eye-point perspective
Perspective (visual)
Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
, that the painting was originally five feet higher than it stands today. The fully restored fresco was also briefly taken down in 1953–1954 to be shown in the "Quattro Maestri" ("Four Masters") exhibition in Florence.
Style
Conceit
In literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison...
of an equestrian bronze statue. The horse's proportions are based loosely upon those prescribed by Alberti in De equo animante, which in turn is based upon the anonymous Sonetto del Cavallo Perfetto; however, in many ways the horse departs radically from Alberti's ideal of a harmonious and "lithe" creature in the style of Leonello d'Este's
Leonello d'Este
thumb|220px|Leonello D'Este portrayed by Pisanello.Leonello d'Este was marquis of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 1441 to 1450.-Biography:...
monument to Niccolò III d'Este
Niccolò III d'Este
Niccolò III d'Este was Marquess of Ferrara from 1393 until his death. He was also a condottiero.-Biography:...
, Arco del Cavallo in Ferrara. Furthermore, Uccello's perspective in the Hawkwood monument openly flaunted Alberti's conception of perspective as demarcated in De Pictura
De pictura
De pictura is a treatise on painting written in 1435 by Italian architect and art theorist Leon Battista Alberti. It was first published in Italian in 1436...
(1435, translated into Italian as Della Pittura in 1436): the vanishing point
Vanishing point
A vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines not parallel to the image plane appear to converge. The number and placement of the vanishing points determines which perspective technique is being used...
is at the eye-level of the spectator rather than within the field of the fresco, for example. Alberti's De re aedificatoria also objected to statues of soldiers and/or lay burials in churches. Although the fresco is often called "monochrome", its background is dark red, the horse and tomb are accented in red, black, white, and orange. The Trompe-l'œil perspective from the base, the chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
-effect of the horse and the rider, and lighting from the left are similar to Masaccio's
Masaccio
Masaccio , born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense...
Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity (Masaccio)
The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors is a fresco by the Early Italian Renaissance painter Masaccio. It is located in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence.-Description:...
. The connection to Masaccio is so strong (or so often reported) that Francesco Albertini
Albertini
Albertini is Italian surname. Notable people with this name include:* Demetrio Albertini , Italian football midfielder* Ellen Albertini Dow , American actress* Francesco Albertini , Italian priest and author...
actually attributed the work to Massaccio in 1510. However, Uccello's fresco has two viewpoints: the horse and rider are painted as if on level with the spectator, and the cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
is seen as if from below.
A variety of explanations have been proposed for this split perspective, which has even been suggested by Frederick Hartt
Frederick Hartt
Frederick Hartt was an American professor of History of Art at the University of Virginia. His books include Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture and Italian Renaissance Art, Michelangelo , The Sistine Chapel and The Renaissance in Italy and Spain .Born in Boston,...
to have been a practical joke
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
. Entangled in these questions of perspective is Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
's criticism of the horse's raising both its right legs at the same time, which would likely topple the horse, if accomplished. However, it is clear from Uccello's other works that he was not interested in using perspective simply for realism; rather, Uccello "placed in an unnatural, fantastic overall atmosphere, the fruit of this painter's complex and unique imagination". This style has even been cited as an example of synthetic realism in line with the late Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
movement.
Inscription
Underscoring the classical elements of the fresco is the LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription, added on December 17, 1436 and penned by Bartolomeo Fortini de Orlandini, son of Benedetto di Ser Landi Fortini, former treasurer of Florence and apprentice of Spinello Alberti
Alberti (surname)
Alberti is a common surname in Italian language and derives from given name Alberto, Latin translation of Germanic Albert.Alberti may refer to:-People:*Alberti, Florentine family.*Leon Battista Alberti ; Italian polymath, active in many fields...
, one of the chief negotiators of Florence during the War of the Eight Saints
War of the Eight Saints
The War of the Eight Saints was a war between Pope Gregory XI and a coalition of Italian city-states led by Florence, which contributed to the end of the Avignon Papacy.-Causes:...
—the first such inscription on an antique sarcophagus in a Florentine painting. The inscription reads: "Ioannes Actus eques brittanicus dux aetatis suae cautissimus et rei militaris pertissimus habitus est" (John Hawkwood, British knight, most prudent leader of his age and most expert in the art of war). The epitaph, likely a reference to Hawkwood's aforementioned cautissimus ("most prudent") retreat across the Oglio
Oglio
The Oglio is a left-side tributary of the Po River in Lombardy, Italy. It is 280 km long....
, is borrowed from the eulogy of Roman general Fabius Maximus
Fabius Maximus
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator was a Roman politician and general, born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was Roman Consul five times and was twice Dictator in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of Roman Censor in 230 BC...
, who wore down Hannibal by tactical retreat and avoiding battle. The eulogy of Fabius Maximus comports so distinctly with Quattrocento humanism
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
that some scholars have even dubbed it a "Renaissance fake".
Interpretation
By classicizing the condottieri, the portrait may have represented an opportunity to—as Leonardo BruniLeonardo Bruni
Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman. He has been called the first modern historian.-Biography:...
had advocated—"revive the ancient form of tribute" by choosing a "long-dead and uncontroversial subject". Mallett has interpreted the fresco as a Medicean attempt to exalt "the praiseworthiness of condottieri to a populace with mixed feelings". In fact, Cosimo may have allowed the former Albizzi project to go through merely to pave the way for a similar honor for Niccolò da Tolentino
Niccolò da Tolentino
Niccolò Mauruzzi , best known as Niccolò da Tolentino was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:A member of the Mauruzi della Stacciola family of Tolentino, he fled from that city in 1370 after a dispute with his relatives. He therefore fought under several condottieri...
(died 1435), a condottiero whom the Medici would have favored over Hawkwood. The Tolentino fresco was commissioned 20 years after the soldier of fortune's death, and was specified in its contract to be painted in "the same manner and form as the Hawkwood". Thus, the recommissioning of the portrait may be read as part of an ongoing debate over the appropriateness of condottieri for a Republic. Bruni raises this subject in De militia (1420), arguing for a standing Florentine militia, especially given the close ties between Tolentino and the Medici. Intending to depict Hawkwood as an "obedient captain conducting an inspection of troops", the conceit of Hawkwood patiently reviewing troops is "suggestive of a loyal communal servant".
The Medici may have wished to emphasize that point that any condottiero, no matter how hostile or fickle, could be bought off and manipulated to Florentine interests and truly Florentinized. Attempts to claim Hawkwood as Florentine were well underway even before his death; for example, Pier Paolo Vergerio the Elder
Pier Paolo Vergerio the Elder
Pier Paolo Vergerio was an Italian humanist, statesman, and canon lawyer.-Life:...
wrote in 1391 that Hawkwood "no longer has any foreign blood […] and has become regenerated more strongly and more healthful in fiber and body under the moderating sky of Italy". Such a viewpoint has even crept into modern scholarship: the 19th-century Italian historian Ercole Ricotti
Ercole Ricotti
-Biography:He was born at Voghera and in 1833 he moved to Turin, where he frequented the Faculty of Engineering. In 1840 he became member of the Academy of Sciences in Turin....
called Hawkwood "the last of the foreign condottieri or the first of the Italian ones"; his 18th-century biography Domenico Maria Manni called him "general captain of Florentine armies" and virtually ignored two decades of Hawkwood's service to other city-states; even in the 20th century, Friedrich Gaupp attempted to characterize Hawkwood's direct attack on Florence as a "marriage proposal".