Triumphal Arch Dedicated to Hope, for the Entry of Leo X into Florence, 30 November 1515<\/p>\n
1515<\/p>\n
Canto de\u2019Bischeri, Florence (Fig.Bischeri<\/a>; Fig.Bischeri marker<\/a>).<\/p>\n Record of payment for this temporary arch by Rosso is contained in Florence, State Archives, Otto di Pratica. Deliberazioni e partiti, condotte e stanziamenti, 11<\/i>, fol. 89v<\/sup>-94r<\/sup>.<\/p>\n [8 Dicembre 1515]<\/p>\n \u201cItem a conto di:<\/p>\n \u201cSpese di ornamenti e archi fatti nella citt\u00e0 per honorare la Santit\u00e0 di Nostra Signore, fiorini cinquemila novanta larghi in oro, lire ventisei soldi due denari octo p\u00ecccioli, cio\u00e8… f.CCCLXX a Francesco Granacci et altri per l\u2019arco della Badia, et fiorini quattrocentottanta a Giovanbaptista vocato Rosso per l\u2019arco del canto de\u2019 Bischeri, et f.DXX a Andrea di Agnolo dipintore et Iacopo da San Sovino [fol.90 recto] per to ornamento della facciata di S. Maria del Fiore e il cavallo facto in sulla piaza di S. Maria Novella… f.5090 L.26s.2d.8 p\u00ecccioli.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Vasari, 1550, 797, in the \u201cLife\u201d of Rosso, stated that he \u201cFece per la venuta di Papa Leone a Fiorenza sul canto di Bischeri uno arco bellissimo.\u201d\u00a0 The same appears in Vasari, 1568, II, 205 (Vasari-Milanesi, V, 158).2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In the \u201cLife\u201d of Sarto, Vasari (Vasari-Milanesi, V, 24-25) described the entire entry stating that \u201cal canto de\u2019Bischeri ne fece un altro [arco] il Rosso, con molto bello ordine e variet\u00e0 di figure.\u201d<\/p>\n The location of the arch is confirmed by an entry in Archi, et spectaculi Preparati a Fiorenza per la entrata de Papa Leone xmo<\/sup> del anno 1515<\/i> (London, British Library, MS Harley 3462, fols. 194r<\/sup>-194v<\/sup>): \u201cAl Canto dei Bischeri il sextodecimo, alla speranza abbigliato nel medesimo modo.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The same location is given by Luca Landucci in his diary (Siena, Bibl. Comunale, MS.K.XI.25, fol. 62r \/ modern, fol. 32r), with the following description: \u201cLa Settima fu a Chanto de\u2019Bischeri che, non sanza amirazione a vederlo, aveva 27 cholonne piane, le quali facevano un certo quadro che passava la via che va verso San Piero, chon tanti ornamenti d\u2019oro.\u00a0 Tutte quelle cholonne avevano gi\u00f9 per mezzo loro un festone di certe melagrane e pine, chome s\u2019usa, tutte dorate, che pareva una chosa pi\u00f9 riccha che l\u2019altre di tante buone fighure, che facevano badare ore intorno tutte queste chose, alte insino alle sommit\u00e0 delle chase, chon magni archi trionfali in croce chome stanno le vie.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 To this description can be added the brief remark in the Istorie di Giovanni Cambi<\/i> (ed. Ildefonso di San Luigi, III [Delizie degli eruditi toscani<\/i>, XII], Florence, 1786, 84): \u201c…dipoi al chanto de\u2019Bischeri un altro, chera quadro con molte fighure insu tele di panno dipinte, e messi in cierti quadri di detto trionfo.\u201d5<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 A general description of the arch is given in COPIA DI UNA EPISTOLA di Gualtieri Panciatichi ciptadino Fiorentino nella entrata di Papa Leone. Nella cipta di Fire[n]ze. Adi.xxx. di Nouembre. MD.XV.<\/i>, published by Lionardo di Neri cartolaio<\/i>, Florence, 3 January 1515 [1516]: the arch was at a crossroads, and was like a high tower or testudo that did not appear as made of wood but as a very precious gem, not of white marble but of porphyry; its expert artist used the ancient Doric order, with pilasters (without leaves for ornament), not columns, and with a well understood ornamented and inscribed cornice; the form of the arch was square and compact, and it is certain that Vitruvius would have given the palm to the author of this arch [Rosso is not mentioned]; a gold plate on the pediment was inscribed: SPES EIUS IN DOMINO. L.X.P.M.<\/i>.6<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Without mentioning Rosso\u2019s name Bartolomeo Masi also praised his arch: \u201ce pass\u00f2 dal canto de\u2019Bischeri, ch\u00e9 in su detto canto v\u2019era un altro arco, el quale arco persone lo tenevano el pi\u00f9 bello arco che si fussi fatto in Firenze.\u201d7<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Further information is given in Guglielmo de\u2019Nobili, Scritti e cansoni in Lode di Papa Leone Xo<\/sup><\/i> of around 1526 (Florence, B.N., MS Landau Finaly 183, fols. 41v<\/sup>-47r<\/sup>): the arch, gilt and worked like a gem and containing scenes resembling antique ones, was located behind the cathedral and was dedicated to green Hope; above one of the large piers (troncone) was a scene of Shadrach and his companions in the fiery furnace; above the other pier was shown Moses and Aaron turning the waters of the Nile into blood; there was also Elisha curing Naaman\u2019s leprosy (wrongly identified as \u201cNabuch\u201d [Nebuchadnezzar]); \u201cnel arco,\u201d perhaps indicating a group in a niche rather than a relief, and at the left, Jacob and the angel, perhaps also in a niche; above the large columns, apparently meaning on top of the arch, was a sculpted group of the Sacrifice of Isaac; on another side (banda) a scene showed Noah inside the ark awaiting the return of the dove; there were also other beautiful and pleasant ornamentations praising the Hope of Leo X.8<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The information that is available on Rosso\u2019s arch makes possible only a partial glimpse of what Rosso\u2019s work was like.\u00a0 It was located where both the Via dell\u2019Oriuolo and the Via del Proconsolo enter the Piazza del Duomo,9<\/sup><\/a> and was so placed that the axes of the two streets crossed at the center of the arch.\u00a0 This siting can be gathered from Landucci\u2019s description.\u00a0 It was of enormous size, rising as high as the tops of the houses nearby, probably to accommodate the procession to pass through it.\u00a0 Its four sides would have had Doric pilasters supporting a cornice, and at least one pediment, and the entire arch was painted in imitation of porphyry and was partially gilt.\u00a0 Landucci specified twenty-seven pilasters, but given the need to dispose of these evenly on the four sides of the arch, this number is improbable.\u00a0 A likely arrangement on the outside would have been pilasters at the corners, and one on each side of the four arches, making four pilasters on each side and hence a total\u00a0 of sixteen.\u00a0 There must, however, have been more, perhaps on a second level or on the insides of the arches, if Landucci\u2019s number is to be considered as approaching some kind of true approximation.\u00a0 In whatever number and arrangement, each side would most probably have had an even number of pilasters.\u00a0 The gilt ornament mentioned by Landucci included swags of pomegranates and pine cones hanging down from the middle of the pilasters.\u00a0 Above the piers would most probably have been set the narrative scenes – Shadrach and His Companions Meshach and Abednago in the Fiery Furnace<\/i> and Moses and Aaron Turning the Waters of the Nile into Blood<\/i> – and perhaps below them individual figures or groups – Elisha Curing Naaman\u2019s Leprosy <\/i>and Jacob and the Angel<\/i> – the former reliefs, the latter statues in niches made out of painted cloth, as suggested by Cambi.10<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Noah Inside the Ark Awaiting the Return of the Dove<\/i> would seem to have appeared as a relief on the other side of the arch.\u00a0 If there were only the narrative scenes and groups indicated by de\u2019Nobili this may have been because the arch was not finished, for what he mentioned could not possibly have completely decorated this large arch.\u00a0 Perhaps only one side of the arch contained the statues and reliefs, the side facing the Via del Proconsolo from which direction the procession arrived, in spite of de\u2019Nobili\u2019s reference to another side (banda), which could be simply the other side of the same face.\u00a0 However, de\u2019Nobili\u2019s account could itself be incomplete.\u00a0 On the top of the arch was the sculptured group of Abraham and Isaac, probably also facing the Via del Proconsolo.\u00a0 The inscription given by Panciatichi would most likely have been on the entablature or on a plaque facing in the same direction, or repeated on all four sides.<\/p>\n As it appears that the Florentines first began to know around 21 October 1515 of Leo\u2019s visit,11<\/sup><\/a> Rosso\u2019s arch would have been designed and constructed in no more than five weeks.\u00a0 With its dedication to Hope, it was the fifth triumphal arch of a series devoted to the seven canonical Virtues, with an eighth representing all the Virtues together.12<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a>1<\/sup> The document was transcribed by Gino Corti.\u00a0 It is fully published by Minucci del Rosso, 1879, 481-482, and by Ciseri, 1990, 272, Doc. XXXVII; partially in Pagnotta, 1987, 244, Doc. 12; and mentioned in Vasari-Milanesi, V, 25, n. 3.\u00a0 It is slightly differently transcribed in Von Holst, 1974, 216-217, Doc. 39; see also Von Holst\u2019s Docs. 37-38 for Granacci\u2019s participation in the decorations for this entry.\u00a0 Franklin, 1994, 297, Appendix A, DOCUMENT 8, transcribed the part of this document that pertains to Rosso, commenting that the 480 florins must have included materials. Waldman, Louis A.,\u00a0Baccio Bandinelli and Art of the Medici Court: A Corpus of Early Modern Sources<\/em>, Philadelphia, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 251, 40, no. 85, fully transcribed with notes but none relating to Rosso.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>2<\/sup> Vasari\u2019s statement is mentioned in Venturi, IX, 5, 1932, 194.\u00a0 The entire entry is discussed in Shearman, 1975, and mentioned in Shearman, 1980, 9; the bibliography on it is given in Mitchell, Bonner, Italian Civic Pageantry in the High Renaissance. A Descriptive Bibliography of Triumphal Entries and Selected Other Festivals for State Occasions<\/i> (Biblioteca di bibliografia italiana<\/i>, LXXXIX), Florence, 1979, 39-43, no. III.\u00a0 Mentioned also in Bonner, 1986, 12, 37, 107-108, and in Carroll, 1987, 16, 33, n. 28.\u00a0 The entire entry is also discussed in Testaverde Matteini, 1988, 334-340, with a map giving the location of Rosso\u2019s arch, which otherwise is only briefly considered, and in Ciseri, 1990, with complete documentation and maps; see also Cummings, 1992, 67-82.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>3<\/sup> See also Shearman, 1975, 146, and Ciseri, 1990, 173, Doc. I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>4<\/sup> A full copy of the now incomplete Sienese manuscript is in Florence, Bibl. Marucelliana, MS. C. 26, with the passage on Rosso\u2019s arch on 304-305.\u00a0 This accurate copy is the source of Luca Landucci, 1883, 355-356, containing the description of Rosso\u2019s arch, with the orthography changed and the word \u201ctutte\u201d toward the end missing.\u00a0 See also A Florentine Diary from 1450 to 1516<\/i>, translated from the I. del Badia edition by Alice de Rosen Jerris, London and New York, 1927, 282; and Ciseri, 1990, 195, Doc. IX.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>5<\/sup> See also Shearman, 1975, 136, n. 2, no. 7, 146, n. 32; and Ciseri, 1990, 179, Doc. IV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>6<\/sup> See also Shearman, 1975, 136, n. 2, no. 2, 146-147, n. 32; and Ciseri, 1990, 224-225, Doc. XIV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>7<\/sup> Bartolomeo Masi, Ricordanze di Bartolomeo Masi, calderaio fiorentino, dal 1478 al 1536<\/i>, ed. O. Corazzini, 1906; passage here taken from Ciseri, 1990, 203, Doc. XI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>8<\/sup> See also Shearman, 1975, 136-137, n. 2, no. 16, 146-147, n. 32; and Ciseri, 1990, 306-308, Doc. XLV.\u00a0 The arch is discussed by Franklin, 1994, 3, 13, 29, 30, 265, 297, who thought the rare Old Testament subjects and the use of canvas bring to mind his later Moses<\/i> [P.14] and that the project was related to Rosso\u2019s decorations of the Gallery of Francis I at Fontainebleau.\u00a0 Mention of the arch also appears in Ciardi, 1994, 18, 22, 90, n. 20, 91, n. 44, 92, n. 53.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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