Ambiguity and the fixing of identity in early renaissance florence

Diogenes

Volumn 45, Issue 177, 1997, Pages 17-35

  Gatti, Luca ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0007232829     PISSN: 03921921     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/039219219704517703     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. On the related issues of identity and ambiguity in Florence, see M. Becker, "An essay on the quest for identity in the early Italian Renaissance," in J. S. Rowe and W. H. Stockdale (eds.), Florilegium Historiale: Essays in honour of Wallace K. Ferguson, Toronto, 1971, pp. 294-312
2. and R.F.E. Weissman, "The Importance of Being Ambiguous: Social Relations, Individualism, and Identity in Renaissance Florence," in S. Zimmerman and R.F.E. Weissman (eds.), Urban Life in the Renaissance, London, 1989, pp. 269-280
3. On ambiguity in general see W. Empson, Seven Types of ambiguity, London, 1984 [1930]
4. Paolo da Certaldo advised that, because of the lack of command on the meaning of words, one should reflect on the consequences of what is said: "The word once spoken is like a thrown pebble: so before uttering it always think, and think again on what you are about to say and what might follow from it," in S. Morpurgo (ed.), Il Libro di buoni costumi di Paolo di Messer Pace da Certaldo, Florence, 1921, p. 66
5. On these preoccupations in early sixteenth century Florence, see L. Gatti, "Displacing Images and Devotion in Renaissance Florence: the Return of the Medici and an Order of 1513 for the Davit and the Iudit," Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 1994, 2, pp. 3-35
6. Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae, 3 vols., Fribourg, 1783, vol. II, p. 271
7. Diario Florentino di Bartolomeo di Michele del Corazza, anni 1405-1438, G. Corazzini (ed.), [Archivio Storico Italiano], s. 5, t. XIV, 1894, pp. 233-298, here p. 246
8. G. Dati, Listeria di Firenze dal 1380 al 1405, L. Pratesi (ed.), Norcia, 1904, p. 134. The earliest reference to the Lion known to me is in a song of 1243
9. see A. D'Ancona, "La politica nella poesia del secolo XIII e XIV," Nuova Antologia, IV, 1867, pp. 10-52, here p. 13
10. I have studied the memory and the mythological function of this image in "II 'fiero Marte' a Firenze e il mito della 'pietra scema': riti, memorie e ascendenze," Rinascimento, 1995, pp. 154-185
11. Among the Florentine segni the Lion remains unstudied in modern historiography. I propose to return to it in greater depth elsewhere; in the meantime, see F.L. Del Migliore, Firenze città nobilissima illustrata, Florence, 1684, pp. 242-248
12. L.D. Ettlinger, "Hercules Florentinus," Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XVI, 1972, pp. 119-42
13. and for the Lily, M. Bergstein, "Marian Politics in Quattrocento Florence: the Renewed Dedication of Santa Maria del Fiore in 1412," Renaissance Quarterly, XLIV, 4, 1991, pp. 673-719
14. Miscellanea di Cose Inedite o Rare, F. Corazzini (ed.), Florence, 1835, p. 233
15. On the power of images to establish identity and affect perception, see R. Trexler, "Follow t e Flag. The Ciompi Revolt Seen from the Streets," Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, XLVI, 1984, pp. 357-392
16. S.Y. Edgerton, Pictures and Punishment: Art and Criminal Prosecution During the Florentine Renaissance, New York, 1958
17. Luca Landucci, Diario Fiorentino, Florence, 1985, p. 78
18. M. Rastrelli, Illustrazione istorica del Palazzo della Signoria detto inoggi il Palazzo Vecchio Florence, 1792, p. 43
19. L. Passerini, "Del Pretorio di Firenze," in Curiosità di Storia e Arte Fiorentina, Florence, 1866, pp. 3-40, especially pp. 25-26
20. Regarding the location and the management of the lion cage see Del Migliore, (note 10 above), pp. 242-248
21. The 1325 Statutes stipulated that the food for the lions should be paid by the Camera del Comune and that the officials responsible for the lions should be elected by the Priori: Statuti della Repubblica Fiorentina. Statuto del Podestà dell'anno 1325, R. Caggese (ed.), Florence, 1921, p. 336
22. L. Zdekawer, "Appunti e Notizie," Miscellanea Fiorentina di Erudizione e Storia, I, 1886, pp. 157-159
23. G. Villani, Cronica, F. Gherardi Dragomanni (ed.), Florence, 1845, X, 183 and XI, 67
24. On Donatello's Marzocco see H.W. Janson, The Sculpture of Donatello, Princeton, 1963, pp. 41-43
25. Franco Sacchetti, Il Libro delle rime, A. Chiari (ed.), Bari, 1936, p. 190. Evidence that the Lion was the center of celebrations signifying political change or success comes also from a song written on the eve of Cosimo de Medici's return from exile
26. see F.R. Flamini, La lirica Toscana del Rinascimento anteriore ai tempi del Magnifico, Pisa, 1891, p. 97
27. See L. Gatti, "The 'comune studio libertatis' of F orence and Venice, and the Political Implications of the Pre-Medicean Restoration of the Convent of San Marco," QUASAR, 13-14, 1995, pp. 37-48
28. Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Consulte e Pratiche, 48, f. 51r
29. G. Richa, Notizie Istoriche delle Chiese Florentine, divise ne' suoi Quartieri, 10 vols., Florence, 1754-1762, vol. 2, p. 213
30. This part of the Statutes is quoted in U. Dorini, "Il culto delle memorie Patrie nella Repubblica di Firenze," Rassegna Nazionale, CLXXIX, 1911, pp. 3-25, p. 51
31. M. Becker, "Church and State in Florence at the Eve of the Renaissance. 1343-1382," Speculum, XXXVII, 1962, pp. 509-27
32. G. Tognetti, "Amare la patria più che l'anima. Contributo circa la genesi di un atteggiamento religioso," in Studi sul medloevo cristiano offerti a Raffaello Morghen, II, Rome, 1974, pp. 1011-26, p. 1011
33. G. Cavalcanti, Istorie Fiorentine, G. di Pino (ed.), Milan, 1944, p. 301
34. For Porcari's speeches see Prose del Giovane Buonaccorso da Montemagno inedite alcune, Giuliari (ed.), in Scelta di Curiosità Letterarie, 141, Bologna, 1874, where they are erroneusly attributed to Buonaccorso da Montemagno
35. On the development of a male-heroic ideology see R. Starn, "Reinventing heroes in Renaissance Italy," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVII, 1986, pp. 67-84