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Article
Giovanni Battista Naldini’s Pietà: Humility and Love
Author(s)
Liana De Girolami Cheney
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2021.11.001
Affiliation(s)
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, USA
ABSTRACT
In 1564, in honor of the death of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), an artistic extravaganza was invented by the Benedictine monk Vincenzo Borghini (1515-1580)—prior of the hospital of the innocents, humanist, and administrator of the Florentine Academy of Design (Accademia del Disegno or Florentine Academy)—and was implemented by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)—artist, writer, and artistic director of the Academy, who engaged his Florentine assistants to work on the execution of the tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence (see Figure 1). The commission of Michelangelo’s tomb was prompted by his nephew, Lionardo [Leonardo] Simoni-Buonarroti (1522-1599), and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574). The tomb was completed in 1578. Vasari designed the architectural monument, and his assistants, members of the Florentine Academy, collaborated in the following manner: The sculptures of the Fine Arts were carved by Giovanni Bandini (1540-1599), who represented the personification of architecture; Valerio di Simone Cioli (1529-1599), who represented the personification of Sculpture; and Battista Lorenzi (1527-1594), who represented the personification of Painting and the portrait bust of Michelangelo. Giovanni Battista Naldini (1537-1591) completed al fresco the burning urns, the purple-colored doorway of the tomb, the suspended canopy, and the Pietà in the center of the marble tabernacle. This latter artistic contribution is the topic of this essay.
KEYWORDS
Pietà, Lamentation, humility, Giorgio Vasari, Giovanni Battista Naldini, Christian iconography, Mannerism, Michelangelo’s tomb, Franciscan Order, Counter-Reformation
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