MORGANTE - A MEDICI FAVOURITE DWARF RIDES A TORTOISE - IAN COX's ITALIAN ART OBJECT OF THE MONTH - JULY 2015

MORGANTE - A MEDICI FAVOURITE DWARF RIDES A TORTOISE


It's back to Florence for this month's object and I'm reminded of it today by a fridge magnet I'm examining which I bought last time we were in the city. We'd been on a special tour of the Vasari corridor built in the middle of the 16th century for Cosimo de Medici which links, as it always has done, the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace on the other side of the River Arno. Almost half a mile in length and passing over the top of the shops surmounting the Ponte Vecchio, this intriguing private corridor today houses a significant collection of portraits of dignitaries and celebrities from times gone by. At the end of the tour the exit leads to a corner of the renowned Boboli Gardens and a just a few yards away from the door is the sculpture which is the subject of this months blog posting. There are dozens of statues in the various areas of the beautiful Boboli, but this is perhaps the strangest of them all and it causes quite a stir with the tourist visitors who come to this part of the gardens.

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The statue is in fact part of  a fountain entitled "Fontana del Bacchino" which is made up of an oval shaped cistern sitting in front of a square pedestal which in turn is surmounted by a giant tortoise on top of which sits the figure of Morgante - the court dwarf of Cosimo I Medici. It was sculpted by Valerio Cigoli and completed in 1560. Many of the visitors who view it today are repulsed by the life like depiction of the nude, male dwarf figure and its non politically correct subject matter; when they discover a little more about it, this does little to endear it to them. Today we know that extreme short stature in humans (achondroplasia) is caused by a genetic mutation resulting in an irreversible imbalance of growth hormones during development and generally speaking individuals suffering from it now don't suffer the indignities they were forced to endure in earlier times. The statue in the Boboli of Morgante, however, fascinates many viewers and I was certainly one of those when I saw it. I knew that as soon as I got home it would be out with the books and a thorough search of the internet to find out more about this famous character.

Dwarves were a common occurrence at many European courts in the 16th century. They were considered to be curiosities of nature and as "possessions" of monarchs and Dukes they were often listed in inventories along with expensive items of jewellery, textiles and clothing. As symbols of wealth and power they were expected, in jester fashion, to amuse and entertain members of court and provide companionship to their owners. A series of 16th century art works by Johann Stradanus, engraved by Phillip Galle shows various scenes from the Coronation of Cosimo I Medici as Grand Duke of Tuscany and the examples shown below indicated the Duke had several dwarves attend him at the ceremony.

Scenes from the Coronation of Cosimo I Medici
by Johann Stradanus

Surviving records reveal that Braccio di Bartolo - known as Morgante at the Medici court, arrived in Florence in 1540. His name is an ironic one as he was named Morgante after the giant Morgante Maggiore, the subject of the 15th century epic poem by Luigi Pulci. Whilst its known that Morgante the dwarf suffered the same humiliations endured by many court dwarves on a number of occasions his status and reputation at the Florentine court was special. Vasari writes of him as "clever" and "learned" and a record from 1555 describes Cosimo I describing Morgante as "our beloved dwarf'. Other sources reveal he was not only an entertainer at court, but a special companion of the Grand Duke and on a number of occasions he accompanied him on important diplomatic missions. So important did Morgante become to Cosimo that he made a grant of land to him and gave him permission to marry. Given the important position of influence he held at court and his renowned reputation, its not surprising he should be represented in a number of works of art as well as the stone fountain already described here. I can thus finish this posting by introducing a couple of other art works where he is the primary subject.

Nano Morgante riding a dragon by Giambologna (1529-1608)
Roof garden of the Loggia dei Lanze, Florence

In this bronze sculpture by the renowned artist Giambologna \\(1529-1608) Nano Morgante sits astride a dragon - an imitation of a sculpture by the Grand Duke of Tuscany's goldsmith Corneio della Nera. Morgante has one hand raised to "still the water" in the fountain bowl - a gesture parodying an act carried out by Neptune the Roman God of the sea.

Nano Morgante in a painting by Bronzino

In January 2011 curators at the Uffizi gallery held a press conference connected with a major retrospective exhibition on the Mannerist painter Bronzino and one particular work of art held centre stage. It was a painting of Nano Morgante which, recently restored, hadn't been seen in its original form for nigh on 200 years. It had been over-painted in parts (guess which) because of what was considered to be obscene subject matter, in the 18th century. The double sided picture had been completed by the artist in 1553 and was listed in a Medici inventory of that date. The frontal view of the dwarf shows him posing with a large hunting owl perched on a raised hand whilst moths flutter round his genitals. The rear view shows the owl perched on his shoulder whilst he holds a trophy of captured birds in his right hand. Vasari wrote of the work - "He made a full length painting of the dwarf Morgante in two ways ...... the picture is both beautiful and marvellous".

Like many of Bronzino's other paintings (Venus and Cupid in London's National Gallery comes to mind) there are issues in the picture for contemplation and here the artist is, according to some art historians, playing with the idea of the merits of painting versus the "nobility" of sculpture. Showing both front and reverse views of the subject and the beginning and end of the bird hunt at the same time Bronzino appears to be commenting on the inherent flexibility of painting as a medium.

To finish off by returning to the sculpture in the Boboli Gardens - (which interestingly and for obvious reasons which I forgot to mention, is a copy of the original work) - Morgante astride the tortoise is an ironic comment on the notion of the classical equestrian statue of the glorious victor on horseback. How many of those are looked at and ignored these days?

So - like it or not - this month's object tells us a lot - not only about aristocratic artistic tastes in mid 16th century Florence, but also in providing an unusual insight in to an aspect of Medici court life which is intriguing even if we might find it unpalatable today. Fascinating!! - I don't regret showing off my non PC fridge magnet at all - in fact its one of my favourites.

CIAO & KBO
IAN

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