GIORGIO VASARI - A PILLAR IN THE HISTORY OF ART!

GIORGIO VASARI (1511-1574) - AN ART HISTORY FOUNDING FATHER

One of the things I love about travelling around Umbria and Tuscany is the fact that there are plenty of places to go associated with the lives of celebrity figures associated with the Italian Renaissance and I don't just mean visiting sites where their work can be seen. It's also fascinating to visit houses where people lived as well as worked, or even to see the place where they were born. For three years we've been going to Arezzo in Tuscany - prompted by the fact that it's the venue for a monthly antiques extravaganza in the streets of the old town. Additionally, however there's a multitude of churches and other buildings to visit - every one with something interesting to see.

Self portrait of Girorgio Vasari dated 1511

Each time we visit the town we mooch round the stalls in the main square - the Piazza Grande - which is surrounded by important and beautiful buildings dating back to the 16th century and beyond. On the top side of the sloping square there's an arresting and beautiful building which has an arched and columned loggia on the ground floor. At the left hand end of it there's a plaque inserted in to the wall of the first pillar which serves as a commemoration to one of the city's most famous and renowned sons - Giorgio Vasari - the architect who designed the 16th century building of which the loggia is part.

Western end of the Vasari loggia containing the
relief panel by Castelluci

Vasari looks out over the street from his window
vantage point.

The plaque is a marble relief depicting Vasari as a mature, bearded man leaning on a window sill looking out. Its 19th century in date and was designed by the Florentine architect Castelluci and sculpted by A Lazzerini using a block of marble from the famous Carrara quarries near Pisa. I can't pass by it without taking a look, for Vasari stays in my mind as one of the founding figures of art history and any student of the subject will have heard of and probably studied his work. Though he was in someways a typical Renaissance man - being a painter, architect and historian he is best known for his famous book "LIVES OF THE MOST EXCELLENT PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS" first published in 1550. Essentially its the very first encylopedia of artists' biographies. The literature on Vasari reveals he was the first writer to us the word "Renaissance" in print; he was also considered responsible for the first use of the term "Gothic Art". The book included a section of technical methods used in painting and there was a second edition in 1568. The artists contemporary to Vasari himself (Vasari was a friend of Michelangelo for instance) appear as the most reliable - those artists he writes about who lived in earlier times such as Giotto, are the most suspect.

"Artists' Lives" may be criticised  by art historian's today for its unreliability, lack of substantiating evidence and bias towards Florentine artists, but the fact is it's an important milestone in the development of the subject. More recent research, based on reliable sources, has led to modification of  Vasari's biographies and today students of art history use his book with caution. The book is still in print today so if you are tempted to delve in Artists' Lives Vasari style you can pop down to Barnes and Noble or Waterstones and get your own glimpse in to this fascinating work.

Frontispiece from Artists' Lives

Vasari was born in Arezzo and he never forgot his home town. In 1540 he bought a two storey house on Via Vente Settembre, just off one side of the Piazza Grande, whilst it was still being built. The house was finally completed in 1548 but the time he spent there was limited as he was constantly required to be in Florence and Rome and in the latter stages of his life he spent most of his time at his permanent residence in Rome. Having said that he undertook decorative schemes inside the property and adorned them with paintings by his own hand and also including works by other artists. He used the property for storing and displaying his collection of works of art.

Vasari's Arezzo house on Via Venti Settembre

The house was enlarged in the 19th century and in the last century it was occupied as a private residence by a number of owners. In 1955 it became an Arezzo museum and extensive restoration was carried out. Today the external appearance of the house is not quite as it was in Vasari's time as various modifications have been made to it in different periods including the insertion of extra doorways. An archive of documents containing correspondence by the writer's own hand together with letters written to him by such artists as Michelangelo can also be found there.

Details from the 16th century interior decoration scheme of
Vasari's house. 

So - this is an intriguing property to visit if you make Arezzo one you your Tuscan destinations. It tends to be overlooked as everyone seems to make a beeline for the church containing Piero della Francesco's "Miracle of the True Cross" fresco cycle. Don't miss that - but do find time to make a pilgrimage to this Palazzo which belonged to one the town's most important sons. And if you visit on the first Sunday of the month you can browse round the antiques market too. I wonder what Vasari would have thought of the assortment of dodgy paintings propped up against the wall of his house on the days when the antiques market is held?

THERE ARE OVER 90 POSTS MAKING UP THIS BLOG SO I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE OTHERS OR EVEN CONSIDER BECOMING A FOLLOWER THUS HELPING ME KEEP MY BLOG ALIVE. 

CHEERS - IAN 

ITALIAN MICROMOSAIC JEWELLERY - AN ANTIQUE CENTRE FIND

A WEEKEND TRAWL TO A LOCAL ANTIQUES CENTRE TURNS UP SOME INTERESTING PIECES OF ITALIAN JEWELLERY

I like nothing better than to go "antiquing" at the weekends. This might take the form of a visit to a Saturday auction, a trip to an antique centre, a visit to a town where there are loads of charity shops or best of all a mooch round a busy car boot sale where real bargains can be found. Sometimes I come home with nothing at all, but on other occasions the car can be almost full of stuff - some of it destined for our stall in a nearby antiques centre. Our garage is full of items waiting to have value added to them (I like to call it) which means they need cleaning, repairing, restoring, reviving - what ever you want to call it. Jon despairs of the number of objects waiting for such attention and every now and again I have a blitz to make room for more. Am I obsessed I ask myself? I guess some people would call it that, but who can resist a bargain when its under one's nose I also ask? - I know I can't!

A couple of weeks ago we decided on a Saturday morning trip across the Fens - a huge lowland, peaty area surrounding the Wash, marshy in medieval times but drained in subsequent centuries to produce some of the most fertile land in Britain. All sorts of things are grown - everything from cereal crops to flower bulbs and much of the vegetable stock found in Britain's supermarkets comes from this region. Not surprisingly there's a lot of money round here - Fenland farmers can be very rich indeed! All this makes for good pickings in the local charity shops and antiques emporia so its not often that I come home empty handed after a trip to Wisbech, Spalding, Boston or the like. This particular weekend we decided to head off towards Kings Lynn. On the route we'd chosen I knew of a local antiques centre with a number of traders which we'd been to before - I couldn't wait to get hunting!!

Our Antiques Centre destination near Holbeach, Lincolnshire

That Saturday the large centre was crammed with stock. Many of the stalls were full of large pieces of 19th and early 20th century brown furniture - items its hard to find a market for these days, despite the bargain prices. I still can't get my head round the fact that people will pay large sums of money for pieces of furniture given the shabby chic look with a coat of chalk paint and a rub down with coarse sand paper and yet resist the £80 to £120 pounds which would buy a nice Georgian oak or mahogany corner cupboard. Where is the sense in that?

On this trip we were not looking for furniture so on entering the building it was important to try and ignore the plethora of Victorian cabinets and 20th century sets of chairs and concentrate on the smalls. There was also quite a lot of reproduction stuff on some of the stalls, but it was not difficult to filter this out of the reckoning. In one of the aisles I remembered a stall where I'd bought some nice pieces of 20th century costume jewellery and an art deco tin box with jars inside so I made a beeline for that. Disappointingly, on first viewing, I couldn't find a single thing I was interested in so I carried on. Twenty minutes later and it was looking grim - no finds at all!! My motto has been not to give up easily and always to do a second run if the first one yields a blank - so it was another tour round the stalls for a another trawl. Soon I was back at the stand which had drawn my interest in the first place. At the back of the stall was an indifferent looking art deco china cabinet (locked) which the dealer was using to display small items she must have thought would appeal to the light fingered. The top shelf yielded a blank - no items of interest there. On the middle shelf there were some bits of run of the mill costume jewellery with nothing standing out. It was the bottom shelf or bust. Sitting in the middle of the shelf was a small oval picture frame which piqued my interest and I had to get down (painfully I might add) on my hands and knees to get a better look. On peeking through the glass I recognized it had a decorative coloured border so it was time to get the lady looking after the centre to come and unlock the cabinet.

The little photograph frame (only 6.5 cms from top to bottom) I recognized as being of mid 20th century date and therefore of no great age, but it was its decorative border that was of interest. It had been crafted from Italian micromosaic work - an ancient technique which could be traced all the way back to the Roman period. The term was coined by wealthy 20th century collector Sir Arthur Gilbert.

Miniature Photograph Frame 6.5cms tall

To make an item in micromosaic tiny square shaped rods of coloured glass are chopped in to small cubes called tesserae. These are then carefully crafted in to delicate images of objects, scenes or patterns to produce the desired image.

The Technique of micromosaic assembly from coloured glass rods.
Here the image is of the Duomo in Florence

Scenes from the ruins at Pompeii or Roman landmarks were especially popular. Essentially the technique hasn't changed much over the centuries though the quality of the end result has. Compare the difference below between a 19th century brooch crafted in the middle of the 19th century for wealthy Roman visitors and one made for the mass tourist trade in the middle of the 20th century. In the 19th century the quality was much better and the micromosaic work was much closer set, the tesserae were often set in gold or silver and firms like Castellani made pieces for a fairly exclusive market. This type of jewellery, made in workshops in Rome and Florence, was fashionable in the mid 19th century but went out of fashion in about 1870.

Mid 19th century Micromosaic brooch with a view of the Pantheon
in Rome and mounted on silver with a filigree frame. 

Mid 20th century mass produced Micromosaic
brooch with floral decoration on a base metal mount. 

As well as the little oval picture frame there were two other items on the bottom shelf of the cabinet -
a pair of clip on ear rings with floral decoration similar to the brooch above and more unusual - an intricate bracelet made from joined together oblong panels allowing flexibility round a lady's wrist. I have to confess of not having seen one of these before so I'm guessing they are quite rare. I have also never seen one with a panel making reference to the place of origin. This one is marked "VENEZIA" in the central panel and was presumably made in Murano - a centre of production for this cheap tourist jewellery.

Clip on Micromosaic Ear Rings with floral decoration

Micromosaic bracelet made in Murano, Venice

The three finds are not rare items, nor are they of high quality of course, but they are becoming collectable and prices have started to rise. I paid £12 for the photoframe, £6 for the ear rings and £15 for the bracelet. I considered these prices to be very reasonable indeed and I would estimate the values at an antique and collectors fair, or even on ebay to be more in the region of £30 - £40 for the frame, £15 - £20 for the ear rings and perhaps in excess of £40 for the bracelet. This is definitely an interesting area for inexpensive collecting and there are bargains to be had as this visit to the Fens has shown. The jury's out at the moment on the final destination for my 3 pieces. I've a mind to keep them for a while before making a decision whether to sell them on. Not that I will be wearing the jewellery myself you understand!!

Thanks for reading and KBO
Until next time
Ian

Photographs of the pieces bought at the Antiques Centre courtesy of Jonathan Hills

THE PICCOLOMINI LIBRARY IN SIENNA CATHEDRAL

It's back to Siena for this month's post and I've just remembered that its coming up to a year since we took some friends to see Siena Cathedral. I wrote about the fantastic inlaid marble floor in an earlier post but saved one the most glorious aspects of the cathedral's interior for the post I'm writing today. The other thing I've just recalled is the connection between a post from a few weeks ago when I was writing about the artist Pinturicchio in connection with work he'd done on a chapel in Spello and the work the artist did here in Siena Cathedral - the commission which is the focus of this post.

FRONT FACADE OF SIENA CATHEDRAL 

To visit Siena Cathedral is an overwhelming experience for there is so much to see and take in. It's a feast for all the senses and no more so than in relation to the library contained in a room off the left hand side of the nave. The transition from the relatively dark main body of the church to the jewel like interior of this sublime space is a memorable moment in itself (savour it when you visit) for its like walking in to a fantastically coloured jewel box and it is quite simply stunning. So where did this magnificent interior come from - who was responsible for it? and what was its purpose?

THE PICCOLOMINI LIBRARY 

Well firstly the name Piccolomini Libarary is a useful starting point. The room was constructed as a dedicated space for an important collection of humanist antique and medieval manuscripts collected by Pope Pius III of the the Piccolimini family who originated from the small town of Pienza in Tuscany not far from Siena. In fact when it was completed the manuscript collections were never housed here and the space has since become famous for the artistic scheme of decoration carried out by Pinturrichio for Pope Pius III. The Pope had wanted a room dedicated to his famous uncle's memory and a fresco cycle which would tell the story of his life.

This Uncle was a man named Enea Silvio Piccolomini who came from a relatively humble background in the Val d'Orcia, entered the church as a priest and rose to become firstly an important diplomat within the Vatican hierarchy and then later a Cardinal and finally becoming Pope Pius II. As a diplomat Enea had played an important role in leading negotiations between the Pope and King Frederick III of Austria, also playing an important part in brokering the marriage between the Emperor and Elonora of Aragon and making arrangements for his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome itself in 1452. Rising rapidly through the ranks of the catholic church on the back of his achievements, he was made a Cardinal in 1456 and elected Pope just a couple of years later in 1458. He died in 1464.

The Cathedral library dedicated to this Pope was painted and decorated by Pinturicchio (Bernadino di Betto) between 1502 and 1508. The main frescos, in ten large compartments, relate stories from the Pope's life, illustrating such subjects as Ennio Silvio paying homage to the new Holy Roman Emperor, presenting Eleonora of Aragon to Frederick, him becoming a cardinal and his election of Pope. From the first scene at the far end on the right wall where Enio is depicted as a young boy, he gradually ages through the stories. Pinturicchio makes splendid use of all the modern Renaissance techniques of perspective and modelling of the human form to present beautifully costumed figures in brilliant colours set against a combination of real and imagined landscape backgrounds. Latin inscriptions provide titles for every scene in panels at the base of each one. To view a panel fresco is to look through a window at a scene taking place in the foreground, the eye then cleverly drawn through to the far distance beyond. Each one is beautifully composed, balanced, harmonious and worthy of detailed attention down to the finest details.

ENNIO PICCOLOMINI AS AMBASSADOR TO THE COURT OF
JAMES I OF SCOTLAND 

The depiction of the stories themselves though is only part of the overall decorative scheme for the compartments are separated by painted decorative "grotesque" pilasters inspired by the decoration uncovered in the excavations of Nero's Golden House (the Domus Aurea) in Rome. Each is also framed by wonderfully illusionistic arches. The vaulted and compartmented ceiling is amazing, painted in red, blue and gold again with lots of fashionable Roman ornament surrounding the painted scenes in the small panels. Not surprisingly the papal arms feature in the centre of the ceiling. You might want to take a small pair of binoculars with you to look at these. Oh and don't forget to take a look at the sculpture of the Three Graces in the centre of the room - its a Roman copy of a Greek original.

HOMAGE TO POPE EUGENIUS IV
IN THE NAME OF EMPEROR FREDERICK III

This stunning interior was surely Pinturicchio's finest achievement. The room, relatively recently restored, is another Siena "must see" experience and you can discover details of the opening times and charges for the library on the cathedral's website.

Ciao & KBO
Until next time
Ian

THE MEDICI SWAN HUNT TAPESTRY FROM THE VILLA POGGIO A CAIANO, TUSCANY

THE SWAN HUNT TAPESTRY

I've always been intrigued by tapestries - by their aesthetic beauty, the skill involved in making them, the time it took to produce them and their significance as social documents. I was delighted to find an unusual one on display at the Medici Villa -  Poggio a Caiano when we visited in June. It was titled "The Swan Hunt" and I took great pleasure in examining it in detail. It's shown below.

THE SWAN HUNT TAPESTRY ON DISPLAY AT THE MEDICI VILLA POGGIO A CAIANO

Tapestries have been important art forms throughout Europe since the medieval period and were always hugely significant, not just as wall insulation but as elite, status objects - often worth more than the entire contents of an important property. When I first started seriously studying the history of the decorative arts I remember being drawn to them and was fascinated to discover that when an owner moved from one of his properties to another (this was often the case in medieval Europe) - the tapestries were taken down, rolled up and carefully moved to the next house to be displayed there. It amazes me that so many have survived through to the present day given their fragile nature and sensitivity to light, but the fact that they have been treasured over the ages is testament to their importance as unique art objects.

Tapestries were commissioned with a design or set of designs being produced by an artist for the patron and when this was approved it was then translated in to a full size cartoon which the weavers would work from to produce the tapestry. Weavers sat in front of a loom strung with vertical woolen threads (warp threads) and looked through these to the cartoon behind. Laboriously the weaver would then insert vegetable dyed coloured weft threads of wool and often silk to make the picture. The weaving process took place from the back so the final image was a reverse image of the one on the cartoon. It would take months and sometimes years to weave the picture which might be one of a set.

SCENES OF CONTEMPORARY TAPESTRY WEAVING DEMONSTRATE
TECHNIQUES WHICH HAVEN'T CHANGED IN CENTURIES

Tapestry making workshops were set up in areas important for commissions from wealthy patrons. In the 15th century there were significant centres in France at Arras and Tournai and also in Brussels which became dominant in the late 15th century. In Italy tapestry works were created in Mantua and Ferrara in the early 16th century, but it was not surprising that the Medici family would want to get in on the action and a tapestry making workshop was set up by Cosmio I de Medici in Florence in 1545. Output from it was not huge but the workshop concentrated on quality production and innovation in design. The tapestry I viewed at Poggio came from this workshop.

Subjects for tapestries in artistic terms ranged from the depiction of biblical stories, to narratives from classical mythology as might be expected but from the medieval period onwards contemporary subjects focusing on the countryside, forests and the practice of hunting were always popular. Hunting was the sport of kings and the elite and was thus suited to the production of these status objects. Anyone who has not seen the set of Devonshire Hunting Tapestries which are in the Victorian and Albert Museum should book a train ticket to go and see them today!! As mentioned earlier - sets with a selected theme were the norm and the highest elevation of the art in terms of status.

Our Swan Hunt Tapestry was part of a set of 36 hunting scene tapestries produced by the Medici workshops between 1566 and 1582. They were woven from cartoons by two artists - Giovanni Stradano (who did the majority of the designs) and Alessandro Allori (who did a small number of them). They must have been important from the start as contemporary 16th century art historian Giorgio Vasari described them as "bird catching scenes". They appear to have been commissioned as a tribute to Lorenzo de Medici, the founder of the Poggio villa, who had a great interest in hunting and who also wrote a poem entitled "Ucellagione di Starne" (catching partridge) but also known as "Caccia col Falcone" (falconry). The original concept seems to have been compromised though at an early stage with some of the tapestries showing scenes involving the hunting of a wider range of animals but when Francesco I came to the fore the weaving turned again to birds and four tapestries designed by Allori were woven of which this was one. Fragments of two of the others (Wild Goose Hunt and Wild Duck Hunt) survive in Siena but the fourth (Heron Hunt) has been lost.

Swans (definitely a non PC subject today) were hunted by the elite for many centuries and their meat was considered a delicacy in many European courts. In England, during Elizabeth I's reign, swan was a popular feast dish and birds would be magnificently displayed on the banqueting table packed with other roasted birds inside them and stuffed!

This tapestry shows swans being hunted with guns and dogs. The image shows a man with a matchlock gun - a type of weapon widely used in hunting during the 16th century.

DETAIL OF THE MAN WITH A MATCHLOCK GUN POINTING AT A FLOUNDERING SWAN 

Though my photographs don't reveal it too well - the borders of the tapestry make references to Lorenzo's poetry and his interests in falconry. In the upper corners of the border there are two men with falcons on their arms and at other points there are 2 pairs of falcons perched on medallions. In the "Wild Goose Hunt" tapestry - falconry was the main subject theme.

Today these images depict a narrative which is abhorrent to many and swans are thankfully protected in many countries, but considering the subjects of the tapestries in context provides a fascinating insight in to courtly life in a society where hunting birds was a prestigious and important activity. Viewing a tapestry is truly a look through a window into a forgotten world where the written word doesn't do it justice.

As I said earlier - viewing tapestries is satisfying on a whole variety of levels. I hope the subject of this one doesn't cause offence!!

Ciao and until next time
Ian

POGGIO A CAIANO - A RENAISSANCE HOLIDAY PAD UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN

THE MEDICI VILLA - POGGIO A CAIANO

I'm still absorbing and digesting the wonderful experiences we had on this year's June trip to Umbria and Tuscany and I don't mean the swimming pool and the wine though thinking about it they were quite nice too! On the final day of our short stay we'd arranged to fly back from Pisa airport - about a two and a half hour drive from our place near Castiglione del Lago. The flight was an afternoon one leaving us plenty of time to take a leisurely drive northwards and a great opportunity to fit in a visit to a site of special interest on the way. From the options I'd thought about there really was only one choice - an exploration of a magnificent Tuscan villa I'd read about outside Florence whose history could be traced back to Lorenzo de Medici's "get away from it all" commission for a summer home away from the heat of the city.

Precedents for holiday homes in cooler climes are not difficult to find in the Italian peninsula. Many Roman senators had villas on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples and I couldn't help but recollect a visit I once made to Emperor Hadrian's glorious villa at Tivoli outside Rome.The Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome has been in use since the early 17th century. In Renaissance Florence, where the heat could be fierce in Summer, lots of important members of the elite sought Summer respite in the hills round the city in towns like Fiesole. Cosimo de Medici, the recognized godfather of the Medici dynasty, spent many a summer at his villa in the hills outside the city.

THE VILLA POGGIO A CAIANO OUTSIDE FLORENCE
Commisioned by Lorenzo de Medici in 1485

Cosimo's grandson Lorenzo Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) commissioned a holiday home outside Florence from the Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer - Giuiliano da Sangallo in 1485. Sangallo had worked for Lorenzo by building military fortifications and managing artillery in the town of Castellina to fend off attacks from the Duke of Calabria with a good degree of success. Despite having attempted to hold a competition for the villa project to find the best architect, Lorenzo went with the man he had come to know and respect. Sangallo used Alberti's design for a villa in Fiesole as a source of inspiration, but the one at Poggio would be more ambitious and involve a greater degree of creativity in its attempt to fuse Tuscan vernacular with principles of architecture derived from antiquity. Though the villa remained incomplete during Lorenzo's life and would be finished by his son Giovanni who became Pope Leo X - today its exterior remains largely as it was in the early 16th century. The only major change to have taken place is the removal of the original exterior staircase to the first floor and the installation of a curvaceous replacement one in the early 19th century by Pasquale Poccianti.

MODEL OF HOW THE VILLA LOOKED AFTER ITS COMPLETION
c1520 - the original staircase was replaced in 1807 with the one seen now

The main block is surrounded by a porticoed terrace with a tunnel vault beneath, finely decorated in relief. At first floor level the terrace frontage is dominated by the portico - the classical temple like structure complete with columns and pediment. Between the top of the columns and the pediment a frieze incorporates a wonderful blue and white glazed terra cotta series of relief panels attributed to Andrea Sansovino and with figurative scenes inspired by mythology and telling stories related to themes of "the Cycle of Time", "Eternity" and "the History of the Soul". Though the originals have been replaced with reproductions there is a room inside the villa where the original frieze can be viewed in detail at eye level.

PART OF THE ORIGINAL GLAZED TERRA COTTA FRIEZE
FROM THE TEMPLE PORTICO OF POGGIO A CAIANO

Inside the story is rather a different one for there have been significant changes to the interior decor and use of the various spaces. Many alterations were introduced when the villa became the summer residence of King Victor Emmanuel II. What I do want to focus on though is the survival of an interior space which does remain intact, both to the original architectural scheme by Sangallo and to the work done on the property by Pope Leo X, Lorenzo's son. The room is named after the man and lies at the heart of the villa on the first floor - the "Salone di Leo X". Oblong in shape and extending the full width of the villa with windows at both ends, it replaces what would have been a courtyard space in a traditional Tuscan villa of the 15th or 16th centuries.

THE BARREL VAULTED CEILING OF THE SALON OF LEO X
The Pope's heraldic device can be seen at the centre of the ceiling

A huge barrel vaulted ceiling makes the space incredibly impressive and grand and its an architectural form again derived from antiquity. Even in its construction, which made use of fitted together moulded elements in to which concrete was poured. is derived from Roman sources and made use of by Sangallo in 1485. The decoration of the room is later and related to the scheme commissioned by Lorenzo's son Giovanni, after he was elected Pope Leo X in 1513. The ceiling is decorated with moulded and sculpted stucco (plaster work) which incorporates many Medici emblems - at the centre of which is the device of Pope Leo himself.

FRESCO OF ONE OF THE "VIRTUES" ABOVE A
DOORWAY IN THE SALON OF LEO X

The wall decorations are in colourful fresco (painted plaster) and celebrate Cosimo the Elder de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent by allying them with figures and narratives from classical mythology. Over the doors and windows for example figures representing the "Virtues" take central stage. On the walls frescoes concerned with stories such as "The Return of Cicero from Exile" by Franciabigio.

On each end wall the half circle lunettes are decorated with two stories - "Vertumno and Pomona" by Pontormo and "Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides" by Allori. The latter (shown below) relates to Hercules's 11th labour where he was asked, against all odds, to retrieve the golden apples belonging to Zeus kept in a garden at the northern end of the world. It's probably an allegory for one of the Medici family "achieving the impossible" but its depiction here is a light-hearted representation of the story in a bucolic garden probably meant to suggest the one surrounding the villa.

LUNETTE DECORATION IN THE SALON OF LEO X
Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides

It's clear that this room had one purpose and one purpose only - the achievements and glorification of the Medici dynasty and though we see it today as being pompous in the extreme - its a rare, beautiful and major survival of an art installation that reflects not only the achievements of important Renaissance architects and artists, but as a fine example of the use of art to aggrandise and glorify this most important of families in the Italian High Renaissance.

I hope Donald Trump doesn't get similar ideas for the White House though!! I can't imagine what would appear on the ceilings there!!

Oh - and I forgot to mention - when you turn up to view this magnificent villa - there is no entrance charge. Check the internet for opening times as they are restricted.

Ciao and KBO
Ian