Pisa, Siena, and the Maremma: a neglected aspect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's paintings in the Sala dei...

Renaissance Studies Vol. 11 No. 4

Pisa, Siena, and the Maremma: a neglected aspect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti 3

paintings in the Sala dei Nove DIANA NORMAN

It is generally acknowledged that Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescos for the Sala dei Nove in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, represent one of the most significant painted schemes in early Renaissance art (fig. 1). Indeed, such is their artistic ingenuity that they have given rise to a formidable body of inter. pretative literature. It has been proposed, for example, that the scheme as a whole represents an illustration of late medieval ideas about the nature and aspirations of ‘good’ government as disseminated by authorities such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas; that it incorporates features of late medieval cosmology; and that, on the east wall, it presents a more or less realistic portrayal of the beneficent rule of the Nine during the first half of the fourteenth century.’

An important aspect of such scholarly debate has been whether or not the city depicted on the east wall represents Siena itself (fig. 2). Proponents of the view that it does have argued that - like Siena - the city portrayed in the fresco is built on a hill and that its walls, gateway, and some of its buildings display the characteristic colour of much of Siena’s urban fabric.

I should like to thank the staff of the Archivio di Stato and of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici per le Province di Siena e Grosseto, Siena, for their assistance in researching this article. I should also like to acknowledge the support of the Trustees of the Leverhulme Foundation and the Open University, whose awards provided the financial support for research undertaken in Italy.

’ The most important modern studies are: N. Rubinstein, ‘Political ideas in Sienese art: the frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Taddeo di Bartolo in the Palazzo Pubblico’,Jouml ofthe War. burg and Courtauld Institutes, 21 (1959), 179-207: U. FeldgesHenning, ‘The pictorial programme of the Sala della Pace: a new interpretation’,Journal o f f h e W a r k r g and Courtauld Institutes, 35 (1972), 145-62: E. Carter Southard, The Frescoes in Siefia’s Palarro Pubblico, 1289-1539: Studies in Imagery and Relations to Other Communul Palaces in Tmcany (New York and London, 1979). I, 271-96; Q. Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti: the artist as political philosopher’, Proceedings ofthe British Academy, 72 (1986). 1-56; R. Starn, ‘The republican regime of the “Room of Peace” in Siena, 1338-40’. Represenfations, 18 (1987). 1-31: J. M. Greenstein, ‘The vision of peace: meaning and representation in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Sala della Pace’s cityscapes’, Art History, 11 (1988), 492-510; C. Frugoni, A Disfanl City: Im. nges of Urbun &peritme in fhe Medieval Wurld, trans. W . McCuaig (Princeton, NJ, 1991), 118-88 B. Kempers, Painling, Power and PatrvMge: The Rise ofthe ProfeesSioMl Artist in Renaissance Italy, trans. B. Jackson (London. 1992). 133-41: R. Starn and L. Partridge, Arts of Power: Three Halls ofState in Italy, 1300-1600 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1992), 11-59; R. Starn, Ambrogio Lmenrefti: The Palazro Pubblico, Siena (New York, 1994): D. Norman, ‘ “Love justice, you who judge the earth”: the paintings of the Sala dei Nove in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena’, in Sienq Florence and P u d w Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400 (New Haven and London, 1995), 11, 145-67. For an extensive photographic survey of the painted scheme, see E. Castelnuovo (ed.), Ambrogio Lorenzetfi: I1 buon governo (Milan, 1995).

0 1997 The Society for Renaissance Sfudies, Oxford University Press

Ambrogao Lorenzetti 31 1

Fig. 1 Lensini, Siena

General view of the north and east walls o f the Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo:

Fig. 2 Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Well~Govened, PeacCjirl City (1338-9); detail of east wall fresco, the

312 Diana Norman

Similarly, it has been noted that the gateway is embellished with Siena’s civic emblem of the she-wolf suckling two children and that - like the Porta Romana? Siena’s principal gateway - it has an imposing structure and fortified appearance (fig. 3). It has also been observed that the church and bell- tower seen over the rooftops on the extreme left-hand side of the painting exhibit similar features to Siena’s cathedral and its ~ampani le .~ Indeed, it has even been suggested that, with due allowance for artistic licence, the view of the city given in the painting is that of Siena itself as seen from the newly completed Torre del Mangia of the Palazzo P ~ b b l i c o . ~

Other scholars, by contrast, have drawn attention to a number of discrepan- cies between the painting and its supposed model.5 In particular, it has been noted that the church and city gateway differ from their so-called proto- types in a number of ways. Thus the ‘cathedral’ not only belongs to the part of the fresco that was repainted roughly fifteen or twenty years after its original execution? but, in addition, the bell-tower does not accurately render the disposition of the openings of the actual campanile of Siena cathedral. In the case of the gateway, meanwhile, its decorative embellishment - and especially the carved she-wolf above the arch on the outer face of its tower and the tower’s architectural mouldings - is different from that of the actual Porta Romana. It is worth recalling, however, that such disagreements do not compel the viewer to choose between a simple eitherlor in respect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s aims and intention. One is not obliged

’ According to the ‘Cronaca senese’ attributed to Agnolo di Tura del Grasso (in Cronache senesi, ed. A. Lisini and F. Iacometti, in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (henceforth RIS), new edn (Bologna, 1931-9), xv. vi, 458), the construction of the Porta Romana was begun on 13 August 1327. The anonymous author of the ‘Cronaca senese dei fatti riguardanti la citth ed i l suo territorio’ (ibid. 134). also records this important civic project but gives the date of its initiation as 26 January 1327 (1328, modern reckoning). Since this article will make frequent reference to these two sources, a word should be said with regard to their contemporaneity. It is generally agreed that the ‘Cronaca senese dei fatti riguardanti la citth ed i l suo territorio’ - although covering a timespan of 1202-1362 and with later entries to 1391 by other writers - was written by an unknown fourteenth.century author. See the editorial introduction by Lisini ibid., p. xiii.There is more debate on the authorship and dating of chronicle attributed to Agnolo di Tura, which only survives as a fifteenth-century manuscript copy. Lisini prefers to view the chronicle as a fifteenth.century compilation of earlier sources extracted from family diaries and public documents (idem.. pp. xiii-xx, xxxv). W. Bowsky, ‘The impact of the Black Death upon Sienese government and society’, Speculum, 39 (1964), 3-5, identifies Agnolo di Tura as a member of one of Siena’s most important magistracies for the years 1348 and 1355 and argues very cogently for his authorship of the entries dating between 1.300 and 1355. On the whole, I am persuaded that this chronicle was written in the mid.fourteenth century by Agnolo di Tura and that the odd error of fact that appears within it can be attributed to errors introduced by the fifteenth- century copyist.

’ See. for example, Feldges.Henning, ‘Pictorial programme of the Sala della Pace’, 147; Southard, Frescoes in Sina’s Palauo Pubblico, 284; Frugoni, A Distant City, 119.

U. Feldges, Land.schajl als topographisches Pmtrat: Der Wiederbep’nn der europaischen Landrchaftmalerei in S i m (Bern, 1980), 64-5.

’ See Greenstein, ‘Vision of peace’, 499; see also G. A. Rowley, Ambrogio Lmenzetti (Princeton, NJ, 1958). 112; Starn and Partridge, Arts of Power, 48-50.

For the repainting of the walls on either side of the north.east corner of the room which took place c.1350-60, see C. Brandi, ‘Chiaramenti sul “Buon Governo” di Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, Bolleltino d’Arte, ser. 4, 40 (1955), 119-23. See also the useful diagrams in Castelnuovo (ed.), Ambogio Lorenzetli. 393-4.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti 313

Fig. 3 Palazzo Pubblico. Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Gulavuy to t h ~ City (1338-9); detail of east wall fresco, the Sala dei Nove,

to opt exclusively either for the view that Ambrogio Lorenzetti simply intended to portray Siena itself, or for the alternative that the city in the painting is not Siena but, rather, an idealized expression of a particular civic ideology. On the contrary, as Hans Belting has persuasively argued, it is much more plausible that Lorenzetti ‘intended first to describe an ideal city and then make sure that this ideal city was Siena’. The viewer should, therefore, ‘distinguish between the structure of the whole, which is constructed to build

314 Diana Norman

up an argument for the ideal city, and the narrative detail, which can be taken literally and invites empirical verification as the city of Siena’.7 The great virtue of Belting’s position is that it at once acknowledges the clearly allegorical and ideological dimension of the painting’s imagery, while also according due weight to the descriptive detail which relates so specifically and concretely to Siena itself.

In contrast to the ‘ideal’ city depicted on the east wall, there is much less scholarly speculation concerning its counterpart on the west wall. One reason for this is that the painting has suffered extensive damage - much of it due to water seeping into the wall, thereby causing areas of the painted surface to be either lost entirely or badly obscured (figs 4 and 5).’ The painting remains, however, an important and integral part of the overall scheme for the room and is, indeed, the first painting to be seen by the modern visitor to the Sala dei Nove. Originally, moreover, the initial impact of this painting would have been even greater than it is today. The room is now entered by a doorway approximately half-way down the east wall; in the fourteenth century, however, visitors would have entered the room from the adjacent Sala del Consiglio by a door set at the south end of the east wall.9 By so doing, their first impression of the Sala dei Nove’s elaborate decoration would have been of dramatic portrayals of arson, devastation, and violence taking place in the countryside surrounding another city (fig. 4). In the city itself, meanwhile, scenes of murder, physical assault, and destruction of property are shown (figs 5 and 6). The only productive activity taking place is a blacksmith making armour and weapons with which to equip the armed bands of figures roaming the devastated landscape (fig. 7).

The overall message of this part of the painting is further reinforced by the grim allegorical figure of Fear, represented as a haggard woman in ragged clothes and armed with a menacing black sword (fig. 8). Her position - in flight over the city walls, in the general direction of the countryside - sug gests that she is a malign influence emanating from the city itself. The message on her painted scroll reinforces this impression: ‘Because each seeks only his own good, in this land Justice is subjected to Tyranny: wherefore, along this road nobody passes without fearing for his life, since there are robberies

’ H. Belting, ‘The new role of narrative in public painting of the trecento: historia and allegory’, Studies in the History ofArt, 16 (1985). 159-60.

” In a five.page restoration report on the west wall fresco (dated 5 September 1985, and cur. rently kept in the archive of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici per le Province di Siena e Grosseto, Siena) its author Dr Giaconiazzi states that it is ‘difficile risalire alla storia dei gravi traumi dei danneggiamenti e dei mali che hanno afflitto nel tempo questa importante pittura murale’. See also the useful diagram in Castelnuovo (ed.), Ambrogro Lmenzetfi. 396-7, which illustrates very graphically both the areas of loss on the painting and the areas of repainting in later centuries. Southard. Frescoes in Siena’s Palarro Pubblico, 273. 297, points out that one of the reasons why this fresco is in such a bad condition is that the west wall was originally contiguous to an outside loggia. This was later closed to form the present Sala dei Pilastri.

“ Starn and Partridge, Arts of Power, 1 8 Starn, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 26.


Fig. 4 the Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The War-Tom Countryside and City (1338-9); detail of west wall fresco,

Fig. 5 Nove. Palazzo Pubblico. Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Tyranny and the Vices (1338-9); detail o f west wall fresco, the Sala dei

316 Diana Norman

Fig. 6 Arnbrogio Lorenzetti, Assault on CI Woman (1338-9); detail of west wall fresco, the Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Fig. 7 dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico. Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 7he War.7'ot-n Countryside (1338-9); detail of west wall fresco. the Sala

Ambrogzo Lorenzetti 317

Fig. 8 Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Fear (1338-9); detail of west wall fresco, the Sala dei Nove, Palazzo

outside and inside the city gates.”” The texts painted on the fictive tablet set within the right-hand side of the lower border and along the lower edge of the painting itself offer further weight to the meaning of these details. Thus we are told again that where ‘Tyranny prevails.. . she always protects the assailant, the robber, and those who hate peace, so that her places lies waste’; and that ‘where there is Tyranny, there is great fear, wars, robberies, treacheries, and frauds take authority over the city’.”

Such interpretation as exists of this painting’s subject and its significance for the painted scheme as a whole focuses upon two principal concerns. It is generally recognized that the meaning and significance of the descriptive detail of the war-torn city and countryside is dependent upon its being seen in conjunction with the personifications depicted on the right-hand side of the painting (fig. 5). These, according to their painted titles, represent Tyranny in the company of Cruelty, Treason, Fraud, Fury, Division, and War

‘I’ PIER] VOIBKE ELBENPROPIO I”] QUESIA IERRA I SOM[W]ESSI’. 1.A CIUBIITIA ATYRANNIA I CNDE PIER] QUESIA VIA I NON PASSA ALCUN SE[N]CA DUBBIO DlMO[R]TE I CHE FUOR SIROBBA E DENTRO DALEPORTE. Transcription and translation (with one emendment) from R. Stefanini, appendix 1 of Starn and Patridge,Arts of Power, 264. I prefer the translation of t m a as ‘land’, not ‘city’.

” For a full transcription and translation of both texts, see ibid 262-4. In the case of the partially lost text along the lower edge of the painting, I favour the alternative reading and translation of lines 2-5 given by Starn in a footnote.

318 Diana Norman

Fig. 9 Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Virtues oJCwd Government (1338-9); fresco, north wall, the Sala dei

and, above these seven, Avarice, Pride, and Vainglory.’* In terms of their hierarchical arrangement, which affords the greatest prominence to Tyranny, these figures clearly provide a negative counter-image to Ben Comune and his virtuous companions Peace, Fortitude, Prudence, Magnanimity, Temperance, Justice, Faith, Charity, and Hope on the right-hand side of the fresco on the north wall (fig. 9). It has also been noted, moreover, that the vices portrayed on the west wall do not represent the conventional reper. toire of vices according to the Christian tradition. Rather, their titles, distinctive costumes, and attributes indicate that they stand, instead, for those evils which medieval political commentators identified as particularly destructive to the political and social order.’3 Taken in conjunction with the content of the painted texts which embellish this painting, it is clearly legitimate to interpret the war-torn city and countryside as an illustration of the consequences for a city and its inhabitants if such political and social evils are allowed to flourish unchecked.

It has also been noted that the city and the countryside depicted on the west wall present a striking contrast to the hill town and its countryside portrayed on the wall opposite. On the east wall, scenes of industrious and har- monious human activity take place - builders construct a building, a teacher

I’ CRUDELITAS. PRODITIO. FRAUS. FUROR. [D]lVlSlO. GUERRA. AVARITIA. SUP[ER]BIA. VANAGLORIA. The Central figure is framed by the title TYAMMIDFS, which might be a corrupt spelling of ‘tyrannides’, the plural of ‘tyrannis’ (tyranny, in Latin). See Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 33 n. 2. At all events it undoubtedly stands as a direct allusion to the personification of Tyranny, who features prominently in the painted texts on and around the painting.

I’ Rubinstein, ‘Political ideas in Sienese art’, 188-9; Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 33; Frugoni, A Distant City. 154-7; Starn and Partridge, Arts of Power, 19-38.


Fig. 10 dei Nove, Palazzu Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Peaceful Countryside (1338-9); detail of east wall fresco. the Sala

lectures an audience of attentive listeners, weavers work at their looms, and dancers perform an intricate and co-operative round dance (fig. 2). In the countryside, meanwhile, travellers make their journeys apparently secure that they will not be attacked or robbed, hunting takes place in the fields, and labourers work in the sunlit and fruitful land (fig. 10). Thus, as with the allegorical figures on the north and west walls, the distinctive message and impact of the two cities and their respective countryside are emphasized and enhanced by the marked contrast between the two paintings. Indeed, it has been argued that the contrast between the two paintings was so central to Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s concerns in the Sala dei Nove frescos that he deliberately painted the two cities as if from different viewpoints and as if under different lighting conditions.”

A further antithesis has been noted between the respective urban typologies of the two cities. Thus, the city on the west wall portrays a valley town with only an undistinguished church as its principal ecclesiastical building (figs 4 and 5). The city on the east wall, meanwhile, portrays a hill town with a distinctive domed church as its principal ecclesiastical building (fig. 2). Similarly, it has been argued that, in terms of their style and embellishments, the gateways of the two cities might stand as symbols of the particular circumstances of their respective foundations and consequently

“ See the perceptive analysis given in J. White, Birth and Rebirth OjPickwiol Spuce (London, 1957). 93-9.

320 Diana Norman

differing senses of communal identity. Thus, the barbican gate of the well- governed city may be seen as typical of an independent Italian city commune, while the detail of the she-wolf suckling twins (fig. 3) may be a reference to the Sienese tradition that the mythical foundation of the city by the sons of Remus served to increase its identity as a free and independent city state. By contrast, the twin-towered gateway of the unjust city, devoid of any civic emblem (fig. 4), may be regarded as typical of a city which was imperially founded and which thus owed its political allegiance to an external political power - an argument supported by studies of the architectural symbolism of imperial Rome and the Middle Ages, which have established that twin- towered gates were widely recognized in the medieval period as symbols of imperial ~0vereignty.l~ It is also significant to note in this context that the frieze below the painting on the west wall originally also included representations, within medallions, of five of the imperial tyrants of antiquity. Now only Nero, in the act of falling on his sword, and a figure, shown stabbing another, remain visible (fig. 5). Earlier sources, however, make brief reference to images of the emperors Caracalla, Antiochus, and Geta.''

If, as argued above, the city depicted on the east wall represents both an ideal of what life within a late medieval city might be and also an overt associa tion of Siena with such an ideal, and if this message is reinforced by the visual contrast between the 'ideal' city and the desolate, ravaged, war-torn city portrayed on the opposite wall, is it also the case that the desolate, war. torn city is at once both a symbol of civic life under tyrannical rule and an allusion to a specific example of such tyranny in a contemporary Italian city? Developing further the suggestion that the images of tyranny and desola- tion on the west wall may have been intended to signify an imperially founded city, located in a valley, I shall argue in the remainder of this article that the war-torn city in the Sala dei Nove paintings was indeed intended to be associated in the contemporary spectator's mind with another major Tuscan city, namely Pisa. More specifically, it will be argued, the painting sought to represent the kinds of disaster that would befall a civic community if Pisan traditions of government - as these were perceived by the Sienese - were allowed to prevail. Moreover, such a proposal, I suggest, accords not only with the iconography of the painting on the west wall itself but also with the historical and political context of the painting's execution.

PISA: URBAN TOPOGRAPHY AND IMPERIAL ASSOCIATIONS

Allowing for the clearly generic nature of much of the portrayal of the city represented in the painting on the west wall of the Sala dei Nove, Pisa

" Greenstein, 'Vision of peace', 494-6. For detailed discussion of the complex history of the association between towered gateways and imperial sovereignity, see E. Baldwin-Smith, Architectural Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages (Princeton, NJ, 1956), passim, esp. 96-106.

Ih Rowley, Ambrogio L w m t t i , 103; Southard, Frescoes in Siena's Palazw Pubblico, 291. For an illustra tion of what survives of these painted medallions, see Starn, Ambrogio Lorenretti, 92.


nevertheless constitutes a plausible model for its basic topography. Situated on the Arno, barely 12 % kilometres from the river’s estuary into the Ligurian Sea, Pisa provides a notable example of a Tuscan city built beside a river. North of the alluvial rivereplain on which the city is located lie the mountains of the Ligurian Apennines - the slopes of which were thickly forested during the Middle Ages.” Much of the detail in the painting of the country side beyond the war-torn city is now obscured by extensive areas of paint loss. However, it is still possible to discern a range of steeply inclined hills, some of which are crowned by fortified castles (figs 4 and 7). There is also evidence of trees on these hillsides, many of which have been destroyed by fire. A river can also be discerned winding a course from the top left-hand corner of the painting towards the direction of the war-torn city itself. The precise relationship of the river to the city is now obscured by damage to the wall’s surface. However, in a copy of the painting executed between 1832 and 1842 by the Cologne painter and collector Johann Anton Ramboux - and thus dating from a time when the painting was less damaged than it is today - it is possible to see that the river originally flowed up to the city walls and that the two armed men shown leaving the city were originally depicted as standing upon its bank (fig. 11; see also fig. 12).

Turning to the city itself, unlike the ‘ideal’ city, none of its buildings apparently bear an obvious resemblance to any of Pisa’s major civic monuments (figs 4 and 5). There is certainly no reference made to the city’s impressive cathedral and baptistery, nor to its famous campanile. However, the earliest surviving pictorial records of Pisa show the city rendered in a similarly generic form - namely as a walled city with no particularly distinctive city buildings which readily identify it. It is striking, however, that such early representations almost invariably portray the city beside a river.” Thus, for example, in the 1490 Venetian edition of Jacopo Foresti’s Supple- mentum chronicarum, the wood engraving of Pisa shows a walled city beside a river which, as in the Sala dei Nove painting, is located in the foreground of the image (fig. 13; cf. figs 4 and ll).’!’ As in the painting, moreover, the principal gateway appears to be located on the left of the city walls and has a distinctive twin-towered aspect. Given the emphatic presence of a river in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s painting, its close proximity to the city walls, the twin-towered gateway to the city, and the general contours of the countryside, which broadly corresponds to the Pisan contado north of the city, the suggestion that Lorenzetti intended an analogy between the war-torn city of the Sala dei Nove painting and Pisa is at least plausible.

I’ For a description o f Pisa’s geographical situation and its effect on the city’s economy, see D. Herlithy, Pka in &Early Renaissance:A Study of Urban Growth (New York and London. 1958), 21-84.45.

I” Representative examples of these are conveniently gathered together in 0. Banti el al., Pisa: Iconograjia a stampa dal X V a1 XVIll secolo (Pisa, 1991). cat. nos 1-9.

lo Jacopo Filippo Foresti, Supplemenfum chronicarum (Venice, 1490), fol. 39’. This image of a wall. ed city is accompanied by the title ‘Pisarum ciuitatis Ethrurie’. An identical image o n fol. 230‘ carries the title ‘Pisa ethrurie ciuitas’. A copy of this early incunable, printed o n the press of Bernar- dino Rizzo da Novara, can be found in the British Library. cat. no. 1B 22640.

322 Diana Norman

Fig. 1 1 Johann Anton Ramboux after Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The War-Torn Countryside, Kunstmuseum Diisseldorf im Ehrenhof, Graphische Sammlung, inv. no. 239A. Photo: Landesbildstelle, Rheinland, Diisseldorf

Fig. 12 Johann Anton Ramboux after Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Tyranny and the Vices Amidst the War-Ton City, Kunstmuseum Diisseldorf im Ehrenhof, Graphische Sammlung, inv. no. 239. Photo: Landesbildstelle, Rheinland, Diisseldorf

As suggested above, moreover, the architecture and embellishment of the gateway of the war-torn city also suggest a city of imperial and Roman foundation and with a continuing political allegiance to the ‘imperial’ cause of the Holy Roman Emperors. Pisa had indeed been the site of a Roman settlement, and during the medieval period the city and its political fortunes continued to remain closely associated with those of the medieval emperors. Thus in 1081 the emperor Henry IV renounced imperial jurisdiction within the city and promised to name no new marquis in Tuscany without the con- sent of the Pisans. Similarly, in 1162, the city was exempted from imperial taxation by Frederick Barbarossa and given confirmation of its right to


Fig. 13 Jacopo Filippo Foresti, Pisa, wood engraving from Supplementurn chronicarum (Venice, 1490), fol. 39'. British Museum, shelfmark no. IB 226540. Photo: British Library, London

self-government.'" In return, the city was expected to be a political and military ally to those north European princes who periodically made forays into Italy to assert their claims to the imperial title. Thus in 1310, when Henry of Luxembourg made his expedition into Italy to be crowned Henry VII, Pisa naturally became the focus of his military operations to achieve this political ambition.'' Of all the Tuscan city communes, therefore, Pisa arguably had the greatest claim to be associated with both historical and con. temporary allegiance to the imperial tradition. In the early fourteenth century, moreover, political and economic circumstances conspired to draw Pisa into increasingly close involvement with local Tuscan political and historical rivalries - a process in which Pisan loyalty to the imperial cause was again a political factor.

During the early medieval period, Pisa had been a flourishing commer- cial and maritime power, rivalling both Venice and Genoa, and owning extensive overseas territories including the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. By the early fourteenth century, however, the city state had lost much of its

"' D. Waley, The Italian City-Republics, 3rd edn (London and New York, 1988). 91. 205. 'I W. M. Bowsky, Henry W in Italy (Lincoln, Nebr., 1960), passim, esp. 36, 78-131, 153-4, 17R,

192-205. See also the older, but reliable, account given in R. Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze, Italian trans. (Florence. 1956-68), IV, 640-4, 719-39.

324 Diana Norman

maritime empire.** As a consequence, Pisa’s rulers focused their attention upon the defence and expansion of the city’s terrafirma holdings within Tuscany. In so doing, however, they had quickly been drawn into opposition to the territorial expansion of Pisa’s powerful eastern neighbour Florence, itself a city state seeking to extend its boundaries towards Lucca and Pisa. Such local territorial rivalry was then further fuelled by Pisa’s traditional association with the imperial cause. Thus, Florence, using the nominal Guelphism of its political allies, consistently sought to mobilize support from those other Tuscan communities in order to oppose or defeat rivals such as Arezzo to the southeast or Pisa to the west - both of which were, significantly, imperial and ‘Ghibelline’ in their own allegiance.‘’

In the early fourteenth century, Siena itself was one of the Tuscan communities which thus joined with Florence in opposing Pisa. Ironically, in the thirteenth century Siena and Pisa had shared Ghibelline sympathies, and the two city communes had fought alongside one another and against Florence in 1260 at the great Ghibelline victory of Montaperti. In 1269, however, after the Sienese defeat by the Florentines at the battle of Colle Val d’Elsa, Guelph merchants, aided by the popes, gradually assumed control in Siena, turning the city into a firmly, if pragmatically, Guelph commune. Pisa, meanwhile, remained loyal to the Ghibelline cause.24 Significantly, Siena’s Guelph allegiance is also prominently advertised within the painted programme of the Sala dei Nove. In the upper borders of the east and west walls, the decorative framework includes depiction of Siena’s principal civic emblems of the balzana - the black and white shield of the Sienese commune - and the lion of the Popolo. In addition, however, there are other heraldic devices indicative of the association of Siena with Guelph allies and interests.

On the east wall, the third medallion from the left on the upper border contains the papal insignia of the crossed keys, framed by two lions of the Popolo (fig. 2). Directly opposite on the west wall is a medallion with a badly abraded coat of arms set within it (fig. 5). Prior to the restoration of the Sala dei Nove frescos undertaken between 1983 and 1987, this painted detail appeared to be a crude representation of the coat of arms of the Angevin monarchs of France. During the restoration of the west wall in 1985, however, much of this detail of the painted medallion was found to be later repaint. Nevertheless, it appears from the fragmentary remains of the original

’’ For an assessment of the impact on Pisa of the decisive naval defeat by the Genoese at Meloria in 1285, see E. Cristiani, Nobilitb epopolo nel comune di Pisa (Naples, 1962). 19-22; see also the classic account given in R. Roncioni. Istoriepisane in Archivio Storico Italiano, V1, ii (Florence, 1844), 615-24. ’’ For an examination of this theme, and for an emphasis upon the particular Florentine concern

with Pisa, see W. M. Bowsky, A Medieual Italian Cummune: Siena under the Nine, 1287-1355 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1981), 162-3. ’‘ As noted by G. Rossi4abatini in Pisa al tempo dei Donoratico (1316-47) (Florence, 1938). 4 Pisa

had ‘una costante devozione alla causa ghibellina’. For a useful summary of the Sienese government’s essentially pragmatic attitude and policies in respect of its allegiance to the Guelph party, see Bowsky, A Medieval Italian Commune, 159-74.

Ambrogio Lorenzet t i 325

painting that the medallion did once represent an escutcheon comprising a sequence of fleurs-de-lis on a blue background and thus corresponding to the heraldry of the royal house of France." Although some scholars have interpreted the inclusion of the French royal coat of arms as part of the sequence of negative imagery on the west wall, and therefore possibly a reference to the threat that the French monarchy presented to the political autonomy of Siena,26 it is more likely that the inclusion of this heraldic device was intended to signal Siena's Guelph loyalties. It is significant, for example, that, despite the portrayal of the harsh months of autumn and winter and the malign planets of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, Siena's own civic emblems of the balzana and the lion of the Popolo feature as part of the decoration of the west wall frieze. Taken collectively, therefore, the emblems in the central medallions of the east and west wall friezes - papal keys, fleurs- de-lis, balzana, and lion of the Popolo - are suggestive of a desire to adver- tise and affirm Siena's allegiance to the Guelph cause. Moreover, such an intention would place the Sala dei Nove scheme in direct continuity with the political allegiances clearly signalled in Simone Martini's Maestu on the east wall of the adjacent Sala del Consiglio. Here too the canopy over the enthroned Virgin and Christ Child is embellished with the balzana, the lion of the Popolo, and the coats of arms of the Angevin monarchs of France and Naples."

PISA: IMPERIAL ALLEGIANCE AND TYRANNICAL RULE

Turning again to Pisa and its history, it is significant that, quite apart from Pisa's close and enduring association with the Holy Roman Emperors and with Ghibelline politics, the city also provided a local Tuscan example of a city commune under tyrannical rule. Indeed, from the death of Henry VII in 1313 until 1338-9 when the Sala dei Nove was being painted,'" Pisa was subject to one form of autocratic government after another. The history of this political development is a complex one, involving not only politics within Pisa itself but also Pisa's relations with other Tuscan city states, and with the king of Naples, the king of Sicily, the pope in Avignon, and a new claimant to the imperial title, Ludwig of Bavaria. " In the formal language of heraldry, this coat of arms is described as: 'azure, semt? de fleur.de.

lys, or'. For evidence of the appearance of the medallion before, during, and after its restoration. see the photographs in the Archivio Fotografico of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici per le Province di Siena e Grosseto, Siena: neg. no. 32688 (inv. no. 72967); neg. no. 32686 (inv. no. 72963); neg. no. 32770 (inv. no. 73131). '' Greenstein, 'Vision of peace', 496; Starn, Ambrogro Lorenzetti, 90; Rowley, Ambrogio Loremetti,

" The coats of arms of the Angevin house of Naples are distinguished from those of France by being embellished by the heraldic device of 'a lable of four points, gules in chief. The presence of the two types of Angevin coat of arms has been confirmed by the last restoration campaign conducted between 1989 and 1994. '" For the documented payments for the frescos, which begin in February 1338 and end in May

1399, see H. B. J. Maginnis, 'Chiarimenti documentari: Simone Martini, i Memmi e Ambrogio Lorenzetti', Riuisla d'Arte, 41 (1989), 3-23, esp. 10-1 1, 'appendice', nos. 4-17.

109.

326 Diana Norman

The death of the emperor Henry VII left his principal ally, Pisa, exposed to attack from a powerful Guelph coalition comprised of other Tuscan city states - Florence, Siena, Lucca, and Pistoia - and also from the papacy and the Angevin king of Naples. Pisa was able to defend itself only by securing the services of the dead emperor’s German cavalry and placing it under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola, Henry VII’s Vicar General in Genoa. Uguccione was a typical medieval soldier of fortune - wily and ruthless and an expert in war. Appointed initially merely to lead the city’s armed forces, he was soon able to establish himself as a tyrant by his use of ten companies of professional, heavily armed soldiers. Having secured his position within Pisa, he subsequently expanded the city’s territories to the north and west. Thus in 1314, with the help of another soldier and future signore, Castruccio Castracani, he captured Lucca and subjected it to a particularly brutal sack. A year later in 1315, he secured a decisive victory at the battle of Montecatini against a formidable Guelph army which included amongst its ranks over 3,000 Sienese troops.29

On 10 April 1316, however, two prominent members of an aristocratic Pisan family - the counts of Donoratico - namely, Gherardo (known commonly as Gaddo) and Ranieri della Gherardesca, led a rising against the absent tyrant’s officials and troops. Having succeeded in ousting Uguccione from the ~ i t y , ~ ” they in turn were proclaimed Capitano del Popolo and Podestii respectively, thus replacing one form of nascent signorial rule with another. From 1316 until his death in 1320, Gaddo della Gherardesca, as head of his family and party, pursued a pragmatic and moderate line in respect of the city’s foreign policies, concluding a peace with Robert of Anjou in 1316 and with Florence in 1317. In the years after Gaddo’s death, however, Ranieri della Gherardesca was able to increase his political and military powers within the city. As one modern historian of Pisa comments: ‘the signorial character of the Pisan government under Ranieri also became ~learer’.~’

For an illuminating account of Uguccione della Faggiuola’s signoria in Pisa and his impact upon local Tuscan politics in general, albeit from the perspective of the rising fortunes of Castruc. cio Castracani in Lucca, see L. Green, Cartmcio Cartracani: A Study on the Origim and Character of a Fourteenth-CentuTy Despotism (Oxford, 1986), 30-9, 52-75. See also the older, but essentially reliable, accounts given in Davidsohn, Stmia di Firenze, IV, 762, 780, 786-8, 792-811,816 Rossi-Sabatini, Pisa al tempo dei Donoratico, 77-80. See also the wellinformed, if partisan, chronicle accounts given by the Florentine, Giovanni Villani, Cronica, ed. F. G. Dragomanni and I. Moutier (Florence, 1844-5), 11, 182 (bk ix. ch. 58). 183-4 (bk ix, ch. 60), 188 (bk ix, ch. 68), 189-92 (bk ix, chs 70-2), 193 (bk ix, ch. 75): and, from the Pisan perspective, the anonymous ‘Cronica di Pisa’ (RIS, xv, Milan, 1729), cols 986-92, 994-6, and Ranieri Sardo. Crunuca di Pisa, ed. 0. Banti (Rome, 1963), 58-73.

’’ For chronicle accounts of the expulsion of Uguccione from Pisa, see ‘Cronica di Pisa’, cols 996-7; Villani, Cronica, 11, 195-6 (bk ix, ch. 78).

’I RossCSabatini, Pisa a1 tempo dei Donmafico, 1 1 2 ‘I1 carattere signorile del governo pisano sotto Ranieri si fece anche piu chiaro’. See also ibid. 81-108; M. L. Ceccarelli Lemut, ‘Della Gherardesca, Gherardo’ and ‘Della Gherardesca, Ranieri’, in DizMnario bwgrafuo degli italiani (Rome, 1960), 37,24-5, 33-7. For Gaddo’s death, see ‘Cronica di Pisa’, col. 997; Villani, Cronica, 11,226 (bk ix, ch. 122); Sardo, Cronaca, 76. The sculpted remnants of an early fourteenthcentury Gherardesca tomb monument survive today and are located over the north door of the cathedral and in the Camposanto. This monument (originally set up in the church of San Francesco in Pisa) once housed the remains of Gaddo, his


One of the reasons why Ranieri was able to extend his powers was that Pisa was increasingly threatened by the presence of a new ‘tyrant’ on its borders, namely Castruccio Castracani who had by now established himself as signore of neighbouring Lucca. The Castracani were a Ghibelline family and Castruccio himself therefore saw the current claimant to the imperial title of Holy Roman Emperor, Ludwig of Bavaria, as a natural ally in his campaign to establish a regional state within Tuscany and to make that regional state hereditary. Naturally, therefore, Castruccio was perceived by Florence and its Guelph allies as a serious political and military threat. On 23 September 1325, Castruccio effected a crushing defeat on the Guelph league at Altopascio, south-east of Lucca. The Florentines, alarmed at this turn of events, appealed in late 1325 to Robert of Anjou to come to their aid, and more specifically, invited Robert’s son, Charles of Calabria, to become lord of both Florence and Florence’s ally Siena, an offer which he accepted, arriving in Florence in July 1326. During the autumn of this year, the French prince fought an unsuccessful and largely ignominious campaign against Castruccio, thereby losing the advantage he and his Guelph allies had, while Ludwig of Bavaria had still not arrived in Italy.‘*

In September 1327 Ludwig of Bavaria entered Tuscany and met Castruccio Castracani at Pontremoli. Their combined forces then moved, not, as one would imagine, to Florence, but rather to Pisa, the traditional bastion of Ghibellinism. After gaining power, Ranieri della Gherardesca had maintained a policy of friendly neutrality with Florence, Naples, and the Guelphs in general. This was because he distrusted Castruccio, and with good cause, since in 1323, and again in 1325, Castruccio had been involved in unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Ranieri.” In addition, the Pisans hoped that the king of Naples might support them in quashing the Sardinian rebellion of 1323 against Pisan rule.“4 Ranieri, however, had died in December 1325, and Gaddo della Gherardesca’s son Bonifazio, known commonly as Fazio, had become the head of the family.’5 He had also become the focus of a party within Pisa that favoured an accommodation with Ludwig of Bavaria. Therefore, although the Pisan authorities were initially reluctant to allow Ludwig of Bavaria entry to the city, the combined pressure of internal

son, Bonifazio. and Gaddo’s father. For illustration of the surviving sculptures and discussion of the original design of the tomb, see E. Carli, ‘11 monument0 Gherardesca nel Camposanto di Pisa’, Bollet- tino d’Arte, 26 (1992), 408-17: 409, fig. 1.

’’ For a detailed accoiint of the consolidation of Castruccio Castracani’s power in Lucca and his military and foreign policies until the battle o f Altopascio. see Green, Cmlmccio Cmtrucani. 123-82. For events after Altopascio until Ludwig o f Bavaria’s arrival in Tuscany in 1327, see ibid. 201-15. For the Sienese government’s limitation o f the extent o f Charles of Calabria’s powers within Siena, see Bowsky, A Medievul Italian Commune, 177. ’* Villani, Cronicu, 11. 288 (bk ix, ch. 230), 320 (bk ix, ch. 289). See also Green, Gzstruccio Cmtrucani,

*’ For a detailed account of the Sardinian rebellion, see Rossi-Sabatini, Pisa a1 tempo dei Donoratico,

” For the last phase of Ranieri della Gherardesca’s signoria in Pisa, see ibid. 143-55. For a local

104-5, 152-3, 160.

127-42.

report of his death, see Sardo, Cronuca, 79.

328 Diana Norman

dissension and the presence of a force of Lucchese and imperial troops outside, resulted in an invitation to Ludwig to enter the city in triumph in October 1327. Thereafter he was proclaimed lord of Pisa and secured from the Pisans the enormous sum of 160,000 florins to finance his planned expedition to Rome. As in the case of Henry VII, Pisa had yet again become the principal focus of an imperial enterpri~e. '~

In January 1328 Ludwig of Bavaria - together with his ally Castruccio Castracani - entered Rome and was duly crowned Holy Roman Emperor on 17 January. In February, however, Castruccio took leave of the emperor in order to return to Tuscany to recover Pistoia, which had been taken by the Florentines during his absence in Rome. On 13 May the Lucchesi began their siege, which ended with Pistoia being recaptured in August 1328. On 29 May, meanwhile, Pisa was placed under Castruccio Castracani's authority when Ludwig's ambassadors granted him the imperial vicariate of the city. It is likely that Castruccio would have further consolidated his power in the city, had he not died on 3 September, probably as a result of the rigours of the hard-fought Pistoian campaign." Ludwig of Bavaria, arriving back in Pisa on 21 September, installed a member of the prominent Ghibelline family of Arezzo - Tarlato dei Tarlati - as the new imperial vicar. The emperor, however, on his departure from Pisa left a legacy of resentment which erupted in June 1329, causing the expulsion of Tarlato and the appointment of Fazio della Gherardesca as Capitano Generale and Capitano della Guerra. Thereafter Fazio ruled as effective s i p r e of Pisa until his death in 1340.'"

The history of Pisa between the death of Henry VII and the death of Fazio della Gherardesca reveals a number of factors about Pisa, its style of government, and its association with the imperial cause which arguably have a bearing upon the subject-matter of the painting upon the west wall of the Sala dei Nove. Firstly, Pisa's rulers - be they Uguccione della Faggiuola, Castruccio Castracani, or various members of the Gherardesca family - furnish striking

As summarized by RossLSabatini, Pisa af tempo dei Donorutico, 182: 'Se Roma era la capitale morale dell'impero, Pisa - ricordiamo I'opera di Enrico VII - per la sua posizione e per la sua im. portanza era la citti piu adatta a divenir centro d'azione della politica imperiale.' For a well4nformed account of Castruccio Castracani's part in these events, see Green, Castwcio Castracani, 215-21. For chronicle accounts of Ludwig of Bavaria's siege of Pisa, see Villani, Crmica, 111, 34-8 (bk x, chs 33-4); Sardo, Cronacu, 80-1. '' For Castruccio's imperial vicariate over Pisa and his last days, see Green, Cast~ccio Cmtracani.

225-54. esp. 243-6, where the author discusses the exact terms of Castruccio's vicariate and the extent of his political powers over Pisa.

For chronicle accounts of Fazio della Gherardesca's assumption of power in Pisa, see Villani, Crmicu, 111, 122-3 (bk x. ch. 131); Sardo, Cronucu, 84. For an account and assessment of his signoriu there, see Rossi.Sabatini, Pisu ul tempo dei D m a t i c o , 187-217; Ceccarelli Lemut, 'Della Gherardesca, Bonifazio (Fazio) Novella', Dizionario biogra~co degli itufiani, 37, 17-20; L. Green, Lwcu Under Many Masters:A Fuurteenth-Cenfury Italian Commune in Crisis (1328-1342) (Citti di Castello, 1995). 120-1, 136, 140. It appears from these authors that Fazio della Gherardesca was, on the whole, an enlightened ruler, supporting, for example, the foundation of the studium of Pisa (1338). Certainly, on his death, a local chronicler described his rule in the following terms: 'egli ebbe gran bonti senza alcuna macula. cioi a1 reggimento di Pisa, perocchi tutto lo tempo, che elli fu signore, a nessuno ingiura . . . E di molta moneta avanzb lo Comune di Pisa infin, che durb la sua signoria' ('Cronica di Pisa', cols 1003-4).

Jfi

JU


local examples of individuals establishing political power over a city and its territories by means of military force. Contemporary accounts of Uguc- cione della Faggiuola’s campaigns offer a graphic sense of the brutal form such military force might take. An anonymous Sienese chronicler describes how, in 1313, Pisan and German troops ‘burnt many houses and slaughtered many people, and it was no use saying “I give myself up” because they did not understand our language’.gg A Pistoian chronicler, recording the sack of Lucca of 1314, describes how Uguccione’s men ‘began to rob the city, to take men and women prisoner and make them ransom themselves and cor- rupting girls, generally sleeping with all that they captured, and it happened that one lady let herself die of grief, rather than ever eat or drink again, on account of the great sorrow that she felt at having been carnally known against her will’.4”

As we have already noted, in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s painting there are many descriptive details which cumulatively offer the viewer an image of a city and its surrounding countryside entirely at the mercy of such acts of brutality. Thus, we see armed bands roaming the countryside, towns and villages destroyed by fire, and acts of violence taking place within the city itself - probably including murder, abduction, and the rape of women (figs 4, 6, and 7). Tyranny and the Vices, meanwhile, are portrayed against a substantial, crenellated, wall, thus associating these figures with images of defence and fortification (fig. 5).4’ Amongst Tyranny’s grim entourage, the personification of War and Fury are prominent - the latter providing a particularly apt image of the unthinking, brutish behaviour characteristic of mob ~iolence.~‘ Moreover, by portraying the demonic figure of Tyranny clad in armour, Lorenzetti appears to have made the link between tyranny and military force even more explicit.

‘Cronaca senese dei fatti . . . ’, 98: ‘E seguitando la battaglia [i tedeschi] andoro per in fine a le porte di Lucha e arseno molte chase e amazoro molto giente, e non valeva a dire: io m’arendo. perch6 none intendevano nostra lenghua’. I owe this reference and its translation to Green, Castrue cia Castracani, 34.

‘I ‘Storie pistoresi MC:CC-MCCCXLVIII’, ed. S. A. Barbi, RIS, new edn (Bologna, 1927). XI. v, 60: ‘Possa la gente d’uguccione comincib a rubare la citti e a pigliare uomini e donne e farli ricompere; e le pucelle corrompeano, e cosi generalmente giaceano con tutte quelle che pigliavano. E avenne che una gente donna, per lo grande dolore che ebbe che uno I’avea conosciuta contra sua voglia, si lassb per dolore morire anzi che volesse mangiare o bere mai’. Again I owe this reference and its transla. tion to Green, Castruccio Castracani, 54.

” The wall which extends the circuit of the city’s walls and ‘encloses’ Tyranny and the Vices might be intended to signify a fortified enclave within the city where a signom would characteristically live together with his family, officials, and troops. The citadel of Augusta built by Castruccio Castracani in Lucca provides a striking contemporary example, the Reggia of the Carraresi in Padua, another. For an account of the building of the Augusta, see Green, Crutruccio Castracani, 105-1 1; for the Reggia in Padua, see G. Lorenzoni, ‘L‘intervento dei Carraresi, la Reggia e il Castello’, in L. P u p pi and F. Zuliani (eds), Padova: Crue e palarzi (Padua, 1977), 29-49, esp. 29-45. ’‘ See Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 33 and 8-9, for reference to contemporary literary sources

which identifyfuror with the lawless behaviour of the multitude. See also Starn and Partridge, Arts of Powm. 27, and Frugoni, A Distant City, 127, 157, who offer slightly different interpretations of the meaning of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s visualization of Fury as half.beast, half-man.

330 Diana Norman

Secondly, with the exception of Castruccio Castracani, who secured his official title in relation to Pisa from the emperor himself, all the Pisan signori gained political power first by gaining offices which were long established within com m u d government and then by exploiting local partisan loyalties and using their military superiority to exceed that authority. The presence of Treason, Fraud, and Division amongst the Vices on either side of Tyranny is indicative of an awareness on the part of Lorenzetti and his patrons of precisely such political dangers. Moreover, as various scholars have observed, the decision to portray Division in a black and white robe, reminiscent of the colour and design of the Sienese balrana, associates this figure closely with Siena itself and is thus expressive of strongly felt concerns that factious divisions could destroy the city’s traditions of just and equable governrnent.4’

Thirdly, Pisa’s experience at the hands of Ludwig of Bavaria presented the Sienese with a striking example of bad faith which might also have a bearing on the prominence of Fraud amongst Tyranny’s companions. For example, in September 1327, when Ludwig of Bavaria was negotiating with the Pisans to allow him entry into the city, the veteran Ghibelline leader Bishop Guido Tarlati of Arezzo sought to mediate between Pisa and the emperor. He invited Pisa to send ambassadors to Ripafratta in order to discuss terms. Pisa duly sent ambassadors to present the city’s proposals but, because the Pisan government was unwilling to make any concessions, the negotiations foundered. No sooner had the negotiations broken off than Castruccio, flouting the ambassadors’ safe conduct, seized them as they were returning home. His troops and those of Ludwig of Bavaria then crossed the river Serchio and laid siege to P i ~ a . ~ ~

Finally, as is clearly indicated in the account given above, Pisa’s political history during the first half of the fourteenth century was profoundly influenced by the city’s longestablished association with the imperial cause. Despite its frequent treaties with Florence and its Guelph allies, Pisa was perceived to be a Ghibelline city and thus the very antithesis of a city with Guelph loyalties. The Guelph i n signia in the frieze above the painting and the series of Roman imperial tyrants below it are accordingly peculiarly relevant to Pisa, or rather early fourteenthcentury perceptions of Pisa and its recent political experience. To the magistracy of the Nine, in particular, Pisa would have constituted an example of a tyrannical, autocratic government, involved in a highly damaging, imperial, political allegiance and party to an appalling array of assaults upon both civic and personal well-being and sec~rity.4~

” Frugoni, A Distant City, 131, 139, 154. 156-7. See also Starn and Partridge, Arts of Power, 27. and Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 33, 34. “ Green, Cnrtruccio Cnrtrucuni, 218-19. See also the chronicle accounts of this incident given in

Villani, Cronicu, HI, 38 (bk x, ch. 35); Sardo, Cronucu, 80. ‘I A sentiment echoed in the ‘Cronaca senese dei fatti . . . ’, 98, where in an entry dated 1313

the Sienese chronicler describes how the Pisans and their imperial allies had: ‘tanta aldacia e super. bia . . . avevano g[i]urato insieme d’anulare tuta Italia e sottometterla allo inpero: ed era tanta la loro aroghanza e superbia che e’Pisani propi e ancho altra giente che era co’loro, none lo’pareva bene di tanta iniquitl’.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti 33 1

PISA, SIENA, AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE MAREMMA

There were, however, even more pressing reasons why the example of Pisa should be of particular concern to Siena’s governors and therefore worthy of reference in the painted programme of their council chamber within the Palazzo Pubblico. Throughout the thirteenth century and the early decades of the fourteenth century, Siena had been endeavouring to extend its territories south and west towards the sea and the mineral-bearing, agricultural lands of the Maremma. In so doing, the Sienese inevitably came into conflict with Pisa, a city which also viewed the Maremma as part of its territory. For both cities, however, the Maremma was a difficult region to control - comprising as it did a large geographical area with high mountains and a flat coastal plain, at a considerable distance from both Siena and Pisa, and populated by feudal families living in isolated but well-fortified castles and always anxious to evade the control of one or other of the city government^.^^

A key step in Siena’s campaign for the Maremma had been the purchase of the port of Talamone in 1303. This acquisition had also been dictated in part by Siena’s relations with Pisa. While Siena and Pisa had been Ghibelline allies, Sienese merchants had enjoyed the facilities of Pisa’s port at Porto Pisano. But once Siena joined the Guelph league, the Sienese could no longer readily use Pisa. In addition, hostilities between Guelph Siena and Ghibelline Lucca and Pisa meant that periodically the upper part of Siena’s principal trade route to northern Europe - the Via Francigena - was also blocked to Sienese merchants. Talamone offered a solution to this problem and indeed, during a blockade imposed on Pisa by Florence and the Guelph league in 1329, the Sienese port enjoyed a brief period of pro~perity.~’ On the whole, however, Talamone was not a successful enterprise. Its exposed posi. tion on the coast meant that it was subject to frequent attack, be it at the hands of disaffected political exiles or the Sicilian fleet. Moreover, it was not connected to Siena by good, safe roads, and the intervening area between it and the city was never sufficiently Nevertheless, from the point of view of the Nine, Talamone had considerable strategic and economic significance, as is indicated by the expenditure that the government was willing to sanction for the construction of the town, and its maintenance and

‘I’ For the Maremma as an area of territorial expansion, see Bowsky, A Medieual Italian Commune, 1-5, 161, 174; S. Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena nella Maremma e la Sottomissione di Massa Marittima’ (Ph.D. thesis, Florence, 1947-8), 1-6. For the Maremma as an area of Pisan ter. ritorial expansion, see Rossi.Sabatini, Pisa a1 tempo dei Donoratico, 7, who characterizes the Maremma as ‘una delle zone piu delicate del contado pisano’. ” Ibid. 189 n. 2. For the purchase and government support of‘Talamone, see Bowsky, A Medieual

Italian Commune, 6, 175-6, 216-17. For report of the purchase of Talamone from the abbot of San Salvatore on Monte Amiata, see ‘Cronaca senese dei fatti . . . ’. 83, and Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 278. In the view ofJudith Hook, Sima:A City and its History (London, 1979), 20, 35, Talamone was founded as part of Siena’s strategy to rival the port of Pisa.

‘* Bowsky, A Medieval Italian Commune, 175-6. ”’ See idem, The Finance ofthe Commune of S i m 1287-1355 (Oxford, 1970), 23-5.

332 Diana Norman

Given the significance of Talamone for the Sienese government, it is particularly striking that, on the right-hand side of the painting on the east wall of the Sala dei Nove, a title identifies the fortified castle on the edge of an expanse of water as Talamone (fig. 10). Although this part of the wall was the subject of later restoration, datable to the mid-fifteenth century, it is generally acknowledged that this title is part of the original painting..50 Moreover, given the clearly advertised presence of Talamone, it is surely reasonable to argue that the expanse of countryside between the fortress and the city is intended to allude to the Maremma and - in the ideological spirit of the painting as a whole - to present a visual expression of Siena's territorial claim over that geographical area.5' Given this aspect of the painted programme within the Sala dei Nove, and given that Pisa was an important factor in Siena's acquisition of Talamone and its further ambi- tions for the Maremma, we are presented once again with the possibility that the example of Pisa had a bearing on the subject-matter of the paintings in the room.

The history of relations between Siena and Pisa in respect of the Maremma also points to this conclusion. During the thirteenth century the two Tuscan cities maintained a balance of interests in respect of their territorial claims over this region. Thus, for example, first Pisa, in 1226, and then Siena, in 1242, and again in 1276, made agreements with Massa Marittima, one of the principal cities of the Maremma region.52 With the gradual submission to Siena of various castles belonging to the Pannocchieschi family, the Sienese continued to extend their authority in the Maremma in the early decades of the fourteenth century.53 In the years immediately preceding the execution of the paintings in the Sala dei Nove, however, Siena's expansion south

All that now remains is 'TALAM'. See the illustration in Castelnuovo (ed.), Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 300, and also the diagram (ibid. 394-5) which shows the extent of the fifteenth.century restoration of this painting. For the payment of 1491 to Pietro di Francesco degli Oriuoli for fixing the plaster and for painting the Sala dei Nove (described in the document as the Sala della Pace) see Southard, Frescoes in Sienu's falazzo Pubblic~, 294. For a discussion of the extent of this painter's restoration of the Sala dei Nove paintings, see A. Angelini, 'I restauri di Pietro di Francesco agli affreschi di Ambrogio Lorenzetti nella "Sala della Pace" ', Prospeftiva, 31 (1982). 78-82. Angelini clearly asserts, however, that both the castle and its title 'Talamone' are part of the original painting by Lorenzetti. See ibid. 81.

" As pointed out by Feldges, Landschafi als fopographisches fmfriit, 60-1, it is not possible to see Talamone and the sea from Siena. We are therefore dealing with an allegorical, synoptic representation of the Sienese territory. Nevertheless, as she herself acknowledges, the inclusion of Talamone suggests that the expanse of countryside and river shown to the right of the painting could be a represen. tation of the Maremma and the river Ombrone. '' See Coconi, 'L'espansione della Repubblica di Siena', 10-12. The agreement of 9 March 1241

(1242, modern reckoning) between Siena and Massa Marittima is recorded in Archivio di Stato (henceforth ASS), Diplomatico Riformagioni, 1241, marzo 9, and is transcribed ibid., appendix, pp. i-ii, doc. 1. The later agreement of 25 April 1276, is recorded in ASS, Capitoli 1 (the 'Caleffo Vec. chio') fols 494'-495', and Diplomatico Riformagioni, 1276, aprile 25; and is transcribed ibid., pp. xiv-xix, doc. 5. The second agreement was a fully fledged offensiveldefensive treaty. See ibid. 31-2. '' See, for example, references given to such submissions in ASS, MS D. 70, G. A. Pecci, 'Memorie

storiche, politiche, civili, ecc. della citta, terre e castella che sono state suddite della citti di Siena'. fol. 87'; 0. Malavolti, Dell'historia di Siena (Venice, 1599 reprinted Bologna, 1982), 11, 47'. 55, 72'-73: G. Tommasi, Hisforie di Siena (Venice, 1625; reprinted Bologna, 1973). 11, 28, 103-4, 131-2, 186.


was focused primarily upon the fortified strongholds of the Aldobrandeschi and their allies in and around Monte Amiata. To this end, in the spring of 1327, the Nine had appointed Guidoriccio da Fogliano as Siena’s Capitano della Guerra, a condotta which they subsequently renewed until his departure in September 1333. In 1328, as part of his remit as Capitano della Guerra, Guidor‘iccio besieged Montemassi, where Bustercio and Nello Bindino dei Cappucciani - taking hope from Castruccio Castracani’s power and the arrival of Ludwig of Bavaria in Italy - were in rebellion against their Sienese overlords. During this long siege, Lucchese troops managed to penetrate the encirclement of Montemassi by Sienese troops and their Guelph allies in order to supply the castle with enough food for it to hold out until the end of August. It was eventually retaken by the Sienese on 27 August after a seven- month campaign.54 Two days earlier, according to an anonymous contemporary Sienese chronicler, imperial troops from Pisa laid waste the Maremma, and it is striking how closely the chronicler’s account of the Pisan sacking and arson mirrors the painted detail of the devastated countryside on the west wall of the Sala dei N o v ~ . ~ ~

In the following years the Sienese, still under the command of Guidoriccio da Fogliano and assisted by Florentine infantry, also captured the Aldobrandeschi fortresses of Arcidosso and Scansano. These towns - together with Castel del Piano and Buriano - were finally acquired by the Sienese in 1332.56 It is significant, moreover, given our present concerns, that during the two decades preceding Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s execution of the paintings in the Sala dei Nove, the walls of the adjoining Sala del Consiglio were probably embellished with paintings of Giuncarico, Montemassi, Sassoforte, Arcidosso, and Castel del Piano - all locations of particular significance to the Sienese in their campaign to acquire territory to the south and south- west of the city.57 Additionally, by this date the Sala del Consiglio may also

‘Cronaca senese dei fatti . . . ‘, 135, 137; A p o l o di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 464, 465, 470. 474-5, 477-8. Malavolti, Dell’historia di Sima, 11, 86’-87; lommasi, Hirtorie di S i m . 11, 236-7.

’’ ‘Cronaca senese dei fatti . . . ’, 137: ‘ed ebello per forza e misello a sacho c arsello . . . e fu tenuto un grande male quello che feceno nella nostra Maremma per quella volta’.

‘I’ Ibid. 141, 142-3, 145-6; Agnolo di Turd, ‘Cronaca senese’, 503; Malavolti, Dell’historia di S i m , 11, 89, 91; Tommasi, Historiedi Siena, 11, 243,247-51. Government records of the terms of the submis. sion for these castles can be found in ASS, Capitoli 1 (the ’Caleffo Vecchio’), fols 885‘-892’, 91 1’-913‘, 919’-923’. 926‘-931‘; Capitoli 2 (the ‘Caleffo dell’Assunta’), fols 360’-369‘. 436’-451’.

“ For the relevant archival references, see Southard, Frescoes in Sima’s Palarzo Pubblico, 215, 228, 235-6. It is significant (as noted by M. Seidel, ‘ “Castrum pingatur in palatio”: ricerche storiche e iconografiche sui castelli dipinti nel Palazzo Pubblico di Siena’, Prospettiua, 28 (1982), 17-41, esp. 19) that the dates of these documented commissions for paintings of ‘castles’ within the Palazzo Pubblico coincide with the dates o f the imperial expeditions of Henry VII and Ludwig of Bavaria in southern Tuscany. For representative examples of the debate on whether the recently discovered fresco on the west wall of the Sala del Consiglio represents the submission of Giuncarico or Arcidosso, see: Seidel, ‘ “Castrum pingatur” ’; M. Mallory and G. Moran, ’Guido Riccio da Fogliano: a challenge to the famous fresco long ascribed t o Simone Martini and the discovery of a new one in the Palavo Pubblico in Siena’, Studies ifi Iconography, 7-8 (1981-2). 1-13, esp. 6-8; idem, ‘New evidence concerning “Guidoriccio”, Burl- ington Magazine, 128 (1986). 250-9, esp. 251-6 A. Martindale, ‘The problem of “Guidoriccio” ’, Burl- ington Magazine, 128 (1986), 259-73, esp. 265-6, 270-1; J. Polzer, ‘Simone Martini’s Guidmiccio fresco: the polemic concerning its origin reviewed, and the fresco considered as serving the military triumph of a Tuscan commune’, R a w dhrt c a d k n e : Chadian Art Review, 14 (1987), 16-69, esp. 18-21, 67-9.

334 Diana Norman

already have contained an impressive mural painting by Simone Martini com- memorating Guidoriccio da Fogliano and his achievements as Siena’s Capitano della Guerra during this military campaign within Siena’s southern

By the early 1330s, however, the tensions and hostilities between Siena and Pisa in respect of Siena’s increasing political hold over the Maremma had become focused upon the city of Massa Marittima. Following the treaty of Montecatini in 1329 between Pisa and the Tuscan Guelph cities, Massa Marittima had drawn closer to the Pisan commune. Thus, in 1330, the Massetani had accordingly elected as their Podesti a Pisan nobleman, Lemmo di Biglio Gualandi, and the following year they chose another Pisan, Ceo di Maccaione G ~ a l a n d i . ~ ~ Then, on 3 June 1331, the Maremman city made a treaty with Pisa. Siena had reason to be alarmed since the terms of this treaty effectively placed Massa Marittima under the political protection of Pisa for ten years. A close associate of Fazio della Gherardesca, Din0 della Rocca, was sent to Massa Marittima as Capitano del Popolo with wideranging political and military powers. Massa agreed, furthermore, to appoint Pisans every six months to the offices of Capitano del Popolo, Podesti, and principal judge. Moreover, the articles concerning mutual military defence between the two cities posed a considerable threat to the Sienese.“

By the early 1330s, Siena was again involved in hostilities with the Aldobrandeschi. However, once the Sienese had effected the treaty of OctoberNovember 1331 with the Counts of Santa Fiora, they were able to turn their attention to Massa Marittima and its Pisan allies, occupying several fortified towns in Massa’s contudo (Gavorrano, Perolla, Colonna, and Monterotondo).“ This campaign of attrition culminated in a military encounter in December 1332, between the Sienese and Pisan armies under the leadership of Guidoriccio da Fogliano and Dino della Rocca respectively, at the former stronghold of the Count of Elci at Giuncarico, south-east of Massa Marittima. Here the Sienese inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Pisans and the Massetani, taking 200 prisoners, including Dino della Rocca.62

~ 0 n t a d 0 . ~ ~

The precise dating and attribution of the large fresco on the west wall of the Sala del Corl- siglio, generally known as Cuidoriccio daFoglian0 at theSiegeofMontemclssi, has been a matter of scholarly debate for some time. For the original challenge to the traditional attribution to Simone Martini, see C. Moran, ‘Noviti su Simone: an investigation regarding the equestrian portrait of Cuidoriccio da Fogliano in the Siena Palazzo Pubblico’, Paragone, 28 (1977). 81-8. The articles referred to in note 57 above also present much of the evidence which has been deployed in the ensuing debate. For a review and assessment of that debate, see H. B. J. Maginnis, ‘The “Guidoriccio” controversy: notes and observations’, R m e d’urt canadienne: Canadian Art Review, 15 (1988), 137-44, who emphasizes the complex nature of the evidence involved and the unresolved nature of many of the specific issues.

’” Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 62. ‘’ For an account of the stipulations of this treaty, see RossLSabatini, Pisa a1 tempo dei Donoratico,

201 n. 1; Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 62-3. The treaty is recorded in ASS, Di lomatico Riformagioni Massa, 1331, giugno 3.

Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 505; Malavolti. Dell’historia di Sienu, 11. 91’-92; Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 63-4. ’’ Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’. 506-7; Malavolti. Dell’historia di Sieno, 11, 92‘; Tommasi, Hisforie

di Sienu, 11, 253-5; Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 65-6.


According to the account given by Agnolo di Tura in his chronicle, Guidoriccio then returned in triumph to Siena on 1 January 1333. Din0 della Rocca was imprisoned in the Torre dell’Arte della Lana and Guidoriccio was rewarded with a knighthood and a gift of 500 florins and a silver cup valued at 30 florins.63

According to Agnolo di Tura, after this defeat of Pisa and its allies in Massa Marittima, a peace accord was made between Siena and Massa. Nevertheless, undeterred by their defeat at the hands of the Sienese, the anti-Sienese party, led by the Todini family, determined to break this treaty. They duly sent ambassadors to Pisa to appeal to the Pisan government to send them a new Capitano del Popolo. Pisa obliged and sent a Florentine Ghibelline exile, Ciupo degli Scolari. In February 1333 Scolari invaded Sienese territory. Guidoriccio da Fogliano left Siena in March and went to Prata just north of Massa Marittima. Scolari, meanwhile, besieged and took Paganico and then proceeded to devastate and lay waste the countryside right up to Rosia just south of Siena, meeting with no opposition from Guidoriccio or his Sienese troops. While camped at Rosia, Scolari requested battle but, surprisingly, Guidoriccio refused to engage with Scolari and his force. Scolari proceeded to skirt Siena, took Sovicille, and laid waste the country u p to Volterra. He then returned to Massa Marittima ‘with great rejoicing’.64

Guidoriccio da Fogliano belatedly entered Pisan territory in April 1333, now laying this area waste in turn. At this juncture, however, Guelph politics once again intervened. Robert of Anjou, together with Florence and other Guelph cities, became concerned that the conflict between Pisa and Siena would provide John of Bohemia (Henry VII’s son) with a pretext for intervening in Tuscan affairs, and therefore requested Pope John XXII to end the conflict. He, in turn, delegated the task to Francesco Salvestri, Bishop of Florence. In July 1333 the bishop ordered that Massa Marittima and all the other disputed territory be placed in Florentine custody until a final agreement was concluded. Two months later a radical solution was proposed which would effectively have eradicated both Pisan and Sienese influence over Massa Marittima while also providing a compelling demonstration of the powerful influence of the Guelph allegiance over Siena’s affairs. This final settlement instructed that Massa Marittima was to be ruled for three years in the name of the Florentine bishop and that a Florentine Podesti and judge were to be appointed for this contested city. On 28 September the treaty was ratified by the Sienese government and - according to Agnolo di Tura at

h ’ Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 507: ‘E miser Guido Riccio, capitano del cornuno di Siena era inanzi co’la bandiera del comuno di Siena e dintorrno a’prigioni erano i soldati e balestrieri del cornuno di Siena per ordine a le file, e cosi entroro a la porta in Siena con grande allegreza . . . per la detta vettoria i Sanesi fkro cavaliere il detto rnesser Guido Riccio . . .con grande onore e spese, e donolli 500 fiorini d’oro in una coppa d’argento di valuta di fiorini 90 d’oro’. ”‘ Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 508-9; Malavolti. Dell’hisloria di Siena, 11, 92’-93‘; Tommasi,

Hzstorir di S i a a , 11, 255-7; Coconi, ‘Lespansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 66-7.

336 Diana Norman

least - Guidoriccio left the city amidst much scorn and vilification.65 This solution was also to prove no more than temporary, however, for two

years after having ostensibly lost control over Massa Marittima to Florence, Siena finally secured Massa’s effective political submission. While prepar- ing a force to reoccupy Grosseto (a Sienese subject city in rebellion, once again assisted by the Pisans), the Nine made a secret treaty with a pro-Sienese party within Massa Marittima. On 13 August 1335 a force of Sienese cavalry and infantry were given entrance to the city by members of the Galluzi and Ghiozi families. The Todini and Boncucciffi - who remained allied to the Pisans - held out initially in the fortress within the upper city, but on 21 August they too made terms with the Sienese. On 24 September the conditions of Massa Marittima’s final submission to Siena were ratified by the Sienese government and the final treaty was drawn up on 5 October 1335.‘’ In this final process of conquest and submission, Siena benefited from internal dissension within Pisa itself. Although this resulted in the reaffirma- tion of Fazio della Gherardesca’s political power within the city, it nevertheless provided a sufficient distraction to prevent the Pisans from com- ing to the assistance of the pro-Pisan party in Massa Marittima.‘”

Early in 1336 the Sienese ensured their continued political control over Massa Marittima by building a fortress, the remains of which are still evident within the upper town, or cittu nuova, of Massa Marittima. Documents in the Sienese archives detail the impressive amount of property purchased by the

’’ Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 510-11; Villani, Cronuu, 111, 197 (bk x, ch. 223); Malavolti, Dell’historia di Sian, 11, 257-9; Coconi. ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 68-70. See ibid., appendix, pp. xxvii-xxix, doc.8, for a transcription of the deliberations conducted on 7 July 1333 by the Sienese Consiglio Generale in respect of the Bishop of Florence’s proposals for the treaty. For the official Sienese government record of the treaty itself, see ASS, Capitoli 1 (the ‘Caleffo Vec. chio’), fols 933‘-934‘; Diplomatico Riformagioni, 1333, settembre 25; Capitoli 57.

Ik The Todini had long had a number of official and personal contacts with the counts of Donoratico. In 1314, during the signoria of Uguccione della Faggiuola, Ranieri della Gherardesca had been part of a Pisan embassy sent to treat with the Todini of Massa Marittima. In 1335 Fazio della Gherardesca exchanged sheep and cattle with the Todini. See Cristiani, Nobilifu epqbolo nel com. une di Pisa, 117 n. 138,388. The early sources render the name of the other propisan family in Massa Marittima in a variety of ways - Bochucci, Bencucci, Boncucci, and Bettigni. It is possible that this second family was, in fact, the Beccucci who boasted at least two prominent Augustinian friars dur. ing the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and who were patrons of the Augustinian Hermits’ church of Sant’ Agostino in the upper cittci numa of Massa Marittima. See L. Petrocchi, M m a Marittima:Arte e storia (Florence, 1900), 128, 136, 137.

h7 Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 514; Villani, Cronica, 111, 251 (bk xi, ch. 35). who offers a slightly different account of these events from the Florentine perspective; Malavolti, Dell’hisforia di Siena, 11, 96-96’: Tommasi, Historie di S i m , 11, 268-71; Coconi, ‘L‘espansione della Repubblica di Siena’, 70-2, 78-81. The deliberations and approval of the submission of Massa Marittima can be found in: ASS, Capitoli 2 (the ‘Caleffo dell’Assunta’), fols 576‘-587’; Capitoli 58; Diplomatico Rifor. magioni, 1335, ottobre 5. The contents of these documents are summarized in detail in Coconi. ‘L‘espan. sione della Repubblica di Siena’ appendix, pp. xxx-xxxiv, doc. 9.

Rossi-Sabatini, Piso a1 tempo dei Donoratico, 202, 207-9; Green, Lucca Under Many Masters, 78.

6”


Sienese government in order to construct this.69 According to Agnolo di Tura one of the reasons why the fortress was deemed necessary was that certain factions within Massa Marittima intended to give the city to Pisa. Thus, for example, a plot was discovered in 1338 involving two Massetani, Gianberlato and Francesco da Massa, who had approached the Pisans to assist them. The two conspirators were duly taken to Siena and beheaded there. A year later, in March 1339, another plot against the Sienese was discovered, resulting in further executions. The Massetani were obliged, furthermore, to pay the Sienese government a tribute of 1,200 florins.70

Siena’s struggles with Pisa in the Maremma in general, and Massa Marit- tima in particular, supply a persuasive context for much of the painted detail within the Sala dei Nove paintings. Firstly, as noted above, the protracted struggle with the Maremma offers an explanation of why a depiction of Talamone, complete with a painted title, was included in the painting of the ‘ideal’ city and its countryside. Secondly, much of the highly descriptive detail on the west wall showing countryside ravaged by the effects of war, including burnt-out buildings and scorched trees and fields (figs 4 and 7), corresponds closely to the accounts of the invasions and incursions of the Pisans into Sienese territory during the various stages of the Maremma campaign. Agnolo di Tura’s graphic account of Ciupo degli Scolari’s devastating military campaign of spring 1333, which brought him and his troops to within a few kilometres of the gates of Siena itself, is punctuated by such telling descriptive detail as how Scolari ‘robbed all the land’ and ‘made great plunder of animals and prisoners’ and how his men were ‘always burning and laying waste to as much as they could of the countryside’.’’ These events, we should recall, took place in 1333 - a mere five years before Ambrogio Lorenzetti began to work upon the Sala dei Nove paintings - and the traumatic effects of so devastating an attack on the Sienese contado must still have been etched on the minds of many of Siena’s citizens, particularly those entrusted with the city’s foreign policy and defence.

Thirdly, it has rightly been observed by a number of scholars that, although the contents of the paintings and their accompanying texts are primarily concerned to communicate the absolute priority of justice and peace as the goals of good government, it appears that there is also a subsidiary message that justice and peace can be maintained only by penal and military means. Thus, over the benign scene of peaceful, law-abiding citizens going about their business in the painting on the east wall, the figure of Security, flying over the gate, carries as her attributes a gallows and a text which alludes starkly to the harsh necessity of a commune ‘stripping the wicked of all power’

’” Agnolu di ‘Iura, ‘C;ronaca senese’, 515. For the purchase of land for the fortress, see ASS, (:a itoli 3 (the ‘Caleffo Nero’), fols 67-93‘, 104“.

Agnolo di Tim. ’Cronaca senese’, 522, 525; Malavolti. Dell’historia di Sienu. 11, 98‘. P “ Agnolo di Tura, ‘Cronaca senese’, 508: ‘robaro tutta la tera’, ‘f6ro gran preda di bestiame e

prigioni’. ‘tutto i I paese senpre ardendo e guastando cii, che poteano’.

338 Diana Norman

Fig. 14 Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Wisdom,JuFtice, Concord and Peace (1338-9); detail of north wall fresco, the Sala dei Nove. Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Distributive Justice appears in the right.hand pan of Justice's scales. Photo: Lensini, Siena

(fig. 3).72 Similarly, within the array of personifications represented on the north wall, other details continue this theme. One of the winged figures accompanying the figure ofJustice on the left is shown in the act of executing one kneeling figure while crowning another who holds a palm of victory (fig. 14).79 Meanwhile, the second figure of Justice represented to the extreme right of Ben Comune is shown with a crown and a sword as her attributes (fig. 9). Significantly, beneath the handle of her sword and balanced on her knee there appears a severed head. Clearly, then, one of the general lessons to be learnt from these paintings is that, in the eyes of the Sienese government at least, justice had to be maintained by the use of capital punish- ment and, as the example of the rebellious Massetani in 1338 and 1339 proves, this was a lesson that the Nine were willing to carry 0ut.7~

'' SENCA PAURA OGNUOM FRANC0 CAMlNl I ELAVORANDO SEMlNl CIASCUNO I MENTRE CHE TAL COMUNO I MANTERRA QUKSTA D m [ N i A I"] SIGNORIA I CHELALEVATA Aw.1 OGNI BAIIA. Taken from Stefanini's transcrip tion in Starn and Patridge, Arls offower, 266. '' For discussion of the significance of this personification of distributive justice, its relationship

to its companion, commutative justice, and their association with the Aristotelian concepts of such forms of justice, see Rubinstein. 'Political ideas in Sienese art', 182; Skinner, 'Ambrogio Lorenzetti', 37-40; Frugoni, A Distant City, 121-4, 191-2; Starn and Patridge, Arls ofpower, 44-5. " See above, p. 338.


Similarly, the painting seems to suggest that the goal of peace can only be secured by military power. Thus the figure of Peace, although herself unarmed, is surrounded by pieces of discarded armour (fig. 14).75 Ben Com- une - the personification of the Commune of Siena itself - is accompanied not only by the Virtues and representatives of the city’s magi~tracies,~~ but also by representatives of the city’s armed forces (fig. 9). Immediately below Fortitude, Temperance, and Justice appear six cavalrymen and beneath Prudence and Magnanimity groups of infantrymen. The shields of the infantry just below and to the right of Ben Comune bear the lion of the Popolo as their armorial device, thus identifying this fighting force unambiguously with the Sienese commune.77 Moreover, as well as alluding in general terms to the various military forces characteristically employed by any Italian commune, these figures would also have had a more specific reference within Siena at the time of the execution of the paintings for the Sala dei Nove. Thus, when describing the forces sent in 1338 to garrison the fortress of Massa Marittima, Agnolo di Tura itemizes in precise terms the number of cavalry and infantrymen sent by the government for the crucial task of maintaining and consolidating Siena’s hold over the

Finally, there is the detail of the two bare-headed figures in armour, one of whom presents a castle to Ben Comune (fig. 15). Derived from images which show donor figures offering a votive church or chapel to the Virgin, Christ, or one of the saints, this detail is clearly intended to portray the submission of a feudal castle or a fortress to the Sienese commune as personified by the august, bearded figure of Ben Comune. To the right of this detail appears a group of prisoners, roped together.79 Indeed the black hood which is pulled low over the face of the second of the prisoners may well signify that he and his companions are shortly to be executed.w The figures behind the prisoners present a cross-section of men of different ages and social types. At the head of this group appear two figures whose headdress denotes men belonging to the governing and judicial classes. The older of the two holds a pair of keys, apparently proffering them to Ben Comune. He is clearly, therefore, a representative of a civic authority handing over the jurisdiction of his city to Sienese political power. In general terms, these

‘I Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 32-3. Ih This group of figures has been identified as either the Council of Twenty-Four. Siena’s ruling

magistracy from 1256 to 1270 (for example by Frugoni, A Distant City, 136) or as representatives of Siena’s chief officials and magistrates (for example by Kempers, Painting, Power and Patronage, 137).

” Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 42, suggests further that they may be intended to be the special force of contadini recruited by the Nine in 1302 to keep peace in the Sienese countryside. For this force, see W. M. Bowsky. ‘City and contado: military relationships and communal bonds in fourteenth. century Siena’, in A. Molho and J. A. Tedeschi (eds), Renaissance Studies in Honm oYHaw Barm (Florence,

’” Agnolo di Tura. ‘Cronaca senese’, 519: ‘La citta di Massa era guardata per lo comuno di Siena. ciok la torre di San Piero con 5 fanti, la torre de Canpana con 5 fanti, la torre di Capezuolo con due fanti. E stavavi a guardia di la terra tre capitani cittadini di Siena con vinti cavalli e C fanti.’

’‘I As noted by Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, 41, the prisoners roped together form an ironic contrast to the group of citizens on the left portrayed freely carrying the rope of concord.

“I’ Ibid. 4 1-2.

1971). 79-80,

340 Diana Norman

Fig. 15 Nove, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Photo: Lensini, Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Knights and Prisoners (1338-9); detail of north wall fresco, the Sala dei

painted details could have alluded to any one of a number of submissions made to the Sienese government by civic or feudal powers in the years before the painting of the Sala dei Nove scheme. It remains the case, however, that the details of the submission of Massa Marittima would surely have retained a particular salience within the Sienese consciousness in the latter half of the 1330s - not least because that submission signalled a decisive point in both the struggle to extend Siena’s control over the Maremma and the at- tempt decisively to curtail the influence of Pisa in that area.

CONCLUSION

It is the contention of this essay that the history of Sienese relations with Pisa had a significant impact upon a number of pictorial details within the Sala dei Nove paintings. Nowhere is this more striking than in the imagery of the west wall painting. This proposal, however, raises the critical ques- tion of the extent to which specific contemporary historical events were in. fluential upon this painted programme. In their detailed study of the Sala dei Nove paintings, Randolph Starn and Loren Partridge emphatically

Ambrogio Lorenzetti 34 1

reject the relevance of contemporary examples of local tyrants to the imagery of the painted programme. In their view:

We are in the world of ideological constructions, not of actual history, in the Sala dei Nove. The Sienese had encountered petty tyrants along their borders from Pisa and Lucca, for example - but they had no experience of living under a real s e r e until the regime of Pandolfo Petrucci late in the fifteenth century. History brings us back full circle to the symbolic face of evil in Lorenzetti’s frescoes.”

That the paintings in the Sala dei Nove are, indeed, intended to express particular ideological viewpoints is clear. Equally clearly, however, these paintings are not straightforward historical narratives but embody and deploy a variety of symbolic and metaphorical devices. The bizarre appearance and complex costumes and attributes of Tyranny and the Vices makes this strik- ingly apparent (fig. 5) . These characters belong to the realm of imagination, fantasy, and allegory - they are not intended to be representations of ‘real’ historical persons. Yet, even among these allegorical figures, there are details which encourage the spectator to engage with contemporary political issues and situations. Thus the black and white robe of Division offers a compelling visual clue that this personification of a particular political malaise should be understood as a potential threat to the body politic of Siena itself.x’

In his painting for the Sala dei Nove, Ambrogio Lorenzetti was undoubtedly pursuing a general political argument on the nature of civic rule. Never- theless, this argument gained its very potency from the highly specific and concrete descriptive detail supplied within the paintings themselves - detail which was itself derived from human events and experience. Using Pisa - with its long tradition of supporting the imperial cause and its contemporary state of signorial rule - as an exemplar of ‘tyrannical’ government would have been a further potent addition to the range of such concrete and contemporary references. Thus, just as the east wall painting portrays Siena as it might be, so the painting on the west wall portrays the consequences of a city state governed by an unjust, imperial-style tyranny - a possibility whose awful realities were only too well known because forces from ‘imperial’, ‘tyrannical’ Pisa - a city state which also happened to be the historic enemy and rival within the Maremma - had only recently sacked towns and villages of the Sienese contado.

In his depiction of burnt-out habitations, menacing forces of armed men and defenceless women (figs 4,6, and 7), Ambrogio Lorenzetti supplied highly descriptive details well suited to rekindling still recent memories and accounts of such experiences. For the Nine and their political associates, who constituted the first audience of these paintings, the political message would

*’ Starn and Partridge, Arts u j Power, 20. “’ See above. p. 330.

342 Diana Norman

have been clear: the scenes on the west wall will be the consequence if the ideals portrayed on the north and east walls are not upheld. The texts along the lower edges of the paintings on the east and west walls amply confirm such a reading of the paintings and their meanings. Thus, while the text below the east wall painting invites the Nine to contemplate the benefits ofjustice, peace, and security, that below the west wall painting admonishes:

let the mind and understanding be intent on keeping each [citizen] always subject to Justice, in order to escape such dark injuries, by overthrowing all tyrants. And whoever wishes to disturb her Uustice], let him be for his unworthiness banished and shunned together with all his followers, whoever, they may be: thus Justice will be fortified to the advantage of your peace.x3

And for the governing di te long accustomed to rivalry with Pisa, both as a traditional enemy of the Guelph league and as a threat to Siena's ambi- tions in the Maremma, the example of Pisa would have acted as a salutary warning of the dangers to political stability and both moral and civic well- being if tyrannical rule were indeed to prevail.

The Open University

"' Emphasis added. For a transcription and translation of the original Italian text, see Stefanini in Starn and Patridge. Arts ofPower, 263-4.

Pisa, Siena, and the Maremma: a neglected aspect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's paintings in the Sala dei...

Documents

Transcript of Pisa, Siena, and the Maremma: a neglected aspect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's paintings in the Sala dei...