This article aims to shed new light on the Sala Grande from its construction at the time of Girolamo Savonarola until the first decade of the XVIth century by paying attention to historical and literary sources partly unknown or almost ignored. The description of the Battle of Anghiari contained in the Codice Atlantico of Leonardo da Vinci was written by the hand of Agostino Vespucci, who translated into vernacular some extracts from the Trophaeum Anglaricum, a Latin poem of Leonardo Dati (1408-1472). The manuscript of Dati’s poem bears the sign of Giovan Vittorio Soderini, brother of Pier Soderini gonfaloniere di giustizia in Florence. This finding together with new evidence about Pier Soderini’s high profile as a humanist and man of letters allows us to identify him not only as the person who committed the frescoes for the Sala Grande, but rather as the actual author of the entire decorative project. This leads to a reassessment of a figure whose role in the entire episode has been largely underestimated.

Letteratura, arte e politica nel progetto della Sala grande ovvero Pier Soderini ideatore e committente della “Battaglia di Anghiari”

Nicoletta Marcelli
2019

Abstract

This article aims to shed new light on the Sala Grande from its construction at the time of Girolamo Savonarola until the first decade of the XVIth century by paying attention to historical and literary sources partly unknown or almost ignored. The description of the Battle of Anghiari contained in the Codice Atlantico of Leonardo da Vinci was written by the hand of Agostino Vespucci, who translated into vernacular some extracts from the Trophaeum Anglaricum, a Latin poem of Leonardo Dati (1408-1472). The manuscript of Dati’s poem bears the sign of Giovan Vittorio Soderini, brother of Pier Soderini gonfaloniere di giustizia in Florence. This finding together with new evidence about Pier Soderini’s high profile as a humanist and man of letters allows us to identify him not only as the person who committed the frescoes for the Sala Grande, but rather as the actual author of the entire decorative project. This leads to a reassessment of a figure whose role in the entire episode has been largely underestimated.
2019
978 88 222 6670 5
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11576/2675936
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