|
Enlarge |
|
The Triumph of Fame; (verso) Impresa of the Medici Family and Arms of the Medici and Tornabuoni Families, birth tray, ca. 1449
Giovanni di Ser Giovanni (called Lo Scheggia) (Italian, Florentine, 1406–1486)
Tempera, silver, and gold on wood; Overall, with engaged frame, Diam. 36 1/2 in. (92.7 cm); recto, painted surface, Diam. 24 5/8 in. (62.5 cm); verso, painted surface, Diam. 29 5/8 in. (75.2 cm)
Purchase in memory of Sir John Pope-Hennessy: Rogers Fund, The Annenberg Foundation, Drue Heinz Foundation, Annette de la Renta, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson, and The Vincent Astor Foundation Gifts, Wrightsman and Gwynne Andrews Funds, special funds, and Gift of the children of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Logan, and other gifts and bequests, by exchange, 1995 (1995.7)
|
|
This imposing object, a commemorative birth tray (desco da parto), was commissioned to celebrate the birth of Lorenzo de' Medici, known to posterity as Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492). Lorenzo was the most celebrated ruler of his day as well as an important poet and a major patron of the arts; his name is synonymous with the Renaissance. The imagery is taken from Boccaccio's L'Amorosa visione as well as Petrarch's Trionfi. Knights extend their hands in allegiance to an allegorical figure of Fame, who holds a sword and winged cupid (symbolic of celebrity through arms and love). Winged trumpets sound Fame's triumph. Captives are bound to the elaborate support. The three-colored ostrich feathers around the rim are a heraldic device of Lorenzo's father, Piero de' Medici.
Painted by the younger brother of Masaccio, this is an object of unique historical importance. It was kept by Lorenzo in his private quarters in the Medici palace in Florence and was acquired in the early years of the nineteenth century by Alexis-François Artaud de Montor, one of the earliest collectors of early Italian painting. Later it belonged to Thomas Jefferson Bryan, the first New Yorker to collect early Italian art.
The reverse of most surviving birth trays shows an image of a child. This one is decorated with the armorial device of Lorenzo the Magnificent's father, Piero de' Medici: a diamond ring with three ostrich feathers and a banderole with the motto SEMPER (forever). The device, now much worn and oxidized, may signify eternal faithfulness and strength. The Medici arms are in the upper left, those of the Tornabuoni are in the upper right. Piero de' Medici married Lucrezia Tornabuoni in 1444 and their first son, Lorenzo, was born in 1449. The tradition of commissioning circular trays or salvers to commemorate a birth derived from the custom of presenting sweetmeats to the new mother. Painted for the most famous figure of the Italian Renaissance, this is the largest and most opulent birth tray known, and one of the few to survive with its original engaged molding.
|
|
