Arms of the Mercanzia
Loading...
Authors
Luca della Robbia
Date
Type
image
Language
Keyword
Coat of arms , Mercanzia , Guild
Alternative Title
Abstract
This glazed terracotta roundel is on the exterior of Orsanmichele in Florence, high above the niche belonging to the Mercanzia (a tribunal for the guilds) and serves as a coat of arms. Orsanmichele performed multiple functions, political, economic, and religious, as the city's grainary, but also as the site holding multiple miraculous images. The guilds (economic and political organizations that essentially formed Florence's republican government) had patronized niches on the exterior and commissioned statues by Donatello, Ghiberti and others to show their devotion and display their wealth and power. The niche and coat of arms on this side of the building (facing a busy throughfare running from the cathedral to the Palazzo Vecchio) previously belonged to the wealthy Parte Guelfa, who had commissioned Donatello's gilded bronze St. Louis for their niche and had their arms frescoed above. When the Mercanzia obtained rights to this niche in 1459, they had Donatello's statue removed and needed to substitute their own coat of arms, a documented commission in 1463. Verrocchio's Christing with Doubting Thomas was soon after commissioned for the niche below. Here, what would previously be seen as a minor, decorative commission becomes monumental and sculptural -- the seeded fleur de lis of Florence (usually a red colour, but here in purple because the red was unobtainable in glaze) blooms luxuriantly over the tied bale, on a shield, which in turn rests on a classicizing shell niche (glazed in blue to simulate lapis lazuli), and surrounded by a luxuriantly sculpted garland, fired in eight parts, each with different fruits and vegetables, suggesting the abundant fruitfulness of the Florentine economy. This may be the first of the roundels Luca made for Orsanmichele, as it fits less precisely into the stone framing. (Because clay shrinks when it dries and is fired, and does so variably, depending on the the amount of moisture in the clay and in the atmosphere, it can be difficult to project exactly the finished size.) Certainly, this formula for creating glazed terracotta coats of arms became immensely popular. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Orsanmichele, Florence
Citation
John Pope-Hennessy, Luca della Robbia (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1980), 55-7, 247, cat. 16; Giancarlo Gentilini, I Della Robbia (Florence: Cantini, 1992), I: 136.