Portraiture and Patronage in Quattrocento Florence with Special Reference to the Tornaquinci and Their Chapel in S. Maria Novella

Abstract

Containing over forty portraits, the frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the cappella maggiore of S. Maria Novella provide the opportunity to investigate the function and context of Quattrocento portraiture. Burckhardt's famous notion of Renaissance "individualism," usually seen as a sufficient explanation for the rise of this genre, is rejected in favour of corporate, especially family, motivations and modes of address. This necessitates an examination of consorterial traditions and patterns of patronage which are registered in the Tornaquinci chapel and enabled the acquisition of patronage rights to the chapel by the entire consorteria in October 1486. A biography is also supplied of Giovanni Tornabuoni, the man who paid for the decoration of this, his family monument, and closely supervised its progress. ** Both the apparently "realistic" style of Ghirlandaio's presentation of the family and its associates in "the most beautiful city" (praised in the chapel's dedication inscription of 1490) and the chapel's iconography are placed in a fundamentally religious context. Group portraiture, especially of donors, is seen as neither individualistic nor secular, nor as mere physiognomical reportage. Further levels of signification in the iconography are discussed, particularly references to the magnificence and generosity of the Tornaquinci as patrons and founders with a long tradition at the Dominican convent of S. Maria Novella. The family's salvation and fertility are also prayed for in a series of portraits which preserve the family in an arena of prayer and offering. They self-consciously address an audience both contemporary and future: seeking perpetual life through descendants and through eternal deliverance which is the reward for their good works, honourable reputation and patronage. The family's awareness of itself, its noble heritage and honour, is reflected in their dignified portrayal. Future descendants were shown exemplars; prayers for salvation and for fertile continuity were offered; sure access by the elect to paradise was visualised. Both Man and God were addressed: honour in the here and now, salvation in the eternal realm, each were granted to the worthy elect. Florence and the City of God were each embraced by naturalistic, recognisable form. The presence of portraits was necessary within a visual world reshaped, framed and ennobled.