The politics of the gilded body in early Florentine statuary

Responding to conservation campaigns that have brought to light the effects of fully gilded bronze in early fifteenth-century Florentine sculpture, this article addresses the scope and limits of the gilded body in the social and political life of the city. It asks what concerns and relations informe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The sculpture journal 2020-07, Vol.29 (2), p.131-158
Main Author: Wright, Alison
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys
Bronze
Effigies
Gold
Politics
Renaissance period
Sculpture
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Responding to conservation campaigns that have brought to light the effects of fully gilded bronze in early fifteenth-century Florentine sculpture, this article addresses the scope and limits of the gilded body in the social and political life of the city. It asks what concerns and relations informed this kind of investment in gold surfaces by the Florentine oligarchy, and to what effect, bearing in mind that all the monumental surviving works were produced or begun within a few years of one another and have no legacy until after the demise of the Republic in 1512. Focusing on Donatello’s St Louis of Toulouse for Orsanmichele, the effigy of the deposed Pope Baldassare Cossa at the Baptistery and the winged bronze fountain figure for the old Medici palace, the article probes the varied material signification and animation of these gold bodies within their distinct contexts of viewing. By investigating the moment of the fully gilded figure, the sometimes fraught relationships between civic and princely, pagan and Christian ideals are thrown into relief, showing that the aesthetics of the gold surface cannot be separated from its politics.
ISSN:1366-2724
1366-2724
1756-9923
DOI:10.3828/sj.2020.29.2.2