The rooms of the Renaissance

Renaissance has been a revolutionary time from an artistic point of view. One of the innovative elements is that, from Medici on, private commissions became very common, while in the past artistic commissions came mostly from the Church. This novelty allowed the introduction of new languages and new subjects, more secular and often political.

Knowing where these artworks were placed allows us to deeply understand the motivations behind private commissions. I will try to explain this concept using as examples three famous paintings exhibited at the National Gallery in London.

The first one is Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian. It was commissioned by Alfonso d’Este for his Camerino d’Alalbastro at Palazzo Ducale in Ferrara. The Camerino was a private room, where the Duke used to relax and get inspired, surrounded by beautiful paintings. Alfonso d’Este commissioned the artworks for his Camerino to the most important artists at that time: Titian, Bellini, Dosso Dossi, Raphael, Michelangelo and Fra Bartolomeo. Fra Bartolomeo and Raphael died before they could finish their paintings, while Michelangelo did not deliver. Titian painted three artworks, among which Bacchus and Ariadne, and he put a huge effort on every aspect (quality of the materials, details of the scene, intellectual references), probably because he felt the pressure of the competition with the other artists.

The Camera di Lorenzo at the Medici Palace in Florence was conceptually similar to Alfonso d’Este’s Camerino d’Alabastro. The three pictures representing the Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello where displayed there. This is another private commission, but from Lorenzo Salimbeni, a rich Florentine man. When he died, Salimbeni, who had six children, left his house with all its content to his three youngest children. The older children, not happy about this choice, asked the most influential person in Florence at that time, Lorenzo de’ Medici, to arbitrate. Lorenzo was so impressed by the three paintings that he just asked his carpenters to detach them and take them to his palace. These paintings were made for a vaulted room at Palazzo Salimbeni. In the one displayed at the National Gallery, you can clearly see how the upper part has been cut to give it a rectangular shape, more compliant to the new room.

Lorenzo de’ Medici fell in love with these artworks because they represented the history of a cruel battle won by Florence, under the guide of Nicola da Tolentino, against Genoa, Lucca and Milan. But, most of all, this victory is represented taking out all the cruelty of the fight and showing it as a chivalry scene. The values of chivalry were much appreciated in the Renaissance courts.

The last example is Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli. The painting was originally a spalliera, a typical wedding furniture. The representation of the wasps suggests that it was commissioned by the Vespucci family for the wedding of Simonetta. The spalliera was located in the Camera, a semi-private room, where only a few selected guests were allowed. The function of the subject was to represent the values of the couple (in this case chastity) and, at the same time, it had to entertain the guest, telling a story with plenty of details.

Also, the Camera was the place where the couple had their intimate encounters. There was the belief that, if the woman, while making love, would have looked at a beautiful naked man (Mars in this case), she would have conceived a male. Which makes us think that probably Simonetta Vespucci’s husband was not exactly a Greek god…