The 48 Laws Of Power

tality

ofhis

namehe

wouldcommissionfrescoes

forthemain

chapel

ofthe

churchofSanLorenzoinFlorence.Hehad
manygreatpainters

tochoose

from,
andintheendhe

picked

jacopo

daPontonno.

Getting

onin

years,

Pontormowantedtomakethesefrescoeshischefd’oeuvreand

legacy.

His

firstdecisionwastoclosethe

chapel

offwith

walls,

partitions,

andblinds.

Hewantedno
onetowitnessthe
creation
ofhis

masterpiece,

ortostealhis

ideas.Hewould outdo

Michelangelo

himself.

Whensome

young

men

brokeintothe

chapel

outof

curiosity,jacopo

sealeditoffevenfurther.

Pontormofilledthe

chape1’s

ceiling

withbiblicalscenes—the

Creation,

AdamandEve,

Noah's

ark,

onandon.Atthe

top

ofthemiddlewillhe

painted

Christinhis

majesty,raising

the

dead

onjudgmentDay.

Theartist

workedonthe

chapel

foreleven

years,rarelyleaving

it,

sincehehadde—

veloped

a

phobia

forhumancontactandwasafraid

his

ideaswouldbe

stolen.

Ponrormodiedbefore

completing

the

frescoes,

andnoneofthemhas

survived.Butthe
great

Renaissancewriter

Vasari,

afriendofPontormds

whosaw

the

frescoes

shortly

after

theartist’s

death,

lefta

description

of

what
they

lookedlike.

Therewas

a total

lack

of

proportion.

Scenes

bumped

against

scenes,

figures

inone

storybeing

juxtaposed

withthose

in

another,

in

maddening

numbers.Pontormohadbecomeobsessedwithde»

tallbuthadlost

any

senseoftheoverall

composition.

Vasarileftoffhisde~

scription

ofthefrescoes

bywriting

thatifhe

continued,

“IthinkIwould

go

madandbecome

entangled

inthis

painting,just

asI

believethat

in

the

eleven

years

oftime

jacopo

spent

on

it,

he

entangled

himselfand

anyone

elsewhosawit.”Insteadof

crowning

Pontormo’s

career,

theworkbecame

his

undoing.

Thesefrescoeswerevisual

equivalents

oftheeffectsofisolationonthe

human
mind:alossof
proportion,

anobsessionwithdetailcombinedwith

an

inability

toseethe

largerpicture,

akindof

extravagantugliness

thatno

longer

communicates.

Clearly,

isolationisas

deadly

for

thecreativeartsas

forthesocialarts.

Shakespeare

isthemostfamouswriterin

history

be-

cause,

asadramatistforthe

popularstage,

he

opened

himself

up

tothe

masses,

making

hiswork

accessibleto

people

nomatter

whattheir

educa-

tionandtaste.Artistswhoholethemselves

up

intheir

fortressloseasense

of

proportion,

theirwork

communicatingonly

totheirsmallcircle.Such

artremainscorneredand

powerless.

Finally,

since

power

isahuman

creation,

itis

inevitably

increased

by

Contact
withother

people.

Instead

of

falling

intothefortress

mentality,

viewtheworld
in
the

following

manner:Itislike

a

vast

Versailles,

with

every

room

communicating

withanother.Youneed

to

be

permeable,

able

tofloatinandoutofdifferentcirclesandmixwithdifferent

types.

That

kindof

mobility

andsocialcontactwill

protectyou

from

plotters,

whowill

beunable
to

keep

secretsfrom

you,

andfrom

your

enemies,

whowillbe

unabletoisolate
you

from

your

allies.

Always

on

the

move,

you

mixand

mingle

intheroomsofthe

palace,

never

sitting

or

settling

inone

place.

No

huntercanfixhisaimonsucha

svvifbmoving

creature.

LAW 18

135