reminders of fair and just administration. And the city hall was just
the place for paintings such as Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s. Indeed, the
leaders of the Sienese government who commissioned this fresco se-
ries had undertaken the “ordering and reformation of the whole city
and countryside of Siena.”
In Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country,the
artist depicted the urban and rural effects of good government.
Peaceful City (FIG. 19-16) is a panoramic view of Siena, with its
clustering palaces, markets, towers, churches, streets, and walls, rem-
iniscent of the townscapes of ancient Roman murals (FIG. 10-19,
left). The city’s traffic moves peacefully, guild members ply their
trades and crafts, and several radiant maidens, hand in hand, per-
form a graceful circling dance. Dancers were regular features of fes-
tive springtime rituals. Here, their presence also serves as a metaphor
for a peaceful commonwealth. The artist fondly observed the life of
his city, and its architecture gave him an opportunity to apply
Sienese artists’ rapidly growing knowledge of perspective.
As an entourage passes through the city gate to the countryside
beyond its walls, Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Peaceful Country (FIG. 19-17)
presents a bird’s-eye view of the undulating Tuscan countryside—its
villas, castles, plowed farmlands, and peasants going about their sea-
sonal occupations. An allegorical figure of Security hovers above the
landscape, unfurling a scroll that promises safety to all who live under
the rule of law. In this sweeping view of an actual countryside,Peaceful
Country represents one of the first appearances oflandscapein Western
art since antiquity (FIG. 10-20). Whereas earlier depictions were fairly
generic, Lorenzetti particularized the landscape—as well as the city
view—by careful observation and endowed the painting with the char-
acter of a specific place and environment.
The 14th Century 51319-18Arnolfo di Cambio
and others, Florence Cathedral
(aerial view looking northeast),
Florence, Italy, begun 1296.
This basilican church with its
marble-encrusted walls carries
on the Tuscan Romanesque
architectural tradition, linking
Florence Cathedral more
closely to Early Christian Italy
than to contemporaneous
France.The Black Death may have ended the careers of both Loren-
zettis. They disappear from historical records in 1348, the year that
brought so much horror to defenseless Europe.Florence
Like Siena, the Republic of Florence was a dominant city-state during
the 14th century. The historian Giovanni Villani (ca. 1270–1348), for
example, described Florence as “the daughter and the creature of
Rome,” suggesting a preeminence inherited from the Roman Empire.
Florentines were fiercely proud of what they perceived as their eco-
nomic and cultural superiority. Florence controlled the textile indus-
try in Italy, and the republic’s gold florinwas the standard coin of ex-
change everywhere in Europe.
FLORENCE CATHEDRALFlorentines translated their pride
in their predominance into landmark buildings, such as Florence
Cathedral (FIG. 19-18), recognized as the center for the most
important religious observances in the city.Arnolfo di Cambio
(ca. 1245–1302) began work on the cathedral in 1296. Intended as
the “most beautiful and honorable church in Tuscany,” this structure
reveals the competitiveness Florentines felt with cities such as Siena
and Pisa. Cathedral authorities planned for the church to hold the
city’s entire population, and although it holds only about 30,000
(Florence’s population at the time was slightly less than 100,000), it
seemed so large that even the noted architect Leon Battista Alberti
(see Chapter 21) commented that it seemed to cover “all of Tuscany
with its shade.” The builders ornamented the church’s surfaces, in
the old Tuscan fashion, with marble-encrusted geometric designs,
matching the cathedral’s revetment(decorative wall paneling) to that19-18AARNOLFO
DICAMBIO,
Palazzo della
Signoria,
1299–1310.