POCCETTI, Bernardino

The painted ceiling of the Salone in the Palazzo Capponi depicts the deeds of the Capponi from 1406 to 1508.

In addition to history paintings of ruling nobility there are occasionally cycles of other kinds of families, such as the paintings of the Capponi family’s services to the Republic of Florence that Bernardino Poccetti painted in the Palazzo Capponi in 1585. The choice of themes can be understood as an expression of love for their native city, for whose prosperity the Capponis’ ancestors had also been prepared to sacrifice their lives.

The ceiling fresco of the Large grotto depicts an open trellis inhabited by an array of wild animals, in their midst a smiling Bacchus or Silenus who is throwing an inviting glance down at the viewer.

The frescoes of Poccetti emphasize the realistic aspect of Buontalenti’s grotto.

From the end of the 1560s decorative embellishments were imposed by Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, upon Florence’s previously somewhat severe aspect. The wealthy families now added the fa�ades of their palatial homes, complete with allegorical frescoes or graffito work. At this time Bernardo Poccetti was doing the graffito decoration on the fa�ade of the home of Bianca Cappello, which was located in Via Maggio.

The drawing depicts the fa�ade of the old Florence Cathedral before its demolition in 1587. Arnolfo di Cambio received the commission for the fa�ade of the Duomo about 1296. The drawing shows his scheme for the sculptural decoration which focused on the areas above the doorways.

Ferdinando I de’ Medici decided to compete with the art of painting through the semiprecious stone inlays in which the workshop founded by him in 1588 was specialized. This workshop proved to be capable of cutting the semiprecious stones along sinuous and complex contours, while still making the single pieces fit together so precisely as to make the joints between the various stones practically invisible. This technique permitted the Florentine masters to produce a vast repertory of images, ranging from portraiture to still-life, to scared scenes and landscapes.

The picture shows an example of the landscape theme. It was derived from painted model prepared for this purpose by the elderly Bernardino Poccetti, an affirmed artist with an already lengthy activity on behalf of the Medici.

This is a view of the Hall of Bona, one of the most sumptuous rooms of the Palatine Gallery and one of the first ones to be frescoed in Pitti Palace at the beginning of the 1600s, when it used to be the main hall of the so-called Apartment of Foreign Princes. Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici commissioned Bernardino Poccetti to decorate this Hall thus carrying out an authentic political and cultural manifesto for his reign, which took as example the spectacular Hall of the 500 in Palazzo Vecchio realized under the commission of his father Cosimo I.

The centre of the ceiling hosts the core of the Medici family’s celebration: six allegorical female figures represent the virtues of the good prince (Liberality, Glory, Wisdom/Knowledge, Supervision/Command, Mercy and Celebrity/Good Reputation) that are surrounding an oval with Cosimo I with Minerva and Princes’ Glory. The Duke is naked as an ancient Jupiter, with a compass and a setsquare as symbols of the builder of the State of Tuscany, according to the platonic idea of the Prince Architect.

Particularly, the frescoes on the walls celebrate Ferdinando’s military efforts to expand the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and represent the military campaigns of the Knights of St Stephen, namely, an order established by Ferdinando, against the Turks: the conquering of the Fortress of Prevesa upon the Ionian Sea and that of Bona in Algeria. On the short walls some allegorical figures represent Tirreno Sea and River Arno, along with a view of the Port of Livorno (a strategic place which has always allowed the prosperity of the Grand Duchy) and Ferdinando I himself receiving prisoners and the war booty.

The fresco ensemble is included into a rich and elaborated decoration with allegorical scenes and grotesques, trophies on the pillars and flowers composition, landscapes and monochromatic scenes representing ancient statues inside the niches.