Defamatory depiction of petty criminals in Renaissance Italian art
The Hanged Man fromTarot decks is thought to be typical ofpittura infamante frescoes, although none are extantPreparatory drawings forpittura infamante byAndrea del SartoA GermanSchandbild [de] (circa 1490)
According to Samuel Edgerton, the genre began to decline precisely when it came to be regarded as a form of art rather thaneffigy; the power of the genre derived from a feudal-basedcode of honor, whereshame was one of the most significantsocial punishments.[1] As such,pittura infamante has its roots in the doctrines offama andinfamia in ancientRoman law.[4]
Pitture infamanti could appear in any public place, but some places were more frequently adorned with them; for example, the first floor exterior of theBargello (originally a barracks and prison, now an art museum) periodically contained numerous, life-size,pittura infamantefrescoes. Florentine law required thePodestà have such caricatures painted, and accompanied by verbal identification of those held incontempt of court for financial offenses (bad debt, bankruptcy, fraud,forgery, etc.).[5]Pitture infamanti were far more common inRepublican Florence than inautocratic city states, whose rulers often deemed them to be sources of "disrepute".[6]
Common themes ofpitture infamanti – which were meant to be humiliating – include depicting the subject as wearing amitre, hanging upside down, or being in the presence ofunclean animals such as pigs or donkeys or those deemed evil like snakes;pitture infamanti would also contain captions listing the offenses of the subject.[7]Pitture infamanti could originate as more favorable depictions, only to be transformed after the subject had fallen out of favor.[8]
Pitture infamanti always depicted men and never women, and generally depicted upper-class men (who would have the most to lose fromcharacter assassination).[4] The act of hanging itself was also significant, as affluent criminals would generally be afforded the privilege of beheading rather than hanging; hanging was also shameful in religious contexts (e.g.Judas).[4] Thetopos ofmundus inversus ("world upside down") is often associated with comedy and humiliation.[9]
Famous artists who paintedpittura infamante frescoes includeAndrea del Castagno,Sandro Botticelli, andAndrea del Sarto.[10] There are no surviving examples ofpittura infamante frescoes, but contemporary sources suggest that they were brightly colored.[2][7] Detailed descriptions ofpitture infamanti in primary sources are rare.[11] A very few preparatory drawings, however, are extant, andThe Hanged Man fromTarot cards is thought to resemble the archetypalpittura infamante theme, as Tarot decks were first produced in northern Italy in the 1440s.[4]
Documentary evidence forpittura infamante outside Italy is rarer but existent. For example, records support the use of "very unpleasant pictures" painted on cloths during theHundred Years' War and the reign ofKing Louis XI ofFrance, and – later – inEngland and northGermany.[12]
Pitture infamanti were the counterpoint of another contemporary form of secular, full-length portrait:uomini famosi ("famous men") oruomini illustri ("illustrious men"), which depicted figures from theOld Testament orAntiquity in a positive context, generally on the interior of private or civic buildings as moral exemplars.[13]
Konrad von Landau, painted on the walls ofBologna for treachery; in response Landau created his ownpittura infamante on the saddle of his horse, depicting the local politicians hung upside down by their feet in the hand of a giant whore.[14]
Ridolfo di Camerino, "traitor to theHoly Mother Church, to thepopolo and commune of Florence and to all its allies", painted upside down on agallows, hanging by his left foot on the facade of the Army Pay Office with asiren on his left and abasilisk on his right while wearing a bishop'smitre (circa October 13, 1377).[11]
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Caferro, William. 2006.John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth Century Italy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN0-8018-8323-7
Dean, Trevor. 2000.The Towns of Italy in the Later Middle Ages. Manchester University Press.ISBN0-7190-5204-1
Edgerton, Samuel Y. 1980. "Icons of Justice." Past and Present, 89: 23–38.
Edgerton, Samuel Y. 1985.Pictures and Punishment. Art and Criminal Prosecution during the Florentine Renaissance. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Garberti, M. Preceruti. 1974.Il Castello Sforzesco. Le raccolte artistiche: Pittura e sculptura. Milan.
Gardner, Julian. 1987. "An Introduction to the Iconography of the Medieval Italian City Gate." Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 41: 199–213.
Hegarty, Melinda. 1996. "Laurentian Patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio: The Frescoes of the Sala dei Gigli." The Art Bulletin, 78(2): 265–285.
Hudson, Hugh. 2006. "The Politics of War: Paolo Uccello’s Equestrian Monument for Sir John Hawkwood in the Cathedral of Florence." Parergon 23: 1–33.
Mills, Robert. 2005.Suspended animation: pain, pleasure and punishment in medieval culture. Reaktion Books.ISBN1-86189-260-8
Ortalli, Gherardo. 2015 [1979].La pittura infamante. Secoli XIII-XVI. New edition. Rome: Viella.ISBN978-88-6728-020-9
Wegener, Wendy J. 1993. "'That the practice of arms is most excellent declare the statues of valiant men': the Luccan War and Florentine Political ideology in paintings by Uccello and Castagno."Renaissance Studies7(2): 129–167.
Wieruszowski, Helene. 1944. "Art and the Commune in the Time of Dante."Speculum,19(1): 14–33.
