Apologies in advance for the level of detail I'm asking for, and the fact that it's a really insanely complicated question in the first place. It's like historical deep cuts. The B-sides of Renaissance History.
I'm going out on an enormous limb here, hoping to find an art historian who can talk to me about this, as I sort of think I may be one of the few living experts on Poliziano's life and times, particularly centering on his time spent with Lorenzo de' Medici. (Honestly, I'm a novelist, and to put it colloquially, I ship it.)
I am specifically hoping to find an answer to a question about Botticelli's "L'adorazione dei magi" (Uffizi Gallery, Florence). I'm fairly conversationally fluent in Italian, but the 18th Century historical texts are often a challenge for me and they're far from light reading to begin with.
Here's the painting in its context at the Gallery (I am posting the picture with me to give some scale, it's remarkably little!). http://tinypic.com/r/okv2w1/8
The details are fuzzy about three figures in this painting, namely Lorenzo de' Medici, Giuliano de' Medici, and Angelo Poliziano.
http://jackiewhiting.net/ArtHist/Images/BottAdMagi.jpg Logic and the same hierarchy of scale already established by the composition dictate that the figure in blue over Cosimo's shoulder (black robe with gold) should be Lorenzo and the figure in black and coral opposite him should be Giuliano, as literal branches from the strong root of the Medici tree, spreading outward from grandfather to grandsons.
Multiple sources have given no identity to the man in the pale blue robe. (Why would Botticelli have given such important stature to this person, if it were someone other than the Prince of Florence?)
Other sources disagree on the other figure, calling the pale blue Magi Giuliano and the black tunic man Giovanni. (Why would the younger brother be given greater stature than the older?)
Most sources agree (why?) that the smug-looking young man in the foreground wearing a red and blue tunic must be Lorenzo.
People pin the name Poliziano to one of two figures in the bottom left hand corner: the man draped over the shoulders of the red/blue tunic figure (which brings up more questions*), or the man in the little red hat, neither of which bear much resemblance to Poliziano, at least as he was depicted twice by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The figure with the black and gold cap looks much more like Ghirlandaio's Poliziano.
Help? I'd really like to know why I'm wrong for disagreeing with literally every analysis I've read.
I am by no means an art historian, but I have a few questions about your assumptions.
Logic and the same hierarchy of scale already established by the composition dictate that the figure in blue over Cosimo's shoulder (black robe with gold) should be Lorenzo and the figure in black and coral opposite him should be Giuliano, as literal branches from the strong root of the Medici tree, spreading outward from grandfather to grandsons.
Can you explain this "logic" and "hierarchy of scale" here? Do you know how high the painting would be have hung in Santa Maria Novella? When I took a graduate seminar in 14th-15th century Italian art, one point that was hammered home is that a piece can only truly be understood within the context that was hung. Does this change what elements would have been emphasized to the viewer?
Multiple sources have given no identity to the man in the pale blue robe. (Why would Botticelli have given such important stature to this person, if it were someone other than the Prince of Florence?)
Well, it's important to remember that while the original patron was connected to the Medici family, he wasn't a part of it. Furthermore, he was under no constraints controlling who was included in works of art he commissioned. Furthermore, your title "Prince of Florence" obscures historical reality. To the best of my knowledge, current thinking about 15th century Florence has attempted to de-emphasize the power of Medici and Lorenzo himself. While they were certainly the most power family in the city, I know a number of scholars accept that before his death, Giuliano and his brother shared their power and that power wasn't limitless. Indeed, they were driven out in the 1490's, which demonstrates a certain amount of vulnerability. Essentially what I'm saying is that yes, the Medici were the biggest fish, but there were other ones there.
"Isn't that a bit overt for religious artwork?" What's the problem here? This could mean a lot of things. You find contracts for paintings from the 15th century that stipulate how many hands should be included in the painting. It could be a matter of squeezing in an extra hand. I really don't seen anything untoward about this part of the painting.
I sort of think I may be one of the few living experts on Poliziano's life and times, particularly centering on his time spent with Lorenzo de' Medici.
Be careful. You don't want to step on anyone's toes, there's a lot of people working on Poliziano these days ;).
