Giovanni Tornabuoni

Giovanni Tornabuoni (born December 22, 1428 in Florence , † April 17, 1497 ibid) was an Italian nobleman, banker and patron in early modern Florence.

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop: Donor portrait of Giovanni Tornabuoni , 1486–1490, fresco, front wall, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, detail

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, Tornabuoni Chapel, 1486–1490, fresco cycle, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

origin

Giovanni's father, Francesco Tornabuoni, was a successful entrepreneur and in 1427 the sixth largest taxpayer in Florence. His taxable net worth was sizeable at 46,320 florins . With his second wife, Nanna di Niccolò Guicciardini , Francesco Tornabuoni had eight children, of whom the two youngest, Lucrezia and Giovanni Tornabuoni, were to have the most impressive influence on the fate of the city of Florence. Lucrezia Tornabuoni (1425–1482) was an author of hymns of praise and wrote a large number of family letters. Her fame is due to the fact that she married Piero de 'Medici in 1444 and became the mother of Lorenzo de' Medici , the Magnificent, in 1449 . This makes Giovanni Tornabuoni uncle of Lorenzo de 'Medici.

Giovanni Tornabuoni gained respect and wealth as a Medici banker , as a builder and as a patron of numerous art projects. Not only its professional and economic success ensured the Tornabuoni family a social position among the first families in the republic. Above all, his patronage practice is to be understood as an expression of the high ambitions of the Tornabuoni to participate in the closest circle of political decision-makers. Giovanni was the first Tornabuoni who was demonstrably active as a donor. The first priority was the desire to establish and legitimize the claim to leadership.

Life

Born in Florence in 1428, Giovanni Tornabuoni joined the Medici Bank at the age of fifteen . His responsibilities lay in Rome , where he had been director of the Roman branch since 1465. His efforts in Rome led to ever closer cooperation between the Medici Bank and the Vatican . The Medici bankers exercised the office of general depositary, which included the administration of certain incomes of the Pope. Giovanni himself held the office from 1464 to 1465 (under Paul II ) and from 1471 to 1474 (under Sixtus IV ). The collaboration culminated in the entry into the alum trade . The stain was an important ingredient in the dyeing of fabrics.

After Giovanni Tornabuoni had transferred the management of the Roman branch to his nephew Nofri di Niccolò di Francesco Tornabuoni, he moved back to Florence. In the Florentine Republic he had a political priority. This found expression in the fact that he was elected the highest member of the Signoria , Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, in November and December 1482 . As such he was head of state of the republic and commander in chief of the armed forces. In addition, in 1484 he was promoted to the four-man board of directors of the Medici headquarters in Florence (called tavola ). Giovanni's position in the political and social arena consolidated his various memberships in networks such as guilds , guilds and brotherhoods : In Rome he was actively involved in the Confraternità di Santo Spirito in Sassia from 1478 . In Florence he was a member of the prestigious Arte di Calimala guild . Another indication of Giovanni's role in the social fabric is that he held a mediating position in one of the most important wedding connections of the second half of the Florentine Quattrocento . Under his care the negotiations for the marriage of Lorenzo de 'Medici to Clarice Orsini from the respected Roman family of the Orsini were initiated. In 1468 he witnessed the signing of the provisional wedding contract.

Giovanni Tornabuoni wrote his will on March 26, 1490 in his palazzo in the presence of a notary. Giovanni died on April 17th, 1497 at the age of 67 as one of the wealthiest and most successful citizens of the Florentine Quattrocento. In his last will, he formulated the wish to be buried “ante altare maius et super pavimento” (in front of the main altar and above the floor ) in the main chapel of Santa Maria Novella . This wish was met with a grave that has not been preserved today.

Art funding

Giovanni Tornabuoni achieved notoriety in particular through the patronage of works of art. For the sacred space, Giovanni commissioned the equipping of a total of three chapels with wall frescoes , altarpieces , narrative window decorations, furniture and liturgical equipment and provided financial support for the organization of masses. He also had a city palace and two country villas built and decorated with works of art.

Andrea del Verrocchio, Death of Francesca Tornabuoni, around 1478, marble, Bargello, Florence

Giovanni Tornabuoni's foundation activity began in 1478 when Domenico Ghirlandaio was commissioned to design a family chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. The decoration of the chapel, which was destroyed today, comprised a cycle of frescoes with scenes from the life of Mary and John the Baptist . The reason for the commission was the death of his wife Francesca Pitti in childbed on September 23, 1477. In addition to the Ghirlandaios frescoes, the magnificent memorial chapel for Francesca Pitti also included a grave monument by Andrea del Verrocchio with four depictions of virtue and a relief as a base. In addition, Giovanni commissioned the tomb for Giovanfrancesco Tornabuoni from Mino da Fiesole in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

The largest foundation, however, was financed by Giovanni Tornabuoni in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence with the complete design of the main chapel. The interior design of the Tornbuoni Chapel (Cappella Tornabuoni) by Ghirlandaio is one of the best-preserved fresco cycles from Quattrocento Florence. In large-format picture fields - seven frescoes each on the side walls and the front wall - the life paths of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist can be visually traced. With the depiction of contemporary architectural and interior elements and, above all, the contemporary figures that populate the biblical scenes, Ghirlandaio transfers the sacred legends to early modern Florence.

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, donor portrait of Francesca Pitti, 1486–1490, Tornabuoni Chapel, fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, donor portrait Giovanni Tornabuoni, 1486–1490, fresco, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella

In the lowest register on the front side, the donor couple, Giovanni Tornabuoni on the left and Francesca Pitti on the right, are shown in prayer position in analogue frescoes. The clients kneel inside a roofed, square pseudo-architecture . Through an adjacent arch, the view falls on the fragment of a row of columns in the middle distance, which is steeply aligned in the depths, as well as on a hilly landscape with stone buildings in the distance. The row of columns structures the picture structure and compositionally connects the foreground and background as a diagonal. Giovanni's robe completely covers his kneeling body. He looks out of the picture with his head tilted slightly downwards without an emotionally moved expression. Under his raised hands, crossed over his chest, the protruding sleeves fall almost to the floor.

The unveiling of the frescoes took place on December 22nd, 1490 - the 62nd birthday of the founder. The date can be read on the last executed fresco Annunciation to Zacharias .

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, Annunciation to Zacharias, 1486–1490, fresco, right side of the chapel, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Construction activity

In the 1490s, Giovanni Tornabuoni's possessions included more than fifty lots, a large palace in central Florence and two country villas. One of the country houses was Villa Macerelli in Careggi (today's Villa Lemmi), the other, called Le Bracche, near Castello. The construction of the Palazzo (today Palazzo Corsi) in today's Via Tornabuoni in the Santa Maria Novella district was completed in 1469. However, drastic renovation measures in the 1880s have greatly changed the original state. A surviving inventory from 1498 shows that the interior of the Palazzo Tornabuoni was particularly splendid compared to other Quattrocento palaces.

literature

Although Giovanni Tornabuoni was one of the outstanding art patrons of his time in Florence and was one of the social leaders, a summary of his life and work is still missing today. The Tornabuoni family has so far been treated in an essay by Guido Pampaloni from 1968 and more comprehensively in the monograph Eleonora Plebanis from 2002. In 2010, Gert Jan van der Sman added in his study of the life and works of art around Giovanna degli Albizzi and Lorenzo Tornabuoni Source situation around newly published material and provided the first coherent description of the generation after Giovanni Tornabuoni. Merseburger's work from 2018 deals explicitly with the portraits of Giovanni Tornabuoni and his family.

Raymond de Roover : The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494. Beard Group Inc., Cambridge 1963, ISBN 978-1893122321 .
Guido Pampaloni: Tornaquinci, poi Tornabuoni, fino ai primi del cinquecento. In: Archivio Storico Italiano, No. 126 (1968), pp. 331-362.
Patricia Simons: Portraiture and Patronage in Quattrocento Florence with Special Reference to the Tornaquinci and Their Chapel in S. Maria Novella . University of Melbourne, 2 Vols., Diss., Melbourne 1985, Vol. 1, pp. 214f, online .
Francesco Gurrieri: Il Palazzo Tornabuoni Corsi. Sede a Firenze della Banca Commerciale Italiana. Terra Ferma Edizioni, Florence 1992, ISBN 978-8887760873 .
Rab Hatfield: Giovanni Tornabuoni, i fratelli Ghirlandaio e la cappella maggiore di Santa Maria Novella. In: Wolfram Prinz / Max Seidel (eds.): Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449–1494. Atti del Convegno Internazionale Firenze, 16-18 October 1994. Centro Di, Florence 1996, ISBN 9788870382761 , pp 112-117.
Eleonora Plebani: I Tornabuoni. Una famiglia fiorentina alla fine del Medioevo. FrancoAngeli, Milan 2002, ISBN 9788846441799 .
Gert Jan van der Sman: Lorenzo and Giovanna. Timeless Art and Fleeting Lives in Renaissance Florence. Mandragora, Florence 2010, ISBN 9788874611287 .
Brenda Preyer: Palazzo Tornabuoni in 1498. A Palace “in Progress” and its interior arrangement. In: Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz 57, Heft 1 (2015), pp. 43–63.
Maria Merseburger: Painted drapery in the Florentine Quattrocento. Ghirlandaios Tornabuoni Chapel. Humboldt-Univ., Diss., Berlin 2018 online .

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Tornabuoni - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : House of Tornabuoni - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Cappella Tornabuoni - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Santa Maria Novella - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Villa Le Brache - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Villa Lemmi - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Palazzo Corsi-Tornabuoni - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ The amount is listed in the files of the land registry, which are kept in the Florentine State Archives: Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Catasto 77, fol. 390r., Quoted from Eleonora Plebani: I Tornabuoni. Una famiglia fiorentina alla fine del Medioevo. FrancoAngeli, Milan 2002, ISBN 9788846441799 , p. 195.
^ Raymond de Roover : The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494. Beard Group Inc., Cambridge 1963, ISBN 978-1893122321 , p. 219.
↑ See Roover 1963, p. 164, p. 198.
↑ Cf. Giuseppe Maria Mecatti: Storia cronologica della città di Firenze o siano annali della Toscana. 2 vol., Naples 1755, vol. 2, p. 460, online .
^ Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 13186, cc. 14r – v, cit. n. Plebani 2002, p. 246.
^ Pietro Egidi: Liber fraternitatis S. Spiritus et S. Marie in Saxia de Urbe. In: Pietro Egidi (ed.): Necrologi e libri affini della provincia Romana. 2 vol., Forzani ec, Rome 1908-1914, vol. 2, 1914, p. 178.
^ Gert Jan van der Sman: Lorenzo and Giovanna. Timeless Art and Fleeting Lives in Renaissance Florence. Mandragora, Florence 2010, ISBN 9788874611287 , p. 12.
^ Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 5675, fols. 47r – 50r, fully transcribed in: Jean K. Cadogan: Domenico Ghirlandaio. Artist and Artisan. Yale University Press, New Haven, et al. 2000, ISBN 9780300087208 , pp. 369-371.
^ Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Ufficiali poi Magistrato della Grascia 190, fol. 260v., Cit. n. Patricia Simons: Portraiture and Patronage in Quattrocento Florence with Special Reference to the Tornaquinci and Their Chapel in S. Maria Novella . University of Melbourne, 2 Vols., Diss., Melbourne 1985, Vol. 1, pp. 214f, online
↑ See Plebani 2002, p. 58.
↑ The four depictions of virtue are now in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, inventory number 850; the marble relief in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, inventory number 41.
↑ Donatella Pegazzano: Article Giovanni Tornabuoni , in: Jane Turner (ed.): Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art. 2 vol., Grove, London / New York 2000, vol. 2, pp. 1627–1628, ISBN 978- 0333760949 , p. 1627.
^ Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Carte Strozziane, ser. II, 124, fols. 76v-77v; ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 5675 (formerly C 644), fols. 47r-50r; Notarile antecosimiano 1924 (formerly B 910), insert 1, fols. 281r-87r; Decima Repubblicana 25, fol. 605r; Magistrato dei Pupilli avanti il Principato 181, fols. 141r – 50r, cit. n. Patricia Simons: Ginevra and Giovanna. Portraits for the Tornabuoni Family by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli . In: I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 14/15 (2011–2012), pp. 103–135, p. 106.
↑ Simons 1985, Vol. 1, pp. 170ff.
↑ On Palazzo Tornabuoni most recently Brenda Preyer: Palazzo Tornabuoni in 1498. A Palace “in Progress” and its interior arrangement. In: Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz 57, Heft 1 (2015), pp. 43–63; previously Francesco Gurrieri: Il Palazzo Tornabuoni Corsi. Sede a Firenze della Banca Commerciale Italiana. Terra Ferma Edizioni, Florence 1992, ISBN 978-8887760873 .
↑ The inventory of the Tornabuoni is in the Florentine State Archives Archivio di Stato di Firenze: ASFi, Magistrato dei Pupilli avanti il Principato 181. The inventory of the Tornabuoni property is divided into the Villa Macerelli in Careggi (fol. 141r – 144r), the inventory of the Villa Le Brache in Castello (fol. 144–146r) and finally the possessions in the palazzo in the city (fol. 146v – 150r). The inventory has so far been published in excerpts. With a focus on the decoration program for the rooms by Lorenzo Tornabuoni cf. Sman 2010, pp. 66–89 and Susanne Kress: “Die camera di Lorenzo, bella” in the Palazzo Tornabuoni. Reconstruction and artistic furnishing of a Florentine wedding room of the late Quattrocento. In: Michael Rohlmann (ed.): Artistic construction of identity in the Florence of the Renaissance. VDG Weimar, Weimar 2003, ISBN 978-3897393714 , pp. 245-285. Excerpts from the inventory also at Maria Merseburger: Painted drapery in the Florentine Quattrocento. Ghirlandaios Tornabuoni Chapel. Humboldt-Univ., Diss., Berlin 2018 online ; John Kent Lydecker: The Domestic Setting of the Arts in Renaissance Florence. Johns Hopkins University, Diss., Baltimore 1987 and Sheila McClure Ross: The Redecoration of Santa Maria Novella's "Cappella Maggiore". University of California, Diss., Berkeley 1983.

personal data
SURNAME	Tornabuoni, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian nobleman, banker and patron
DATE OF BIRTH	December 22, 1428
PLACE OF BIRTH	Florence , Republic of Florence
DATE OF DEATH	April 17, 1497
Place of death	Florence , Republic of Florence

[1] The amount is listed in the files of the land registry, which are kept in the Florentine State Archives: Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Catasto 77, fol. 390r., Quoted from Eleonora Plebani: I Tornabuoni. Una famiglia fiorentina alla fine del Medioevo. FrancoAngeli, Milan 2002, ISBN 9788846441799 , p. 195.

[2] Raymond de Roover : The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494. Beard Group Inc., Cambridge 1963, ISBN 978-1893122321 , p. 219.

[3] See Roover 1963, p. 164, p. 198.

[4] Cf. Giuseppe Maria Mecatti: Storia cronologica della città di Firenze o siano annali della Toscana. 2 vol., Naples 1755, vol. 2, p. 460, online .

[5] Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 13186, cc. 14r – v, cit. n. Plebani 2002, p. 246.

[6] Pietro Egidi: Liber fraternitatis S. Spiritus et S. Marie in Saxia de Urbe. In: Pietro Egidi (ed.): Necrologi e libri affini della provincia Romana. 2 vol., Forzani ec, Rome 1908-1914, vol. 2, 1914, p. 178.

[7] Gert Jan van der Sman: Lorenzo and Giovanna. Timeless Art and Fleeting Lives in Renaissance Florence. Mandragora, Florence 2010, ISBN 9788874611287 , p. 12.

[8] Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 5675, fols. 47r – 50r, fully transcribed in: Jean K. Cadogan: Domenico Ghirlandaio. Artist and Artisan. Yale University Press, New Haven, et al. 2000, ISBN 9780300087208 , pp. 369-371.

[9] Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Ufficiali poi Magistrato della Grascia 190, fol. 260v., Cit. n. Patricia Simons: Portraiture and Patronage in Quattrocento Florence with Special Reference to the Tornaquinci and Their Chapel in S. Maria Novella . University of Melbourne, 2 Vols., Diss., Melbourne 1985, Vol. 1, pp. 214f, online

[10] See Plebani 2002, p. 58.

[11] The four depictions of virtue are now in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, inventory number 850; the marble relief in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, inventory number 41.

[12] Donatella Pegazzano: Article Giovanni Tornabuoni , in: Jane Turner (ed.): Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art. 2 vol., Grove, London / New York 2000, vol. 2, pp. 1627–1628, ISBN 978- 0333760949 , p. 1627.

[13] Archivio di Stato di Firenze ASFi, Carte Strozziane, ser. II, 124, fols. 76v-77v; ASFi, Notarile antecosimiano 5675 (formerly C 644), fols. 47r-50r; Notarile antecosimiano 1924 (formerly B 910), insert 1, fols. 281r-87r; Decima Repubblicana 25, fol. 605r; Magistrato dei Pupilli avanti il Principato 181, fols. 141r – 50r, cit. n. Patricia Simons: Ginevra and Giovanna. Portraits for the Tornabuoni Family by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli . In: I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 14/15 (2011–2012), pp. 103–135, p. 106.

[14] Simons 1985, Vol. 1, pp. 170ff.

[15] On Palazzo Tornabuoni most recently Brenda Preyer: Palazzo Tornabuoni in 1498. A Palace “in Progress” and its interior arrangement. In: Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz 57, Heft 1 (2015), pp. 43–63; previously Francesco Gurrieri: Il Palazzo Tornabuoni Corsi. Sede a Firenze della Banca Commerciale Italiana. Terra Ferma Edizioni, Florence 1992, ISBN 978-8887760873 .

[16] The inventory of the Tornabuoni is in the Florentine State Archives Archivio di Stato di Firenze: ASFi, Magistrato dei Pupilli avanti il Principato 181. The inventory of the Tornabuoni property is divided into the Villa Macerelli in Careggi (fol. 141r – 144r), the inventory of the Villa Le Brache in Castello (fol. 144–146r) and finally the possessions in the palazzo in the city (fol. 146v – 150r). The inventory has so far been published in excerpts. With a focus on the decoration program for the rooms by Lorenzo Tornabuoni cf. Sman 2010, pp. 66–89 and Susanne Kress: “Die camera di Lorenzo, bella” in the Palazzo Tornabuoni. Reconstruction and artistic furnishing of a Florentine wedding room of the late Quattrocento. In: Michael Rohlmann (ed.): Artistic construction of identity in the Florence of the Renaissance. VDG Weimar, Weimar 2003, ISBN 978-3897393714 , pp. 245-285. Excerpts from the inventory also at Maria Merseburger: Painted drapery in the Florentine Quattrocento. Ghirlandaios Tornabuoni Chapel. Humboldt-Univ., Diss., Berlin 2018 online ; John Kent Lydecker: The Domestic Setting of the Arts in Renaissance Florence. Johns Hopkins University, Diss., Baltimore 1987 and Sheila McClure Ross: The Redecoration of Santa Maria Novella's "Cappella Maggiore". University of California, Diss., Berkeley 1983.