"Arma praedicatorum sunt auctoritates sumptae de libris"

Visual Expressions of the Mendicant-Humanist Dialectic among the Friars Preachers

Katharine Stahlbuhk

Abstract
This article investigates the complex and dynamic relationship between Dominican mendicant culture and the rise of humanism from the Trecento to the early Cinquecento, focusing on visual and material culture. Beginning with the 1352 mural cycle in San Nicolò in Treviso, which portrays forty Dominican intellectuals immersed in reading and writing, the study explores how the Order of Preachers crafted a visual rhetoric to assert their role as active participants in the emerging humanist discourse. By examining key examples, the article argues that Dominicans consciously positioned themselves as custodians of both sacred doctrine and classical erudition. It highlights the friars' engagement with the studia humanitatis not as antagonists but as contributors who reinterpreted humanist ideals through the lens of religious mission and civic responsibility. The article further analyses historiographical efforts to frame the convent as a civic institution and the strategic use of architectural metaphors to achieve this goal. The final section presents the bronze tomb slab of Leonardo Dati as a case study in how material choices were made at the intersection of ecclesiastical, intellectual, and urban spheres. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that the Dominicans' visual, textual and commemorative strategies reflect a deliberate dialectic between religious tradition and humanist innovation.

Illustrious friars: images of doctrine

[1] In 1352, Tomaso da Modena (1326–1379) signed the unusual cycle of forty 'erudite' Dominicans extending from Saint Dominic (1170–1221) to Jean de Moulins (?–1353), who was still alive at that time. The friars are portrayed seated at their writing desks in individual studies along the walls of the chapter house in the Trevisan convent of San Nicolò (Figs. 1, 2).

1 Tomaso da Modena, Gallery of Illustrious Dominicans, 1352, mural. Dominican convent of San Nicolò, Treviso, chapter house, west wall (photo: Giacomo Guazzini)

2 Tomaso da Modena, Gallery of Illustrious Dominicans, 1352, mural. Dominican convent of San Nicolò, Treviso, chapter house, south wall (photo: Giacomo Guazzini)

Taking this example as a starting point, the present article seeks to shed light on the contribution made by mendicants to humanism, with a specific focus on the Friars Preachers. Divided into three sections, it approaches the topic from three different perspectives. By considering pictorial examples mainly from the proto-humanistic Trecento and by relating them to the importance of book holdings among the Dominicans, the first section aims to demonstrate the friars' intellectual aptitude and capacity to engage directly, and, above all, on an equal footing with lay scholarly ambitions. The second part focuses on historiography and, more specifically, on selected fifteenth-century examples to foreground how the Dominicans succeeded in aligning their deeply rooted awareness of written memoria with the most current humanist positions. Finally, the third section provides an art historical case study of the bronze tomb slab of Leonardo Dati (1369–1425) with the aim of illustrating how certain materials were chosen to convey the interconnection between the convent and the city.

[2] Despite its renown, the thematic complexity of the Dominican cycle in Treviso has only occasionally attracted the interest of scholars, a few of whom have attempted to historically contextualise the execution of its particular iconography (Figs. 1, 2).¹ The cycle has been related to three circumstances: the nomination of Francesco Massa of Belluno (1348–1354) to the position of prior of the province of Lower Lombardy in 1348; the attempted convocation of the general chapter in San Nicolò in 1352, which proved unsuccessful; and the commitment to elect on that occasion Francesco Massa as Master General of the Dominican order.² This interpretation is supported by the fact that one of the inscription registers in the Treviso chapter house also lists the names of all the Masters General from Saint Dominic up to the mid-fourteenth century.³ Alongside the prior provincial, another inscription in the chapter house identifies his fellow friar and prior of the convent, Fallione da Vazzola, as the commissioner and/or inventor of the iconographic programme.

[3] Both Francesco and Fallione had, a few years earlier, namely in 1347, endowed San Nicolò with their rich book collections, thereby effectively establishing the convent library.⁴ Fallione donated eighty volumes, and the document recording Francesco's bequest lists 129 manuscripts, including the classic scholastic texts of Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and numerous other Dominican authors; those of the Augustinian Aegidius Romanus; and those of Hildegard of Bingen, the Church Fathers, Boethius, Isidore, Bede, and others ("et multos alios libros", unspecified). In addition to the Aristotelian texts and those of Seneca, the list of ancient authors includes various Ciceronian works as well as those of Virgil, Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, and Vegetius, along with the medical treatises by Galen and Hippocrates. By the mid-fourteenth century, the Trevisan convent thus possessed a library that perfectly reflected the canon established in those decades by the Dominicans, who consistently based their studies on a broad and diversified intellectual foundation.

[4] The connection between the library's arrangement and the iconographic choices appears evident, and it is surprising that, until now, the Treviso depiction of forty major authors of the Dominican order engaged in reading or writing has not been more strongly linked to the friars' decisive effort to present themselves as an integral part of the scholarly, proto-humanistic landscape of the period.

[5] Before examining in greater detail the distinctive features of the cycle in Treviso, it is worth drawing attention to a few other examples of Dominican paintings, mainly of the fourteenth century; this broadens the corpus of images documenting how the friars presented themselves not only as an intellectual elite but, above all, as educators of the people. To illustrate how deeply rooted this raison d'etre was in the self-understanding of the order, one can recall Jordan of Saxony's (1190–1237) answer to the question which rule the Dominicans follow: "The Rule of the Friars Preachers. And this is their rule: to live honestly, to learn, and to teach."⁵

[6] A roughly contemporary example, executed some fifteen years after the Trevisan cycle, is the mural decoration of the chapter house of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1365–1367).⁶ For our purposes, the Triumph of Saint Thomas is of particular interest. It depicts Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) enthroned within a highly subtle allegory beneath the vault, which displays the Miracle of the Pentecost (Figs. 3, 4).

3 Andrea di Bonaiuto, Miracle of the Pentecost, 1365–1367, mural. Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, chapter house, western bay of the vault (photo: Wikipedia Commons)

4 Andrea di Bonaiuto, Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1365–1367, mural. Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, chapter house, west wall (photo: Wikipedia Commons)

[7] This setting is crucial, and I will return to the centrality of this miracle for the Dominicans, and furthermore for the humanist emphasis on language and education. In the Florentine chapter house, Saint Thomas is depicted as the wise transmitter of the Pentecost message, positioned above – both physically and by virtue of his teachings – three 'false philosophers', poignantly crouched under the weight of his throne.⁷ This is reinforced by the eloquent gesture of Christ 'passing the torch' in the central quadrilobe of the frame, as he tilts his head downwards and extends his arms towards the saint on the wall below (Figs. 5, 6).

5 Andrea di Bonaiuto, Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas, detail, 1365–1367, mural. Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, chapter house, west wall (photo: Damien Cerutti)

6 Andrea di Bonaiuto, Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas – Miracle of the Pentecost, detail, 1365–1367, mural. Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, chapter house, west wall (photo: Damien Cerutti)

This divine 'illumination' is further emphasised by the sapientia depicted in monochrome on the cusped apex of Thomas's throne, as well as by the golden rays emanating from behind (Fig. 5). On the lower half of the wall, the basis of the saint's knowledge is displayed in a catalogue-like fashion (Fig. 4): feminine allegories allude to the various disciplines and arts, each accompanied by its exemplary representatives. Dionysius Areopagita, Aristotle, Cicero, and Justinian are portrayed besides Saint Augustine, among others. Thus, in Santa Maria Novella, the friars sought to emphasise Thomas Aquinas as the foundation of knowledge, while also depicting an ideal path of study for all the Friars Preachers.⁸

[8] It must be noted that in the Florentine chapter house the allegory centred on Thomas is part of a much broader programme. However, given our aim to investigate the mendicants' contribution to humanism, it is important to foreground the implicit message that the Dominicans recognised the need to accompany the reading of sacred texts with knowledge of law, rhetoric, natural philosophy, and other non-theological disciplines. In doing so, they stylised themselves as those predestined to take up the threads of ancient knowledge, especially in the realm of moral and ethics. The latter is a common feature, and one that finds expression in many images of the period. Two examples from the field of miniature painting are instructive in this regard. Around the middle of the fourteenth century, Luca Mannelli (1291/1296–1362), a Dominican from Florence who later became bishop of Zituni in Thessaly and subsequently of Fano, dedicated his Compendium moralis philosophiae to Bruzio Visconti (?–1357), son of Luchino (1292–1349), lord of Milan from 1339. Bruzio was an erudite bibliophile, who was most famous for his poetic dispute with Petrarch (1304–1374).⁹ Mannelli's Compendium circulated widely in vernacular translation; for our present purposes, however, its only surviving Latin copy, now preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (ms. Latin 6467), is of particular interest. This is the codex that was donated to Visconti, and its first page features rich pictorial decoration (Fig. 7). The miniature shows the Dominican presenting the book, alongside representations of various cities and towers from the Visconti dominion.

7 Luca Manelli, Compendium moralis philosophiae, manuscript, c. 1350. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, ms. Latin 6467, opening page (photo: Bibliothèque nationale de France)

[9] The lower margin bears a composition reminiscent of early Trecento Dominican iconography, which has been skillfully translated into a speculum principis: here it is not a saint, but Bruzio Visconti seated on a throne, holding a sword in one hand and an open book in the other, suggesting how strength and intellect inform sovereign power. Below, his feet do not clutch Alhazen or similar 'heretics' (as, for example, figured slightly later in the Florentine chapter house beneath the throne of Thomas; Figs. 4, 5), but a monstrous figure: superbia. To the right and left of Bruzio Visconti are six figures identified by inscriptions, three on each side: valerius – sen[eca] – ar[istotle] and s. thomas – s. ambrosius – s. augustinus. Each holds a book in one hand, while the other arm is stretched upwards, as if supporting the foliate frames that enclose the representations of the Visconti domains. The Compendium comprises three short treatises: the first is devoted to the notion of habitus, the second to the virtues, and the third to friendship. The aim of bringing together the religious sphere and that of ancient erudition in order to cultivate the reader's soul clearly emerges. This is also expressed by Mannelli in his prologue where he mentions his primary sources, namely Aristotle's Ethics, Cicero's De officiis and Tusculanae disputationes, and the first and second part of Thomas's Summa.¹⁰

[10] The second example is the decorated initial S in a manuscript of the Ammaestramenti degli antichi by the Pisan Dominican Bartolomeo di San Concordio (1262–1347), written during his stay at Santa Maria Novella around 1300 (Fig. 8). This particular manuscript, now preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (ms. II.II.319), was produced later and is dated to 1342.

8 Bartolomeo di San Concordio, Ammaestramenti degli antichi, manuscript, c. 1342, detail: initial S with four figures, attributed to the workshop of Jacopo del Casentino. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Florence, ms. II.II.319, fol. 3 (photo: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze)

The initial contains a miniature, in which Bartolomeo is depicted in the act of teaching the knowledge of the ancients to three laymen, who are probably symbolic representatives of three groups: jurists, doctors, and philosophers.¹¹ Here again, it is important to note that Bartolomeo wrote in both Latin and the vernacular, and that his texts were intended for friars and lay audiences alike, addressing both learned and less educated readers. In addition to the Ammaestramenti, his vernacular translations of Sallust, for example, are also worth mentioning.¹² As Maria Conte reminds us, Bartolomeo's texts continued to circulate widely even as humanism matured. His language was praised especially by Lionardo Salviati (1539–1589) and later, in the seventeenth century, by the compilers of the Vocabolario della Crusca. In twentieth-century historiography, Cesare Segre honoured him as a trailblazing pioneer of humanism, alongside Brunetto Latini (1220–1294) and others.¹³

[11] The reciprocity in the relationship between convent and city, evident in the civic value of the friars' writings and book holdings, is already evoked in the Chronica antiqua of Bartolomeo's convent of Santa Caterina in Pisa. There we read that he had the foresight to establish within the convent "a house for the bookshelves or library", funded by citizens who recognised its value for the wider community.¹⁴ The initial S with the miniature of Bartolomeo is therefore emblematic of the order's broader educational and intellectual ambitions, which were not limited to friars' or strictly Christian texts, but encompassed a deep engagement with ancient moral philosophy, read through a religious lens. The commitment to educating the laity drew the mendicants into the emerging discourse of the studia humanitatis, which has at its core an ideal link to the Greek concept of paideia. This point is central to the present argument: It was Cicero, and the reception of his work in Aulus Gellius' (125–180) widely read Noctes Atticae, who associated paideia – understood as an "earthly desire" for "education and training in the liberal arts" – with a culturally and intellectually refined condition, termed humanitas.¹⁵ It was apparently Coluccio Salutati (1331–1406) who consciously revived this eloquent connection between paideia and humanitas at the very beginning of the Quattrocento, in 1401.¹⁶ Conceptually, it corresponds closely to the social ambition implicit in the visual examples discussed above.

[12] The further development of such imagery can be identified in the numerous paintings depicting friars in the act of teaching a group of lay and religious men (and sometimes women). Among these, two telling examples are the panels executed around 1450 by Zanobi Strozzi (1412–1468) for San Marco in Florence, depicting Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas as Teachers (Figs. 9, 10).

9 Zanobi Strozzi, Albert the Great as Teacher, ca. 1450, panel, 48 × 148 cm. San Marco, Florence (with permission of the Ministero della Cultura – Direzione regionale Musei Nazionali Toscana – Firenze; no further use permitted)

10 Zanobi Strozzi, Thomas Aquinas as Teacher, ca. 1450, panel, 48 × 148 cm. San Marco, Florence (with permission of the Ministero della Cultura – Direzione regionale Musei Nazionali Toscana – Firenze; no further use permitted)

In these panels, the audience attending the teachings of the two eminent Dominicans is clearly presented as a heterogeneous group, comprising various monks and friars as well as laypeople from different social backgrounds. The representations appear to be closely linked to the place for which the two panels were intended. Most likely, they crowned two chairs (cattedre) in the theological classroom of San Marco; today they are displayed in the former reading hall of the 'public' library, which was designed and built by Michelozzo (1396–1472) at the same time.¹⁷ Despite San Marco's status as an observant, secluded Dominican convent, the friars nevertheless established one of the earliest "public libraries" of the modern era.¹⁸ In fact, with San Marco, what Salutati had emphatically called for in his De fato et fortuna – "constituantur bibliothece publice"¹⁹ – was realised. Some fifty years later, this rhetoric was echoed in the words that Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) addressed to Niccolò Niccoli (1364–1437), calling for the reconciliation of the studium humanitatis with sacred texts; it was also referenced in the famous funeral oration in which he eulogised his friend, praising in particular Niccoli's generosity in wishing to make this space accessible to "all" – namely the library of San Marco, to which Niccoli's rich collection of books was bequeathed in his will.²⁰

[13] Echoing Andrea di Bonaiuto's mural painting in Santa Maria Novella with its complex allegory of the enthroned Thomas Aquinas (Figs. 3-6), the convent of San Marco employed, about a century later, two leading figures of the order to visualise the intellectual and didactic function of the Order of Preachers (Figs. 9-10), as well as the public role of their library holdings.²¹ Returning to the Treviso example (Figs. 1-2), we note that, although driven by the same intention, the iconographic choice is different. Saint Thomas does not hold a privileged position there, but is instead one among many 'militant' Dominicans surrounding those entering the chapter house of San Nicolò.

[14] Indeed, the decoration of the Treviso chapter house is of interest here also (or primarily) because of its visual and conceptual parallels with the Uomini illustri cycles.²² The commemoration of eminent friars in written form was, in fact, a distinctive feature of the Order of Preachers ever since such written testimonies were called for by Humbert de Romans (1200–1277) at the General Chapter of 1256.²³ This profound historical awareness, to which I will return, is nevertheless expressed in Treviso in a clear formal correspondence with the secular viri illustres cycles. This is evident in the individualised portraiture of the figures, in the integration of text and image through various types of inscriptions, and, finally, in the intention to establish a model through which the community addressed by the cycle is inspired: an ideological foundation on which it is based and, last but not least, a humus (whether ethical-moral in nature, related to the friars' habitus, or expressed through their exemplary actions) from which the community is nourished. Despite the rather heterogeneous quality of the cycle, the precocity of the Treviso portraiture deserves emphasis.²⁴ The viewer is confronted with a varietas of human appearance – not as typological variation, but as individuals captured at different stages of an intimate engagement between self and book (Fig. 2). The sequence of friars thus transforms individual action into collective action. The learned international community of Dominicans depicted on the walls gathers around the Verbum, from which it draws its very raison d'être. On the back wall, the Crucifixion from the previous century remains as the central focal point; as guardians of the Pentecostal message, they are the "Preaching Friars" par excellence.

[15] In general terms, the Pentecost is the gift that reverses the scattering of the human community after Babel.²⁵ Mary and the Apostles, through their illumination via the Holy Spirit, gain the capability to speak in all languages.²⁶ Hence, the relationship between the possibility of communication and the the power of language is linked to the 'well-being' of the collective. In view of the humanist emphasis on "the traditional rhetorical" role of "language as an educational force",²⁷ it seems fruitful to reflect upon the Dominicans' attitude towards this relationship, the agenda they tied to it, and the reflections they devoted to its dynamics. Nancy Struever has stressed that this humanist emphasis was, in some respects, anticipated by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) in his De vulgari eloquentia, where he elaborates on the term illustre as signifying not just illuminated but also illuminating (I, 17: "Per hoc quidem quid illustre dicimus, intelligimus quid illuminans et illuminatum prefulgens").²⁸ Dante's explanation heavily relies on Thomas Aquinas, who considered art as an emulation of the forms created by God. Art that emulates God's creation is the primary source of beauty, whereas the essential and intellectual quality of beauty is not equivalent to truth, but rather the means by which truth is made manifest.²⁹ Dante's innovation lies in applying this concept of beauty as intelligibility – associated mainly with the visual arts and music – to the art of speech, and specifically to the vernacular.³⁰ In view of the "hybrid language of the pulpit" – as Carlo Delcorno termed the linguistic mixing of Latin and vernacular dialectics among the Friars Preachers³¹ – the combination of learning, eloquence, and the desire to deliver a certain agenda in illuminated and illuminating speech is definitely something upon which the friars meditated. And in Treviso, they self-consciously decided to have themselves depicted as viri illustres of doctrine and dignity in their chapter house (Fig. 2).³²

[16] The impressive quantity of books, parchments, and papers rendered in the fictive studies – some of them bearing legible text – is accompanied by inscriptions beside and beneath the studies. First, there are vertical panels with inscriptions placed between the fictive rooms; they indicate the name, status, and particular traits of the friars depicted. For example, the English cardinal Robert Kilwardby (ca. 1215–1279) is described as "vir in scientia perfectus & optimus moribus adornatus", while the cardinal Latino Malabranca (?–1294) is instead remembered as "vir prudens & cordatus & multum reputatus".³³ The lower half of the walls, articulated by a multicoloured decorative scheme, features three registers of medallions in which the focus shifts from the pursuit of wisdom to geographical dissemination (with a list of the order's provinces and the convents associated with the province of Lower Lombardy), and then to leadership authority (with a list of the Master Generals). First and foremost, the Dominican gallery was undoubtedly aimed at the convent's inhabitants. However, the versatility in the use of chapter houses is well known, and the permeability of convent spaces, together with the close interaction between mendicant and civic mentalities – the central theme of this publication – suggest that Tomaso da Modena was making a clear statement on behalf of the friars: they were active players in the period that we refer to as early humanism or pre-humanism.³⁴

[17] If, within the genre of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century pictorial cycles depicting galleries of Famous Men, the date of execution of Tomaso da Modena's frescoes – 1352 – appears rather early, placing them midway between Giotto's (ca. 1267–1337) cycle of Famous Men and Women in Naples (executed around 1330) and the Carraresi cycle in Padua, closely linked to Petrarch's literary work of the 1370s,³⁵ it should be emphasised that it was precisely in 1350 that Petrarch himself passed through the "distinguished" city of Treviso, which he praised as "iocundo", and a place capable of dispelling sadness.³⁶ Luciano Gargan, echoing Fulvio Zuliani's observation about Tomaso's direct knowledge of Petrarch's work,³⁷ did not want to exclude the possibility of a meeting between the humanist and the painter. Whether or not there was personal contact, Tomaso most likely encountered Petrarchan thought through Petrarch's circle of patrons. As Gargan has noted, Treviso, like other cities in the Veneto, experienced an early humanist phase that included not only a flourishing literary culture of the highest level but also an enthusiasm for collecting ancient statuary, coins, and similar antiquities.³⁸ Furthermore, as Eckhard Kessler has clarified with regard to Petrarch's De viris, it should be emphasised that the plan for this work arose from his friendship with the Dominican friar Giovanni Colonna (1298 – ca. 1343) and from the influence of the historiographical writings of Colonna's elder confrere Vincent of Beauvais (ca. 1190–1264).³⁹ In light of all these details, identifying the cycle of Famous Dominicans as an expression of the Zeitgeist does not seem at all misleading. The paintings can be read as emblematic of the Dominican community tout court, as they represent its history as a genealogical tree that celebrates the intellectual stature of the order.⁴⁰ In this sense, the paintings come very close to convent chronicles and obituaries, which regularly emphasise the Dominicans' intellectual and intelligible qualities, as Silvana Vecchio has also pointed out by drawing attention to the metaphor of the friar as a living library (quasi armarium scripturarum).⁴¹

[18] The painted Dominicans on the walls of the Treviso chapter house – depicted in a wide variety of scholarly poses and surrounded by codices, scrolls, and the instruments necessary for recording their thoughts – serve as an exemplary model for the friars assembled in the chapter house, whom they are meant to inspire. Their sheer number alone underscores doctrine as the primary characteristic and unifying feature of the community. We are thus faced with an image of the Church Militant, in which soldiers arm themselves with books rather than swords. Humbert de Romans had already made extensive use of this metaphor in his Opera de vita regulari: "Constat ergo quod arma praedicatorum sunt auctoritates sumptae de libris".⁴² He goes on to state that religious men should always surround themselves with (sacred) books, so that they never lack the water of wisdom nor the nourishment of the soul.⁴³ Books are metaphorically conceived as both weapons and sustenance for mendicants. Such military metaphors are also used in the context of the civitas, where they serve to emphasise the importance of learned and erudite individuals for the well-being of a community embedded in a defined urban setting. This imagery appears to have been employed frequently on both sides, in both religious and lay discourse. A lay counterpart can be found in Angelo Poliziano's (1454–1494) introductory words to his interpretation of Quintilian's Institutio oratoria:

But what is more necessary than to have always at hand the armour and sword of eloquence with which to protect oneself, attack one's adversaries and defend one's innocence from the wicked? [...]. This alone originally brought together within the walls of a city the men scattered in the fields, made them work together where they had previously differed, united them by laws, by customs, and finally by a refined and civilised education. That is why, even later, all well-ordered and well-attired cities flourished for supreme eloquence, and eloquence attained the highest honours in them.⁴⁴

[19] Interestingly, a central point for Poliziano is that the art of speech can reunite the "scattered people" into communities. This clearly alludes to the dispersion brought about by the differentiation of languages following the construction and subsequent destruction of the Tower of Babel ("the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth"; Gen. 11,8). As discussed above, this Old Testament episode is counterbalanced by the miracle of Pentecost and its crucial significance for the unifying power of language (unus est populus et unum labium omnibus, Gen. 11,6). Against this backdrop, the desire of the mendicants to participate in the development of what we call humanism, in its various forms of expression, becomes apparent.

Tempio, domus, and res publica: figurative language and the construction of history

[20] As mentioned above, the Dominicans were already called upon in their earliest decades to produce biographical collections, among the first of which is the Vitae fratrum ordinis praedicatorum by Gerard de Frachet (1205–1271).⁴⁵ Scholarly interest spurred the writing of the Vitae nonnullorum fratrum beate Marie Novellae by the Florentine Giovanni Caroli (1428–1503) and the De viris illustribus ordinis praedicatorum by the Sicilian Tommaso Schifaldo (?–1500).⁴⁶ Alongside the collective memory of the order, an ever-growing awareness and desire for the self-promotion of individual convents and friars was crystallising. The evolution of this production of memory has been studied by Anne Huijbers, who has pointed out that the fifteenth century witnessed an increasing – and above all conscious – attention to the use of Ciceronian Latin, which was evident not only in grammar but primarily in vocabulary choice.⁴⁷ She notes that Schifaldo made extensive use of such stylistic devices, as well as of typical humanist motifs and models, such as the praise of cities, an emphasis on the patria, and the constant designation of his work as oratio.⁴⁸

[21] When speaking of humanism in its linguistic dimension, one should therefore not assume any general opposition on the part of the friars, and certainly not in the second half of the Quattrocento. The "Ciceronian turn" should likewise not be understood merely as a stylistic phenomenon. As noted above, it also emerges in the deliberate use of a specific terminology that clearly recalls the ideals of "civic humanism", a concept formulated by Hans Baron and later developed by scholars such as Giuliano Tanturli, particularly with regard to its specifically Florentine expression in figures such as Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444).⁴⁹ It exhibits an awareness of the republican interpretation of Roman history derived from Cicero. (This is exactly where Tanturli sees a difference from the earlier generations represented by Salutati and Petrarch). The necessity of the studia humanitatis – within this 'republican' tradition – for rhetorical purposes is explicitly mentioned by Caroli, for whom 'rhetoric' encompassed both the ornamentation of speech and the epistemological value arising from it. He made it the cornerstone of his reform project in his autobiographical dialogue Book of My Days in Lucca (Liber dierum lucensium).⁵⁰

[22] In this work, written in the early 1460s, the reader encounters a conscious use of a purely secular vocabulary and of locutions of a 'Roman mold'. In the last part of the Book of My Days in Lucca, Caroli recounts a dream concerning the destruction of both church and convent (Caroli deliberately remains vague regarding the identification: the reference is to both the Florentine church and convent of Santa Maria Novella and the Dominican Order more generally). As in the last book of Cicero's political treatise De re publica, the famous Somnium Scipionis, authoritative figures appear to the friar in order to comment on the contemporary situation and, above all, to illustrate how the "patria" might be restituted. Re-establishing the "domus" – and thus reuniting the dispersed Florentine Dominican community in particular and the Order of Preachers in general – will only be successful if the "Romana res" is taken as a model and if, at the same time, a commitment is made to the study of the "litterae", with particular attention to the "humanitatis studia".⁵¹ These few lines reveal the profound absorption of humanism among the friars. One may perhaps even go so far as to say that Caroli employs the Ciceronian model in a distinctly "civic humanist" manner.

[23] Since Caroli wrote his texts from the 1460s onwards, further research is nevertheless needed to determine whether there were antecedents within his order or his convent that were chronologically closer to the groundbreaking lay humanist thinkers such as Bruni. For example, the circle around Antonino da Pierozzi (1389–1459), Caroli's mentor, deserves closer investigation, as Peter Howard's foundational research on the Florentine archbishop as well as the study by Francesco Bausi on the Florentine humanist and priest Francesco da Castiglione (ca. 1420–1484) have shown.⁵² Pierozzi died in 1459, Bruni in 1444. But the exchange of ideas regarding the recovery of ancient knowledge oriented toward a republican ideal not only of government but also of societal (re)form occurred much earlier, and did not only elicit distrust or provoke opposition from the friars, as the well-known struggle between Giovanni Dominici (1356–1419) and Coluccio Salutati might suggest.⁵³ In reality, their relationship should be understood as far more complex and dialogical rather than simply antagonistic. Dominici seems to be fully in tune with the prevailing political rhetoric of the first decade of the fifteenth century, as Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby has demonstrated.⁵⁴ In point of fact, the degree to which Dominici's rhetoric was infused with Bruni's strongly patriotic form of humanism – grounded in a republican interpretation of Roman history – is made strikingly evident in this powerful line from one of the friar's preachings in the very first years of the Quattrocento, where he plainly equates the humanity and faith of his audience with their Florentine 'nationality': "if you are a human, if you are a Christian, if you are a Florentine".⁵⁵

[24] Notwithstanding these selected examples, it is important to stress that we still know very little about the intellectual culture of Santa Maria Novella in the first half of the fifteenth century. Luca Boschetto's fundamental research on the impact of the decade-long presence in Florence of Eugene IV (Gabriele Condulmer, 1383–1447, pope from 1431) and his residence in the Dominican complex represents a major advance, not least in view of the permeability of the convents in their relations with civic institutions. The studies by Gaia Ravalli on the Dominican complex (a part of which is published in the present issue) have a similar impact.⁵⁶ But we still lack a thorough investigation of the eminent Dominicans present in the convent during that time, who taught in the studium, engaged in preaching, and maintained relations with civic authorities. They operated in a context in which they regularly encountered cardinals, high-ranking prelates, and secular leaders, and – even more importantly – in which they were in close contact with leading thinkers and humanists who served as papal secretaries and therefore frequently resided at Santa Maria Novella. If already at the turn of the Quattrocento the Florentine Dominican community played host to friars with international backgrounds and, above all, the convent held one of the city's richest libraries,⁵⁷ it was precisely from the mid-1430s that Santa Maria Novella, as the Florentine Lateran, became one of the intellectual hotspots of the Christian world for approximately a decade: The union with the Greek Church was concluded at the Council of Florence in 1439 and was followed by unions with the Armenian and Coptic Churches.⁵⁸ In this intellectual context, the famous debate on the nature of ancient Latin between Bruni, Flavio Biondo (1392–1463), and other disputants, which was held in 1435 in the antechamber of the papal apartment in the Dominican convent, is significant.⁵⁹

[25] Similarly, Caroli's major literary work, the Vitae nonnullorum fratrum beate Marie Novellae, written between ca. 1470 and 1480, attests to the reciprocity, porosity, and intertwining of the religious and civic spheres. Here we find an evident attempt to claim an integral place within the humanist movement already in the dedication of the text to Cristoforo Landino (1424–1498), "virorum eruditissime",⁶⁰ lecturer in rhetoric and poetry at the studio fiorentino since 1458. Besides choosing a leading humanist as the addressee of the Vitae,⁶¹ Caroli opens his historiographical work with a "laudatio domus", thereby creating a panegyric framework for the subsequent biographies of the Dominican friars. The description of the church and convent echoes not only the antique laus urbis – through Bruni's famous laudation of Florence from 1404 – but also shows Caroli's awareness of contemporary debates on how architecture shapes those who move through its material forms and inhabit them.⁶² In fact, in ideal concordance with the "splendore civitatis" celebrated by Bruni, who already emphasised how the inhabitants became infused with the nobility of the urban built environment,⁶³ Caroli opens his "preface by displaying the dignity of the house" (prefatio incipit feliciter, in qua dignitas eius domus ostenditur).⁶⁴ The workmanship and the beauty of the church and convent are presented as an ideal 'container' for exemplary friars. This is exactly what makes Caroli so interesting and fruitful for art history: his awareness of the power of buildings and materials in shaping communities, whether civic or clerical, as in the case of the friars. Caroli's use of architectural metaphors – or better, figures – is not unlike that of Leon Battista Alberti, who employs them in his Tuscan (and Latin) dialogues, to 'decorate' his text and subtly underscore his critique of contemporary politics and society.⁶⁵

[26] Alert to this interwoven exposition of historiography and architectural 'evidence', Salvatore Camporeale has already emphasised the extent to which Caroli's Vitae represent a history of a convent in the city. Caroli is concerned with the activities of the religious community in Florence. Camporeale went so far as to call the Vitae "a history of communal Florence from the 13th to the 15th century".⁶⁶ Caroli does not simply retell the lives of his confrères; he seeks to understand their historical dimension and to integrate the actions of the commemorated individuals into the fabric of the urban community.⁶⁷ That Caroli was not alone in this effort is also evident from official documents; indeed, a similar concern is reflected in the declaration of the General Chapter of 1481, when the Sicilian Master General Salvo Cassetta (1413–1483) affirmed that the Friars Preachers, through the study of letters, are the "decorum and ornament of the true Christian republic".⁶⁸

[27] With regard to the ambition to enter the canon of humanistic publishing, the tradition of such collections of friars' lives reached one of its high points in the printed work of another Dominican: the De viris illustribus Ordinis Praedicatorum libri sex in unum congesti, compiled by Leandro Alberti (1479–1552)⁶⁹ and printed in Bologna by Girolamo Benedetti (?–1529?) in 1517.⁷⁰ This monumental six-volume work brings together biographies of the most distinguished members of the order, starting with its founder Saint Dominic. For this venture, Leandro Alberti collaborated with humanists and scholars from outside the order, such as Giovanni Garzoni (1419–1505)and Francesco da Castiglione. Although Alberti's De viris illustribus Ordinis Praedicatorum appeared explicitly under collective authorship, one contributor is worth highlighting: the late Giovanni Caroli. Indeed, five of his seven Vitae of the Florentine friars are included in Alberti's collection.⁷¹

[28] What makes the De viris so interesting for our purposes is the quality of the edition, its attention to detail, its typography, and its overall layout, particularly as manifested in the frontispiece.⁷² The latter is framed by a large woodcut border in grotesque style featuring two mermen holding the Dominican shield in the lower margin.⁷³ – The same woodcut border surrounds the six large woodcuts within the volume, which depict the triumphs of six figures of the Dominican Order. – The first seven lines on the frontispiece display the title and the name of the main author in Roman capitals arranged in the shape of an inverted triangle. An eighth line indicates the presence of further authors, who are listed below, in lowercase letters, in two columns of five lines each. Centred beneath the two columns is a six-line block containing a Latin hexastich. Huijbers emphasised the significance of the poem by the Dominican Niccolò Bagnatorio at the bottom of the frontispice through its explicit link to antiquity:

Now let the Trojan sing no more, nor the sons of the earth-born boast in war; let the Maeonian poet [= Homer] fall silent, with his learned song. Let eloquent Livy now be silent as he recounts the noble deeds of the sons of Romulus in his lofty history. For the gracious image of Pallas, originator of all, devotee of virtue, shines forth: for a new progeny of leaders has arisen.⁷⁴

The arrangement of the information on the frontispiece, together with the poem, places the ten authors of the lives of the friars on a par with the works of Homer and Livy in epic poetry and historiography. Their writings on legendary ancient wars thus underpin the vision of the Church Militant, in which the Dominicans oppose Pallas/Minerva, goddess of wisdom and craftmanship, to Mars, god of war. The frontispiece reminds the reader that the work in his hands is a text of the highest literary standard and historical authority. The Dominicans are presented not just as the modern, rightful, and illustrious successors of the people of classical antiquity – the Greeks and the Romans – but, in a characteristically 'Renaissance' manner, they even surpass them in their claim to be seen as the "image of virtue" (virtutis imago), a claim expressed through the rhetorical assertion of the Dominicans' complete dedication to "Pallados omnigenae cultrix".

Bronze: the eloquence of material

[29] One of the viri illustres mentioned in Leandro Alberti's series is the 25th Master General of the Dominican Order, the Florentine Leonardo Dati, praised inter alia for his "outstanding erudition and extraordinary wisdom".⁷⁵ Dati and his bronze tomb slab by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455) in Santa Maria Novella serve as a concluding example of the close interrelation between convent and city. "On the morning of March 19, 1425, Lionardo di Stagio Dati, [...], has been buried in Santa Maria Novella: [his death] was a great loss for the city and for the order"; in this manner, a contemporary ricordo preserves the news of his passing.⁷⁶ The order of the aggrieved parties – the city of Florence first and the Dominicans second – provides an intriguing insight into the political and social role of Dati and of the Dominican convent in general. Surprisingly, neither the figure of Leonardo Dati himself nor his exceptional funeral monument has attracted focused scholarly attention.⁷⁷

[30] Leonardo was born into the Florentine Dati family as the younger brother of Goro (1362–1435), silk merchant and well known for his Istoria Fiorentina (one of the key texts for Baron's thesis).⁷⁸ We lack information about Leonardo's early education, but in 1395 he is mentioned as a dignissimus master of theology.⁷⁹ Dati was then a lecturer at the studio fiorentino in the years 1402–1403, thereby acquiring his great reputation.⁸⁰ In Santa Maria Novella, Dati held several offices and contributed significantly to the remodelling of the convent,⁸¹ for example by enlarging and reorganising the library in 1421, to which he donated a considerable quantity of manuscripts.⁸² As a theologian, Dati was a major figure in the turbulent years of the Western Schism (1378–1418), first at the Council of Pisa (1409) and then at Constance (1414–1418).⁸³ The coexistence of two, and then three, popes had significant consequences for the orders in terms of authority: The Dominican Roman province, of which Santa Maria Novella was the seat of the studium generale, remained loyal to the Roman obedience throughout. Nevertheless, the presence, alongside the Roman obedience, of an Avignonese obedience caused severe political difficulties for Leonardo Dati, who had been appointed Provincial in 1409.⁸⁴ A few years later, the third pope, John XXIII (Baldassare Cossa 1360/1365–1419),⁸⁵ who was supported by the Florentines in their efforts to end the schism under his guidance, appointed Dati as General Vicar of the entire order. Cossa's bull, dated March 27, 1414, is a detailed eulogy of Dati as an "agent of all good works, through zeal for religion, brilliance in learning, knowledge of divine and human matters, exemplary purity of life, and integrity of conduct".⁸⁶ Dati's nomination to the office was subsequently finalised during the General Chapter at Santa Maria Novella, which was held, extraordinarily, in September of that year (normally the Dominican General Chapters were held over Pentecost) in order to accommodate the opening of the Council in Constance, scheduled for the following month. The honour and prestige, not only for the convent but also for the entire city, in seeing one of its sons elevated to the position of Master General, is reflected in the exceptional sum of 1,000 gold florins contributed to the expenses of the chapter, for which the Florentine Republic, "figuratively speaking", had to, "tear itself apart" (si stracciò per modo di dire). This sum was extraordinary, in keeping "with all the pomp that is proper to the Florentines", and appropriate for a friar "who was naturally splendid in his affairs" (esso era di naturale splendido nelle sue cose), as the eighteenth-century chronicler Vincenzo Borghigiani recounts.⁸⁷ The city of Florence, furthermore, decided to entrust the Dominican friar with the mandate to represent the republic at the Council of Constance (with the order to report "quello vedessi o sentissi, che ragguardassono allo stato nostro e alla pace e quiete d'Italia, o del contrario, così ecclesiastica come temporale").⁸⁸ He served at the council for four years, holding this dual office as Master General and as the city's delegate.

[31] Following the turbulent events that ultimately led to the resignation of the three rival popes, Dati, as representative of the Italian nation, was among the thirty electors who chose Oddone Colonna (1369–1431) as pope of the newly reunified Church, taking the name of Martin V.⁸⁹ The pope confirmed Dati in his office, officially recognising him as Master General of the Order of Friars Preachers in 1418. The words with which Martin V invested Dati further testify to the high esteem in which he was held; after recalling Dati's extraordinary learning, exemplary morals, and wise prudence, the pope praised the zeal and solicitude with which he had worked for the end of the schism.⁹⁰

[32] It was thanks to Dati's diplomatic skills that Florence served as the first papal residence after the Great Western Schism, hosting Martin V in the newly arranged papal apartment at Santa Maria Novella for more than a year, before his return to Rome in September 1420.⁹¹ Even in the following years, Dati continued his activity as an ambassador of Florence, mainly but not exclusively at the papal court. This arrangement continued until 1425, when he was struck by illness and died on 16 March in Santa Maria Novella. After his death, he was granted the honour of being buried embalmed in a floor tomb at the centre of the friars' choir.⁹² The topographical significance – "in medio antiqui chori"⁹³ – as well as the uniqueness of such a burial place at the time become clear when one considers the various options available in contemporary burial practices.⁹⁴

[33] The bronze tomb slab with the deceased's gisant was apparently cast by Ghiberti on behalf of the municipality, lending both a sense of novelty and striking prominence to its placement within the church space. It was the Dominican Vincenzo Fineschi (1727–1803) who recorded that the slab had been cast by the "celebre scultore per commissione, e per spese della Repubblica Fiorentina nel 142[5]".⁹⁵ On the basis of Ghiberti's tax records of 1427, in which he states that the friars of Santa Maria Novella still owed him 10 florins for the Dati tomb, it is generally accepted that the costs of the tomb were shared between the city government and the friars.⁹⁶ Given Ghiberti's artistic involvement in the renovation of the papal apartment – works financed by the city through the Opera del Duomo but overseen by the Dominican friars as hosts⁹⁷ – a joint commission from the friars and the priors to the sculptor is entirely plausible.

11 Lorenzo Ghiberti, Tomb Slab of Leonardo Dati, 1425–1427, bronze. Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (photo: author)

[34] The tomb slab consists of a plain, simply framed panel without opulent decoration (Fig. 11-12). It is entirely occupied by the bare-headed figure of Dati, dressed in the Dominican habit, which completely covers his body and feet. His head, tilted to the right, rests on a pillow decorated with floral patterns; his eyes are closed. Dati's hands are crossed over a book, and in his right hand he holds a pointed staff. At the bottom of the slab is an epitaph. The shallow relief of the floor slab has suffered from centuries of foot traffic, making the bony structure of Dati's skull-like head, with its sunken cheeks and pronounced cheekbones, even more perceptible today.⁹⁸

12 Lorenzo Ghiberti, Tomb Slab of Leonardo Dati, 1425–1427, bronze. Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (photo: author)

[35] In addition to its placement, the monument's exceptional nature was also emphasised by its material: bronze.⁹⁹ North of the Alps, bronze slabs had been used for bishops and high-ranking clerics (and occasionally kings) since at least the twelfth century, although Dati's appears to be the first example of this material on the Italian peninsula (even though earlier grave slabs exist in other types of metal).¹⁰⁰ Moreover, it remained a rare choice in the following decades. What motivated such a decision? What meanings were intended to be conveyed by a bronze slab rather than a more conventional stone one?¹⁰¹

[36] At first glance, a bronze slab – especially one cast in a single piece with such virtuosity as the Dati tomb¹⁰² – suggests a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, with significant risks of failure during casting, and thus an object that is both extremely costly and highly prestigious. The Dati slab is indisputably a work of high quality, executed by one of the most distinguished sculptors and specialists in bronze casting. We should bear in mind that by 1425 Ghiberti had already executed his Saint John and Saint Matthew for Orsanmichele, that the north door of the Florence Baptistery had just been installed, and that he had begun work on the third gates – all while possessing a profound knowledge of light theory and perspective.¹⁰³ The latter aspect should not be underestimated when considering the effects on the viewer of the shifting lights and shadows on the metallic surface, accentuated by candlelight during prayers or the chanting of hymns from the choir, and markedly different from the hundreds of other tomb slabs in marble and other stones present in the church by that time.¹⁰⁴ The aforementioned Cronica annalistica of the eighteenth century states that Dati:

wanted and had the tomb made, where his corpse would be deposited at the head of the choir, in front of the main chapel, thinking that it would be easier for the religious to remember to offer prayers for his soul; therefore, he had ordered the famous sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti to make a low-relief bronze simulacrum of him, to be placed on the floor above his bones.¹⁰⁵

[37] If the chronicler Borghigiani is correct in claiming that it was Dati himself who – perhaps during the course of his progressive illness – expressed the wish to be buried in that specific position and with a slab made of bronze, one is led to ask which comparable tombs may have inspired such a bequest. It cannot be excluded that Dati had seen similar bronze tombs during one of his journeys north of the Alps. He surely knew the bishop of Salisbury, Robert Hallum (1360/1370–1417), personally. Hallum served as English envoy at the Council until his death and was subsequently buried in the cathedral of Constance, close to the high altar and beneath a slab not of bronze, but of brass on Purbeck marble (Fig. 13), thus displaying a metallic and light-reflecting aesthetic similar to that of the Dati slab.¹⁰⁶ The much earlier copper slab for the cardinal Hugh Aycelin (1230–1297), located in front of the high altar in Santa Sabina, the first Dominican convent in Rome, is also similar.¹⁰⁷ Besides the shiny surface, the high visibility and monumentality, which nevertheless do not compromise the claim to humility implicit in 'simple' floor slabs, relate these examples to the Dati tomb.

13 Tomb Slab of Robert Hallum, post 1417, brass slab laid on Purbeck marble. Constance Cathedral (photo: Wikipedia Commons)

[38] Another line of evidence is provided by other equally high-ranking bronze tombs, which further underscore the elite reputation of those high ecclesiastical figures deemed worthy of commemoration in this medium. At nearly the same time as Dati, his supporter and close 'companion' in the schismatic struggles, the former pope Baldassare Cossa was granted the exceptional honour of burial in the Florentine baptistery in a monumental wall tomb decorated with a bronze gisant by Donatello (1386–1466).¹⁰⁸ Ultimately, Florence celebrated itself through these monuments. Although much of the general historiography paints Cossa as gloomy, it should be noted that even his harshest opponents, such as cardinal Guillaume Fillastre (1348–1428), recognised the great and admirable virtue of his efforts to secure the unity of the church.¹⁰⁹ In Cossa's case, it is important to recall the decisive Florentine interventions – above all by the Medici and related families – that rehabilitated his image after his resignation as pope, when he fled and was later imprisoned north of the Alps. Once freed and escorted to Florence, Cossa immediately went to Martin V in Santa Maria Novella to declare submission to his papacy. City chronicles recount how the former pope Cossa, reduced to a pitiful state, was on his knees wearing the habit of a doctor of law. Upon receiving his successor's blessing, the Florentines were left in no doubt that "the peace and union" achieved that day in their city was a "miraculous thing".¹¹⁰ On June 27, 1419, Cossa knelt again before the pope, and Martin V appointed him cardinal. As a tribute to the city that had so warmly supported him, Cossa declared that from then on he would be known to all as the "Florentine cardinal".¹¹¹ For the citizens, Cossa remained associated with a highly significant donation: a relic of the finger of John the Baptist, the city's patron saint.¹¹² This is evidently why the authorities permitted his burial in the baptistery – a location that would normally have been categorically excluded as a burial site¹¹³ – after his death in December 1419.¹¹⁴ Once the site had been chosen, the magnificent and seminal wall tomb by Michelozzo and Donatello was erected in the 1420s.¹¹⁵ The stir that was caused by the inscription selected by the Florentines to commemorate Cossa – including the words quondam papa ("former pope") – was such that Martin V, then based in Rome, formally requested that the wording be changed. According to legend, the Florentines' reply was succinct: "what we have written, we have written" (quod scripsimus scripsimus).¹¹⁶ The evident aim of glorifying the city through a papal tomb clearly outweighed any desire to appease the living pope.

[39] No less than Martin V himself – the first pope of the reunited Church and likewise close to Dati – had his burial place in the Lateran decorated with a slightly elevated, richly ornamented high-relief bronze slab, executed by an artist also closely connected to Donatello.¹¹⁷ Evidently, contemporaries were well aware of the capacity of bronze to convey specific meanings.

[40] It is indeed possible to identify semantically charged properties that significantly influenced the choice of bronze for Dati's commemoration. The metal alloy was not only regarded as the epitome of durability and preciousness, but also evoked admiration for the technical skill required for its execution. Hrabanus Maurus (ca. 780–856) in his encyclopedic work De Universo had emphasised the intrinsic connection between the strength and durability of the material and the strength and perseverance of the Church ("Item aes fortitudinem ecclesiae in longanimitate patientiae significat").¹¹⁸ Hrabanus' reference to the composition and hardness of the alloy as a sign of durability and stability parallels Dati's efforts in ecclesiastical politics and in promoting the unity of Christendom.

[41] A slightly different characteristic, if not the complete opposite of durability, is the liquefaction and fusibility of the earthly materials as the basis of such works of art, which makes it possible to relate bronze tomb slabs allegorically to eschatological ideas. Scholars have identified two relevant passages,¹¹⁹ one from Peter Lombard's (1100–1160) Sententiarum libri quatuor and another from the De sacramentis by Hugh of Saint Victor (ca. 1069–1141).¹²⁰ Both refer to the recyclability and reconstitution of metal statues in order to explain how the decomposed human body will, through divine intervention, be restored after resurrection. These sources are also significant for their subtle allusions to the divine capacity of the artist as creator, expressed through the notion of "Deus Artifex".

[42] The most important ancient source on bronze is, of course, Pliny the Elder (23–79) and his remarks in Book 34 of the Natural History.¹²¹ Pliny marvelled at the fact that works in bronze have the capacity to make famous men even more famous ("mirumque in hac arte est, quod nobiles viros nobiliores fecit"; 34, 74). In this sense, he emphasises both the preciousness of the material – which he states "is valued above silver, and almost even above gold" – and its auctoritas. Due to its historical relation to the civic, urban sphere – "the importance of bronze is as old as the city"¹²² – it is simply the most suitable material to represent qualities of the community ("excepta deinde res est a toto orbe terrarum humanissima ambitione, et in omnium municipiorum foris statuae ornamentum esse coerpe"; 34, 9). In this line of interpretation, Pliny's insistence that those deemed worthy enough by the community to be commemorated in bronze "were modelled as exact personal likenesses […] – what are called iconicae, portrait statues"¹²³ – is of major importance. This is also the key characteristics that Ghiberti himself attributed to the effigy of Dati: "trassi del naturale".¹²⁴ Scholars have debated whether Ghiberti used these words to refer to an early use of a death mask or whether he modelled the effigy while Dati was still alive.¹²⁵ Be that as it may, I think that the sculptor employs this wording in his Commentarii with precisely Pliny in mind; it is, first of all, a rhetorical use. Moreover, in doing so, Ghiberti enhances his own status and positions himself within the 'intellectual class'. In fact, according to Pliny, the guild of aerarii fabres was established by Numa Pompilius (753–653 BC) immediately after those of the priests and augurs that served the interests of the state.¹²⁶ That bronze effigies are related to the memory of individuals distinguished by civic virtue is also emphasised by Pliny, when he points out that the "first portrait statues officially erected at Athens were those of the tyrannicides".¹²⁷

[43] Turning from literary to material sources, one final point regarding the close link between Dati's bronze tomb slab and his dual political role for both the Dominicans and the Florentines should be highlighted. An instructive example for the iconology of bronze in Roman antiquity, in terms of vetustas and auctoritas, are the ancient bronzes once displayed in Lateran Square.¹²⁸ It was also in the Lateran that the famous Lex de imperio Vespasiani was kept – a legal document decreed by the Senate and inscribed on a bronze plate at the beginning of Vespasian's reign in AD 69 (today in the Musei Capitolini). During the rule of Cola di Rienzo (1313–1354) as tribune, the Lex Vespasiani essentially became a 'secular relic', displayed in the apse of the Lateran Basilica as an integral part of political performances staging the relationship between imperial power and the Roman people.¹²⁹ This monumental epigraphic bronze is a striking 'figural' example of the official validation and public celebration of laws. Such a practice is likewise described in the Bible, for instance in the First Book of Maccabees concerning the peace and alliance with Rome: "The proposal pleased the Romans, and this is a copy of the reply they inscribed on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem, to remain there with the Jews as a record of peace and alliance" (1 Macc 8:21-22).¹³⁰ This alliance is then reaffirmed at the end of the same book, where the emphasis is on the high priest Simon and where the parallels with Dati become evident:

When the Jewish people saw Simon's loyalty and the glory he planned to bring to his nation, they made him their leader and high priest because of all he had accomplished and the loyalty and justice he had shown his nation. In every way he sought to exalt his people. […]. Consequently, King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood,made him one of his friends, and conferred the highest honours on him.He had indeed heard that the Romans had addressed the Jews as friends, allies, and brothers and that they had received Simon's envoys with honour. […] and Simon accepted and agreed to act as high priest, governor general, and ethnarch of the Jewish people and priests and to exercise supreme authority over all.It was decreed that this inscription should be engraved on bronze tablets, to be set up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the temple (1 Macc 14:35-48).

[44] The symbolic value of bronze plates – and likewise, slabs – is clearly apparent, and there is no reason to doubt the familiarity with such semantic attributions at the time of Dati's death, especially when we consider how the inscription at the bottom of his slab – "à uno epitaphio a piedi", as Ghiberti annotates – reads: celebris hic memoria colitur clari religiosi fr(atr)is | leonardi statii de florentia sacre theologie ac | totius ordinis predicatorum magistri generalis.¹³¹ At first glance, it is a rather general, if not uninspiring, epitaph when compared to others of that era. Yet in light of the above-mentioned context, the priority – and the peculiarity – lies in the word totius. This refers to Dati's achievement of having (re)united all the Dominicans and having been acknowledged as master of the entire order and, in consequence, of having contributed to reuniting all Christians, of having ended the schism, and of having brought back the one and only pope to the Italian peninsula – first to Florence and then to Rome.

[45] If, as Norberto Gramaccini has argued, bronzes occasionally played a mediating role between the spheres of the material and the spiritual, as well as between the profane and the divine, such that they marked an interface between the two worlds, then the Dati slab emerges as an exemplary site for the interplay of these dichotomies.¹³² Indeed, it would be fruitful to dedicate future research to the rhetoric consciously employed by the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella and the way it served the well-being and peace of the city. It has been pointed out that such a commitment can be discerned from the very foundation of their church, which coincided with the celebration of peace between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines.¹³³ Similarly worthy of closer investigation is the fragment on the right-hand wall of the nave, dating from the 1330s, which depicts a battle scene representing the Martyrdom of the Theban Legion, yet with an explicit reference to contemporary politics.¹³⁴ And, to close with Dati, without diminishing his years of experience and close contacts with urban politics, the execution of his tomb on behalf of the friars and the commune should be situated within the broader context of commissions at Santa Maria Novella during those same years. This includes the still unresolved question of who commissioned Masaccio's Trinity, with the sources variously attributing the commission either to the prior, friar Lorenzo Cardoni, or to the Lenzi family.¹³⁵ The fact that Dati's brother Goro Dati was serving as one of the priori during the gonfalonierato of Lorenzo Lenzi in the very year of Dati's death in 1425 may have been a circumstance favourable to the tomb taking the form it did. In any case, the friar Leonardo Dati – through both the skills acquired in the studia humanitatis and his actions in service of his convent, the Florentine Republic, and the unity of Christendom – must be regarded as one of the eminent protagonists of early Quattrocento Florence.¹³⁶

Reviewers
Anonymous

Handling Editor
Susanne Kubersky-Piredda, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome

Citation
Katharine Stahlbuhk, "'Arma praedicatorum sunt auctoritates sumptae de libris'. Visual Expressions of the Mendicant-Humanist Dialectic among the Friars Preachers", in: RIHA Journal 17, 2 (2026), DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/riha.2026.2.107570.

License
The text of this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0.