The real Guidoriccio da Fogliano
This special article illustrates the meeting of Federico, Ilaria and Ambra with the great American scholar Gordon Moran, who has dedicated a large part of his career to the fresco known as “Guidoriccio da Fogliano”, which is in Siena, in the Palazzo Pubblico, precisely in the Great Council Hall: the place where, on April, our meeting took place and where Gordon Moran, in front of us and of a lot of students coming from the Syracuse University and who went to Tuscany, took stock of more than thirty years of debates on the fresco’s attribution, traditionally considered a work by Simone Martini. Since 1980 Gordon Moran has backed up that this fresco cannot be realized by Martini. We agree with him and we explain why through this article written by Federico and Ambra and translated in English by Ilaria, wishing that Finestre sull’Arte can contribute to spread Gordon Moran’s thesis also in Italy.
Note: if you click on the highlighted words, you can see the images, which are in other websites.
Kind, nice and friendly. This was the impression when we shake Gordon Moran’s hands at our first meeting, a very special one, in one of the most beautiful towns of Italy: Siena. And there, in the heart of Piazza del Campo, in the historic Palazzo Pubblico, the great American scholar waited for us, precisely in the middle of the Great Council Hall (Sala del Mappamondo) and in front of the very famous Guidoriccio da Fogliano, to which Gordon Moran has dedicated more than thirty years of studies and disputes. Here, at the tolling of the campanile’s bell of the near Cathedral, he began to describe us the fresco of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, which is in front of the wonderful Majesty by Simone Martini.
Beautiful, delicate and fascinating: in this way the Madonna sitting with the Child in her arms appears, sheltered by a large and sumptuous baldachin, where our eyes are thrilled by the Simone Martini’s precision. One of the great masterpieces of the medieval art, one of the great works art of everytime. Difficult is to consider a “masterpiece” the fresco that decorates the opposite wall: you don’t feel the same sensation observing this leader of the Sienese army on horseback, ready to conquer Montemassi and Sassoforte, event confirmed by the presence of a date (1328), which is in the lower part of the frame. No, this Guidoriccio is not a masterpiece: it is hard to think that a genius as Simone Martini realized a fresco which is on a quality level very inferior to his Majesty.
It is evident a stylistic difference, but also of realization between the two frescoes. Although this fact, critics have always attributed them, with no doubts, to Simone Martini and also the books of history of art have always confirmed it. Everyone has read something about “Guidoriccio da Fogliano by Simone Martini” and at most, in some recent books, editors have passed over the debate on the attribution, rose “officially” since 1980, saying simply that someone questioned its attribution. And so, how is it possible that delicate hands as the ones that realized the Majesty created also that rough Guidoriccio?
The quiet Moran’s words tell that his doubts, rose already since 1977, on the attribution of Guidoriccio to Simone Martini, were supported in 1980, a very lucky year for the scholar: in fact, in this year, he discovered another fresco of very high quality, which now is admirable below the painting that represents the leader and it is exactly where, before the realization of it, a rotating globe, made of canvas and parchment and representing the discovered lands, was placed.
The fresco discovered in 1980 after some restoration works on Guidoriccio, shows a man dressed in civil clothes but with a sword in hand and another man, as a lord of a castle who surrenders, who is the Count Aldobrandeschi; he, after the Guidoriccio’s conquest of the Arcidosso castle, surrendered also Casteldelpiano: events happened in 1331. The castle in this fresco is just the one of Arcidosso and it is confirmed by the tree (an oak) that appears on one of the two towers: the same castle, with the same tree, are always symbols of the village and they are also in the Arcidosso’s coat of arms, used now as municipal emblem.
The figure of the man that in Gordon Moran opinion is the real Guidoriccio, that is the one with the sword, presents stains of blue paint and scratches caused probably by stones and sticks. Why? We know that Guidoriccio was drove away from Siena in 1333 after being united with the enemies of the town: this is the real reason why the image of the real Guidoriccio was cancelled using blue paint and was hit using sticks, for a kind of damnatio memoriae (not rare event in that period) completed when instead of the fresco discovered in 1980 the rotating globe was placed (we can note the signs on the fresco below). Clear and definite are the words of Gordon Moran: “This is the real Guidoriccio!”. Convincing hypothesis, impossible to deny, because also less expert eyes would not have difficulties to agree with him, seeing many contradictions in the fresco.
Consider the technique! If we observe the Majesty, we can notice that many parts of the men’s clothes are deteriorated: it is because they were not realized with the technique of “true fresco”, but on dry plaster. And Gordon Moran refers nicely to the Majesty as to “Dry Martini”! On the contrary, the Guidoriccio was realized with true fresco technique, with very large giornatas. To continue to make the comparison with the aperitif, the upper Guidoriccio is called by Moran “Martini on the rocks” (the scene is in a rocky landscape)* (note 1) and the fresco discovered in 1980 “Absolute Martini” or “Martini with a twist”: certainly for the history of art this discover was really a twist. A curiosity: Giorgio Vasari, in his Lives (precisely in the section dedicated to Simone Martini) dwells upon the Majesty but he doesn’t mention Guidoriccio.
A date, 1328, written in Roman numerals, is exactly under the leader’s horse. It is sure that Montemassi was conquered in 1328, but it is sure also that Arcidosso and Casteldelpiano surrendered to Guidoriccio in 1331, and as there is a part in which the upper fresco covers the lower one, it is impossible that the fresco attributed to Martini, the one with Guidoriccio on horseback, was realized before (it is clear that an older fresco can’t cover a more recent one). Therefore here is another contradiction: we can notice that the tower of the Arcidosso castle doesn’t have its top. This is just the point in which the fresco discovered in 1980 is covered by the one attributed to Simone Martini.
All the scholars agree with the fact that this date was added later, because the characters used belong to a following period and some central ones (MCCC) have a different coloration from the others: sign of abrasions and of consequent rewriting. In addition, according to documents, Guidoriccio was commissioned to represent the conquest of Montemassi and Sassoforte in 1330 (the same documents testify that he was paid for the realization of Arcidosso and Casteldelpiano castles in 1331). In fact, the project provided a cycle representing all the castles conquered by the Republic of Siena.
In Moran’s opinion, the cavalryman of the illustrious fresco, that is the man who has been identified for centuries with the leader Guidoriccio da Fogliano who besieges Montemassi, was executed very probably about 1400 by an unskilled hand that nowadays we don’t know. This is why we called the other one “Absolute Martini”, because the real Guidoriccio is the slashed one** (note 2). And the same unskilled hands realized, on the false Guidoriccio right, the strange pergolas of grapes near the encampment, making a mistake: some sources tell us that the leader has a vinea, an instrument of war invented by Romans and used during a siege, but he didn’t have vineyards (in Latin the word vinea has a double meaning: a type of war machine and vineyards).
Another military mistake is in the representation of the “battifolle”: in Guidoriccio time, “battifolle” meant a construction made of wood used for defence, while afterwards the term indicated a masonry fortification. And who painted the fresco realized the battifolle as a castle, which we can see behind the leader on horseback.
Also the castle on the left in the upper fresco (Montemassi castle) shows architectural characteristics which don’t belong to the Guidoriccio period. In addition, the image of Guidoriccio seems to recall the equestrian monuments dedicated to leaders, but they were unknown before 1400 and the technique of the very large giornata was not typical of the Trecento painting, but of following centuries.
And so, who did the “Martini on the rocks”, the traditional Guidoriccio, realize? Gordon Moran has put forward a name… even better two names: Domenico and Francesco d’Andrea, two almost unknown artists of the mid of the 15th century. This is due to the fact that there are some drawings, which date back exactly to the mid of the 15th century, representing the work and some of its details, with measures, as a preliminary drawing*** (nota 3).
We could mention other contradictions, upon which Gordon Moran made us reflect with his strong passion and obstinacy opening our minds up new and more free horizons. And just this freedom of thought in everyone, often dimmed and limited, would manage to shake off the shackles that bound us to old and often wrong artistic attributions.
Federico Giannini – Ambra Grieco
May 4th 2011
Translation by Ilaria Baratta (May 16th 2011)
Note - added on May 6th 2011
1. Very often, in America and in Anglo-Saxon countries, Martini is served, as in Italy, without ice. The Martini with ice is called “Martini on the rocks”, because ice is similar to “rocks”. But in English the expression “on the rocks” refers also to something that is failing or that is beeing destroyed. For example, a business that fails is “on the rocks”. If a team is dissolved, it is “on the rocks”. A Broadway musical that has to close after unsuccessful performances, because of lack of interest on the public, is “on the rocks”. And so on: also for this reason, as there are more than sixty doubts on the traditional attribution (in Gordon Moran’s opinion), the upper fresco is a “Martini on the rocks!”
2. But not only. The fresco discovered in 1980 that, in Gordon Moran’s opinion, represents, as we have said, the surrender of Arcidosso realized by Simone Martini, has been covered for centuries by plaster in order to protect it by weather conditions. In addition, the fresco was not changed in style because of restorations, and for this reason, nowadays it could be the only fresco stylistically pure by Simone Martini.
3. These cautions are due to the fact that these drawings, belonging to Giulio Torta (an antique dealer from Palermo), are very important for the attribution debate, but some inscriptions are quite enigmatic. Gordon Moran believes that the man on horseback in the fresco was painted in 1424 as part of the map of the Republic of Siena, and that the equestrian portrait (the one that seems to be the image of Guidoriccio da Fogliano) is symbol of the power of Siena (only later it was thought that it represents Guidoriccio). The drawings have been dated to the forties of the 15th century by Giulio Torta, but in Gordon Moran’s opinion there are some anachronistic elements (the architecture of the “battifolle”, the black points on the horsecloth and the Guidoriccio’s uniform, maybe realized after 1670, and other things). Nevertheless they could bring a new important contribution to the discussion, also not implying the names of Domenico and Francesco d’Andrea.
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