DOI chapter:
Chapter XI: The Tornabuoni Relief
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62110#0235
THE TORNABUONI RELIEF
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earlier writer than Vasari, Francesco Albertini, who, in
his “ Opusculum de Mirabilibus novas et veteris urbis
Romas,” printed in 1510, in describing the Church of the
Minerva, writes : “ Est et alia capella de Tornaboniis Flor,
depicta a Domenico Girlandario Flor.” *
We have thus the certainty that the Tornabuoni pos-
sessed a chapel in the Minerva decorated with paintings
by Ghirlandaio, and Vasari’s correctness as to Ghirlandaio’s
frescoes warrants the inference that he was equally correct
as to Verrocchio’s monument.
One of the tombs of the Tornabuoni family—that of
Giovanni Francesco, who died in 1480—by Mino da Fiesole,
still exists in the church, though not in one of the chapels,
but it is impossible to identify with absolute certainty which
chapel belonged to them, or to account satisfactorily for
the disappearance of Verrocchio’s monument. M. Muntz
offers the following suggestion, which is at least worthy of
consideration. He suggests that the Chapel of S. Giovanni
Battista may be identified with that of the Tornabuoni,
and for the following reasons. First, that S. Giovanni,
being the patron-saint of Florence, it is natural that they
should have dedicated their chapel to him. Next, that
precisely at the date of the extinction of the Tornabuoni
family (1588) this chapel was sold to the family of the
Nari by the Dominican monks who owned the church. The
Nari,either then or at some later date,entirely reconstructed
the chapel, and it is extremely probable that they should
at that time have ousted such tombs of their predecessors
as existed to make way for those of their own family, one
* For this quotation and the following facts see Muntz’s " Le
Tombeau de Francesca Tornabuoni.” " Gaz. des Beaux Arts,” 1891,
p. 279.
147
earlier writer than Vasari, Francesco Albertini, who, in
his “ Opusculum de Mirabilibus novas et veteris urbis
Romas,” printed in 1510, in describing the Church of the
Minerva, writes : “ Est et alia capella de Tornaboniis Flor,
depicta a Domenico Girlandario Flor.” *
We have thus the certainty that the Tornabuoni pos-
sessed a chapel in the Minerva decorated with paintings
by Ghirlandaio, and Vasari’s correctness as to Ghirlandaio’s
frescoes warrants the inference that he was equally correct
as to Verrocchio’s monument.
One of the tombs of the Tornabuoni family—that of
Giovanni Francesco, who died in 1480—by Mino da Fiesole,
still exists in the church, though not in one of the chapels,
but it is impossible to identify with absolute certainty which
chapel belonged to them, or to account satisfactorily for
the disappearance of Verrocchio’s monument. M. Muntz
offers the following suggestion, which is at least worthy of
consideration. He suggests that the Chapel of S. Giovanni
Battista may be identified with that of the Tornabuoni,
and for the following reasons. First, that S. Giovanni,
being the patron-saint of Florence, it is natural that they
should have dedicated their chapel to him. Next, that
precisely at the date of the extinction of the Tornabuoni
family (1588) this chapel was sold to the family of the
Nari by the Dominican monks who owned the church. The
Nari,either then or at some later date,entirely reconstructed
the chapel, and it is extremely probable that they should
at that time have ousted such tombs of their predecessors
as existed to make way for those of their own family, one
* For this quotation and the following facts see Muntz’s " Le
Tombeau de Francesca Tornabuoni.” " Gaz. des Beaux Arts,” 1891,
p. 279.