DOI Artikel:
Miziołek, Jerzy: 'Sąd Salomona, Legenda o zmarłym królu' i 'Historia Tuzji': trzy obrazy Alvise Donatiego z początku XVI wieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17216#0051
SĄD SALOMONA, LEGENDA O ZMARŁYM KRÓLU I HISTORIA TUZJI: TRZY OBRAZY ALVISE DONATIEGO Z POCZĄTKU XVI WIEKU 45
is first a comes, then „prince of that country", a podest... (as in San Bernardino's De cristiana religione), and a king of Jérusalem.
From the mid-13th century onward the judge is often identified with Solomon himself. As noted by Stechow, the juridical
character of the oriental legend was gradually abandoned and replaced by an emphasis on various degrees and forms of Christian
moralisation. And thus in the Gęsta romanorum, for example, the three bastards stand for pagans, Jews and heretics, while the
genuine son represents „any good Christian".
The first depictions of the story (with two or three sons) are to be found in French illuminated Bibles (fig. 9). They are
usually shown together with the Biblical Judgment of Solomon, namely the Judgment of the Mothers and other scènes from the
life of that King. In the Duke of Berry's Bible historiale, dated ca. 1400 (which is housed in the Arsenal Library in Paris), apart
from both judgments (the Biblical and the legendary or apocryphal ones), there is also a représentation of Solomon receiving the
Queen of Sheba.
The earliest Italian représentations of the legend occured in mid-14th century and are paired with the Biblical Judgment of
Solomon. During the 14th century they adorn ivory combs (fig. 10). In the next two centuries the legend appeared in a Florentine
engraving (fig. 11), in a Venetian Bible (fig. 12), on two bronze plaquettes (figs. 14-15), on a majolica plate (fig. 36), and in two
spalliere or backrest - one of the latter is by Marco Zoppo (fig. 13) the other by Bachiacca (fig. 22). Among other media and an
other supports several of thèse représentations were evidently unknown to Stechow, the other yet have to be published. Others
remain to be published. One of the most interesting is an unpublished sculpted marble oval kept in the Museo Bardini, Florence,
which can be dated ca. 1540 (fig. 16). As with the Lanckoroński panel, the judge is seated in the centre and the genuine son is
kneeling to the left. The poses of the protagonists in both are very similar; however, the style differs completely. The aU'antica
style, as on the Bardini oval, was also employed in a drawing by Rafaello dal Colle (fig. 18) and in a bronze plaquette in the
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (fig. 15). In each example not a single arrow pierces the father's corpse while the true
son has already fallen on his knees in front of the judex. In thèse examples it appears that the judge has discovered the truth
without the narrative convention of showing the profanation of the dead body of the father by the bastards.
On our panel as well as in both the Bachiacca spalliera and Rafaelle dal Colle's drawing, the dead body is tied to a column
or a tree and was apparently patterned on the so-called „Red Marsyas", now housed in the Uffizi (fig. 19). Alvise Donati might
have seen a drawing of this famous ancient statue; one such drawing, dating ca. 1500, is kept in a private collection in Paris
(fig. 20).
The Vindication of Tuccia
In Roman legend a Vestal virgin was once accused of adultery (sacrilegium) but proved her innocence by filling a sieve with
water, which she miraculously carried from the Tiber to a judge. The legend is told or mentioned by Livy, Dionysius of Halicar-
nassus, Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and then by Saint Augustine, Petrarch, and Bernardo Lapini (known as Ilicino or Ilicinus).
Petrarch in his Triumph of Chastity, tells only the following: „Among the others was the vestal maid/ Who that she might be free
of ill report/ Sped boldly to the Tiber, and from thence/ Brought water to her temple in a sieve". In the Ilicinus commentary on
this passage, the judge is a priest, while in Valerius Maximus we read of a priestess. Both Saint Augustine and Dionysius of
Halicarnassus mention several pontiffs/judges.
In the Lanckoroński panel there is only one judge and thus it appears that its literary source must have been Ilicinus (fig. 3).
This is hardly surprising as in the second half of the 15th century and at the beginning of the next, his commentary on Petrarch
was published several times; at least one of fhem appeared in Milan. Also not surprising is the fact that this story occured with
both versions of Solomon's judgments. Saint Augustine mentions the story twice in The City of God, and several visual représen-
tations show the vestal and her sisters wearing the quattrocento garments of Christian nuns (figs. 26, 28). Perdenone placed this
story in one of his frescoes adorning the cupola of Santa Maria di Campagna in Piacenza (fig. 29).
The story of Tuccia may be found on several Italian Renaissance panels intended for domestic interiors. Cases in point are
panels executed both in Tuscany and in Northern Italy. In Florence or Siena, a narrative on cassone fronts or spalliere depict the
legend across the whole of long panel (fig. 28). However, in the aforementioned cassone housed in the Poldi Pezzoli Collection
in Milan (fig. 34), the scène is shown in a pars pro toto manner. The same is true in the Lanckoroński panel. It is quite possible
that the identical scène figures in the left compartment of an another Northern Italian cassone now housed in the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Muséum in Boston, unfortunately badly preserved (fig. 6).
The Alvise Donati's Panels and Other Similar Painted Cycles
Even if there is not a single preserved cassone front depicting the subjects shown on the Lanckoroński panels, it is possible
to point some recently published majolica plates that provide very interesting analogies. Thèse plates (datable to ca. 1540) belong
to the Strozzi Sacrati Collection and are now housed in the Museo Internazionale délie Ceramiche in Faenza. In a group of seven
plates, two depict Shooting at Father's Corpse (fig. 36) and the Vindication of Tuccia (fig. 37), respectively one more plate
represents Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba (fig. 35). The reverse side each of thèse plates bears inscriptions. The one with
Shooting at Father's Corpse reads: La sententia di Salomone a li tre fratelli che al padre saggittavano. Thus, in this case, as on
the Lanckoroński panel, the judge is Solomon himself.
It is worth adding that there are several cycles of both murais and canvases executed in Northern Italy between ca. 1530 and
1550, in which we can fmd highly interesting analogies to the Lanckoroński scènes of exemplary judgements. Two first cycles
were produced by Pordenone and Pomponio Amalteo in Belluno (Palazzo del Consiglio dei Nobili) and in Ceneda (Loggia Mu-
nicipale), respectively they depict, among others, The Vindication of Tuccia (fig. 31) The Judgment of T. Manlius Torquatus, The
Judgment of Solomon, The Judgment of Daniel, and the so-called Justice ofTrajan. In a third cycle painted by Antonio Campi in
the Sala del Consiglio dei Giureconsulti dclla Loggia in Brescia, apart from The Judgment of Solomon, The Justice ofTrajan, and
The Judgment of Daniel, one also can discover représentations of the so-called Justice of Cambises and The Judgment ofSeleucos
is first a comes, then „prince of that country", a podest... (as in San Bernardino's De cristiana religione), and a king of Jérusalem.
From the mid-13th century onward the judge is often identified with Solomon himself. As noted by Stechow, the juridical
character of the oriental legend was gradually abandoned and replaced by an emphasis on various degrees and forms of Christian
moralisation. And thus in the Gęsta romanorum, for example, the three bastards stand for pagans, Jews and heretics, while the
genuine son represents „any good Christian".
The first depictions of the story (with two or three sons) are to be found in French illuminated Bibles (fig. 9). They are
usually shown together with the Biblical Judgment of Solomon, namely the Judgment of the Mothers and other scènes from the
life of that King. In the Duke of Berry's Bible historiale, dated ca. 1400 (which is housed in the Arsenal Library in Paris), apart
from both judgments (the Biblical and the legendary or apocryphal ones), there is also a représentation of Solomon receiving the
Queen of Sheba.
The earliest Italian représentations of the legend occured in mid-14th century and are paired with the Biblical Judgment of
Solomon. During the 14th century they adorn ivory combs (fig. 10). In the next two centuries the legend appeared in a Florentine
engraving (fig. 11), in a Venetian Bible (fig. 12), on two bronze plaquettes (figs. 14-15), on a majolica plate (fig. 36), and in two
spalliere or backrest - one of the latter is by Marco Zoppo (fig. 13) the other by Bachiacca (fig. 22). Among other media and an
other supports several of thèse représentations were evidently unknown to Stechow, the other yet have to be published. Others
remain to be published. One of the most interesting is an unpublished sculpted marble oval kept in the Museo Bardini, Florence,
which can be dated ca. 1540 (fig. 16). As with the Lanckoroński panel, the judge is seated in the centre and the genuine son is
kneeling to the left. The poses of the protagonists in both are very similar; however, the style differs completely. The aU'antica
style, as on the Bardini oval, was also employed in a drawing by Rafaello dal Colle (fig. 18) and in a bronze plaquette in the
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (fig. 15). In each example not a single arrow pierces the father's corpse while the true
son has already fallen on his knees in front of the judex. In thèse examples it appears that the judge has discovered the truth
without the narrative convention of showing the profanation of the dead body of the father by the bastards.
On our panel as well as in both the Bachiacca spalliera and Rafaelle dal Colle's drawing, the dead body is tied to a column
or a tree and was apparently patterned on the so-called „Red Marsyas", now housed in the Uffizi (fig. 19). Alvise Donati might
have seen a drawing of this famous ancient statue; one such drawing, dating ca. 1500, is kept in a private collection in Paris
(fig. 20).
The Vindication of Tuccia
In Roman legend a Vestal virgin was once accused of adultery (sacrilegium) but proved her innocence by filling a sieve with
water, which she miraculously carried from the Tiber to a judge. The legend is told or mentioned by Livy, Dionysius of Halicar-
nassus, Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and then by Saint Augustine, Petrarch, and Bernardo Lapini (known as Ilicino or Ilicinus).
Petrarch in his Triumph of Chastity, tells only the following: „Among the others was the vestal maid/ Who that she might be free
of ill report/ Sped boldly to the Tiber, and from thence/ Brought water to her temple in a sieve". In the Ilicinus commentary on
this passage, the judge is a priest, while in Valerius Maximus we read of a priestess. Both Saint Augustine and Dionysius of
Halicarnassus mention several pontiffs/judges.
In the Lanckoroński panel there is only one judge and thus it appears that its literary source must have been Ilicinus (fig. 3).
This is hardly surprising as in the second half of the 15th century and at the beginning of the next, his commentary on Petrarch
was published several times; at least one of fhem appeared in Milan. Also not surprising is the fact that this story occured with
both versions of Solomon's judgments. Saint Augustine mentions the story twice in The City of God, and several visual représen-
tations show the vestal and her sisters wearing the quattrocento garments of Christian nuns (figs. 26, 28). Perdenone placed this
story in one of his frescoes adorning the cupola of Santa Maria di Campagna in Piacenza (fig. 29).
The story of Tuccia may be found on several Italian Renaissance panels intended for domestic interiors. Cases in point are
panels executed both in Tuscany and in Northern Italy. In Florence or Siena, a narrative on cassone fronts or spalliere depict the
legend across the whole of long panel (fig. 28). However, in the aforementioned cassone housed in the Poldi Pezzoli Collection
in Milan (fig. 34), the scène is shown in a pars pro toto manner. The same is true in the Lanckoroński panel. It is quite possible
that the identical scène figures in the left compartment of an another Northern Italian cassone now housed in the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Muséum in Boston, unfortunately badly preserved (fig. 6).
The Alvise Donati's Panels and Other Similar Painted Cycles
Even if there is not a single preserved cassone front depicting the subjects shown on the Lanckoroński panels, it is possible
to point some recently published majolica plates that provide very interesting analogies. Thèse plates (datable to ca. 1540) belong
to the Strozzi Sacrati Collection and are now housed in the Museo Internazionale délie Ceramiche in Faenza. In a group of seven
plates, two depict Shooting at Father's Corpse (fig. 36) and the Vindication of Tuccia (fig. 37), respectively one more plate
represents Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba (fig. 35). The reverse side each of thèse plates bears inscriptions. The one with
Shooting at Father's Corpse reads: La sententia di Salomone a li tre fratelli che al padre saggittavano. Thus, in this case, as on
the Lanckoroński panel, the judge is Solomon himself.
It is worth adding that there are several cycles of both murais and canvases executed in Northern Italy between ca. 1530 and
1550, in which we can fmd highly interesting analogies to the Lanckoroński scènes of exemplary judgements. Two first cycles
were produced by Pordenone and Pomponio Amalteo in Belluno (Palazzo del Consiglio dei Nobili) and in Ceneda (Loggia Mu-
nicipale), respectively they depict, among others, The Vindication of Tuccia (fig. 31) The Judgment of T. Manlius Torquatus, The
Judgment of Solomon, The Judgment of Daniel, and the so-called Justice ofTrajan. In a third cycle painted by Antonio Campi in
the Sala del Consiglio dei Giureconsulti dclla Loggia in Brescia, apart from The Judgment of Solomon, The Justice ofTrajan, and
The Judgment of Daniel, one also can discover représentations of the so-called Justice of Cambises and The Judgment ofSeleucos