Savonarola: Those Who Destroy Art

Section from my book: Evolution Through Art

Piero de' Medici's Downfall

 King Charles VIII of France asked for safe passage through Florence, and Piero de' Medici hesitated to answer for days. Finally, without consultation, he privately met with King Charles and gave away several fortified cities, including Pisa, to the King. When the Florentines heard the terms, they revolted and threw out the hapless Piero the Unfortunate and sacked his properties. After two short years at the helm he destroyed the Medici flagship in Florence. His weakness opened the door for the infamous puritanical zealot Girolamo Savonarola, who under the guise of idealism was out to destroy the humanistic elements of the Italian Renaissance and if possible guarantee that they would have no place in the future.

Figure 29 Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-06. Louvre, Paris If Savonarola had continued to live, the Mona Lisa might never have come into being.

SAVONAROLA

 Girolamo Savonarola was born in 1452, the same year as Leonardo da Vinci. He grew up in a wealthy phys…