Descrizione dell'apparato fatto nel tempio, Giorgio Vasari

Exhibition Label: "Giorgio Vasari and Court Culture in Late Renaissance Italy," Sep-2012, Sally Cornelison and Susan Earle This small volume describes the temporary decorations Vasari designed for the Florentine baptistery on the occasion of the baptism of the first child born to Francesco I de’ Medici and his wife, Joan of Austria, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Vasari repeated the Florentines’ belief that the baptistery was once a temple to Mars that was rededicated to St. John the Baptist when Florence became a Christian city. The baptismal decorations consisted of a large, central stage with a new font in the shape of the octagonal baptistery, a series of paintings designed to correspond to biblical numerology, and New and Old Testament figures. This text publicizes Vasari’s skill, glorifies his Medici patrons, and takes readers on a detailed tour of the baptistery so that they can not only appreciate the splendor of the Medici celebration long after the ceremony had concluded, but also understand the artist’s motives for such designs.