Page - 153 - in Der Arkadenhof der Universität Wien und die Tradition der Gelehrtenmemoria in Europa

cathedral of Fiesole just outside of Florence. Yet the monument also raises a set of intricate problems related to its rather unconventional form and iconography, in particular in its inter- play between tomb and marble altarpiece in the same chapel (Fig. 2).14 A thorough analysis of the Salutati monument is further hindered by a scarcity of sources. In the following, I will introduce several suggestions about the large- ly unprecedented form of the monument, the way in which it engages with the visitor and be- holder, and about the iconography of the mar- ble altarpiece, which has not been interpreted conclusively at all. The Salutati tomb’s innovative design and nonstandard iconography, its intelligent use of spatial relations and the way in which the newly discovered agency of bust portraiture all’antica is turned into its key feature, form an elaborate statement of Leonardo Salutati’s self- conception as an eminent humanist and bish- op. They build on a particular set of religious ideals, which help us identify and understand the Salutati tomb as one of the most remark- able and stunning – albeit overlooked – monu- ments in the history of Renaissance art and a true scholar’s monument. The chapel’s commissioner, Leonardo Salu- tati, hailed from an important Florentine family whose brightest star was his famous grand- father, Florentine chancellor and notary Coluc- cio Salutati (1331–1406).15 Coluccio, an avid col- lector of ancient book manuscripts and the undisputed protagonist of early humanism in Florence, was one of the most influential think- ers of the Trecento.16 His grandson Leonardo, born in or around 1400, was raised in this cli- mate of humanist intellectual curiosity and the spirit of Renaissance political pragmatism his Fig. 2: Cosimo Rosselli (fresco paintings) and Mino da Fie- sole (altarpiece and tomb), chapel of Leonardo Salutati, Bi- shop of Fiesole, Cathedral San Romolo, Fiesole. The SaluTaTi Tomb in FieSole 153 ture of Mino da Fiesole, New York 1993. Zuraw states: ‘The most inexplicable part of the Salutati chapel is the tomb itself’, p. 241. Older publications, such as D. Angeli, Mino da Fiesole, Florence 1905 and H. Lange, Mino da Fies- ole. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der florentinischen und römischen Plastik des Quattrocento, Munich 1928, empha- size the tomb’s extraordinary sculptural and artistic quality, the highly innovative ornamentation and the striking presence of its portrait bust. It is all the more puzzling that there is not one single article dedicated to the monument among the many publications on tomb sculpture from the 1980s onward. 14 It poses questions similar to those raised by the monument and chapel to the cardinal of Portugal in San Miniato al Monte in Florence, a much better known church than the Fiesole cathedral. The Salutati Chapel’s altarpiece has been subject to several attempts in identifying its iconography, all of which are not satisfactory. It has never been analysed as part of the chapel or in relation to the tomb. See Angeli, Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13); Lange, Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13); Sciolla, La scultura di Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13); Zuraw, The Sculpture of Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13), pp. 232–273, 781–800. 15 Leonardo’s father, Coluccio’s son, was Francesco Salutati. For Coluccio see ‘Coluccio di Pierio di Salutati’ in: Cath- olic Encyclopedia, New York 1913, vol. 13, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Coluccio_ di_Pierio_di_Salutati (last accessed on March 6, 2015). For the family history see also the comments by G. Maz- zuchelli in F. Villani, Le Vite d’Uomini Illustri Fiorentini, Florence 1847, pp. 74–79 (vita di Coluccio Salutati). 16 R. Witt, In the Footsteps of the Ancients: The Origins of Humanism from Lovato to Bruni, Boston 2000, pp. 292–337. Coluccio is one of the protagonists in S. Greenblatt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Swerve. How the World Became Modern, New York 2011.