Page - 161 - in Der Arkadenhof der Universität Wien und die Tradition der Gelehrtenmemoria in Europa

A standing figure seems to give advice to a seated man in sandals in front of him. Both have been interpreted in a number of ways, of which the most commonly discussed possibilities are Saint Remigius arguing with an Arian bishop,51 and Saint Anthony the hermit with a beggar at his feet.52 Others have identified an antique wayfarer in the seated figure, and Zuraw suggests Saint Benedict for the standing saint and either Saint Romuald or Joseph for the seated figure.53 Mila- nesi’s simple observation in the Vasari commen- tary that the seated man seems to be a saint, ‘… un vecchio che all’aureole che gli cinge il capo sembra santo’, should at least exclude specula- tions about a beggar or ‘cripple’; the figure has a nimbus.54 Part of the problem in identifying the dos- sale’s iconography results from the way in which different iconographic strands, image types, and forms of interaction are fit into what at first sight appears to be a rather conventional tripartite marble panel. The individual and nonstandard combination of formal and iconographical ele- ments poses a series of challenges to the modern interpreter: The Adoration of the Virgin motif is combined with the ‘new iconography’ of bam- bino Gesù blessing the little San Giovannino, and the combination of three vertical panels leads in- to a horizontal set of stairs that opens up the religious scenery towards the beholder in both an architectural and narrative way. However, the picture does become clearer and less puzzling when we understand tomb and altarpiece as two parts of an ensemble with a coherent, mutually dependent message. This assumption is emphasized by the two- fold mention of Salutati’s status as jurisprudent. The reference as ‘iuris consultus’ appears prom- Fig. 8: Mino da Fiesole, Altarpiece for Leonardo Salutati (detail): Christ Child with San Giovannino. Fig. 9: Mino da Fiesole, Altarpiece for Diotivalvi Neroni, circa 1466, marble, Badia Fiorentina The SaluTaTi Tomb in FieSole 161 51 Bandini, Lettere XII (cit. n. 20), p. 179: ‘...nella nicchie laterale vi sono collocati i Santi Leonardo vestituo da Diac- ono, e Remigio suo maestro, ai di cui piedi si osserva giacente in atto di alzarsi un vecchio schiavo con maravigliosa attitudine.’ M. Reymond, La Sculpture florentine au XV siècle, Florence 1897, p. 96; and A. Guerri, Fiesole e il suo Comune. Fiesole 1897 (reprint Florence 1978), p. 52. This identification is also found in descriptions of the altar from the nineteenth century; see Zuraw, The Sculpture of Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13), p. 794. See also M. Horster, Dem ‘Florentiner Wanderer’, in: Beiträge zur Ikonographie und Hermeneutik. Festschrift für Nikolaus Himmel- mann, Mainz 1988, pp. 511–514. 52 Schubring, Die italienische Plastik des Quattrocento (cit. n. 12), p. 163; Lange, Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13), p. 27. 53 Zuraw, The Sculpture of Mino da Fiesole (cit. n. 13), p. 794–798; Horster, Dem ‘Florentiner Wanderer’ (cit. n. 51), p. 511–514. 54 Vasari-Milanesi (cit. n. 34), vol. 3, p. 122.