1 Prime pagine ok.indd - accademia degli intronati

74
John Koenig
The Concistoro had also decided, in keeping with the Balia decree,
that “divine inspiration” should be the canon’s guide in disposing of
the keys he received at the altar. This would show that when (as would
inevitably happen) Pecci returned the keys to the prior, he would be guided
by the Blessed Virgin, meaning, in effect, that he was not mechanically
performing a ritual act, but responding to her wishes, which in turn meant
that the new Popolari government was truly the Virgin’s choice to rule
her city and people of Siena.
There is also stunning visual evidence of this key offering, in a
miniature by famed local artist Domenico Beccafumi, which may belong
to the series of annual paintings commissioned by the Treasury, one of
which, we saw, recorded the 1483 offering. It depicts the prior on his
knees humbly reaching up to accept the keys from a standing, richly
berobed figure, who can only be the canon in his mass vestments. He is
bathed in golden sunlight, as are some of the bystanders, which signified
the Virgin’s presence (rather more subtly than the 1483 tavola had done!)
and, more generally, the importance of this moment, which the ritual did
so much to dramatize 52 .
The religious as opposed to the ritual character of this donazione
was significantly enhanced by the involvement of Margherita Bichi,
who saw in this moment of extreme crisis an extraordinary opportunity
to save her city, not only by securing the Virgin’s protection against its
enemies but also by healing its political divisions, by committing the
Popolari to Christian principles of good governance. We shall see in
the next section that some three decades before, Savonarola had played,
albeit on a larger stage, such a role at Florence, where he had similarly
proved himself a master of crisis devotions, while laying out a path to
political peace and unity that conflated Christian and political virtues, on
which the success of these devotions depended. And, like him, Donna
52 BORGIA (ed.), Le Biccherne, 184-85. The chapel at which the semi-sacred scene took place is
framed by a magnificent Renaissance arch (that has a far more modest appearance in the 1483 tavola
dipinta), which is in turn framed by the cathedral’s massive walls and powerful pillars, which awe the
viewer and further magnify the importance of the key offering.