Good and Bad Government in Siena
Type:
Wall paintings
Date:
1338 to 1339
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Dimensions:
long walls 14.4 m
Description:
Siena's medieval town hall, the Palazzo Pubblico, still houses paintings by some of Italy's greatest fourteenth-century artists. In 1338–39 Ambrogio Lorenzetti frescoed detailed allegories and scenes of the effects of good and bad government in the room where the civic leaders met (called the Hall of the Nine). Opposite a wall of windows is the allegory of good government, with large personifications of Justice and the Good Commune (many figures are identified in Latin). One adjacent long wall is devoted to the effects of good leadership, with a flourishing Siena and its idyllic hinterland. On the opposite wall is a frightening depiction of the effects of bad government: a personified Tyranny surrounded by vices, with the city in ruins and its countryside desolate.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
9
Repository and Online Resources:
• Zoom into the allegory of good government here.
• Zoom into the effects of good government in the city here.
• Zoom into the effects of good government in the countryside here.
• See more photos on the Kornbluth Photography website.
• Learn more about Siena and the Hall of the Nine frescoes on the Smarthistory website.
Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons; Flickr; Fondazione Museo Senesi; Steven Zucker, Smarthistory
