Lorenzetti

Sienese School of Painting

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good Government, 1338 -40

• Painting done in the chief council chamber of Siena, the Hall of Peace

• Panoramic view of the city of Siena with walls and countryside

• Security in center has a banner that proclaims everyone can walk freely because justice reigns

• Singing and dancing in the streets of the ideal republic (actually against Sienese law)

• Crafts, professions, trades are highlighted as thriving

• Bountiful harvests: a good city feeds its people

• Aspects of leisure: hunters and falconers leave the city unafraid of their safety

• Dark blue sky in contrast with well lit scenery

• Aristocratic elegance of figures

Wisdom is shown above Justice at the same level as the theological virtues, and thus is seen as one of the most important qualities of good government, in accordance with Plato.

Justice is enthroned between the balanced pans of her scales. On each side angels perform different types of jusice, rewarding to our right and punishing to our left.

Concord carries a carpenter’s plane: for agreement to be reached all difficulties and disagreements must be smoothed out. There are two threads, which are each tied to one of the pans of the scales, keeping them balanced. The threads are wound together in Concord’s left hand and she passes them to the nearest person.

Dressed in contemporary clothes these people are clearly intended to be citizens of Siena. Between them they hold onto the wound threads of Justice, which eventually lead to Good Government and are tied to his right wrist.

Peace reclines on a suit of armour, and tramples more armour underfoot – she has overcome war. She holds an olive branch, symbolic of peace, and wears an olive garland on her head.

Fortitude and Prudence sit on Good Government’s right. Prudence points to 3 lamps, standing for the past, present and future, with an abbreviation of the motto “From past experience, the present acts prudently so as not to spoil the future.

The figure of Good Government wears black & white – the colors of the coat of arms of Sienna. Around his head are the letters CSCV, which stand for Commune Saenorum Civitatis Virginis (Commune of Sienna, City of the Virgin).

The 3 theological virtues are seen in the sky around the ruler’s head. Faith in white, carries the cross, and Charity, in red, holds a flaming heart, a symbol of her burning love for God. Hope is not in green, as usually presented, but looks up toward a vision of Christ in the sky.

The twins Romulus and Remus are suckled by a she-wolf. Siena was a Roman colony: the twins refer to its imperial origins and its status as heir to the Roman tradition.

Magnanimity, Temperance and Justice are seated to the ruler’s left, the last of these appearing twice in the painting. Magnanimity is represented by the dish of coins in her lap; Good Gov’t will be generous, in both finances and judgement.