Previous articleNext article FreeThe Coat of Arms in Fra Filippo Lippi’s Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a CasementKatalin PrajdaKatalin PrajdaFellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Central European University, Budapest Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreA century ago Joseph Breck, then an assistant curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, proposed that the two sitters depicted in the Museum’s landmark portrait by Filippo Lippi could be identified as the Florentine-born Agnola di Bernardo Sapiti and her husband, Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari (Figure 3). Breck’s identification was based on his reading of the coat of arms under the male sitter’s hands as that of the Scolari family.1 Remarkably, aside from Dieter Jansen’s counterproposal in 1987 that the coat of arms is that of the Ferrero family of Piedmont, the premise of Breck’s hypothesis has never been put to the test.2 The present article aims to do just that, reading details of the picture in light of emerging archival information about the Scolari family.There is no record of the picture prior to about 1829, when it was purchased in Florence by the Reverend John Sanford as the work of Masaccio (1401–1428). Breck was the first to ascribe it to Filippo Lippi, and this attribution is universally accepted today. Scholars generally agree that the work was painted between about 1435 and the early 1440s.3The coat of arms in the portrait consists of a gold field with three diagonal blue bands (or, three bends azure). The blue has darkened considerably, which is why Breck (and Jansen) erroneously described the color as black.4 According to the Raccolta Ceramelli Papiani in the Archivio di Stato, Florence, the bands of the Scolari arms were altered to black (or, three bends sable) from time to time during the Middle Ages; the earliest variation of the coat of arms corresponds to what is found in Lippi’s painting.5 The most famous of the Scolari, Filippo (Pippo) di Stefano Scolari, known as lo Spano (1368/69–1426), who was raised to baronial rank by Sigismund of Luxemburg (r. 1387–1437) in the Kingdom of Hungary, employed or, four bends sable (Figure 1).61. Filippo di Stefano Scolari’s coat of arms, ca. 1450s–60s. From Ulrich von Richental’s Chronicle of the Council of Constance, Aulendorf Codex. From Jékely 2006, p. 298.Extant monochrome examples of the family’s coat of arms from the first half of the fifteenth century show both three and four bands. The coat of arms appearing on the facade of the Scolari Palace in the Borgo degli Albizi, Florence, for instance, which was inhabited by lo Spano’s youngest brother, Matteo di Stefano Scolari (1370/71–1426), dates to about the 1410s or 1420s and shows a shield with three bands surmounted by a dragon and a helmet (Figure 2).7 The other two surviving coats of arms—both with four bands—are connected to Pippo Scolari’s second cousin Andrea di Filippo Scolari (d. 1426), who served King Sigismund in Hungary as the bishop of Várad (present-day Oradea, Romania).8 One appears on the bishop’s tomb in Oradea (Figure 4), while the other is displayed on the facade of the parish church of Santa Maria, founded by Andrea Scolari in Vicchiomaggio (Figure 5).92. Filippo di Stefano Scolari’s coat of arms, ca. 1410s–20s. Pietra serena sandstone. Scolari Palace, Florence. Photograph: Katalin Prajda3. Filippo Lippi (Italian, ca. 1406–1469). Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, ca. 1440. Tempera on wood, 25¼ × 16½ in. (64.1 × 41.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889 (89.15.19)4. Andrea di Filippo Scolari’s coat of arms, ca. 1426. Tomb of Andrea Scolari, Roman-Catholic Cathedral, Oradea, Romania. Photograph: Katalin Prajda5. Andrea di Filippo Scolari’s coat of arms, ca. 1410–20s. Parish church of Santa Maria, Vicchiomaggio. Photograph: courtesy of the Castello VicchiomaggioOn the basis of a number of factors—the placement of the coat of arms under the male sitter’s hands, the portrait’s probable date, and the Scolari genealogy as provided by Luigi Passerini (1816–1877)—Joseph Breck tentatively identified the couple as Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari and his wife, Agnola di Bernardo Sapiti.10 He cautioned that “the identification cannot be considered complete,” because “[d]uring the years within which the portrait must have been painted there were possibly in Florence besides Lorenzo several brothers and nephews, the facts of whose lives are too little known to allow us to discard them.”11 Today, one hundred years after Breck published his article, what is known about these other Scolari relations?Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari (1398/1410–?)—who, according to Passerini, married in 1436—was one of the three brothers who became the heirs of Pippo, Matteo, and Andrea Scolari in 1426. Between 1427 and 1429 he lived in Treviso, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, and was not in Florence at the time of the tax declarations (catasti) of 1431, 1433, and 1442, probably commuting between the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Republic of Florence.12 During these years, Lorenzo managed the business affairs inherited from his uncles in the Kingdom of Hungary, while his elder brother Filippo (1385/95–1442/46) headed the family in Florence.13 According to contemporary sources, Lorenzo married sometime between February 6, 1438, and October 7, 1439—not in 1436, as Passerini stated.14 Lorenzo returned to Florence only after Filippo’s death, in order to take over as head of the family15 Since he had no home of his own in the Republic of Florence, he moved into the house of his father-in-law, Bernardo di Francesco Sapiti.16 Lorenzo’s long absence from Florence contradicts Breck’s identification of the sitters, as does the couple’s youthful appearance in the portrait, given the considerable age difference between Lorenzo and Agnola, who was twelve to twenty-four years his junior.17The Sapiti were a family of the Florentine popolani (people of non-noble origins). Agnola’s father, Bernardo di Francesco Sapiti, was not active in politics. He reported no business transactions in the catasti of 1427 and 1433, and his name does not occur among the members of the five major guilds. He probably derived his income from rentals and investments in the local silk industry. In 1427 the thirty-two-year-old Bernardo owned a number of properties: two larger and several smaller houses near the parish church of San Jacopo Sopr’Arno and several plots of land in the countryside.18 In addition to Agnola, he had three younger daughters and four sons.19 Agnola’s dowry, which was commensurate with those of other Florentine girls of the same social rank, comprised both cash and shares in the Monte Comune public funds. Lorenzo Scolari received 340 florins in 1438, and the interest from 715 florins’ worth of shares in the Monte was to be deposited in Lorenzo’s name for five years.20 With three other daughters to marry off, Bernardo Sapiti may have faced difficulties in paying Agnola’s dowry: the 340 florins is a smaller sum than one would expect for a girl of elevated social rank, and it might be doubted whether she could have afforded the elegant attire exhibited by Lippi’s female sitter.21Although unremarked by art historians, the position of the coat of arms in the overall composition also contradicts Breck’s theory, since it appears in the same interior space as the female sitter. According to Jansen, the windows in the picture divide the image into two worlds—interior (occupied by the female sitter) and exterior. He noted that the female sitter is the central figure, and all other pictorial elements, including the male sitter, are subordinate to her.22 It is worth asking, then, whether the coat of arms might belong to the female sitter, who is clearly the portrait’s protagonist, rather than to the male figure, who appears as something of an observer and might be read as appropriating the arms of his wife-to-be.23 If the coat of arms does indeed refer to the bride’s family, then she can be identified as Francesca, Matteo di Stefano Scolari’s daughter, the only girl of marrying age from the Scolari family in the late 1430s and early 1440s.24Francesca, or Checca (ca. 1424–after 1481)—the niece of Lorenzo di Rinieri—was born about two years before her father’s death. In 1426, at about the age of two, she was betrothed to Rinaldo di Maso degli Albizi’s eldest son, Giovanni.25 Although her uncle, lo Spano, and her future father-in-law had already set the terms of the marriage, the engagement was dissolved shortly after 1433, probably owing to the exile of the Albizi by the Medici. Francesca was then engaged to Amerigo di Giannozzo Pitti (ca. 1426/27–ca. 1439) about October 24, 1435, when the deposit for the dowry was made in the Monte Comune on behalf of Amerigo’s father, Giannozzo di Francesco Pitti.26 Amerigo died sometime between March 1436 and December 1438, and the marriage was never celebrated. Subsequently, Filippo di Rinieri Scolari, Francesca’s distant cousin and her guardian upon the death of her uncle lo Spano, probably signed a new marriage contract with Neri di Gino Capponi.27 Her future husband, Tommaso, was Neri Capponi’s eldest son, who was emancipated from his father in 1437. Within a year, by December 2, 1438, they were married, and the funds of Francesca’s dowry were transferred to Tommaso’s family on July 7, 1439, shortly after the consummation of the marriage.28 At the time of the wedding, Tommaso was about twenty-one, while Francesca was thirteen or fourteen.29 The marriage did not last long, since Tommaso died sometime after July 1442, and the union was childless.30By October 20, 1444, Francesca had already remarried, to Bonaccorso Pitti, the grandson and namesake of the famous chronicler.31 At the time of their wedding, Francesca was about twenty and Bonaccorso di Luca about twenty-six.32 After the consummation of the marriage, Neri Capponi—Tommaso’s heir general—transferred the Monte shares in Francesca’s dowry to Bonaccorso Pitti.33 The marriage between Francesca Scolari and Bonaccorso Pitti lasted about forty years, until the early 1480s, and produced at least two male heirs and one female child.34 The couple lived a long life in Florence in the palace purchased by Francesca’s father-in-law, Luca Pitti.35Before examining details of the Lippi portrait in relation to this alternate identification of the sitters, it is important to consider the social standing of the families involved. The Capponi, Pitti, and Scolari were well-established Florentine families from the upper rung of society. The Scolari were magnates with Ghibelline loyalties, and Francesca’s father and uncle were former political allies of Rinaldo degli Albizi, while the Capponi and the Pitti had popolani origins and Guelf loyalties and supported the Medici even before 1434. After the ascendancy of the Medici that year, Francesca’s cousins Filippo and Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari became popolani by giving up their noble status, suggesting that Francesca’s marriages were designed as social alliances with the inner circles of the Medici party.The Pitti were of an extended Florentine lineage that traced its ancestry back to at least the early thirteenth century.36 Both Gino di Neri (1350–1421) and his son Neri (1388–1457), Francesca’s first father-in-law, were prominent in the political life of Florence and important officeholders in the city. Tommaso’s father, Neri, was an international merchant and the head of a wool company. The family’s extensive properties in both the city and the countryside probably earned them wealth and prestige.37 Moreover, Neri was among the most important politicians supporting the Medici in the 1440s and 1450s.38The Pitti were even more preeminent than the Capponi. Bonaccorso’s grandfather Bonaccorso di Neri was also a very influential politician and a famous international merchant. Until his death sometime after 1433, the three Pitti generations, including his brothers, sons, and grandsons, lived in the same household near the Church of San Felice in Piazza.39 His eldest son, Luca (1394–1472), was the famous international merchant and art patron who became one of the most intimate and influential friends of the Medici until the 1460s. Among Luca’s children, Bonaccorso was the eldest male.40As far as can be ascertained, Francesca Scolari lived in better financial circumstances than her uncle Lorenzo. After her father’s death in 1426, she retained the right to live in the elegant Scolari Palace on Borgo degli Albizi and remained there until 1433, when her uncles, Filippo and Lorenzo Scolari, put the palace up for sale. Matteo Scolari’s testament guaranteed her an annuity of 50 florins, and she was allowed to retain the income from a few of her father’s estates and workshops. Since her youngest sister had died early, Francesca received not only her own dowry of 3,000 florins but also half of the 3,000 florins in her sister’s.41 Prosperous merchants usually provided their daughters with a dowry of 500 to 1,500 florins; Francesca’s was therefore extraordinarily high and possibly even unique in contemporary Florence. She also inherited from her mother the estate of Tizzano, which had an approximate value of 4,500 florins.42 Further, her father had been ennobled by King Sigismund of Luxemburg, and her uncle had been one of the most influential barons of the Hungarian royal court.The luxurious dress and the jewels in Filippo Lippi’s portrait—a necklace of pearls, four rings with stones, a headdress decorated with pearls, and a shoulder brooch with a yellow-colored faceted stone or stones set within three pearls—would have been appropriate accoutrements for Francesca Scolari. According to Megan Holmes, pearls were conventional symbols of purity as well as typical wedding gifts.43 Moreover, the shoulder brooch, the most detailed of the jewels, may be more closely connected to Francesca. A surviving inventory from 1424 listing the silverware and jewels found in the Scolari Palace describes a jewel composed of yellow-colored balascio (balas) rubies and three pearls valued at 300 florins that had belonged to Francesca’s mother, Piera di Catellino Infangati.44 As Matteo Scolari’s widow, Piera retained the right after 1426 to live in the Scolari Palace and to use all its furnishings, probably including all the silverware and jewels.45 If the shoulder brooch remained the widow’s property, then it is highly likely that her unmarried daughter inherited it. Given the similarities between the depiction of the jewel in the painting and the description in the inventory, it is possible that they refer to one and the same object.In addition to jewelry and dress, landed property was an index of the wealth of Florentine families. It has been suggested that the detailed view outside the window in the portrait may refer to one of the Scolari estates.46 The landscape shows a plain or a plateau with fairly high hills. In front of the green hills are several attached buildings: a two-story rural structure, a palace-like edifice, a robust tower, and other less well defined buildings. In front of them stands a bigger residential house surrounded by high walls and a picket fence. Beyond the fence runs a road lined with bushes, which probably separate the road from a river. Along the river is another building surrounded by walls. Its color and the architectural elements, from the door opening to the configuration of the three upper windows, could well suggest that the structure represents a church or a small convent, as Megan Holmes has proposed.As noted earlier, Francesca also inherited from her mother the estate of Tizzano, which was highly important to the Scolari family. Matteo and Pippo di Stefano Scolari were born there, and Matteo later purchased several more parcels of land where he intended to found a monastery. In 1426 ownership of the estate was transferred to Matteo’s widow, Piera Infangati. In the 1430s, probably in payment of Piera’s debts, ownership passed, successively, to Giannozzo Pitti, Tommaso Capponi, and Bonaccorso Pitti.47 The small settlement of Tizzano with its own parish church, Santo Stefano, is situated in the Greve Valley. In 1426 the estate consisted of the palace with an early tower, a workers’ house, a kiln, and several parcels of land. The landscape and buildings seen in the portrait show a typical Tuscan countryside and might represent any of the estates owned by the Scolari, including Tizzano or Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari’s most important estate, Vicchiomaggio.Aside from the pictorial elements mentioned above, there are no written or visual sources that might significantly help with the identification of the sitters. No contemporary works of art showing any of the proposed sitters are known. Two posthumous, sixteenth-century images of Bonaccorso Pitti’s father, Luca, do survive, however. In one of these (Kursk State Art Gallery, Russia), Luca wears a long red robe with a berretta cap, the typical costume and headgear of Florentine merchants in the fifteenth century. His facial characteristics are generalized, though, with a triangular face, a long, thin nose, strong eyebrows, thin lips, and an underhung jaw. He appears much the same in Alessandro Allori’s painting (Pitti Chapel, Santo Spirito, Florence), in which he stands in front of his new palace. With no contemporary images of Luca Pitti available, it can only be presumed that both of these later portraits were modeled after fifteenth-century originals, possibly preserving some of the facial characteristics of the merchant. Their subjects do indeed bear many resemblances to the young man in Lippi’s painting.If, in fact, Francesca and Bonaccorso Pitti are the subjects of Lippi’s portrait, what might have been the circumstances surrounding the commission? The central position of the female sitter and her youthful age suggest that the work may have been ordered by one of Francesca’s close relatives. Such a portrait might have given visual testimony to Francesca’s beauty and social status, both of which made her highly desirable to suitors of the highest rank. No art objects are known to have been commissioned either by her mother, Piera Infangati, or by her uncles, Filippo and Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari.48 According to Francis William Kent’s description, Francesca’s first father-in-law, Neri di Gino Capponi, and his family “chose not to become really conspicuous patrons at all, doing little more than improving their ancestral property and churches.”49 By contrast, however, Francesca Scolari’s second father-in-law, Luca di Bonaccorso Pitti, commissioned several outstanding works of art, including the famous palace later purchased by the Medici.50 Besides the palace, in the 1450s he ordered several paintings and other art objects from Florentine masters; among these were wedding gifts for his offspring.51 As Cosimo de’Medici’s intimate friend, moreover, Luca might have had occasion to hear Cosimo praise his favorite master, Fra Filippo, whose most important patrons in the 1440s were the Medici.52Available art historical evidence remains insufficient for any firm judgments concerning the identity of the sitters in Filippo Lippi’s portrait. Many links between the painting and the family histories—including the couple’s youth, their residence in Florence, their social background, the artistic commissions of the Pitti family, the centrality of the female sitter, and the gem on her shoulder—support the hypothesis that the portrait represents Francesca di Matteo Scolari and her husband, Bonaccorso di Luca Pitti. Although the male sitter rests his hands on the coat of arms, his gesture may well symbolize that a Pitti has gained access to the Scolari family’s noble lineage.AcknowledgementsI am especially grateful to Brenda Preyer for her encouragement and suggestions during the research and to Keith Christiansen and James D. Draper for their valuable comments on the manuscript. I am indebted as well to Jeffrey Ruda for his observations and to Amy Samuelson for reviewing an earlier version of the article. The research benefited from the support of the Department of History and Civilization at the European University Institute, Florence, and the New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study, Bucharest.Notes1Breck 1913.2Jansen 1987–88, p. 117.3Ruda 1993, p. 85; Holmes 1999, p. 130.4Breck 1913, p. 49; Jansen 1987–88, p. 117. The difference was noticed by Megan Holmes (1999, p. 129).5Raccolta Ceramelli Papiani, Scolari family, fasc. 4314, www.archiviodistato.firenze.it/ceramellipapiani2, accessed January 9, 2008.6The baron’s coat of arms appears in the so-called Aulendorf manuscript, a copy from the 1450s or 1460s of the Chronicle of Ulrich von Richental (the original of 1420 has not survived). Jékely 2006, p. 298.7The helmet refers to the nobility of the family in the Kingdom of Hungary, while the dragon is the symbol of the Dragon Order founded by Sigismund of Luxemburg. Matteo Scolari was most likely made a nobleman by King Sigismund. Zsigmond-korioklevéltár2003, CD-ROM, vol. 3, doc. 2680 (14/09/1412).8For the history of the Scolari family in Hungary, see Prajda 2010a.9The tomb was published in Lővei 1987, pp. 592–93. There were at least two other families in Florence—the Infangati and the Schelmi—who used very similar coats of arms. See Borgia and Fumi Cambi Gado 1992, p. 216.10Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Florence (hereafter BNCF), Fondo Passerini 156, tables 14, 15.11Breck 1913, p. 49. Although Passerini was clearly familiar with Florentine archival sources, his Scolari genealogy contains several points of information that contradict primary archival sources. See Passerini’s manuscript, BNCF Fondo Passerini 156, tables 14, 15, and Litta 1819–83, vol. 2, Buondelmonte di Firenze, table III.12Among the five Scolari brothers, Giambonino had already been married by 1429 and settled in Treviso. See the letter mentioning Giambonino’s wife: Corporazioni Religiose Soppressi 78.326, fol. 364r, Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Florence (here after ASF). Filippo di Rinieri Scolari’s tax declaration indicates that his brothers were living in Treviso (ASF Catasto 296, fol. 160v). Branca, the eldest of the brothers, and Donato, the youngest, had probably died before the 1430s, because they did not appear in the catasto records after 1427 (ASF Catasto 20, fol. 1113r). Filippo had already married the Florentine Luigi di Giovanni Aldobrandini’s only daughter, Margherita, by 1431 (ASF Catasto 385, fol. 800v). For the Scolari genealogy, see Prajda 2012, fig. 7.3.13In an earlier article (Prajda 2010b) I analyzed the possible links between Filippo di Rinieri Scolari and Lippi’s portrait. The present article reflects new lines of inquiry that have opened up since then as a result of much broader archival research I conducted in the Archivio di Stato, Florence.14The wedding can be dated on the basis of information on Agnola Sapiti’s dowry provided by two documents, ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 7397, fol. 397r, and 7395, fol. 185v. The couple’s first child was born about 1442; ASF Catasto 650, fol. 857v.15In a letter written in 1448, he mentions that he has recently returned to Florence after a long foreign sojourn; ASF Mediceo Avanti il Principato filza 16, no. 35.16See Lorenzo Scolari’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 650, fols. 856r–857v (1446); and 785, fols. 379r–380v (1458).17At the time of their marriage Agnola might have been about sixteen or seventeen, while Lorenzo was twenty-eight to forty years old. For Agnola’s age, see the tax declarations: ASF Catasto 335, fol. 95v (1431; 9 years old), and 650, fol. 457v (1446; 24 years old). For Lorenzo’s age, see his tax declarations: ASF Catasto 17, fol. 284r (1427; 29 years old), and 785, fol. 1183r (1458; 48 years old).18See his tax return in 1427: ASF Catasto 17, fols. 284r–286r.19See his tax declarations: ASF Catasto 17, fol. 286r (1427); 335, fol. 95v (1431); 433, fol. 217v (1433); and 609, fol. 177v (1442).20See the dowry contract in 1438: ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 7397, fol. 397r. See also Bernardo Sapiti’s tax return in 1442: ASF Catasto 609, fol. 177r.21According to Lorenzo Scolari’s tax declaration, Bernardo Sapiti still owned all the Monte shares in 1446; ASF Catasto 650, fol. 857v (April 28, 1447). Bernardo Sapiti’s debt was also mentioned in a document datable to April 28, 1447; ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 7397, fol. 205r.22Jansen 1987–88, p. 103. Technical examination has revealed that the male figure was added to the composition after the female figure. Holmes 1999, p. 134.23Dieter Jansen (1987–88, pp. 103–9) suspected that the physical distance between the sitters indicates the woman’s higher social status.24Matteo Scolari’s eldest daughter, Caterina, had already married in 1419/20 and the youngest, Mattea, died during infancy. For Caterina’s marriage, see ASF Guadagni 14, doc. 19, fol. 4v. For the death of Mattea, see ASF Catasto 385, fol. 814v.25According to her father’s testaments and her tax declarations, probably completed by her mother or uncles, she was born about 1422–25. ASF Catasto 59, fol. 876r; 385, fol. 814r; 478, fol. 725; and 793, fol. 442r. The dowry deposit was made before 1427 by lo Spano. See Rinaldo degli Albizzi’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 386, fol. 687r, and 479, fol. 515.26Amerigo was emancipated from his father on March 17, 1436. ASF Notificazioni di atti di emancipazione 2, fol. 140r.27On June 1, 1437, she was still under the tutelage of the Magistrato dei Pupilli and Filippo di Rinieri Scolari. ASF Guadagni 14, doc. 13, fol. 1r.; ASF Magistrato dei Pupilli 57.28Tommaso was emancipated from his father in 1437. ASF Notificazioni di atti di emancipazione 3, fol. 29v. For the dowry deposit and the consummation of the marriage, see ASF Monte Comune o delle Graticole, Serie II, 2416, fol. 338r. According to a canceled paragraph of a contract, Francesca had already been married on December 2, 1438, to Tommaso Capponi; ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 689, fol. 227r.29According to his father’s tax return, Tommaso in 1427 was nine years old; ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1180r.30According to a contract, he was still alive in July 1442; ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 689, fol. 228r. I am indebted to Brenda Preyer for bringing this document to my attention.31ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 15130, fol. 43r.32According to his father’s tax returns, Bonaccorso was born about 1418; ASF Catasto 66, fol. 154v; 335, fol. 202r; and 440, fol. 172r. In his grandfather’s chronicle, his birthday is mentioned as March 24, 1420; “Cronaca di Bonaccorso Pitti,” in Branca 1986, p. 347.33There were also certain ownership transfers made between the Capponi and the Pitti regarding the late Matteo Scolari’s most important property, Tizzano. ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 689.34In 1455 the couple made a dowry deposit for their daughter, Caterina; ASF Monte Commune o delle Graticole, Serie II, 1391, fols. 33v. and 56v. They had two sons, Giovanni and Lorenzo. See Bonaccorso di Luca Pitti’s tax declaration in 1480: ASF Catasto 996, fol. 304r.35Their new home was located in the parish of San Felice in Piazza, close to the so-called Pitti Palace; ASF Catasto 650, fol. 999r.36For the history of the Capponi, see Kent 1977 and Goldthwaite 1968, pp. 187–233. Kent does not mention Tommaso di Neri in his book, and Goldthwaite (p. 188) refers to him only in the Capponi genealogical chart, as Tommaso (1417–1444). The Capponi lived in the parish of San Jacopo Sopr’Arno, where the Sapiti and, later, Lorenzo di Rinieri Scolari lived.37See Neri di Gino Capponi’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 17, fol. 1176r (1427); 335, fols. 549r–552v (1431); and 648, fols. 674r–675r (1446).38ASF Consulte e Pratiche 46–49, 52–54.39See Bonaccorso di Neri Pitti’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 66, fols. 154v–156r (1427), and 339, fols. 296r–297r (1431).40See Luca di Bonaccorso Pitti’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 440, fols. 171r–172r (1433), and 650, fol. 999r–v (1446).41See Francesca’s tax returns: ASF Catasto 385, fol. 814r–v (1431); 650, fol. 100r (1446); and 783, fol. 442 (1458).42The ownership rights were transferred to Francesca’s husbands, probably in payment of a debt; ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 689, fols. 227r–238v.43Holmes 1999, p. 134.44See Matteo Scolari’s testament: ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 5814, fol. 34v (the original) and ASF Corporazioni Religiose Soppressi 78.326, fol. 275v (the copy).45For the silverware, see Piera Infangati’s tax return: ASF Catasto 386, fols. 859v–860r, and the tax return of Matteo Scolari’s heirs: ibid., fol. 663v.46Ruda 1993, p. 88. According to Megan Holmes’s theory (1999, p. 129), the buildings appearing in the picture—especially the convent or churchlike building—might have symbolic meaning.47ASF Notarile Antecosimiano 15130, fol. 43r.48Filippo and Lorenzo played only an intermediary role in the construction of the Scolari Oratory ordered by their uncles. See the sources published in Saalman 1993, pp. 380–410.49Kent 1995, p. 185.50Arrighi 2006; Cecchi 2006; Romby 2006.51See Luca Pitti’s manuscript “Entrate e uscite,” ASF Ginori Conti, Serie Pitti, 195, fols. 67r, 144v, 150r.52Ganz 2007.Manuscript SourcesArchivio di Stato di Firenze, FlorenceCatasto 17, 18, 20, 59, 66, 81, 296, 335, 339, 385, 386, 433, 440, 478, 479, 609, 648, 650, 783, 785, 793, 996Consulte e Pratiche 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54Corporazioni Religiose Soppressi 78Ginori Conti, Serie Pitti 195Guadagni 14Magistrato dei Pupilli 57Mediceo avanti il Principato filza 16Monte Comune o delle Graticole, Serie II 1391, 2416Notarile Antecosimiano 689, 5814, 7395, 7397, 15130Notificazioni di atti di emancipazione 2, 3Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, FlorenceFondo Passerini 156Raccolta Ceramelli Papiani. 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