| This thesis argues that Botticelli's Fortitude (1470) was meant to serve as an allegory for Piero de 'Medici's steadfast character as a leader in the Florentine republic. Located in the Palazzo Vecchio and a marvel of Italian Renaissance Florence, Fortitude is an allusion to the energy and greatness of Florence, and indirectly, its most influential family, the Medici. It demonstrates how the visual imagery of Fortitude came to be assigned particular meanings during Quattrocento Florence, tying the iconography of Botticelli's Fortitude, Pollaiuolo's Hercules (1478), and Donatello's monumental bronze sculptures David and Judith (1440s --- 1450s) to Florentine civic imagery and to a systematic campaign by the Medici to commandeer it as a familial political sign. |
