The BURNING of the VANITIES SAVONAROLA AND THE BORGIA POPE

By Desmond Seward

From the Preface: “In the priory of San Marco at Florence there is a painting by an unknown artist of an execution ni the city's Piazza della Signoria. Dating from about 1500, scarcely more than folk art, the painting has a disturbing quality that for me verges on the sinister reminiscent of the irrational fear felt when reading ghost stories. Clearly the work of an eyewitness, it tells a tale ni three parts. First, three figures in long white shirts kneel before a group of dignitaries; next, each figure flanked by men in black hoods, they are led down a timber platform to a gibbet in the middle ot the Piazza; finally, they hang in chains over a great fire - the executioners are bringing faggots to make the flames burn higher. Some of the spectators in the scene look on with fascination, others run away in dismay. Such a death in so beautiful a setting seems peculiarly cruel and unnatural; but it was this painting, supplizio del Savonarola, that made me want to know more.”

London. Sutton Publishing. 2006. 332p.