Bring Out Your Vanities!

Controversial friar Girolamo Savonarola supervised the mass destruction of Renaissance art, literature and other priceless items he deemed as ‘fripperies’ on 7th February, 1497 - an event that became known as ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’. The Dominican cleric - eventually ex-communicated by the Pope for calling the Catholic Church ‘a whore’ - commandeered a large following of adolescents, who went door-to-door in Florence demanding items to be chucked on to the pyre. Ironically, Savonarola was ultimately executed the following year… by being chucked into a fire. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether Savonarola’s objections to Renaissance-era portraiture had any legitimacy; explain how he leveraged his ‘prophecies’ to give him greater control of the City; and consider why he selected Shrove Tuesday, of all days, to build his famous bonfire…  Further Reading: ‘A big day in history: Florence's bonfire of the vanities’ (HistoryExtra, 2012): https://www.historyextra.com/period/renaissance/a-big-day-in-history-florences-bonfire-of-the-vanities/ • ‘The friar who ignited the first bonfire of vanities in Florence’ (The Washington Post, 2006): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2006/04/02/the-friar-who-ignited-the-first-bonfire-of-vanities-in-florence-span-classbankheadthe-friar-who-ignited-the-first-bonfire-of-vanities-in-florence-span/f2de7781-44e6-4a86-a076-6d7f5b2e9854/ • ‘Who was Savonarola?’ (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMS_JEQgSrY #1400s #Arts #Religion #Italy Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY! Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks! We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices