Disorders at the Grand Duke’s Shrine of Santissima Annunziata

THIS ARTICLE CONCERNS A LETTER dated January 27, 1584, from an unidentifiable Servite friar at SS. Annunziata in Florence to Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (r. 1574–87), at a time when the miraculous image of the Annunciation (figs. 1–4) was being copied by Alessandro Allori. It offers an insider’s glimpse of some of the difficulties that could arise with the unceremonious unveiling of the miraculous image in the church and of how unsettling they could be. It also affords some evidence of Allori’s copying practices and how the questions of likeness and authenticity they involved were viewed at the time. The issues the letter raises, its frantic tone, and the writer’s wish that his identity be eradicated suggest that the problems he aired might undermine the authority of both church and state. Given the international reputation of SantissimaAnnunziata, such unruly behavior threatened to jeopardize order in Florence and beyond.