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| Cima da Conegliano Madonna and Child in a landscape ca. 1496 oil on panel Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| Biagio d'Antonio Christ carrying the Cross 1480s oil on panel Louvre, Paris |
"Historians often think that, when they have mentioned Savonarola's burning of those paintings and statues which he considered incitements to sin, they have given his whole view on the arts. But from passages in the Sermons it is clear that, though Savonarola feared the evil effects which might come from the wrong kind of art, he had the greatest faith in the good which could be done by the right kind."
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio Trial by Fire - St Francis before the Sultan of Egypt 1485 fresco Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio Angel appearing to Zacharias 1486-90 fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence |
"It is not surprising that Savonarola's views on art should be almost medieval. The whole basis of his work and teaching was a protest against the worldly and capitalist Papacy of Alexander VI, and an attempt to restore something of the purity which he associated with medieval life and doctrine. At the same time his preaching was directed towards the artisan classes and not to the feudal aristocracy, which, with the upper middle classes, opposed his efforts."
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| Luca Signorelli Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints and Angels 1490s oil and tempera on panel Pinacoteca e Museo Civico, Volterra |
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| Luca Signorelli Pala di Sant' Onofrio 1484 oil on panel Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Perugia |
"His conception of beauty is based on the assumption that the spiritual is superior to the material. Perfect beauty resides in God, and below Him in varying degrees come the beauty of the saints, the soul of man, and the body. Some of Savonarola's definitions are like those of St. Thomas. Beauty lies in proportion, in the harmony of forms and colours. Others are more Neoplatonic: the beauty of simple things consists in Light. Since the forms of all created things proceed ultimately from God, beauty in the material world is a reflection of the divine. Therefore Socrates was able to contemplate the divine beauty through the beauty of young men. Savonarola does not entirely recommend this method, which is, he says, tempting God, but he quotes it as an example of how material beauty can be used for the perception of the divine."
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| Bartolomeo Vivarini Death of the Virgin 1485 tempera on panel Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Filippino Lippi Crucifixion of Peter, and Disputation with Simon Magus 1481-82 fresco Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence |
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| Filippino Lippi Madonna and Child with St Anthony of Padua and a Friar ca. 1480 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
"Savonarola's conception of beauty is, therefore, in agreement with medieval ideas. His view of the function of the arts is no less so. Painting is to be the Bible of the illiterate. In one sermon Savonarola recommends his hearers to read the Scriptures, and adds: 'And you who cannot read, go to the paintings and contemplate the life of Christ and of His Saints.' And elsewhere he says that 'figures represented in churches are the books of women and children.'
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| Sandro Botticelli Last Communion of St Jerome 1490s tempera on panel Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Sandro Botticelli Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist (Bardi Altarpiece) ca. 1484-85 oil on panel Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
"Though Savonarola was medieval in his outlook, he lived surrounded by the worldliness of the Renaissance, and he was therefore impelled, unlike the writers of the Middle Ages, to attack the sinful kinds of painting put into churches in his time. Since painting is such a powerful weapon for good or evil by its effects on the spectator, all indecent or mundane pictures must be taken from churches. Savonarola makes, however, an interesting addition to this demand. He wishes all paintings to be removed which by their incompetence may arouse the laughter of those who see them. 'Indecent figures must first be taken away, and then no composition should be allowed which arouses laughter by its mediocrity. In churches only the greatest artists should be allowed to paint, and they should only paint decent subjects.' Savonarola was therefore far from being indifferent to artistic qualities, and the view expressed in this passage is in almost exact agreement with the opinion of Michelangelo reported by Hollanda."
– passages on Savonarola are by Anthony Blunt, from Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450-1600 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940)
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| Andrea del Verrocchio Madonna and Child before 1488 oil on panel Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
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| Antoniazzo Romano Madonna and Child with Donor 1480 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| Fra Bartolomeo Madonna and Child (tondo) 1490s oil on panel private collection |