The Medici Archive Project: Unearthing the Renaissance

This month Samuel Morrison Gallacher from the Medici Archive Project came to the British Institute to discuss the important work undertaken by this charity-funded scheme.  Despite there being an abundance of archival libraries around Florence they are notoriously difficult to access and often require special permission from authority figures.  Visitors are normally restricted from taking photographs and are further constrained to a particular time frame that prevents a truly in-depth analysis of selected material.

The Medici Archive Project seeks to amend these issues by making archival documents freely available to scholars worldwide.  These works, which comprise four million letters, span from 1537 to 1743 and include the writing of iconic Renaissance figures like Michelangelo.  Utilising technology, the MAP is undertaking the copious, yet incredibly beneficial task, of organising and uploading this information to an easily accessible online database.  Each original letter will be accompanied by an English transcript and be searchable by relevant tags.  These topographical, geographical and biographical tags are an essential feature of the 'Digital Interactive Platform', enabling the researcher to uncover information from less obvious sources.  Consequently, Renaissance scholars of the 21st century may develop more interdisciplinary arguments, or potentially unearth historical revelations!

The work of the Medici Archive Project contributes to our developing perception of Italy under Medici rule.  In the future, the translation of these letters may fill in missing pieces of Renaissance history, unravel scandals, or legitimise/discredit anecdotes (that's right Vasari!).  It pushes us one step further to a more complete understanding of Renaissance Italy.  Covering a variety of diverse subject-matter, the impact this project will have on Renaissance studies is unprecedented.

Miles of Books!

Under the guidance of Samuel Morrison Gallacher, High Renaissance students were lucky enough to translate a letter written by Michelangelo (a photo-copied version!).  Unravelling this text was a fascinating exercise - it enabled us to conceive the sculptors personality and delve into the Renaissance from the inside.  Affirming his temperamental reputation, Michelangelo lacked grammatical coherence using little to no punctuation at all, as if his thoughts had simply flown from his mind directly onto paper.  Michelangelo's abbreviated writing was nevertheless consistent, enabling us to unpick the meaning of the text despite our lack of Italian!  The subject-matter was revealing, drawing upon his disputes with the Pope and locals of Carrara in regards to material for sculpting and architecture.  It is neglected, yet invaluable, archival material such as this that the Medici Archive Project are currently contextualising and publishing in the service of future scholarship.

Portrait of Michelangelo in Raphael's
'The School of Athens', 1509-1510.

The Medici Archive Project also holds a yearly 2-week seminar on palaeography at the library of Santa Maria Novella and a 12-week online course.  Under the guidance of experts, these courses provide researchers with the tools to identify typologies and scriptural conventions, enabling individuals to 'navigate' seemingly intimidating archival material.  Further, the MAP undertakes research projects on subject-matter like the 'Jane Fortune Research Program on Women Artists in the Age of the Medici' and the 'Jewish History Program'.

The 'Digital Interactive Platform' is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and may be accessed via this link: 
http://bia.medici.org/DocSources/LoginUser.do;jsessionid=3A3A619E54F8420D44086271288C595B

- Ellie Porter, HOA Intern.