Lesson Plan I—What is a City?
Lorenzetti’s Allegory of the Good and Bad Cities
As stated earlier, the purpose of this unit to study three different cultures that existed during the late fifteenth century, and to examine similarities and differences in city life then and city life now. One interesting way to stimulate discussion and promote learning about life in Europe during the Middle Ages is to use a painting done by Ambrozio Lorenzetti in 1337 to 1339 now called “The Allegory of Good and Bad Government”. This painting was done on the walls of the “Hall of Peace” in the Palazzo Publico in Siena, Italy. While not specifically about Florence, it is representative of art, and presents the issues that concerned people during the first half of the fourteenth century. The room these paintings are in is rectangular, and is entered through a door directly facing the painting of “the effects of Bad Government on the city and country.” That wall must be looked at first when entering the room. The wall with the door has the “effects of Good Government on the city and country” painted on it. Adjacent to these walls is a short wall on which is the painting of “Good Government.” The opposite wall has the only window in the room to illuminate the painting. Since the paintings show the effects of government on both the city and country, these paintings can be used during initial discussions to define the city as well as used to learn about clothing, architecture and customs of the time.
Included with this unit are slides of the paintings. These are on file at the Yale Teachers Institute. The slides show the entire walls as well as details of each wall. Using these slides, students should first be asked to describe what they see. Good Government shows Justice with her scales in balance. Wisdom floats over all. The angels administer justice. A figure representing Common Good is seated on a throne and is bound to Justice by a cord that also goes past a figure representing Concord and twenty four townspeople. The painting of the “effects of Good Government” shows merchants in their shops, dancing maidens, workmen beautifying and maintaining their city. More information about this painting can be found in “A Distant City” by Chiara Prugoni and it will be up to the teacher to present information about the paintings dependent upon the grade and level of the class.
By contrast, the painting of the “effects of Bad Government” shows Justice imprisoned and tied up at the feet of Tyranny who is obvious by his devil-like horns. Her scales lie broken and students can be asked what they think the painter is trying to tell his audience. While in the painting of Good Government, the city is bound together to Justice by Concord, in the Bad Government a figure wearing the colors of Sienna (black and white), and holding a saw, is that of Division or Divisiveness. In this painting many of the figures and the soldiers have their swords drawn and are indeed killing towns people. An ugly ancient woman represents Pear. Avarice is represented and is easily identified by her gnarled hand holding her purse which is overflowing with money. In opposition to the Good Government, the houses are burned and streets are littered. The only person at work is the merchant who makes weapons.
There are several activities that can be associated with this lesson. For most fourth and fifth graders, some vocabulary work will need to be done. Words like avarice, tyranny, and concord will need to be defined. The whole questioning process used by the teacher when examining specific scenes and figures in the painting will require students to use deductive reasoning skills. Writing assignments can range from simple descriptive pieces about specific figures or parts of the paintings, to comparing and contrasting parts of the paintings. A final class activity would be to divide the class into two groups, allowing plenty of time for discussion—one to create a mural of a 1992 “good” city and one to create a 1992 “bad” city. Each mural could be accompanied by written descriptions that include comparing and contrasting 1340 and 1992.