This study assembles the representations of Livy’s Ab urbe condita in the visual arts of the Italian Renaissance, focusing on the fifteenth century and following the imagery as it developed in the early part of the sixteenth century. Analysis of these images, presented as a checklist in the appendix, shows that art based on Livy’s text first became prevalent in the domestic painting of Tuscany in the second half of the Quattrocento. As painted furnishings fell out of fashion, the imagery of the Ab urbe condita was taken up by makers of small metal plaquettes and painted maiolica. These highly portable media and the artistic environment that created them provided a vehicle for the dissemination of these Livian images throughout central and northern Italy in the first half of the sixteenth century.
Examination of these images reveals a growing awareness of Livy’s literary text in Italy during the period from 1450 to 1550. The development of this Livian art in many ways parallels that of Italian art as a whole. The role of these images in Italian society emphasizes the importance of the Ab urbe condita not only in the scholarly community, but in the political and social spheres of the Italian elite as well.
This study further demonstrates that the concept of istoria, or narrative painting, as put forth by Leon Battista Alberti in the years 1435 and 1436, was both influenced by the Ab urbe condita and shaped the artistic interpretations of Livy’s history. The distinctive character of Livy’s Latin narrative helped to shape its depictions in Tuscan domestic painting of the second half of the fifteenth century, which in turn played an important role in establishing the visual imagery of the Livian plaquettes and maiolica of the first half of the sixteenth century. Alberti’s definition of istoria, created with dramatic narratives like Livy’s in mind, was influential in establishing a visual vocabulary for the depiction of these Livian stories that could then be adapted for use on a smaller scale in plaquettes and maiolica.
