The Chapel of Carlo Spiafame, ‘native of Lucca’, in Avignon Cathedral

This lecture is available as both an in person and a recording only event. The recording will be made available to ALL attendees a few days after the event and will be available for 4 weeks.

As the primary residence of the papacy throughout the fourteenth century, the papal court in Avignon attracted merchants and bankers from all over Italy, to manage its finances and supply all manner of goods, from grain to goldsmiths’ work. Until the end of the Avignonese papacy in the early fifteenth century, the Lucchese were second only to the Florentines as the most important foreign community in Avignon. The Spiafame first came to Avignon in the 1320s, and by 1400 they had virtually abandoned their native city, marrying into the local aristocracy, and by 1500 were totally assimilated into Provencal society. In 1423 Carlo Spiafame witnessed the consecration of his new chapel, prestigiously cited in the cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. Inspired by examples of papal patronage in the Palais des Papes and the Charterhouse of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, it is the only Lucchese foundation of the period to survive north of the Alps. This lecture takes a close look at its historic origins and artistic antecedents, and its legacy, and how Carlo used local artists to display his family’s wealth, and promote his dynastic ambitions.