ABSTRACT
Florence, having been the center of artistic culture throughout much of the Renaissance, did not take the lead in the reform of sacred images. Vasari, for whom reform was not the first priority, was in charge of most of Duke Cosimo's artistic projects. The most important undertaking of reform in Florence in the wake of the publication of the Tridentine decrees in November 1564 was Duke Cosimo's decision to renovate the two largest churches, the Dominican Santa Maria Novella and the Franciscan Santa Croce. Santi di Tito is the painter in Florence regularly identified with reform. He worked in the Casino of Pius IV alongside the reform-minded painters Federico Zuccaro and Federico Barocci. When he returned to Florence in 1564 he brought with him an unadorned style from which he had excised the ornament and exaggeration typical of maniera in favor of a straightforward narrative and naturalism.
