ABSTRACT
The root of the tradition among the Medici was the arrangements made for the intermedi which accompanied the play, Antonio Landi's Il Commodo, given together with its intermedi to celebrate Cosimo I de' Medici's marriage to Eleonora of Toledo in 1539. When, in the spring of 1574, Cosimo died in Florence, he was given a funeral that in terms of both scale and magnificence was unprecedented in the city. Cosimo died in the Palazzo Pitti on 21 April, and for three days his corpse was displayed there so that the Florentines could pay their respects. Bringing up the rear were dozens of painted banners carried by representatives of military regiments, the guilds, and other sections of the Florentine polity. On arrival at the square in front of San Lorenzo, the mourners were confronted by an extraordinary piece of theatre: the simple brick façade of the church had been decorated with black hangings, illusionistic architecture, paintings and allegorical figures of mourning.
