A Famine in Florence

Starvation did not end with the last year of the Great Famine. This miniature from a manuscript detailing grain prices shows the effects, and the artist’s interpretation, of a famine in 1329. The scene is the Orsanmichele, the Florentine grain market. The market was dominated by an image of the Virgin Mary, here depicted on the right-hand side. Extending beyond the margin on the far left, a mother with two children raises her hands and eyes to heaven in prayer. In the back, soldiers guard the market’s entrance. The market itself bustles with rich buyers, who hand over their money and pack their bags with grain. Above flies an angel with broken trumpets, while a demon takes center stage and says, among other things, “I will make you ache with hunger and high prices.” (Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, Italy / Scala / Art Resource, NY.)