The Borgherini Enigma - Theartofpainting.be

The Borgherini Enigma Page: 50 / 179Andrea del Sarto stepped out of the Hall of the Popes, ran to the chariot and drew a panelstraight. He remarked Pierfrancesco and Margherita and joined them.He asked, ‘what do you think of our Black Death?’‘Gruesome, terrifying, frightening! Ezekiel’s vision come to life, no, rather: to death,’ shoutedPierfrancesco. Andrea had not really expected such an answer. He actually liked his work.Pierfrancesco saw his disappointment and added, ‘I mean, it is a formidable representation, solively and true! It is terribly impressive, wonderfully made. There is no such immense work inthe whole of Italy!’That brought a happy smile on Andrea’s face. He said, ‘It was really Piero di Cosimo’s ideaof a few years ago, this Chariot of Death. We kept it an absolute secret the first year. Pierocreated it, but Andrea di Cosimo and I helped him, and we have been improving the sceneryever since. Piero in fact invented this image for the Medici. The Medici family was in exilefrom Florence then, banned from Florence in republican times. The Medici family wasbeaten, defeated, but Piero supposed they would resurrect from the dead, as in the ProphetEzekiel’s vision. You will see! Also, Piero’s prediction has come true. The Medici ruleagain!’At that moment, the trumpets gave off a shrieking, moaning sound that pierced the night.Wooing sounds came from the tombs and the coffins opened. From the coffins rose tens ofDead, men and women dressed in black tights, painted upon with entire, white skeletons infront and back, with skulls as heads. The skeletons rose, swung their boned arms and legs andsang the Song of the Dead. They sang with raw voices that they were the dead, but they hadonce been like the spectators here, alive and well, like the spectators who would all return tocold earth one day. When the mournful song ended, the skeletons lay down in their coffinsand tombs again, and the covers closed upon them. This scene would be represented in eachimportant piazza of the town.The group was now completely constituted and had tested its scene, outside, with success.The black standard-bearer set the group in motion. He rode slowly towards the Duomo. Whenthe chariot moved, the company of more than a hundred men and women in skeleton dresses,all wearing torches, sang the “Miserere” psalm of David, a long and slow poem, at themournful rhythms of a band of drums that closed the procession. The drums had been muffledalso with rags, so that the sounds were particularly low-sounding and ominous.Pierfrancesco and Margherita walked forward, along the monks and horse-riders. Theywanted to accompany the chariot for a while, as it advanced towards the Duomo, and thenthey would have to return to the Acciaiuoli palace. While they stepped along, their cloaksopened. They had abandoned their masks before.Suddenly, a monk who walked in front of the group of the chariot of death, looked at theminquisitively, and stepped out of the cortège.The monk went straight to Pierfrancesco and whispered, ’I must talk to you. The time hascome for you to learn the secret, my son. I am Fra Jacopino of San Marco Monastery. I haveto hand you a part of the unveiling of the secret. You have a brave heart, you are the chosenone. You have to find the secret. It has been too heavy on my conscience.’The man’s eyes widened in terror. He looked at the crowd behind Pierfrancesco and said in ahurry, ‘take this now, my son, I will explain later. Guard it well and find the secret! Ifanything happens to me, go and find Father Alessio Strozzi at Santa Maria Novella! He hassomething for you, too. Remember: Father Alessio Strozzi! God bless you, my son!’Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009