@historikerinnen@histodons
But what about #emdiplomacy? There are some very impressive examples, of course. For example the fate of a giraffe (ok, not quite a common pet, we have to admit) (2/6)
In 1487, Lorenzo de Medici received the giraffe as a gift by Sultan Qā’itbāy of Egypt who thereby showed his support in Lorenzo’s fight against the Ottomans. The animal was presented to the Florentine republic by the Egyptian ambassadors at the market place so that everyone could marvel the giraffe. Unfortunately, it died only a few months after its arrival breaking its neck while being transported in its box. (3/6)
But the afterlife of the giraffe was much longer. It had been the first giraffe in Europe since the 13th century and it remained so for many centuries coming. Thus, one should not wonder that it was commemorated in literature and paintings, such as the painting by Giorgio Vasari (1556 / 1558). There are many other figurative representations of this giraffe, such as the famous frescos in the Tornabuoni Chapel by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1485-1490). (4/6)
In fact, Giorgio Riello argues that “it was not Lorenzo’s real animal but its representation in Ghirlandaio’s fresco that kept the visual imagination of giraffes alive in Europe”. This points us to another topic for another day: the visual representation of #emdiplomacy. (5/6)
Giorgio Riello: Spot the Giraffe: The Material Culture of Animals Found, Lost and Painted. In: Tina Asmussen, Eva Brugger, Maike Christadler, Anja Rathmann-Lutz, Anna Reimann, Carla Roth, Sarah-Maria Schober, Ina Serif (ed.): Materialized Histories. Eine Festschrift 2.0, 17/05/2021, https://mhistories.hypotheses.org/?p=1788. (6/6)
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