Entry of Charles VIII into Florence

Granacci painted this in 1518, but he was looking back about 24 years, to November 1494. That autumn a French army marched down through Italy on its way to claim the kingdom of Naples, and the king, Charles VIII, asked to pass through Florence. Just days before, the Florentines had driven out Piero de' Medici for handing the French their fortresses without a fight, so the city Charles rode into had no ruling family and did not know whether he came as a guest or a conqueror. Granacci shows the ceremonial entry, the king under a canopy moving through crowded streets. By the time he painted it the Medici were back in Florence, and the friar Savonarola, who had welcomed Charles as a scourge sent by God, had long since been burned in the main square.