Then I found the art gallery and was delighted to find no less than seven goldfinches in paintings of Christ, along with a chaffinch and one or two other yet to be identified small birds. My 'best' find was in this painting of the Baptism of Christ by Vanni:
On the rock above the angels on the left (note the similarity to the Verrocchio/da Vinci composition in my previous post) a chaffinch sits watching events:
But you have to look really closely at the tree on the right to find that it hides a goldfinch!
If you were impressed by that (and I hope you were) then you might also be impressed by another find a few days ago. Looking at a nativity scene (with guest appearances from St Julian & St Francis):
Is this a pair of goldfinches nesting in the roof of the stable?
I began my sabbatical wanting to explore some of the 'forgotten' symbolism of Christian art and this developing goldfinch hunt seems a promising part of this. Seven in Pisa, 10ish in Florence (I haven't been counting - that will wait till I'm home) I thought I was doing rather well. Then I did a bit of research and found that an American ornithologist has already laid claim to being the world expert on Christian goldfinches (back in 1946). He wrote a book cataloguing 486 examples he found in paintings by 254 artists, about half of them Italian. Undaunted I have traced a copy to the Leeds University library - a job to do when I return. Hopefully I have found one he missed, or at least I can bring his research up to date. I know his list contains examples in St Petersburg, Moscow and Madrid so this is a story that will run throughout my sabbatical.
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