Significant connections

By 1650 collecting had become a widespread obsession with cabinets reflecting "the Renaissance stress on the importance of the individual and the development of contemporary early capitalism with which it went hand in hand." Capitalism advanced knowledge through maritime and colonial enterprise as well as political, scientific and cultural growth. The opening up of the sea route to India, the discovery of the New World, the founding of factories and trading stations in the East and West Indies and on the American continent exercised much influence and aroused a spirit of scientific inquiry. By 1690 Antoine Furetiere's Dictionnaire Universel defined the curious man as a person who had a "thirst for learning and a desire to look at the treasures of art and nature." Thus ownership of a collection marked a curious man from his dull counterpart.

The association of For the Love of God with the Studiolo was surely a stroke of intellectual prowess. The room, a combination of paintings on slate (upper register) and panel (lower register), carved and gilded cabinetry, corner niches for bronzes and a ceiling of fresco and stucco work, was commissioned in 1569 and completed in 1575 by a team of over thirty-five artists under the supervision of architect and artist Giorgio Vasari, scholar Vincenzo Borghini and Francesco himself. Francesco was a major patron of the sciences, particularly of chemistry. He was the first to melt rock crystal for the making of vases; he succeeded in producing porcelain similar to that of the Chinese. His interests included astronomy, geography, cartography and metallurgy, the distillation of liquors and the development of pharmaceuticals.

The Studiolo's iconographical program elaborates the complex relations between humans and nature. The central ceiling panel shows Nature donating a gem to Prometheus - the Titan who, after kneading some earth with water, made man in the image of the gods. Prometheus gave man precious gems, rings and more importantly fire – the means of subduing animals, manufacturing weapons, warming dwellings and coining money, the agency of trade and commerce. Each wall of the Studiolo corresponds to one the four Elements painted on the vault: air, water, earth and fire. The wall paintings also operate as mnemonic devices: the oval panels in the lower register act as cabinet doors visually revealing the contents of the wall closets they physically conceal.

Some of the mythological themes include: Perseus and Andromeda (Giorgio Vasari), Ops, Circe and the Companions of Ulysses, theFall of Daedalus and Icarus (Maso da San Friano), Apollo leaning on his Lyre (Lorenzo dello Sciorino) Hercules and Ladon, Danae (Bartolomeo Traballesi), theSisters of Phaeton, Hercules and Iole (Santi di Tito), Jason and Medea (Girolamo Macchietti), theForge of Vulcan (Vittore Casini), the Sack of a City (Niccolo Betti) and Lavinia at the Altar (Mirabello Cavalori).

The water wall features Moses and the Red Sea (Santi di Tito), Collecting Ambergris (Giovanni Battista Naldini), Diving for Pearls (Allesssandro Allori) and the Baths of Pozzuoli (Girolamo Macchietti). The Banquet of Cleopatra (Allesssandro Allori), Alexander and Campaspe (Francesco Morandini) and Giovanni Battista Naldini's Allegory of Dreams emphasize the connection between the Studiolo and the adjoining bedroom.

Many paintings document the Prince's patronage: he visits the city's Armory (Ludovico Buti), Bronze Foundry (Francesco Morandini), Gold Workshop (Alessandro Fei), Glass Workshop (Giovanni Maria Butteri) and Wool Factory (Mirabello Cavalori). Jacopo Coppi's Invention of Gunpowder and Giovanni Stradano's Alchemy Laboratory of Francesco 1 reinforce his scientific interests.

Under the Element of air is the image that has the greatest resonance for the exhibition: Maso da San Friano's Diamond Mine. Centrally located between Bronzino's portrait of Eleonora de' Toledo (Francesco's mother) and the Fall of Daedalus and Icarus it is one of the first images visitors see. Borghini conceived it as a "bizarre and extravagant painting" and because he was unsure how diamonds were found or extracted it is a fabulous diamond mine too: rugged mountains stretch skyward and the miners attached to the scaffold by cords and rope ladders have only to peck the facets "like woodpeckers" and diamonds fall to the ground.

Diamonds of course have a more significant connection with the Medici family. The pyramid cut diamond ring (a symbol of eternity, loyalty and union) is possibly the most famous and recurrent personal device used by successive Medicean generations. The diamond (from deo amante, "through the love of God") is shown on its own or as a number of interlocked rings in the Borromean fashion. Medallions struck for Cosimo and his grandson, Lorenzo, depict three interlocked diamond rings and the motto SEMPER, meaning 'always'. Piero's personal crest consists of a falcon holding a diamond ring in one of its talons, probably symbolizing strength, fidelity, faithfulness and bravery. The associated motto FA CON DEO AMANTE (Do all for the love of God) sounds very similar to Falcone diamante (falcon and diamond).

Now how clever is that? Firstly, Hirst creates an iconic piece and he titles it, For the Love of God, thus fusing it's association forever with Medicean devices and the concept of diamonds and perpetuity or SEMPER. Secondly, he exhibits the artwork in a former Medicean cabinet. This connection is perhaps the most meaningful given the beauty of the piece is matched by the splendor of the Palazzo Vecchio. It is also the most acute – the setting and the associations, values and meanings linked to the Palazzo enhance the artwork's unquestionable cultural significance. Hirst has spent on a scale both lavish and unprecedented and the artisans who created the artwork in 2007 follow a long Florentine tradition of creating aesthetically pleasing objects. It is arguablethat the Bond Street jeweller, Bentley & Skinner, is the modern day equivalent of the bottega, or workshop, where such pieces were created during the fifteenth century.

But possibly the cleverest exhibition conceit of all is that both the Studiolo and the skull are marvellous curiosities, modern day 'fakes' akin to 'furried fish' albeit without problems of authenticity. Francesco started to dismantle the Studiolo only a few years after its completion – transferring the collection to the Uffizi. The room that is visible today was reconstructed in 1910 with the original materials based on information revealed in the letters written by Borghini to Vasari. And while the room is fascinating it is a fabrication. In a similar way For the Love of God is not a diamond encrusted 'skull'. It is a complex piece of craftsmanship: a perforated platinum mould, multi-sectioned and pave-set with 8601 flawless diamonds. The mould is biometrically matched to a human skull belonging to an 18-35 year old male of European/Mediterranean ancestry who died sometime between 1720 and 1810. Purchased through an Islington taxidermist the only real connections we have with that individual's triumph over death are his teeth.

For the Love of God, in its general conception and especially in its use of diamonds to express deep emotion, is undoubtedly a source of pleasure and satisfactionto all who see it. And, although Hirst repeatedly linked the skull to Horace's expression, "I once was as you are. You will be as I am." he was clearly unable to make the cerebral connection work – the skull's incredible radiance somewhat undermines the ready identification with death or vanitas. The connection that does work though is the old and established one between public curiosity, celebrity and immense wealth.

For the Love of God has only been shown twice. Its inaugural exhibition in 2007 was at White Cube in London followed by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2008. It's Florence season will close on 1 May 2011.