Savonarola campaigned against what he considered to be the artistic and social excesses of Renaissance Italy, preaching with great vigor against any sort of luxury. Savonarola įra Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar who was assigned to work in Florence in 1490, at the request of Lorenzo de' Medici – although within a few years Savonarola became one of the foremost enemies of the House of Medici and helped bring about their downfall in 1494. Other targets included books which Savonarola deemed immoral (such as works by Boccaccio), manuscripts of secular songs, and artworks, including paintings and sculpture.Īlthough often associated with Savonarola, such bonfires had been a common accompaniment to the outdoor sermons of San Bernardino di Siena in the first half of the 15th century. The focus of this destruction was on objects that might tempt one to sin, including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards, and musical instruments. įrancesco Guicciardini's The History of Florence gives a firsthand account of the 1497 Florentine bonfire of the vanities. The phrase itself usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola collected and burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art, and books in the public square of Florence, Italy, on the occasion of Shrove Tuesday, martedí grasso. Supporters of Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of objects, such as cosmetics, art, and booksĪ bonfire of the vanities ( Italian: falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by religious authorities as occasions of sin. Topics also include “with, and” starring screen credits, the 1990 Oscar nominees, and teen heartthrob Devon Sawa.Bernardino of Siena organising a vanities bonfire, Perugia, from the Oratory of San Bernardino, by Agostino di Duccio, built between 14īurning of objects condemned by authorities as occasions of sin This episode, we discuss this legendary flop and the trajectories of both director Brian DePalma and star Melanie Griffith. As detailed in Julie Salamon’s behind-the-scenes book “The Devil’s Candy”, Bonfire was also a very troubled production plagued with producer exits, star egos, and an intense level of scrutiny.

The film aims to satirize class inequity and hypocrisy among Wall Street’s Manhattan, but was critically drubbed for its atonal swings and those misbegotten casting choices. Headlined by three of the biggest names of 1988 – Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis – DePalma’s adaptation was riding on major buzz beyond even Oscar’s consideration.

This week, we’re talking about a bomb of era-defining proportions – brace yourself for The Bonfire of the Vanities!

We’ve got our oldest movie yet this week and it’s a doozy! In 1990, auteur Brian DePalma gave us a prestige adaptation of the most lauded novel of the 80s and faceplanted to notorious depths.

Bonfire of the vanities