Renaissance Tuscany was notorious for its practical jokes and ‘robust’ physical humour. Examples of complicated deceptions designed to confuse, embarrass or bring someone down a notch or two can be found in the tales of Boccaccio, Vasari’s Lives of the Artists and, of course, in the Medici Archives. Depending on whether a joke is experienced from the viewpoint of the practitioner, a bystander or the victim, the very same action can be interpreted as a jolly good wheeze, bullying, or humiliation that verges on torture.
