The Exergy Flows of Siena: Lorenzetti's Allegories as Ecosystems Between 1337 and 1339, the early Italian Renaissance painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted a series of six frescoes in the Republic of Siena's Palazzo Pubblico, or town hall, that have earned the artist a surprising spot on the list of most relevant Western commentators on the origin of the state, right beside big names like Thomas Paine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Painted in the Sala dei Nove, or Room of Nine, these pieces cover

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... y wall in the meeting space where the nine elected magistrates of Siena met. Lorenzetti's work addresses the powerful executive leaders of the republic with a particular governmental counsel and acts as a permanent installation of advice for how they should perform their duties as officials. Known as the Allegory of Good and Bad Government, these vivid and intricate artworks describe Lorenzetti's visions of correct and incorrect governance. Via pigment and plaster, the Sienese artist masterfully illustrates such governmental components as ideal and deficient societal structure, the personified virtues and vices involved, and the real-world effects of both manners of rulership. Four frescoes are dedicated to the impacts of good and bad government in both the city and the country, demonstrating in an evocative, contrasting manner the probable outcomes of what Lorenzetti both proposes and warns against. Most fascinating are the