Santissima Annunziata, Medici Palace, San Lorenzo

Another weekend passed where I didn't go anywhere. Of course, this isn't all bad news because once again, I managed to get done the things I needed to do. My weekend was mostly spent exploring the restaurants I hadn't yet tried (Aqua al 2, Il Gato e Il Volpe and gelato joints such as Grom, Vivoli and somewhere my friend calls "the Tin Can"). Naturally, there are ups to being here and able to walk around. For instance, I get to watch kids chase pigeons beside the Duomo.


The Tour Flavor of the Week featured the Church of Santissima Annunziata, the Medici Palace and San Lorenzo this week. In its founding, the Church of SA was a small oratory for the Servites of Mary but was reconstructed by Michelozzo during the 15th century (thus was Early Renaissance). The interior was then later redone in the 17th-18th centuries in the Baroque style. It features a carved ceiling by Pietro Giambelli and stucco medallions which illustrate miracles done by the Virgin Annunciate. Inside as well, is the Gothic Annunciation Fresco and the Tempietto which surrounds it.

The Chiostrino dei Voti (or Atrium) of the Church of Santa Annunziata was financed by Piero the Gouty and built by Antonio Manetti based on Michelozzo's design which imitates the Medici Palace Courtyard.

"[The cloister] is known as the cloister of the ‘Voti’, because it used to be filled with votive pictures and wax statues decorated with precious ornaments. Today it is famous especially for its magnificent frescoes: the earliest is Alesso Baldovinetti’s Nativity, painted in 1460; Cosimo Rosselli’s Calling of St Philip Benizzi dates from 1476; the other episodes from the life of the Saint were painted by the young Andrea del Sarto in 1510. The Life of the Virgin was narrated in the second decade of the sixteenth century by the youngest and most promising artists of the day: Rosso Fiorentino painted the Assumption, Pontormo the Visitation, and Fraciabigio the Betrothal of the Virgin. Andrea del Sarto, who had already worked on the St Philip Benizzi frescoes, painted between 1511 and 1514 the Nativity of the Virgin and the Arrival of the Magi." (museumsinflorence.com)

In the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata sits the first Early Renaissance building, named the Hospital of the Innocents and designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. Its shape was based on the cube or hemisphere and was financed by the Silk Guild. This was the first orphanage in Florence and received children anonymously through the means of a window with a revolving platform on which abandoned children could be placed.

Next, we got to look at the Medici Riccardi Palace. In the style of the Early Renaissance, this palace was the first of its kind. Originally Brunelleschi had been asked to design it, but Cosimo later asked Michelozzo to construct it instead. The palace is three stories high and once housed the bank's primary office. Later on, it was purchased by the Riccardi family.

In addition to viewing the Neroni Palace, we also got to see the first Florence cathedral built outside of the city walls: the Church of San Lorenzo.

Though remodeled in the 11th century to fit a Romanesque style, San Lorenzo had been first consecrated by Saint Ambrose in 393 AD. Historically, the Medici's intended that Brunelleschi design the façade, but he died without ever having done so. Michelangelo, as well, was asked to create marble statues for its face, but only managed to create the New Sacristy (a burial site for prominent Medici family members). The Old Sacristy had been commissioned by Giovanni di Bicci (Cosimo's father, whose crest displayed 8 red balls), which contains Evangelist-themed medallions by Donatello, bronze doors by the same and tombs (for Medici family members) by Cavalcanti and Andrea del Verrochio. The interior of San Lorenzo imitates the earlier designs of Christian basilicas- most notably a wooden roof and arcades resting on Corinthian columns.

Bibliography

[museumsinflorence.com] http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Santissima-Annunziata.html

Cathedral Museum or Museo Dell'Opera del Duomo

I didn't get to go anywhere the past weekend (because of my tight budget for this month), but I did get to catch up on much needed studying and general down time. Besides, it's always a treat to walk around Florence and appreciate the fact that I'm living in such an architecturally varied and historically significant city. I took this time to explore the indoor market near San Lorenzo, where I bought both dried coconut and fresh foccacia bread and Milanese salami slices for my lunch that weekend. The outdoor market was really interesting too- all of the leather goods and inexpensive scarves to be bought! If I wasn't concerned with the bella figura before, I sure am now.

This week's tour took us to the Cathedral Museum (or, better understood, the place to check out the history of the Duomo). Here we learned about the original façade of the Duomo (the present one is actually only a couple of centuries old!), which was begun by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296, but due to civil war between Black and White factions and Arnolfo's death, was never finished as intended. It was only until around 1887 that Emilio de Fabris completed it as a much newer plan dictated.

Inside the museum, we witnessed a surprising amount of sculpture from the façade. From the central tympanum, we saw Madonna and Child with Santa Reparata (both by Arnolfo) and St. Zenobius (Anonymous). Additionally, the left and right tympanums gave us Dormition of the Virgin and Virgin of the Nativity, both by Arnolfo. Donatello's St. John the Evangelist and Nanni di Bianco's St. Luke were extracted from the façade as well.


We also learned here that Giotto had originally been in charge of the Campanile's (or Bell Tower's) construction, but only finished the base in result of his death in 1337. Andrea Pisano continued the construction, adding pilasters and statue niches to the tower, followed by Francesco Talenti who finally completed the project, though altering the design from a pointed spire to a flat top. The beginning row of panels on the bell tower were made by Pisano and are Gothic, while the ending five panels on the first row were made by Luca della Robbia and are Early Renaissance. The second row of panels are a compilation by Pisano and Orcagna displaying the planets, virtues, liberal arts and sacraments.

Brunelleschi's Dome (the cupola of the Duomo) is made up of two shells bound together by eight buttresses and sixteen intermediate ribs.

"The Opera de Duomo, who oversaw the construction, held a contest to see who could solve the riddle of how to put a top on the cathedral. They received several entries with creative ideas that included filling the center of the cathedral with dirt and building the dome on top of that, to placing supports within the cathedral, but it was Brunelleschi who went to the Opera with drawings, but a secretive plan where he said he could build the dome without supports, but he wouldn't elaborate." (obscure.org)

At the time, such a feat of engineering was revolutionary and it wasn't until much later that we discovered the secret to Brunelleschi's design (chiefly, the support of wooden ribbing and herringbone brick patterning to hold up the massive dome). His dome was the first freestanding one in Western Europe.

It was also in the Cathedral Museum that we saw Donatello's Mary Magdalen, Prophets, Zuccone and Cantoria. Donatello's occasional penchant for being untraditional can be best seen in Mary Magdalen and Zuccone. In both he throws out aesthetic appeal in exchange for a focus on the psychological aspect of the figure.

Bibliography

[obscure.org] http://www.obscure.org/~perky/uofr/fall2002/ISYS203U/Duomo_Site/construction.html

Santa Croce and the Franciscan Order

This weekend we went to Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii, but unfortunately, it was pretty rainy the whole time. I did get the chance to see some famous restaurants where celebrities eat and tour through ancient Roman ruins though!

(Ruins at Pompeii)

On our tour this Wednesday, we got to see the Basilica of Santa Croce, which I thought was especially interesting because of the mix of Jewish and Christian symbols on its front. (See below). It's not only a Franciscan church, but also the burial site of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Gentile and many more famous Italians! This church is the largest Franciscan one in the world and was undertaken by (probably) Arnolfo di Cambio in 1294.

"It was constructed with funding from the population and the Florentine Republic and built above the foundations of a small church which some monks had erected outside the walls of the city in 1252, just a few years after the death of Saint Francis. The remains of the original building were not identified until 1966, when in the aftermath of the great flood that submerged the city, part of the paving belonging to the present Basilica gave way." (iastate.edu)

(Façade, Basilica di Santa Croce)

The façade of the church wasn't completed until the 19th century, then done in the neo-Gothic style by a Jewish architect named Niccoló Matas. He integrated both Jewish and Christian symbolic elements on the front by placing a Star of David (6-pointed) at the pinnacle and, within it, the letters IHS (a Latin insignia meaning Jesus Man and Savior). Franciscan roots are evident immediately upon entering the church as one may notice a wooden roof above (an inexpensive element demonstrative of Franciscan austerity).

Within the church is a large crucifixion by Cimabue as well as the sacristy frescoes Road to Calvary (Spinello Aretino), Crucifixion (Taddeo Gaddi) and Resurrection (Niccoló Gerini). Originally there was a tramezzo (a partition or wall) dividing the church, but it has since been replaced with stone altars and Mannerist altarpieces. Above the central door stands a rose window which contains the Deposition by Lorenzo Ghiberti and in the private chapels of Bardi, Baroncelli and Peruzzi are Gothic frescoes by Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi (his pupil). These include Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata and scenes of the life of Mary based on the Golden Legend by Jacopo da Varagine (also seen in the frescoes by Giovanni da Milano and Rinuccini Master in the Rinuccini Chapel).

Bibliography

[iastate.edu] http://www.music.iastate.edu/courses/471/s_croce.htm

Santa Maria Novella and the Dominican Order

Last weekend we went to Prague and it was absolutely incredible. I got to enjoy loads of trdelnik while looking at the Astronomical Clock, Charles Bridge, the Old New Synagogue and tons of gorgeous baroque buildings. Naturally, it was sad to leave a place that actually has a Starbucks, but I did have lots of Gothic architecture to look forward to when I got back.

(Façade, Santa Maria Novella)

On the tour this week, we got to look at all of the sections of Santa Maria Novella; both cloister and church. The church was built on a plot of land given to the Dominicans, which was called Santa Maria inter Vineas (or St. Mary in the Vineyards). The church was finished around 1350AD and had been designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro. Since the Duomo was not yet started at this time, Santa Maria Novella surpassed Santa Croce as the largest church in Florence. However, the church continued in its construction through the 14th century in the Gothic style and became finalized a century later as an Early Renaissance style element was added.

"Commissioned by the Rucellai family to redesign the facade of the existing church, Alberti devised a rational and unified front. Alberti's design has various geometrical relationships; for example, the height to the top of the pediment is equal to the width and the upper temple with its pediment is one-fourth the size of the main square." (bluffton.edu)

(Cloister Ceiling, Santa Maria Novella)

The cloister is decorated with a number of important frescoes, such as those by Andrea di Bonaiuto in the Spanish Chapel which depict the Dominican Order as a means to salvation and protectors of the 'Christian flock' (Dominicans shown as dogs fighting 'heretic' wolves). The refrectory contains frescoes as well, though by Alessando Allori and instead, are Mannerist in style (characterized by harmonious ideals and somewhat of a disregard for naturalism).

Giotto's Crucifixion can be found inside of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, which was completed in the early 14th century. As a student of Cimabue, Giotto is important for two reasons. Firstly, he championed the development of a crucified Christ with one foot over the other (thus calling for only one nail instead of two) and secondly, he turned away from the divine Christ as shown in Byzantine style and instead presents a more human (realistic) Christ.

The Strozzi Chapel of SMN contains the Stozzi Altarpiece (1357) by Andrea Orcagna as well as the frescoes the Last Judgement, Paradise and Hell (Inferno) by Nardo di Cione (Andrea's brother). The former is a Gothic painting depicting Christ presenting the keys to heaven to St. Peter and a book to St. Thomas Aquinas. The latter shows a Hell based on Dante's Divine Comedy.

Bibliography

[bluffton.edu] http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/marian/marian.html