Visual Evidence Study Guide History 4, Unit 4 Visual Evidence A Art and Politics in Renaissance Florence 4.4-A1 Palazzo Medici, Florence, exterior The immense palace built by Cosimo de’Medici represents the beginnings of the Florentine Renaissance palazzo: rational, monumental, and rigorously disciplined. Cosimo first asked Brunelleschi to design his palazzo, but Brunelleschi's proposal seemed too grandiose to a man careful to maintain the appearance of being first among equals. Cosimo turned it down. The architect was reputedly enraged, but there was little he could do. Cosimo hired Michelozzo di Bartolornmeo instead. The most impressive and trend-setting urban palazzi were, of course, put up by the richest bankers and merchants: the Medici, Pitti, Ruccellai, and Strozzi. Seeing the remains of Roman buildings, they realized that architecture could assure their fame for centuries. Giovanni Ruccellai noted in his diary that he viewed his palazzo, designed by Alberti, as his major achievement. Building such palaces typically consumed one-half to two-thirds of a man's financial worth. To justify this extravagance, Florentines cited ancient sources, such as Aristotle, who advocated lavish expenditure as a virtue befitting a patrician, especially one actively involved in civic life, Leon Battista Alberti argued in his treatise On Architecture that the wealth of magnates was the sign of God's favor, This was a great excuse for ostentatious display. For the Palazzo Medici, Michelozzo proposed a structure that combined traditional Florentine architecture with features derived from ancient Roman buildings. The heavily rusticated walls were based on those of surviving Roman ruins. The heavy cornice capping Michelozzo's palazzo was also influenced by Roman examples, but it had a practical function: to shield both the building and the passers-by from rain. The Medici insigna of balls on a shield can be seen on the external corner of the palazzo and above the arches in the interior courtyard (see #4.4.7). The elegant proportions and classical vocabulary of the Medici residence made it a prototype for patrician dwellings for the next few centuries, not only in Florence, but throughout Tuscany, Italy, and beyond. 4.4-A2 Palazzo Medici, Florence, interior The inner courtyard of the Palazzo Medici is in sharp contrast with the powerful modeling of the exterior facade. This is a refined, private environment, where cultural life prevails over the external world of trade and finance. The revival of classical styles of architectural design is evident. 4.4-A3 Chapel of the Magi. Palazzo Medici The Magi Chapel is a chapel in Palazzo Medici. It includes a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted in 1459-1461 (next image). 4.4-A4 Procession of the Magi, by Benozzo Gozzoli, Palazzo Medici Chapel The fresco of the Procession of the Magi extends across the east, south and west walls of the main room above the encircling benches. The religious subject acts as a pretext for depicting the procession of important people in Florence. Amidst a rich landscape probably influenced by Flemish artists (perhaps through tapestries), Gozzoli portrayed the members of the Medici family riding in the foreground of the fresco just behind one of the three kings. Cosimo and his son Pietro ride next to each other (see detail) while Cosimo's grandson Lorenzo rides further back in the procession of illustrious Florentines, including the humanists Marsilio Ficino, the Pulci brothers and members of the Art Guilds. 4.4-A5 Church of San Lorenzo, re-designed by Brunelleschi Brunelleschi was commissioned by the Medici family, one of the leading mer- chants and bankers of Florence, to add a sacristy to the Romanesque church of San Lorenzo. His plans for this sacristy (which was to serve also as a burial chapel for the Medici) so impressed his patron that he was immediately asked to develop a new design for the entire church. The construction, begun in 1421, was often interrupted, so that the interior was not completed until 1469, more than twenty years after the architect's death (the exterior remains unfinished to this day). What distinguishes Brunelleschi’s new version of the church is an emphasis on symmetry and regularity. The entire design consists of square units: four large squares form the choir, the crossing, and the arms of the transept; four more are combined into the nave; other squares, one-fourth the size of the large units, make up the aisles and the chapels attached to the transept. The interior bears out Brunelleschi’s intentions. Cool, static order has replaced the emotional warmth, the flowing spatial movement of Gothic church interiors. S. Lorenzo does not sweep us off our feet. It does not even draw us forward after we have entered it - we are quite content to remain near the door, for our view seems to take in the entire structure almost as if, from that vantage point, we were confronted with a particularly clear and convincing demonstration of scientific perspective. Architectural Proportions. At this point we may well ask: if the new architecture consists essentially of separate elements added together, be they spaces, columns, or vaults, how did Brunelleschi relate these elements to each other? What makes the interior of S. Lorenzo seem so beautifully integrated? There is indeed a controlling principle that accounts for the harmonious, balanced character of his design. The secret of good architecture, Brunelleschi was convinced, lay in giving the "right" proportions - that is, proportional ratios expressed in simple whole numbers - to all the significant measurements of a building. The ancient Romans had possessed this secret, he believed, and he tried to rediscover it by painstakingly surveying the remains of their monuments. In the revival of classical forms, Renaissance architecture found a standard vocabulary; the theory of harmonious proportions provided it with the kind of syntax that had been mostly absent in medieval architecture. 4.4-A6 Old Sacristy, Church of San Lorenzo, by Brunelleschi The Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy, was constructed during the years 1419-1428 and is considered one of the most influential buildings of the early Italian Renaissance. Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy, in its original design, was pristine and void of the architectural ornamentation that had come to characterize so many gothic-style buildings that preceded it. One of Brunelleschi's most influential contributions to the evolution of Renaissance architectural style was the expression of geometric patterns formed by the dark gray stone, known as pietra serena, against the light stucco walls. 4.4-A7 Sassatti Chapel, Church of Santa Trinita For the Florentines, chapel frescoes were less about the accomplishments of painters than about the saints whose lives they narrated and the owners who commissioned these spaces. Francesco Sassetti, a manager of the Geneva branch of the Medici bank, commissioned Domenico Ghirlandaio to create one of the more personalized fresco cycles. No one in contemporary Florence could paint more accurate portraits than Ghirlandaio, or depict with such precision the daily world of Florentine elites. Sassetti's chapel in the church of Santa Trinità served to fulfill a vow of thanksgiving. Francesco had lost his young son Theodoro, but was soon blessed with another boy. 4.4-A8 Miracle of St Francis (middle fresco) The middle fresco depicts Francesco's reversal of fortune. Ostensibly it shows an episode from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, Francesco's patron saint: the saint appears from the sky to miraculously resurrect the son of a Roman notary who had been killed when he fell out of a window (seen in the background of the painting). But the event that took place in Rome is staged in Florence, in the Piazza Santa Trinità, before the very church that contained Francesco's chapel. The resurrected boy is Francesco's new son, and the onlookers, members of the Sassati family. 4.4-A9 Confirmation of the Order of St. Francis (upper fresco) The upper fresco depicts the confirmation of the Order of St. Francis (see detail). In the center, St. Francis is kneeling with his brothers in faith before Pope Honorius III, who is handing St. Francis a scroll confirming the Rule of the newly-founded Order of St. Francis. In the foreground, important Florentine personalities are taking part the historical events. On the right we can see Sassetti, who commissioned the paintings, with his young son Federigo. At his side is his employer, Lorenzo the Magnificent, followed by Antonio Pucci, a powerful and loyal friend of the Medici family. On the other side are three more of Sassetti's sons, and in the foreground Lorenzo the Magnificent's two young sons, his nephew and their teachers are climbing up the steps. The extravagant architecture in the background is visible through a large arched hall which opens onto the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The Loggia dei Lanzi with its three wide rounded arches, and the left side of the Palazzo Vecchio, are clearly recognizable in the distance. Setting the events in Florence serves to celebrate this city as the new Rome, as the new center of the world. St. Francis once demonstrated his submission to the Pope as the head of the Church; a comparable action is now taking place with regard to Lorenzo the Magnificent, the ruler of Florence, on whom the attention of all those standing in the foreground is focused. Visual Evidence B The Spiritual and the Material in Renaissance Venice 4.4-B1 Procession in Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1496 Gentile Bellini painted this view of a procession of holy relics in piazza San Marco in 1496. In the incomparable wide angle view, the spectacle of St Mark's Square and the ceremony taking place unfold.