A Ladder of Camaldolite Salvation: The Façade of Daniel Savoy

The of San Michele in Isola, located on the north dows embellished with tracery and sculptural decoration in corner of the island of San Michele between proper the niches crowning the lateral sections and in the five cano- and , boasts a façade that is credited with having cata- pies that rise from the façade’s corners, all of which features pulted Venetian architecture into the (Figure 1). can be found in the early-thirteenth century decoration of San Executed by the Bergamese architect Mauro Codussi between Marco (Figure 3).2 Codussi’s divergence from these traditional 1469 and 1478 under the auspices of the local Camaldolite architectural references was partly stimulated by the congregation, the façade was the first in Venetian ecclesiasti- Camaldolites’ long-standing propensity for classical learning, cal architecture to be designed in the classical mode, to ex- as demonstrated most prominently by Ambrogio Traversari. hibit rustication, and to be sheathed in gleaming white Istrian Living in as the general of the Camaldolite order stone. This sudden eruption of classical motifs led scholars to from 1431 until his death in 1439, Traversari was a leading characterize the façade as a product of various all’antica trends patristic scholar who produced Latin translations of the ora- introduced by the works of in Florence tions, sermons, and treatises of the Greek fathers such as Ba- and in , yet there has never been a study that investi- sil and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.3 gates the meaning of these architectural innovations. In this Although patristics continued to dominate Camaldolite paper I will argue that Codussi integrated all’antica elements studies during the construction of the façade of San Michele, with local architectural traditions to communicate a unique correspondence between the monks at that time offers one tes- statement that addresses issues of Camaldolite doctrine, Ve- timony that praises the church’s new classical frontage. In a netian history, and devotion to the Archangel , to whom well-known letter dated to 1477, the voluble Pietro Dolfin, a the church and its monastery had been dedicated since their monk at the monastery between 1462 and 1478, wrote ardently foundation in 1212.1 about the façade to Pietro Dona’, the prior of the congrega- Before Codussi began San Michele, architects of ecclesi- tion, stating “Come, then, to see something great and rare, astical buildings in Venice were continuing to borrow stylistic which adds adornment and decorum not only to our order, but elements from the Byzantine and Gothic vocabulary of the also to the whole city...Everyone is amazed that it could have venerated Basilica di San Marco (Figure 2). The church of the been built so quickly, and with such artistic merit, a building dell’Orto, begun in 1399 and still under construc- of such greatness that it not only emulates antiquity, but even tion in the mid-fifteenth century, exhibits pointed arched win- evokes the finest works of the ancients.”4

For this paper I am indebted to the assiduous guidance and encouragement 2 The church of the Madonna dell’Orto was built for the Frari Umilita’, and of Dr. Jack Freiberg, as well as the insightful input of Neil Stratford. is designed according to the Mendicant architectural tradition. For the per- sistence of Byzantine and in Venice see Deborah Howard, 1 The most comprehensive study of San Michele in Isola is Vittorio Meneghin, “The Triumph of Gothic Culture: Civic and Religious Architecture in Re- San Michele in Isola di Venezia, 2 vols. (Venice: Stamperia di Venezia, naissance Venice,” Venice: Art and Architecture (Udine: Magnus Edizioni, 1962). For additional information, on this and other works by Mauro 1997): vol. 1, 118-155. Codussi, see Loredana Puppi and Olivato Puppi, Mauro Codussi (Milano: Electa, 1977); Luigi Angelini, Le opere in Venezia di Mauro Codussi 3 For the life and work of Ambrogio Traversari, see Salvatore Frigero, (: Edizioni d’arte Emilio Bestetti, 1945); John McAndrew, Venetian Ambrogio Traversari: un manaco e un monastero nell’ umanesimo Architecture of the Early Renaissance (Cambridge, MA and London: MIT fiorentino (Siena: Edizioni Camaldi, 1988); Charles Stinger, “Ambrogio Press, 1980) 236 - 61; and Deborah Howard, The Architectural History of Traversari and the Tempio degli Scolari at Santa Maria degli Angeli in Venice (London: BT. Batsford Ltd., 1980) 114-127. The first Camaldolite Florence,” Essays presented to Myron Gilmore (Florence: La Nuova Italia congregation was founded at Camaldoli in 1012 by St. Romualdo (c. 952- Editrice, 1978): 271-86. 1027) in the mountains of Arezzo. Before founding Camaldoli, St. Romualdo lived briefly on this island in the Venetian lagoon with an old 4 Meneghin vol. 1, 309-10. The architectural campaign of 1469 may have hermit named Marinus. It was on these grounds that Guido, the prior gen- been intended to mirror the maturation of San Michele as a distinguished eral of Camaldoli in 1212, petitioned for the island’s release from the dual member of the religious community in Venice. In 1434, San Michele be- control of the Bishops of Castello and Torcello. Shortly thereafter he dis- came an independent monastery and the monks were allowed to elect their patched monks Alberto and Giovanni to the island to found the new own prior with only the approval of the prior general of the order. In 1475, Camaldolite church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. For a brief syn- the congregation merged with the Abbeys of San Severo in and thesis of Camaldolite doctrine, see Gordon Wakefield, “ Spiri- Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, where Saint Romualdo, the founder of the tuality,” A Dictionary of Camaldolese Spirituality (London: SCM Press, Camaldolite order, had spent three years as a monk in the last decades of 1983) 107-110. the tenth century. ATHANOR XX DANIEL SAVOY

The desire to build in the classical manner was fueled as Michele was a microcosm of Christ’s house of prayer, that it much by the monks’ esteem for classical architecture as it was had a profound prior history in Venice, and that the Archan- by contemporary Italian architects such as Alberti, whose gel Michael was the church’s steadfast protector. To convey mastery of antique forms has caused scholars to draw close this multilayered statement, Codussi assigned to each level of parallels between his work and the façade of San Michele. the façade a distinct meaning. Deborah Howard argues that Codussi gathered all’antica ideas The lowest zone was devoted to the patron of the church, from the façade of Alberti’s in Rimini— the Archangel Michael, who, in Christian scripture, was seen completed on its foundation medal by Matteo de’ Pasti charged with safely guiding pious souls to Heaven at the hour from 1450—which exhibits engaged Corinthian columns sup- of their death, weighing the souls at the last judgment, and porting a projecting entablature and forms a trilobed silhou- commanding Christ’s army against Satan and his evil band of ette (Figure 4).5 As a prototype for the highly unusual rustica- fallen angels.8 As opposed to the other Archangels and tion on the façade of San Michele, the façade of Alberti’s Raphael, Michael alone was considered the protector of the Palazzo Ruccelai in Florence, begun in 1453, has been put universal church, and can be seen depicted in this role in a forth as a possible source, while the rusticated pilasters of San over the cloister entrance of San Michele, executed be- Michele have been traced to Bernardo Rossellino’s Palazzo tween 1444 and 1453.9 The relief shows the archangel in ar- Piccolomini in Pienza, executed between 1460 and 1462.6 mor while holding the scales of the law and a lance with which Lastly, we know that Alberti’s influential treatise on architec- he spears Satan in the guise of a dragon below. ture, the , which was first presented to Pope Codussi continued the evocation of the archangel in ar- Nicholas V in 1452, was available in Venice and of great in- chitectural terms by employing a specific type of rustication terest to Pietro Dolfin. Dolfin reported to his friend Pietro that alluded to the militant role of the archangel as the leader Barozzi that he had commissioned written transcriptions of of Christ’s army and the protector of the church.10 In contrast the work of Alberti, proving his cognizance of Alberti’s theo- to the more artful rustication of Alberti’s Palazzo Ruccelai, to ries, and most likely his promotion of the white color in the which it has been compared, the rustication at San Michele is construction of sacred edifices.7 rendered with deeper channeling that delineates two distinct Albertian conventions expressed the humanism of the local sizes of white slabs which are repeated in a symmetrical pat- Camaldolites, but the manner in which they were arranged tern, as opposed to Alberti’s example which is arranged in an and seamlessly integrated with traditional Venetian architec- asymmetrical pattern of unequally sized blocks (Figure tural motifs underscored fundamental characteristics of local 5).11 The more ordered style of rustication at San Michele is Camaldolite identity. The primary intention for the façade of not consistent with Florentine palace architecture as commonly San Michele was to synthesize three related ideas: that San thought, but rather with Medieval and Renaissance fortifica-

5 Howard 1987, 114-127. In addition, McAndrew argues that “To an eager 8 For the role of the Archangel Michael in Christian scripture see Filippo architect-to-be in his twenties, working thirty miles away, this building Caraffa, Bibliotheca sanctorum, (: Citta’ Nuova Editrice, 1967) 429; [Tempio Malatestiano] must have been by far the most stimulating sight in Hippolyte Delehaye, The Legends of the Lives of the Saints (New York: the neighborhood.” McAndrew 239. Similar elements, however, can be seen Fordham UP, 1962). throughout Venetian architecture before the construction of San Michele. San Giovanni in Bragora, for example, was rebuilt in the early 1460s with 9 This relief was originally placed above the central doorway of the church a tripartite design as well as buttresses on the exterior that define the inte- until 1468. Meneghin vol.1, 31. For a brief discussion of this relief, see rior separation of the nave and side-aisles similar to the function of the Wolfgang Wolters, Scultura veneziana gotica (Venezia: Alfieri Edizioni pilasters at San Michele. Lastly, the rose window at San Michele, along d’Arte, 1976) vol. 1, 248. with the chain pattern around its circumference, can be seen on the churches of San Giovanni in Bragora, Madonna dell’Orto, San Giovanni e Paolo, 10 In Revelation 12:7, it is written that “war broke out in Heaven; Michael and San Marco. and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought. But they did not prevail, nor was there a place for them in Heaven 6 For the discussion of the possible sources for the rustication at San Michele, any longer.” In Venetian Medieval and Renaissance art the Archangel see Howard 1980, 114-127; McAndrew 236-261; and Ralph Lieberman, Michael is often depicted in this role and cloaked in armor while spearing in Venice (New York): 13-20. Satan in the form of a dragon below him. Jacobello del Fiore, for example, in his Justice executed in 1421 and originally intended for the 7 Margaret King, Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance interior of the Palazzo Ducale, illustrates the archangel in armor and hold- (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1986). Apparently Barozzi advised against read- ing a sword and scale of the law while standing triumphantly over the dragon. ing such non-religious material, and Dolfin replied that the works, though Patricia Fortini-Brown, Venice and Antiquity: The Venetian Sense of the admittedly non-religious, were not antireligious (“...et si non religiosa, non Past (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1996) 102. On the exterior of the tamen religioni contraria expetere opuscula...”). King 9. The proceeding Palazzo Ducale the Archangel Michael is prominently displayed over the discussion of Alberti may be found in Leon Battista Alberti, Ten Books on relief of the Fall of Man (1340-1355), as a divine symbol of justice, de- Architecture, trans. James Leoni (London: Alec Tiranti Ltd., 1953). In Book picted with a sword to combat unjust acts represented by those of Adam VII of the De re aedificatoria, titled “Of the Ornaments of Sacred Edi- and Eve directly below. fices,” Alberti enumerates the use of each classical member in a religious context, with chapters dedicated to the orders of columns, capitals, and enta- 11 For an extensive discussion of rustication, see James Ackerman, “The blatures. The use of white marble is a classical concept which Alberti men- Tuscan/Rustic Order: A Study in the Metaphorical Language of Architec- tions in Chapter X, Book VII, stating “Cicero, being guided by Plato’s ture,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (Philadelphia: Opinion, thought it necessary that...in adorning Temples...take care only to Society of Architectural Historians): 15-34. have them perfectly clean and white.” 34 A LADDER OF CAMALDOLITE SALVATION: THE FAÇADE OF SAN MICHELE IN ISOLA

tions. The city gate of Capua, constructed by Frederick II be- through his many biblical descriptions. In Matthew, 28:1-6, it tween 1234 and 1240 (and dismantled in 1557), for instance, is said that the archangel “was like lightning, and his cloth- was intended to be a counterpart to the monumental city gates ing as white as snow.” In addition, the relief of the Archangel of Rome, which were meant to convey the city’s strength and Michael over the cloister entrance at San Michele was carved impregnability (Figure 6).12 At Capua, Frederick II empha- in white Istrian stone rather than other available types of pre- sized the fortified appearance of the arch by cutting massive, cious marbles, such as the prized marmo da found on white travertine blocks and arranging them in a symmetrical, other monuments in Venice.17 Furthermore, there might have facet-cut pattern with deep channeling around the bases. In even been intended a reference to a fundamental feature of the Renaissance context and more visible to Codussi was the Camaldolite history, namely, the vision of the order’s founder, rusticated foundation of the Ca’ del Duca on the grand canal, St. Romualdo, which included monks in white robes ascend- begun in 1460 (Figure 7).13 Not only is the basement level of ing a ladder to Heaven. As a direct result of this miracle, white this palace lined with the exact type of facet-cut rustication was adopted as the official color of the Camaldolite monastic seen at San Michele, but its patron, Francesco Sforza, Duke habit.18 of Milan, wished the building to “be in the modern style and Codussi inventively made the transition from the lower in the way in which we build here in our territory.”14 This to the middle zone of the façade by the inclusion of two half statement is particularly revealing in that facet-cut rustication lunettes over the side-aisles in which were sculpted scallop was employed on the corner towers of the Castello Sforzesco shells that echo the shell pattern along the inner circumfer- in Milan between 1455 and 1457, to add a protective quality ence of the façade’s crowning lunette. In addition to making ultimately derived from the imperial fortifications of the Middle an architectural transition, the shells may also continue the Ages, such as the city gate of Capua.15 Codussi followed this Archangel Michael theme to the second zone.19 Erwin defensive design at San Michele to appropriately reflect the Goodenough argues that in Christian and Byzantine centers military vocation of the Archangel Michael. the scallop shell symbolizes the sea through its pagan asso- The iconography of the church’s patron saint may also ciation with the birth of Venus, as well as a vessel in which explain the use of white Istrian stone on the façade. By the pious souls are transported to heaven.20 On the façade of San late-fifteenth century, Venetians had been transporting Istrian Michele the shells may also symbolize the soul’s journey to stone quite easily by sea from well-established quarries Heaven, now in the protective custody of the Archangel throughout the Istrian peninsula. Ralph Lieberman has pro- Michael. posed that Codussi may even have been influenced by the In the middle zone flanked by the two shells, Codussi of Muggia, begun in 1460 and located on the Istrian proclaimed the church’s long history in Venice by incorporat- peninsula, which was also faced with white Istrian stone, al- ing local architectural elements that deployed rich historical though it is unknown if Codussi ever viewed the work.16 In meaning. The section is coated in grayish, veined Proconesian any case, the primary reference here was surely to the Arch- marble, quarried from the Greek island of the same name, angel Michael, who was associated with the color white which was recognizable as spolia brought to Venice after the

12 For the ancient characteristics of the Capuan Gate, see Jill Meridith, “The Florence. Wakefield 110. In addition, the feast day of the Archangel Michael, Arch at Capua: The Strategic Use of Spolia and References to the Antique,” called the “Apparition of Saint Michael,” which occurred at Monte Gargano Intellectual Life at the Court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Studies in the in 663, is held on 8 May and holds the rank of the greater double in the History of Art, National Gallery of Art (Hanover and London: UP of New , requiring the clergy to wear white vestments. England, 1994): vol. 44, 109-129. 19 There is a connection between the Archangel Michael and the shell which 13 The architect of this rusticated portion is argued to have been the Venetian is evident by the necklace of members of the Order of Saint Michael. It is Bartolomeo Bon or the Milanese Benedetto Ferrini. Howard 1980, 105-6. standard for the chain of the necklace to be decorated with shells, and may be linked with pilgrimage. 14 Chambers, David and Pullan, Brian, eds. Venice: A Documentary History 1450 - 1630 (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992) 20 On the Porta della Carta (1438-46), a bust of St. Mark is enclosed in a 429. circular shell which is upheld by two winged angels symbolizing his divine status. Also, Erwin Goodenough mentions that occasionally the shells are 15 This argument can be followed in Ludwig Heydenreich, Architecture in shown with their hinges at the top and the bottom, and believes that in the 1400 - 1500 (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1996) 105. East the hinge is located at the bottom, and in the west at the top, while in the Byzantine centers they appear both ways. In the Orthodox Baptistery at 16 Lieberman pl. 10. Ravenna, for example, the hinges alternate between up and down. Erwin Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: 17 The most significant structure that exhibits this pinkish marble is the Palazzo Bollingen Foundation Inc., 1958) vol. 8, 95-104. The Camaldolites of San Ducale, where it is used on the Porta Della Carta (1438-46), the ceremo- Michele would have been aware of this tradition through Pietro Dona’, nial entranceway to the palace, and in the lozenge pattern of the palace’s who visited Ravenna numerous times to secure their union with the Abbey third floor facade. of San Severo in 1475. Spiro Kostof does not believe that there is any sym- bolic meaning to the shells in the Baptistery at Ravenna, and cites 18 These white vestments can be seen worn by two Camaldolite monks present Goodenough for an opposite opinion. Spiro Kostof, The Orthodox Baptis- in The Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece by Lorenzo Monaco in 1414, tery of Ravenna (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1965) 72. originally commissioned for the high altar of Santa Maria degli Angeli in

35 ATHANOR XX DANIEL SAVOY

sack of Constantinople in 1204.21 Upon seeing this marble, angel Michael” (DIVI MICHAELIS AR TEMPLUM). This the fifteenth-century Venetian viewer would have automati- evocation of the archangel, inscribed on the same level as the cally drawn the parallel between the church and San Marco, rustication, confirms his august place in local Camaldolite where it was employed extensively. Moreover, Codussi em- adoration. The second inscription is located on the first entab- phasizes the identity of the marble as spolia by arranging it in lature, and declares that “In This Temple of the Exalted God varying combinations of vertical and wavy striations, similar Comes Clemency to Pious Men” (HOC IN TEMPLO SUMME to the way it was applied on San Marco, as if to appear reas- DEUS EXORATUS ADVENIET CLEMEN BON PR sembled after having been stripped from a previous building. VOSUCIPE). Meant to be read as a component of the second Around the rose window that perforates this zone, there are zone, this inscription sanctifies the earthly world of the monks four roundels inlayed with porphyry and serpentine, which alluded to by means of the salient spolia by promoting reli- are also spolia and can be seen as well on San Marco.22 gious piety. The third and final inscription, located on the In sharp contrast to the predominantly classical exterior second entablature below the upper zone, establishes a power- of the church, the interior of San Michele recalls those of ful union between Christ and the Archangel Michael that trans- Veneto-Byzantine churches (Figure 8). The running arches forms the church into Christ’s house of prayer that is divinely supported by columns crowned with composite capitals that defended by the church’s patron saint. In the inscription we define the nave in San Michele recall similar features at the learn that the Camaldolites of San Michele envisioned their nearby Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello, begun in 1008; but church as Christ’s house of prayer. The inscription reads “My the arches at San Michele are wider and mirror the broad House, the House of Prayer” (DOMUS MEA DOMUS arches found in the nave of San Marco.23 As opposed to these ORATIONIS), which is cited four times in the Bible, all by traditional forms, the coffered ceiling follows the type that Christ when describing his holy house of prayer.26 had been revived by Brunelleschi at San Lorenzo in Florence, In all four instances there are clear associations between and which ultimately goes back to Early Christian roots.24 the Archangel Michael and Christ. In Isaiah 56:7, one of The highest zone of the façade completes the link be- Christ’s sources, Isaiah exclaims “these I will bring to my tween the Venetian elements, the allusions to the Archangel Holy Mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their Michael, and the spirituality of the Camaldolites. The space burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for is shaped in a lunette in which is sculpted a sprawling shell my house is the house of prayer for all nations.” Similar to pattern that radiates around an oval porphyry inlay. At first Christ’s house of prayer, the Archangel Michael’s temple is glance, the architecture of this upper zone does not appear to also thought to be in the mountains, as evidenced by his many impart a straight forward message. The true significance of mountain top sanctuaries.27 The three remaining instances of this and the two lower zones only becomes clear when we the inscription were used by Christ to characterize the temple consider their accompanying Latin inscriptions, which have from which he cast the money lenders. In Luke, 19:46, Christ scarcely been mentioned in scholarly literature, and have never exclaims “My house will be a house of prayer; but you have been studied as key elements in understanding the vertical made it a den of robbers.” Perhaps to allude to contemporary organization of the façade’s rare architectural forms.25 monastic reform, the way in which the inscriptions recalls the The first inscription is immediately noticeable in the frieze purification of the temple evokes Christ the Redeemer, with above the central portal, and reads “The Temple of the Arch- whom the Archangel Michael participates at the Last Judg-

21 Proconesian marble spolia is also present on the Arsenal Gate in the form 23 Wladimiro Dorigo, “Venetia Before Venice: From Grado to San Marco,” of cipollino columns, probably twelfth-century spoils from Torcello. Fortini- Venice: Art and Architecture (Udine: Magnus Edizioni, 1997): 48. There Brown 109. are also wide arches in Michelozzo’s library of San Marco in Florence from the late 1430s, which may recall Venetian arches that the architect must 22 There is also porphyry within the triangular pediment of the central portal, have seen while in Venice with Cosimo following the Medici expulsion and in the vertical spaces between the portal and the two flanking pilasters. from Florence in 1428. Heydenreich 89. In addition, Proconesian marble can be found in the upper zone of the fa- cade. Proconesian marble may also have been employed to link the facade 24 Heydenreich 16. The Camaldolites may have had cause to draw from Early visually with the gable of the cloister entrance, which was completed be- Christian churches due to their connection to the rule of Saint Benedict, fore Codussi’s arrival and coated in Proconesian marble. The idea of creat- which provided a basis for Camaldolite rule, especially rule seventy-two, ing a uniquely Venetian zone within a broader architectural framework which calls for monks to respect one another. Timothy Fry, ed. The Rule of may have been adopted from the Arsenal Gate, erected in 1460. Lieberman Saint Benedict in English (Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1982) 94. argues that the top section of the gate is a Venetian invention, while the main portal is almost an exact copy of the triumphal arch of the Sergii at 25 The inscriptions are reproduced in McAndrew 242-47. Pola. The top zone of the gate looms awkwardly over its counterpart and exhibits the winged lion of Saint Mark, which is surmounted by a pediment 26 The inscription is written in Isaiah 56:7, Matthew 21:3, Mark 11:17, Luke decorated with a shell, possibly an allusion to the sea. Ralph Lieberman, 19:46. “Real Architecture, Imaginary History: The Arsenale Gate as Venetian Mythology, Journal of Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (London: 27 Monte Gargano, previously mentioned as the site of the Apparition of the Warburg Institute, 1991) vol. 54, 120. In addition, there are two squat Archangel Michael (the Archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, the Corinthian pilasters that frame the zone, nearly identical to those bracket- Bishop of Avranches in 708), is the saint’s most renowned sanctuary and is ing the second horizontal band of San Michele. located in Apulia. Caraffa 429. Collateral to this notion is the unexplained similarity in the theatrical space that ecclesiastical buildings dedicated to

36 A LADDER OF CAMALDOLITE SALVATION: THE FAÇADE OF SAN MICHELE IN ISOLA

ment, and who is rendered in sculptural form over the façade’s fortress built by Justinian in 556-7 to protect the monastery of crowning lunette.28 To further stress the figure of the Redeemer, Sinai as described by Saint John Climacus. Scaling the ladder a statue of the Virgin and child was placed over the pediment are clerics and laymen who are being lured off the righteous of the church’s main portal as a reminder of his entrance into path by earthly temptations to their right, and flying creatures the world. with bows and arrows to their left. At the top of the ladder is As implied by the statue of the Virgin which draws the the victorious personification of Charity, who is protected by eye upward to the Redeemer, as well as directional devices angels as she reaches upward to receive the crown of eternal such as the triangular pediment and oval porphyry inlay of salvation from the Redeemer, represented by two hands pierc- the upper lunette, the idea of an ascending hierarchy of ing through a cloud. Camaldolite salvation within Christ’s house of prayer is evi- In its most abstract state, the façade of San Michele in dent. Since the time of the sixth century hierarchies of ascen- Isola forms its own unique ascending hierarchy. Codussi elided sion were commonly associated with monastic life, beginning current Florentine and traditional Venetian architectural ele- in the early-sixth century when Saint Benedict stated in chap- ments with inscriptions to annotate the meaning of each of ter seven of The Rule that “we must set up that ladder on the façade’s three zones. Similar to the fortress constructed by which Jacob in a dream saw angels descending and ascend- Justinian, Codussi provided San Michele with a rusticated ing. Without doubt, this descent and ascent can only signify barrier around the monastery that functioned in tandem with that we descend by exaltation and ascend through humility.”29 the inscription to convey the protection of the Archangel Perhaps more relevant to the Camaldolites were the theories Michael. The Proconesian marble of the middle zone evoked of the church Fathers such as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the temporal world of the local monks, who were encouraged who, in his Celestial Hierarchy, assigned the archangels a by that level’s inscription to ascend upward through fervent preeminent role in the final hierarchy as a result of their de- religious devotion. Finally, the figure of the Virgin and the liverance of God’s Word to the earthly sphere.30 In the twelfth oval porphyry inlay draw the eye upward to the figure of Christ century ladders of eternal salvation began to be illustrated in the Redeemer, which stands at the highest point of the façade manuscripts, the most prominent example being the minia- as the ultimate symbol of human salvation. ture of the Ladder of Virtue in the twelfth-century Hortus Deliciarum, or Garden of Delights (Figure 9).31 At the bottom of the ladder is a castle, constructed with equally-sized blocks symmetrically arranged, which recalls the Florida State University

the Archangel Michael seem to occupy. Monte Gargano and Mont Saint- and Renewal in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (The Netherlands: Michel, for example, are found on dramatic plateaus surrounded by water Koninlijke Brill, 2000). which creates awe-inspiring vistas. Similarly, San Michele is set close to the water, lending it a celestial setting. The second half of Christ’s phrase, 29 Fry 32. “...the house of prayer,” may recall a well known twelfth-century connec- tion between the temple of the Archangel Michael and Christ’s house of 30 Pseudo-Dionysius states that “The revealing rank of the principalities, arch- prayer. In his “life” of monk Benedict of Cluny III in 1135, Peter the Ven- angels, and angels presides among themselves over the human hierarchies, erable described how no one could ever find Benedict, until they realized in order that the uplifting and return toward God, and the communion and he was praying in a very high and remote chapel of the Archangel Michael. union, might occur according to the proper order, and indeed so that the Neil Stratford argues that the chapel was “very probably the St. Michael procession might be benignly given by God to all hierarchies and might chapel which was corbelled out eastwards high above the great portal in the arrive at each one in a shared way in sacred harmony.” Colm Luibheid, west wall of Cluny III,” which Peter the Venerable referred to as “the house trans. Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works (New York, Mahwah: of prayer.” Neil Stratford, Studies in Burgundian Sculpture (London: Pindar Paulist Press, 1987) 171. For a discussion of Pseudo-Dionysius and schol- Press, 1998) 70. For a reproduction of the Saint Michael chapel at Cluny arship of Ambrogio Traversari, see Anthony Grafton, ed. Rome Reborn: III see Kenneth Conant, Cluny: les eglises et la maison du chef d’ordre The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture (New Haven, London: Yale (Macon: Imprimerie Protat Feres, 1968) fig. 80. UP, 1993) 112-114. For commentary on the Pseudo-Dionysius, his Celes- tial Hierarchy, and the importance of the archangels in monastic life, see 28 In 1434, Ambrogio Traversari deposed the prior of San Mattia in Murano David Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages (New York and for contumacy and released San Michele from its control. The overwhelm- Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998) 53-70. ing concern for reform at this time seems likely to have influenced the deci- sion for this particular inscription. For monastic reform, see Barbara McLung 31 Aristide D. Caratzas, ed., Hortus Deliciarum (New Rochelle: Caratzas Hallman, Italian Cardinals, Reform, and the Church as Property (Los Bros., 1977) pl. 56. Angeles: U of California P, 1985); Lawrence F. Hundersmarck, Reform

37 ATHANOR XX DANIEL SAVOY

Figure 1. Mauro Codussi, façade of San Michele in Isola, 1469-1478, Venice. Photo: Author. 38 A LADDER OF CAMALDOLITE SALVATION: THE FAÇADE OF SAN MICHELE IN ISOLA

• • • • • . ~ u1· ·. V• -·t1.1.1,1 :,?' ,, : I;,. • ..I :• I .- - i .. -· l '.~ J

Figure 2. [above] Basilica di San Marco, eleventh century, Venice. Photo: - Author. Figure 3. [right] The Madonna dell’Orto, façade begun 1399, Venice. Photo: Author. 39 ATHANOR XX DANIEL SAVOY

Figure 4. Matteo de’ Pasti, foundation medal (enlarged) of the Tempio Malatestiano, Figure 5. Leon Battista Alberti, Palazzo Ruccelai, c. 1453, 1450, Rimini. Photo: Courtesy of Yale University Press. Florence. Photo: Author.

Figure 6. Frederick II Hohenstaufen, bases of the city gates at Capua, 1234-1240, Capua. Photo: Courtesy of Jill Meridith. 40 A LADDER OF CAMALDOLITE SALVATION: THE FAÇADE OF SAN MICHELE IN ISOLA

Figure 7. Bartolomeo Bon or Benedetto Ferrini, basement level of the Ca’ del Duca, begun 1460, Venice. Photo: Author.

Figure 8. Mauro Codussi, interior of San Michele in Isola, late fifteenth century, Venice. Photo: Author.

Figure 9. Herrad of Landsberg, The Ladder of Virtue, from the Hortus Deliciarum, late twelfth century, Bibliothèque Municipale, Strasbourg. Photo: Courtesy of Aristide D. Caratzas. 41