Monday January 16, 2012, the day began with a visit to the Palazzo Medici. On the outside, the building looks to be constructed like a fortress, with rusticated stonework, distinctive by the large chunks of stones used like bricks that were carved very roughly. In addition to having the rusticated stone architecture, the Medici created benches at the bottom of the building in order to give patrons and everyday citizens a place to sit. This was one of many ways Cosimo de Medici could create such great monuments dedicated to the Medici while still aiding the public. Patrons would be allowed to sit on the benches at leisure, or while waiting to get into the Palazzo for a meeting with the Medici. In addition, the building had different stonework per different floor. This helped convey the concept of how many different generations of the Medici could live in the same building but still be separated by each subsidiary family. For example, the father might live on the top floor with his family, while his son lives on the second floor with his own family. In the outer walls of the Palazzo were rings with three feathers, this was the symbol for Piero de Medici, and later used by his son, Lorenzo il Magnifico.
Once inside the main gates of the Palazzo, one would find themselves standing in the “old courtyard.” This would have been blocked off to the public, but visible through the gate on the street. Only friends, family, or businessmen would have been allowed to enter. In the rooms surrounding the courtyard, residents would have looked down and seen Donatello's bronze David, which has since been moved. Above the archways of the courtyard were many roundels that depicted the gems of the Medici collection. Included were many fruits and flowers. The Medici gem collection was private, so by recreating their depictions in roundels, passersby could get a glimpse of something rarely seen. In addition, they would have been able to view the bronze David towering in the courtyard as well.
Adjacent to the “old courtyard” was the Medici Garden. Most significantly, the garden was a symbol of conspicuous consumption on the part of the Medici. By buying land in the middle of a city and creating a garden, the Medici were demonstrating an unprecedented amount of wealth. The garden is on the corner of the street, across from the Church of San Lorenzo, however it has walls such that the church could not be seen from anywhere in the garden. Similarly to the “old courtyard,” residents would have found themselves looking down into the garden and seen elegant statues on display. The garden would likely have been similar looking to the sculpture garden created by the Medici for young artists to study sculpting. The sculpture garden is where many famous artists, most notably Michelangelo, learned the trade of sculpting under the wing of the Medici.
Once inside the building of the Palazzo Medici, we ventured into the private Medici chapel. Here we encountered very elaborate frescoes, covering every inch of every wall with exquisite detail. The frescoes were painted with a courtly style making them seem much like a tapestry because of their deficiency of void space. This style was also often referred to as International Gothic style, which was revolutionary as of the 14th to 15th century. The frescoes were painted by Benozzo Gozzoli around 1460. Most notably was the fresco depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The Medici often though of themselves very closely related to the confraternity of the Magi; most significantly was their yearly precession through the town, like a parade depicting the Adoration of the Magi. In this procession, the Medici and other Florentines reenacted the biblical scene. The Medici funded the entire festival-like-parade. In the fresco depicting the Adoration, the Medici had Benozzo depict the all of the Medici family as well as some allies. Most notably is Cosimo, who is depicted towards the front of the precession riding a mule. As the Medici who started the dynasty, it makes sense to place him at the front. It is however interesting that he is depicted on a mule, a symbol of the poor. In addition to creating this unique scene, the fresco as a whole bridges the gap between politics and religion. The Medici were political rulers, but always aligned themselves with the church as a means of gaining influence in both the political and religious ways of rule.
The adoration’s adjacent fresco depicts conflict of, at the time, current events, with the Great Schism, the divide between the Byzantine and Roman church, the Eastern and the Western & the brief unification of the church following the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439.
The altarpiece was created by Fra Filippo Lippi and depicts both the Adoration and Saint Bernard. Bernard was often though of as a mystic, and the ideology of the piece was to place the person praying in a heavenly mental space. In addition to being used as a functioning chapel, the room was also where important legislature would have been signed during the early era of the Medici’s rule. By doing so, the Medici could bring together church and state and declare divine sanction over any piece of legislature, meaning laws would be supported by the word of the church. Even though the use of the chapel room and the frescos on it would be considered a questionable and unorthodox tie between church and state, the chapel received dispensation from the Pope and thus allowed to be both a true religious and political space.
The altarpiece was created by Fra Filippo Lippi and depicts both the Adoration and Saint Bernard. Bernard was often though of as a mystic, and the ideology of the piece was to place the person praying in a heavenly mental space. In addition to being used as a functioning chapel, the room was also where important legislature would have been signed during the early era of the Medici’s rule. By doing so, the Medici could bring together church and state and declare divine sanction over any piece of legislature, meaning laws would be supported by the word of the church. Even though the use of the chapel room and the frescos on it would be considered a questionable and unorthodox tie between church and state, the chapel received dispensation from the Pope and thus allowed to be both a true religious and political space.
The Church of San Lorenzo was the next stop of the day. In 1418, the Medici decided to provide the funds to recreate it, and by 1446 it had been completed. It was designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi like Il Duomo; it would be the second dome of his creation. Next to the church is Il Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, which was designed by Michelangelo and held the library, located within the monastic cloister. In the church, the Medici had special rights because of their having funded its construction. Therefore, the Medici buried Cosimo in front of the altar, directly beneath the dome. By doing so, whenever a religious patron would kneel at the altar, they would be “kneeling to Cosimo” and the rest of the Medici. Cosimo was buried in the church in 1466. Essentially, Cosimo was buried in the second most sacred part of the church, the altar being the first. Therefore, for families to buy a chapel in the church, close to the altar, was to align themselves with the Medici; the closer they were to the altar, the more strongly aligned they would be with the Medici.
In the sacristy, directly to the left of the altar, Brunelleschi again designed a dome ceiling and a very elaborate space for the Medici. The sacristy was the room where the priest would have prepared for mass. In the middle of the room was a large table, under which was the tomb of Cosimo’s father. Attaching the tomb to the table was a small pillar with leaves at their junction. The leaves symbolized how that from death springs new life, and was an intelligently chosen artistic piece representing the cycle of life. Vaulting over the main alter in the room was a dome depicting the zodiac representing the month of July, which historically had been a very important month for the Medici. Flanking the sides of the altar were sets of bronze doors. The door on the left depicted the martyrs and the door on the right depicted the apostles. It was very uncommon for a family to commission bronze doors that few people would see because of how expensive they were. Generally, bronze doors were either funded by the church or civic orders, such as with the Baptistery. High up on the walls of the room were many roundels, the ones of the faces of the walls were clearly done by the Della Robbia family, clearly visible because of their shiny glaze, they depicted the evangelists.
Near the door of the Sacristy was the tomb of Piero de Medici and his brother of Giovanni, both sons of Cosimo de Medici. The tomb pierces the wall with the adjacent chapel and is visible from the entire church. The tomb was constructed around 1480 by Andrea de Verrocchio. The tomb was an artistic and constructive masterpiece because it mixed both porphyry and bronze casting in one. Porphyry was one of the hardest stones to work because it could only easily be cut by diamond. Bronze was one of the most labor-intensive metals to work with because of all of the chasing and filing that needed to be done and the intricacy of the labor. The grandeur of the tomb is why the Medici specifically placed it such that it could be seen from the rest of the church. The skill needed to create it, and the fortune needed to pay the artist were so great that it would have been silly to keep private. Fun fact: the tomb is held up by four turtles, one on each corner of the tomb, representing how turtles hold up the weight of the world much like Atlas did.
The Martelli's side chapel in the church contains the tomb of Donatello, one of Cosimo de' Medici’s favorite artists. The altarpiece in the chapel contains a painting on panel of the Annunciation by Filippo Lippi. A painted pillar down the middle separating the two panels on which the piece was painted, splits the painting. The left panel depicts two angels and represents a much more heavenly space, the right panel depicts Gabriel announcing to Mary that she will give birth to God’s child, Christ.
The Church also contains a very large and elaborate fresco by Bronzino, the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. It depicts a very similar style to that of Michelangelo, because Bronzino was a fan of his work. The fresco is very colorful and contains many body types, much like of Michelangelo’s works. The fresco depicts the story of Saint Lawrence being burned alive because of his beliefs that Christ was God. The fresco also contains much nudity and angels without wings, much like Michelangello’s Sistine Chapel. However, because it was in the Medici’s church, the work was permitted and not altered. In addition, one of the soldiers overseeing the burning looks similar to Cosimo. The Medici did not have it altered because they wanted to make sure the public did not only see them as part of a tyrannical government.
After viewing the Church of San Lorenzo, we ventured to the church of Santa Maria Novella. The church is of the conventional Dominican order and the façade depicts both the Medici and Rucellai coat of arms. The facade was designed by Leon Battista Alberti. Inside the church is the famous depiction of the crucifixion by Giotto, hanging where the rood screen would have once been. On the side of the main chapel where the main altar stands, is the Strozzi chapel. From afar, while walking up to the chapel, the tomb appears to be beneath the altar. This optical illusion gives the effect that Filippo Strozzi was buried like a saint, beneath the altar. On the right side of the chapel is Filippino Lippi’s fresco of Saint Phillip, while on the left is his fresco of John the Evangelist. The right fresco depicts the apostle Phillip causing a dragon to slay the pagan priest’s son in front of a Temple to Mars. Lippi depicts Mars in elegant and colorful robes, confusing the viewer into viewing him as a lifelike person rather than a statue. The fresco was controversial because it characterizes art as an act of demonic possession rather than divinity. When looking at the chapel as a whole, the only characters on any of the frescoes which are looking toward the viewer are the skulls above the altar. This sophisticated artistic piece can therefore be though of as ambiguous about the role of art in Christian devotion.
On the left wall of the church is one of the first ever examples of one point linear perspective, La Trinita by Masaccio. It depicts God the Father looking over Christ, with Mary and John on either side of him. Masaccio not only utilized one point linear perspective, but he did so while including round shapes and while having the depiction of God breaking the earthly laws of physics. God appears to be standing on a recessed back wall while simultaneously holding up the cross that appears much more foreword in the fresco. By doing so, Masaccio is depicting how God can be in two places at once; God’s nature in not circumscribable to the human brain. By using perspective, Masaccio is creating a pseudo-three-dimensional space which makes the church look bigger, by allowing the viewer to get lost in the fresco. Until his work, paintings and frescoes appeared two dimensional because artists did not know how to create a truly three-dimensional looking space.
