Once you enter Santissima Annunziata, you enter into what appears to be an art exhibition space, although people in the Renaissance would not have called it by that name. On the four surrounding walls, there are many frescoes painted in contrasting styles by different artists. We compared to the styles of three of these artists, Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino.
The first two frescoes on the Life of the Virgin we saw were done by the same artist, Sarto. He painted safe images that weren't controversial for the time period. They were praised for being very beautiful images that the monks liked very much.
The second set of frescoes done by Pontormo were slightly different than Sarto's in terms of composition and his goals. For example, in one of them, Pontormo placed multiple narratives within the same painting.
In this image, there is a story of the Visitation at the bottom and the Sacrifice of Isaac at the top. Each narrative is separated such that the visitor would not confuse them with each other. The Sacrifice of Isaac story foreshadows what would happen to Christ later in his life. It was through images like this fresco that pieces of art could teach the illiterate citizens about Christianity.
In the fourth fresco painted by Rosso, he was a little more bold in his approach. In order to make the viewer feel like they are in the painting, the two worlds are merged (our world and the painted space where the Apostles stand). He does this by allowing the robe of one of the figures to break the border of the painting, as seen in the picture below:
Additionally, Rosso used different styles of painting to separate the heavenly from the earthly to make it feel more obvious to the viewer. For example, if you look at the picture above, you can see how the figures at the top are painted in different colors than the figures at the bottom.
Unfortunately for Rosso , the monks of the church disapproved of the fresco and commissioned another artist to fix it, however, he never did.
After standing in the front area of the church, we entered into the main hall where there were people praying to the Madonna of the miraculous fresco. The painting is quite lavishly adorned with gilding, frames, candles, flowers, etc.
It was here that we met our very awesome Italian friend, Gennaro, who gave us “behind-the-scenes” access to the church. He took us to place where tourists were not typically allowed to go. We walked up to the miracle fresco and closely examined it and viewed the side chapel commissioned by the Medici family (they could use that as their own chapel to pray).
He took us to the chapel for the Artist's Academy (Accademia delle Arti del Disegno) that you need to walk through the gardens to get into and explained the history of it, which artists painted which paintings, etc. We tried to sing Amazing Grace, took a picture, and he blessed us with fraternity. He was such a happy man that I’m sure none of us will soon forget.
Then we walked around the main altar of the church, and because of the nature of the church being that it attracts pilgrims from all over the world, the monks built a wall to separate the pilgrims from their services so they are not disturbed as people walk around (the ambulatory).
We looked at the different sections around the main altar and learned about mannerism in which all of the figures in the painting have very contorted bodies and are in poses that humans would not normally do, like in the picture below by Bronzino. This type of mannerism was inspired by the works of Michelangelo.
After we finished up looking at Santissima Annunziata, we walked a few minutes away to San Marco. Inside, we walked out into a beautiful garden and saw the windows of the monks’ cells that overlooked the courtyard. Cosimo de Medici commissioned this building to be created, and because of this, he received special treatment. Only monks were allowed inside of this courtyard and into the their cells, but Cosimo was granted special permission to do so, as well as to have his own designated cell.
We walked up the steps into the monks’ cloisters and did a critique of Fra Angelico’s Annunciation and saw how every detail of the image meant something and added to the overall message. First we looked at the separation of Gabriel and the Virgin by a column in the middle of the image. This worked to frame each figure as well as separate the heavenly from the earthly. Then, we noticed that the perspective of the painting drew the eye to a window a little behind Mary, which symbolized God. In the Incarnation of Christ in Mary's womb, just as light can penetrate a window without breaking the class, God was able to impregnate Mary without sacrificing her virginity.
We walked around the corner of the hallway that contained the doors to the monks’ cells and entered the cell of the prior, Savonarola. Savonarola was a crazy prior who was against many of the pieces of art that the Medici family was commissioning to be made. When the Medici family was briefly run out of Florence, he took over and started to call the shots. He advocated for poverty in his citizens and often required people to take off their jewels before entering community events. Savonarola also was responsible for the Bonfire of Vanities in which many books and paintings were burned.
When he started to obtain more power, he began to preach more and more radical ideas, including condemning the Pope as the Antichrist. Because of this, the Pope excommunicated him and ordered him to be burned to death. Savonarola was killed at the same spot where he held the Bonfire of Vanities.
Finally, on the other side of the monks’ cloisters, we visited the cell created for Cosimo de Medici. It was one of the largest cells in the hallway, and Cosimo used it for quiet meditation when he needed to get away from the noise of his palace. In the upper part of the cell, there was a painting of the Adoration of the Magi. This subject matter suited him well because the Medici family was closely associated with the confraternities of the Magi. Additionally, they paid for a city-wide festival of the Magi.
After we saw Cosimo’s cell, we briefly looked into San Marco’s library and discussed hat types of books and manuscripts would have been in the library, as well as who had access to them. Finally, we called it a day and went to grab some lunch.
