Spatial Conflicts: Unfinished Church Facades in
Fifteenth Century FlorenceRoslyn Halliday, Monash University
San Lorenzo
San Lorenzo was consecrated in 393 CE.
Was the city’s cathedral for 300 years. In
1419 Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici offered
to finance new building. Brunelleschi was
commissioned and work was mostly
completed by 1459. Michelangelo
comissioned by Pope Leo X to design new
façade with marble in 1518. Façade
remains incomplete to this day.
Santa Maria Novella
Dominican church built
between around 1246 and
1360. Façade completed
around 1470, probably
designed by Leon Battista
Alberti. Giovanni Rucellai was
the patron.
Santo Spirito
Augustinian church situated in
the Oltrarno (across the river).
Building began in early 15th
century on site of a 13th century
church probably destroyed by
fire. Brunelleschi designed the
church. Façade remains
incomplete to this day.
Santa Maria del Fiore – the Duomo
1296 - Arnolfo di Cambio charged
with design for the new cathedral
including façade.
Construction of façade was begun
but torn down in 1587.
Remained incomplete until 1887,
when it was finished according to
the design of Emilio de’ Fabris.
1. The Classical architectural style that was
held as an ideal during the Renaissance
posed problems for the completion of
church facades as few clear models
existed of how architects were to attain this
ideal, especially with regard to pre-existing
churches.
Pazzi Chapel
Designed by Brunelleschi
around 1430. Commissioned
by the Pazzi family,
completed in the1460s.
Santa Croce
Franciscan church, consecrated in
1443. Remained without a façade until
1853-1863.
Santa Maria Novella
Dominican church built
between around 1246 and
1360. Façade completed
around 1470, probably
designed by Leon Battista
Alberti. Giovanni Rucellai was
the patron.
2. Humanist perceptions of built space led to
architecture and urban design becoming a means
for conveying messages about the power, wealth
and importance of the city as well as that if its
patrons.
This posed problems for completing church
facades, especially ones that overlooked small
piazzas as the façade needed to be clearly visible
for these messages to be effectively conveyed.
Santo Spirito
Augustinian church situated in
the Oltrarno (across the river).
Building began in early 15th
century on site of a 13th century
church probably destroyed by
fire. Brunelleschi designed the
church. Façade remains
incomplete to this day.
Spatial arrangement of Santo Spirito, Piazza Santo Spirito and the Arno River
San Lorenzo
San Lorenzo was consecrated in 393 CE.
Was the city’s cathedral for 300 years. In
1419 Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici offered
to finance new building. Brunelleschi was
commissioned and work was mostly
completed by 1459. Michelangelo
comissioned by Pope Leo X to design new
façade with marble in 1518. Façade
remains incomplete to this day.
Note the size of piazzas in the city
Spatial arrangement of San Lorenzo and Palazzo Medici.Note also small piazza size when compared with Santa Maria Novella (far left).
San Lorenzo façade 18 February 2007
Michelangelo’s design 1515-1519
3. Contestation unfolded at the level of the
building committee or opera which oversaw
the commissions.
Conflicts between committee members, which
were able to rage over centuries, directly
contributed to the incomplete state of
Florence’s church facades.
Santo Spirito
Augustinian church situated in
the Oltrarno (across the river).
Building began in early 15th
century on site of a 13th century
church probably destroyed by
fire. Brunelleschi designed the
church. Façade remains
incomplete to this day.
The incomplete façade of the Duomo.
Fresco 1342. The
original façade of
the Duomo by
Arnolfo di Cambio is
visible (to the right).
Some of the surviving
models of a façade for Santa
Maria del Fiore (Duomo)
made between 15-16th
century.
From top left clockwise:
Giovanni de’ Medici (1566-1621)
Giovanni Antonio Dosio (but
some have attributed it to Medici
due to coat of arms)
Cigoli
Academy of Design – this model
won a competition and
construction of it actually began
in 1636. Only one month later
construction was called to a halt.
Construction of the façade
of Santa Maria del Fiore.
1887.
For further reading:
Alexandra Carroll and Roslyn Halliday, Reading Renaissance Florence, Monash Publications in History, 2005
Roger Crum and John Paoletti (eds), Renaissance Florence: A Social History, Cambridge University Press, 2006
Marvin Trachtenberg, Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art and Power in Early Modern Florence, Cambridge University Press,1998
What has this got to do with Unit 3 & 4 Renaissance Italy?
Consider the following questions with the person sitting next to
you:
•How has your understanding of fifteenth-century Florence been
enhanced?
•What connections can you make between this presentation and
the content of the Year 12 course?
Eg. Unit 3, Area of Study 1 – The impact of humanist ideas on
the built environment
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