Florence - San Lorenzo

On the high altar is a "Crucifixion" by Baccio da Montelupe.

In 1602 Grand Duke Ferdinando I had the idea of building a particularly splendid family vault for the Medici dynasty. The plans were so sumptuous that the rumor went round that the intention was to transfer the tomb of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem to Florence, for such an extravagant building could not be intended for mortal men, not even for princes.

The final design came from Giovanni de'Medici (illegitimate son of Cosimo I) and was put into effect by the architect Buontalenti (1604 onwards). After his death the work was continued by Mario Nigetti (until 1640). Despite a great deal of effort the chapel was not completed until the death in 1737 of the last Medici to rule Florence; the huge dome, 59m/194ft high but very heavy-looking, was not completed until the 19th century. The furnishings attest to the importance of the Medici family: ceiling paintings showing scenes from the Old and New Testaments, precious mosaics on the walls, 16 coats of arms of Tuscan cities inlaid with semi-precious stones and, high above, the huge coat of arms of the Medici.

Six Medici Grand Dukes are buried in the Chapel. They are (clockwise) Cosimo I (d. 1574), Francesco I (d. 1587), Cosimo III (d. 1723), Ferdinando I (d. 1609), Cosimo II (d. 1621) and Ferdinando II (d. 1670). Their wall tombs and sarcophagi, executed with artistry and costly materials, were the work of highly skilled craftsmen, but the gloomy pomp of the chapel has a chilling air about it, an indication that the heyday of Renaissance art came and went with the 16th century. Behind the altar is the entrance to the reliquary and treasure chapels.

Brunelleschi's light, harmonious interior of the church displays the clear-cut articulation of Renaissance architecture: a beautiful marble pavement, columns with Corinthian capitals supporting the broad arches, an intricate coffered ceiling with delicate rosettes. The harmonious proportions of the church's side chapels, aisles and nave denote architecture of the highest order.

From the left aisle a door leads to the cloister, built in the style of Brunelleschi (1475).

A door on the first floor leads to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

The Biblioteca Laurenziana, built on to the church of San Lorenzo and its cloister (access to the Library is via the first floor of the cloister), owes its artistic importance, its architecture and its contents to the Medici family. The library was founded by Cosimo the Elder as a collection of documents and books and enlarged by Lorenzo the Magnificent. It was transferred to Rome but part of it was returned to Florence under Pope Clement VII (also a Medici), who gave orders for a building which gave the public access to the collection. Work started in 1524 to Michelangelo's designs.

Despite the difficult external conditions - it had to be built on the weak foundations of a 13th century monastery - the library was consecrated in 1571. It shows that Michelangelo, who, after he left Florence in 1534, continued to take part in the building work by means of letters and models, was at the height of his powers as an architect. The importance of the Biblioteca Laurenziana as a work of art is due to the three-dimensional articulation of the facade, the vestibule and the reading room, the staircases, and the confident use of all the decorative elements of Renaissance architecture.

The collection of manuscripts includes important papers from Ancient Egypt and valuable manuscripts by Napoleon.

In the Cappella Martelli (left) are a diptych by Filippo Lippi, "Annunciation" (1440; on the altar), one of his major works, and a monument to Donatello (1896) by Dario Guidotti and Raffaello Romanelli.

Above the door to the cloister is a marble balcony thought to have been designed by Donatello. Opposite Donatello's bronze pulpit is a fresco by Agnolo Bronzini, "Martyrdom of St Laurence" (1569).

Although the Medici chapels form part of San Lorenzo they are now administered as a museum in their own right, separately from the church. They consist of the Medici family vault (Cappella dei Medici) and the New Sacristy (the oldest Medici chapel, Old Sacristy). The entrance to the Medici chapel leads first into a crypt with tombs of members of the Medici family, then into the memorial chapel of the Medici princes, the Cappella dei Principi.

At the end of the nave are two bronze pulpits by Donatello, the artist's final masterpiece (ca. 1460), completed by his pupils Bartolomeo Bellano and Bertoldo di Giovanni, vividly depicting scenes from the life of Christ and the saints.

The Cappella dei Principi leads into the Sagrestia Nuova, the New Sacristy, built, with interruptions, by Michelangelo between 1520 and 1534, and designed to offset Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy. The term "sacristy" is misleading since this is in fact a funerary chapel for the Medici.

The chapel was Michelangelo's first work as an architect and where he simultaneously applied his talents as painter and sculptor. This can be seen in the articulation of the internal walls, the three-dimensional treatment given to the architectural elements, the niches and pediments, arches and gables, both projecting and inset. The interior with its predominant "colors" of dark gray and brilliant white was evenly lit by the windows in the dome.

Besides acting as architect, Michelangelo was also commissioned to sculpt the tombs for members of the Medici family. He completed only two of the tombs, however, those of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino (Lorenzo the Magnificent, his brother Giuliano, murdered in 1478, and Duke Alessandro, murdered in 1537, are all also entombed in the chapel but without monuments). Neither Giuliano, with his military commander's baton, nor Lorenzo with the grotesque helmet on his head (maybe a sign of his feeble-mindedness) are depicted as actual likenesses. Michelangelo, when reproached with this fact, responded that in a thousand years it would not matter to anyone what the two deceased really looked like. He deliberately wanted to transcend pure portraiture and create timeless figures, hence the simple names for them of "la vigilanza" (Vigilance) and "il pensiero" (Thought).

Giuliano de Medici, seated and robed as a Roman general, his baton in his hand, looks with a watchful eye over towards the Virgin and St Cosmas and St Damian, a group of saints much venerated by the Medicis, placed on the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Below Giuliano, on the slanting sarcophagus lid, lie the figure of Night, with crescent moon and stars in her hair, and poppy, owl and mask, and the figure of Day, unfinished, with an inscrutable rough-cut stone gaze into the void. Both figures are modeled on Classical lines. Night is reminiscent of a Leda from a Roman sarcophagus and Day is similar to the Belvedere torso. Michelangelo was thus quite consciously coming to terms with Classical sculpture while giving it a new Christian philosophical dimension.

The seated figure in the niche in the opposite wall represents Lorenzo de Medici. His head rests on his left hand, a pose indicative of pensiveness. Below the figure, on the sarcophagus lid, are the allegorical representations of Dusk, or Evening (left), and Dawn, or Morning (right). The male figure of Dusk embodies mental fatigue, the inert bulk of the sleeping body, contrasting with the female figure that symbolizes awakening, the body and spirit slowly regaining in strength. This contrasting pair also illustrates the struggle within Lorenzo, who was mentally deranged when he died. Lorenzo, like his opposite counterpart, also looks to the Virgin in the hope of redemption.

The Virgin, in her turn, is looking at the altar on the wall facing her, thus referring to Christ's sacrificial death, and the consequent Resurrection and eternal life. In this way all the figures communicate with one another, their interlocking gaze covering the room, an original concept of Michelangelo's.

Unfortunately the chapel reveals little of Michelangelo's grand design for the work as a whole. Giuliano de Medici's tomb, for example, should have had the two river gods of the Arno and the Tiber at its base, glorifying Tuscany and Latium as the two provinces ruled by Giuliano. In the niches to the left and right of the Duke of Nemours there should have been allegorical representations of Heaven and Earth in stone. The ceiling above should have held the display of trophies that can now be seen in the way through to the New Sacristy. And above it all, in the semicircle of the wall articulation, there should have been a fresco of the Resurrection, drawing the eye heavenwards via painted cassettes in the light area of the dome. With this chapel Michelangelo sought to bring architecture, sculpture and painting together to create a philosophical and artistic image that would reflect the path of life from the material world (river gods, sarcophagi), via humanity (day and night = life and death, Giuliano's statue) to the life eternal and the resurrection fresco.

The left arm of the transept leads into the Sagrestia Vecchia (old sacristy). Intended by its founder, Giovanni Bicci de'Medici, to be a burial chapel but linked with the public function of a sacristy, it was Brunelleschi's first complete architectural work (1420-1428), and in its construction, articulation and proportions was to have a profound influence on European architecture.

Here, too, the impact of the building is heightened by works of art. Four medallions under the dome show scenes from the life of St John the Evangelist and four stucco reliefs in the arches depict the seated Evangelists. Recently cleaned and restored the reliefs now shine forth again in the luminous colors of the Early Renaissance. These are all by Donatello as are the bronze doors in the apse representing martyrs and apostles in animated discourse. On the left-hand wall is the magnificent tomb of Piero and Giovanni de'Medici (sons of Cosimo the Elder) by Andrea Verrocchio (1472). Beneath the marble table in the center is the sarcophagus of Giovanni Bicci de'Medici and his wife Piccarda Bueri (the parents of Cosimo the Elder).

Among the stalls selling souvenirs, clothing, etc., to the right of the facade in the Piazza San Lorenzo, can be found the monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere (1360-1429), father of Cosimo I and founder of the ducal Medici dynasty (by Baccio Bandinelli, 1540).

Opposite Donatello's bronze pulpit (in the side chapel) is a tabernacle by Desiderio da Settignano (1461). In the last chapel but one (going towards the exit) can be seen a painting by Rosso Fiorentino, "The Marriage of the Virgin" (1523).