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