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Put painting in perspective
Florence's Santa Maria Novella church, home to some of the most groundbreaking frescoes of the early Renaissance
Begun in 1246 and completed in 1360 (with a green-and-white marble facade, the top portion of which wasn't added until the 15th century), this cavernous Gothic church was built to accommodate the masses who had come to hear the Word of God as delivered by the Dominicans. To educate the illiterate, they filled it with cycles of frescoes that are some of the most important in Florence—a claim not to be taken lightly.
In the Cappella Maggiore (Main Chapel) behind the main altar and its bronze crucifix by Giambologna, Domenico Ghirlandaio created a fresco cycle supposedly depicting the Lives of the Virgin and St. John the Baptist, when in fact what we see is a dazzling illustration of daily life in the golden days of Renaissance Florence. It's sprinkled with local personalities and snapshot vignettes, and a number of the faces belong to the Tornabuoni family, who commissioned the work.
In the Cappella Filippo Strozzi, to the right of this, are frescoes by Filippino Lippi (son of Filippo Lippi). To the extreme right is the Cappella dei Bardi, covered with 14th-century frescoes; its lunette frescoes of the Madonna are believed to be by Cimabue (ca. 1285), Giotto's teacher.
To the left of the Cappella Maggiore is the Cappella Gondi and a 15th-century crucifix by Brunelleschi, his only work in wood. And to the extreme left is the Cappella Gaddi, with frescoes by Nardo di Cione (1357); the altarpiece is by Nardo's brother, Orcagna. The chapel awaits the return of Giotto's 13th-century Crucifix, now at the restorer. Adjacent is the sacristy, worth a peek for the delicate glazed terra-cotta lavabo (sink where priests would wash their hands) by Giovanni della Robbia.
In the left aisle near the main entrance is Masaccio's 1428 Trinity fresco, the first painting in history to use perfect linear mathematical perspective. Nearby is Brunelleschi's 15th-century pulpit from which Galileo was denounced for his heretical theory that the Earth revolved around the sun.
If you're not yet frescoed out, exit the church and turn right to visit the Chiostro Verde (Green Cloister) and its Cappellone degli Spagnoli (Spanish Chapel), whose captivating series of early Renaissance frescoes (recently restored) by Andrea de Bonaiuto glorify the history of the Dominican church.
The chapel got its name from the nostalgic Eleanora de Toledo, wife of Cosimo de' Medici, who permitted her fellow Spaniards to be buried here. The Green Cloister took its name from the prevalent green tinge of Paolo Uccello's 15th-century fresco cycle of Noah and the Flood (ironically, themselves heavily damaged in the 1966 Arno flood).
Piazza Santa Maria Novella (just south of train station)
tel. +39-055-282-187, www.comune.fi.it
Daily
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This material was last updated January 2007. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998-2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
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