Let’s say you are one of the major sculptors of Renaissance Italy, and that you live in Florence. Where would you want to have your studio?
How about, right on the piazza around il duomo? Non e’ male!
Using the map above, you will find the bust of Donatello and the plaque recording his studio location about where the P in “Panini Toscani.” You can find Panini Toscani words on the upper right side of the map.
We know some, but not enough, about Donatello (c.1386-1466). He was apparently born in Florence and grew up with the Martelli family, where it is hypothesized that he received early training from a goldsmith, before training and working in the studio of the famous metalworker and sculptor, Lorenzo Ghiberti.
There is very little known about his life as he was growing up; however, Vasari tells us a few stories which give insight to the generous and proud man that he was. Vasari, in his “Life of the Artists” where he wrote biographies of other artists, enjoys playing with the name Donato which is a variation on the Italian verb “to donate”. Several pieces of Donatello’s artwork were donated to those whom he held in high esteem.
It is possible to see many pieces of Donatello’s works throughout Florence – but be aware that several pieces available on display outdoors are expert copies since the originals have been moved indoors for safe keeping.
The map below shows the spots in Florence where you can find major Donatello works.
Both the Museo of the Opera del Duomo and the Bargello have extensive works by Donatello. It is so easy to forget that many pieces were made for a specific setting, like the facade of a church or an altar. Once they’re in a museum, even if the work is beautiful on its own, you sense that if viewed in its original position, the work of art would seem different.
If you decide to go outside of Florence and still want to see works he had a part in, here’s a short list to guide you:
PISA
In the San Matteo National Museum in Pisa, you can view the Reliquary of San Rossore, statue, gilded bronze. Via San Matteo in Soarta 1 (Pisa)
LUCCA
At the Villa Guinigi in Lucca, (also known as “pleasure palace” but which is now a national museum), you can admire Madonna and Child relief in tile. Piazza della Magione (ex Manifattura Tabacchi), Lucca
AREZZO
Inside the impressive Cathedral in the center of the historic part of Arezzo, you can admire the baptismal font with a bas-relief marble carving of the Baptism of Christ.
SIENA
Between the Baptistery of San Giovanni, the Cathedral of Siena and the Museum dedicated to the artwork from the Duomo, you will find several works of art dating from the time Donatello worked in Siena.
Brunelleschi, Michelangelo and many other important artists have major works within this Renaissance architectural masterpiece in the Oltrarno that is so easy to miss. The church’s facade is so unimposing, it is almost invisible.
But step inside and behold: Brunelleschi’s lovely basilica.
Brunelleschi began designs for this interior as early as 1428. The first pillars to the building were delivered in 1446, ten days before his death. After his death, his plans for the church were carried on by his followers Antonio Manetti, Giovanni da Gaiole, and Salvi d’Andrea; the latter was also responsible for the construction of the cupola.
Unlike the Basilica of San Lorenzo, where Brunelleschi’s ideas were thwarted, his designs were carried through here with some degree of fidelity, at least in the ground plan and up to the level of the arcades.
The Latin cross plan was realized and the contrast between the nave and the transept, that caused such difficulty at S. Lorenzo, was here also avoided. The side chapels, in the form of niches, all the same size and 40 in number, run along the entire perimeter of the basilica.
Brunelleschi’s facade was never built and left blank. In 1489, a columned vestibule and octagonal sacristy, designed by Simone del Pollaiolo, known as Il Cronaca, and Giuliano da Sangallo respectively, were built to the left of the building. A door was opened up in a chapel to make the connection to the church.
Dominating the interior of the basilica is a Baroque baldachin with polychrome marbles, by Giovanni Battista Caccini and Gherardo Silvani, and placed over the high altar in 1601.
The church remained undecorated until the 18th century, when the walls were plastered. The inner façade is by Salvi d’Andrea, and has still the original glass window with the Pentecost designed by Pietro Perugino. The bell tower (1503) was designed by Bacio d’Agnolo.
The exterior of the building was restored in 1977-78.
The Augustinians had begun building the church and the convent in 1252. It was originally dedicated to Mary, All Saints and the Holy Spirit, changing by the end of the century to Mary, the Holy Spirit and Matthew.
The churches and convents of various mendicant orders were constructed with the financial support of the commune; the same is true for Santo Spirito beginning in 1267, and then again from 1292 to 1301.
The convent of S. Spirito became a center of scholarly activities and was recognized as Studium Generale of the Augustinian order in 1284. The first Rule and Constitutions of the Augustinians were approved in 1287 by the general chapter of the order that was held in Florence.
Santo Spirito was associated with the early humanism in Florence. One of the groups, led by Bocaccio, gathered there in 1360s and 1370s. Upon his death in 1375, Bocaccio bequeathed his library to the convent.
In the 1380s and early 1390s another circle of humanists met daily in the cell of Luigi Marsili (1342–94). Marsili had studied philosophy and theology at the Universities of Padua and Paris. He came into contact with Petrarch at Padua in 1370 and later became a friend of Bocaccio. This group included Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406), Chancellor of Florence from 1375. He soon became the central figure of the circle.
The most important of Salutati disciples was Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444), a future Chancellor of Florence. Another member of the circle was Niccolo de’ Niccoli, a humanist and an associate of Cosimo de Medici.
It was after the Florentine victory over the Milanese in 1397 during the second Milan war on the feast day of Saint Augustine (28 August), that the Florentine signoria decided to rebuild this church to honor the saint, and placing it under the patronage of the city.
Despite this decision, nothing much happened until 1434, when the operai retained the services of Filippo Brunelleschi. Work on the new church progressed slowly until March 1471. During the Descend of the Holy Spirit sacra rappresentazione organized by the laudese in honor of the visit of Galeazzo Maria Sforza the old church caught fire and was heavily damaged, together with parts of the convent.
The walls of the cloister to the left of the basilica are lined with tombstones from all nationalities and eras.
The convent attached to Santo Spirito has two cloisters; they are known as the Chiostro dei Morti (cloister of the dead) and Chiostro Grande (Grand Cloister). The former takes its name from the great number of tombstone decorating its walls, and was built c. 1600 by Alfonso Parigi. The latter was constructed in 1564-1569 by Bartolomeo Ammannati in a classicistic style.
The former convent also contains the great refectory (Cenacolo di Santo Spirito) with a large fresco portraying the Crucifixion over a fragmentary Last Supper, both attributed to Andrea Orcagna (1360–1365). It is one of the rare examples of Late Gothic Art which can still be seen in Florence.
The room also boasts a collection of sculptures from the 11th-15th centuries, including two low reliefs by Donatello, a high relief by Jacopo della Quercia (Madonna with Child) and two marble sculptures by Tino da Camaino (1320–1322).
The central courtyard of the cloister is lovely and green.
The bellower, as seen from within the cloister.
A fountain graces the center of the garden within the cloister.
One of the hundreds of tombstones within the cloister walls.
Michelangelo’s Crucifix
The young Michelangelo was allowed was allowed to make anatomical studies of the corpses coming from the convent’s hospital; in exchange, he sculpted this wooden crucifix, which was originally placed over the basilica’s high altar. Today the crucifix is in the octagonal sacristy that can be reached from the west aisle of the church.
The French Embassy: I made a quick trip to Rome this past week to visit the Palazzo Farnese, a reservation made several months ago. You have to reserve early and provide lots of personal information if you want to pay a visit to the French Embassy in Italy!
Today the Palazzo is owned by the Italian Republic. In 1936 an arrangement was made with the French to house their embassy for 99 years at the high cost of $1.00 per annum. The Italians have a similar arrangement in Paris.
See those men behind me? They are there to make sure only authorized people enter the Embassy. Trust me, they do a good job! Even with my reservation, I almost wasn’t let in (it seems they needed my actual passport, not just a photocopy that serves me in 99.9% of cases….ummmm… I won’t be making that mistake again).
This pair of matching fountains stand symmetrically in front of the Palazzo.
I was there as an art lover, of course, scheduled to take a tour in Italian of the many beautiful objets that adorn the fabulous palace. Chief among them being the fabulous frescoes by Carracci!
But, before moving to the frescoes, let’s look at the incredible building!
Above is an overview of this very important Renaissance palazzo, located in a prime area of central Rome. First designed in 1517 for the Farnese family, the building expanded in size and conception to designs by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger when Alessandro Farnese became Pope Paul III in 1534.
The palazzo’s construction involved some of the most prominent Italian architects of the 16th century, including Michelangelo, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola and Giacomo della Porta.
Above is an engraving of the Palazzo with the two matching fountains.
Let’s talk frescoes!
Several of the palazzo’s main salons were painted with elaborate allegorical programs including the Hercules cycle in the Sala d’Ercole or the Hercules Room; the “Sala del Mappamondo” or The Room of Maps; and the well known The Loves of the Gods (1597–1608) by the Bolognese painter Annibale Carracci.
In 1595, Annibale and Agostino Carracci had traveled to Rome to begin decorating the Palazzo with stories of Hercules, appropriate since the it housed the famous Greco-Roman antique sculpture of the hyper muscular the so-called Farnese Hercules.
Annibale developed hundreds of preparatory sketches for the major work, wherein he led a team painting frescoes on the ceiling of the grand salon with the secular quadri riportati of The Loves of the Gods.
Although the ceiling is riotously rich in illusionistic elements, the narratives are framed in the restrained classicism of High Renaissance decoration, drawing inspiration from, yet more immediate and intimate, than Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling as well as Raphael’s Vatican Logge and Villa Farnesina frescoes.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Farnese Ceiling was considered the unrivaled masterpiece of fresco painting for its age. They were not only seen as a pattern book of heroic figure design, but also as a model of technical procedure; Annibale’s hundreds of preparatory drawings for the ceiling became a fundamental step in composing any ambitious history painting.
The lucky French, to occupy this magnificent building!
I walk by this lovely sculpture about 2x every day, and half the time I am so busy looking down at the cobblestones so I don’t trip that I don’t even look up and see it.
But when I do look up at the palazzo, it repays me with its beauty. I love the rendering of the time-worn subject but here treated with art deco forms. So lovely.
The inscription underneath reads: A Maria Per La Pace, Le Donne Cristiane (to Maria of the Peace, the Christian women).
get back, lauretta! 
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