WELCOME FRIENDS, FAMILY & FACULTY!

This blog is an art history experiment for our Italian Renaissance travel course. We hope that you, our visitors, will not only take some time to read about what we are studying, but will ALSO feel free to make comments or ask us questions...especially after we see (most of) these things in person. As we travel, we will offer personal reflections on our experiences. After we fly out on the 17th, follow us as we visit Rome (May 18-20), Florence (20-24), and Venice (24-25). We return on Thursday, May 26...just in time for the holiday weekend.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Brunelleschi, Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence 1421


•“Perfect” design: numerical harmony via squares & circles
•Plaster + pietra serena: color harmony
•Vertical space is split into thirds by architrave & drum ring
•Light is divided in thirds: lantern, oculi & drum windows
•Main floor is a square, while the small altar space is Vitruvian (i.e., a circle superimposed on a square)
•Original design: simple, with complexity that grows with the rising elevation
•Donatello spoiled this by adding rondels & overdoor sculptures to his bronze doors
•Tomb placement (Giovanni d’Medici) is theological: located beneath God (circle, light) and Heaven (the dome), perpetual prayers for the dead patriarch ascend & intercede
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2 comments:

  1. IWUart Italy 2011May 6, 2011 at 6:44 AM

    THIS ANALYSIS ROCKS!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JaslynJune 7, 2011 at 10:20 PM

    I am doing an art history project and have to set up similar sites to this to get responses too! I used this picture and cited this site. Thanks and all the best!

    ReplyDelete

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