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Chapel of the Medici, Michelangelo: description and photo

In 1421-1428, Brunelleschi built a chapel on the side of the church of San Lorenzo (the Medici Chapel) in Florence. It was supposed to be a crypt for the Medici's house. Almost a hundred years later, Pope Leo X proposed that Michelangelo complete the facade. Due to lack of money, the work was stopped.

Florence, the Church of San Lorenzo

The oldest church in Florence is the San Lorenzo church. In 339, this cathedral was consecrated by St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. In the Romanesque period, it was rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1059. In 1418, the Medici decided to completely rebuild it and commissioned it to Philip Brunelleschi. The temple inside is decorated with works by Donatello. The prince's chapel became the burial vault for all the Medici dukes of the second line of the family, beginning with Cosimo I. It displays the wealth and power of the Medici. It is filled with all the arms of the cities of the Duchy of Tuscany and the coat of arms of the Medici. A lush interior from the Florentine mosaic was performed for almost two hundred years. The work was done very carefully. There should have been a burial place for six dukes. In reality, huge sarcophagi are empty and serve only as funerary monuments. In fact, the Medici are buried in the crypt. Behind each sarcophagus in the wall is a niche. The sculptures of the dukes were to be placed in them. However, there are only two monuments - the statue of Ferdinand I and Cosimo II. The dome repeats the dome of Brunelleschi and is decorated with scenes from the Scriptures.

Crypt with burials. Chapel of the princes

The place for passage into the chapel of the Medici will lead directly to the crypt. It is from here that you can go to the chapel of the princes and the New Sacristy. The crypt is dark and gloomy, which is natural for the tomb, where most of the members of the Medici family are actually buried, including those who were supposed to rest in the chapel of the princes. In the picture in the majestic chair sits a noble lady. This is Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, the last heiress of this family, who died in 1743. She left a huge artistic heritage of her native Florence.

For fans of Michelangelo

In 1520, it was necessary to build a chapel with gravestones for Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, as well as for the other two sons of the Medici family: Giuliano, the duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, the duke of Urbino. In addition, Cardinal Giulio, a cousin of Pope Leo X, wants to entrust Michelangelo with building a library. It should accommodate books belonging to the whole family, as well as received from various courtiers and other famous book lovers. The Medici Chapel and the New Sacristia in it and the library are two important assignments for the 45-year-old master who will have to deal with architecture for the first time.

The new sacristy is one of the architectural projects that the master brought to the end. There are at least seven sculptures of the Renaissance genius in it.

Beginning of work

Cardinal Giulio of the Medici family, elected by the Pope under the name Clement VII, urged Michelangelo to Rome and gave firm instructions that the Medici Chapel should be immediately completed. He wants to be glorified in the centuries no less than Pope Leo X and his predecessors, who left a memory of themselves as patrons of architecture, sculpture and painting. It was necessary to immortalize the images of the famous Medici who were not in ancient times, but those who established a monarchy in Florence. They were two young, not glorified duke. The new Sacristy in the church of San Lorenzo (the Medici Chapel) should be a single complex with the Old, which was built by Brunelleschi. Michelangelo conceived and then made it with more complex orders, cornices, capitals, doors, niches and tombs. He retreated from the previously adopted rules and customs. The chapel of the Medici at the request of the pope should no longer include the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano. Honorable places should be the tomb of Pope Leo X and his own. Wishing that no one else would use the genius of Michelangelo, Clement VII invited the architect to become a monk and get a haircut for the Order of St. Francis. When the artist refused, Dad gave him a house. Next to him stood a chapel of the Medici. The salary exceeded 3 times the amount requested by Michelangelo.

Michelangelo in Florence

What was to be done by Michelangelo Buonarroti? The Medici Chapel demanded the annexation of the chapel. It was necessary to build a ceiling arch, build a light lantern and perform a number of no less laborious works. And then you can think of the sculptures with which the sculptor intended to decorate the tombstones of Giuliano and Lorenzo de 'Medici. This will require workers, and hence money from Clement VII.

The designs of the sculptures of the Dukes

What feelings will the Medici Chapel bring? Michelangelo, not deceiving himself, suggested that when the sculptures are ready, they will disappoint those who want to see the image of two descendants of the family. They will not have a portrait resemblance. He wanted to create new people, born not only by their time, but also by their own new artistic tasks. In statues, the movement must be conveyed by the balance of the posture, which seemed frozen in the air. It will be two strong young men, full of majestic tranquility.

The Medici Chapel: description

In the tomb of the Medici man falls into a completely different world, not the one that was on the street. You are surrounded by a sense of longing and the impression that you are on the square. Around there are untreated facades of houses, because the dark pilasters, platbands on the rare windows, the windows themselves, the light walls of this ensemble give an uneasy feeling of the medieval street and square. It is such a space that includes a person in the rapidly flowing time, created by Michelangelo. The tomb of the master is a reflection on the measure of variability, duration and shortness of existence, imprinted in the fusion of architecture and sculpture.

Madonna

In the church of San Lorenzo (the Medici Chapel), New Sacristy looks like a free cube, which is crowned with a vault. The architect placed in the walls of a niche with walled, greatly enlarged tombs. For them, he used sculptural figures in full size. Opposite the altar, he placed the sculptural group "Madonna and Child" and surrounded it with statues of St.. Cosmas and Damian (patrons of the Medici). They were made according to his clay sketches by the disciples. The Madonna is the key to the whole chapel. She is beautiful and internally focused. Madonna's face is prone to a child. It is filled with sorrow and sorrow. Madonna is immersed in a deep heavy meditation. The folds of her clothes create an intense rhythmic action and connect her with the whole architectural form. The baby reaches out to her. It is also filled with inner dynamics and tension, which is coordinated with the entire chapel. In the composition of the chapel, Madonna plays a very important role. It is to her that the figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo are drawn.

Statues in niches

Without a hint of a portrait resemblance in the armor of the ancient Romans, two allegorical figures sit. The courageous, energetic Giuliano, with his head uncovered, rests on the baton of the commander. It symbolizes the world that came after the war. This is the allegory of life. While his brother Lorenzo is in deep thought and symbolizes life contemplative. His head, covered with an ancient helmet, rests on his hand, and his elbow on the casket, the animal's muzzle is symbolic. It means wisdom and business qualities. Both figures are tired and melancholy. Niches clenched them, which causes the viewer's feelings of anxiety and anxiety. They are experiencing a difficult time of war and trouble and remember Lorenzo the Magnificent, the benefactor of Italy, in which the world reigned.

Figures on the lids of the sarcophagi

Slipping from the sloping roofs of the tombs, barely holding onto them, lie the sculptural allegories of morning and evening at the feet of Lorenzo and day and night - at Giuliano. The symbols of running time are painfully inconvenient. Their powerful with ideal proportions of the body - materialized languor and grief. "Morning" slowly and reluctantly wakes up, "Day" is awake joylessly and anxiously, "Evening", clinging, falls asleep, "Night" is immersed in a heavy restless sleep. What kind of bird is the Medici Chapel? "Night" stops at the owl, which, if it does, will wake it up. The stone, which she holds in her hand, can fall out at any moment and awaken, too. There is no peace of "Night". This is indicated by the complete suffering of the mask in her hand. The figure of the "Day" deserves attention, because it surprises the inconsistency of sculpting the beautiful body and with difficulty turning to the spectator of the head. The body is fine and polished, and the face slightly protrudes, the image is barely outlined. "Day" keeps traces of tools and is artistically under-formalized. The figures "Morning" and "Evening" are not worked out. This creates additional expressiveness, anxiety and threat. The sculptor was not afraid to go beyond his time, forcing the viewer to think out and interpret sculptures as you like. Here is the face of the "Evening" (the Medici Chapel). Photo confirms what was said above. Figures do not want to live or feel. All together, the times of the day confirm the motto of the Medici "Always" (Semper), meaning constant service. Along with figures of young people allegories are enclosed in a stable triangular composition.

"Crouching boy"

The chapel of the Medici and the heavy timelessness that embraces the man in it possessed another sculpture, which is now in the Hermitage. It is also called "The Boy Who Remains a Splinter." If we mentally return it to the chapel, it turns out that the infinity of time is connected with the momentary. It is a small statue that freely enters the cube. She, like the "Day", is not quite finished: she has not completed the bottom, and the back is not polished. The child crouched all over to the aching leg, an unusual and unexpected pose. The sculptor tried to remove only the most necessary of marble, so that if he falls from the pedestal, nothing would be broken off. The boy is important in the overall design, for he is an instant within time. If the Madonna is a historical, Christian time that united the people of that era, then the boy is his short-term. He and the situation, and the moment. Figures under the niches are in this same cycle of time changes, and not by themselves, standing out in something special. Everything in a genius exists both in life and at the same time diverse.

Laurentian Library

Simultaneously with the work in New Sacristy, which he turned into a magnificent chapel, Michelangelo built a library. Passing through a cozy courtyard, through the left nave you can get into it. It is intended only for the initiated. It contains ancient manuscripts, illustrated codes, the text of the union, which was concluded at the Florence Cathedral in 1439. First appeared lobby, then hall for manuscripts, where they could be stored and read. This long room of gray stone has light walls. The lobby is high. Further, than in it, tourists are not allowed. There are no statues in it, but there are twin columns that are deepened into the walls. Particular attention was paid to the unusual marble staircase, which resembles the flow of molten lava. She has semicircular steep steps and very low railing. It starts at the entrance to the lobby and expands to form three parts. The master himself was already in Rome, when a staircase was built on his clay model - the main attraction of the vestibule.

This concludes the description of the creation of the genius of Michelangelo. In this grandiose work he embodied his innovative ideas. They are so universal that they have become important for all mankind. So the Medici Chapel has changed. Florence received a monument to the Medici, which became a monument to the city itself.

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