Florence Cathedral - Table of Contents .................. Mario
Salvadori, Why
Buildings Stand Up
Facade - Florence Cathedral (S. Maria del
Fiore)
Florence,
Italy
Construction: |
1296-c.1367, except for the
unfinished facade and the dome |
Architects: |
|
Style: |
Tuscan Gothic |
Exterior materials: |
The
exterior is notable for the geometric patterning of its facade made
from Tuscan
Romanesque style encrusted
marble:White marble from Carrara |
Size: |
Largest
church in Europe when it was completed in the 15th century |
Name origin: |
Dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, the Virgin of the Flower, in 1412, a clear allusion to the lily [fleur-de-lis] the symbol of the city of Florence. |
Alternate name: | Il
Duomo "Perhaps the most important part of this church, however, was the part that was not built with the rest of the church. This was the enormous dome which covers the crossing, a dome so large and notable that after it was built, its name came to be synonymous with the church itself (“Il Duomo”). .... It was not until Filippo Brunelleschi, one of the greatest Renaissance minds, devised a plan to build the dome around 1425 that the crossing was finally covered." - ItalianRenaissance.org (online April 2020) See also: Mario Salvadori, Why Buildings Stand Up |
Distinction: | The
cathedral complex, including the Baptistery
and Giotto’s Campanile,
is
part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
Gothic?
Few Italian architects accepted the northern Gothic style and the question has been raised as to whether it is proper to speak of buildings like Florence Cathedral as Gothic structures.
Begun in 1296 by and so large that it seemed to the fifteenth century architect Leon Battista Alberti to cover "all Tuscany with its shade," the cathedral scarcely looks Gothic. Most of the familiar Gothic features are missing: the building has neither flying buttresses nor stately clerestory windows, and its walls are pierced only by a few relatively small openings.Like the facade of San Miniato al Monte, the building's surfaces are ornamented in the old Tuscan fashion, with marble-incrusted geometric designs to match it to the eleventh-century Romanesque Baptistery of San Giovanni nearby. Beyond an occasional ogival (pointed arch) window and the fact that the nave is covered by rib vaults, very little identifies this building as Gothic.
Florence Cathedral clings to the ground and has no as aspirations to flight. All emphasis is on the horizontal elements of the design, and the building rests firmly and massively on the ground Simple, geometric volumes are defined clearly and show no tendency to merge either into each other or into the sky. The dome, though it may seem to be rising because of its ogival section, has a crisp, closed silhouette!that that sets it off emphatically against the sky behind it.
Sources:
- "Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Tenth Edition," by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner. Harcourt Brace College Pub. 1996
- "A History of Architectural Styles," by Fritz Baumgart. Praeger Pub. 1970
Facade
" It should be noted that the facade of the cathedral does not date to the Renaissance, but instead to the nineteenth century. Unlike in countries to the north, facades in Italy were considered to be lesser in importance and were put on at the end – and in this case, several centuries after the rest of the church was already built. " - ItalianRenaissance.org (online April 2020) ...... Left: Baptistery ... Right: Campanile/Bell tower ... Cathedral facade has 3 bays, each of which will be considered separately below:
Center Bay
Center Bay
Corbel table ... Encrustation ... Bas-relief
Center Bay
Watch tower ... Parapets feature sexfoils ... Corbel table
Center Bay
Rose window
Center Bay
Rose window details: Acanthus leaf molding ... Encrustation ... Trefoils ... Polychromatic marble
Center Bay
Encrustation
Center Bay
Three details below:
Center Bay
Detail #1 - Queen of Heaven
Center Bay
Detail #2 - Multifoil arch ... Twisted columns
Center Bay
Detail #3 - Mandorla
Four mosaic details below:
Center Bay
Mosaic detail #1 - Jesus depicted as Salvator Mundi ... Next to Jesus: Mary, his mother, and St. John the Baptist
Center Bay
Mosaic detail #2 - Salvator Mundi
Center Bay
Mosaic detail #3
Center Bay
Center Bay
Reproduction bronze middle doors ... The original doors, as well as the two other facade double doors, are found in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo located across the square behind the Cathedral ... 8 details below:
Center Bay - Top left door
Center Bay - Top right door
Center Bay - Middle left door
Center Bay - Middle right door
Coronation
Center Bay - Lower middle left door
Center Bay - Lower middle right door
Center Bay - Lower left door
Center Bay - Lower right door
Left bay
2002 photo ... Left bay
Left bay
Left bay
Compound marble arch ... Mosaic
Left bay
Queen of Heaven mosaic
Left bay
Door surround ... Three details below:
Left bay
Door surround - Detail #1 - Fabulous examples of incrustation
Left bay
Door surround - Detail #2
Left bay
Door surround - Detail #3
Right bay
Right bay
Right bay
Right bay
Right bay
Mosaic
Right bay
Right bay