Opera magazine
2021-08-19
Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and Opera di Santa Croce of Florence
Two monumental complexes at the center of the history and art of Florence
Every year millions of people from all over the world visit the monumental complexes of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Franciscan Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. These immense treasure troves of beauty and spirituality are like two friends who have walked arm in arm through the history of Florence, sharing great eras of art and culture since their very origins.
Aristodemo Costoli, Memorial to Arnolfo di Cambio, 1844, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
Both the Cathedral and the Basilica of Santa Croce were founded at the end of the thirteenth century, just two years apart (1294, 1296) at the height of Florence's economic and demographic boom, and became two of the largest Christian temples in the world. Both were designed by the great Tuscan architect Arnolfo di Cambio — who was also the author of the city walls, the government palace, and other important buildings —, who conceived them with two different layouts but with a common architectural style: imposing and sober at the same time, out of respect for the customs of republican Florence.
It is important to emphasize that the administrative structure of these institutions presented fundamental differences. Although both Santa Maria del Fiore and Santa Croce remain "opere" or "fabbricerie" (cathedral authorities) to this day, their management and patronage model was distinct. The Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore reflects a model of corporate patronage: starting from 1331, it was placed under the direct and institutional control of a single, incredibly powerful guild, the Arte della Lana (Wool Guild). The Opera di Santa Croce, on the other hand, was never administered by a single guild. Its development relied on the patronage of numerous and highly powerful families (such as the Bardi, Peruzzi, Alberti, and Baroncelli), whose wealth and influence derived from the various Arti Maggiori (Major Guilds), including the Arte del Cambio (Bankers' Guild), the Arte della Lana, and also the Arte di Calimala (Cloth Merchants' Guild). The Arte di Calimala, in particular, held the prestigious patronage of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, but not of the Basilica of Santa Croce. Therefore, while the Duomo was the expression of the power of a guild as a single entity, Santa Croce became the great stage for the most important Florentine families, an expression of their wealth and prestige.
Domenico di Michelino, Dante Alighieri, Florence and the Realms of the Divine Comedy, 1465, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
It is no coincidence that these monumental complexes shared dozens of artists who adorned them with their masterpieces: we have mentioned Arnolfo di Cambio, but let us also remember Giotto, who was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore after having been its master builder and having designed the Bell Tower that still bears his name, and who frescoed several chapels in Santa Croce, including the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels, which can still be admired today.
And for the fourteenth century, one cannot fail to remember Dante Alighieri: the great author of the Divine Comedy dreamed of receiving the laurel crown in the Baptistery, and one of his most famous portraits, which can still be admired on the north wall of the Duomo, was painted in the fifteenth century by Domenico di Michelino for the bicentennial of his birth. In the nineteenth century, his cenotaph was placed in Santa Croce — a work by Stefano Ricci from 1830 — and the monumental sculpture depicting him, sculpted by Enrico Pazzi for the six-hundredth anniversary of his birth, was placed in the piazza in front of the basilica.
Moreover, while in the fifteenth century the Cathedral and Santa Croce competed for the primacy of being the city's pantheon of glories, in the following centuries, and especially between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this civic role was won by the Franciscan basilica (as Ugo Foscolo also celebrated in his 1807 poem Dei Sepolcri).
Filippo Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel, Basilica of Santa Croce (Credit: Archive of the Opera di Santa Croce)
Returning to the art of the fifteenth century, we encounter the great protagonists of the Early Renaissance in both Santa Maria del Fiore and Santa Croce. Brunelleschi, architect of the Duomo's Dome, left the Pazzi Chapel in Santa Croce, one of his masterpieces, and his friend Donatello, who had trained and grown up on the Cathedral construction site, leaving countless masterpieces there, sculpted his famous Crucifix and the splendid Annunciation of the Cavalcanti Chapel for the Franciscans of Santa Croce. And what about Lorenzo Ghiberti? The creator of the two monumental doors of the Baptistery was not buried in the Cathedral like his rival Brunelleschi, but his elegant floor tomb is located in the Franciscan basilica.
Giorgio Vasari (project), Monumental Tomb of Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1564–1576, Basilica of Santa Croce (Credit: Alena Fialova/Archive of the Opera di Santa Croce)
The story of Michelangelo's burial also represents a curious historical twist. The great artist died in 1564 in Rome, where he had lived for about thirty years and where he wished to be buried; however, his body was stolen and transferred to Florence, where it was buried in Santa Croce. Here, by order of the Grand Duke and thanks to the dedication of Giorgio Vasari and the other members of the Accademia del Disegno, a splendid funeral monument was erected for him.
A similar fate befell the so-called Bandini Pietà, the marble deposition in which Michelangelo portrayed himself in the guise of Nicodemus. The work had been conceived by the artist to adorn his own burial in a Roman church, but, by a singular twist of fate, it arrived in Florence at the end of the seventeenth century. Placed at first in the Cathedral, today it is preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, where it can be admired by the public.
Bernardo Sansone Sgrilli, Descrizione e studi dell'insigne fabbrica di Santa Maria del Fiore Metropolitana Fiorentina, fig. XV: altare centrale della Cattedrale, 1733
Few people know that when the monumental marble choir enclosure created in the sixteenth century by Baccio Bandinelli was partially dismantled in the nineteenth century, the gigantic sculptures that adorned its altar, depicting God the Father Blessing and the Dead Christ, were transferred right into Santa Croce: you can admire the former outside the Pazzi Chapel, while the second — which is splendid — is in the crypt.
The neo-Gothic facades of Santa Croce and Santa Maria del Fiore
In the nineteenth century, these connections intensified: the Pelli Monument was removed from the Cathedral and transferred right into the Franciscan basilica. Something similar also happened to the ancient wooden doors of the Duomo's facade which, at the time of their replacement, were donated to Santa Croce. Even today, carved into the panels of the basilica's main portal, you can see Saint Zenobius and Saint Reparata, surmounted by the coat of arms of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. Have you ever noticed it?
And, broadening your gaze, you will notice that the facades of Santa Maria del Fiore and Santa Croce look very much alike, as both are masterpieces of Florentine Neo-Gothic architecture. The first to be built was that of Santa Croce, the work of Niccolò Matas. Its construction helped renew interest in creating a monumental facade for the Cathedral as well. Among the many proposals presented over the years to complete the front of the Duomo, Matas also participated with a project of his own; however, the one by Emilio De Fabris prevailed. Both facades are adorned with works by the major sculptors of the Academy of Florence, sealing a brotherhood that has lasted for over seven centuries.
