A.M. van Loosen-Loerakker, De Koorkapel in de Santa Maria Novella te Florence, Zierikzee (Olanda) 2008, pp. 264; in lingua olandese; esemplare presso p. E. Marino OP.

Dietro mia richiesta (8.IX.2009), la dott.ssa van Loosen redige in inglese un sommario del volume De Koorkapel destinato al sito smn.htm, e ce lo invia in ottobre 2009. Riprodotto qui di seguito. Grazie. E.P., 14.X.2009.

Anna Maria van Loosen-Loerakker

The Cappella Maggiore of the Santa Maria Novella Church

Decorated by Domenico Ghirlandaio
(1, 2)

Preface

Much has already been written about the frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the ‘Cappella Maggiore’ of the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence. However, in my opinion much more can be said about the Christian iconology by an investigation in those bible scenes, that refer to feast- and memorial days upon which special holy masses are being celebrated. The question than is to what extend the liturgical texts that are being used in these special masses have been transposed into the pictorial language by Ghirlandaio.

Further more I am convinced that the antique elements in the frescoes not only have a decorative function as often has been supposed in following Dacos, but that these elements are of prime importance for the meaning of the frescoes and have been carefully selected and put together by Ghirlandaio.

Christian and antique elements have been combined in a subtle way in a complicated entity of meanings, which can not be detached from the ‘ideas’ of the – in the Quattrocento -  so important Neo-Platonism. Consequently it handles about a well balanced program, by Ghirlandaio expressed in the frescoes, probably with the help of learned advisors and it can only be understood against the background of the intellectual environment of the Florentine humanism in the second half of the 15^th century.

Moreover it might be possible to find connections between various literary works of humanists and Ghirlandaio’s reflection of those works transmitted in the biblical scenes in some frescoes.

By meticulously analysing the iconology of Ghirlandaio’s frescoes, both each separately as well as in their coherence (their underlying relationship), and at the same time with the images in the stained glass-windows in the apse and the panel paintings of the altar- reredos at that time, I have tried to give as good as possible an image of this splendid ‘Cappella Maggiore’ in the Quattrocento.

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Scenes referring to special feast- and memorial days:

In the Virgin Cycle on the sidewall left: special feast days are: ‘Sanctificatio’ the 8th December, ‘The Birth of Mary’ the 8th of September, ‘The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple’ the 21st of November, ‘The Assumption of the Virgin’ the 15^th August. In the background of the apse is depicted ‘The Annunciation’ 25^th of March.

‘The Adoration of the Magi’ is commemorated in the Breviary on the 6^th of January. ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’ is remembered in the Mass on the 28^th of December.

In the Baptist Cycle: ‘Zacharias Sacrificing in the Temple’, the Vigil of the Baptist on the 23^rd of June, ‘The Visitation’ the 2nd of July, ‘The Birth of the Baptist’ the 24^th of June, ‘The Baptism of Christ’ remembered in the Breviary on 6^th of January. In the scene ‘The Feast of Herod’, where the martyrdom of the Baptist is depicted, which is memorized in the Mass of the 29^th of August.

The Virgin cycle starts with the scene ‘The Expulsion of Joachim’, originally not mentioned in the contract of 1485. However it appears to be a very important opening fresco.

Through the symmetrical construction of the temple the focal plane is divided in three vertical zones and is, so to say, becoming a triptych. In that triptych Ghirlandaio tells us three stories. In the middle section we see, just a little on the right side in the foreground, the usual scene of the high priest who is pushing Joachim out of the temple because he has not got sons. But when we are looking in the background we see the high priest standing behind an octagonal shaped altar, which reminds us of a baptistery. The Old Testament altar being square (Ex.27:1-4) is not depicted. The priest is not receiving the offering of a lamb by a young man, but about to receive the offer. Through the use of Albertian perspective which constructs the space, the vanishing point is midway on both horizontal and vertical axes, just at the point where the priest rests his elbow. (Cadogan 2000, 75)  He is prepared to receive the offer, but not yet. The young man with the lamb is on his way with his offering, he is still hidden between two columns. His clothing reminds us of the depiction of ‘John the Baptist in the Wilderness’ on the right side of the apse. If the Baptist is meant by Ghirlandaio then the lamb he is carrying recalls his words: ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’. Ghirlandaio’s  above mentioned setting is reminiscent  of the scene ‘The Offering of Abel and Melchisedech’ in mosaic technique in the lunette of the church of S.Vitale in Ravenna. This scene is to be seen as a prefiguration of the Eucharistic offer. So this is also the message to be understood in the middle section of  ‘the Expulsion of Joachim’.

That the beholder has to take notice of this message is literally underlined by the words of Mal. 3:1 inscribed on the cornice of the temple: ‘Veniet ad templum suum Dominator’ , being the second sentence of the prophecy. We find the complete text Mal. 3:1 in the Lesson read on the 2^nd of February, the feast day of ‘The Presentation in the Temple’. This bible scene is seen in the central lancet of the stained glass windows in the apse. Here the people in the church could see it at that time above the ‘Ponte’ ( the high rood screen of that time). The scene was exactly above the high altar, where the Eucharistic offer is celebrated. So the Old Testament prophecy is being fulfilled in the New Testament.

Moreover we have to consider the first sentence of Mal. 3:1: ‘Ecce ego mitto Angelum meum, et praeparabat viam ante faciem meam’. In this sentence we have to see that John the Baptist is meant. Also we read in Mt. 11:10 that by the ‘Angelum’ or ‘Messenger’ John the Baptist is indicated.

The coming of the Baptist is announced in the opening scene of the Baptist cycle on the right side wall of the chapel with the bible scene ‘Zacharias Sacrificing in the Temple’.

Thus the text of Mal. 3:1 is connecting three scenes: ‘The Expulsion of Joachim’ with ‘The Presentation in the Temple’ and ‘Zacharias sacrificing in the Temple’. By drawing imaginary lines between the three scenes mentioned, you create so to say a triangle. In the opening scenes, in the basis of this triangle, the emphasis is laying on the Old Testament Altar. While on top of the triangle where ‘The Presentation in the Temple’ is depicted, the emphasis is laid on the coming Eucharistic offer of Christ, which is being fulfilled on the high altar, just below this scene, during the Mass in which the priest celebrates the Eucharistic offer.

Clearly Ghirlandaio is pointing out in ‘The Expulsion of Joachim’ that we have to see in the middle section of the fresco: the prefiguration of the Eucharistic offer.

In the right section of the scene ‘The Expulsion of Joachim’ Ghirlandaio emphasized once more the meaning of this fresco by using antique elements, here the two women on the right with their clothing all’antica, the nymphs. The two nymphs  are to be seen as carrying animals with a symbolic connotation. One nymph has a lamb on her shoulders as a symbol of innocence and gentleness, memorizing the words of the prophet Jeremia 11:19 who alludes to the future offer of Christ. The other nymph is carrying a basket with pigeons, here as a symbol of chastity. In art. 3, 145 Thomas Aquino wrote on the sacrifices as figures of Christ: “Christ is offered in the lamb, to signify innocence. The turtledove signified chastity”. (Ross 1983, 103, note 56)  Both nymphs with their symbolic offers are referring to the future offer of Christ.

In the left section of the scene ‘The Expulsion of Joachim’ another story of offering is told by the artist.

In the background we see a young man who carries a dark brown sheep. He is remarkable by his clothing a blue tunica and also by his offer the sheep. When we compare his clothing with that of the roman tax-inner in the fresco by Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel the similarity in the clothing, the tunica, is evident, the only difference is the colour of the vestment.

Through this comparison we could place the young man in the roman imperial time. In that time Romans were bringing their offerings to a temple of the gods. It is known that these offerings consisted of a pig, a sheep and a bull, the so called stately ‘Suovetaurilia’ offerings (Stützer 1987, 47). These offerings were, among others, performed in Rome but also in Florence. In the last case Ghirlandaio gives us the clue by the painting of the open temple architecture in which we can discover in the background a building which reminds us of the ‘Ospedale di S.Paolo’ on the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Moreover the artist decorates the Florentine palazzi in the background with bucrania and guirlandes (decorations belonging to the Suovetaurilia offerings). In this way he is given us an indication of a roman temple in Florence. When looking back in history we can read in Bruni’s ‘Historiarium Florentini Populi’ that there existed a temple of Mars in Florence. Furthermore Landino wrote a comment in Neoplatonic sense of Dante’s masterpiece ‘The Divina Commedia’ which was a great success in the Quattrocento. In the ‘Divina Commedia’ Dante tells us the story of the god Mars and the bringing of the stately offerings in his temple in Florence, see Inferno XIII, 143:151 and Paradiso XVI, 145:154. Hence the roman shepherd in the fresco is on his way to bring his offerings to the temple of Mars in Florence.

In the course of history we can trace back the remembrance of the god Mars, especially in the depiction of the ‘Marzocco’ made by Donatello in 1418-20 for the loggia of the papal residence in the convent of Santa Maria Novella. In this statue the warrior god Mars is replaced by the figure of a saint animal, a sitting lion that with his right foreleg is protecting the weapon of the republic of Florence. Landino remarks in his commentary on the ‘Divina Commedia’ that we have to see this figure in the Neoplatonic sense as the virtue of Fortitudo.

Finally we can draw the parallel between the martial god Mars in pagan time as protector of Florence, and John the Baptist in Christian time as the martial patron saint of the city of Florence. In the scene ‘Zacharias sacrificing in the Temple’: the announcement of the birth of the Baptist the text in the frieze zone of the temple from Jes. 49, 1:4 we find the indication of a ‘militia spiritualis’ of John the Baptist.

The Birth of Mary

In this scene two feast days are depicted. High up in the left corner, and there is no doubt about it, ‘the Sanctificatio’ is depicted. The ‘Birth of Mary’ is of crucial importance in the beginning of the history of the Redemption. Mary’s birth is situated in a richly decorated room. Important here is the text above the wainscot: ‘Nativitas Tua Dei Genitrix Virgo Gaudium annunciavit universo mundo’. This text, which is the first line of the Antiphon of the Magnificat sung at the second Vespers of the feast of Mary’s Birth (8^th September) continues with the words: ‘ex te enim ortus est Sol justitiae, Christus Deus noster: qui solvens maledictionem, et confundens mortem, donavit nobis vitam sempiternam’. The continuing text is being illustrated by Ghirlandaio in the pictorial language on the frontal side of the then altar reredos and on the back side of the reredos. The text is here connecting also three scenes: ‘The Birth of Mary’ with ‘The Madonna in Glory’ on the frontal side of the reredos and with ‘The Resurrection of Christ’ on the back side of the altar reredos.

Above the text Ghirlandaio painted dancing and music making putti. The artist derived these putti very carefully from various antique sarcophagi, so that they are forming together the Psalm 150: ‘Laudate Dominum in sanctis’ and especially 150:3:’Praise him with the sound of trumpet; Praise him with psaltery and harp; 150:4: ‘Praise him with tumbrel and choir with strings and organs; 150:5: ‘Praise him on high-sounding cymbals; Praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord.’

Underneath these cheerful putti we see the infant Mary in the arms of two midwifes all three closely together. Remarkable is however the clothing of the midwives, when we compare them with the midwifes in ‘The Birth of the Baptist’. In the last scene they are dressed in the contemporary costumes of midwifes. But in the ‘Birth of Mary’ they are wearing exceptional dresses. The woman holding the infant Mary is even wearing a very precious jewel (mentioned in Giovanni Tornabuoni’s Testament for his daughter Ludovica: ‘Item uno pendente con uno rubino et uno diamante e tre perle, di valuta di fiorini 120 larghi’).

So it appeared that it is probably not the intention of Ghirlandaio to depict the midwifes only in their function for the care of the infant, but that we have to see in these women  also a symbolic meaning. The smiling woman with the happy infant on her lap can be seen as an illustration of the metaphor: ‘causa nostrae laetitiae’ occurring in ‘The Litany of Mary’. The kneeling woman who is also holding the child Mary turns her head towards the group of women behind her from whom the first woman is Ludovica who died in childbirth. We can see here the midwife as intercessor between the child and the women. Ghirlandaio’s rendering of the group: the infant Mary close together with the midwifes who also have a symbolic meaning can be seen as an illustration of the 5^th line of the Antiphon, sung in the Vespers on 8^th September: ‘Cum jucunditate Nativitatem beatae Mariae celebremus, ut ipsa pro nobis intercedat ad Dominum Jesum Christum’. In this connection it is important to remark that this Antiphon is of importance for the deceased women in the Tornabuoni family. Mary is the intercessor for the faithful departed. In the Antiphon  composed in the 11^th century the ‘Salve Regina’ Mary is called upon as ‘’advocata nostra’ and is sung from the ‘Sunday of Trinity’ till the ‘Advent’. The light falling through the window in the upper left corner of the fresco is clearly enlightening the water stream which is being poured into the basin by the midwife. Here we can see the illustration of the metaphor from the Song of Songs 4:15: ‘the well of living waters’ (Ross 1983 113).

The midwife here is also attracting our attention, because she does not wear the contemporary clothing of midwifes either. She resembles in her dress the nymph with her windblown garment and reminds us in that disguise of the ‘Temperantia’ (see van Marle 1932 II, 36, fig. 39). This virtue is due to Mary. An example of scenes from the live of Mary accompanied with depictions of personifications of the virtues is shown by Orcagna in the reliefs of the tabernacle in the Orsanmichele.

At the same time the ‘Temperantia’ is meant as an example for the Christian community and also for the citizens of Florence. We have to remember in this respect the important translation from the Greek language into the Latin of Plato’s ‘Politeia’ by Uberto Decembrio. In the ‘Politeia’ Plato states that the four cardinal virtues, among others the ‘temperantia’ should be practised by the citizens of the ideal city state. Ghirlandaio underlines the meaning of the nymph as Temperantia through the depiction of a volute crater, intended for the mixing of water and wine.

Another feature in the birth room are the keys hanging on the ‘cassone’. By the incidence of   light we can see the shadow of the keys on the cassone. Here they stand obviously for the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven’, Mt. 16:19 (Ross 1983, 113) In the Dominican daily Office for Mary we find the words: ‘Yes thou are the door that is leading to the highest King! Thou are the door which is glistening of the light’. (Didi-Huberman 1995, 127, note 73) In the Litany of Mary we find also the metaphor for Mary as: ‘Porta Coeli’ from Gen. 28:17.

Also in the Antiphon ‘Alma Redemptoris Mater and in the hymne ‘Ave Maris Stella Mary is the ‘Porta Coeli’. By using the difference in clothing and the antique elements Ghirlandaio calls the attention of the beholder to the hymns and praises in honour of the Virgin Mary.

In the ‘Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple’ Mary is located in the centre of a diagonal line.  The Virgin is holding the book of the Old Testament for her womb, climbing the stairs to be received in the temple. This setting is according to Thomas of Aquino who called Mary ‘the theological boundary between the Old and the New Testament’. The Old Testament Book Mary is holding for her womb refers also to Thomas of Aquino when he calls the Virgin ‘a temple of God’. On the feast day of the ‘Presentation’ on the 21^st of November one sings in the Vespers the Antiphon on the Magnificat: ‘Beata Dei Genitrix Maria, Virgo perpetua, templum Domini….’

Looking on the left side in the corner of the fresco there are two nymphs- clothed all’antica- standing, drawing our special attention by their gestures. One makes the gesture of counting arguments and the other is in her gesture to be seen as a personification of ‘Spes’. And in the upper right side in the corner on the diagonal line we see another nymph running out of the temple making a gesture of greeting. So in the diagonal line we recognize, by means of the nymphs, the end of the first strophe of the hymn ‘Salve Regina’: ‘et Spes Nostra, Salve’. In the right corner of the fresco a notable figure, scarcely dressed, is sitting on the side steps of the temple stairs. Some art historians are of opinion that Ghirlandaio depicted here a beggar. But Steinmann (1897, 51) and Offerhaus (1976, 212) are thinking of a person from Antiquity. Dacos (1962, 435) made an extensive study of the antique elements used by Ghirlandaio in his fresco-paintings. In this case she gives us 2 examples for the ‘ignudo’. The most striking example for this figure is the statue of Hermes by Lysippos. But what might be the reference to Hermes given by Ghirlandaio in connection with this bible scene? First the artist placed a small cask containing water of wine, comparable with the cask in Ghirlandaio’s painting of ‘The Adoration of the shepherds’ in the Sassetti Chapel of the Santa Trinità. On this panel painting the small cask is placed besides a saddle and belongs apparently to travel requisites. The small cask clearly placed besides the ‘ignudo’ seems to emphasize the intention of Ghirlandaio that he is depicting here Hermes, because Hermes was besides the messenger of the gods also the protector of the travellers (Hom. Od. XXIV: 335-338).

Now we have to situate the figure of Hermes in the Quattrocento. We know that Ficino got the task from Cosimo the Medici to translate the ‘Corpus Hermeticum’ from the Greek language into the Latin. In one of the treaties of the ‘Corpus Hermeticum’ the so-called ‘Poimandros’ Ficino writes in the ‘Argumentum’ that Hermes was the first under the philosophers who practised the contemplation. He was also the first to discuss with great knowledge about the great wisdom of the majesty of God and the transformation of the souls (Copenhaver & Schmitt 1992, 148) Moreover Ficino remarks that Hermes wrote many books from which it appears, that he is not only speaking as philosopher, but also as a prophet, because he foretold the loss of the old religion, the coming of the new religion, the coming of Christ and the ‘Last Judgement’. (Copenhaver & Schmitt 1992, 147)

The translation of the treatise ‘Poimandros’ in 1463 appeared to be a tremendous success not only in Florence, but far beyond the city. (Kristeller 1969, 53)

The popularity of the figure of Hermes finds also a place in the arts. For example in the floor mosaic in the Duomo of Siena we see a depiction of Hermes and also on a pillar in the Vatican Library.

In a very ingenious manner Ghirlandaio depicted the figure of Hermes in this fresco in deriving the figure from the old statue of Hermes made by the sculptor in the antiquity Lysippos.

In the fresco ‘The Presentation of the Temple’ Hermes is sitting on the steps of the temple gazing at the Virgin as she is on her way to the temple. We can see Hermes in his capacity as prophet who is foretelling the loss of the old religion, the new religion to come, the coming of Christ and finally the ‘Last Judgement’. But he is also to be seen as a philosopher in his manner of holding his right hand under the chin, an attitude we can attribute to the contemplation. In the discussion about the Dominican order we have already seen that the contemplation (plenitude contemplationis) is necessary as an essential element for the Dominicans for their apostolic activity. Also Dante refers to the contemplation by citing Thomas of Aquino in Par. X, 94:96, especially in line 96: ‘U’ben s’impingua se non si vaneggia’. According to Grossi the verb impinguarsi expresses the fullness of the contemplation. (Orlandi s.a., 6)

In the fresco ‘The Betrothal of the Virgin’ the architectural setting divides the scene in three parts. In the middle the Betrothal between Mary and Joseph is given with the high priest between them. Together the three persons are forming an arch which is reflected in the arch of the basilica behind them. The construction of the architecture reminds us of the basilica of Constantine. The two side walls are closed and also the background; depicted in this manner Ghirlandaio created a closed hall. This creative architecture seems to be a reference to the text of the Song of Songs 4:12 in which Mary is praised as a ‘Hortus Conclusis’. This metaphor is an indication for the virginity of Mary.

In the fresco ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ it is Mary who is accepting the offer from the eldest king, instead of, as we see usually, the Christ child. Here the accent lies on the position of the Virgin as Intercessor for the believer.

In the cornice of the broken roman temple building we locate the inscription: Caes Augustus XXXVII A(nno) P(Principatus). This is an indication for the reign of the emperor Augustus and the year 38, which is coming to an end in the year 1, when Christ was born, in accordance with the prophecy of the Tiburtine Sybil that the pagan era of Augustus is being followed by the Christian era.

Ghirlandaio depicted the scene of ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’ according to the Gospel of Mt. 2,16:18 read in the Mass on the 28^th of December, the day of remembrance of the Innocenti.

In the foreground of the fresco we see the cruel scene of the mothers who are flying with their little children and are also bravely battling with the soldiers. This time the fluttering clothes of the women reflect the movement of the flight. In the background a triumphal arch is depicted decorated with reliefs. The upper reliefs on the right and left side are both showing representations of an ‘Adlocutio’. They have been derived from coins which depicted on the recto respectively the emperors Galba and Caligula. Both emperors were known by their cruelties and are emphasizing the cruelty of the emperor Nero, who is standing on the balcony on the upper left side to watch the brutal scene which is going on beneath him.

Beneath the upper reliefs we see left an emperor on horseback who beats an opponent, the recto of this coin shows the malicious emperor Nero. On the right side of the triumphal arch the relief with the goddess Cybele is depicted, derived form a coin that on the recto shows Faustina.

The goddess Cybele had her temple in 191 b. C. on the Palatine in Rome. She was venerated in ceremonies of purification, consisting of a ritual bath in the blood of an offered bull. The intention of these ceremonies was to purify the children of the sin they were supposed to have inherited from their parents. We can see it as a kind of pagan baptism.

Now in the scene of the Innocents the childeren are bathing in their blood and so they are being baptised in their own blood. (Voragine 1993, 73) In the Vespers of 28^th December we come across in the Antiphon on the Magnificat: ‘Innocentes pro Christo infants occisi sunt, ab iniquo rege lactentes interfecti sunt: ipsum sequuntur Agnum sine macula, et dicunt simper: Gloria tibi, Domine’.

In this fresco we observe that through the depiction of the goddess Cybele, Ghirlandaio demonstrates a special relation between the cultus of Cybele in ancient times concerning the purification of the original sin, and that of the Innocenti in the Christian era. Hence a parallel is drawn between the Classical Antiquity and Christianity, a way of thinking that we find in the Neoplatonic philosophy of Ficino. When the myths are being interpreted in the accurate way, they support the Christian philosophy. (Kristeller II 1980, 111)

‘The Dormition and the Assumption of the Virgin’ are represented in the lunette of the left side wall.

Here Ghirlandio is illustrating the story of the ‘Dormitio’ described in the ‘Legenda Aurea’(Voragine 1993, 583,584). The Virgin on her deathbed is surrounded by the apostles. One is performing the ‘absoute’, while the apostle Johannes kneels holding the palm branch at the foot end of the bed and is already looking  upwards, where three days later the Assumption of the Virgin shall take place.

In the left corner of the fresco we can see a Greek delegation. One man who stands with his back to the beholder is wearing as head-covering a ‘kameloukion’. Such a head-covering was worn by the emperor Johannes VIII Paleologos during his entry at the time of the Council of Florence in 1439. Furthermore a portrait of Patriarch Joseph II was discovered in the second figure on the left. (Marino 1992, 49) The beholder is reminded here of the Council of Florence, which was of great importance at that time. We can also see the depiction of the entry of the Greek at the occasion of this council on the doors of the Saint Peters basilica in Rome by the Florentine artist Filarete.

In the right corner of the fresco Ghirlandaio depicted an apostle, who seems to be Saint Peter in discussion with a person who resembles Marcus Aurelius (Kecks 1995, 133). But in contradiction with Kecks who is thinking that by Marcus Aurelius some Roman must be remembered who might be a convert, we have to think about the fact that in the Quattrocento the image of Marcus Aurelius was thought to be the Christian emperor Constantine. With this idea in mind Ghirlandaio depicted the emperor Constantine, the first Christian emperor. His presence here reminds us of the Council of Nicea in 325, an important event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. In this Council the ‘Credo’ was embedded. An ultimate example of this confession of faith we find in the fresco of the Dominican Saint Peter Martyr depicted on the upper right side of the back wall of the apse, where the saint can just write down the word ‘Credo’ with his own blood before dying. On the left side on the back wall of the apse Saint Dominicus is depicted arguing with the unbelievers. His arguments escape the fire, but those of the unbelievers are burned. So in both depictions on the back wall of the apse, which good be seen well at the time by the worshippers in the church, the devise of the Dominicans is illustrated in these two frescoes that through the ‘word’ and the ‘example’ they have to convince the people of the Christian religion.

The ’Assumption of the Virgin’ is an illustration of the text of the Song of Songs: 6:10 (Ross 1983, 149) On the feast day of ‘The Assumption’ we find in the Antiphon on the Magnificat sung in the Vespers of that day: ‘ Virgo prudentissima, quo progrederis quasi aurora valde rutilans?  Filia Sion, tota Formosa et suavis es; pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol’. This Antiphon is also very important in the way of Ghirlandaio’s painting of the Virgin who is rising up to Heavens.

In the right corner, just above the scene ‘The Dormitio’ Ghirlandaio depicts a villa, which is reminiscent of the villa built by Michelozzi in the year 1458 on the commission of Cosimo de Medici. In the apartments of this villa Lorenzo il Magnifico assembled with renown artists and humanists, like Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Angelo Poliziano and Cristoforo Landino. (Pontani s,a, 12)

 The Baptist cycle starts ... →