A MAGI CHAPEL AT THE PALAZZO MEDICI - RICCARDI, FLORENCE

I’m sitting here at my desk in Rutland looking out of the window at a dull grey overcast day pondering how to best organize the material for my Italian blog. As an undergraduate geographer back in the early 70’s I came to love pattern, order and logical thinking and this desire for everything to be clear and connected has stayed with me ever since. I knew instinctively that I would have to be able to see a comfortable pattern in how it would unfold and hang together. Having made many visits to Florence in recent times I’m also now keen to incorporate postings on this special Italian city, but I also want to avoid merely telling its history and giving brief descriptions of the main sites – there are plenty of good guide books and ‘apps’ that do that. Consequently I’ve decided to include material on Florence when and where I get a thought or an idea which relates to something I’ve already been writing about and so this is my first diversion to this wonderful city.

In my last posting I focused on Christmas nativities and introduced the fact that many Renaissance painters set stories from the bible in contemporary landscapes. In Florence, there are many examples of works of art which show this trait and it just so happens that one of my favourites incorporates this compositional device and the subject is also the journey of the three wise men to Bethlehem. I’m thus going there now – a much better idea than contemplating the winter weather outside. What I’m going to describe, if you're not already familiar with it, is a truly captivating series of fresco paintings commissioned and completed in the middle of the 15^th century and which have survived through to the present day in good condition. If I hadn’t seen them already, I’d definitely have them on my bucket list and then put them in my top ten favourite works of art list.

PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI

Just north of the Duomo on the Via Cavour, where it meets the street which leads to Piazza San Lorenzo, stands the majestic and rather severe Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, a huge and magnificent stone 15^th century three storey ediface built on the instructions of Cosimo il Vecchio to designs by the architect Michelozzo after his return from exile in Venice. The palazzo was to become the home of all of the heads of the powerful, rich Medici banking family up to the Grand Duke of Tuscany - Cosimo I. The building became a major place of reception and entertainment for their important dignitary guests and was designed, decorated and furnished accordingly. Today the Palazzo houses the offices of the Provincia and the Prefecture, but important parts of it are open to the public - Jon and I actually visited it on Christmas Day 2012. In the 17^th century it passed into the hands of the Riccardi family who carried out many alterations and redecorations, but the magnificent Michelozzo ground floor arcaded courtyard from the Medici period survives and so does a room on the piano nobile (first floor) and it’s this interior that draws thousands of visitors to the palazzo every year and the one I'm going to recall visiting now.

COURTYARD - PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI

Climbing the wide stone staircase which led up to the first floor the thought went through my mind that I was about to see something I’d seen many times before, but only in art history text books. It’s difficult to pick up a book about Renaissance painting in Florence without seeing illustrations of this series of frescoes. The setting was smaller than I’d expected, the chapel being an oblong shaped room with a coffered ceiling, a lovely inlaid marble floor and wooden stalls by Giuiliano Sangallo. It’s the fresco wall paintings, however, which take the breath away.

GOZZOLI FRESCO CYCLE - CAPELLA DEI MAGI
PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI

Three walls of the chapel are covered with sumptuous, gloriously colourful and splendid fresco paintings by Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli who started them in 1459 and completed them two years later in 1461. The frescoes were commissioned by Pier il Gottoso (Piero the Gouty) Medici who appears in the fresco on the east wall in the bottom left hand corner as the figure wearing a red cap, black brocaded doublet and riding on a white horse.

Set in a Tuscan landscape a procession of the the Magi and their attendants can be seen on the three walls making their way to Bethlehem. Caspar, the youngest Magus, mounted on a white horse leads the procession on the east wall, the bearded Balthasar, also on a white horse, can be seen on the south wall and the oldest magus Melchoir dominates the procession on the west wall. Each is accompanied by an elaborate entourage of mounted and walking followers.

As I recall this visit I’m amused by the fact that as an aide memoire I bought a large piece of Florentine gift wrap from the palazzo shop which depicts the east wall fresco panel from the cycle; I’ve blue tacked it to the wall in front of my desk so I can absorb again some of the detail. 

JON HOLDS UP MY FLORENTINE GIFT WRAP ILLUSTRATING
ONE PANEL FROM THE CAPELLA DEI MAGI

Focussing on this east wall the procession of Caspar can be seen making its way in zig zag fashion through a rocky landscape which is full of detail; on hills in the background there are Tuscan towns and castles, patches of woodland, fruited trees and such lovely details such as the mid ground mounted hunter complete with greyhound chasing a stag. The principal figures in the foreground are all sumptuously clothed in Florentine brocaded fabrics and the apparel worn by the horses stands out in its fabulous detail.

CASPAR'S PROCESSION - EAST WALL
CAPELLA DEI MAGI - PALAZZO MEDICE-RICCARDI 

Magus Caspar it has been sugguested, is an idealised version of a young Lorenzo Medici, (later he would become known as Lorenzo the Magnificent) but it would seem that he appears twice in the fresco; he was only ten at the time the frescoes were painted and he is shown a second time in a much more realistic way as a snub nosed boy in the line of men just behind the row of horses heads in the bottom left hand corner of the panel. What is clear is that most of the figures present in the foreground are known individuals. I’ve already mentioned Piero the Gouty, commissioner of the frescoes and head of the family, on the white horse behind Caspar. Behind him, on a donkey is Cosimo Medici, founder of the Medici family dynasty. The two mounted figures on the left are the then Lords of Rimini and Milan who were visitors to the Palazzo Medici. Behind them a mixture of important Florentines including humanist intellectuals, artists and craftsmen and fascinatingly the artist himself, who must have loved taking the opportunity to immortalize himself in a major commission undertaken for such a significant patron. About half way up the left hand side a man stands in the crowd looking out at us wearing a red cap bearing the words ‘OPUS BENOTI’ – this is Benozzo Gozzoli. Though the artist gives us no real sense of perspective and real depth in the fresco – the whole thing looks somewhat artificial – this never seems to matter. Almost certainly Gozzoli has drawn his inspiration from colourful and beautifully woven northern European tapestries which are known to have been bought and collected by the commissioner of the works. In this sense there is still a distinctly gothic feel to the frescoes, though the concentration on the natural characteristics of the individuals and the horses is ‘of the moment’ and all look very 'real' – its fascinating to observe the detail of the musculature in the horses limbs for example and details such as the wrinkles seen in the hose of some of the standing men – marvellous!

THE ARTIST BENOZZO GOZZOLI  IN THE EAST WALL PROCESSION
CAPELLA DEI MAGI - PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI

This cycle is not of course just about the telling of a biblical story and as with many Renaissance works of art, the frescoes work on a number of levels beyond the purely religious context. The procession depicts the important people involved in the Council of Florence of 1438/9, led by members of the influential Medici family, who set out to reconcile differences between the Catholic and Byzantine churches. The patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Byzantine church, is probably represented in the figure of the oldest magus Melchoir seen on the west wall.  

MAGUS CASPAR - LORENZO IL MAGNIFICO
CAPELLA DEI MAGI - PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI

This spectacular series then, the most important of Gozzoli's career, is all about the aggrandisement and importance of the rising Medici family. These were works meant to send out clear messages to important visitors, for the frescoes are a perfect status symbol in a small room which it seems likely must have acted as an intimate reception space as well as a chapel.

If you haven’t seen these wonderful frescoes and you are making a visit to Florence put this destination on your list for they are not to be missed and try and go when its quiet if you can. Attendants do put a limit on the number of people allowed in to the room at any one time, but groups often get priority and there is huge pressure to move on. I’ve seen people using an app and ear phones as a guide when in the room so you may want to try this modern mode of communication too. I think it’s best to do the homework before you go and just soak in the atmosphere of this wonderful place and be amazed.  

BENOZZO GOZZOLI (c1421-97)

Renaissance master painter originally trained as a goldsmith and who worked mainly in Florence. In his early years he worked with Ghiberti on the Florentine baptistery doors, but he moved on to become a painter, working as an assistant to Fra Angelico in Orvieto and Rome. The fresco cycle in the Capella dei Michelozzo was his most important commission. 

FRESCO

Is a method of wall painting in which pure powdered pigments mixed in an aqueous medium are applied to wet plaster freshly laid on the wall (the word 'fresco' in Italian means 'fresh'). The paint fuses with the plaster and becomes an integral part of the wall surface; this is known as 'buon fresco' or 'true fresco' to distinguish it from painting on dry plaster which is called 'fresco secco' or 'secco'. Buon fresco is stable in dry climates, but damp causes havoc with it. The technique is ancient and was used by the Greeks and has been found in India and China. 

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