Church of Ognissanti, Florence
Encyclopedia
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Founded by the lay order of the Umiliati, the church was dedicated to all the saints and martyrs
All Saints
All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
, known and unknown.
It was completed during the 1250s, but almost completely rebuilt on Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
designs of Bartolomeo Pettirossi, about 1627, with a façade - by Matteo Nigetti
Matteo Nigetti
Matteo Nigetti was an Italian architect and sculptor. He is considered the most important Baroque architect in Florence....
(1637) - that conserved the grand glazed terracotta lunette in the manner of the Della Robbia
Della Robbia
Della Robbia may refer to:*Luca della Robbia , Italian sculptor*Andrea della Robbia , Italian sculptor, nephew of Luca*Giovanni della Robbia , son of Andrea*Girolamo della Robbia , son of Andrea...
, now attributed to Benedetto Buglioni
Benedetto Buglioni
Benedetto Buglioni was an Italian sculptor.Buglioni was born in Florence, son of another sculptor Giovanni di Bernardo. In the early 1480s Buglioni and his brother opened their own studio, and jointly worked on a number of commissions for various churches in the area...
, over the doorway: Ognissanti was among the first examples of Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
to penetrate this Renaissance city. Its two orders of pilasters enclose niches and windows with fantastical cornices. To the left of the façade is a campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
of 13th and 14th century construction.
The Umiliati, by the dedication and probity of the lay brothers and sisters, gained a reputation in Florence, and dedicated works of art began to accumulate in their severely simple church. Giotto's celebrated Madonna and Child with angels, now in the Uffizi
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
, was painted for the high altar, about 1310, and recently, cleaning has also revealed Giotto's hand in the Crucifix in the left transept. During the sixteenth century the Umiliati declined in energy, and the Franciscan order assumed control of the church in 1571, bringing precious relics such as the robe Saint Francis of Assisi wore.
In the interior, the Baroque remodelling, which provided a completely rebuilt apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
with a pietre dure high altar and a sotto in su perspective (1770) on the vaulted nave ceiling, preserved 15th century frescoes in the nave chapels, by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Among his many apprentices was Michelangelo.-Early years:Ghirlandaio's full name is given as Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi...
and Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
, who is buried in the church near his beloved Simonetta Vespucci
Simonetta Vespucci
Simonetta Cattaneo de Candia Vespucci, nicknamed la bella Simonetta was an Italian Renaissance noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence. She also is alleged to have been the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent's younger brother...
. Botticelli's fresco of Saint Augustine in His Study, corresponds to Ghirlandaio's St. Jerome in His Study in the chapel facing it across the navel; both were executed in 1480. Ghirlandaio also frescoe a Last Supper in the refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
between the two cloisters, a work with which Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
was intimately familiar.
In the Vespucci chapel, a fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Among his many apprentices was Michelangelo.-Early years:Ghirlandaio's full name is given as Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi...
with his brother David (about 1472), of the Madonna della Misericordia protecting members of the Vespucci family, is reputed to include the portrait of Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...
as a child.
Over the door to the sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
is a crucifix in wood by Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss was a leading Bavarian sculptor, mostly in wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque"...
.