Upload
berix
View
231
Download
3
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Blumenthal_The Science of the Magi
Citation preview
THE SCIENCE OF THE MAGI:
THE OLD SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO AND THE MEDICI
Gabriel Blumenthal
It is widely acknowledged that in the six teenth century the Medici had a strong in terest in astrology, alchemy, and magic. The recent restorations of the Old Sacristy of San
Lorenzo, however, have focused new atten
tion on such issues, giving rise to the follow
ing new information: (1) a high level of her metic Humanism had been attained in Flo rence before the Council of 1439; (2) this
knowledge was shared secretly by a small
group of people; (3) Cosimo de' Medici was one of the primary organizers of this group. This paper will document these insights by re-examining Cosimo's personality and by offering a brief analysis of the Old Sacristy (Fig. 1)—its purpose, significance, history, architecture, artistic decoration, and practical realization. (I will deal with the astrological aspects of the Old Sacristy in a subsequent paper.)
The stereotypical view of Cosimo de'
Medici is exemplified by Pontormo's portrait in the Uffizi representing a wise old man, a beloved Florentine pater patriae. Although known for his diplomatic skills and financial
acumen, Cosimo was an intellectual with a
deep theoretical interest in Humanism. In
fact, Cosimo, who was expert in many areas,
knew Latin, Greek, German, French, and
Arabic.1 A nearly unbeatable chess player, Cosimo manipulated public opinion, took calculated political risks, and maneuvered the
pope into ordering him to restore San Marco
according to his own (i.e., Cosimo's) tastes. It is widely assumed that Neoplatonism
and Hermetism entered Florence via the
Council of 1439 and the works of Marsilio Ficino in the second half of the fifteenth
century. Actually, it was Cosimo who suc ceeded in fostering the ideals of the Human istic Renaissance man.
The revolutionary nature of the new her
metic philosophies (Platonism, Neoplaton ism, and Neo-Pythagorism) changed man's view of himself and the world. Rather than
playing a passive role, as in the previous centuries, man now took responsibility for his
destiny. And although Cosimo did not origi nally formulate these ideas, he did give them a vigorous impetus, and the Council of 1439 resulted in a broadened intellectual horizon for the average man. Astrology, alchemy, and magic, which were already familiar to an elite group at the beginning of the century, became accessible to a wider audience.
Cosimo as Magus is an unusual concept,
yet he was depicted among the retinue of the
Magi and commissioned many paintings of that subject, notably the elaborate scenes by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Medici-Riccardi Palace. The Magi were not only prototypes of Christian devotion and humility, they were also the "wise men" whose understanding of "scientific" magic enabled them to calculate the time and place of Christ's birth. The in tellectual and philosophical tradition of her metic magic operated within the religious framework of antiquity and continued in
Christianity. Significantly in this connection, all the Medici, from Giovanni di Bicci to Lorenzo il Magnifico, belonged to the Com
pagnia dei Magi, a lay fraternity that congre
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
lí2"
Interior, Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence
gated at San Marco. The existence of this
confraternity is already recorded in 1390, and its decline coincided with the expulsion of the Medici in 1494. During this time span, the so
ciety exerted considerable influence on sev eral levels, though never openly. The Medici
regularly attended the meetings and, dis
guised as Magi, took part in the annual pro cession at Epiphany. Indeed, the meetings took place at San Marco, where an Adoration
of the Magi was depicted in Cosimo's own cell. At the center of this painting, a man holds an armillary sphere, the instrument of
astrological/astronomical studies. In another
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
3
part of the Convent of San Marco, Saint
Peter Martyr, frescoed in a lunette, signals for silence by raising his index finger to his
lips, a gesture also known to ritual magic sig
nifying hermetic silence and reminding initi ates not to reveal their secrets.
Those who were chiefly involved in the ex ecution of the Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo
had access to hermetic secrets. Among them
were the patrons Giovanni di Bicci (who died in 1429) and his son Cosimo; Filippo Brunel leschi and his adopted son Andrea Cavalcanti called II Buggiano, who made the marble
decorations; Donatello; and very possibly Alberti and Toscanelli.
The Sacristy, as it was built, I suggest, was
designed as an Athanor, or cosmic oven, with the vas insigne electionis, or vessel in which the alchemical Mercury would be created
(Figs. 2a and 2b). This, in turn, would transmute common man into divine spirit and
produce the perfect man as a member of the
Medici family. He would be the long-awaited Great Monarch, ruler of the new Golden
Age. Considered in this context, the Sacristy is a unique building in many ways. Though not a church, the Old Sacristy was a sacred
building, accessible to the public and located in a special place. It is the only building of this size entirely planned and actually constructed by Brunelleschi, which means that here he had the opportunity to develop fully and translate into physical reality his
geometrical, numerological, and metaphysical concepts. No aspect of the building was left to chance; the best artists and the finest materials were employed. Since alchemical
processes require careful attention to detail and precise execution, we find that each element of the Old Sacristy, from the overall
plan to minor decorative details, has a
specific meaning and, furthermore, that mea sure and proportion were observed with ex
actitude. This project, not coincidentally,
combined the greatest architectural and
sculptural talents of the day under the
patronage first of Giovanni and later of Cosimo himself.
Brunelleschi's original plans were sub mitted to Giovanni di Bicci about 1420-1421, but they were almost certainly not those of
the Sacristy as we know it today; it did not have as intricate an astrological/astronomical a matrix as it was finally given. Although Brunelleschi was undoubtedly the most gifted architect of his time, he was not an as
trologer, even though he was obsessed with number and proportion. But the building as we now have it has many astrological compo
nents in addition to the painted sky in the
cupolina over the altar in the scarsella.
Manetti, who was followed by Vasari, refers to conversations between Giovanni di
Bicci and Brunelleschi, and speaks of the
building as a sacristy and a chapel.4 Taken
literally, we learn that Brunelleschi suggested either a sacristy and a chapel, as actually re alized later, or a sacristy with a chapel in scribed within it. In the first instance, which is the more likely, the existing Medici Chapel dedicated to Saints Cosimo and Damiano, contiguous with the Old Sacristy and connected to it by an open arch, is a leftover
of the original Brunelleschian sacristy-a/id chapel construction, with the Chapel divided off from the Sacristy in order to simplify the situation.
A document of November 28, 1428, autho rizes the institution of two canonries and
prebends for the Church of San Lorenzo by Giovanni de' Medici.5 Mention is made of two chapels, that of Saints Cosimo and Damiano and that of Saint John the Evange list, "existenti in dicta nova sacristía dicte ec clesie." Giovanni apparently first built a sac
risty containing or encompassing two "chap els," one of which, by later division of the
space, must have been separated off-namely,
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
Athanor. From J. B. Pirelli, >1/c/j//w/í7 nuova (1654)
Fig. 2b North side, Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. (After G. Ruffa)
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
5
that of Saints Cosimo and Damiano, as men
tioned above.6 Thus, it appears that, accord
ing to Brunelleschi's first plan for Giovanni and the early phases of actual construction
based upon it, there was but a large single structure.
According to Vasari, Giovanni died before the Sacristy roof was finished.7 However, if four months earlier the canonries and
prebends had been instituted, which means that the altar must have been used and rites
held, the Sacristy in some form must have been functional by that time. The only alter native is to assume that just the first stage of construction was completed and the Sacristy
was still without the cupola; Donatello's tondi and the bronze doors, and the scarsella with the painted cielo were yet to come. Support ing this is the fact that every element of the
Sacristy, the altar, the sarcophagus, the large marble table, the friezes, and so forth, as well
as the wooden furniture date from after 1432, the year inscribed on the altar. The only ex
ception is the lantern, which bears a date of 1428. But this does not necessarily contradict the fact that the cupola was completed much
later, as I shall explain. The elaborate program in the Sagrestia
Vecchia was carried out over a long period following Giovanni's death; Cosimo guided the progress closely. That the work carried on was not only the decorative elements is con
firmed by Vasari.8 He states: "Cosimo, dopo la morte di Giovanni di Bicci, suo padre, finito di murare [my italics] la sagrestia di San Lorenzo di Firenze che egli lassó imperfetta, prese a far murare la chiesa." If Vasari meant
"painting" or "sculpturing," he would not have used the word "murare" ("to build," "to put up walls"). The main work must have taken place between the death of Giovanni in early 1429
(1428 Florentine style) and 1441—an ample span, even considering the pause during Cosimo's exile (1433-1434).
Thus, it appears that Brunelleschi's original project, worked out with Giovanni, was
changed and that a different project was car ried forward under the stewardship of Cosimo il Vecchio. Brunelleschi's new pro gram modified what had already been built, dividing the space between the Sacristy as it was to be and the Cosimo and Damiano
Chapel. As already observed, it is doubtful that the scarsella existed at the time of the above-mentioned document of November
1428. Indeed, there is some indication that the altar had been located on the north wall of the Sacristy (the scarsella is on the south), where it would have caused less obstruction
to the progress of the work.
The inscribed date in the lantern—1428—
suggests the year of completion of the cupola as well. In light of what has already been said, however, another interpretation is possible. The unfolding of a building as complex as the
Sacristy must have been meditated on and worked over for a long period. For the most
part, the alchemical aspects had to be for mulated and fixed before actual work com menced. To be sure, the lantern is an impor
tant element of the building, whose function was to give a spiral movement to the incom
ing heavenly energies. It must have been one
of the elements conceived at the planning stage under Giovanni and may even have
been ordered then. Thus, the date could cor
respond to that of the execution, but not the
installation, which, as I maintain, must have come later.
This view can also be supported by another
argument. The substitution of Brunelleschi's
original plan, which apparently occurred at the time of Giovanni's death, by Brunelle schi's new one coincides with the project for the Pazzi Chapel in Santa Croce (1429 1430?), where the same alchemical idea was
pursued. The Pazzi probably belonged to the elite of the "hermetic circle." And one more
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
Fig. 3a Cube and sphere superimposed over a diagram of the Old Sacristy. (After G. Ruffa)
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
Fig. 3b Interlacing circles (spheres) superimposed on a diagram of the Old Sacristy. (After G. Ruffa)
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
,S
explanation of the date might be put forward:
it could have represented the year of Gio vanni's death, Florentine style, which was
1428, since the Sacristy was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, Giovanni's patron saint, and became on one level his funerary chapel together with his wife's. Therefore, the date could have been inscribed later, while the preparations for the cupola were being made.
According to Byzantine legend, Saint John was an alchemist who could transform peb bles on the seashore into gold and precious stones. In Revelation 21:16, Saint John
speaks of a perfect cube, the very space that
Brunelleschi divided with cherubim and
seraphim. It includes the crypt and the interior of the Sacristy (without the cupola) up to the lower border of the frieze. The walls of the crypt, representing the lower, material level, correspond to the exact
surface of the cube: 18.9 X 18.9 Florentine braccia.9 In the Sacristy proper, the space acquires a symbolic quality. The volume of 18.9 X 18.9 braccia is neatly and exactly out lined by the outer edges of the corner pilas ters. The walls function here only as the con tainer for the sacred space (Figs. 3a and 3b).
In Revelation 21:12-13, John speaks of the twelve gates of heavenly Jerusalem, three on
each side. In the Sacristy, we find twelve
windows, three on each side. It is clear that
they were not merely intended to admit light since two sides of the Sacristy were originally planned to be continuous with the Church
and, consequently, would not admit outdoor
light. However, whatever light would pene trate these windows would, like the daylight through the other windows, project onto the
imaginary walls of the cube in front of them and create twelve gates of light, conveying heavenly and earthly energies into the inner
sanctuary. A river of crystal-clear, life-bringing water
rising out of the throne of God is also men
tioned in Revelation (22:1). In the Sacristy, we find a spring feeding both the small well
squeezed into the corner of the tiny side room in the scarsella on the left, next to Ver
rocchio's basin, and a large well located in the
courtyard beyond. The frieze, with cherubim and seraphim in
the main space, marks the limit between the lower world of matter, whose symbol is the
cube, the sublunar world of the ancients, and the higher, "perfect" realm of the Divine, rep resented by the sphere. The sphere, in turn, is defined by the ribs of the cupola, with its twelvefold division, which is also the number of the solar months of the year (Fig. 3a).
Brunelleschi's plans for the Old Sacristy are even more complex than has been im
plied thus far. He framed the entire building, calculating the thickness of the walls, the
pitch of the roof, and the form of the lantern, in a perfect geometrical structure based upon the interaction of two numbers, 5 and 6, which represent the principles of life and
death, according to hermetic thought.10 All
proportions and measures used in the Sac
risty are derived from these two numbers, forming a building of harmonic resonances.
Each measure of the Sacristy, from the width of the frieze to the height of the altar, the dimensions of the sarcophagus, and the central table (which is an interrelation of 1 X 2 X 3), can be defined and explained by the
geometrical construction. The interlacing cir cles (in fact, they are spheres) form various levels corresponding to the stages of hermetic sublimations and are the ladder that reaches from the depths to the lantern, symbolizing the succession of alchemical operations (Fig. 3b).11
The four elements, represented by Don
atello's four Evangelists, are placed on the walls. Their astrological sequence is note
worthy: Matthew (Earth and Taurus); Mark
(Fire and Leo); Luke (Water and Scorpio); John (Air and Aquarius). This arrangement
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
9
differs from that found in the Pazzi Chapel, where the sequence is Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John.
I suggest that the Medici intended to build this sacred and magical space to perform the Great Work (Opus) for the Incarnation of the Divine Spirit. In choosing San Lorenzo, they chose a place where in 394 a widow, Santa Giuliana, had erected the Church as a
thanksgiving for the birth of a son, Lorenzo, whom she considered a gift of God. Saint
Ambrogio, bishop of Milan, consecrated the Church at Easter, 394, with a sermon in
which he quoted Santa Giuliana when he re ferred to the boy Lorenzo by saying that
Lorenzo was born for God, to whom he be 12
longed before birth. I believe that this idea can be understood as one part of the pro
gram for the Sacristy-a building for a special child whose name would be Lorenzo, con
sidered from the beginning as belonging only to God or, in other terms, to the destiny he had to fulfill. All that the Medici offered to do was to care for him on the material plane
and to raise and educate him in the best pos sible way so that he might accomplish his mission.
The marble altar, realized in 1432 by II
Buggiano, is rectangular, with three panels at
the front and three at the back. The central front panel, now empty, once contained
Brunelleschi's fonnella representing the Sac
rifice of Isaac (now in the Bargello) for the
competition for the second set of doors for the Baptistery. Could there possibly be a more appropriate image to document the
Medici's intention to offer their child to God? The corresponding position at the back of
the altar shows a Virgin with Child, while the
remaining panels are occupied by four
prophets, each one holding a scroll with a Biblical verse developing further the mes sianic message. The first prophet, Isaiah, an nounces (7:14) the coming of Immanuel
(literally, "God with us"): "Ecce Virgo con
cipiet et pariet filium." The second prophet, Ezekiel, says (18:31): "Facite vobis cor novum et spiritum novum." These are words of the
prophets framing the Virgin at the back of the altar, which the onlooker cannot normally see and which form the background, as it
were, of the story.
On the font, Jeremiah, with the words "Foemina circumdabit virum" (31:22), and
Daniel, "Ecce vir unus vestitus lineis" (10:5), give a much more official portrait of Him in all His angelic splendor, dearly beloved and surrounded by the "foemina" (i.e., the people of Israel), here to be interpreted as the peo ple of Florence, since Florence had long been
associated with Jerusalem. The two marble balustrades dividing the
scarsella from the main space were also made
by II Buggiano. Each one represents a vase
out of which grow two oak trees with flowers and acorns as well as leaves and pomegranate
flowers. The vase has always been considered a symbol of the body, the receptacle of a
precious content—the spirit. Here, it obvious
ly also becomes the mystical vessel of trans
mutation. The spirit, contained and trans muted in the vases, permits the Golden Age to flourish (the oak being one of its symbols), while the blood-red flowers of the pomegran ate hint at the mysteries of the transmutation of life and death in their cyclical return.
The balustrades are framed with shells. Four large blue and gold shells support the
cupolina, and shells are also used in the deco ration of the edicole and in the door frame.
Prominently displayed, they must have a
symbolic meaning in the program. Indeed, shells have been an auspicious decoration of tombs since early times. The shell is also linked to cosmological principles, to the moon and its phases, to water and, therefore,
to the cyclical process of birth, death, and re birth. It could also mean the rebirth of the Golden Age and its ruler, or it could mean
. 1 "3 the rebirth of Octavianus Augustus.
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
10
According to mystical and alchemical
thinking, opposites, the fixed and the volatile, male and female principles are often repre sented as the sun and the moon to indicate
that, in nature, they are always separated. Through the Opus, the two principles unite
(linio mystica, coniunctio) and cause the death of the product of their union
(putrefaction). The "soul," the volatile princi ple, released at "death," ascends to Heaven
(that is, evaporates), from where, purified and with the power of the superior, it de
scends again (as life-bringing water) to re unite with the "body" (fixed principle), bring ing about its resurrection. This new state rep
resents the true union of opposites, the tran scendence of duality by a higher level of con sciousness. It is the perfection of physical matter necessary to make perfect (i.e., to
transmute into the most perfect matter—gold) all other matter. This perfection is the lapis
philosophorum, the hermaphrodite, the
philosophers' Mercury, the fixed volatile. Its emblem is two wings tied together, or it is a
mystical being, sometimes called the "Deus
terrestris," the "Salvator" or "filius macro cosmi."
Seen within this context, the Sacristy is the
building in which we may see the "body," the
fixed spatial principle, and the "soul," the volatile principle (fleeting time), which is defined with astronomical precision by the
painted cielo. They come together at the
sarcophagus containing the bodies of Giovanni di Bicci and his wife Piccarda Bueri.14 Here, in the ancestral grave of the
Medici, the coniunctio mystica between time
(the volatile principle) and space (the fixed
principle) occurs to produce the filius hermaphroditus, the philosophers' stone, the anima mundi.
The Opus, if I am correct, was accom
plished on the first of January, 1449 (1448 Florentine style), when Lorenzo, later known as the Magnificent, was born under the as
trological sign ruled by Saturn—Capricorn. Donatello, one of the artificers of the
Chapel's decoration and, therefore, well in formed of its program as well as an intimate of Cosimo, celebrated the event with his bronze statue of David, which, I suggest, was made around 1450 and erected in the middle of the central court of the new Palazzo
Medici on Via Larga.15 There it proclaimed to those in the know the success of the Medicean enterprise, for it represents the
Rebis, the Sun-Moon Hermaphrodite, pure, therefore naked and golden. (Remains of
golden hair are still visible.) There are laurel leaves (for Lorenzo?) on his hat, the philoso phers' stone in one hand, a sword, which is a common attribute of the "son" and represents
spirit, in the other. He is resurrected out of the dead materia prima at his feet, the winged globe of chaos, here rendered as the round,
winged helmet. The David only recently has been seen as Mercury by Parronchi.16 In
deed, what is David symbolically if not an al chemical Mercury, the young, resurrected
king who, with but one stone, defies the lower manifestations of matter (represented by the
giant), initiating a new dynasty and a new
spiritual and illuminated age? The goal of the Medici was embodied in this remarkable fig ure, which, in turn, is closely related in
meaning to the Sacristy.17
NOTES
1. Vespasiano da Bistici, Le vite, 2d ed., ed. A. Greco
(Florence: 1976), p. 193. Important for the discussion
that follows is this: "Per essere sempre praticato con
maestro Pagolo [Toscanelli] et con altri astrolagi, in
qualche cosa vi dava fede et usavala in alcuna sua cosa."
2. E. Garin, "La cultura filosófica fiorentina nell'etá
medicea," in Idea, istitutzioni, scienza ed arti nella
Firenze deiMedici, ed. C. Vasoli (Florence: 1980), pp. 86-90.
3. See R. Hatfield, "The Compagnia de' Magi," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 33
(1970):107-161, and id., Botticelli's Uffizi "Adora
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
11
tion": A Study in Pictorial Content (Princeton, N.J.:
1976), passim. 4. Antonio Manetti, Vita di Filippo Brunelleschi, ed.
G. Tanturii and D. de Robertis (Florence: 1976), pp.
106-107, and G. Vasari, Le vite, ed. G. Milanesi, II
(Florence: 1906), pp. 369-370. Milanesi (p. 370, n. 1) commented that "il Vasari cade in piú errori . . . Gio
vanni di Bicci de' Medici non pensó a far altro che la
sagrestia e due cappelle . . . quando Giovanni mori, che
fu nel 1428, erangiá compiti." 5. ASF, MAP, 155, fol. lr. "Institutio et creatio
duaorum conanicauum et duarum prebendarum ecclesie S. Laurenti ..." This document was brought to my attention by James Beck, and the transcription
(see n. 6) was made for me by Dr. Gino Corti.
6. Relevant portions of the document read: [28 Nov.
1428-fol. 5r] "Item quod in Cappella Sanctorum
Cosme et Damiani, que est penes Sacristiam novam
dicte ecclesie, et in Cappella Sancti Iohannis Evange
liste, existenti in dicta nova sacrestia dicte eccelsie, constructis et edificatis per dictum Iohannem [= di
Bicci de' Medici] ad incrementum divini cultus in ec
clesia memorata et pro sue suorumque parentum et
amicorum animarumque salute."
[fol. 6r] "Item dictis anno, indictione et die et loco . . . Omnibus innotescat presentís publici instumenti
seriem inspecturi qualitor nobilis et egregius vir Iohan
nes Bicci de Medicis, honorabilij civis et mercator
florentinus, personaliter constitutus in presentía dicti domini prioris et canonicorum dicte ecclesie Sancti Laurentii Florentie . . . dixit et exposuit quod cum
ipse Iohannes, ad incrementum divini cultus et pro sue et suorum parentum et amicorum animarum salute, in
prelibata ecclesia S. Laurentii, de bonis sibi a Deo col
latis, de novo construi et edifican fecerit notabilem, cum duabus inibi pro celebratione missarum Cappellis, sacristiam opere non modicum sumptuoso, et intitulatis una sub nomine Sanctorum Cosme et Damiani, et alia sub nomine S. Iohannis Evangeliste."
7. Vasari-Milanesi, II, pp. 369-370. "Non fu finita di coprire la sagrestia che Giovanni de' Medici passó all'
altra vita e rimase Cosimo suo figliuolo, il quale ... fece
seguitar questa, la quale fu la prima cosa ch'egli facesse
murare; e gli recó tanta dilettazione che egli da quivi innanzi sempre fino alia morte fece murare." Manetti
(p. 109) says much the same thing: "Fatta la sagrestia, o mentre che la si tirava innanzi insieme con parte del la croce, mori Giovanni de' Medici."
8. Vasari recounts (p. 370): "Sollecitava Cosimo
questa opera con piú caldezza, e mentre s'imbastiva una cosa, faceva finiré l'altra. Ed avendo preso per ispasso questa opera, ci stava quasi del continuo; e causó la sua sollecitudine, che Filippo forni la sagrestia, e Donato fece gli stucchi, e cosi a quelle porticciuole l'ornamento di pietra e le porte di bronzo . . . ed in
una delle due stanzette che mettono in mezzo l'altare
della detta sagrestia fece in un canto un pozzo ed il
luogo per un lavamani." See also Vasari-Milanesi, VIII
("Ragionamenti"), pp. 97 f.
9. Thermographic tests to confirm this suggestion are planned for a new phase of restoration of the Old
Sacristy in 1987. A Florentine braccia equals0.583624 meters (22.977 inches).
10. According to alchemical principles, 5 is the
number of growth, of life, of expanding structures
(logarithmic spiral); 6 the number of crystallization, of
dead structures (snow crystals, salt crystals). The inter
action of 5 and 6 is the interaction between life and
death.
11. In the Sacristy, the structure is made out of in
terlacing circles with a circumference of 5 X 14 (= 70) and 6 X 14 (= 84), calculated in braccia.
12. She had already had three girls and had asked
for a boy. Since she considered him to be, like the
Samuel of the Bible, procreated by divine interven
tion, he, therefore, had to be dedicated entirely to His
service.
13. Given that Neoplatonists as well as authors like
Virgil supported the theory of the reincarnation of the
soul and that Kronos-Saturn was also "time," Lorenzo
the Magnificent's motto "Le temps revient" could be
interpreted not only as the return of Saturn, but also
as the return of the one born under Saturn (i.e.,
Augustus, who had a Capricorn ascendant). For a good and detailed study on Saturn-Capricorn and the Medici, see C. Rousseau, "Cosimo I de' Medici and Astrology: The Symbolism of Prophecy" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia
University, 1983). 14. Alessandro Parronchi ("L'Emispero della Sacres
tia Vecchia: Giuliano Pe sello?" in Scritti di storia dell'
arte in onore di Federico Zeri, I [Milan: 1984], p. 140)
pointed out that considering the perspective in the
painted cielo, the center of the table became its only correct point of observation.
15. J. Pope-Hennessy dates it to around 1450
("Donatello's Bronze David," in Scritti di storia dell' arte in onore di Federico Zeri, I, pp. 122-127).
16. A. Parronchi, "Mercurio e non David," in Dona tello e il potere (Florence and Bologna: 1980), pp. 101-115. This suggestion is supported by Pope-Hen nessy (see n. 15).
17. Professor Susan McKillop, in her "He Shall Build a House for My Name" (in press), came to similar con
clusions, although she interpreted the historical situa tion from a different point of view. I am grateful for
her encouragement and for allowing me to read her
manuscript. I would also like to express my special thanks to Dr. Arch. Giuseppe Ruffa, whose very ac
curate plans made it possible to detect the structure of the Old Sacristy.
This content downloaded from 093.061.036.214 on April 14, 2016 02:37:56 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).