“Old” Sacristy

Originally called the “Sacristy of San Lorenzo”, it was given the name “Old” only after the construction of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the “New” Sacristy, built on the opposite side of the Basilica more than a century later (1519-1534). The interior space of the New Sacristy is almost a mirror-image of its predecessor.

The interior of the Old Sacristy, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and constructed entirely under his supervision, is the manifestation of Renaissance architecture. This is based on the harmony between the two most basic geometric shapes: the circle and the square. Also important is the return to the antique ideas of rhythm and measure. Considering the very modest dimensions of the chapel, it still continues to amaze first-time Florentine and foreign visitors, who are probably more used to seeing the massive and expedient buildings of Gothic and Roman architects.

Commissioned and built by the Medici family’s founding member, Giovanni di Averardo de'Medici (father of Cosimo il Vecchio), this environment is the first example of a separate chapel destined for the worship of the dead of a single family. To avoid any unnecessary disdain, however, it was designated as a sacristy for the public’s use. Donations, insignias, and heraldic devices allspeak of the Medici, but the stupendous building was at the service of the people. Constructed to house the bodies of Giovanni and his wife, Piccarda Bueri, who are buried in the sarcophagus beneath the centrally located marble table (attributed to Brunelleschi), the Sacristy was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, whose image stands out in the decorative elements that accompany the architecture.

The decorative complex is the outcome of the collaboration of Brunelleschi and Donatello and his apprentices. The friendship between Brunelleschi and Donatello, along with the sharing of the study of ancient ruins in Rome andFlorence enabled them to achieve one of the most harmonic and successful results between sculpture and architecture ever created. Nevertheless, it’s not known with certainty just how clear the profound connections were between sculpture and architecture regarding the initial project. Therefore, it’s hard to say with certainty how much of the eventual, successful decorative program was the fortunate reward of the collaboration between the two artists.

Certainly, the Old Sacristy represents Donatello’s first important Medici commission.

The Old Sacristy was constructed from 1422-1428. The building’s decoration was begun immediately after its construction, but underwent various interruptions due to political movements involving the Medici family. Work was concluded around 1444, the year Donatello left Florence for Padova.

A beautiful piece by Donatello is the horizontal frieze containing the heads of cherubs and eight medallions of colored stucco. Alternating high and low relief, Donatello added the four Evangelists within the lunettes at the top of the arches. In the pendentives under the dome are episodes from the life of St. John: The Resurrection of Drusiana, The Vision on the Island of Patmos, The Martyrdom, and The Assumption.

Also by Donatello are the two large lunettes of low-relief placed above the bronze doors on each side of the apse. Against the golden background of each lunettes stands out a pair of martyrs, all with such a realistic power as to seem like life-size statues. In the lunette above the door on the left: St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, and in the lunette on the right: St. Cosmos and St. Damian. These two saints, both medical doctors, were specifically elected as the patron saints of the Medici family.

From 1912-1913 the stucco reliefs were freed from their layers of white paint, bringing once again to light the rest of the original polychrome. In the 1980’s the reliefs were totally restored, revealing essentially a chromatic triad of red, white, and blue. Given the composition of small figures (in the stories from the life of St. John) and the large distance between the reliefs and spectator, this color combination contributes to a better reading of the reliefs’ representation.

With the decoration of the Old Sacristy, Donatello introduced a new possibility in the art of relief sculpture. It became a prestigious, interior decorative element, along with frescoes and paintings. Regarding the technique, Donatello experimented with an unusual method most likely derived from classical suggestions. This can be seen in examples of roundels in relief executed in glazed terracotta rather than in stucco. Here Donatello wanted to experiment with an unusual technique, probably derived from classical suggestions. It was a method that required work with casting based on preparatory drawings, carried out on site. Recent research has, in fact, revealed how rapidly Donatello worked, moving away sometimes even from his of beginning steps. His work instruments included spatulas, pointed wooden sticks, metal stylus, and occasionally, even the use of his fingers.

Of exceptional beauty are the 40 figures of saints that decorate the Sacristy’s bronze doors. Each door contains ten squares which are carved in relief. Here Donatello’s realistic spirit appears in all of its evidence: the extraordinary variety of the dramatic poses of these figures, and their realistically emotional attitudes are a result of an immediate inspiration and naturalness that was not always understood by Donatello’s contemporaries.

On the right door, called the “Door of the Saints” (or “Door of the Apostles”) the forerunner and exponents of the “Doctrine” are represented: St. John the Baptist, the Apostles, the Evangelists, and the Four Doctors of the Church. These are, specifically, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, and St. Ambrose.

Instead, the left door is dedicated to the Testimonianza and is represented by the group of Martyrs. Only the first two have been identified: St. Stephen and St. Lawrence.

From Donatello’s design, the very elegant decoration of perforated marble and parapets for the chapel were finally executed. The altar, which should have originally been moved forward for the celebration of the Ambrosian rite (1432), has a bas-relief on the front representing the Madonna with the Christ Child Sucking His Thumb, from Isaiah and Ezekiel. On the back, the door for the reliquaries, located between the figures of Jeremiah and Daniel, is attributed to the twenty-year old Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti. Also known as “Il Buggiano”, from his birthplace (1412-1462), he was Brunelleschi’s student as well as heir (he was the architect’s illegitimate son).

The small dome above the Sacristy’s apse is frescoed in blue, turquoise, and gold. It illustrates a very unusual symbolic representation of the Florentine sky, dated July 4 or 5. It’s attributed to Guiliano d’Arrigo, known also as “Pesello”. The fresco was most likely executed to celebrate the birth of Piero de’Medici. Scholars, however, do not agree on the date nor the reason for the depiction. Either way, whether the astrological representation refers to the life of Giovanni de’Medici, or whether it refers to the day the altar was consecrated (June 9, 1422), it is of particular interest because it reveals just how important astrology was during the Renaissance, even within an ecclesiastical environment.

The terracotta bust that rests on the table opposite the altar, is a work in which the representation of the beauty of the human form finds a perfect correspondence in the spiritual comprehension of the soul prepared for martyrdom. For a long time it was attributed to Donatello, then a more probable attribution was given to Desiderio da Settignano. Unfortunately, the bust’s attribution has remained uncertain, just as the identity of the saint it represents. If tradition has always recognized it as San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence), historical criticism has recently identified him, instead, as San Leonardo (St. Leonard), considering his original placement in the Neroni Chapel (fourth chapel on the left side nave). The chapel, in fact, is dedicated to Saint Leonard, who was later moved to the Old Sacristy.

In the small adjoining room, attached to the wall, is a monumental lavabo (water font). It is the work of students in Donatello’s workshop, one of which was Andrea del Verrocchio, who is credited with its design. Within the white marble semicircle above the font, carved in relief, is a falcon with one claw resting on a diamond ring and the motto “Semper”. It was the device used by Cosimo il Vecchio de’Medici, then carried on by his son Piero and his descendants.

The benches for storing sacred vestments and the large bench with its intarsia-worked panels of decorative, geometric designs, are the last works to complete the decoration of this admirable building. It was on the death of Cosimo (1464) that this masterpiece was presented as a harmonious complex. Cosimo’s grandsons, Lorenzo and Guiliano, succeeded, nevertheless, in adding other exalted works. Probably the most splendid is the work they commissioned from Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1472 he conceived a splendid tomb monument for Giovanni and Piero de’Medici, which was in line with the original intent of the Old Sacristy’s first patron. This, of course, being the fact that the Sacristy was inserted perfectly into the Medici family’s program of rendering San Lorenzo a Medici mausoleum.