Laurentian Library (Library of San Lorenzo)

“Michelangelo sought to make known and to demonstrate his new ideas in

the library of San Lorenzo; namely, in the beautiful distribution of the windows,

the pattern of the ceiling and the marvelous entrance of the vestibule.”

Giorgio Vasari

 

In 1524, Michelangelo was commissioned to do the Laurentian Library, in the

cloister of San Lorenzo in Florence, by the Medici Pope Leo X. Work on the

Library was interrupted in 1526 when the Medici were driven from Florence,

and was not completed during Michelangelo’s lifetime. Its incompleteness did

not hide the innovation and creativity of Michelangelo’s design. The building

was made of cut stone masonry and Library’s style is proto-baroque, which is

described as being composed of “undulating facades, ground plans of

unprecedented size and complexity… on a colossal scale, incorporating aspects

of urban planning and landscape architect”. Proto-baroque, also called rococo,

architecture is dramatic. Michelangelo's design certainly was dramatic and

unexpected, which came to be something he was known for in lieu of his complete

works of architecture.

 

The Reading Room

The original plan that Michelangelohad drawn up for the library itself was shaped triangularly, briliantly making full use of a small space. The triangular space would easily store all 11,000 manuscripts - the private library of the Medici family- to which the Laurentian is home. It could also accomodate plenty of desks for reading and allow ample light. This design was abandoned however, and the desks were moved to the long hall of reading desks shown above.

 

 

The Design

The majority of the design of San Lorenzo is credited to Michelangelo; however, in the 1540s he left for permanent residence in Rome. He refused to return to Florence or to respond to letters asking for elaboration on his designs, particularly the staircase. The few times that Michelangelo did respond to inquiries, his answers were vague and unhelpful. In 1559, the architect Bartolomeo Ammanti was brought in to oversee the continued design and construction of San Lorenzo.

 

 

Ricetto (Lobby)

The windows and the columns in the ricetto, or lobby, are very free from typical architectural designs. The windows are odd recesses that serve no purpose and the columns are recessed in pairs of two on the top level. These columns are supported by small 'tabernacles' which give the room the appearance of being top-heavy. These small pieces of sculpture don't look able to support the large columns, so when one studies the space, it seems upside-down.

 

 

The Staircase

Perhaps the most important and well-known feature of the Library is the grand staircase that is such a point of admiration to visitors, of exhaustion for the architects working on the stairs, and of contention to scholars. The stairs are the most complicated and crucial design of Michelangelo's. Michelangelo designed the staircase on such a large scale that it became almost gaudy, growing on a scale far beyond what was necessary to the point that it took up half of the ricetto. Michelangelo meant for it to be able to accomodate a king and his entourage. The staircase, known to architects as the raison d'etre, is made of large oval steps running down the center, flanked on either side by large rectangular stair steps. Their design is complicated, elaborate, and out of the ordinary, as was Michelangelo's style. However, the plans for the staircase are confusing and it is uncertain how much of their design can be attributed to Michelangelo. Michelangelo left for Rome and stopped nearly all interaction with the new architects, mainly Ammanti, working on the project. Although he left drawings, they were difficult ones to carry out and it was in fact the Library’s new architect, Bartolomeo Ammanti, who in 1559 oversaw the design and construction of the steps.

 

 

“Nor was there ever seen such resolute grace, both in detail and overall effect,

as in the consoles, tabernacles, and cornices, nor any stairway made more

commodious [as in the Laurentian Library]. And in this stairway, he made such

strange breaks in the design of the steps and he departed in so many details and

so widely from normal practice, that everyone was astonished.”

Giorgio Vasari

 

Related Sites:

*Great Buildings Online

*Web Gallery of Art

*Official Website

*ItalyTraveller - search Laurentian Library

*Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

Further Reading :

*Roger H. Clark and Michael Pause. Precedents in Architecture. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985. p196.

*Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. Boston: Butterworths, 1987. ISBN 0-408-01587-X. NA200.F63 1987. p888.

*Ludwig G. Heydenreich and Wolfgang Lotz. Architecture in Italy 1400 to 1600. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1974. ISBN 14-0560.38-6. NA1115.H4913. p244.

* Peter Murray. Architecture of the Renaissance. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1971. ISBN 8109-1000-4. LC 70-149850. NA510.M87. p198.

*Seely, E.L. Artists of the Italian Renaissance. London: Chatto and Windus, 1907.

*Johannes Wilde. Michelangelo, Six Lectures by Johannes Wilde. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978. p140.

Works Cited :

For Content:

Hughes, Anthony. Michelangelo. New York: Phaidon Press, Inc., 1997. p213-223.

Matthews, Kevin. "Laurentian Library." 2006. <http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Laurentian _Library .html>.

For Content and Images:

Kren, Emil and Daniel Marx. "Web Gallery of Art: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Laurentian Library". <http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/michelan/5archite/early/3bibliot.html>.

 

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