| {breadcrumbs go here} | ||
 |
RETROSPECTION: Baccio Bandinelli and the Choir of Florence Cathedral Christine Smith with |
|
Preface to Retrospection
During the summer of 1995 the Graduate School of Design was invited
to participate in the celebrations for the seven-hundredth anniversary
of the foundation of Florence Cathedral (1296-1996) through a reconstruction
of Baccio Bandinelli's choir and high altar, designed in 1547 and largely
dismantled in 1842. It was felt that the importance of visualizing the
effect of this enormous marble structure was great: occupying most of
the crossing beneath Brunelleschi's dome, it acted as a visual fulcrum
for the four spatial volumes of nave and tribunes, relating these to
the vast opening of the dome. Enclosing the most sacred space of the
building around the high altar, the choir accommodated the most important
liturgical actions of the archbishop, cathedral clergy, canons and choir
as well as state ceremonies under the Medici Grand Dukes. To be able
to see the choir reconstructed would be essential for an understanding
of how the cathedral structure, completed in 1436, was optically unified
and focused at the location of its highest function: the pontifical
Mass.
Two methodological assumptions guided our project from the beginning. First, although we consider the choir as an art object, we focus on the choir and high altar as liturgical furniture. Second, we see the choir as the last in a series of solutions to similar liturgical problems, beginning with the first building on the site, Early Christian Sta. Reparata. The title of our exhibit— "Retrospection: Baccio Bandinelli's Choir for Florence Cathedral"—finds its most immediate explanation in these assumptions. Our point of view, quite literally, in the historical reconstructions and in the computer visualization, is that of the celebrant at the Mass. Thus, instead of looking from the nave towards the high altar as one usually does when representing a church interior, we look back into the nave from a position at the high altar, or even from the sacristy. Moreover, instead of presenting the choir in its sixteenth-century context, the main thrust of our research has been to compare it with the earlier choir and high altar arrangements of Sta. Reparata (in both its Early Christian and Romanesque states), during the transition from Sta. Reparata to Sta. Maria del Fiore (1358-1436), and with its immediate predecessor designed by Brunelleschi. A third assumption was that since our aim was visualization, we would attempt reconstructions of these various artifacts and even add congregants and clergy to our images, knowing that such explicit and complete historical reconstructions can only be hypotheses, but feeling that the gains of this approach outweighed the risk—indeed, certitude—of error in some details. We believe that since the choir is first of all a functional object it had to be reconstructed within a context of use.
It was decided from the beginning that the work would be done by students and that it would represent the collaborative effort of three specializations within the department of architecture at the Graduate School of Design: history, design, and technology. Accordingly, three professors— Christine Smith, Jude LeBlanc and George Liaropoulos-Legendre —guided the project. Work began with a historical seminar on the relation between liturgical furniture and church building from Constantine the Great to Vatican II. Site visits to churches of different liturgical traditions in Boston and Cambridge and guest lectures by an architect engaged in church building, Peter Madsen, and a representative from the Office for Worship of the Archdiocese of Boston, Monsignor Dennis Sheehan, helped us understand the functional requirements of the Mass and alternative design strategies for meeting them. As part of this historical approach, students prepared research on the various choirs of Florence Cathedral. With this background, the seminar moved to Florence where work of documenting the Bandinelli and earlier choirs was carried out through measurement, photography, video camera, drawing and research. During the summer a small group of students and the three professors worked on the design of the exhibition and its content, work that then continued throughout the fall and winter of 1996. Although sponsorship of this project was not sufficient to allow the mounting of the full exhibit as we conceived it, that design is preserved in this publication as an integral part of our endeavor.
Since the project was carried out by students from the Graduate School of Design, there are no contributions to the catalogue by outside experts even though important studies of Bandinelli's choir are in progress by other scholars. I will mention only Timothy Verdon, Louis Waldman, Francesco Vossilla and Lorenzo Fabbri as specialists with whom we collaborated, but whose unpublished research we did not draw from despite their kind offers. Further, the nature of the project was determined by the particular skills and interests of our students: we laid rather more emphasis on work involving measurement drawing, visualization, and computer technology than would have been the case if our students were art historians. Most students participated to some degree in all three aspects of the work—history, design and computer technology—although primary responsibility for specific aspects can be distinguished. Not all who participated in the project were able to follow it through to completion, usually due to the happy impediment of graduation from the school: their contributions are recognized in the list of collaborators.
Finally, some words of thanks. First to Timothy Verdon, who offered us this project and sustained our work in every possible way. Then to Peter Rowe, Dean of the Graduate School of Design, who welcomed the project, and Jorge Silvetti, Chair of the Department of Architecture, who was enthusiastic from the first and supported the project by making it possible for three professors to be engaged with it and with each other as collaborators for two academic semesters. Russell Sanna, Associate Dean for Administrative Services, was also a friend to the project. Monsignor Dennis Sheehan lent his expertise in the history of liturgy, acting as consultant to the project. Finally, this publication was made possible by a generous grant from the Graham Foundation.
Christine Smith
Cambridge, Massachusetts
January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
INDEXES AND MAPS: NOTES REGARDING PLANS FOR AN EXHIBITION
Jude LeBlanc
THE COMPUTER VISUALIZATION OF RELATED HISTORICAL MATERIAL
George Liaropoulos-Legendre
HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS
INTRODUCTION
Christine Smith
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF SANTA REPARATA
Scott Schlimgen and William Pevear
THE ROMANESQUE SANTA REPARATA IN FLORENCE
Markus Schaefer
THE TRANSITION FROM SANTA REPARATA TO SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE
Reinerio P. Faife
THE BRUNELLESCHI CHOIR
Christy Vera Collins with the collaboration of Eric Stark and Delphine
Yip
THE MEDICI AND THE CHOIR
Christine Smith with the collaboration of Delphine Yip and Anthony Vermandois
THE BANDINELLI CHOIR
Christine Smith with the collaboration of Anthony Vermandois
TIMELINE FOR BACCIO BANDINELLI'S CHOIR
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Publication Title
RETROSPECTION: Baccio Bandinelli and the Choir of Florence Cathedral
Year Published
1997, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Editors/Authors
Christine Smith with Jude LeBlanc and George Liaropoulos-Legendre
The Companion CD-ROM
RETROSPECTION: Baccio Bandinelli and the Choir of Florence Cathedral
(CD-ROM)
In the Frances Loeb Library
General Collection: NA5621.F7 R47 1997
Special Collections: Rare NA5621.F7 R47 1997