Orsanmichele

The church of Orsanmichele (or Orchard of San Michele from the contraction for the word "orto"), located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, was originally built as a grain market in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404 it was converted into a church. On the ground floor of the square building are the 13th century arches that originally formed the loggia of the grain market.

Related Topics:
Florence - Loggia

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Inside the church is Andrea Orcagna's bejeweled Gothic Tabernacle (1355-59) encasing a repainting by Daddi's of an older icon of the 'Madonna and Child' http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/orsanmichele/images/illumination-fs.shtm. The faceades held 14 external niches, which were filled from 1399 to around 1430 with a treaure of masterpieces, including:

Related Topics:
Andrea Orcagna - Daddi

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• 1) Virgin and Child (1399) by Simone di Ferrucci
• 2) Quattro Santi Coronati (Four Saints or Four Crowned Martyrs) (1408) by Nanni di Banco (for extended commentary see http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/orsanmichele/nanni.shtm)
• 3) St. Luke (1405-10) by Giovanni Bologna (Giambologna) http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/orsanmichele/bolognaluke.html
• 4) Saint Mark (1411) by Donatello http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/d/donatell/1_early/orsanmic/2mark_1.html
• 5) St. Philip (1412-14) by Nanni di Banco http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/ARTH213images/Orsanmichele/NannidiBanco_Quattro.jpg
• 6) St. Louis of Toulouse (1413) by Donatello http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/d/donatell/1_early/orsanmic/2louis_1.htmlwas replaced by Christ and St. Thomas (1464-83) by Andrea del Verrocchio http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/orsanmichele/verrocchio.shtm
• 7) St. Eligius (1411-15) by Nanni di Banco
• 8) St. James (1415) by Lamberti?
• 9) St. Peter (1415) by Ciuffagni
• 10) St. John the Baptist (1414-16) by Lorenzo Ghibertihttp://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/orsanmichele/ghibertijohn.jpg
• 11) St. George (1416) by Donatello http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/d/donatell/1_early/orsanmic/1georg_1.html
• 12) St. Matthew (1419-20) by Lorenzo Ghiberti http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/ARTH213images/Orsanmichele/Ghiberti_StMatthew.jpg (for extended commentary see http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/orsanmichele/ghiberti.shtm)
• 13) St. Stephen (1428) by Lorenzo Ghiberti http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/ARTH213images/Orsanmichele/Ghiberti_StStephen.jpg
• 14) St. John the Evangelist by Baccio da Montelupo

The statues were requisitioned by: (numbers conforms to above list);

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1) Medici e Speziali (doctors and apothecaries); 2) Maestri di Pietra e Legname (wood and stone workers); 3) Giudici e Notai (magistrates ); 4) Linaivoli e Rigattieri (linen-weavers and peddlars); 5) Calzauoli (shoemakers); 6) Tribunale di Mercanzia (merchants); 7) Maneschalchi (farriers); 8) Pellicciai (furriers); 9) Beccai (butchers); 10) Calimala (wool mechants); 11) Corazzai (armourers' ); 12) Cambio (bankers ); 13) Lana (wool manufacturers); 14) Seta (silk merchants).

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Observe that three richest guilds ? italicized above - decided to make their figures in the far more costly bronze, which cost approximately ten times the amount of the stone figures.

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It can be easy today to overlook the sooty niches in the cramped alleys surrounding of the small Orsanmichele, and ignore it for the airier Uffizi and the dazzling goliaths of the Bargello and Loggia dei Lanzi. But a moments' perambulation would disclose some of these statues, egged by competition and sometimes attempting to flee the niche, express the prowess of a city and time that basking as the center of art discovery. One could try to calculate the dollar worth such masterworks would garner at auction today, or tally the decades of craftmanship by the sculptors, but the value of the Orsanmichele is that it reminds us that these statues embody the fierce devotion and pride of Florentine trades, that art can inhabit even the crevices of warehouses and silos, and that the greatest art can be sculpted and patronized in a what today would be a small town of under one hundred thousand citizens. There are over 250 such towns in the U.S. today.

Related Topics:
Uffizi - Bargello - Loggia dei Lanzi

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Today, all of the original sculptures have been removed and replaced with modern duplicates to protect them from the elements and vandalism http://www.fiacfoundation.org/HTML/projects/current/orsanmichele.html#. The originals reside in the Bargello or the museum of Orsanmichele.

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