Blumenthal_The Science of the Magi

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

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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


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,


Athanor. From J. B. Pirelli, >1/c/j//w/í7 nuova (1654)

Fig. 2b North side, Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. (After G. Ruffa)


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


Fig. 3a Cube and sphere superimposed over a diagram of the Old Sacristy. (After G. Ruffa)


Fig. 3b Interlacing circles (spheres) superimposed on a diagram of the Old Sacristy. (After G. Ruffa)


,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


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.


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


http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.2307%2F750893

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.


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