Sassetti Chapel

About

The Sassetti Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sassetti) is a chapel in the basilica of Santa Trinita in Florence, Italy. It is especially notable for its frescoes of the Stories of St. Francis, considered Domenico Ghirlandaio's masterwork.

Francesco Sassetti (1421–1490) was a rich banker and a member of the Medici entourage, for which he directed the Medici Bank. In 1478 he acquired the chapel of St. Francis in Santa Trinita, after his proposal to add a decoration portraying the saint had been rejected by the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella, where his family had had a chapel (later also frescoed by Ghirlandaio, and now known as the Tornabuoni Chapel ) since the 14th century.

He commissioned the execution of the frescoes from the most famed artist of the city, Domenico Ghirlandaio. The date of the contract is that signed next to the portraits of Sassetti and his wife (December 25, 1480), although the work was not carried out until between 1483 and 1486. The central altarpiece, depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds, is dated 1485.

Ghirlandaio portrayed numerous figures of contemporary Florentine society in the scenes. All the work shows the importance of the influence of the Flemish school on Ghirlandaio, in particular the Portinari Triptych by Hugo van der Goes, taken by him to Florence in 1483 and now in the Uffizi.

The Sassetti Chapel was restored in 2004.

The chapel, like the church in which it is located, is in Gothic style, characterized by an ogival arch.

The fresco cycle covers three walls framed by trompe-l'œil architectural elements. The altarpiece is also framed by a painted marble decoration. The two side walls house the tombs of Francesco Sassetti and his wife Nera Corsi, under a gilded arch, a creation of Giuliano da Sangallo. At the side of the altar are kneeling portraits of the two patrons, Nera Corsi on the left and Sassetti on the right: they direct their prayers towards the central altarpiece of the Adoration of the Shepherds, also by Ghirlandaio.

Ghirlandaio's frescoes can also be seen in the upper transept wall, outside the chapel. This area was plastered in the 18th century, the paintings being rediscovered only in 1895, which accounts for their poorer state of conservation. The work outside the Sassetti chapel is attributed to the three Ghirlandaio brothers (Domenico, David and Benedetto) and assistants. Its perspective was devised to offer a perfect view from below.

The first scene painted above the chapel is the Tiburtine Sibyl Announces Jesus' Coming to Augustus. The Sibyl is probably a portrait of Sassetti's daughter, Sibilla. On the pilaster dividing the Sassetti Chapel from the subsequent one is a painted grisaille statue of David. In the vault of the chapel are the four Sibyls, surrounded by flaming aureoles and holding out banderoles describing their prophetic role as assigned them by Virgil :

Hec teste Virgil Magnus, in ultima autem etate; Invisibile verbum palapabitur germinabit.

Only the faces of the Sibyls are attributed to Ghirlandaio; the bodies were probably executed by his workshop.

The fresco cycle extends over three walls of the chapels, and includes six scenes:

- The Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule

- The Resurrection of the Boy Ghirlandaio had possibly never seen the Stories of St. Francis in the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi, but he must certainly have known those in the Bardi Chapel of Santa Croce in Florence, painted by Giotto in the early 14th century.

This scene is located on the upper left wall, and portrays the young Francis who having renounced all his assets by removing his clothes publicly, is protected by the bishop of Perugia. Francis' raging father is shown with some people restraining him. The scene is set in a northern European city which had been identified as Geneva or Lyon, where Sassetti had served for the Medici. The secondary figures could be work by Domenico's brothers and workshop.

This scene, in the upper central wall, depicts St. Francis being received by Pope Innocent III in 1209 at the Cathedral of Sant Giovanni in Laterano at the time of the Franciscan Order 's sanction by the Pope. The figures are portrayed in a cathedral interior, so that the chapel's arch resembles the triumphal arch of the church. The scene is set in Florence instead of Rome, the background showing the Piazza della Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi, which did not at that time contain statues). The choice of the city was an allusion to the power and status that Florence had assumed; in Humanist circles it was considered a new Rome or Jerusalem.

A drawing, now in Berlin, shows that initially Ghirlandaio had intended a more traditional iconography following that of the frescoes in Santa Croce and without the portraits. Later he modified it, dividing the pictorial space into three planes: the steps, the church and the background. On the right, in the foreground, are Sassetti's brother-in-law, the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia Antonio di Puccio Pucci ; Sassetti's employer, Lorenzo de' Medici ; Francesco Sassetti himself and his son Federico. Lorenzo raises his hand to greet Angelo Poliziano, the tutor of his sons who are featured ascending the stairs. They are Giuliano, Piero and Giovanni, the future Pope Leo X, followed by other members of the Humanist Academy, Luigi Pulci and Matteo Franco. Sassetti is pointing out his older sons on the other side of the stairs: Galeazzo, Teodoro and Cosimo.

This painting, which is considered one of Ghirlandaio's masterpieces, provides the most reliable portraits of these various 15th century people, as, unlike the work of Botticelli, who also painted members of the Medici household, they are neither stylised, nor do they appear to be idealised.

This scene is located on the upper right wall. It portrays St. Francis preaching to the Ayyubid sultan Al-Kamil, who asked him to walk over a fire to demonstrate his sanctity. The piece is rather similar to that of Giotto in Santa Croce with the sultan in the middle, St. Francis on the right with his brother friars, but with Ghirlandaio's innovation of a figure in the foreground whose back is to the observer. It is one of the best executed parts of the cycle.

The lower left wall represents St. Francis kneeling, with open arms, receiving the divine sign from an apparition of the crucified Christ supported by a group of cherubim. The fresco was executed in ten days. Although featuring similar iconography to Giotto's work in Santa Croce, it is more likely that Ghirlandaio was inspired by the marble relief of Benedetto da Maiano 's pulpit, also in Santa Croce. The miracle portrayed occurred at La Verna, the castles of which can be seen in the background which is characterized by a naturalistic rendering of outstanding quality, including a well executed deer. On the right can be seen a city on a lake, a fanciful representation of Pisa with its Duomo and Leaning Tower.