THE PALAZZO MEDICI: RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE BY MICHELOZZO

Camden Eckler

World Architecture

November 16, 2017

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THE PALAZZO MEDICI: RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE BY MICHELOZZO

Introduction

The Palazzo Medici, in Florence, Italy, was commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici in

1444, designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, and completed in 1460.1 This urban mansion “was

the model of Early Renaissance palace architecture,” providing a design that influenced the

buildings of other Renaissance architects, including Leonbattista Alberti.2 This building interests

me because it is one of the earliest and most influential Renaissance palazzos, and the minimally-

decorated architecture seen from the outside masks the beautiful courtyard in the center of the

palazzo. Furthermore, the Palazzo Medici not only exhibits prevalent elements of Renaissance

architecture, but uses those elements to convey the sophistication, culture, and strength that were

important to Cosimo de’ Medici’s control over fifteenth century Florence.

Commission and Location of the Palazzo Medici

Cosimo de’ Medici was a banker, eventually becoming the papal banker, a position that

gave him immense power. He used this power to ensure that nobody could challenge his

position, but Cosimo also used his wealth to spread Renaissance art through Florence. “Cosimo

the Elder adorned Florence with fine architecture, villas and palaces, loggias and gardens,”

including his own home. He also funded the construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore,

built by Filippo Brunelleschi.3 Cosimo assigned Brunelleschi and Michelozzo the task of

1 “Medici Riccardi Palace,” The Museums of Florence, accessed November 14, 2017,

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/medici_riccardi_palace.html#up.

2 Philip Mattox and Howard Saalman, “The First Medici Palace,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

44, no. 4 (1985): 329, accessed November 14, 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/990112.

3 Frantz Funck-Brentano, The Renaissance, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936, 49. Cosimo even

contributed to buildings in Rome, Paris (the Florentine College), and Jerusalem. He spared no expense when it came

to the arts.

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creating competing designs for his palace, and he chose

Michelozzo’s design because he “admired the severe beauty of

[Michelozzo’s] simple design,” for, “though rich and powerful,

he still kept to a modest style of living.”4 Another theory on why

Cosimo desired a simple appearance for his palace is that he was

sensitive to his neighbors and didn’t want to make them feel bad.5

The Palazzo Medici was built on the corner of the Via

Larga, now the Via Camilla Cavour, and Via de’ Gori in the heart

of Florence (fig. 1), with the entrance on the Southeast part of the

building, opening onto the Via Larga.6 The palazzo was oriented

in this direction because the Via Larga led to sites associated with

the Medici.7 Furthermore, this placement allowed for the

formation of the “Corner of the Medici” (fig. 2) at the intersection

of the Via Larga and Via de’ Gori. This corner of the palazzo was emphasized “by the loggia and

coat of arms, as well as by the convergence of two matching, monumental facades,” reminding

onlookers that the building was the home of the great Medici family.8

4 Frantz Funck-Brentano, The Renaissance, 1936, 46-49. Cosimo exiled numerous rival families. He even went so

far as to forbid rival families’ daughters from marrying, just to prevent them from acquiring more wealth and

influence.

5 Charles Burroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture: Brunelleschi and Alberti,”

Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 32 (1998): 57, accessed November 14, 2017,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20140404.

6 Charles Burroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture,” 62. There is some speculation

about how, if Brunelleschi’s design had won, the entrance of the Palazzo Medici would be on the Via de’ Gori, so

that the building would face the church of San Lorenzo.

7 Charles Burroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture,” 57.

8 Charles Burroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture,” 62.

Fig. 1. Palazzo Medici

Riccardi on Google Maps.

Fig. 2. “Corner of the Medici”

by Michelozzo. Florence-On-

Line.

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Michelozzo’s Architecture

The distinct and, in the fifteenth century, new architectural style that Michelozzo used in

the design of the Palazzo Medici was inspired by Michelozzo’s involvement with Early

Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi and therefore his exposure to fundamental elements

of Renaissance architecture. In order to understand why Michelozzo designed the Palazzo

Medici in the style he did, it is necessary to explore the Renaissance and architecture of

Brunelleschi.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance is considered the rebirth of art and culture. The source of the Florentine

Renaissance was humanism: “the study of those sciences which advanced the happiness and

perfection of the human race, in contradistinction to theology (now become scholastic) which

turned away from man to God.” The focus of the Gothic period was on holiness and God as

light; the Renaissance was not a complete rejection of this, but it was a shift to focusing on man

as a source of measurement and knowledge. The discovery of Greek and Roman buildings,

sculpture, and philosophy triggered this desire to return to classicism. “Classical thought and

classical languages conquered the minds of the great financiers, and it is interesting to note that

this great movement in literature and philosophy began in the merchant class.” As classical

literature spread, it “seemed to the eager minds of that day the dawn of liberty, new life to a

world in which life was almost extinct.” Despite the intellectual freedom brought by the

Renaissance, classes in Florence became more separated. Most of the people who were active in

the Renaissance were from the middle or upper class.9

9 Frantz Funck-Brentano, The Renaissance, 64-69.

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In relation to architecture, the Renaissance signified a return to classical architectural

elements, especially columns and arches, and creating attractive buildings through simple,

geometrically- and human-inspired forms:

Renaissance architects rejected the intricacy and verticality of the Gothic style for the

simplicity and balanced proportions of classicism. Rounded arches, domes, and the

classical orders were revived. This revival was accomplished through direct observation

of Roman ruins, as well as study of the treatise Ten Books on Architecture (the foremost

surviving ancient work on architecture, written by Roman architect-engineer Vitruvius).

Renaissance architecture tends to feature planar classicism (i.e. "flat classicism"). The

walls of a Renaissance building (both exterior and interior) are embellished with classical

motifs (e.g. columns, pilasters, pediments, blind arches) of minor physical depth, such

that they intrude minimally on the two-dimensional appearance of the walls. Put another

way, the walls of a Renaissance building serve as flat canvases for a classical veneer.

This contrasts sharply with Baroque architecture, in which walls are deeply curved and

sculpted (resulting in "sculpted classicism"). Planar classicism also tends to divide a wall

into neat sections, using such elements as columns, pilasters, and stringcourses.

(A stringcourse is a horizontal strip of material that runs along the exterior of a building,

typically to mark the division between stories).10

Brunelleschi

Michelozzo was a student of Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi, so his design for

the Palazzo Medici was heavily influenced by the buildings he saw Brunelleschi design.11

Brunelleschi was inspired by the writings of Roman architect Vitruvius and a trip to Rome where

“he decided to rediscover the fine and highly skilled method of building and the musical

proportions of the ancients and how they might, without defects, be employed with convenience

10 “Renaissance Architecture,” Essential Humanities, accessed November 14, 2017, http://www.essential-

humanities.net/western-art/architecture/renaissance/.

11 Cristoph Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance (New York: Thames & Hudson Inc.,

2007), 29.

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and economy.”12 One of Brunelleschi’s first

buildings in the Renaissance style, the Spedale

degli Innocenti (fig. 3), features an arcaded portico

consisting of columns with Corinthian capitals

connected by arches, and medallions situated

between the arches, a style echoed in Michelozzo’s

courtyard at the Palazzo Medici.

Michelozzo as a Sculptor

Renaissance architects were “highly conversant with a

variety of artistic media…these experiences contributed to the

making of buildings.” Michelozzo, along with Brunelleschi and

other architects, worked as a sculptor before trying his hand at

architecture. He collaborated with Donatello on multiple works,

one of the most famous being the pulpit at the Cathedral of St.

Stefano in Prato (fig. 4).13 Knowledge about sculpture contributed

to richer architectural designs, especially on the façades of

Michelozzo’s buildings.

12 Cristoph Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, 13. There are many similarities between

Alberti’s Palazzo Rucellai, including the window design and arrangement of the piano nobile and the upper story,

and the use of stringcourses. A noticeable difference is Alberti’s use of pilasters, something Michelozzo did not

include in the Palazzo Medici.

13 Alina Payne, “Materiality, Crafting, and Scale in Renaissance Architecture,” Oxford Art Journal 32, no. 3 (2009):

365, 373, accessed November 14, 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25650875.

Fig. 3. Spedale degli Innocenti. The Museums of

Florence.

Fig. 4. Pulpit at the Cathedral

of St. Stefan in Prato by

Donatello and Michelozzo.

Wikimedia.

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Other Works by Michelozzo

Besides his works as a sculptor, Michelozzo also designed

and worked on some other architecture before the Palazzo Medici.

After Brunelleschi’s death in 1446, Michelozzo completed most of

the lantern on top of the dome at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del

Fiore (fig. 5).14 This experience showed in the Palazzo Medici in

the arches, scrolling patterns, and Corinthian order columns in its

courtyard. He also designed the Palazzo Comunale at

Montepulciano in 1440 (fig. 6). The façades of this palace, like in

the Palazzo Medici, distinguished the building’s three stories

through variation in masonry and height. Also, the portal and

windows are similarly arched, although they differ in number.

The exterior of the Palazzo Comunale looks more empty and

bland than the exterior of the Palazzo Medici.

The Palazzo Medici was not Michelozzo’s first job for

Cosimo de’ Medici. By the time he was commissioned to build

the palazzo, Michelozzo had constructed the Church of San

Francesco, the convent of San Marco, and the Medici villa in

Careggi.15

14 Cristoph Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, 24.

15 Cristoph Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, 27.

Fig. 5. Lantern of the dome of

the Florence Cathedral by

Brunelleschi and Michelozzo.

“Florence Cathedral.”

Fig. 6. The Palazzo Comunale

by Michelozzo. “The Palazzo

Comunale of Montepulciano.”

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Design of The Palazzo Medici

Layout

The Palazzo Medici, 190 feet by 225 feet (42,750 square feet),

consisted of three stories, a central courtyard, a garden, chapels, and a

variety of rooms.16 The following is a description of the layout of the

Palazzo Medici:

Its piano nobile contained three apartments, each consisting of a

sequence of sala, camera, anticamera, and scriptoria, with the

additional luxury of a family chapel. Another suite of rooms,

similar to that of the piano nobile, ran along the Via Larga front of

the upper floor; it was probably intended as a guest apartment.

Quarters for the famiglia of staffieri, camerieri, nurses (balie), and

the resident priest were scattered over all three floors and the

mezzanines. The ground floor comprised a summer apartment

complete with rear garden and loggia. Service quarters for the

portieri and attendants filled out odd nooks and crannies. All of

these parts were arranged around a central courtyard surrounded by

loggias with a wide rear loggia, a sort of courtyard dining hall. The

cortile and garden with loggia may be interpreted as open-air

saloni for summer occupancy.17

The entrance to the palazzo led into the courtyard, which led to the garden, and was surrounded

by various rooms, including a dining hall (fig. 7a). The second floor, or piano nobile, contained

the main living apartments, some of which contained chapels (fig. 7b). Michelozzo designed one

of the most famous chapels in the palazzo, the Chapel of the Magi, with a high, gilded ceiling

16 Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,

1921), 58.

17 Philip Mattox and Howard Saalman, “The First Medici Palace,” 329.

Fig. 7a-7c. “The First

Medici Palace.”

7a (bottom): plan of

ground floor.

7b (middle): plan of

piano nobile.

7c (top): plan of third

floor.

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and marble floor.18 The upper story served as quarters for a variety of people and purposes, such

as guest apartments (fig. 7c).

The Façade

In the façade Michelozzo designed, “certain elements are made to carry both ancient

Roman and traditional Florentine princely and civic connotations…also, the facade is frankly

treated as surface- that is, as a semiotic entity rather than as the "natural" index of interior spatial

relation.”19 The work Michelozzo does with the façade is reminiscent of his sculptures with the

way he uses texture to

emphasize the building;

the masonry of each

story is unique. The

façade clearly shows the

three levels of the

Palazzo Medici: the ground floor, piano nobile, and upper story; each

story is separated by a stringcourse, and each stories’ height is less than

the height of the story below it (fig. 8). The stone of the ground floor is

rusticated, giving a depth to the ground floor that contrasts with the

smooth ashlar masonry of the second floor. The third floor’s stonework

is even finer (fig. 9). The Palazzo Medici is capped with a large cornice

that juts out over the edges of the building, drawing the viewer’s eyes up

18 Charles Burroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture,” 58. Chapels were important

elements of all palazzos in the Renaissance. The Chapel of the Magi in the Palazzo Medici was lavishly decorated

and featured a famous fresco depicting the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem.

19 Charles Boroughs, “Grammar and Expression in Early Renaissance Architecture,” 62

Fig. 8. The Palazzo Medici as seen from the Via Larga, by Michelozzo. The

Museums of Florence.

Fig. 9. Façade of

Palazzo Medici by

Michelozzo. The

Museums of Florence.

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the building and making the building appear lighter, taller, and more intimidating. The

Florentine-style windows of the second and third stories are directly lined up with each other,

with a very simple “AAA” rhythm, but the portals on the ground floor are not aligned with the

windows. Above the portals and windows are arches of stone embedded into the façade of the

palazzo.20 The arched portals and stone patterns are designed to evoke slight Roman architectural

similarities.

The Courtyard and Garden

The main courtyard in the center of the Palazzo Medici features free-standing columns

with Corinthian capitals supporting arches, creating an arcade (fig. 10), similar to that of

Brunelleschi’s Spedale degli Innocenti. The frieze going around the top of the arcade contains

medallions depicting the Medici coat of arms and other designs. Frescos adorn the walls, and

near the entrance to the garden is a statue of Orpheus. This

is perhaps the most classical section of architecture in the

Palazzo Medici, as the free-standing Renaissance column

embodies the “individual freedom and autonomy” that were

so highly valued.21 The column-arcade is a simple, clear

representation of classism.

20 “Medici Riccardi Palace,” The Museums of Florence.

21 Christoff Thoenes and Iain Whyte, “‘Sostegno e adornamento,’ On the Social Symbolism of the Architectural

Orders,” Art in Translation 9, no. 3 (2017): 313, accessed November 14, 2017,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17561310.2017.1357994.

Fig. 10. Courtyard in the Palazzo

Medici by Michelozzo. The Museums

of Florence.

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There are numerous similarities between

Michelozzo’s courtyard and the courtyard of a Roman villa

in Pompeii (figs. 11&12). The general design is the same: a

courtyard enclosed by frescoed walls supported by

freestanding columns. There are sculptures in the Roman

courtyard as well. However, the Roman villa is even more

simple than the Palazzo Medici; the Roman villa is only one

story tall, there are no arches between the columns, which

are Doric order, and no medallions adorning the frieze. The

Roman courtyard’s elements are squarer than the rounded,

more elegant arches and windows of the Palazzo Medici

courtyard.

The garden, now home to lemon trees, used to be

filled with statues (fig. 13). At one end of the garden there is

a small fountain encircled by mosaic designs in the ground

(fig. 14).22

22 “Palazzo Medici Riccardi,” A View on Cities, accessed November 14, 2017,

http://www.aviewoncities.com/florence/palazzomediciriccardi.htm. The statue in the courtyard was originally

Donatello’s statue of David.

Fig. 11. Courtyard in the Palazzo

Medici by Michelozzo. “The First

Medici Palace.”

Fig. 12. Courtyard in Roman villa in

Pompeii, Italy. “Roman Villa.”

Figs. 13 (left) & 14

(right). The garden at

the Palazzo Medici by

Michelozzo. The

Museums of Florence.

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Conclusion

Michelozzo built the Palazzo Medici to meet the demands of Cosimo de’ Medici and

express the ideals of classicism. As a merchant and great financier, Cosimo de’ Medici was at the

forefront of the Renaissance movement in Florence, and his house had to show that he was a

Renaissance man of intelligence and culture. As Renaissance architecture, the palazzo’s elements

were derived from the elements of early Roman architecture, intended to be appealing through

simple geometrical shapes and designs. Michelozzo’s design was further influenced by the

architecture of his teacher, Brunelleschi, who got many of his ideas from visiting Rome and

reading the writings of the Roman architect-engineer Vitruvius.

The more I examined the building, especially while I was sketching it, the more I

admired Michelozzo’s work. The rustic ground level would seem abrasive on its own, but with

the way Michelozzo balanced the building, the rusticated masonry adds to the elegance of it. The

height difference between each floor is subtle, but, combined with the stone style shifts, gives the

impression that the building is shrinking in, away from the streets. The huge cornice that caps the

palazzo emphasizes this effect as well, and balances with the heavier-looking ground floor. The

courtyard is beautiful, and I wouldn’t expect to find it inside the Palazzo Medici from looking at

the outside. From the outside, the building looks like a solid rectangular house, not a building

with multiple courtyards and gardens inside it. The simplicity of the outside of the Palazzo

Medici increases the beauty of the architecture inside. I think that Michelozzo accomplished the

task that Cosimo gave him: a simple yet regal and subtly-detailed exterior with an elegant

interior, both of which convey classicist ideals of being cultured and learned, and seeing finding

beauty in simplicity and order.

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