Santa Maria del Carmine is a church of the Carmelite Order, in the

Oltrarno The Oltrarno (''beyond the Arno'') is a quarter of Florence, Italy. It is located south of the River Arno. It contains part of the historic centre of Florence and many notable sites such as the church Santo Spirito di Firenze, Palazzo Pitti, Bel ...

district of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy. It is famous as the location of the

Brancacci Chapel The Brancacci Chapel (in Italian language, Italian, "Cappella dei Brancacci") is a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze, Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, central Italy. It is sometimes called the "Sistine Chapel of the ...

housing outstanding

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es by

Masaccio Masaccio (, , ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, ...

and

Masolino da Panicale , death_date = ''c.'' 1447 , death_place = Florence , nationality = Italian , field = Painting, fresco , training = , movement = Italian Renaissance , works = frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel , patrons ...

, later finished by

Filippino Lippi Filippino Lippi (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. Biography Filippino Lippi was born in Prato, Tusc ...

History

The church, dedicated to the '' Beatæ Virginis Mariæ de monte Carmelo'', was founded by a group of Carmelite friars from Pisa. Construction of the church commenced in 1268 as part of the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

convent,"Cappella Brancacci", Musei Civici Fiorentini
/ref> which still exists today. Of the original edifice only some Romanesque-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

remains can be seen on the sides. By the 14th century, it was the seat of a number of lay fraternities. The complex was enlarged a first time in 1328 and again in 1464, when the capitular hall and the refectory added, though the church maintained the Latin Cross, one nave plan. Renovated in the

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

in the 16th–17th centuries, it was damaged by a fire in 1771 which destroyed the interior of the church. It was rebuilt internally in the

Rococo style Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

in 1782. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

, like in many Florentine churches, remained unfinished. The fire did not touch the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

: therefore have survived the ''Stories of St. Cecilia'' attributed to

Lippo d'Andrea Lippo d'Andrea di Lippo (1370/1371 - before 1451) was a Florentine painter, formerly known as Pseudo-Ambrogio di Baldese. In 1411, Lippo d'Andrea di Lippo joined the Compagnia di San Luca. That same year he was commissioned, along with Nicco ...

(c. 1400) and the marble monument of

Pier Soderini Piero di Tommaso Soderini (March 17, 1451 – June 13, 1522) also known as Pier Soderini, was an Italian statesman of the Republic of Florence. Biography Soderini was born in Florence to Tommaso di Lorenzo Soderini, a member of an old family w ...

Benedetto da Rovezzano Benedetto Grazzini, best known as Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474 – c. 1552) was an Italians, Italian architect and sculptor who worked mainly in Florence. He was born in Pistoia in 1474, and adopted the name Rovezzano from the quarter of F ...

(1511–1513). The vault of the nave has a

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

quadratura Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective ''di sotto in sù'' and ''quadratura'', is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which ''trompe-l'œil'', perspective tools such as foreshortening, an ...

fresco by Domenico Stagi.

Brancacci Chapel

The Brancacci Chapel also survived the fire, and was saved by the subsequent restoration by the intervention of a Florentine noblewoman who was firmly opposed to the covering of the

es. The chapel is home to the famous frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino, considered the first masterwork of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

's master Masolino, commissioned by a wealthy merchant, Felice Brancacci, began work on the chapel in 1425 and was soon joined in the project by his pupil, Masaccio. The scenes by Masolino are St Peter Healing a Lame Man and Raising Tabitha from the Dead, St Peter Preaching, and Adam and Eve. Those by mostly Masaccio are The Tribute Money, St Peter Healing with his Shadow, The Crucifixion of St Peter, The Baptism of the Neophytes, and The Expulsion from Paradise. Their treatment of figures in believable space made the frescoes among the most important to have come out of the Early Renaissance. The cycle was finished by Filippino Lippi. The elaborated Italian Rococo ceiling is from one of the most important 18th century artists in the city,

Giovanni Domenico Ferretti Giovanni Domenico Ferretti (''Giandomenico''), also called Giandomenico d'ImolaM. Farquhar (15 June 1692 – 18 August 1768) was an Italian Rococo style painter from Florence. According to the contemporary Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani, Ferret ...

Corsini Chapel

The

Corsini Corsini is an Italian surname. The Corsini family is a princely Florentine family. The emperor Charles IV created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and C ...

, one of the richest families in Florence during the 17th–18th centuries, had this chapel built in 1675–1683, to hold the remains of an ancestral member of the family, St Andrea Corsini (1301–1374), who became a

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

friar and the

Bishop of Fiesole The Diocese of Fiesole ( la, Dioecesis Fesulana) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. Fiesole was directly subject to the pope until 1420, when the archdiocese of Florence was created a ...

, and who was canonized in 1629. The architect

Pier Francesco Silvani Pier Francesco Silvani (1620–1685) was an Italian architect and designer, active during the Baroque period, in Florence and other sites in Tuscany. He was the son of the Sienese architect Gherardo Silvani. After the confiscation of goods decree ...

choose for it the

then popular in Rome. The altar has a marble bas-relief depicting the ''Glory of St Andrea Corsini'', sculpted by

Foggini Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Foggini (25 April 1652 – 12 April 1725) was an Italian sculptor active in Florence, renowned mainly for small bronze statuary. Biography Born in Florence, the young Foggini was sent to Rome by the Medici Gran ...

, and above a ''God the Father'' sculpted by Carlo Marcellini. On the sides of the altar are two more Foggini marble bas-reliefs: one depicts ''Sant'Andrea descends girded with sword to lead the Florentines to victory during the

Battle of Anghiari The Battle of Anghiari was fought on 29 June 1440, between the forces of Milan and the League of some Italian states led by the Republic of Florence in the course of the Wars in Lombardy. The battle was a victory for the Florentines, securing F ...

'' and the other recalls a ''Miraculous vision of the Virgin by a young Sant'Andrea'' (occurring in the church of the Convent delle Selve). The small dome was frescoed by Giordano in 1682. The frescoes suffered in the great church fire, and were restored by

Stefano Fabbrini Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ac ...

The convent

The convent suffered in its history from numerous disasters, from the 1771 fire to the 1966 River Arno flood. Most of the artworks are therefore fragmentary: these include the ''Bestowal of the Carmelite Rule'' by

Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest. Biography Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orp ...

and the ''Last Supper'' by

Alessandro Allori Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (Florence, 31 May 153522 September 1607) was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school. Biography In 1540, after the death of his father, Allori was brought up and trai ...

, and remains of works from other chapels by

Pietro Nelli Pietro Nelli (1672 – after 1730) was an Italian painter of the late- Baroque period. He was born in Massa, where he had been a pupil of Giovanni Maria Morandi in Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , ...

and

Gherardo Starnina Gherardo Starnina (c. 1360–1413) was an Italian painter from Florence in the Quattrocento era. According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, Starnina initially trained with Antonio Veneziano, then with Agnolo Gaddi. He is claimed to have part ...

. The second refectory is decorated with the ''Supper in

Simon the Pharisee Simon was a Pharisee mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:36-50) as the host of a meal, who invited Jesus to eat in his house but failed to show him the usual marks of hospitality offered to visitors - a greeting kiss (v. 45), water to wash his ...

's house'' by

Giovanni Battista Vanni Biography Giovanni Battista Vanni was born in either Pisa or Florence around 1599; he studied successively under Jacopo da Empoli, Aurelio Lomi, and Matteo Rosselli, and then became a disciple of Cristofano Allori. He is better known as an engr ...

(c. 1645); it also houses fragments of frescoes by

Other burials

Neri Corsini (1614–1678) Neri Corsini, Nerio Corsini or Neri Corsini the Elder (to distinguish himself from Neri Maria Corsini) (Florence, 1614 – Florence, 6 December 1678) was an Italian cardinal from the noble Corsini family. Biography He was the son of Filippo Co ...

* Giuliano Dami

References

External links

Holy Places in Tuscany
(Italian and English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria Del Carmine, Florence Maria Del Carmine Carmelite monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Tuscany Carmelite churches in Italy Baroque architecture in Florence Rococo architecture in Italy