Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Santa Maria Novella
i
The Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella
contains some of the most important works
of art in Florence. The church was built by
the Dominicans from 1279 to 1357. Beside
the church is a cemetery walled in with
avelli
(grave niches), which continue along
the façade and the wall beyond. The
cloisters form a museum. Here, the frescoes
in the Spanish Chapel show the Dominicans
as whippets -
domini canes
or hounds of
God - rounding up the “stray sheep”.
Green Cloister
The name comes from the green
tinge to Uccello's
Noah and the
Flood
frescoes, unfortu-
nately damaged by
the 1966 floods.
Monastic
buildings
.
Spanish Chapel
The chapel used by the Spanish
courtiers of Eleonora of Toledo, the
wife of Cosimo I
(see p51)
, has
dramatic frescoes on the theme
of salvation and damnation.
.
The Trinity
Masaccio's pioneering
work is a masterpiece
of perspective and
portraiture
(see p26).
Entrance to museum
Main door
The billowing sai
l emblem of
the Rucellai
(see p104)
appears
on the façade because they
paid for its completion in 1470.
Alberti added the volutes
in 1458-70 to hide the roofs
over the side chapels.
Entrance
(via courtyard)
