Page 302 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

300  CENTR AL IT AL Y

a Santa Maria Novella

The Church of Santa Maria Novella was built by the Dominicans between
1279 and 1357. The lower Romanesque part of its façade was incorporated
into one based on Classical proportions by the pioneering Renaissance
architect Leon Battista Alberti in 1456–70. The Gothic interior contains
superb frescoes, including Masaccio’s powerful Trinity. The famous Green
Cloister, frescoed with perspective scenes by Paolo Uccello, and the
dramatically decorated Spanish Chapel now form a museum.

The Nave
The piers of the nave are spaced
closer together at the altar end.
This trick of perspective creates
the illusion of an exceptionally
long church.

Trinity by Masaccio
This pioneering fresco (c.1428)
is renowned as a masterpiece
of perspective and
portraiture. The kneeling
figures flanking the
arch are the painting’s
sponsors, judge
Lorenzo Lenzi
and his wife.

KEY
1 Chiostro Verde takes its name
from the green base used in Uccello’s
frescoes, which were sadly damaged
by the 1966 floods.
2 Cappellone degli Spagnuoli,
the chapel used by the Spanish
courtiers of Eleonora of Toledo, has
frescoes of salvation and damnation.
3 Monastic buildings Main door
4 The arcade arches are
emphasized by grey and
white banding. Entrance to Entrance (via
museum
5 The Strozzi Tomb is by courtyard)
Benedetto da Maiano (1493).
6 Cappella di Filippo Strozzi Cappella Strozzi
features Filippino Lippi’s frescoes of The 14th-century frescoes by Nardo
St John raising Drusiana from the di Cione and his brother Andrea
dead and St Philip slaying a dragon. Orcagna were inspired by Dante’s
epic poem, The Divine Comedy.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp569–73 and pp590–96

300-301_EW_Italy.indd 300 4/4/17 5:35 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 20th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm