Michelangelo architetto a San Lorenzo
Quattro problemi aperti

edited by P. Ruschi

exhibition catalogue: Florence, Casa Buonarroti, 20 June-12 November 2007

It was 1516 when Leo X, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent who became pope, announced a competition to complete the façade of Brunelleschi’s basilica of San Lorenzo, where his forefathers were buried. Michelangelo was the winner, but his project was never implemented. Nevertheless, the master left an indelible mark on the complex, designing not only the marvellous Tribuna delle Reliquie along the counter-façade of the church, but also the library, with its original staircase and splendid reading room, and the famous Sacrestia Nuova built to house the tombs of the ‘magnifici’, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, as well as those of the pontiff’s brother Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and of his nephew Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino.

The research that was conducted and the ensuing exhibition (Florence, Casa Buonarroti, 20 June–12 November 2007) examine Michelangelo’s masterpieces. Through drawings and correspondence—against the backdrop of a critical moment in the artist’s career—the book reconstructs his initial intentions, the troubled development of the project, and the architectural outcome. Splendid codices from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana complement the section illustrating a project that never came to fruition: a “secret library” with a triangular plan to house the most valuable works in the family’s extraordinary collection of manuscripts, started by Cosimo the Elder in the 15th century.