Funeral Chapel of the Medici Dukes by Michelangelo. Medici Chapel in Florence

Florence, like almost any Italian city, literally flooded with sights, historical monuments, all sorts of priceless artifacts, which we mentioned a little in. Among all this abundance, there are places that simply cannot be missed, and one of such places is the Medici Chapel. It is part of memorial complex at Church of San Lorenzo.

Strictly speaking, the chapel consists of three parts - a crypt with the burial of 49 not-so-famous Medici; The Chapel of the Princes, where the ashes of much more famous representatives kind; and the New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova).

It was on the design of the latter that the great Michelangelo Buonarroti worked, and, despite the very dramatic history of the project’s implementation, it was here that the great Master’s talent reflected many of its facets. Actually, it is the New Sacristy that is most often meant when people talk about the Medici Chapel.

How to get there, operating hours

The main landmark for tourists wishing to visit the Medici Chapel in Florence is the Church of San Lorenzo itself. It is located at Piazza di San Lorenzo, 9.

The Medici Chapel is part of the San Lorenzo complex

The attraction is very significant, it is present in all possible guidebooks, so finding it will not be a problem. The C1 bus route runs near the church. The stop is called “San Lorenzo”. You can also get off at the next stop – Cappelle Medicee.

The Medici Chapel is open to the public every day from 8:15 to 18:00. Regular weekends are every even Sunday and every odd Monday of the month. The chapel is also closed on the biggest holidays - January 1 ( New Year), December 25 (Christmas) and May 1.

Tickets for the Medici Chapel and the Laurentian Library (another Michelangelo project on the territory of the San Lorenzo complex) are purchased separately. The ticket office is open until 16:20. Children under six years old have free admission.

The Medici Chapel in Florence is very popular place so it would be a good idea to book your tickets online in advance.

While far from being the only picturesque tomb in Florence, the Medici Chapel is strikingly different from other similar objects. Michelangelo put all his talent into creating an atmosphere of deep tragedy and sorrow in the chapel - everything here is dedicated to the theme of death.

Even the nature of natural light is very symbolic. At the very bottom, where the sarcophagi with the deceased are located, it is darkest. The higher, the more light from the outside gets inside the building. This symbolizes the immortality of the soul and its transition to the kingdom of light after the end of a person’s earthly life.

Above the tombs of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano you can see Michelangelo's Madonna and Child and sculptures of Saints Cosmas and Domian

The central object in the Medici Chapel is the altar. But he is not the one who represents greatest interest from an artistic and aesthetic point of view.

On the right and left sides of the altar are the tombs of the Dukes Giuliano of Nemours and Lorenzo of Urbino. Directly opposite the altar, on the opposite wall in a protruding plinth, rest the ashes of two more Medicis - Lorenzo the Magnificent and his sibling Giuliano.

These two representatives of a powerful family were at one time much more significant figures than their namesakes, buried “next door.” But their sarcophagi are decorated much more modestly - three statues by Michelangelo are installed on the crypt - Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the Madonna and Child. The latter is perhaps the only sculpture in the chapel that is devoid of tragedy, but is filled with a lyrical reflection of the closeness of mother and child.

Lorenzo the Magnificent was prominent statesman The Florentine Republic and its leader during the Renaissance. Many people naturally wonder why the tomb of him and his brother was given such a minimalist design by Michelangelo.

The answer is actually very simple. Lorenzo of Urbino and Giuliano of Nemours were the first of the Medici family to receive ducal titles. In those feudal times, this circumstance had much higher value than real historical role this or that person.

Allegorical figures “Morning” (female) and “Evening” (male) adorn the tombstone of Lorenzo of Urbino

Sarcophagi of Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano Medici decorated with sculptures that were brought more fame the already famous Michelangelo at that time. These are the so-called “Days”. The sculptures “Morning” and “Evening” are installed on the tomb of Lorenzo of Urbino, and “Day” and “Night” are installed on the sarcophagus of Giuliano of Nemours.

Even during Michelangelo’s lifetime, the sculpture “Night” made an indelible impression on the creator’s contemporaries with its deep tragedy. The figure creates exactly the same mood now, as evidenced by numerous reviews from visitors to the Medici Chapel.

The figures “Day” (male) and “Night” (female) were installed by Michelangelo over the tomb of Giuliano of Nemours

Everything described is only the most notable creations of Michelangelo, created while working on interior decoration chapels. Awareness of the real greatness of this work of art comes as one becomes familiar with the very history of the creation of the Medici Chapel.

History of creation

Initially, the plans of Pope Leo X (Giovanni Medici) regarding the renovation Florentine church San Lorenzo were completely different.

The Pope wanted to create a new facade for the family temple of the Medici family and invited Michelangelo to complete this large-scale task. The goal was to embody in the new façade the full power of the talent of the best Italian artists and thus testify to the power of the Medici family.

Michelangelo arrived in Florence and began work in 1514. However, the first time that the sculptor spent in marble quarries, turned out to be wasted. Pope Leo X was “famous” for his extravagance, and there simply wasn’t enough money to build a grandiose façade. After my dad's death, the project was hopelessly frozen.

The façade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo remains unfinished to this day.

However, the name of Michelangelo was already so famous at that time that the Medici family decided at all costs to resume cooperation with the ambitious sculptor. Thus, on the initiative of Cardinal Giulio Medici, the idea was born to complete the construction of a new chapel on the territory of the Church of San Lorenzo (the New Sacristy was built to the height of the cornice at the end of the 15th century).

Concept and projects

The placement of the tombs of Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano in the future Medici Chapel in Florence was originally planned. Michelangelo planned to install them in the very center of the chapel, but later the artist nevertheless leaned towards a more traditional, side-wall scheme for placing the monuments. According to his plan, the tombstones were to be decorated with symbolic sculptures, and the lunettes above them were to be painted with frescoes.

The sculptures of Lorenzo and Giuliano were designed as symbolic - they did not reflect the appearance of their real prototypes. This was the condition of the artist, who was known for his not entirely explainable negative attitude towards portraits and other forms of embodiment in art. accurate images real people.

Therefore, the faces of the figures appeared to be an idealized generalization. The allegorical figures of the passage of the day were supposed to be a hint of the fleeting life of the dukes.

The sculptures of the Medici Dukes do not convey the real appearance of their prototypes

The project also assumed that there would be figures of river gods on the floor near the tombstones; it was planned to place armor, garlands and four figures of crouching boys above the tombstones. But, due to a number of circumstances, not everything that was planned was realized.

Conflict with the Medici

Michelangelo began work on the interior decoration of the Medici Chapel when he was 45 years old. The grandeur of the plan did not frighten him at all. Although the master was, at that time, quite old, he began to implement the project with all zeal. As if he knew that the time of his life had barely passed half (the artist died in a very old age– 88 years old).

Work on the main design elements of the Medici Chapel lasted almost 15 years. During all this time, the original plan had to be adjusted several times, which greatly irritated Michelangelo, and, ultimately, he was not happy with the result.

At the same time, his relationship with the Medici family rapidly deteriorated. Ultimately, in 1527, the republican-minded part of the Florentines rebelled against the Medici, and the latter had to flee. In this confrontation, Michelangelo was on the side of the rebels.

Florence did not remain under the leadership of the provisional government for long. The combined armies of Emperor Charles and the Pope laid siege to the city. Michelangelo was appointed head of all fortifications.

The figure of Saint Cosmas was completed by Michelangelo's assistant Giovanni Montorsoli

Photos by: Sailko, Rufus46, Rabe!, Yannick Carer

The Medici Chapel in Florence is a memorial chapel of the entire Medici family at the Church of San Lorenzo. The sculptural decoration of the temple is among the most grandiose achievements Late Renaissance and Michelangelo Buonarotti in particular.
Michelangelo first came to Florence in 1514. He arrived to create a new facade for the family temple of San Lorenzo, the church of the influential Medici family. The commission was given to him by Pope Leo X. The façade was to become the “mirror of Italy”, the embodiment best traditions Italian artists, evidence of the power of the Medici family. But Michelangelo’s grandiose project was never realized due to lack of funding and the death of the pope.
Then the ambitious artist received a task from Cardinal Giulio Medici not to restore the facade, but to create a new chapel in the same church of San Lorenzo. Work began in 1519.
The tombstone has undergone a significant development since the Renaissance. Then Michelangelo also turned to the topic of memorial sculpture. The Medici Chapel became a monument dedicated to the powerful Medici family, and not the will of a creative genius.
In the middle of the chapel, Michelangelo wanted to place the tombstones of the early deceased representatives of the Medici - the Duke of Nemours Giuliano and the Duke of Urbino Lorenzo. Their sketches were offered along with the temple sketches. But it was not the simple development of new options, as well as the study of predecessors, that forced the artist to create them according to the traditional scheme of side monuments near the walls. Michelangelo decorated the tombstone with sculptures. The lunettes above them were topped with frescoes.
The Medici Chapel is a small room, square in plan, the length of the walls reaches twelve meters. In the architecture of the building you can see the influence of the Pantheon in Rome, a famous example of the domed construction of the masters Ancient Rome. The ordinary and high structure of the chapel makes an unpleasant impression with its rough surface and undecorated walls. The monotonous surface is broken up only by rare windows and a dome. The overhead lighting inside is practically the only lighting in the building.
The artist began work on such complex project with a lot of sculptures at 45 years old. He even managed to create figures of dukes, allegorical figures of the time of day, a boy on his knees, Saints Cosmas and Damian, Madonna and Child. But they were only completed sculptures by Lorenzo and Giuliano, as well as the allegorical figure of Night. The master only managed to sand their surface. Having completed the sketches for the sculptures, Michelangelo left Florence and moved to Rome. The Medici Chapel continued to be built according to his design solutions; unfinished sculptures were installed in the appropriate places.

Cappella Medici

The Medici Chapel is part of the monumental complex of San Lorenzo. was the official church of the Medici family, who lived in a palace on Via Larga (now Via Cavour). The chapel itself became their mausoleum. Giovanni de’ Bicci de’ Medici (died 1429) was the first of the Medici family to bury himself and his wife Piccarda in Bruneleschi’s small sacristy. Later his son, Cosimo the Elder, was buried in the church. The project for a family mausoleum for the Medici was conceived in 1520, when Michelangelo began work on the New Sacristy, located opposite Bruneleschi's Old Sacristy on the other side of the church. After all, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici future dad Roman Clement VII, planned to build a mausoleum for some members of his family, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brothers, Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino (1492-1519) and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (1479-1516).

The Medici Chapel was completed in 1524, with its white walls and pietra serena interior based on Brunneleschi's design. The entrance to the chapel is located at the back. The Medici Chapel is divided into three parts:

• crypt
• Princely Chapel (Cappella dei Principi)
• new treasury

Visit the Medici Chapel

• Medici Chapel
• Capelle Medicee
• Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, 6, near
• entrance to the Medici Chapel from the piazza. S. Lorenzo

Working hours:

• daily from 8:15 to 13:50
• from March 19 to November 3 and from December 26 to January 5 from 8:15 to 17:00.
• Closed: second and fourth Sunday of the month; first, third, fifth Monday of the month; New Year, May 1, December 25.

Admission ticket:

• Full price: 6.00 €
• Reduced: €3.00 (children aged 18 to 25 years, school teachers)

What to see in the Medici Chapel

In the first hall Medici chapels- the Medici family tomb, designed by Buontalenti, contains the tombs of Cosimo the Old, Donatello, and the great dukes from the family of the Dukes of Lorraine that ruled after the Medici. From this hall you can ascend to the Chapel dei Principi ( Cappella dei Principi), or Princely Chapel, the decoration of which continued until the 18th century and where the Grand Dukes of Tuscany are buried: Cosimo III, Francesco I, Cosimo I, Ferdinand I, Cosimo II and Ferdinand II.

From the Princely Chapel a corridor leads to New treasury(Sagrestia Nuova), which is located symmetrically to the Old Treasury of the Church of San Lorenzo. On behalf of Pope Leo X, from the Medici family, who wanted to create a crypt for the younger members of the house, Michelangelo built a treasury. The resulting square room (11 x 11 m) is called the Medici Chapel.

In decorating the interior, the sculptor was guided by the decoration of the Old Sacristy, built according to Brunelleschi's design. He divided the walls with vertical fluted Corinthian pilasters and cut them with horizontal cornices. At the same time, Michelangelo resorted to Brunelleschi’s favorite decorative technique - juxtaposing a white wall with segments of dark gray stone. Michelangelo strives to extend this “frame” system in height, for which purpose he narrows upward the frame of the windows in the lunettes of the upper tier and gives the dome caissons a perspective reduction. The lower pilasters and cornice are perceived as the frames of sculptural tombs.

In this decision, the new, no longer Renaissance, principle of interior design, based on a combination of contrasts, is most clearly visible. Using the simplest techniques, Michelangelo achieves unprecedented dynamism, giving rise to a different artistic language. And from the Renaissance we suddenly find ourselves in the Baroque era.

Medici Chapel Tombs

In the design of the tombs, Michelangelo decisively violates the harmony and lightness of the Renaissance architectural frame. Visually, the heavy sculptures seem to want to come out of their architectural “frames,” barely holding on to the sloping lids of the sarcophagi. It is impossible to more accurately convey the feeling of cramped crypts, heaviness gravestones and an intense desire to live. Michelangelo completed only two of the planned tombs. The great-grandchildren of Cosimo the Old are buried in them. Helmet depicts Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino The allegorical figures on the tomb of the first are called “Evening” and “Morning”, of the second - “Night” and “Day”.

There is a place in Florence that has been my fixation for 6 years: the Medici Chapels. On our first visit, they were still closed on Mondays, like all museums. In the second, we worked until 13:50 (as sometimes happens now), and after the Uffizi we did not have time to get there. Well, as they say, God loves a trinity.
Actually, the Medici Chapel (and not the chapel, as they sometimes say, Cappelle Medicee, website, wiki) is a decent-sized complex at the Church of San Lorenzo, generally consisting of three rooms: the crypt, the “chapel of the princes” and the new sacristy, and only the last - creation of Michelangelo.
The crypt is not very interesting: there are exhibitions of all kinds of reliquaries, mostly late ones, when the amount of gold and the elaborateness of forms were valued, rather than beauty or subject matter (I can’t help but remember the reliquary in Orvieto or in the cathedral in Genoa - what wonderful things). In the crypt are the tombs of the last Italian condottiere, the founder of the Medici dukes, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (he is sitting in front of the church in an indecent pose) and his wife. (In fact, there is another crypt near the Church of San Lorenzo, where Cosimo the Elder de Medici and Donatello are buried, but outsiders are not allowed there.)
In the "Chapel of Princes", of course, there are no princes - there are dukes, and this, you see, is a slightly different calico. But from the point of view of decor, some princes may not only envy, but eat their hat (or tie, whoever has what) out of envy: the octagonal chapel with the second tallest dome in the city (after Brunelleschi’s dome, you know where) is lined with multi-colored marble, porphyry and granite ...

The sarcophagi, except for one, granite, are also made of polychrome marble with inlay and ducal crowns (it’s a pity, there are only two statues in the niches - the work has not been completed)...

At the base of the pilasters are the coats of arms of the “ward” cities...

The dome is inlaid and painted very richly...

Gorgeous floor...

In general, that rare case, When Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Hermitage nervously smoke on the sidelines. There is a reason to be proud.
I especially want to mention the altar: if you have ever seen such inlay, then I have not.

Honestly, I was delighted with such “luxuries” last time at the age of 12 and since then I have felt a fierce hatred for them, but I don’t have enough conscience not to appreciate the scope and skill. Really cool.
As for the new sacristy (wiki) - there is also the old one (wiki), by Brunelleschi, with decor by Donatello and Luca della Robbia - I imagined it completely different. I don’t know which one exactly - maybe more like a church and not like a museum storeroom? In any case, the tombstones of the Dukes of Urbino and Nemours, well known to me at least from the casts in Pushkin Museum, and here they look somehow unreal.

I remember the thrill I felt 2 years ago in Rome, when it turned out that the Moses I knew from childhood on the tomb of Pope Julius II was like this: yellowish, muscular, not even in shape, but in structure, when the veins of the marble seemed alive human skin. Here you can feel the hand of the master, but the structure of the marble is not very good (it’s even a little strange that Michelangelo chose it for so long).

I would especially like to say about female figures. It is common for Italian (and, in general, European) art of the Renaissance to not be able to depict women and children. The feeling that this is how the ban on the body in Catholicism manifested itself: even when painting and sculpture moved away from Gothic disproportion and gained anatomical accuracy, this only affected male figure, since the apprentices could always be undressed, put in the desired position and spent hours drawing either a face or a body, achieving correct placement of muscles and reflexes.
Not so with women. There are wonderful examples: here we must again say about Filippo Lippi and Sandro Botticelli with their muses - and opposite examples from the Sienese, who, apparently, were categorically unlucky with their wives. But it’s one thing to pose with your face, and quite another with your body. There is even a feeling that artists and their wives did not see naked in ordinary lighting, let alone their models. This is how monsters were born with breasts on their shoulders or on their sides, according to the principle “she has something there somewhere.” It’s even worse with children: if the baby Jesus just looks like a miniature eight- to ten-year-old, like Giotto, or a twenty-year-old youth, like in Greek icons, consider yourself lucky, or maybe just a disproportionate freak. Even in Leonardo, with his aesthetics, babies are not alive - it took Raphael (albeit standing on the shoulders of Perugino) for the babies to take on a natural appearance.
It must be said that Michelangelo is in order with babies - he always, even in early works, did not skimp on babies: apparently, sadly, he came across the corpses of babies along with the corpses of adult men, whom he dissected, carefully encrypting them from the church. Either he didn’t come across the corpses of women, or the rumors about orientation are not fiction, but with naked women, as opposed to clothed ones, Michelangelo clearly didn’t have a good time.
Let's say, the night is an obvious man with an ineptly attached chest (also of such a configuration that you will not find it in life).

Aurora's (Morning) breasts are more reminiscent of a woman's, but the figure is still male, although not as pronounced as in the case of Night.

Against this background, the Medici Madonna on the tombstone of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, killed during the Patia conspiracy, looks like a standard of style and anatomical accuracy, although built according to classical Greco-Roman models (for example, the Madonna’s face clearly resembles Athena, or even Hera, if you take into account the nose). Of course, it is clear that this is the same hand that Rachel made for the tomb of Pope Julius II in Rome, but the unity of authorship with the Vatican “Pieta” may raise questions: “Pieta” is delightfully modern, but here there is a deliberate send-up to antiquity (unlike surrounding Cosmas and Damian, made by students based on the master’s sketches and models - these do not look ancient at all).

In general, we completed the task; we visited the Medici chapels. This did not bring me personal satisfaction - rather, disappointment. Although everyone sees it differently, of course.

Closing another gestalt, we did some shopping at the Mercato di San Lorenzo, buying a couple of bags and a couple of wallets promised to Mouse. Say what you want, but Florentine leather is beautiful, and you can always bargain. Is it true. It seemed to me that the range of bags has decreased slightly, but maybe. it just seemed like it.
Having thus lifted our spirits, we headed to our favorite place - the Monastery of San Marco (wiki). If you have never been here or confuse the Florentine San Marco with the Venetian one, be sure to visit: you will remember it for a long time, I promise. (By the way, due to the fact that it was raining again, we were met at the entrance by a girl who, with deft and quick movements, pulled special plastic covers over our umbrellas to prevent it from dripping. We swallowed nervously.)
The monastery was built in the 13th century, but only in 1437 passed into the hands of the Dominicans. With the support of Cosimo de' Medici, who brought in the great architect Michelozzo and paid the expenses, the monastery quickly became one of the most important in Florence. In addition, Cosimo organized the first in the history of the city at the monastery public library and asked to be given a cell for meditation (unlike other monks, the window in Cosimo’s cell faced the north, where there is less sun, and was the size of a palm).
The monastery was painted by local monks - however, one must understand that they were Fra Giovanni (Angelico) and Fra Bartolomeo. With the appearance of Savonarola in Florence (who, on his own account, was invited by the Medici), the monastery became his headquarters, and he himself became the abbot. Savonarola’s three-room cell (unlike all the others: even Cosimo’s has two small rooms) with an exhibition of tools for the humiliation of the flesh can still be visited today.

The museum's exhibition mainly consists of works by Fra Angelico: they are located on the ground floor, at the entrance (former hospice) and in the chapter hall, on the second in the cells and corridors (including one of the best “Annunciations” in history, wiki - just look at the expression on Mary’s face!). Separately, it must be said about the book miniatures in the library on the second floor: how much better, more subtle, more interesting is Fra Angelico than his contemporary Zanobi Strozzi, how much more archaic Strozzi is!
You are not allowed to take photographs in the museum - in the cells this is strictly monitored, although "The Annunciation" is still taken en masse from the stairs, where the guards cannot see it. But downstairs you can take some pictures if you want. To be honest, we didn’t want much, we went to Once again We were amazed at how good Fra Angelico was. But one work was partially clicked: this is the “Crucifixion with Saints” from the chapter hall (wiki). I can’t believe that this is 1442: Verrocchio was 7 years old, and Lorenzo the Magnificent, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, not to mention Leonardo and Michelangelo, were not yet born. Look at these faces and tell me that Fra Angelico is simple and primitive!

Other artists represented include the already mentioned Fra Bartolomeo (who, by the way, painted the most famous lifetime portrait of Savonarola), Paolo Uccello, a student of Fra Angelico Benozzo Gozzoli, Bartolomeo Caporali, Luca and Andrea della Robbia and many others. As an example - " last supper"Ghirlandaio (wiki): it even seems that in the 40 years since the Crucifixion with the Saints, painting has not advanced very far, although in fact a huge path has been covered.

In general, San Marco is a must-visit place.

And for us in Florence there is one more must-see place: it just so happens that we do not change the tradition of going to eat “for fools”, despite the unconditional interest in other places and regular criticism from experts who consider Borgo San Lorenzo a disgusting tourist area, and restaurants , where there is a Russian menu and chicken breast- Not worth attention. So - once again I Matti (website).
We took: ribolita, cacio e pepe (pichi with pecorino and black pepper - simple and amazingly tasty, no worse than the local delicious arrabbiata), panna cotta and delicious tiramisu (the local one is definitely one of the three most delicious ones I have eaten). In general, the “fools” did not disappoint again. And this is good, because the day was only halfway through, and two more important places awaited us.

to be continued

Medici Tombs (1520-1534)

“The death of Leo led to such confusion among artists and art both in Rome and in Florence that during the life of Adrian VI, Michelangelo remained in Florence and worked on the tomb of Julius. But when Adrian died and Clement VII, who strived in the arts of architecture, sculpture and painting, was elected pope leave behind glory to a degree no less than Leo and his other predecessors... Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Clement VII, by whose order he started a library San Lorenzo and the New Sacristy, where the marble tombs of the pope’s ancestors, made by him, were to be placed...

He placed there four tombs adorning the walls, intended for the ashes of the fathers of two popes: Lorenzo the elder and Giuliano, his brother, as well as for Giuliano, brother of Leo, and for Duke Lorenzo, his nephew. And since he planned to imitate the old sacristy created by Filippo Brunellesco, but with decorations of a different order, he decorated it with a complex order in a more varied and newer spirit than that which the old and modern masters, for by the novelty of such beautiful cornices, capitals and bases, doors, niches and tombs, he created something very different from what was done in size, in order and according to rules in accordance with generally accepted custom, with Vitruvius and with antiquity by people who did not want anything add to the old one. And these liberties greatly encouraged those who, having seen his work, began to imitate him; after which new inventions appeared in their ornaments, rather as whims than according to reason or rules. Therefore, artists are infinitely and forever indebted to him for the fact that he broke the bonds and chains in those things that they invariably created on a single beaten path" Vasari.

Michelangelo worked for almost fifteen years on the Medici tomb in Florence, commissioned by Pope Clement VII, who was from the Medici family.

The matter was about perpetuating the memory not of the former famous Medici, but of those representatives of this family who openly established monarchical rule in Florence, two dukes who died early and were unremarkable. The new sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo (Medici Chapel) was a pair of the Old one, built by Brunelleschi a century earlier; it was left unfinished due to Michelangelo's departure to Rome in 1534. The new sacristy was conceived as a funeral chapel for Giuliano de' Medici, brother of Pope Leo, and Lorenzo, his nephew, who died young.

In 1520 Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII (with the approval of Pope Leo X, the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent), commissioned Michelangelo to build the Medici chapel and tombs. Initially, the construction of four tombs was planned: Lorenzo the Magnificent, his brother Giuliano, who died as a result of the Pazzi conspiracy, and his grandson Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (brother of Piero and Leo X). Work began in 1521, but the death of Pope Leo X stopped work. Work began again only in 1523 after the election of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici as pontiff under the name of Pope Clement VII, but the plan no longer included the pair of tombs of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, which were to stand in the central niche of the chapel. In 1524, Clement VII decided to add the sarcophagi of Leo X and his own to the most honorable places in the chapel.

The Pope, wanting to monopolize the genius of Michelangelo, offered the master to become a monk in the Franciscan Order (in 1524), promising a lucrative benefit. After Michelangelo refused, he gave him a house near the Church of San Lorenzo and assigned him a salary three times higher than Michelangelo asked.

In a free cubic space (with a square side of about 12 m), topped with a vault, Michelangelo placed the Medici wall tombs. Michelangelo not only increased the scale of the tombs, he also used life-size figures in them for the first time. On one side there is an altar, on the contrary - a statue of the Madonna and Child. On the sides in lower tier The sarcophagi of the Medici dukes - Lorenzo of Urbino and Giuliano of Nemours - are placed exactly opposite each other - organically integrated into the overall structure of the interior. Their idealized statues are placed in niches; glances are turned to the Mother of God and the Child. All these images seem to be separated by a certain distance from the viewer and reside in their own special world of grief and tension. The general concept of the allegory is complemented by the figures of “Morning”, “Evening”, “Day” and “Night”.

The deep pessimism that gripped him in the face of the death of political and civil liberties in Italy, the crisis of Renaissance humanism, was reflected in the figurative structure of the sculptures of the Medici tomb. Internal tension and at the same time nagging doubt, a premonition of doom - this is what all these figures express. As P. Muratov very accurately noted, “sadness is spread everywhere here and moves in waves from wall to wall”. With the architecture and sculptural decoration of the chapel, Michelangelo erected a monument not to the Medici, but to Florence. He mourned the death of freedom in her hometown. The Medici Chapel became a stage in the development of Michelangelo's work, and at the same time world art. The Renaissance did not yet know such a synthesis of architecture and sculpture. At the same time, harmonic clarity and balance, which the architects of the early and High Renaissance, gave way internal tension, effectiveness of all architectural forms. Thus, the Medici Chapel reflected the new situation that was then developing in Italy.

This architectural and sculptural ensemble revealed the features of a new style. Harmonic clarity and balance of forms early Renaissance, the majesty of the massive full-blooded forms of the High Renaissance gives way here to internal tension, the dynamics of the forms of the late Renaissance.

In 1527, when the revolution broke out in Florence, drawing the great sculptor into its whirlpool, not a single statue for the Medici Chapel was yet ready. In the midst of the siege, he retired at the first opportunity to his solitude, where he secretly worked on the statue of Lorenzo de' Medici. The people would have killed him if they had found him at this work, but Michelangelo separated art from politics and eternal ideas from temporary passions.

When Michelangelo left for Rome in 1534, the sculptures had not yet been installed and were in various stages of completion. The surviving sketches testify to the hard work that preceded their creation: there were designs for a single tomb, a double and even a free-standing tomb.

A funerary portrait statue of Lorenzo the Magnificent was never created. The ashes of Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano rest in a place of honor at the foot of the Madonna statue, with the forthcoming Sts. Cosmas and Damian, heavenly patrons of the Medici.

"The architectural composition of the Medici Chapel has a restless, tense character. Comparatively small sarcophagi are opposed by large-scale false windows of the second tier. The spaces between the windows are so closely filled with paired pilasters that the windows seem squeezed together. These pilasters protrude forward, the cornice above them is loosened, but the pilasters themselves are not as freely developed as half-columns in Bramante. On the windows there are arched pediments, they are opposed by garlands on the attic.
No matter which part of the tomb you take, the violation of accepted architectural forms and types is striking everywhere. Some parts protrude forward, others go back, the cornices break, the divisions double. The entire chapel gives rise to a contradictory impression of movement and rigidity, effort and constraint. There is not one in it architectural line, which would not affect the other, would not cause opposition or resistance. In the architecture of the Medici Chapel, dissonance that cannot be resolved triumphs.
In the development of the relationship between sculpture and architecture, the Medici Chapel marks an important step. In antiquity, the figures of pediments easily and freely enter into the architecture; in Gothic architecture, as it were, is overgrown with sculptural bodies. The statues, which were placed in niches in the 15th century, found their natural spatial environment in them. In the Medici Chapel, the sculptural figures form pyramidal groups, but the figures of the dukes crowning the pyramids are placed in niches and at the same time stick out somewhat from them. The figures of the times of day come forward even more: they are too large for the sarcophagi, they are forced to make an effort not to roll off them, and at the same time they are constrained, spread out, and cannot straighten their limbs." M. Alpatov.