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Orsanmichele (or "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the contraction in Tuscan dialect of the Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 word orto) is a church in the Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 city of Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden
Kitchen garden

The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas....
 of the monastery of San Michele, now gone.

Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market
Market

A market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy....
 in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione.






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Orsanmichele, View From Upfloor
Orsanmichele (or "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the contraction in Tuscan dialect of the Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 word orto) is a church in the Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 city of Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden
Kitchen garden

The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas....
 of the monastery of San Michele, now gone.

Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market
Market

A market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy....
 in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404 it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds. On the ground floor of the square building are the 13th century arches that originally formed the loggia
Loggia

Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Italy design, which is often a gallery or corridor generally on the ground level, or sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall....
 of the grain market. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege. Late in the 14th century, the guilds were charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church. The sculptures seen today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums (see below).

Interior


Inside the church is Andrea Orcagna
Andrea Orcagna

Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo , better known as Orcagna, was an italy painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. A student of Andrea Pisano as well as Giotto di Bondone, his younger brothers Jacopo di Cione and Nardo di Cione were also artists....
's bejeweled Gothic Tabernacle (1355-59) encasing a repainting by Bernardo Daddi
Bernardo Daddi

Bernardo Daddi was an early Italy renaissance painter and apprentice of Giotto di Bondone. He was also influenced by the Sienese art of Lorenzetti....
's of an older icon of the 'Madonna and Child'.

Exterior


The facades held 14 architecturally designed external niches, which were filled from 1399 to around 1430 with a treasure of masterpieces, including:

Interno Orsanmichele2
*Virgin and Child (1399) by Simone di Ferrucci - commissioned by Medici e Speziali (doctors and apothecaries)
  • Quattro Santi Coronati (Four Crowned Martyrs
    Four Crowned Martyrs

    The designation Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Holy Crowned Ones actually refers to 9 separate martyrs, divided into two groups:#Severus , Severian, Carpophorus , Victorinus ...
     or Four Saints) (1408) by Nanni di Banco
    Nanni di Banco

    Nanni d'Antonio di Banco was a Italy sculptor from Florence.He helped create the winning model for the Duomo of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence , under the leadership of Filippo Brunelleschi, alongside Donatello....
     - commissioned by the Maestri di Pietra e Legname (wood and stone workers)
  • St. Luke (1405-10) by Giovanni Bologna (Giambologna
    Giambologna

    Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, also known as Giovanni Da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculpture, known for his marble sculpture and bronze sculpture statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style....
    ) - commissioned by the Giudici e Notai (magistrates and notaries)
  • Saint Mark
    St. Mark (Donatello)

    Donatello's Saint Mark , is a marble statue that stands approximately seven feet and nine inches high in an exterior niche of the Orsanmichele church, Florence....
     (1411) by Donatello
    Donatello

    Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
     - commissioned by the Arte dei Linaiuoli e Rigattieri (linen-weavers and peddlars)
  • St. Philip (1412-14) by Nanni di Banco
    Nanni di Banco

    Nanni d'Antonio di Banco was a Italy sculptor from Florence.He helped create the winning model for the Duomo of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence , under the leadership of Filippo Brunelleschi, alongside Donatello....
     - commissioned by the Arte dei Calzauoli (shoemakers)
  • St. Louis of Toulouse (1413) by Donatello
    Donatello

    Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
     was replaced by Christ and St. Thomas
    Christ and St. Thomas (Verrocchio)

    Christ and St. Thomas is a bronze statue by Andrea del Verrocchio located in one of the 14 niches of the Orsanmichele in Florence, Italy. The work depicts the Bible account of Thomas , who doubted the resurrection of Jesus and had to feel the wounds for himself in order to be convinced ....
     (1467-83) by Andrea del Verrocchio
    Andrea del Verrocchio

    Andrea del Verrocchio, born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was an Italy sculpture, goldsmith and Painting who worked at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence....
     - commissioned by the Tribunale di Mercanzia (merchants)
  • St. Eligius (1411-15) by Nanni di Banco
    Nanni di Banco

    Nanni d'Antonio di Banco was a Italy sculptor from Florence.He helped create the winning model for the Duomo of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence , under the leadership of Filippo Brunelleschi, alongside Donatello....
     - commissioned by the Arte dei Maniscalchi (farriers)
  • St. James (1415) by Lamberti? - commissioned by the Arte dei Pellicciai (furriers)
  • St. Peter (1415) by Ciuffagni - commissioned by the Arte dei Beccai (butchers)
  • Saint John the Baptist
    St. John the Baptist (Ghiberti)

    St. John the Baptist is a bronze statue by Lorenzo Ghiberti located in one of the 14 niches of the Orsanmichele in Florence, Italy. The statue of the Saint John the Baptist was commissioned by the cloth merchant's guild, the Arte di Calimala....
     (1414-16) by Lorenzo Ghiberti
    Lorenzo Ghiberti

    Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italy artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.Ghiberti was born in Florence....
     - commissioned by the Arte di Calimala
    Arte di Calimala

    The Arte di Calimala, the guild of the cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, was one of the greater guilds of Florence, the Arti Maggiori, who arrogated to themselves the civic power of the Republic of Florence during the Late Middle Ages....
     (wool mechants)
  • St. George (1416) by Donatello
    Donatello

    Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
     - commissioned by the Arte dei Corazzai (armourers)
  • St. Matthew (1419-20) by Lorenzo Ghiberti
    Lorenzo Ghiberti

    Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italy artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.Ghiberti was born in Florence....
     - commissioned by the Arte del Cambio (bankers)
  • St. Stephen (1428) by Lorenzo Ghiberti
    Lorenzo Ghiberti

    Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italy artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.Ghiberti was born in Florence....
     - commissioned by the Arte della Lana (wool manufacturers)
  • St. John the Evangelist by Baccio da Montelupo
    Baccio da Montelupo

    Baccio da Montelupo , born Bartolomeo di Giovanni d'Astore dei Sinibaldi, was a sculptor of the Italian Renaissance. He is the father of another Italian sculptor, Raffaello da Montelupo....
     - commissioned by the Arte della Seta (silk merchants)


The three richest guilds opted to make their figures in the far more costly bronze, which cost approximately ten times the amount of the stone figures.

Modern assessment

Orsanmichele's statuary is a relic of the fierce devotion and pride of Florentine trades, and a reminder that great art often arises out of a competitive climate. Each trade hoped to outdo the other in commissioning original, groundbreaking sculptures for public display on Florence's most important street, and the artists hired and materials used (especially bronze) indicate the importance that was placed on this site.

Today, all of the original sculptures have been removed and replaced with modern duplicates to protect them from the elements and vandalism. The originals mainly reside in the museum of Orsanmichele, which occupies the upper floor of the church, although the museum is indefinitely closed . Two works by Donatello
Donatello

Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
 are in other Florentine museums: St. George and its niche are in the Bargello
Bargello

The Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy....
, and St. Louis of Toulouse is in the museum of the Basilica di Santa Croce.

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