OrsanmicheleOrsanmichele, with Donatello's Saint George left of the corner
Orsanmichele (pronounced[orsammiˈkɛːle]; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele which no longer exists.
Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market[1] 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 the 13th-century arches that had originally been open, forming the loggia-style grain market, were walled up. 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.[1]
As early as 1339 the main guilds had each been assigned a space between the arches to make a framed niche, with a statue of their patron saint in it. At this time, only the Arte de Lana (wool guild) seems to have done so; this figure was later replaced.[2]
Towards the end of the 14th century, the guilds were again charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church.[1] The majority of the statues date from 1400 to 1428, with two of the earliest from that period later replaced, in the 16th century. The sculptures seen in the exterior niches today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums, mostly the one on the upper floor of the building (see below).
^ abcZucconi, Guido (1995). Florence: An Architectural Guide. San Giovanni Lupatoto, Vr, Italy: Arsenale Editrice srl. ISBN 88-7743-147-4.
Orsanmichele (pronounced [orsammiˈkɛːle]; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian...
of the statues for the niches around the outside of the rectangular Orsanmichele, a building owned by the guilds of Florence, which was in the process...
describe as "The Gates of Paradise". The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence:...
Mark in the Nuremberg Chronicle Saint Mark, 1411–1413, by Donatello (Orsanmichele, Florence) Coptic icon of Saint Mark the Evangelist Basilica di San Marco...
designed by Bernardo Buontalenti links the palazzo with the church of Orsanmichele. The palazzo is now the seat of the Società Dantesca. The guild of wool...
Matthew St. Stephen The St. John The Baptist statue sits in a niche of the Orsanmichele in Florence was built from 1412–-1416. This statue based on the St. John...
Mandorla at the Duomo. In 1404, the Arti decorated the outer niches of Orsanmichele. The recovery was threatened by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who laid siege...
facade of Florence Cathedral (1409) or his St Louis of Toulouse for Orsanmichele (1423). (in Italian) "Catalogue entry". "A Closer Look at a 15th century...
sculpture attributed to him is the "Virgin and Child with St. Anne" in Orsanmichele, Florence. Sangallo was active in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome around...
Vasari's time the Pollaiuolo hung in the very prominent location of the Orsanmichele. In the 17th century the subject had a second life as a device to turn...
commissioned by the stone carvers and wood workers guild for the Church of Orsanmichele. The significance of this work is not only the striking naturalism and...
Barbadori, who died childless in 1429, left his heritage to the Captains of Orsanmichele for the realization, in the church of Santo Spirito, of a chapel dedicated...
liturgy". Saint Stephen is one of the sculptures on the side of the Orsanmichele in Florence. Saint Stephen is the patron saint of the wool guild. In...
His son Niccolò was a master glassmaker who worked on the windows at Orsanmichele among other places. Angel musicians (1386), Museo dell'Opera del Duomo...
Donatello's Saint George, for the armourers and swordsmith's guild, at the Orsanmichele is in marble, but originally wore a bronze helmet and carried a sword...
demeanour, and refinement recall St Thomas from Verrocchio's bronze group in Orsanmichele. The poses of the actors fall into a small number of basic attitudes...
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