study

1. What is the function or purpose of the building?
 The purpose ofthis church is to worship and pray to Saint Marry.
 In 1484,a child had claimed that a painting ofthe Virgin on the wall of the town prison had come to life,
and plans were soon made to remove the image and preserve it in a votive church (a church built as a
special offering to a saint)
 Although the need to accommodate processions and the gathering ofcongregations made the long
nave of a basilica almosta necessityfor local churches,the votive church became a natural subjectfor
Renaissance experimentation with the central plan.
 The existing tradition of central-plan churches extended back to the Early Christian martyrium (a round
shrine to a martyred saint) and perhaps ultimatelyto the Classical tholos,or round temple.
 Alberti in his treatise on architecture had spoken ofthe central plan as an ideal,derived from the
humanistbeliefthatthe circle was a symbol ofdivine perfection and that both the circle inscribed in a
square and the cross inscribed in a circle were symbols ofthe cosmos.
 Thus,Giuliano's Church ofSanta Maria delle Carceri, builton a Greek-cross plan,is one ofthe finest
early Renaissance examples ofhumanistsymbolism in architectural design. It is also the first
Renaissance church with a true central plan.
 Drawing on his knowledge ofBrunelleschi's works,Giuliano created a square,dome-covered central
space extended in each direction by arms whose length was one-halfthe width of the central space.The
arms are covered by barrel vaults extended from the round arches supporting the dome.
 Giuliano raised his dome on a short, round drum that increased the amountofnatural lightentering the
church.
 He also articulated the interior walls and the twelve-ribbed dome and drum with pietra serena.The
exterior of the dome is capped with a conical roofand a tall lantern in Brunelleschian fashion
 The exterior of the church is a marvel of Renaissance clarityand order.The ground-floor system ofslim
Doric pilasters clustered atthe corners is repeated in the Ionic order on the shorter upper level, as if the
entablature of a small temple had been surmounted with a second smaller one.
 The church was entirely finished in 1494 except for installation ofthe fine green-and white-marble
veneer above the first story. In the 1880s,one section ofthe upper level was veneered; however, the
philosophyof twentieth-century conservation requires thatthe rest of the building be left in rough stone,
as it is today.
The Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri

2. The painting of Virgin Mary with the Holy Child