NIGETTI, Matteo

Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici’s ambitions were focused on the lavish design of a monumental chapel-museum, with a secular appearance, which served to commemorate and celebrate all the princes of the Medici dynasty. It was to be erected behind the chancel of the church of San Lorenzo, to be the majestic conclusion of a temple that was identified with the lives of the Medici House. It was envisaged that the mausoleum - later called the Cappella dei Principi - was to have its inside walls entirely encrusted in precious marble.

After a competition among the most distinguished Florentine artists, the grand duke’s stepbrother Giovanni de’ Medici, a soldier and dilettante-architect, together with his collaborator Alessandro Pieroni, and Matteo Nigetti prepared the model which was revised by Bernardo Buontalenti (1603-04). The latter was in charge of the building until his death in 1608, when Nigetti continued for the next forty years. In spite of such activity the chapel remained a torso for a long time to come, it yet epitomizes Medici ambition of the early seventeenth century.

The photo shows the exterior which is rather sober and dry in detail. The large drum and dome do not seem to tally with their substructure.

Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici’s ambitions were focused on the lavish design of a monumental chapel-museum, with a secular appearance, which served to commemorate and celebrate all the princes of the Medici dynasty. It was to be erected behind the chancel of the church of San Lorenzo, to be the majestic conclusion of a temple that was identified with the lives of the Medici House. It was envisaged that the mausoleum - later called the Cappella dei Principi - was to have its inside walls entirely encrusted in precious marble.

After a competition among the most distinguished Florentine artists, the grand duke’s stepbrother Giovanni de’ Medici, a soldier and dilettante-architect, together with his collaborator Alessandro Pieroni, and Matteo Nigetti prepared the model which was revised by Bernardo Buontalenti (1603-04). The latter was in charge of the building until his death in 1608, when Nigetti continued for the next forty years. In spite of such activity the chapel remained a torso for a long time to come, it yet epitomizes Medici ambition of the early seventeenth century.

The photo shows the exterior which is rather sober and dry in detail. The large drum and dome do not seem to tally with their substructure.

In the elevation of the church of Ognissanti, Nigetti divided and organized the wall plastically in a mediation between bas-relief and high-relief, carefully calculating the graduated structure of the overhangs and projections over the street, as small balconies, the consoles of the niches, in turn, marked by inbuilt semicircular elements.

Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici’s ambitions were focused on the lavish design of a monumental chapel-museum, with a secular appearance, which served to commemorate and celebrate all the princes of the Medici dynasty. It was to be erected behind the chancel of the church of San Lorenzo, to be the majestic conclusion of a temple that was identified with the lives of the Medici House. It was envisaged that the mausoleum - later called the Cappella dei Principi - was to have its inside walls entirely encrusted in precious marble. The grand duke employed his stepbrother Prince Don Giovanni, a soldier and dilettante-architect for the planning of the building. The design was implemented by Matteo Nigetti. For the execution of the astonishing revetment of marbles inlaid with coloured marbles and semi-precious stone, the Grand Ducal hardstone workshop, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure was established.

Ferdinando I de’ Medici planned a small temple-shaped altar, entirely composed of semiprecious stones and precious metals to make it sparkle like a jewel, to be placed in the centre of the precious treasure chest that was the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes). This model was drawn by Matteo Nigetti who directed the project which was never completed.

The picture shows a view of the interior looking toward the High Altar in Santi Michele e Gaetano. This church was designed for the Teatini fathers. Supervised by Nigetti himself, following his own design, until 1630 when Gherardo Silvani took over, the church of the Teatini was a representation of an effective Counter-Reformation style. At that time the broad scope of the articulation of the interior space, together with the solemn unitary architectural phrasing of the wall organization, were signs of innovation in Florence.

The picture shows a view of the vault of the apse and the dome of the Cappella dei Principi.