Clement VII, a Medici pope, commissioned Michelangelo to build a library for the cloister of San Lorenzo to house the manuscript collection of the Medici. Work began in 1524 on the Biblioteca Laurenziana; the structure was completed in 1559 by others, including Vasari, as Michelangelo sent models of the building and written information from Rome. Whereas the reading room was designed in the linear Florentine idiom of the 15th century, with dark geometric forms against a light background, the stairway at the entrance is a marvel of sculptural brilliance. Constructed within a small yet high space, the stairway has three sections. The angular side stairways are invigorated by a monumental central section consisting of curving steps scrolling into volutes on each end. This entranceway portends the dynamic sculptural qualities of baroque architecture.
Jacopo Sansovino became city architect for Venice in 1529, after escaping the sack of Rome. In 1536 the city commissioned him to create an important building that would stand across the Piazzetta (little piazza) of San Marco from the medieval Palazzo Ducale (palace of the doges, or leaders, of Venice). This was a daunting task as the Palazzo Ducale is a magnificent, imposing structure with Oriental overtones. Sansovino had to design a complementary Renaissance building that would command, with the Palazzo, the main approach of visitors approaching the city by water. In 1537 the doge decided that the new building would contain the collection of manuscripts stored in the Palazzo, making them available for scholars to study. The library was known as the Libreria del Sansovino (now called the Loggetta and housing the Museum of Archaeology; the Biblioteca Mar-ciana long ago moved to an adjoining space). Sansovino drew upon his vocabulary of antique Roman forms to create a double loggia of two stories, topped by an opulent balustrade with statuary to balance the roofline details of the Palazzo Ducale. The arched bays with a column applied to each supporting pier give the structure a weighty, sculptural feeling that balances the airy, open facade of the Palazzo. In addition, both the lower and upper friezes are opulently sculpted in rondels and leafy swags, appropriate for the richly ornamented surfaces of Venetian architecture.
During the Renaissance, most museums (from the word Muses) were spaces for storing and exhibiting antiquities. Thus a museum often was called an antiquariam, and many were owned by individuals. In addition to displaying antique sculpture in gardens or loggia, such as at the Villa Madama, collectors commissioned architects to design special galleries. Scamozzi, for example, built a gallery at Sabbioneta (near Mantua) between 1583 and 1590 for Vincenzo Gonzaga. Nearly 300 feet long, the long, narrow room was open to sunlight on one wall with niches for exhibiting sculpture on the other. A few years earlier, the Medici Villa in Rome was expanded to include a sculpture gallery. Other villas featured portrait galleries of paintings or busts of contemporary individuals, but we have very little information about their design.
World History
