Michelozzo Palazzo de'Medici GATTA Notes
Why Michelozzo?
Cosimo eventually awarded the commission to Michelozzo di Bartolommeo (1396-1472), a young architect who had collaborated with Donatello in several sculptural enterprises. Although Cosimo passed over Brunelleschi, his architectural style in fact deeply influenced Michelozzo. To a limited extent, the Palazzo Medici reflects Brunelleschian principles.
Other notes about the Palazzo Medici
However, nothing in the ancient world precisely compares to Michelozzo's design. The Palazzo Medici exemplifies the simultaneous respect for and independence from the antique that characterize the Early Renaissance in Italy. The heart of the Palazzo Medici is an open colonnaded court (FIG. 21-37) that clearly shows Michelozzo's debt to Brunelleschi. The round-arched colonnade, although more massive in its proportions, closely resembles other buildings Brunelleschi designed. This internal court surrounded by an arcade was the first of its kind and influenced a long line of descendants in Renaissance domestic architecture.
Why Medici-Riccardi?
Later bought by the Riccardi family (hence the name Palazzo Medici-Riccardi), who almost doubled the facade's length in the 18th century, the palace, both in its original and extended form, is a simple, massive structure. Heavy rustication (rough unfinished masonry) on the ground floor accentuates its strength.
About the cornices
Like the ancient Roman cornices that served as Michelozzo's models, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi cornice is an effective lid for the structure, clearly and emphatically defining its proportions. Michelozzo also may have drawn inspiration from the many extant examples of Roman rusticated masonry, and Roman precedents even existed for the juxtaposition of rusticated and dressed stone masonry on the same facade.
Structure of the Palazzo
Michelozzo divided the building block into stories of decreasing height by using long, unbroken stringcourses (horizontal bands), which give it coherence. Dressed (smooth, finished) masonry on the second level and an even smoother surface on the top story modify the severity of the ground floor and make the building appear progressively lighter as the eye moves upward. The extremely heavy cornice, which Michelozzo related not to the top story but to the building as a whole, dramatically reverses this effect.
Why so many palazzo (palaces)?
This proliferation of palazzi testified to the stability of the Florentine economy and to the affluence and confidence of the city's leading citizens. Brunelleschi, however, confined his efforts in this field to work on the Palazzo di Parte Guelfa (headquarters of Florence's then-ruling "party") and to a rejected model for a new palace that Cosimo de' Medici intended to build.
Why did de' Medici not choose Brunelleschi for his Palazzo?
When the Medici returned to Florence in 1434 after their short-lived exile, Cosimo, aware of the importance of public perception, attempted to maintain a lower profile and to wield his power from behind the scenes. In all probability, this attitude accounted for his rejection of Brunelleschi's design for the Medici residence, which he evidently found too imposing and ostentatious to be politically wise.
