Donatello
The Old Sacristy

The Sagrestia Vecchia, as it is now called, of San Lorenzo, Florence was Donatello's last major project before his years in Padua, and forms the only large space almost wholly decorated by him. Opinions have varied as to the success of his scheme ever since. The various parts combine experimentation in some places and conservatism in others, and the whole has failed to achieve the iconic status of the rather similar Pazzi Chapel of a few years later, which perhaps learnt the lessons of the sacristy; Luca della Robbia was the sculptor there.

The sacristy was newly built, designed by Brunelleschi, and the first part completed of a major reconstruction of the church by the Medicis. It combined the functions of a Medici funerary chapel, containing the tomb of Giovanni and his wife under the vesting table for the vestments to be laid out; both are still in place. The exact dates of Donatello's involvement are unclear, but it is usually placed after the return from exile of the Medicis in 1434, and Donatello's departure for Pisa in 1443/44, probably at the end of the 1430s.

Donatello's additions were two pairs of bronze doors with relief panels, and elaborate architectural surrounds for them, and two sets of large relief roundels below the main dome. In the pendentives are four scenes from the life of John the Baptist, and at the top of the purely decorative arches in pietra serena are ones of the Four Evangelists, sitting at large desks on which their attributes perch. These are all in painted stucco, the evangelists mostly white on a now rather muddy blue-grey background, with gold highlights for the halos. Three of the scenes from John's life have many small figures and complicated architectural settings and backgrounds, while the fourth, set on Patmos, has a landscape background. All use a colour scheme of white for the figures, different shades of a terracotta brown for the settings, and the muddy blue-grey for the sky. There are also two large reliefs of pairs of standing Medici patron saints over the doorways, in the same technique and colours. In different places, the stucco was painted both when wet, in a kind of fresco technique, and when dry.

The bronze doors were relatively small and had a stack of five panels on each door, each containing a pair of standing figures on a plain background, a conservative design, possibly influenced by Early Christian art, such as the doors of Santa Sabina in Rome, or consular diptychs. One pair has the Twelve Apostles with other saints making up the numbers, and the other has martyrs, who in most cases cannot be confidently identified. The execution is again uneven, with much probably done by assistants.

The scheme received criticism, by now rather unusual for Donatello, from very early on. The modelling and execution of some of the reliefs was crude, especially the scenes from John's life, and it is often thought that the various added elements distract from the simplicity and harmony of the architecture. The level of detail in the higher reliefs makes them simply hard for the viewer to read from below. According to Antonio Manetti, Brunelleschi's biographer, Donatello did not consult the architect about the additions to the doorways at all, such was his "pride and arrogance".

Filarete, perhaps echoing a comment by Alberti, wrote that the paired figures on the doors looked like fencers; he referred to the apostle doors, though the remark is more fairly applied to the martyrs, most of whom hold thin palm fronds. We do not know how Donatello felt about his finished scheme, but he never used painted stucco again; nor did anyone much else, as within a few years the Della Robbia workshop had perfected painted and glazed terracotta in large pieces, as in the Pazzi Chapel, which was clearly the better technique. The reception of the scheme has been suggested as a factor in Donatello's readiness to abandon Florence for a long period.
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