Orsanmichele (pronounced as /it/; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele which no longer exists.
Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market[1] in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404, it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds. On the ground floor of the square building the 13th-century arches that had originally been open, forming the loggia-style grain market, were walled up. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege.[1]
As early as 1339 the main guilds had each been assigned a space between the arches to make a framed niche, with a statue of their patron saint in it. At this time, only the Arte de Lana (wool guild) seems to have done so; this figure was later replaced.[2]
Towards the end of the 14th century, the guilds were again charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church.[1] The majority of the statues date from 1400 to 1428, with two of the earliest from that period later replaced, in the 16th century. The sculptures seen in the exterior niches today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums, mostly the one on the upper floor of the building (see below).
Inside the church is Andrea Orcagna's bejeweled Gothic Tabernacle (1355–59) encasing a repainting by Bernardo Daddi's of an older icon of the "Madonna and Child".[3]
Orsanmichele's statuary is a relic of the fierce devotion and pride of Florentine trades, and a reminder that great art often arises out of a competitive climate. Each trade hoped to outdo the other in commissioning original, groundbreaking sculptures for public display on Florence's most important street, and the artists hired and materials used (especially bronze) indicate the importance that was placed on this site.
Today, all of the original sculptures have been removed and replaced with modern duplicates to protect them from the elements and vandalism.[4] The originals mainly reside in the museum of Orsanmichele, which occupies the upper floor of the church, and can be seen on every Monday, the only day when the museum is open. Two works by Donatello are in other Florentine museums: St. George and its niche are in the Bargello, and St. Louis of Toulouse is in the museum of the Basilica di Santa Croce.
The facades held 14 architecturally designed external niches, which were filled from 1399 to around 1430. The three richest guilds opted to make their figures in the far more costly bronze, which cost approximately ten times the amount of the stone figures.
| Niche | Statue | Sculptor | Guild | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madonna of the Rose | Pietro di Giovanni Tedesco | Medici e Speziali (doctors and apothecaries) | 1399 | |||
| Quattro Santi Coronati (Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Saints) | Nanni di Banco | Maestri di Pietra e Legname (wood and stone workers) | 1408 | [5] [6] | ||
| St. Mark | Donatello | Arte dei Linaiuoli e Rigattieri (linen-weavers and peddlers) | 1411 | [7] [8] | ||
| St. Philip | Nanni di Banco | Arte dei Calzaiuoli (shoemakers) | 1412-14 | [9] [10] | ||
| Christ and St. Thomas | Andrea del Verrocchio | Tribunale di Mercanzia (merchants) | 1467-83 | Replaced St. Louis of Toulouse by Donatello (1413)[11] [12] [13] | ||
| St. Eligius | Arte dei Maniscalchi (farriers) | 1411-15 | ||||
| St. James | Niccolò di Piero Lamberti, probably with his son Piero di Niccolò Lamberti.[14] | Arte dei Pellicciai (furriers) | by 1410[15] | |||
| St. Peter | Filippo Brunelleschi | Arte dei Beccai (butchers) | 1415 | |||
| St. John the Baptist | Lorenzo Ghiberti | Arte di Calimala (The Guild of Merchants of Calimala) | 1414-16 | [16] | ||
| St. George | Donatello | Arte dei Corazzai (armourers) | 1416 | [17] [18] | ||
| St. Matthew | Lorenzo Ghiberti | Arte del Cambio (bankers) | 1419-20 | [19] [20] | ||
| St. Stephen | Lorenzo Ghiberti | Arte della Lana (wool manufacturers) | 1428 | [21] | ||
| St. John the Evangelist | Baccio da Montelupo | Arte della Seta (silk merchants) | 1513-1515 | |||
| St. Luke | Giambologna | Giudici e Notai (magistrates and notaries) | 1601 | [22] |
