The Palatine Chapel
Cappella Palatina
The room on the ground floor that is today called the Cappella Palatina was originally constructed under the direction of Ammannati and was finished in August 1574. For many years, it served as a sort of dining room until 1596, when it was annexed to the apartment of Don Giovanni de’Medici. In 1621, after the death of the prince, the apartment was designated as quarters for visiting dignitaries, and the whole area, decorated with wall-coverings of green damask with white, yellow and green silk borders, served as a reception room.
In Giancinto M. Marmi’s notebooks of the inventories of the palace in 1658, the room is called “salotto dell’Appart. De Forestieri hoggi del Ser.mo Gran Principe”. The left wing of the ground floor at that time was occupied by prince Cosimo, later Cosimo III, and he used this large room for banquets and theatrical performances. When Cosimo married Margherita Louise d’Orleans, the apartment was restructured to house the “Principi Sposi “. At this time, the rooms of the apartment were frescoed anew by Jacopo Chiavistelli, which we can today imagine from the descriptions of Bacchi-Cinelli: the ceiling of the salone depicted the achievements of Cosimo as well as day and night surrounding Apollo’s chariot. The months of the year were painted on the walls, along with the signs of the zodiac. The coats-of-arms of the Medici and the Orleans were also displayed.
In 1662, Marmi cites the room as “Salone detto di Apollo. Dipinto da J. Chiavistelli, qual serve per anticamera della Ser.ma Princ.ssa Sposa”; reading this document, one has the impression that only the ceiling was frescoed at this time, because, speaking of the walls, Marmi writes, “dove è solito attaccarsi il parato”; in an additional note, he describes the room as “nel sopradetto salone, per essere dipinto, non vi èche le sottoscritte portiere…” When Cosimo became grand duke, the apartment was assigned to his brother Francesco Maria and later was occupied by Violante of Bavaria.
During the first period of the Lorraine’s rule, almost all of the ground floor of the palace was reassigned as service areas to be used as warehouse and storage space. But the radical transformation of the space came with the arrival of Pietro Leopoldo, who transformed the room into a chapel for the personal use of the grand duke.
On 3 January 1766, we find that the grand duke approved the plans of architects Ruggieri and Paoletti , while he simultaneously ordered a stop to the work on the grand chapel that had been projected by Ignazio Pellegrini. The new project, other than providing for the restructuring of the room for its new use, also included provisions for pews for members of the court and space for the production of music, while the area nearby the room was reorganized to provide for a sacristy and other needs of the chapel. The work began immediately following the grand duke’s order. In March of the same year, a large part of the work was completed, and by December, everything was finished.
In reality, it was not a large project. It did involve opening a larger window in the arch where the original widow had been. This provided a defused light that came from behind the altar toward the entrance on the opposite side, where a balcony for the musicians was provided. This meant that the entrance side of the chapel was dark, while the altar side was filled with light. To the right of the altar, a small choir was created for the royal family, while behind the altar, in the thickness of the wall, a space was carved to accommodate ladies of the court. The painter, Vincenzo Meucci, adding a few wings and a halo, transformed Chiavistelli frescoes from the profane to the sacred.
In Giancinto M. Marmi’s notebooks of the inventories of the palace in 1658, the room is called “salotto dell’Appart. De Forestieri hoggi del Ser.mo Gran Principe”. The left wing of the ground floor at that time was occupied by prince Cosimo, later Cosimo III, and he used this large room for banquets and theatrical performances. When Cosimo married Margherita Louise d’Orleans, the apartment was restructured to house the “Principi Sposi “. At this time, the rooms of the apartment were frescoed anew by Jacopo Chiavistelli, which we can today imagine from the descriptions of Bacchi-Cinelli: the ceiling of the salone depicted the achievements of Cosimo as well as day and night surrounding Apollo’s chariot. The months of the year were painted on the walls, along with the signs of the zodiac. The coats-of-arms of the Medici and the Orleans were also displayed.
In 1662, Marmi cites the room as “Salone detto di Apollo. Dipinto da J. Chiavistelli, qual serve per anticamera della Ser.ma Princ.ssa Sposa”; reading this document, one has the impression that only the ceiling was frescoed at this time, because, speaking of the walls, Marmi writes, “dove è solito attaccarsi il parato”; in an additional note, he describes the room as “nel sopradetto salone, per essere dipinto, non vi èche le sottoscritte portiere…” When Cosimo became grand duke, the apartment was assigned to his brother Francesco Maria and later was occupied by Violante of Bavaria.
During the first period of the Lorraine’s rule, almost all of the ground floor of the palace was reassigned as service areas to be used as warehouse and storage space. But the radical transformation of the space came with the arrival of Pietro Leopoldo, who transformed the room into a chapel for the personal use of the grand duke.
On 3 January 1766, we find that the grand duke approved the plans of architects Ruggieri and Paoletti , while he simultaneously ordered a stop to the work on the grand chapel that had been projected by Ignazio Pellegrini. The new project, other than providing for the restructuring of the room for its new use, also included provisions for pews for members of the court and space for the production of music, while the area nearby the room was reorganized to provide for a sacristy and other needs of the chapel. The work began immediately following the grand duke’s order. In March of the same year, a large part of the work was completed, and by December, everything was finished.
In reality, it was not a large project. It did involve opening a larger window in the arch where the original widow had been. This provided a defused light that came from behind the altar toward the entrance on the opposite side, where a balcony for the musicians was provided. This meant that the entrance side of the chapel was dark, while the altar side was filled with light. To the right of the altar, a small choir was created for the royal family, while behind the altar, in the thickness of the wall, a space was carved to accommodate ladies of the court. The painter, Vincenzo Meucci, adding a few wings and a halo, transformed Chiavistelli frescoes from the profane to the sacred.
The original plan called for three wooden altars, but a single, important altar took their place. The painter Santi Pacini designed this new altar. He employed various bits and pieces left over from the construction of the Chapel of the Princes, in San Lorenzo, at this point a veritable mine for new works. The altar had two panels in pietra dura attributed to Ludovico Cigoli; the first represented the Adoration of the Magi, while the second represented the Last Supper and took its place in the center of the altar front…..
Between 1791 and 1792, Ferdinando III, who had succeeded Pietro Leopoldo, changed the decorative scheme of the chapel completely, following a project designed by Bernardo Fallani. The musicians’ balcony over the entrance was enriched with the addition of two alabaster columns from Montalcino and the two doors on the longer wall were closed to create a larger space for the frescoes by Luigi Ademollo.
The painter created not only the two frescoes on the long walls, but also panels in the ceiling and the decoration for the musicians’ balcony and the choir on the right of the altar….
During the first years of the French occupation, the chapel was almost completely stripped, and it was not until the Etrurian reign that new ornamentation in the form of silver candelabra and other objects from Parma appeared. Later, the French found the chapel to be inadequate to the needs of the court, and Giuseppe Cacialli was called upon to find new solutions, but these never came to pass.
On 30 April 1814, Prince Rospigliosi proclaimed the restoration of the Hapsburg-Lorraine house, and Murat’s troops left the grand duchy as Ferdinando III returned to Florence. Among the artists for whom the grand duke had always demonstrated a certain esteem and affection was Luigi Ademollo, who had been absent from the palace for fifteen years. After the restoration, he was immediately recalled and charged with the completion of several important pictorial projects in rooms on the piano nobile. When, in 1823, a second choir to the left of the altar was built in the chapel, it was he who was called upon to decorate it. The Palatine Chapel, with the completion of this new choir, was finally completed.
Facchinetti, Fiorella,"La cappella palatina", Palazzo Pitti: l'arte e la storia, Nardini Editore, 2000-2003, Firenze, pp. 201-210.
On 30 April 1814, Prince Rospigliosi proclaimed the restoration of the Hapsburg-Lorraine house, and Murat’s troops left the grand duchy as Ferdinando III returned to Florence. Among the artists for whom the grand duke had always demonstrated a certain esteem and affection was Luigi Ademollo, who had been absent from the palace for fifteen years. After the restoration, he was immediately recalled and charged with the completion of several important pictorial projects in rooms on the piano nobile. When, in 1823, a second choir to the left of the altar was built in the chapel, it was he who was called upon to decorate it. The Palatine Chapel, with the completion of this new choir, was finally completed.
Facchinetti, Fiorella,"La cappella palatina", Palazzo Pitti: l'arte e la storia, Nardini Editore, 2000-2003, Firenze, pp. 201-210.
See also:
Antonella Capitanio, "Palazzo Pitti : prevaleva il gusto "tedesco" nei paramenti della Cappella Palatina"; Il giornale dell'arte : mensile di informazione, cultura, economia; 7, 67, 1989, p. 52.
Antonella Capitanio, "Palazzo Pitti : prevaleva il gusto "tedesco" nei paramenti della Cappella Palatina"; Il giornale dell'arte : mensile di informazione, cultura, economia; 7, 67, 1989, p. 52.