But the great attraction of this church is the Sassetti Chapel next to
the sacristy, which contains a splendid series of frescoes painted in
1485 by Domenico Ghirlandaio. The altar piece is only a copy of the
original, now in the Accademia. The frescoes represent scenes from the
life of St. Francis, and should be compared with Giotto's simpler
handling of the same theme in the Bardi Chapel at Santa Croce. We have
the Saint renouncing the world, the confirmation of his rule by
Honorius, his preaching to the Soldan, his reception of the Stigmata,
his death and funeral (in which the life-like spectacled bishop
aroused Vasari's enthusiastic admiration), and the raising to life of
a child of the Sassetti family by an apparition of St. Francis in the
Piazza outside the church. The last is especially interesting as
giving us a picture of the Piazza in its former state, such as it
might have been in the Mayday faction fight, with the Spini Palace,
the older bridge, and the houses of the Frescobaldi beyond the river.
Each fresco is full of interesting portraits; among the spectators in
the consistory is Lorenzo the Magnificent; Ghirlandaio himself appears
in the death scene; and, perhaps, most interesting of all, if Vasari's
identification can be trusted, are the three who stand on the right
near the church in the scene of the resuscitation of the child. These
three are said to be Maso degli Albizzi, the founder of the party of
the Ottimati, those _nobili popolani_ who held the State before they
were eclipsed by the Medici; Agnolo Acciaiuoli, who was ruined by
adhering to Luca Pitti against Piero dei Medici; and that noblest of
all the Medicean victims, Palla Strozzi (_see_ chapter iii.). It
should, however, be remembered that Maso degli Albizzi had died
nearly seventy years before, and that not even Palla Strozzi can be
regarded as a contemporary portrait. The sacristy of this church was
founded by the Strozzi, and one of the house, Onofrio, lies buried
within it. Extremely fine, too, are the portraits of Francesco
Sassetti himself and his wife, kneeling below near the altar, also by
Ghirlandaio, who likewise painted the sibyls on the ceiling and the
fresco representing the sibyl prophesying of the Incarnation to
Augustus, over the entrance to the chapel. The sepulchral monuments of
Francesco and his wife are by Giuliano da San Gallo.
The famous Crucifix of San Miniato, which bowed its head to San
Giovanni Gualberto when he spared the murderer of his brother, was
transferred to Santa Trinità in 1671 with great pomp and ceremony, and
is still preserved here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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