Florence, Italy ｜ Italian Renaissance, Basilica Santo Spirito, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo

Basilica di Santo Spirito was commissioned to the renowned Duomo architect Filippo Brunelleschi in 1438. Unfortunately ground wasn't broken on the basilica until 1444. 10 days after the first columns were laid the architect Filippo Brunelleschi died. The project was carried on through his loyal pupils. However the astere stucco facade is due to an unfortunate dispute between his pupils and subsequent architect Giuliano D'Angelo. Nevertheless the interior is beautiful combining the restrained white stucco with gray stone in a style that exemplifies renaissance architecture. Light filters in through a stained glass window designed by Pietro Carugino. To the side of the main transept are 40 chapels and the adjacent octagonal sacristy is a crucifix hand carved by Michelangelo at 17 years old. This was a thank you gift of sorts to the monastery which administered the basilica and its adjacent hospital. In this day the catholic church strictly forbid dissecting the human body in any way. Young Michelangelo realizing that for his genius to be fostered he would need to study the human anatomy up close and in person. He asked the monastery if he could study and dissect the corpses of any unclaimed bodies. The priory's monks obliged his request and rather clandestinely a 17 year old Michelangelo began to dissect and study the human anatomy. Expanding the knowledge he would use only years later in sculpting David and much later at the Sistine Chapel. In addition the basilica houses two reliefs carved by Donatello. Entombed within the basilica lie the remains of Paolo Uccello, a mathematician painter and brilliant thinker whose advancement of ideas on visual perspective influenced numerous other artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci.