The Façade of Public Philanthropy: A Typological Study of the Tuscan Loggias of Charity

Abstract

The Fa~ade of Public Philanthropy: A Typological Study of the Tuscan Loggias of Charity WILLIAM R. LEVIN An early-quattrocento Florentine painting now hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art stands as a harbinger ofRenaissance architectural developments in its startlingly sophisticated handling of an arcaded setting (fig. 1). Dominating the canvas, the building portrayed is an early and reasonably accurate perspectival rendering of the domed Cathedral of Florence as the Temple in Jerusalem. But this remarkable work, likely designed by Masaccio and executed by Francesco di Antonio, has received surprisingly little attention. 1 The foreground of this painting representing Christ healing the lunatic affords the viewer access to the interior of the building by the traditional device of eliminating intervening wall surfaces. But the elaborateness of the setting suggests that this open-walled depiction of the synagogue as a place for healing may be more than a conventional flight of artistic fancy, even more than a bravura demonstration of the then-new science of perspective pioneered by Masaccio and his contemporary Filippo Brunelleschi, architect of the actual Cathedral dome. Insofar as the temple backdrop for this scenethe left side-aisle of the building in particular-effectively has been turned into an open arcade, the Philadelphia canvas evokes another, far more famous paintFig . 1. Fmncesco di Antonio, Christ Healing a Lunatic and judas Receiving Thirty Pieces of Silver, Thejohn G. johnson Collection, Philadelphia i\!fuseum ofArt, ca. 1426. (Philadelphia Museum ofArt) 1 Fig. 2. Masaccio and Masolino, Saint Peter Heals a Cripple and Resurrects Tabitha, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, ca. 1425-27. (Scala/Art Resource, New York) ing of salutary events. This is a fresco in Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence also associated with Masaccio and his noted collaborator Masolino. It shows Saint Peter on the left as he cures a cripple before an open-arched structure, while on the right he raises Tabitha within a second exposed construction, in this case a flat-ceilinged space (fig. 2). The conjunction in both paintings of an open, arcuated setting and a story about restoring physical or mental health was not merely fortuitous. It reflects a notable, though localized, architectural development: the appearance of ground level exterior loggias across the fa~ades of major charitable institutions throughout Tuscany and elsewhere in central and northern Italy. The monumental loggia added just after 1600 to the great Florentine Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, an institution with a continuous history dating back to the late dugento, is a well-known example, albeit one marking the end of that tradition (fig. 3) .2 It comprises a series of arcuated bays, the norm for what here shall be called loggias ofcharity. Exceptions to this pattern, such as the fourteenth-century trabeated structure attached to the hospital of the Confraternity of Santa Maria del Mercato in Gubbio, located in Umbria, survive (fig. 4).3 But most often, the charity loggia was a horizontal row of identical, adjoining arched canopies. 2 Aruus Once a significant feature of the architecturallandscape in Tuscany and neighboring regions, today the surviving loggias of all types built during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance are few. While such a construction might incorporate a small area of an upper story, or on the first or second floor level surround partially or fully an interior courtyard, most common was the highly adaptable sort of loggia at issue here: an arched, open-sided space on the ground floor directly accessible from the street; often attached or at least adjacent to the fa~ade of a second, principal edifice; and covered with a row of identical contiguous vaults resting upon regularly spaced vertical supports. Despite the prominence of such loggias, architectural historians have generally overlooked them.4 In his stimulating recent discussion of different architectural types, for instance, Carroll William Westfall described an arcade generically as a "building component," conventional in design, serving only vague, area-defining functions within the urban setting, and playing an ancillary , not a primary, architectural role. Westfall considered the importance and purpose of arcades on a par with building ornament and decoration; they were contributory rather than fundamental elements.5 As to the loggia, he described it simply as a...