Abstract
The tombslab for Cosimo de’ Medici is laid in the pavement in the crossing of the basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. Its design is credited to Florentine sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. It is very different from the kind of tomb markers of the early Renaissance: there is no bust or portrait of the deceased, and no explicit Christian symbols appear in the marker. To interpret the tombslab, it is necessary to study its geometrical forms and proportions. Far from being a terse pagan marker, it is a rich symbol for the cosmos and the Creator. Proportions as well as geometric forms are exploited for expressive purposes. All the proportional relationships are based on the ratios of the five integers which make up the Ptolemaic musical scale. The use of these proportions implies a “harmonic” treatment of the elements of the composition, a phenomena which occurs quite frequently in Renaissance architecture.
First published as: Kim Williams , “Verrocchio ’s Tombslab for Cosimo de’ Medici: Designing with a Mathematical Vocabulary”, pp. 193–205 in Nexus I: Architecture and Mathematics, ed. Kim Williams, Fucecchio (Florence): Edizioni dell’Erba, 1996. Research for this paper was supported by grants from the Anchorage Foundation of Texas, Houston, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The inscriptions read, “Here lies Cosimo de’ Medici. Publicly declared Father of his Country” and “Lived 75 years, 3 months, and 20 days.”
- 2.
The shields may be a later addition.
- 3.
In addition to obliterating the fourth grille, the present altar step shaves about 1 cm off the tombslab’s upper edge.
- 4.
My analysis of the tombslab is based on my own survey. Because accuracy of the values used is critical to the accuracy of the analysis, I follow the recommendations of Howard Saalman (1979), taking each measurement three times and using the average value of the three as the working value. These are the values which appear in Fig. 45.2.
- 5.
A Florentine braccio was the unit of measure used at the time the tombslab was constructed. 1 braccio = 58.4 cm. It was subdivided into 12 crazie (1 crazia = 4.95 cm) or 20 soldi (1 soldo = 2.92 mm); each soldo was further subdivided into 20 denari; see Zervas (1979).
- 6.
For an illustration of Leonardo’s design, see Pevsner (1972: 202, Fig. 143).
- 7.
The musical proportions are very closely related to systems of proportion based upon irrational values, so that the use of one does not necessarily preclude the other.
References
Adomo, Piero. 1991. II Verrocchio. Florence: Casa Editrice Edam.
Baldini, Umberto and Bruno Nardini. 1984. San Lorenzo. Florence: Nardini Editore.
Bule, Steven, Alan P. Darr, and Fiorella Superbi Gioffredi, eds. 1992. Verrocchio and Late Quattrocento Italian Sculpture. Florence: Le Lettere.
Burns, Howard. 1979. S. Lorenzo in Florence Before the Building of the New Sacristy: An Early Plan. Mitteilung des Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz. XXIII (1979): 145–153.
Clearfield, Janis. 1981. The Tomb of Cosimo de’ Medici in San Lorenzo. Rutgers Art Review II (January 1981): 13–30.
Kappraff, Jay. 1991. Connections:the Geometric Bridge Between Art and Science. New York: McGraw Hill.
———. 1993. The Secrets of Ancient Geometry. Unpublished.
Michell, John. 1988. The Dimensions of Paradise. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
Pevsner, Nikolaus. 1972. An Outline of European Architecture, 7th ed. Baltimore: Penguin Books.
Plato. 1961. Timaeus. In The Collected Dialogues. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, eds. Bollingen Series LXXI. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Saalman, Howard. 1979. Designing the Pazzi Chapel: The Problem of Metrical Analysis. Architectura 9, 1: 1–5.
Zervas, Diane. 1979. The Florentine Braccio di Panna. Architectura 9, 1: 6–10.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to Jay Kappraff for sharing his unpublished paper with me. All images in this chapter are by the author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Williams, K. (2015). Verrocchio ’s Tombslab for Cosimo de’ Medici : Designing with a Mathematical Vocabulary. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00137-1_45
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00137-1_45
Published:
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00136-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00137-1
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)