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SV Andrea
SV Andrea
SV Andrea
Following with his aforementioned fascination and study of ornamentation, we can see from the interior that he spared no expense on lavish
decoration. Coiffered ceilings, sculpture on the walls and pilasters, large paintings, a large dome on the crossing letting in a vast amount of light
to the otherwise fairly dark interior. Windows are few and a far in-between, mainly found on the facade and at the apse, due to the massive weight
of the barrel vaulting. Geometrical shapes, like on the facade, are everywhere. In Gadol's book, Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early
Renaissance, this is said in regards to the interior:... Arches, rectangles, and circles, too, appear and reappear in a complex variety of sizes and
positions. Rectangular doorways are set in the arched walls of the interior, and high above the doors, circular windows 'respond' to the great circle
of the dome and single, circular window that dominates the entrance wall. (Gadol 138).This, no doubt, required careful planning on Alberti's
behalf, and succeeds in appearing beautifully simple yet complex at the very same time, and succeeds in achieving both beautiful decoration,
design and what Alberti sought for, ... a triumphant intelligible harmony which binds a manifold of relations in a perfect whole... (Gadol 139-
140). Reviewing the interior, it is safe to say that Alberti achieved doing just that. He made the design unique but inserted references to ancient
Roman architecture everywhere within, and focused on decorating it lavishly.We can see clearly now the great devotion that Leon Battista Alberti
put into studying and replicating the architectural designs of antiquity, and how he implemented various designs, specifically in the ways of
ornamentation and beauty when designing and building the church of Sant' Andrea in Mantua. The church contains many classical attributes,
derived from ancient structures such as triumphant arches, temples, and Roman baths. The combination of his own personalization, such as the
alternating spaces both outside and inside in the design of the church was a creative gamble that came to be an inspiration for those architects
who came after him, using his design of the church specifically as a reference for hundreds of years afterward. Alberti succeeded in aiding the
revival of the attributes of classical architecture through his study of the works of Vitruvius, the writing of his own treatise The Ten Books of
Architecture and through his own designs and structures. Sant' Andrea was a great example of a Renaissance church, for Alberti succeeded in
creating a structure that looked, both inside and out, like it was straight from antiquity.Sources:1. ALBERTI, LEON BATTISTA, COSIMO
BARTOLI, AND GIACOMO LEONI. THE TEN BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE: THE 1755 LEONI EDITION. NEW YORK: DOVER
PUBLICATIONS, 1986. PRINT.2. GADOL, JOAN. LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI: UNIVERSAL MAN OF THE EARLY RENAISSANCE.
CHICAGO: U OF CHICAGO, 1969. PRINT.3. MURRAY, PETER. "3 - ALBERTI." THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE.
NEW YORK: SCHOCKEN, 1964. 45-56. PRINT.4. WITTKOWER, RUDOLF. "ALBERTI'S APPROACH TO ANTIQUITY IN
ARCHITECTURE."JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES 4.1/2 (1940): 1-18. JSTOR. WEB.Mantua's relic In the
Fifteenth Century, pilgrims flocked to the Basilica of SantAndrea to venerate the most famous relic in the city of Mantua, drops of Christs blood
collected at the crucifixion (or so the faithful believed). In fact, the church SantAndrea was erected to accommodate the huge crowds that arrived
on holy days and who, in turn, helped fund its construction. Today, art historians admire SantAndrea's Early Renaissance design for elegantly
bringing the grandeur of ancient architecture into a Christian context. Who built that?SantAndrea is built of bricks, though they are mostly
concealed by painted stucco. The patron, Ludovico Gonzaga, estimated that at least 2 million bricks were needed. The bricks were baked in onsite
kilns, making the church far less expensive and faster to erect than a building made with stone, which had to be quarried, transported, and
finished.Gonzaga was the Marquis of Mantuaand in addition to employing Alberti, he appointed Andrea Mantega as court artist. His portrait is
featured in the frescos Mantegna painted in the Camera degli Sposi (also known as the Camera Picta), in the Marquis' palace.
The sections of the building constructed in the Fifteenth Century, including the Western faade and the nave up to the transept, are usually
attributed to the humanist and architect Leon Battista Alberti, even though he died in Rome a few months before construction began in June 1472.
Alberti was an expert on all things ancient and he wrote the first Renaissance architectural treatise.Alberti probably made a model to explain his
design and he definitely sent Gonzaga a drawing (now lost), and a short description of his plan in a letter dated 1470. Despite this, it is uncertain
how much of the building follows Alberti's design, how much comes from the Florentine architect Luca Fancelli who directed construction, and
how much should be credited to Gonzaga, who closely supervised the project.Ancient modelsQuestions of SantAndrea's attribution are important
because it is such an ingenious, unified combination of three ancient Roman forms: temple front, triumphal arch, and basilica.On the faade, four
giant pilasters with Corinthian capitals support an entablature and pediment.Together these elements recall the front of ancient temples, such as
the Pantheon in Rome. There is also a grand arch in the center of the faade that is supported, at least visually, by two shorter fluted pilasters.
Taken together, the lower faade, with its tall central arch and flanking side doors evoke ancient triumphal arches such as the Arch of
Constantine.Ancient ritualsThe center arch extends deep into the facade itself, creating a recessed barrel vault that frames the main entrance to the
church. The arch and its coffered barrel vault form a perfect setting for processions of the holy relic and the celebration of Christs triumph over
death. Such spectacles would recall ancient processions where victorious warriors paraded through Rome's triumphal arches. When pilgrims pass
under the arch and into the nave (the long interior hall), after their eyes adjusted to the purposefully dim, mystical light, they would look up and
see a second, much more massive barrel vault, the largest constructed since ancient Rome.Then, on both sides of the nave they would find three
chapels with lower barrel vaults. Surprisingly, there are no side aisles or rows of columns, as at the old St. Peters in Rome or other early churches
like Santa Sabina. SantAndreas huge central space and buttressing side chapels strongly resemble the layout of the ancient Basilica of
Maxentius and Constantine in the Roman forum (below). The basilica plan is perfectly suited to large churches since it could accommodate
massive crowds. But unlike earlier basilica-plan churches, SantAndrea's plan seems to return more strictly to the ancient forms. Its even possible
that SantAndreas unusual plan and allantica (after the antique) faade impacted the new St. Peters and the Church of the Ges in Rome.
An important aspect of Albertis design was the correspondence between the faade and the interior
elevations, both elaborations of the triumphal arch motif, the arcades, like the facade, having
alternating high arches and much lower square topped openings.
The nave is roofed by a barrel vault, one of the first times such a form was used in such a
monumental scale since antiquity, and probably modeled on the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome.
Alberti possibly planned for the vault to be coffered, much like the shorter barrel vault of the
entrance, but lack of funds led to the vault being constructed as a simple barrel vault with the coffers
then being painted on. Originally, the building was planned without a transept, and possibly even
without a dome. This phase of construction more or less ended in 1494.
In 1597, the lateral arms were added and the crypt finished. The massive dome (17321782) was
designed by Filippo Juvarra, and the final decorations on the interior added under Paolo Pozzo and
others in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[3]
The purpose of the new building was to receive the pilgrims who visited it during the feast of
Ascension when a vial, that the faithful argue contains the Blood of Christ, is brought up from the
crypt below through a hole in the floor directly under the dome. The relic, called Preziosissimo
Sangue di Cristo ("Most Precious Blood of Christ"), is preserved in the Sacred Vessels, according to
the tradition was brought to Mantua by the Roman centurion Longinus, who had scooped up the
earth containing the blood. The relic was "rediscovered" (secunda inventio) ca. 1049. Pope Leo
IX recognized this relic as authentic in 1053. It was highly venerated during the Renaissance. The
shrines are displayed only on the Good Friday, to the faithful and then brought out along the streets
of Mantua in a procession.
In the belltower there are five bells (A, C#, E, F#, A) cast in the 19th century. One of the chapels
houses the tomb of the early Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna, with a bronze figure of him,
by Gianmarco Cavalli; his chapel has a Holy Family by him. Other artworks in the chapels include
frescoes of Giulio Romano's school (a work by Giulio is currently a copy) and Correggio.