Giuliano da Sangallo’s Surface Architecture
Sangallo//Šedý
A systematic photographic campaign focused on the buildings of Giuliano da Sangallo in Tuscany was commissioned by the Nova Department of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut in 2016. It was aimed to accompany and illustrate the extensive collection of studies dedicated to the Renaissance architect, published in collaboration with the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio in Vicenza. The campaign was commissioned from Václav Šedý, a Milanese photographer of Czech origin, who has always privileged architecture as the subject of his photography, with particular sensibility for its historical evolution. His architectural photos range in date from the Renaissance to the contemporary period, from the work of Baldassarre Peruzzi and Vincenzo Scamozzi to that of Giuseppe Terragni, Carlo Scarpa, and Philip Johnson. Based on a critical reflection on Giuliano and on dialogue with the authors and editors of the volume, these photos have the merit of restoring for the first time the images of buildings that had for too long been neglected, also because – in some cases – they have been drastically manipulated, such as the house of the Sangallo brothers in Borgo Pinti, Florence or the Cittadella Nuova in Pisa. The photographic commentary of Šedý restores the unity of Sangallo’s buildings—whose intrinsic minimalism has exposed them, more than others, to the alterations of history— and enlightens the continuity of a taste covering four decades of Tuscan Renaissance. His tactile black-and-white shots, their raking light, their dynamic surfaces, intuit the recurrence of distributional schemes, compositional strategies, stylistic idiosyncrasies. His splayed views, compressed perspectives, capture new and original tectonic contrasts in the architecture of Giuliano da Sangallo. The essence of his lucid spatial structures, and of the precious materials with which they are decorated, is revealed in Václav Šedý’s penetrating shots.
Florence, Palazzo Gherardesca, former Scala, courtyard. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Palazzo Gherardesca, former Scala, stucco decoration of a room’s ceiling. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Palazzo Cocchi Serristori. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph 2016
Florence, Palazzo Cocchi Serristori (detail). Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Prato, Santa Maria delle Carceri. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Prato, Santa Maria delle Carceri (detail). Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Prato, Santa Maria delle Carceri, detail of the architectural order. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santo Spirito, vestibule of the sacristy, detail of the architectural order of the vault. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santo Spirito, sacristy, detail of the architectural order. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santo Spirito, sacristy. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, former Cestello. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, former Cestello. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, former Cestello, detail of the architectural order of the courtyard. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Palazzo Gondi. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Palazzo Gondi, capitals in the courtyard. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Poggio a Caiano (Prato), Medici villa, vestibule. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Poggio a Caiano (Prato), Medici villa, arched ceiling of the hall. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, palazzo Panciatichi Ximenes, former house of Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo, atrium. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Pistoia, Basilica of the Madonna dell’Umiltŕ, detail of the architectural order of the vestibule. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Pistoia, Basilica of the Madonna dell’Umiltŕ, vault of the vestibule. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Gondi Chapel. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Gondi Chapel (detail). Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Pisa, Medici Fortress, interior with arrow loop. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
Pisa, Medici Fortress, interior with arrow loop. Photo: Václav Šedý, digital photograph, 2016
