Palazzo Strozzi: Inner courtyard

The Palazzo Strozzi in Florence was begun in 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, for Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the Medici. The palace was left incomplete by Simone del Pollaiolo (Il Cronaca), who was in charge of the construction of the palace until 1504.

The palace, which in its gigantic scale and massive bulk dwarfs any other residence in Florence, represents the culmination of the Florentine palace type. The design is attributed to Benedetto da Maiano, but the extant wooden model was made by Giuliano da Sangallo, and the colossal cornice and the courtyard were added by Il Cronaca, who succeeded Benedetto as architect.

Cronaca's first documented activity was in the workshop of Florence Cathedral, but in February 1490, six months after work began on the Palazzo Strozzi, Cronaca was engaged by Strozzi as chief stonecutter, assuming the role of Capomaestro (chief architect) from 1497 until work on the first phase stopped in 1504. He was paid 36 florins per annum to supervise quarrying, stone-carving and construction, supplying models and designs when required. Giuliano da Sangallo's wooden model established the basic plan (bilaterally symmetrical to provide houses for Strozzi's sons from his two marriages) and the three-storey rusticated façade. In execution, vaulting on the first floor greatly increased the height of the building and necessitated the steep stairs disparaged by Vasari.

Certainly designed by Cronaca are the upper levels of the courtyard and the exterior cornice. The latter is the most impressive constructed in the 15th century, both for its assimilation of an accurately observed ancient prototype (from the Forum of Nerva, Rome) and for the intricate constructional geometry that keys in its enormous weight.

The superb courtyard is three bays wide and five deep, and on the ground floor it is relatively conventional, with arches carried on Composite columns in the manner of the Palazzo Medici. On the first floor the system changes to one of arches and plain piers, originally open loggias at front and back, and closed at the sides by rectangular cross-mullioned windows with oculi above. The top storey remains open, with slender Composite columns on high pedestals linked by a balustrade. Although the sequence lacks real coherence, it gives a convincing impression of tight organization through the use of robustly articulated elements and strong projections.

View the section of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence.