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SACCHI, ANDREA (c. 1599–1661). Andrea Sacchi was the pupil of Francesco Albani who encouraged him to study the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600; Rome, Palazzo Farnese) and other works by Annibale Carracci, meaning that the artist received a classicist art education. In c. 1618, Sacchi went to Bologna with his master to examine the works of other members of the Bolognese School, returning to his native Rome in c. 1621. Sacchi’s earliest patron was Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who had also patronized Caravaggio early on in his career, followed by the Barberini. His works are few as he painted slowly and meticulously. This method resulted in idealized renderings, mainly in soft pastels, with elegant gestures, poses, and draperies. His St. Gregory and the Miracle of the Corporal (1625–1626; Vatican, Pinacoteca) is a commission he received from del Monte to be placed in the Chapter House of St. Peter’s. It depicts a miracle where the cloth St. Gregory had used to wipe the chalice bled when he pierced it with a dagger. A man who had doubted its miraculous qualities is shown in the foreground sinking to his knees in response to the event. Sacchi’s Divine Wisdom (1629–1633; Rome, Palazzo Barberini) he created for the Barberini. This large ceiling fresco utilizes a modified di sotto in sù technique and shows Divine Wisdom seated on her throne and surrounded by 11 of her Virtues—a scene based on the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha. Meant to denote the ability of Pope Urban VIII, a Barberini, to rule with great wisdom, the work also references the constellations and planets. In fact, in the fresco, Leo, the sun, and Jupiter are aligned, as they were on the day of the pope’s election. The placement of the sun in the center of the composition denotes the Barberini’s interest in current astronomical debates. Then, the accepted notion was that the Earth occupied the center of the universe and Galileo Galilei at the time was expounding his heliocentric views, which Sacchi’s fresco embraces.

In the Accademia di San Luca, Sacchi debated with Pietro da Cortona on the proper rendering of history paintings, advocating the Aristotelian approach to the genre of tragedy with a minimal number of actors and emphasis on grandeur and clarity. Sacchi’s works reveal that he truly practiced what he preached. Along with Alessandro Algardi, Nicolas Poussin, and François Duquesnoy, he championed an art that provided only the essential components to tell the story and that refrained from excessive dramatization—an alternative to the compositional complexities and emotive appeal found in the works of Cortona and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. See also CORTONA/SACCHI CONTROVERSY.

SACK OF ROME (1527). The sack of Rome resulted from the rivalry between France and Spain over Northern Italy. In 1524, Pope Clement VII took sides on the issue by allying himself with Francis I of France and Venice. In 1525, however, Francis was captured in Pavia, leaving the pope with no choice but to seek the protection of Charles V of Spain. In 1526, in an effort to limit Charles’ power, the pope again changed sides, joining the League of Cognac with France, Milan, Florence, and Venice. In retaliation, Charles’ imperial troops invaded Rome in 1527, brutally ransacking it. Clement took refuge in the Castel Sant’ Angelo, was eventually taken prisoner, and forced to pay 400,000 ducats for his release. He fled to Orvieto and later Viterbo, remaining in exile for the next two years. Clement eventually negotiated a truce with Charles and crowned him Holy Roman Emperor in Bologna in 1530.

Many scholars believe that the sack of Rome marked the end of the High Renaissance era and contributed to the advance of Protestantism because papal power was diminished by the event. In 1533, Henry VIII of England requested from Clement an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Charles V’s aunt. The pope rejected the petition, leading Henry to establish the Church of England, for which he was excommunicated. Had the sack of Rome not taken place and the pope been forced to bow to Charles, Clement might have simply acceded to the annulment and England would not have been lost to Protestantism.

SACRA CONVERSAZIONE. In English, sacred conversation. An image in a single pictorial field of the Virgin and Child surrounded by saints from different times in history who interact with each other through gestures and glances, or with the viewer. The sacra conversazione representations supplanted the earlier multipaneled altarpieces that featured a hierarchic arrangement of these sacred figures. Italian examples of this new type include Domenico Veneziano’s St. Lucy Altarpiece (c. 1445–1447; Florence, Uffizi), one of the earlier Renaissance sacra conversazione renditions, Sandro Botticelli’s Bardi Altarpiece (1484; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), and Giovanni Bellini’s San Zaccaria Altarpiece (1505) in the Church of San Zaccaria, Venice. Among the Northern examples are Hans von Kulmbach’s Tucher Altarpiece (1513; Nuremberg, Church of Sebald) and Hans Memlinc’s St. John Altarpiece (1474–1479), this last painted for the chapel of the Hospital of St. John in Bruges, now the Memlingmuseum.

SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE (1514; Rome, Galleria Borghese). The Sacred and Profane Love is an allegorical painting rendered by Titian that relates compositionally to the Fête Champetre (c. 1510; Louvre, Paris) by Giorgione, his teacher. Until recently, the work was interpreted solely as a Neoplatonic allegory of the superiority of sacred over profane love, with both women representing Venus—the one nude denoting pure celestial love and her clothed counterpart earthly sexuality. Scholarship on gender issues has revealed the implications offered by certain elements Titian included, which has led to the conclusion that the work was commissioned to celebrate a marriage. The coat of arms of Niccolò Aurelio, vice-chancellor of the Venetian Republic, on the sarcophagus by the two women identifies him as the groom, while the heraldry on the plate directly above it is that of his bride, Laura Bagarotto. Also, the clothed Venus wears the traditional Venetian white satin wedding gown with red sleeves and belt. Her loose hair and myrtles were part of the wedding attire, while the vessel she holds is a wedding casket used to collect monetary gifts. The rabbits that dot the distant landscape are symbols of fertility and the hope for children, crucial to a society where the high child mortality rate sometimes precluded the continuation of the family.

SACRIFICE OF ISAAC. This is an episode from the Old Testament. To test Abraham’s faith, God commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac and, without hesitation, Abraham did as he was told. As he readied to plunge the knife into Isaac’s throat, God sent an angel to stop him and a lamb was sacrificed in the boy’s place. The story becomes a prefiguration to God’s willingness to give up his own son so he may bring salvation to humankind. The Sacrifice of Isaac was the stipulated topic for the entries in the competition for the east doors of the Baptistery of Florence (1401). Caravaggio depicted the subject in 1601–1602 (Florence, Uffizi) and Rembrandt in 1635 (St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum).

SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI. The Church of San Francesco is dedicated to St. Francis, a resident of Assisi. Construction began sometime after the saint’s death in 1226, its purpose to mark his burial site and to serve as the mother church of the Franciscan Order he established. The building consists of an upper and lower church, both with a Latin cross plan with aisleless nave, transept, and apse. The naves feature a four-partite vault system and the lower basilica also includes side chapels. As the structure was erected with papal support and needed to reflect the power and wealth of the papacy, it is quite ostentatious and therefore at odds with the Franciscans’ vow of poverty.

The interiors in both churches are richly ornamented with frescoes executed by the most important masters of the 13th and 14th centuries who were either from Rome or somehow connected to the papacy. In the upper church, Cimabue was responsible for the apse and transept decorations (after 1279), the first featuring scenes from the life of the Virgin to whom St. Francis was especially devoted and the second the Crucifixion, Apocalypse, and lives of Sts. Peter and Paul. In c. 1287, Cimabue’s pupil, Giotto (some question the attribution) painted 28 scenes from the life of St. Francis taken from St. Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior, considered the official biography of the saint. Some of the vault frescoes in the upper church that depict scenes from the Book of Genesis have been attributed to Jacopo Torriti and dated to the 1290s. In c. 1328, in the lower church, Simone Martini frescoed the Montefiore Chapel with scenes from the life of St. Martin. During the same decorative campaign, Pietro Lorenzetti contributed scenes from the Passion (1325–1330) in the lower church transept. These treasures mark the Church of San Francesco as one of the most important landmarks of the Proto-Renaissance era.

SAN IVO DELLA SAPIENZA, ROME (1642–1650). San Ivo is the church of the University of Rome, called the Sapienza. Francesco Borromini received the commission to create this structure in 1641 from Pope Urban VIII who requested that it be incorporated into the university courtyard. As a result, the building’s façade is concave, its two stories composed of repetitive arched windows that harmonize with the courtyard arcades at either side. On the attic, a Latin inscription reads “House of Wisdom,” suitable for a church in a university setting. A dome with a large drum sits atop, both composed of concave and convex forms that add movement to the façade. The spiral lantern capping the dome recalls the pope’s tiara to assert that this was a papal commission, and also the flaming crown of Wisdom, reiterating visually the attic inscription. The interior is whitewashed and includes 18 colossal pilasters that support a continuous entablature and applied decorations added during the reign of Alexander VII when the church was completed. These include the heraldic mounds and stars of the Chigi, Alexander’s family.

The structure’s plan, echoed in the interior by the dome, is read by some as a stylized bee, the symbol of the Barberini, Urban VIII’s family. Others see two superimposed triangles that form the six-pointed star of King Solomon, albeit with points replaced by the same play of concave and convex forms of the building’s exterior. While the Barberini emblem would identify the patron of the structure, the Solomonic reference would reiterate symbolically the words inscribed on the façade as Solomon was known for his wisdom. Solomon was also the great builder of the Temple of Jerusalem, so the Solomonic references at San Ivo may have been included as well to hail Urban as the modern counterpart to this biblical figure who builds his own house of worship.

SAN MARCO MONASTERY, FLORENCE. Originally occupied by the Sylvestrine Order, in 1436 these monks were expelled and the San Marco Monastery was turned over to the Dominicans. In the late 1430s, Cosimo de’ Medici, who favored the order, provided funding for its renovation, giving the commission to Michelozzo. The most successful room in Michelozzo’s design is the library, the first built in the Renaissance. Here the architect utilized a Brunelleschian vocabulary that includes a repetition of arches and columns to establish a rhythmic pattern and corbels, elements also found in Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence (1419–1424). The flat roof in the central space, groin vaults for the aisles, and stuccoed walls trimmed in pietra serena are also Brunelleschian. Once completed, Cosimo donated over 400 Greek and Latin manuscripts to the library, making it into one of the most notable early public libraries of Italy. San Marco also boasts some of the most splendid frescoes of the Early Renaissance. Fra Angelico, who resided in the monastery, painted scenes in the cells and corridors between 1438 and 1445 to inspire meditation and prayer. Also financed by Cosimo, the subject of these works is believed to have been dictated by St. Antonine Pierozzi, the prior of San Marco. Among the most notable of these frescoes are the Annunciation, Coronation, Transfiguration, Mocking of Christ, Resurrection and Women at the Tomb, and Noli me tangere.

SAN ZENO ALTARPIECE, SAN ZENO, VERONA (1456–1459). Altarpiece painted by Andrea Mantegna, who looked to Donatello’s altar in the Church of San Antonio in nearby Padua for figural and compositional inspiration. The frame in the San Zeno Altarpiece takes on the form of a classicized façade with segmented (semicircular) pediment that ends in volutes (scroll-like ornaments), its elaborate columns attached to the painted piers of the altarpiece to enhance the sense of depth. In the center are the enthroned Virgin and Child surrounded by musical angels and flanked by saints in varying poses who line up diagonally one behind the other. The circular motif on the throne acts as the Virgin’s halo. The figures occupy a classical setting where a continuous frieze of reliefs and piers are included. Above are garlands of fruits and flowers, as well as a rosary suspended directly above the Virgin. The predella, taken by Napoleon to France where it now forms part of the Louvre collection, consists of the Agony in the Garden, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. The most outstanding of these is the Crucifixion, originally the central panel. Here, the crucified Christ is placed precisely where the lines on the ground converge and where two mounds in the landscape dip. The thieves’ crosses are positioned diagonally to further the illusion of depth. The weeping mourners and the soldiers who gamble for Christ’s vestments provide a poignant contrast of piety versus sinfulness. The work demonstrates Mantegna’s interest in definition and clear organization. It also shows his rendering of sculptural forms and his fascination with ancient art.

SÁNCHEZ COELLO, ALONSO (c. 1531/1532–1588). Spanish painter who specialized in portraiture. Sánchez Coello was court painter to King Philip II and, in that capacity, he was instrumental in laying the foundations for Hapsburg portraiture in Spain. In his works, sitters are set against sparsely furnished interiors, their physiognomies rendered as clearly as the details of their elaborate courtly costumes. Sánchez Coello’s interest in detailed representation came from his training with the Flemish master Anthonis Mor. His portrait of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia with Magdalena Ruiz (c. 1585–1588; Madrid, Prado) depicts the king’s daughter and her favorite dwarf. In her hand, she displays a cameo of her father to stress her royal lineage, while Magdalena, crouching at the infanta’s side in a gesture of submission, holds two pet monkeys. Sánchez Coello also contributed some religious works to the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial, Philip II’s pet project. These include Sts. Stephen and Lawrence (1580) and the Martyrdom of Sts. Justus and Pastor (1582–1583), both still in the monastery. Sánchez Coello’s emphasis on detailing, also present in these works, provided a contrast to Juan Fernández de Navarrete’s Italianate paintings at the same site.

SÁNCHEZ COTÁN, JUAN (1561–1627). Spanish still-life painter from the region of Toledo who almost completely abandoned his career in 1603 when he entered the Carthusian Monastery of Granada as a lay brother. Sánchez Cotán’s patrons included the aristocratic and learned citizens of Toledo. For this, scholars have read his works as studies in mathematical arrangements as well as recreations of ancient still lifes said to have been so masterfully rendered as to fool birds into pecking at the fruits depicted. Others have read his works as warnings against gluttony or as spiritual compositions comparable to the literary works of St. Theresa of Avila and other Spanish mystics of the period. One of his most often discussed works is the Still Life with Game Fowl, Fruit, and Vegetables (1602; Madrid, Prado), which, aside from its iconographic significance, presents the staple ingredients of Spanish cuisine, including cardoons, assorted roots, wild fowl, and lemons.

SANCTA SANCTORUM. Located in the Lateran Palace in Rome, the Sancta Sanctorum is a chapel dedicated to St. Lawrence and used by the early popes for personal devotion. The chapel was meant to house a number of religious relics, the most important of which is the true portrait of Christ (the Acheropita) painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. The chapel is accessed through a staircase that originally led to Pilate’s house and that Christ climbed to be judged. Called the Scala Sancta, the staircase was brought to Rome from Jerusalem by St. Helena, Constantine the Great’s mother. Pilgrims today still climb the stairs on their knees while engaging in prayer.

In 1278 a major earthquake destroyed the original chapel, and Nicholas III had it rebuilt and decorated. The new structure has a square plan capped by a cross-ribbed vault. Porphyry columns separate the apse from the nave and the floor features an elaborate Cosmatesque mosaic. The lower portions of the walls are covered in marble, while the upper parts feature frescoes by unknown artists. The scenes depicted illustrate the lives of the saints whose relics were kept in the chapel, including St. Lawrence. In the 16th century, during the reign of Sixtus V (r. 1585–1590), further decorations were added, mainly to the apse, as well as an inscription that reads “No holier place on earth exists,” a reference to the holy relics originally kept in the chapel, some of which have since been moved to St. Peter’s.

SANGALLO, GIULIANO DA (1443–1516). Giuliano da Sangallo was the founding member of a dynasty of Florentine architects. Like Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti who influenced him, he was deeply interested in ancient architecture. The notes he took on the ancient monuments he studied during an early stay in Rome (c. 1465–c. 1472), the Codex Barberiano, are now housed in the Vatican and record some Roman buildings that no longer stand. Upon his return to Florence and armed with the knowledge he acquired in the papal city, Sangallo worked on the courtyard of the Palazzo Scala (1472–1480), a commission he received from the statesman and humanist Bartolomeo Scala. Made to look like an ancient peristyle, the courtyard features arches flanked by pilasters on the lower story and above these a series of reliefs, also executed by Sangallo, based on a poem, the Cento Apologi, written by his patron that deals with moralizing mythological themes. After this, Sangallo became the architect favored by Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici. For him he built the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano in the early 1480s, the earliest attempt by a Renaissance architect to recreate an ancient suburban villa based on the descriptions of Vitruvius and Pliny the Younger. It is also the first domestic structure with a completely symmetrical arrangement of rooms around a large central hall. In this, it foreshadows the villas of Palladio.

Sangallo’s Church of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato, built in 1484–1492 and also commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici, was meant as repository for an image of the Virgin that effected miracles. This structure, shaped like a Greek cross, depends on the mathematical system of proportions introduced by Brunelleschi earlier in the century. The dome and interior are also Brunelleschian, this last relying heavily on Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel at Santa Croce, Florence (1433–1461). In the exterior, Sangallo applied the Colosseum principle introduced by Alberti in his design for the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence. These structures for Lorenzo were followed by the Palazzi Gondi (beg. 1490) and Strozzi (1489–1490), this last completed by Cronaca and Benedetto da Maiano.

After the expulsion of the Medici from Florence in 1494, Sangallo returned to Rome. There he worked for Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, later Pope Julius II. When Donato Bramante died, Sangallo was called by Leo X, a Medici, to work alongside Raphael on New St. Peter’s, but was soon dismissed as the commission proved to difficult for him to handle. He returned to Florence where he submitted designs for the façade of San Lorenzo (1515–1516), by then considered antiquated. Disheartened, Sangallo died in 1516. See also SANGALLO THE ELDER, ANTONIO DA; SANGALLO THE YOUNGER, ANTONIO DA.

SANGALLO THE ELDER, ANTONIO DA (1455–1534). Florentine master from a family of prominent architects that included his older brother Giuliano da Sangallo and his nephew Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. His most important commission is the Church of the Madonna di San Biagio in Montepulciano (1518–1534), a structure inspired by Giuliano’s Santa Maria delle Carceri at Prato (1484–1492), which Antonio finished after his brother’s death. As in Giuliano’s church, the Madonna di San Biagio features a Greek cross plan, though here, instead of four equal arms, Antonio only used three, the fourth forming the main apse. In the exterior, there are only three equal façades instead of four, and Antonio added two towers by the main entrance, the second with only the first story completed. Like Giuliano, Antonio applied the Colosseum principle to the exterior. He also used alternating niches and pediments and small obelisks at the corners of the third story. The building is capped by a dome on a high drum and lantern reminiscent of Donato Bramante’s dome in the Tempietto (c. 1502–1512; Rome, San Pietro in Montorio). In the interior, the proportions are stocky, the walls are whitewashed and trimmed with travertine, and engaged columns support a Doric frieze. Antonio’s ability to synthesize the elements he learned from his brother Giuliano and Bramante resulted in a new classical Tuscan vocabulary.

SANGALLO THE YOUNGER, ANTONIO DA (1485–1546). Italian architect, the nephew of Giuliano da Sangallo and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. In c. 1503, Antonio went to Rome where he first worked with Donato Bramante at St. Peter’s, acting as his assistant and draughtsman. In c. 1539, he was put in charge of the basilica’s construction. This proved to be a major debacle as the wooden model he produced was not well received by his contemporaries. One of his harshest critics was none other than Michelangelo, who in 1564 completed the building. Antonio’s most notable work is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (c. 1513–1546), commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to serve as his principal residence. In 1534, the cardinal ascended the papal throne as Paul III and asked Antonio to increase the size of the original design to reflect his new position of power. Much to Antonio’s mortification, the pope also announced a competition for the palace’s cornice. Michelangelo won and, after Antonio died, he completed this building as well.

SANSOVINO, JACOPO (JACOPO TATTI; 1486–1570). Florentine architect and sculptor who trained with Andrea Sansovino from whom he adopted his surname. He traveled to Rome in 1505 or 1506 where he entered Donato Bramante’s circle. For the next two decades he split his time between Rome and Florence, leaving the papal city permanently in 1527 when imperial forces invaded. Sansovino established himself in Venice, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1529, he was appointed principal architect of the Venetian Republic, an office he held for 40 years. In 1537 he began his greatest masterpiece, the Library of St. Mark, built directly across from the Doge’s Palace. The purpose of the structure was to house the famous book collection of the humanist Cardinal Basilius Bessarion who bequeathed it to the Venetian Republic in 1468. In 1545, a major frost caused part of the building’s ceiling to collapse, resulting in Sansovino’s imprisonment. His friends Titian and Pietro Aretino spoke out in his favor and he soon was released and able to resume his position as official architect. Sansovino did not see the building completed; his pupil, Vincenzo Scamozzi, finished the structure after his death.

The library adjoins the Campanile of the Basilica of St. Mark. At the Campanile’s foot, Sansovino built a small loggia, called the Loggetta (beg. 1538), meant as a meeting hall for Venetian patricians during the Councils of State. Its design, based on an ancient triumphal arch, harmonizes with the design of his library. The other major commission Sansovino received from the Venetian Republic was the Zecca or mint (beg. 1536), adjoining the library. With this structure, Sansovino introduced to Venice the Mannerist custom of rusticating the columns of the façade, already used by Giulio Romano in the Palazzo del Tè (1527–1534) in Mantua. The Palazzo Corner de la Cà Grande (beg. c. 1545) is the only major commission Sansovino received from a private family. The structure, with its Mannerist elements also inspired by Giulio Romano, established a new Venetian palace type that was to be emulated by future architects in the 16th and 17th centuries. See also SACK OF ROME.

SANT’ ANDREA, MANTUA (beg. 1470). The church commissioned from Leon Battista Alberti by Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to house the relic of the holy blood of Christ brought to Mantua by St. Longinus after the Crucifixion. Alberti believed that the traditional Gothic church design with nave and aisles was impractical because the piers of the nave arcade blocked the full view of the main altar. Therefore, at Sant’ Andrea he provided a longitudinal, aisleless structure. Alberti added a series of oculi (round openings) to provide focus to the main altar through light, and a coffered barrel vault to lead the visitor’s eyes in that direction. Instead of a nave arcade to support the vault, Alberti added massive piers that alternate with arched entrances to the side chapels. The design was inspired by the Roman baths of Diocletian and the Basilica of Constantine Alberti studied in Rome. In the exterior, the architect used a triumphal arch motif, symbol of the triumph of Christianity over paganism, yet instead of capping the façade with a rectilinear attic, as was done in ancient Roman examples, he used a pediment. He also applied the colossal order, his own invention inspired by the massive scale of Roman prototypes. Alberti’s inventive design became widely used in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in the building of Jesuit churches, among them Il Gesù (1568–1584) in Rome.

SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE (beg. 1294; consecrated 1442). Santa Croce is the Franciscan Church of Florence, its design commonly attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio. During the planning stages, the Franciscans were divided on whether to build a modest design that accorded with their vow of poverty or to emulate the Dominicans with whom they competed and who at the time were involved in erecting the impressive Church of Santa Maria Novella (1279–early 1300s), also in Florence. In the end, they opted for an opulent structure, made possible through donations from local merchant families. Like Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce has a Latin cross plan with nave bays that are twice as wide as they are long. The apse is polygonal with a greater number of chapels flanking it than those in the rectangular apse at Santa Maria Novella. As in the Dominican church, Santa Croce has an elevation consisting of a nave arcade and clerestory, though the windows here are larger for more effective illumination. Instead of the four-partite vault system of Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce is timber-roofed. Also different is the use of a triumphal arch pierced by two pointed windows to separate the apse from the rest of the church and a catwalk that sets apart the nave arcade from the clerestory. See also BARDI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE; BARDI DI VERNIO CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE; BARONCELLI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE; PAZZI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE; PERUZZI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE; REFECTORY, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE.

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE (1279–early 1300s; façade c. 1456–1470). Built to function as the mother church of the Dominican Order in Florence and partially financed by the Florentine State, Santa Maria Novella features a traditional Latin cross plan with square apse flanked by two square chapels at either side. The central bays are also squared to allow for large, open spaces that can accommodate sizable crowds during the mass and on feast days. The aisle bays are half the size of the central bays and contain a number of small chapels allocated to wealthy Florentines for funerary purposes and private devotion. The building’s elevation consists of a nave arcade and clerestory of equal height, this last featuring oculi (round openings) instead of the customary squared windows. The repetition of geometric forms and mathematical relations lend to the structure its symmetry and harmonious proportions, while the four-partite vault allows for effective acoustics so the mass may be heard from all parts of the church. The façade, financed by Giovanni Rucellai, a wealthy Florentine merchant, is by Leon Battista Alberti and became the prototype for Baroque church façades of the late 16th and 17th centuries. It was conceived as a series of square modules of equal size, with two forming the lower story and one centered above them. A volute (ornamental scroll) at either side of the upper square visually unifies the two levels. In conceiving his design, Alberti utilized the Roman principles of order, balance, and symmetry reintroduced in the 15th century by Filippo Brunelleschi, thereby updating the modular approach to building of the unknown Late Gothic architect who designed the rest of the structure. See also CHIOSTRO VERDE, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE; GUIDALOTTI CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE; STROZZI CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE.

SANTI LUCA E MARTINA, ROME (1635–1664). In 1588, the Accademia di San Luca purchased the chapel of Santa Martina, a small seventh-century structure that stood by the Roman Forum. In 1634, Pietro da Cortona became the academy’s director and obtained permission to build his own funerary chapel in the old structure. During construction, the saint’s body was unearthed so, to celebrate the event, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII and the academy’s protector, commissioned Cortona to design a whole new church. Since the building now belonged to the academy, the new church was dedicated to both Sts. Luke (in Italian, Luca) and Martina. Cortona opted for a Greek cross plan with longer and narrower arms than customary and placed the façade to overlook the ancient forum, fitting for the theme of the triumph of Christianity over paganism common to the Renaissance and Baroque eras. His is the first church façade ever created to utilize curvilinear planes, an element that was to be repeated many times throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The pairing of colossal columns and jutting steps that emphasize the main entrance and invite the viewer into the interior are common to churches built during the Counter-Reformation era. The structure’s crowning glory is the dome, a ribbed construction over a tall drum pierced by large windows with rhythmic undulations, characteristic of Cortona’s style. The interior is a silvery monochrome, with doubled columns supporting the entablature. Textures increase as the building rises. The windows feature garlands, scrolls, shells, and female heads, and the vaulting and dome are coffered and trimmed with the Barberini bees and laurel, lilies of chastity, and palms of martyrdom. Aside from asserting Barberini patronage, this decorative crescendo glorifies the sacrifice of St. Martina who suffered torture and martyrdom at the hand of Alexander Serverus for refusing to bow to pagan idols.

SANTI, RAPHAEL. See RAPHAEL SANTI.

SANTO SPIRITO, FLORENCE (beg. 1436). Built by Filippo Brunelleschi, Santo Spirito is modeled after the Early Christian basilicas of Rome. Gone are the Gothic elements of the churches built in Florence before Brunelleschi’s time, such as Santa Croce (beg. 1294) and Santa Maria Novella (1279–early 1300s), including the pointed arches and four-partite vaults. Instead, the church presents a simple three-aisled system and a flat roof. In the place of the Gothic compound piers (piers with columns attached to them), Brunelleschi’s nave arcade is supported by Corinthian columns. To increase the height of the structure, he added impost blocks (flat slabs that sit above the capital of a column) to the arcade, a Byzantine feature also used on Italian soil in places such as Ravenna, once part of the Byzantine Empire. Brunelleschi covered the interior walls with white stucco trimmed with pietra serena, characteristic of his architecture and used by subsequent Florentine masters until the 19th century. Here, Brunelleschi utilized a Pythagorean approach to architecture. Consequently, the width of the nave is the same as the height of its arcade, and the aisle bays are half the height and width of the nave bays. By applying this system, Brunelleschi was able to create a harmonious, rational design that follows the ancient Roman principles of construction he learned when he measured the antique monuments of Rome during a visit at the onset of his career.

SARAZIN, JACQUES (c. 1588–1660). French sculptor who studied under Nicolas Guillain, Simon Guillain’s father. From c. 1610 to c. 1627, Sarazin was in Rome completing his training and there he worked for the architect Carlo Maderno. He also came into contact with Domenichino, Francesco Mochi, Pietro Bernini, and François Duquesnoy. From these masters he adopted a classical visual language that was to permeate his works for the rest of his life. Back in France, Sarazin worked on the sculptural program in the Pavillon de l’Horloge at the Louvre Palace in Paris (1641) and directed the decorations of the Château des Maisons, built by François Mansart in 1642–1646 for René de Longueil. His caryatids in the Louvre pavilion represent the earliest instance of classical-idealized sculpture in France.

One of Sarazin’s most important commissions is the Tomb of Henri de Bourbon (1648–1663), prince of Condé, in the Church of St. Paul-St. Louis in Paris. The execution of the work was interrupted by the Fronde (civil war; 1648–1653) and completed only after the sculptor’s death. Unfortunately, it was moved to Chantilly in the 19th century where it is now housed in the local Musée Condé and rearranged so it no longer presents Sarazin’s original intentions. His Prudence, part of the monument, features figures reliant on ancient prototypes with restrained movement of figures and drapery folds.

In 1630–1660, Sarazin also worked on the pendant figures of the penitent Sts. Peter and Mary Magdalen. Commissioned by Magistrate Pierre Séguier for his chapel in the Church of Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, the two figures are the namesaints of Séguier and his wife, Madeleine Fabri. Peter is shown with hands clasped in a zigzagging pose and troubled expression, at his feet the rooster who crowed after he denied Christ. Mary Magdalen is an elegant, idealized figure with her ointment jar in one hand and a towel in the other used to wipe her tears. Sarazin’s works established the standard for French Baroque sculpture for the rest of the century, and particularly at Versailles.

SARTO, ANDREA DEL (1486–1530). Florentine painter who trained in the studio of Piero di Cosimo, an artist known mainly for his mythic landscapes inhabited by strange creatures. Andrea del Sarto did not adopt his master’s peculiar subjects. Instead, he was deeply influenced by the art of Leonardo, Raphael, and Fra Bartolomeo. As a result, his figures are elegant and monumental, his compositions rational and balanced, and his colors harmonious. By the second decade of the 16th century, with the absence of Michelangelo and Raphael from Florence and Leonardo now deceased, del Sarto became the city’s leading painter. His Annunciation (1512; Florence, Palazzo Pitti) is an early work created for the Monastery of San Gallo in Florence. It is unusual in that the archangel Gabriel is placed on the right, instead of the more common left. Also, the Virgin is standing, not sitting, and the scene takes place in front of a temple and not the customary domestic setting. The softness of contours and hazy quality in this work, particularly around the figures’ eyes, are the result of del Sarto’s implementation of Leonardo’s sfumato technique.

Del Sarto’s Madonna of the Harpies (1517; Florence, Uffizi) is his best-known work and belongs to his mature style. Here, St. John the Baptist, who holds a book, relies on one of the figures in Raphael’s School of Athens in the Stanza della Segnatura (1510–1511) at the Vatican, though the sculptural approach to draperies and figures is Michelangelesque. This work is as unconventional as his earlier Annunciation. The Virgin is not enthroned but stands above a pedestal decorated with harpies, female winged monsters from mythology who carry away the souls of the dead. Del Sarto’s Lamentation (1524; Florence, Palazzo Pitti) he painted for the Church of San Pietro in Luco, where he and his family spent some time to save themselves from the plague that struck Florence in 1523. The work is an illustration of the doctrine of transubstantiation when the blessed host becomes the actual body and blood of Christ as signaled by the chalice, paten, and host stacked in front of Christ’s dead body. Here, Andrea opted for an unconventional X-shaped composition, instead of the preferred pyramidal arrangements of his contemporaries. Among Andrea’s late works is the Assumption of the Virgin (1526–1529; Florence, Palazzo Pitti), painted for the Church of San Antonio dei Servi in Cortona and financed by Margherita Passerini whose namesaint, Margaret of Cortona, is included in the painting. Del Sarto trained a number of important masters in his workshop, among them Jacopo da Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, and Giorgio Vasari.

SASSETTA (STEFANO DI GIOVANNI; active c. 1423–1450). Considered the greatest painter of the early 15th century in Siena, Sassetta’s most notable work is the Sansepolcro Altarpiece of 1437–1444, painted for the high altar of the Church of San Francesco in Borgo Sansepolcro. This double-sided altarpiece was dismantled and the panels scattered in various museums, leaving scholars with the problem of reconstructing the intended order of the scenes. A Virgin and Child flanked by four saints occupied the front, St. Francis in Ecstasy (now Settignano, Villa i Tatti) the verso, while the rest of the panels depicted scenes from the saint’s life. The St. Francis in Ecstasy divulges Sassetta’s awareness of the latest Florentine developments for his saint displays the same substance and verism as Masaccio’s figures. As a Sienese master, Sassetta combined these Florentine elements with a profusion of gilding and brilliant palette, both frequently seen in Sienese art.

SASSETTI CHAPEL, SANTA TRINITÀ, FLORENCE (1483–1486). This chapel was frescoed by Domenico del Ghirlandaio for Francesco Sassetti, a wealthy Florentine banker and associate of the Medici, with the major episodes of the life of his namesaint, Francis. The frescoes include the saint’s renunciation of worldly goods, the vision that led to his receiving the stigmata (the wounds of the crucified Christ), the test of fire before the sultan to demonstrate his faith, the confirmation of the rules of the Franciscan Order he founded, his funeral, and the resuscitation he effected posthumously of a boy who fell from a window. This last scene, called the Miracle of the Child of the French Notary, occupies the center tier of the altar wall. The boy is shown on his bier surrounded by mourners, including members of the Sassetti family. Saint Francis appears in the heavens and blesses the child, who sits up and clasps his hands in prayer as if thanking him for the miracle. The scene takes place in front of the Church of Santa Trinità, where the frescoes are housed, instead of Rome where the event is said to have taken place. It is believed that the inclusion of this scene of death and rebirth and its predominant placement had to do with the death of Francesco Sassetti’s oldest son, Teodoro, in 1479, and the birth of his new child a few months later. Ghirlandaio himself stands on the extreme left among the Sassetti and looks directly at the viewer, a common way for artists of the era to assert their authorship of their works.

In the Confirmation of the Rules of the Franciscan Order, Ghirlandaio included Lorenzo “the Magnificent” and other members of the Medici family as witnesses to St. Francis’ presentation of the rules to Pope Honorius III. Ghirlandaio again situated the scene in Florence by including an architectural background reminiscent of the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. In the Funeral of St. Francis, the classical setting reflects the latest developments in Florentine architecture, the vanishing point placed at the crucifix that sits above the altar to indicate the saint’s profound devotion for and emulation of Christ.

The Sassetti chapel’s altarpiece depicts the Annunciation and Adoration of the Shepherds, with the donors, Francesco and his wife, Nera Corsi, frescoed on the wall at either side. This altarpiece was influenced by Hugo van der Goes’ Portinari Altarpiece (c. 1474–1476; Florence, Uffizi), then in the Portinari Chapel in the Church of San Egidio, Florence. Ghirlandaio’s emphasis on details, poses of the shepherds, their crudity and emotionalism, and the profusion of objects and flowers in the foreground are all elements taken from van der Goes’ painting. See also ANNUNCIATION TO THE SHEPHERDS.

SATYR. A mythical half-beast, half-man who frolics in the woods. As a lustful creature who pursues nymphs and enjoys drinking, the satyr represents the bestial aspects of human nature. Satyrs had been part of the repertoire of mythic creatures in art since antiquity. In the Renaissance, these creatures were once again depicted, often in the company of Bacchus, god of wine, as Annibale Carracci’s Triumph of Bacchus on the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600; Rome, Palazzo Farnese) exemplifies. In the North, though satyrs were also rendered frolicking and imbibing, more often than not they were placed within the family context, with equally half-beast, half-human wife and offspring, as demonstrated by Albrecht Altdorfer’s Satyr Family (1507; Berlin, Staatliche Museen) and Jacob Jordaens’ Satyr and Peasants (c. 1620; Munich, Alte Pinakothek). Artemisia Gentileschi offered a unique depiction of the creature in her Corsica and the Satyr (1640s; private collection). Tired of being pursued, the astute nymph donned a hairpiece that came off as the satyr tried to grab it, allowing her to get away.

SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO (1452–1498). Ascetic friar from Ferrara who entered the Dominican Order in 1475 in Bologna after hearing a powerful sermon. In 1490, at the request of Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici, Savonarola transferred to the San Marco Monastery in Florence where he was appointed prior in the following year. No sooner had he received this post than he began criticizing the Medici’s materialism and misuse of power, accusing them of promoting paganism. Lorenzo died in 1492 and his son Piero, who lacked his father’s political savvy, took over the leadership of Florence. When Charles VIII of France threatened invasion, Piero ceded to him the city of Pisa, causing great anger among the Florentines and his subsequent exile. In the Medici’s absence, Savonarola became the regulator of morality. He persuaded the Florentines to bring to San Marco articles of luxury and texts deemed to be pagan and immoral for public burning. This, unfortunately, resulted in the destruction of a number of important works of art and other precious items. Additionally, Savonarola established a group of brothers who went door to door to remove luxury and gambling objects and to persuade Florentines to renounce the frivolous life. Savonarola’s downfall began when he attacked Pope Alexander VI from the pulpit. The pope ordered him to stop preaching and yet the monk continued to do so even after his excommunication in 1497. By now, the Florentines had tired of Savonarola’s fanaticism and, in 1498, he and his followers were tried for heresy, tortured, and hung in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.

SAX, ANDRÉS MARZAL DE (active 1393–1410). Marzal de Sax may have been a native of Saxony, but was active in Valencia, Spain, from 1393 until his death in 1410 where he became one of the local exponents of the International Style. He is believed to have studied with Pedro Nicolau as the earliest work he rendered, an altarpiece for the Confraternity of St. James, was a collaboration with this artist. He was to work together with other Valencian painters, among them Gonzalo Pérez in 1404 and Gerardo Gener in 1405. In 1410, Marzal de Sax received free lodging from the city of Valencia for his artistic merits and generosity in imparting his knowledge of art to fellow local masters. In the documents relating to this grant he is qualified as ill and impoverished.

Marzal de Sax’s most outstanding work is the Retable of St. George (c. 1400–1410; London, Victoria and Albert Museum), a complex altarpiece that consists of three major scenes in the center presenting St. George fighting the dragon, the Battle of El Puig de Santa Maria (1238) when James I of Aragon conquered Valencia, and a nursing Virgin and Child surmounted by an adult enthroned Christ. At either side are 16 narrative panels of the life of St. George and on the predella are scenes from the Passion. Marzal de Sax’s art is characterized by the use of elongated crude types crowded into the pictorial space and engaged in overstated gestures, as well as heavy gilding, all part of the language of the International Style.

SCHEDONI, BARTOLOMEO (1578–1615). Caravaggist painter from Modena, Italy, whose career was cut short when he committed suicide at the age of 37 after a night of heavy gambling losses. Schedoni was the son of a maskmaker who worked for the d’Este dukes in Modena and for the Farnese in Parma. Having recognized Schedoni’s talent, Duke Ranuccio I Farnese sent the 17-year-old to Rome to train as painter. There Schedoni entered the studio of the Mannerist Federico Zuccaro, but an illness forced him to return to Parma where he spent the rest of his life. Schedoni was described by his contemporaries as an ill-tempered individual who engaged in violence more than once; in 1600 his hostile behavior caused his temporary banishment from Parma. Among his most notable works is the Entombment (c. 1613; Parma, Galleria Nazionale), painted for the Capuchin convent at Fontevivo in the Parmese countryside, founded by Ranuccio in 1605. The work relates to Caravaggio’s Entombment (1603–1604; Vatican, Pinacoteca) in the use of sculptural forms, crude figure types, dark background, emphasis on diagonals, and dramatic chiaroscuro. Mary Magdalen’s gesture with arms raised denotes that Schedoni’s was a deliberate reinterpretation of Caravaggio’s version. Other important works by Schedoni include his Charity (1611) at the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples and The Two Maries at the Tomb (1613) in the Galleria Nazionale in Parma.

SCHÖN, ERHARD (c. 1491–1542). German woodcut designer from Nuremberg who was influenced by Albrecht Dürer in whose house he lived for a while. Over 1,000 woodcut illustrations by Schön have survived, including those in Johann Koberger’s Hortulus Animae of 1517–1519, a popular compilation of prayers. In the mid-1520s, Schön embraced Lutheranism and devoted his time to creating engravings that furthered the Lutheran anti-Catholic agenda. Schön is best remembered for his Four Rulers (c. 1534), an anamorphic woodcut that includes the portraits of the Hapsburg Charles V who condemned Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521, his brother and heir Ferdinand I, Pope Paul III who would later convoke the Council of Trent to curtail the spread of Protestantism, and Francis I of France who persecuted the Protestants of France. When viewed head-on, the work is a blur of zigzagging lines. The figures do not reveal themselves until viewed from the left and at a low angle. The work is the ultimate expression of the interest in optics that had awakened in the 15th century among Northern masters.

SCHONGAUER, MARTIN (c. 1435–1491). German painter and engraver. The son of a goldsmith, Schongauer moved with his family from Augsburg to Colmar in c. 1440, becoming a citizen there in 1445. Twenty years later, he is recorded at the University of Leipzig, though the document does not specify whether he was there as a student receiving an education or as an artist fulfilling a commission. The only painting that can be attributed to him with certainty is the Virgin of the Rose Bower (1473; Colmar, Church of St. Martin), the style of its rendition akin to that of Dirk Bouts and Rogier van der Weyden. Although his mastery is evident in this work, the medium in which he truly excelled was printmaking. Of his engravings, 115 have survived and they too depend on the Netherlandish idiom. The most often discussed print by his hand is the Temptation of St. Anthony (c. 1470–1475), a circular composition with the saint floating in midair while taunted by demonic creatures. The subtle gradations from dark to light, the able draughtsmanship, and the image’s emotive power mark Schongauer as one of the most remarkable printmakers in history. His superb talent was to have a great impact on the field of printmaking and to influence Albrecht Dürer who wanted to study with the master, only to hear of his death upon arrival in Colmar.

SCOREL, JAN VAN (1495–1562). Dutch Romanist painter from Schoorl, a village near Alkmaar; the bastard son of a priest, his birth legitimized by Emperor Charles V in 1541. While attending Latin school in Alkmaar, Jan van Egmond, who later became the city’s burgomaster, recognized van Scorel’s talent and sent him to study with Cornelis Buys, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen’s brother. Some scholars believe that van Scorel also studied with van Oostsanen himself in 1512 and that he may have gone to Utrecht in c. 1517–1518 where he would have met fellow Romanist Jan Gossart. In c. 1518–1519, he also went to Venice and, in 1520, he left for the Holy Land with a group of pilgrims. Two years later, he was in Rome where the Dutch Pope Hadrian VI put him in charge of the antiquities housed in the Belvedere, a position he lost when the pope died in 1523. Five years later, van Scorel settled in Utrecht where by 1551 he owned three houses and acted as canon of the local parish church. He died in Utrecht in 1562.

Some of van Scorel’s works show the influence of Venetian art, as seen in his Death of Cleopatra (c. 1522; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), a Giorgionesque reclining nude in a landscape, and Mary Magdalen (c. 1529; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), a three-quarter sculptural figure set outdoors that recalls some of the compositions of Palma Vecchio and Lorenzo Lotto, both active in Venice. Van Scorel’s Baptism of Christ (c. 1528; Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum) is a landscape populated by seminude figures inspired by Michelangelo, and his Presentation in the Temple (c. 1530–1535; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) unfolds within a Bramantesque architectural setting that recalls Raphael’s School of Athens in the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican (1510–1511). Van Scorel’s eclecticism no doubt resulted from his enthusiasm for the many lessons the Italians had to offer. He was responsible for the artistic training of Anthonis Mor and Maerten van Heemskerck, who owe their interest in the Italian idiom to their master.

SCUOLA DI SAN ROCCO, VENICE. One of the six major confraternities of Venice, founded in 1478 and dedicated to St. Rock (in Italian, Rocco) who spent most of his life tending to those stricken by the plague. The Scuola’s meeting hall contains approximately 50 paintings by Tintoretto executed between 1564 and 1587 and most dealing with scenes from the life and Passion of Christ. These provide unusual renditions of traditional religious scenes that are filled with action, enhanced by the brisk application of paint and sharp diagonal arrangements.

In the Last Supper, Tintoretto placed the table in a diagonal that recedes rapidly into space, instead of in the usual frontal position. Christ is shown in the background administering the Eucharist to St. Peter, while servants in an adjoining room prepare the meal and a dog in the foreground adds to the commotion. Instead of a solemn scene, the work presents a noisy, mundane depiction that focuses on Christ’s humanity more than his divinity. The Crucifixion, a work of huge proportions, shows a panoramic view of Golgotha filled with figures. Again, Tintoretto provided a noisy scene with soldiers pulling up the crosses of the thieves who were crucified alongside Christ, mourners at the Savior’s feet, men betting on a game of dice, and other incidentals. The dynamism of the scene is augmented by the series of diagonals Tintoretto included, as well as the heavy foreshortening of figures and crosses. Other works include the Adoration of the Shepherds, Baptism of Christ, Christ before Pilate, Road to Calvary, Ascension, Brazen Serpent, and Moses Drawing Water from the Rock. This commission represents one of the most extensive ever granted to a single artist of the Renaissance, and stands among the greatest masterpieces of the era.

SEBASTIAN, SAINT. A Roman soldier during the reign of Diocletian who converted to Christianity and miraculously cured several individuals, including the deaf-mute Zoé and the prefect Chromatius who suffered from gout. He was shot with arrows and left for dead for professing his faith, his martyrdom depicted by Antonello da Messina in 1476–1477 (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie). St. Irene nursed him back to health, which is the scene George de La Tour presented in 1650 (Paris, Louvre), but, when Sebastian denounced the emperor for the cruelty he directed at Christians, he was beaten to death and his body thrown into the Cloaca Maxima, the main sewer line in Rome. His beating is the subject of Albrecht Altdorfer’s painting for the Monastery of Sankt-Florian (1515), and the disposal of his body was rendered by Ludovico Carracci in c. 1613 (St. Sebastian Thrown into the Cloaca Maxima; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum). St. Sebastian is the patron saint of archers and soldiers. Because of the cures he effected, and the fact that St. Irene nursed him back to health, he is usually invoked during illness and the plague.

SERAPION, SAINT (1628; Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum). Painted by Francisco de Zurbarán for the Monastery of the Merced Calzada in Seville, Spain, the work shows a saint of the Mercedarian Order to which the monastery belonged. The Mercedarians took a vow of poverty and exchanged themselves for Christian hostages. Their history therefore includes a large number of members who were martyred, including St. Serapion. Peter Serapion was a British member of the order who lived in the 12th century and who fought against the Moors in Spain. Travels through Europe to liberate Christian captives led to his arrest in Scotland by pirates. They bound his hands and feet, beat him, and then dismembered and disemboweled him. They also partially severed his neck, leaving his head to dangle. This is how Zurbarán depicted him. In the painting, St. Serapion’s hands are tied, his head tilted to the side, his forehead marked by a welt. Though the details of the saint’s death are brutal, Zurbarán chose to depict a pristine white robe without any trace of blood or other evidence of violence. Pinned to Serapion’s robe is the badge of the Mercedarian Order, and his pose is that of a crucified Christ—elements that denote the selfless sacrificial act of the Mercedarians. Zurbarán also included the words Beatus Serapius written on a crumpled paper nailed on the right post onto which the saint is tied. St. Serapion was canonized in 1728 for choosing a heroic death for the sake of the faith.

SERLIO, SEBASTIANO (1475–c. 1553). Architect from Bologna who trained with Donato Bramante in Rome. After the 1527 sack of Rome, Serlio moved to Venice where he lived until 1541, when he was invited by Francis I of France to his court to act as advisor in the construction of the Palace of Fontainebleau. Most of Serlio’s buildings were destroyed. In France, only his Château d’Ancy-le-Franc (1544–1550) remains, which Serlio built for Antoine III of Clermont, one of the king’s courtiers. This structure is built around a central courtyard, with a three-story elevation, pitched roof, and a square tower marking each corner. Though essentially French in form, the application of the Doric order on the façade and the emphasis on symmetry and simplicity are the hallmarks of Italian construction.

Serlio’s greatest contribution to architecture was in writing. He published a series of treatises on its various aspects. The first, published in 1537, was Book IV and dealt with the architectural orders, followed by Book III (1540) on ancient monuments, Books I and II (1545) on geometry and perspective, Book V (1547) on churches, the Libro Extraordinario (1551) on gateways, and Book VII (published posthumously in 1575) on accidents architects may suffer. Two versions of Book VI, on domestic architecture, and his Castramentation of the Romans, on Roman encampments, were known until recently only in manuscript form. Book III is of particular value as it was the first publication ever to include woodcuts of ancient Roman buildings, making them available to architects and humanists all over Italy and other parts of Europe. Having been translated into French, Flemish, and German, Serlio’s books in general were responsible for disseminating abroad the Italian architectural vocabulary and design principles. Also, the profusion of woodcut illustrations in these books and the short explanatory texts facing them inaugurated a new phase in the architectural treatise genre. Serlio’s method in fact inspired Andrea Palladio to approach his Quattro Libri in the same manner.

SEVEN ACTS OF MERCY, CHURCH OF THE MADONNA DELLA MISERICORDIA, NAPLES (1606). Painted by Caravaggio who used as his source a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew where the seven acts of mercy (in Italian, misericordia) are listed. These are the feeding of the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, tending to the sick, burying the dead, and visiting those in prison. In the painting these acts are depicted as Samson drinking from the jawbone of an ass, a man welcoming a pilgrim in need of shelter, St. Martin giving half his cloak to a naked ill man, a corpse being carried away for burial, and Pero visiting her father Cimon in prison and sustaining him with her breastmilk. The Virgin and Child and two adolescent angels hover above in a complex intertwined arrangement and convey their approval of the scene below. The painting’s intended message is that salvation is attainable through good deeds, as advocated by the Church of the Counter-Reformation. An oppressive atmosphere permeates the work, mainly due to the fact that the space above the figures is dark and takes up more than half of the pictorial surface. This is characteristic of Caravaggio’s post-Roman phase and reflective of the turbulence in his life from constantly running from the law.

SEVEN DEADLY SINS. See VIRTUES AND VICES.

SFORZA FAMILY. Sforza (strength) was the nickname of the condottiere Muzio Attendolo and soon was adopted as the family’s surname. Muzio’s son Francesco Sforza married Bianca Visconti from the ruling family of Milan, thus inheriting his father-in-law’s dominion. Francesco was succeeded as Duke of Milan by his despot son, Giangaleazzo Maria, who was assassinated in the Church of San Stefano in 1476 by republican conspirators. Giangaleazzo’s son and namesake, still a child, was deposed in 1494 by his uncle Ludovico “il Moro” Sforza. Ludovico encouraged Charles VIII of France to invade Naples, but he soon realized that this could end in French invasion in Milan. To prevent such a fate, he obtained the protection of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, but to no avail as Louis XII of France, who was related by blood to the Visconti, invaded in 1500 and imprisoned Ludovico. In 1512, the Holy League, an alliance formed by Maximilian, Pope Julius II, Ferdinand II of Aragon, and others to expel the French from Italy, stormed Milan and reinstated the Sforza, who ruled, with few interruptions, until 1535 when the family died out. The Sforza were the patrons of Antonello da Messina, Antonio Filarete, Leonardo da Vinci, and Donato Bramante.

SFORZA, LUDOVICO “IL MORO” (1451–1508). Ludovico “Il Moro” Sforza assumed the title of Duke of Milan in 1494, a position he seized from his young nephew Giangaleazzo Sforza who had not yet attained his majority. A year earlier, he had allied himself with Venice and the papacy against Naples and Florence and had encouraged the French King Charles VIII to invade the Neapolitan territory. When it became clear that his own position was being threatened by the French, Ludovico allied himself with Emperor Maximilian I, giving him his niece, Bianca Maria Sforza, in marriage. Louis XII, who had claims over the Duchy of Milan as he was related by blood to the Visconti, the previous Milanese rulers, invaded in 1500 and had Ludovico imprisoned in the Castle of Loches, where he died.

Political blunders aside, Ludovico was enthusiastic about learning and the arts. He penned the lives of illustrious men and was the patron of Leonardo da Vinci who, while in his service, painted the Last Supper (1497–1498) for the Dominicans living in the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, favored by Ludovico. He also painted the portrait of Ludovico’s mistress, Cecilia Galleriani, called the Portrait of a Woman with an Ermine (c. 1485; Cracow, Czartoryski Museum). The architect Donato Bramante also worked for Ludovico in Milan on the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (beg. 1493), where he contributed the transept, crossing (where the nave and transept cross), and apse, and the Church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro (beg. 1478) where the perspective relief in the apse brilliantly solves the problem of little space to produce an imposing design.

SFUMATO. The Italian word for smoky, it refers to a shading technique developed by Leonardo da Vinci to soften the contours in his paintings and add an ethereal effect. The technique entails gradually darkening colors and layering them onto the pictorial surface in such a way as to blur the lines from light to medium to dark until they become imperceptible. Leonardo’s Mona Lisa (1503; Paris, Louvre) and Madonna of the Rocks (1483–1486; Paris, Louvre) embody this technique. In both paintings, the forms seem to be emerging from the dark, a feature that imbues the scenes with an aura of mystery. A number of Renaissance masters adopted sfumato as part of their own visual vocabulary, among them Domenico Beccafumi, Correggio, Giorgione, and Parmigianino.

SIBYLS. Sibyls were women from the ancient era who could foretell the future. They were named for their region of origin. So, for example, the Delphic Sibyl was from Delphi, the Libyan Sibyl from Libya, and so on. The Romans identified 10 sibyls in their writings, each associated with an oracular shrine where they obtained the information that allowed them to declare their prophecies, like the Persian Sibyl who foretold Alexander the Great’s successes in battle while presiding over the Oracle of Apollo in Babylon.

The Early Christian leaders interpreted the prophecies of the sibyls as announcements of the coming of Christ. As a result, sibyls were commonly depicted in religious art. The best-known representations of these women are in Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling at the Vatican (1508–1512). Jan van Eyck included sibyls and prophets, their male counterparts, on the lunettes of the Ghent Altarpiece (c. 1425–1432; Ghent, Cathedral of St-Bavon) above the Annunciation. Andrea del Castagno added the Cumean Sibyl to the group of illustrious men and women he painted in the loggia of the Villa Carducci at Legnaia (1448; now in Florence, Uffizi), Raphael rendered five sibyls above an arch in the Chigi Chapel at Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (1512–1513), and Domenichino painted an unidentified sibyl (1616–1617; Rome, Galleria Borghese) as a single figure surrounded by musical instruments, as supposedly these women imparted their prophecies through song.

SIENA, CATHEDRAL OF. To commemorate their victory against Florence in the Monteaperti Battle of 1260, the Sienese decided to dedicate their city to the Virgin and build a cathedral in her honor. The plan selected for the building was a traditional Latin cross with square apse and hexagonal crossing (where the nave and transept meet), its elevation comprised of a nave arcade supported by compound piers (piers with columns attached to them) and a clerestory. The black and white stripes of marble in both the cathedral’s interior and exterior were specifically chosen to reference the founding of Siena by Senius and Aschius, sons of Remus, who, according to legend, were protected on their journey there by a white cloud at daytime and a black cloud at night. Called the balzana, this black and white motif is part of the city’s heraldic device, confirming that in Renaissance Siena faith and politics were intertwined.

The façade, built and decorated with statuary by Giovanni Pisano in 1285–1295, features a triple entrance crowned by gabled arches to symbolize the Holy Trinity (in its present form, only the lower portion of the façade is by Giovanni). Above is a gallery, rose window, and three gables, decorated with mosaics of the Nativity, Coronation of the Virgin, and her presentation to the temple. The façade sculptures include representations of the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the prophet Habakkuk, a sibyl, kings David and Solomon, and Moses. Most have been heavily restored and are now housed in the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo in Siena, making it difficult to reconstruct their original location and placement order.

In 1265–1268, Giovanni’s father, Nicola Pisano, contributed his pulpit for the cathedral’s interior. Then, in the 14th century, a number of altarpieces were commissioned for its decoration. In 1308–1311, Duccio painted the main altarpiece, the Maestà (Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo). Then in the decades of the 1330s and 1340s, Simone Martini contributed his Annunciation (1333; Florence, Uffizi), Pietro Lorenzetti his Birth of the Virgin (1342; Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo), and his brother Ambrogio Lorenzetti the Presentation in the Temple (1342; Florence, Uffizi). The Cathedral of Siena stands as one of the great monuments of the Italian Late Gothic era and reflects the civic pride of the Sienese and their devotion to the Virgin.

SIENA, GUIDO DA (active second half of the 13th century). Guido da Siena is considered the founder of the Sienese School. He painted in the Maniera Greca mode, as exemplified by his key work, the Enthroned Madonna and Child (c. 1280; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico). This altarpiece, commissioned by the Dominican Order for their Church of San Domenico, Siena, has been the subject of major debate. Its inscription states that Guido painted the work during the “happy days of 1221.” Though seemingly authentic and used by the Sienese to assert their artistic priority over Florence, we are hard-pressed to justify the early dating of this masterpiece vis-à-vis the crudity of Sienese works in general during the early decades of the 13th century. It has been suggested that the 1221 date does not refer to the time of the altarpiece’s execution, but rather to the year of the death of St. Dominic, to whom the Church of San Domenico is dedicated, and other events of importance to the Dominicans that took place in that year, including their establishment in Siena when they where ceded the hospice of Santa Maria Maddalena and the saint’s visit to the city prior to his death in August.

The Enthroned Madonna and Child is the only work known with certainty to have been created by Guido. Several other works have been attributed to him based on stylistic analysis, including a gable-shaped Crucifixion panel at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (c. 1260), a gabled Coronation of the Virgin at the Courtauld Institute, London (mid to late 13th century), and two panels in the Louvre Museum, Paris, depicting the Nativity and Presentation (1270s–1280s).

SILENUS. Depending on the ancient source consulted, Silenus is either the son of Pan or Mercury. Custodian, educator, and follower of Bacchus, he is normally represented in art as a jolly heavy-set figure who rides on a donkey, wears a crown of flowers or grape leaves, and is perpetually inebriated. Jusepe de Ribera presented the Drunken Silenus (1626; Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte) as a comical reclining nude holding up a glass of wine for one of his satyr companions to drink—a spoof on the sensuous female nudes from the Venetian School. Silenus is also featured in Annibale Carracci’s Triumph of Bacchus, the central scene on the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600; Palazzo Farnese, Rome), riding his donkey in the bacchic procession. In the Glorification of the Reign of Pope Urban VIII (1633–1639; Palazzo Barberini, Rome), he is included among the satyrs to denote the pope’s rejection of lust and intemperance.

SINOPIA. An underdrawing for a fresco that is rendered in red earth mixed with water. Examples of sinopie that have been revealed during restorations are those now housed in the Papal Palace in Avignon for frescoes commissioned from Simone Martini by Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi in the 1340s in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. They represent a Blessing Christ and a Madonna of Humility. The sinopie for the Triumph of Death (1330s) in the Campo Santo, Pisa, were also revealed during restorations after the fresco was badly damaged during World War II. Attributed to Francesco Traini, the sinopie were rendered more spontaneously than the final fresco, giving these underdrawings a robust, energetic flavor. A final example is the sinopia for Andrea del Castagno’s Resurrection (1447), which has also been detached from the wall and is now exhibited alongside the corresponding fresco in the refectory of the Monastery of Sant’ Apollonia, Florence.

SINT JANS, GEERTGEN TOT (1460/1465–1490). According to Karel van Mander, the Dutch painter Geertgen tot Sint Jans was born in Leiden and studied with Albert van Ouwater. He worked in Haarlem for various monastic orders, including the Knights of the Order of St. John, with whom he lived and for whom he painted an altarpiece. The side panels of this work have survived and are housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (c. 1484). The works include the Lamentation and the Burning of the Bones of St. John the Baptist, possibly painted to commemorate the knights’ acquisition of parts of the saint’s hand and arm from Sultan Bayazid in 1484. The Lamentation in particular shows the influence of Hugo van der Goes, which has prompted some to suggest that Geertgen may have trained in Bruges in c. 1475. Geertgen’s Nativity (c. 1480–1485; London, National Gallery) denotes his interest in depicting supernatural light effects. In this work, the Christ Child becomes the light source that illuminates the rest of the figures, enhancing the sense of piety and humility that fills the work. The figures are delicate and elongated, their demeanor reserved. These types, humbled by the presence of the Savior, reappear in the several versions Geertgen painted of the Adoration of the Magi, among them the panel of c. 1490–1495 in the Cleveland Museum of Art, also influenced by van der Goes. According to van Mander, Geertgen died at the age of 28.

SISTINE CEILING, SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (1508–1512). During the late 15th century decorative campaign of the Sistine Chapel, initiated by Sixtus IV, the ceiling was painted blue and dotted with stars to symbolize the heavens. In 1504, a large crack appeared on the ceiling and its repair left a dreadful mark. This gave Pope Julius II, Sixtus’ nephew, the impetus to have it redecorated with a pictorial program that would complement the earlier wall frescoes and thus provide a visual continuum of the two della Rovere papal reigns. Julius gave the commission to Michelangelo. At first, he asked the artist to render no more than the 12 apostles surrounded by ornamental motifs, but the scheme was soon modified when Michelangelo objected to the program’s simplicity. We are told that the pope gave Michelangelo complete freedom to do as he wished, though he may have used a theological consultant for the task—perhaps the Franciscan Cardinal Vigerio della Rovere, the pope’s cousin.

In the final design, Michelangelo chose multiple scenes organized in three coherent bands, the outer ones occupied by the sibyls and prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. Above each sit two ignudi (nude men), between them a fictive bronze medallion and in their hands oak leaves and acorns, references to the della Rovere family (rovere is oak in English). The lunettes above the chapel’s windows and the spandrels between the seers are occupied by Christ’s ancestors, while the corner spandrels feature scenes that prefigure Christ’s sacrifice, specifically David Slaying Goliath, Judith and Holofernes, The Brazen Serpent, and The Death of Haman. In the central band are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. Of these, three show God the Father creating the world, three portray scenes from the story of Adam and Eve, and three more are from the story of Noah. In rendering the ceiling, Michelangelo is known to have used about a dozen assistants, but mainly for the preparation stages. After that, he painted the frescoes almost entirely on his own, a gargantuan task considering that he included about 380 figures on a pictorial field that measures approximately 13,000 square feet.

The first scenes Michelangelo executed in the central band show some hesitation. The Deluge lacks unity, its figures scattered across the pictorial surface. Then, Michelangelo realized the importance of clarity and simplicity as these biblical episodes would be viewed from great distance. Therefore, in subsequent scenes he reduced the number of figures, monumentalized them, and brought them closer to the foreground. He also included only enough of the background details to convey effectively the story while creating little distraction from the main theme. The Creation of Adam shows these adjustments. It places all focus on the story’s most important moment: God’s index finger about to touch that of Adam to transmit the spark of life. Overall, Michelangelo’s figures are robust and sculptural, constructed of bold areas of color that imitate the surface of marble, bronze, and other sculpture materials. His keen observation of the human form in movement is reflected in his work. As figures pivot their skin creases, a foot tucked behind the opposite leg pushes the calf muscle forward, and no pose is ever repeated. Michelangelo has been criticized heavily in current scholarship for rendering masculine women. In this case, however, the choice would seem appropriate as the women depicted on the ceiling bear tremendous responsibility and therefore their exceedingly muscular makeup is justified. Eve, for instance, is the mother of humankind and the sibyls are the women who informed the world of the coming of Christ.

Many interpretations have been offered on the ceiling’s program. For some, Michelangelo’s work speaks of the history of humankind from a time before religion, to paganism, and finally the Christian era. In this reading, the move from blindness to enlightenment corresponds to the Neoplatonic tenet of the soul’s trajectory from the mundane to the spiritual through contemplation in order to achieve union with God. Others have related the ceiling to Dominican, Franciscan, and Augustinian theology. Pentecostal and apocalyptic interpretations have also been offered.

In 1511, Raphael had the opportunity to view the Sistine ceiling when the scaffolding was temporarily removed. The impact of what he saw was so tremendous that he returned to his Stanza della Segnatura frescoes (1510–1511) and added Michelangelo to the School of Athens. He depicted the man dressed in the smock and soft boots of a stonecutter at the very front, isolated from all others so he could be spotted immediately. His brooding demeanor is that of Melancholia, the temperament of genius. By placing Michelangelo among the greatest minds of the ancient era, and depicting him as the personification of genius, Raphael paid homage to a man who had just achieved the inconceivable. Perhaps Michelangelo’s stonecutter’s attire expresses Raphael’s frustration, consciously or otherwise, over the fact that a man who professed to be primarily a sculptor had just surpassed him in his own field.

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (fin. 1483). The Sistine Chapel was built for Pope Sixtus IV to replace the 13th-century Great Chapel of Nicholas III. The proportions of the new structure followed the biblical description in I Kings of the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. With this, Sixtus could compare himself to Solomon, hailed for his building activities and wisdom. The chapel’s interior was decorated in 1481–1482 with frescoes by some of the leading central Italian masters of the period, namely Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Cosimo Rosselli, and Pietro Perugino, this last believed to have overseen the commission. These men painted on the walls narratives from the lives of Moses and Christ, paired thematically to denote that the law of the Jews has been supplanted by that of Christians. Although the frescoes on the walls turned out to be somewhat of a fiasco as severe stylistic and compositional discrepancies exist between the scenes, some of the contributions stand out as masterpieces, among them Botticelli’s Punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Ghirlandaio’s Calling of Sts. Peter and Andrew, and Perugino’s Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to St. Peter. In this decorative campaign, the vault was covered in blue and dotted with stars to resemble the heavens, the understated design replaced in 1508–1512 by Michelangelo’s magnificent Sistine ceiling. Later, Michelangelo also replaced Perugino’s Assumption on the altar wall, with his Last Judgment (1536–1541). The chapel’s overall decoration serves as imposing backdrop for liturgical celebrations and the election of the new pope, which, to this day, takes place in this building. This is why the frescoes on the wall speak of papal primacy and authority while those on the ceiling relate the recognition by mankind of Christianity as the true faith.

SIXTUS IV (FRANCESCO DELLA ROVERE; r. 1471–1484). Sixtus IV was a Franciscan who served as the general of the order in 1464. In 1467, he received the cardinalate at the recommendation of the Greek Cardinal Basilius Bessarion who admired him for the theological treatises he wrote on divisive questions among Franciscans and Dominicans. When Pope Paul II died suddenly in 1471, Sixtus emerged as the favorite candidate during the conclave, his election ensured by his nephew Pietro Riario’s promises of preferred treatment to the attending cardinals. Sixtus’ reign was punctuated by modest successes in crusades against the Turks, strained relations with Louis XI who required that papal decrees receive royal approval prior to their publication in France, negotiations with Russia for the unification of its church with that of Rome, and their support in the fight against the Turks. Sixtus also set up the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and confirmed Tomás de Torquemada as grand inquisitor.

On the domestic front, Sixtus gave added privileges to the mendicant orders and he approved the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He showered his family with favors, including his two nephews, Pietro Riario and Giuliano della Rovere, both of whom he appointed to the cardinalate soon after his election to the throne. In 1478, Sixtus was involved in the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici, which resulted in war against Florence (1478–1480). In 1482, he also involved himself in the war between Venice and Ferrara and, in the following year, he turned on Venice by imposing an interdict (suspension of public worship and withdrawal of the Church’s sacraments) on the city.

Sixtus also committed himself to the aggrandizement of the papacy. To this effect, he called leading masters to Rome to work on the Sistine Chapel decorations, among them Pietro Perugino, Domenico del Ghirlandaio, and Sandro Botticelli. He was also the patron of Melozzo da Forli, whose experiments in perspective changed the history of ceiling painting, and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, who rendered his tomb in St. Peter’s. Sixtus’ restoration campaign, which included the widening and repaving of roads, the refurbishing of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito, and the building of Santa Maria della Pace, his family’s final resting place, has earned him the recognition of having transformed Rome from a medieval to a Renaissance city.

SLEEPING VENUS (c. 1510; Dresden, Gemäldegalerie). The Sleeping Venus was painted by Giorgione, and perhaps completed by his pupil Titian. Unfortunately, heavy repainting in the 19th century has altered the work. X-rays have revealed that originally a Cupid knelt at Venus’ feet, which would have provided balance to the composition. Also, some of the softness of the contours and facial details have been lost. In spite of these problems, the work still remains as a groundbreaking example of Renaissance art. It presents the goddess of love sleeping in the landscape, her body echoing the shape of the natural forms around her. The figure’s voluptuousness, her unabashed pose, and the lushness of the landscape in which she exists are common to Giorgione’s art—a mode of representation of mythical scenes that would have an impact on the Venetian masters of the 16th century. This work presents the first female recumbent nude, a theme that was to become one of the most popular in the history of art.

SLUTER, CLAUS (c. 1350–1406). Claus Sluter from Haarlem is listed in the records of the stonemasons’ guild in Brussels in 1379. In 1385, he entered in the service of Philip the Bold of Burgundy, who established the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery in Dijon as his and his family’s final resting place. Philip put Sluter in charge of the monastery’s sculptural decorations in 1389 when his court mason, Jean de Marville, died. Sluter’s Well of Moses (1395–1406; Dijon, Musée Archéologique), rendered for the Chartreuse, is among the most impressive of his surviving works. This piece was originally surmounted by a Calvary scene and polychromed and gilded by Jean Malouel, the duke’s court painter. In its present state, the work features six life-size prophets holding scrolls, with Moses at the front. Though dependent on French Gothic precedents, Sluter’s figures possess a monumentality and forcefulness not present in the more delicate, elegant figures of the Gothic style. For this reason, he is considered the father of Northern Renaissance sculpture and a pioneer of Northern realism. See also ROAD TO CALVARY.

ST. LUCY ALTARPIECE (c. 1445–1447; Florence, Uffizi). Painted by Domenico Veneziano for the Church of Santa Lucia de’ Magnoli, Florence, this work presents major advancements in Renaissance religious art. It is one of the earliest depictions of the sacra conversazione type; here, the Virgin and Child interact with Saints Lucy, Zenobius, Francis, and John the Baptist in a silent conversation carried out through gestures and glances. The characters share one pictorial space, a format that would eventually render the triptych obsolete. Veneziano’s colorism and skillful use of perspective are evident in this work. Gone is the gilded background of earlier Madonna and Child representations. Instead, the figures occupy an impeccably rendered loggia. Light enters the space diagonally to add to the vibrancy of the colors and to bathe the figures and architectural surfaces. Veneziano’s dependence on Masaccio is palpable in the gesture of the Baptist, which repeats the gesture of the Virgin in Masaccio’s Holy Trinity (1427; Florence, Santa Maria Novella) that serves to bring the crucified Christ to the viewer’s attention.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA, ROME. The Mother Church of the Catholic faith, built over St. Peter’s burial site. The history of St. Peter’s basilica is quite complex. The first building to occupy the site was an Early Christian basilica with a Latin cross plan built during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. By the 15th century, the old structure had decayed considerably. Pope Nicholas V intended the reconstruction of its apse, for which new foundations were laid, but he died in 1455 and the project was abandoned. In 1503, Pope Julius II was elected to the throne and in 1506 he asked Donato Bramante to design a new basilica. Bramante’s plan suggests that he intended to build a Greek cross structure with each arm flanked by smaller Greek crosses and towers at the corners. Since he only rendered half the cross, some believe that the plan only shows the basilica’s choir to which a long nave and aisles were to be attached. A medal by Cristoforo Caradosso, one of Bramante’s assistants, shows that the architect wanted to surmount each of the crosses with a dome, the largest surrounded by a colonnade. The façade was to employ a classical vocabulary with a pedimented entrance.

Bramante died in 1514 and was succeeded by Raphael and, in 1520, Baldassare Peruzzi also became involved in the project. Both masters provided a number of drawings intended to correct the shortcomings of Bramante’s design, including the inadequate size of the central piers that were to support the main dome. In 1527, the sack of Rome halted building activity. Then Antonio da Sangallo the Younger became involved, writing a memorandum that criticized Raphael’s design. Building moved slowly, until 1546 when Sangallo died and Michelangelo volunteered to complete the building without pay. Michelangelo reverted to Bramante’s original plan. He thickened the outer walls and central piers and simplified Bramante’s distribution of space, creating a more unified and coherent design. He then added a double-columned portico to the entrance to give it greater definition. He used the colossal order, an Albertian feature, throughout, granting the structure a virile, robust appearance, not unlike the muscular figures in his paintings and sculptures. An imposing dome on a drum, completed after Michelangelo’s death in 1564 by his pupil Giacomo della Porta, caps the structure.

In 1605, Pope Paul V called for a competition for the conversion of St. Peter’s from a central to a longitudinal church and the building of a new façade. The motivation for this was the declaration by the Council of Trent that the Latin cross plan was better suited for the rituals of the mass. Also, the pope wanted the basilica to cover the same ground as the old Early Christian structure that had stood earlier on the site. Carlo Maderno won the competition and, between 1606 and 1612, he carried out the building’s restructuring. He added a three-bay nave, continuing some of Michelangelo’s features to ensure a harmonious design. His façade follows the principles established by Giacomo da Vignola and Giacomo della Porta in the Church of Il Gesù, Rome (1568–1584), mainly the rapid progression from the outer bays to the main portal.

Once completed, the pope decided to add towers at either end of the façade. This proved to be a disaster. Two outer bays were added to support the towers, but soon it was discovered that an underground spring would prevent a structurally sound construction. The project was abandoned, but the outer bays were left in place. These, unfortunately, ruined Maderno’s well-planned proportions, a situation for which he has been severely and unjustly criticized. In the 1630s, Gian Lorenzo Bernini proposed the completion of the towers. With Urban VIII’s approval, he erected the south tower, but again the underground spring caused problems and the new structure began to crack. Bernini was able to redeem himself after this major blow to his career when in 1656–1667 he built for Innocent X the piazza in front of the basilica, a space now used to hold the crowds who come to hear the pontiff speak from the papal balcony, its colonnades the symbol of the all-embracing arms of the Catholic Church.

ST. SEBASTIAN THROWN INTO THE CLOACA MAXIMA (c. 1613; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum). Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII, commissioned this work from Ludovico Carracci while serving as papal legate in Bologna for his chapel in the Church of Sant’ Andrea della Valle, Rome. The work is unusual in that it depicts the disposal of St. Sebastian’s body instead of the customary martyrdom by arrows or the tending to his wounds by St. Irene. When the arrows did not kill him, Emperor Diocletian ordered that the saint be beaten to death and his body thrown into the Cloaca Maxima, the main Roman sewer line. The saint appeared to his companion Lucina in a dream and told her where to find his body for proper burial in the catacombs. Lucina did as instructed, and eventually a church was built in the saint’s honor to mark the site where his body was recovered. In the 16th century, that church was razed to make way for Sant’ Andrea. The site of the high altar in the earlier church coincided with the location of Cardinal Barberini’s chapel, hence the subject choice for Ludovico’s painting. Once the work was delivered to the cardinal, he placed it in his home as, in his view, it did not inspire devotion sufficiently.

STANZA DELLA SEGNATURA, VATICAN (1510–1511). In 1509, Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to fresco the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican, a meeting room for the papal tribunal of the Segnatura (seal), normally presided over by the pope. The frescoes represent the fields of theology, philosophy, law, and the poetic arts, reflecting the room’s function as well as the humanistic interest of its occupants. The Disputà represents theology. It depicts the disputation over the doctrine of transubstantiation, the moment when the host, after having been blessed by the priest during the mass, becomes the actual body and blood of Christ. In the fresco, a church council presided over by the Holy Trinity and witnessed by saints, patriarchs, and prophets has gathered to discuss the doctrine’s validity. The host, object of the debate, is displayed in a monstrance above the altar.

The School of Athens on the opposite wall represents philosophy. Here, Plato and Aristotle stand in the center of a space that recalls Donato Bramante’s design for New St. Peter’s. Plato holds the Timaeus, one of his texts, and points upward to denote that his interests are in the world of ideas. Aristotle holds his Nichomachean Ethics and points down, as his concerns were directed at nature and its phenomena. In the niches behind them are Apollo, god of poetry and eloquence, and Minerva, goddess of wisdom, to provide inspiration to the men depicted. Nearby, Socrates speaks to the Athenean youths he is said to have corrupted, Pythagoras demonstrates his system of proportions, Ptolemy holds a celestial globe, Euclid solves a problem of geometry, and Diogenes, the father of Cynicism, ponders. In the foreground is Heraclitus, a portrait of Michelangelo dressed in the smock and boots of a stonecutter and posed as Melancholia, the personality trait of a genius. Raphael included him in the fresco after viewing the Sistine ceiling (1508–1512; Vatican) to pay homage to the man’s brilliance.

The law and poetic arts are represented in the lunettes at either side of the windows. The first shows Emperor Justinian Presenting the Roman Civil Law to Trebonianus and Gregory XI Approving the Canon Law Decretals, this last a portrait of Julius and members of his court. The second is a representation of Parnassus where Apollo and the Muses convene. Here, Dante, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Ludovico Ariosto exchange ideas with Homer, Virgil, and Sappho, their ancient counterparts. The fresco cycle also includes a depiction of the Cardinal Virtues in a lunette. Fortitude holds an oak tree, heraldic symbol of the della Rovere family to which Julius belonged. The Stanza della Segnatura’s decorative program speaks eloquently of the general feeling that permeated the Renaissance as it depicts the greatest minds from antiquity who inspired the intellectual reawakening of the era.

STEPHEN, SAINT (?–c. 35 CE). St. Stephen was a learned member of the Jewish community of Jerusalem where, after his conversion to Christianity, he was ordained as deacon. His preaching successes ignited the jealousy of the Jewish elders who, unable to compete with him in religious debate, charged him with blasphemy. During his trial, St. Stephen denounced his accusers for failing to recognize the Holy Spirit. Those assembled dragged him through the city’s outskirts and stoned him to death. With this, St. Stephen became the first Christian to be martyred. The details of his life are rendered in the Chapel of Nicholas V (1448) at the Vatican by Fra Angelico and the choir in Prato Cathedral (1452–1466) by Fra Filippo Lippi.

STROZZI CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE (1355–1357). The wealthy banker Tomasso Strozzi commissioned Andrea Orcagna and his brother Nardo del Cione to provide the decorations for his family chapel at Santa Maria Novella, the principal Dominican church of Florence. As the Strozzi Chapel is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, a leading Dominican and Tomasso’s namesaint, he figures prominently in the decorations. He is represented twice in the chapel’s altarpiece (the Strozzi Altarpiece) painted by Orcagna and once in the large stained glass window above the altar. The altarpiece shows the Christ of the Last Judgment enclosed in a mandorla of seraphim and angels. He presents to the kneeling St. Thomas at his right a book opened in one of the passages from Revelations that speaks of final judgment. He also gives to St. Peter at his left the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Thomas is presented to Christ by the Virgin Mary, who is dressed in a Dominican habit, and Peter by St. John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence. Also present are St. Michael, who weighs the souls, Catherine of Alexandria, of particular significance to the Dominicans, Lawrence, and Paul. On the predella are St. Thomas in Ecstasy during the Mass, Christ Walking on Water to Save Peter from Drowning, and The Saving of the Soul of Henry II who, according to the Golden Legend, donated a gold chalice to the Cathedral of Bamberg, which gained him entry into heaven. These three scenes then speak of spiritual recognition, salvation through Christ, and reward in the afterlife.

On the chapel’s altar wall, frescoed by Nardo, Christ again appears as judge, below him the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, the apostles, the blessed, and the damned. On the right wall is Hell, a chaotic scene based on Dante’s description in the Inferno with the Seven Deadly Sins, each carefully labeled to ensure their proper identification by viewers. On the chapel’s left wall is a depiction of Paradise where the blessed line up in orderly fashion at either side of Christ and the Virgin, who welcome them to heaven while two musical angels add a celebratory tone. One question that arises is why the iconic imagery and the emphasis on death and last judgment at a time when Giotto had already introduced a naturalistic method of representation and rejected morbid medieval subjects in favor of humanized renditions of religious episodes. It has been suggested that the regressive attitudes demonstrated by Orcagna and Nardo del Cione in this commission reflect a fearful Florentine society, traumatized by the devastation caused by the Black Death of 1348.

STUDIOLO OF FRANCESCO I DE’ MEDICI, PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE (1568–1575). The studiolo of Duke Francesco I de’ Medici is located on the second story of the Palazzo Vecchio and was used for geological and alchemist studies, two of the duke’s main interests. The doors of the cupboards that once contained his scientific books and instruments were painted by Giorgio Vasari and his pupils with scenes that link to the room’s function. The program was devised by the learned Vicenzo Borghini, a Benedictine prelate, prior of the Ospedale degli Innocenti and first lieutenant to the artists’ academy in Florence, who had close ties to the Medici and Vasari.

In all, 34 paintings were commissioned for the project with an overall theme of the relationship between art and nature. The ceiling, by Francesco Morandi and Jacopo Zucchi, establishes the tone for the rest of the decorations. It represents an allegory of nature that references the Pythagorean tetrad of the four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water), as well as the seasons and humors of man (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic). The elements are then also referenced on the wall cabinets. So, for example, for water Vasari rendered his Perseus and Andromeda, which relates how sea coral was formed, and Alessandro Allori painted the Pearl Fishers, which depicts nude figures diving for pearls and frolicking by the seashore. Mirabello Cavalori’s Wool Factory, which shows men engaged in the carding, boiling, and wringing of wool, would refer to the element of fire as the men in the foreground ensure that the blaze under the cauldron remains lit. Also related to fire is Giovanni Maria Butteri’s Discovery of Glass, as the material is heated during its manufacturing.

The decorative program originally included eight statuettes contained in niches executed by Bartolomeo Ammannati, Giovanni da Bologna, Vincenzo di Raffaello de’ Rossi, and others. These presented related mythological figures—for instance, Rossi’s Vulcan, the god of fire. The studiolo was dismantled by Francesco I in 1586 and only reassembled in the early 20th century, which has led to questions on the original scheme and order of the works. The commission represents one of the most significant examples of late Florentine Mannerism and points to the Medici’s contributions to the arts and learning.

SUPPER AT EMMAUS. An episode from the story of Christ that takes place after the Resurrection. Christ appears to two of his apostles at Palestine who do not recognize him. They tell him of their grief over the death of the Savior and the disappearance of his body from his tomb. The three men go to Emmaus and when Christ breaks the bread during supper, the disciples finally realize who he is. Caravaggio painted two versions of this theme, in 1600 (London, National Gallery) and again in 1606 (Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera), the earlier being the more dramatic rendition. This version was Abraham Blomaert’s prototype for his Supper at Emmaus of 1622 (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts), a work with the same theatrical lighting effects and dramatic gestures as Caravaggio’s. Rembrandt painted several versions, including the one in 1648 at the Louvre in Paris. Jacob Jordaens’ painting of the subject of c. 1650 is in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

SUSANNA AND THE ELDERS. The story of Susanna and the elders stems from the Apocrypha. Susanna was the wife of a wealthy Jew from Babylon. One day, as she was taking a bath in her garden, two elderly men who lusted after her surprised her and forced her to submit to their sexual advances. As she rejected them, they accused her of having committed adultery for which the penalty was death. At the trial, Daniel separated the elders and exposed the contradictions of their testimony, clearing Susanna’s reputation. The story had been a favored subject in art since the Early Christian era when it appeared in Roman catacombs, with Daniel’s restoration of Susanna’s reputation as the scene usually depicted. In the Renaissance, artists transformed the religious theme of vindication into an erotic, voyeuristic scene. In these works, Susanna is shown bathing in the nude and the two elders hide behind bushes to watch her. Examples of this type are Tintoretto’s version of c. 1555–1556 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), Ludovico Carracci’s of 1616 (London, National Gallery), and Anthony van Dyck’s of 1621–1622 (Munich, Altepinakothek). Artemisia Gentileschi’s version of c. 1610 (Pommersfelden, Graf von Schoenborn Collection) still shows the nude female, but now harassed by the men. Albrecht Altdorfer (1526; Munich, Alte Pinakothek) saw the theme as an opportunity to demonstrate his skills in rendering the landscape. His fully clothed Susanna is being watched by the elders as her feet are washed—the scene a mere incidental event unfolding in the vast idyllic setting. The transgression does not go unpunished as on the right the men are stoned to death.

SWEET STYLE. A style in sculpture and painting that came to dominate the art of the mid-14th century in Tuscany. It is characterized by the use of refined, elegant figures that exhibit a certain sweetness. The greatest exponent of this style was Desiderio da Settignano who often depicted the tenderness shared by the Virgin and her son, or smiling figures. An example is his Virgin and Child (c. 1460) in the Philadelphia Museum, a relief that captures a playful, intimate moment between the characters depicted. Antonio Rossellino, who like Desiderio was a native of Settignano, adopted the Sweet Style, as exemplified by his smiling Madonna and Child and gentle angels who gaze at the Cardinal of Portugal in his tomb (1460–1466) at San Miniato, Florence. Alesso Baldovinetti translated the Sweet Style from sculpture into painting. His Virgin and Child (c. 1460) in the Louvre, Paris, presents a smiling Madonna with the customary delicate features of this mode. See also TOMB OF THE CARDINAL OF PORTUGAL, SAN MINIATO, FLORENCE.