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Compositional Study for the Southeast Section of the Cupola of Florence Cathedral

Creator

Italian Artist · 1511–1574

Author

One of Italy's busiest and most influential Mannerist artists, Giorgio Vasari's reputation as a biographer has eclipsed his artistic fame. His humanist education combined with artistic talent earned him patronage by the powerful Medici family. He studied in Florence and briefly under his idol Michelangelo Buonarroti. Around 1525 he worked in the workshop of Florentine painter and colorist Andrea d

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Date: about 1572
Medium: Pen and brown ink and brown wash over some traces of black chalk
Culture: Italian
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum

Giorgio Vasari created this study of scenes from the Last Judgment for one of his final projects-the fresco decoration for the interior of the cupola of Florence's renowned cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, more commonly referred to as Brunelleschi's dome. This drawing is for the southeast section of the cupola. The pictorial scheme is divided into eight segments in five concentric zones. Vasari arranged the scenes according to a Counter-Reformation formula: At the top, an Elder of the Apocalypse, angels, and helmeted holy figures appear bearing instruments of the Passion. Below that are the Divine Tribune of Saints and an Archangel, flanked by Fortitude and Patience, who greets the saved rising from Purgatory. At the lower right, naked figures condemned for their sins are thrust into the jaws of a demonic beast. Vasari only partially finished the cupola fresco before his death in 1574. Federico Zuccaro completed the decoration, with some changes to Vasari's design.

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