# Sant'Eustorgio: Dome of the Cappella Portinari [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, Italian]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary Pigallo Portinari was the branch manager of the Medici Bank in Milan. He supervised the construction of a burial chapel for his family at the church of Sant'Eustorgio. Its Florentine and specifically Medici-associated patronage is evident in its plan and elevation, which consciously recall the <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/b/brunelle/sacristy.html'\)" HREF="/html/b/brunelle/sacristy.html">Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo</A> in Florence. However, there are significant alterations to both the proportions and the decoration. In deference to Milanese traditions, the architect inserted a drum under the dome, increasing the height and providing a field in which polychromed terracotta angels dance and swing heavily laden festoons. The delight in colour, so different from Brunelleschi's spare, bichromatic scheme, continues in the vault, where frescoes simulate multiple rings of red, yellow, green, and blue overlapping tiles. The sequence of colours is that codified by Dominicans in the early fourteenth century as constituting the rainbow: a heavenly vision for Pigello, who was buried in the floor directly under the dome. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Apse of a basilica]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Basilica di Sant'Antonio: Chiostro del Noviziato]() - [Basilica Santi Nereo e Achilleo]() - [Ca' Foscari: Façade]() - [Chamber of the millers]() - [Chiesa dell'Incoronata: Interior of the dome]() - [Cloister gallery]() - [Detail of the façade]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()