03 — ARTWORK
Interior view
- MEDIUM
- Photo
- TYPE
- Interior
PALETTE
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- FILE
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COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
The variety of civil building and rebuilding in early-fourteenth-century Siena was matched by the multiplicity of churches that were being started or enlarged. Among the latter, San Domenico and San Francesco rank as two of the most important brick constructions in Central Italy. Both were replacements for more modest buildings, and both flow directly from the thirteenth-century Tuscan mendicant tradition.
The new San Francesco (Basilicaa church building, usually facing east, with a tall main nave and two or four side aisles of lesser height. There may also be a transept between the nave and the choir, which is reserved for the clergy. Originally, the basilica was an ancient Greek administrative building, and the Romans used this form for markets and law courts; it then became a place of assembly for the early Christians, and thus a church. of St. Francis) was founded in 1326. It was planned as an Egyptian cross, also known as the T-cross, characterized by a transeptsection of a church at right-angles to the nave and in front of the choir. that crosses the church at the apseA semicircular projection, roofed with a half-dome, at the east end of a church behind the altar. Smaller subsidiary apses may be found around the choir or transepts. Also known as an exedra. The adjective is apsidal.. This particular shape evokes the Tau St. Francis chose as a symbol of Jesus's cross and that has now become the identifying mark of the Order. Although the church is longer and wider than San Domenico, it is also lower and lighter. The navethe main interior space of a church building. It may have parallel aisles on each side, often separated from it by pillars, and is intersected by the transept, which cuts across it at the point where the choir begins., which was heightened by Francesco di Giorgio Martini in 1475-84, was always higher than the transepts. As a result there is an easier hierarchy in the external forms.
The interior is formed by a large single hall, typical of the churches of the mendicant orders: the spaciousness of this structure allowed to host a large number of followers and had a key acoustic function essential to preaching. The absence of side aisles immediately attracts the attention of those who enter towards the altar, the heart of the whole building. The need of the Order to pursue poverty and spirituality is confirmed in the architecture, void of any decoration, yet still able to express the glory(1) The supernatural radiance surrounding a holy person. (2) To have the distinction of one's deeds recognized in life and to be revered for them posthumously: this was glory. The nature of true gloria was much discussed, whether it must be connected with the public good, whether the actions that led to it must conform with Christian ethics, how it differed from notoriety. The concept did not exclude religious figures (the title of the church of the Frari in Venice was S. Maria Gloriosa), but it was overwhelmingly seen in terms of secular success and subsequent recognition, as determining the lifestyles of the potent and the form of their commemoration in literature, in portraits and on tombs. As such, it has been taken as a denial of medieval religiosity ('sic transit gloria mundi'), and thus a hallmark of Renaissance individual ism; as a formidable influence on cultural patronage; and as spurring on men of action, as well as writers and artists, to surpass their rivals - including their counterparts in antiquity. of God. In both arms of the transept there are a few chapels, once under the patronage of the most important families in Siena who commissioned the decoration. From the walls of the church, painted in black and white, Siena's traditional colours, hang the flags of the city's Contradas.
The photo shows the view of the nave towards the entrance.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r5298a352e29aab,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Interior view by ARCHITECT, Italian},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/architect-italian-rba53e875123939/interior-view-r5298a352e29aab},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
