Dynamic Interiors: The Art and Architecture of Liminal and Transitional Spaces in Florence’s Early Modern Palazzi

This thesis investigates the relationship between art, space and life inside Florence’s early modern palazzi. To explore this intersection, it focuses on four liminal and transitional zones within the elite domestic interior: the staircase and the doorway, which might be defined as universal thresholds, and the camera terrena and the altana, the liminality of which is more specific to the early modern context. The position of these spaces on the edge of the home’s principal rooms is mirrored by their marginalisation in scholarship. Through close analysis of their structure and decoration, the thesis argues that these overlooked spaces in fact functioned as key nodal points within the home – not only architecturally, but also symbolically and experientially. An initial survey chapter synthesises evidence and analysis regarding a large number of palazzi from across the city, setting them in the urban context, examining how they were constructed and occupied, and beginning to trace spatial typologies. The subsequent chapters are organised thematically, each focusing on one of the four threshold spaces identified above. Several in-depth case studies anchor each chapter, supported by additional examples drawn from palazzi introduced in the initial survey. Surviving structures and extant artworks are contextualised by a wide range of sources, especially household inventories and writings on social and political customs. It can be shown that these domestic zones did not simply sit across the physical boundaries of the palazzo, but also bridged key conceptual divides: between patrician ceremony and household routine; public and private; social reception and withdrawal. The thesis draws on two broadly defined fields of scholarship – art history and architectural history – arguing that the methods and perspectives of each must be brought into dialogue to begin to understand the early modern domestic interior. It also engages with the spatial and mobility turns of urban history, bringing these approaches indoors. The analysis is shaped by a focus on the embodied experience of interacting with art in the home: the affective charge of artworks, their interplay with furnishings, and the impact of viewing them within the familiarity – or, for visitors, the novelty – of the household setting. The thesis also reflects critically on the author’s collaborative experiments with digital modelling, both as a means of reconstructing domestic environments and as a methodological tool for art-historical research. Overall, by focusing on these liminal and transitional spaces, the study starts to recover the experience of the elite domestic interior. The palazzo was not simply a piece of architecture or a repository of artworks, but a dynamic environment formed by evolving aesthetic and social priorities.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Anna McGee (21039881)

• Renaissance
• Early Modern
• Art History
• Architectural History
• Medici
• palazzi
• Digital Humanities

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved
• Embargoed

Identifier

10779/exe.32326299.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32326299