Scarsella (architecture)

In architecture, the scarsella is a small apse with a rectangular or square plan which protrudes outside the main structure.^[1][2] The term scarsella, in ancient Florentine, means "purse", in particular the leather purse for money.

Altar with stained-glass window in the Pazzi Chapel in Florence

.

Overview

We have an example of this in the Baptistery of Florence which, initially built with an octagonal plan, was then equipped with a rectangular construction attached to the original building. Another medieval scarsella is that of the Cappellone degli Spagnoli in Santa Maria Novella, also in Florence, which served as a model for Filippo Brunelleschi to design the plans of the Sagrestia Vecchia of San Lorenzo and of the Pazzi Chapel.^[3] Brunelleschi studied a model of the chapel in which the base was square and the scarsella opened in the center of one of the walls, with the side dimension equal to a third of the chapel and with an area equal, therefore, to a one ninth of the entire chapel area. This scheme proved to be successful and was actively used by the great architects of the Renaissance, especially for centrally-planned buildings. An early example of a monumental scale is the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato designed by Giuliano da Sangallo in which the presbyteral area composes a sort of large scarsella. Another example of a scarsella is the apse of the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice.

Gallery

See also

• Apse

References

1. Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. OUP USA. p. 531. ISBN 978-0-19-539536-5. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
2. Williams, Kim; Ostwald, Michael J. (2015). Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future: Volume I: Antiquity to the 1500s. Birkhäuser. p. 559. ISBN 978-3-319-00137-1. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
3. Benevolo, Leonardo (2002). The Architecture of the Renaissance. Psychology Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-415-26709-0. Retrieved 16 July 2020.