Altaar en koor in het Battistero di San Giovanni te Florence 1733 - 1755

Curator: Looking at this drawing, "Altaar en koor in het Battistero di San Giovanni te Florence," by Bernardo Sansone Sgrilli, created sometime between 1733 and 1755... It feels like stepping back into a very carefully planned, almost mathematical dream of sacred space. Editor: It strikes me immediately as cool, almost sterile. Despite the subject matter, the religious figures depicted, there’s a detachment, a sense of clinical observation rather than devotional passion. Like staring at an architectural blueprint of faith. Curator: Sgrilli was deeply immersed in the study of architectural perspective, and this work exemplifies that. The drawing employs a highly detailed, linear style to meticulously map out the altar and choir of the Baptistery. There’s also an element of fantasy. The sculptures look far more baroque than anything actually in the Baptistery. Editor: You see that level of detail as devotion to precision; I see a reflection of the institutional control exerted by religious bodies on artistic expression. The line work, while technically brilliant, almost cages the figures, fitting the art to promote religious ideology, isn't it? What does that calculated approach ultimately do to the emotional core? Curator: Perhaps. Though I'm seduced by the detail itself. The layers within the architectural planes almost create a sense of the infinite. Editor: Yes, and it serves to position the church as an eternal institution, dwarfing the individual... look how that raised arm gestures – a display of power through divine will made palpable! The organization using aesthetic grandeur to affirm a socio-political hierarchy, no? Curator: But in truth, those gestures also evoke classical ideals of rhetoric, drawing upon a rich humanist past! And I appreciate that within this structure, space is carved out to address the most personal elements of faith – grief, devotion, forgiveness... it provides both the structure and the release. Editor: Alright, I am swayed, perhaps. I will say that considering the dynamics between that intimate scene of bereavement placed inside such an intentionally overwrought framework offers the picture some powerful friction. It prompts consideration. Curator: I think so too. Sgrilli gives us something quite complex. Editor: Definitely leaves you thinking.