05 MICHELANGELO THE SUBJECTIVE EXTENSION OF BRAMANTE RICETTO OF LAURENTIAN LIBRARY
FLORENCE // 1571 C.E.
This drawing focuses on the proportions and scale of the Laurentian Library by comparing the ricetto’s current condition with the original design intent had the building not been heightened. In Michelangelo’s Biblioteca Laurenziana, Wittkower suggests that Michelangelo would have treated the building differently had there been no additional storey added; this is evident in the earlier interior elevation sketches that were proposed. The comparison of the sketches and the ricetto in its final form shows a transition from horizontal to vertical articulation. Pilasters were initially placed frontally in a series of four that frame recessed tabernacles. Two of these were then re-oriented sideways to fit the proportions of the taller ricetto. The articulation of four horizontal bands were also stretched vertically and reconfigured to become three, so that there was no longer a primary reading of horizontality.
