Cronaca, Cortile del Palazzo Strozzi, 1507, Firenze.

Speranza


Rare elegance and great distinction of the inner courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi, with its fine Corinthian columns supporting semicircular arches, an enclosed story and an upper loggia, are emphasised by the fine dimensions of this cortile in the greatest of Florentie palaces, begun by Benedetto da Maiano and finished by Cronaca.

Faithful to their master, Brunelleschi, they worked in the classical style he had reintroduced when building the Ospedale degli Innocenti in 1419.

By its clarity and brilliant harmony, the courtyard of the Strozzi palace counterbalances the austerity of the facciata, made from heavy stone bossages and surmounted by a cornice of the kind used since the Quattrocento.