Il Palazzo Corsi-Horne: dal diario di restauro di H. P Horne.

Brenda Preyer. Il Palazzo Corsi-Horne: dal diario di restauro di H. P Horne. Trans. Marcella Bonsanti.

(Fondazione Horne.) Rome: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1993. 446 pp. IL 100,000. ISBN: n.a.

Built between 1495 and 1502 for the Florentine silk merchant, Luigi Corsi, the Corsi-Horne palace is unusual in Florence for the contrast between its exterior simplicity and its interior richness. Small in scale but occupying a prime corner site in the middle of Alberti territory, the sobriety of the facade (intonaco with stone window surrounds and corner bugnati instead of the showy stone rustication made popular by the Medici) signals, as Preyer suggests, a desire to avoid the hostility of neighbors. (The palace transformed an earlier palagetto degli Alberti, wrested from the more prestigious family as payment of large debt.) The sculptural exuberance of its interior capitals, fireplaces, and freizes -- the obvious comparisons being the palaces of more significant and richer families (Strozzi, Gondi, or Pazzi) -- can be seen as more intimate, if still public, demonstrations of wealth and a desire for greater status. Thus the building seems, perhaps not so paradoxically, both a statement of the reality of t he Corsi's social position and an indication of their desire to move beyond it.

In her most recent book, Il Palazzo Corsi-Home, Preyer, one of the most distinguished scholars of Quattrocento Florentine palaces, focuses her attention on this singular building. The raison d'[hat{e}]tre of the book was the unusual Journal of its most recent inhabitant, the scholarly English architect, Herbert Horne, which catalogues his discoveries of the Trecento and Quattrocento fabric during his restoration of the building between 1911 and 1916 (although the Journal ends in 1914). Inspired by his work, Preyer supplies a detailed study of the building from several points of view: historical, iconographical, typological, and stylistic. The book is divided into four main sections: the patronage of the Trecento and lare-Quattrocento buildings based on extensive, original archival research; a full discussion of the building; a transcription of the entirety of Horne's Journal with a detailed commentary; and a complete publication of the archival documents.

Informed by over three decades of her study of Florentine palaces and their patrons, Preyer's book contains a wealth of information on the Corsi-Horne palace that reflects her considerable archival skills. The treatment of the Alberti and the Corsi provides insights into the social history of the families themselves and their strategies for land acquisition and palace building (which in Renaissance Florence had social, political, and economic consequences). One of Preyer's most important contributions is her reconstruction of the original Trecento palagetto of the Alberti and a demonstration of the way it shaped the Corsi palace both on the interior and the exterior. Equally important is the way the Corsi family transformed the original Alberti palace to conform to the tastes and needs of the later Quattrocento. Preyer demonstrates that while they kept a number of important spaces from the preceding building, including the entrance and the focus on Via de Benci, they enlarged the space of the salone even at the risk of weakening the fabric of the palace. The historical chapters are followed by a complete analysis of the building.

In her treatment of the exterior, Preyer focuses on the typology of the facade. Dismissing attributional controversies (there is too little known of palaces in the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento to make a convincing argument), Preyer believes that the Corsi-Horne may be the first example of a type (the intonaco facade with corner quoins) that had a long and fruitful progeny -- although she herself agrees that its originality and influence seems inversely proportional to its and its patron's importance in Florence.

Demonstrating her complete knowledge of the details of Trecento and early Quattrocento Florentine palaces, Preyer analyzes the window surrounds of the Corsi-Horne in the light of earlier prototypes, concluding that the pointed window arches of the palace, while unusual if viewed from the perspective of the Medici, Strozzi, or Rucellai, are less archaizing when seen against less familiar but perhaps more typical palaces of the Boni-Antinori, Strozzino, or Ricasoli -- a warning to scholars against using exceptional buildings as the rule.

The staid exterior, both original and a bit retarditaire, contrasts with the exuberant interior. While Preyer demonstrates that the arrangement of rooms was fairly standard (camere, anti camere, sala) if commodious, she notes that the palace was well equipped with the latest conveniences -- elegant fireplaces, large acquac in the sale, several kitchens, and at least four necessari. It also had an elegant well that served all floors of the house and must have been exceptional for its ease of use. As Preyer also notes, the iconography of the interior sculpture is fairly standard for the period. Themes such as those of the abundance of nature, the inspiration of the antique, or personal references to the patron (a crane figures prominently here) are present in the Corsi as well as in several other palaces and private chapels in Florence.

The sections on Home's Journal convey the enthusiasm and care with which Home restored the building. Preyer's commentary focuses on explaining which pieces of architectural sculpture are Quattrocento and which were either imported from other buildings or added by Home following Quattrocento models. Given the importance of Home to this enterprise, it might have been worthwhile to include a chapter on the man himself and his place in the Anglo community in Florence in the early twentieth century. This criticism apart, Preyer's book is important reading for anyone who wants to study Florentine Renaissance palaces. Few Quattrocento palaces have been explicated in such depth and with such detail.