In the church of Santo Spirito, the sermons during Lent were one year preached by Maestro Francesco Zoppo, then very popular with the Florentines. In these sermons the preacher had earnestly recommended the claims of the convent and schools for youth, but more particularly those of the church which had been burnt about that time, to the consideration of his hearers.[1] Thereupon the chief persons of that quarter, Lorenzo Ridolfi, Bartolommeo Corbinelli, Neri di Gino Capponi, and Goro di Stagio Dati, with many other citizens, obtained an order from the Signoria for the rebuilding of the church of Santo Spirito, of which they made Stoldo Frescobaldi proveditor. Frescobaldi, moved by the interest he felt in the old church, the high altar and principal chapel of which had been constructed by his family, devoted extraordinary care to the building; nay, from the very beginning, and before the funds had been gathered from those who, having chapels and burial-places in the church, were proportionally taxed for the purpose, he expended many thousands of scudi, of his own money, but which were afterwards repaid to him.
When the matter had been fully resolved on, Filippo was sent for, and he made a model, comprising all the requisites demanded for the due completion of a Christian temple, whether as regards utility or beauty. On this occasion Filippo laboured much to persuade those who had authority in the matter, to agree that an entire change should be made in the ground plan of the edifice, which he would have turned completely round, and this because he greatly desired that the space in front of the Church should extend to the shores of the Arno, to the end that he who arrived in the city from Genoa, and the Riviera, or from the Pisan and Lucchese territories, should behold the magnificence of this
- ↑ The church was not burnt at that time,—during the life of Brunellesco, that is,—but in 1471, which was many years after his death. Before the old church was destroyed, and at the instigation of the preacher, Fra Francesco Mellini, a new one had been commenced, much larger, and more magnificent than the former, but in immediate proximity with it, and according to the design of Brunellesco. Stoldo Frescobaldi had been chosen proveditor as early as 1433. The conflagration then caused the building to be accelerated, insomuch that it was ready for the performance of Divine service in the year 1481. See Moreni, Vite del Brunellesco, p. 99, note 2.
