Palazzo Grifoni

One of Ammannati’s masterpieces in the field of architecture is the Palazzo Grifoni Budini Gattai in Florence. It stands on the Piazza SS. Annunziata, occupying the site at the corner of the Via dei Servi. Ammannati erected it between 1561 and 1565 for Ugolini Grifoni, secretary of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I. The Palazzo Grifoni is striking not only for its monumentality, but also for its original and nuanced use of red terracotta bricks that the architect consciously incorporated into the design of the façade, exploiting their polychrome richness. For on closer inspection we can ascertain that the bricks in their varying shades form graphic elements in the flat façade and explicitly articulate the wall surfaces. When the architecture of the Palazzo Grifoni was photographed in high-resolution digital images in June 2010, the focus was placed not only on the documentation of this graphic element of the façade decoration, but also on way that the changing lighting conditions influence the polychromy of the brickwork and enhance its plastic effect – an aspect that has been repeatedly discussed in publications and specialized journals in relation to architectural photography. So, the photographic campaign deliberately chose to photograph the façade at different times during the day, in order to capture Ammannati’s sophisticated play with changing colour. The bricks of the façade, contrasting with the grey stonework of the cornices, pediments and mouldings, emerge even more clearly in their orange and russet tones in proportion as the light or the sun strikes them: they invest the otherwise flat wall surfaces with a rich textural quality.