Chapel of St Luke, Annunziata
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43°46′38″N 11°15′40″E / 43.777344°N 11.261176°E
The Cappella di San Luca (Chapel of St Luke), also called dei Pittori is a chapel found in the cloisters of the convent of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, Italy. It was built to serve as the burial chapel for members of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, and was donated by the Servites to the Academy in a document from 1565. It contains a collection of terracota statues from a number of prominent Florentine Mannerist sculptors.
The servite cleric and sculptor Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli arranged with Vincenzo Borghini and Giorgio Vasari to build a burial chapel for the Academy of Design, with the support of the Medici Duke. Immediately plans were also made to decorate the chapel. Originally, the chapel entrance was from the north, under the Trinity fresco by Allori, and the chapel was dedicated to the Trinity. But in time, the chapel became associated with St Luke, patron saint of painters. Tradition holds that the apostle Luke created the first painting of the Virgin Mary, a story depicted in the chapel's fresco on the east wall, painted by Vasari. During the Napoleonic occupation of Tuscany, the French archbishop named to lead the archdiocese of Florence, Eustache d'Osmond, was housed in the convent, made this his private chapel, and opened a new and present entrance.
Many Florentine artists were buried here, including Montorsoli, Pontormo, Cellini, Franciabigio, Lorenzo Bartolini, and as recently as 1983. The chapel still belongs to the Academy and holds memorial services here.
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