A Renaissance chapel in a Gothic cathedral: the dramatic, divergent interiors of Duomo di Orvieto

View of the vaulted ceiling and east wall of Cappella Nuova (New Chapel), also known as the Cappella di San Brizio (San Brizio Chapel), in Orvieto Cathedral. The chapel’s structure was erected between 1408 and 1444, but the decoration was not completed until the following century. Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli began the frescos in 1447, but only completed two panels in the vault—Christ in Judgement and Angles and Prophets—before being called away by the Pope for another commission. The chapel languished until 1499, when Luca Signorelli and his workshop took up the commission, eventually completing their work in 1503. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Orvieto Cathedral’s spacious Gothic nave (c. 1290–1308), with its stark yet rhythmically striped decor, contrasts dramatically with the small and riotously painted Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

View into Cappella di San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Luca Signorelli’s fresco, The Preaching of the Antichrist (c. 1500–03) in Cappella di San Brizio. Signorelli included portraits of himself and Fra Angelico—whose plans he used to complete the frescos in the chapel’s vault—at the far left of the painting: both men are clad in black, with Signorelli in front, dressed as a nobleman and looking out at the viewer. Fra Angelico appears in his Dominican habit slightly behind the younger man. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Luca Signorelli’s Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 1500–1503) in Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Alabaster window and striped walls of Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Part of Luca Signorelli’s Apocalypse (c. 1500–03) around the entrance of Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Sculpture and painting in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Right side of Luca Signorelli’s Apocalypse (c. 1500–03) in Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Stained glass in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Details of Luca Signorelli’s frescos The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons and The Resurrection of the Flesh, both c. 1500–03. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Relief sculpture in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Fra Angelico’s panel of Prophets above Luca Signorelli’s The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons in Cappella di San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Detail of Luca Signorelli’s fresco, The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons in Cappella di San Brizio. Signorelli’s muscular, dynamic figures and use of bright pastels helped inspire the forms and colors of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, particularly his Last Judgement (1536–41). Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Three-dimensional curation at the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

Model jellyfish hanging from the ceiling of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

When I think of well-curated spaces, I always come back to Vienna’s Naturhistorisches Museum (NHM), my personal pick for World’s Coolest Museum. Just like its twin, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), the NHM’s building was created and decorated for the collection it now holds. Or, at least it was created for the content that existed in the late nineteenth century, when the Hapsburg’s private royal collections of man-made (KHM) and natural (NHM) treasures were moved to be put on permanent public display for the first time. The two ornate, behemoth institutions still face each other across Maria Theresa Platz, existing not only to rehouse the royal collections, but to instill a sense of wonder in the visitors who pass through their doors.

From its inception, then, the collection and building have played off of one another. The decoration in each room contains both subtle and overt nods to the themes running through the collection, creating a complex, immersive experience. Contemporary curators have leaned in to this preexisting relationship between building and contents through the use of dynamic, even playful, display techniques, including hanging life-like models as well as actual specimens from the ceiling. In so doing, they give visitors an opportunity to see these animals from another angel, as if we were with the cuttlefish under the sea or watching pterosaurs out on the hunt. These overhead displays also encourage us to look up and notice the original decorative and architectural details we would miss if our eyes were exclusively kept around eye level. Elsewhere in the building, the inclusion of natural-history-themed contemporary sculpture as well as recreations of seldom seen moments of animal life (and death) keep visitors engaged in the collections themselves.

Whereas art museums tend to shy away from spaces or display techniques that might draw attention away from the individual works of art themselves and typically forswear theatrical installations altogether, natural history museums are not encumbered with the same theoretical baggage. As a result, natural history museums actually have more opportunity to create a kind of gesamtkunstwerk—or total work of art—that quite literally encompasses the entirety of their buildings. For my money, the NHM is the apotheosis of this potential and well worth the visit for anyone interested in art and architecture, as well as those drawn to natural history.

The contemporary sculpture Tiger-Headed Python (2012) by Daniel Spoerri, on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien in 2016. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Model cuttlefish hanging from the ceiling of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Display at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Giant model of a fish and parasite in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Display in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Model cuttlefish hanging from the ceiling of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Whale shark hanging over a staircase in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Display in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Model cuttlefish in front of a squid mural in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Model jellyfish hanging in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, its color and shape echoing the patterns in the ceiling. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.