With essays by Danielle Carrabino and Mark Carroll

Published in 2018 

Published by Harvard Art Museums

This book honors the Calderwood Courtyard, a public gathering space at the heart of the Harvard Art Museums since 1927. Its publication is timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the ecclesiastical complex in Montepulciano, Italy, that provided inspiration for the courtyard design. Originally designed by Henry Richardson Shepley for the historic Fogg Museum, the Calderwood Courtyard is a near exact replica of the facade of the canon’s house of the Church of San Biagio in Montepulciano, which was designed in the early to mid-16th century by Renaissance architect Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. The facade, a two-story arcade made of travertine, was reproduced four times and turned inward to create the interior court of the Fogg Museum. The renovation and expansion of the Harvard Art Museums in the late 2000s by Renzo Piano Building Workshop united three museums—the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler—under one roof. The Calderwood Courtyard was restored but left largely untouched, reimagined as a piazza by Renzo Piano and revived as the heart and soul of the Harvard Art Museums. This volume tells the story of three architects, three museums, and the single space that unites them all.  

Danielle Carrabino is former Associate Research Curator in European Art at the Harvard Art Museums; she is now Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Smith College Museum of Art. Mark Carroll is a partner at Renzo Piano Building Workshop. He led the design effort for the Harvard Art Museums renovation and expansion project. 

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