Cardinal of Portugal's Chapel, Renaissance chapel at San Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy

The Cardinal of Portugal's Chapel is a Renaissance chapel in the left nave of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, built as a separate, square-planned space with a sail vault decorated with medallions. Its four shallow arms form a Greek cross, framed by coffered arches and fluted pilasters, while the walls, vault and cosmatesque floor create a polychrome effect. The marble tomb of Cardinal James of Lusitania by Antonio Rossellino occupies the south-east wall.

Cardinal James of Lusitania, a member of the Portuguese royal family, died in Florence on 27 August 1459 at age 25 and asked to be buried in San Miniato al Monte. His executor Álvaro Afonso, bishop of Silves, oversaw the chapel's construction, consecrated in 1466 and dedicated to Saints James, Vincent and Eustace. Payment records show the workshop of Antonio and Bernardo Rossellino built it, not Antonio Manetti as long believed.

The chapel is also called Cappella di San Giacomo, and its lunette inscription records the transfer of the cardinal's body and the consecration in 1466 by Bishop Álvaro, dedicated to Saints James, Vincent and Eustace. The continuous frieze carries the arms of the Portuguese royal house, and the heraldic colours yellow, green and purple recur in Luca della Robbia's ceiling.

The chapel sits inside San Miniato al Monte church and is easy to reach while visiting the main building. Allow enough time to look both up at the vault and down at the floor, as both surfaces reward close attention.

The opus sectile floor was paid to marble-worker Stefano di Bartolommeo between 1465 and 1466, using red porphyry brought from Rome, a stone alluding to the cardinal's royal lineage. Its cosmatesque patterns mirror the ceiling scheme by Luca della Robbia, where four medallions of the cardinal virtues surround the dove of the Holy Spirit.