A Wanderer in FlorenceLucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
History
A Wanderer in Florence
Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
Art -- Italy -- Florence; Florence (Italy) -- Description and travel
On the entrance wall of the church is what must once have been a fine
Masaccio--"The Trinity"--but it is in very bad condition; while in
the Cappella Rucellai in the right transept is what purports to be
a Cimabue, very like the one in the Accademia, but with a rather
more matured Child in it. Vasari tells us that on its completion
this picture was carried in stately procession from the painter's
studio to the church, in great rejoicing and blowing of trumpets,
the populace being moved not only by religious ecstasy but by pride in
an artist who could make such a beautiful and spacious painting, the
largest then known. Vasari adds that when Cimabue was at work upon it,
Charles of Anjou, visiting Florence, was taken to his studio, to see
the wonderful painter, and a number of Florentines entering too, they
broke out into such rejoicings that the locality was known ever after
as Borgo Allegro, or Joyful Quarter. This would be about 1290. There
was a certain fitness in Cimabue painting this Madonna, for it is said
that he had his education in the convent which stood here before the
present church was begun. But I should add that of Cimabue we know
practically nothing, and that most of Vasari's statements have been
confuted, while the painter of the S. Maria Novella Madonna is held
by some authorities to be Duccio of Siena. So where are we?
The little chapel next the choir on the right is that of Filippo
Strozzi the elder who was one of the witnesses of the Pazzi outrage in
the Duomo in 1478. This was the Filippo Strozzi who began the Strozzi
palace in 1489, father of the Filippo Strozzi who married Lorenzo
de' Medici's noble grand-daughter Clarice and came to a tragic end
under Cosimo I. Old Filippo's tomb here was designed by Benedetto da
Maiano, who made the famous Franciscan pulpit in S. Croce, and was
Ghirlandaio's friend and the Strozzi palace's first architect. The
beautiful circular relief of the Virgin and Child, with a border of
roses and flying worshipping angels all about it, behind the altar, is
Benedetto's too, and very lovely and human are both Mother and Child.
The frescoes in this chapel, by Filippino Lippi, are interesting,
particularly that one on the left, depicting the Resuscitation of
Drusiana by S. John the Evangelist, at Rome, in which the group of
women and children on the right, with the little dog, is full of
life and most naturally done. Above (but almost impossible to see)
is S. John in his cauldron of boiling oil between Roman soldiers and
the denouncing Emperor, under the banner S.P.Q.R.--a work in which
Roman local colour completely excludes religious feeling. Opposite,
below, we see S. Philip exorcising a dragon, a very florid scene,
and, above, a painfully spirited and realistic representation of the
Crucifixion. The sweetness of the figures of Charity and Faith in
monochrome and gold helps, with Benedetto's tondo, to engentle the air.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account