Vincenzo Dandini (1609-1675) Christ fell under the cross, 1646 – Florence, Seminary –
Edited by Dalila Calisolo —
Made of the Lorraine period at the behest of Peter Leopold, the Chapel is still used for religious, but was open to visitors until now only on rare occasions. The exhibition is a great opportunity that sees joining the principle of territorial heritage fiorentino with that of its development, thanks to the restorations made specially and new exhibition halls, which are also retrieved and submitted by today in the circuit of visit of the Museo degli Argenti.
The treasure exhibited in view comes almost entirely from the assets of the company of San Benedetto Bianco, who was one of the most important and prestigious Florentine lay. Founded in 1357 at the camaldolese monastery of San Salvatore, but moved soon (1383) in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, the company came under the strict spiritual influence of the Augustinian order and found initially based in the area of the great cloister and then, definitively, in some premises specially built by Giorgio Vasari in 1570 inside the old cemetery. Here he remained until the establishment of Florence as capital, when the municipality decided to enlarge via degli Avelli cemetery fence with the demolition of Santa Maria Novella and San Benedetto Bianco. The company continued its activities prior to a new Oratory in via degli Orti Oricellari and later at Santa Lucia parish on the lawn, where it became extinct. One of the last acts of the company was the transfer to the Archbishopric of Florence around the artistic heritage that had accumulated over centuries if, through direct commissions or through donations of the members: most of the artwork was deposited during World War II the Seminary of basket and there, again, is to this day.
The canvas, characterized by a refined chiaroscuro light effects and agitated and composition is dated 1653 on the back and is attributed to Agostino Melissi, a follower of Ludovico Cigoli still little known. The theme of the scourging of Jesus was connected to the environment to which the work had been painted, the so-called ' confessional ' room, located behind the Oratory of the Compagnia and renewed in 1652. Here the brothers used to practice the ' discipline ' (the autofustigazione) in expiation of their sins and as an instrument of Union to the suffering endured by Christ.
The desire to make more and more lavish the oratory and the seat of the confraternity had prompted many confreres to donate paintings, sacred objects and vestments; Moreover, among the members of the company, as well as members of the family of doctors and theologians, philosophers, writers and scientists, there were also numerous artists: Matteo Rosselli, Jacopo Vignali, Carlo Dolci, il Volterrano and Vincenzo Dandini, just to name a few. Many of them painted for their devotion some works in the exhibition which is well expressed, for style and the choice of subjects, the penitent St Benedict spirituality white, testimoniataci from printed works and manuscripts of Domenico Checker Friar Gori, which the spiritual exercises for the exclusive use of the brethren, on display.
The center of spirituality of the society, both to the original Benedictine derivation as for the influence of Gori, was the sacrifice of Christ, the Supreme model of perfection to which we could approach with a slow and laborious process of spiritual uplift, played through penances and long views. Frequent meditation that mystery was to have a real effect in the brothers ' identification ', to the point of trying the same ' suffering ' – i.e. the feelings – experienced by anyone who was present at the Passion, like the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Baptist and Jesus himself. For this reason in San Benedetto Bianco were present different images that continuously but Barga remained his base the main stages of the passion and spiritual and corporal mortification exhorted the brethren themselves.
Christ on Calvary, the instruments of the passion and the cross were the most represented. In the shelter entrance, Vincenzo Dandini had painted an altarpiece with the prayer of Jesus in the garden, then replaced in 1646 by a painting by the same artist depicting Christ fell under the cross. The subject of the first shovel was revisited shortly afterwards by Matteo Rosselli in a fresco located in the header of a loggia that flanked the courtyard area of the company, called ' Orchard ', a close analogy with the garden of Gethsemane where Christ gave beginning to its agony. In a room behind the main church and where were placed the confessionals, was placed in 1653 the canvas which is attributed to Agostino Melissi, depicting the Scourging of Christ at the column, in which the subject must be understood in relation to the practice of ' discipline ' – i.e. the autofustigazione – that the brothers were in that environment (the rope on the foreground of the painting invokes it explicitly).
Designed by Ferdinando Tacca in Pliant and lightweight paper mache on the heels of the production inaugurated by Father Peter, this crucifix was created in 1651 for being brought on a pilgrimage to Loreto from brethren of San Benedetto Bianco. Although he continued to perform occasionally processional crucifix that function was placed at the altar of the society to form – with the mourners paintings by Matteo Rosselli approximately ten years earlier – a collection of extraordinary expressive pathos, which today is finally reassembled.
In addition to paintings, the theme of the passion was made available by small paintings or pictures to print – such as Ecce Homo by Carlo Dolci or wounded members of Volterra, both artists Christ San Benedetto Bianco – designed often to friends, brothers private and domestic use, as you keep Visual reminders to give thought to the loving sacrifice of Christ , and its suffering, Act of redemption for mankind.
The most important donation receipt by company is a series of eight paintings depicting biblical brother Gabriel Zuti had paint for your home in the second half of the forties of the seventeenth century, and which left White in San Francisco to his death in 1680. This is a single cycle, with masterpieces by some of the leading artists of the 17th century in Florence, whose subjects taken from the old testament – chosen with the help of some fellow duct – alluding to precise events of family life of Zuti, marked indelibly by the tragedy of the plague of 1630. Remember Jacob and Esau, diLorenzo Lippi, Jael and Sisaradi Ottavio Vannini, finding of Moses by Jacopo Vignali, Jeroboam and the Prophet Achia of Vincenzo Dandini, Repudiation of Agadi Giovanni Martinelli, healing of Tobit of Mario Balassi, Susanna e i vecchionidi Agostino Melissi, Lot and his daughters by Simone Pignoni.
A special mention deserve the two tablets of Cristofano Allori (that today's restoration has meritoriously brought back to life by stopping the damage suffered in the flood of 1966), depicting Saint Benedict and Saint Julian's: they were originally merged to form the big shovel who shielded himself the relics placed in the huge altar reliquary of the society and which, thanks to a court mechanism, could be dramatically raised to their Exposition.
The exhibition, as the catalog published by syllables, is curated by Alessandro Grassi, Michel Scipioni, Giovanni Serafini, and is sponsored by the Ministry of cultural heritage and tourism with the Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of cultural heritage and tourism in Tuscany, the Ex-Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Firenze , the Superintendency of fine arts and landscape for the provinces of Florence, Pistoia and Prato, Museo degli Argenti in Palazzo Pitti, and Florence museums.
INFO
The rigor and grace
Compagnia di San Benedetto Bianco
in the 17th century in Florence
October 22, 2015 – May 17, 2016
Palatine Chapel, Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
SOURCE http://www.artslife.com/