The basilica of the Santissima Annunziata is the main Marian shrine of Florence, the mother house of the Servite order. The church is located in the homonymous square in the north-eastern part of the city centre, near the Spedale degli Innocenti and has been at the center of city life for centuries (for example on March 25, on the occasion of the Tuscan New Year).
In this area, traditionally from 1081, there was an oratory founded
at the time of Matilda of Canossa as a votive offering for the end of
the siege of Henry IV and dedicated to the Madonna. In 1233 it was
practically abandoned, and was asked to Bishop Ardengo Trotti by seven
young Florentines who had had a double vision of the weeping Virgin due
to the continuous discord in the city, on 15 August and 8 September of
that year. With the dedication to Maria Addolorata, they founded a
company, retiring in penance and prayer on a mountain on the edge of the
Mugello called "Asinario", today contracted in Montesenario, 18 km north
of the city. The road to this hermitage passed right outside the Porta
di Balla which overlooked what is now Via de' Servi, and the oratory on
the site of the future basilica was particularly convenient for their
movements.
In 1250 the company, which in the meantime had been
popularly retitled as the Servants of Mary, laid the foundation stone
for the construction of a larger basilica. This first church, and the
adjoining convent, were called Santa Maria dei Servi di Cafaggio, from
the names of the religious order and the place where it was built,
located outside the walls of Florence and the Porta di Balla. The first
sure news about its construction is a notarial deed dated 17 March 1250
with which the bishop of Siena Bonfiglio - the seat of Florence was
vacant at the time - allowed the friars to build a church near the
walls, also delivering the first stone. The first stone was evidently
laid on 25 March 1250, the feast of the Annunciation which fell on Good
Friday that year. The following year the church was finished at least in
the main structures.
In 1252, according to a legend, the Servants
of Mary wanted to have the fresco of the Annunciation painted by a
painter called Bartolomeo, who put all his expertise into representing
the scene worthily. But despite several attempts, he was seized with
distrust because he could not paint the face of the Virgin. Thus he fell
into a strange drowsiness and when she woke up, by a miracle, her face
appeared already painted, completed by an angel. The fresco which in
later times will give its name to the church, still preserved in the
chapel of the Annunziata, soon became the object of great veneration and
profound devotion on the part of the Florentines. In fact, in 1255 the
Municipality of Florence had a road traced, today's via dei Servi, which
led from Porta di Balla to Santa Maria dei Servi, while the friars
bought the land to create the square (1299, thanks to the donation by
the municipality of 400 gold florins). In the following century the
church and the convent were included in the fourteenth-century walls.
Around 1280 the church must have had a rectangular plan, a gabled
façade facing south and a small circular apse. Towards the end of the
century the floor was redone and the choir stalls were carved by the
master Guglielmo di Calabria. Other masters who worked in Santa Maria
dei Servi during this period were Datuccio dal Palagio, Daldo and the
painter Calandrino, who decorated the oculus of the church. In the first
half of the fourteenth century various chapels and altars were built: S.
Anna, San Biagio, San Martino of the Guadagni family, Sant'Iacopo, San
Michele Arcangelo, Santa Maria del Purgatorio, Sant'Ansano and the SS.
announced. In 1364 it is noted that «Giovanni and Neri Fioravanti,
measured the church». That is, they took the measures but never did the
expansion work, instead working in the convent. In 1384, Fra Andrea da
Faenza, Father General of the Servi di Maria, entrusted the direction of
the expansion of the church with the creation of the transept and the
chapels of San Donnino dei Falconieri to the architect Antonio Pucci.
On 18 October 1444 the foundation stone of the grandstand was laid.
Michelozzo di Bartolommeo was the designer and director of the works who
also built or restored the sacristy, the Villani chapel, the Madonna
chapel, the Chiostrino dei Voti, the oratory of San Sebastiano and the
left side of the nave. The works lasted until 1453 and resumed in 1460
under the direction of Antonio Manetti (his is the central part of the
portico). Following financial problems, the friars offered the patronage
of the factory to Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua and finally,
in 1477, after slight modifications to the previous project by Leon
Battista Alberti, the grandstand was inaugurated.
In 1481 the
work on the central nave was completed. The church thus appeared covered
with a trussed roof, with pillars, arches and cornices in sandstone.
In the 16th century, work on the church slowed down. However, the
frescoes in the Chiostrino dei Voti were painted in a hurry before the
solemn arrival of Leo X in the city in 1513; on that occasion the Medici
coat of arms was also placed in the square and the frescoes by a very
young Pontormo, today replaced by copies. On 17 January 1516, Cardinal
Antonio del Monte, legate of Leo X, solemnly consecrated the church.
In the last decades of the 16th century, the external portico was
added on funding from the Pucci family (of which the coat of arms with
the marble "dark head" is present both on the floor and on the sides of
the portico on the corner pillars) in 1601 by the architect Giovanni
Battista Caccini, to link the facade to the decoration of the square.
Compared to the similar arches of the Spedale degli Innocenti and the
Loggiato dei Serviti, the columns were set higher, because there was no
staircase to access the church as in other buildings: in this way it was
possible to maintain the height of the arches of the three loggias, all
at the same level.
In 1664 Mattia de' Medici son of Cosimo II
gave his help to build the ceiling of the church. It was designed by
Baldassarre Franceschini called il Volterrano who painted the Madonna
Assunta there. The choir was covered on the outside with marble and
sandstone and in 1680 Volterrano began to fresco the dome, finishing it
three years later.
In 1687 the friars decided to cover the lower
part of the church with marble, stucco and paintings. Between 1783 and
1795 it was repaved and the many rich tombstones that were in the floor
were lost. From 1789 Pietro Leopoldo imposed that the venerated image of
the Annunziata was always kept uncovered, rather than revealed only on
special occasions.
In January 1806 Pope Pius VII elevated it to
the dignity of a minor basilica.
In 1857 a last grandiose
restoration was carried out by the architect Giuseppe Poggi:
fortunately, and unlike the main Florentine basilicas, the church was
not stripped of its Baroque decorations in search of an arbitrary
"original form" of the structure, according to the fashion then dominant
of the Gothic Revival and Renaissance. The church was reopened to the
public on August 20 of the same year in the presence of Pope Pius IX who
celebrated at the altar of the Madonna.
To donate the burning oil
which was to be used throughout the year for the lamps of the chapel of
the miraculous Annunciation, a special ceremony was carried out on the
morning of Easter Sunday by a lay-religious company, with the parish
priest belonging to which moved from its headquarters to reach the altar
of the Santissima Annunziata in procession. The picturesque ceremony saw
at the head of the procession a donkey who carried two half-barrels of
oil and a three or four year old child dressed as an angel. People were
attracted by the simple but particular ceremony, defined as "of the
Angiolino".
Above the central arch of the external portico there are traces of frescoes (now replaced by copies, the originals are in Andrea del Sarto's Last Supper Museum), executed between 1513 and 1514 by Pontormo, while the central portal is surmounted by a 'Annunciation mosaic by Davide Ghirlandaio (1509).
On the rear drum stands the small bell gable with 5 openings, in
which the bells are placed. They were cast by the historic Moreni
foundry in Florence in 1872
The flyover
On the right side
there is a flyover supported by an arch, which connects the basilica
with Palazzo della Crocetta, seat of the National Archaeological Museum
of Florence. This passage was built so that Princess Maria Maddalena de'
Medici, sister of Grand Duke Cosimo II, being weak in health and perhaps
malformed, could go to mass without going down the street: inside the
right aisle of the church there is in fact a grate golden, corresponding
to a small compartment at the end of the arch.
The front atrium
The portico leads to a small atrium in front of the church, known as the
"cloister of the Vows", because over the centuries small votive pictures
and decorated wooden or plaster statues were displayed there, removed
from the premises and definitively destroyed in 1785, apparently at the
suggestion of the Grand Duke Jansenist Peter Leopold of Lorraine.
In the shape of a quadrilateral, the cloister was begun in 1447 to a
design by Michelozzo and is embellished with slender Corinthian columns
that support the arches.
The frescoes that decorate the walls are
very well known, executed to narrate the life of the Madonna and the
story of Filippo Benizzi, forge of the "manner" in Florence in which
Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino worked.
Under the loggia, the door to the right of the central entrance leads
to the Oratory of San Sebastiano, built by the Pucci family in 1452 to a
design by Michelozzo. The body of the church and the dividing arch of
the vaults have not undergone any transformations. The presbytery was
rebuilt in 1608 to a design by Giovanni Caccini and finished by Gherardo
Silvani. The vault is frescoed by Poccetti, the canvases are by Paggi
and Lomi, the two statues by Antonio Novelli. On the altar, the Nativity
of Mary is copied from Cigoli.
For this oratory Piero del
Pollaiolo in 1475 painted his masterpiece, the Martyrdom of Saint
Sebastian, now in the National Gallery in London.
Internal
The
church has a beautiful Baroque decoration clearly visible in the
Volterrano ceiling and in the profusion of marble, stucco and gilding.
The large paintings above, between the large windows, narrate the most
famous Miracles of the Madonna and almost all of them were painted by
Cosimo Ulivelli (1671). The first on the right instead is by Giovanni
Fiammingo, and the last on the left, by Ferdinando Folchi. The choirs of
angels above the two organs are by Alessandro Nani on the right, and by
Alessandro Rosi on the left.
The paintings on the medallions
(1693-1702) are by Tommaso Redi, Pietro Dandini, Alessandro Gherardini,
and the stuccoes by Vittorio Barbieri, Carlo Marcellini and Giovanni
Battista Comasco. Note above the second medallion on the right a window
with a golden grate: the window of the Princes, from which the family of
the Grand Duke, coming from the Palazzo della Crocetta (now the
Archaeological Museum), could assist in private at the liturgical
functions that took place in the Chapel of the Madonna.
This is the oldest nucleus of the church. Here we have news of an
altar in the church with the image of Maria Santissima Annunziata since
1341: the documents only mention offerings, lamps, ex votos. Legend has
it that in 1252 the friars had commissioned the image, in the ancient
church, to a certain painter Bartolommeo who, dissatisfied with his
attempts to represent the face of the Virgin, would later find it
miraculously painted in an achiropita manner.
However, the
stylistic analysis of the work is not compatible with the legend, as the
fresco has undeniable fourteenth-century, post-Giotto characteristics,
impossible in the Byzantine Florence of the mid-thirteenth century:
think of the distance from the Last Judgment of Meliore in the mosaics
of the baptistery , made in those decades. Among the proposed
attributions, compatible with the first mention of 1341, there is that
to Matteo di Pacino, an artist trained with Giovanni da Milano. However,
the legend of the Florentine Madonna Annunciata has survived the
centuries, as Michelangelo Buonarroti reiterated for example: «Here it
is not the art of brushes, from which the face of the Virgin was made,
but a truly divine thing». The image was restored in 2020, disassembling
the case that hadn't been opened since the 1950s.
Over the
centuries, such devotion caused various modernization and restoration
interventions in the chapel, as demonstrated by the various
consecrations of the altar, on 13 January 1443 by Eugene IV; on 1
January 1452 by Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville; on 14 October 1628 by
Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, Archbishop of Bologna (later Pope Gregory
XV).
In 1447 the friars Servi di Maria, with the help of Piero di
Cosimo dei Medici, decided to raise the current temple which was
completed in 1448 to a design by Michelozzo and executed by Pagno di
Lapo Portigiani. The newsstand is made up of four Corinthian columns in
Carrara marble, m. 5.25, which support the carved trabeation, while
festoons, ribbons and symbolic medallions are carved in the frieze. The
ceiling of the chapel, in marble, with gilding and enamels probably made
by the workshop of Luca della Robbia. The aedicule is closed by a bronze
lattice work by Maso di Bartolomeo (1447) and above the small temple
rises a sort of Baroque cusp, carved in wood by Luca Boncinelli based on
a design by Volterrano (1674). Most likely the "Tempietto" was initially
designed to place it in the center of the Tribuna designed by Leon
Battista Alberti.
The altar, built in marble by Piero de' Medici,
had the shape of a Roman vat sarcophagus with a medallion containing the
representation of the Trinity (today in the Bardini Museum), on which
rested the table supported by four balustrades (today in the chapels
below the organs). In 1600 the Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici
replaced it with the current one in silver and semi-precious stones,
embossed by Egidio Read.
Almost all the decoration of the chapel
and that which frames the fresco has undergone restoration and remaking
over the centuries. The oldest part consists of the frieze with symbols
concerning the privileges of the Madonna and the curtain that simulates
a curtain of very fine fabric, designed by Giulio Parigi and executed by
Cosimo Merlini (1629). The two angels holding up the crown are by the
sculptor Stefano Ricci and Vincenzo Scheggi (1816); the two arms to the
columns were donated by Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine in 1839; the
large candlesticks on the sides of the altar (designed by Luigi
Sabatelli) are from 1820. The cataract which closes the fresco was
donated by Leopold II and his wife.
Nineteen silver votive lamps
hang around the chapel, and all date from after 1799, when they were
gradually remade following the theft perpetrated by the French during
the occupation. They were all cleaned and restored in 2020. On the left
side, closest to the doors, there are nine, arranged in two rows. The
outer row, from the left, has six:
Lamp donated by the Società dei
Nastrai in 1800 (by Gaetano Querci)
Lamp donated by the Society of
Servants in 1800 (by Angelo Codacci)
Lamp donated by the Covoni
Girolami Bettoni family in 1800 (by Andrea Marchesini)
Lamp donated
by the Capponi family in 1800
Lamp of unknown origin
Lamp donated
by the Ranieri Torrigiani family in 1803
The inner row has three:
Amphora lamp donated by the Vatican Chapter on 8 September 1852
Lamp
manufactured for the VII centenary of the Annunziata in 1952 (by
Vitaliano De Angelis)
Lamp donated by the Bourbons of Naples in 1821
The side in front of the fresco has two rows. The external one has
five lamps, from the left:
Lamp donated by the Società dei Fruttaioli
in 1800
Lamp donated by the Society of Merchants in 1800 (by Andrea
Marchesini)
Lamp donated by the Pizzicagnoli Society in 1800 (by
Michele Peyer)
Lamp donated by the Merciai Society in 1799 (by Andrea
Marchesini)
Lamp of unknown origin
The lamps in the inner row
are smaller: on the left one of unknown origin (15), on the right the
one donated by the Del Vivo family (16).
Finally, on the right
side, the one bordering the choir, there are three lamps, looking from
the nave from the left:
Lamp donated in 1896 for the escape of danger
for Florence during the 1895 earthquake (by Giuseppe Gherardi)
Lamp
donated by the Riccardi family in 1799 (by Vincenzo Scheggi and Giovanni
Poggi)
Lamp donated by Leopold II of Tuscany for the restoration of
the Principality in 1849 (by Enrico Franceschi and Giovanni Stanghi.
Piero de' Medici and his successors never intended to have patronage
rights over the chapel of the Santissima Annunziata. In fact, for
himself and for the Medici family, Piero il Gottoso had the room to the
right of the aedicule adapted into an oratory or choir. The work began
in 1453, but was completed only in 1463. The carving of the marble arch
that joins the chapel to the choir, and the windows and the entire
design of the room are due to Giovanni di Bettino. Alesso Baldovinetti
participated in the decoration of the vault and walls.
The large
Silver Wardrobe, built into the main wall, was closed with a cataract by
a panel painted with stories from the Life of Christ, by Beato Angelico
(1453), Baldovinetti, and the Angelico school (the different parts of
this panel are now in the National Museum of San Marco). Piero dei
Medici also had a small organ built adjacent to the choir, the display
of which is visible from the church. The instrument that was the work of
Matteo di Paolo da Prato no longer exists; in its place is now an organ
built by Michelangelo Paoli in 1842. The whole choir is covered up to
the height of the windows with marble and semi-precious stone inlays,
forming five panels that exalt the Mother of God, in the symbols of the
rose, the lily of the moon, the sun, the star. The design of this work
is by Giovan Battista Balatri, and the execution is by the Florentine
Opificio delle Pietre dure (1671). In the compartment of the silver
cupboard there is now a display of ex voto framing the Salvatore by
Andrea del Sarto (1515).
Sacristy of the Madonna
It is located
in the corridor of the Great Cloister, not inside the church, but is
equally linked to the Chapel of the Santissima Annunziata. It was built
in 1635 by Alessandro and Antonio di Vitale dei Medici (sons of a
converted Jew who had had his coat of arms and surname from Cardinal
Ferdinando de' Medici), and was used to store the chapel's vestments,
furnishings and silverware.
The project was by Matteo Nigetti who
supplied the design of the large walnut cabinets of the door carved with
symbols referring to the Virgin. On the upper inner wall of the wall
where the door was made, a Madonna with Child has been brought to light,
with decoration in red brocade, lilies and gold friezes. On the altar is
a panel by Iacopo Vignali, the Assumption with the saints Vitale,
Alessandro and Gregorio; on the right wall a fresco by Cecco Bravo
depicting the Glory of San Vitale between the saints Gervasio and
Protasio.
Chapel of San Nicola da Bari
It has belonged to the del Palagio
family since 1353. Taddeo Gaddi had frescoed the walls with some scenes
from the Life of Saint Nicholas, but in 1623 Matteo Rosselli replaced
his frescoes. The altarpiece is by Iacopo Chimenti known as Empoli, and
represents the Virgin with Saint Nicholas and other saints. The Four
Evangelists in the vault, and the two episodes from the life of Saint
Nicholas in the lunettes, are also by Rosselli.
Chapel of the
Blessed Giovacchino of Siena
In 1371 it was patronage of the Macinghi
family. In 1677, in place of the panel of the Nativity of Our Lord,
painted by Lorenzo di Credi (now in the Uffizi), the current one, the
Blessed Giovacchino, by Pietro Dandini was placed. On the left wall
hangs the wooden Crucifix, formerly on the high altar and carved by
Giuliano da Sangallo in 1483, recalling the model of Brunelleschi's
Crucifix but making it snappier and with more nervous features inspired
by that of Pollaiolo [unclear]in Saint Lawrence. The sepulchral monument
to the Marquis Luigi Tempi was sculpted by Ulisse Cambi (1849).
Chapel of the Seven Holy Founders
Already known as Santa Lucia, since
1387, the Cresci family, then the Colloredos, were buried here. In 1643
Matteo Nigetti designed the present architecture, and the dome was
frescoed by Volterrano, who depicted Saint Lucia in front of the
Trinity. The painting of the Seven Founding Saints was placed here in
1888 and is by the painter Niccolò Nannetti. The marble monument to
Fabrizio Colloredo is the work of Francesco Mochi.
Chapel of San
Pellegrino Laziosi
It was founded around 1425 and dedicated to the
Pietà. In 1456 the chapel, which had in the altarpiece the fresco of a
Calvary by Bicci di Lorenzo (today hidden by the current altarpiece),
passed into the patronage of Andrea di Gherardo Cortigiani. In 1675
Cosimo Ulivelli painted the canvas of the altar: the Crucifix which
heals San Pellegrino from gangrene.
The marble monument on the
right wall, in memory of the doctor Angiolo Nespoli, is the work of
Lorenzo Bartolini (1840); the one on the left, by Lorenzo Nencini,
recalls the engraver Luigi Garavaglia da Pavia (1835).
It was built by Michelozzo around 1450 for Orlando di Guccio de'
Medici (of a secondary branch of the family), whose marble monument
attributed to Bernardo Rossellino can be seen on the left wall. In 1455
Andrea del Castagno painted a Saint Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot
of the cross (now destroyed) for the altarpiece. At present the statue
of Our Lady of Sorrows is placed in a niche.
Before the flood it
was decorated with a canvas by Raffaello Sorbi, representing San Filippo
Benizi, to whom the chapel was dedicated in 1885. On the right wall, a
marble monument from the end of the 16th century contains the ashes of
Tommaso de' Medici, leader of the fleet of the grand duchy operating in
the Tyrrhenian Sea. The frescoes on the walls are by Cosimo Ulivelli
(The Seven Founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary; and, in the
lunettes: the Blessed Martyrs of Prague, the Martyrdom of Blessed
Benincasa and Blessed Piriteo Malvezzi).
It is found under the organ on the right and dates back to at least
1486. It was adorned with marble in 1520 and a panel by Fra Bartolomeo
della Porta was placed on the altar: The Savior, the four Evangelists
(today in the Pitti Palace Museum), and on the sides: two paintings,
with Isaiah and Job, by the same author. These panels were removed by
Cardinal Carlo de' Medici (1556) and copies made by Empoli were placed
in their place. A copy of Empoli can be seen today in the church of San
Jacopo tra i Fossi.
Until the flood of 1966 there was a panel by
Maso da San Friano on the altar, with the Ascension of Jesus into
Heaven. In its place today there is a mosaic of Anna Brigida,
representing Sant'Antonio Pucci of the Servants of Mary, canonized in
1962. The two praying angels on the sides are attributed to Jacopo
Vignali. The pair of small marble columns supporting the table belonged
to the altar of the Annunziata chapel.
It is located to the right of the cruise. In 1448 it was entrusted to the Company of Germans and Flemish who lived and worked in Florence. Until recently it was called the Cappella degli Sposi. Here the Compagnia dei Tedeschi e dei Fiamminghi had their burial place and the plaque on the floor still remains. Another tombstone in graffiti commemorates Arrigo Brunick (from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Foggini), the German artist who embossed the frontal of the high altar in silver. On the left pillar, above, is the marble portrait of the Flemish painter Giovanni Stradano, by Giovanni Caccini (1605-1606), on the other side that of Lorenzo Palmieri (1624). On the altar, the picture of Santa Barbara was painted by Giuseppe Grisoni.
Also known as Santa Giuliana Falconieri, it already existed in 1350
and was called San Donnino; it housed the burial place of the Falconieri
family. The chapel was then called the Conception, for a panel by Matteo
Rosselli, placed on the altar (1605), and representing the Immaculate
Virgin.
In 1676 the body of Saint Giuliana Falconieri, founder of
the Mantellate Servant of Mary nuns, was transported under the altar.
After her canonization (1737), the Falconieri enriched the chapel with
rare marble according to a project by Ferdinando Fuga, adapted by
Filippo Cioceri; in 1767 the works were finished.
The dome and
the canvas of the altar are by Vincenzo Meucci, and the two side
paintings, Death of Saint Giuliana and Death of Saint Alessio Falconieri
are by Giuseppe Grisoni. In 1937 a new bronze urn was designed to
enclose the relics of the saint, based on a design by Giuseppe Cassioli.
In 1957, in addition to the bronze urn (made by the Bearzi firm of
Florence based on a design by Cassioli) a plastic mask, the work of the
sculptor E. Bava, was applied to the skull of the Saint. Also in the
same year the marbles of the altar and of the whole chapel were
restored, by the Tosetti firm of Florence. The Crucifix of the Mercies,
attributed to Alesso Baldovinetti and dated around 1456, has recently
been placed above the ciborium of the altar, normally on the high altar.
Chapel of Pieta
started by Clemente Bandinelli, son of the
sculptor who died in 1555, and then finished by the father himself; on
the base, the portraits of Baccio Bandinelli, his wife Jacopa Doni and
the family crest are carved in bas-relief.
Chapels to the left in
the nave
Chapel of San Giuseppe (Feroni)
Also known as the Feroni
Chapel, it was built in 1451 and Andrea del Castagno frescoed the San
Giuliano and the Redeemer there between 1455-56 (a work now hidden in a
niche behind the current altarpiece). In the restoration, rich in marble
and stucco, carried out by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1693), the canvas
of the Transit of St. Joseph by the Bavarian Johann Carl Loth, an artist
active above all in Venice, but loved and promoted in Tuscany by the
Grand Prince Ferdinand.
On the two sepulchral monuments, of the
Feroni family, patrons of the chapel, the statue of San Francesco is by
the Florentine Camillo Cateni, and that of San Domenico, by Carlo
Marcellini. The other sculptures are by Francesco Andreozzi, Isidoro
Franchi, Giuseppe Piamontini; the gilded bronze medallions are by
Massimiliano Soldani Benzi. A silver lamp (1694) hangs from the arch of
the chapel, and was designed by Foggini himself.
Chapel of San
Girolamo (Montauti)
In 1451 the convent gave this chapel to the
Corboli family. Until recently it was called the Last Judgment, for the
table by Alessandro Allori, placed on the altar, but brought back to
light (1933) the fresco of the Trinity and saints by Andrea del Castagno
(about 1454), the chapel has resumed its former name. The frescoes on
the walls, the Defilers driven out of the Temple, Jesus among the
doctors and those in the vault, the earthly Paradise, Prophets and
Sibyls, Annunciation, Nativity, Presentation of Jesus in the Temple,
Flight into Egypt are by Alessandro Allori.
Chapel of the
Crucifixion
It was patronized from 1450, by the Galli family. On the
altar Giovanni Stradano painted the table of the Crucifixion. The two
frescoes of the prophets Isaiah and Abacuc are unknown, the Resurrection
of Lazarus on the right wall is by Niccola Monti (1837). On the left
wall, the Last Judgment, a copy of a detail from Michelangelo's
Judgment, is by Alessandro Allori, who added a portrait of Michelangelo
as a tribute to him among the characters. The altarpiece comes from the
adjacent Montauti chapel, and was disassembled and placed here to make
the fresco by Andrea del Castagno visible.
Chapel of the
Assumption
The da Rabatta family was the patron saint of the chapel
since 1451. It was restored in 1667. The Assumption of Mary by Perugino
was transported here from the high altar. Originally the altarpiece had
two sides, but it was divided and today one side is in the Galleria
dell'Accademia in Florence. On the walls, David and Goliath and the Holy
Ark are by Luigi Ademollo (1828). In this chapel you can still clearly
see the remains of the original pillars that separated the central nave
from the lateral ones, before the latter were transformed into chapels.
Organ Chapel
It was once dedicated to San Rocco and on the altar
you could see the wooden statue of the saint which is now in the chapel
of the Resurrection. After the restoration in 1634 of the ancient organ
from the collections of the Domus Aurea in Rome, the chapel was
entrusted to the Palli family who thought of the rich marble decoration
by Bartolomeo Rossi, and had Cesare Dandini paint the picture of the
altar, Assunta which protects Florence.
In its place was once the Chapel of Sant'Ansano. In fact there is a
fresco with the Sienese martyr, attributed to Stefano d'Antonio (1440).
The canvas of San Biagio and other martyr saints is from the 15th
century but by an unknown author, while the two small canvases of Saints
Peter and Paul are by Jacopo Vignali. The vault was frescoed by
Volterrano, who portrayed Saint Cecilia among the musician angels. The
marble facing is the work of Alessandro Malavisti.
Chapel of the
Crucifix
It is located in the left cross vault, formerly the old
sacristy of the church. In 1445, it became the main chapel of the
Villani family and was restructured by Michelozzo: the tombstone on the
floor dates from that year, by Jacopo di Giovanni Villani. On the altar
is the wooden crucifix, one of those known as dei Bianchi (before 1404).
At the foot of the Crucifix are two valuable life-size terracotta
statues, the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist from the workshop of
Luca della Robbia, datable to around 1430-1450.
The canvas that
sometimes covers the altarpiece was painted in 1855 by Ferdinando
Folchi, and represents a Deposition. The decoration in false
architecture (1746) is by Giuseppe Sciaman (Jean-Joseph Chamant), and
the vault, by Vincenzo Meucci. The large terracotta statue of St. John
the Baptist seems to be the model of St. John designed by Michelozzo
(1452) for the altar front of the Baptistery (now in the Museo
dell'Opera del Duomo). The baptismal font is the work of Giuseppe
Cassioli; the gilded frontal of the altar and the urn that welcomes
Saint Fiorenzo (companion of Saint Antimo of Rome), are by Luca
Boncinelli (1689).
Chapel of San Filippo Benizi
The first
records date back to 1464 with the title of San Giovanni Evangelista. In
1671 it was restored and embellished. The altar table representing the
Saint in glory and the small picture of Saint John the Evangelist are by
Volterra.
High altar
It was perhaps Leon Battista Alberti, in
1471, who designed the altar for which in 1481-2 Giuliano da Sangallo
sculpted the Crucifix in wood now located in the chapel of Blessed
Giovacchino da Siena. In 1504, a wooden altar-piece arch by Baccio
d'Agnolo was erected behind the table and separating it from the choir.
The archway was closed by a large panel painted on both sides (today
sectioned and divided): on the side of the choir, an Assumption by
Perugino (now in the chapel of the Assunta), and towards the nave, a
Deposition by Filippino Lippi, finished by Perugino (today in the
Accademia Gallery). In 1546 the table was removed and in its place was
placed a large ciborium carved in wood by Filippo and Giuliano di Baccio
d'Agnolo.
In 1655 Antonio di Vitale de' Medici donated the
current silver Sancta Sanctorum to the church, surmounted by a rock
crystal cross. The draftsman was Alfonso Parigi and the executors were
Giovanni Battista and Antonio Merlini. The silver frontal of the altar,
designed by Giovan Battista Foggini was executed in 1682 by the Flemish
silversmith Arrigo Brunick. The altar was finished in 1704 to a design
by Giovacchino Fortini, to whom the statues of San Filippo Benizi and
Santa Giuliana Falconieri (1705) above the two doors of the choir also
belong.
On the sides of the presbytery, there are two monumental
aedicules in marble by Giovanni Caccini, with the statues of San Pietro
(1601) and San Paolo (1609-10), sculpted by his pupil Gherardo Silvani
based on a design by Caccini himself. On the floor a plaque marks where
Andrea del Sarto was buried. Leaning against the pillars that form the
arch of the presbytery, are two sepulchral monuments of monsingnor
Angelo Marzi-Medici, on the left, and of senator Donato dell'Antella, on
the right. The first monument is the work of Francesco da Sangallo
(1546); the other, by Giovan Battista Foggini (1702).
Built by Michelozzo in 1444 in a circular shape as a rotunda reserved
for meditation for the friars, it was subsequently transformed into a
large domed covered space designed by Leon Battista Alberti, who also
built the grandiose connecting arch with the nave of the church,
breaking through the ancient Chapel of Santa Giuliana Falconieri. In
1668 the choir had its current external arrangement by Alessandro
Malavisti based on a design by Pier Francesco Silvani. The central door
with the Charity group (in stucco) is by Giambologna (1578). Six other
marble statues rest on the parapet of the enclosure: San Filippo Benizi
is attributed to fra Vincenzo Casali, served; the Redeemer, San
Gaudenzio and Blessed Ubaldo Adimari are by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli,
served (about 1542); Our Lady of Sorrows is by Alessandro Malavisti
(1666), the Blessed Lottaringo della Stufa is by Agostino Frisson
(around 1668).
Inside the choir, the marble floor dates back to
1541; the walnut stalls on the model of the previous ones, carved by
Giovanni d'Alesso Unghero in 1538, were remade in 1846. The two brass
lecterns, with an eagle with spread wings, are a valuable work from the
14th and 15th centuries. The English provenance of the oldest has been
recognized. The large walnut lectern in the center of the choir is by
Antonio Rossi (1852).
The dome was painted by Volterrano in just
three years (1680-1683): it represents the Assumption of the Virgin who,
among a crowd of saints from the Old and New Testaments, is raised by
Angels to the throne of the Most High.
Tribune chapels
To the
left of the Chapel of San Filippo you enter the vestibule of the
sacristy, which has the passage (1937) to the tribune at the back. It
was created by Michelozzo, it was transformed in 1625 into the Chapel of
the Presentation, of which the architecture still remains, in place of
the altar. The two small stone statues in the side niches are by an
unknown author. The tondo above the compartment is the coat of arms of
the Guelph Party. On the right, a stucco bust, placed here in 1592,
would hand down to us the true effigy of San Filippo Benizi.
Chapel of the Nativity
The Chapel of the Nativity, or of
Sant'Ignazio, was erected in 1471 by the dell'Antella family. It was
renovated at the behest of Donato dell'Antella starting from the year
1600 (architecture based on a design by the sculptor Bartolommeo Rossi)
and already consecrated on 25 June 1602. The altarpiece, the Nativity of
the Virgin (1602), is by Alessandro Allori . On the walls, four other
valuable paintings narrate some facts of the life of San Manetto
dell'Antella, one of the Seven Founders osm. The first painting on the
top right is by Jacopo Ligozzi, and represents San Manetto at the feet
of Pope Clement IV; the lower one, San Manetto healing a cripple, is by
Cristoforo Allori, from 1602, important for the painter's adherence to
the new naturalism in drawing and color learned from the teachings of
Cigoli and master Gregorio Pagani, and known for the presence, among the
bystanders on the left, his teachers and some of his colleagues together
with his self-portrait; on the left, the first at the top, is the
painting with the Seven Founding Saints heading to Montesenario, by
Alessandro Allori; below is the San Manetto elected General of the
Order, by Domenico Cresti known as il Passignano.
The vault was
frescoed by Bernardino Poccetti, who represented Paradise, where, above
the biblical patriarchs, the dove of the Holy Spirit sheds a shower of
light with small golden flames, among which seven luminous stars worked
in relief in stucco which refer to the seven gifts of the Spirit but
also allude to the Seven Founding Saints.
Chapel of San Michele
Arcangelo
It belonged to the Benivienis since 1470 and then passed to
the Donatis who restored it in 1666. The altar painting, the Virgin and
Saint Michael (1671) and the two lateral ones, Saint Charles Borromeo
and Saint Mary Magdalene dei Pazzi, are by Simone Pignoni. The frescoes
in the vault are by Cosimo Ulivelli.
Chapel of Sant'Andrea
Apostolo
It was built in 1456 by Francesco Romoli dei Bellavanti; but
in 1721 it was under the patronage of the Malaspina family who restored
it in 1726. The altar panel, Madonna and saints, is attributed to the
circle of Perugino; two lateral paintings represent the Martyrdom of
Saint Andrew.
So called from the altarpiece by Agnolo Bronzino. Pietro del Tovaglia
was the first patron of the chapel, but in 1552 the patronage was
assumed by the Guadagni family who restored it in 1742. Worthy of note
is the statue of San Rocco, in linden wood, by Veit Stoss. The marble
San Francesco di Paola in the opposite niche is by Giuseppe Piamontini
(1700).
Chapel of the Madonna del Soccorso (by Giambologna)
In
1444 the Pucci family thought of erecting their chapel here. But once
the grandstand was finished with the financial aid of the Marquis of
Mantua, he reserved the patronage of the chapel which was later
transferred to the Dolci family, and then, in 1559, passed to the
sculptor Giambologna. The architecture in pietra serena and the bronze
Crucifix are by Giambologna himself, as are the six bronze bas-reliefs
with scenes from the Passion. The marble statues are by his pupil Pietro
Francavilla (Active Life and Contemplative Life), the others in stucco
are by Pietro Tacca (Angels and Apostles).
On the altar, remade
in marble and bronze decorations in 1749, the panel of the Madonna del
Soccorso, attributed to Bernardo Daddi. Behind the altar, above the
sarcophagus which contains the remains of Giambologna and Pietro Tacca,
is the painting of the Pietà by Jacopo Ligozzi. Of the other two
paintings, the Resurrection is by Passignano, and the Nativity of Christ
by Giovan Battista Paggi.
Chapel of Santa Lucia
Formerly
called dei Santi Martiri e San Francesco, it first belonged to the
Giocondo family, but in 1723 it passed to the Anforti family, who
restored it in 1727.
On the altar there was once the painting of
the Stigmata of Saint Francis by Domenico Puligo (now in the Palatine
Gallery), then that of the Seven Founding Saints was placed, and finally
the current Saint Lucia, by Jacopo Vignali. The two paintings on the
walls, History of the martyr saints and Saint Francis, are by an unknown
author.
The vault is decorated by Niccolò Nannetti.
Chapel
of the born blind
It takes its name from the altarpiece by
Passignano, which represents the miracle worked by Christ on the man
born blind. In 1534, the Scalas were patrons of the chapel, and the
scholar and Chancellor of the Republic of Florence, Bartolommeo Scala,
was buried here. In 1604 the Brunaccinis took over the patronage of the
chapel, and erased all traces of the previous curators, including a coat
of arms and an inscription dedicated to Bartolommeo. On the right, the
Adoration of the Born Blind is by Empoli; the painting on the left, by
Pietro Sorri, a Sienese artist; the paintings on the vault are by
Ottavio Vannini.
Chapel of Santa Caterina
The first patrons of
this chapel were the Bardi, then the Accolti and in 1612 the
Buontalenti, who adorned it according to a design by Gherardo Silvani.
The painting on the altar representing the mystical wedding of Saint
Catherine of Alexandria (1642) is by Giovanni Bilivert, and the two
lateral ones, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Margherita of Cortona with
the frescoes on the vault, are by Vignali.
Chapel of Sant'Anna
This chapel belonged to the Giacomini-Tebalducci family. In 1543,
Antonio Mazzieri painted the picture of Sant'Anna with Saints Stefano,
Lorenzo, Filippo Benizi and Giuliana Falconieri.
Pipe organs
There are six pipe organs in the basilica. Since 2011, the titular
organist has been the Florentine Simone Stella, served tertiary.
On the choir loft above the Salvatore chapel (on the right wall of
the nave), with a parapet carved in marble by Piero Rosselli, there is a
pipe organ, with a wooden case, rich in carvings and gilding, partly by
Giovanni d' Alexis Hungarian. The instrument was built by Domenico di
Lorenzo da Lucca between 1509 and 1521; the curtain that closes the
exhibition consists of a canvas painted in 1705 by Antonio Puglieschi
with the Presentation in the Temple.
The organ, which has been
restored several times, has a mechanical transmission and has a single
keyboard of 62 notes with a scavezza first counter-octave and a scavezza
lectern pedalboard of 18 without its own registers and constantly
combined with the manual. It has 7 registers.
Organ in cornu
Evangelii
Opposite Domenico di Lorenzo's organ is a second
instrument, restored by Andrea and Cosimo Ravani from Lucca in 1628. It
had originally belonged to Nero and was placed in the Domus Aurea, it
was then transported to Florence. The marble base was sculpted by
Bartolommeo Rossi; the marble-dyed stone railing is by Alessandro
Malavisti; the wooden part is carved by Benedetto Tarchiani; the project
is the work of Matteo Nigetti. The painter Giuseppe Romei painted the
canvas that closes the exhibition with the Death of Santa Giuliana
Falconieri (1772). In 1763, both organs were reduced to the same key by
Father Bonfiglio Vambré, O.S.M.. In 1911 the organ was completely
rebuilt by Carlo Vegezzi Bossi. Of the original instrument of the
imperial age, only the keyboard, some pedals, the golden case and the
facade pipes remain.
The current instrument, in a state of
abandonment, has a mixed transmission (hydraulics for stops, manuals and
the pedal, mechanics for the unions) and has 20 stops; its console, also
located in the choir loft, has two keyboards of 56 notes each and a
straight pedalboard of 27.
Organ of the Chapel of the Santissima
Annunziata
Next to the Chapel of the Santissima Annunziata, between
the first and second chapels on the left, is the pipe organ built by
Michelangelo Paoli in 1842 by reusing the phonic material of a previous
instrument, built by Matteo da Prato between 1444 and 1453 and enlarged
by Onofrio Zeffirini in 1551 (some registers and the current exhibition
date back to the sixteenth-century intervention). The instrument is
located in a stairwell and its console, with a window, opens into the
rear wall of the case; it has a single keyboard of 50 notes with a rough
first octave and a scavezza lectern pedalboard of 8 notes constantly
joined to the manual and without its own registers. The organ, in a
state of abandonment, has an entirely mechanical transmission and has 14
registers.
Tribune organ
Inside the enclosure of the choir,
behind the high altar, is the pipe organ used during the liturgies and
for some concerts. This was built by Carlo Vegezzi-Bossi in 1912, but
after the flood of 1966, in 1969 the console was rebuilt by Giovanni Bai
and moved to the presbytery. The instrument, with electric transmission
(but until 1992 it was electro-pneumatic), has 18 registers; the console
has two keyboards of 58 notes each and a concave-radial pedalboard of 30
and the positive organ built by Paolo Ciabatti in 2002 and located in
the first exedra on the right of the grandstand is also connected to it.
Organ of the Chapel of San Luca
In the Chapel of San Luca (also
called "dei Pittori") there is a positive organ built by Tommaso Fabbri
from Faenza in 1702. This instrument, originally intended for the New
Sacristy and only later placed in the chapel, has a suspended mechanical
transmission and has 5 registers; it has a single 45-note keyboard with
a rough first octave and a 9-note rough lectern pedalboard constantly
joined to the manual and without its own registers.
The Great Cloister
The "Great" or "Dead" Cloister was rearranged
on one side of the church by Michelozzo and others, and finished in the
15th century. The clock dates back to the 16th century, although it
underwent modifications in the following centuries. The small bell
carries the inscription Ave Maria and the date 1567.
The
twenty-five painted lunettes that we admire under the arches are due to
the brush of various authors. The first three lunettes on the left are
by Ventura Salimbeni (1605): San Manetto dell'Antella and Pope Clement
IV (note the portrait of Dante); Enlargement of Santa Maria di Cafaggio,
Death of San Bonfiglio Monaldi, first General of the Order.
The
fourth lunette is by Bernardino Poccetti (1612): Death of Saint
Bonagiunta Manetti. The fifth and sixth were painted by Matteo Rosselli
(1614): San Bonfiglio resigned as superior; Approval of the Order of
Servants of Mary.
Continuing on the following side we find
another lunette by Salimbeni (1608), Vision of San Filippo Benizi. In
the eighth fresco (1625), the painter father Arsenio Mascagni recounts
the devout tradition of the Face of the Madonna painted by an angel. The
ninth lunette is by Matteo Rosselli (1616): Innocent IV and Cardinal
Fieschi protector of the Servite Order. In the tenth fresco by Arsenio
Mascagni with the Laying of the first stone of Santa Maria di Cafaggio,
and in the eleventh, by Rosselli (1616), instead, San Manetto in the
presence of the king of France.
The six lunettes that follow in
the north arm are frescoed by Bernardino Poccetti. They represent: the
Apparition of the Madonna to the bishop of Florence and to the Seven
Founders; Foundation of the monastery of Montesenario; The bishop of
Florence assigns the Rule of Saint Augustine to the new Order; The seven
Florentines retire to Villa Camarzia; Vocation to the hermitic life;
Birth of the new Order in the company of the Laudesi. The lunette above
the secondary entrance door to the church is a masterpiece by Andrea del
Sarto, the famous Madonna del Sacco (1525). Not far away, on the left,
the tomb of Chiarissimo dei Falconieri.
The other seven lunettes
along the side of the church are also frescoed by Poccetti: Death of
Sant'Alessio Falconieri, San Filippo Benizi converting two female
sinners; Death of Saints Uguccione and Sostegno; Sant'Uguccione in the
presence of Rudolf I Count of Habsburg; San Sostegno in Paris before
King Philip; San Manetto renounces the government of the Order in favor
of San Filippo Benizi; Sant'Amadio degli Amidei resurrects a drowned
boy.
Under the fourth and fifth lunettes of this arm of the
cloister is the sepulchral monument of William of Durfort, who died in
the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). The cornflower of France and
the lily of Florence recall the friendship of the two peoples.
The Chapel of the Chapter overlooks the large cloister.
It was
so-called because the friars used to hold their community gatherings in
it, it was their chapter house. Previously it was the chapel of the
Macinghi family, and was built in 1384. In 1722, based on a design by
Giovacchino Fortini, it was brought to its present state. The decoration
and the paintings are by Matteo Bonechi (Stories of the Seven Founding
Saints) and by Antonio Puglieschi (author of only the scenes in the
scarsella, with the Vision of the vine and the child Saint Philip
acclaiming the Servants of Mary), with quadratures by Benedetto Fortini
.
On the wall behind the altar, in a rich carved and gilded
frame, is an ancient painting of the Seven Founders of the Order of the
Servants of Mary, made up of as many panels, perhaps from the fourteenth
century, found by chance in 1699 in the ceiling of the church of
Santissima Annunziata in Pistoia and sent to Florence: these are the
oldest portraits of the seven, although heavily repainted in the
eighteenth century.
On the left side of the altar rest the mortal
remains of the mystic Maria Valtorta, tertiary of the Order of the
Servants of Mary, who on 2 July 1973 were moved from the Misericordia
cemetery in Viareggio to the current tomb located inside the Chapter
Chapel.
A corridor and a door lead from the Great Cloister into the Second
Cloister. We have news of it since 1322, but in 1371 it was rebuilt in
stone columns and on two floors. Today it is walled up and only the
corner columns have been freed.
Two frescoes by Francesco
Montelatici known as Cecco Bravo are interesting, Charity and Hope,
which are found on the sides of the niche where once was the statue of
Victory (now in the Bargello National Museum) sculpted by Ammannati. At
present in the niche there is a large polychrome statue of San Filippo
Benizi, carved by Luca Boncinelli for his canonization (1671). On the
walls of the north side, fragments of frescoes on the life of St.
Augustine were found, painted by Stefano d'Antonio around 1470.
Chapel of the painters or of San Luca
This chapel is linked to the
name of the Florentine sculptor of the Order of the Servants of Mary,
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, who gave new life to the Compagnia del
Disegno, assigning this place as its headquarters. Having restored the
chapel at his own expense, he inaugurated it in 1562 in the presence of
forty-eight painters, sculptors and architects who had given their names
to the resurrected Company.
The chapel was dedicated to the Holy
Trinity of which the fresco (1571) executed by Alessandro Allori is
present on the right. Under this fresco was originally the altar, and on
the opposite side was the entrance that led to the Second Cloister.
Eustache d'Osmond, bishop of Nancy sent to Florence by Napoleon as
archbishop, took a part of the convent as a residence, the Chapel of the
Painters as a private chapel, closing the original entrance. The fresco
by Pontormo, the Virgin and saints (formerly from the church of San
Ruffillo), was later placed in place of the ancient entrance, and the
altar ended up under the fresco by Giorgio Vasari, San Luca painting the
Virgin.
On the wall opposite the altar, Santi di Tito painted the
Building of the Temple of Solomon (according to some: Constantine who
presides over the first construction of the Christian basilicas); while
the painting on the vault, the Virgin and Saint Bernard, is by Luca
Giordano (1685). There is a positive organ by Tommaso Fabbri from Faenza
(1702).
The statues around the chapel are by Montorsoli,
Giambologna and other Florentine sculptors of the time. In the centre, a
well with a marble frame marks the underground access to the mortuary
chapel, where Pontormo, Montorsoli himself, Franciabigio, Benvenuto
Cellini, Lorenzo Bartolini, etc. were buried. The last to be buried here
was Rodolfo Siviero, in 1983.
In the small ambulatory that serves
as a sacristy there are other works, including the San Giovanni a
Patmos, a terracotta from the Della Robbia school, the wooden Christ by
Antonio da Sangallo the Elder and the sinopia with the Virgin enthroned
and saints which was found behind the fresco by Pontormo, to be
attributed to Raffaellino del Garbo.
The convent of the served friars is located to the left of the
church, with access from via Cesare Battisti 6. Although today it is
considerably reduced due to the secularization of many environments
(which now house, among others, the Military Geographical Institute and
the University of Florence), the complex still includes many works of
art and monumental structures. You enter from the gatehouse, decorated
in the background with eighteenth-century squares, which overlook some
rooms where you can find the sinopias of the lunettes of the large
cloister, altarpieces such as the Annunciation by Bartolomeo Traballesi,
and the Hall of the Annunciation, where a Madonna Annunciata from the
fifteenth century, attributable to Cosimo Rosselli.
Also on the
ground floor, the large refectory, decorated by the Supper in the house
of the Fariseo by Santi di Tito (1573), by some frescoes by Giandomenico
Ferretti and a large wooden altarpiece with the Addolorata (1750). Next
to it are the kitchens, which still have a large fifteenth-century
fireplace.
Michelozzo contributed to the library of the friars. A
corridor to the side of the basilica contains many devotional works
mostly from the 17th century. On the upper floors are the monks' cells,
among which the one that once belonged to Montorsoli stands out, who
lived here in isolation for the last years of his life, in a small
hermitage inside the convent itself, with a personal chapel frescoed by
Andrea Boscoli around 1587. Other rooms are the infirmary (where the
sick friars lived temporarily) and the guesthouse (for guests).
In 2007, in the western part of the convent, now the headquarters of the
Military Geographical Institute, some rooms were discovered, including a
previously hidden staircase made by Michelozzo, a lunette with an
Annunciation doubtfully attributed to Paolo Uccello, some grotesques by
Morto da Feltre and the frescoes of birds in flight by the hand perhaps
of Leonardo da Vinci and his school. Leonardo in fact resided in the
convent of the Santissima Annunziata for two years.
Over time, many companies or brotherhoods met in the great basilica
and its annexes. Among the most important were:
Company of the
Nunziata
Company of Sant'Antonio Abate
Company of Saints Crespino
and Crespiniano dei Calzolai
Company of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici
Company of San Girolamo in via della Sapienza
Company of San Lorenzo
in Piano
Company of San Sebastiano del Beato Gherardo
Company of
St Job
Company of San Filippo Benizi
Company of St John the
Baptist
Maestro della Maddalena, Penitent Magdalene and eight stories from
her life, now in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence
Gherardo
Starnina, Madonna of Humility, now in the Uffizi in Florence
Beato
Angelico, Silver Cabinet, now in the San Marco Museum in Florence
Andrea del Castagno, sinopia of the Trinity and saints, today in the
Last Supper of Sant'Apollonia in Florence
Piero del Pollaiolo,
Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, now in the National Gallery, London
Filippino Lippi and Perugino, Deposition, now in the Galleria
dell'Accademia
Fra Bartolomeo, Isaiah, now in the Galleria
dell'Accademia in Florence
Fra Bartolomeo, Giobbe, now in the
Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence
Perugino, Birth of the Virgin,
today at Polesden Lacey (Guildford, Surrey)
Perugino, Miracle of the
Snow, now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Piero di Cosimo,
Incarnation of Christ, now in the Uffizi