tabernacolo sm novella-scala

Tabernacles of Florence

Piazza Santa Maria Novella corner of Via della Scala

THE TABERNACLE THE STREET AUTHOR PICTURES

THE TABERNACLE

Madonna col Bambino

The enthroned Virgin and Child are surrounded by two saints and two angels. In the left foreground we see the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, and on the right a holy bishop, whose episcopal dignity is indicated by his miter, crosier, and embroidered mantle under which he holds a book.

Tabernacle

The three pairs of figures are framed by a central aedicule, with a triangular tympanum and shell-shaped basin, and by two side bodies, lower and set back, also crowned by tympanums and formed by apses with three arches. The coat of arms on the corner of today's palace refers to one of the families that owned it: that of the Latini, belonging to the Santa Maria Novella district, gonfalone Lion bianco, whose coat of arms features gold roses on a blue field.

THE STREET

VIA DELLA SCALA

Piazza Santa Maria Novella, dominated by the great Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, is one of the main squares in Florence. The street runs from Piazza Santa Maria Novella to Viale Fratelli Rosselli and is characterized, especially in the section closest to the square, by numerous complexes that originally had a religious and welfare character, alternating with buildings that were renovated especially at the time of Florence's capital. It probably took its name from the former hospital Santa Maria della Scala, founded in 1313 by Cione di Lapo Pollini.

AUTHOR

Tullio Micheli

An established painter and restorer in Florentine circles, he made several interventions in collaboration with the Florence City Aesthetics Committee.

The artist

In 1958 the original painting of the tabernacle was replaced with a copy of it. In memory of the earlier work, Micheli used a mixed technique: a fresco base with subsequent dry brush strokes.

Curiosity

The original fresco, painted by Francesco d'Antonio (1467), was later detached and replaced with a copy made in 1960 by Tullio Micheli.

OTHER INFORMATION

Info

AMICI DEI MUSEI FIORENTINI ODV - COMITATO PER IL DECORO E IL RESTAURO DEI TABERNACOLI - File by Chiara Sestini - Restoration: Faberestauro s.n.c. - Restored by Luciano Romoli - for the love of Anna (2019)