via sant'antonino n. 2
the Tabernacles of Florence
THE TABERNACLE
Madonna col Bambino
A half-figure Madonna, with her face in a frontal position, clasps small Jesus, depicted lying down and attached to his Mother's breast. Above them, two flying angels bear the crown above the sacred group. The figures of Mary and Jesus appear to be of 14th-century execution: thus, in fact, the simplified types and characteristic relief work, with incised rays, of the haloes attest.
Tabernacle
The composition is surrounded by an eighteenth-century style frame with a broken tympanum, below which a cartouche bears an inscription celebrating the Virgin. The lower part of the frame is engraved with the date 1740, which fits well with the style of the aedicule and that of the two flying angels.
THE STREET
Via Sant'Antonino
The street is dedicated today to Antonino Pierozzi, an enlightened archbishop of Florence. In ancient times it was divided into shorter sections with different names. The first section, up to Via Faenza, was called Via dell'Amore, as the short cross street of Via dell'Amorino still reminds us. The next section up to Via dell'Ariento was called Via della Cella di Ciardo and, finally, Via Porciaia in the final section, where today the 19th-century arcades flanking the Florence Central Market are located.
AUTHOR
Florentine painters
(14th and 18th centuries) The shape of the faces might suggest a painter already active in the second half of the 14th century. Heavy repainting can be discerned, altering the original physiognomic features.
Tibdit
According to Guarnieri's hypothesis, the execution of the aedicule and the insertion of the two angels crowning the Madonna and Christ Child were a vow to end the particular weather conditions of May and June 1740, which had afflicted the Florentine territory and for which extraordinary religious services and rites had also been resorted to.
GALLERY
Tabernacle
Via Sant'Antonino 2
Detail: Madonna col Bambino
Via Sant'Antonino 2
Detail: inscription
Via Sant'Antonino 2
