Tabernacles of Florence
Via Panicale N. 41 R
THE TABERNACLE
Madonna col Bambino
Inside a mixtilinear framing painted à grisaille, with unmistakably 18th-century foliate and cartouche decoration, are painted figures of the Virgin and Child. The latter, supported standing on the Mother's knees, is depicted handing an imaginary onlooker a scapular. This detail distinguishes the composition as a characteristic Madonna del Carmelo (“Madonna of Carmel”), such iconography being widespread in the circles of this mendicant religious order. The Madonna is wrapped in the mantle whose folds take on the texture of a silken cloth.
Tabernacle
The painting, set in a niche concluded at the top by a thin sandstone centered frame, is placed on the wall that bordered the perimeter of the former convent of San Barnaba, which passed from the Augustinians to the Carmelites and finally to the nuns of this regular order from 1522 to 1808, the year of its suppression.
THE STREET
VIA PANICALE
The street owes its name to the dried panicum plant, a grass called precisely "panicale" in Florence. In ancient times it was also called “via de' Maccheroni” and “borgo Panicale”. The street is dotted with various historical memories: it’s adorned by two tabernacles and the San Barnaba church and the Sant'Orsola convent face it.
AUTHOR
Florentine Painter
(18th century) The stylistic references, although it is not possible to formulate a precise hypothesis about the possible author of the painting, may refer to Venetian painting, which had in Florence in the 18th century its most attentive devotees in Alessandro Gherardini and Giovan Domenico Ferretti. The good quality of the painting is noticeable especially in the graceful features of the Virgin.
Curiosity
Decoration à grisaille is a process that reproduces, by means of various gray tones, lights and shadows. It is a technique used during the Renaissance period in France and Italy especially in miniatures, often enhanced by touches of color, such as blue for the sky and red for the blood of crucifixes.
OTHER INFORMATION
Info
AMICI DEI MUSEI FIORENTINI ODV - COMITATO PER IL DECORO E IL RESTAURO DEI TABERNACOLI - Card by Bruno Santi - Restorer: Restoration Laboratory of the Soprintendenza per i Beni artistici e storici di Firenze (1995) - Work direction: Monica Bietti - Funding: Soprintendenza per i Beni artistici e storici di Firenze
PICTURES
Tabernacle
Via Panicale 41 R
Fresco: Madonna col Bambino
Via Panicale 41 R
Detail: faces
Via Panicale 41 R