italianartsociety:By Costanza BeltramiOn 30 December 1365 painter Andrea di Firenze signed acontract

italianartsociety:By Costanza BeltramiOn 30 December 1365 painter Andrea di Firenze signed acontract for the decoration of the chapter house (known as the Spanish Chapel) ofSanta Maria Novella in Florence. According to the contract, he was to completethe chapel’s frescoes in two years, or less. During this period, Santa MariaNovella’s friars would allow the painter and his wife to live in a nearby housefree of charge. Although Andrea only started working on the frescoes in1365, the decoration was actually conceived in 1355, when Florentine merchantBuonamico di Lapo donated the necessary sum to the monastery. The contemporaryprior Fra’ Jacopo Passavanti, his successor Fra’ Zanobi Guasconi, or an expertcommittee at the monastery’s theological school chose the content ofthe frescoes, which glorify the Dominican order. Thus, main scenes arededicated to the thirteenth-century saints Peter Martyr and Thomas Aquinas,both Dominican friars. Other frescoes represent episodes in the life of Jesusand the Apostles, for example the Crucifixion and Pentecost.Thetheological structure of the Church is also represented as ChurchMilitant and Church Triumphant. While Andrea is generally considered a minor painter amongfourteenth-century Florentine artists, his work at the Spanish Chapel revealsgreat skill in organizing complex scenes without using the decorative bandstypical of earlier painting. Moreover, he added realism and appeal to thecomposition by giving individual features to each of the innumerable charactershe depicted. The Chapel’s decoration was indeed considered a success by hiscontemporaries, leading to important commissions at the Camposanto (graveyard)of Pisa, where he worked until his death in 1379. Reference: Angelo Tartuferi, “Andrea da Firenze (i).” Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T002753.Bearing of the Cross, Crucifixion, Descent into Hell (north wall), 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.Bearing of the Cross, 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.Descent into Hell (detail), 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant (east wall) 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant (detail) 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.The Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas (west wall), 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.Miracle of Pentecost (west vault cell), 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art.Salvation of Peter (Navicella) (east vault cell), 1366-67, fresco. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Source: Web Gallery of Art. -- source link

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