Full title | Adoring Saints: Right Main Tier Panel |
---|---|
Artist | Jacopo di Cione and workshop |
Artist dates | documented 1365; died 1398 -1400 |
Series | The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece |
Date made | 1370-1 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 169 x 113 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1857 |
Inventory number | NG569.3 |
Location | Room 60 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
The saints arranged neatly in rows look towards the central panel – which shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary – of the four-tiered altarpiece that this picture comes from. A panel on the other side of the central image mirrors the scene here. Together, these three panels formed the main level of the altarpiece.
The altarpiece was commissioned for the Florentine convent church of San Pier Maggiore, where it formed the backdrop to a ceremony related to the ordination of every new bishop of Florence. The bishop would offer a ring to the convent abbess to signifiy his spritual marriage to the church. This may explain the prominence of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, shown on the right of the front row in a pink dress, who was symbolically married to Christ.
This is one of three panels of the main tier of a large altarpiece made for the Benedictine convent church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. It was placed to the right of a central image showing the coronation of the Virgin.
We see saints arranged in neat rows, looking respectfully towards the coronation. As in the panel to the left of the central scene, the saints are painted in detail. While their facial features are quite similar, the artist has taken care to show their individuality though their skin tone, hair colour and costume. They can be identified by the objects that they hold – their attributes. These are often the instruments used to torture them for their Christian faith. Kneeling at the front is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, resting her right arm on the spiked wheel upon which she was tortured before being beheaded. The palm she carries is a symbol of martyrdom. Saint Lawrence holds one too, along with the grill upon which he was burned.
As in the left-hand panel, several of the saints depicted here had particular significance for the wealthy commissioners of the altarpiece, the Albizzi family. Saint Agnes, shown in the second row in blue, holds a lamb – her name means lamb in Latin – which connects to the Albizzi family’s fortune, which had come from trading in wool.
The choice of saints also reflects the altarpiece’s use as a backdrop to an important religious ceremony. When a new bishop of Florence was appointed, he was enthroned before this picture and offered the nuns of the convent a ring. This symbolised his marriage to the church, which had been founded by the first bishop of the city and patron saint, Saint Zenobius. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, according to legend, was married to Christ when he offered her a ring. The city’s other patron saint, John the Baptist, can be seen at the front of the second row at Christ’s right hand. The camel-hair tunic tells us who he is, as this is what he wore while preaching in the wilderness. His right hand hints at his role as a prophet: he gesticulates as though speaking.
The position of the saints in the panels relates to their significance but also to the traditional format of pairing particular saints together. Saint Lawrence, at the edge of the front row, appears opposite Saint Stephen in the left panel, a conventional pairing. Other pairings were less usual but still explain the position of the saints. Saint Jerome, in the penultimate row and wearing a red cardinal’s hat, is shown next to Saint Augustine, who had a vision of Jerome after his death. This visual network of associations adds meaning and complexity to what looks like a simple functional arrangement.
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Adoring Saints: Right Main Tier Panel
The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece
These images come from a large, four-tiered altarpiece created for the high altar of the choir of the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. It was made up of a number of separate panels, most of which are now in the National Gallery’s collection.
Although only the facade of the church remains today, it was one of the oldest and most important religious institutions in Florence when this altarpiece was made. It was founded by the first bishop of Florence, Saint Zenobius, in the fifth century. The picture formed the backdrop to one of the ceremonies relating to the ordination of each bishop of Florence until the late sixteenth century.
The altarpiece was most probably commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Albizzi family and many of its saints relate to their family or their trade as wool merchants. The central images showed the coronation of the Virgin by Christ surrounded by adoring saints – a highly popular image in Florence.
This was one of the largest and most expensive altarpieces made in fourteenth-century Florence, for the Benedictine convent church of San Pier Maggiore, one Florence’s most important and oldest churches.
The central panel shows the coronation of the Virgin by Christ, which occurred, according to legend, after her body and soul were taken up into heaven. The scene is framed by panels on the left and right which show rows of saints looking on. Above this main tier was another level of pictures, showing scenes from Christ’s life and after his death: the Nativity and Adoration of the Kings, the Resurrection and events after it, Christ’s ascension to heavenand Pentecost. Three pinnacles topped the whole construction, the central one showing the Trinity flanked on the left and right by panels showing adoring angels. The predella depicted scenes from the life of the church’s patron saint, Peter, and there were probably also two supporting pilasters on either side of the entire construction, decorated with images of saints.
An important and wealthy Florentine family, the Albizzi, commissioned the altarpiece; it is likely that various members contributed towards the cost of its production. Many of the saints depicted in the altarpiece relate to the Albizzi family while others have significance for the church.
San Pier Maggiore was founded by one of Florence’s patron saints, its first bishop, Saint Zenobius, in the fifth century, and became a Benedictine convent in the eleventh century. At the end of the fourteenth century it was rebuilt, with work completed at around the same time that this altarpiece was installed over the high altar of the choir. The altarpiece played an important part in the ecclesiastical life of the city: new bishops of Florence would process to the church on the way back from their ordination at the cathedral, and it served as the backdrop to a ceremony in which the bishop would become symbolically married to the church. The ritual was sealed when the bishop offered a ring to the convent’s abbess. This recognition and privilege were apt given that the church’s founder was the city’s first bishop.
The painting has been attributed to Jacopo di Cione on the basis of its style. Infrared reflectography has revealed that at least two artists were involved in the initial drawings for the painting – such a large scale painting was likely to be a collaborative project. Surviving documents refer to a ‘designer’: ‘Niccolaio’. His identity is unknown but he could be Niccolò di Pietro di Gerini who collaborated with Jacopo di Cione on other projects, or Niccolò di Tommaso. Considering how much he was paid for the work this designer might have provided a compositional drawing as well as have designed the construction of the woodwork. The documents also mention a decorative painted curtain made to cover the painting.
The majority of the panels which made up the main section of the altarpiece are in the National Gallery, while paintings from the predella and pilasters have been identified in other collections.












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