Full title | Pentecost: Upper 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 | 96 x 49.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1857 |
Inventory number | NG578 |
Location | Room 60 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
At Pentecost, after Christ’s death, his disciples were imbued with the Holy Ghost, shown here as a dove. Tongues of fire appeared on their heads and they were able to speak multiple languages.
The disciples are seated in a circle in the upper storey of a house, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter in the centre. We can see red flames – tongues of fire – on their heads. On the street below, people wearing different types of clothing and hats listen in at the door. They represent the Jews from all different nations, who gathered to hear the disciples speaking in their languages.
This panel comes from a large altarpiece made for the Florentine church of San Pier Maggiore. Saint Peter’s central position reflects the church’s dedication to him. This panel formed the last picture in a series of narratives of Christ’s life and death that was situated above the altarpiece’s main tier.
This panel was once framed with a scene showing the ascension of Christ into heaven, and is the last in a narrative series focusing on key moments in the life of Christ, including his death, resurrection and ascension. This sequence of six paintings formed the middle tier of a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the Florentine convent church of San Pier Maggiore. The central scene showed the coronation of the Virgin.
Pentecost is the name of an event that happened 50 days after the Crucifixion. Christ’s disciples were gathered together to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Weeks when, according to the Bible, a strong wind began to blow and flames like ‘tongues of fire’ appeared on their heads. The disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak miraculously in a number of languages. Those around them were amazed – they thought that the disciples must be drunk.
We see the disciples sat in a circle in an upstairs room or perhaps a covered walkway, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter in the centre. Each has a flame on their head. The upper part of the panel shows a white dove flying downwards into the room, emitting golden rays – incised into the gold leaf background – from his beak. The artist has included the windows on the back wall of the room so that we can see all the way through it, giving an impression of its depth. As in the previous scene Saint Peter and the Virgin Mary are shown in the most prominent positions. Saint Peter is even holding his symbol, a key, as in the main tier, so that his identity cannot be mistaken. His prominence is appropriate given the church’s dedication to Saint Peter.
The biblical account mentions that a crowd of Jews visiting the city from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Rome gathered to hear the disciples speaking about God in languages they could understand. We see them here on the street below. Some look up, their hands raised in wonder, while two figures listen in at the doors, which are slightly ajar. The artist has shown these men wearing a variety of head coverings, from hoods to crowns to brimmed hats, perhaps to emphasise their diverse and foreign origins. This moment is significant for Christ’s followers: it gave them the authority to continue preaching his message to all nations.
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Pentecost: Upper 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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