Two years after the event, “Da Bernardo Daddi a Giorgio Vasari”, Moretti has mounted a prestigious exhibition: a study crossing five centuries of art history, focusing on the extraordinary pictorial production in Tuscany.
The show consists of forty works (which include examples from some of the great masters, including lo Scheggia, Jacopo del Sellaio, Lorenzo Lippi…) characterized by an excellent state of preservation and the particularities of placing works as references of fundamental periods of art history.
The fourteenth century is splendidly represented by a series of altarpieces: from Niccolò da Segna to Agnolo Gaddi, from Bartolomeo Cristiani to Bicci di Lorenzo. Amongst those which seem particularaly exciting is the panel by Jacopo del Casentino, Madonna and Child with two Angels. The artwork, despite having had some restoration, still maintains the original allure, also thanks to the discretion of the restorations that clearly indicate the authentic segments. The composition is inspired by the iconography of the fourteenth century; the enthroned Virgin holds the Child in her arms adding to the symbols of the coral and the cardinal that recall the Passion.
The passage of the medieval tension to the figurative study of the fifteenth century is expressed in a work depicting the Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Jerome by Giovanni di Ser Giovanni, also known as Lo Scheggia.
Despite this work being connected to the early years of the painter’s activity, the qualities that define the artistic personality of Lo Scheggia are evident. The strong teaching of his brother, Masaccio (clearly visible in the imposing physicality of the figures and in the alludion of the three-dimensional system) is filtered by a strong Gothic tradition. This is also apparent in the gold ground and in the attention to detail, all influences of Fra Angelico.
Amongst the presented works from the seventeenth century, the refined canvas by Lorenzo Lippi and the Allegory of a Contemplative Life by Giacinto Gimignani both deserve mention.
In addition there is a significant eighteenth century work by Giovanni Domenico Ferretti depicting Harlequin, Father of the Family, which was probably part of a series of misadventures recording The Misadventures of Harlequin.
Catalogue edited by
Francesca Baldassari
Authors of the entries
Francesca Baldassari, Luciano Bellosi, Daniele Benati, Franco Canepa, Gaudenz Freuler, Laura Laureati, Nicoletta Pons, Angelo Tartuferi, Ludovica Trezzani, Lisa Venturini