When Beato Angelico painted the Altarpiece of Bosco ai Frati, commissioned by Cosimo the Elder for the altar of the church of the ancient Franciscan convent in San Piero a Sieve, he was fifty-five years old or a little more, we are in 1450/52. His life was almost over. He had recently returned to Tuscany after having decorated the study of Niccolò V and the Niccolina Chapel in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican and before going back to Rome where he will die in 1455, he devoted himself to this Sacred Conversation with the Madonna and child enthroned between two angels and the saints Anthony of Padua, Ludovico da Tolosa, Francesco d’Assisi (left), Cosma and Damiano and Pietro martyr (right).
This is the last great work on wood by the Dominican artist, his spiritual testament, and since yesterday it is back in the Sala dell’Angelico of the San Marco Museum, restored by Lucia Biondi thanks to the Friends of Florence, to whom we owe also the support for the recent rearrangement of the hall.
The months of the pandemic have never interrupted the bond and affection of American benefactors towards Florence and San Marco, indeed, “the Friends have now adopted the museum”, explained president Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda. The donation came from the Peter Fogliano and Hal Lester Foundation, “close to us for a long time, loyal to Florence and Renaissance enthusiasts who have followed at a distance step by step all the phases of the restoration”. «Great is the need for art, which inspires us in the face of difficult circumstances; the pandemic has made us understand how important international cooperation is “, said the US consul in Florence Ragini Gupta and” now – continued the councilor for culture Tommaso Sacchi – let’s add an important piece to this story of a return to life “. “The path started a year ago here is almost complete, where the world’s largest collection of works on wood by the artist is present – added the regional director of museums of Tuscany Stefano Casciu – Only the Franciscan Triptych is missing, currently in the laboratories of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure ».
The Altarpiece of Bosco ai Frati is thus returned to its predella; is back next to the panels of the contemporary Armadio degli Argenti and looking at them closely you are always enchanted by the “avant-garde” eclecticism of Angelico: on the one hand the sublime art of miniature, on the other, to use the words of the museum director Angelo Tartuferi, «heights of Flemish-style naturalism such as the physiognomies, the robes of the saints, the details of the architecture in the background» and an «admirable synthesis between Medicean opulence and Franciscan simplicity supported by the unattainable preciousness of the angelic painting».
«We are faced with what Luciano Bellosi called light painting, very light, all made of glazes – underlines Lucia Biondi – A delicate material; unfortunately the aggressive interventions of the past, before the last one by Leonetto Tintori and Alfio del Serra in 1955, had a profound impact, compromising some parts such as the physiognomies of Antonio da Padova and Pietro and the background of the landscape. My work consisted of a light cleaning, I thinned the paint that had attracted so much dirt, underneath I found older patinas and I did a delicate job of stain removal and then of glazing and stitching to achieve the sense of transparency and depth. space. In many cases the preparatory drawing is also visible ».
A very refined work, with references to the courtly style of the previous Vatican frescoes, where the charm of the ancient is evident, the classic taste in the architectural details, such as the marble niches arranged to frame the saints and particularly striking the figure of the Madonna in a canopy in pure gold engraved with unique craftsmanship. The wide use of pure gold and lapis lazuli, among the passions of the Medici, in all the blues, in the very precious variety coming from the quarries from Afghanistan, testify to the taste of a wealthy and prestigious client such as Cosimo the Elder.
It was he who wanted to renovate the Franciscan convent of San Bonaventura al Bosco ai Frati, near the Medici villa of Cafaggiolo after it had been abandoned due to the plague. To do so he called in 1438 Michelozzo, the favorite architect who was responsible for the transformation, together with Angelico, of the convent of San Marco which will become, Vasari wrote, “the best understood and most beautiful, and more comfortable so long as it is in Italy”. A transformation that continues today in an oasis of peace and serenity.
June 16, 2021 | 15:33
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