NARDO DI CIONE

Previously known only through a nineteenth-century engraving, this panel was discovered at a country auction in Dorset, England, in March 2000. Scholars then identified the panel as the missing pinnacle of Nardo di Cione’s altarpiece Virgin and Child with Saints, on view in the same museum. As the pinnacle to the larger panel, Christ Blessing would have been located directly above Virgin and Child with Saints.

Previously known only through a nineteenth-century engraving, this panel was discovered at a country auction in Dorset, England, in March 2000. Scholars then identified the panel as the missing pinnacle of Nardo di Cione’s altarpiece Virgin and Child with Saints, on view in the same museum. As the pinnacle to the larger panel, Christ Blessing would have been located directly above Virgin and Child with Saints.

Nardo di Cione was the brother of Andrea di Cione called Orcagna and Jacopo di Cione with whom he often collaborated. They ran together one of the leading Florentine workshops in the mid-14th century. He executed a number of frescoes, a very few of which have survived in poor conditions and several polyptych panels.

This panel showing Christ in a red and blue dress in the act of crowning the Virgin, in black and white garments, is believed to have constituted the central panel of a triptych. The coronation of the Virgin was a popular subject in Gothic and late Gothic Italy up to the 18th century although its imagery considerably evolved over the centuries.

The panel must been reduced and cut off on the edges. The bottom of the panel most likely showed a group of angels attending the ceremony and playing musical instruments such as in these two Coronation of the Virgin respectively by Agnolo Gaddi (National Gallery, London), and Giotto, (Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence). These large compositions tent to be chopped off and sold separately to increase profits during the 19th century.

This is one of the most important works produced in Florence around the middle of the fourteenth century. It was probably the central panel of a tabernacle and in the predella contains half length figures of various saints: Saint Jerome, James the Less, Saint Paul, James the Great and Saint Peter the Martyr. The elegant twisted columns have been restored on the basis of the authentic ones.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 12 minutes):

Gregorian chants

The triptych (c. 1360) with a Coronation of the Virgin in the centre (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) and two panels, each with five Saints (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), possibly comes from S Maria degli Angeli in Florence.

The picture shows one of the Munich panels with Sts John the Baptist, Egidius, Gerard of Villamagna, Paul and Catherine (or Miniato).

The triptych (c. 1360) with a Coronation of the Virgin in the centre (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) and two panels, each with five Saints (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), possibly comes from S Maria degli Angeli in Florence.

The picture shows one of the Munich panels with Sts Peter, Benedict, Julian (?), Stephan (?), and a holy bishop (Nicholas of Bari?).

Opposite Paradise the famous panorama of Hell covers the entire north wall. It encompasses six large, curved segments of a mountain interior, which in turn have many subdivisions. The architecture of hell and many of the scenes that take place there are borrowed directly from Dante’s Inferno, which is reproduced here in a monumental painting for the first time. It was probably inspired by miniature illustrations of the Divine Comedy, a major theme of Italian manuscript illumination from the 1330s on.

Unfortunately, damage to the fresco of hell in the Strozzi Chapel has deprived it of much of its original effects. Details can picked out only with difficulty.

To the left of the window are the blessed, lined up closely and stacked in ranks, the figures’ scale increasing as they are set higher up the wall. People of assorted rank are crowded together, their differences being indicated by a variety of physical types, garments, insignia, headgear, and hair and beard styles.

To the right of the window are the damned, lined up closely and stacked in ranks, the figures’ scale increasing as they are set higher up the wall. People of assorted rank are crowded together, their differences being indicated by a variety of physical types, garments, insignia, headgear, and hair and beard styles. The side of the damned has no shortage of outlandish and exotic costumes, which serve to identify the pagan rulers and authors clearly. Many turn to one another, seemingly engaged in conversation, others express their desperation with gestures of lament.

The window on the west wall restricted the area available for the painting, forcing the painter to deviate from the usual arrangement of figures in a Last Judgment and to forgo a full-length depiction of Christ as judge of the world. Christ appears as a half-length figure on a cloud. Beneath Christ are angels blowing trumpets to announce the judgment and presenting the instruments of the passion. Mary and John the Baptist appear as intercessors, with the apostles enthroned below them. The lower half of the window wall is taken up by those risen from the dead. To the left of the window are the blessed, to the right the damned.

This small triptych was made by one of the most sought-after artists in Florence: Nardo di Cione. It must have been a prized possession. The triptych was made to be used by its owner in private devotion, at home or even away: its size and folding wings made it portable. Because the wings, which close like shutters over the Madonna and Child, with the Man of Sorrows, protected the painted surfaces, Nardo’s artistry has survived in excellent condition. We are able to appreciate to an unusual degree the lyrical delicacy of his style and the gemlike quality of his colours. Nardo’s Virgin, despite her soft expression, appears removed from human concerns. Bright, artificial colours separate her from the real world, and the stiff saints on either side underscore her hierarchical importance.

Around the middle of the fourteenth century, Florentine artists like Nardo and his brothers abandoned the human concerns and naturalism of Giotto. For several decades the older, traditional styles again predominated. Art historians continue to debate why this occurred. Perhaps Giotto’s work was only appreciated, as Petrarch believed, by a small, educated elite. Perhaps intensified religious sentiment following the plague of 1348 - when up to half the population of Italian cities died within a few weeks - prompted this conservatism. Or perhaps the deaths of so many artists and patrons changed the nature of commissions and workshop practice.

Nardo’s small triptych in Washington, and his pentaptych in Prague (N�rodn� Galerie) are probably his latest works, though they cannot be called late works, since Nardo’s life apparently came to an abrupt and premature end through illness.

Nardo, who with brothers Andrea (called Orcagna) and Jacopo had Florence’s busiest workshop in the late 1300s, painted this small work similar to a church altarpiece for use in private devotion at home. It may have been specifically commissioned or bought from stock. The wings pivot to close like shutters; because they protected the surface, this painting is especially well preserved. Its splendour and clear colours, now rare, must have been typical.

Nardo’s Virgin, despite her soft expression, appears removed from human concerns. Bright, artificial colours separate her from the real world, and the stiff saints on either side underscore her hierarchical importance. Around the middle of the fourteenth century, Florentine artists like Nardo and his brothers abandoned the human concerns and naturalism of Giotto. For several decades the older, traditional styles again predominated. Art historians continue to debate why this occurred. Perhaps Giotto’s work was only appreciated, as Petrarch believed, by a small, educated elite.

Perhaps intensified religious sentiment following the plague of 1348 – when up to half the population of Italian cities died within a few weeks – prompted this conservatism. Or perhaps the deaths of so many artists and patrons changed the nature of commissions and workshop practice.

The Madonna del Parto (Virgin of the Birth) in Fiesole belongs to Nardo’s works on wood whose chronological order is still debated.

At the north end of the transept of Santa Maria Novella two brothers who were heads of a very large and active workshop, Andrea di Cione (known as Orcagna) and Nardo di Cione provided the altarpiece and frescoes for the Strozzi Chapel, one of the most important decorative programs of the time.

Dominican commitment to orthodoxy, order, and the institutional church is evident on the left wall of the chapel where a Paradise shows the elect arranged row upon row, around and beneath the figures of the enthroned Divinity and the Virgin. Both figures are crowned; the figure of God even holds a sceptre. In this configuration the Virgin - or metaphorically Maria Ecclesia (the Church) - shares unmistakably the power of the Godhead on the model familiar from Roman thirteenth-century mosaics.

The depiction of Paradise on the south wall is given a static and ceremonial character that recalls similar formations of figures in the works of Giotto and his immediate successors. The only way to ensure that the Virgin and Christ enthroned would dominate the many angels and saints was to paint them on a distinctly larger scale and to add angelic musicians beneath them. Only by an expansive treatment of the throne to create a true work of heavenly architecture could Nardo have avoided the risk of monotony in depicting so many persons standing passively in a regular arrangement.

St Benedict of Nursia (480-543) is depicted according to the pictorial tradition, holding a book in his left hand and a birch rod in his right, common attributes in other images of this saint. Benedict is dressed in a white robe that falls in folds over his bare feet.

The panel is in a good state of preservation, with only minor retouches. It belongs to Nardo’s works on wood whose chronological order is still debated.

This panel was part of a polyptych.

The lower part of the panel was cut, originally it probably showed the entire figure of the saint, like a similar, undamaged panel in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

This panel was part of a polyptych.

During the bubonic plague of 1348, over half the population of Florence perished. This tragedy created a need for new types of religious images, like this Standing Madonna, designed to bring spiritual relief to the survivors.

St John the Baptist - who, according to the Bible, wandered the desert preaching about Jesus - is shown in the centre of this panel. He carries a scroll with his declaration of the coming of Christ: ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord’. He stands between St John the Evangelist and St James, who clutches a pilgrim’s staff. Nardo has contrasted the saints’ simplicity with the lavish textile – dotted with carnations, vine tendrils and birds – on which they stand.

The picture was made for a ‘hospital church’ in Florence – that is, a church connected to a hospital – dedicated to St John the Baptist. The hospital was, in this case, run by the Knights Hospitaller, a religious order with a military function and a tradition of caring for the sick. They were also known as the Knights of St John after their patron saint.

The saints were originally separated by twisting colonettes (small columns). Sts John the Baptist and James are on the same panel, which is unusual: saints were normally painted on separate panels. The figures are all full length, of equal size – and therefore importance – and stand on the same piece of fabric. This represents a transition between the traditional polyptych and the single-panel altarpiece known as a pala, which became the standard form in the sixteenth century. Pala altarpieces showed sacra conversazione (‘holy conversations’), where saints occupy the same spatial setting as though they are speaking with one another.

The tops of the panel have been cut down and may have been pointed originally. There were probably additional pinnacle panels, now lost, on top of this section.

The panel originates from the Hospital Church of SS. Giovanni e Niccolò, Florence. (The church and the attached hospital seem to have gone under several different names.) It was probably commissioned for the high altar of the church, with John the Baptist as titular of the church.

St John the Baptist, in the centre of the panel, is identifiable by the text he carries. St John the Evangelist carries his Gospel, St James carries a book and a pilgrim’s staff.

The detail shows the head of St John the Evangelist.

The detail shows the head of St John the Baptist.

The detail shows the head of St James.

The detail shows the ‘sgraffito’ of the floor textile.

The saints stand on a lavish red, blue and gold textile dotted with vine tendrils, birds – identified as finches – and carnations. Carnations, also known as dianthus (‘flower of God’), were associated with Christ’s suffering and death: they smell like cloves, which were thought to resemble the nails used at the Crucifixion. The textile has been painted using the sgraffito technique, in which an area is covered in gold leaf and then red paint, which is scratched away in areas to reveal the designs. Some parts are given extra detail using deep blue ultramarine paint, a very expensive pigment.

The triptych depicts the Virgin and Child in the centre and Sts Gregory and Job at the sides. The predella narrates stories of St Job.

The triptych depicts the Thronum Gratiae (Throne of Grace) in the centre and and Sts Romuald and John the Evangelist at the sides.

The Thronum Gratiae traditionally shows God the Father seated on a throne, with his legs slightly apart, holding the arms of the cross of Jesus in front of him in his hands, while the dove of the Holy Spirit flies over them (or between them).

The Strozzi Chapel contains one of the most important altarpieces of the Trecento, [painted by Orcagna](‘/html/o/orcagna/2/strozz1.html) (Andrea di Cione) between 1354 and 1357. The frescoes in the chapel were probably painted at the same time as the retable by Nardo di Cione, the brother of Orcagna.

In nearly a complete departure from earlier family chapels, the fresco program is devoted almost exclusively to a depiction of the Last Judgment, which takes up all three walls. The pictorial program of the frescoes is articulated like a triptych, with the Last Judgment on the west wall as the core of the ensemble and Paradise on the south wall as the pendant to Hell on the north wall.

The picture shows the Strozzi Chapel from the east. On the west wall is the Last Judgment, on the south wall (left) the Paradise, on the north wall (right) the Hell can be seen.

The figures in the stained glass window are the Madonna and Child, and the Dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The Strozzi Chapel contains one of the most important altarpieces of the Trecento, [painted by Orcagna](‘/html/o/orcagna/2/strozz1.html) (Andrea di Cione) between 1354 and 1357. The frescoes in the chapel were probably painted at the same time as the retable by Nardo di Cione, the brother of Orcagna.

In nearly a complete departure from earlier family chapels, the fresco program is devoted almost exclusively to a depiction of the Last Judgment, which takes up all three walls. The pictorial program of the frescoes is articulated like a triptych, with the Last Judgment on the west wall as the core of the ensemble and Paradise on the south wall as the pendant to Hell on the north wall.

The picture shows the Strozzi Chapel from the east. On the west wall is the Last Judgment, on the south wall (left) the Paradise, on the north wall (right) the Hell can be seen.

The figures in the stained glass window are the Madonna and Child, and the Dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Nardo’s frescoes in the chapel of Sant’Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna’s school.

Located in the transept of the Dominican basilica of S. Maria Novella and dedicated to S. Tommaso d’Aquino, the Strozzi chapel (known today as Strozzi di Mantova) is adorned on the walls with frescoes, partly detached, illustrating the Last Judgment, the Heaven and Hell. The iconographic program also includes depictions of St. Thomas and the Virtues in the vault, the Fathers of the Church and the Dominican Saints in the entrance arch, St Thomas Aquinas and the Madonna and Child in the back window.

There are no documents relating to the erection of the chapel and its decoration, while a contract of 1354 relating to the commission of Tommaso di Rossello Strozzi to Andrea Orcagna for the altarpiece, to be carried out within 20 months, is known. No mention is made of the mural paintings in the document, so much so as to lead some scholars to hypothesize that they may already have been completed and commissioned by a different client. The iconographic unity that links the frescoes and the triptych by Andrea Orcagna placed on the altar is unanimously recognized; it leads us to consider the whole as the result of a single decorative campaign. The inscription with the date 1357 present in the triptych therefore constitutes the probable term within which the frescoes were completed.

Following the bubonic plague outbreak in Florence in 1348, a renewed religious conservatism marked the general atmosphere and the next generation of artists. Nardo di Cione and his two brothers were among the leaders of this medievalizing style, which harked back to models of presentation antedating the naturalistic and humanistic innovations of Giotto. The enduring, iconic quality of Nardo’s Virgin and Child is a product of his interpretation of the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven, set against an abstract and timeless gold background in the Byzantine tradition. The artist’s own lyricism is evident in the delicate skin tones, rhythmic and ornamental draperies, and rich, saturated palette.

The painting likely served as the central panel of a small folding altarpiece.

Nardo di Cione most likely painted this altarpiece for the most important church in Florence: the Duomo. The saints around the Virgin are Sts Zenobius, John the Baptist, Reparata and John the Evangelist.

The cathedral housed the relics of St Zenobius and the city’s original patron saint, Reparata - both depicted here. Nardo painted the altarpiece in the wake of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, which struck Florence in 1348 and took the lives of two-thirds of the population. For their post-plague compositions, he and his contemporaries returned to a Gothic tradition, evident here in the use of gold grounds, the traditional manner of representing the changeless luminosity of the eternal.