MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - PA026.jpg


Category	Painting
Origin: artist/workshop	Fra Bartolommeo, Bartolommeo di Paolo, called Baccia della Porta (1472-1517)
Date	16C/1
Reference No	Inv 1890 n. 8455
Size	213x220
Provenance	Florence, Badia
Present Location	Florence, Uffizi Gallery
Bibliography	Fischer 1990, 128-39; Aurenhammer 1959-67, 338
	Florence 1996, 88-93; Kuenstle 1926, 129; Florence 1990, 61-2; Berenson 1963, 22
Illustration From	Florence 1990, ill 35
Other illustrations	Florence 1996, colour plate 18; Fischer 1990, ill 62
	Kuenstle 1926, ill 51; Florence 1990, ill 35; Berenson 1963, ill 1323
Country	Italy

Description:
Bernardo del Bianco built a family chapel in the Badia of Florence from designs by Benedetto da Rovezzano, for which the Dominican Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517) painted the frescos which were destroyed during the rebuilding of the church 1627-31. However, this painting from 1507 of the Vision of Bernard, now in the Uffizi Gallery, survived. The contract called for a standing Mary and Child with Sts Bernard and Francis on the right and Barnabas and Benedict on the left, plus angels. What was therefore expected was a 'Sacra Conversazione' and not the Vision of Bernard with Sts Barnabas and Benedict as spectators and a tiny Francis kneeling among the rocks in the background in the top right hand corner. The patron seems to have approved of the change and the picture was delivered in 1507. An open book lies before Bernard, and another open book is held up for Bernard by an angel. A tiny 'Andachtsbild' of the Crucifixion is on the ground between Mary and Bernard, and another, with its back to the viewer, is leaning up against it. Surviving drawings indicate that the Virgin and angels underwent a considerable change in the preparatory process, with the angels inspired by Filippino Lippi's treatment commissioned c 1480 by Piero del Pugliese, the uncle of Bartolommeo's patron, intended for their family chapel at la Campora, now in the Badia. The calm and chaste spirituality seems to have been modelled on Perugino's altarpiece, now in Munich. (See MA63 & 64). See also study for this DR05.

Description:

Bernardo del Bianco built a family chapel in the Badia of Florence from designs by Benedetto da Rovezzano, for which the Dominican Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517) painted the frescos which were destroyed during the rebuilding of the church 1627-31. However, this painting from 1507 of the Vision of Bernard, now in the Uffizi Gallery, survived. The contract called for a standing Mary and Child with Sts Bernard and Francis on the right and Barnabas and Benedict on the left, plus angels. What was therefore expected was a 'Sacra Conversazione' and not the Vision of Bernard with Sts Barnabas and Benedict as spectators and a tiny Francis kneeling among the rocks in the background in the top right hand corner. The patron seems to have approved of the change and the picture was delivered in 1507. An open book lies before Bernard, and another open book is held up for Bernard by an angel. A tiny 'Andachtsbild' of the Crucifixion is on the ground between Mary and Bernard, and another, with its back to the viewer, is leaning up against it. Surviving drawings indicate that the Virgin and angels underwent a considerable change in the preparatory process, with the angels inspired by Filippino Lippi's treatment commissioned c 1480 by Piero del Pugliese, the uncle of Bartolommeo's patron, intended for their family chapel at la Campora, now in the Badia. The calm and chaste spirituality seems to have been modelled on Perugino's altarpiece, now in Munich. (See MA63 & 64). See also study for this DR05.