This essay examines the transformations undergone by the famous altarpiece by Beato Angelico, originally made for the high altar of the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole, between the 15th and 19th centuries. The first part focuses on the reframing carried out by Lorenzo di Credi in 1501, when the reconfiguration of Gothic polyptychs was widely practiced in Florence. This intervention, which has received little scholarly attention until now, was undoubtedly the most radical – and at the same time most spectacular – example of its kind undertaken in the city during those years. The analysis has benefited from the painting's recently completed restoration, which, as often happens in such circumstances, brought significant new evidence to light. The second part of the essay examines the 19th-century dismemberment of the altarpiece. The discovery of previously overlooked texts and unpublished archival sources has made it possible to clarify the nature of this further alteration and establish its dating more precisely, thereby shedding new light on the history and subsequent transformation of one of the most celebrated masterpieces of the Italian Quattrocento.
Index
Lara Deiana
The First Illustrated History of Tuscan Painting: Marco Lastri and the Birth of L'Etruria pittrice. II
read abstract » 3-46
read abstract » 3-46
Bruna Bianco e Davide Civettini
Pietro Torrigiani's Calvary for the Cordeliers in Avignon and a Crucifix in Gubbio
read abstract » 47-67
read abstract » 47-67
Luca Mattedi
Beato Angelico's Triptych in San Domenico, Fiesole: New Insights into its Renaissance Reframing and Nineteenth-Century Alteration
read abstract » 68-78
read abstract » 68-78
