Oil on panel
Provenance: San Benedetto del Tronto (AP)
Costantini Brancadoro Collection
The painting is an unpublished work by the Florentine painter Jacopino del Conte, a leading exponent of the second phase of Mannerism known as the "Grande Maniera."
Jacopino trained in the workshop of Andrea del Sarto, alongside artists such as Francesco Salviati, with whom he shared a move to Rome and the fresco decoration of the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato (ca. 1536-1541). This proves that the painting in question is unequivocally by Jacopino. In fact, the panel reproduces the central section of the fresco with the Baptism of Christ, dated 1541.
The figure of Jesus is literally derived from the Roman fresco, as if the same material had been used. cartoon, only in reverse, and the pose of the Baptist is the same, simply reversed. Other similarities are found in the landscape setting and especially in the pose of one of the witnesses to the scene, with his gaze equally directed toward the viewer. The differences are due to the specificity of the different pictorial medium: the colors of the fresco are not the same as those of the oil painting, and the respective supports are obviously different.
Among the original elements of the panel is the presence, behind the protagonists, of three bystanders who appear to be true portraits: the figure on the far right, in profile, almost resembling an ancient Roman bust, and, on the other side, the two men with long beards, certainly the patrons whose identities further, desirable research could clarify.
Given its modest size, the work must have been the altarpiece of a private chapel, belonging to a palace rather than a public church.
Its belonging to the collection of the Costantini Brancadoro family, of Fermo origin, one of the oldest and noblest families of the Marche, is also a significant testimony in itself.
Given the remarkable artistic value of the painting, still unpublished, and considering its ownership by a remarkable yet extremely rare artist, of whom only about thirty works are known, it is hoped that a more in-depth study will be undertaken to shed light on this painting of rare beauty.
God the Father, at the center of the scene, wrapped in a large dark cloak, holds the lifeless body of Jesus in his arms, almost as if to display the Son's sacrifice for the salvation of mankind; between the heads of the Eternal One and Jesus, the dove of the Holy Spirit completes the iconography of the Holy Trinity. Around, groups of angels hold the symbols of the Passion, offering them to the viewer's gaze, seeking their participation.
This is a unique iconography of the Holy Trinity, after which the church adjacent to the Poor Clare Monastery of Montalto, built starting in 1608, was dedicated. However, the painting, which was the altarpiece The larger one appears to be several years earlier, fitting perfectly into the figurative culture of the late 16th century, within the so-called "Sistine" style, which originated from the great Roman art movements of the time of Pope Sixtus V.
The painting is of the highest quality, but cannot be attributed with certainty to one of the many important painters active in Rome during those years. This is not only due to the extraordinary and archaic iconographic conception of the Trinitarian scene, but also to the striking landscape view in the lower section, where an extraordinary sensitivity to light highlights a profound view, perhaps of the city of Jerusalem, comparable to the inventions of Flemish landscape artists such as Paul Brill.
Particularly significant is the choice of subject, likely made by the Poor Clare nuns, a choice that attests to the Order's great devotion to the Trinity, a devotion strongly present in Franciscan spirituality, documented and supported by the words of Saint Francis: "Blessed be the Trinity and the indivisible Unity: we will praise it, because he has shown mercy to us” (Prayer to the Holy Trinity).
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