On the Ognissanti Polyptych...
The careful cleaning has brought back the best possible reading
to this masterpiece by the celebrated monk painter. This is
due to the calibrated removal of the layer of glutinous and
resinous varnishes and also the removal of old, altered restorations.
Now it is possible to fully appreciate the masterful play of
transparencies in the flesh tones and in the flowing drapery
of the figures, but above all in the exceptionally beautiful
forest inspired by the real forest around Camaldoli. It is,
in conclusion, truly an exemplary restoration. The superb polyptych
was commissioned by the religious order of the Humiliati for
the Church of Ognissanti, where it was seen in all its magnificence
by Vasari who rightly attributed it to the great Lombard painter
Giovanni da Milano, attested in Florence from 1346.
The polyptych,
credibly painted around the year 1360, was repeatedly moved
and dismembered over the centuries; except a lateral panel
and a base panel that are unaccounted for, a fragment of the
main panel with The Coronation of the Virgin, belonging to
the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, and the
cusp with the Trinity, St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul,
owned by an Italian Franciscan order, all the surviving panels
are property of the Uffizi Gallery. The recent rediscovery
and revaluing of Giovanni da Milano, as the most authoritative
representative of the Giottesque manner and precursor of the
late Gothic vision, prompted the Polo Museale Fiorentino to
organize the first monographic exhibition ever dedicated to
the great Lombard master, and at the Accademia the newly restored
panels will enjoy pride of place before returning to the Uffizi
Gallery in a triumph of colors.
Colors that the uniform brownish
patina of varnish and glue had kept hidden for decades, but
also protected until the masterly cleaning revealed an exceptionally
well-preserved condition of the painting; thanks to this extraordinary
restoration we can now ecstatically revel in looking at the
profusion of the richest gold, the deepest lapis lazuli blue,
the brightest red, lifelike complexions and amazing iridescences,
that the genial master rendered with flawless refined sensibility.
Angelo Tartuferi
Director of the Department of Medieval to
Quattrocento Art of the Uffizi Gallery |