Jveut Do Cuments for Signorelli's Annunciation' at Volterra*
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a SHORTER NOTICES JVeutdo cuments for Signorelli'sAnnunciation' at Volterra* BYTOMHENRY sIGNoRELLI's Annunciation in the Pinacoteca Civica at Volterra (Fig.al) has long been recognisedas one of the artist's great works. It is signedand dated in an inscription at the bottom of the first pier of the loggia LVcAScoRToNEN prNrqr MxDr - and it has been correctly assumedthat it was painted for the confraternity of the Virgin Mary, whose oratory is attached to the Cathedral in Volter- ra.' It was not mentioned by Vincenzo Borghini in his notebooks of 1558 or by Vasari in either edition of the Vitt, but was first described in this oratory in a manuscript guide to Volterra of 17+0/+1 (seeAppendix 3, below).Confirmation ofthe provenance is found in a group of unpublished documentsrecording pal,rnents to Signorelli, which also shed new light on the date of the commis- sion and how it was financed (seeAppendix I and 2). The Compagnia della Virgine Maria sita nel Duomo di Volter- ra, otherwiseknown as the Societasseu fraternitas disciplinatorum Virginis Marie, was the most prominent religious company in Volterra and a substantial property owner.' The Feast of the Annunciation was, not surprisingly, one of its major feastsand the oratory appearsto have been dedicated to the Annunciation since the fourteenth century.3It is also clear from a copy of the compa- ny's membership records from 1460 that many of the most impor- tant individuals in the city were members of the confraternity, and that it admitted both men and women.n The large oratory (Fig.40), which opens off the nave of the Cathedral immediately to the left of the entrance, is little changed. It is lit, as it always has been, by three windows in the west wall. 40. View towards the high a-ltarof the oratory of the Company of the Virgin Benozzo Gozzoli had painted aJoume2of theMagiin a niche on that Marv. Volterra Cathedral. wall, which had originally held a terracottaAdorationof theMagibt now contains a sculptedNatiui\t. The frescoesare usually consid- This can be identified as the small tabernacle now in the Museo ered to be late works by Benozzo,although a date in the 1460shas Diocesanoat Volterra and further demonstratesthe confraternity's alsobeen suggested.'Thefifteenth-century appearanceofthe prin- devotion to the Annunciation.s cipal altar at the far end ofthe oratory is recorded in an Episcopal The broken-pedimented eighteenth-century stone frame that Visitation of 1454.At this date the altar-piecewas a Virginand Child now stands above the principal altar at the end of the oratory is with saints.6An inventory of 1538 describesthe principal altar as exactly the right width (191 cm.) to have held Signorelli's altar- dedicated to the Annunciation, and lists the altar-furnishings piece and it must have been made for the picture, being inscribed 'AVE including a silver chalice with the arms of the Minucci family and with the archangel Gabriel's salutation MARrAcRATTA er-t,Ne'; a crystal cross.t The robing room behind the altar contained a we know that the altar-pieceremained in the oratory until the end tabernacle with wings representing the Angel Gabriel and the of the eighteenthcentury.s Nothing is known of the original frame Annunciate Virgin when open and StsPeter and Paul when closed. or whether it was of stone or gilded wood, but it is tempting to xThis note has benefited from discussionswith Michael Hirst. Patricia Rubin. Anto- Suprosniphudominus episcopus aisitatit cappellm societatisSancte Marie tr/irginisitam in ucle- nio Guarini,Jill Dunkerton and RolfBagemihl, who had alsonoticed the documents sia Captedralisuprascripta quam bonamfulcitam et omataminuenit. Habet enimaltnre cum lapi published here. For their accurate transcliption I am particularly gratelul to Gho declnsecratl cum tubaliis nitidis etaliis paramentisnecessariis ad copiendumaltare predictum ante Corti and Gabriella Battista. et supracum tabula picta in cuiusmedio estftgura Beate Marie I4rginis ac subsequmter alinrum 'See,e.g.a.paotuccr:LaPinacotecadiVoltma,Florence[1989],pp.l3a37(withfur- sanctontm-' ther bibliography). ASF, CRS, 2953, MCCXL.22,fol.ll7r-v:'Inuntario dellaRobbeMasseritie et cose delkz '!Two of their ffieenth-century volumes of records surwive.The first details proper- compagniaetfratemita della WrgineMaria dellaciptd di Volterra. I a Tauolagrandt allAltare ty owned and income derived from rents, with entries lrom 1476 to 156l (Archivio dellaAnnuntiata / ui candellieridottone per dictaAltare / / Una crocedi cistalk / 2 candellizri di Stato, Florence fhereafter cited asASF], Compagnie religiosesoppresse da Pietro difeno pr la Altare / I chortinadi telaa<4ra per dictaAltare e Tauola.'The date of the doc- Leopoldo fhereafter CRS] 2951, no.17). The secondis abook of Debitorie Creditori, ument is 25th April 1538. ' discussedbelow. 'Ibid., fol.178v: 1 tabemaculonello spogliatoio con San Pietro e SanPaolo dipinti nelli sportel- 3Thisis suggestedby the wiil of Paolo Inghirami, which provided for an image of the li'. For thesetabernacle doors. attributed to Bartolomeo della Gatta or the Maestro Annunciation to be painted above the entrance to the oratory (Archivio Storico dei putti bizarri, see A. ANcELrNr,in r,. nrr,r,osr, ed.: Francescodi Giorgioe il Rinaximm- Comunale, Volterra, Testamenti, 1339-82, fol.92:'iudicauit dipxngtin maioi ecclesia toa Siena1450-1500, exh. cat.,S. Agostino,Siena [993], p.430. uultmana infacie campanilissupn ostiumper quodintratur in cappellamdisciplinatorum dicte '!The altar-piece is described as being in the oratory by several eighteenth-century 'Notizie ecclesieAnnuntiationem V.M. gloriose').See u. cavallwl: e spogli di archivio', sourcesin addition to cIcNA (seeAppendix 3 below): Notiaiedelle pitture sculture che si RassegnaVoltenana,I ll92a],p.25, and n. sacBrutr{-:Painting and Sculpture in theDiocese uedononella cittd di Voltma,MS attributed to c. cumr, before 1756, transferred to ASF, of Volterra:a docummtaryinaestigaion1300 1400, unpublished doctoral dissertation, but said to be missirg; c. BoRGUCCTvERANr. Nlta delleHtture e sculture che si aedononelle New York University, 1994, pp.52 and341. rhiev di Voltena,1756, fol.216v, Biblioteca Guarnacci, Volterra; and ,l'. cnrusor-o: -ASF,.CRS 2953,MCCXL.22. Itineraio dellepitnre, sculhtre,ed architetturepiil rare di moltecittd d'Italia,Yicenza 11782], 'p. 'Volterra ra porta: nella seconda metd del Quattrocento', Pisa MuseoAperto, p.1 97. It was subsequendymoved to the chapel ofSt Charles Borromeo where it was pADoA Livorno, III [1989], p.2. See also e. Rrzzo: BenozzoGozzoli, Florence [1992], describedby e.r. cttt+c:r.r(Ricerche Storiche n Voltena,Siena[1 796], p.200), r.noNcnu, p.127 ;o. colr AHL:Benozzo Gozzoli,New Haven and London [1996], p.264; znd.e . 0p.cit. at note 5 above, p.54, and others. It was transfened to the newly-formed art LEoNcrM:Illutra<ione sulla Cattedralndi Volterra,Siena [1869], p.96. gatleryin 1905. 'Diz Volterra, Archivio Mensa Vescovile, Wita Neroni,fol.l 10v: ui mmsi:iulii 1454. +7+ SHORTER NOTICES 4L. Annunciation,byLuca Signorelli, after cleaning. 1491. Panel, 258 by 190 cm. (PinacotecaCivica, Volterra). suppose that its decoration may have echoed the architectural diture in the late- l480s and early-1490s contains entriesrelating to elements,in particular the pilasters,of the picture. Signorelli'saltar-piece. These establishthat, having taken the deci- Signorelli took careful account ofthe location in which his paint- sion to replace their existing altar-pieceand deputed three of their ing was to be placed. The three windows along the left-hand sideof membersto commissiona new one, on TthJanuary 1490'maestro the oratory account for the direction ofthe light in the picture, and Luchadi Glio dip'intore'waspaid ten florins by the chamberlain of the the artist has also adopted the shallow cross-vaultedceiling, with confraternity, Giovanni d'AntonioZatto (or Zacchi),as an advance 'onoreuol:i arched ribs dividing the bays, for the arcade in which the Virgin for the altar-piecethat he had agreed to paint. The three Mary stands.There is, however, no reasonto supposethat the ora- huornini'who had been elected to commission the picture were tory's vault was ever painted with the gold and blue decorative Marco di Riciardo Cavozzi, Bartolomeo di Ruberto Minucci and motifs that Signorelli has given the Virgin's loggia since these Ser PierFrancescodi Ser Filippo da San Miniato. These men were motifs recur in other pictures by him of this period.'o not only seniorfigures in the confraternity, they were alsoextreme- A volume ofDbitoi e Creditoricoverins the confraterniw's expen- Iy prominent in local affairs. Ser PierFrancescowas the Chancellor 'oFor example ,gn the architectural elements of the Bichi altar-piece (Berlin, sTREHLKE:Paintingin Rmaissanu Sima 1420-1500, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum Staatliche Museen): see L.B. KANTER.in r. crnrsruNsEN. L.B. xaNrlp and c.s. ofArt, NewYork [1988],p.342. 475 SHORTER NOTICES work on the Annunciatioz,there was a thirteen-month interlude There are then regular payrnents in Volterra from 6th Februar until l3th May 1491.One of these,made on 20th April, was cc 'Filippo Iected by sao', indicating that Signorelli had brought member of his workshop (or household)with him to Volterra. Of the total of seventyflorins, six were paid to the panel-mak Maestro Bartolomeo da Colle in two equal instalments on 2Br March and 5th Muy.'n The panel is constiucted offive large plan (Fig.41),probably ofpoplar, standingvertical to the picture surfac andjoined by two horizontal