THOMAS PATCH AND THE MANETTI CHAPEL FRESCOES by VALERIE SUTHERLAND B.Ed., University of British Columbia, 1975 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Fine Arts We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1978. c) Valerie Sutherland,1978 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Fine Arts The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date April 17, 1978. ii ABSTRACT Thomas Patch (1725-1782) is a relatively unknown English artist of the eighteenth century whose claim to fame so far has rested in his caricature work. He went to Rome around 1747, was banished from there in 1755 and joined the English circle in Florence where he remained until his death in 1782. Patch's work in Florence included his copying of what Vasari had said to be a fresco cycle by Giotto in the Church of the Carmine. This cycle had been damaged in a fire that broke out in the old church in 1771, and it had to be destroyed to make way for the new church that was completed in 1773. What led Patch to do this work? How successful was he? We see the influences of Hugford and Bottari and the lively interest of connoisseurship in the medieval and the Trecento. Patch's skill as a copyist is analyzed and found to be excellent. There are now only twelve fragments left of the original fresco and they have been given a variety of attributions. On the basis of dating, this paper agrees with those who reject the Giotto attribution and it is not prepared to accept the Spinello Aretino one without additional confirmation. The cycle does not appear to fit the style and character of Spinello in the period to which it is usually assigned. Recent evidence however still makes it worth while to leave the door open to Spinello though on the basis of style and spatial utilization, other artists of this period should i i i also be considered. When compared with other Saint John the Baptist cycles, the iconography shows the master of the Manetti Chapel frescoes to have been an inventive and imaginative artist whom both Masaccio and Agnolo Gaddi thought worthy of emulating and copying. His inventiveness is seen in the fact that though he seems to have got ideas from the Peruzzi Chapel and from the doors of the Baptistery, he put his own stamp on them. His angel in flight, his headless body of Saint John, his shivering Christ and his many re-arrangements of crowd scenes give ample evidence of an innovati.ve- ness which is only surpassed by his skill at integrating his scenes. Patch's engravings therefore should form an important incentive to further assessment of the work of Spinello and his possible influ• ence on the late Trecento and Quattrocento Italian art. They also form a pathway for the study of influences of this period on eighteenth century English art. Patch represents a whole era of connoisseurship and is a possible source of valuable character study of the English emigre community of late eighteenth century Florence. His work merits a great deal more consideration than it has so far received in the history of art. i v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of illustrations v Introduction 1 Chapter I: Of Bear-cubs and Banishment 7 Chapter II: Patch and the Manetti Chapel Frescoes 19 Chapter III: Patch as a Copyist 29 Chapter IV: The Attribution of the Manetti Chapel Frescoes 39 Chapter V: Thomas Patch in Florence 63 Conclusion 81 Literature Cited 86 Illustrations 90 Appendix A: Chronology of Events in the Life of Patch 131 Appendix B: Letter from T. Steavens 138 Appendix C: Text Accompanying the Giotto Engravings 139 Appendix D: Contri's Method of Detachment of the Intonaoo. 141 Appendix E: Chronology of the Manetti Chapel Frescoes and Florentine Artists of the Giotto Era 142 Appendix F: Summary of Iconographic Comparisons , 145 V ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Ti tl e Page 1 Manetti Chapel frescoes - left wall 90 2 Manetti Chapel frescoes - right wall 91 3a Plan of the Church of the Carmine pre 1771 93 3b Plan of the Church of the Carmine after 1771 92 4 Fragment - Head of Elizabeth 94 5 Fragment - Servant 95 6 Fragment - Saint Zacharias 96 7 Fragment - Women and Infant Saint John 97 8 Fragment - Head of Saint John Baptising 98 9 Fragment - Two Angels fragment 99 .10 Fragment - Musician 100 11 Fragment - Salome 101 12 Fragment - Guest 102 13 Fragment - Saint John Praying 103 14 Fragment - Disciple 104 15 Fragment - Two Disciples 105 16 Thomas Patch, Conversation Piece, 1774 106 17 Patch, Conversation Piece, detail 106 18a The Annunciation to Saint Zacharias 107 18b The Birth and the Naming of Saint John 108 18c The Beheading and Entombment of Saint John 109 19a The Visitation 110 19b Saint John Preaching and the Baptising of Christ 111 19c Saint John in Prison and the Dance of Salome 112 20 Thomas Patch. Detail of head 113 21 Thomas Patch. Detail of head 113 22 Thomas Patch. Detail of head 114 23 Thomas Patch. Detail of head 114 24 Thomas Patch. Detail of head 115 VI Figure Ti tie Page 25 Fra Bartolommeo. The Presentation in the Temple. 116 26 Thomas Patch. The Presentation in the Temple 116 27 Thomas Patch - detail of head 117 28 Thomas Patch - detail of head 117 29 Thomas Patch - detail of head 117 30 Life of Saint John the Baptist. Peruzzi Chapel 118 31 Life of Saint John the Evangelist. Peruzzi Chapel 119 32 Raising of Drusiana 120 33 Ascension 120 34 Manetti Chapel Frescoes. Baptism - detail 121 35 Andrea Pisano. Baptism - detail 121 36 Manetti Chapel Frescoes. Baptism - detail 122 37 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel. Baptism of the Neophytes - detail 122 38 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel. St. Paul visiting St. Peter 123 39 Manetti Chapel Frescoes. St. John in Prison - detail 123 40 Masaccio. Pisa Polyptych. Beheading of St. John 124 41 Manetti Chapel Frescoes. Beheading of Saint John. 124 42 Agnolo Gaddi. Baptism, Castellani Chapel, Santa Croce. 125 43 Agnolo Gaddi. Feast of Herod. Nobili Chapel, Santa Croce 126 44 Giotto. Feast of Herod. Peruzzi Chapel, Santa Croce 126 45 Thomas Patch. Conversation Piece 127 46 Thomas Patch. Conversation Piece - detail 128 47 Thomas Lawrence. James Boswel1. 128 48 Thomas Patch. A Rehearsal at Sir Horace Mann's. 129 49 Thomas Patch. A Rehearsal at Sir Horace Mann's - detail 129 vn Figure Ti tl e Page 50 Thomas Patch. A Rehearsal at Sir Horace Mann's - detail 130 51 Vocabolario degli Accedmici del la Crusca Engraving. First page of fourth edition. 130. Diagram 1 Sequence of Manetti Chapel Frescoes 27 Sources: Figs. 1, 2, 18a, 18b, 18c, 19a, 19b, 19c, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 34, 36, 39, 41: Thomas Patch, Giotto. Florence, 1772. Figs. 3a, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14: Ugo Procacci, "L'incendio della Chiesa del Carmine." Rivista d'Arte XIV (1932):141-232. Fig. 3a: Giovanni Fanelli, Firenze Architettura e Citta. Firenze: Vallecchi Editore, 1973, p. 320. Fig. 4: Giuseppe Ramali, ed. CampoSanto Monumentale. Pisa: Opera della Primaziale Pisana, 1960. Fig. 5: H. W. van 0s and Marian Prakken, The Florentine Paintings in Holland. Maarssen: Gary Schwartz, 1974. Fig. 9: R. van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1923-28. Fig. 12: Ferdinando Zeri. "Italian Primitives at Messrs. Wildenstein." Burlington Magazine 107 (1965):252-56. Fig. 15: National Gallery Illustrations. London: London National Gallery, 1937. Fig. 16 and 17: F. S.axl and R. Wittkower, British Art and the Mediterranean. London: Oxford University Press, 1948. Fig. 25: S. Freedberg. Painting of the High Renaissance,in Rome and Florence. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961. Figs. 26, 27, 28, 29: Thomas Patch, The Life of Fra Bartolommeo, Florence, 1772. Figs. 30, 31 , 32, 33, 44: Andrew Martindale and Edi Baccheschi, The Complete Paintings of Giotto. New York: H.N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Fig.35: IIaria Toesca, Andrea e Nino Pisano. Firenze: Sansoni Editore, 1950. Figs. 37, 38, 40: Ferdinando Bologna, Masaccio. La Cappella Brancacci. Milano: Frattelli Fabri Editori, 1969. Figs. 42, 43: Bruce Cole, Agnolo Gaddi, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977. Figs. 45, 46: Frank Davis, "Satirist of the English in Florence," Country Life July 8, 1976, p. 98. Fig. 47: F. E. Halliday, Cultural History of England, London: Thames & Hudson, 1968. Figs. 48, 49, 50: W. S. Lewis, Horace Walpole. The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts i960. New York: Pantheon Books, Inc., 1961. Fig. 51: Eric Cochrane, Tradition and Enlightenment in the Tuscan Academies, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973. vi i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank Joel E. Brink and Dr. George Knox for their advice and guidance during the last many months. It has been because of the intellectual generosity and continued interest of them and other members of the Art History Department, and the support and patience of my family, that this thesis has come to fruition.