Table Of Content

ISBN 978-88-8347-667-9 © 2013 Opera Laboratori Fiorentini - Civita Group Sillabe s.r.l. www.sillabe.it - [email protected] Management: Maddalena Paola Winspeare Design: Laura Belforte Copy editing: Giulia Bastianelli Translation: Christine Maclellan for Scriptum, Rome Photo credits: Archivio fotografico dell'Opera della Metropolitana: figs. 1, 2, 4, 16-19, 28, 31, 32-34, 36, 48-51, 63, 69, 71-72, 74-87, 95, 98,101, 103,107,109, 116-118, 120, 127-128, 133, 135-138, 140, 142-147, 149-152, 166, 168-171, 176, 178, 181; Siena, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena: fig. 20; ©Bruno Bruchi, Siena: cover, figs. 3, 5, 8-9, 11-15, 21-25, 27, 29-30, 38, 42-43, 53, 61, 67, 73,102,108,110, 122-126, 129-132, 141,148, 153,167, 177,180, back cover; ©Andrea e Fabio Lensini, Siena: figs. 6-7, 10, 26, 39-41, 44-47, 52, 54-60, 62, 64-66, 70, 88-94, 96-97, 99-100, 104-106, 111-115, 119, 121, 134,139, 154- 163, 165, 172-175, 179; ©Antonio Quattrone, Firenze: fig. 68; ©Massimo Sestini, Firenze: foreword, figs. 35, 37, 164. Marilena Caciorgna SIENA CATHEDRAL CRYPT BAPTISTERY s i 1 1 a b e SIENA OPERA DELLA METROPOLITANA An Invitation The Duomo of Siena, one of the oldest and most splendid cathedrals in Europe, a wondrous masterpiece of art and architecture, is the expression of an extraordinary chapter of faith, in which the overall impression and every detail are an invitation to come into the Church, God's people journeying through history, and at times of tension, towards the sanctity and beatific vision of God. This profound fact, which risks being overlooked on a hurried visit, is of inestimable value, not only in order to understand the Christian roots of our culture, but also to be enriched with an ideal conception of life with its own hierarchy of values that have positively guided the existence of so many generations. Observant visitors will find themselves immersed in a universe of symbols, a multitude of works of art of every kind, material and substance; it is therefore important to grasp the unitary intention that has guided the artists who have, in turn, worked in the Cathedral workshops. Here the key to interpreting every figu rative and constructive effort lies precisely in the search for absolute beauty, which attempts, as far as possible, to seek correspondence with the great Mystery of Christianity: the Absolute, God made flesh, which therefore becomes visible and tangible. Every work of art is a search for both signs of the divine in creation and its transfiguration into the final destiny of eternity. The dedication of the cathedral to the Virgin Mary thus emerges in all its significance: Mary gives flesh to the Son of God, but is finally assumed into heaven by Him, as contemplation of Duccio's splendid oculus reveals. The mystery inevitably unfolds through the annihilation of the divine on the Cross (wonderfully frescoed in the Crypt), to attain the Kingdom of Heaven where Christ and the Madonna are enthroned among angels and saints, depicted in Duccio's Maesta, now housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The invitation that the philosophers, prophets, sybils and saints, as well as the emperors and popes, have extended to visitors down through the ages has been to become involved in the story of salvation through the Church today. This occurs in the key places of the cathedral complex: the baptismal font, where immersion in the salvational event is celebrated, and the altar, where the sacrifice of Christ is perpetuated to bring to completion the transfiguration of humanity through assimilation with his Body. Each individual's response to this invitation will clearly be individual; however, if visitors are to have an enriching encounter and an authentic dialogue with the works of art, it is essential to adopt an open and enquiring approach. It is not so much how you enter, as how you leave the Duomo of Siena that counts: even those who marvel just a little or feel charmed, provoked or made curious will have reaped rewards for their life. t Antonio Buoncristiani Archbishop of Siena An itinerary The Opera della Metropolitana di Siena is the cathedral works organization set up in the 12th century to build the cathedral. Once built, the cathedral works continued over the centuries to maintain, preserve, restore and embellish the building with the marvellous works of art to be seen in and around it. A fortunate chain of circumstances, from the city's great wealth to the fact that Siena was the birthplace of many popes, has yielded surprising results and made our cathedral one of the most illustrious in Europe for the works of art it houses and for its role in the history of western culture. In the past decade, the Opera della Metropolitana di Siena has promoted a notable series of publications at an intense rate of production that benefit from the highest quality research. The focus has been on individual sectors (painting, sculpture, the crypt etc.) with a marked openness to all forms of research, from in-depth historic and artistic investigation to iconographic research, and a study of the documents. It seemed an appropriate moment to offer an overall view of our cathedral complex and therefore to com bine in a single work the 'old' duomo, the 'new' duomo with the facciatone, the baptistery, and the most recent acquisitions, such as the walkway below the roof and the 'Crypt'. Virginis temp/um gathers together in one concise volume the fruit of the most up-to-date research carried out by the author and other experts to offer readers for the first time a guide that is easy to consult and that illustrates the cathedral complex in its entirety. At the same time, the book marks a departure from our other publications in that the author connects the illustration of the actual itinerary through the cathedral complex of Siena in all its magnificence to this guide by organizing it into themes with short chapters and evocative titles. The itinerary therefore takes us from the work of art, providing historical and artistic information, but pauses to delve into the deeper impulses of the human spirit which have determined such external beauty. Indeed, over the centuries the contemplation of the Scriptures and the analysis of classical, mediaeval and humanist sources, through the great masters, patrons and cultivated creators of the artistic projects, have given rise to works of art that only appear to be decora tive, but are instead full of allegorical meanings which the author has attempted to decipher. Even the most passionate connoisseur will discover a new way of interpreting art history, accompanied by rigorous research that avoids the pitfalls of iconological interpretations, to discover the inner beauty of the 'house of the Virgin', the temple of Mary, the 'true' patron saint of the city of Siena: the faith of the Sienese people in the Virgin Mary is, without a doubt, the inspirational motif of the entire cathedral complex. Mario Lorenzoni Rector Opera della Metropolitana di Siena Contents 9 CATHEDRAL 11 The origins 11 The dedication to Saint Mary of the Assumption 11 The Temple of Minerva 11 The construction of the cathedral 14 The apron of the cathedral 14 The wolves on the apron 15 Two large amphorae in the pavement of the apron: me/ et fel 15 Thefacade 18 The construction 18 The marble of the facade 19 Siena adorned with its monogram 19 The life of the Virgin, workshop of Giovanni Pisano 19 lanua coeli, the central portal 21 The Door of the Glorification of Mary 21 The statues of the prophets 22 The 'prophetesses' 23 The Evangelists 23 The philosophers: Aristotle and Plato 25 The gables 26 The left side 26 The magic square 26 Giovanni Pisano's burial place 27 The OPA escutcheon 28 The right side 28 The bell-tower 29 The bells 29 The Door of Forgiveness 29 The Madonna of Forgiveness and the Door of Gratitude 32 The dome 32 The entrance to the cathedral 32 The Jubilee of 1300 32 Under the eaves 38 The interior 40 Facade interior 43 The most chaste Temple of the Virgin 44 The pavement. Hermes and the Sibyls 44 The pavement: an aesthetic and symbolic itinerary 44 Technique 44 Hermes Trismegistus. The birth ab aetemo of the Son by the Father 47 The Sibyls 47 The Cumaean Sibyl. "A new generation descends from the heavens" 47 The Hellespontine Sibyl. The veil of the temple is tom in two and the earth is enveloped in darkness 50 "Herod and Pi/ate became friends": the dog I wolf and the lion in a sign of friendship 51 The Tiburtine Sibyl and the 'happy Mother' 52 The nave 52 The series of popes and emperors 52 Consummatum est: Federighi's holy water fonts and salvation from original sin 57 The pavement in the nave 57 The wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus in front of the fig tree 57 "Climb the steep mountain". The Mount of Wisdom by Pinturicchio 60 The Wheel of Fortune and the philosophers of the ancient world 62 The altarpieces 62 The series along the south aisle 63 The series in the north aisle 65 The presbytery of the cathedral 67 The Piccolomini Chapel 67 Michelangelo and Siena 71 The Piccolomini Library 71 The temple of Pius II and Pius Ill 72 The painted biography of Pius II 133 The choir and the apse 73 Episodes in the life of Pius II 134 Oculus cordis. The stained-glass window by Duccio di 73 Scene five. The noblewomen of Siena accompany Buoninsegna Eleanor of Aragon 135 The cardinal virtues and misericordia 76 The portraits of Pinturicchio and Raphael 136 The tarsias by Fra Giovanni da Verona 81 Selene, Proserpina and the Piccolomini moon 138 The 'Facciatone' in Piazza Jacopo della Quercia 82 The floor of the Library 83 The three Graces 83 The anthem books of the Duomo of Siena 141 CRYPT 85 The Chapel of Saint John the Baptist 142 The discovery 85 The relic of Saint John the Baptist's right arm 142 The wall paintings 85 The construction 87 The painted biography of John the Baptist by Pinturicchio 142 Stories from the Old Testament 88 Ego vox clamantis in deserto. Saint John the Baptist 143 The childhood of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels by Donatello 147 The childhood of Jesus in the Apocryphal Gospels 89 The pozzetto de/ Sabata Santo. The myth of Hercules 149 The story of the Passion 90 The pavement in the north transept 153 "The mother rushes up the steps and clutches her son to her". The Madonna of the stairs in the crypt 90 The expulsion of Herod 153 The 'old foundry' 91 The Slaughter of the Innocents 91 The story of Judith 95 The north transept 155 BAPTISTERY 95 The funerary monument for the heart of Grand Master 157 The construction of the baptistery Marc'Antonio Zondadari 97 Funerary Monument of Cardinal Petroni 157 The baptismal font 97 Donatello: tombstone of Bishop Giovann di Bartolomeo 160 Episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist Pecci 162 The apse 97 Saint Ansanus baptises the people of Siena by 164 The vaults and the apostles Francesco Vanni 98 The portrait of the historian Giugurta Tommasi 166 The Articles of Faith 98 Ghirlandaio in the Duomo of Siena 166 The Articles in the first bay 99 The pulpit by Nicola Pisano 170 The Articles in the second bay 103 The Liberal Arts and Philosophy 172 The Articles in the third bay 104 The Theological and Cardinal Virtues 173 The decoration in the large lunette on the left 105 The Prophets, Virgil and the Sibyl, and the Evangelists 174 The decoration in the large lunette on the right 105 Ego sum vitis vera. The birth of the Ecclesia from Christ 175 From the baptistery back to the cathedral 108 The inside of the dome 175 The Assumption of the Virgin by Vecchietta 108 'Heaven's Dome' and the 'Pantheon' of the Sienese saints 177 Bibliography 110 The Montaperti masts 110 The pavement in the hexagon below the dome 186 The sculptures and in the presbytery 110 The pavement in the hexagon below the dome 188 The paintings 112 Moses strikes water from the rock 190 The pavement 113 Scenes from the life of Moses on Sinai 113 David the psalmist between David the slingsman and Goliath falling backwards; Joshua defeats the five kings of the Amorites; Samson chastising the Philistines 117 Abraham's sacrifice 118 The altar 118 Panis vivus: the high altar 119 The angels on the altar 121 The Chapel of the Madonna of the Vow 121 Maria mater gratiae, mater misericordiae 125 The pavement in the south transept 125 The seven ages of man 127 "Then we shall see face to face:" Religion and the Theological Virtues 128 The story of Jephthah 129 The death of Absalom 130 Emperor Sigismund 131 The south transept 131 The ex voto bust of Bernardino Perfetti 131 The monuments to the popes 131 The altarpieces in the south transept