The Pellegrini Chapel is located in the apse area of the basilica of Santa Anastasia in Verona, along the right transept; it is the first to the right of the Maggiore Chapel. The chapel contains what is considered Pisanello's masterpiece, the Saint George and the Princess, a fresco on the outer wall above the entrance arch.
The decoration of the chapel is due to the testamentary provisions of Andrea Pellegrini, who in 1428 left the substantial sum of 900 ducats for the construction of a monumental ark to be built in the family chapel in Santa Anastasia. The following year, Pellegrini died, so his mother, carrying out his will, had her son's chivalrous virtues celebrated by means of Pisanello's fresco and in the chapel's terracottas, where he is depicted in military uniform and kneeling to the Virgin on the altar. [1]
The dates on which the decorations took place are not certain: Michele da Firenze, the master who executed the terracottas, was in Verona from 1433 to 1438, so his work would have to be inscribed in this time frame. The work on the terracottas is testified, through documents, in 1436. [1] Also, between 1433 and 1438 the fresco would have been executed by Pisanello, when the artist was in Verona for a long period. [2] Probably terracottas and frescoes were, thus, made at essentially the same time. Giorgio Vasari, in Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects', spoke of the frescoes with admiring emphasis, stating that "to put it in a word one cannot contemplate this work done with design, grace, and extraordinary wisdom without infinite wonder, rather than amazement." [3]
Over the centuries, some water seepage from the roof severely damaged it, so the fresco was detached through the strappo technique in 1891 (for the right side) and in 1900 (the left side); the work was divided into four parts, restored and placed on canvas, being relocated to its original position only in 1996. [2]
The Pellegrini Chapel is best known for the fresco located on the outer archway, the Saint George and the Princess masterpiece by Pisanello and the International Gothic art in Italy. The fresco consisted of two parts: the right one, with Saint George's leaving the princess, which has remained in fair condition; and the left one, with the dragon among the remains of his victims beyond a watery environment cut through by a sailing ship, which is almost totally lost. Giorgio Vasari recalls how the decoration also included "St. Eustace caressing a dog spotted in brown and white" (still visible in the 17th century) and "a St. George armed with white weapons made of silver"; it is unclear where these works were located. However, it has been speculated that they might have been on the left pillar and the lesene to the right of the fresco. [2]
The fairy-tale landscape, also populated with exotic characters and numerous animals depicted with great naturalness, presents in the background an ideal city with elegant towers and openwork architecture. Beneath the right side is the inscription "SANTVS GIORGIVS" and the coat of arms of the Pellegrini family, a pilgrim placed on a precious painted cloth bordered with ermine, whose etymological meaning coincides with that of the name Giorgio. [4]
The work (which fewer recent studies interpret differently) may allude to the events of the Pellegrini family and the anti-Venetian sentiment that had arisen in Verona during the early fifteenth century because of its loss of autonomy. Indeed, in 1411, the incursion of Sigismund of Hungary's imperial army took place supported by Brunoro della Scala followed, in 1412, by a pro-Scaligers uprising in the city. The royal procession in Pisanello's fresco could thus be a depiction of the emperor and his entourage while the winged dragon, portrayed as an amphibious animal, would represent Venice, which at that time had conquered Verona along with the other Mainland Domains, and whose symbol was the winged lion, often depicted with two legs in the water. The pro-scaligers uprising provoked a strong repression by the Venetian Republic resulting in many rebels being sentenced to death by hanging, a detail well depicted in the same fresco. The figure of the princess could instead be a portrait of Cristoforo Pellegrini's young bride, Laura Nogarola, an easily accessible model for the painter. [5]
The terracottas, originally polychrome, of the chapel are attributed to Michele da Firenze, an artist who was influenced by Lorenzo Ghiberti. He was Ghiberti's collaborator in the construction site of the North Gate of the Baptistery of Florence and as an engineer on the construction site of Brunelleschi's Dome. In the chapel, he depicted a series of seventeen episodes related to the Life of Jesus interrupted, in the two pilasters that support the archway separating it from the apse, by three orders of edicules containing the depictions, from bottom to top, of Andrea Pellegrini in an attitude of prayer toward the altar of the Virgin; St. Dominic and St. Peter the Martyr on the right; and St. John the Baptist, the Archangel Michael and St. Leonard on the left. [1]
In the work of the chapel, Michele was assisted by his son Marsilio, whose other works are not known except those made after he was 30 years old in collaboration with his father, although he may have helped in the drafting of the fresco that Pisanello made for the same chapel. [6] The strong influence of the Late Gothic culture in Verona is noticeable on Michele da Firenze's work, especially on the conception of space and the meticulous attention to detail. As can be perceived at the very early stage of his career, the sculptor was influenced by Donatello and especially Lorenzo Ghiberti.
The Pellegrini-Bevilacqua sepulchre is found on the right wall of the chapel. It is characterized by a aedicule with a fresco by Martino da Verona, who depicted the Madonna col Bambino surrounded by four Musician Angels, addressing the three Bevilacqua introduced by Saints Catherine, Dominic, Anthony Abbot, George and Zeno. Under the aedicule is a plaque bearing a Latin cross and the Pellegrini and Bevilacqua coats of arms. [7]
The tomb of Tommaso Pellegrini, an important figure who in his 1492 will stipulated that his burial take place in the family chapel, is on the left wall. The tomb, a work by Antonio da Mestre, is comprised by the red marble tomb surmounted by a large cuspidate aedicule, where the family's coats of arms are located, and there is a tondo in the center depicting the Deposed Christ. The reliefs of the Madonna col Bambino are located on the ark, with St. John the Baptist and a saint with a book on either side. In the fresco, also characterized by the colors and intonations of Martino da Verona, there is a depiction of Tommaso Pellegrini in dark red robes, who is introduced by St. Thomas to the Virgin and the Child, while on the other side there is St. John the Baptist. [8]
Wilhelm von Bibra was buried inside the chapel after his death on his return from a trip to Rome. [9]
Paolo Uccello, born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian painter and mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. In his book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Giorgio Vasari wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his study trying to grasp the exact vanishing point. Uccello used perspective to create a feeling of depth in his paintings. His best known works are the three paintings representing the battle of San Romano, which were wrongly entitled the Battle of Sant'Egidio of 1416 for a long period of time.
Luca della Robbia was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. Della Robbia is noted for his colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary, a technique that he invented and passed on to his nephew Andrea della Robbia and great-nephews Giovanni della Robbia and Girolamo della Robbia. Although a leading sculptor in stone, after developing his technique in the early 1440s he worked primarily in terracotta. His large workshop produced both less expensive works cast from molds in multiple versions, and more expensive one-off individually modeled pieces.
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
Santa Felicita is a Roman Catholic church in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy, probably the oldest in the city after San Lorenzo. In the 2nd century, Syrian Greek merchants settled in the area south of the Arno and are thought to have brought Christianity to the region. The first church on the site was probably built in the late 4th century or early 5th century and was dedicated to Saint Felicity of Rome. A new church was built in the 11th century and the current church largely dates from 1736–1739, under design by Ferdinando Ruggieri, who turned it into a one nave edifice. The monastery was suppressed under the Napoleonic occupation of 1808–1810.
The Basilica di Santa Croce is a minor basilica and the principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres southeast of the Duomo, on what was once marshland beyond the city walls. Being the burial place of some of the most notable Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the poet Foscolo, the philosopher Gentile and the composer Rossini, it is also known as the Temple of the Italian Glories.
Pisanello, born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento. He was acclaimed by poets such as Guarino da Verona and praised by humanists of his time, who compared him to such illustrious names as Cimabue, Phidias and Praxiteles.
Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.
Michele Sanmicheli, sometimes also transcribed as Sammicheli, Sanmichele or Sammichele, was an Italian architect and urban planner who was a citizen of the Republic of Venice.
The Basilica of San Domenico is one of the major churches in Bologna, Italy. The remains of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), are buried inside the exquisite shrine Arca di San Domenico, made by Nicola Pisano and his workshop, Arnolfo di Cambio and with later additions by Niccolò dell'Arca and the young Michelangelo.
Sant'Anna dei Lombardi,, and also known as Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, is an ancient church and convent located in piazza Monteoliveto in central Naples, Italy. Across Monteoliveto street from the Fountain in the square is the Renaissance palace of Orsini di Gravina.
Maso di Banco was an Italian painter of the 14th century, who worked in Florence, Italy. He and Taddeo Gaddi were the most prominent Florentine pupils of Giotto di Bondone, exploring the three-dimensional dramatic realism inaugurated by Giotto.
Liberale da Verona (1441–1526) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Verona.
The chiesa di Sant'Anastasia, or the Basilica of Saint Anastasia is a church built by the Dominican Order in Verona, northern Italy. In Gothic style, it is the largest church in the city, located in its most ancient district, near the Ponte Pietra.
Antonio Veneziano, was an Italian painter who was active mainly in Siena, Florence and Pisa, documented between 1369 and 1419.
San Bernardino is a church in Verona, northern Italy. The church, in Gothic style, was built from 1451 to 1466.
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period. Giotto's contemporary, the banker and chronicler Giovanni Villani, wrote that Giotto was "the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature" and of his publicly recognized "talent and excellence". Giorgio Vasari described Giotto as making a decisive break from the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years".
Saint George and the Princess is a fresco by the Italian master Pisanello, located in the Pellegrini Chapel of the Church of Sant'Anastasia, Verona, northern Italy. It is one of the most notable works of International Gothic painting.
The Libro de' Disegni was a collection of drawings gathered, sorted, and grouped by Giorgio Vasari whilst writing his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. By the time of his death in 1574 it is thought to have contained around 526 drawings, of which 162 are now in the Louvre and 83 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. There are also drawings from the Libro in the prints and drawings departments of the Uffizi, the British Museum, the Albertina, the National Gallery of Art and other institutions.
The Cappella di San Luca, also called dei Pittori is a chapel found in the cloisters of the convent of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, Italy. It was built to serve as the burial chapel for members of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, and was donated by the Servites to the Academy in a document from 1565. It contains a collection of terracota statues from a number of prominent Florentine Mannerist sculptors.
International Gothicart is a style of figurative art datable between about 1370 and, in Italy, the first half of the 15th century.
Media related to Santa Anastasia (Verona) - Cappella Pellegrini at Wikimedia Commons
