Memorials

S. Barnaba Crucifix mural

Situated In

Chiesa e monastero di San Barnaba -- chiesa
Memorial Type
Status lost
Current Repository na
Primary Installation wall
Secondary Installation na
Tomb Form na
Liturgical Orientation S
Component Parts
  • mural a
Decorative Elements
  • cross
Material
Database ID 31981

Dates

circa 1420s (date is approximate) to circa 1450s (date is approximate) b
before 1568 c
renovation
May 18th, 1719 d

Related Memorials (3 total)

S. Barnaba 01 altare e
S. Barnaba 02 Altare del Neca f
S. Barnaba Cappella del Crocifisso piccolo:
May 18th, 1719

Sources (1 total)

G. Richa, Notizie istoriche delle chiese fiorentine vol. 7, pp. 65-66

Notes

  • [a] Though not mentioned by Vasari or Rosselli, likely because it had been whitewashed, a fresco showing the Crucifix or Crucifixion adorned the right wall of the church in the vicinity of the first two chapels on the right. Giuseppe Richa reports how during renovations to the church, the picture, attributed to Fra Angelico, was discovered, cut out of the wall, and moved with great ceremony and solemnity on 18 May 1719. It seems to have been lost within the subsequent century.
  • [b] If Richa is correct that the lost fresco was painted by Fra Angelico, it would have been done in the early to mid fifteenth century, though most likely in the 1420s or early '30s since he turned his attention exclusively to Dominican and papal commissions after about 1435.
  • [c] Given that Vasari makes no mention of this fresco in his Lives of the Artists, it seems likely that it was covered up during renovations undertaken after the arrival of the Carmelites in the sixteenth century.
  • [d] After its discovery during renovation of the church, the fresco was cut out of the old church wall to be demolished and moved, though Giuseppe Richa is vague as to where it was subsequently set up.
  • [e] Giuseppe Richa's description of the lost fresco is vague, and it is difficult to know exactly where the fresco was found, though it was near to the first new altar built on the south side of the church when the interior was completely renovated.
  • [f] Giuseppe Richa's description of the lost fresco is vague, and it is difficult to know exactly where the fresco was found, though it was near to the first new altar built on the south side of the church when the interior was completely renovated.