Florentine workshop (pertaining to Lawrence Monaco) (14th century) – Shaped and painted cross

BORGO SAN LORENZO (pieve di San Lorenzo) – It is a shaped and painted cross, depicting the Crucified Christ. Probably deprived of the end sections of the arms, the work was granted to the Pieve by the Major Seminary of Florence, to be placed in the centre of the apse after the reorganization of the presbytery area following the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. The work takes on a common typology very dear to the Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco, so named for his membership of the Camaldolesi Order and main protagonist of the so-called “School of Angels”. The latter flourished inside the Florentine monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli and was characterized by the pronounced late-gothic language, of the same type perceivable in the delicate facets of this Crucified Christ. The painting has been also compared to other anonymous authors of the same period, from the late 14th to early 15th centuries, such as the “Master of Mercy” or “Santa Verdiana”.

© Il Filo – Idee e Notizie dal Mugello