Ch 9 Andrea del Sarto's Madonna of the Harpies

Apollo the International Magazine of Arts, 2004

Perspectives on Europe, 2016

The Virgin and Child figure prominently in Andrea del Sarto’s 'Madonna of the Harpies' (1517). Standing atop a pedestal and before a sculptural niche, mother and son are bathed in dazzling light and color, even as they are visited by a dark cloud. This paper analyzes Andrea’s allusions to sculptural form, as well as his innovative handling of color and chiaroscuro, in view of the learned exchanges that occurred between the artist and his Franciscan patrons. Andrea’s pictorial decisions privilege sixteenth-century discussions of the paragone debate. They imitate theories of optical science, especially Leonardo da Vinici’s notions of lustro and splendore. And, at the same time, they resonate within traditions of theological commentary that include St. Bonaventure’s writings on the soul and on Christ’s Incarnation. In this regard, Andrea del Sarto’s significant yet often overlooked painting offers new possibilities for inquiring into the intellectual lives of artists in Renaissance Italy.

Piero di Cosimo Painter of Faith and Fable, 2019

Il saggio analizza -- per la prima volta in modo sistematico -- l'iconografia mariana nell'opera di Piero di Cosimo. Questo artista, già celebre per le sue originalissime invenzioni rispetto ai temi profani, risulta essersi distinto anche nel modo di interpretare la figura della Vergine Maria, per la quale Piero scelse, con notevole coerenza in tutta la sua carriera, fisionomie e tipi di abbigliamento eccezionalmente modesti rispetto alle raffigurazioni contemporanee (Botticelli, Filippino ecc.). Nel saggio si propone di leggere queste scelte alla luce della personalità di Piero, così come essa emerge dalla biografia vasariana: un uomo senza dubbio solitario e poco convenzionale, eppure profondamente devoto. Nel saggio si sostiene che tale devozione seppe anche tradursi per l'artista in una profonda comprensione delle immagini sacre che gli venivano commissionate. Una comprensione che permise a Piero di Cosimo di inventare soggetti nuovi in quanto sorprendentemente al passo col dibattito teologico contemporaneo: è questo il caso dell'originalissima pala, oggi nota come '"Incarnazione e Santi" (Firenze, Uffizi), eseguita da Piero per la Santissima Annunziata di Firenze verso il 1500.

"Metropolitan Museum Journal", 2017

"Il Santo. rivista francescana di storia dottrina arte", 2023

This paper focuses on a relief with the Virgin of Mercy in the Museo Antoniano. Although the provenance is unknown, the presence of Franciscan friars among the devotees represented under the Virgin’s mantle points to a placement within the Santo, either the church or the convent. Furthermore, stylistic and formal characteristics suggest that the work, dating around mid-15th century, may be attributed to a sculptor from beyond the Alps, most likely the area of Salzburg. Moreover, the authors concentrate upon the gothic minuscule inscriptions placed in the lower part of the relief, within the symbol of the sun and the moon. The inscriptions have been identified as the absolute incipit and the beginning of the second quatrain of two popular Marian hymns, included in the Liturgia horarum. The hymns – recited respectively in the Lauds and the Matin of the Hail Mary – were originally part of a single hymn which scholars accredited to Venantius Fortunatus. Ancient sources also link these hymns to St. Anthony’s Marian devotion. The creation of a new text from twodifferent textual fragments, significantly integrated with the image, testifies to the sculptor’s ability as well as to the profound theological knowledge of those who conceived the relief.

In: Madonnas on Lions and the Soft Style of the Third Quarter of the 14th Century. Editor: Jana Hrbáčová. Olomouc 2014, p. 27–32

Given the overall Renaissance movement towards increased realism in painting, if a celebrated Renaissance artist depicted only Jesus or the Madonna in disproportionate size or with some other manner of unrealism, it was most likely a conscious decision rather than a lack of knowledge or talent. Assuming that such unrealism was a conscious decision, this paper speculates on the ideological motivations for continuing this medieval practice, and the motivations for its eventual discontinuance. A number of Renaissance paintings are cited in support of the thesis. The medieval practice eventually dissipated. This paper analyzes an example of the realistic depiction of Christ and the Madonna by a Renaissance painter; specifically, this paper analyzes Correggio’s The Virgin in Adoration of the Child.

Galleria Longari Milano, 2018