PUTTING ART (back) IN ITS PLACE

Small scenes carved in marble relief by some of the chief sculptors of the age depict the seven virtues (the three theological virtues on the left of the row pictured and the four cardinal virtues on the right), the seven liberal arts (the Trivium and the Quadrivium), the seven planets, the worthy and essential professions, scenes from the account in Genesis of the origins of human being, and, yes, the seven sacraments.

The three theological virtues of faith, charity, and hope (in their order from left to right on the Belltower), emphasized in 1 Corinthians 13.

Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, in their order from left to right on the Belltower.

Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, and Arithmetic

(Arranged in the Museum of the Works of the Cathedral in the same order as on the Belltower: from left to right, Baptism, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders ...)

(Holy Orders, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Annointing of the Dying, arranged in the Museum of the Works of the Cathedral according to their order on the Belltower)

One is a painting of the Last Judgment on a wood panel about a meter and a half wide, with curved scalloping along the top that might be found on a piece of furniture.  And that’s exactly what it was.

... a set of large square and rectangular panels, each containing smaller panels painted with scenes from the life of Christ.  One can imagine the large panels as the sides of an enormous chest—and so they once were.

Piero de Medici, chief patron of the order in the mid-fifteenth century, commissioned Fra Angelico to paint the movable shutters of an enormous cabinet built to safeguard precious objects crafted in silver, offerings of pious visitors who flocked to the Florentine church of Santissima Annunziata ...

Fra Angelico decorated this Armadio degli Argenti with small scenes from the life of Christ.  Written across the bottom of each small square panel is the source-text of the episode in the Gospels, and across the top a reference to a passage from the Old Testament that prophetically prefigures the event. (The events in this photograph are the Flight into Egypt, and the Massacre of the Innocents.)

Written across the bottom of each small square panel is the source-text of the episode in the Gospels, and across the top a reference to a passage from the Old Testament that prophetically prefigures the event ... The reference in the scene of the Annunciation, for instance, is Isaiah’s prophecy, “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel” (7:14).

Along with the elements of intricate design-work in wood or stone or enameled glass or mosaic bestowed on altars themselves, the altar typically served as the base (or physical reference point) for a painted panel—the altarpiece—that served as the backdrop of the actions performed at the altar.  (Here, a side chapel in the church of Santa Trinità in Florence; photograph by the author.)

In the Sassetti chapel altarpiece, Ghirlandaio has represented the manger as a Roman sarcophagus, resonant with several overlapping meanings, one of which is to remind us that this baby will be crucified and buried before he rises from the tomb.

The scene of the Nativity on the altar of the private chapel of the Medici family seems deliberately dark and empty, the baby Jesus lying alone on the ground with no one but his parents nearby.   (Painted by Filippo Lippi in the 1450s; a copy is now in the chapel)

Altarpieces depicting the Deposition—the lowering of the dead Jesus from the Cross to prepare the body for burial—heighten the resonance for the communicant between the host (the consecrated wafer of bread) and the dead body sacrificed for us ...

The altarpiece on the high altar of Santa Trinità in Florence is a visual representation of the Trinity (unsurprisingly), with God the Father holding up the cross bearing the Son, with the Holy Spirit as dove descending from Father to Son.  (Painted by Mariotto di Nardo, 1416)

An example well worth discussion is the baptismal font in the baptistery of Siena, notable for how not one but five prominent artists accepted commissions in the late 1420s to contribute to the series of panels cast in bronze relief that surround the font. 

Focus on a single panel such as Donatello’s is likely to inhibit an informed perception of the hexagonal form of this baptismal font.  The shape is highlighted by six elegant statues of female figures placed between the panels at the angles of the hexagon, each representing one of six virtues. 

In one notable pulpit sculpted by Giovanni Pisano for the church of Sant’Andrea in Pistoia, its liturgical function is highlighted by the small statues placed at the angles between the panels. These statues depict the figure of the Deacon along with the figures of the Evangelists and Epistle-writers. 

These statues depict the figure of the Deacon along with the figures of the Evangelists and Epistle-writers.

These statues depict the figure of the Deacon along with the figures of the Evangelists and Epistle-writers.

The first of these commissions was the pulpit in the Baptistry in the cathedral complex in Pisa, completed by Nicola Pisano around 1260, hexagonal in form.