Marriage of the Virgin (Rosso Fiorentino)
Marriage of the Virgin | |
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Artist | Rosso Fiorentino |
Year | 1523 |
Medium | oil on panel |
Dimensions | 325 × 250 cm |
Location | Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence |
Marriage of the Virgin or the Ginori Altarpiece is a 1523 oil on panel painting by Rosso Fiorentino, signed and dated by the artist.[1] It was commissioned by Carlo Ginori for the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, in Florence, previously owned by the Masi family that chapel had been acquired by the Ginori family in 1520.[2] It still hangs in the Basilica, whilst a drawn copy attributed to Antonio Circignani is now in the Louvre (n.1592).[3]
Five figures kneel on the steps up to the main scene, with two
Description and style
The scene is crowded and set symmetrically, with Joseph in the center, with the flowered mace, who is putting the ring on Mary, as they are being blessed by the priest behind them. Abandoning the iconographic tradition, Joseph is represented as a handsome young man, rather than elderly and therefore incapable of affecting Mary's virginity. Such a revolutionary choice has always interested scholars and the only possible explanation found so far is that it wants to symbolically represent the renovatio ecclesiae promoted by
The main scene takes place at the top of some steps, at the sides of which there are some figures: two cherubs embracing each other, a Dominican monk saint pointing to the scene, perhaps
The gazes and gestures of these figures direct them in depth towards the central scene, according to a scheme that goes beyond the traditional pyramidal shape, transforming it into something more complex, in spaces welded within two opposing semicircles. The crowding was interpreted as "a joyful party populated by various guests".
The palette is lively and iridescent, typical of mannerist experimentation, and with its darkening in depth it helps to perceive spatial depth.
The frescoes by
References
- ^ "Catalogue entry" (in Italian).
- ^ (in Italian) AA.VV., Galleria degli Uffizi, collana I Grandi Musei del Mondo, Roma 2003.
- ISBN 88-09-03675-1