Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 22 minutes):Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata, BWV 82
The Baroncelli Chapel was added to the south end of the transept of the Santa Croce in the fourteenth century. It consists of two bays of considerable dimensions. The construction on the chapel began in February 1328 and the donors were five members of the Baroncelli family. The decoration of the chapel was executed by Taddeo Gaddi between 1328 and 1333. The chapel is consecrated to the Annunciation to the Virgin, and thus the pictorial program is devoted to the life of the Virgin.
The fresco cycle covers only the two walls of the front section of the space, beginning on the east wall with the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple and Joachim's Dream. It is followed on the same wall by Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate and the Birth, Presentation and Marriage of the Virgin. On the south wall are the Annunciation to the Virgin, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Birth of Christ, the Christ Child Appears to the Magi as a Star, and the Adoration of the Magi.
On the pilaster dividing the two parts of the room are Isaiah above and a youthful David as the conqueror of Goliath below. On the vault of the front section of the room are depictions of the four cardinal virtues, while on the rear section are the three theological virtues and Humilitas. The window jambs feature fifteen additional virtues, the stained glass window itself has St Francis Receives the Stigmata and the depictions of six other saints.
Of the many family chapels in Santa Croce from the early fourteenth century, none has retained as much of its original appearance as the Baroncelli Chapel.
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Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 22 minutes): Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata, BWV 82 |
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| Paintings by Taddeo GADDI |
| Frescoes in the Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence (c. 1330) |
| Other frescoes in Santa Croce, Florence (c. 1360) |
| Panel paintings |
