Church transept wall decorated with Late medieval or Early Renaissance frescoes by Bartolo di Fredi () and Taddeo di Bartolo (c. 1363-1422). In the Chiesa di San Francesco at Lucignano, Tuscany, Italy.
Lucignano, Val di Chiana, Tuscany, Italy: a church transept wall decorated with Late medieval or Early Renaissance frescoes bears witness to centuries of neglect, decay and accidental damage - followed by decades of painstaking restoration. The frescoes in the Chiesa di San Francesco (Church of St. Francis) are by two artists born in Siena, 30 miles west of Lucignano. Bartolo di Fredi (c. 1330-1410) and Taddeo di Bartolo (c. 1363-1422) were influential members of the Sienese School of artists and their surviving artworks can be found in many Tuscan churches and monasteries. At Lucignano, both men painted Biblical artworks and scenes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. These included the badly faded and reddened Stigmata of St. Francis in the upper section of this wall and the discoloured and fragmentary Madonna Enthroned between Saints Christopher and George in the middle section. The Adoration of the Magi fresco in the lower register retains most of its original colour, but it too suffered irreparable damage when a pedimented doorway and a Baroque altar were inserted in the 1600s. On the left, the 17th century builders destroyed a depiction of the procession of people and exotic animals following the three kings or wise men from the East to the stable at Bethlehem, while on the right, the Baroque altar obliterated most of the Nativity scene and part of the stable. The destruction must have been accidental, as by the time it occurred, most if not all the frescoes in the church had vanished under layers of plaster and whitewash. They were rediscovered in the 19th century and the plaster was removed. The frescoes were then carefully restored, with the work not completed until 1985.
Size: 2614px × 3929px
Location: Chiesa di San Francesco, Piazza Tribunale, Lucignano, Val di Chiana, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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