|
Urbino, Fano and Pesaro
Before becoming the Renaissance’s capital led by Duke Frederic, Urbino experienced an intense courtly season still identifiable in a number of churches and above all the Oratory of Saint John the Baptist.
The decorative cycle portraying the saint’s story and painted in about 1416 by Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni, is considered the manifesto of the International Gothic style in the Marche Region and in Italy, an extraordinary journey through the fairytales and elegance of courtliness continued in he masterpieces from this same period exhibited in the Marche National Gallery. If Urbino was the city of the Montefeltro, in the days of Gentile, Fano and Pesaro were Malatesta cities.
Both these cities still preserve visible marks of the long reign of the Princes of Rimini. The Court, the Fortress and the Malatesta tombs bear witness to the urban development that characterised the city of Fano after the Middle Ages, also influencing religious building with the creation of vast convents and courtly churches such as those of San Domenico, Saint Francis (with the extraordinary tombs of Paola Bianca and Pandolfo III Malatesta, masterpieces of sculpture in that period) and Saint Augustine. The most famous example of this spreading of the Gothic International style is the Polyptych by Michele Giambono, preserved in the Municipal Gallery.
The Malatesta family took possession of the city of Pesaro towards the end of 13th Century. The portal of the Church of Saint Francis and that of the Church of Saint Augustine, are two splendid examples of Gothic art in this period.
In the Municipal Gallery one can admire numerous painting on wood that witness the diffusion of the Gothic International style in the seigniorial period, among them the Dream of the Virgin by Michele di Matteo, the famous Polyptych of the Blessed Michelina by Jacobello del Fiore, previously in the Church of Saint Francis and the Polyptych by Nicolò di Pietro, previously preserved in the Church Saint Augustine.
...........................................................................................................
Ancona, Osimo, Recanati and Jesi
It was precisely during the 15th Century that Ancona became enriched with palaces and works of art. Giorgio da Sebenico created the façade of the Loggia dei Mercanti, the portals in the embellished Gothic style for the Church of Saint Augustine and the Church of Saint Francis as well as the Stairway and the façade for Palazzo Benincasa in Via della Loggia. The Francesco Podesti Gallery preserves precious works of art by Arcangelo di Cola, Olivuccio di Ceccarello and Carlo Crivelli, who painted a wonderful Madonna with Child.
An itinerary linked to figurative art in the days of Gentile can continue in other important towns only a few kilometres from the Region’s capital. In Osimo’s historical centre the small church of St. Nicolò preserves a cycle f frescoes attributed to Pietro di Domenico from Montepulciano.
Recanati hosts in its Gallery and in the diocesan Museum a number of important examples of late Gothic art and in the Church of Saint Augustine there is an important series of frescoes attributed to Olivuccio di Ceccarello. Jesi, a town that with Recanati boasts the presence of extraordinary paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, preserves in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie a venerated image of the Virgin of Mercy, probably by Antonio da Fabriano. The architecture of the Palazzo della Signoria, the work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini, is already in the Renaissance style.
...........................................................................................................
Matelica, San Severino Marche and Camerino
The itinerary in the Province of Macerata begins in the small town of Matelica, where an excellent Verdicchio is made. The Palace hosting the Municipal Museums, built at the end of the 15th Century by Costantino and Giovan Battista da Lugano, is entitled to the Ottoni, the city’s seigniors from the 14th Century until about 1589.
In the churches and in the Piersanti Museum one can admire, among others, paintings by Marco Palmezzano, Jacopo Bellini, Barocci, Guercino and Salvator Rosa. During the Smeducci seigniory, San Severino Marche experienced great development and was embellished with important documents, among them the historical complex dominating the town, in which the enormous millenary cathedral and the Municipal Tower stand out.
The heir of the ancient Roman town called Septempeda, this small town was the birthplace of two of the leading artists of the Gothic International style: Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni. The works f art created in their workshop can be found in many of the cities in the Marche Region. The altarpiece portraying the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine, preserved in the Gallery and signed by Lorenzo, dates back to the year 1400. With this work of art the artists created an early example of openness to the linear language of the courtly Gothic style, rich in German and Bohemian pictorial influence.
In this same Gallery it is well worth seeing the splendid Madonna of Humility by Allegretto Nuzi, a beautiful polyptych by Vittore Crivelli and other works of art by the Salimbeni brothers, among them the Stories of Saint John the Evangelist by Lorenzo. During the Da Varano seigniory, Camerino was a city open to exchanges and relations to the extent that it acted as the hub for commerce along the land and maritime routes that from Venice, passing through Fano, and along the medium Adriatic, led to the central and southern regions, and in particular to Rome. In the Municipal Gallery and in the Diocesan Museum there are many testimonies of the successful pictorial season between the 14th and the 15th Centuries portrayed by Olivuccio di Ceccarello and Arcangelo di Cola, and in the course of the mid 15th Century by Giovanni Boccati, Girolamo di Giovanni and Giovanni Angelo di Antonio. Among Gentile da Fabriano’s contemporaries, there was also Arcangelo di Cola, active both in his own town and in Florence also for diplomatic work e was appointed to attend to by the Da Varano family. His Madonna with Child and Angels on the Throne, painted for the church of Saint Francis between 1428 and 1429, is his only work of art that has remained in this territory and is preserved in the Gallery.
...........................................................................................................
Fermo and its territory
Ever since the end of the 12th Century, Fermo extended its influence over most of the surrounding castles until, between the 14th and the 15th Centuries it became one of the richest and most important cities in Central Italy.
The city’s sumptuous past has been portrayed by many polyptyches, works of art and frescoes as well as miniatures in the city’s churches as in the Gallery where one can admire one of International Gothic art’s highest expressions: the eight tablets representing the Stories of Saint Lucia, datable between 1420 and 1425, by he Venetian artist Jacobello da Fiore.
The splendid Missal according to the Roman liturgy (also known as the Messale de Firmonibus, Museo del Tesoro), written before 1421 and illuminated by Giovanni Ugolino from Milan in about 1436, is instead exhibited in the exhibition dedicated to Gentile. The itinerary continues in Fermo’s splendid setting, among the flowered Gothic style portals and the Santa Monica Oratory (built between 1423 and 1425 by Giovanni di Guglielmo) and attributed to Pietro di Domenico from Montepulciano.
In the area surrounding Fermo, in the Church of Saint Augustine in Monterubbiano one can admire a polyptych by Lorenzo di Giacomo, while in Altidona there is one signed by Cristoforo Cortese.
Fra Marino Angeli, documented from 1437 to 1462 - a Madonna with Child on Bambino is preserved in the Fermo Gallery – is famous for the frescoes in the Fermo Oratory of Saint Victoria in Matenano. With historical events linked for centuries to those of the city of Fermo, is a key location for the International Gothic style.
Among the numerous religious locations, the Church of St Francis stands out for it portal, signed and dated by the Maestro Zallus in 1325. The Northern side of the church opens with the “Farfense Chapel” rich in 15th Century frescoes portraying the Stories of Saint Elena and of the Cross.
...........................................................................................................
|
