The Massa Fermana Altarpiece is a 1468 tempera and gold on panel by the Italian painter

Carlo Crivelli Carlo Crivelli ( – ) was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivarini, Squarcione, and Mantegna. He left the Vene ...

, held in Santi Lorenzo e Silvestro church in the town of

Massa Fermana Massa Fermana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Fermo in the Italian region Marche, located about south of Ancona and about northwest of Ascoli Piceno. The parish church of Santi Lorenzo, Silvestro, e Ruffino houses the Massa F ...

. It is signed "KAROLVS CRIVELLVS VENETVS PINXIT HOC OPVS MCCCCLXVIII". It is his earliest known surviving work and is notable for dating his return to Italy. The central register is a Madonna and Child flanked by Saints John the Baptist, Lawrence, Sylvester and Francis. Above this are panels of Mary at the Annunciation, the Pietà and Gabriel at the Annunciation, whilst below is a

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

showing Christ at Gethsemane, the Crucifixion, the Flagellation and the Resurrection.

History

Amico Ricci Amico Ricci Petrocchini, Petruccini or Petruchini (1794-1862) was an Italian art historian and marquess. He is most notable for his 1834 ''Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona'', the first systematic survey of art hi ...

(1834) quotes a local traditions that the work was commission by a count of the Azzolini family from

Fermo Fermo (; ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest huma ...

, who were also lords of Massa Fermana. During the reconnaissance of the works of art wanted by the newly formed Italian government after the

Unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

Cavalcaselle Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle (22 January 1819 – 31 October 1897) was an Italian writer and art critic, best known as part of "Crowe and Cavalcaselle", for the many works in English on art history he co-authored with Joseph Archer Crowe. ...

and Crowe saw the polyptych in 1861 in the manse. It was later exhibited in the municipal residence and then in the

Galleria Nazionale delle Marche The Ducal Palace () is a Renaissance building in the Italian city of Urbino in the Marche. One of the most important monuments in Italy, it's been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. History The construction of the Ducal Palac ...

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

, where it remained until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after which it returned to the church of origin.

Description and style

The polyptych is composed of five main panels with the ''Madonna and Child'' in the center (105x44 cm) and on the sides the saints John the Baptist, Lawrence, Sylvester and Francis (105x44cm each). The panels with the ''Annunciation'' and ''Gabriel at the Annunciation'' measure 37x19 cm each, and the ''Pietà'' measures 51x28 cm. In the four compartments of the predella, the ''Crucifixion'' precedes the ''Flagellation'', a reversal of the usual order.

The Madonna

The Madonna is seated on a throne in the center and holds in her arms the Child who blesses and holds a golden sphere, symbol of the terrestrial globe. The marble throne rests on a pedestal, in which an extinguished candle is embedded, close to the artist's signature. At the top it is refined by the red cloth that covers the backrest and by two large cranes resting on the sides, a peach and a

quince The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the Malinae subtribe (which contains apples, pears, and other fruits) of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yel ...

, alluding to the

Original Sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...

. The halos, of Mary and of the saints, are of an archaic type, like golden discs pinned to the back of the head and not foreshortened, on which the artist applied decorations in relief. The Madonna recalls the schemes of

Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Quattrocento (fifteenth century) and a Carmelite priest. He was an early Renaissance master of a painting workshop, who taught many paint ...

. Compared to the Madonnas of the Paduan or Zadar period (e.g., the'' Huldschinsky Madonna''), the figure of the Virgin is here softened by a new tenderness, which will later be found in the artist's mature works.

Flanking saints

The lower step unifies the compartments of the saints, but is differentiated according to the setting. For example, John the Baptist is imagined in the desert, resting on a jagged rock in the style of Mantegna, which is also found symmetrically in the rightmost panel, of Saint Francis receiving the stigmata, while the other two saints rest on a step of mottled marble. Varying in pose and attitude, the saints are recognizable by typical attributes (the scroll with John's

Ecce Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is the name given to a spec ...

, Lorenzo's grill and the crucifix with golden rays – in relief – touching Francis' wounds), with the exclusion of Sylvester, who has no specific attributes apart from the sumptuous papal robe, but who is nevertheless recognizable as the titular saint (with Lorenzo) of the church. Conceived in a drier and more sculptural manner than the Madonna, the saints show a greater persistence of the Paduan Renaissance style. File:Carlo crivelli, polittico di massa fermana 01.jpg, ''Saint John the Baptist'' and ''Saint Lawrence'' File:Carlo crivelli, polittico di massa fermana 03.jpg, ''Saint Sylvester'' and ''Saint Francis'' File:Carlo crivelli, polittico di massa fermana, san silvestro.jpg, ''Saint Sylvester'' (detail)

Upper panels

The original wooden frame which was to incorporate the upper panels in a more elegant way is lost. These three scenes are also spatially united, but only the side panels of the Annunciation, which have the same background with a crenellated wall. On the right the angel glides delicately with his wings and the fluttering cords of his robe and pad in relief; on the left Mary, sitting in front of the lectern, receives the visit of the dove of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

and accepts her destiny by humbly clasping her hands, while on the left there is a delicate glimpse of her bedroom, untouched as befits a virgin. These two small scenes represent a real exercise in perspective, with the grid represented in the blocks of the floor and in the progression of the joints between the brick walls. The Virgin's lectern itself is violently shortened. The type of the Madonna is influenced by

Bartolomeo Vivarini Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo Vivarini (c. 1432c. 1499) was an Italian Renaissance painter, known to have worked from 1450 to 1499. Biography Bartolomeo's brother Antonio Vivarini, and his nephew (also possibly his pupil) Alvise Vivarini, were al ...

, already known to the artist in Venice and also active in the Marche in those years. The ''Pietà'' has a sparse rocky landscape as its backdrop. The body of Christ stands at the same time heroic in its strong plastic physicality, and painful for the suffering of martyrdom, remembered not only by the grimace, but also by the cross that appears behind him with the three nails driven into the wood. The glimpse of the sarcophagus in perspective and the attention to the light output are beautiful, as demonstrated by the shadow that Jesus casts on the left edge, or that of the nails. File:Carlo Crivelli 025.jpg, ''Annunciation'' File:Carlo Crivelli 028.jpg, ''Angel of the Annunciation''

Predella

The predella shows narrative scenes, rare in the artist's production. The inspiration from Mantegna's ''

San Zeno Altarpiece The ''San Zeno Altarpiece'' is a polyptych altarpiece by the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna created around 1456–1459. It remains ''in situ'' in the Basilica di San Zeno, the main church of the Northern Italian city of Verona. Mant ...

'' is evident for the scenes (excluding the ''Flagellation''), attempting to convey the drama of the events even more, as can be seen clearly in the ''Crucifixion'' where the elderly Mary is transfigured by a grimace of pain. The soldier lying foreshortened in the ''Resurrection'' is an explicit quotation of the ''Transport of Saint Christopher'' frescoed in the

Ovetari Chapel The Ovetari Chapel (Italian: ''Cappella Ovetari'') is a chapel in the right arm of the transept of the Church of the Eremitani in Padua. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by Andrea Mantegna and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cy ...

in Padua. The ''Flagellation'' instead would refer to the perspective solutions of

Paolo Uccello Paolo Uccello ( , ; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian Renaissance painter and mathematician from Florence who was notable for his pioneering work on visual Perspective (graphical), perspective in art. In his book ''Liv ...

who worked in

in that year, in particular the scenes of the ''Miracle of the Profaned Host''. File:Carlo crivelli, polittico di massa fermana, predella, crocifissione.jpg, ''Crucifixion'' File:Carlo crivelli, polittico di massa fermana, predella, resurrezione.jpg, ''Resurrection''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massa Fermana Altarpiece Paintings by Carlo Crivelli Paintings of John the Baptist Paintings of Francis of Assisi Paintings of Saint Lawrence Paintings of the Pietà Paintings of the Annunciation Paintings of the Flagellation of Jesus Paintings of the Resurrection of Christ Paintings of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane Paintings of the Crucifixion of Jesus 1468 paintings Altarpieces