{"id":7753,"date":"2012-12-11T17:17:07","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T22:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=7753"},"modified":"2013-02-01T16:22:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T21:22:58","slug":"l-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/lost-works\/l-10\/","title":{"rendered":"L.10 Possible Studies for an Unexecuted Fresco at SS. Annunziata, Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"

1517<\/p>\n

The documents related to this project are transcribed and discussed in relation to Rosso\u2019s Assumption of the Virgin<\/i> in the atrium of SS. Annunziata (P.3<\/a>); Carroll, 1987, 15, 33, n. 22, mentioned; Ciardi and Mugnaini, 1991, 7, 9; Franklin, 1994, 18, 21-22, 272, n. 72, 297, Appendix A, DOCUMENT 11, 316; Costamagna, 1994, 22, 24, 27, 95, n. 1, 121-122, n. 3, under Cat. 17; Ciardi, 1994, 95, n. 122; Nova, 1995, 553.<\/p>\n

On 18 April 1517 Rosso was commissioned to execute a fresco in the atrium of SS. Annunziata, in the large arched space to the right of the door leading into the Chapel of St. Sebastian.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Although the painting was never executed it is possible that drawings were made for it.\u00a0 Unfortunately its subject is not specified in the contract for it, but it is stated that earlier this work had been assigned to \u201caltri,\u201d whose rights to it were now revoked.\u00a0 The term \u201caltri\u201d may be an aspect of the legal language of the document and may not mean that several others had been contracted for this work.\u00a0 But it is known that at least one other artist had been hired to paint a fresco in the same location.\u00a0 On 1 December 1513 Francesco di Lazzaro (Torni) was contracted to paint there \u201cuna visione della Nativit\u00e0 di Nostra Donna con due Cibille et dua Astrologi.\u201d\u00a0 The fresco assigned to Rosso could have been of the same subject, although the fathers of the church might have changed their minds by 1518.\u00a0 What is not clear, however, is just what the subject is that is given in the document of 1513.\u00a0 The frescoes in the atrium illustrating the life of the Virgin begin with Sarto\u2019s Birth of the Virgin<\/i>, and then, after the still blank wall area that would have received Rosso\u2019s fresco, there follow Franciabigio\u2019s Marriage of the Virgin<\/i>, Pontormo\u2019s Visitation<\/i>, and Rosso\u2019s own Assumption<\/i> of 1513-1514.\u00a0 These appear in the proper order of the events of Mary\u2019s life.\u00a0 It is, therefore, unclear why a scene of a vision of her own nativity would be placed between one of her actual birth and another of her marriage.\u00a0 It is possible that what is meant is a vision of the birth of Christ with two sibyls and two astrologers as a kind of substitute for a scene of the Annunciation<\/i>.\u00a0 The Annunciation<\/i> is rather conspicuously absent from this cycle of frescoes at the Annunziata probably because there is a miraculous image of it inside the church and a second image of this event was not wanted in the atrium.\u00a0 The subject of the unexecuted picture, as an announcement of the virgin birth of Christ, may have been related to the visionary scene of Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl<\/i>, as suggested in Ciardi and Mugnaini, 1991.\u00a0 But Franklin in 1994 pointed out that this subject refers to the Nativity of Christ and not to the Virgin\u2019s as indicated in the document.\u00a0 But the wording of the document perhaps need not be taken at face value.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>1<\/sup> Franklin, 1994, 21, stated that the current double door appears to be a more recent addition, but that a document exists proving that a door was there leading into the oratory in 1513.\u00a0 He also points out that the word \u201cpresso\u201d in the document of 18 April 1517 could mean near, beside or above, and hence the commissioned fresco could have been for the space above the doors.\u00a0 The December 1513 document for Francesco di Lazzaro\u2019s fresco (see below and Franklin, 1994, 12, 272, n. 72), which the commission to Rosso replaced, mentions the \u201carcho…che \u00e8 dove \u00e8 la porta del fiancho della chapella di San Bastiano,\u201d which Franklin would interpret as meaning above the door.\u00a0 But this reference is no more specific than the use of the word \u201cpresso\u201d in the document of 1517.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1517 The documents related to this project are transcribed and discussed in relation to Rosso\u2019s Assumption of the Virgin in the atrium of SS. Annunziata (P.3); Carroll, 1987, 15, 33, n. 22, mentioned; Ciardi and Mugnaini, 1991, 7, 9; Franklin, 1994, 18, 21-22, 272, n. 72, 297, Appendix A, DOCUMENT 11, 316; Costamagna, 1994, 22, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":826,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7753","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7753"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8443,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7753\/revisions\/8443"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}