Polyptych, Massa Fermana
The polyptych was created by Carlo Crivelli in 1468 for the church of Saints Lorenzo and Silvestro in Massa Fermana. The signature and date are engraved on the lower step of the central panel: “KAROLVS CRIVELLVS VENETVS PINXIT HOC OPVS / MCCCCLXVIII.”
The first document attesting to Carlo's presence in the Marche region dates back to 1468, where it notes the payment of two ducats to Maestro Giovanni Germano and our painter. Another document dates back to the eve of the Annunciation of the same year, March 24, where the two artists are paid for painting a Madonna and Child for the Palazzo dei Priori in Fermo. Therefore, Carlo arrived in the Marche region at the beginning of 1468 or in the last months of 1467, after his escape to Zara, and painted the work in Fermo, which is currently lost, and immediately afterwards the polyptych in Massa Fermana.
The altarpiece consists of a central panel depicting the Madonna and Child seated on a throne, which is larger than the four side panels. Supporting the weight of the panels is a decorated predella at the base, composed of four scenes. The polyptych is crowned by three cusps, the largest depicting the Pietà, which is placed in the center, while the Annunciation and the Archangel Gabriel Announcing are on the sides.
The polyptych does not have its original frame and was only described by Vincenzo Vitali Brancadoro in 1860, who reported that the five main panels were surmounted by carved arches.
Alessandro Delpriori has pointed out several times – Sarnano 2011 and Ascoli Piceno 2022 – that 1468 was a crucial year for art in the Marche region and the polyptych tradition. In fact, along with Carlo's polyptych, two other altarpieces were created: Giovanni Boccati for Belforte and Niccolò di Liberatore for Sanseverino Marche.
The work was commissioned from Crivelli by a lay patron named Troili Azzolino, who relied on an observant theologian to choose the scenes to be painted by the artist.
The central panel depicts the Madonna sitting on a classical-style marble throne, holding the seated Child on her lap. Behind the two figures hangs a red drape of honor, which is suspended by ties ending in struts. The Madonna wears a dark blue cloak, probably azurite, which over time has turned to a green pigment called malachite. The cloak is embellished with a gold border created using a brush-applied plaster technique. This technique has been used extensively in this work, as can be seen in the halos of the main figures. Underneath this fabric, the woman wears a red dress fastened with small buttons and a very fine gold belt.
The Baby Jesus is depicted blessing the viewer, while holding a golden sphere in his other hand.
A distinctive feature is the unlit candle next to the artist's signature, which is also found in a much later work commonly known as the Madonna della Candeletta, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera and part of the polyptych for the Cathedral of Camerino, which was created around 1490.
The side panels depict Saints John the Baptist, Lawrence, Sylvester, and Francis. The first on the left is Saint John the Baptist, dressed in pilgrim's clothes and set in a desert landscape. The saint is depicted with his attributes: a relief processional cross and a scroll bearing the inscription “ECCE AGNUS DEI TOLLIT.”
The next panel depicts St. Lawrence, patron saint of Massa Fermana, holding the instrument of his martyrdom, the gridiron, in his left hand. Even more distinctive and refined is Lawrence's red robe, probably made with cinnabar and worked with brush-applied plaster. Carlo inserts two easily identifiable saints into the gilded quatrefoils: Saint Peter holding the keys to the church and Saint Paul holding a sword.
Saint Sylvester, bishop, is depicted in a position of honor, holding a book in one hand and a crosier in the other, made of raised plaster on which gold leaf has been applied on a silver foil. This has been applied over the red ochre, with a gold foil on top. This technique was used to achieve a particular effect, which unfortunately no longer appears as it did originally, but is now very dark due to the oxidation of the silver foil.
The holy bishop is depicted wearing a mitre and a cloak decorated around the edge with a series of saints: Paul, Peter, Francis, and Bernardino of Siena. But the peculiarity of this fabric is that Carlo made it entirely of silver with thistle motifs in a dark pigment. The artist hammered and engraved the foil with particular care in order to achieve the magical effect of light and shadow, which made the robe appear almost real in the flickering light of the candles. Unfortunately, today the silver has not remained intact; in fact, in some places it is dark, while in others the red of the bole has reemerged.
The last panel depicts St. Francis receiving the stigmata from a seraphic Christ and wearing a habit closed at the waist by a rope with three knots, representing the vows of the Franciscan order.
All the figures are set against a gilded background, created using the guazzo gilding technique, where the foil was applied to a red bolus, as in most cases.
The predella consists of four scenes, all of equal size, depicting: the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, the Flagellation, and the Resurrection. The first is a night scene, where the sky is dotted with small stars, which are made in a shell shape, unlike the angel's chalice, which was made using the mission technique.
The polyptych is crowned by three cusps, with a figure of Christ in the center, holding out his wounded hands from the tomb and behind the cross with nails and the inscription “I N R I.” On the side, the Archangel Gabriel, in a panel, has just landed, with his wings still spread, and is announcing the birth of Jesus to the Virgin, depicted in the opposite panel, who lowers her gaze and joins her hands in prayer. The scene of the Annunciation is depicted in a setting similar to a castle, with a brick wall at the back ending in a series of battlements, followed by a golden background.
This painting recalls Paduan culture, comparable to Francesco Squarcione, Giorgio Schiavone, and Andrea Mantegna. For example, the scenes on the Massa Fermana predella recall the stories included by Mantegna in the San Zeno polyptych, made in Padua and then sent to Verona in 1460. The reconstruction of the polyptych was commented on by Alessandro Delpriori in 2022 – for the exhibition in Birmingham entitled “Shadow in the Sky” – where he places the Crucifixion below the Madonna and Child, sliding the four scenes to the right, one below each panel. Between the larger panels there must have been small pillars, at least 5 or 6 cm wide, in order to provide the right spacing between the predella and the saints above. We can therefore conclude that we have lost a scene that was located below St. John the Baptist, which may have been the Last Supper.
“In this panel, the painter asserts his training and publishes a text in pure Venetian dialect, with the same references to Schiavone and Mantegna” (Delpriori, 2022).
Carlo Crivelli
Polittico di Massa Fermana, 1468
Tempera su tavola
Firmato e datato: KAROLVS CRIVELLVS VENETVS PINXIT HOC OPVS MCCCCLXVIII
Descrizione
Madonna col Bambino, S. Giovanni Battista, S. Lorenzo, S. Silvestro e S. Francesco
Cuspidi: Cristo in Pietà, la Vergine Annunziata e l’Arcangelo Gabriele
Predella: Orazione nell’orto, Crocifissione, Flagellazione, Resurrezione
Dimensioni
Pannello centrale: 105×44 cm
Pannelli laterali: ciascuno 105×34 cm
Cuspide centrale: 51×28 cm
Cuspidi laterali: ciascuno 37×19 cm
Predella: 34×190 cm
Pinacoteca Comunale (già Parrocchiale dei SS. Lorenzo, Silvestro e Ruffino)
Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 60
Massa Fermana (FM)
Polyptych, Massa Fermana
The polyptych was created by Carlo Crivelli in 1468 for the church of Saints Lorenzo and Silvestro in Massa Fermana. The signature and date are engraved on the lower step of the central panel: “KAROLVS CRIVELLVS VENETVS PINXIT HOC OPVS / MCCCCLXVIII.”
The first document attesting to Carlo's presence in the Marche region dates back to 1468, where it notes the payment of two ducats to Maestro Giovanni Germano and our painter. Another document dates back to the eve of the Annunciation of the same year, March 24, where the two artists are paid for painting a Madonna and Child for the Palazzo dei Priori in Fermo. Therefore, Carlo arrived in the Marche region at the beginning of 1468 or in the last months of 1467, after his escape to Zara, and painted the work in Fermo, which is currently lost, and immediately afterwards the polyptych in Massa Fermana.
The altarpiece consists of a central panel depicting the Madonna and Child seated on a throne, which is larger than the four side panels. Supporting the weight of the panels is a decorated predella at the base, composed of four scenes. The polyptych is crowned by three cusps, the largest depicting the Pietà, which is placed in the center, while the Annunciation and the Archangel Gabriel Announcing are on the sides.
The polyptych does not have its original frame and was only described by Vincenzo Vitali Brancadoro in 1860, who reported that the five main panels were surmounted by carved arches.
Alessandro Delpriori has pointed out several times – Sarnano 2011 and Ascoli Piceno 2022 – that 1468 was a crucial year for art in the Marche region and the polyptych tradition. In fact, along with Carlo's polyptych, two other altarpieces were created: Giovanni Boccati for Belforte and Niccolò di Liberatore for Sanseverino Marche.
The work was commissioned from Crivelli by a lay patron named Troili Azzolino, who relied on an observant theologian to choose the scenes to be painted by the artist.
The central panel depicts the Madonna sitting on a classical-style marble throne, holding the seated Child on her lap. Behind the two figures hangs a red drape of honor, which is suspended by ties ending in struts. The Madonna wears a dark blue cloak, probably azurite, which over time has turned to a green pigment called malachite. The cloak is embellished with a gold border created using a brush-applied plaster technique. This technique has been used extensively in this work, as can be seen in the halos of the main figures. Underneath this fabric, the woman wears a red dress fastened with small buttons and a very fine gold belt.
The Baby Jesus is depicted blessing the viewer, while holding a golden sphere in his other hand.
A distinctive feature is the unlit candle next to the artist's signature, which is also found in a much later work commonly known as the Madonna della Candeletta, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera and part of the polyptych for the Cathedral of Camerino, which was created around 1490.
The side panels depict Saints John the Baptist, Lawrence, Sylvester, and Francis. The first on the left is Saint John the Baptist, dressed in pilgrim's clothes and set in a desert landscape. The saint is depicted with his attributes: a relief processional cross and a scroll bearing the inscription “ECCE AGNUS DEI TOLLIT.”
The next panel depicts St. Lawrence, patron saint of Massa Fermana, holding the instrument of his martyrdom, the gridiron, in his left hand. Even more distinctive and refined is Lawrence's red robe, probably made with cinnabar and worked with brush-applied plaster. Carlo inserts two easily identifiable saints into the gilded quatrefoils: Saint Peter holding the keys to the church and Saint Paul holding a sword.
Saint Sylvester, bishop, is depicted in a position of honor, holding a book in one hand and a crosier in the other, made of raised plaster on which gold leaf has been applied on a silver foil. This has been applied over the red ochre, with a gold foil on top. This technique was used to achieve a particular effect, which unfortunately no longer appears as it did originally, but is now very dark due to the oxidation of the silver foil.
The holy bishop is depicted wearing a mitre and a cloak decorated around the edge with a series of saints: Paul, Peter, Francis, and Bernardino of Siena. But the peculiarity of this fabric is that Carlo made it entirely of silver with thistle motifs in a dark pigment. The artist hammered and engraved the foil with particular care in order to achieve the magical effect of light and shadow, which made the robe appear almost real in the flickering light of the candles. Unfortunately, today the silver has not remained intact; in fact, in some places it is dark, while in others the red of the bole has reemerged.
The last panel depicts St. Francis receiving the stigmata from a seraphic Christ and wearing a habit closed at the waist by a rope with three knots, representing the vows of the Franciscan order.
All the figures are set against a gilded background, created using the guazzo gilding technique, where the foil was applied to a red bolus, as in most cases.
The predella consists of four scenes, all of equal size, depicting: the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, the Flagellation, and the Resurrection. The first is a night scene, where the sky is dotted with small stars, which are made in a shell shape, unlike the angel's chalice, which was made using the mission technique.
The polyptych is crowned by three cusps, with a figure of Christ in the center, holding out his wounded hands from the tomb and behind the cross with nails and the inscription “I N R I.” On the side, the Archangel Gabriel, in a panel, has just landed, with his wings still spread, and is announcing the birth of Jesus to the Virgin, depicted in the opposite panel, who lowers her gaze and joins her hands in prayer. The scene of the Annunciation is depicted in a setting similar to a castle, with a brick wall at the back ending in a series of battlements, followed by a golden background.
This painting recalls Paduan culture, comparable to Francesco Squarcione, Giorgio Schiavone, and Andrea Mantegna. For example, the scenes on the Massa Fermana predella recall the stories included by Mantegna in the San Zeno polyptych, made in Padua and then sent to Verona in 1460. The reconstruction of the polyptych was commented on by Alessandro Delpriori in 2022 – for the exhibition in Birmingham entitled “Shadow in the Sky” – where he places the Crucifixion below the Madonna and Child, sliding the four scenes to the right, one below each panel. Between the larger panels there must have been small pillars, at least 5 or 6 cm wide, in order to provide the right spacing between the predella and the saints above. We can therefore conclude that we have lost a scene that was located below St. John the Baptist, which may have been the Last Supper.
“In this panel, the painter asserts his training and publishes a text in pure Venetian dialect, with the same references to Schiavone and Mantegna” (Delpriori, 2022).
