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Madonna col Bambino e Santi (Trittico affrescato) Sinalunga
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Artist: Cristoforo di Bindoccio e Meo di Pero
Current location: San Giovanni Battista a Farnetella
Original location: San Giovanni Battista a Farnetella
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION
Frescoed wall polyptych, 215 x 178 cm.
The unusual choice of decorating the wall behind the altar with a wall polyptych stands in stark contrast to the more common option of a painted wooden polyptych later placed on the altar.
It is precisely this rather rare type of ornamentation that can be admired in the choir of the church of San Giovanni Battista in Farnetella.
Until a few years ago, this little-known work was attributed to an anonymous painter, who probably painted it between the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Art historian Elisa Camporeale, in an article published in 2011, briefly mentioned "a mural triptych with the Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist, in poor condition, […] visible on the back wall behind the high altar of the church of Farnetella."
The fresco, likely painted by Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Pero, was recently restored but suffers from the presence of an altar, once imposed by the fashion of the moment, which almost completely obscures this rare example of a type of iconography that enjoyed considerable success in Sienese art: the Virgin Mary, with the Child on her lap, sits enthroned in the center.
The tenderness that visibly unites the two figures through maternal gestures and mutual gazes does not, however, conceal the underlying theme of a ubiquitous iconography in the Middle Ages: that of the Passion, of which the pomegranate, which Jesus appears to offer to his Mother, is one of the recurring symbols.
The couple thus formed is framed by two saints: John the Evangelist, on the right, and John the Baptist, on the left.
Madonna col Bambino e Santi (Trittico affrescato).jpeg)