The paper presents a first systematic analysis of the issues of pictorial narrative raised by the well known Trecento fresco cycle with Stories of the Old and New Testament formerly decorating the church of Santa Maria di Mezzaratta on the Bolognese hills. Painted by a few generations of artists during at least four decades after 1338, the murals were mostly detached with the technique of strappo in the mid-twentieth century and displayed in a room prepared for their exhibition in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna, where one can still admire them as the most complete cycle of frescoes survived from the Bolognese Trecento painting. After reconstructing the original narrative order of the mural cycle by using early modern artistic literature to fill the gaps left by lost scenes, the paper investigates some problems raised by the narrative distribution of the stories, particularly focusing on the reasons why the whole counter-façade was painted with the Annunciation and the Nativity.
Il contributo propone una prima sistematica analisi dei problemi di organizzazione narrativa del ben noto ciclo di affreschi trecenteschi con Storie dell’Antico e del Nuovo Testamento che decorava un tempo la chiesa di Santa Maria di Mezzaratta sulla prima collina bolognese. Eseguiti da diverse generazioni di pittori nel corso di almeno quattro decenni dopo il 1338, i dipinti furono in gran parte strappati alla metà del secolo scorso ed esposti in una sala appositamente allestita della Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, dove tuttora sono visibili come il più completo complesso di pittura murale che si sia conservato del Trecento bolognese. Dopo aver ricostruito l’ordine narrativo originario del ciclo, servendosi della letteratura artistica di età moderna per reintegrare i riquadri perduti, l’articolo s’interroga sulle problematiche sollevate dalla disposizione narrativa degli affreschi, soffermandosi in particolare sulle motivazioni che potrebbero sottendere la scelta quanto mai rara di dedicare l’intera parete d’ingresso alla rappresentazione dell’Annunciazione e della Natività.
Problemi di organizzazione narrativa a Mezzaratta
DEL MONACO, GIANLUCA
2016
Abstract
The paper presents a first systematic analysis of the issues of pictorial narrative raised by the well known Trecento fresco cycle with Stories of the Old and New Testament formerly decorating the church of Santa Maria di Mezzaratta on the Bolognese hills. Painted by a few generations of artists during at least four decades after 1338, the murals were mostly detached with the technique of strappo in the mid-twentieth century and displayed in a room prepared for their exhibition in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna, where one can still admire them as the most complete cycle of frescoes survived from the Bolognese Trecento painting. After reconstructing the original narrative order of the mural cycle by using early modern artistic literature to fill the gaps left by lost scenes, the paper investigates some problems raised by the narrative distribution of the stories, particularly focusing on the reasons why the whole counter-façade was painted with the Annunciation and the Nativity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
