A Guest at the Palace | “Madonna of Pontassieve” by Beato Angelico

17 June — 28 September 2015
Palazzo Cini. La Galleria, Venezia

Fra Angelico, Madonna di Pontassieve, c. 1435–1450. Tempera and gold on panel, 134 × 59 cm. Uffizi Gallery.

The Guest at the Palace initiative, promoted by the Art History Institute of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, was created through collaborations with some of the most prestigious Italian and international museum institutions. Conceived to temporarily enrich the museum holdings of Galleria di Palazzo Cini, the project features the exhibition of particularly important artworks granted on extraordinary loan and hosted for several months in the historic residence of Vittorio Cini, which houses the masterpieces of his remarkable art collection.

The Gallery of Palazzo Cini in San Vio welcomes a new distinguished guest: Madonna di Pontassieve by Beato Angelico (Vicchio di Mugello, c. 1395 – Rome, 1455), a masterpiece by the great Tuscan painter, on loan from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It is likely the central panel of the lost polyptych created for the Tuscan city (c. 1435).

The painting arrives at Palazzo Cini on June 17, 2015, coinciding with the opening of the exhibition Piero di Cosimo. An Eccentric “Florentine” Painter Between the Renaissance and the Mannerist Period (Florence, June 23 – September 27, 2015), which will feature the two paintings by Piero di Cosimo normally housed in the Gallery: the Madonna and Child with Angels (recently also exhibited in the show Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence at the National Gallery of Art in Washington) and the Holy Family with the Young Saint John.

Madonna of Pontassieve

The Madonna of Pontassieve, commissioned in 1435 by six members of the wealthy Florentine Filicaia family, who held the patronage of the church of San Michele in Pontassieve, most likely forms the central panel of the high altar polyptych.

This masterpiece from the mature period of the ‘pictor angelicus’ remained in the shadows for a long time, due to its peripheral location and the early dismantling it must have undergone as early as the mid-17th century. It was not until 1909 that the painting received its first critical mention (Giovanni Poggi), with an attribution, universally accepted, to the Dominican painter: the interest aroused by the work, thanks also to the exhibitions in London and Florence in the 1930s which brought it to the attention of scholars, contributed to the decision to transfer it to the Uffizi Gallery in 1949. Since then, it has been the subject of constant scientific scrutiny, right up to the recent exhibition in Pontassieve curated by Ada Labriola (2010), which was entirely dedicated to it and brought to light many new insights, primarily regarding its patronage.

Opening hours and access procedures

Open daily from 11am to 7pm, closed on Tuesdays.

On Wednesday 17 June at 5.30pm, the Art Talk “Beato Angelico: Painter of Light. The Madonna of Pontassieve” will take place, led by art historian Ada Labriola, former curator of the 2010 exhibition “Beato Angelico in Pontassieve”. The event is free and open to all by booking via email, subject to purchase of an entry ticket to the gallery.

All editions

May 24 – July 21, 2014

Portrait of a Young Man with a Lute by Agnolo Bronzino

September 5 – November 2, 2014

Adoration of the Shepherds by Lorenzo Lotto

June 17 – September 28, 2015

The Madonna of Pontassieve by Beato Angelico

September 19 – November 15, 2015

Capriccio with a Small Square by Francesco Guardi

April 8 – June 6, 2016

Saint Mark by Andrea Mantegna

May 28 – November 1, 2021