GADDI, Taddeo
(b. 1300, Firenze, d. 1366, Firenze)

View of the Baroncelli Chapel from the north

c. 1330
Fresco
Cappella Baroncelli, Santa Croce, Florence

The Baroncelli Chapel was added to the south end of the transept of the Santa Croce in the fourteenth century. The construction on the chapel began in February 1328 and the donors were five members of the Baroncelli family. The decoration of the chapel was executed by Taddeo Gaddi between 1328 and 1333. The chapel is consecrated to the Annunciation to the Virgin, and thus the pictorial program is devoted to the life of the Virgin.

The fresco cycle covers only the two walls of the front section of the space, beginning on the east wall (at the left in this picture). On the south wall are the Annunciation to the Virgin, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Birth of Christ, the Christ Child Appears to the Magi as a Star, and the Adoration of the Magi.

On the pilaster dividing the two parts of the room are Isaiah above and a youthful David as the conqueror of Goliath below. On the vault of the front section of the room are depictions of the four cardinal virtues, while on the rear section are the three theological virtues and Humilitas. The window jambs feature fifteen additional virtues, the stained glass window itself has St Francis Receives the Stigmata (at top) and the depictions of six other saints (below).




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