Frescoes in the Baptistery and Collegiata, Castiglione Olona (1435)
by MASOLINO da Panicale

The Baptistery and the Collegiata (collegiate church) in Castiglione Olona were commissioned by Cardinal Branda Castiglione (1350-1443) from the family of the feudal lords of Castiglione. The collegiate church and its attendant structures, among them the baptistery, were erected between 1422 and 1425, and they occupy the site of an earlier citadel. The baptistery is said to have been built on the foundations of one of the citadel's towers.

The cardinal commissioned the frescoes in Castiglione Olona from Masolino after completing the frescoes in San Clemente, his titular church in Rome. The painting program is dedicated to John the Baptist, as appropriate for a baptistery.

The fresco cycle begins to the left of the door with the Annunciation to Zacharias. It then continues to the right of the door with the Visitation (largely destroyed). The frescoes on the north wall are the Birth of the Baptist (lost) and Zacharias Naming the Infant John (in very poor condition). The cycle continues in the altar room and it is concluded on the south wall with the Feast of Herod, Salome Bringing the Head of the Baptist to Herodias, and the Burial of the Baptist. The alter room contains the most important scenes of the cycle, John the Baptists's Sermon in the Wilderness and Sermon at the Jordan, the Baptism of Christ, Herod and Herodias, John the Baptist in Prison.

The images of the four evangelists with their respective symbols in the radiating compartments of the vaulting complement the iconographic program presented on the walls below.

The paintings in the Baptistery are unanimously attributed to Masolino by scholars. Because of the poor condition of the frescoes on the north and west walls, it is no longer possible to determine to what degree, if any, Masolino relied on assistants in the execution of the cycle.

The paintings in the choir of the Collegiata celebrate the triple patronage of the building: the church was consecrated to the Virgin and to the cardinal's own name-day saints, the archdeacons Stephen and Lawrence. The vault frescoes, depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin, were executed by Masolino at about the same time as those in the baptistery, c. 1435. On the walls below, a cycle with scenes from the lives of the archdeacons Stephen and Lawrence was painted by Il Vecchietta and Paolo Schiavo somewhat later.

The six scenes from the life of the Virgin fill the six compartments of the cross-ribbed vaulting of the polygonal presbytery, their unusual arrangement dictated in part by the relative sizes of the available spaces.


Preview Picture Data Info
View from the entrance
1435
Fresco, width of the back wall 4,7 m
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


View from the entrance
1435
Fresco, width of the back wall 4,7 m
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


View of the altar room
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Sermon in the Wilderness
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptist's Sermon at the Jordan
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptist's Sermon at the Jordan (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptism of Christ
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


God the Father Surrounded by Angels (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Landscape with Mountains
c. 1435
Fresco
Palace of Cardinal Branda Castiglione, Castiglione Olona


The Baptism of Christ (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptism of Christ (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


The Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


View of the entry wall (west wall)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Annunciation to Zacharias (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


South wall
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


South wall
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Feast of Herod (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Feast of Herod (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Salome Bringing the Head of the Baptist to Herodias (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Salome Bringing the Head of the Baptist to Herodias (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Vaulting of the Baptistery
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


Vaulting (detail)
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


St Ambrose
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


St Jerome
1435
Fresco
Baptistery, Castiglione Olona


View of the vaulting
c. 1435
Fresco
Collegiata, Castiglione Olona


Vaulting (detail)
c. 1435
Fresco
Collegiata, Castiglione Olona



Paintings by MASOLINO da Panicale
Frescoes in the Cappella Brancacci in Florence (1426-27)
Frescoes in San Clemente, Rome (1425-31)
Frescoes in Castiglione Olona (1435)
Various paintings (mainly panels)



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