NARDO DI CIONE
(b. ca. 1320, Firenze, d. ca. 1365, Firenze)

View of the frescoes

1345-50
Fresco
Chiostrino dei Morti, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Nardo's frescoes in the chapel of Sant'Anna in the Chiostrino dei Morti of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Life of St Anne and four figures of Saints, are probably from the years 1345-50.

The Chiostrino dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), a former cemetery already built around 1270 by the Dominicans, probably by reusing a former cloister of the canons that we know as existing in 1179, was remodeled to its current size in 1337-1350. It presents on two sides vaulted arches lowered on octagonal fourteenth century pillars with overlying gallery, supported by very projecting corbels, leading from the dormitory to the sacristy of the church. It opens on it the funeral chapel of the Strozzis with two walls painted with the Nativity and the Crucifixion, attributed to Andrea Orcagna or his school. The frescoes, like most of those in the church and the convent, were removed, restored and replaced after the flood damages of Florence (1966). Through the division with walls of various spans, there were obtained several chapels: the Chapel of St Anne, with Stories of St Anne and Mary, frescoes attributed to the circle of Nardo di Cione; the Chapel of St Paul, with the Crucifixion and St Dominic, damaged frescoes by Orcagna's school.




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