EMPOLI 1424

MASOLINO AND THE DAWN OF RENAISSANCE

april 6 th – july 7 th 2024

Museum of the Collegiate Church of Sant'Andrea
Church of Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani

The exhibition is sponsored by

With the patronage of

Taking place 600 years after the creation of the Ciclo della Vera Croce (Cycle of the True Cross) for the Church of Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani in Empoli, this exhibition centres on the works of Masolino, an artist who, alongside Masaccio and Beato Angelico, made a significant contribution to the beginnings of Renaissance painting in Florence in the 15th century.

The aim of the exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Empoli and Fondazione CR Firenze, is to reconstruct the cultural context in which Masolino operated, as well as the original features of his artistic style and production. At the same time, it is intended to recount that extraordinary moment in the history of Italian art which, in 1424, saw Empoli involved in the most significant experimentation of the time, having attracted the best painters active on the Florentine scene in previous years, such as Lorenzo Monaco and Gherardo Starnina.

1424

MASOLINO IN EMPOLI

On 2 November 1424, Masolino da Panicale (1383-1440/47) received payment for finishing the frescoes with a Cycle of Stories of the True Cross for the Chapel of the Compagnia della Croce at the Church of the Eremitani di Santo Stefano, Empoli. This date represents one of the few known fixed points for the reconstruction of Masolino’s artistic production and is also a reference for the other works the painter left in Empoli, which are still preserved in the Church of Santo Stefano and the Museum of the Collegiate Church of Sant’Andrea.

This was a particularly fascinating moment of growth for the painter, after his intense association with Gentile da Fabriano and just before his collaboration with Masaccio on the Brancacci Chapel in Florence in 1425. The core of Masolino’s works around which the exhibition revolves allows us to broaden our knowledge of this extraordinary artist.

information
and details

Opening times

Tuesday – Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm

Ticket offices

Museum of the Collegiate Church of Sant’Andrea
Piazzetta della Propositura, 3

Church of Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani
Via dei Neri

Information, guided tours and educational activities

Empoli Museums
tel 0571 757563 empolimusei@comune.empoli.fi.it

Admission

Full price: € 13

Reduced price: €10

For adults over 65 years of age
For groups of 15 persons or more
Conventions
Unicoop Firenze cardholders
Residents in the Municipality of Empoli
Tourists staying in accommodation facilities in Empolese Valdelsa

Free of charge:

under 18 years of age
classes from Empoli schools
accompanying teachers (1 for every 15 pupils)
disabled persons and one family member or other accompanying person
personnel with executive positions in the Ministry of Cultural Heritage
holders of ICOM card valid for the current year
tourist guides

What you'll find at the exhibition

THE DAWN OF THE RENAISSANCE

Between the end of the 14th century and the first decades of the 15th century, Empoli became a magnet for some of the best artists on the Florentine scene. These included leading figures of international Gothic, Lorenzo Monaco, who worked in Empoli in 1404, and, shortly afterwards, in 1409, Gherardo Starnina. They were followed by the young Donatello and Giovanni di Francesco Toscani, and finally Masolino, flanked by a host of painters, ranging from Bicci di Lorenzo to Rossello di Jacopo Franchi, from Francesco d’Antonio to Borghese di Pietro.

One of the aims of the exhibition is to reconstruct the cultural climate in which Masolino operated – he was an artist with a delicate expressive vein, inclined to a particularly lyrical and sensitive interpretation of the new depiction of corporeality and human emotion that had been introduced into painting under the decisive impetus of Donatello and other sculptors of the time.

The exhibition itinerary – a miniguide

Prior to Masolino, painters who replicated Giotto's artistic language, reinterpreted by the Orcagna workshop, were active in Empoli.

Lorenzo Monaco painted a work that exemplified the tendencies of international Gothic, bringing to Empoli a breath of innovation that was followed by many other contemporary painters.

Gherardo Starnina, an artist who alongside Lorenzo Monaco interpreted the International Gothic style, worked in Empoli after his return from Spain

Masolino, employing a style which, starting from International Gothic, tended towards a greater naturalism and a more direct communication of the emotions, created an extraordinary cycle of frescoes in the Cappella della Croce in Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani in Empoli.

Several painters gravitated around Masolino. Combining tradition and innovation, they absorbed the great master's lesson.