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Affresco di Madonna col Bambino e gli Arcangeli Asciano
Artist: Girolamo del Guasta
Year: 1515 - 1520
Current location: Basilica Millenaria di S.Agata
Original location: Basilica Millenaria di S.Agata
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION
The fresco of the Madonna with Child and the Archangels Michele and Raffaele, currently located on the right wall of the Gothic hall but detached during the 1954 restoration, from the infill wall of the right apsidal niche, before being demolished. In the fresco, with the Madonna in the throne holding the child at the center, Archangel Michael is portrayed on the right of the beholder in an attempt to pierce a devil with a sword, while on the left side the Archangel Raphael is holding his hand little Tobias.
Still on the lower left side, there is a small kneeling figure, depicting an Olivetan friar. This representation and its small size would indicate that the fresco was painted on an Olivetan commission, probably at the same time as the cycle of frescoes by Sodoma, dedicated to the life of Saint Benedict, between 1505 and 1508. they can still admire inside the main cloister of Monte Oliveto.
Perhaps also on the basis of this concomitance, the work has always been attributed to Antonio Bazzi, known as Sodoma or to a close collaborator. However, recent studies, conducted by the art historian Michele Occhioni, while confirming the generic attribution to the circle of Sodom's collaborators, put forward the hypothesis that Girolamo di Benvenuto may have been known to make the fresco in the late period of his painting activity, notoriously influenced by the style of Antonio Bazzi. If this were the case, the date of the work should be postponed by about a decade, placing it between 1 1515 and 1520.
Affresco di Madonna col Bambino e gli Arcangeli