SEBASTIANO MAINARDI: The Science of Art

As part of the conservation treatment of the IMA’s altarpiece by Sebastiano Mainardi, a lot of research has been done on the artist and his paintings to help us to better understand what our picture may have looked like before centuries of damage altered the surface.

Although there are a few paintings in the U.S. attributed to Mainardi, the bulk of his work is found in Italy, particularly in Tuscany. It was very important for me to examine these paintings personally, so I was off to marvelous Tuscany (I know…. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it!).

Florence, Italy, the home of many of the greatest works of art of the Italian Renaissance, was used as the base of my research and travel. Although Mainardi trained with and most likely assisted the great Domenico Ghirlandaio on several Florentine commissions, I was much more interested in examining the paintings that Mainardi created as an independent master in the small towns outside of Florence.

My Pics of Florence:

A trip to Mainardi’s birthplace, the beautiful Tuscan hill town of San Gimignano revealed an ancient city that once boasted forty huge fortified towers. Only twelve remain but it is still an amazing place to visit. There are two streets named Mainardi; Via Mainardi, and Viccolo Mainardi. The Museo Civico houses several wonderful paintings by Mainardi, four being of great interest to me for this project but despite all of my efforts, I was not allowed to photograph them. I did however, spend hours taking notes and making drawings of these pictures as well as of a very old frame on one of the paintings. These paintings really helped me to understand the artist’s painting technique as well as his use of color and space. Several churches in San Gimignano contain frescoes and chapel decorations by Mainardi, the ones in the Chiesa di San Agostino being particulary beautiful and pertinent to my studies but I was once again not permitted to photograph them.

My pics of San Gimignano:

My main reason for traveling to Italy was to see one painting in particular; another version of the IMA’s altarpiece! Parts of this painting are almost identical to ours, leading me wonder whether both paintings were created from the same cartoons; not the Saturday morning kind, but drawings by the master artist on large sheets that were used by the artist or his studio assistants or apprentices to transfer his designs onto the panels to be painted. This painting, originally from the Chiesa di San Lorenzo à Cappiano is currently housed in the Museum of Sacred Art at Incisa in Val D’Arno, a small town outside of Florence. The museum is rarely open and I was concerned that I wouldn’t accomplish my goal.

I was accompanied on my trip to Incisa by a former IMA colleague, Dr. Alessio Assonitis, a scholar specializing in Italian Renaissance art who now lives in Florence. Alessio is one of the authors of the forthcoming book on Mainardi to be published by the IMA so it was very important for him to see this painting too. Not only was the museum open but this time we were able to secure permission (thanks to Dr. Caterina Caneva of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and IMA Director, Dr. Maxwell Anderson) to photograph and examine the painting in great detail. We found the Incisa altarpiece to be beautifully preserved and restored and an excellent comparison with the IMA’s painting.

Our examination revealed identical incision marks in the gesso on both paintings, strengthening our belief that these altarpieces were created from the same cartoons of the Madonna and Child, the female Saint, and the male Saint, with minor changes made to accommodate the different Saint’s attributes and fitting in two additional figures in the Incisa version. Detailed measurements were made of the Incisa figures to compare with the IMA panel and so far, initial computer studies suggest that our hypothesis is correct. Further study is certainly warranted.

My Pics from Incisa:

We examined and photographed the picture for over three hours, taking copious notes, coming away with the information I so desperately hoped to have to help us with the restoration of our painting. My detailed photographs and notes will be used to help the IMA conservators to replicate missing and severely damaged parts of the IMA’s painting, now knowing that the two paintings are certainly related.