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<\/p>\nedited by Andrea de Marchi
\nScientific coordination by Carlo Sisi<\/p>\n
textes by Fulvio Cervini, Sonia Chiodo, Silvia Colucci, Andrea De Marchi, Dora Liscia Bemporad, Gaia Ravalli, Alessandro Salucci OP
\nphotographic campaign by Antonio Quattrone<\/p>\n
In 2013, Banca Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze helped to resume a dialogue that had been interrupted for many years: the printing of refined volumes dedicated to the most significant artistically and historically rich churches. Following the two volumes published in 2013 and 2014 on the Basilica of Santissima Annunciata, is the first of three annual volumes that will profile the complex of Santa Maria Novella, its basilica and convents. The first volume, curated by Andrea De Marchi in cooperation with Carlo Sisi, gathered leading experts to outline its foundation to the late-Gothic period (the second will focus on the period from Mosaccio\u2019s Trinity to the mid-16th century, and the third from the Vasarian and grand ducal reconstruction to present day).<\/p>\n
Santa Maria Novella represents the Italian response to the Gothic art of Oltralpe, with architecture displaying vertical elements that draw attention to space and exemplifying the rebirth of the taste for classical art. The scarcity of documents renders it difficult and fascinating to correctly date the phases of the new basilica\u2019s construction on the old church\u2019s foundations. Many scholars are pushing a hypothesis that the transept had been used as an interim church during construction. The sculptures and figures conserved in the complex are of great quality, including the Rucellai Madonna by Duccio di Buoninsegna, whose history is traced by Andrea De Marchi; and Giotto\u2019s Crucifix, which indicates the great investment made in the building\u2019s decorative structure at the height of the ninth decade of the XII century.<\/p>\n
Followed by works of Andrea and Nardo di Cione and the critical legacy of manuscripts conserved in the convent, the volume offers an in-depth view of the historical and artistic aspects that characterised the initial centuries of the complex.<\/p>\n
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