Starting Friday, December 13, MuNDA will exhibit its latest acquisition, the Dragonetti De Torres Triptych, a work by the painter Antoniazzo Romano (1453/40-1508) and his collaborator, depicting the Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene, executed around 1490.
Probably created as an image for private devotion, or as an altarpiece intended to adorn the chapel of a church, it was first mentioned by Luigi Serra in 1912 in the collection of the Dragonetti Marquises of L’Aquila, located on the first floor of the Antonelli Dragonetti De Torres palace on Via Roio in L’Aquila. The triptych was housed in the so-called “Dragonetti Museum” until the mid-1930s and was attributed to Antoniazzo by art historians Bernard Berenson and Raimond van Marle. Exhibited in 1938 at the exhibition dedicated to Melozzo da Forlì in the Romagna city of the same name, it was kept in the family’s Roman home, but all trace of it was soon lost.
Painted in tempera on wood, the Triptych, measuring 129.5 x 164.1 cm, returns to L’Aquila after an absence of nearly a century. Signs of its many vicissitudes are evident in the loss of the original wooden frame and the cutting of the three panels, which, carried out in ancient times, resulted in the removal of the upper section of the Virgin’s throne and the lower portion of the frieze beneath the figures’ feet.
The Triptych has regained its place in the city’s artistic heritage thanks to its inclusion in the collections of the National Museum of Abruzzo in L’Aquila, which today proudly returns a work intimately linked to the L’Aquila region, as reflected in the words of its director, Federica Zalabra:
“The primary purpose of a local museum like ours is to interpret the story of its artistic heritage through works that narrate its events and history. The addition of this work to the collections of the National Museum of Abruzzo makes available to the public and donates to the city what was once kept in L’Aquila in a private and inaccessible location, and underscores the museum’s role as a cultural hub for the entire region.”
THE TRIPTYCH’S ARTIST – Antonio Aquili, known as Antoniazzo Romano (1453/40-1508), is certainly the most significant figure in Roman art during the 15th century, an undisputed protagonist of painting in the Lazio region throughout the second half of the 15th century. An extremely prolific artist of movable works on panel, a fresco painter, and a designer of theatrical sets, Antoniazzo contributed to modernizing contemporary artistic language and leading the style toward more distinctly Renaissance forms and models. Born into a family of painters active in Rome, Antonio headed a thriving workshop frequented by a large number of workers and followers. He was influenced by the innovations coming from the Florentine area, familiar to him through the Roman works of painters such as Beato Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli, and by the revolution in light of Piero della Francesca. His art gradually approached the refined and elegant works of Domenico Ghirlandaio, a high point in his vast artistic output, until he formed a partnership with the painter Melozzo da Forlì, with whom he worked on a major commission for the Vatican. His career was marked by important encounters and collaborations in the shadow of the great projects of fifteenth-century Roman art history, first and foremost that of the Sistine Chapel, which brought him into contact with the innovations of the Umbrian art of Perugino, Pinturicchio, and, last but not least, Pier Matteo d’Amelia.
