Tolentino (Marche, Italy), The cycle of frescoes in the Saint Nicholas' Chapel (manortiz)
The fresco of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino
The Romanic church of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino (XIII century) preserves some frescoes of high value in its interior: a cycle of frescoes from the Riminian school of Giotto. This cycle represents the life of Saint Nicholas with a style and shape similar to Giotto's fresco of Saint Francesco from Assisi. As you leave the cappellone, it is pleasant to go through the ancient doorway, which leads to the cloister where you can find some frescoes along the way.
The cycle of frescoes in the Chapel of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino in the town of Tolentino, where the life of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino is narrated, reveals the presence of a Giottesque master of great technique and figurative abilities, alike to no one else in this zone of the Marches: the so-called Master of Tolentino (or Master of the Chapel of Saint Nicholas).
This unknown painter of '300 has created quarrels between art historians over the course of the last century: for some, he is a painter of excellent calibre, for others, a simple disciple of the Riminian Giottesque school.
It is difficult to date his work; certainly, the date of death of Saint Nicholas (1305) is a temporal indication we can be quite sure of, but surely the date of the beginning of this work has to be moved further ahead, perhaps to after 1325 when the process of canonization of Nicholas from Tolentino began under Pope Giovanni XXII, given the fact that the frescoes already depict the saint with a halo.
If the Master of Tolentino was really a Riminian Giottesque painter, he would surely be the most important painter of this school, given the lower quality of technical and pictorial depth of the other representatives of this school.
Very recently, this cycle of frescoes has been attributed to Pietro da Rimini, because of a certain likeness to his frescoes in the Abbey of Pomposa and those of Saint Chiara in Ravenna, even if the technical degree of representation of the latter is remarkably inferior to the frescoes of Tolentino.
The Master of Tolentino denotes a certain roughness quite unlike the Riminians, probably nearer to the Giottesques of Florence and also to the Giottesques of the school of Bologna. What we can be sure of is the fact that he has visited and possibly worked in Assisi, where he assimilated the lessons of Giotto but also those of Jacopo Torriti from Rome. There is also a certain closeness in the research of colours of Pietro Cavallini, especially regarding the use of bright colours and the bands of partition between the different frescoes, painted in the cosmatesca way, which was in use by the Roman Gothics of '200-'300.
You will also find the roughness of the Master d'Isacco in Assisi, who some people believe was a very young Giotto searching for his own style so that it wouldn't be obscured by the fame of his master Cimabue any longer, but in the frescoes of Tolentino there are also some faces which bring us to think of Simone Martini of the frescoes of Assisi of Saint Martino.
Usefull informations:
The Basilica is open all days from 7 to 12 and from 15 to 19.30
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POTENTIA. AREA ARCHEOLOGICA (PORTO RECANATI, MACERATA, MARCHE, ITALY)
Porto Recanati, comune di 12264 abitanti, provincia di Macerata, costa adriatica, Marche, Italia. In località S.Maria di Porto Recanati si trova l'importante area archeologica dell'antica Potentia, colonia romana fondata nel 184 a.C. ad opera di un collegio triumvirale composto da Quinto Fabio Labeone, Marco Fulvio Flacco e Quinto Fulvio Nobiliore. Creata anche per corrispondere alle necessità di terre da distribuire ai veterani delle guerre puniche, ma non solo, la colonia sorse in posizione strategica in un'area prossima ad un porto di foce sull'omonimo fiume Potentia, facilmente difendibile e proiettata verso i traffici mediterranei. Nel 56 a.C la colonia fu colpita da un fortissimo terremoto, secondo quanto riportato da Cicerone, dopo il quale seguì una fase di ricostruzione. Il periodo di maggior espansione urbanistica coincise con l'età augustea. Secondo quanto riportato dagli scavi nel V secolo d.C. la città mostrò ancora una certa vitalità fino ad arrivare al VII secolo, periodo del quale le testimonianze archeologiche non forniscono ulteriori informazioni. L'impianto urbanistico, ricostruibile per gran parte solo grazie alla fotografia aerea, si presenta come uno spazio quadrangolare di 540 metri di lunghezza per almeno 300 metri di larghezza, impostato su un reticolo viario ortogonale. Sono visibili i resti di una domus con pavimenti musivi e pareti affrescate, i portici del foro con le annesse tabernae e un tempio su alto podio, che ha restituito numerose terracotte architettoniche. Immagini di archivio e riprese video effettuate domenica 1 giugno 2014.