Madonna by Matteo Di Giovanni Is Back Home In Grosseto After Three Years Of Restoration
Grosseto, Italy – The painting “The Virgin of the Assumption” or “Madonna delle Grazie” by Matteo di Giovanni has returned back home to Grosseto after three years of resauration works in Siena.
Matteo di Giovanni (1430–1495) is an Italian Renaissance artist of the Sienese School. He was born in Borgo Sansepolcro near Arezzo but then relocated with his parents to Siena.
It is know than Matteo was married twice – both times to rich women – but it is not known where did he do his artistic apprenticeship. However, Matteo di Giovanni was very successful as an artist and was selected as one of four Sienese painters who were to furnish altarpieces for the chapels of the Pienza Cathedral erected as part of the urban renewal of the town. For this cathedral he painted three altarpieces.
Matteo di Giovanni’s works are often compared with works of Florentine artists, however, Matteo’s work, as was typical of the Sienese school, stuck to mysticism, in contrast to the Florentine naturalism of the time.
The oil painting “Madonna delle Grazie” by Matteo di Giovanni, originally part of a polyptych, has changed location several times within the cathedral.
In the 1470s the work of Matteo di Giovanni arrived, in whose honor the sculptor Antonio Ghini was commissioned to create an altar to decorate the first wall of the left nave, in the immediate vicinity of the entrance. An arch that ends with a round glass window is still visible there today.
Centuries later the image of the Madonna was moved to the opposite wall, at the beginning of the right nave. Finally in 1759 the painting was moved to where it still stands today. The altar was built in its honor in the transept.
The chapel is a diocesan Marian sanctuary, as the Virgin of the Assumption, venerated with the title of Madonna delle Grazie, is the co-patron of the Church of Grosseto together with San Lorenzo.
Some other works by Matteo di Giovanni:
