Starting Thursday, Nov. 21, the church of Sant’Egidio in Florence welcomes back the sculpture of the Deposed Christ, placed in the first side altar on the left, after restoration sponsored by the Fondazione Santa Maria Nuova. This plaster work, charged with intense drama, is recognized as a copy of the Dead Christ made by Baldassare Franceschini known as the Volterrano (Volterra, 1611 - Florence, 1690). The original, the only sculpture attributable to an artist whose career was entirely devoted to painting, has been at the church of Santa Lucia al Prato since 1940.
The return of the Deposed Christ to Sant’Egidio is not only an artistic and liturgical event, but also a journey inside an enigma of seventeenth-century Florentine art history, linked to the work of Volterrano and the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, revealing traces that lead to different eras and places.
The Deposed Christ has an interesting connection with the Volterrano painter, who in 1665 created for the spedalingo di Santa Maria Nuova, Ludovico Incontri, the large canvas that today adorns the very first left side altar of the church of Sant’Egidio, which is located in the center of the portico of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. The work depicts St. Louis of France healing scrofulosis.
Despite this connection, there is no record of the statue in the church or hospital inventories of the time. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the work does not even appear in inventories from the early decades of the 20th century, suggesting that its arrival at Santa Maria Nuova was relatively recent.
A possible clue to the sculpture’s origin can be found in an 1842 inventory of the Santissima Annunziata Church in Orbatello, Via della Pergola. Here a “simulacrum of the dead Jesus” was recorded under the altar of the Madonna. In 1861, the rooms of the Orbatello Conservatory were rented by the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, an event that may have facilitated the transfer of the work.
A black-and-white photograph from the late 1960s or early 1970s shows the sculpture placed in the Oblate choir. This visual document testifies to a further move before the work found its current location in Sant’Egidio.
The Deposed Christ recently underwent careful conservation restoration by restorer Marina Vincenti. The intervention focused on cleaning the signs of time and enhancing the last pictorial intervention, respecting the historical patina of the work.
This restoration restores the sculpture’s extraordinary expressive power, allowing the public to rediscover a masterpiece that, despite being a copy, possesses a visual power capable of evoking the pain and redemption inherent in the Dead Christ theme.
The return of the Deposed Christ to the Church of St. Egidio is an opportunity to reflect on the historical and artistic value of sacred works. The sculpture not only represents a significant moment in Volterrano’s production, but also embodies the complexity of the relationship between art, devotion and memory.
Florence, deposed Christ statue returns to St. Egidio church after restoration |
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