Photos

Easter Monday

Mary of Magdala, Mary mother of James and Joseph, and Salome went to the sepulcher, where Jesus had been buried, with some aromatic oils to embalm the body of Jesus. They found the large boulder that closed the access to the tomb which was moved; the three women were lost and worried and trying to understand what had happened when an angel appeared to them and said: "Don't be afraid, you! I know you are looking for Jesus the crucified. He is not here! He is risen as he said; the place where he was laid "(Mk 16: 1-7). And he added: "Now go and announce this news to the Apostles", and they rushed to tell what had happened to the others.
The cycle that decorates the former choir of the nuns in the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate illustrates the Stories of the Life of Christ and is a work signed in 1461 by Nicola da Siena.
The sixteen scenes, arranged along the walls, are divided into two registers, except for the background painting with the great scene of Calvary, on the right wall, and illustrate: the Entrance to Jerusalem; last dinner; the washing of the feet; the Oration in the garden; the Capture of Christ; the Flagellation; the crowning with thorns; Jesus before Pilate; Ascent to Monte Calvario; the Crucifixion; Calvary; Deposition from the Cross; the Pious women at the sepulcher; Descent to Limbo; Resurrection; Apparition to the Magdalene.
The scenes of the upper order are divided by fake pillars with floral scrolls, which enclose in the center a medallion with female and male faces; those of the lower order by twisted columns that support an entablature; under the scenes the walls are occupied by a decoration with fake drapes.
In the vault: Christ judge between Angels and the four cardinal Virtues.
In this pictorial cycle Nicola da Siena shows a late Gothic language of lively and casual narration combined with the expressive formulas of the Umbrian fourteenth century relived through Bartolomeo di Tommaso da Foligno, to whom an artistic association had linked him.
The choice of this language certainly did not have to be extraneous to the monastic patronage.
The former choir of the nuns houses a wooden group depicting Tobiolo and the Angel, from the second half of the fifteenth century attributed to Domenico Indivini's workshop.
Happy Easter Monday