FLORENTINE GOTHIC

Towards the end of the Academia Gallery on the ground floor, you will find a section dedicated to Florentine Gothic paintings.

This Florentine Gothic section has three rooms: one feature medieval art from the 13th and early 14th centuries, another is dedicated to Giottesque painters, and the last contains works by Orcagna and his brothers.

The gold-backed altarpieces come from the oldest, suppressed Florentine convents and, most important Florentine churches.

Visitors to the museum will be able to enjoy the brilliant colours of recent restorations that introduce the most popular subjects requested by the Church and merchants during the 14th century.

In the first hall, you will find the most ancient artworks on display in the Accademia Gallery. There are several Gothic paintings, including a painted crucifix, on wood.

One of the hall’s most fascinating and complex panels is Pacino di Bonaguida’s tree-shaped cross, symbolizing the Tree of Life. At first, this painting was housed in a convent of Clarissa nuns in Florence.

These twelve branches and fruits represent Salvation, which the Apocalypse portrays alongside the fruits as gifts to humankind.

Jacopo di Cione’s “Coronation of the Virgin,” restored in 2011, is the most important and famous panel painting in the Orcagna and his brother’s hall since February 2014.