Glencairn Museum hosts reception & book sale featuring scholars & overview of virtually restored 13th-C Italian frescoes

Glencairn Museum is hosting one of two important Philadelphia-area events connected to the historically significant virtual restoration of a 13th-century Italian fresco cycle that had been removed from its Umbrian convent and sold to museums and collections in the United States.

The Glencairn event is a reception and book sale, open to the public at no charge, on Friday, October 27, from 5:00 to 7:00pm. The lead scholars on the project will be present.

For the digital archiving and virtual restoration project, Glencairn contributed access to two of the Umbrian fresco fragments, which have been preserved since 1925 in the extensive collection of religious art and artifacts assembled by Raymond Pitcairn. (Details below.)

Lead Italian scholars Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri and Grazia Maria Fachechi of the University of Urbino are to visit Worcester, Mass., and Philadelphia in late October for a series of appearances to celebrate the completion of the project and publication of a volume about the frescoes and their history, The Palazze Frescoes: A Tale between Umbria and America, and a DVD of the reassembled fresco cycle.

Events in Philadelphia open to the public:

Reception and book sale at Glencairn Museum
Friday, October 27, 5:00 to 7:00pm
Glencairn Museum, 1001 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn 19009
Introductory remarks by Prof. Ruggero Ranieri (Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello) and Helen Giberson (Romeyne Roberts and Uguccione Ranieri Foundation)
Prof. T. Carpegna and Prof. M.G. Fachechi (Università di Urbino): The Palazze Frescoes between Umbria and America

For more information on the Glencairn reception, visit www.GlencairnMuseum.org or call 267.502.2990.

Talk at Temple U.: The Palazze Frescoes: A Tale between Umbria and America
Friday, October 27, 1:30 to 3:30pm
Temple University, Ritter Hall, Kiva Auditorium
1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Philadelphia
Introductory remarks by Prof. Ruggero Ranieri (Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello)
Prof. T. Carpegna and Prof. M.G. Fachechi (Università di Urbino): The Palazze Frescoes between Umbria and America: A Fulfilled Project
Prof. J. Kline (Temple University): The Later History of the Frescoes of Santa Maria inter Angelos in America

IMAGE: “Annunciation,” 13th-century Italian fresco fragment in Glencairn’s collection

Background

The Monastero of Santa Maria inter Angelos was built in 1232 as a convent for a group of Clarisse nuns coming from San Damiano in Assisi, members of the order founded by Saint Clare of Assisi. The convent was established by Pope Gregory IX and entrusted to the Franciscan sisters of San Damiano—or “Poor Clares,” after their founder, St. Clare of Assisi. Although officially under a rule of poverty, the convent enjoyed protection and access to resources that allowed an artistic commission such as this cycle of frescoes that were executed in the late 13th or early 14th century under the Pope Boniface VIII.

The convent housed the sisters for about two centuries, but it was eventually abandoned and its buildings used for farming. In the 1920s, portions of the frescoes were removed and purchased by five American museums in Boston, Cambridge and Worcester, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. In 1964, the remaining fragments were removed to the National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto. Today, the restored remnant of the convent is an agritourism hotel where traces of the original frescoes may still be seen.

The artist who painted this cycle of frescoes representing the life and death of Christ is known as the Maestro delle Palazze. His name was derived from the name given to the place—a fortified building (palatium)—since the late 13th century. The Maestro delle Palazze was a follower of Cimabue.

Fresco fragments from the convent are now visible in these museums:

• Museo Nazionale del Ducato di Spoleto, Spoleto (Annunciation, Nativity, Last Supper, Crucifixion, Second Coming, Holy Mary with St. Francis and St. Clare)
• Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass. (Last Supper, Crucifixion, fragment of the mourning Virgin and St. Longino, St. Joseph)
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass. (The Swaddled Christ Child, fragment of Nativity)
• Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Shepherd, fragment of Nativity)
• Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn. (Wise Man, fragment of Nativity)
• Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, Pa. (Annunciation, Second Coming)

Recently, scholars from Italian and American universities have worked to reunite the fresco fragments in a virtual reconstruction using digital media to reassemble the dispersed images. Lead researchers Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri and Grazia Maria Fachechi of the University of Urbino and a team of scholars from Italian and American universities have produced a volume of essays, The Palazze Frescoes: A Tale between Umbria and America. The volume advances our understanding of the historic-artistic context within which the Palazze cycle is set and the history of its dispersion. Accompanying that text is a DVD of the reassembled fresco cycle that gives viewers a virtual tour of the reconstructed fresco fragments in the original rooms of the convent. Together, they document the visual and historical restoration of one of the most outstanding examples of 13th-century Italian art.

The work is funded by the Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello, which supports a house museum, archives and library at the Palazzo Sorbello in Perugia Italy, and the Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Sorbello Foundation, whose mission includes “the forging of cultural bridges between the United States and Italy.”

To view the fresco fragments:
http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/usa/spoleto-project/
http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/it/la-fondazione/
http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/usa/

Palazze Frescoes events in Worcester Mass., October 24 & 25:
Panel at Holy Cross
The Palazze Frescoes: A Tale between Umbria and America
Tuesday, October 24, 4:00pm
Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass.
Chair: Prof. M. Chiariello (St. Bonaventure University)
Panel presentation
Introductory remarks by Prof. Ruggero Ranieri (Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello) and Prof. Virginia Raquin (Holy Cross College)
Prof. T. Carpegna and Prof. M.G. Fachechi (Università di Urbino), The Palazze Frescoes between Umbria and
America: A Fulfilled Project
Prof. J. Kline (Temple University), The Later History of the Frescoes of Santa Maria inter Angelos in America

Visit to Worcester Art Museum
Museum opens: 11am
1pm Meeting and discussion with docents regarding the Last Supper panel
2pm Visit to storage to view Crucifixion and Joseph from Nativity panels