San Domenico is a
Romanesque and
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-style,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church located in the Piazza of the same name, with a north flank of the nave parallel to Corso Silvani Fedi, in
Pistoia
Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...
, region of
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
, Italy.
History
The church structure dates to some time in the mid to late 13th century.
Dominican fathers are documented to have preached originally from the small ''Oratory of the Crucifix'' (Oratorio del Crocifisso). The latter contains frescoes dating to the 13th century.
The church contains work from the 14th and 15th century, including frescoes by
Giovanni Cristiani and
Antonio Vite. There is no documentation to substantiate the rumors by later art historians including
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
that either the two Dominican order brothers Sisto and Ristoro, architects of
Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The chu ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, or that
Giovanni Pisano
Giovanni Pisano (c. 1250 – c. 1315) was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect, who worked in the cities of Pisa, Siena and Pistoia. He is best known for his sculpture which shows the influence of both the French Gothic and the Ancient ...
, were at work here.
![Pistoia, san domenico interno 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Pistoia%2C_san_domenico_interno_02.JPG)
Traces of late 13th century frescoes are found in the convent and church, some attributed possibly to
Coppo di Marcovaldo
Coppo di Marcovaldo (c. 1225 – c. 1276) was a Florentine painter in the Italo-Byzantine style, active in the middle of the thirteenth century, whose fusion of both the Italian and Byzantine art, Byzantine styles had great influence on gen ...
and his son Salerno.
The tomb of the jurist Filippo Lazzari (first on right), and of the Blessed Lorenzo da Ripafratta, are attributed to
Bernardo
Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard".
Given name People
* Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Fra ...
and
Antonio Rossellino
Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...
. The church also has the tomb of the bishop Andrea Franchi, who led the White Procession during the plague outbreak of 1399. In 1497, the florentine painter
Benozzo Gozzoli
Benozzo Gozzoli (4 October 1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions ...
died here. The painter
Fra Paolino, a Dominican follower of
Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction o ...
painted for this church an ''Adoration of the Magi'' and a ''Holy Conversation''. The latter work is now in the church of
San Paolo
San Paolo (Italian for "Saint Paul") is a ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia
The Province of Brescia ( it, provincia di Brescia; Brescian: ) is a Province in the Lombardy administrative region of northern Italy. It has a population of some ...
of Pistoia.
The cloister has frescoes depicting the ''Life of San Domenico'' by
Sebastiano Vini
Sebastiano Vini, also known as Bastiano Veronese (c. 1515 in Caprino Veronese – August 11, 1602 in Pistoia) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Tuscany.
Biography
He was the son of Giovanni Piero. It is unknown ...
. The church also has frescoes depicting the ''Life of the Magdalen'', painted by
Ulisse Ciocchi,
Michele Cinganelli, and
Giovanni Martinelli
Giovanni Martinelli (22 October 1885 – 2 February 1969) was an Italian operatic tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli was one of t ...
: all pupils of
Bernardino Poccetti. The painter
Giovanni Cristiani painted a now detached last judgement for the convent refectory.
The convent was suppressed in 1783; Dominicans returned only in 1928. The church was damaged during the allied bombing of World War II.
Comune Pistoia
entry on the Convent of San Domenico.
Bibliography for History of Church and Convent
These sources are listed in the website below.
*G. Beani, ''La chiesa e il convento di S.Domenico in Pistoia'', Pistoia, 1909
*S. Orlandi, ''La chiesa monumentale di S.Domenico a Pistoia'', Pistoia, 1932
*''Il patrimonio artistico di Pistoia e del suo territorio'', catalogo storico descrittivo, Pistoia, 1967
*A. Bacchi, Pittura del Duecento e del Trecento pistoiese, in ''La pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento'', I, Milano 1986
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domenico Pistoia
13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy
Roman Catholic churches in Pistoia
Romanesque architecture in Pistoia