Bandini Museum, Museums of Fiesole
The Bandini Museum is located in Fiesole. It was founded by the canon Angelo Maria Bandini in 1795, in the church of Sant’Ansano. At his death Bandini left the museum as a testament to the Fiesolano Chapter.
History
The small, but fascinating, Bandini Museum owes its name to the canon Angiolo Maria Bandini (Fiesole, 1726 – 1803), a great scholar and, from 1756, librarian of the Laurentian Medicean Library in Florence, of which he compiled the monumental catalog. In contact with some of the most important personalities of the period (he also attended the circle of Cardinal Albani, Winckelmann’s patron), Bandini developed a marked sensitivity for antiques and collectibles, so much so that he himself brought together his own collection of works of art in a “Sacred Museum”.
In 1795, the Fiesolian canon purchased the small church of Sant’Ansano, dating back to the 11th century, and placed the paintings dating from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the small nucleus of Byzantine works and the terracotta sculptures of the Della Robbia workshop, thus collecting an important testimony for medieval Florentine and Tuscan art. On his death in 1803, Bandini donated this collection of sacred art to the Bishop and the Chapter of Fiesole for “decoration, education and charity of the people of Fiesole”. After about a century, the works were moved from Sant’Ansano and placed in the museum that still houses them.
In 1913, the architect Giuseppe Castellucci was commissioned to build the building behind the cathedral, which has since become the seat of the museum.
The ground-floor contains terracotta Della Robbia (one of these is the Effigy Young said Sant’Ansano of Andrea Della Robbia), carved works, fragments of ancient sculptures, inlaid furniture, marble carvings and soapstone and a golden glass of XIV century representing a Pieta.
The two rooms on the first floor contain tables, paintings from different eras, ranging from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. Many are by unknown artists, some are by Neri di Bicci; by Jacopo del Sellaio, panels with the Triumphs; by Bicci di Lorenzo; by Giovanni del Biondo, Coronation of the Virgin; by Taddeo Gaddi, Annunciation; by Nardo di Cione, Madonna of childbirth; by Lorenzo Monaco, Crucifixion.
Exhibition
First room
The first room houses a collection of gold backgrounds that testifies to the birth, at the end of the eighteenth century, of the taste for “primitives”. There are also some examples of ivory sculpture and glass painting.
Paintings
Master of Gagliano, shaped crucifix, about 1250-1260
Venetian artist, Crucifixion and Four saints and four saints with the donor, around 1300-1325
Taddeo Gaddi, Four saints, around 1335-1340
Master of the Cross n. 434, shaped crucifix, around 1230-1240
Circle of Ristoro d’Arezzo, shaped crucifix, last quarter of the 12th century
Bernardo Daddi, Saint John the Evangelist, 1335-1340
Follower of the Master of Santa Cecilia, portable altarpiece with the Madonna and Child and other scenes, 1310-1315
Taddeo Gaddi, Annunciation, around 1340-1345
Sienese painter, Crucifixion and Madonna and Child, saints and angels, around 1325-1350
Nardo di Cione, Madonna del parto and a donor, 1335-1360
Master of San Polo in Chianti, Four panels with saints, 1345-1350
Jacopo di Cione, Side compartments of portable altarpiece, circa 1370-1375
Agnolo Gaddi, Madonna of Humility among Saints, 1380-1385
Agnolo Gaddi, Pentecost, 1390-1395
Master of the altar of San Niccolò, Two pairs of saints, around 1355-1360
Master of the predella of the Ashmolean Museum, Crucifixion, 1365-1370
Jacopo da Firenze, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1390-1395
Florentine painter, Portrait of the bishop Luigi Maria Strozzi?, first half of the 18th century
Maestro di Sant’Ivo, San Taddeo?, C. 1410-1420
Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio, announcing Angel and announced Virgin, c. 1345
Master of the predella of the Ashmolean Museum, Nativity, Journey of the Magi, Circumcision, Massacre of the Innocents, 1381-1385
Other
French manufacture, coronation of the lover, ivory, around 1325-1350
Central Italian artist, Figure of a martyr saint, ivory, 11th century
Byzantine art, Archangel Gabriel, soapstone, 12th century
Giotto ‘s workshop, Christ in pity among the mourners, gold graffiti and painted glass, 1305-1310
Follower of Andrea Orcagna, Madonna and Child, marble, circa 1365-1375
Second room
In the second room the collection of Florentine paintings of the second half of the fourteenth century continues and the collection of painters of the fifteenth century begins,,
Giovanni di Nicola (attr.), Christ in piety among the pious women and saints, circa 1350
Lorenzo di Bicci, San Jacopo Maggiore and San Nicola di Bari, 1395-1400
Stefano di Antonio Vanni, Baptism of Saint Pancrazio, Dispute of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1430-1435
Bicci di Lorenzo, Heavenly Hierarchies (two fragments), circa 1420-1425
Lippo d’Andrea, Two pairs of saints, around 1430-1435
Lorenzo Monaco, Crucifixion with saints, around 1420-1425
Giovanni dal Ponte, Two pairs of saints, around 1410-1415
Giovanni del Biondo, Coronation of the Virgin, 1373
School of Fra Angelico, Crucifixion and other scenes, around 1435-1440
Domenico di Zanobi, Deposition in the sepulcher, around 1470-1475
Neri di Bicci, Painted processional cross, circa 1472-1475
Andrea di Giusto Manzini, Madonna and Child with twelve angels, around 1425-1430
Domenico di Michelino, Christ in piety among the mourners, around 1450-1455
Master of the bell chests, Coronation of the Virgin and Saints, around 1515-1520
Jacopo del Sellaio, Four Triumphs, circa 1480-1485
Neri di Bicci, Adoration of the Child, c. 1470-1475
Jacopo del Sellaio, Saints in the desert, around 1485-1490
School of Rogier van der Weyden, Ecce Homo and bystanders, around 1440-1450
Workshop of Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with an Angel, around 1475-1480
Third room
The third room preserves the collection of Robbians by Canon Bandini, as well as some examples of marble and stucco sculpture.
Andrea della Robbia, Madonna in adoration of the Child between two angels, around 1495
Andrea della Robbia, ideal effigy of a young man, around 1500
Luca della Robbia the Younger, ideal effigy of a boy, about 1500-1510
Mattia della Robbia, Serafino, around 1490-1500
Giovanni della Robbia (attr.), Two putti with festoons, around 1490-1495
Giovanni della Robbia, Visitation, around 1517
Giovanni della Robbia, Penitent Magdalene, around 1505-1510
Giovanni della Robbia, Giovanni Battista child in the desert, around 1520
Girolamo della Robbia (attr.), San Francesco, around 1510-1515
Giovanni della Robbia, baby Jesus blessing in an almond, around 1510-1520
Giovanni della Robbia, Two angels in flight, around 1515-1520
Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, Acroteri in palmetta, around 1515-1525
Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, mirror frame with garland, around 1510-1520
Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, Three fruit bunches, around 1500-1510
Benedetto Buglioni, Meeting of Jesus and John the Baptist as children, around 1500-1510
Benedetto Buglioni, Holy Knight, around 1510-1520
Santi Buglioni, Sant’Agnese, around 1510-1520
Giovanni Bandini (attr.), Male figure called Self-portrait of Baccio Bandinelli with Saint John the Evangelist, 1575-1580
Follower of Francesco da Sangallo, Holy Family with Saint Anna, around 1570-1600
Benedetto Buglioni and workshop, San Romolo and his two fellow martyrs, around 1515-1520
Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, San Pietro, around 1520
Giambologna (attr.), Adoration of the shepherds, around 1565-1570
Fourth room
The fourth room shows some works from the full Florentine Renaissance.
Follower of Perin del Vaga, Madonna and Child, around 1530-1540
Luca Signorelli, Tondo Baduel, around 1492-1500
Francesco Botticini, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1480
Circle of Fra ‘Bartolomeo, Madonna and Child with Saints Donato and Giovanni Gualberto, around 1500-1510
Florentine sculptor, Two shelves with Elia and putti and two fragmentary shelves with San Pietro and putti (from the Baptistery of Florence), first quarter of the 14th century
Follower of Benedetto da Maiano, Christ the Redeemer, around 1490-1500
Museums of Fiesole
The Museums of Fiesole are constituted by the Archaeological Area, in which are the remains of the ancient theater, of the Etruscan and Roman temples and temples, by the Archaeological Museum, which contains finds from the Etruscan, Roman and Lombard Fiesole as well as important ceramic collections and from the Bandini Museum which houses the collection of the Bandini Canon in which paintings and terracotta from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance are exhibited.
The museum, which celebrated its centenary in 2013, was recently renovated and made accessible to all; the works have been restored and exhibited according to their genre and origin: on the upper floor the paintings, on the ground floor a section is dedicated exclusively to the sculptures in the collection and one to the works from the Fiesole area.
Today the Bandini Museum, owned by the Chapter of Fiesole, is managed by the Municipality together with the Area and the Archaeological Museum, testifying to how the Bandini collection represents an important treasure for the history and culture of Fiesole.