The Virgin Enthroned

“The Virgin Enthroned”, Arnolfo di Cambio
by Viola Boldrini

Son of Cambio and Madonna Perfetta, Arnolfo was born in Colle di Val d'Elsa in 1245. Arnolfo was apprentice and collaborator of Nicola Pisano and followed him to Bologna and Siena. He worked in Rome, Viterbo, Perugia and Orvieto, producing funeral monuments for cardinals and popes, that would be very important in the future. In Florence, besides the great works on the cathedral, he directed several yards, that would change the features of the city: Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce's Church and the Badia Fiorentina. The city wasn't indifferent to such a contribute: with a law of the 1st April 1300, in fact, following a request by the Priors, Arnolfo was released from paying any kind of taxes for ever.The decoration project of “Santa Maria del Fiore” Cathedral 's facade in Florence

The two architectonic fragments put on the Virgin Enthroned, also called “Glass-eyed Madonna”, allow to remake, even if in part, the original figure of the facade designed by Arnolfo. The whole image was surely spectacular: the rich sculptural decoration was realized on a precious marble base (Bianco di Carrara, Rosso Senese e Serpentino verde di Prato) and mosaics made by “Maestri Cosmateschi”, with whom Arnolfo had worked in Rome. As in the project for the new Cathedral, also in the decoration, the great architect mixed the ancient and the modern and this is the main aspect of his production. The most typical elements of the Late Gothic (especially the decoration), go along with Arnolfo's revival of the past architectonic tradition.
The whole sense of unity and balance, that we could find in his works, is created by the tradition explained in a modern way: an approach to the past that brings Arnolfo nearer to the new born Renaissance sensibility.
The decoration of the facade was dedicated, as the whole Church, to the Virgin. In particular, in the lunette of the left there was the “Madonna della Natività”; in the one on the main door the “Madonna in Maestà” between Santa Reparata, San Zanobi and the Angels and finally, in that one on the right portal there is the “ Dormitio Vriginis”. The Virgin, preceded by two prophets, is amid Santa Reparata, who has got an oil lamp in her hand, lamp which is a symbol of virginity, and San Zanobi in his episcopal dress.
In her hieratic pose, the Vrigin, realized by Arnolfo in the first years of 1300, is still influenced by the Byzantine tradition; there is a new sense of solid and realistic corpulence that makes it akin to Giotto's painting.
To exalt Arnolfo's realism, the Virgin's eyes are made of glass paste; this is why the work is also called “glass-eyed Madonna. . After the disassembly of the front the sculpture was moved into the cathedral, where it increased the popular devotion. Soon they started talking about miracles and the clerical authorities, with the typical behaviour of the Counter Reformation, decided to stop the superstitions, by taking away the image from the people.
The sculpture is now kept, with the decoration of the facade in the “Museo dell'Opera del Duomo”(Cathedral Museum) in Florence.