Important medieval polyptychs reassembled in the Uffizi
Purchased four panels by Lippo di Benivieni and a panel painting by Giovanni da Milano
A double important medieval acquisition for the Uffizi Galleries: Lippo di Benivieni's Saints Zenobi, Paul, Peter and Benedict, and Giovanni da Milano's The Trinity, St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul, just purchased by the Uffizi, allowed the reassembly of two important polyptychs of which the Galleries already conserved some panels. The four panels by Lippo di Benivieni will be reunited with the Uffizi panel depicting The Madonna and Child, reconstructing the central register of a large altar dossal considered one of the milestones in the career of Benivieni, a leading painter on the Tuscan scene between the 13th and 14th centuries, representative of an alternative current to that of Giotto, culturally oriented towards the elegant and refined painting of the Sienese milieu.
Giovanni da Milano's panel was the cusp of an imposing polyptych made for the high altar of the church of Ognissanti in Florence. The transformations of the church over the centuries led to its dismemberment and the loss of many parts.
In 1860, the Florentine Galleries acquired the surviving panels for their own collections: five side compartments with figures of saints and five elements of the predella. The acquisition of this additional painting extends the reconstruction of the polyptych, which is considered to be a fundamental starting point in the career of Giovanni da Milano, one of the most important personalities of post-Giottesque Italian painting.
