Diocesan museum of sacred art (Arezzo)

Works

The museum occupies five rooms and offers an itinerary focusing on history, art, and devotional practices of the region, the Diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro.

The first room contains the oldest works among which are paintings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, liturgical vestments, and medieval gold and silver work, including:

Pace di Siena containing Christ on the cross with angels (front) and Our Lady of Sorrows (reverse) (early 15th century), in gold, enamels, precious stones, and pearls, from France-Flanders; contained in a reliquary of silver, bronze, and gold-plated copper, made in 1815 by the Roman Giuseppe Spagna;

Crucifix (12th-13th century), painted wood;

Series of thuribles (13th century), bronze, from Arezzo;

St. James arm-reliquary (14th-15th centuries), gold-plated copper and precious stones, from Arezzo;

Annunciation (1375-1400), tempera on wood, by Andrea di Nerio;

Madonna with child enthroned among St. James, St. Anthony the abbot, and the donor (1377) and Annunciation (1380-1385), detached frescoes, by Spinello Aretino;

Polyptych with the Madonna with child enthroned and the evangelists (1430-1440), attributed to Stefano di Antonio di Vanni;

Tabernacle with Annunciation (1434), in terracotta relief, attributed to Bernardo Rossellino.

The second room is dedicated to works made in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Of particular interest are:

processional cross (14th-15th century), in rock crystal and gold-plated copper, from the Venetian school;

bust of San Donato (middle of the 15th century), in painted terracotta, attributed to Luca della Robbia;

St. Jerome, penitent (end of the 15th century), detached fresco, by Bartolomeo della Gatta;

predella with the Wedding of Mary and Joseph, the Birth of Mary, St. Francis of Assisi, the Presentation in the temple, and St. Bernardino of Siena (1518-1519), tempera on wood, from the school of Luca Signorelli; …