New developments regarding Jacopo della Pila, with a digression on some Neapolitan sculptures in the Victoria and Albert Museum

Antonella Dentamaro
The present article focuses on the discovery of an unpublished document dated 26 March 1489 referring to a marble eucharistic tabernacle commissioned to Jacopo della Pila (a Lombard sculptor documented in Naples between 1471 and 1502) by the prioress Margherita Poderico for the Neapolitan church of Santi Pietro e Sebastiano. The church was destroyed in 1943 and many of the furnishings were dispersed, including Jacopo della Pila's tabernacle; however, it may be suggested identifying part of the work in two lunettes, one with the 'Virgin of the Annunciation' and one with the 'Blessing God the Father', preserved in the Museo Nazionale di San Martino and in the Convitto Nazionale “Vittorio Emanuele II” in Naples. The second part of the essay regards a group of sculptures (eucharistic tabernacles, tombs, 'Annunciation' reliefs and a statue of 'Saint John the Baptist') that can be attributed without hesitancy to Jacopo and to his workshop on the basis of new stylistic analysis and various similarities with already documented works. The article also contains new information about two Renaissance marble works (both by anonymous authors) purchased in Naples in 1861 by the actual Victoria and Albert Museum: a tomb slab of a lady (which I guess is that of the prioress Maria Francesca Orsini) and two pilasters with full-figures of 'Saint Peter' and 'Saint Sebastian' and two half-figures of 'Prophets'. These originally formed the left and the right sides of a 'triptych' – with a lost 'Virgin and Child' in the large central section – modeled on Antonio Rossellino's altarpiece for the Piccolomini Chapel in the church of Santa Maria di Monteoliveto. On the basis of some notes written by Filippo Aloisio in 1714 and by Giuseppe d'Ancora between 1811 and 1842, it is shown here that these marbles too were originally located in the Dominican church of Santi Pietro e Sebastiano in Naples.

Index

Max Seidel The myth of the 'Master of Rimini'. Reflections on the discovery of a masterpiece
read abstract » pag. 3-41
Francesco Caglioti “Un tondo bozzato di Nostra Donna”, the work of Benedetto da Maiano
read abstract » pag. 42-73
Marco Tanzi The anticlassical heights of Marcello Fogolino
read abstract » pag. 74-101
Monica de Cesare, Hedvig Landenius Enegren The 'Athlete' of Segesta. Statuette of discus thrower from the sanctuary of Contrada Mango
read abstract » pag. 102-113
Antonella Dentamaro New developments regarding Jacopo della Pila, with a digression on some Neapolitan sculptures in the Victoria and Albert Museum
read abstract » pag. 114-141
Stefano L’Occaso Titianesque portrait of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga
read abstract » pag. 142-147
Alessandro Brogi The 'Night' by Ludovico Carracci
read abstract » pag. 143-155
Andrea Daninos The art collection of Antoine Benoist
read abstract » pag. 156-175
Federica Maria Rovati The fortune of Christo in Italy 1963-1978
read abstract » pag. 176-195