Page 77 - C_Modena

Biblioteca Giuridica Universitaria | University’s Law Library
a Codebue le scene sacre, forse mariane, dipinte nelle lunette, ora di
scarsa leggibilità; si confida che i restauri attualmente in corso portino
a una loro migliore lettura.
Aggiunte successive sono le pitture con raffigurazioni di angeli nei
pennacchi della volta e l’alto fregio dipinto negli spazi parietali fra le
nicchie e le finestre, con quadrature prospettiche che fingono modana-
ture e cornici dall’elaborato repertorio di cartigli, volute, vasi e festoni,
arricchite da inserti di angeli, cherubini e figure femminili, secondo un
fastoso gusto barocco. La chiesa interna ergeva il suo altare in corri-
spondenza di quello maggiore della chiesa esterna, mentre gli stalli del
coro erano disposti lungo il perimetro delle pareti, nella consuetudine
dei monasteri, come quello modenese delle Domenicane, dapprima
delle Monache della Madonna.Nella parete occidentale, condivisa con
la chiesa esterna, è dipinto al centro un solenne baldacchino, ove è
appeso un grande Crocifisso di Giuseppe Graziosi, rimasto dall’allesti-
mento della Gipsoteca dell’artista nel 1984.
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face each other. The first two date back to 1585 and the second pair
to 1604, created by Giovan Battista Codebue (1561-1606). He was an
eclectic Modenese artist, a sculptor trained in the circle of Lodovico
Begarelli - grandson of the famous Antonio. He was also the author
of scenography and apparatuses and painter – he created the 1596
Annunciation located in San Biagio in Carmine, characterised by a late
Mannerism imprint and inspired by the Bolognese style of Tibaldi and
Passerotti. In 1603 Codebue was paid for “our Lady above - perhaps
painted in the oval in the centre of the vault - and other things”. The
sacred scenes were probably created by Codebue, perhaps Scenes from
the life of the Virgin Mary painted in the lunettes and now poorly
legible. However, there is great hope that these restoration works will
lead to a better reading of them.
Further additions are represented by the paintings depicting angels in
the spandrels of the vault and the high painted frieze in the parietal
spaces between the recesses and the windows, characterised by a per-
spective quadrature that simulates mouldings and frames taken from
the elaborate repertoire of cartouches, volutes, vases and festoons, en-
riched with inserts of angels, cherubim and feminine figures, according
to a sumptuous baroque taste. The altar of the inner church stood in
correspondence with the external church’s great one. On the other
hand, the choir stalls were arranged along the perimeter of the walls –
following the custom of the monasteries, like that of the Modena and
the Dominican nuns – previously the nuns of Our lady. The western
wall – shared with the external church – presents in its centre the
painting of a solemn canopy, to which a large crucifix by Giuseppe
Graziosi is held, which was left out from the artist’s 1984 exposition in
the Gipsoteca.
Veduta del Cortile del Leccio dal loggiato del primo piano
View of the Cortile del Leccio from the loggia on the first floor