Description
The Church and Convent of San Domenico is Pistoia's great Dominican complex: a church with a single wide nave and a transept, full of tombs and altars of noble families, with two frescoed cloisters and works from the 14th to the 17th century.
Look out for the funerary monument of Filippo Lazzari, a Pistoian jurist, carved in 1462 by Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, at the first altar on the right. The tomb of the Blessed Lorenzo da Ripafratta is attributed to the same sculptors, though it is still being studied.
Along the nave, one after another, come the altars commissioned by the Panciatichi, the Cancellieri, the Cellesi and other families, who chose San Domenico as their burial place. Among the canvases are the Madonna of the Rosary by Cristofano Allori (1610) and Saint Charles Borromeo with the Rospigliosi family by Jacopo da Empoli.
Much is owed to Fra Paolino, a Dominican friar and painter, a follower of Savonarola like the whole convent in Pistoia. The Adoration of the Magi, the Crucifixion of 1533 and the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine are his: one cloister bears his name.
In the great cloister, Sebastiano Vini painted the stories of Saint Dominic at the end of the 16th century. The small cloister has 17th-century lunettes with the life of the saint, but after the war only one side of it survives.
Here too is the tomb of the Dominican bishop Andrea Franchi, who in 1399, during the plague, led the procession of the Bianchi. And in the convent, in 1497, the famous Florentine painter Benozzo Gozzoli died.
Its origins are wrapped in legend: tradition had it that two architect friars from Santa Maria Novella designed it, and Vasari spoke of a contribution by Giovanni Pisano, but neither claim has been confirmed. The convent was founded in the mid-13th century.
On the night of 24 October 1943, the church and convent were badly hit by bombing. The restoration has returned many of the works of art to their places.
Look out for the funerary monument of Filippo Lazzari, a Pistoian jurist, carved in 1462 by Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, at the first altar on the right. The tomb of the Blessed Lorenzo da Ripafratta is attributed to the same sculptors, though it is still being studied.
Along the nave, one after another, come the altars commissioned by the Panciatichi, the Cancellieri, the Cellesi and other families, who chose San Domenico as their burial place. Among the canvases are the Madonna of the Rosary by Cristofano Allori (1610) and Saint Charles Borromeo with the Rospigliosi family by Jacopo da Empoli.
Much is owed to Fra Paolino, a Dominican friar and painter, a follower of Savonarola like the whole convent in Pistoia. The Adoration of the Magi, the Crucifixion of 1533 and the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine are his: one cloister bears his name.
In the great cloister, Sebastiano Vini painted the stories of Saint Dominic at the end of the 16th century. The small cloister has 17th-century lunettes with the life of the saint, but after the war only one side of it survives.
Here too is the tomb of the Dominican bishop Andrea Franchi, who in 1399, during the plague, led the procession of the Bianchi. And in the convent, in 1497, the famous Florentine painter Benozzo Gozzoli died.
Its origins are wrapped in legend: tradition had it that two architect friars from Santa Maria Novella designed it, and Vasari spoke of a contribution by Giovanni Pisano, but neither claim has been confirmed. The convent was founded in the mid-13th century.
On the night of 24 October 1943, the church and convent were badly hit by bombing. The restoration has returned many of the works of art to their places.