Incredulity of St. Thomas
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Authors
Agnolo di Polo, attributed to
Date
Type
image
Language
Keyword
St. Thomas , Incredulity , Doubting
Alternative Title
Abstract
This painted terracotta sculpture is in one of the chapels of the Sacro Monte at San Vivaldo. The Sacro Monte (literally sacred mountain) is a pilgrimage site built by the Franciscans. Small chapels each contain painted terracotta sculptures with events from the Passion of Christ. These chapels are arranged on the hilly terrain so that they evoke the actual geography in the Holy Land of the places in which the events occurred. In a time in which pilgrimage to the Holy Land was for the most part impossible (because the territory was under Muslim control), the Sacro Monte offered a substitute or a simulacrum that was thought to be efficacious. In 1516, at the request of the Franciscans of San Vivaldo, Pope Leo X promulgated a brief granting indulgences (time off purgatory) to all who visited the site, which made it a major pilgrimage destination. At this and other Sacri Monti (of which there are several in Lombardy and Piedmont), devotees were to come in penitence, perhaps at night with a lantern, and move from chapel to chapel saying prayers. These sculptures of the Incredulity of St. Thomas have been attributed on the basis of style to Agnolo di Polo, a follower of Verrocchio who specialized in terracotta. Agnolo here copied closely Verrocchio's famous bronze depiction of this moment on Orsanmichele -- the projecting right foot of Thomas is kind of quotation of Verrocchio's daring invention. Perhaps the way in which the bronze figures move out of their niche inspired Agnolo to make Christ and Thomas in the round statues, in front of the lower relief apostles behind, moving into the viewer's space. Agnolo makes Verrocchio's dramatic narrative into more of a static icon by having both central figures turn their faces outward toward the viewer, rather than looking at each other. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Sacro Monte, San Vivaldo (Montaione)
Citation
Antonio Paolucci, Guida di S. Vivaldo (S. Vivaldo: Frati Minori di S. Vivaldo, 1976); Lorenzo Lorenzi, "Le terrecotte policrome di San Vivaldo," in Una "Gerusalemme" toscana sullo sfondo di due giubilei 1500-1525, ed. Sergio Gensini (Montaione: SISMEL, 2004), 109-20; Rosanna Caterina Proto Pisani, ed., La Gerusalemme di San Vivaldo (Florence : Polistampa, 2006), cat. 5c, pp. 55-7.