Chigi Altarpiece
The Chigi Altarpiece is an altarpiece by Perugino, dating to around 1506-1507. It is named after its commissioner Agostino Chigi, a Sienese banker, for the Chigi family chapel in the church of Sant'Agostino in Siena, where it still hangs.[1]
Chigi Altarpiece | |
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Artist | Perugino |
Year | 1506-1507 |
Medium | oil on panel |
Dimensions | 400 cm × 289 cm (160 in × 114 in) |
Location | Sant'Agostino, Sienna |
Like most altarpieces by Perugino, it has two registers. The upper heavenly one shows Christ on the cross surrounded by a symmetrical arrangement of angels and cherubim. The lower earthly register shows eight lamenting saints connected to the commissioner, the church and the chapel - on the right are John the Baptist and Jerome, for example. The deep landscape backgrounds shows hills and a clear sky. The work originally also had a predella, which is now divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.
References
- (in Italian) Vittoria Garibaldi, Perugino, in Pittori del Rinascimento, Scala, Florence, 2004 ISBN 888117099X