Via Cavour - Chiostro dello Scalzo

The Cloister of the Scalzo is an important fresco cycle located in a small cloister at number 69 on Via Cavour in Florence. A hidden gem of the city, it was actually the access porch to the destroyed church of the Compagnia dei Disciplinati di San Giovanni Battista, known as the Scalzo because the cross-bearer during processions used to walk barefoot. The church was partly located along the stretch of the current road, which was only opened in the 18th century. The architectural construction, simple and harmonious, was designed by Giuliano da Sangallo, while the walls were entirely frescoed with the elegant (and less expensive for the patrons) technique of monochrome, a chiaroscuro without colors. The cycle, one of the most important in Florentine painting of the early 16th century, was created by Andrea del Sarto, considered by many to be his masterpiece, which he painted over a long period of his career, between 1509 and 1526: six of the eight large panels depicting the Stories of Saint John the Baptist and the four Virtues flanking the entrance doors: Faith, Hope, Charity and Justice. Andrea Vannucchi, known as Andrea del Sarto, lived nearby, at the corner of the current Via Gino Capponi and Via Giusti at number 24; even today, a plaque on the House of Andrea del Sarto commemorates the "painter without errors". The long time span between one fresco and the next allows us to see the stylistic evolution of the artist and, more generally, of Florentine painting of that century: from the Baptism of Christ (1509-1510), painted by the very young master with a sober 15th-century imprint, to increasingly dynamic scenes, derived from the confrontation with the very popular Michelangelo and other contemporaries like Franciabigio, as in the Capture of the Baptist of 1517 or in the Baptism of the Multitudes in the sumptuous Mannerist style, harmonious and complex at the same time, rich in figures in motion, often nude, and virtuoso painting techniques, which inspired the entire following generation of artists. Finally, the frescoes of the 1520s are linked to his maturity with more solemn and majestic figures, with heroic features and parallel to the then dominant Michelangelesque style. Andrea del Sarto was to be the sole executor of the cycle, including the paintings for example in the decorative bands, although in 1518-1519 Franciabigio, his friend and collaborator, worked in his place, executing the Blessing of Saint John who departs for the desert and the Meeting of Christ with Saint John the Baptist: Andrea had indeed moved to France with the intention of settling there, but once he returned to Florence, he resumed the direction of the work. The order of the scenes is very different from the chronological order of execution, with the central scenes being the oldest.