DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52600#0101
MATURITY 59
which, it had originally been intended.1 Then, in
1771, the monastery of SS. Nazaro e Celso was sup-
pressed and sold by auction ; the Benedictine nuns
of San Daniele bought it and settled there ; and this
circumstance proved to be fatal for Montagna’s work.
The nuns had to make some alterations in their new
habitation, so as to render it conformable to the
exigencies of the rule of their order, which prescribed
total seclusion. Among other things, it was necessary
to make a window for communication between the
church and the inner choir of the nuns : and the
wall was pierced just at the spot covered by the central
of the lower compartments of the ancona. The panel
in question was consequently removed and, after some
time, the remainder was taken to pieces.2 Most parts
of the altar-piece are still in the church, namely, the
two side-panels in the lower course (which hang on
the wall in the right transept) and the central one and
that to the right of it in the upper series (which are in
the sacristy) ; the upper left side-panel is now in the
1 It is mentioned as being there (always attributed to Girolamo dai
Libri and very incompletely described) by dal Pozzo (Levite de> 'pittori
. . .veronesi, p. 254; 1718), Lanceni (Ricreazione pittorica, i. 242; 1720),
Maffei (Verona illustrata, iii. 328; 1732), and Biancolini (Notizie
storicbe delle chiese di Verona, i. 245 ; 1749).
2 In the account-book of the nuns of SS. Nazaro e Celso (Antichi
archivi veronesi in the Biblioteca Comunale at Verona) there is on
p. 50 the following entry: “1771, 16 settembre.—N. una ferrita pesa
lire 182, onze 7, fata con Ferro vechio di ragione delle R.R.M.M.,
qual Ferriata serve per il Nuovo Fenestron nel Coro al sitto della Paia,
a soldi 2 per lira, val lire 18, soldi 5.” In 1803, dalla Rosa writes:
“ L’Ancona in tre partimenti divisa, con la Madonna nel mezzo e due
Santi dai lati che soli or sono restati, essendosi nel mezzo fatta una
fenestra di Gerolamo dai Libri ” (Pitture in Verona italica ed austriaca,
MS. in the Biblioteca Comunale at Verona, p. 176). Eight years
afterwards, the same author mentions the four panels, which are
still in the church, as hanging around the choir. (“ Pitture nelle
chiese matrici di Verona” in Nuovo diario Veronese per Vanno 1811,
P- 29.)
which, it had originally been intended.1 Then, in
1771, the monastery of SS. Nazaro e Celso was sup-
pressed and sold by auction ; the Benedictine nuns
of San Daniele bought it and settled there ; and this
circumstance proved to be fatal for Montagna’s work.
The nuns had to make some alterations in their new
habitation, so as to render it conformable to the
exigencies of the rule of their order, which prescribed
total seclusion. Among other things, it was necessary
to make a window for communication between the
church and the inner choir of the nuns : and the
wall was pierced just at the spot covered by the central
of the lower compartments of the ancona. The panel
in question was consequently removed and, after some
time, the remainder was taken to pieces.2 Most parts
of the altar-piece are still in the church, namely, the
two side-panels in the lower course (which hang on
the wall in the right transept) and the central one and
that to the right of it in the upper series (which are in
the sacristy) ; the upper left side-panel is now in the
1 It is mentioned as being there (always attributed to Girolamo dai
Libri and very incompletely described) by dal Pozzo (Levite de> 'pittori
. . .veronesi, p. 254; 1718), Lanceni (Ricreazione pittorica, i. 242; 1720),
Maffei (Verona illustrata, iii. 328; 1732), and Biancolini (Notizie
storicbe delle chiese di Verona, i. 245 ; 1749).
2 In the account-book of the nuns of SS. Nazaro e Celso (Antichi
archivi veronesi in the Biblioteca Comunale at Verona) there is on
p. 50 the following entry: “1771, 16 settembre.—N. una ferrita pesa
lire 182, onze 7, fata con Ferro vechio di ragione delle R.R.M.M.,
qual Ferriata serve per il Nuovo Fenestron nel Coro al sitto della Paia,
a soldi 2 per lira, val lire 18, soldi 5.” In 1803, dalla Rosa writes:
“ L’Ancona in tre partimenti divisa, con la Madonna nel mezzo e due
Santi dai lati che soli or sono restati, essendosi nel mezzo fatta una
fenestra di Gerolamo dai Libri ” (Pitture in Verona italica ed austriaca,
MS. in the Biblioteca Comunale at Verona, p. 176). Eight years
afterwards, the same author mentions the four panels, which are
still in the church, as hanging around the choir. (“ Pitture nelle
chiese matrici di Verona” in Nuovo diario Veronese per Vanno 1811,
P- 29.)