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035 Tarsia pavimentale del Transetto sinistro - Strage degli innocenti
Artist: Matteo di Giovanni
Year: 1481-1482
Current location: Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Original location: Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION
During the implementation of this part of the floor, Italy was shocked horror at the terrible sacking and destruction of Otranto in 1480, just as there was a guest, the Duke of Calabria, and the following year released her from invaders. Many more were killed and most of the children were sold as slaves.
The shock was so great that Pope Sixtus IV called the attention of the city-state on the disaster and noting that none of them was safe, the begged to put aside their political disputes to join in the cause of mutual defense against Muslims. The scene, made from 1481 to 1482, was built by Francis Niccolaio materially and Nanni di Piero di Nanni design by Matteo di Giovanni, and restored in 1790 by Matteo Pini and Charles Amidei.
The scene is set in front of a porch in the shape of a horseshoe, on which there is a most valuable frieze of figures duelists and open circular balconies, where some spectators attending the event and smugly amused, as if they were in the theater .
King Herod is seated on a splendid throne Renaissance carved marble, and commands his soldiers to carry out the massacre. The construction technique is different from that used in the aisles for the use of a greater number of colored marbles, used to create zones of shadow and light in accordance with a procedure which is then perfected in the scenes drawn from Beccafumi.
035 Tarsia pavimentale del Transetto sinistro - Strage degli innocenti