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Domenico Gagini

Tabernacle, ca. 1460-1470

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Domenico Gagini, ca. 1425-1492, Italian

Title

Tabernacle

Year

ca. 1460-1470

Medium

Marble

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • marble

Dimensions

50.8 x 73.7 cm (20 x 29 inches)

Type

  • Sculpture

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

06.057

About

Trained in Florence, Domenico Gagini worked in Genoa and Naples before establishing a workshop in Sicily. This tabernacle was made for the church San Paolino at Sutera, a small town in the Sicilian province of Caltinessetta. It was designed to be mounted on a wall near an altar, where it was used to store consecrated communion wafers. Its opening, which once contained a door, is flanked by Corinthian columns and emphasized by parallel incised lines that converge toward the center and create the illusion of perspective. The sculpture’s dominant motif is a legion of angels who surround the portal with hands in prayer. Their engorged wings and billowing garments fill the composition with expectation and movement. In diminishing scale, they serve as guardians for the tabernacle’s contents and as attendants to the Madonna and Child depicted in low relief above the opening.

{"106966":"Previous attribution"}

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Intermission

December 16, 2016 - July 2, 2017

The Natural World, the Body, and the Divine

February 3 - April 16, 2006

European Galleries

This sculpture resembles a church façade whose portal, now missing its door, is crowned with a carving depicting the infant Jesus and his mother, Mary. Designed to hold consecrated communion wafers, it was to be mounted near the altar in a Roman Catholic church. Its stage-like foreground is supported by a ledge of laurel leaves and incised with lines to create the illusion of depth.

Trained in Florence, Gagini established a flourishing workshop in Sicily. His knowledge of classical form, perspective, and movement is demonstrated in the tabernacle’s fluted columns and the angels of diminishing scale who rush forth with hands in prayer.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Tabernacle with the accession number of 06.057. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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