| Orsini Polyptych | |
|---|---|
 The Antwerp panels | |
| Artist | Simone Martini |
| Year | 1333–1340 |
| Medium | Tempera on panel |
TheOrsini Polyptych (also known as theOrsini Altarpiece orPassion Polyptych) is an altarpiece produced at an unknown location bySimone Martini for private devotion by a cardinal of theOrsini family. Its precise date is still under discussion. It was taken to France very early in its lifespan and formed a major influence on late medieval French artists. It is now split between theLouvre in Paris, theRoyal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and theGemäldegalerie in Berlin.[1]
On the back of the Louvre panel (Christ Bearing the Cross) is the coat of arms of the Orsini family.[2][3] It shows the man who commissioned the painting dressed as a cardinal at the foot of the Cross. Some art historians see this as a portrait of the Roman cardinalNapoleone Orsini, who owned a fragment of the True Cross, which may explain the choice of subject. Under this hypothesis, he commissioned it before leaving Rome for thepapal court in Avignon or inAvignon itself, where Martini followed Orsini.[4]
The altarpiece was probably in theChampmol Charterhouse, near Dijon, by the end of the 14th century. It was still there in the prior's chambers in 1791, when it was sold and split up. The four panels in Antwerp (theCrucifixion, theDescent from the Cross, theArchangel Gabriel and theVirgin of the Annunciation) were sold inDijon in 1826 and acquired for the collection ofFlorent van Ertborn, mayor of Antwerp; they were originally two panels, withGabriel and theVirgin on the reverse of the other two panels, before they were later sawn off.[5] Van Ertborn bequeathed these panels to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in 1841.[6] The Louvre panel (Christ Bearing the Cross) was bought from a man named L. Saint-Denis in 1834.[2] The Berlin panel (theEntombment) was bought from the Paris art dealer Émile Pacully in 1904. Originally it had the same golden background as the other panels, but this was painted over in red, probably in the middle of the 15th century.[1]
When open, the altarpiece had four scenes of Christ's Passion on one side, from left to rightChrist Bearing the Cross (Louvre), theCrucifixion (Antwerp), theDescent from the Cross (Antwerp) and theEntombment (Berlin). On the reverse of the two central panels were the two Annunciation panels, now in Antwerp. On the reverse of one of the outer panels,Christ Bearing the Cross, is the coat of arms of the Orsini family. The Berlin panel probably had the same on its reverse, but this is now lost through subsequent alterations of the panel.[7]
Media related toAltare Orsini by Simone Martini at Wikimedia Commons