Cappella di San Michele alla Fratta Sinalunga

The monumental structure of the church annexed to the farm at Fratta appears quite in contrast with its isolated and fully rural location. Its architecture almost possesses the characteristics of an aulic and noble temple , that it’s certainly justified by the fact that the chapel has belonged to an illustrious tradition of noble families that have lived and still live in the villa in the center of the vast surrounding estate. A magnificent altar dominates the back wall, surrounded by a classical style niche, that strongly reminds us of the 17th century chapels , built in the lateral naves of the most illustrious of the Sienese Churches, the Cathedral of the Assumption. The stuccos of the columns reverberate the tonality of the stone material of those altars, while the half spandrel ,with two angels that hold the dais with the sunburst glory inside that frames the dove of the Holy Spirit, already resembles lively 18th century motifs. But the pompous apparatus , although very spectacular, is only an introduction to the three frescoes, that decorate the back wall of the chapel and that constitute the most important ornament. In the central part, the Virgin Mary is represented, seated on a tall throne, the base of which is constituted by a classical style support base, with the corners decorated by volutes and with a front panel decorated by simulated marble . The Madonna, only slightly twisted to emphasize her elegant pose, holds the Child, naked , blessing, leaning towards a soul, that is held on a scale plate by Saint Michael Archangel in the foreground and that turns to the Young Savior, praying and imploring for salvation. Instead, the other soul is placed on a plate, that relentlessly bends down, and that is destined to damnation. Besides , the Warrior Archangel, Avenger of Divine Justice, who brandishes a flaming sword , a throng of other Saints crowds around the Madonna and Child group . You can see the crowned head of a young saint, with attractive features, maybe it’s Catherine of Alexandria; then the Harbinger, Saint John the Baptist, with the cartouche that indicates the Savior, executed with elegant volutes. To the right of the Virgin and Child appear, intensely devoted, Saint Anthony from Padua, who exhibits the flaming heart, his usual iconographic attribution, and the Sienese Saint , Catherine, so present in many sacred images of her land. While this Sacred Conversation takes place around the Holy Virgin group, Raffaele and Tobiolo look intensely at each other, not without an attentive glance by the young traveler towards the Virgin and Child, obvious center of the group devotion. On the smaller walls, next to the altar, two Saints are represented. On the left, there’s Saint Girolamo, who is contemplating the Holy Cross during his penance, accompanied by the faithful ,domesticated lion. On the right hand side, there’s Saint Francis, kneeling and waiting to receive the stigmata in a vast, solitary and rocky environment, that strongly reminds us of the rough , rocky landscape at Verna. Here and there , a few wayfarer figures , summarily painted , interrupt the solitude of the mountain background . These frescoes, reveal through the wise composition, through the security in drawing, through the smooth attractive features of the figures, inspired to the soft images depicted by Raphael Sanzio , the hand of one of the major 16th century Sienese masters, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, originally from Vercelli, nicknamed “Sodoma”, whimsical spirit, able decorator for popes, religious orders ( the very famous and largely admired frescoes concerning the Life of Saint Benedict in the vast cloister of the nearby Benedictine Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore are attributed to him), and aristocratic families. Despite the frescoes in the Chapel at Fratta, have been heavily and grossly painted over, they still show fully the mastery and the expressive abilities of the Sienese Master , who in the nearby Sinalunga, in the Cathedral of Saint Martin, has left a large altar screen , representing a Madonna on the Throne. Here, the Master exposes the mature phase of his art activity ,through the crowding of the figures and the chromatic tones , that are more amalgamated and show more contrast in the chiaroscuro, and that habitually appear during 1525 – 1530, almost at the end of his activity ( he will die almost in the middle of the 16th century, in 1549). But it isn’t only Sodoma’s fresco that qualifies the artistic decorations of the church at Fratta. On the two lateral altars, supported by elegant brackets with conclusive volutes, two sacred compositions have been executed in stucco . On the right hand side, at the foot of a wooden Crucifix, surrounded by a halo of grieving angels, two Saints are kneeling: on the left, a normal clergyman with his hand softly leaning on the wooden cross, almost showing a pitiful respect,; and the other Saint Rocco, with a pilgrim’s staff, in a devoted attitude, with his hands crossed on his chest. The workmanship is very soft and elegant ,characteristic of the 18th century. The figures are full and well modelled as the ones in the altar on the left hand side , in front of this one. Here, around a niche ( also in stucco ) that hosts a bust of the Madonna, surrounded by flying angels, laying on soft, circular clouds , kneel down the most important and venerated Sienese Saints, Bernardino, with his Name of Jesus, elegantly placed on a side, who is turning his face , strongly characterized, but full of a soft tenderness, unusual for the countenance of the lean 15th century preacher , and Catherine, more ascetic and more devoted while offering her heart ( alluding at it with her hand) to the image of the Virgin. The execution of the figures is very soft; they’ve been conceived and executed with a good technique and with formal dignity, so much so to make one think of an artist of remarkable quality. The series of bronze candle holders on the major altar, finely patinated with an almost orange tonality, are also part of ornaments, that have been conceived with great knowhow, with great technical ability the authors called to execute the chapel’s ornaments. The angular shapes, the knot fashioned with particular harmony and slightly curved with mastery, the elegance with which in the base ( that stands on three soft feet shaped with volutes ) is located the coat of arms of the Gori Pannilini family with the lion shaped protomes and the Italian mounts surmounted by stars; the virtuosity of the two entwined knots in the center of the anterior face under the coat of arms, show the technical preparation and the high level of the 18th century execution by the artisans that realized the candle holders, that recall the same type of handling the material as in the ornaments that are still preserved on the altars of the Cathedral of Siena, although , as already mentioned, the ones at Fratta result being executed definitely during a later period, without doubt during the 18th century. Therefore, these artworks enrich with a high level quality the chapel at Fratta, and reveal the sponsor tradition in the choice of the artists and of the artifacts, by the owners of the farm and of the villa. A conspicuous patrimony, indicates unmistakably the sometimes hidden but expanded richness of figurative and decorative art present in this area of the Sienese province, so attractive and engrossing in the softness of the landscape so intensely humanized, in the unquestionable harmony between the surrounding nature and the populated centers that constellate the environment.