The Museum of Religious Art' is an art gallery and museum in Certaldo, opened in 2001 and one of the town's three museums. It is based on the site of a former Augustinian monastery in the medieval upper town its entrance is the next-door cloister of the church of Santi Jacopo e Filippo.
History
Nelle sette sale del museo sono raccolte le opere provenienti dalle chiese comprese nel territorio del vicariato ecclesiastico di Certaldo. Il museo di arte sacra era in origine un convento agostiniano del quattrocento. Accuratamente restaurato per adibito a museo, è stato inaugurato nel giugno del 2001, parte di un circuito di centri espositivi della Valdelsa e di musei vicariali sorti nell'area fiorentina con il fine di aggregare beni culturali religiosi sparsi nel territorio che, per ragioni di sicurezza e custodia, non possono essere conservati nelle sedi di origine e che trovano perciò assetto museografico, visibilità scientifica e pubblica fruizione presso la chiesa più importante della circoscrizione ecclesiastica di riferimento.
Room I: Art Gallery
Sited in the monastery's former refectory, the first room houses 13th to 16th century paintings and two early 15th century fresco fragments.
Three small rooms contain goldwork, mostly from San Lazzaro a Lucardo, a pieve of Certaldo, the most important pieve in the ecclesiastical deanery. They include :
Workshop of Ruggero of Helmershausen, Minor Cross, worked, engraved and gilded copper and cast bronze, mid 13th century, from the church of Santa Maria a Casale
Possibly a Byzantine master, Thurible, gold-copper alloy, engraved, 11th-12th century, from the church of San Gaudenzio a Ruballa
Workshop of Filarete, Peace, embossed, gilded and chiseled bronze, mid 15th century, from San Lazzaro a Lucardo
Florentine studio, Chalice - Pyx, chiseled, embossed, engraved and gilded copper, 1496, from San Lazzaro a Lucardo
Paolo Laurentini, Busto reliquiario della beata Giulia, embossed, chiseled and engraved silver, 1652-1653, from the church of Santi Jacopo e Filippo
Room V: Vestments
This small room houses 16th to 18th century church vestments, including Pianeta from Santa Maria a Bagnano in the town.
Room VI: the Compagnia
Previously the chapel of the Compagnia della SS. Annunziata and still consecrated for worship, this room describes the Compagnia's history with 17th century paintings and sculptures. Its duties included assisting those condemned to death. The connecting door to what is now Room V was installed on the complex's conversion to a museum - previously the only access was the now-closed door onto piazza SS. Jacopo e Filippo
Paintings
Bernardino Monaldi, Madonna of the Rosary with Saints, canvas, 1611, from the church of Santa Maria a Bagnano in Certaldo
Tuscan painter, 1600-1650, Annunciation, canvas, c. 1620
Sienese painter, Madonna and Child with Augustinian Saints, canvas, c. 1630
Florentine painter, 1600-1650, Madonna and Child with St Anthony Abbot and St Francis, canvas, from the church of San Martino a Maiano, Compagnia di Sant'Antonio
Florentine painter, 1600-1650, St Martin and St Catherine of Alexandria Adoring the Holy Trinity, from the church of San Martino a Maiano, Compagnia di Sant'Antonio
Sculptures
The room also houses two painted wooden tondo sculptures by mid 17th century Sienese carvers, both from the town church of Santi Jacopo e Filippo:
The room was previously dedicated to the Petrognano Crucifix, which has now been moved to the church of Santi Jacopo e Filippo. Since 24 August 2018 it has instead housed paintings, sculptures and prints from the Villa Bardi in Linari, a district of Barberino Val d'Elsa. The artworks include:
