Buffalmacco’s Last Judgment back in the Campo Santo in Pisa
Following a new restoration, Buonamico Buffalmacco’s renown fresco has recently been placed back in the south gallery of the Campo Santo, where it was painted around 1336. The Last Judgment is part of a larger cycle of frescoes, which includes the The Triumph of the Death and the depiction of Hell, also attributed to Buonamico Buffalmacco. The painter placed particular emphasis on the damned and hell, a fact without precedent in the history of medieval Last Judgments. The Campo Santo frescoes seem to stage the sermons of the Dominican preacher Domenico Cavalca, or the frightening visions of Dante’s Comedy(as the lost inscriptions suggested).
The Campo Santo frescoes have a troubled history, as they were seriously damaged in 1944, when incendiary bombs dropped during an Allied air raid set the roof on fire. Most of the frescoes, as well as most of the sculptures and sarcophagi, were destroyed. After World War II, a massive restoration project began. The frescoes were removed from the walls and attached to canvas backings.
Source: Ansa.it
Posted by Martina Bollini