Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

About

The Cathedral museum of Prato, Italy, was founded in 1967 in a few rooms of the bishop's residence and in 1976 grew to include items from both the Cathedral of Saint Stephen and other churches in the diocese, including the Abbey of Santa Maria in Montepiano.

The small courtyard that precedes the bishop's residence provides the entrance to the museum which opened in 1967 in the first two rooms. In 1976, the museum was enlarged to accommodate works from the entire diocese including the prestigious reliefs from the pulpit of Donatello. The collection is set up as a diocesan museum.

In 1980, the vaults under the cathedral's transept were added to the museum's space, and other areas were included between 1993 and 1996, beginning work, only recently concluded, to reconnect the various sections into one single itinerary that passes through a few rooms in the old Palazo dei Proposti, around the harmonious Romanesque cloister, and concluding under the cathedral. A reorganization of the museum space began in 2007, and plans include the preparation of the Renaissance rooms.

An established itinerary guides the visitor through six rooms containing numerous and varied works of art, passes through an archeological section and the Romaesque cloister, and finishes with the Antiquarium and the vaults.

This room houses important sculptures and paintings (mostly parts of polyptychs) from the 13th to the early 15th centuries from Prato, along with liturgical items from the same era, including:

- Head of Christ (1220–1230), part of an imposing Crucifixione, in polychrome wood, by an anonymous sculptor from Arezzo;

- Madonna enthroned with saints Michael archangel, Peter, and Paul, with Abbot Benventuo who commissioned the work (c. 1262), high-relief sandstone, by Giroldo da Como, from Badia di Montepiano;

- Madonna with child (1310–1330), wood sculpture, by an anonymous Tuscan artist

- Madonna del Parto (c.1320), on wood, by the school of Giotto, from Pieve di Santo Stefano;

- panel from a polyptych depicting the Madonna with child (c.1365) influence of Orcagna, from Carteano;

- two panels with spires from a polyptych with Saints James and John the Baptist (c.1370) by Giovanni Bonsi, from the cathedral;

- Annunciation (c.1410), attributed to Lorenzo di Niccolò, from Pizzidimonte;

- two panels from a polyptych with pairs of saints ( Saints Matthew and Saint John, James and Anthony the Abbot ), painted on wood (c.1415), by Giovanni Toscani : the central part is preserved in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (USA) and shows four saints;

The Madonna with child, wood sculpture 1310–30

Annunciation (1410) attributed to Lorenzo di Niccolò

The adjoining room contains items used during liturgical services among which are:

- four gradual illuminations: il Corale D (1429–1430) shows decoration made by Rossello di Jacopo Franchi e Matteo Torelli; il Corale C (1435) illuminated by Meo di Frosino, from Badia di San Fabiano; i Corali B e A (1501) works of Attavante Attavanti ;

- Vestment of Saint Stephen (c.1590), in red velvet enriched with embroidered figures on a webbing of gold, donated to the Prato church by cardinal Alessandro de' Medici (later papa Leone XI );

- cope, chasuble and antependium, embroidered, probably based on a design by Giovanni Maria Butteri ;

- lavabo (1487), in light stone, by Lorenzo di Salvadore (perhaps based on a design by Giuliano da Sangallo ), from the sacristy of the Chapel of the Cintola;