Although local historians have given credit to the legendary presence of the two Dominican monks Sisto and Ristoro, architects of the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, there are few documents referring to the foundation of the San Domenico complex. By the same token, Vasari's comment about Giovanni Pisano's involvement is equally unfounded, although Pistoian historians have attributed the church's doorway and choir to his hand.
It is certain, however, that Dominican fathers first officiated in the small Oratorio del Crocefisso (which still contains an important fresco from the late 1200s - (vi), and then founded the new church and adjoining monastery just after the mid thirteenth century. With its single wide nave, transept and presbyterial chapels, the church of San Domenico, which was only completed during the 1300s, immediately became one of the city's most important and most prestigious religious buildings. The best artists working in Pistoia between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries left examples of their work here. Among them, we find the of Giovanni Cristiani (vs41/48) and Antonio Vite (vs36/41/44) for the frescos and Bernardo and Antonio, Rossellino for the sculpture. The latter carried out the funerary monument of the jurist Filippo Lazzari A, on the first altar on the right as well as the tomb of Beato Lorenzo da Ripafratta B, a monument still being closely studied today. There is also the tomb of the Dominican bishop Andrea Franchi C who led the Processione dei Bianchi during the plague of 1399 (vs28). In 1497 the famous Florentine painter Benozzo Gozzoli died in this monastery. The church also witnessed Fra' Paolino at work here (vs46), the Dominican monk who was a follower of Savonarola - as was the whole Pistoian monastery - painted the panel of the Adoration of the Magi and a Sacred Conversation that is found today in the church of San Paolo (vs36).
In the following centuries the church of San Domenico underwent transformations inspired by changing tastes. Noble Pistoian families chose it as their burial place as is witnessed by the many sepulchral inscriptions. The Panciatichi, Cancellieri, Cellesi, BaIdinotti, and Gatteschi were some of the houses that wanted to raise altars to their memory along the walls of the main nave. The frescos with Scenes from the Life of Saint Dominic were painted in the large cloister by Sebastiano Vini at the end of the sixteenth century. In the following century a great renovation project substituted Baroque windows for the medieval hexagonal ones in the choir. In the same period the lunettes in the small cloister (today reduced to just one side because of war damage) were frescoed with Scenes from the Life of Mar>' Magdalen by such painters as Ulisse Ciocchi, Michelangelo Cinganelli and Giovanni Martinelli, all followers of the Florentine master Bernardino Poccetti. Severely bombed on the night of October 14, 1943, the church and monastery of San Domenico have since been restored and the many artworks have returned to their previous splendor.

Medieval Frescos in the Church and Monastery of San Domenico

In San Domenico there are works of great quality that represent the extraordinary period of fresco painting, beginning with the late thirteenth century Crucifix found on the chapter wall. A work of great importance that has been attributed to Coppo di Marcovaldo and his San Salerno's presence in Pistoia, (vs32), the painting proves that around the 1280s there were artists in the city who were well aware of the latest innovations in contemporary Byzantine painting. Of particular interest is the synopia documenting the first sketch of the work, where the soldier Longino had been added. The still unidentified artist known as the Master of 1310 (vs46) also worked far San Domenico around the 1330s when he painted the refectory's altar with a fresco panel and an Annunciation far the arch that leads into the high chapel. Later the Pistoian artist Giovanni Cristiani painted the Last Judgment which has since been detached and is housed in the monastery's former refectory, today used as a conference room. Antonio Vite painted Mary at the Temple, a fragment of a larger cycle.

(n.) refers to the number of the file-card
(s.i.) means see information inside

Chronology

1299 1318 1338 1497 1547 1670 1724 1783 1928 1943

Provincial chapter house of the Dominican Order. Cardinal Niccolò da Prato undertakes to carry forward works on the church. The Panciatichi family is patron of the high chapel. Benozzo Gozzoli dies. Fra' Paolino dies The church walls are entirely white-washed. The high chapel's hexagonal window is substituted by a large Baroque one. Scipione de' Ricci abolishes the Dominican monastery in Pistoia. The Dominicans return to the church. Bombardments damage the refectory, library, cloister and many rooms of the monastery.