Andrea Ferrucci a Pistoia. Una cornice per il "Crocifisso" di Giovanni Pisano in Santa Maria a Ripalta, poi in Sant’Andrea

This article discusses the marble tabernacle made to contain a wooden Crucifix by Giovanni Pisano, originally in the church of Santa Maria in Ripalta in Pistoia and now in Sant’Andrea. The richly-crafted Carrara marble frame, overlooked by scholarship, is studied as regards both style and typology and is here presented as an important work by Andrea Ferrucci during his period of activity in Pistoia, between 1497 and 1499. The author traces the complex and occasionally tumultuous vicissitudes of the venerated Crucifix and its tabernacle through its liturgical use and displacement, reflecting on the significant and close relationship between the work of art, devotion and history of taste. The lively religious and social dynamics of the city of Pistoia between mediaeval and modern times offer a context for how theory and practice have shaped twentieth-century conservation in Sant’Andrea, resulting in the current placement of the Crucifix and its marble frame.