Sacred Imagery and Family Identity on the High Altar
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2026
Nearly thirty sculpted and painted images decorate Vasari’s high altar for the Pieve. The subjects of some of its paintings relate to saints whose relics were kept in its crypt, whereas that of others was tied to the dedication of the Pieve and local devotions, as well as to the Eucharist that was stored in its sacrament tabernacle. Still others depicted name saints and portraits of Vasari and his family members. This chapter comprises the first systematic analysis of each of the Pieve altar’s images and how they relate to each other, as well as to the altar’s multiple functions and some of Vasari’s other sacred works. It demonstrates the care that went into the conception and execution of Vasari’s high chapel and funerary monument and sets the stage for its contextualization with the other altars and paintings he made for the Pieve, as well as its afterlife as Vasari’s place of burial.
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