Reliquary Altar

Mino da Fiesole’s final project was the large marble reliquary altar for Sant’Ambrogio, Florence (1481; in situ), which, in form and iconography, combines altar and tabernacle. It was commissioned by the nuns of Sant’Ambrogio, intended for a new chapel dedicated to the important Eucharistic relic situated to the left of the choir.

Within a fanciful architectural framework crowned with a pediment with a relief of God the Father in Glory, the main scene, with the Christ Child and Saints, is in high relief, while the low-relief predella scene is set at a strongly raking angle. This was the second time that Mino had worked in association with Cosimo Rosselli, who painted the chapel frescoes (the first occasion was in the Salutati Chapel in Fiesole Cathedral). Mino was buried in the entrance of Sant’Ambrogio.