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The large refectory of Ognissanti is situated between the first and the
second cloister of the antique convent. In the room, facing there is a
magnificent door, in pietra serena, and on either side two basins of 1480. In
the niches there are two frescoes referring to the water: Sara at Jacob's pit
and Moses who makes water gush from the rock; works by Giuseppe Romei of the
seventeeth century.
The central
fresco, which entirely covers the wall measures 8.10 x 4; it is the work of
Domenico del Ghirlandaio (1449-1494). He reached one of the best results of his
art in the fresco of Ognissanti.
The representation of the Last Supper is calm, but not without drama. The
apostles are painted in the moment Jesus announces that one of them will betray
him. According to a report by the purchasers (at that time, the refectory
belonged to Humiliati Monks), Ghirlandaio has picked out many apparently
decorative details, but which, in reality, express a precise symbolic reference
to the drama of the Passion and the Redemption of Christ: from the evergreen
plants to the flight of the quails, from the oranges to the cherries, from the
dove to the pea-cock. As it is a separate fresco it is possible to compare it
with the sinopite on the left wall, between the pulpit which was used for the
Bible reading during dinner and supper.
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