Multiplication of loaves and fishes

Brought to the museum thanks to the testamentary legacy of the Florentine noblewoman Angela Riblet Bargagli Petrucci in 2011 - along with the two works by Alessandro Allori flanking it - this drawing featuring the Multiplication of loaves and fishes was commissioned to Santi di Tito by Geri Spini to decorate the altar of his family chapel in the country residence at Peretola, on the outskirts of Florence. The theme of earth fertility, to which the three paintings allude, is a precise iconographic choice linked to the activity of the villa-farm called Palagio degli Spini.
This painting, made in 1603, depicts the evangelical episode that is primarily dedicated to prosperity and abundance. In the foreground, Jesus, wearing a pink robe and a blue coat, holds some bread in his hands. The apostle on his right, who is looking at him with pleasure as he provides more bread, stands next to him. Another apostle bends over to entrust a young boy with a basket containing fish to distribute to the large crowd gathered in hope in the distance and in the background behind them, there is a landscape of significant impact, bright and expansive. You can see a port, a gulf and a mountain range.
The artwork, which appeared irreparably damaged after the Florentine flood of 1966, has been subjected to thorough restorations that have brought the paint layer back to its original luminous texture, with gentle lines and expressive calmness typical of the late period of the artist's career, whose signature is once again visible at the bottom: “SANTI DI TITO TITI F 1603”. This work was interpreted as a kind of artistic testament for the painter, who would die shortly after the painting was finished.