Palazzo de'Rossi. Una storia pistoiese

61. Salone, parete nord in basso, finto quadro con Paesaggio
e antiche costruzioni. Luigi Rafanelli, 1794. Recuperato
nell’ultimo restauro.
62. Salone, parete sud in basso, finto quadro con Rovine
classiche entro paesaggio. Luigi Rafanelli, 1794. Recuperato
nell’ultimo restauro.
effetti principali nascevano da una figuratività soverchiante. La volta e le pareti non sono
negate da “sfondati” e vertiginose prospettive dal sotto in su, ma ricondotte alle rispettive
dimensioni e alla concreta realtà della loro struttura.
Era il punto di svolta, anche a Pistoia, della cultura artistica di pittori, “ornatisti” e illustri
committenti: dal periodo del riformismo leopoldino e dell’episcopato di Scipione de’ Ricci
si richiedeva all’arte, piuttosto che travolgenti effetti scenografici e sfoggio di bravura prospettica,
un linguaggio chiaro e didascalico, improntato ad istanze razionali e morali, e un
impianto decorativo e figurativo al servizio dei contenuti da comunicare: mediante forme
depurate, un linearismo nitido combinato con effetti di luminosità diffusa, un colorismo raffinato
e attenuato fino a raggiungere spesso il monocromo.
Nelle commissioni artistiche dell’epoca si preferiva ingaggiare, insieme a qualche pittore attivo
nelle imprese granducali fiorentine, “giovani alle prime armi” 158 : per dare ai migliori di essi
occasione di distinguersi, ma anche per ottenere risultati graditi risparmiando le grosse cifre
che si dovevano per compensare l’opera degli artisti migliori e più richiesti 159 .
Ma Luigi Rafanelli non era un pittore “ornatista” agli esordi quando, nel 1794, fu richiamato
a decorare il salone d’onore del palazzo de’ Rossi.
La sua attività è documentata già nel 1763, nel palazzo di città dei Puccini 160 .
Prima della commissione per ornare il salone d’onore del palazzo de’ Rossi, nel 1794, egli
aveva partecipato anche, nel 1789-1790, alla decorazione pittorica degli ambienti del nuovo
palazzo vescovile di Scipione de’ Ricci 161 , dov’era all’opera anche il nuovo pittore emergente,
il pratese Luigi Catani (1762-1840) 162 , assai apprezzato poi dal granduca Ferdinando III 163 .
Catani era molto ricercato in ambienti culturalmente avanzati ed era ben conosciuto dal
direttore della Galleria degli Uffizi, Tommaso Puccini 164 : che l’avrebbe voluto all’opera anche
nel palazzo di città della sua famiglia, senza riuscirci a causa dei molti impegni del pittore 165 .
Luigi Rafanelli nella sua tarda attività era sicuramente entrato a far parte di quegli artisti che
gravitavano verso lo stile del Catani, a Pistoia e in Diocesi. Era presente, fra 1797 e 1798, insie-
the engineer Salvadore Piccioli, which was not finished until 1801. 153 This barrier was mounted
on the raised gallery that ran along all four walls of the hall and was connected with the
drawing room located on the northeast corner of the third floor and with the landing of the
staircase, by symmetrical routes. 154
At the top of the vault is painted a classical ceiling rose set inside an octagram or eight-pointed
star, formed by the diagonal intersection of two squares, almost an occult symbol of perfection.
In the band above the gallery, the square is the central element of each wall and serves as
a frame for landscapes “in the classical manner.” The lateral divisions, of an architectural
character, form rectangular frames for the pairs of doors located at the ends on each side. A
similar ornamental system, based this time on the rectangle, characterizes the part of each
wall underneath; the central rectangle on each side was reserved for a frescoed landscape,
brought back to light during the last restoration. On the wall opposite the counter-façade
the central axis was marked by a niche—today replaced by another, unnecessary opening—
intended to house a statue. 155
In the middle of the same wall, at the top, above the gallery, can still be seen—it too has
recently been restored 156 —that “heroic” head of Grandonio which Canon Tommaso had had
placed there as a reminder of the past glories of his family (fig. 8).
Also to be found in the large reception room, soberly arranged within the rigorous order of
the panels, are the customary decorations in the classical-antiquarian style that preceded the
true neoclassical style, something which had been evolving for some time, with a wealth of
erudite references, in the luxurious residences of the grand dukes of Florence, as well as at
the courts, royal palaces and principal townhouses of Italy.
In 1821 Francesco Tolomei wrote—in the list of Pistoian artists worthy of memory that he
included in his “Foreigner’s Guide” to Pistoia—of the artist Luigi Rafanelli that he was a
“mediocre painter of landscapes, but good at ornaments, and at the lifelike imitation of
colored marble.” 157
Now that the ornamental paintings he made in the rooms on the ground floor of the Palazzo de’
Rossi, commissioned from him by Tommaso’s father Vincenzo in the 1780s, have vanished, all
that remains of the work of this Pistoian artist are the paintings in the hall of the same building.
What can be appreciated in them, more than the actual quality of the painting, is the
sober and “classical” handling of the decorative elements, deliberately refraining from
the imaginative ostentation of the late baroque, whose main effects stemmed from an
overpowering figuration. The ceiling and the walls are not “broken through” by trompes-l’oeil
and vertiginous sotto in su perspectives, but brought back to their respective dimensions and
the concrete reality of their structure.
It was a turning point, in Pistoia too, in the artistic culture of painters, “ornamentalists”
and their illustrious clients: from the time of the Leopoldine reforms and the episcopate of
Scipione de’ Ricci it was no longer
overwhelming scenic effects and a display of virtuoso perspective that were expected from
art, but a clear and didactic language, rooted in rational and moral ideas, and a decorative
and figurative structure at the service of the message to be communicated: through purified
forms, a lucid linearity combined with effects of diffused luminosity and a refined and
subdued coloring often verging on monochrome.
The artistic commissions of the period showed a preference for engaging, alongside painters
who had been active in the enterprises of the grand dukes of Tuscany, “inexperienced
youngsters”: 158 to give the best of them an opportunity to distinguish themselves, but also to
obtain satisfactory results without having to spend the large sums that were required to pay
for the work of the best and most sought-after artists. 159
But Luigi Rafanelli was not an “ornamental” painter at the start of his career when he was
hired, in 1794, to decorate the main hall of Palazzo de’ Rossi.
He had begun his activity back in 1763, working in the townhouse of the Puccini family. 160
Before the commission to adorn the main hall of Palazzo de’ Rossi, in 1794, he had also taken
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