Santa Fina Chapel

After her death on 12 March 1253 the veneration of Fina dei Ciardi quickly grew to become the protector and saint patron of the city of San Gimignano.

[2] Works proceeded slowly until Giuliano da Maiano was summoned from Florence in 1468 to furnish the commune with a suitable design for the chapel.

[6] The architecture, completed in 1472, is inspired by Antonio Rossellino's Cardinal of Portugal Chapel in the basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.

[9] The side walls of the chapel were frescoed by the Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio between late 1477 and September 1478,[10] at the same time as Benedetto da Maiano was working on the sculpture.

Upon the sarcophagus decorated with naked genii runs the inscription attributed to Giovanni Battista Cantalicio, the author of laudatory verses in honour of the Saint Gregory printed in Venice in 1493:[11] VIRGINIS OSSA LATENT TUMULO, QUEM SUSPICIS, HOSPES; HAEC DEEUS, EXEMPLUM, PRAESIDIUMQUE SUIS.

[12] Entries exist in the ledger of the works of the collegiate church of certain sums of money paid to Benedetto da Maiano for the epitaph of Santa Fina, under the dates of 29 May 1490 and 13 December 1493.

[7] The fresco on right wall of the chapel depicts, in the main field, St. Gregory the Great, supported by red-winged cherubim, appearing to Santa Fina to announce her death.

[7] On the wall of the painted room is a slab with an inscription in gold lettering of the following words by St. Gregory:[16] PARATA ESTO, FILIA, QUIA DIE SOLEMNITATIS MEAE AD NOSTRUM ES VENTURA CONSORTIUM, CUM SPONSO TUO PERENNITER IN GLORIA PERMANSURAAbove a painted architrave at the top of the picture a small image shows two angels transporting the soul of the praying woman within an aureola.

The scene is set in front of Renaissance exedra around the altar, decorated with precious marble, grooved pillars and composite capitals, supporting a rich entablature and a blue semi-dome.

[7] The four pendentives that support the vault are decorated by the figures of prophets, while the lunettes feature Saints Ambrose, Nicholas, Jerome, Gimignano and Augustine, by Sebastiano Mainardi.

[8] The style of this scheme, combining elements that are both historic and contemporary, was perhaps inspired by Filippo Lippi's Stories of St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist in the Prato Cathedral, and was later used by Ghirlandaio in the frescoes of the Sassetti Chapel in the basilica of Santa Trinita at Florence.