Santa Maria della Scala

Museum paths

Constructed around 1680 by will of Suor Elisabetta Biagini, a religious woman of Santa Maria della Scala, in the same site of an older chapel dedicated to Saints Joaquin and Saint Ann, this space, which leads to the church of the Santissima Annunziata and to the Old Sacristy, conserves an important cycle of paintings dedicated to the Madonna, executed by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini (1657 – 1736) in collaboration with his son Apollonio.
The decoration consists of two large canvases with stucco frames situated on the right wall, portraying the Nativity of the Virgin and the Presentation in the Temple; on the opposite side another painting on canvas with the Flight into Egypt. A series of frescoes depicting the Coronation of the Madonna, the Virgin Crowned by the Trinity and some angels with the instruments of the Passion characterise the vaults, the corbels and the ceiling. It is probably one of the last works by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini, who was then the leading painter in Siena.
An interesting cuspidate table of the early 15th century is placed on the altar, a work by the Sienese painter Paolo di Giovanni Fei, portraying the Madonna with Child surrounded by seven angels. The painting, which had been kept by Suor Elisabetta, was moved to the Chapel when it was restored.