The following year he was awarded the most prestigious commission of his entire career, the decoration of the Chapel of the Magi in the Medici Palace in Florence. He moved to San Gimignano from 1464 to 1467, before settling in Pisa when he was selected by the city's Opera della Primaziale, the cathedral's office of work, for the much-prized commission to decorate the Camposanto cemetery with Stories from the Old Testament.

When Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, Benozzo left Pisa to spend the final years of his life between Florence and Pistoia, where he died in 1497.

The exhibition aims to provide a complete reconstruction of Benozzo's entire rich and variegated output in San Gimignano, a result of the extraordinarily efficient way in which he ran his workshop. The Pinacoteca and a part of the Museo di Arte Sacra will host every single one of the works that Benozzo is known to have painted during his years in San Gimignano: in addition to the pictures discussed above, these include the superb small Terni altarpiece of 1466, the fragment of the Madonna of Mercy formerly in the Bardini collection (now in a private collection) and the iconic Madonna and Child from Calci, testifying to his subsequent lengthy stay in Pisa; at the same time, visits will also be arranged to inspect his fresco cycles in the Collegiata, the church of Sant'Agostino and the Abbey of Monteoliveto. And the exhibition also provides for the possibility of exploring the figure of Benozzo and his work in greater depth at the BEGO - the Museo Benozzo Gozzoli in Castelfiorentino.

The importance and the quality of Benozzo's graphic work - he was one of the most active and productive draughtsmen of the century - will be illustrated by two drawings from the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi produced in and around the years in which the artist was living in San Gimignano, pointing up his interest in Classical antiquity and in Flemish painting.

The comprehensive picture of the context in which Benozzo worked, and in which he forged close ties with the world of the applied arts, will be enriched by the inclusion in the exhibition of a broad selection of precious liturgical fabrics and examples of the goldsmith's art of the day, including the crimson velvet altar frontal embroidered with a flight of golden doves which Benozzo used as the model for the cope worn by St. Augustine in his altarpiece for Santa Maria Maddalena and which Cristina Borgioli has argued is a sophisticated example of the rich textile endowment owned by the Collegiata in San Gimignano. The precious altar frontal, showcased in the rooms of the Pinacoteca together with other liturgical fabrics and with several examples of liturgical goldwork in the Museo d'Arte Sacra in San Gimignano, will thus interact with the paintings to produce an ideal portrait of the multifaceted artists' workshops of the 15th century, extending the visit to the exhibition by linking the two museums.

And finally, the exhibition will also offer a reconstruction, based on the city's archival records, of the sums earmarked for, and paid to, Gozzoli by the municipal authorities and by the Collegiata.

The exhibition, "thanks to its lofty scholarly content, offers itself as a tool for adding value to this outstanding artistic and territorial heritage... and provides an opportunity for cultural enrichment and for the nourishment of our souls, thus strengthening our identity". (Anna Di Bene, Soprintendente Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Provincie di Siena, Grosseto e Arezzo, Felicia Rotundo, Funzionario Storico dell'Arte).

And as Fr. Andrea Bechi has stressed, the exhibition "does not simply let us enjoy the splendid work of an artist, it allows us to enter a distant world, though possibly closer than we think, which urges contemporary man to look with greater confidence at the present, as both Augustine and Benozzo proved capable of doing, bringing their outstanding human skills and Christian hope into play in order to make a positive mark on history".

The exhibition is also linked to a series of cultural events strongly supported and promoted by Giacomo Bassi, the Mayor of San Gimignano, and by Carolina Taddei, the Councillor for Cultural Affairs, with the coordination of Valerio Bartoloni, the Director of the Municipal Cultural Services Department, with the intention of enhancing and promoting the city's Civic Museums. The exhibition is organised and promoted by Opera - Civita Group and the catalogue is published by Giunti Editore SpA.

Castelfiorentino | www.museobenozzogozzoli.it

Narrative fresco cycles by Benozzo Gozzoli | This tour presents three narrative fresco cycles executed by Benozzo Gozzoli in Montefalco (Scenes from the Life of St Francis, 1450-52), in Florence (Procession of the Magi, 1459-60) and in San Gimignano (Scenes from the Life of St Augustine, 1464-65). Detailed biography of the artist is given and the subjects of the cycles are discussed.

Art in Tuscany | Giorgio Vasari | Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects | Benozzo Gozzoli

Giorgio Vasari | Le vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri | BENOZZO, Pittore Fiorentino

Holiday accomodation in Toscany | Podere Santa Pia