Well Room
This room is part of the 15th century project commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for the Novitiate area. Its function was closely connected to that of the adjacent sacristy, which is why it was furnished with cupboards for liturgical vestments and accoutrements, a washbasin (removed in the 20th century) and a well.
We can still see the niche that housed the well, with its green-earth fresco dated c. 1445 and attributed to Paolo Schiavo depicting Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. The niche also has a Medici coat-of-arms in stone attributed to the workshop of Michelozzo.
Paolo Schiavo, Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, c. 1445. Santa Croce, Novitiate, Well Room
The room currently houses paintings that hung in the Museo dell'Opera until 2014 before being moved here for safety in the event of a flood.
Nardo di Cione, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1365. Santa Croce, Well Room
Of particular interest are Nardo di Cione's Madonna and Child with Saints painted for the Santa Maria degli Angeli monastery in 1365, Giovanni del Biondo's St. John Gualbert Enthroned with Four Stories from his Life (c. 1370) coming from the San Salvi monastery and Lorenzo Monaco's St. James Enthroned painted for an unknown destination in 1408.
Giovanni del Biondo, St. John Gualbert Enthroned with Four Stories from his Life, c. 1370, Santa Croce, Well Room