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Medieval wall painting in the church of Santa Maria in Pallara, Rome: the use of objective dating criteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2011

Laura Marchiori
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4-523 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1Y4, Canada. [email protected]
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References

1 The distorting effect of art history's dependence on the Liber Pontificalis, which essentially ends in the mid-ninth century and documents only the papal patronage of churches in early medieval Rome, has been noted by Robert Coates-Stephens, who has contributed to the recovery of the architectural history of the so-called ‘dark ages’ through examinations of early modern textual evidence and modern archaeology; see Coates-Stephens, R., ‘Dark age architecture in Rome’, Papers of the British School at Rome 65 (1997), 177232, esp. pp. 179–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Gigli, L., S. Sebastiano al Palatino (Rome, 1975).Google Scholar

3 For other versions of the iconography, see Marchiori, L., Art and Reform in Tenth-century Rome — the Paintings of S. Maria in Pallara (Queen's University, Ph.D. thesis, 2007), 130–53Google Scholar.

4 For a summary of the main Barberini documents recording the renovation, see Poliak, O., Die Kunsttätigkeit unter Urban VIII, 2 vols (Vienna, 1927), I, 193–5Google Scholar.

5 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 378, 33v, 53r. The marginal notation records the founder's death; it reads: ‘Vii kl oc[tober] … Obiit Petrus laudabilis medicus, qui de sua ope construxit monasterium istud’ (25 September … The honourable physician Peter, who erected this monastery on his own property, died). For the dating of the manuscript, see Supino Martini, P., Roma e l'area grafica romanesca (secoli X-XII) (Alexandria, 1987), 136–40.Google Scholar

6 The inscription, which is now in a fragmentary state, was recorded by early modern authors, some of whose discussions were collected and published in the nineteenth century; see Uccelli, P.A., La chiesa di S. Sebastiano martire sul Colle Palatino e Urbano VIII P.M. – memoria storica dell'Ab. P.A. Uccelli con scritture inedite del P. Orazio Giustiniani, indi Cardinale, di Antonio Bosio, del Lonigo, di Francesco Maria Tomgio e di Monsignor Antonio Riccioli, Vescovo di Beicastro e segretario della Congregazione della Sacra Visita (Rome, 1876), 101Google Scholar , 106. It is thought to have read: ‘VIRGO REDEMPTORIS GENITRIX ET SPLENDIDA MATER CHRISTI, ACCIPE CUM ZOTICO ET SEBASTIANO VOTA BEATA QUAE SOPHUS ILLUSTRIS MEDICUS QUOQUE PETRUS OFFERT UT PRECIBUS CAPIAT VESTRIS COELESTIA REGNA’ (Virgin progenitor of the Saviour and noble mother of Christ, accept with Zoticus and Sebastian the blessed gifts that the wise and distinguished physician Peter offers so that by your prayers he may achieve the heavenly kingdom). The translation is my own. For further discussion of the inscription, see below, pp. 243–7.

7 Little is known about Eclissi, although his drawings generally have been praised as being accurate in detail, if not as to colour or style; see Morey, C.R., Lost Mosaics and Frescoes of Rome of the Mediaeval Period (Princeton, 1915), 19Google Scholar; Osborne, J. and Claridge, A., The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo, Series A, Part II – Early Christian and Medieval Antiquities. Volume 1: Mosaics and Wallpaintings in Roman Churches (London, 1996), 5368Google Scholar; Noreen, K., ‘Recording the past: seventeenth-century watercolor drawings of medieval monuments’, Visual Resources 16 (1) (2000), 126Google Scholar. The drawings are preserved in Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 62, 234–50, esp. p. 243. See also Waetzoldt, S., Die Kopien des 17. Jahrhunderts nach Mosaiken und Wandmalereien in Rom (Vienna, 1917), 75–6Google Scholar.

8 The iconography of Christ in a garden setting handing the scroll of the New Law to his Apostles, often symbolically represented only by Peter and Paul, is known as the Traditio Legis and is found in many apses of Rome's medieval churches; see Davis-Weyer, C., ‘Das Traditio-Legis-Bild und seine Nachfolge’, Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst ser. 3, 12 (1961), 745Google Scholar.

9 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 62; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 30.

10 Richard Krautheimer generally characterized the ninth-century art of Rome as a renascence, a rebirth of the early Christian city; see Krautheimer, R., ‘Renewal and renascence: the Carolingian age’, in R., Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City (Princeton, 1980), 109–42, esp. pp. 123–34.Google Scholar

11 Hoegger, P., Die Fresken in der Ehemaligen Abteikirche S. Elia bei Nepi (Frauenfeld, 1975)Google Scholar , fig. 14. This is also the case with San Silvestro in Tivoli. Christa Ihm argued that the twin-tiered format developed in Egypt, as our earliest surviving evidence comes from the fifth- and sixth-century monastic chapels at Bawit, where the Ascension was a common apse composition; see Ihm, C., Oie Programme der Christlichen Apsismakrei vom Vierten Jahrhundert bis zur Mitte des Achten Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden, 1960), 95100, plates 23,25.Google Scholar

12 Mackic, G., ‘The San Venanzio chapel in Rome and the martyr shrine sequence’, Revue d'Art Canadienne/Canadian Art Review 23 (1–2) (1996), 113, esp. pp. 4–5, 8.Google Scholar

13 Belting, H., ‘Eine Privatkapelle im frühmittelalterlichen Rom’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987), 5569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Two inscriptions, ‘SCALUCIA’ and ‘SCAAGNES’, were noted in the seventeenth-century drawing of the apse; Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 62; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 30.

15 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 234–5; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 14a, b.

16 The first example, San Paolo fuori le mura, features a bust of Christ instead of the Agnus Dei as the focus of worship by the 24 Elders; although the composition is a modern rendition, it is thought to be a faithful copy of an early medieval original; see Waetzoldt, S., ‘Zur Ikonographie des Triumphbogenmosaiks von St. Paul in Rom’, in F., Graf, W., Metternich and L., Schudt (eds), Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae zu Ehren von Leo Bruhns (Rümische Forschungen der Bibliotheca Hertziana 16) (Munich, 1961), 1928Google Scholar. For other witnesses of the iconographie tradition featuring the Agnus Dei, see Manion, M., ‘The frescoes of S. Giovanni a Porta Latina – the shape of a tradition’, Australian Journal of Art 1 (1978), 93110Google Scholar; Nilgen, U., ‘Die Bilder über dem Altar. Triumph- und Apsisbogenprogramme in Rom und Mittelitalien und ihr Bezug zur Liturgie’, in N., Bock, S., de Blaauw, C., Frommel and H., Kessler (eds), Kunst und Liturgie im Mittelalter. Akten des Internationalen Kongresses der Bibliotheca Hertziana und des Nederlands Instituut te Rome (Munich, 2000), 7589.Google Scholar

17 Mâle, É., Rome et ses vieilles églises (Paris, 1942), 151.Google Scholar

18 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 234–5; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 14a, b.

19 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 243; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 15.

20 For a discussion of the church in the context of archaeological investigation of the Palatine, see Augenti, A., Il Palatino nel medioevo: archeologia e topografia (secoli vi-xii) (Rome, 1996), 65–6Google Scholar.

21 Wilpert, J., Die Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der Kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis XIII. Jahrhundert, 4 vols (Freiburg, 1917), II, 1, 07581.Google ScholarLadner, G., ‘Die Italienische Malerei im XI. Jahrhundert’, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien N.F. 5 (1931), 33160, esp. pp. 100–3Google Scholar; Matthiae, G., Pittura romana del medioevo, 2 vols with an aggiornamento by M., Andaloro (Rome, 1965; 1987), I, 196204Google Scholar ; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), 81–6.

22 Fedele, P., ‘Una chiesa del Palatino’, Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria 26 (1903), 343–8Google Scholar. , esp. pp. 356–9. The copies are found in Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 7928, 178–180.

23 Ferrari, G., Early Roman Monasteries: Notes for the History of the Monasteries and Convents at Rome from the V through the X Century (Vatican City, 1957), 215–24Google Scholar.

24 Hubert, É., ‘Évolution générale de l'anthroponymie masculine à Rome du Xe au XHIe siècle’, Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome. Moyen Age 106 (2) (1994), 573–94.Google Scholar The difficulty in dealing with medieval single-name anthroponymy is evident in a recently-published catalogue of the onomastic data for medieval Rome, which includes discussion of the textual evidence for the existence of Petrus Medicus, the patron of Santa Maria in Pallara; see Savio, G., Monumenta onomastica romana Medii Aevi (X-XII sec), 5 vols (Rome, 1999), IV, 46–7, 53–7Google Scholar , nos. 099456, 099479, 099589, 099607, 099623, 099624.

25 Hubert, É., ‘«In regione Pallarie», contribution à l'histoire du Palatin au Moyen Âge’, in La Vigna Barherini 1. Histoire d'un site – étude des sources et de la topographie (Roma antica 3) (Rome, 1997), 89140.Google Scholar

26 For example, see Bergman, R., The Salerno Ivories — ‘Ars Sacra’ from Medieval Amalfi (Cambridge, 1980), 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27 The four Evangelists sit on the shoulders of the four major Prophets at Chartres; see Perrot, F., ‘Le vitrail, la croisade et la Champagne: réflexion sur les fenêtres hautes du chœur à la Cathédrale de Chartres’, in Y., Bellenger and D., Quéruel (eds), Les Champenois et la Croisade. Actes des quatrièmes journées rémoises 27–28 novembre 1987 (Paris, 1989), 109–30Google Scholar; Brenk, B., ‘Bildprogrammatik und Geschichtsverständnis der Kapetinger im Querhaus der Kathedrale von Chartres’, Arte Medievale 5 (2) (1991), 7196Google Scholar. For other versions of the iconography, see Marchiori, Art and Reform in Tenth-century Rome (above, n. 3), 78–93.

28 John of Salisbury, Metalogicon 3.4, edited by Hall, J.B. (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 98) (Turnhout, 1991), 116.Google Scholar ‘Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos, gigantum umeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora uidere, non utique proprii uisus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subuchimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea’. The translation above is my own.

29 Merton, R.K., On the Shoulders of Giants: a Shandean Postscript (New York, 1965)Google Scholar; Jeauneau, É., “Nani gigantum humeris insidentes'. Essai d'interprétation de Bernard dc Chartres’, Vivarium 5 (1967), 7999.Google Scholar

30 The concept was first proposed by Charles Haskins; see Haskins, C.H., The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, 1927; 1979), 5.Google Scholar

31 Panofsky, E., Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (Stockholm, 1960), 110.Google Scholar

32 Marchiori, Art and Reform in Tenth-century Rome (above, n. 3), 116–30.

33 The tradition of such commentaries begins in the fourth century, but the earliest clear equation of the Elders with the Apostles and Prophets is found in the eighth-century exegesis of Ambrosius Autpertus (ob. 778), a Frankish monk at the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno; ‘Expositionis in Apocalypsin’, in Weber, R. (ed.), Ambrosií Autperti Opera, 2 vols (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 28) (Turnhout, 1975)Google Scholar, 4.3, II, 210–13.

34 For a discussion of sources and meaning, see Marchiori, Art and Reform in Tenth-century Rome (above, n. 3), 130–53.

35 LeClercq, J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: a Study of Monastic Culture, translated by C., Misrahi (New York, 1982), 2536.Google Scholar

36 Osborne, J., ‘Wall paintings as documents: an example from the atrium of S. Maria Antiqua, Rome’, Revue d'Art Canadienne/Canadian Art Review 26 (1) (1989), 711.Google Scholar

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38 Osborne, J., ‘The ‘Particular Judgment’: an early medieval wall-painting in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome’, The Burlington Magazine 123 (1981), 335–41Google Scholar; Osborne, J., ‘Early medieval painting in San Clemente, Rome: the Madonna and Child in the niche’, Gesta 20 (1981), 299310Google Scholar; Osborne, J., ‘The painting of the Anastasis in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome: a re-examination of the evidence for the location of the tomb of St Cyril’, Byzantion 51 (1) (1981), 255–87Google Scholar; Osborne, J., ‘The atrium of S. Maria Antiqua, Rome: a history in art’, Papers of the British School at Rome 55 (1987), 186223Google Scholar; Osborne, J., “Textiles and their painted imitations in early medieval Rome’, Papers of the British School at Rome 60 (1992), 309–52Google Scholar.

39 Krautheimer, R., Corbett, S. and Franki, W., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae, the Early Christian Basilicas of Rome (IV-IX Centuries), 5 vols (Vatican City, 1937-1977).Google Scholar

40 This methodology is presented formally in his recent paper dealing with the medieval wall paintings excavated in a small chapel near the apse at San Lorenzo fuori le mura; see Osborne, J., ‘Dating medieval mural painting in Rome: a case study from S. Lorenzo fuori le mura’, in É.Ó., Carragáin and C., Neuman de Vegvar (eds), Roma Felix – Formations and Reflections of Medieval Rome (Aldershot, 2007), 191206.Google Scholar

41 Augenti, 11 Palatino nel medioevo (above, n. 20), 65–6; Coates-Stephens, ‘Dark age architecture’ (above, n. 1), 206–7.

42 Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), 105–8.

43 I am grateful to Dott.ssa Isabella del Frate for sharing her information on the paintings. Some summary of the earlier restorations is to be found in a thesis completed by students of the Istituto Centrale del Restauro, housed in the Institute's library in Rome; see Liquori, L. and Segré, M., L'abside affrescata di S. Sebastiano al Palatino, già S. Maria in Pallara: metodologie di studio ed ipotesi di restauro (Rome, Istituto Centrale del Restauro, dissertation, 1987), 164–7Google Scholar , 180–1. I am also grateful to Dr Cathleen Hoeniger for explaining matters of painting technique and restoration to me.

44 I am grateful to Dott.ssa del Frate for sharing the recent findings; see also Englen, A., ‘Restauro degli affreschi del catino absidale e del presbiterio di S. Sebastiano al Palatino (see. X-XI)’, Monumenti di Roma 1(1) (2003), 154.Google Scholar

45 Again, I am grateful to Dott.ssa del Frate for sharing the report prepared by Susanna De Cristofaro, Cristina Ramici, Giulia Bordi, Stefania Pennesi, Simone Piazza and Manuela Viscontini.

46 Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 320–1; Enekeli Julliard, J., ‘II pannello con tre figure a mezzo busto nell'abside di Santa Maria in Pallara’, in S., Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione, 1050–1198 (Milan, 2006), 196–7Google Scholar.

47 Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 320–1; Uccelli, La chiesa di S. Sebastiano martire (above, n. 6), 101.

48 Osborne, ‘Textiles and their painted imitations’ (above, n. 38), 321–49.

49 Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries (above, n. 23), 379–407; Osborne, ‘Wall paintings as documents’ (above, n. 36), 9–10; Clark, F., The ‘Gregorian’ Dialogues and the Origins of Benedictine Monasticism (Leiden, 2003), 279–91Google Scholar.

50 Osborne, ‘Wall paintings as documents’ (above, n. 36), 9–10; Piazza, S., ‘Une communion des Apôtres en occident: le cycle pictural de la Gratta del Salvatore près de Vallerano’, Cahiers Archéologiques 47 (1999), 137–58Google Scholar; Brenk, B., ‘Die Benediktszenen in S. Crisogono und Montecassino’, Arte Medievale 2 (1984), 5766Google Scholar; Brenk, B., ‘Roma e Montecassino: gli affreschi della chiesa inferiore di S. Crisogono’, Revue dArt CanadiennelCanadian Art Review 12 (1985), 227–34Google Scholar.

51 Kehr, P., Le bolle pontificie anteriori al 1198 che si conservano nell Archivio di Montecassino (extract from Miscellanea Cassinese) (Montecassino, 1899), 48–9.Google Scholar For the founding of Montecassino, see book 2 of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great: de Vogüé, A. (ed.), Dialogues de Grégoire le Grand, 3 vols (Paris, 1978), II, 122249.Google Scholar

52 Wickstrom, J.B., ‘Text and image in the making of a holy man: an illustrated life of Saint Maurus of Glanfeuil (Ms Vat. Lat. 1202)’, Studies in Iconography 16 (1994), 5382Google Scholar ; Wickstrom, J.B., ‘Gregory the Great's Life of St. Benedict and the illustrations of Abbot Desiderius II’, Studies in Iconography 19 (1998), 3173.Google Scholar

53 Hoffman, H. (ed.), Chronica Monasterii Casinensis (Monumenta Germaniae Historka, Scriptores 34) (Hannover, 1980), III, 38, 415.Google Scholar ‘Nocte, qua precedebatur dies dc transitu sancti patris nostri Benedicti festivus, dum ad vigilias unus e custodibus lampadem ante imaginem eiusdem beati patris dependentem reficeret,…’ (During vigils on the eve of the feast day of the death of our holy father Benedict, one of the custodians refreshes a hanging lamp before the image ofthat same blessed father …).

54 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 378, 53v–54r. ‘Ethic Rome apud Pallariam dedicatio altaris eiusdem BENEDICTI ABBATIS' (And at Rome at [the monastery of Santa Maria in] Pallara, the dedication of the altar of the same Abbot Benedict). It should be noted that the martyrology is bound with a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict.

55 Hoffman (ed.), Chronica Monasterii Casinensis (above, n. 53), III, 29, 398.

56 Augenti, A., ‘lacere in Palatio. Le sepolture altomedievali del Palatino’, in G.P., Brogiolo and G., Cantino Wataghin (eds), Sepolture tra IV e VIII secolo. Atti del 7° seminario sul tardo antico e l'alto medioevo in Italia centro settentrionale (Mantua, 1998), 115–21Google Scholar; Rizzo, G., Villedieu, F. and Vitale, M., ‘Mobilier de tombes des VIe–VIIe siècles mises au jour sur le Palatin (Rome, Vigna Barberini)’, Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome. Antiquité 111 (1) (1999), 351403.Google Scholar

57 Gray, N., ‘The paleography of Latin inscriptions in the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries in Italy’, Papers of the British School at Rome 16 (1948), 38167, esp. p. 145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), 77; Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries (above, n. 23), 215–24.

59 Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 118–20.

60 Saints Lawrence and Stephen flank Christ in a niche of the Crypt of Epyphanins and are depicted almost as twins, with similar tonsured heads, beardless faces, light-coloured tunics and pallia; see Mitchell, J., ‘The Crypt reappraised’, in R., Hodges (ed.), San Vincenzo al Volturno 1; the 1980–86 Excavations, Part I (Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 7) (London, 1993), 92–5, figs 7.24–7.25.Google Scholar

61 Reynolds, R.E., ‘Clerical liturgical vestments and liturgical colors in the Middle Ages’, in R.E., Reynolds, Clerics in the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot, 1999), VI, 116, esp. p. 5.Google Scholar

62 Wisskirchen, R., Das Mosaikprogramm von S. Prassede in Rom: Ikonographie und Ikonologie (Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, Ergänzungshand 17) (Munster, 1990), 44Google Scholar , fig. 53. Although Wisskirchen did not venture an opinion on the saint's identity, she noted that Saint Stephen is a possible identification.

63 Reynolds, R.E., ‘Image and text: the liturgy of clerical ordination in early medieval art’, Gesta 22 (1) (1983), 2738, esp. fig. 13Google Scholar; Cadetti, S., ‘S. Lorenzo’, Bibliotheca Sanctorum, 13 vols (Rome, 19611970), VIII, cols 108–21, esp. col. 118Google Scholar; Hühl, C., Ottonische Buchmalerei (Frankfurt am Main, 1996), 51–2, figs 56, 97.Google Scholar

64 J. Croisier, ‘I mosaici dell'abside e dell'arco absidale della chiesa superiore di San Clemente’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 209–18, esp. p. 213.

65 For analyses of the cults of Saints Sebastian and Zoticus in early medieval Rome, see Marchiori, Art and Reform in Tenth-century Rome (above, n. 3), 154–279.

66 The crypt of Saint Cecilia is a roughly square chapel discovered in the late nineteenth century during excavations organized by Giovanni Battista De Rossi; see De Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, 3 vols (Rome, 18641877), II, 113–31, pl. 7.Google Scholar More recently, see Bisconti, F., ‘Il lucernario di S. Cecilia: recenti restauri e nuove acquisizioni nella cripta callistiana di S. Cecilia’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 73 (2) (1997), 307–39Google Scholar.

67 Traditionally dated to the seventh century, the mosaic recently has been well compared with ninth-century material; see Flaminio, R., ‘Il mosaico di San Sebastiano nella chiesa di San Pietro in Vincoli a Roma’, in Atti del VIe colloquio dell'Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico (Ravenna, 2000), 425–38Google Scholar.

68 Styger, P., ‘Die Malereien in der Basilika des hl. Sabas auf dem kl. Aventin in Rom’, Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und für Kirchengeschichte 28 (2–3) (1914), 4996, esp. pp. 54–5.Google Scholar

69 Barely disccrnible at the time of excavation in 1900 and lacking any inscription, the three male military saints depicted were identified by Gordon Rushforth as Saints George, Sebastian and Theodore; see Rushforth, G., ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’, Papers of the British School at Rome 1 (1902), 1123CrossRefGoogle Scholar , csp. p. 94. For dating, see Osborne, ‘The atrium of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 38), 192–4.

70 The paintings have been detached, restored and mounted in the cathedral of that city; see Moretti, S., ‘Alle porte di Roma: un esempio pittorico e il suo contesto da ricostruire. La “Grotta degli Angeli” a Magliano Romano’, Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia 76 (20032004), 105–33Google Scholar.

71 Matthiae, Pittura romana (above, n. 21), II, 209–13.

72 Grisar, H., ‘Sainte-Marie in Cosmedin à Rome’, Revue de l'Art Chrétién 41 (1898), 181–97, esp. p. 191Google Scholar; Giovenale, G.-B., La basilica di S. Maria in Cosmedin (Rome, 1927), 125–7.Google Scholar The partial inscription was reconstructed to read: ‘In honorEM DNI NOSTRI IESu Cristi pro animae meae redemTIONE ET SCI SEBAS…’. (In honour of Our Lord Jesus Christ for my redemption and [in honour] of Saint Sebastian…).

73 The Acta Sebastiani traditionally are ascribed to Saint Ambrose of Milan, but have been dated to the fifth century; see Pesci, B., ‘Il culto di San Sebastiano a Roma nell'antichità e nel medioevo’, Antonianum 20 (1945), 177200, esp. pp. 183–4.Google Scholar For the Latin text, see Acta Sanctorum quotquot Toto Orbe Coluntur, vel a Catholicis Scriptorihus Celebrantur quae ex Latinis et Graecis, aliarumque Gentium Antiquis Monumentis Collegit, 68 vols (Antwerp, 1643–1794; Brussels/Paris, 1863–1940), January, II, 265–78.

74 For a comparable figure style in securely dated ninth-century paintings, see Lafontaine, J., Peintures médiévales dans le temple dit de la Fortune Virile à Rome (Brussels, 1959), 56–8Google Scholar ; Oshorne, ‘The painting of the Anastasis’ (above, n. 38), 275–6. For a discussion of the jewelled haloes, see Osborne, ‘The atrium of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 38), 205–9; S. Romano, ‘La Madonna con Bambino e donatrice nel battistero della chiesa inferiore di San Clemente’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 66–7.

75 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 62; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 30.

76 On the general reliability of the Eclissi drawings, see Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 48–50, 63–4; Noreen, ‘Recording the past’ (above, n. 7), 6–15.

77 Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), 83.

78 It should be noted, however, that the identification does not appear in Gaetani's discussion as transcribed by Uccelli; see Uccelli, La chiesa di S. Sebastiano martire (above, n. 6), 83–99, 108; cf. Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense MS 2119, 529–36.

79 For example, Gactani identified the figures flanking Saint Benedict in the panel inserted subsequently in the lower apse as Saints Peter and Paul, even though he recognized that the latter were depicted wearing military costume; see Uccelli, La chiesa di S. Sebastiano martire (above, n. 6), 83–8; cf. Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense MS 2119, 530–2.

80 Jounel, P., Le culte des saints dans les basiliques du Latran et du Vatican au douzième siècle (Rome, 1977), 216, 313, 315–16, 324Google Scholar; Mazzocchi, E., ‘Una parete dai molti misteri: alcuni precisazioni sugli affreschi della basilica inferiore di San Crisogono a Roma’, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa ser. IV, 6 (1) (2001), 3960Google Scholar , esp. pp. 42–3; Osborne, ‘Dating medieval mural painting in Rome’ (above, n. 40), 197–8, fig. 8.1.

81 For example, the church of Sant'Agata dei Goti was dedicated to that saint in the late sixth century; a church located to the west of the Palatine Hill was dedicated to Saint Anastasia as early as the seventh century; see Krautheimer, Corbett and Franki, Corpus Basilicarum (above, n. 39), I, 2–12, 42–61.

82 Nordhagen, P.J., ‘The use of palaeography in the dating of early medieval frescoes’, Jahrbuch der Östeneichischen Byzantmistik 32 (4) (1982), 167–73.Google Scholar

83 The photos are E 12267 and E 12268 in the photographic archive.

84 For a translation of the complete inscription, see note 6. Uccelli provided no citation for the inscription; Uccelli, La chiesa di S. Sebastiano martire (above, n. 6), 106. There is no mention of an inscription in Gaetani's discussion of the paintings of Santa Maria in Pallara transcribed by Uccelli; see Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense MS 2119, 529–36.

85 Cecchelli, C., ‘Alcune iscrizioni romane del secolo III–XI’, Archivio Paleografico Italiano, V, fase. 53 (Rome, 1932), viii, pl. 30.1Google Scholar ; reprinted as Archivio Paleografico Italiano, monumenti epigrafici: ristampa in eliotipia dell'edizione 1904–1949, fase. 66, 1967 (Rome, 1970), xv–xvi.

86 Nilgen, U., ‘Eine neu aufgefundene Maria Regina in Santa Susanna, Rom: cin Römisches Thema mit Variationen’, in K., Mösenedcr and C., Schüssler (eds), Bedeutung in den Bildern: Festschrift für Jörg Traeger zum 60. Geburtstag (Regensburg, 2002), 231–45.Google Scholar

87 Gray, “The paleography of Latin inscriptions’ (above, n. 57), 144, pl. xxii.1.

88 Osborne, J., ‘Proclamations of power and presence: the setting and function of two eleventh-century mural decorations in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome’, Mediaeval Studies 59 (1997), 155–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. p. 162, fig. 2.

89 Gray, ‘The paleography of Latin inscriptions’ (above, n. 57), 118–19, 129–30; Osborne, ‘The ‘Particular Judgment” (above, n. 38), 341; Osborne, J., ‘The Roman catacombs in the Middle Ages’, Papers of the British School at Rome 53 (1985), 278328Google Scholar , esp. pp. 324–5. For the dating of the Santa Maria Secundicerio paintings, see Osborne, J., ‘A note on the medieval name of the so-called ‘Temple of Fortuna Virilis’ at Rome’, Papers of the British School at Rome 56 (1988), 210–12.Google Scholar

90 For example, it is found in the eleventh-century lectionary, Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 1189, 6r.

91 Bishoff, B., Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1989), 150–6.Google Scholar

92 Zchomelidse, N.M., Santa Maria immacolata in Ceri: pittura sacra al tempo della riforma gregoriana (Rome, 1996), 90100.Google Scholar

93 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 9071, 62; Gigli, S. Sebastiano al Palatino (above, n. 2), fig. 30. For example, Saint Lawrence's inscription, ‘S. LAURENTIUS’, was set vertically, with all letters descending singly, except for the ‘TI’.

94 The inscriptions for Saint Quiricus in the former and Pope Leo IV (847–55) in the latter were laid out in this way; see Osborne, J., ‘The portrait of Pope Leo IV in San Clemente, Rome: a re-examination of the so-called ‘square’ nimbus, in medieval art’, Papers of the British School at Rome 47 (1979), 5865CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Belting, ‘Eine Privatkapelle’ (above n. 13), figs 1–2.

95 Toubert, H., ‘Rome et le Mont-Cassin: nouvelles remarques sur les fresques de l'église inférieure de Saint-Clément de Rome’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 30 (1976), 133CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. pp. 24–6.

96 On the epigraphic traditions at San Vincenzo, see De Rubeis, F., ‘La scrittura a San Vincenzo al Volturno fra manoscritti ed epigrafi’, in F., Marazzi (ed.), San Vincenzo al Volturno. Cultura, istituzioni, economia (Monteroduni, 1996), 2140.Google Scholar

97 Osborne, ‘Dating medieval mural paintings in Rome’ (above, n. 40), 202–3.

98 The paintings of the Tempio della Tosse near Tivoli are supposedly securely dated to the tenth-century by inscription; however, the inscription does not contain a year, only the consecration date of 14 December and an indiction year of fourteen. The paintings seem to have great affinity with securely-dated monuments of the mid- to late ninth century; see Brenk, B., ‘Die Wandmalereien in Tempio della Tosse bei Tivoli’, Frühmittelalterliche Studien 5 (1971), 401–12Google Scholar.

99 In his classic survey of Roman medieval painting, Guglielmo Matthiae expressed the opinion that the Santa Maria in Pallara paintings harked back to earlier art and introduced a new forward-looking stylistic ethos; Matthiae, Pittura romana (above, n. 21), I, 196–204, esp. p. 196.

100 Bolgia, C., ‘The mosaics of Gregory IV at San Marco, Rome. Papal response to Venice, Byzantium, and the Carolingians’, Speculum (2005), 134.Google Scholar

101 Osborne, “The ‘Particular Judgment” (above, n. 38), 341. While the rays in Christ's halo in the ninth-century apse of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere are jewelled, these were likely added in an early modern restoration, as proved by seventeenth-century drawings; see Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 78–81.

102 Lafontaine, Peintures médiévales (above, n. 74), pl. 8.

103 The programme is thought to have been commissioned by Abbot Frederic of Montecassino, later Pope Stephen IX (ob. 1058); see S. Romano, ‘Storie di San Benedetto e altri santi’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 79–87; Brenk, ‘Die Benediktszenen in S. Crisogono und Montecassino’ (above, n. 50); Brenk, ‘Roma e Montecassino’ (above, n. 50).

104 Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 78–9, 282–3.

105 Osborne and Claridge, The Paper Museum (above, n. 7), 238–9.

106 On the double-line fold motif, see Davis-Weyer, C., ‘The mosaics of Leo III and the beginning of the Carolingian renaissance in Rome’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 29 (2) (1966), 111–32Google Scholar; Weitzmann, K., ‘The ivories of the so-called Grado chair’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 26 (1972), 4391Google Scholar, esp. pp. 74–7.

107 Hoegger, Die Fresken in der Ehemaligen Abteikirche (above, n. 11), 124–6, fig. 3.

108 Osborne, ‘The painting of the Anastasis’ (above, n. 38), 257.

109 Osborne, “The ‘Particular Judgment” (above, n. 38), 336.

110 van Dijk, A., ‘The angelic salutation in early Byzantine and medieval Annunciation imagery’, Art Bulletin 81 (3) (1999), 420–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. , esp. p. 426. A similar depiction of Mary is in the Theodotus chapel at Santa Maria Antiqua, where she is portrayed standing on a platform holding the Christ Child in her arms; see Matthiae, Pittura romana (above, n. 21), I, 144, fig. 114.

111 Davis-Weyer, C. and Emerick, J., “The early sixth-century frescoes at S. Martino ai Monti in Rome”, Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 21 (1984), 360Google Scholar , esp. pp. 26–8; Osborne, ‘Early medieval painting in San Clemente’ (above, n. 38), 300–1, 307; Nilgen, ‘Eine neu aufgefundene Maria Regina’ (above, n. 86), 232–3, fig. 1.

112 Mitchell, ‘The Crypt reappraised’ (above, n. 60), fig. 7.5. On the evolution of the iconography, see Barclay Lloyd, J., ‘Mary, Queen of the Angels: Byzantine and Roman images of the Virgin and Child enthroned with attendant angels’, Melbourne Art Journal 5 (2001), 524.Google Scholar

113 Mitchell, ‘The Crypt reappraised’ (above, n. 60), 83, fig. 7.10. The female saints in this chapel bear similar headgear; see also p. 96, fig. 7.30.

114 De Wald, E.T., The Stuttgart Psalter, Biblia Folio 23, Württembergische Landesbibliothek (Princeton, 1932), 65.Google Scholar

115 Moretti, ‘Alle porte di Roma’ (above, n. 70), 122. The hairnet is seen again in the eleventh-century image of a female saint excavated at Sant'Agnese fuori le mura and now in the Vatican Museums; see G. Bordi, ‘I pannelli staccati con due figure di sante già in Sant'Agnese fuori le mura (Pinacoteca Vaticana)’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 63–5.

116 This evaluation of ornamentation applies to both saintly costume and clerical costume. For twelfth- century examples, see Hoegger, Die Fresken in der Ehemaligen Abteikirche (above, n. 11), fig. 14; Croisier, ‘I mosaici dell'abside e dell'arco trionfale di Santa Maria in Trastevere’ (above, n. 64), 305–11.

117 Lafontaine, Peintures médiévales (above, n. 74), pls 7, 13.

118 Lamy-Lassalle, C., ‘Les archanges en costume impérial dans la peinture murale italienne’, in A., Grabar and J., Hubert (eds), Synthronon – Art et archéologie de la fin de l'antiquité et du Moyen Age (Bibliothèque des Cahiers Archéologiques 2) (Paris, 1968), 189–98Google Scholar.

119 Hoegger, Die Fresken in der Ehemaligen Abteikirche (above, n. 11), 47–51; Osborne, “The ‘Particular Judgement” (above, n. 38), 335; F. Dos Santos, ‘Il Cristo e Arcangeli dall'oratorio del Salvatore sotto Santi Giovanni e Paolo’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 95–6; F. Dos Santos, ‘La decorazione pittorica in una nicchia della Catacomba di Sant'Ermete’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 97–101.

120 Mackie, G., ‘The Zeno chapel: a prayer for salvation’, Papers of the British School at Rome 57 (1989), 172–99Google Scholar; Wisskirchen, R., ‘Zur Apsisstimwand von SS. Cosma e Damiano/Rom’, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 42 (1999), 169–8Google Scholar. ; Andaloro, M., ‘La parete palinsesto: 1900, 2000’, in Osborne, J., Rasmus Brandt, J. and Morganti, G. (eds), Santa Maria Antiqua al Foro Romano cento anni dopo. Atti del colloquio internazionale Roma, 5–6 maggio 2000 (Rome, 2004), 97112, esp. p. 112.Google Scholar

121 Osborne, “The ‘Particular Judgement” (above, n. 38), 335; Dos Santos, ‘La decorazione pittorica in una nicchia della Catacomba di Sant'Ermete’ (above, n. 119). These paintings seem to copy the practice from early Christian art.

122 Lafontaine, Peintures médiévales (above, n. 74), pl. 14.

123 Matthiae, Pittura romana (above, n. 21), I, 182, 284. The paintings should probably be dated to the ninth century.

124 For example, the gowns are very similar to those depicted on the female saints in the Marian oratory in Santa Pudenziana, as are the flat crowns they carry; see J. Croisier, ‘La decorazione pittorica dell'oratorio mariano di Santa Pudenziana’, in Romano (ed.), Riforma e tradizione (above, n. 46), 199–206, esp. p. 200.

125 The suggestion is not unusual, as two different workshops have been detected in the sixth-century paintings of the lower church of San Martino ai Monti, which all lie on the same masonry piers; see Davis-Weyer and Emerick, ‘The early sixth-century frescoes at S. Martino ai Monti’ (above, n. 111), 33–54.