CC BY
3Lorenzo Riccardi
(Sapienza University, Rome)
Panel painting between the 13th and 14th century in Southern Lazio: Two "forgotten" works in Amaseno
Amaseno, a small center in southern Lazio, now in the province of Frosinone, is a treasure chest of medieval gems that have yet to be studied. Among them are two works I would like to introduce, which unfortunately, due to poor state of preservation, have remained on the periphery of the studies on Italian panel painting1. The first work is preserved in the Collegiate Church of S. Maria Assunta, a Cistercian building consecrated in 1179. The painting was a triptych (Pl. 51) in which the Virgin and Child were shown enthroned in the central panel, St. Ambrose on the left panel and St. Nicholas on the right. The second work is now kept in the restoration laboratories of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, but it originally came from the Santuario di Santa Maria del Perpetuo Soccorso. The Santuario is best known as "Auricola", a thirteenth-century monastery of uncertain Benedictine origin that preserved some Cistercian forms before its reconstruction in 1892. The surface of this painting is divided into three parts (Pl. 52). In the center there is the Virgin enthroned shown nursing Christ. On either sides there are two female saints, the Annunciation is in the upper left and the Nativity of Christ is in the upper right.
The "triptych" of the Collegiate
I used the words "was" and "were" because this precious work was stolen in 1977 and disappeared without a trace. In 2002, the central and right panels were discovered in a farmhouse in the province of Mantova, but the left panel with the image of St. Ambrose remains missing. The frame that held the three panels together no longer exists. The panels have large edges that remain unpainted and circular holes 8 cm. deep where kingpins were used to hold it up. It does not appear that the frame was removed during the restoration performed by D. Podio and C. Matteucci in 1959/1960, under the direction of C. Maltese2. During the restoration the damaged parts were repaired with ocher stucco and the repainting was removed. These repairs can be seen on the horse's belly. Following the discovery of 2002, the panels were partially covered with Japanese tissue to prevent flaking. However, the panels appear to be in a good state of preservation because the fractures, which affect the surface and the wooden support (the most extensive one appears on the Virgin's panel), run along the parts plastered during the restoration of 1959/1960. More damage is seen in various other parts of the existing panels, which occurred after the theft. A mixture of plaster and glue was put on the canvas to coat the wood so that it may retain the paint. Both panels display several incisions, especially on the outlines of the figures and clothing; in the latter case they do not often coincide with the painted folds. The gold background is made with a technique called "clay bole". The triptych measured 1.12 x 1.93 x 0.09 m before one of its parts got lost and including the original frame. The central chestnut panel measured 1.12 x 0.625 x 0.029 m.; and the right panel made of walnut measured 1.11 x 0.63 x 0.029 m.
Due to its form and dimension, the triptych could be considered a "dossale" or a "paliotto" and could be placed upon or under an altar. However, no other Italian paintings compare to this
one, as soon as all contemporary examples are not structured as three separate panels3. Usually this division is made within one panel which can eventually be divided by painted frames4. As M. Boskovits noted, the triptych of Amaseno is a rare case, since "forse per la mancanza di autorevoli prototipi, il maestro laziale non segue l'abituale impianto compositivo," suggesting almost a premonition of later sacred conversations, in regards to the figures' unusual dynamism (St. Nicholas is offering a book and St. Ambrose is mounting a horse which is walking gravely towards the right)5.
Although incorrectly hypothesized to have been mounted upon a high alter, the triptych was in fact hung in one of the aisles of the church. In a Visita apostolica of 1580 an altar of Saints Ambrose and Nicholas was mentioned6.
The work under examination is very interesting regarding both its iconographic and stylistic features. In the central panel the Virgin is seated stiffly on a richly embellished throne without a back; she is wearing a red tunic with folds of matching tones and a blue maphorion with a golden hem and four stars. A crown made up of three peltas, of which the central is the highest, is on her head. She holds the Child with her left hand and has her right arm stretched out in front of him. Christ is lined up with his Mother, but turns to his right. He is wearing a contrasting tunic under a golden cloak. He is holding a book in his left hand and with his right hand he could possibly be blessing St. Ambrose. The left panel displays St. Nicholas of Bari, who is wearing an episcopal dress and accessories (chasuble, stole, mitre, pastoral). On the right there was St. Ambrose who must not be confused with the bishop of Milan. He is a local saint, a roman centurion who was martyred in Ferentino (in the province of Frosinone, not far from Amaseno), and therefore became the patron of the town7. The saint is portrayed as a horseman: he is wearing a pale blue tunic below a red cloak, knotted on the right shoulder, swirling backwards and falling down to his boots. In his right hand he grips a spear with two red banners, barely visible in the upper part of the painting. In his left hand he holds the reins of the horse who walks gravely towards the right turning its muzzle downwards. The animal's harness is carefully designed and the red cloth is decorated with an ornamental design.
The triptych has not been a subject of exhaustive critical investigation, although it is mentioned in some cursory judgments. Tomassetti briefly mentioned it as a work of the fifteenth century8. The first publication of the triptych was due to C. Maltese, who presented it in an exhibition catalogue of 1961 after the restoration of 1959/1960. The scholar detected within the work "echi della precedente pittura benedettina della Campania settentrionale" and found some affinities in the frescoes of the nave of Anagni cathedral. He believed it was made by "un autore immune da inflessioni derivanti dalla capitale"9. More radical is E.B. Garrison's telegraphic opinion that the tryptich "is Latian of between 1280 and 1300, under both Florentine and Campanian influence"10. Recently, M. Mihalyi drew attention to St. Ambrose's iconography11. G. Leone proposed a date of the panel's execution in the last quarter of the 13th century, considering this work in the context of Southern Italian art which in the 13th c. was exposed to the influence of Norman Sicily, as well as to that of the so-called Crusader's art12.
These brief mentions have brought to light a composite, perhaps even eclectic character of this painting. First, as already noted, this is a particular type of "triptych". Second, the presence of a holy horseman still remains an unicum in the Western panel painting prior to the end of the 13 th century. St. Nicholas is shown in a canonical iconography (despite the uncommon charitable gesture, he is strongly connected to the dynamic nature of the triptych). However, the Virgin is represented in a very particular manner. She is dressed in robes of modest style and of traditional colours (red-blue, although contrariwise). She also wears a golden crown on her head which is a royal symbol that along with the rich garments regularly occurs in the representations of the
Madonna Regina (Basilissa) according to a Roman pictorial tradition which was also widespread in Campania and Abruzzo13.
All the works that can be related to these regions show the Virgin as having a crown resting directly upon her hair or as having a veil that extends down to her shoulders. Despite having preserved some rare and unusual peculiarities of the 13 th century art14, the Amaseno iconography seems to be linked to a later and highly paradigmatic image of Madonna incoronata which appears in the apse of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome and was created by Jacopo Torriti between 1291 and 129615. The image of Madonna incoronata is not just a revival of such a traditional element as was the Virgin's crown. It quickly became a model for innumerous and widely popular works representing the Coronation of the Virgin16.
Scholars have discussed the affiliation of St. Ambrose with the art of crusaders or of Southern Italy. It is clear that the iconography of Ferentino patron is derived from the images of holy horsemen, which were venerated by the military orders of the Holy Land17. The banner that waves from the spear, sadly without its interior decoration18, provides evidence of this fact. Another proof is the fact that military saints in the West were generally represented standing with martyr's palm branches. In Italy the veneration of military saints was especially widespread in Apulia, along the crusaders' routes, but such images of the holy horsemen have survived only in mural paintings19. However, in this case, it is difficult to assume that the Collegiate panels are a "crusader" work or a work of Southern Italy. We must also remember that St. Ambrose is not included in the Amaseno triptych as a patron saint: he was the patron of Ferentino, while that of Amaseno was St. Lawrence.
It is improbable that the iconography of the holy horseman was first created in this small center. Unfortunately, we do not know any earlier portrayals of St. Ambrose, but it is more plausible that Amaseno looked to Ferentino for inspiration, and not vice versa. It is also possible that the iconography of the holy horseman was created during the 13th century emulating a model like the mural paintings of Apulia and consistent with the icons widespread in the Holy Land20. An icon of this kind could arrive to Ferentino following the crusaders or as a result of another kind of contact with the East21. It is possible that crusaders' ideology also contributed to the connection of Ferentino patron saint with those horsemen who fought for Christianity. In Amaseno the no longer existing Ferentino prototype could have been copied as an image of reference for the saint, to whom they wanted to pay homage.
From a stylistic point of view, the triptych is the work of a good artist, who can draw on formal solutions of other artistic media, such as the miniature and goldsmithery, as can be seen in the small scale decorations on the throne and on the cover of St. Nicholas' book. In fact, these stylistic details seem to imitate tooled leather because of their luminescent quality and ornate refinement. The gems on the throne of the Virgin seem to be set according to the griffe technique, as if it was a golden object.
Scholars have rightly drawn attention to the Southern Italian or Sicilian connections in the triptych's painting. It can be seen essentially in the lasting influence of the late Comnenian style that spread from Monreale to the Italian peninsula in the first half of the 13th century22. This style had an important impact on the painting of both Rome and Lazio, which is seen in the mosaics of Grottaferrata, the frescoes of Anagni crypt and others. In the Amaseno triptych the garments of Christ Child have rigid geometric folds, and his thickset face, marked by a large nose and a red mouth, can be compared with some figures of the Aula Gotica of SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome23. Another late Comnenian "clue" is the anatomical definition in the Virgin's hands, which brings to mind the great hand of the Pantocrator in Monreale apse. These elements, however, seem chilled and outdated in comparison to the vitality of the works of the first half of the 13th century. They
lack the freshness of colors of Anagni. The particular shape of the Virgin's face, the red robes which are loose-fitting and in matching tones, the interest for some optic effects which is evident in the treatment of Child's halo put this triptych into the second half of the 13th century. The Collegiate pulpit bears an inscription of some local artists that testifies on the completion of this work and of the whole building in 129124. The frescoes on the vaulted ceiling and in the lunettes of the church's presbytery are also dated to this period. Despite their poor condition, the frescoes are very similar to the triptych panels. Above all, there is a striking similarity between the triptych and the Virgin of the Presentation in the Temple in one of the lunettes. Although these paintings are not studied, F. Gandolfo compared them with the first layer of Grottaferrata's frescoes25. In our triptych, however, only some elements appear to be close in style to the decorations of the Roman monastery. The artist chosen to make the panels was recommended by the commissioner and perhaps even came from Grottaferrata. He used an outdated style for the panels, yet this style, in the wake of the late Comnenian art, was common to both Southern Italy and the Roman paintings of the 13th century.
The Auricola icon
The panel is very interesting for its iconography, but it is in a poor state of preservation and is waiting to be restored. In the late 1970s the panel was moved to Rome, where the repainting, which had altered a fair part of the panel, were only partially removed. This work has many lacunas: in the upper section the wooden support can be seen; in the lower section, the dark gray stucco, applied during a previous intervention, remains visible. The first restoration was carried out in 1841; an inscription on the panel's back marks both the date and the name of the restorer: "G. Pileri p(i)nse p(roprio) p(ennello) / R(estauravit) A(nno) D(omini) 1841". It is possible that he is Giovanni Pileri, best known for his restorations in Rome and Marche a few years later26. The "commissioner" of this intervention was Paolo Roccasecca who was financed by Francesco Trojani in his work. The Virgin's head was retouched, while the garments of the figures and the Madonna of the Annunciation in the upper left were repainted. Although they no longer exist, it is possible that during this restoration Christ's left eye and the Virgin's breast were reconstructed. As a result of the restoration, legitimacy was given to this work, but at the cost of a general distortion of the painted surface. However, any documentation of this restoration, as well as of the one completed in the 1960s, during which the pictorial material was consolidated, is missing. In the late 1970s another restoration was started and has not yet been completed.
The surface of the painting is divided into three parts. In the middle of the panel there is the Virgin enthroned, breast-feeding Christ while almost rocking him. On both sides there are two saints who seem to hold two holy pyxes. Above them, there are two Marian scenes: the Annunciation in the upper left and the Nativity in the upper right. Simple red frames divide the surface of the panel. The measurements of the panel are 1.33 x 1.035 m.
A poor bibliography exists on the Auricola icon. G. Tomassetti introduced it in 1899 as a work of the 13 th century and focused on the two saints, identified as "due Marie del Vangelo, che curarono la sepoltura di Gesu"27. This hypothesis is grounded on an inventory of the church's property of 1731, in which the writer had described the panel as "quadro della Madonna con in braccio il Figlio che sta poppando dalla zinna della gloriosa Madre e con ai piedi due Marie"28. All subsequent scholars have accepted Tomassetti's opinion29. On several occasions the painting was dated to the early 15th century, since local tradition says this icon was a gift to Giovanna II, queen of the Kingdom of Naples (1414-1435)30. Recently G. Leone has confirmed the possibility that the two female saints are the myrrh-bearing women (Mary of Cleopas and Mary Salome or Mary
Magdalene) and that the panel is a work of the first quarter of the 14th century, with influences from Apulia and Campania and some elements of modern interventions31.
The identification of the two anonymous saints is not easy to sort out since the 18th century inventory defines them as "due Maries", which also refers to the description of other frescoes of our Sanctuary ("un dipinto antico nel muro raffigurante Gesu Cristo legato alla colonna e due Marie ai lati"32). "Maria" may also simply indicate a female and not necessarily one of the women who went to Christ's tomb. The Virgin with the suckling Christ is instead more particular and presents unusual features, not only in her elongated body, which is almost almond-shaped, but also for the iconographic solution: she rocks Christ and she holds him with both hands. The Galaktotrophousa image is more widespread in Lazio and in its neighboring regions where the Mother usually holds the Child in one hand, while offering him her breast with the other. In the icons of Lazio, Abruzzo and Southern Italy Christ is put on her right or left knee, but is never suspended or held in both hands. The Virgin who nurses the Child while rocking him is a rare variant of Galaktotrophusa, best known in several examples of the 14th century. However, the Virgin is always painted half-length, with a very tender gesture. In the Amaseno icon the Mother is sitting on the throne. The solemn representation of the Virgin appears to be due to the almond shape of her body, which makes it impossible to put the Child on her knee. The space was indeed very restricted and there was no other way to portray the breastfeeding.
In view of its poor state of preservation, the painting style of this panel must be investigated with great caution. There are, however, many formal differences. The high quality of painting and some archaic elements distinguish the female saints with their refined faces bearing an absent or melancholic expression. The Virgin is rather solemn, almost "gothic" due to the particular almond shape of her head and body. Narrative scenes are lively, as is the Nativity of Christ, even if we admit that it could have been partially repainted.
The icon could be dated back to the early decades of the 14th century, not for stylistic reasons which, as we have seen, are shaky, but on the basis of historical observation. In 1315, Count Riccardo da Ceccano had control over the whole valley of Amaseno river and ordered in his last will and testament that upon his tomb, «in ecclesia sanctae Mariae Castri Sancti Laurentii», was erected «(...) unum altare ubi quotidie divina officia celebrentur pro anima sua (...), quod sit et vocetur altare sanctae Mariae de Auricula ad reverentiam Virginis (...)»33. The Count chose to be buried in the Amaseno Collegiate, below an altar dedicated to Madonna dell'Auricola, which at that time brought fame to the deceased. It seems plausible that our icon, the emblem of the Sanctuary, already existed and was referred to in Riccardo's intervention in favor of this monastery34.
Endnotes
1 I have discussed a thesis on panel painting of the 13th - 14th centuries in Lazio at "Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Storico-Artistici" of "Sapienza Universita di Roma", academic year 2010-2011 (supervisor: M. Righetti Tosti Croce). I refer to Italian version of this paper for a close examination of the Amaseno works. I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me at the Conference and Anna Zakharova for her perfect kindness. This paper is dedicated to all Russian friends that I met during the Conferences.
2 Arte nel Frusinate dal secolo XII al XIX, Mostra di opere darte restaurate a cura della Soprintendenza alle Gallerie del Lazio (Frosinone, Palazzo della Provincia 1961), a cura di C. Maltese, Roma 1961, p. 24, nr. 13.
3 The only known exception is the Crevole dossal, now in the "Pinacoteca nazionale" of Siena, in which are painted three events of Christ's life: E.B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting. An Illustrated Index, Florence 1949, p. 158, nr. 414.
4 For example, the dossal of San Zenobi in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo of Florence: Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting cit., p. 141, nr. 363. About this typology, see V.M. Schmidt, Tavole dipinte. Tipologie, destinazioni e funzioni (secoli XII-XIV), in Larte medievale nel contesto 300-1300. Funzioni, iconografia, tecniche, a cura di P. Piva, Milano 2006, pp. 205-244.
5 M. Boskovits, Appunti per una storia della tavola daltare: le origini, in Arte Cristiana 80 (1992), pp. 422-438.
6 Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Congr. Vescovi e Regolari, Visita Apostolica 98, ff. 211r, 220v.
7 About this saint, see Ambrogio centurione Patrono di Ferentino. Agiografia, Storia, Arte, Devozione, in Atti delle giornate di studio (Ferentino, 1-2 luglio 1995), Roma 1998, pp. 143-162.
8 G. Tomassetti, Amaseno, Roma 1899, p. 26.
9 Arte nel Frusinate dal secolo XII cit., p. 24, nr. 13.
10 E.B. Garrison, Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Painting, IV, Florence 1960-62, p. 388.
11 M. Mihályi, Sant'Ambrogio da Ferentino in un'immagine medievale, in Ambrogio centurione cit., pp. 143-162.
12 G. Leone, Icone nel Lazio: dall'Altomedioevo al Novecento, in print.
13 See, with previous bibliography, U. Nilgen, Maria Regina - Ein politischer Kultbildtypus?, in Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 19 (1981), pp. 1-33; V. Lucherini, Un raro tema iconografico nella pittura abruzzese del Duecento : la Madonna regina allattante, in Medioevo: i modelli, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Parma 27 settembre - 1° ottobre 1999), a cura di A.C. Quintavalle, Milano 2002, pp. 682-687.
14 See the enthroned Madonna with Child of S. Maria in Grotta of Rongolise and the Reginae angelorum of the crypts of S. Maria del Piano at Ausonia and of the cathedral of Anagni.
15 A. Tomei, Iacobus Torritipictor: una vicenda figurativa del tardo Duecento romano, Roma 1990, pp. 93-125, tav. 20.
16 M. Mihályi, I cistercensi a Roma e la decorazione pittorica dellala dei monaci nell'Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, in Arte medievale n.s. 5 (1991), 1, pp. 155-189.
17 See, with previous bibliography, M. Immerzeel, Holy Horsemen and the Crusader Banners. Equestrian Saints in Wall Painting in Libanon and Syria, in Eastern Christian Art 1 (2004), pp. 29-60; M.R. Menna, Cavalieri crociati e cavalieri bizanini, in Medioevo: arte e storia, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Parma, 18-22 settembre 2007), a cura di A.C. Quintavalle, Milano 2008, pp. 355-366.
18 Cfr. Immerzeel, Holy Horsemen cit. and Menna, Cavalieri crociati cit., pp. 363-364.
19 M. Milella, Exercitus Dei. Appunti sull'iconografia dei santi militari negli affreschipugliesi di età medievale, in Studi in onore di Michele di Michele D'Elia. Archeologia, Arte, Restauro e Tutela, Archivistica, a cura di Ch. Gelao, Matera 1996, pp. 140-147.
20 Cfr. J. Folda, Crusader art in the Holy Land: from the third Crusade to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291, Cambridge 2005, pp. 338-342.
21 The Cavalieri Gaudenti were based in Ferentino and fought the heretics (G. Bonasegale, N. Muratore, Ilpalazzo dei Cavalieri Gaudenti, in Storia della città 15-16 (1980), pp. 145-152). In the same town, Honorius III and Frederick II met in 1223, with the three masters of orders of knighthood, to arrange for a crusade in Holy Land (J.M. Powell, Honorius III and the Leadership of the Crusade, in The Catholic Historical Review 63 (1977), pp. 521-536). In 1278, the bishop of Ferentino, Jacopo, and that of Torino, Gonifredo or Goffredo, were dispatched as ambassadors to Byzantine court of Michael Palaiologos (E. Plebani, Ferentino e la sua diocesi nell'età di mezzo: fatti e problemi, in Archivio della Società Romana di storia patria 122 (1999), pp. 169-234: 216).
22 Риккарди Л. Италия. Византийское искусство в Южной Италии // Православная энциклопедия. Т. 28. М., 2012. С. 242-249.
23 For these frescoes, see A. Draghi, Gli affreschi dellaula gotica nel Monastero dei Santi Quattro Coronati: una storia ritrovata, Milano 2006. About the painting of Rome and Lazio, see G. Matthiae, Pittura romana del Medioevo, con aggiornamento scientifico di M. Andaloro e F. Gandolfo, I-II, Roma 1987-1988.
24 About the pulpit and the inscription see A. Ludovisi, Il pulpito della chiesa di Santa Maria ad Amaseno: una nuova proposta di lettura, in Arte Medievale n.s. 4 (2005), pp. 109-118 e M. Gianandrea, La scena del sacro: larredo liturgico nel basso Lazio tra XI e XIV secolo, Roma 2006, pp. 184-188.
25 F. Gandolfo, in Matthiae, Pittura medievale romana cit., II, pp. 321-322, fig. 23.
26 S. Ricci, s.v. Pileri, Giovanni, in A.P. Torresi, Secondo dizionario biografico di pittori restauratori italiani dal 1750 al 1950, Ferrara 2003, pp. 161-162.
27 Tomassetti, Amaseno cit., pp. 45-48: 46.
28 Quoted in A. Magni, Auricola: tra storia e leggenda. Un abbazia fiorente ad Amaseno dal silenzio dei secoli al chiasso della modernità, Roma 1991, p. 45.
29 Zaccheo, Amaseno cit., pp. 186-187, Giannetta, Le chiese di Amaseno cit., p. 115, Magni, Auricola cit., p. 36.
30 Cfr. Tomassetti, Amaseno cit., p. 48. Cfr. L. Morosini, in Giannetta, Le chiese di Amaseno cit., p. 115.
31 Leone, Le icone cit. (in print).
32 Quoted in Magni, Auricola cit., p. 45.
33 Cfr. Tomassetti, Amaseno cit., pp. 138-142.
35 On this Sanctuary see Tomassetti, Amaseno cit., pp. 35-128; E. Borsellino, in Monasticon Italiae, I, Roma e Lazio, a cura di P. Caraffa, Cesena 1981, p. 118 nr. 13.
