Castelseprio
Encyclopedia
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
fort in antiquity, and a significant Lombard
Lombard League
The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...
town in the early Middle Ages, before being destroyed and abandoned in 1287. It is today preserved as an archaeological park in the modern comune of Castelseprio
Castelseprio (comune)
Castelseprio is a comune in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 35 km northwest of Milan and about 11 km south of Varese, bordering the municipalities of Cairate, Carnago, Gornate-Olona and Lonate Ceppino.The main centre, formerly known as Vico Seprio is...
, near the modern village of the same name. It is in the extreme north of Italy, in the Province of Varese
Province of Varese
The Province of Varese is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese but its largest city is Busto Arsizio....
.
The fame of Castelseprio lies in the Early Medieval fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es contained in the small Church of Santa Maria foris portas . These frescoes are of exceptional rarity and artistic significance. Hidden for centuries, the frescoes were only rediscovered in 1944. In 2011, the church - and the castrum with the Torba Tower - became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a group of seven inscribed as Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568-774 A.D.)
Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568-774 A.D.)
Longobards in Italy, Places of the Power is the official name given by UNESCO to seven groups of historic buildings that reflect the achievements of the Germanic tribe of the Lombards who settled in Italy from the sixth to the eighth century.The groups comprise monasteries, church buildings and...
.
In 2006, the Italian Ministry of Culture in a submission to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, said:
History
Castelseprio originated as a RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
fort that commanded an important crossroad. During the early Middle Ages, the Lombards occupied the Roman fort, turning it into a fortified citadel or small town. At one point coins were minted there - a sign of its importance. The Church of Santa Maria foris portas ("foris portas" meaning "outside the gates" in Latin) which contains the famous frescoes, lay just outside the walls of the citadel. The early dedication of the church to Mary is an assumption; the first documented mention of a church dedicated to Mary in Castelseprio (which is assumed to be this one) comes from the 13th century.
The whole citadel was completely destroyed by Ottone Visconti, Archbishop of Milan, after he captured it in 1287, to prevent it being used again by his rivals. Investigations into the church, which began in 1934, finally uncovered the famous Byzantinesque frescoes below later plaster in 1944.
The whole area is now an archaeological zone containing the remains of the walls and of the much larger three-aisled 5th-century Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista. There is also a baptistry of the 5th to 7th centuries dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This has two fonts, perhaps for the use of different Rites, and is octagonal with a small apse to the east. A third Church of San Paolo
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
has a central hexagonal plan and was built between the 6th and 12th centuries. There are some ruins left from the castle. Nearby is a large tower, once used as a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
.
Frescoes
Byzantine art
Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
influence. The dating of the frescoes and the origin of their painter or painters remain controversial, although the first half of the 9th century seems to be emerging as the most likely date.
Subject
The Byzantinesque frescoes are located around the curved wall of the apse, and the inward surface of the arch between the apse and the main body of the church.The condition of the frescoes is variable; some parts are well-preserved whilst others are missing completely, or barely visible. Much of the painted area has been pitted to provide a key for the subsequent plastering-over (see the lower area in the middle of the Presentation scene).
The subjects of the missing or fragmentary scenes are a matter of some scholarly controversy with some writers proposing that these scenes made up a cycle on the Life of the Virgin
Life of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space...
, and others one on the Life of Christ. Both proposals are described below.
The frescoes are in three registers, the middle register being interrupted by three arched windows. They represent a cycle of the Nativity of Christ
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
and may also have represented early aspects of the Life of Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, or of Christ. The lowest register has a decorative frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
below which there are a few remains in the centre showing painted curtain railings and religious symbols. This register may not have contained figures. The upper and middle registers contain narrative paintings. The cycle may have been part of a larger scheme of decoration which once included the outer face of the arch and the other walls of the church.
Upper register of narratives:
- 1) Over the main arch, on the side inward to the apse, rather than in the body of the church, is a HetoimasiaHetoimasiaThe Hetoimasia, Etimasia , prepared throne, Preparation of the Throne, ready throne or Throne of the Second Coming is the Christian version of the symbolic subject of the empty throne found in the art of the ancient world, whose meaning has changed over the centuries...
, or Throne of God with symbols on it, in a roundel, with an archangel on either side, flying in a "victory" pose.
Then, on the curved wall of the apse, reading left to right:
- 2) AnnunciationAnnunciationThe Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
and Visitation - right side incomplete - missing roundel, which possibly contained the bust of Mary
- 3) Trial by Bitter Water - left side incomplete
- 4) Bust of Christ PantocratorChrist PantocratorIn Christian iconography, Christ Pantokrator refers to a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator is a translation of one of many Names of God in Judaism...
, in a roundel over central window of the eastern apse. Below the window in the lowest register are traces of a painted exedraExedraIn architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...
containing a GospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
book on a cushion. - 5) Dream of Saint JosephSaint JosephSaint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
- missing roundel, which possibly contained the bust of John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
. - 6) Journey to BethlehemBethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
- incomplete on the right
Middle Register
On the curved wall, reading from right to left :
- 7) NativityNativity of JesusThe Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
, and Annunciation to the shepherds - 8) Presentation of Jesus at the TemplePresentation of Jesus at the TempleThe Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...
Fragmentary remains of two frescoes which may have been:
- 9) The Flight into EgyptFlight into EgyptThe flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew , in which Joseph fled to Egypt with his wife Mary and infant son Jesus after a visit by Magi because they learn that King Herod intends to kill the infants of that area...
. or (in the Marian interpretation) The Birth of the Virgin) - 10) The Massacre of the InnocentsMassacre of the InnocentsThe Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...
or (in the Marian interpretation) The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple)
On the two inner faces of the apsidal arch :
- 11) Adoration of the Magi, on the inner face of the right side of the arch.
- 12) on the inner face of the left side of the arch - remnants perhaps from The Dream of the Magi or (in the Marian interpretation) the Rejection of JoachimJoachimSaint Joachim was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne appears first in the apocryphal Gospel of James...
's Offerings at the Temple)
Chronological sequence
The alternative chronological sequences of the ten narrative scenes would run as follows:
- Nativity of Christ: 2,5,3,6,7,8,11,12,9,10
- Life of Mary: 12,9,10,2,5,3,6,7,8,11
In the Marian version the three missing scenes come at the start of the story, rather than the end. Neither sequence follows a consistent chronological sequence on the wall. Joseph's (first) dream and the trial by bitter water come chronologically between the Annunciation and the Visitation. The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple should, according to Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
have happened on the fortieth day after the birth. The timing of the visit of Magi is not mentioned in the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s, and apochryphal writings placed it between seven days and two years after the Nativity. The Eastern church, and by the Gothic period the Western church also, at least in art, placed it very soon after the birth, so that the Magi, like the shepherds, are included in Nativity scenes themselves. At this date, however, the Western church tended to place the arrival of the Magi later, though certainly before the Flight to Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents. Some departure from chronology to enable thematic or typological connections to be emphasised is a common feature of medieval picture cycles.
The Marian interpretation
Some scholars, notably P.D. Leveto, interpret the cycle as being "Marian", that is, part of the Life of Mary, rather than specifically representing those scenes associated with the Nativity. Evidence for this interpretation is the presence of the rarely-depicted scene of the "Trial by Bitter Water". With this interpretation, the three missing narrative scenes would have had a different content, and the sequence itself would be differently ordered, moving from the left-hand side of the arch to the first two scenes of the lower register, through the top register and then to lower right-hand scenes and finishing with the Magi scene on the opposite side of the arch. In this proposed arrangement, the two scenes of the Birth and Presentation at the Temple of Mary are visually balanced with each other, whilst the Presentation and the Trial by water above it are both concerned with Mary's virginity. Also balanced are the two scenes of offerings on either side of the arch wall; in both cases the figures are placed to make their offerings away from the empty arched space, to keep the visual attention focused within the apse.Style
The frescoes are sophisticated, expressive and confident. The artists adapt traditional compositional types to the particular site without strain or disproportion. Poses are natural and rhythmic, and the whole has "a great ardor and conviction, an intense response to the human meaning of the subject" (Schapiro).
While some aspects of the frescoes, notably the iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
, are clearly Byzantine, others may draw on the Christian art of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
or Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The frescoes also have significant aspects which relate most closely to the late antique art of Italy. Several of the buildings are successfully foreshortened, and the relationship between buildings and figures is more effectively managed than in most Byzantine painting. The painting is done with unusual freedom compared to most Byzantine work; it is this feature in particular which relates to much earlier works from the late antiquity such as paintings found in the catacombs of Rome
Catacombs of Rome
The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under or near Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, they began in the 2nd century, much...
.
Some art historians see the style as coming from the tradition of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, from which no other painting on a similar scale remains. John Beckwith is somewhat less enthusiastic than some art historians, describing the frescos as "wholly competent" and worthy of comparison with 7th century works in Rome He believed the "drapery folds ... a complex series of angular ridges emphasized by highlights ... make a decidedly metallic impression, and betray the copyist, who foreshadows in a disturbing way tenth-century mannerisms".
Dating
In 1950, soon after the frescoes were first discovered, a poll of the scholars who attended a conference in Castelseprio showed a rough split between dates in the 7th and 10th century, although the extreme range of dates that have been suggested stretches from the 6th to the 14th century - an almost unprecedented range in medieval art history.Since that time, the range of possible dates has narrowed significantly. Radio-carbon dating of timber and thermoluminescent dating of roof tiles suggest that the church was built in the early to mid-ninth century. While providing a reasonably sound date for the church structure, this can only be "terminus post quem" for the frescoes, which may have been added later. However, the rough finish on the interior stonework leads many scholars to believe that the frescoes were added as part of the original building programme.
A "terminus ante quem" was provided by the discovery of graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
scratched into the fresco plaster recording a number of clerical appointments, the earliest of which is dated (by the name of the presiding Archbishop of Milan) to 948 at the latest. Many writers feel that a certain interval must have elapsed after the painting of the cycle before the clergy would have treated the paintings in this way.
Many art historians have pointed to a relationship between the frescoes and two closely related manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, namely the Joshua Roll
Joshua Roll
The Joshua Roll is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript of highly unusual format, probably of the 10th century Macedonian Renaissance, believed to have been created by artists of the Imperial workshops in Constantinople, and now in the Vatican Library....
(Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
Library, Ms palatine gr. 431) and the Paris Psalter
Paris Psalter
The Paris Psalter is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript containing 449 folios and 14 full-page miniatures "in a grand, almost classical style", as the Encyclopædia Britannica put it....
(Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
Ms Grec. 139) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paris_psalter. However, the dating of both manuscripts is likewise controversial. The art historians Kurt Weitzmann
Kurt Weitzmann
Kurt Weitzmann was born in Klein Almerode Germany on May 7, 1904 and died in Princeton, New Jersey on June 7, 1993. He was a highly influential art historian who studied Byzantine and medieval art. He attended the universities of Münster, Würzburg and Vienna before moving to Princeton in 1935, due...
and Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
agreed that the artistic quality of the frescoes is superior to that of either manuscript.
Kurt Weitzmann preferred a date shortly before 945, and postulated a connection with a marriage between a Lombard princess and a Byzantine prince
Romanos II
Romanos II was a Byzantine emperor. He succeeded his father Constantine VII in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died suddenly in 963.-Life:...
, which took place in 944. He favoured as the artist an unknown Constantinopolitan
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
artist, trained in the same workshop as the artists of the two manuscripts, on a visit in connection with the marriage. Schapiro preferred a date between the 7th and 9th centuries, in 1957 settling on the 8th century.
Most recent writers, relying on the analysis of the timber and roof tiles mentioned above, prefer the first half of the 9th century. Some writers believe the work may have been done by Greek refugees long settled in Italy, or by Italians trained by such artists. Others believe that artists fresh from the Byzantine world were responsible.
Aspects of the works
Almost every aspect of the frescoes, from the clothing to the treatment of the nimbus or haloHalo (religious iconography)
A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes...
around the infant Christ, has been analysed and compared to other works in great detail. Some examples are:
- The inscriptions naming various figures are in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and in Roman script, but the midwife at the Nativity is named as "EMEA", the "E" ("H" in the Greek alphabetGreek alphabetThe Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
) being a form of the Greek for "the". In the Byzantine period it is common to find Greek inscriptions naming figures in paintings which include the definite article. The Greek form of the inscription would be: "H MAIA".
- The treatment of the architectural elements within the paintings has been compared to Hellenizing work produced for MoslemIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
patrons in the 8th century, at the Great MosqueUmayyad MosqueThe Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist , is located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world...
in DamascusDamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and elsewhere.
- The legend of the doubting midwife, whose withered arm is miraculously cured, shown in the Nativity scene, probably appears only in art from the West during this period.
- The Trial by bitter water is otherwise extremely rare in Western iconography, and this is one of the latest of the few Byzantine depictions. The legend comes from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of JamesGospel of JamesThe Gospel of James, also known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protoevangelium of James, is an apocryphal Gospel probably written about AD 145, which expands backward in time the infancy stories contained the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and presents a narrative concerning the birth and...
and occurs, in the fully developed story, after the Dream of Joseph, in which an angel reassures Joseph who is disturbed to discover Mary's pregnancy, since he knows he has not slept with her. In the legend, others also notice the pregnancy and to dispel gossip and accusations, the priests of the Temple (where Mary had formerly been a temple maid) make the couple undergo the trial of drinking "bitter water" — their reaction to which will prove or disprove their innocence. Naturally they pass. The idea of the trial is clearly based on NumbersBook of NumbersThe Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
5, 11 ff. The legend was part of some Western medieval religious dramasMedieval theatreMedieval theatre refers to the theatre of Europe between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century A.D...
, in which the "detractors" then drank the water, with horrible results. An example is the N-town Pageant seriesN-Town PlaysThe N-Town Plays are a cycle of 42 medieval Mystery plays from between 1450 and 1500.-The manuscript:...
manuscript in the British Library, London (BL MS Cotton Vespasian D.8), which is mid-15th century from the East Midlands of England.
Further reading
- The Fresco Cycle of S. Maria di Castelseprio by Kurt Weitzmann, 1951, Princeton.
- There is a very full bibliography on the official website - "Bibliografia" page.
External links
- Official site — one page in English, but Italian version is very full, with maps, history, bibliography etc. For fresco pictures, click "I monumenti", then "Il ciclo di pitture" on the menu band below.
- PD Leveto article in JStor (subscription only beyond first page, which itself has useful information).