Santa Maria Assunta is a church in the north-west of Esine

Esine

Esine is a comune in the province of Brescia, in the Italian region Lombardy, in the middle of the Camonica valley, located about 63 km north of Brescia....

, in the province of Brescia

Province of Brescia

The Province of Brescia is a Province in Lombardy, Italy. It borders with the province of Sondrio in the N and NW, the province of Bergamo in the W, province of Cremona in the SW and S, the province of Mantova to the S, and to the east, the province of Verona and Trentino .Source for statistical...

, northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, listed as national monument

National monument

A National monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of national importance such as a war or the country's founding. The term may also refer to a specific monument status, such as a National Heritage Site, which most national monuments are by reason of their cultural...

.

The building was originally constructed around 1480, and initially had a gabled façade with a round window (oculo), replaced by the current structure in 1776. The bell tower dates from 1500 and is built in a yellow stone.

The interior has a single nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, and was apparently completely decorated with 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 by Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo

Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo

Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo was an Italian painter.Details on the artist's life are very scarce: perhaps born in Cemmo, he was active from 1474 to 1504 in a large area including Brescia and Cremona....

 between 1491 and 1493: subjects include the Annunciation

Annunciation

The 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...

, Mary enthroned, the history of salvation and the holy helpers. The paintings were commissioned by the noble families of Federici and Beccagutti, and by Isaac de Favis of Gandino

Gandino

Gandino is a comune in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 70 km northeast of Milan and about 20 km northeast of Bergamo...

, rector of the church of the Holy Trinity in Esine.

Beyond the chancel arch the cross vault of the presbytery

Presbytery (architecture)

The presbytery is the name for an area in a church building which is reserved for the clergy.In the oldest church it is separated by short walls, by small columns and pilasters in the Renaissance ones; it can also be raised, being reachable by a few steps, usually with railings....

 bears in its centre a depiction of Christ Pantocrator

Christ Pantocrator

In 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 mandorla, over three meters high, surrounded by a crowd of 72 characters arranged in distinct classes: saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

s, martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

s, patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

s, emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

s, prophet

Prophet

In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

s, and so on. On the back wall of the chancel is painted the Crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

.

In 1573 a section of wall was knocked down to build the Chapel of the Rosary, destroying the fresco, which probably represented a Last Judgement.

Sources and external links