Romano-British Christian martyr, St Ursula, sets sail for Gaul with her virginal handmaidens: faded and damaged late-1400s Renaissance fresco on the west front of the Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate at Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. The village church is frescoed inside and out by members of the Baschenis family of nomadic Lombardic artists.
Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: Romano-British Christian martyr, Saint Ursula, sets sail for France in this damaged and faded late-1400s Renaissance fresco on the west front of the Gothic Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate (Church of Saint Anthony the Abbot) in the scenic Val Rendena. The panel depicts the (possibly fictional) daughter of Dionotus of Dumnonia, a Celtic king ruling much of southwest Britain, setting sail for Gaul in 383 AD, with some virginal handmaidens, to meet a pagan future husband. She decided to go to Rome instead, but the virgins were all beheaded by Huns at Cologne and Ursula was killed by an arrow. The work is by a member of the Baschenis family of itinerant Lombardic artists, based at Averara near Bergamo, who decorated dozens of churches throughout Trentino with Renaissance biblical frescoes. The artist may be Cristoforo I Baschenis, who signed his fresco of St Anthony the Abbot above the church portal in 1474, or his brother, Simone, who completed some of the facade frescoes. Cristoforo II Baschenis (documented 1472-1520) also worked at Pelugo, while Dionisio or Dyonisus Baschenis signed his giant figure of Saint Christopher on the facade and dated it 1493. The early-15th century church at Pelugo and the Chiesa di San Viglio at Pinzolo, displaying a dramatic external ‘Dance of Death’, are the best-known churches frescoed by the Baschenis painters in the Val Rendena area. The family was among the nomadic artisans who travelled all over the Alpine region, selling their skills where required, and working mostly in small churches in isolated mountain villages. Although they painted popular images rather than fine art, their works helped communicate Bible stories and the Christian message to the villagers.
Size: 4031px × 2686px
Location: Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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