Medieval cleric wearing a mitre and the robes of a bishop, believed to represent Pope Gregory I, also known as Saint Gregory the Great (540-604 AD), who sent missionaries to England. Medieval fresco painted on a nave pillar in the Chiesa di San Giorgio at Varenna on Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy. The church was begun in 1250 and consecrated in 1313.
Varenna, Lombardy, Italy: a medieval cleric wearing a mitre and the robes of a bishop, painted in the 1300s on a nave pillar in the Chiesa di San Giorgio is probably a depiction of Pope Gregory I, also known as Saint Gregory the Great, who lived from about 540 to 604 AD and was Bishop of Rome for the last 13 years of his life. St Gregory, a prolific writer and talented administrator, gave his name to the Gregorian Mission, aimed at converting largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He sent Augustine of Canterbury and Paulinus of York to England as missionaries, and under his papal rule, he saw Franks, Lombards and Visigoths align their religion with Rome. A column on the opposite side of the nave bears a painting of a golden-haired woman, in similar Lombardic style and probably by the same artist, which may represent Theodelinda or Teodelinda (c. 570-628 AD), queen of the Lombards, who ruled a northern Italian realm stretching from the Apennines to the Alps for about 35 years. The church, in Piazza San Giorgio, was consecrated in 1313 for the inhabitants of this picturesque village on the eastern shores of the Lago di Como. It was built in Late Romanesque and Early Gothic style, with three naves and a large western oculus or rose window lighting the interior. Other ancient frescoes preserved here range from a Late Romanesque depiction of Hell, with a giant Satan devouring a soul, to a 1467 polyptych by Jo Pietro de' Brentanis or Brentani featuring the Madonna and Child enthroned, between saints Peter and George.
Size: 2848px × 4288px
Location: Varenna, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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