The Wrath of God: a finger-pointing old man - probably the Hebrew Bible Minor Prophet, Micah - admonishes sinners passing through the medieval cloister beside the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy, from a frescoed roundel on the ceiling. The cloister is richly decorated with Late Gothic and Early Renaissance frescoes dating from circa 1390.
Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: a bearded, finger-pointing old man - probably, from the inscription, Micah, the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament Minor Prophet - glares down with an admonishing glare from a repaired roundel in a ceiling vault of the medieval cloister beside the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. The earliest frescoes here, in Late Gothic style, were painted around 1390 by a group of artists active throughout this mainly German-speaking region. Later Renaissance frescoes in the cloister are judged to be either solo work by 15th century painter and sculptor Lienhart Scherhauff (also known as Leonhard von Brixen or Leonardo da Bressanone), or are by his studio, which produced fresco cycles for churches throughout South and East Tyrol. Lienhart and his artists, with their delicate style, transformed the often harsh and crude nature of earlier Tyrolean Christian art, most obviously in the softer and more lifelike faces of Biblical characters such as these. Some works here also feature proof of Leonhard’s own hand: the scorpion signature emblem he used that prompted his title of Maestro dello Scorpione (Master of the Scorpion). The spa city of Bressanone-Brixen was founded in 901 AD, becoming the seat of powerful Prince Bishops whose influence forged links between southern Germany and northern Italy. South Tyrol became part of Italy after the 1914-18 First World War.
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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