Manicules (hands with pointing index fingers) indicate the Seven Christian or Heavenly Virtues detailed on scrolls. Part of an early 1300s Last Judgement fresco in a Romanesque church, the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Tiglio, built in the 1100s beside Lake Como at Gravedona, Lombardy, Italy. Towers shown rising between the scrolls include the original church campaniles of both Gravedona itself, depicted as a Celestial Jerusalem, and of Piona Abbey, on the opposite bank of the lake.
Gravedona, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy: manicules – hands with pointing index fingers – indicate some of the Seven Christian or Heavenly Virtues detailed on inscribed scrolls, part of a 14th century Giudizio Universale (Universal Judgement or Last / Final Judgement) fresco in the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Tiglio, a 12th century Romanesque former baptistery on the northwest shores of the Lago di Como. The Giudizio Universale, by an unknown artist, is the oldest fresco in the church. It is Lombardic in style and shows the influence of the Florentine painter known as Giotto (Giotto di Bondone, 1267-1337). It has been dated to the early 1300s and may well have been painted by a pupil or follower of Giotto during his lifetime. Above the row of panels personifying the Seven Virtues and Seven Vices or Deadly Sins, the artist represented humanity in all its diversity in terms of skin colour and costume when depicting the souls of the Departed awaiting Christ’s Judgement on their earthly lives. Below the virtues and vices, the fresco takes on a more local flavour, with Gravedona itself represented as a Celestial Jerusalem. Towers rising between the scrolls, as seen in this image, include the original campaniles or bell towers of Gravedona’s churches, including that of Santa Maria del Tiglio. Also included is the tower of the Abbey of Piona at Colico on the opposite bank of Lake Como.
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Gravedona, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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