Face of a woman with golden hair, halo and crown, believed to represent Theodelinda (c. 570 - 628 AD), Queen of the Lombards, who ruled a northern Italian realm from the Apennines to the Alps for about 35 years. Medieval fresco painted on one of the cylindrical columns supporting the central nave of 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: perhaps the face of a Lombard queen ... a woman with golden hair, halo and crown painted on one of the cylindrical columns supporting the central nave of the medieval Chiesa di San Giorgio (Church of St George) 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 was begun in 1250 and consecrated in 1313 for the inhabitants of this picturesque village on the eastern shores of the Lago di Como. It stands in Piazza San Giorgio and is preceded by a cobbled forecourt. It was built in Late Romanesque and Early Gothic architectural style, with three naves and a large oculus or rose window lighting the interior above the main entrance. Other ancient frescoes preserved in the church range from a Late Romanesque representation of Hell on the inner facade, with a giant Satan devouring a soul, to a 1467 polyptych by Jo Pietro de' Brentanis or Brentani featuring the Virgin Mary and infant Christ enthroned, between saints Peter and George. A column opposite the painting believed to be of Queen Theodelinda bears a fresco in similar Lombardic style of a pontiff, probably Pope Gregory I (c. 540 - 604 AD), otherwise known as Saint Gregory the Great.
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Varenna, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 7th, arched, art, century, chiesa, church, churches, close, column, como, crown, crowned, , detail, di, eastern, europe, european, eyebrows, face, faces, female, fresco, frescoes, george, georges, giorgio, golden, hair, halo, head, italian, italy, kerr, kingdom, lake, lecco, lombard, lombardic, lombards, lombardy, mediaeval, medieval, monarch, painting, paintings, piazza, portrait, portraits, province, queen, queens, ruler, rulers, san, shore, shoulders, st, teodelinda, terence, theodelinda, varenna, viewer, wall, woman, women
