Triple-faced musician, blowing two horns at once. Symbol welcoming March, the end of Winter and the first signs of Spring. Detail of medieval Labours of the Months fresco cycle, painted in ochre in primitive or rustic style. In the cloister attached to the Chiesa di San Nicola (Church of St Nicholas) at the Abbazia di Piona (Piona Abbey), beside Lake Como at Colico, Lombardy, Italy.
Piona Abbey, Colico, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy: this intriguing fresco of a three-faced musician blowing two horns simultaneously might recall images of Janus, the two-faced ancient Roman god of beginnings, endings and transitions - or it might remind jazz fans of American multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk (died 1977), famous for playing two or even three saxophones at once on stage. In fact, this possibly unique image is medieval; part of a monastic Labours of the Months calendar painted in primitive or rustic style in the cloister attached in the mid-13th century to the abbey church, the Chiesa di San Nicola (Church of St Nicholas). The fresco cycle combines martyred saints with panels showing either monks or rural peasants undertaking seasonal tasks such as pruning saplings, harvesting cereals, threshing grain and gathering Spring flowers. Although the triple-faced horn blower symbolism’s is harder to interpret, it represents the month of March and so perhaps celebrates winter’s end and the first signs of Spring. Other medieval Labours of the Months in Italy depict March as a standing man blowing a single horn, while one at Pavia features a man blowing two horns at once, from either side of his mouth - albeit with only one face. The Abbazia di Piona is a former Benedictine monastic complex, once occupied by reformist Cluniac monks, on the tip of the Olgiasca peninsular, which extends from the eastern shore of Lake Como’s northern arm. The church of San Nicola replaced a ruined 7th century oratory before 1138, with the cloister added around 1250. The monastery declined before its buildings and lands were seized and sold off in 1798. The church and cloister were partly restored in the early 1900s, and in 1938, Piona came back to life when the Cistercian monks of Casamari Abbey in Lazio acquired the ancient complex. It is now open to the public.
Size: 4243px × 2818px
Location: Cloister, Chiesa di San Nicola, Abbazia di Piona, Colico, Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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