habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

PICTORIAL DECORATION OF RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES DURING THE BYZANTINE EMPIRECRHIMA-CINP projectFig. 9 Statte (Ta), St. Onophrius’ Church in Todisco, Vision of St. Eustace.Fig. 10 Squinzano (Le), St Mary’s Church in Cerrate, Vision of St. Eustace.Fig. 11 Carpignano Salentino (Le), St. Marine and St.Christine, St. Christinebetween the Virgin with the Child and St. Nicholas.Fig. 12 Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Christ on a Lyre Backed Throne with theEmperor Leo VI (886 - 911).by Nikephoros Phokas (about 950). The scene is painted on theplutei delimiting the eastern corridor: Eustace, his wife andtheir sons are praying inside the bronze ox on the pyre, wherethey had been locked by Hadrian the Emperor.An ancient testimony of the Vision of Saint Eustace in southernItaly is in Calabria, in the Hospital Church, Scalea (10 thcentury) 19 .The iconography of the Vision of Saint Eustace in Basilicataand Apulia derived from Cappadocia, since the Saint has aspear and not a bow.In, In Matera (Basilicata) the cult of Saint Eustace is particularlyfelt: he is the patron of the city. The popular devotionclaims that the Saint saved Matera twice: in 984, during theSaracen siege, and in 1656, during the pestilence.Two version of the Vision of Saint Eustace from the 17 th century20 are preserved in the rupestrian churches of the Virginof the Hodegetria and in Saint Eustace. The Saint is riding abrown horse flanked by two hunting dogs; a wonderful deer ison the left, a half figure of the benedictory Christ is betweenits horns.The Apulian iconography of the Vision of Saint Eustace isin two rupestrian churches of the Tarentine area: the SaintsHermits’ church (Palagianello) and Saint Onofrio in Todisco(Statte) 21 .The collocation of the painting in the church of the Saints Hermitsis privileged, as it is on the left wall of the apse, whichcontains also a cross with gems in the central niche, and thepainting of Michael the Archangel on the right wall.The frescoes representing Saint Eustace and the Archangelwere realized on the same layer of plaster, and probably theywere painted by the same artist between the end of the 13 th andthe beginning of the 14 th century 22 .Saint Eustace is on horseback, holding the rains with his lefthand, and he has a spear in his right hand, ready to hit thedeer. The half figure of the benedictory Christ and the Greekinscription “Placidus, why do you prosecute me” are betweenthe deer’s horns 23 .The Vision of Saint Eustace in the church of Saint Onofrioin Todisco is in the northern wall of the sanctuary, where theSaint is riding a galloping white horse on the right, and heis wearing a fluttering mantle knotted on his chest, an ochrecuirass, and a white surcoat; he is holding a spear with hisright hand, while the left hand is up, a probable movement ofwonder for the revelation of Christ as a deer.A steep mountain is on the background, and, on the top ofthe mountains, the legs of the escaping deer can be noticed.A white animal (probably a hunting dog) is crouched downready to jump on the deer. The inferior part of the horse hasbeen deleted by the presence of lichens and moulds. The datingof the painting is between the end of the 13 th century andthe beginning of the 14 th century 24 .The church of St. Mary in Cerrate (Squinzano) preserves apanel from the 16 th century: the subjects of the panel are St.George (who sets the princess free from the Dragon) and theVision of St. Eustace. This panel testifies the two Cappadociansaints’ devotional continuity in Apulia 25 .Two Apulian rupestrian churches preserve the frescos thatmore corresponded to the Byzantine culture between the endof the 9 th and the end of the 11 th century. These churches arein Carpignano Salentino (St. Marine and St. Christine) and involumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 68 16/11/2012 15:01:21