SANTA MARIA IN TRASTEVERE

In the apse of Santa Maria in Trastevere we see the medieval mosaics, dating from 1140 – 1143, that are among the most significant of Rome.

On the triumphal arch are depicted the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Symbols of the Evangelists, The Seven Candlesticks of Revelation.

In the ceiling of the apse, at the center, Christ crowning the Virgin, on the right the Saints: Peter, Cornelius, Pope Julius I and Calepodius; on the left Pope Callixtus I, Lorenzo and Pope Innocent II.

Above we see the “Empyrean pavilion with God crowning the Son”.

Below you can see the band with at the center the Mystic Lamb, flanked by twelve sheep, by the apostles and the holy cities.

Yet below the mosaics of the twelfth century, Pietro Cavallini (1240 - 1330?), who with Jacopo Torriti, is the greatest Roman painter of the Middle Ages, has created the largest and most famous cycle of mosaics depicting the Stories of the Virgin.

The importance of Cavallini, not only for aesthetic reasons, is the fact that constitutes a radical departure from Byzantine art, to give life to an Italian style.

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