SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE
The mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore, among of the most important of Rome, in V century were commissioned by Pope Sixtus III and eight centuries later two great artists, Jacopo Torriti and Filippo Rusuti, added their works.
In the façade the loggia with three arches, on the upper floor, houses the mosaics of Filippo Rusuti (1255 - 1325), who, with Pietro Cavallini (1245 - 1325), and Jacopo Torriti (mid 1200 – mid 1300), was one of the great interpreters of the Roman school of the thirteenth century.
The mosaics are on two levels, in the upper level, which is believed to be the oldest, is Christ Enthroned, flanked by four saints and figures of the two Colonna cardinals, James and Peter. At the bottom there are four panels that show scenes from the foundation of the ancient Basilica.
Inside, along both sides of the aisle and on the triumphal arch one can see the ancient and beautiful mosaics of the fifth century, commissioned by Pope Sixtus III.
The mosaics, depicting scenes from the Old Testament have as their protagonists Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Joshua.
The triumphal arch is made up of four sections: on the top left the Annunciation, where Mary is depicted dressed as a Roman princess. The story continues with the announcement to Joseph, the Adoration of the Magi, the slaughter of innocents. In this frame the picture with the blue robe facing away from the other women is St. Elizabeth with St. John in his arms. To the right: the Presentation in the Temple, the Flight into Egypt, the meeting of the Holy Family and Aphrodisius, governor of Sotine. The last scene represents the Magi before Herod. At the foot of the arch can be seen to the left and right Jerusalem Bethlehem.
These mosaics are distinguished from all other early Christian mosaics because they refer without fear to the Roman classicism.
Why, we wondered, suddenly the Church passed the subjection to the empire?
The fact is that in 410 Alaric sacked Rome, the empire had not been able to defend, then it's up to the papacy, to substitute Empire to ensure the safety of Rome, as showed in 452 Leo the Great, the successor of Sixtus III, when stopped Attila.
The apse is lit by four windows with pointed arches that illuminate the extraordinary mosaic of Jacopo Torriti, made for the Jubilee of 1300. In the apse we see the Son crowning the Blessed Mother, while lower down on the left St. Francis, St. Paul and St. Peter, in front of which there is the small figure kneeling of Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope. On the right we see the Franciscan St. Anthony of Padua, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, while the small figure in the foreground depicts Cardinal Colonna.
At the bottom of the mosaic Torriti represented five scenes from the life of Mary, with the center of the beautiful Dormition of Mary, or the death of Mary according to the Byzantine tradition.
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