Post by UKarchaeology on Apr 1, 2016 15:07:42 GMT
A jewel among the wild grass? A Hungarian historian is convinced that patches of fresco in a Transylvanian church ruin are a rare medieval copy of a legendary masterpiece by Italian maestro Giotto.
The fragments found deep in the Romanian region are part of a 14th-century fresco reproduction of Giotto’s “Navicella” mosaic that used to adorn St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Szilard Papp said in Budapest last week.
Only three other 14th-century copies of the work, depicting Christ walking on water before apostles in a boat, are known to exist, in Strasbourg in France and in Florence and Pistoia in Italy.
“This is definitely the fourth,” said Papp of the Transylvanian fresco, in the village of Jelna, 430 km (270 miles) northwest of the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
Giotto made the vast mosaic — measuring roughly 10 by 14 meters (33 by 45 feet) and considered a marvel of medieval art — for the basilica’s atrium around 1300.
It was later destroyed during reconstruction of the basilica in the 17th century.
“It is astonishing that such a major work was reproduced in a small village church on the periphery of western Christianity at that time, so far from Rome,” said Papp, who works for the Budapest-based Istvan Moller Foundation, a heritage protection body.
“Who painted the fresco and how will likely forever remain a mystery,” he added.
Full story/pics: www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/02/28/entertainment-news/rare-copy-giotto-fresco-discovered-ruins-transylvanian-church/#.Vv6N93pXmVT