The painted decoration of the church of Santa Maria in Gradaro

Abstract

The essay discusses the painted decoration of the church of Santa Maria in Gradaro, which is here considered in relation to the constructive phases of the building it-self. The paintings in the apse and in the northern chapel, as well as the ornamental patterns on the walls of the central nave and the counter-façade, were conceived as part of the same, uniform decorative project. It involved the whole architectural container and can be dated immediately after 1295. Such date is indeed inscribed on the left jamb of the portal, and has likely been written after the completion of the church. Some frescoed fragments with figures of Saints painted in the northern chapel can instead be dated to a slightly later phase, having been done at the very beginning of the Trecento. Some fragments with a painted decoration and a velarium in the main chapel date back to an older phase, as well as the geometric decoration painted on the beginning of the right wall of the nave, at the bottom. The author thus argues that a first oratory did exist here. According to her, it was smaller and consisted of a single rectangular hall, which is now included in the apse and in the lower part of the present church.