ROMANESQUE PAINTER, Italian
(active in 11th century in Rome)

The Miraculous Rescue of a Child

c. 1080
Fresco with secco applications
San Clemente, Rome

The work offering the most extensive evidence of the richness and originality of the pictorial art at the end of the eleventh century in Rome is without doubt the frescoes in the lower church of San Clemente, with stories from the life of Sts Clement and Alexis, datable to the last two decades of the century.

The frescoes were commissioned by two members of the lay community, Beno di Rapiza and Maria Macellaria, who are identified by an inscription and are portrayed in the lower part of the scene with the miracle of the child found alive in a church at the bottom of the sea, close to St Clement , and together with their children. This is particularly interesting, showing as it does subjects from everyday life for the first time in commissioned works of art.

The miraculous event occurs under water and is given a lively rendering in the detailed depiction of various types of fish.