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The church of St. Georg in Oberzell on Reichenau Island is the home of one of the few narrative picture cycles on the subject of Christ's miracles to have survived as a complete set from the Ottonian period. It was certainly painted by Byzantine-trained artists who continued their travels after completing their work in Oberzell.
The continuous painted cycle running around the walls of the nave was designed from the very beginning as a narrative cycle. With a single exception, Jesus enters each scene from the left, thus establishing the direction of reading from left to right. The viewer entering the space will also start on the left side, the north wall. There we have the Gerasene demoniac, followed by the Healing of the Sick, the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and the Healing of the Man who was Born Blind. The south wall contains the following scenes: the Healing of the Leper, the Raising of the Young Man, the Healing of the Woman of her Bloody Issue, the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus and the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead.
The picture shows the first scene on the north wall: The Gerasene demoniac. The exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac is one of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the New Testament.
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