Thank you very much, VViews! I was not aware of this fresco cycle. It looks totally amazing. The fact that these two physicians are portraited with such prominence inside a church is quite exceptional. The fresco makes part of cosmological illustrations that are clearly related to the Salerno school: the church itself was founded by bishop Pietro da Salerno.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. one can see the portraits with some visual context. The inscription surrounding them is also transcribed and translated.
A scheme of the diagram on the left.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (Pressouyre. 1966) discusses the symbolic value of the four numbers assigned to the elements (8, 12, 18, 27).
The dome above the portraits:
Man is at the centre of the rota, surrounded by the inscription "homo microcosmus idest mundus minor" (man is a microcosm, i.e. a lesser world). The four radial segments correspond to the four temperaments and ages of man, personified by the four heads. The outer circles are harder to read, but they appear to add the elements and the seasons to the four-fold system.
PS: I found some more information You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
The naked man at the centre of the rota is surrounded by the letters H O M O (man), one for each quadrant. The inscription in the light green circle reads "MINOREM MUNDUM SIC EADEM FORMANT ELEMENTA" (the lesser world is thus formed by the elements). This is a double-entendre based on the fact that "elementa" denotes both the elements and letters. Innocent III connected the four letters of HOMO to the cardinal directions (hence to the whole four-fold system):
H (eta) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet; 7=septem Septemtrio (North);
O=oriens (East);
M=meridio (South);
O=occidens (West).
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. one can see the portraits with some visual context. The inscription surrounding them is also transcribed and translated.
Quote:ETAS VULTUS HOMOR MUTANTUR TEMPORE CUIUS / DE QUO PLUS ET INEST COMPLEXIO DICITUR HUIUS. ("People's age, face and disposition change with time, so that their constitution is increasingly said to be theirs.")
A scheme of the diagram on the left.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (Pressouyre. 1966) discusses the symbolic value of the four numbers assigned to the elements (8, 12, 18, 27).
The dome above the portraits:
Man is at the centre of the rota, surrounded by the inscription "homo microcosmus idest mundus minor" (man is a microcosm, i.e. a lesser world). The four radial segments correspond to the four temperaments and ages of man, personified by the four heads. The outer circles are harder to read, but they appear to add the elements and the seasons to the four-fold system.
PS: I found some more information You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
The naked man at the centre of the rota is surrounded by the letters H O M O (man), one for each quadrant. The inscription in the light green circle reads "MINOREM MUNDUM SIC EADEM FORMANT ELEMENTA" (the lesser world is thus formed by the elements). This is a double-entendre based on the fact that "elementa" denotes both the elements and letters. Innocent III connected the four letters of HOMO to the cardinal directions (hence to the whole four-fold system):
H (eta) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet; 7=septem Septemtrio (North);
O=oriens (East);
M=meridio (South);
O=occidens (West).
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