The Frescoes of Santa Maria Foris Portas

The Church of Santa Maria foris portas (Latin for ‘outside the gates’) di Castelseprio is in the province of Varese, on the road that leads from Como to Novara. The Church is rectangular in its layout, with three apses; the eastern apse contains a cycle of paintings that was discovered in May 1944 and which probably dates from the time of the building’s construction. The paintings are in mixed technique, i.e. fresco which has dried and then been overlaid with a coat of paint. This process was used from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, and was inspired by the Seventh Book of Architecture by Vitruvius, which dealt with the application of plaster coats.

Fresco specialists disagree on the date and interpretation of the cycle of paintings of the Castelseprio frescos.

There are two major schools of thought for the dates: either the frescos were made at the end of the eighth century and the first half of the ninth century, or before the Iconoclastic Period, between the reigns of Justinian I (reigned 527–565) and Justinian II (reigned 565–578). Kurt Weitzmann believes they were painted during the second quarter of the tenth century. The only certain date can be found in the lower part of the paintings, where there is Latin graffiti in capital and minuscule letters; one of them mentions the name ARDERICUS, who was the archbishop of Milan between 936 and 948, which provided a terminus ante quem (‘limit before which’).

The other major controversy relating to the Castelseprio frescos concerns the theological content of the cycle: some believe that the cycle is Marian and others believe that it’s Christological. The cycle is unfortunately incomplete because of the poor state of conservation of some of the paintings. However, in the upper register of the apse are still visible: the Annunciation and the Visitation, the Trial by Bitter Water, Joseph’s Dream, and the Journey to Bethlehem. In the lower register, are the Presentation at the Temple, the Nativity, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, and the Adoration of the Magi.

In the cycle, the compositions are not divided by separating frames; the people are represented in architectural environments or in hilly countryside, which was the classical preference. One of the frescos depicts an unusual subject: the first apparition of the angel to Joseph (Mathew 1:20), who dissipated his doubts about Mary’s virginity and explained the role of the Holy Spirit. The angel is leaning with a great movement of wings towards Joseph, who is lying on his couch; the clothes emphasize the subtle rendering of the bodies while remaining quite graphic in style. The modelling of the face of the angel shows a good knowledge of classical painting, as do the two Corinthian inspired columns that frame the scene, one of which is wrapped in a curtain and the other topped with a vase.

The following scene depicts the Journey to Bethlehem, as told in the Gospel of James. Mary is pregnant and is sitting on a mule lead by a figure whose only visible part is a leg, and turns towards Joseph who is following her and supporting himself with a stick. The look they exchange gives them great expressiveness. In the background, a perspective architectural environment creates the illusion of constructed space.

The style of the Castelseprio wall paintings attests to the influence of classical art in the West as part of the ‘Carolingian Renaissance’ and in the East in the ‘Macedonian Renaissance’: artists returned to the Greek roots and works, which were not copied but reworked, and assimilated by artists who succeeded in transmitting a contemporary and fresh interpretation of Hellenism.