Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona (Hood College)
Visions of the End in Late Medieval Padua
With the exception of Angevin Naples, relatively few fresco cycles of the Apocalypse survive in late medieval Italy. But the Baptistery of Padua, frescoed in the 1370s by Giusto da Menabuoi, includes one of the most extensive Apocalypse fresco cycles from north Italy; it encompasses over 40 episodes. This paper explores the contexts of this remarkable ensemble. The Baptistery’s vast fresco program, of which the Apocalypse cycle, in the apse, is only one component, was commissioned by Fina Buzzacarini, consort of Francesco il Vecchio da Carrara, lord of Padua.; it was she who converted the Baptistery to a mausoleum for herself and her family. We first examine the Baptistery’s program as a whole, suggesting that references to the Apocalypse extend beyond the apse; we then consider possible motivations for the inclusion of this uncommon cycle, which include the family’s political allegiances with the Angevins and the personal circumstances of Fina herself.
