Saint Ambrose Blessing
Coming from the basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, the polychrome stucco relief, contemporary with the decorations of the basilica’s ciborium, from the Ottonian era, depicts the half-length saint, who imposes himself in the space with plastic robustness, overlapping the classical oval frame.
From an iconographic point of view, the image of the saint closely follows that present in the mosaic of the chapel of San Vittore in Ciel d’Oro in Sant’Ambrogio (5th century), the first known portrait of the Milanese patron saint, with a youthful appearance and with his face framed by a short dark beard, the only practically contemporary reference to the saint’s appearance.
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Artwork details
- Artist:
- Bottega lombarda, seconda metà X sec.
- Title:
- Saint Ambrose Blessing
- Date:
- 950-1000 AD
- Medium and technique:
- Polychrome stucco
- Dimensions:
- diametro 96 cm
- Inventory:
- MD 2001.092.017
- Location
-
Location: Saint Ambrose, ground floor
The Saint Ambrose gallery contains a group of works from the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, on loan to the Diocesan Museum. Significantly, it is the first room on the visitor route, which thus opens with the figure of Ambrose. As founder and patron saint of the Milanese diocese, Ambrose’s influential episcopate (374–397) shaped the history of the city and of the Church that bears his name.
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