Images: Basilica of San Clemente
Clavis number: ECMA 102
Other descriptors: none
Location: Piazza S. Clemente (Via Labicana 95), Rome
Category: frescoes
Related literature: Acts of Pilate, Martyrdom of Clement.
Featured characters and locations: Adam (patriarch), Aufidianus, Clement (bishop), Jesus Christ, Rome, Satan, Sea of Azov, Sisinnius.
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: water colors on stone
Size: not specified
(The following description is based on information provided on the Basilica web site).
The Basilica of San Clemente is a nineteenth-century church built over the remains of an older basilica abandoned in the eleventh century. Visitors to this Lower Basilica can view a number of surviving frescoes—including an image of the Madonna and Child, the Ascension of Christ, and a depiction of the story of Saint Alexis. Several are related to apocryphal texts.
The first of these illustrates the Descent to Hades, with Christ standing upon Satan and drawing Adam by the hand out of the underworld. Satan holds Adam by the foot, trying to prevent his departure. The figure on the left, dressed as a monk and holding a copy of Scripture, may be a depiction of St. Cyril who was interred in the Lower Basilica, perhaps in the tomb that was located behind this fresco.
Three images dating from the eleventh century feature the Basilica’s namesake: Clement of Rome. The first of two located at the entrance features a circular medallion with a bust of Clement; the bust is surrounded by members of the de Rapiza family who commissioned the images. An inscription below reads: “seeking me in prayer, beware of hurtful feelings.” Above the medallion is a scene at the tomb of Clement, located in the Sea of Azov; the building is surrounded by fish and an anchor leans against the wall. In the tomb are two women (perhaps intended to be the same character), one holding a child in her arms, the other picking the child up from the ground. On the left is a bishop and crowd processing out of a city.
The second fresco is a depiction of the transfer of Clement’s remains to the Basilica, an event that occurred in 868. Two figures, identified as Saints Cyril and Methodius, lead the procession, bringing the bier to Pope Adrian II (mistakenly identified here as Pope Nicholas). Other ecclesiastical officials stand to the left.
And the third fresco, located in the central nave, features Clement celebrating a mass in the basilica. He is flanked by clergy members and members of the de Rapiza family. On the right side, a servant leads a man out of the scene. This man is identified, through the Martyrdom of Clement, as Sisinnius (see further details below). The story of Sisinnius is further related in the lower panel of the fresco which features Sisinnius ordering three men to carry a column (believed by the blind Sisinnius to be Clement) out of a house. The man on the left calls out, in Italian, Falite dereto colo palo Carvoncelle (“Get behind with a lever Carvoncelle”), another man says, Gosmari Albertel traite (“Pull away, Gosmari and Albertel”), and Sissinius, on the right, commands, Fili dele pute traite (“Sons of whores, pull away”). Under the arches is another inscription: duritiam cordis vestris saxa traere meruistis (“because of the hardness of your hearts you have merited to draw away stones”).
Date: ca. 9th cent. CE (Descensus), 11th cent. (Clement)
Provenance: in situ
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The scene of Jesus liberating the patriarchs from hell derives from Recension B of the Acts of Pilate (Latin: Gospel of Nicodemus). Jesus descends to hell, instructs the angels to bind up Satan (22) and then releases the patriarchs: “While Hades was talking to Satan in this way, the King of glory stretched out his right hand to grasp and raise up Adam, the father of all” (24; trans. Bart D. Ehrman, in Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše, eds. and trans., The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations [Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011], 465–89)
The story of Sisinnius is the central “act” of Clement that precedes his martyrdom in Mart. Clem. Sisinnius is a friend of the emperor Nerva. His wife Theodora has been converted by Clement and has now adopted a life of chastity. Sisinnius follows Theodora into a church and observes the group in prayer; for his subterfuge, he is struck blind (2). After Clement cures his blindness, Sisinnius instructs his servants to carry Clement off.
As for those who were commanded to tie up Clement: it seemed to them that they had tied him and were dragging him off; but in fact they were tying up some stone pillars lying there, and they now dragged them outside, now dragged them from outside back inside. It also seemed to Sisinnius himself that they were dragging away St Clement in shackles. St Clement said to him: ‘The hardness of your heart has been turned to stone; and since you think that stones are gods, it is fitting that you should be dragging stones away.’ (3; trans. Michael Lapidge, trans. The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary [OECS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018], 170–79)
The details about Clement’s undersea church also appear in the Martyrdom of Clement. A Roman commander named Aufidanius executes Clement by throwing him into the sea with an anchor tied around his neck. Two of Clement’s disciples urge the crowd of Christians to pray so that the location of Clement’s body would be revealed to them.
As the people were praying, the sea receded some three miles from the shore. And the people advanced on the dry seabed, and they found a marble dwelling-place prepared by God in the shape of a temple, and they found within it the body of St Clement the bishop, the disciple of Peter, placed in a stone coffin. Thereafter it was revealed to his disciples that they could not take his body away from there; it was also revealed to them that every year on the anniversary of his death the sea would recede, and for seven days would provide a dry path for people coming (to his coffin). (7)
The woman and the child are featured in the Miracles of Clement and repeated in the Golden Legend 170. According to the story, a child was caught by the tide that covers up the tomb every year. When the tide withdrew again a year later, the child’s mother found him alive in the tomb.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Garrison, Edward B. “Revision and Amendment of the Historical Evidence for Dating the S. Clemente Frescoes.” Pages 1–9, 33–36 in vol. 1 of Studies in the History of Mediaeval Italian Painting. 2 vols. Florence: L’Impronta, 1953.
Garrison, Edward B. “Contributions to the History of Twelfth-Century Umbro-Roman Painting.” Pages 21–44, 79–96, 121-45, and 171–97 in vol. 2 of Studies in the History of Mediaeval Italian Painting. 2 vols. Florence: L’Impronta, 1955 (see pp. 173–80).
Mullooly, Joseph. Saint Clement: Pope and Martyr and His Basilica in Rome. 2nd ed. Rome: G. Barbèra, 1873.
Wilpert, Joseph. Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis XIII. Jahrhundert. 4 vols. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herdersche, 1916 (detailed images in vol. 4, pp. 239–40).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Basilica of San Clemente. Includes images of the frescoes and a virtual tour of the fourth-century basilica.
“Saint Clement and Sisinnius Inscription.” Wikipedia.
“San Clemente al Laterano.” Wikipedia.
“St Clement: The Iconography.” Christian Iconography.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 18 September 2023.