Image: de Gaiffier, “La nativité de Saint Etienne,” tav. I.
Clavis number: ECMA 160
Other descriptors: none
Location: Vicolo dei Ferri, Tivoli
Category: frescoes
Related literature: Life and Martyrdom of Stephen
Featured characters and locations: Antiochus (father of Stephen), Cilicia, Julian (bishop), Perpetua (mother of Stephen), Stephen (martyr).
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: paint on stone
Size: not provided
Date and provenance: the church was consecrated in the 11th/12th century, though the building itself was constructed in the fifth. The inner chapel of Stephen, with its cycle of the legend of Stephen was added in the fourteenth century.
Images: not available online. The following are from Kaftal, Saints in Italian Art, 1:1057–72.
1. The parents of Stephen pray for a child.
2. While the mother is asleep, the devil takes away
the newborn child and replaces it with a demon, who is attended by two servants.
3. Stephen is nursed by a doe, with the assistance of a female servant of the bishop and another attendant.
4. On left Stephen listens to the teachings of the bishop. On right, an angel instructs Stephen to begin his missionary journey.
5. Stephen preaches to a crowd in front of a city. An idol falls from the walls.
6. Stephen heals a man on a stretcher while another man looks on.
7. The final image (pictured in the full cycle above) is damaged. Only the figure of Stephen is visible.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The frescoes are inspired by the account of the Life and Martyrdom of Stephen designated as Latin A. In this version, Stephen’s parents are aged and pray for a child. The child is replaced in the cradle by a demon. Stephen is taken to a monastery where he is nursed by a doe and handed over by the bishop Julian to a Jewish nurse. In the monastery he is instructed in the Jewish law. When he reaches adulthood, an angel appears and tells him to preach in Cyrene, Cilicia, Alexandria, and Asia. There he raises a dead man to life, leading to many becoming believers. The final, damaged image may depict Stephen’s return home and defeat of his demonic replacement.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gaiffier, Baudouin de. “La nativité de Saint Etienne: à propos des fresques de Tivoli.” Atti e memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia d’Arte 41 (1968): 105–12, tav. I.
Pacifici, Vincenzo. “La scoperta di alcuni affreschi trecenteschi e la leggenda di S. Onofrio.” Atti e memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia d’Arte 9–10 (1929–1930): 285–99, pl. XV; 12 (1937): 250, pls. II–IV (erroneously identified as a life of Saint Onofrio).
Pacifici, Vincenzo. “La Chiesa di S. Stefano nella ricostruzione.” Atti e memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia d’Arte 20–21 (1940–1941): 247.
Pacifici, Vincenzo. “Relazione sulla scoperta di vari affreschi dei secolo XIII-XV. La Chiesa di Santo Stefano (ai Ferri).” Atti e memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia d’Arte 16 (1936): 51–89.
Bianchi, Marcella. “Proposte iconografiche per il ciclo pittorico di Santo Stefano nell’oratorio di Lentate sul Seveso.” Arte lombarda 36 (1972): 27–32, 45–49, 65–70 (see p. 30).
Kaftal, George. “The Fabulous Life of a Saint.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 17 (1973): 295–300.
Kaftal, George. Saints in Italian Art. Vol. 1. Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting. Florence: Casa editrice Le lettere, 1985 (images, pp. 1057–72).
Petrocchi, Massimo. “Un centro di cultura romanico-gotica a Tivoli.” Atti e memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia d’Arte 37 (1964): 181–87.
Sawyer, Rose A. The Medieval Changeling: Health, Childcare, and the Family Unit. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewe, 2023.
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“La Chiesa di S. Stefano ai Ferri.” ArcheoTibur.
“Ex-Chiesa di S. Stefano ai Ferri – Case Torri: nucelo Nascosto di Medioevo.” Tivoli in Code. Posted 4 March 2015.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 6 May 2024.