Images: Wikimedia Commons; Renzo Dionigi
Clavis number: ECMA 158
Other descriptors: none
Location: Piazza San Vito, Lentate sul Seveso
Category: frescoes
Related literature: Life and Martyrdom of Stephen
Featured characters and locations: Antiochus (father of Stephen), Jerusalem, Julian (bishop), Perpetua (mother of Stephen), Stephen (martyr).
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: paint on stone
Size: not provided
Date and provenance: the oratory was built in 1369.
Images: forty-three panels in two registers, covering three walls. Fourteen panels are drawn from the Life and Martyrdom of Stephen, the remainder from Acts and accounts of the Invention of Stephen’s relics. Images by Renzo Dionigi (unless otherwise stated). Top register, left to right:
1. The parents of Stephen sit on a bench.
2. The birth of Stephen. Joanna sits up in bed, a nurse holds a bowel of water, and the child sleeps in a rocking bed. And 3. Two men in a church doorway see two devils carrying a swaddled infant. On the right, the devils depart having deposited the infant inside.
4. The adult Stephen is baptized by a deacon as the two men look on, one holding a book from which the bishop reads.
5. Stephen sits on a stool and listens to the two men.
6. Stephen, now an adult, is dressed as a deacon. In front of him stands a bishop. Behind him, a cleric holds a bowl of water and another man looks on.
7. Stephen, dressed as a pilgrim, is sent off by his old teachers who stand in the door of the church. And 8. Stephen arrives at the gates of a city with a drawbridge and greets his parents.
9. Fresco partially damaged. Stephen lifts the demonic baby from its crib. His mother looks on in amazement. The other, damaged, figure is likely Stephen’s father. 10. Lost due to damage. 11. The parents (obscured by damage) kneel before Stephen. Image: Sawyer, Medieval Changeling, p. 158.
12. The father shakes Stephen’s hand while the mother looks on with pleasure. And 13. Stephen heads toward the gates of a new city (Jerusalem).
23. Stephen’s parents sit at table drinking wine with an attendant.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The frescoes are inspired by the account of the Life and Martyrdom of Stephen designated as BHL 7856m. 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 be raised in a monastery. When he reaches adulthood, he is baptized. The Lord reveals to Stephen the tribulations endured by his parents and commands him to return home. Stephen banishes the demon and reveals his identity to his parents. The couple are baptized. Stephen announces to his parents that he must go to Jerusalem and be martyred; they will know he has died when the wine at their table turns to blood.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bianchi, Marcella. “Proposte iconografiche per il ciclo pittorico di Santo Stefano nell’oratorio di Lentate sul Seveso.” Arte lombarda 36 (1972): 27–49, 45–49, 65–70 (includes images and descriptions).
Gasperini, P. “Lentate dul Seveso, Oratorio di S. Stefano.” Pages 89–98 in Studi e ricerche nel territorio della provincia di Milano. Edited by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer and Amalia Barigozzi Brini. Milan: Edizioni La Rete, 1967 (pp. 89–98, figs. 116–24).
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. 4. Iconography of the Saints in the Paintings of North West Italy. Florence: Casa editrice Le lettere, 1985 (images pp. 599–622).
Matalon, Stella. Affreschi lombardi del Trecento. Milan: Silvana editoriale d’arte, 1963 (pp. 388–89, tavv. 182–83).
Pracchi, Valeria, ed. L’oratorio di Santo Stefano a Lentate sul Seveso. Il Restauro. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana, 2008.
Sawyer, Rose A. The Medieval Changeling: Health, Childcare, and the Family Unit. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewe, 2023 (pp. 188–89; colour images reproduced from Renzo Dionigi, pp. 156–59).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Oratorio di S. Stefano.” Lombardia Beni Culturali.
“Oratorio di Santo Stefano (Lentate sul Suveso).” Wikipedia.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 20 April 2024.