The other frescoed walls
The painting cycle of the church of San Nicola di Trullas currently extends in the apsidal part, along the vault and arch, on the surface of the two cross vaults and finally on the arches against the side walls, the apse wall and the counterfacade.
The front part of the arch against the apse has a floral and plant motif decoration, in the colours of white, blue and brown, colours that are repeated throughout the paintings, together with yellow, ochre and green. Other geometric and floral patterns, mostly palm leaves, in ochre and red, can still be find in the corners and abutments of the cross arch, in the north and south wall; here the decorations reach almost to the floor (fig. 1).
Along the lower part of the apsidal arch and along the northern wall, there are still traces of a “velarium”, i.e. an awning, in ochre, with yellow pleats, decorated with a quadrilobate in the centre and red bands on the lower edge (figs. 2-3).
Bibliografia
- R. CORONEO, R. SERRA, Sardegna preromanica e romanica, Milano 2004, pp. 103-110.
- R. SERRA, In figura Christi. Storie della salvezza nella pittura e nella scultura romaniche in Sardegna, in Studi in onore di Ottorino Pietro Alberti, Cagliari, 1998, pp. 121-141.
- R. SERRA, Gli affreschi romanici della chiesa di San Nicola di Trullas a Semestene, in Medioevo: i modelli, atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Parma 27 settembre - 1° ottobre 1999), a cura di A. C. Quintavalle, Milano, 2002.
- R. SERRA, San Nicola di Trullas, in Sardegna preromanica e romanica, a cura di R. CORONEO e R. SERRA, Milano-Cagliari, 2004.
- A. VIRDIS, San Nicola di Trullas. Gli affreschi, Roma 2014.
VR