The frescoes on the eastern vault
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.
In the eastern side, closest to the apse, there are twenty-four older men (the Elders) arranged around a circle, while they praise the Mystic Lamb, the symbol of Christ, pictured in the centre of the vault (fig. 1). A little further down in the curtains, in the four parts in the corners of the vault, there are four evangelists sitting next to their respective symbols, painted while they write their own Gospel: Saint Mark with the lion, Saint John with the eagle, Saint Matthew with the angel and Saint Luke with the bull (figs. 3-6).
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.