Zusammenfassung / Abstract
This paper recovers from oblivion two mosaic panels preserved at the Teutonic College in Vatican City, originating from the collection established on site by Msgr. Antonio de Waal between the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the two panels is a copy of the face of Saint John Chrysostom represented in the mosaics of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo. The other, portraying a young apostle – Thomas or Philip – is an authentic piece of Palaiologan Byzantine art. Through extensive research, I have identified its original context: the lost apse mosaic of Santa Maria della Valle, popularly known as Badiazza, a monastic church near Messina (Sicily), that fell into ruin during the early modern period. This sensational discovery has allowed me to reconstruct the entire compositional scheme of the apse decoration, which was organized into two gold-ground registers: the upper register featured the Virgin and Child flanked by two winged figures, while the lower one displayed the twelve apostles. The reconstruction of the apse iconography was performed using a 17th century source and two other mosaic fragments showing the faces of mature apostles – one preserved in Messina and the other in Catania. Placido Samperi (1644) records the presence of the Theotokos between winged creatures, accompanied by “Greek letters”. The patron, King Frederick III of Aragon (1296 1337), was rendered at the feet of the Apostle Peter alongside his consort, holding a model of the church in his hand. The fragment in the Regional Museum of Messina likely depicts James the Greater, while the one in the Civic Museum of Castello Ursino probably represents Bartholomew. The fact that Frederick’s son Peter II, who became coregent in 1321, is not depicted with his father (unlike in the central apse mosaic of Messina Cathedral), suggests that the apse decoration of the Badiazza dates to around 1320.