Italy, Rome, Tor de' Specchi: Francesca heals man with diseased leg
ID
 
59
 
Original Country
 
Italy
 
Region
 
Lazio (Latium)
 
Creator
 
Antoniazzo Romano and workshop
 
Creator Role
 
attributed creator
 
Sorting Title
 
Italy, Rome, Tor de' Specchi: Francesca heals man with diseased leg
 
Subject
 

One of 27 frescoes depicting the life, miracles and visions of NULL. This image depicts a miracle performed by Santa Francesca. A man named Gianni called for her help when surgeons decided to amputate one of his legs due to a serious infection. She applied ointment to the leg and it suddenly healed. In the left section of the composition, Santa Francesca gestures toward Gianni who lies in bed with his leg exposed; his bandages are below the bed. At the right of the composition, Gianni kneels to the Saint outside the doors of her convent.

 
Creation Date
 
1468
 
Century
 
15th
 
Style Genre
 
Renaissance
 
Work Type
 
manuscript
 
Format Medium
 

fresco

 
Original Location
 

Tor de' Specchi

 
Historical Context
 

This is part of a series of 27 frescoes lining the fifteenth-century Cappella Vecchia (Old Chapel) of the Tor de'Specchi (Tower of Mirrors) convent that depict the life, miracles and visions of Santa Francesca Romana. Nicknamed Ceccolella, Santa Francesca Romana (Francesca Bussa de' Ponziani, 1384-1440) founded this Benedictine Order of oblates while a wife and mother of six children. She was the daughter of Paul and Jacobella Bussa and married Roman nobleman Lorenzo de Ponziani at the age of thirteen. She established the convent in 1425 in an old house called the Tor de'Specchi at the foot of the Capitol. The Order was formally founded in 1433 under the guidance of the Olivetan monks of Santa Maria Nova (later called Santa Francesca Romana). Santa Francesca Romana entered the house herself in 1436 after her husband died and lived there until she died in 1440. She was canonized in 1608.

 
Descriptive Notes
 

The tenth-century church of Santa Francesca Romana (Santa Maria Nova) is in the ruins of the Temple of Amor and Roma, between the Basilica of Maxentius and the Arch of Titus in the Forum Romanum in Rome. Santa Francesca Romana is buried in the crypt of the church which was designed by Bernini. She is the patron saint of motorists.

Originally called Santa Maria Nova, it is inside the Roman Forum.

 
Current Repository
 

Tor de' Specchi,Rome, Italy

 
Image of Italy, Rome, Tor de' Specchi: Francesca heals man with diseased leg.