If you’ve never heard of Pietro Cavallini (circa 1250–circa 1330), you’re not alone. Yet, in his day, Cavallini was an important and prolific Roman fresco painter and mosaicist who greatly influenced his contemporary, the Florentine Giotto di Bondone (1266/67 or 1276–1337). Giotto’s work is largely known and seen as an important influence for Early Renaissance artists.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, mosaics reigned, and frescoes were considered the poor man’s mosaic. Excellent examples of Cavallini’s mosaics can be seen in St. Mary in Trastevere, Rome, all illustrating the Virgin and just how much the artist was influenced by the classical designs that he “restored” earlier in his career.
In 1308, Charles II, king of Naples, (nephew of King Louis IX of France), invited him to Naples, where he saw the French Gothic style of art and created some frescos in the city’s St. Maria Donna Regina Vecchia.
Few of Cavallini’s frescoes now survive, but one of his most impressive, “The Last Judgment,” can be seen in Rome’s church of St. Cecilia of Trastevere, the site of the saint’s home and eventual burial. Church renovations in the 18th century removed or obscured many of his works, and this fresco was only rediscovered in 1900. Visitors can now see the fresco only by entering a door to the church that takes them to the nuns’ choir, of the adjoining Benedictine Convent.
‘The Last Judgment’
Once part of a large but now lost fresco cycle, Cavallini’s heavenly “The Last Judgment” shows us how his art evolved through the Byzantine style, and it also hints at the more naturalistic art of the Early Renaissance that was to come. According to The Oxford Companion to Art edited by Harold Osborne, in “The Last Judgment,” Cavallini used “a freer interpretation of Byzantine themes and a softer treatment of draperies, the play of light and a certain classical majesty and a sense of space make him a link between antiquity and the revival inaugurated by Giotto.” Giotto echoed the enthroned apostles seen in Cavallini’s “The Last Judgment” in his most famous fresco cycle in the Arena Chapel (Scrovegni Chapel) at Padua, in Italy.In the center of Cavallini’s work, we see the traditional representation of “Christ in Judgment” (a variant of “Christ in Majesty” (Maiestas Domini, in Latin) that has been used in Christian art since the fourth century). Cavallini placed Christ in a “mandorla,” (the Italian word for “almond”), that symbolizes both his divinity and the ethereal event. We can see the wounds on his side, hands, and feet that show his martyrdom and just how much he endured through the crucifixion. A golden halo with a cross encircles his head, again reminding us of his sacred state and his selfless sacrifice.
Almost everyone in the scene is focused on him. Angels from upon high hover at different heights to see him, seemingly indicating the angelic hierarchy and their different heavenly realms. They slightly cock their heads in awe and curiosity. Mary and St. John the Baptist flank the angels (the pair are traditionally seen in the motif). Twelve apostles flank this central group; some hold swords, one a cup, and a couple hold a cross.
Cavallini used mainly red, blue, and gold to paint the scene, colors that have traditionally been used for centuries to depict such holy scenes. Yet rather than the flat figures and almost stoic facial expressions of the time, Cavallini breathed life into each figure. He rendered these figures with emotions and solidity that had not really been seen since ancient Roman art.
For instance, see how he rendered the top-left angelic being (that could be a seraph, a high angel that artists traditionally depict without a body). He used a series of lines to contour the round face, thereby emphasizing its purity—an innocence that we often equate with youth. He completed the expressive angel by giving it an adoring, almost compassionate gaze. In other figures, we can see how he added depth and volume to the robes; in some of the apostles, we can even see the slight round of their stomachs, and in many, we can see how he carefully painted strands of hair.
One has to visit the nuns’ choir to appreciate the whole scene, as church pews obscure the figures that Cavallini painted below Christ. It’s there that we see crowds of people approaching the gates of heaven, and angel musicians triumphantly heralding their arrival. Unfortunately, the camera angle isn’t favorable for photographs.
Traditionally, the congregation would see scenes of the last judgment when leaving the church, as a poignant reminder of their Christian responsibilities and what ultimately awaits them when they leave earth.
