Le decorazioni della parete orientale della cripta di S. Cecilia a S. Callisto. Riletture e nuove acquisizioni

The Crypt of St. Cecilia in Area I of the Catacomb of St. Callistus features a complex palimpsest of decorations, much of which awaits proper study and dissemination. These are concentrated especially on the eastern wall of the chamber, where the venerated tomb of the Saint is found. The analysis of the wall, aided by some simple techniques commonly used in art diagnostics, made it possible to detect at least nine different layers of decorations in this area of the crypt, distinct from one another both in terms of size and substance (in addition to painted plaster, fragments of mosaics and opus sectile can be found) and to lay the foundations for a re-examination of the different decorative phases occurring within the crypt over centuries. The second part of the study is dedicated to the analysis of evidence relating to a little-known painting phase in the site of the early medieval period. This is comprised of two fragments of paintings that are part of a presentation scene that has Saint Cecilia as the hypothetical protagonist, with a bust of Christ hovering in the sky accompanied by a painted inscription, preserved respectively in the north-eastern corner of the room and above the portal connecting it with the adjacent Crypt of the Popes. These fragments testify to the existence of a series of paintings dedicated to the martyr already between the late 6th and early 7th centuries, that partially overlapped an earlier mosaic on the wall at that time, sparing only the section adjacent to the tomb. This section was in turn only updated around the second half of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th century by a panel containing the figure of the Saint in the orans position.