Il sarcofago protobizantino di S. Gervasio a Mondolfo

The abbey church of S. Gervasio di Bulgaria in Mondolfo, Pesaro-Urbino (Marche), first mentioned in 1102, is a building of considerable importance and architectural interest, built along an ancient road in the Cesano valley, in the diocese of Senigallia. Impressive Roman remains, probably of a funerary nature, characterise the site. In the single-column crypt of the building, which dates back to the middle of the 11th century at the earliest, there is an Early Byzantine sarcophagus in Proconnesian marble, an exceptional testimony to the diffusion of works of medium and high quality imported from Constantinople. The sarcophagus, which, according to an early modern tradition, contained the remains of Gervasius, the local patron saint, is well preserved, although damaged on the left edge. There are no clamp holes on the sides; the three clamps on the front are recent. The sarcophagus is a chest sarcophagus (Truhensarkophag) with a sloping roof and acroteria. Three of the faces have cornices, whereas the right face is more hastily worked, but perfectly smoothed. The main front is occupied in the centre by a disc-shaped clypeus with a monumental eight-armed Latin cross monogram (the vertical arm at the bottom extends beyond the circumference of the clypeus). On either side of the monogram are two symmetrical, facing peacocks of elegant proportions and plumage, rendered with realistic intent. However, the design is somewhat rigid, as is also the case with the socalled ‘sarcophagus of the Lambs’ (early 6th century) in S. Apollinare in Classe, which is traditionally considered a fossil guide to the evolution of Mondolfo’s style and a primary comparison for the monogram extending beyond the circumference of the clypeus. On the back of the urn there is a monogram within a ribbon-knotted laurel wreath. The ribbon extends into two wavy lemnisci ending in small ivy leaves. The short sides are decorated with flat relief Latin crosses. The lid is in the form of a smooth, two-pitch roof with massive, undecorated acroteria. Latin crosses are carved on the two slopes and on the tympanum on the right. The motif that decorates the main front of Mondolfo’s sarcophagus, the clypeus with the two peacocks, is often used on the back of 5th century Ravenna sarcophagi. In the Cathedral of Ravenna, it can be seen on the sarcophagus reused for the burial of Bishop Rinaldo da Concoreggio (d. 1321) or on the back (now invisible) of the tomb of Bishops Exuperantius and Maximian. Moreover, the same decorative pattern is applied, for instance, to the late 5th-century urn of Exarch Isaakios (d. 643) in the church of S. Vitale. At the beginning of the 6th century, the gradual abandonment of figurative scenes in favour of a few Christian symbols, under the influence of the fashion of Constantinople, led to a revolution in taste. To understand this radical change, it is enough to look at the fragments of the sarcophagus of Bishop Ecclesius (d. 532), once in S. Vitale and now in S. Maria Maggiore, Ravenna, or the sarcophagus with over-stylised peacocks on either side of a laurel wreath, preserved in the bishop’s palace at Imola. Even the back of the Mondolfo sarcophagus follows the language in vogue in the capital of the Empire, a language that results from an obvious osmosis between funerary sculpture and liturgical furnishings. At the time, this trend can also be seen in Ravenna, where a large number of slabs and plutei continued to be imported from Constantinople to meet the needs of the local market. Compared to other sarcophagi from the same period, the Mondolfo sarcophagus has very simplified and linear ornamentation. According to Johannes Kollwitz, this indicates a phenomenon of ‘provincialisation’ compared to the Ravenna and Constantinople models. Moreover, in the 1950s it was thought that the sarcophagus was the work of artists from Ravenna who had carved it on site (de Francovich). On the contrary, a close analysis of the artefact today leads to the conclusion that it is in fact an object that was imported from Constantinople to Ravenna in a semi-finishedstate. It was then given its finishing touches in the workshops of the Adriatic city, where sculptors who were well acquainted with the fashion of the capital were at work. A dating of the Mondolfo sarcophagus can be based on definite considerations. Firstly, the stylistic affinity with the early 6th-century ‘Sarcofago degli Agnelli’ from Classe. Secondly, while it is true that the peacocks on the Mondolfo sarcophagus are very reminiscent of those on the sarcophagi of the previous generation, it is also true that the sculptors were inspired by that retrospective desire that characterises much of the glyptic art of the early Justinianic period. Also noteworthy is the style of the relief, which becomes lower and lower, an irreversible process that will lead to works such as the sarcophagi of Bishop Ecclesius or Imola mentioned above. It is not easy to explain the presence of the sarcophagus in Mondolfo, in the Cesano valley. We can imagine that it was brought from Ravenna to Mondolfo when the church of S. Gervasio (early medieval?) was rebuilt in Romanesque style in the 11th century. The many interests of the Ravenna Benedictine monastery of S. Apollinare in Classe in the area of the Cesano Valley could explain the precious ‘gift’ of the sarcophagus to the smaller abbey of Mondolfo.