Vizi e virtù

Cavalcata dei vizi e virtù Salbertrand - Luca Giunti

On the western facade of the Parish Church of Salbertrand, there is a fresco dedicated to the Procession of Vices and Virtues.

This iconographic theme, widespread in the Alpine region during the medieval and Renaissance periods, depicts the Virtues at the top, the Vices in the middle, and the Infernal Punishments at the bottom across three consecutive registers.

The figures of the Virtues, each accompanied by an angel, are very deteriorated.
From the left:
Humility: unreadable
Generosity: extracting money from a bag
Abstinence: unreadable
Chastity: unreadable
Patience: does not react to the mistreatment by a man
Charity: breastfeeding two children
Diligence: sewing and embroidering

In the lower register, seven capital vices appear represented as seven characters chained together, sitting atop symbolic animals, dragged towards the mouth of hell by demons.
Pride: a young nobleman in elegant clothes riding a lion
Greed: a man clutching bags of money in his hands
Gluttony: a portly man on a wolf drinking from a cup and holding a pig's leg
Lust: a disheveled woman holding a mirror, lifting her skirt, riding a goat
Wrath: a man stabbing his chest on a cheetah
Envy: a man with arms crossed over his chest riding a dog with a bone in its mouth
Sloth: a disheveled woman dressed in rags, riding a donkey

In the lower register, the corresponding punishments are now unreadable, with only bare trees and the flames of hell visible.

Vizi e virtù

You might also be interested in...