Lay Patronage and the Creation of Papal Sanctity during the Gregorian Reform: The Case of Sant'Urbano alla Caffarella, Rome

Abstract

This article examines representations of papal sanctity in the late eleventh-century wall paintings of Sant'Urbano alla Caffarella. An analysis of these frescoes, which include the earliest known example of the life of Urban I (d. 230), reaffirms that the ecclesiastical environment of the Gregorian Reform influenced the development of new hagiographic imagery. Cults of Early Christian papal martyrs, such as Urban I, were promoted to support the authority of contemporary popes like Urban II (1088-1099). The frescoes in Sant'Urbano, however, were not the product of papal or ecclesiastical patronage; instead, the images were sponsored by two lay donors, who are pictured in the Crucifixion scene. This pictorial program offers an important index of the extent to which reform ideology permeated various levels of society: artistic commissions came not only from high-level ecclesiastics but also from lay members of the community. The wall paintings in Sant'Urbano demonstrate that any concept of an artistic "platform" at the time of the Gregorian Reform must be broadened to include lay commissions. These frescoes, in which private and public themes converge, illustrate that even seemingly peripheral imagery was informed by the ideals espoused by the ecclesiastical reformers.