Isaiah

myminifactory

  This high-relief together with the Annunciation and Saint John the Baptist was perhaps designed for the west front of the church. On the relief of the Annunciation, the Virgin is seen in handing a distaff to a servant. This motif taken from St James’ Gospel was very popular in Byzantine Italy. The scroll held by Isaiah one of the three great prophets of the Old Testament, recalls one of his predictions: “there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse”. A careful examination of the original work made in 1956 at the request of the museum revealed traces of polychromy.