Hidden for centuries behind the wooden choir, this fresco came to light only following the church’s restoration works, giving visitors back one of the most elegant and best-preserved works in the entire building.
The composition depicts two putti — the typical cherubic figures of the Renaissance tradition — arranged symmetrically on either side of an architectural aedicule painted with extraordinary care: columns, entablature and a gilded arched pediment faithfully imitate the forms of classical architecture, creating a refined trompe-l’œil effect. The two green and red drapes that open like a stage curtain above the scene lend the composition a sense of theatrical solemnity.
At the centre of the aedicule, a real niche opens in the wall, on whose cornice the Latin inscription OLEUM INFIRMORUM — “Oil of the Infirm” — is still legible. This is an ancient armarium, a small recess built into the masonry where the blessed holy oils used in the liturgy for the anointing of the sick were kept.
The style of the fresco, with its decorative lightness and mastery of painted architectural forms, clearly evokes the Renaissance period, in a continuous dialogue between art, devotion and the liturgical life of the community of Sermoneta.
