
The Church of Sant'Agostino Maggiore in Norcia is one of the many monuments that collapsed during
the earthquake of 2016, as can be seen in the last picture.
I had work there with my team for many months, in the year 1989, and the fresco
presented here is only one of the many paintings I had restored in this Church.
In this niche, a Madonna and Child, Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Claudio and the Coronation of the Virgin on the are depicted.
In the cartouche there is the date, 1497, but it is hard to spot the entire name of the painter, of which only the name
Giovanni Battista can be read, who is perhaps the brother of Giacomo Giovannofrio,
who signed the frescoes on the other side of this wall in 1512.
Archival surveys have made it possible to clarify the identity and the rank
of the patron: it is Perus Hiovannes Verrutii, a wealthy cattle trader
and as such a devotee of Saint Anthony.
He is kneeling at the feet of the
Saint Patron of farm
animals.



