Ancient Paintings of Apostles Discovered by Archaeologists - June 24, 2010

Archaeologists believe they have discovered the oldest paintings of the faces of four of Jesus’ apostles. Using laser technology the images were discovered in a branch of the catacombs of St. Tecla near St. Paul’s Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome.  They have been dated to the end of the 4^th or beginning of the 5^th century.

According to experts, the paintings may be among those that influenced later artist’s depictions of the apostles.  Professor Fabrizio Bisconti, head of archaeology for the Vatican owned and maintained catacombs, said “these are the first images that we know of the faces of these four apostles.”

Although the frescoes were known, they were covered with a thick patina of powdery calcium carbonate, the result of high humidity and lack of air circulation.  The restoration project started two years ago but results were only announced this past Tuesday. 

Barbara Mazzei who headed the project said “We took our time to do extensive analysis before deciding what technique to use.”  She explained how a laser was used as an “optical scalpel” to make the calcium carbonate to fall off without damaging the paint.  “The laser created a sort of a mini explosion of steam when it interacted with the calcium carbonate to make it detach from the surface,” she said.

What they discovered were four circles, about 50 centimetres in diameter, on the ceiling of the underground burial place of a noblewoman who was believed to have converted to Christianity at the end of the same century that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.  Within the circles were full-face icons of the apostles Peter, Andrew, John and Paul.  The paintings have the same characteristics as later images, such as St. Paul’s rugged, wrinkled and elongated forehead and balding head and pointy beard, indicating they may have been the ones which set the standard.

Professor Bisconti explained that older paintings of the apostles show them in a group, with smaller faces whose details are difficult to distinguish. “This is a very important discovery in the history of the early Christian communities of Rome,” said Mr. Bisconti.

What had been blurry and opaque slowly became stunning in their clarity.  Wrinkles can be seen on Paul’s forehead and the whiteness of Peter’s beard has reappeared. Ms. Mazzei said “It was very, very emotional to discover this.”  She continued “As far as paintings inside catacombs go, we are used to very faint paintings, usually white, with few colours. In the case of the St. Tecla catacombs, the great surprise was the extraordinary colours. The more we went forward, the more surprises we found.”

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