By an unknown painter from central Italy, it decorates a chapel of the cathedral and represents the genealogy of Christ and Saint Leonard
The fresco, which is located in the fourth chapel on the right of the Venafro cathedral, was found during the restoration of the 1960s, under layers of plaster that had entirely covered it. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse, a frequent motif in medieval Christian art, is taken from some verses of Isaiah and presents the genealogy of Jesus starting from Jesse, father of King David. On the wall to the left of the Tree, in figurative continuity with it, is painted Saint Leonard, to whom the chapel is devoted. Even the hill on which the Venafro cathedral stands is dedicated to the saint from Limoges. He is represented standing, holding long chains in his hands, a symbol of prisoners, of whom Leonardo was considered the protector.
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Affresco dell'absidiola sinistra
L’affresco, che è collocato nell’absidiola sinistra della cattedrale di Venafro, fu commissionato nel 1458 da Cristoforo Mancino per commemorare la moglie defunta, Covella d’Alferio di Castelpetroso.
Reused outside the central apse of the Cathedral, and placed between two Ionic friezes, based on the typological characters it can be dated to the third quarter of the 1st century BC
Due dei blocchi del fregio, decorato da un tralcio acantino, furono reimpiegati all’esterno dell’abside centrale della cattedrale, e altri due, non contigui, nell’abside sinistra
Famiglia di primissimo piano, ampiamente radicata nel patriziato d’Isernia fin dal XIII secolo, fondò il proprio successo sull’esercizio del diritto al servizio della Corona.
I Mancino furono una delle famiglie più importanti del patriziato venafrano nei secoli XV e XVI, la cui presenza è però attestata in città almeno dalla metà del Trecento, con il medico Angelo