Dalmasio di Iacopo Scannabecchi
Suffering from a Fever, Gregory Dictates the Dialogues
Second half of 14th century
Fresco
Bardi Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
According to a vita published in the Acta Sanctorum (March vol. 2, 132), St. Gregory composed his three great works, the Cura Pastoralis, Moralia, and Dialogues, while bedridden and suffering greatly from fever. The man feeling his pulse in the fresco is presumably a physician. Since the title given by the church's label indicates he is dictating his Dialogues, the other man may be his amanuensis, St. Peter the Deacon. The three books sit, one of them open, in the bookcase on the physician's left.
As far as I can make out, the inscription on the back wall reads isti sunt libri quos composuit beatus gregorius moralia dyalogos pastor…, "These are the books that blessed Gregory composed: Moralia, Dialogues, Pastor…." The last of those words apparently begins a Latin phrase similar to Liber regulae pastoralis, an alternative name for the Cura Pastoralis.
Apparently the attribution of the fresco to Dalmasio di Iacopo Scannabecchi is not certain. The label in the church says it may be the work of another artist who is known only as "Pseudo-Dalmasio di Iacopo Scannabecchi."
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Read more about St. Gregory the Great.
Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.