St. Nicholas
Circa 1180
Mosaic
Crypt, Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta
Aquileia, Italy
This fresco follows Eastern iconography, in which St. Nicholas is represented wearing an omophorion, a wide band of cloth decorated with crosses that is worn by Orthodox bishops. The absence of crosses in this image suggests that the artist was not entirely familiar with the iconography of his model. The high, furrowed brow is another feature of Eastern images of this saint, as are the blessing hand and gospel book (Impelluso, 308).
According to Tavano (197), opinions range widely as to when in the 12th century the crypt frescos should be dated, but most agree on a date around 1180.
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Photographed at the basilica by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.