Noah's Nakedness
12th-13th century
Mosaic
Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily
In Genesis 9:20-23 Noah becomes a farmer and plants a grapevine. The wine from the grapes makes him drunk and he falls asleep "naked in his tent" although the mosaic puts him outdoors with the wine jug at his side. When Ham sees his father in this condition, he shows him to his brothers, who avert their eyes and cover Noah with a cloak. Except for the missing tent, the image follows the text very closely.
The inscription is hic ostendit cam verenda patri ebrii fratribus, "Here Ham shows his father's shame to his brothers."
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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.