Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni
Madonna and Child with Saints Sebastian and John the Baptist

1416
Fresco
Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista, Urbino, Italy

The Child kisses his mother, as in some Eastern icons. Sebastian is shown as usual, undressed and pierced by arrows. On the right, John the Baptist holds a scroll with the letters quitol – i.e., from his remark in John 1:29, Ecce agnus dei, qui tollit peccata mundi, "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world." Two prophets are pictured in the upper corners: On the left Isaiah holds a scroll with his name; on the right, the scroll is illegible but the first letter seems to be an E – for Ezekiel?

The Salimbenis did most of the artwork in the Oratory. However, the words written along the lower edge of the fresco seem to ascribe this particular fresco to someone else.

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Photographed at the Oratorio by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.