Entrance Portal, Church of Santa Pudentiana, Rome
Doorway: 16th century, restored in 1870
Frieze: 11th century
Fresco of the Virgin and Child by Antonio Manno, 1870
St. Pudentiana is on the left of the lamb, St. Praxedes on the right. Each wears a substantial crown and carries a lamp with a flame at its mouth. The inscriptions make it clear that the lamps refer to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). On the far left and right are SS. Pastor and Pudens. The latter is the father of the two women. The former is the putative author of the two saints' vita edited in the Acta Sanctorum.
Above the frieze is a badly deteriorated 19th-century adaptation of the medieval Throne of Wisdom iconography. The Virgin sits enthroned with the Christ Child on her lap, both of them looking straight out at the viewer. The child holds a book in his left arm; though now faint, the right hand seems to be blessing the viewer. The scene is flanked by the heads of two putti.
The frieze has six inscriptions:
The inscription below the frieze and above the door is S. S. PUDENTI ET PUDENTIANAE DICATUM, "Dedicated to Saints Pudens and Pudentiana."
View this image in full resolution.
Read more about images of Saints Praxedes and Pudentiana.
Read more about Throne of Wisdom iconography.
Photographed at the basilica by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
Data and frieze quotations from the "Santa Pudenziana" page of the Churches of Rome Wiki.