St. Mary of Egypt

9th century
Fresco
Palazzo Massimo, Rome

The museum's label identifies this fresco as St. Mary of Egypt. It is quite rare to portray that saint in an intact gown. In the Golden Legend, when the monk Zosimus first sees her she is naked and asks him to give her his mantle. But in most images her nakedness is covered only by voluminous hair or by a loose mantle that falls from one shoulder. The scroll is even more unprecedented.

Read more about St. Mary of Egypt.

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