Our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi recently visited the abbey of St John in Val Müstair, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, at the extreme east of the country. (The Italian border is only three-quarters of a mile away.) This abbey is well-known to art historians as one of the few places which preserves a substantial amount of fresco from the Carolingian era, although they are not in the best condition, and many parts of the original cycle have been lost, including most of the pictures on the south wall. Their precise date is not certain; the general opinion holds that they date to the first half of the ninth century, a generation or two after the church was built ca. 775. In later phases of the abbey’s history, they were covered over by new layers of fresco, and then later whitewashed, only to be rediscovered during restorations carried out between 1947 and 1951. The church and the attached museum contain a number of other artistic treasures, and there will be at least two more posts on them. Our thanks to Nicola for sharing his pictures with us.
The large tower on the right, which now houses the museum, was built in 960, but gutted by a fire in 1499, and rebuilt by the abbess Angelina Planta, after whom it is now named. The first floor became the store room, the second the refectory, and the third the dormitory.
The painting in the nave are arranged in a regular grid, originally on five levels, showing scenes (in descending order) of the life of David (almost completely destroyed by the lowering of the roof, subsequent to a fire at the end of the 15th century), the early years of Christ, His public ministry, His Passion, and some episodes from the lives of the Apostle and early martyrs. Here we see part of the Passion cycle, Christ before the Sanhedrin, and before Pilate, and the crucifixion of a Saint (possibly the Apostle Andrew.)
The registers above the preceding: second register, the dream of Joseph (mostly destroyed by the insertion of a window) and the Flight into Egypt; third register (badly damaged), the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and the Transfiguration.
Upper register: Christ among the Doctors, and the preaching of John the Baptist; second register, Christ blessing the children, Christ speaking to the women taken in adultery; third register: the Descent into the Limbo of the Fathers, and the woman at the tomb.
A closer view of the same.
Middle register: Christ with Jairus, and the healing of the woman with the issue of blood; in the lower register, the Crucifixion.
The upper part of the preceding, with Herod sending his soldiers to Bethlehem (right), and the Massacre of the Holy Innocents. (Note the much later painting of a Saint, and the Romanesque relief of the Baptism of Christ in the lower part of the wall.)
Christ speaking to John the Baptism; His Baptism, and His meeting with Zacchaeus.
The chasing of the money-lenders from the temple. (Obviously very damaged.)
The late Gothic vaulted ceiling was added at the end of the 15th century, and is decorated with heraldic shields representing Charlemagne, the founder of the abbey, the abbess Angelina Planta, the local bishop (of Chur), and various dignitaries.
The entrance to the abbey complex.
The 10th century bell-tower.
This apsidal chapel, added to the church in the early 13th century, is decorated with a very well preserved cycle of frescos which we will see in another post.
The abbey buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries.
