Miracles of Christ on the Panels at Aquileia, Barbana and Udine

This paper focuses on five early medieval relief carvings from a single monument which can today be seen at different locations in the Italian province of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Three fragments are at the Museo Cristiano in Aquileia and they depict partially preserved scenes involving Christ, which have not been identified with certainty. The panel at the Marian sanctuary on the island of Barbana shows Christ addressing two men while that at the Diocesan Museum in Udine illustrates two consecutive scenes which have been interpreted as Christ’s meeting with Mary and Martha. There is uncertainty about the date of the panels with Carlo Gaberscek opting for the tenth century at the latest and Maurizio Buora arguing for the eleventh. This paper will re-examine the scenes on the panels in order to establish if they make a narrative cycle. It will also present comparative visual models, address the issue of the panels’ date and investigate where they had originally stood.