Favorites From Orvieto Cathedral

There's much to appreciate at this cathedral: the overall concept and architecture, the enormous west facade with its gorgeous sculpture and mosaics, the coloring, inside and out, the alabaster and stained glass windows, the chancel frescoes, the two major chapels with their sculptures and frescoes--and chiefly the "new" chapel, with its older frescoes by Fra Angelica and its newer ones, c. 1500, by Luca Signorelli. It is the last to which we always gravitate and linger in. This time, oddly, we had the whole chapel to ourselves for a few minutes. There was much else going on in the cathedral that afternoon. Next post. Again, see http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2017/11/orvieto-2017.html for previous posts on Orvieto and its cathedral.

West facade; best in Italy, for my money

There are lots of zebra churches in Italy, but only one Gothic/zebra; I think

Panning around the major scenes of Signorelli's frescoes: here, "Bad Stuff Happens,"
(my title) wherein bad stuff indeed happens, with Signorelli himself (left) looking on;
center right you have the Anti-Christ assisting Savanarola in addressing the throng

Heaven; the prancing around without (many) clothes looks like fun

These two panels constitute one of the walls; more stuff on the ceiling

Pix of famous (Italian) authors here and there

Opposite wall: Resurrection

Going to Hell

Personal favorite

The whole wall and half ceiling

Some of Fra Angelica's contribution up on the ceiling

What happens when you wear suggestive clothing to the
cathedral

Honoring the artist, Luca Signorelli

Doctors of Wisdom looking on

Now in the opposite chapel, telling the story of how the Doctrine of Transubstantiation
was proven in the 13th century

The relic of the proof is, wouldn't you know, under the table

The very famous "'Atta girl, Mom" mosaic in the chancel