Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Langobard Queen Gondiberga Founds the Church of Giovanni Domnarum

Carlo Andrea Sacchi

Date

1635

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This etching illustrates a scene from the 600s in Lombardy, today in northern Italy. Queen Gondiberga had been falsely accused of conspiring to poison her husband, the king, who then imprisoned her in a tower for three years. Only when an emissary of another king entreated her husband to put the matter to the “judgement of God” did the king relent, and then only by allowing Gondiberga to choose a champion to fight a duel on her behalf against her accuser. The fight resulted in the accuser’s death and a declaration of Gondiberga’s innocence. She was restored to her palace and all her honors. In celebration, she founded San Giovanni Domnarum, endowing it with vast farmlands and precious ecclesiastical furnishings. Gondiberga appears at the upper left of the frenetic composition. A priest holds documents, perhaps her orders. In the left foreground sits a powerfully built soldier, presumably the champion who fought on her behalf. In the right foreground, a muscular young man steps forward, baring the precious furnishings, two elaborate candlesticks slung over his right shoulder, an aspersorium (holy water container) and perhaps an oil lamp dangling on chains from his left hand. Further to the right, in the background, we see the church’s patron saint, John the Baptist, and his sheep. San Giovanni Domnarum means “St. John of the women, ” an appropriate title since the church was used as a baptistry for women. Europe

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