La “neghittosa matassa d’oro”: il trittico del Salvatore nella cattedrale di Tivoli

The triptych kept in the Tivoli cathedral is the oldest copy of the acheropita icon of the Savior preserved in Rome in the Sancta Sanctorum. The painting was variously dated by scholars between the last decades of the 11th century and the middle of the 12th century. The comparison with roman mural paintings and illuminated manuscripts and the reconstruction of the historical events that affected the city of Tivoli, however, suggest that the painting was carried out in the second quarter of the twelfth century, at the time of Bishop Guido. Through an examination of the iconography of the triptych this study also proposes a new interpretation of the scene painted on the right shutter, traditionally identified as "The last sermon of St. John the Evangelist".