The Cloister of Sant' Onofrio al Gianicolo

Map

Cloister, Sant' Onofrio al Gianicolo

---

The cloister of the 15th century church of Sant' Onofrio al Gianicolo is home to a series of frescoes illustrating scenes from the life of St Onuphrius.  

The frescoes were painted to celebrate the Holy Year of 1600. From the entrance doorway to the right, the first four frescoes have been attributed to the painter Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640), better known as il Cavalier d'Arpino, and the rest to his pupils Sebastiano Strada and Claudio Ridolfi. The frescoes have captions in Latin and Italian. 

St Onuphrius lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the 4th or 5th centuries. In art, he is depicted naked apart from his long hair and a girdle of leaves.

The arcades of the cloister are made up of a motley collection of ancient columns with 15th century capitals.  

---

A scene from the life of St Onuphrius