The upper band of the south wall concludes the narrative of the Holy Family. Unfortunately, some paintings show damage, with parts of the intonaco missing. Orvietan documents note repainting in the return from Egypt and the Holy Family at the temple. Conservation reports indicate that the artist(s) who did the repainting, probably Il Pastura (c. 1497–99), respected the original composition, per recorded instruction from the Opera del Duomo. Despite some retouching, conservation reports state that the remaining compositions, including the figure arrangements, architecture, landscape, and balustrade, are original to Ugolino.

Even before more celebrated artists such as Fra Filippo Lippi, Masaccio, and Donatello delved into the psychological responses of their figures, Ugolino di Prete lario understood what it meant to paint souls. Although few modern scholars have recognized his gifts, surely, on July 8, 1357, when the Opera del Duomo hired him as the lead painter for a fresco program in the new Cappella del Corporale, they knew and admired his gifts for storytelling and character analysis. The initial contract addresses him by his full name with the title “magister,” which indicates a high level of training, experience, and the competency to orchestrate a complex fresco program.

In the rectangles and the lunettes on the facing upper north and south walls, Ugolino maintains earthbound settings; for better visibility from so far below, he simplifies the compositions and reduces the depths of field. The emphasis shifts from the Marian narrative to Logos, or the Word made flesh, as articulated by John in his first chapter. They also honor two pivotal events in which Mary participated that happened shortly after Christ’s Resurrection, which comprise two of the most important liturgical feasts of the church: the Ascension and Pentecost. Thus, the paintings honor those who predicted, witnessed, recorded, codified, and shared Jesus’s story.

Construction of the Orvieto Cathedral began in the east end, initially in the Italian Romanesque style. Following Nicholas’s death in 1292, despite upheaval in papal succession, work progressed quickly under Bishop Monaldeschi until c. 1300, then paused, due to the succession of bishops and doubts over the stability of the apse. The confusion left recordkeeping gaps regarding the early capomaestri.

In the last two vignettes that fill the upper band on the southeast and south walls, Ugolino, unlike most artists of monumental Christological narratives, devotes as much space to Mary and Joseph as parents to the youthful Jesus as he does to the more familiar events surrounding his birth. Although most artists recount the two biblical events of Jesus’s youth in one composition each, Ugolino expands the sojourn in Egypt into three episodes and Jesus’s visit to the temple into five. Mary’s character progresses from the nurturer of an infant to a brave refugee, teacher, and spiritual guide for young Jesus. As in the Meditations, the paintings characterize her modest circumstances, travails, and vulnerability as marks of valor rather than as signs of weakness.

To adorn sacred spaces with icons, altarpieces, and narrative programs gives viewers reminders of their faith and gave meaning to liturgy and religious rituals. The Virgin is the first and most frequently portrayed subject, and her portrayal evolved with the development of Christian ideas. A brief overview of artistic precedents forms a context for Orvieto’s place in the continuum, notes where their artists innovated, and why they did. It also confirms Orvieto as being a more progressive intellectual and artistic center, with finer and more innovative artists than scholars previously realized.

The Virgin Mary’s fame arises from her unique, God-given position as the Mother of God, a mysterious paradoxical relationship recognized in the early church, as expressed by Ephrem the Syrian. Her pregnancy, which is where her story begins in scripture, is the first of many paradoxes. Unlike barren Hebrew women, such as Sara, Hannah, and Elizabeth, who were married and matronly when they conceived, Mary was youthful and virginal. Moreover, neither scripture nor legend portray Mary as a charismatic leader, such as the Hebrew heroines Esther, Deborah, and Judith. Instead, she leads a chiefly quiet, often contemplative, traditional female life.

As with Giovanni di Bonino’s window and Giotto’s program at Padua, Ugolino’s narrative opens with the legendary story of Mary’s youth, adding one new event. He begins on the lower band of the north wall and moves clockwise (Figures 6.1–6.6). The six scenes honor three Marian feasts: Mary’s Conception (December 8), her Nativity (September 8) and her two Presentations in the Temple (November 21), primarily drawn from the Golden Legend, the Meditations on the Life of Christ, and the texts of two Orvietan dramas for the Conception of the Virgin.