Vision of Angels at the Four Corners of the Earth

This fresco by Cimabue in the upper church of San Francesco d'Assisi depicts the apocalyptic vision of angels restraining the four winds at the corners of the earth, drawn from the Book of Revelation. Painted as part of the ambitious transept cycle around 1277, it represents one of the most monumental fresco programs of the Italian Duecento. Cimabue's Assisi frescoes mark a turning point from Byzantine convention toward a more dramatic and spatially coherent narrative painting.

Painted in buon fresco on the curved vault surface, the composition radiates outward from the center with powerful diagonal figures. Cimabue employed bold chiaroscuro modeling and expressive gestures that broke from flat Byzantine formulas, though severe oxidation of the lead-white pigments has reversed many tonal values to a near-negative appearance.