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The Emperor Trajan, in order to form an army to expel the barbarians from his lands, forces the towns and cities of the East to give soldiers. Among them, the two sons of Eustace, who survived the attack of the beasts, are called to fight. The general still does not know that the sons he believes to be dead are part of his legions.
The episode, depicted in the third scene of the third register of the Custody, shows the moment when Eustace rides to the battlefield with his army. The scene unfolds from left to right, with Eustace on horseback in the foreground leading his army towards the enemy through barren countryside. On the left, a horseman enters halfway into the scene, and beyond the captain, a large group of soldiers and marching horsemen raise pikes and a standard, on which the letters S.P.Q.R. are written in gold. The letters are repeated identically on the chest of the wooden statue of Eustace. The strange cap, now black, which follows the banner, was once of shining silver. This is probably a draco, a metal banner, in the shape of a head of a dragon or wolf, used by the Roman army.
As shown in the 1890 photographic documentation, the landscape at that time must have appeared lusher, characterised by leafy trees, later partially covered by the green of the rock face.
In July 2022, the work, together with the three tablets representing Eustace separated from his wife, Trajan appoints Eustace commander of the army, Eustace finds his wife again, was recognised as authentic by officials of the Ministry of Culture and are purchased by the Directorate-General of Museums. After a stop by the Italian Consulate in Cologne, the paintings were transported to Rome by the Roman Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and then delivered to the Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from L’Aquila.
These painted panels were originally part of the wooden doors of a tabernacle that held a statue of Saint Eustace, the patron saint of the parish of Campo di Giove (L’Aquila). Each door was made of two vertical boards with hinges. On the inside, sixteen scenes painted in tempera illustrated key moments in the life of Saint Eustace, from his conversion to his martyrdom, based on the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine. In 1902, the doors were stolen from the church. Later, the panels were cut into individual scenes and sold on the antiques market. Of these, eight belong to the MuNDA, five are part of a private collection, and three are still missing. The sculpture is kept at the Diocese of Sulmona-Valva.
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- V. Mariani, Sculture lignee in Abruzzo, Istituto Nazionale L.U.C.E., Roma 1930.
- I. C. Gavini, Sommario della storia della scultura in Abruzzo, Nicola de Arcangelis, Casalbordino 1932.
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- M. R. Gabbrielli, Inventario degli oggetti d’arte d’Italia, IV, Provincia di Aquila, Libreria dello Stato, Roma 1934.
- G. Kaftal, Iconography of the Saint in Tuscany, Sansoni, Firenze 1952, pp. 356-360.
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- M. Moretti, Il Museo nazionale d’Abruzzo nel Castello cinquecentesco dell’Aquila, L. U. Japadre, L’Aquila 1968.
- V. Orsini, Campo di Giove dai primitivi alla seggiovia, Tipografia Labor, Campo di Giove 1970, pp. 183-192.
- M. Moretti, Guida al Castello cinquecentesco o dell’Aquila e al Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo, L. U. Japadre, L’Aquila 1971.
- M. J. Eisenberg, A late Trecento Custodia with the life of Saint Eustace, in L. Irving (a cura di), Studies in late Medieval and Renaissance paintings in honour of Millard Meiss, I, New York University Press, New York 1977, pp. 147-151.
- M. J. Eisenberg, A late Trecento Custodia with the life of Saint Eustace, in L. Irving (a cura di), Studies in late Medieval and Renaissance paintings in honour of Millard Meiss, II, New York University Press, New York 1977, pp. 47-53.
- L. P. Nicoletti, Il Maestro di Campo di Giove, in G. Agosti (a cura di), Altri quaranta dipinti antichi dalla collezione Alberto Saibene, Edizioni Valdolenga, Verona 2008, pp. 4-25
- C. Pasqualetti (a cura di), Ritorno in Abruzzo: Le storie di S. Eustachio restituite dal Grand Rapids Art Museum, Gruppo Tipografico Editoriale, L’Aquila 2008.
- C. Pasqualetti, scheda opera, in L. F. Porcaroli (a cura di), S.O.S. arte dall’Abruzzo: una mostra per non dimenticare, catalogo della mostra (Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo, Roma, 24 aprile-5 settembre 2010), Gangemi, Roma 2010, pp. 173-174.
- S. Paone, Tabernacoli dipinti e scultura lignea in Abruzzo: il maestro di Fossa e il Maestro del Crocifisso d’argento, in “Studi medievali e moderni”, 15, 2011, pp. 45-68.
- A. Delpriori, Il San Nicola di Monticchio e i tabernacoli monumentali come pale d’altare. Considerazioni sulla pittura e sulla scultura del Trecento, in C. Pasqualetti (a cura di), La via degli Abruzzi e le arti del Medioevo (secc. XIII-XV), Onegroup, L’Aquila 2014, pp. 59-74.
- L. P. Nicoletti, Sulle tracce della Custodia di Campo di Giove. Fortuna critica e di mercato dei frammenti delle Storie di Sant’Eustachio, in C. Pasqualetti (a cura di), La via degli Abruzzi e le arti del Medioevo (secc. XIII-XV), One Group, L’Aquila 2014, pp. 75-86.
- C. Pasqualetti, «Nicola Olivieri della Pietranziera pinxit»: ritorno a Campo di Giove, in C. Pasqualetti (a cura di), La Via degli Abruzzi e le arti nel Medioevo (secc. XIII-XV), One Group, L’Aquila 2014, pp. 105-116.
- L. Arbace, M. Congeduti (a cura di), MuNDA, Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo: storia, testimonianze, restauri, Menabò, Ortona 2020.
C. Pasqualetti, Pittori di confine. Nuove ricerche e scoperte sui trecenteschi ‘umbri’ in Abruzzo, in “Paragone”, s. iii, 149, 2020 (lxxi), pp. 3-20. - C. Pasqualetti, Central Italian “tabernacula”: a survey, in F. Gutièrrez Baños, J. Kroesen, E. Andersen (a cura di), The saint enshrined: European tabernacle-altarpieces, c. 1150-1400, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola de Vallès 2021, pp. 183-230.
Documents
Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di L’Aquila e Teramo, Archivio Storico, b. Campo di Giove, f. Chiesa di Sant’Eustachio.
Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Direzione Generale Archeologia e Belle Arti, v. III, s. II, b. 250, f. 12.
Fondazione Federico Zeri, Fondo Zeri, s. Pittura italiana, b. 123. Pittura italiana sec. XIV. Umbria, Abruzzi, f. 6. Anonimi abruzzesi sec. IVX (inv. foto inv. 31156, 31158; 31162; 31161; 31163; 31164; 31159, 31166, 31167, 31168, 31169, 31170, 31165).
Fondazione Federico Zeri, Fondo Fototeca Everett Fahy, s. Arte italiana, b. Abruzzi-Avignon, f. 4 – Master of Castelvecchio Subequo C.
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