The story of Sorore

The Story of Sorore

According to the hospital's payment books, in 1441 Lorenzo di Pietro called il Vecchietta received a payment for the creation of a fresco that today is located to the left above the hospital's side door, in the direction of the wards of Sant'Ansano and San Galgano. The fresco, rich in figures and architectural details, is considered one of the most complex of the entire cycle. The scene depicts an architectural structure that recalls triumphal Roman arches, with a three-aisled perspective with ribbed groin vaults supported by fluted pillars. On the façade, two metopes represent Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, influenced by classical sculpture. The main scene shows a seated figure and a person kneeling before it who is recounting a vision or a dream. Behind them a ladder leads children toward the Virgin. Under the portico, on the right, two figures are shown together with a child in the act of giving and receiving a monetary donation. Sorore wears the habit of the hospital oblates and in the figure opposite him is a canon of the cathedral. It is a fresco rich in complex meanings; its focal point is the ladder, intended to be a symbol of the hospital structure, but a ladder that is also a symbol of Jacob's vision and a symbol of redemption. The reference to the hospital vocation is evident in the scene under the portico in which an oblate or Sorore himself receives a donation from a canon while a child draws attention to it. Scholars have interpreted the scene in which the account of a vision by a simple hospital oblate was recognized as a reference to a founding myth. The group of elders on the right side has been identified as representatives of the Orthodox Church engaged in the Council of Ferrara–Florence. The figure in the background with a helmet is Sigismondo, who was present in Siena around 1432–1433.