Saint Veronica

Located at the foot of the Mount Calvary area – therefore, not exactly at the site of the Holy Sepulchre, like in Jerusalem – this chapel commemorates the episode, described in the apocryphal gospels, of the encounter between Christ and the woman who wipes his face during his ascent to Golgotha. Inside, we are greeted by the statue of the woman, depicted within an altarpiece framed with decorative egg-and-dart moulding, earnestly displaying the cloth (Veronica) which was miraculously imprinted with the bloody face of Christ.

Beneath the statue, a predella, which was added later and is partially damaged, represents the meeting in fieri. Although this piece appears perfunctory and lacks stylistic expression, the predella fully responds to the didactic intention of the depictions at San Vivaldo. In the landscape painted as the background to the main statue, the cypress trees, which are typical of the Tuscan landscape, are easily recognised.