B - THE RIGHT SIDE WALL: THE LIFE OF JESUS

For a logical reading, we're starting from the choir to return to the main door.

The Baptism of Jesus. Painted by Le Perugino. The main stage is represented at the centre: Jesus is baptized in the waters of the Jordan by his cousin, Jean the Precursor, clothed with beast skin. The Holy Spirit, symbolized by a dove, then descended on him, under the gaze of God the Father inserted into a circle representing perfection. On the right, Jesus is a little above a group that listens to him preaching. On the right, it is Jean Baptiste who says that it is not he to hear, but «The one who comes».

The Temptations of Jesus. Painted by Sandro Botticelli. Christ appears four times on this fresco and is symbolized by a fifth stage. At the top, on the left, Satan disguised as religious seeks to try Jesus. Having failed, he found himself in the middle, on the temple of Jerusalem represented in the form of a hospital that the Pope had just built. Having failed again, he takes Jesus to the top of the mountain, but his last attempt is a failure; He discovers and runs away. In his purity by the angels, Jesus now appears left. First, the representation of a ritual sacrifice, the figure of a great priest, probably Melchisédec, is a symbol of Christ who is priest, prophet and king.

The Vocation of the Apostles. Painted by Domenico Ghirlandajo. The painter represented Jesus, choosing twice the apostles. On the top left, he calls Pierre and his brother André, just fishermen. He gives them his blessing in the foreground, where we see the apostles on his knees. These are the same as he takes to his suite, and they are found all three on the right bank, talking to John and Jacob, who follow Christ by letting their father, Zébédée, escape his oars.

The Sermon on the Mountain. Painted by De Rosselli. Jesus, in the middle, surrounded by the twelve apostles, descends from the mountain. In the foreground, always accompanied by his disciples who, sitting or standing, listen to his speech on the mountain in which he sets out the Beatitudes. The crowd on the left is amazed. Likewise, another crowd, on the right, expresses admiration for the healing of a lepers that Jesus also achieved in descending a mountain.

The Handing Over of keys to Pierre. Painted by Le Perugino and Luca Signorelli. The main stage is a representation that does not really exist in the Gospels. Indeed, if it is in Pierre that he claims to want to base his Church and to whom he gives the power to bind and surrender, no key has ever been exchanged in the Scriptures. On the left, we guess the scene that pits the pharisees to Jesus, in which he will reply: «Give unto Caesar what amounts to Caesar and God what comes to God. He therefore escapes what is represented on the right: stoning. On the right, the painter paid tribute to Giovanni de Dolci, architect of the Sistine Chapel, which saw him with a hand by hand, in conversation with Baccio Pontelli who holds a compass, and who built the chapel.

The Supper. Painted by De Rosselli and Biagio di Antonio Tucci. Sat, the twelve apostles share the bread and wine that Christ offers them, in the beginning of the sacrifice of his death that he will deal with a few hours later. The apostles are under discussion, probably evoke Easter and the agitation of Jerusalem. All are on the same side of the table, Jean on his left and Peter on his right, except Judas, who is in front of him. The nimbes are significant: Jesus wears a spring halo, the apostles a golden disc and Judas un unity under the action of Satan, which is represented in his neck. The three scenes in the background represent the prayer of Jesus to Gethsemane, the arrest of Christ and his crucifixion on Mount Golgotha, in the middle of the two oysters. John supports Mary, fainted.