San Giovenale Triptych [SEP] inception
San Giovenale Triptych
The San Giovenale Triptych or Cascia Altarpiece is a 1422 painting by Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio, housed in a museum behind the church of Cascia di Reggello, in the Roman Pieve of San Pietro di Cascia near Florence, Italy.
This work, discovered in 1961 in a state of poor preservation, in the loft of a house adjacent to the small chapel of San Giovenale two kilometres from Cascia by Juliana Arnetoli. It had allegedly been hidden there before the Second World War to prevent the occupying German army
as those in Jerusalem, Cairo, and Istanbul.
Late-medieval and Renaissance European art displays a fascination with Middle Eastern motifs in general and the Arabic script in particular, as indicated by its use, without concern for its content, in painting, architecture and book illustrations. In his San Giovenale Triptych, the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio copied the full "Shahada", written backwards, on the halo of the Madonna.
Use on flags.
The "Shahada" is found on some Islamic flags.