This fresco shows the first apparition of Christ after his Resurrection. Frescoes are more common than altarpieces, and art theorist Cennini writing in the 15th century called them ‘the most beautiful art there is’. Unfortunately, due to their fragile nature and the architectural alterations that have been carried out in many churches, very few mediaeval frescoes have survived. This fresco has been truncated to make room for a window aperture.

Fresco painting requires great expertise because the paint is applied to freshly laid lime plaster, a mixture of lime and sand, that must be kept cool and moist. For important frescoes the painters collaborated with the plasterers to prepare fresh areas to be worked on each day. The pigments mixed with limewash merged with the plaster and as the plaster set, the painting hardened into a crust and became an integral part of the wall.