Genoese area, cycle of the months, fresco, first half of the 13th century, Cloister of the Canons of San Lorenzo
The cycle was found in one of the private rooms of the Canons: on a wall with blue and red lozenges a festoon runs with some months of the year (from January to June) characterized by specific activities and work activi-ties. The importance of the cycle lies in the rarity of the subject, totally pro-fane in character with scenes treated with a summary and fast rendering. The Cycle of the Months can in fact be placed within the first quarter of the thirteenth century, during the great construction site of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.

The large painting depicts a moment of great emotional tension, such as to animate the gestures and faces of the apostles, bewildered at the words of Christ who denounces future betrayal. In this work, coming from the refec-tory of the convent of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Luca Cambiaso takes on Leonardo's lesson of the movements of the soul but also experiences a composition animated by a rational order and a profound search for symmetry, evident in the position of Christ, axis of the composition. Luca Cambiaso enters the scene, on the right of the vast canvas, caught while painfully meditating on what will happen, shortly thereafter, to Christ.

The work is one of the few examples of sixteenth-century Genoese embroidery whose commissioning and history is known. The Fathers of the Mu-nicipality in fact ordered Ottavio Semino sixteen cartoons destined to adorn the canopy of the Corpus Domini procession for which a box was also requested in which the realization was attended by Luca Cambiaso, Bernardo Castello, Perin del Vaga and Ottavio Semino. The precious embroidery, of which the figures of the four Evangelists remain, was entrusted to Francesco de Ursis who made it in painted satin, silk embroidery and embroidery applied for the frames.

The antependium (early twenties of the sixteenth century) is a refined example of the silky artifacts embroidered between the sixteenth and seven-teenth centuries, considered a symbol of wealth and status symbol. Coming from the church of San Benedetto al Porto, it was probably a gift from the Doria family to their parish church. The prestige of the gift is testified by the embroidery technique, in which gold is used in the main scene with the Deposition, as well as in the sumptuous relief decoration of the frame and in the eighteen Bernardine monograms which, like so many suns, embody the name of Christ .

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The polyptych of San Bartolomeo is one of the most important works among those painted by Barnaba da Modena during his long stay in Genoa (around 1360-1383). In the central compartment is shown Saint Bartholomeo, the Apostle of the Indies (in reality his preaching took place in Armenia, Ethiopia or southern Arabia) and recognizable by the knife, symbol of one of his tortures. On the sides there are eight stories taken from the Life of the Saint, within the Golden Legend of Iacopo da Varagine. The work comes from the Abbey of San Bartolomeo del Fossato, between Genoa and Sampierdarena.

Upon his death, in 1336, Cardinal Luca Fieschi - leading exponent of the great Genoese Guelph family - entrusted his will to be buried in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. On his own will, a grandiose sepulcher was built which was to seal his role as Prince of the Church and head of the Fieschi family. Demolished at the beginning of the seventeenth century, part of the fragments have been recomposed in the Diocesan Museum. It is a grandiose funeral complex created by Pisan sculptors and a symbol of the high quality of Ligurian fourteenth-century sculpture.

The hair-comb, coming from the grave goods found during the excavations of the Cloister, is made of bone and has a single row of teeth; in the best preserved part there is a decorative wing motif, on both sides, with carved lines. From some comparisons with other similar objects, and for the essen-tiality of the decoration, it is believed that this comb can date back to the VI-VII century AD.

The Cloister of San Lorenzo is nestled in the heart of the ancient city, between the Cathedral and Palazzo Ducale and was built at the end of the XII century for the canons of San Lorenzo, priests engaged in pastoral service in the Cathedral. The architecture of the building is gathered around a por-ticoed courtyard or cloister, conceived not as an enclosed space but for communication between the different parts. The materials used - marble and Promontory stone - are those typical of Genoese architecture; in addition to the common areas, in the cloister there were the private rooms of the canons, decorated with frescoes and painted wooden floors still present in many parts of the building.