Antique & Vintage Postcards

Emerging from the shadowed apse of Santa Maria della Verità in Viterbo, this rare photographic reproduction captures Lorenzo da Viterbo's luminous 15th-century fresco cycle depicting the Marriage of the Virgin — one of the most significant Renaissance frescoes in Lazio, painted circa 1469 and long overshadowed by Florentine fame. The panoramic composition stretches across the card's full width: a High Priest joins hands with a veiled, ethereal Mary at left while a procession of richly robed male witnesses — rendered with startling portraiture-like individuality — extends rightward, their fur-trimmed cloaks and broad velvet hats placing them firmly in quattrocento Viterbo. The reverse, blank of postage, bears the publisher's imprint of Cartoleria Virgilio Gattamorta of Viterbo and a penciled dealer's notation "25¢-c." Close-up detail images reveal the fresco's remarkable condition of painted surfaces and the card's slightly worn corners. An excellent scholarly or art-collector piece representing a largely unsung provincial master.