Location in the architectural complex:
Southern Apse
Fresco
Illustrative material:
Materials, palette:
The figures are painted in flesh tones, from dark pink to light pink, beige and white. The contour lines of the figures and the details of the faces and hands are in dark red, brown and yellow. The colors in the background surrounding the figures are green, beige, light yellow, pink and red. The blue color appears in many areas of the painting, mainly in the lower layer, and is therefore not very conspicuous.
Composition:
The original painting occupied the upper conch of the southern apse, 2.5 m in width and 2 m in height. Most of the painted fragments are preserved on the left side of the apse, while in the right half there are only scarce traces of paint. On the base of the analysis of Visible Induced Luminescence (VIL) imaging tracing the evidences of the Egyptian blue pigment in the painting, Linn, Tepper and Bar-Oz managed to reveal the image in the southern apse, otherwise too damaged to be identified. On the basis of this analysis, the authors claim the original wall painting in the apse depicted the scene of Transfiguration with following components: Christ is depicted within a full-body mandorla shining with rays of light in the centre of the composition, with Moses and Elijah at either side (the left figure is still visible while the right one is missing, it is impossible to identify who is who), John is a prostrate figure in the lowest left identified by his name in Greek letters, while Peter appears to be kneeling behind John and (missing) James on the lower right. In the upper border of the apse VIL imaging revealed part of the original decoration which appears as a geometric pattern of parallelograms.
Discussion:
The image of Transfiguration in Shivta has the closest parallel in the apse mosaic of St. Catherine Monastery in Sinai.
Inscriptions