The fresco of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste was an extraordinary revelation: it was hidden under a layer of hydraulic mortar, apart from one pictorial element on the vault: a clipeus, a portrait inscribed in a shield-shaped tondo, depicting the praying Virgin.
The work presents a complex representational layout marked by a large, jewelled cross that divides the surface into four sectors within which the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste are represented in groups of ten.
At the lower and lateral ends of the arms of the cross are the praying Virgin and two angels portrayed inside circular spaces, clipei.
At the intersection of the arms there is a fourth clipeus with the bust of Christ Pantocrator.
