In Apse of Santa Maria, Àneu, how is the Description discussed?
The iconography of the painting is suggestive of the Old Testament through the presence of the prophets in reverential attitudes. In the vault portion of the apse, the Epiphany or Adoration of the Magi is represented, with Mary, Jesus, and the three eastern kings baring gifts.  Wheels of fire from Jehovah’s chariot are depicted in the lower register, conforming to Ezekiel’s vision.  To the right and left are the archangels Michael and Gabriel holding banners and scrolls with the inscription PETICIVS and POSTVLATIVS.  Bordering the central window of the lower zones are two six-winged seraphim, in their hands they hold live coals with tongs which they place in the mouths of two crouching figures. In the left lower zone, there are two tonsured (meaning scalp has been shaved) figures who might be Saints Benedict and Bernard or one of them might be a portrait of a local deacon on account of the realism in the face of the figure.  The theory that these figures are patrons of the church is strengthened by the discovery of similar figures in related frescoes at the monastery of Saint Peter of Berga.  The third archangel, Raphael, does not appear with the others in the semidome but in the lower section.At the bottom is the announcement, the biblical prophecy, represented by means of combined images of the visions of Isaiah and Ezequiel. In keeping with the first, two magnificent seraphim with three pairs of wings each purify the mouth of the
prophets with glowing embers which they are holding with tongs. Next to them are the prophets, represented with their hands together in an attitude of reverence.
At the same time, the seraphim intone the Trisagion, or song of praise to the Lord, represented by the letters SCS, SCS, SCS, which mean ‘holy, holy, holy’. From this moment, the word of the prophets will be the word of God. Beneath the central
window are the wheels of fire of Yahweh’s chariot, described in Ezequiel’s vision, which symbolise the presence of the Lord. On the vault was the Virgin and Child, representing the accomplishment of the prophecies, in the scene from Epiphany,
with two archangels, Michael and Gabriel, patrons of sinners, in a representation very similar to that in the apse from Santa Maria in Cap d'Aran (The Cloisters, New York). A third archangel, Raphael, is represented on the right of the semicylinder,
perhaps as the introducer of the two donor clergymen who appear on the left of the apse.
apse Raphael archangels realism Berga Magi seraphim fresco