Lot Essay
The monastery of San Cosimato was first built in circa 500 AD on the ruins of an old Roman villa. Dedicated to Saints Cosmos and Damien, its first abbot was Saint Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, though it passed into the control of the Franciscan order in 1680, under whose control it remains to this day. The present work was probably executed during Bidauld's Roman sojourn of 1780-1795.