Trittico Arabo-Normanno

The painting has very strong references to the Arab-Norman art, a Sicilian wonder. After three centuries of Byzantine domination and two centuries of Arab domination here come the Normans whose kings are literally charmed by the Arab architecture. Here is that an extraordinary thing happens: the Norman kings summon the Arab architects and together they elaborate a mixture of styles and cultures giving to the posterity what we today define Arab-Norman art, patrimony of the humanity. Among the most significant monuments we remember in Palermo: the Palatine Chapel, the Martorana church, the  Norman Palace, St. John of the Hermits church . To them are added the cathedral of Monreale and that of Cefalù. In the beautiful Palatine Chapel we admire splendid Byzantine mosaics on a gold background, muqarnas vaults and typically Arab domes as well as geometric designs on lava stone and Romanesque capitals.
The esoteric atmosphere, a mixture of Christian faith and Arab alchemy, pervades the entire history of Sicily between the ninth and twelfth centuries.
The artwork also recalls a sort of goddess of harvest, of abundance.  A 2500 years long history in Sicily since the times of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, to whom were dedicated the Thesmophorae to propitiate precisely the favors and the success of the harvest.

(photo) Cefalù, cathedral facade seen from the square, watercolor, 1843