When the oblates of Tor de’Specchi sat down for communal meals in their private refectory, they faced a wall that was completely covered with unappetizing images of Francesca Romana's incessant battles with the Devil and his infernal accomplices. Rather than meditating on a painting of the Last Supper, as was typical in monastic refectories of the period, the Roman oblates chose to dine before ten violent and sexualized frescoes of their founder's struggles against the netherworld of temptation and sin. Each vivid rendering of one of Francesca's nocturnal visions or battaglie was framed in an annotated, life-size panel for better meditation and comprehension, and included depictions of vicious physical assaults amid scenes of hellish depravity. In contrast to the golden light and sky-blue hues of Francesca's heavenly visions painted for the Tor de’Specchi oratory, the refectory visions were rendered in terra verde, a green monochrome technique that encouraged the perception of volume, movement, and shadow. As a result, the jarring refectory frescoes effectively – and eerily – came to life for the oblates who viewed them in their candlelit dining hall as they broke their daily bread (Plate 18).

The hagiographic imagery in the Tor de’Specchi oratory suggests that both patron and artist were aware of, and sought to emulate, recently completed pictorial cycles located in some of the most important papal and ecclesiastical spaces in the city of Rome. During the decades covered in this study, the papal Chapel of Nicholas V was decorated, the Vatican Library was established, the Hospital of Santo Spirito was renovated, and the Sistine Chapel was built and richly frescoed. We have seen that the oratory frescoes at Tor de’Specchi paralleled these projects in scale and ambition by adopting visual motifs related to papal initiatives for reviving the quattrocento city. Several oratory scenes depicting Francesca Ponziani's miraculous works exemplify pictorial conventions for representing hagiographic narratives of saints’ lives. At the same time, they feature local people and places that had practical, everyday significance for the community of oblates, and illustrate parochial events that substantiated the ongoing cause for Francesca's canonization.