The Star of the Basilica: A critical reinterpretation of a visual allegory (1777-1791) (original) (raw)

The Making of an Icon: The Madonna Bruna del Carmine in Naples (13th-17th Centuries), in Saints, Miracles and the Image. Healing Saints and Miraculous Images in the Reinassance, Sandra Cardarelli and Lara Fenelli eds., Turnhout: Brepols, 2017, pp. 229-249.

Saints, Miracles and the Image. Healing Saints and Miraculous Images in the Reinassance, Sandra Cardarelli and Lara Fenelli eds., Turnhout: Brepols, 2018, pp. 229-249.

The icon of the Madonna Bruna del Carmine is the most famous cult image in Naples. Its immense devotional status has earned it a place on the high altar of the fourteenth-century Carmelite church situated in Piazza Mercato, the bustling hub of Neapolitan social and economic life for more than seven centuries. Venerated as miraculous since the sixteenth century, its prodigious healing powers have continued to inspire the devotion of all social classes. The icon as we see it today is an enigmatic artefact. Its format and iconography testify to medieval origins, while its current appearance dates to 1975 when the overpainting of earlier restorations was removed, and it was almost entirely repainted. This article hypothetically reconstructs the material history of the Madonna Bruna del Carmine and explores the social dynamics that gave rise to its veneration. A close examination of the painting and its restorations allows a better understanding of the icon’s history, style, and iconography. The possible dating to c. 1280 links the icon to the early history of the church and convent of Santa Maria del Carmine in Naples. Founded in 1270, the church was rebuilt at the beginning of the 1300’s but its importance in the city emerged in the second half of the 1400’s when it was incorporated into the city walls, became the seat of public rituals and a destination of civic processions, as well as a privileged site for artisans' city guilds. Textual and visual sources testify to the events that determined the affirmation of the icon as a cult image in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it became a formidable tool of propaganda and social control.

The iconography of The Coronation of the Virgin in Late medieval Italian painting. A case study. La iconografía de La Coronación de la Virgen en la pintura italiana bajomedieval. Análisis de casos

2013

Abstract: This paper aims to highlight the artistic and conceptual relevance acquired by the iconographic theme of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy during the Late Middle Ages. To achieve this goal we analyzed twenty-seven Trecento and Quattrocento paintings, with the purpose of discovering in them the more or less innovative compositional formulas proposed by these artists, as well as the possible literary sources that inspired them. From the formal perspective we have discovered three different iconographic types, which complement themselves mutually, as progressively complex variations of a similar basic structure. From the conceptual perspective we could also specify that these three different iconographic types of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy are inspired directly in specific comments by some Church Fathers and medieval theologians. Keywords : Medieval Art, Marian iconography, Coronation of the Virgin, Trecento , Quattrocento , theological sources. Resumen: E...

The Visual Narratives of El Greco, Annibale Carracci and Rubens: Altarpieces of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the Early Modern Age

2009

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary has been regarded as a normative subject of post-Tridentine altarpiece production. Yet it is actually a complex pictorial allegory that comments upon an archaic tradition of Christian narratives and its intersection with Marian devotion. The Assumption of the Virgin Mary belongs to a tradition of devotional images in which the Eucharistic meaning is the preferred means for furthering narrative ideas. The deeper meaning of the Assumption altarpiece becomes apparent in the light of the following points, demonstrated repeatedly throughout the study: 1) altarpieces of the Assumption represent a Marian subject informed by narrative liberty, not views of iconography and Tridentine history 2) their imagery is largely based upon visual narratives associated with the historical imagination of the painter 3) they disallow the pre-eminence of the classical model and incorporate other models derived from a resemblance to Byzantine icons and Northern prints 4) they are analogous to icons, essays praising truthfulness and inwardness which operate to convey complex pictorial ideas in narrative adaptations. The first chapter evaluates the narrative source of El Greco's altarpieces from Toledo. The medieval past of Toledo fused with the Byzantine tradition in an altarpiece form for which parallels are rare in the modern age. The second chapter examines Annibale Carracci's main Assumption altarpieces and a selection of related paintings. For Annibale Carracci, the original setting at the high altar safeguards the Eucharistic meaning of his Assumption narrative and in turn shapes the narrative link with the adjoining altarpieces. The third chapter involves the Northern devotional print as a narrative outset of Federico iii Zuccari's and Rubens' altarpieces. Their narrative solutions negotiate complex pictorial allegories and further the claim for truthfulness of representation inherent in the print.

The Gap between Text, Image and Ritual as Iconological Problem. Two Examples from the Adriatic Coast (with Giuseppe Capriotti)

IKON. Journal of Iconographic Studies, vol. 7, Rijeka, 2014, pp. 167-180.

Through the discussion of two practical “case studies”, the authors deal with a classical theme of the iconographical studies, that is the complex relationship between text and image. The two examples explain in particular how the “intention” of the artist or patron, and so the deeper meaning of the pictures, are not revealed by the exact correspondences between text and image, but emerge mainly from the recognition of the differences. Often this gap between text and image can be originated from the liturgy or can be explained by the links with ritual practices, in which the pictures are involved. Catholic prelates from Kotor were able to commission such artists who could paint the fresco programmes of town churches mostly based on models found in Byzantine art because such solutions offered them possibilities of forming their own programme based on the liturgy of the Catholic Church. In the case of the Olivuccio di Ceccarello’s Dormitio, from Sirolo, the semiliturgical rituality of the assault to the properties of the Jews, accepted by the Church, justifies the scars on the image of Jews and clarifies the reason of the selection of episodes made by the painter on the basis of the Legenda aurea, with the intention to highlighted the negative role of the Jews, as opposed to the positive one played by the incredulous apostle Thomas. Keywords: relationship: text – image – ritual, Dormitio Virginis, anti-Semitism, Jews in arts, pictura graeca, transubstantiation, elevation, eucharistic symbolism

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN IN LATE MEDIEVAL ITALIAN PAINTING. A CASE STUDY

Eikón Imago, 3 (2013 / 1), ISSN-e 2254-8718, 2013

This paper aims to highlight the artistic and conceptual relevance acquired by the iconographic theme of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy during the Late Middle Ages. To achieve this goal we analyzed twenty-seven Trecento and Quattrocento paintings, with the purpose of discovering in them the more or less innovative compositional formulas proposed by these artists, as well as the possible literary sources that inspired them. From the formal perspective we have discovered three different iconographic types, which complement themselves mutually, as progressively complex variations of a similar basic structure. From the conceptual perspective we could also specify that these three different iconographic types of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy are inspired directly in specific comments by some Church Fathers and medieval theologians.

The icon of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: an image and its afterlife

Renaissance Studies, 2005

Focussing on the icon of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, this article explores the re-use, replication and documentation of a medieval image in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The icon, a portrait of the Virgin and Christ attributed to the hand of St Luke the Evangelist, helped to reinforce both the Catholic cult of images and the cult of Mary, which had come under attack during the period of the Protestant Reformation. During this time, the copying and dispersion of the Roman image served various purposes: the reproductions reinforced the popularity of the original representation from Santa Maria Maggiore; the copies established political ties through diplomatic gift giving; and the replications played a significant role in the Catholic missionary programme, especially under the Jesuits. The popularity of the icon copies, encouraged by missionary zeal, miraculous occurrences, or authoritative texts, blurred the distinctions among prototype (the Virgin or Christ), holy image (the icon) and replica (the Counter-Reformation copy). (pp. 660–672)

Per un maestro di cultura salisburghese a Padova. La Madonna della misericordia del Museo Antoniano, in "Il Santo" LXIII (2023), I, pp. 121-135

"Il Santo. rivista francescana di storia dottrina arte", 2023

This paper focuses on a relief with the Virgin of Mercy in the Museo Antoniano. Although the provenance is unknown, the presence of Franciscan friars among the devotees represented under the Virgin’s mantle points to a placement within the Santo, either the church or the convent. Furthermore, stylistic and formal characteristics suggest that the work, dating around mid-15th century, may be attributed to a sculptor from beyond the Alps, most likely the area of Salzburg. Moreover, the authors concentrate upon the gothic minuscule inscriptions placed in the lower part of the relief, within the symbol of the sun and the moon. The inscriptions have been identified as the absolute incipit and the beginning of the second quatrain of two popular Marian hymns, included in the Liturgia horarum. The hymns – recited respectively in the Lauds and the Matin of the Hail Mary – were originally part of a single hymn which scholars accredited to Venantius Fortunatus. Ancient sources also link these hymns to St. Anthony’s Marian devotion. The creation of a new text from twodifferent textual fragments, significantly integrated with the image, testifies to the sculptor’s ability as well as to the profound theological knowledge of those who conceived the relief.