The Power and Display of Writing: From Damasus to the Early Medieval Popes (original) (raw)
Related papers
Communication in a visual mode: papal apse mosaics, 2018
Journal of Medieval History, 2018
Apse mosaics are a form of visual communication employed by popes throughout the Middle Ages, from the sixth through to the thirteenth centuries. This essay examines the nature of this visual mode and the means by which viewers could understand it. A theory of viewing widely attributed to Pope Gregory I (590-604) is shown to be especially pertinent to early medieval apse mosaics and to the twelfth-century mosaic in the apse of S. Maria in Trastevere. The apses of thirteenth-century popes display a new, more explicit approach to visual messaging that required less interpretive effort by the viewer. Two mosaics made at the end of this century were signed by the artist who made them. The emergence of the artist as a competing author of the image diminished the utility of this form of papal visual communication, which immediately fell out of use.
The Apse Mosaic in the Trastevere Basilica of Rome: A Reassessment of the Original Meaning
The Gospel of John: The Original Version Restored and Translated, 2022
A discussion of the apse mosaic, the Madonna della Clemena ikon, and the façade mosaic of the Trastevere Basilica in the context of the findings reached in the forthcoming new edition of a book seeking to establish an Urtext of the Gospel of John, reaching the conclusion that it is incorrect to identify the woman in these images as the mother of Jesus.
Dynamic Splendor: The Wall Mosaics in the Cathedral of Eufrasius at Poreč (review)
Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2008
angelic group in the accompanying scene (fo. 7v). The translation incorrectly reads, 'Abraham saw three but adored one of them'. To the best of my knowledge, this manuscript has never been reproduced in its entirety. Perhaps a CD of its contents might be designed to accompany the hard copy.
The papal palace in Avignon (figure 1) was an architectural marvel. In describing it, an anonymous fourteenth-century chronicler enthusiastically noted that the building also displayed ‘marvelous painting and more marvelous writing.’1 The chronicler was referring to a lost cycle painted by the Italian artist Matteo Giovanetti. Giovanetti was known as the ‘painter of the pope,’ and although some of his wall- and ceiling-paintings have been lost, others survive.2 This study focuses on the two remaining cycles that are the most complete. These are the Chapel of St.Martial, dating ca. 1344–46, and the Chapel of St. John, dating ca. 1346–48, both executed under the patronage of Pope Clement VI. The chronicler celebrates the high quality of the painting, but is even more impressed by the ‘more marvelous’— mirabilioribus — painted texts that form part of each ensemble. It is those texts that I will explore most closely.3 In both chapels, substantial painted Latin inscriptions appear repeatedly within and below the image fields (figure 2). Although previous scholars have noted the emphasis on the written word in these programs, none have pursued their analysis further.4 I propose that these texts and, more particularly, the forms in which these texts appear are integral to our understanding of the programs. The letter forms, placement in space, and support on which a text is presented deliver information that directs a particular understanding of the text. More specifically, I show that in each chapel, text forms are nuanced to direct two different interpretations. In the Chapel of St. Martial, the form of the text and its placement within the cycle emphasize the transfer of divine authority from Christ to St. Martial, a French saint seen as the precursor of the French popes, and from St. Martial to the chapel’s patron, Pope Clement VI. In the Chapel of St. John, the appearance of the word is nuanced to suggest silence, dialogue, and divine speech, such that historical scenes are enacted through eyes and ears in a way that makes them seem miraculously present. This presence of historical scenes may be tied to the performance of the Mass, the Divine Office, and other liturgies that allude to and in some sense reenact depicted scenes.
Representation of the image of the Lord in the mosaic of abbot Theodulf at Germigny-des-Prés
// SENTENTIA. European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences., 2017
The research subject is the representation of the image of the Lord in the iconographic program of the apse mosaic of the oratory of abbot Theodulf at Germigny-des-Prés. The research object is the iconographic program of the apse of the oratory at Germigny-des-Prés. The author of the program, abbot Theodulf, was the abbot of Fleury-sur-Loire, a poet, a theologian and the closest fellow of Charles the Great. His aniconic ideas played an important role in defining the way of representing the Divine Presence within the space of the church he had built. Based on the method of iconographic analysis, the author analyzes the Old Testament images of Theodulf’s mosaic and compares them with the Holy Writ. The article considers the modern ideas about the disputable iconographic program of the apse mosaic of the oratory and offers another variant of interpreting Theodulf’s program that supplements the existing interpretations. The author shows that the unseen by a human eye Glory of the Lord surrounded by cherubs is the key object of the program and a part of the composition, which symbolically means also the beginning of the Eucharistic canon.