Hortus Artium Medievalium

The restoration of Episcopal Sees within the cities that had remained in Muslims’ hands in the regions of Catalonia and Aragon led to the transfer of some of the Pyrenees Episcopal centres to the newly recovered ones. Our paper aims to survey a question not yet studied, such as the artistic and liturgical transfer of dedications and relics from an ancient See, and displayed on the architecture of the new cathedral. We focus on the case of Roda de Ribagorça and the Seu Vella of Lleida. The cathedral of Roda was completely restored in the second quarter of the twelfth century, both the church and the canonical buildings, together with the construction of the cloister. In 1149, the bishop of Roda moved to the restored See of Lleida, where a few days after the surrender of the city, the main mosque was consecrated as cathedral. From 1203 and throughout the thirteenth century the new cathedral was built including a series of features which belong to Roda, incorporating in the new building the “image” of the old Pyrenees cathedral.

The much debated question of the influence of the pagan basilica on the Christian basilica is concerned with architecture while the wall mosaic has never been included into this discussion. This is the issue that I would like to discuss in this paper. The elevation of the Early Christian basilicas of Rome is organized in an analogous way to the elevations of certain Roman basilicas in Asia Minor (Aphrodisias) and of Rome (Basilica Aemilia). The exclusion of statues and reliefs in the Christian basilica created a vacuum which perhaps favoured the choice of the mosaic and fresco.

On the basis of the reconstruction of K. J. Conant, restitution which is confirmed by a recent critical examination, we should wonder about the atypical disposition of the Majestas Domini, a triumphal Ascension, which occupies the tympanum and the lintel of the great portal of Cluny III. The model of this theophany is italian, inspired by the absidal iconography at the end of the XI^th century, in Rome and around the Monte Cassino: Sant Angelo in Formis and Santa Restituta of Naples. This explains the centric position of the beasts of Apocalypse and the Elders without their crowns. In the same time, the architectural structure of the portal send back to the lateral entrance of the great Mosque of Cordoba and most of all to the absidal arch of the oratory of the mihrab.

Research on the early Christian images have often responded to the need to identify Christian community through art, in roman society. In the catacombs, on sarcophagi or objects of domestic life, the development of a biblical iconography is the field of a double investigation: First, to identify the social level of Christian artistic patronage, and, secondly, to clarify the meaning of some iconographic choices within Christian culture. The question of religious identity is central in historiography on the early Christian images, but the significance of this notion of identity is also correlated with the methods of art historians and their perspective on their subject. Since the 90s, a shift occurs on this topic and it is now possible to reformulate some statements: is the notion of «identity» relevant to understand the first biblical pictures? Some images belonging to the period of cultural and iconographic transition, during III^rd and IV^th centuries, as Jonah’s, can now be thought outside of categories strictly depending on religious identity.

The purpose of the present paper is to show how the antique tradition of the Seven Wonders of the world has been integrated into Christian culture in two rather separate and distinct forms, whether that of a simple enumeration of the wonders such as one finds in encyclopedic textes, or as a reelaborated list based on the seven ancient wonders but now augmented by some new wonders intentded to show God’s power. The first part of the paper will survey the origins of the tradtion of the Seven Wonders of the World and to treat the main authors who passed on the tradition to the medieval world. The second part will be devoted to those late medieval treatises which base themselves on the antique tradition or which take the form of an elaborated list which does or does not form the basis of a religious commentary. We conclude finally by the presentation of some medieval representtions of Alexander the Great’s Lighthouse and the Colossus of Rhodes.

The main goal of this paper is to evidence the narrow relationships between the sculpture of the Master of the tympanum of Cabestany and the Roman sarcophagi from the 3^rd and 4^th centuries. In this way, it is possible to provide evidence of the importance of the Roman funerary sculpture in the training of some Romanesque sculpture workshops of the second half of 12^th century.

The surveys on the history of the countryside have known in the last half century an extraordinary development which has also involved the examination of the sources of art history, the results of which proceed independently in the overall interpretation of the rural landscape. It deals with the state of current historiography, followed by an excursus (IX-XV century) on the sources of art that represent the contexts of the agrarian area with particular reference to the labours of the months (XI-XIII century) and to their cultural references. The essay explains the recurring themes of rural activities and agricultural products, such as the wheat threshing, the grape harvest, the killing of the pig or the presence of wine and bread, which are not read as cataloguing of simple iconographic subjects, but as a didactic tale impregnated by symbolic and religious values , as well as technical practices. The close examination continues, also suggesting connections with the late medieval sources, especially in reference to tacuina sanitatis.

This paper analyzes for the first time the pictorial decoration of the narthex of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill in Rome, discovered during recent restoration works (2010-2012). The decoration, covering the upper part of the church facade, consists of large painted panels imitating a lavish marble revetment. The lower part of the façade was instead decorated with real marble, as indicated in at least one textual source (Ugonio, 1588). The absence of holes, metal clamp, or traces of mortar in the masonry, however, suggests that the wall decoration was made of opus sectile and not of marble slabs. Both historically and stylistically the wall decoration can be dated to the first half of the fifth century, contemporary to the construction of the basilica. This paper also highlights the cultural roots of such decoration, finding then in the continuity with the decorative language of Roman art. Finally, this paper addresses the question of the lavishness of the decoration investigating its cultural, political and liturgical context.

This essay is dedicated to the function of the narthex of the basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome. Starting from a reflection on the “liminal zone”, the use of the atrium or the narthex in the culture and tradition of Late Antiquity will be defined. In this way, the atrium is shown to be a place designed to accommodate the catechumens and penitents. In second place, the manner in which this definition can be applied to the narthex of Santa Sabina will be analyzed. Liturgical sources, epigraphy, but also archaeological data confirm that the Aventine’s narthex was primarily dedicated to the catechumenate and initiatory rites. The wooden door, the only figurative component of the original space, which seems to emphasize precisely an initiatory function, also supports this conclusion.

During 2012-2013 new researches on the church of Santa Maria foris portas were conducted. These include: (a) a stratigraphic analysis of the walls, with particular attention to the plaster and the frescoes of the eastern apse; (b) a revision of the excavation data of the 80s; (c) the excavation of a tomb in front of the atrium of the church; (d) new systematic 14C dating of wood and mortar entrusted to three different laboratories; (e) a study of the historical and artistic cycle of frescoes in the apse east; (f) a study of the graffiti engraved on the frescoes.

The results suggest two distinct phases of construction and decoration of the church. At the latest, that the 14C determinations place in the mid-tenth century, relates the famous cycle of frescoes of the eastern apse.

In the paintings of Galliano, San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura and six Pyrenean churches, the archangels Michael and Gabriel display scrolls on which the words peticio and postulacio or variations of these two terms are written. The recurring use of this vocabulary in comments on the liturgy suggests that these petitions represent the seven demands of the Pater Noster, meaning that the advocate-archangels participate in the heavenly liturgy in the same way as the seraphim and the cherubim who, in Rome as in the Pyrenees, sing the Sanctus. In Galliano, this liturgical dimension can be seen to cover an essential part of the semantic content of the absidal theophany.

Eleven wooden crucifixes from the Romanesque period survive in Naples and the Campania region. The article discusses their liturgical function based on visual and literary sources. The Christus triumphans from Mirabella Eclano provides an excellent example of the meaning assigned to monumental crucifixes within the liturgical setting of the church during the 12^th century. Three documents (11^th to 13^th centuries) attest to special types of donations “pro remedio animae” offered to the crucifix in Naples, where peculiar institutions devoted to veneration of the cross existed since the 9th century. The city has preserved one of the largest surviving groups of medieval crucifixes in Italy that testifies to their varied iconography, size and typology.

The Tree of Jesse, a depiction of Christ's genealogy based on the prophecy of Isaiah (11, 1-2) and on the Gospel of Matthew (1, 1-17), was one of the subjects of the mosaic decoration of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, accomplished in 1169. The work has been entirely destroyed, but it is attested in the counter-façade by Late Medieval and Modern sources. On the basis of this evidence, this paper suggests a reflection both on the iconographic model of the biblical theme, probably of Western origin, and its hypothetical formal features, most likely in line with the Byzantine style of the mosaics which are still visible in the basilica. A tentative reconstruction drawing of the biblical theme completes the analysis.

This article proposes a new interpretation of a small portable polyptych in the Moravská Galerie in Brno. This luxurious work of art is believed to be commissioned by Robert of Anjou, the King of Sicily (1309-1343). Heraldry depicted on the background of the central marble statue of the Virgin and Child suggests, however, that the patron was his wife, Sancha of Majorca. Close investigation on the iconography, function and material appearance of the polyptych contradicts the opinion of the Queen’s alleged pauperism and unveils a Neapolitan-Hungarian conjunction.

This study seeks to analyse the forms of perception and worship which aroused amongst late-medieval spectators a series of revered icons in different temples of the Crown of Aragon. It thus aims to deepen our understanding of some images which were initially devoid from a significant number of readings and meanings which, only with the passage of time, they have eventually acquired. In short, it attempts to discern the construction process of the sacred image, of how a portrait of the Virgin or of the Virgin and Child, in the majority of vulgar or mediocre occasions from an aesthetic perspective, came to assume a privileged status in the pantheon of medieval cult images thanks to, the crystallisation of legends; the organisation of liturgical ceremonies; the search for protective objects by local communities; the strengthening of Christianity against other religions or the definition of new prestigious instruments by the powerful. The aforementioned aspects are only some of those which have contributed to the history of the perception of some of the most highly regarded images by the spectators of the late Middle Ages.

From the XIX century, History becomes a political tool in the nationalists political movements. Archaeology and History of Art used to justify the founding myths, because of their history subservient to statutes and serving as scientific « evidence». Any time, all territorial expansion policies seek legitimacy by appealing to the historical argument and that all political and religious orientations and sensitivities combined. The debate is old, but the means and applications usually belong to the same process, even though the uses and motivations can be extremely varied. But it is in France, from the July Monarchy and 1830s, that history is the foundation and reference for the government and the nation. Periods are preferred, making a consensus among historians, archaeologists, writers and politicians. Among them the Middle Ages to the July Monarchy, the Gallic revolt for the empire of Napoleon III, the Hundred Years War and his heroine Joan of Arc after the defeat of Sedan in 1870, or the victory of the first World War which are all best-known and most famous examples. It is interesting to note that contemporary conflicts are mainly based on territorial claims whose justifications are political, racial , ethnic, religious , but consistently show an argument whose schema and operating procedures are identical , whatever the nature the conflict. Instead of archeology and history of art is not neutral and is often used as evidence as we have seen during the Second World War and even today. Archaeologists, or at least their research, are either deliberately set or retrieved either unwittingly apology to such claims.

This paper explores a new perspective on the problem of the origins of the Venetian settlements before Venice’s birth. With an archaeological viewpoint, the author considers the recent excavation data from Torcello (2012-2013 campaigns), integrating modern debates on ecological degradation and anthropological theory of materiality. The attempt is to reconsider the process of Europeanization through the formation of new settlements in the Venetian lagoons at the end of the Roman period.

The paper focuses on the relationship between the environment and the societal structures from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle ages. During this critical period of flux, it is possible to study how ethnic and social groups developed a new social geography and how new political systems and different trade networks shaped the "rising Venice".

The early Medieval stages of the Santa Maria Assunta Basilica in Torcello are documented by sources, archaeological findings, and by elements of its architectural structure.

Whereas the main door’s jambs are unanimously identified as being from the early Middle Ages, the same dating does not apply to the sculptural pieces grafted onto the architectural structure (angular shelves in the apses of the lateral chapels), which can be dated back to the 9^th century, and more specifically to the time of Bishop Adeodato II.

These elements are examined in the context of a new reading of the architectural stages of Torcello’s Basilica - a reading in which the apse area as well as the crypt are dated back to the 9th century.