This article focuses on the Yeşil Külliye in Bursa, Turkey, built in 1419–24. Even though it is one of the major Ottoman monuments of the early fifteenth century, the complex—a mosque-zāviye, madrasa, mausoleum, bath, and kitchen—has not been viewed in the broader context of its time, when the political situation forced the Ottoman sultan to reposition his struggling empire between Anatolia, Timurid Central Asia, and the Balkans. Whereas early Ottoman architecture, from the emergence of the principality until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, has been reevaluated in recent years, the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries are only gradually receiving increased scholarly attention. The Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, defeated by the Mongol conqueror Timur, was led into captivity after the battle of Ankara in 1402, and his son Mehmed Çelebi eventually emerged victorious from a civil war with his brothers. In 1413 he came to the throne as Mehmed I, ruling as sultan of the Ottoman Empire until his death in 1421. The Yeşil Külliye was a focus of Mehmed I’s patronage. I argue that the elaborate tile decoration of the mosque and mausoleum created a deliberate dialogue with both the Anatolian heritage of Seljuk architecture and the broader Persianate culture of post-Mongol Iran and Central Asia. With their varied techniques, color schemes, and visual references, the tiles signal the extent to which Ottoman visual culture in the early fifteenth century mirrored the constant renegotiation of power, rule, and representation that involved the sultan, his historians, and his builders.
{"title":"Seljuk Past and Timurid Present: Tile Decoration of the Yeşil Külliye in Bursa","authors":"Patricia Blessing","doi":"10.1086/692804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/692804","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the Yeşil Külliye in Bursa, Turkey, built in 1419–24. Even though it is one of the major Ottoman monuments of the early fifteenth century, the complex—a mosque-zāviye, madrasa, mausoleum, bath, and kitchen—has not been viewed in the broader context of its time, when the political situation forced the Ottoman sultan to reposition his struggling empire between Anatolia, Timurid Central Asia, and the Balkans. Whereas early Ottoman architecture, from the emergence of the principality until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, has been reevaluated in recent years, the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries are only gradually receiving increased scholarly attention. The Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, defeated by the Mongol conqueror Timur, was led into captivity after the battle of Ankara in 1402, and his son Mehmed Çelebi eventually emerged victorious from a civil war with his brothers. In 1413 he came to the throne as Mehmed I, ruling as sultan of the Ottoman Empire until his death in 1421. The Yeşil Külliye was a focus of Mehmed I’s patronage. I argue that the elaborate tile decoration of the mosque and mausoleum created a deliberate dialogue with both the Anatolian heritage of Seljuk architecture and the broader Persianate culture of post-Mongol Iran and Central Asia. With their varied techniques, color schemes, and visual references, the tiles signal the extent to which Ottoman visual culture in the early fifteenth century mirrored the constant renegotiation of power, rule, and representation that involved the sultan, his historians, and his builders.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"225 - 250"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/692804","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49331166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
t was a gray prairie morning in late autumn 1996 when, sitting in my office engaged in the preparation of that morning’s lecture, I received a phone call from Ann Terry asking if I would join her in investigating the wall and vault mosaics of the basilica of Eufrasius at Poreč, in Istria (now Croatia) (Fig. 1). The prospect was exciting, but also daunting. Not only did the mosaics cover a very extensive area but, in addition, they posed grave difficulties. Beautiful though they were, the mosaics were under a cloud, already known to be in bad condition at the end of the nineteenth century, when the sixth-century work was extensively restored. The state of the fabric before the restorations had been graphically described in 1886 by the conservator Giovanni Righetti:
{"title":"Encounter: Reflections on the Wall Mosaics in the Eufrasiana","authors":"H. Maguire","doi":"10.1086/692799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/692799","url":null,"abstract":"t was a gray prairie morning in late autumn 1996 when, sitting in my office engaged in the preparation of that morning’s lecture, I received a phone call from Ann Terry asking if I would join her in investigating the wall and vault mosaics of the basilica of Eufrasius at Poreč, in Istria (now Croatia) (Fig. 1). The prospect was exciting, but also daunting. Not only did the mosaics cover a very extensive area but, in addition, they posed grave difficulties. Beautiful though they were, the mosaics were under a cloud, already known to be in bad condition at the end of the nineteenth century, when the sixth-century work was extensively restored. The state of the fabric before the restorations had been graphically described in 1886 by the conservator Giovanni Righetti:","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"129 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/692799","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49121267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
he illuminated page I discuss is not a prestigious work of art of the sort I could have extracted from a richly decorated late medieval book of hours, but for historians of images and of social practices it is of great interest (Fig. 1). This page (Paris, Archives nationales, MM 406, fol. 6r) has accompanied me during many years of reflection about the importance and function of rhythm in medieval society. In this quest, miniatures quickly acquired a central place: the very beautiful ones, in royal Psalters and princely books of hours; and the others, like this one, more ordinary but still extremely compelling for their formal characteristics. The aesthetic value that we accord images (and which was already recognized at the time of their creation, but following different criteria) did not inspire my choice. Rather, what interests me is the capacity of illuminations to express or, better yet, to elicit rhythm— their rhythmicity, which is often associated with their musicality. The images that attract my attention echo the medieval concept of rythmus, which is concerned above all with vocal music, poetry, and the scansion of dance. This page stands out for the repetitive character of the mise en scène (three red registers); the sequential arrangement of figures (six or seven); their appearance, simultaneously similar and different; and, finally, because of the essential link between line and color in the figures, and the verbal articulations materialized by the inscriptions. For not only do the figures vocalize but they also make the image of their voices resonate: they make the picture talk and sing.
我所讨论的这本插图页并不是我可以从中世纪晚期一本装饰华丽的小时书中提取的那种著名的艺术作品，但对于图像和社会实践的历史学家来说，它非常有趣（图1）。这一页（巴黎，国家档案馆，MM406，fol.6r）多年来一直陪伴着我思考节奏在中世纪社会中的重要性和作用。在这一探索中，微缩模型很快就占据了中心位置：那些非常美丽的微缩模型，出现在皇家的诗篇和王子的小时书中；而其他一些，像这一个，更普通，但由于其形式特征，仍然非常引人注目。我们赋予图像的美学价值（在图像创作时已经得到认可，但遵循不同的标准）并没有激发我的选择。相反，我感兴趣的是照明表达节奏的能力，或者更好的是，引发节奏的能力——它们的节奏性，通常与它们的音乐性有关。吸引我注意的图像呼应了中世纪的rythmus概念，它首先关注声乐、诗歌和舞蹈的扫描。本页突出了mise en scène（三个红色寄存器）的重复特征；数字的顺序排列（六个或七个）；它们的外观，既相似又不同；最后，由于图形中线条和颜色之间的本质联系，以及铭文所体现的语言表达。因为这些人物不仅发声，而且让他们声音的形象产生共鸣：他们让画面说话和唱歌。
{"title":"Encounter: Rhythmicity of an Image","authors":"J. Schmitt","doi":"10.1086/692800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/692800","url":null,"abstract":"he illuminated page I discuss is not a prestigious work of art of the sort I could have extracted from a richly decorated late medieval book of hours, but for historians of images and of social practices it is of great interest (Fig. 1). This page (Paris, Archives nationales, MM 406, fol. 6r) has accompanied me during many years of reflection about the importance and function of rhythm in medieval society. In this quest, miniatures quickly acquired a central place: the very beautiful ones, in royal Psalters and princely books of hours; and the others, like this one, more ordinary but still extremely compelling for their formal characteristics. The aesthetic value that we accord images (and which was already recognized at the time of their creation, but following different criteria) did not inspire my choice. Rather, what interests me is the capacity of illuminations to express or, better yet, to elicit rhythm— their rhythmicity, which is often associated with their musicality. The images that attract my attention echo the medieval concept of rythmus, which is concerned above all with vocal music, poetry, and the scansion of dance. This page stands out for the repetitive character of the mise en scène (three red registers); the sequential arrangement of figures (six or seven); their appearance, simultaneously similar and different; and, finally, because of the essential link between line and color in the figures, and the verbal articulations materialized by the inscriptions. For not only do the figures vocalize but they also make the image of their voices resonate: they make the picture talk and sing.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"133 - 136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/692800","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48184344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A long-standing historiographic tradition has explained the twelfth-century portal of Saint-Pierre at Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne through the lens of the struggle against heresy, connecting its monumental imagery with the writings of the abbot of Cluny, Peter the Venerable, specifically his treatises Liber adversus Iudeorum and Contra Petrobrusianos. In this article, the unusual program of the portal is explored in light of Cluniac liturgical readings transmitted by the late eleventh-century lectionary used at Cluny (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2246) and other coeval sources. I argue that the portal, informed by these texts, was not only conceived as a visual progression from Lent to Easter but also possibly intended as a mirror, in which the liturgy performed in front of it resonated and was amplified to unveil its deep eschatological meaning.
{"title":"An Eschatological Mirror: The Romanesque Portal of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne","authors":"M. Vescovi","doi":"10.1086/689969","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689969","url":null,"abstract":"A long-standing historiographic tradition has explained the twelfth-century portal of Saint-Pierre at Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne through the lens of the struggle against heresy, connecting its monumental imagery with the writings of the abbot of Cluny, Peter the Venerable, specifically his treatises Liber adversus Iudeorum and Contra Petrobrusianos. In this article, the unusual program of the portal is explored in light of Cluniac liturgical readings transmitted by the late eleventh-century lectionary used at Cluny (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2246) and other coeval sources. I argue that the portal, informed by these texts, was not only conceived as a visual progression from Lent to Easter but also possibly intended as a mirror, in which the liturgy performed in front of it resonated and was amplified to unveil its deep eschatological meaning.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"53 - 80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689969","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44518204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The traditio legis—Christ standing on a mountain holding an open scroll flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul—is one of the most widespread and enigmatic Christian images from Late Antiquity. Over the course of the Middle Ages the scene was frequently reinterpreted, and this semantic flexibility has largely obscured its initial raison d’être. The first part of this article repositions the traditio legis in its late antique context, arguing that it was understood as a visualization of the Old Testament prophecy at Isaiah 2:2–4. These verses predicted the coming of the new Messiah and the spreading of his Law across the world in a time of peace; they were uniformly understood to describe the present time after the first coming of Christ. The second part discusses the reemergence of the motif in the Middle Ages and the new meanings that were attached to it. While these included the investiture of Peter and Paul in images of the traditio legis et clavium, the grouping was not seen as a political statement on the primacy of Rome. Some medieval examples also used the motif to express both hopes and anxieties about the coming of Christ at the end of time, while others depict the two apostles as models for the mission of converting unbelievers during the crusades. Exploring the manifold reappropriations of the traditio legis permits us to understand its complex web of meanings and highlights the importance of historic specificity in reconstructing how beholders might have experienced the representation over time.
{"title":"The Traditio Legis in Late Antiquity and Its Afterlives in the Middle Ages","authors":"Armin Bergmeier","doi":"10.1086/689968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689968","url":null,"abstract":"The traditio legis—Christ standing on a mountain holding an open scroll flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul—is one of the most widespread and enigmatic Christian images from Late Antiquity. Over the course of the Middle Ages the scene was frequently reinterpreted, and this semantic flexibility has largely obscured its initial raison d’être. The first part of this article repositions the traditio legis in its late antique context, arguing that it was understood as a visualization of the Old Testament prophecy at Isaiah 2:2–4. These verses predicted the coming of the new Messiah and the spreading of his Law across the world in a time of peace; they were uniformly understood to describe the present time after the first coming of Christ. The second part discusses the reemergence of the motif in the Middle Ages and the new meanings that were attached to it. While these included the investiture of Peter and Paul in images of the traditio legis et clavium, the grouping was not seen as a political statement on the primacy of Rome. Some medieval examples also used the motif to express both hopes and anxieties about the coming of Christ at the end of time, while others depict the two apostles as models for the mission of converting unbelievers during the crusades. Exploring the manifold reappropriations of the traditio legis permits us to understand its complex web of meanings and highlights the importance of historic specificity in reconstructing how beholders might have experienced the representation over time.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"27 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689968","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46256862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Commemoration is rarely linked to invention in studies of funerary monuments; the value of artistic conservatism in expressing ideas of continuity and lineage is emphasized instead. While this may be the case for many medieval tombs, a unique monument in the collegiate church of St. Martin at Lowthorpe challenges this notion. The tomb depicts a tree growing from the recumbent effigies of a man and a woman, each of its thirteen branches sprouting a miniature, individualized human head. This article confronts the novelty and inventiveness of the memorial, considering what it might reveal about the mechanisms and purposes of artistic invention in fourteenth-century England. Examining ideas of influence, models, agency, and patronage, I argue that the innovative design at Lowthorpe should be understood as the product of collaboration among lay patrons, sculptors, and ecclesiastics in founding an ambitious ecclesiastical institution. Turning from the processes to the purposes of invention, I propose that the strangeness of the tomb enhanced its function as a focal point for remembrance, its polyvalent arboreal imagery representing and reinforcing the complex web of familial, institutional, and liturgical relationships within the college.
{"title":"Invention and Commemoration in Fourteenth-Century England: A Monumental “Family Tree” at the Collegiate Church of St. Martin, Lowthorpe","authors":"J. Barker","doi":"10.1086/689971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689971","url":null,"abstract":"Commemoration is rarely linked to invention in studies of funerary monuments; the value of artistic conservatism in expressing ideas of continuity and lineage is emphasized instead. While this may be the case for many medieval tombs, a unique monument in the collegiate church of St. Martin at Lowthorpe challenges this notion. The tomb depicts a tree growing from the recumbent effigies of a man and a woman, each of its thirteen branches sprouting a miniature, individualized human head. This article confronts the novelty and inventiveness of the memorial, considering what it might reveal about the mechanisms and purposes of artistic invention in fourteenth-century England. Examining ideas of influence, models, agency, and patronage, I argue that the innovative design at Lowthorpe should be understood as the product of collaboration among lay patrons, sculptors, and ecclesiastics in founding an ambitious ecclesiastical institution. Turning from the processes to the purposes of invention, I propose that the strangeness of the tomb enhanced its function as a focal point for remembrance, its polyvalent arboreal imagery representing and reinforcing the complex web of familial, institutional, and liturgical relationships within the college.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"105 - 128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689971","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41777990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Encounter: The Flight into Egypt Capital at Autun","authors":"M. Carruthers","doi":"10.1086/689966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689966","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"1 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689966","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42325962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 8504 is a Latin translation of a group of animal fables known as Kalila and Dimna that were popular in Islamic lands. In the illustrations of lat. 8504, Burzuya, the narrator of the frame story, undergoes a previously unrecognized conversion to Christianity. I argue that this conversion scene is significant not only in itself but as the key to a new reading of the manuscript as a whole. Conversio, or a turning toward Christianity, marks the text, characters, structure, and many other aspects of this manuscript. Furthermore, I offer a suggestion about the identity of the translator of the text, Raymond de Béziers, and argue that an understanding of the history of interactions between the town of Béziers and the French crown is relevant to the focus on conversion in lat. 8504.
巴黎，法国国家图书馆，MS lat.8504是一组在伊斯兰土地上流行的动物寓言的拉丁翻译，被称为Kalila和Dimna。在8504年的插图中，框架故事的叙述者Burzuya经历了一次以前未被承认的皈依基督教的过程。我认为，这种转换场景不仅本身意义重大，而且是对整个手稿进行新解读的关键。Conversio，或转向基督教，标志着这本手稿的文本、人物、结构和许多其他方面。此外，我还就文本译者Raymond de Béziers的身份提出了一个建议，并认为了解Bézier镇与法国王室之间的互动历史与关注公元8504年的皈依有关。
{"title":"The Conversion of Kalila and Dimna: Raymond de Béziers, Religious Experience, and Translation at the Fourteenth-Century French Court","authors":"Amanda Luyster","doi":"10.1086/689970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689970","url":null,"abstract":"Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 8504 is a Latin translation of a group of animal fables known as Kalila and Dimna that were popular in Islamic lands. In the illustrations of lat. 8504, Burzuya, the narrator of the frame story, undergoes a previously unrecognized conversion to Christianity. I argue that this conversion scene is significant not only in itself but as the key to a new reading of the manuscript as a whole. Conversio, or a turning toward Christianity, marks the text, characters, structure, and many other aspects of this manuscript. Furthermore, I offer a suggestion about the identity of the translator of the text, Raymond de Béziers, and argue that an understanding of the history of interactions between the town of Béziers and the French crown is relevant to the focus on conversion in lat. 8504.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"81 - 104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689970","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44507663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Close examination of the apse painting of Christ in Glory in the Pancarlık church in Cappadocia, Turkey, from the ninth or tenth century, reveals the important role of painted inscriptions in this program. The prominent central epigraph has been published previously, but with uncertainty about the reading of damaged letters. With the text of this inscription here confirmed, its significance becomes clear. The epigraph mentions “great fear,” which proves key to interpreting the apse program and the intended viewer response. It can be related to two other Cappadocian inscriptions, heretofore read incorrectly and not connected with the Pancarlık example. I propose that this group of rhythmic but nonmetrical inscriptions represents a local, oral tradition, an element of popular piety generally lost to scholars. The Pancarlık apse inscription draws on this tradition but transforms it to heighten its impact on the viewer. I also present additional dipinti from the apse, including one in an unusual mirror-image script. Together with the Christ in Glory in the apse, the painted inscriptions are active agents that create a space for personal reflection and emotional response by well-educated ecclesiastics and barely literate laypersons alike; it does not require extensive theological or exegetical knowledge. The Pancarlık church therefore encourages us to explore the sophisticated use of words and images in a non-Constantinopolitan context as well as the opportunities for viewer response to a middle Byzantine painted program.
{"title":"“Great Fear”: Epigraphy and Orality in a Byzantine Apse in Cappadocia","authors":"Anna M. Sitz","doi":"10.1086/689967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/689967","url":null,"abstract":"Close examination of the apse painting of Christ in Glory in the Pancarlık church in Cappadocia, Turkey, from the ninth or tenth century, reveals the important role of painted inscriptions in this program. The prominent central epigraph has been published previously, but with uncertainty about the reading of damaged letters. With the text of this inscription here confirmed, its significance becomes clear. The epigraph mentions “great fear,” which proves key to interpreting the apse program and the intended viewer response. It can be related to two other Cappadocian inscriptions, heretofore read incorrectly and not connected with the Pancarlık example. I propose that this group of rhythmic but nonmetrical inscriptions represents a local, oral tradition, an element of popular piety generally lost to scholars. The Pancarlık apse inscription draws on this tradition but transforms it to heighten its impact on the viewer. I also present additional dipinti from the apse, including one in an unusual mirror-image script. Together with the Christ in Glory in the apse, the painted inscriptions are active agents that create a space for personal reflection and emotional response by well-educated ecclesiastics and barely literate laypersons alike; it does not require extensive theological or exegetical knowledge. The Pancarlık church therefore encourages us to explore the sophisticated use of words and images in a non-Constantinopolitan context as well as the opportunities for viewer response to a middle Byzantine painted program.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"56 1","pages":"5 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/689967","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42595731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The ecclesiastical art and architecture of early twelfth-century Rome are often interpreted as communicating political positions in a period of conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. This article addresses the processes and ramifications, medieval and modern, of this politicization of Rome’s ecclesiastical landscape through three interwoven cases. The first is the monastic church of Sant’Elia, built about 1125 near Nepi. Earlier studies of Sant’Elia’s architecture, frescoes, and Cosmati marble work generally dismiss the church as a provincial emulation of Roman structures, but art historical and historical evidence reveals a fully Roman church built by an important patron to demarcate the northern limit of papal territory, a meaning lost through both historical change and scholarly bias. A fresco in Sant’Elia of the Madonna della Clemenza, the famous icon of Sta. Maria in Trastevere, is a primary sign of the church’s romanitas and connections to the early twelfth-century popes Calixtus II and Anacletus II. Examination of the icon’s history demonstrates how it came to symbolize Calixtine and Anacletan authority and the repercussions of this link after Anacletus’s postmortem redefinition as antipope to Innocent II. Applying the results of these two cases to Sta. Maria suggests that the Trastevere church was built by Anacletus to honor its icon but was later claimed by Innocent through the insertion of an apse mosaic that both annulled the icon’s Anacletan symbolism and replaced that pope’s patronal memory with that of Innocent—an act of historical erasure perpetuated by medieval and modern authors.
{"title":"Schismatic (Re)Visions: Sant’Elia near Nepi and Sta. Maria in Trastevere in Rome, 1120–1143","authors":"A. Perchuk","doi":"10.1086/687153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/687153","url":null,"abstract":"The ecclesiastical art and architecture of early twelfth-century Rome are often interpreted as communicating political positions in a period of conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. This article addresses the processes and ramifications, medieval and modern, of this politicization of Rome’s ecclesiastical landscape through three interwoven cases. The first is the monastic church of Sant’Elia, built about 1125 near Nepi. Earlier studies of Sant’Elia’s architecture, frescoes, and Cosmati marble work generally dismiss the church as a provincial emulation of Roman structures, but art historical and historical evidence reveals a fully Roman church built by an important patron to demarcate the northern limit of papal territory, a meaning lost through both historical change and scholarly bias. A fresco in Sant’Elia of the Madonna della Clemenza, the famous icon of Sta. Maria in Trastevere, is a primary sign of the church’s romanitas and connections to the early twelfth-century popes Calixtus II and Anacletus II. Examination of the icon’s history demonstrates how it came to symbolize Calixtine and Anacletan authority and the repercussions of this link after Anacletus’s postmortem redefinition as antipope to Innocent II. Applying the results of these two cases to Sta. Maria suggests that the Trastevere church was built by Anacletus to honor its icon but was later claimed by Innocent through the insertion of an apse mosaic that both annulled the icon’s Anacletan symbolism and replaced that pope’s patronal memory with that of Innocent—an act of historical erasure perpetuated by medieval and modern authors.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":"55 1","pages":"179 - 212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/687153","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60552882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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