• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage

The medieval wall paintings of the church of S. Maria in Pallara, situated on the Palatine Hill, Rome, provide insight into the intellectual use of images in the Middle Ages. The fragmentary apse programme survives, supplemented by antiquarian drawings that include copies of lost nave cycles and a lost donor portrait of their patron, Petrus Medicus. The patron, along with his monastic foundation, is documented in tenth-century charters, on which documents the paintings’ dating currently depends. Questions about this dating have surfaced in the art-historical literature, as have concerns about gender and historical veracity, matters of historiography which are introduced in Chapter 1. Thus, the goals of this study were to verify the paintings’ dating, to examine their use of text and image and to illuminate the context in which they were created. Chapter 2 describes and analyses the S. Maria in Pallara paintings within Roman artistic traditions of the Romanesque period. Since no contemporary parallel can be found for the iconography of the Apostles on the shoulders of Prophets decorating the church’s apse arch, a composition more common to Gothic art, Chapter 3 examines the iconography’s diffusion and sources. Textual evidence suggests that a church dedicated to Saint Sebastian preceded the tenth-century foundation of S. Maria in Pallara, which was then rededicated to the Virgin Mary, Saints Sebastian and Zoticus. Thus, Chapter 4 examines the visual profile of the cult of Saint Sebastian and its dependence on the Acta Sebastiani to provide a context for the church’s depictions of that saint, including portraits and a lost narrative cycle. Messages about chastity encoded in these images are also examined. Chapter 5 examines the lost narrative cycle depicting the life of the little-known Saint Zoticus, to whom the church was also dedicated and who was envisioned in the guise of another saint, Getulius, who was martyred with his wife, Saint Symphorosa, and their seven sons. Messages about chastity were also communicated through that cycle’s manipulation of S. Maria in Pallara’s topographic history. Thus, far from being simple reflections of text, the S. Maria in Pallara paintings engage Roman history, reforming that history to project a moral image of the future.

This is the author's accepted manuscript version of the chapter forthcoming in Anna Adashinkaya, Shona Kallestrup, Magdalena Kuninska, Cosmin Minea and Mihnea Mihail (eds.), Periodisation in the Art Historiographies of Central and Eastern Europe, New York: Routledge, 2022.

There are at least twenty-nine Madonna tabernacles from 1150–1350 with one or more wings preserved, most of them in Scandinavia and Spain. These tabernacles housed a sculpture of the Virgin and Child. In the open position, the central sculpture would be revealed, surrounded by scenes from the Incarnation story, depicted in relief, paint, or a combination of both. The aim of this paper is to explore these Madonna tabernacle in its closed position; What decoration and motifs are found on the exteriors? Can a closer examination of the exteriors of these works provide a greater understanding of their function and later development? And, finally, is there a difference between a closed Madonna tabernacle and a closed tabernacle that houses other saints? Most of the surviving tabernacles have wings with monochrome exteriors, often red, but also green and black or a combination of red and green. There are also examples of tabernacles with patterns or foliage. Only six tabernacles have traces of figural decoration on the exterior. Here we find St. Peter and St. Paul, sometimes together with St. John. One tabernacle has the Passion of Christ on the exterior wings. Tabernacles housing saints other than a Madonna figure have also had monochrome exteriors, often red, although several of them, at least in Scandinavia, have lost most of their original color. Only two examples have figural decorations on the exterior and they would probably have had depictions of St. Paul and St. Peter. This leads us to the conclusion that in a closed position there was little that distinguished a Madonna tabernacle from tabernacles housing other saints.

Si bien la arquitectura y el arte han tenido una estrecha relación como constructores de la cultura humana a lo largo de los años, ambos se han desarrollado tanto en el campo técnico como en el creativo. Las relaciones que se presentan entre ambas disciplinas pueden ser contrastadas o interpoladas a partir de la aparición del uno en el otro. En este caso, veremos de qué manera la arquitectura aparece en el arte, que al desarrollar la técnica pictórica y de composición, da una vitrina mayor a la aparición de la arquitectura como uno de los protagonistas del mensaje que se quiere expresar, determinando así épocas, estilos e inclusive situaciones específicas. Although the architecture and art have had a close relationship as builders of human culture over the years, both have developed in the technical and creative field. The relationships that exist between the two disciplines can be contrasted or interpolated from the appearance of one into the other. In this case, we will see how the architecture appears in the art, that in developing of the pictorial and compositional technique, gives greater showcase the emergence of architecture as one of the protagonists of the message you want to express, determining times, styles and even specific situations.

The purpose of this conference is to present the phylosophical debate between Pedro and Ramon Llull (Librum disputationis Petri et Raimundi phantastici), and analyze the limits of the medieval dialogue. Debate or conversion? We intend to discuss the parameters of medieval dialogue lulian, aspects that led our author to the most extreme fantasies of literary-philosophical dialogue: the dramatization of the conflict between ideals and realistic attitudes. In addition, we intend to do a iconographic analysis of one of the most famous artistic representations of Ramon Llull: “The rear of the army and relief of Mr. Ramon Llull of Majorca to destroy the tower of falsehood and ignorance”, seventh miniature from Breviculum (1325). A proposta dessa conferência é apresentar o debate filosófico entre Pedro e Ramon Llull (Librum disputationis Petri et Raimundi phantastici), e analisar os limites do diálogo medieval. Debate ou conversão? Pretendemos discutir os parâmetros do diálogo medieval luliano, aspectos que levaram nosso autor às fantasias mais extremas de seu diálogo literário-filosófico: a dramatização do conflito entre ideais e atitudes realistas. Além disso, faremos uma análise iconográfica de uma das mais famosas representações artísticas de Ramon Llull: “A retaguarda e o auxílio do exército do Senhor Ramon Llull de Maiorca para destruir a torre da mentira e da ignorância”, sétima iluminura do Breviculum (1325).