4. Illusionism and Interactivity: Medieval Installation Art, Architecture and Devotional Response

Abstract

[ This chapter focuses on illusionism in fifteenth-century, site-specific architectural installations: these locations incorporate their locations, architecture, sculpture, paintings and every other element of decoration in order to achieve their naturalistic effects. It reveals that the most #034;renaissance#034; of artistic developments—the move toward greater illusionism—is in actuality the product of late medieval devotional practices. It also focuses on three fifteenth-century monuments, examining how their innovative approaches to representation and participatory devotional practices were believed to foster more efficacious empathic responses. These monuments: the Chartreuse de Champmol outside of Dijon; the Jerusalem Chapel in Bruges; and the sacro monte in Varallo, were built respectively at the beginning, middle, and end of the fifteenth century, and each were the site of performative devotional practices. The chapter looks at the design of these sites as well as their decoration and furnishings to establish how they functioned for a variety of audiences. Keywords:architecture; Chartreuse de Champmol; decoration; devotional response; illusionism; Jerusalem Chapel in Bruges; medieval installation art; sacro monte , This chapter focuses on illusionism in fifteenth-century, site-specific architectural installations: these locations incorporate their locations, architecture, sculpture, paintings and every other element of decoration in order to achieve their naturalistic effects. It reveals that the most renaissance of artistic developments—the move toward greater illusionism—is in actuality the product of late medieval devotional practices. It also focuses on three fifteenth-century monuments, examining how their innovative approaches to representation and participatory devotional practices were believed to foster more efficacious empathic responses. These monuments: the Chartreuse de Champmol outside of Dijon; the Jerusalem Chapel in Bruges; and the sacro monte in Varallo, were built respectively at the beginning, middle, and end of the fifteenth century, and each were the site of performative devotional practices. The chapter looks at the design of these sites as well as their decoration and furnishings to establish how they functioned for a variety of audiences. Keywords:architecture; Chartreuse de Champmol; decoration; devotional response; illusionism; Jerusalem Chapel in Bruges; medieval installation art; sacro monte ]