Religious Otherness in Giulio Clovio’s Miniatures

Abstract

The subject of this paper discusses some problems in the art of the famous 16th-century miniaturist Giorgio Giulio Clovio, who illuminated numerous single miniatures and manuscripts for the Catholic Church. The iconography of Clovio’s miniatures is primarily Christian, but it also includes many other elements in the spirit of Renaissance art. The Farnese Hours, illuminated for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese between 1537 and 1546, contains illuminations considered Clovio’s first work for the Cardinal. The Others in the miniatures are the antichi romani and old pagan Roman elements that were included in his iconography. Among many different Roman motifs that can be found in the Farnese Hours I focus on two: the Roman carnival (Feast of Testaccio, fols. 40v-41r) and the blue ewer represented eleven times inside the decorative border of the folios 26v-27r (Adoration of the Shepherds and Adam and Eve in the Earthly Paradise).