Un inedito saggio di Irving Lavin sui monumenti equestri e alcune riflessioni sull’ultimo segmento di attività dello studioso

Abstract

This is a proposed translation to Italian of the inedited essay by Irving Lavin (1927- 2019), dedicated to the birth of the equestrian monuments of the humanistic age. The short essay by the American art historian is introduced by a study in which the genesis of St. Louis’ highly important contributions is examined, which is inscribed within a silloge, result of a thoughtful sedimentation in which Lavin was immersed during the last decades of his life, and dedicated to the theme of art of commemoration. Starting from an exam of the main characteristics of Lavin’s critical methodology, this contribution explores the dense plot, made of cultural references, and complex strategies of analyses through which the short essay evolves. Thus it emerges that the formal and iconographic exam is breaching towards the discovery of connections, with literary testimonies and contemporary philosophies, enlightening the choices made in the elaboration of the same figurative scripts. However, the relations with the literary culture do not assume a mechanical dependency from it; similarly, while unraveling a vast knowledge, the American art historian finds the articulate relationships between works and social groups: nevertheless, the analysis is always stopped to prevent any deterministic subordination of the formal to the latter. On the other hand, such exam is generally tenaciously repeating the centrality of figurative text, of which Lavin is the committed spokesman throughout his illuminating scientific career. Indeed, the same figurative text is an assertive and synthetic representation of ideological demands in accordance with the idea, largely defended by the scholar, of the “modern” artist’s conscience, which is fully conscious of its own intellectual resources.