Pictorial Cycle Research Articles

The archaeological site of St. Maria Veterana (Triggiano, Southern Italy): Archaeometric study of the wall paintings for the historical reconstruction

This paper focusses on the archaeometric investigation of wall paintings of the St. Maria Veterana archaeological site in Triggiano (Bari, Southern Italy) finalised to support the hypothesis on the historical reconstruction of the site based on iconographic interpretations. The site is an original and relevant example of medieval art in Apulia and in Southern Italy and includes a medieval church surrounded by several additionally architectural elements (chapels, crypts, tombs), nowadays buried below by a Renaissance church. Here, the presence of different pictorial cycles, only partially dated, and the evidence of re-use of painted blocks in Renaissance structures pertaining to medieval structures, suggested a complex scenario in which different artisans and clients were possibly succeeded. The site is also framed in a wider regional context, the Apulian region, currently object of an intense archaeological and scientific debate due to widespread action of valorisation of the cultural patrimony as an essential link between the territory and the cultural identity of the citizens.The study of the site involved the sampling and the analysis of 48 samples of painting fragments, investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with EDS microanalysis (SEM-EDS) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The obtained results allowed a complete material characterization of mortars and pictorial layers, highlighting the use of precious and rare pigments as cinnabar and verdigris, along with more common recipes based on natural ochres and earths more commonly used in other similar sites through the Apulia region. The combined data obtained from the analysis of mortars and pigments allowed to finally propose a reliable hypothesis on the construction and decorative phases of the site, in agreement with the dating based on iconographic interpretations.Up to now, St. Maria Veterana Church was considered a minor site, mainly due to the scarcity of the written sources. However, the new stylistic interpretation of the pictorial cycles, the preciousness of the used materials, the quality of the manufacture technique and the numerous artistic executive phases identified through five centuries (11th–16th) suggest a continuous attendance of the site by artisans and client carriers of high cultural and artistic values.

El ciclo egipcio de la eterna regeneración a través de la tumba de Nebamun: su influencia en la pintura histórica de Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Con la eclosión de Romanticismo en el continente europeo, una creciente pasión por Oriente (desde la Arabia de Las mil y una noches hasta la Granada nazarita, pasando por el Egipto faraónico) se dejó sentir poderosamente en el panorama de las artes y la literatura, perdurando incluso cuando el influjo de dicho movimiento ya había llegado a su fin. A medida que avanzaba la centuria, esa fascinación fue evolucionando desde una recreación histórica más caprichosa y personal hasta un profundo interés por el rigor arqueológico, algo especialmente palpable en los pintores ingleses que, en las últimas décadas de la época victoriana, sucumbieron al encanto de la temática egipcia. Uno de los mejores ejemplos es sin duda el de Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), cuya obra se caracterizó por la inclusión de ropajes, tocados, mobiliario y numerosos detalles basados en el estudio minucioso de objetos pertenecientes a la Antigüedad. En nuestro estudio nos proponemos analizar la influencia ejercida por el ciclo pictórico de la tumba de Nebamun en la producción de este artista, comparando sus cuadros ambientados en el Antiguo Egipto con los fragmentos de dicho ciclo conservados en el Museo Británico. De este modo comprobaremos hasta qué punto su pintura es deudora de ellos, tanto en lo concerniente a la temática de algunos de esos cuadros como en cuanto a la inclusión directa de las escenas de Nebamun como un elemento decorativo más de sus interiores.

3D survey techniques for the conservation and the enhancement of a Venetian historical architecture

In recent years, thanks to a rapid and continuous technological development, the metric survey has had a significant increase in the digitization and enhancement of Cultural Heritage; in this research work, we will describe the methodology used to survey the ceiling of the Sala Capitolare of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice. On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Tintoretto, the painter of the pictorial cycle on site, the Scuola Grande decided to increase the information regarding this historical architecture, carrying out an in-depth analysis of the ceiling structure. The complexity of this Venetian building, its considerable dimension, the richness of decorations and the particular lighting conditions have required the integration of different methodologies: the laser scanning survey and the photogrammetric acquisition, together with the topographic network, allowed to obtain an adequate metric result for the study of the structure in its entirety. Furthermore, we also decided to test the image acquisition with a spherical camera for the documentation and the enhancement of the analysed historical architecture. The geometrical complexity of the Scuola caused various problems during the survey campaign, resulting in some unconventional choices in the work phases: the research presented here analyses the difficulties encountered and it illustrates the solutions chosen in order to solve them and to study the ceiling of the Sala Capitolare.

Per Ravenna trecentesca: nuove proposte per l’assetto architettonico di Santa Maria in Porto Fuori

Abstract This contribution intends to draw attention to one of the most significant monuments of medieval Ravenna: the church of Santa Maria in Porto Fuori, which was destroyed during the Second World War. Until now, scholars have focused on the pictorial cycle known through photographs and attributed to the painter Pietro da Rimini. However, the architecture of the building has not been the subject of systematic studies. For the first time, this essay reconstructs the fourteenth-century architectural structure of the church, the apse of which was rebuilt by 1314. The data that led to the virtual restitution of the choir and the related rood screen are the basis for new reflections on the accesses to the apse area, on the pilgrimage flows, and on the view of the frescoes.

FROM SURVEY TO MODEL, AND RETURN. THE CASE OF THE PARMA BAPTISTERY

Abstract. Although this is not always the common practice, the survey should be an essential preliminary stage to any operation of restoration, enhancement and promotion of cultural heritage. Today, various surveying techniques make it possible to collect large amounts of data quickly and to provide a complete three-dimensional representation of extremely complex artefacts. In fact, 3D models allow a much richer description than traditional 2D representations. However, these survey techniques (laser scanner and photogrammetry above all) necessarily imply that the data that must be elaborated during the processing phase increase dramatically. It is therefore essential to identify methods and workflows that allow to find a compromise between the richness and completeness of the survey data and the problems inherent in the costs and times of execution of the modelling operations. The problem is further heightened by the fact that the importance of historical monumental architecture inevitably requires the use of different techniques integrated with each other, the production of documentation at different scales with different levels of detail and the creation of a 3D model that has the ability to be used for different purposes. This paper describes the survey of one of the most important medieval monuments in northern Italy, the Parma Baptistery, with a special focus on the phase of data restitution. The integrated survey campaigns conducted in recent years have aimed to describe the building in its totality: from the scale of the architecture to the detail, passing through the description of the pictorial cycle that characterizes the interior. This case study represents a moment of reflection, at least for those who wrote it, on the validity of the methods and techniques to be used for the creation of a complete 3D model of a complex historical monument.

Un ciclo pictórico teresiano para el Cardenal-Duque de Montalto

Se da a conocer un largo ciclo pictórico consagrado a la figura de santa Teresa y comisionado por Luis Guillén de Moncada, VII duque de Montalto y cardenal coprotector de España, a artistas españoles, italianos y flamencos.

Wpływ działalności Scuoli na rozwój artystyczny Wenecji w dobie Quattrocento

Cel badań. Celem badania było określenie roli, jaką odegrały Scuole w rozwoju malarstwa weneckiego w XV wieku, a tym samym lepsze zrozumienie i określenie znaczenia uwarunkowań społeczno-religijnych dla rozwoju malarstwa weneckiego.
 Metodologia. Przedmiotem badania stały się trzy cykle malarskie pochodzące ze Scuoli weneckich: Cykl legendy św. Urszuli Carpaccia, Cykl legendy Krzyża Świętego Carpaccia i Genilego Belliniego oraz Cykl ze Scuoli di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni Carpaccia (w szczególności zaś obrazy: Cud relikwii Krzyża Świętego na Rialto oraz Wizja św. Augustyna Carpaccia). Zostały one przeanalizowane w kontekście opisanych wcześniej szczegółowo przemian społeczno-religijnych w XV-wiecznej Wenecji, jak również zasad i idei funkcjonowania Scuoli.
 Wyniki. Przeprowadzona analiza pozwoliła lepiej dostrzec i zdefiniować rolę specyficznie weneckich organizacji, jakimi były Scuole, w rozwoju malarstwa. Scuole, pozwalające mieszczanom osiągnąć duże znaczenie społeczne, dawały również swego rodzaju możliwość objęcia zbiorowego patronatu nad sztuką i sprzyjały jej rozwojowi poprzez zamawianie dzieł o nowatorskiej tematyce.
 Wnioski. Z analizy wynika, że społeczeństwo weneckie zrzeszone w Scuolach, miało ogromny wpływ na rozwój artystyczny własnego miasta, głównie pod względem rozwoju tematycznego malarstwa. Dzięki zamawianiu przedstawień procesji i uroczystości, Scuole sprawiły, że do obrazów wprowadzone zostały tematy świeckie i przedstawienia miasta prekursorskie względem o wiele późniejszych wedut.

Justice, Expiation and Forgiveness in the Graffiti and Drawings of Palermo's Secret Prisons

The Steri's prisons are to be investigated as a site of production of a peculiar religious culture: what kind of religiosity emerges, given the heterogeneous composition of the prison population? What religious practices (reciting the rosary, other prayers, lighting lamps, listening to mass celebrated in the corridors, etc.) take place in the cells? What kind of religious interaction take place between prisioners locked up in the same cell?. the pictorial cycle of cell no. 3 on the ground floor allows us to track down the iconographic model at play, identified as votive aediculae and the Via Crucis, as well as the authors' proximity-based iconic memory. But the drawings and graffiti are also linked through iconographic tradition to hagiography and theology, as emerges in the representation of the leviathan. In the reference to the harsh conditions of the prision one can read an implicit delegitimisation and criticism of the actions of a tribunal that does not consider this suffering to be sufficient punishment to merit forgiveness

An Enhanced GC/MS Procedure for the Identification of Proteins in Paint Microsamples.

The chemical characterization of materials used in works of art is extremely useful for gaining a better knowledge of the artistic heritage and to guarantee its preservation. A derivatization GC/MS procedure for the identification of proteins in a microsample from painted works of art has been optimized. The amino acid fraction is derivatized using anhydrous dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent instead of pyridine (Py), commonly used to facilitate the reaction. Although pyridine is often considered a silylation catalyst, there are many instances in which silylation reactions actually are slower in pyridine than other solvents. In addition, pyridine also may have other undesirable effects such as the promotion of secondary products and other chromatographic anomalies. Using DMF, the formation of artifacts is limited and the derivatization yield of hydrophilic amino acids such as proline and hydroxyproline has improved, thus making the identification of organic paint media more straightforward. The method has been validated and successfully applied to identify the binder of the sample taken from the pictorial cycle of the 12th century monastery of Santa Maria delle Cerrate (Lecce, Italy), thus highlighting the use of eggs as a binding medium.

The Muqarnas Ceiling of the Palatina Chapel in Palermo

St. Peter’s Basilica inside the Royal Palace of Palermo, known as the Palatina Chapel, is one of the most popular medieval monuments in Sicily. Built between 1130 and 1163, it contains interesting wooden framings that represent both bearing and finishing structures. Studies about the Arab-Norman church have often concentrated on the very rich and suggestive decorative mosaic apparatus of walls and floorings, as well as the pictorial cycle of wooden ceilings. Knowledge about the constructive techniques adopted and, in particular, about the realization of the coverings, is very limited: there are wooden floors built at different levels, vaults and wooden ceilings and among these is the portion that covers the main nave, housing the muqarnas decorations. The fortunate coincidence of the restoration building yard made it possible to gain precious knowledge of this extraordinary wooden structure, also through a laser scanning survey of a significant area of the wooden ceiling, performed with a low range device. The collected data adequately represent the geometry and the state of conservation of the ceiling and have been used to develop a spatial and geometrical analysis of the muqarnas and relate it to the structural layout. The survey of the internal and external sides of the covering enabled us to investigate further the materials and constructive techniques employed in this ancient wooden ceiling. At the same time, we were also able to document the original structural system and the completion parts, its conservation status and the interventions and modifications it has undergone through many centuries.

Continuous Narration through Scenic Depictions. The Apollonius pictus

A unique narrative pictorial cycle survives in the Apollonius pictus, an Ottonian copy of a Late Antique illustrated romance, the Historia Apollonii. The fragment of the cycle depicts a continuous narration from the perspective of the romance’s storyteller who was careful to maintain the linearity of time and space when retelling the adventurous story of King Apollonius and his family. The contaminated text of this fragmentary manuscript underwent at least two steps of transition which transformed the depictions to an extent which is difficult to asses. Instead of the individual depictions, however, I focus on their cyclic cohesion which likely fossilized the essence of a Late Antique illustrated model. As an experimental method, I analyzed the pictorial cycle of the Apollonius pictus as a cycle of scenes by the dramatic scene division. I demonstrate that the pictorial cycle carefully follows division by action space and tends to depict dialogues separately. Time to time the illustrator conflates more sce...

Picturing the Founder. A New Reading of the Stories of St. Benedict in the Lower Church of Sacro Speco at Subiaco.

The frescoes in the lower church of the Sacro Speco at Subiaco closed the complex architectural history which during the 13th century, from the time of Pope Innocent III (1198–1216), saw the growth of the sanctuary created around the cave where St. Benedict of Norcia retired in the early 6th century.The cycle with stories of the saint, signed by Magister Conxolus, has so far been considered by the critics only for its stylistic and formal characters in connection with paintings in Rome and Assisi during the second half of the 13th century. Starting from these acquisitions, the paper will analyse the selection and the display of the stories — one of the first cycle about the life of Benedict on such a large scale in the Middle ages, — their iconography and their reading direction in relation to the Holy stairs leading to the cave and in the broader context of the debate on new religious orders after the Council of Lyons (1274). From this perspective, the parallel with the friars and, in particular, with the Franciscans who, just few years before, had glorified their founder in the famous basilica of Assisi, seems once again significant. The similarities with the pictorial cycle of the upper church of San Francesco, in fact, seem to go beyond the stylistic point of contact already identified by the critics to include broader issues. The foundation of two churches in Subiaco and the decoration of the lower one with the celebration of the founder at the time shortly after the frescoes in Assisi, cannot fail to take account of comparison — and perhaps of antagonism — that existed between two types of common life entirely different: the traditional monasticism and the new orders.

A multi-analytical study of ancient Nubian detached mural paintings

A multi-analytical study was carried out on materials, techniques, and state of conservation of a set of detached Nubian mural paintings, originally belonging to the 10th century pictorial cycle of the church of Sonqi Tino, Sudan (70km south of the Egypt–Sudan border). These paintings represent one of the very few examples of Christian Nubian pictorial cycles preserved from the wide defacement experienced by these artifacts with the building up of the Aswan Dam. Non-invasive NMR depth profiling was used to preliminary study the hydrogen rich layers of the detached mural paintings. By this technique, it was possible to perform a virtual coring with a reconstruction of the complex series of layers that characterize the investigated artifacts. Then, micro-sampling and cross-section examination by SEM-EDX, micro-Raman, micro-FTIR, and 27Al and 29Si MAS NMR, allowed us to shed light on materials and technology exploited by the Medieval Nubian painters, with the identification of pigments and composition of the original primer, obtaining also information on layering of materials used by conservators during the detachment of the paintings and their transfer to a new support. The combination of preliminary non-invasive investigation with a set of micro-invasive analytical techniques allowed us to set up a protocol for a satisfactory decoding of the multilayered complex systems that characterize the detached paintings.

Oltre i muri della chiesa: la decorazione di San Pietro a Sorpe (Catalogna) come imposizione sul territorio

The pictorial cycle of Sant Pere de Sorpe (Pyrenees, Catalonia) is of great complexity. Its study has been a difficult issue due to the removal and scattering of its different fragments among several museums, whilst some of them have been partially preserved in situ. Moreover, the quality of the materials employed and the iconography has been a source of confusion among those scholars studying the cycle. In this paper we will focus our analysis on the features of the Calvary scene. As a result of the recent discoveries and the reinterpretation of the historical, formal and iconographical data, we can hypothesise that the execution of the paintings was promoted by the order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, which places the paintings at the end of the twelfth century, bonding in this way the iconographic models to those of the Holy Sepulchre.

La chiesa di San Sebastiano a Venezia, Paolo Veronese, le implicazioni albanesi: una storia tutta da riscrivere.

The church of San Sebastiano in Venice, and its adjoining convent of the Girolamini, is considered as the temple of Paolo Veronese, entirely painted by him and therefore the destination of international scholars and visitors. The study of the recovered archival sources belonging to the monastery have unearthed the tumultuous events that for about half a century, in the first half of the sixteenth century, shook the convent during the conflicts with two Albanian priests: Niccolo Franco and Girolamo Messio. The cause of the dispute was the possession of a priory in Treviso, Santa Felicita of Romano. The conflict quickly became a battleground between church and state arguing about the rights of appointment of ecclesiastical offices. The Albanian side had an unconditional support from Rome, especially by Pope Paul III. In 1553, a Concordio put an end to the dispute and the year of 1554 saw the beginning of Paolo Veronese’s pictorial cycle. From the documents recovered emerges indeed a new personality to be ascribed to the history of Albanian culture, namely Girolamo Messio, who is the author of some writings. Above all, a new interpretive trail of all the decoration of the church is unveiled, which allows to read the metaphorical references to the geopolitical role of Scanderbeg's Albania as a confessional boundary. Therefore follows a new interpretive hypothesis of the temple of Paolo Veronese, an Albanian protagonist.

Early Modern Jesuit Arts and Jesuit Visual Culture

This stock-taking of research on the arts and visual culture of the Society of Jesus since the turn of the twenty-first century entails an assessment of the status of the big questions about the existence, nature, and purposes of the Jesuit use of things visual. It is a propitious moment to reflect on whether there have been gains for the definition of our subject from the visual turn in the humanities. Rather than surveying a wide and diffuse field of publications published in a rather short span of time, here a handful of issues are isolated that have attracted particular intensity of research or that pose significant questions for the future. These issues include much continuing research into the central regulation of and the architectural dialogue between the worldwide foundations of the Society, the widespread adoption of the Spiritual Exercises as an explanans for Jesuit pictorial cycles, and related issues around meditational images. A clear articulation is called for of the extent to which Jesuit “images” were embedded in discourses around art, or not, and the varied classes of images (propaganda, scientific, etc.) outside of the discourse of art so that we might arrive at a definition of a Jesuit visual culture.

A multi-analytical approach for the characterisation of the oldest pictorial cycle in the 12th century monastery Santa Maria delle Cerrate

A multidisciplinary research, currently in progress at the University of Salento in collaboration with the Lecce Provincial Museum, interests different artistic expressions widespread in the Salento peninsula (South Italy). In the present study, the characterisation of organic and inorganic materials used in the oldest pictorial cycle found in the 12th century monastery Santa Maria delle Cerrate was carried out thanks to a multi-analytical approach. Previous investigations have focused on the problem of dating the frescoes mainly on the basis of the stylistic aspects and the material characterisation has been definitely underinvestigated. Chromatographic and spectrometric techniques were used: micro-Raman spectroscopy was used for recognising pigments and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection for analysing organic binders. These techniques enabled us to characterise pigments and binders. The presence of both true fresco and tempera bound pigments was assessed. Among the different pigments detected, the results relevant to the blue paints were interesting: two different blue pigments were, indeed, identified, lapis lazuli and smalt (cobalt blue glass) both unexpected. As a result, Santa Maria delle Cerrate appears to be the first known example of their use in South Italy. From a conservation point of view, moreover, the knowledge of the palette permitted to highlight the reason of observed decay of some paints: for instance, lead white was used in some panels, explaining their blackening.

Hypothesis for a Drawing by Filippino Lippi for the Carafa Chapel

The sketches of the sheet inv. 617 Orn. of the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi , assigned to Filippino Lippi, appears to be the only testimony of the disappeared frescoes of the left wall of the Carafa chapel of the Roman church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva . By understanding the cultural context represented it is possible to ascertain the connection between the Uffizi sheet, the entire pictorial cycle of the chapel and the underlying complex iconographic tradition.

Coins from the compostela mint : a key to the reconstruction of medieval pictorial cycles of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral?

Coins from the compostela mint : a key to the reconstruction of medieval pictorial cycles of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral?

Queen Isabella of France and the Politics of the Taymouth Hours

The manuscript London, British Library MS Yates Thompson 13 is one of several devotional manuscripts associated with the artistic patronage of Queen Isabella of France, but the only one to date from the period of her effective regency government of England, ca. 1326–1330. Examining a selection of its image cycles, and principally the sequence concerned with the romance hero Beves of Hampton, the article argues for their potential to be read as pictorial allegories for and commentaries on political events in England during the years 1325–1330. Selected pictorial cycles in the Taymouth Hours form a coherent set of visual warnings on the dangers of masculine power and female attempts at its exercise. Sustained visual reference and commentary on the regency government inflected by existing, textual political discourses helps demonstrate the spiritual dangers of Isabella’s current or former political position ca. 1326–1330.