Art and Devotion

The round painting known as the Doni tondo, now in the Uffizi Gallery, is the only existing panel painting completed by Michelangelo, whose authorship has never been questioned. There is also a general consensus that Michelangelo painted it for a friend, Agnolo Doni. The tondo is, nevertheless, controversial in many other respects. Michelangelo is thought to have painted it when he was in Florence in either or , but the dates of both the commission and the execution of the work are, so far, undocumented. Furthermore, its iconography presents some decided novelties, namely the unusual pose of the Virgin and the even stranger presence of five nude figures in the background. These and other details have been subjected to many interpretations. The painting, however, still lacks an explanation which brings all its elements together and which is fully consistent with both its genre and its function. This article is based on the assumption that a closer investigation of the personal and devotional context in which the painting was produced, and of Doni family history, might shed new light on the making of the tondo, and perhaps also on its controversial date. Several scholars have indeed already insisted on both the private character and the devotional function of this work. Nevertheless, they have not really questioned the traditional reading of the painting, which (as we shall see) is not entirely consistent with the function of a painting of this kind—that is, a Marian tondo. Following this line of enquiry, I propose that the study of other pictures which are possibly related to the Doni tondo, in genre or iconography, may prove fruitful.

Note: Appearances can be deceptive.

My participation in this conference, and in that session in particular, was forced, in an attempt to "alleviate" or maybe conceal the damage caused by the repeated misuse of my research by the person with whom I shared the session. Unfortunately, even if he had promised to do so, this person never amended the damage caused or apologized for it.

The religious art of early Christian Ireland has attracted much scholarly and popular attention. In contrast the devotional world of later medieval Ireland has, until recently, been relatively neglected. This multi-disclipinary volume redresses this by examining the material culture of late medieval Irish devotion against its artistic, historical, theological and liturgical background. The contributors draw on recent advances in international scholarship to provide a broader context for the Irish material.

Subjects examined include: wall paintings, metalwork, shrines and reliquaries, manuscripts and books of hours, stained glass and vestments. Other contributions deal with the religious imagery of Irish bardic poetry and the cults of the Virgin Mary and St Francis of Assisi. Many of these papers were first presented at the Second Glenstal History conference held in Glenstal Abbey in September 2004

Meditation on the Incarnation of Christ is undoubtedly one of the focus of Augustinian spirituality. That is why even the images, which through the centuries enriched the liturgical space of the eremitan church of Santo Stefano in Venice, outline a path of meditation on the coming into the world of Jesus, which includes the Nativity of Mary by Nicolò Bambini, the teleri of Christ's childhood (Adoration of the Magi, Slaughter of the Innocents, Flyght into Egypt) made by Gaspare Diziani for the greater Sacristy, and the Baptism of Christ by Pomponio Amalteo in the Contarini chapel. The following text is the result of a conference on these issues, held in church on 14 December 2017.

Dentre os documentos referentes à história das religiões, talvez os mais negligenciados pelos pesquisadores são aqueles que dizem respeito, em sentido estrito, à oração individual e comunitária. Esses, contudo, nos remetem a questões que tocam o âmago da experiência do homem religioso no mundo. Essa lacuna é ainda mais grave em se tratando dos estudos dos cristianismos orientais, antigas experiências eclesiásticas que, de um modo geral, ainda são praticamente desconhecidas cá entre nós. A coletânea organizada pelos Professores Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony e Derek Krueger sobre a oração na experiência cristã no Mediterrâneo Oriental da Antiguidade Tardia e do Medievo é uma boa introdução ao tema, que pode nos ajudar a romper esse silêncio.

"The religious art of early Christian Ireland has attracted much scholarly and popular attention. In contrast the devotional world of later medieval Ireland has, until recently, been relatively neglected. This multi-disclipinary volume redresses this by examining the material culture of late medieval Irish devotion against its artistic, historical, theological and liturgical background. The contributors draw on recent advances in international scholarship to provide a broader context for the Irish material. Subjects examined include: wall paintings, metalwork, shrines and reliquaries, manuscripts and books of hours, stained glass and vestments. Other contributions deal with the religious imagery of Irish bardic poetry and the cults of the Virgin Mary and St Francis of Assisi. Many of these papers were first presented at the Second Glenstal History conference held in Glenstal Abbey in September 2004 "