Madonna

The evolving representations of queer people in moving ima­ges have taken the form of a homecoming, especially in light of recent law changes that pertain to same-­sex marriage in the United States, and the media’s concurrent readiness to recast sexual minorities in the roles of husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and children. In an effort to investigate the formation of queer chosen families, independent of, or in opposition to, heteronorma­tivity, the paper approaches director Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film Paris Is Burning as an intertextual object in order to situate queer kinship at the inter­ sections of gender, race, sexuality and genre.

Com roupas e um visual diferente do que se esperava diante da narrativa traçada por sua
carreira até então, a cantora Miley Cyrus trilhou um caminho próprio na indústria
musical através de sua imagem. De ídolo infanto-juvenil, destaque da Disney, a ícone
influente e porta-voz de uma geração, ela empregou elementos, como o exagero, o
grotesco e o kitsch, em sua construção artística, que são analisados neste artigo.

"Madonna is perhaps one of the most consistently transgressive and self-transforming artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The recent release of two critically acclaimed and best-selling albums and a sold-out world tour have renewed media and academic interest in the artist. Madonna presents a set of strikingly new challenges to cultural analysis, and new developments in Gender, Queer and Ethnic studies have shed more light on her entire oeuvre. Whilst the contributors do refer to classic cultural theorists such as Baudrillard, Žižek, Foucault and Barthes, new theoretical approaches to Madonna's work feature prominently. In view of this, the present volume offers new perspectives on Madonna's work to date, addressing her configurations of race, gender and sex(uality) and with special emphasis on her resurrection after the Sex backlash in the early 1990s.

The collection focuses on new Madonna-related topics such as Hinduism, Judaism, Japanese culture, All-American culture, Queer culture, Motherhood and her influence on newer 'girl acts' such as the Spice Girls and Britney Spears. The book explores the themes of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and celebrity consumption through the lens of Madonna's songs, videos and shows. An international array of scholars portrays Madonna's popularisation of the notion that identity is not fixed and can be continuously rearranged and revamped. The book should have wide appeal for all those concerned with gender studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, lesbian and gay musicology as well as popular music studies."

This research aims at analyzing how Madonna’s career presents dialectical articulations with the postmodern period, emphasizing the strong relationship established between her performances and cultural identities of ghetto groups. It is interesting to note the ambiguities contained in the binomial perpetuation/rupture, as seen in the way in which Madonna provokes the visualization of subaltern expressive forms and, at the same time, seems to reproduce the hegemonic ethos of the capitalist nexus. Thus, the present research has been developed through bibliographical investigations of concepts such as gender,
postmodernity and myth, whose theoretical interlacings have made possible to understand Madonna as part of a time loaded with ambivalences, making it an archetype of contemporary culture.

This paper finally gives a name to the author of the beautiful Madonna del Suffragio, worshipped at the Madonna della Guardia Sanctuary, near Gavi (AL), and at the centre of a long story of popular devotion. The sculptor of the wooden statue is Luigi Fasce, born in Ovada - near Alessandria - but grew up artistically with the important examples given by Anton Maria Maragliano and Francesco Biggi, ar tists ver y active in the Genoa’s area and even in the Oltregiogo, the land between Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy. This study gives stylistic, iconographic and technical points of view to recognize Fasce’s apprenticeship and is based even on the data taken from the recent restoration of this work of art.

By analyzing the writings of Sister Maria Lúcia de Jesus e do Cora-çâo Imaculado, one of the recipients of the visions, the present study sheds light on the main episodes in the life of all three of the Fatima children and especially on the essential dimensions of their spiritual experience. It then shows how the Church came to permit the cult of Our Lady of Fatima, recognizing in the light of various criteria of discernment that the Marian apparitions that took place there were worthy of credence.

In questo studio intendiamo raccontare sinteticamente le vicende dei tre veggenti di Fatima, così come sono ricordate soprattutto negli scritti stesi "currenti calamo" da Lúcia de Jesus Rosa Santos. Li citiamo dall’edizione molto accurata dei Documentos de Fátima (1976) del gesuita António Maria Martins (1918-1997), la quale, rispetto ad altre raccolte, ha il pregio di presentare anche la riproduzione in fotocopia degli originali.
Sulla base di questi dati, sarebbe teologicamente fecondo mettere in luce come il messaggio di Fatima, in quanto profezia apocalittica che implica la risposta libera degli uomini, si è sì realizzato nel XX secolo, ma solo parzialmente. Per molti versi, le parole della Madonna offrono chiavi di teologia della storia che si dischiudono ad un futuro misterioso , come infinitamente misteriose sono le reazioni di ogni essere umano all’attrazione salvifica del Risorto (cf Gv 12,32). A illuminare il mistero di questa relazione resta la promessa escatologica ma efficace della Madonna di Fatima: «Finalmente, il mio cuore immacolato trionferà».

Paper presented at IMC Leeds, July 2013. Copyright M. D. Ito, 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. The confraternity of Orsanmichele, a laudesi group dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded in 1291 at the Florentine grain market, just a year after the grain loggia's completion. The confraternity shared space with the traders under the loggia. Traders worked there by day, and the confraternity members met the evenings and on Sundays and feast days, when the market was closed. The confraternity at Orsanmichele, however, was more than a prayer, praise, and charitable group honoring the image of the Virgin under the loggia. Rather, using the focus of the Virgin and the energy she generated, the confraternity, backed by the communal and trading community, provided essential physical and political protection for the grain market in the face of magnate factions that opposed and threatened the market, its neighborhood, and the communal leadership.

Female pop stars adopting a military look transform themselves by taking on archetypically male qualities, while at the same time assuming these same qualities for reasons by turns ironical, aggressive and 'caring.' But if there is an essential difference between the military look of the female pop star and that of the male, what does it consist in? In this brief review of pop 'glamazons,' I deal mainly with Kate Bush and Madonna. Both pushed boundaries in mainstream popular music by their lyrics and imagery. Art pop star Kate Bush has performed as a gun-slinging space cowgirl on the 'Tour of Life' (1979), engaged in field combat in 'Army Dreamers' and figured as an archetypal female warrior in 'Babooshka' (both: 1980). Pop rock star Madonna appeared smartly in a military greatcoat with epaulettes and big, brassy buttons in 'The Girlie Show' (1993), but had to pull her 'American Life' anti-war fashion statement (2003), while returning to military style on her 'Re-Invention tour' (2004). Paradoxes in the military-styled performances of both women are touched on; especially intriguing is that of a red, white and blue bikini-clad, caped and combat-booted Madonna, in her 'Rock the Vote' TV-spot (1990). In comparing Kate Bush and Madonna, I consider what their military look consisted in - including historical and mythological connotations, and whether the object was aesthetic or political, as well as how it could relate to what is being expressed in the lyrics. Were there common motives behind Kate's and Madonna's military looks?

In the last two decades especially, we have witnessed the rise of ‘celebrity’ forms of global humanitarianism and charity work, spearheaded by entertainment stars, billionaires, and activist NGOs (e.g. Bob Geldof, Bono, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, Bill Gates, George Soros, Save Darfur, Medeçins Sans Frontières). This book examines this new phenomenon, arguing that celebrity humanitarianism legitimates, and indeed promotes, neoliberal capitalism and global inequality.

Drawing on Slavoj Žižek’s work, the book argues how celebrity humanitarianism, far from being altruistic, is significantly contaminated and ideological: it is most often self-serving, helping to promote institutional aggrandizement and the celebrity ‘brand’; it advances consumerism and corporate capitalism, and rationalizes the very global inequality it seeks to redress; it is fundamentally depoliticizing, despite its pretensions to ‘activism’; and it contributes to a ‘postdemocratic’ political landscape, which appears outwardly open and consensual, but is in fact managed by unaccountable elites.

Tied together in tussie-mussies or nosegays, flowers were allegedly used by 19th-century Europe and America, along with herbs, leaves, and twigs, to communicate sentiments. The coding of these was recorded in multivolume floriographical lexica or in small Language of Flowers books the size of a keepsake. By selecting particular flowers and arranging them in a bouquet, the whole spectrum of love and friendship could be communicated sub rosa, including feelings such as rage and hatred as well as socially taboo love beyond class distinctions and heteronormativity. However, since different floriographical lexica vary significantly on the meaning of each flower, the question arises of whether the numerous Language of Flowers books were actually in use or were primarily literary phenomena.
After summarizing the development of the Language of Flowers in the 19th century, including an overview of the cultural parameters that finally led to the extinction of the floriographical obsession, the paper deals with the echoes of floriomania in the writings of Sigmund Freud (The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900) and George Bataille (The Language of Flowers, 1929). Both will be contrasted with Jacques Derrida's deconstruction of the flower-emotion-analogy in his reading of Jean Genet's Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs (Glas, 1974). For Derrida, the language of flowers serves as a role model for the artificiality of all metaphors and for the arbitrariness of language in general: "There is always, absent from any garden, a dried flower in a book" (Jacques Derrida, White Mythology. Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy, 1971).

Selten hat eine Popsängerin heftiger verschiedenste Gemüter erregt und Skandale provoziert als Madonna. Noch seltener allerdings ist es einer Popsängerin darüber hinaus gelungen, sich auf dem ansonsten kurzlebigen Markt populärer Musikinterpreten über Jahrzehnte hinweg zu behaupten und dabei immer wieder herausragende Erfolge zu erzielen. Und diese Erfolge lassen sich nicht nur an Verkaufszahlen, sondern auch an zahlreichen künstlerischen Auszeichnungen aufzeigen. Zugleich gibt es vermutlich kaum eine Popikone, die häufiger das Objekt wissenschaftlicher Betrachtung wurde. Wie ist dies zu erklären?
Mehr als jeder andere Popstar, höchstens noch mit Michael Jackson vergleichbar, hat Madonna Musikvideos benutzt, um ihre Popularität aufzubauen und ihre Songs zu unterstützen. Die meisten Kontroversen in Presse und Wissenschaft entstanden weniger durch die Songs selbst als durch die Videobilder, die geschaffen wurden, um den Song zu promoten. Größtenteils erhalten die Songs erst durch den Einfluss des zugehörigen Videoclips ihre eigentliche Bedeutung. Obwohl Madonnas Musikvideos auch vom Personalstil des jeweiligen Regisseurs geprägt sind, steht eine maßgebliche Einflussnahme Madonnas außer Zweifel, gibt es doch zahlreiche Indizien dafür, dass sie künstlerische Entscheidungen letztlich immer selbst trifft.
Der vorliegende Aufsatz beinhaltet keine vollständigen Analysen von Madonna-Videoclips. Vielmehr werden exemplarisch Schlaglichter auf ausgewählte Videoclips geworfen, um einzelne wiederkehrende Aspekte zu akzentuieren und in einen Gesamtkontext einzuordnen. Aufgezeigt werden soll, dass vor allem die in ihren Songs und Musikvideos angelegte Mehrdeutigkeit Garant für ihren Erfolg ist. Sowohl jugendlicher Fan als auch kulturbeflissener Etablierter, sowohl Macho als auch Feministin können Anknüpfungspunkte für ihre Erfahrungen und Vorlieben finden. Madonnas Körperinszenierungen sind freizügig und zugleich höchst artifiziell, ihr gesellschaftliches Engagement ist stets gepaart mit kommerziellen Erwägungen. Nicht zuletzt durch ihr Spiel mit Frauenimages und weiblichen Stereotypen gelangte sie zu ihrem Doppelimage als Heilige und Hure, dem sich in zusätzlicher Zwiespältigkeit der in ihren Musikvideos angelegte hohe Kunstanspruch bei zugleich gnadenloser Selbstvermarktung zugesellt. Hinzu treten die ständige Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Biografie sowie Genre-übergreifende Verkaufskampagnen zur Vermarktung ihrer Produkte.

What is the venerated image that remains as a trace in the minds of the faithful? The one that can be seen on the altar of the church all year round or the one that can be seen only once a year during the patronal feast? Starting from these questions, in this essay we trace the origins of some Sicilian Marian representations, and in particular of the simulacrum of the Madonna del Soccorso or of the Miracles of Caltabellotta (AG). It is a research still in a nutshell that proposes a key to interpreting the unpublished Marian iconography that starting from the morphological and iconographic analysis, passing through the biology of images of Warburgian memory, arrives at animism and ritual performance.

Qual’è immagine venerata che resta come traccia mestica nella mente dei fedeli? Quella che tutto l’anno si può osservare sull’altare della chiesa o quella che solo una volta l’anno si può vedere durante la festa patronale? Partendo da queste domande in questo saggio si tracciano le origini di alcune raffigurazioni mariane siciliane, e in particolare del simulacro della Madonna del Soccorso o dei Miracoli di Caltabellotta (AG). È una ricerca ancora in nuce che propone una chiave di lettura dell’iconografia mariana inedita che partendo dall’analisi morfologica e iconografica, passando per la biologia delle immagini di warburghiana memoria, approda all’animismo e alla performance rituali.

The 16th and 17th centuries were periods of early globalisation. European tradesmen and envoys established commercial relations with the Mughal and the Safavid rulers. Simultaneously the Jesuits came to India and brought Christian paintings with them to support their missionary efforts. These paintings were copied and adapted at the instance of the Mughal rulers. The catalogue evinces how Christian themes got incorporated into Indian and Persian painting and how Christian pictures were used by the Mughal nobility for their own imperial representation.
The attached text forms the introduction to the catalogue "Angels and Madonnas in Islam", which has been published early in 2015. It can be ordered f.ex. via Amazon.de; most of the pictures described in this catalogue can be viewed on a Tumblr blog (please find both links below).

La culture gay contemporaine met en avant des personnalités médiatiques souvent dénommées "icônes gay". Souvent des femmes, souvent hétérosexuelles, que représentent ces images du désir gay ? Comment se fait-il qu'un public homosexuel masculin érigent au rang d'icônes ces figures si particulières du genre et de la sexualité ? Pour répondre à ces questions, il a paru opportun de confronter les théories psychanalytiques de Freud et Lacan aux écrits de Cultural Studies sur la culture gay. À partir de là, il est apparu que la construction de l'iconicité gay dans la culture capitaliste contemporaine s'inscrivait :
- d'une part, dans une réappropriation queer de la culture populaire hétérosexuelle, et en particulier un goût pour les figures maternelles subversives face à la fonction phallique ;
- d'autre part, dans une esthétique parodique de la souffrance dite "camp", incarnée par une féminité excessive.
En se penchant sur des cas spécifiques d'icônes gay (Madonna, Lady Gaga, Judy Garland, Britney Spears, entre autres) ainsi que des œuvres littéraires et cinématographiques ("Œdipe roi", "Médée", "8 femmes", entre autres), cette étude interroge également la dimension politique de la culture gay : en quoi l'iconicité gay participe-t-elle au néolibéralisme ainsi qu'à l'homonationalisme du XXIe siècle ?

L’article a pour sujet la personnalité extraordinaire du kabbaliste le Rabbin Levi Isaac Krakovsky (1891–1966), un des étudiants oubliés du Rabbin Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1885–1955). Krakovsky diffusait l’enseignement de son maître en Amérique en anglais, écrivait des douzaines de livres et essayait d’établir des yeshivot de Kabbalistes. Contrairement à son maître, il présentait un enseignement exotérique et une vision de diffusion de la Kabbale dans le monde entier. Son influence était minime, mais un de ses élèves était Shraga Philip Berg qui continuait son chemin et le complétait de plusieurs points de vue. L’article se base sur de riches matières archivales, parmi lesquelles de longues essays de l’auteur en manuscrit qui sont décrits ici pour la premiere fois. D’une telle façon, nous décrivons le dévelopment de la Kabbale en Amérique du début du vingtième siècle jusqu’ aujourd’hui.

The study deals with the sculptural and pictorial analysis of the Lambertini-Passasepe tomb located in the crypt of Trani Cathedral. Research is divided into two complementary parts. By studying the style and heraldic coat of arms on the sarcophagus, it has been possible to go back not only to the clients but also to the bonds of power behind particular representation choices, establishing the chronological arch of realization of the funeral monument itself. The second part deals with the analysis of the fresco framed by the tomb, the possible author and the rare iconography of the Virgin of the Veil, commingling with that of sleeping Baby Jesus, whose ties range from the Balkan East to the Adriatic.

Lo studio affronta l'analisi scultorea e pittorica della tomba Lambertini-Passasepe collocata nella cripta della cattedrale di Trani. La ricerca è divisa in due parti complementari tra loro. Attraverso lo studio dello stile e degli stemmi araldici presenti sul sarcofago è stato possibile risalire non solo ai committenti ma anche ai legami di potere dietro particolari scelte di rappresentazione stabilendo il possibile arco cronologico di realizzazione del monumento funebre stesso. La seconda parte verte sull'analisi dell'affresco inquadrato dalla tomba, sul possibile autore e sulla rara iconografia della Madonna del velo, fusa con quella di Gesù Bambino addormentato, i cui legami spaziano tra l'Oriente balcanico e l'area adriatica.

This master's thesis on Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna situates the sculpture within the context of early sixteenth-century altarpieces. It examines how Michelangelo created a sculpture that embraces the traditional role of an altarpiece while exploiting the creative opportunities that such an object presented to an artist who was deeply concerned for both the artistic and spiritual merit of his sculpture.

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die wirksamen Darstellungsstrategien und Gestaltungsmittel der öffentlichen Bildkommunikation von ikonischen Personenmarken. Vor dem Theoriehintergrund einer kognitiven Bildsemiotik greift die empirische Untersuchung der ausgewählten Fälle Madonna und Karl Lagerfeld auf eine visuelle Frame-Analyse zurück. Dabei berücksichtigt sie — ausgehend von einem kulturalistischen Markenverständnis — auch die ko-kreative Bildpraxis der Prosumer. Schließlich wird über einen systematischen Vergleich der detailreichen Einzelfallbefunde ein ›Strukturmodell des bildbasierten Bedeutungsmanagements‹ ikonischer Personenmarken erarbeitet. Als Beitrag zur Designforschung legt diese qualitative Studie somit ihren Schwerpunkt auf die Rolle, die dem Bildlichen bei der Markenbildung von Personen und in einer globalen Markenbildkultur der Gegenwart insgesamt zukommt. [Reading sample only in German]

L'antichissima Chiesa Subapostolica e Patriarcale di Aquileia, caratterizzata dal Rito Proprio Patriarchino o Aquileiese, ha prodotto un’antica serie di Litanie Mariane che sono attestate da un manoscritto del XII secolo, comprendente quarantadue invocazioni. Nel corso dei secoli tale formulario si diffuse in tutta la vastissima area di influenza metropolitica della Chiesa Aquileiese, originariamente estesa dall'Italia nord-orientale fino alla Slovenia e alla Croazia e all'Ungheria, dalla Baviera alla Carinzia, e si arricchì di nuove invocazioni, raggiungendo l’imponente numero di novantadue nel Seicento. Caratteristica di tali invocazioni sono l’espressione Santa Maria con la quale tutte le litanie iniziano, la ricorrenza dei temi della luce e della gioia, la particolare risposta dell’assemblea: vieni in nostro aiuto. Si tratta di un grande tesoro molto antico di spiritualità mariana, caratterizzato da una grande ricchezza liturgica e profondità teologica, che celebra tutte le Principali Verità Cattoliche, Cristologiche, Trinitarie, Mariologiche, Ecclesiologiche. Le Litanie Mariane Aquileiesi sono antichissime ma sempre attualissime. Leggere per credere.

O objetivo central desta investigação consiste em estudar de que forma se dá a construção do ethos e do pathos em videoclipes femininos. Em outras palavras, a minha principal finalidade é analisar as marcas linguisticamente inscritas no discurso videoclíptico feminino para a criação identitária de uma autoimagem das cantoras e para a encenação das suas emoções e sentimentos a partir dos vários modos semióticos orquestrados nesse gênero textual: imagem, música e palavra. De maneira mais específica, proponho-me aqui a: i) investigar o videoclipe como gênero textual, observando a sua formação histórica e sociorretórica, as suas configurações genéricas e também como dialoga intertextualmente com outros textos, discursos e gêneros; ii) examinar de que modo se dá a construção da identidade feminina no videoclipe a partir do debate entre feministas e pós-feministas em torno da constituição identitária da mulher; e iii) apresentar e discutir as principais abordagens teóricas sobre o ethos e o pathos ao longo da história e na atualidade, propondo por fim a adoção de uma perspectiva sociocognitiva acerca desses dois fenômenos. Para tanto, foram conjugadas interdisciplinarmente as contribuições teóricas de diversos campos do conhecimento: da Retórica Clássica, da Escola Americana da Nova Retórica, da Retórica Visual, da Análise do Discurso, dos Estudos Enunciativos, da Semiótica Social, bem como da Semiótica da Canção, sempre assumindo como principal norte teórico a sociocognição. O corpus analisado compõe-se dos seguintes videoclipes: Born this way (Lady Gaga, 2011), Firework (Katy Perry, 2010), Run the world (girls) (Beyoncé, 2011), Rolling in the deep (Adele, 2010) e Super bass (Nicki Minaj, 2011). A partir da amostra, realizei um estudo de caráter qualitativo, investigando exemplarmente a construção do ethos e do pathos nesses vídeos femininos selecionados, os quais se encontram dispostos em duas macrocategorias de análise: os ethe de engajamento (constituídos pelo ethos de identificação e pelo ethos de solidariedade) e os ethe de personalidade (formados pelo ethos de comandante ou líder, pelo ethos de humanidade e pelo ethos de ‘não-sério’ ou de ‘não-virtude’). Como resultado da análise, é possível concluir que as autoimagens construídas pelas cantoras em seus videoclipes se apresentam sob formas múltiplas, diversificadas e complexas, ao contrário do que apregoam os tradicionais estudos críticos de orientação feminista, os quais dicotomizam tais imagens entre boas (a serem usadas como modelo de comportamento) e más (a serem repelidas).

Senza dubbio la sacra rappresentazione "Donna de Paradiso" di Jacopone da Todi, vero e proprio capolavoro ispirato, con la sua scrittura-sceneggiatura sembra anticipare di secoli quella del teatro moderno ma soprattutto quella cinematografica. Siamo persuasi che Jacopone da Todi abbia scritto "Donna de Paradiso" suggerendone una visione, trasformando continuamente il linguaggio letterario in linguaggio visivo. La scrittura del Frate a nostro giudizio reca in se la cifra della scrittura della settima arte, ovvero avere nella sua ‘visibilità’ la sua qualità principale e nell’‘azione’ la sua specificità, di quella che Italo Calvino definito “cinema mentale”. Al pari degli autori che nel secondo dopoguerra misero in scena l’alienazione dell’uomo contemporaneo, Jacopone attraverso i suoi dialoghi-monologhi, ridotti al minimo, mostra l’angoscia, la solitudine e l’impossibilità di comunicare di una madre straziata dal dolore per quanto accade al proprio figlio. Gli spettatori-lettori non potevano nel Medioevo, e non possono oggi, non lasciarsi colpire dalla singolare forza di evocazione visuale della passione, dalla qualità violenta e “incarnata” della sua rappresentazione

IT: L’apertura al pubblico dei depositi della Galleria Estense, straordinaria study collection allestita nel 2015 nel Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo, ha offerto l’opportunità di riconoscere, in una Madonna col Bambino ivi conservata, l’opera di uno dei più illustri allievi di Guido Reni, il francese Jean Boulanger (1608-1660), dal 1638 pittore del duca Francesco I d’Este e protagonista della decorazione della reggia sassolese. Un provvidenziale restauro, promosso dal Rotary Club Sassuolo, ha confermato così l’iniziale ipotesi attributiva del relatore e ha permesso di meglio suffragarla attraverso riscontri stilistici stringenti con saggi certi dell’artista già restaurati, suggerendo una datazione tra il 1656 e il 1660. Come già pareva indicare anche il dettato compositivo, la presenza di pittura nei lembi ripiegati della tela ha poi permesso di accertare la natura frammentaria dell’opera. Si tratterebbe, infatti, della gloria celeste di una più grande pala che indagini archivistiche suggeriscono di riconoscere in quella che si ergeva nella cappella della famiglia Pasquini, alias Sandonati, nella chiesa delle monache di San Marco a Modena, opera da circa due secoli ritenuta dispersa, raffigurante nella parte inferiore sant’Ermenegildo stante e san Casimiro, re di Polonia, genuflesso. A margine di questo, nella medesima raccolta, un altro riconoscimento: un’inedita piccola Deposizione del modenese Sigismondo Caula (1637-1724), tra i più illustri allievi dello stesso Boulanger.
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EN: The opening to the public of the Este Gallery’s depositories, an extraor-dinary study collection set up in 2015 in the Ducal Palace of Sassuolo, has given the chance to acknowledge the work of one of Guido Reni’s most eminent pupils, the French Jean Boulanger (1608-1660), in a Madonna with Child which is conserved there. Boulanger was the Duke Francesco I d'Este's painter from 1638 and he was the protagonist of the decoration of the Sassuolo’s realm. A timely restoration, promoted by the Rotary Club Sassuolo, has thus confirmed the lecturer’s first attributional hypothesis and it has allowed to support it better through the constraining stylistic comparisons with some of the artist’s essays already restored, thus dating it between 1656 and 1660. As the compositional postulate seemed to indicate, the painting traces in the folded edges of the canvas have then allowed to ascertain the fragmentary nature of the work. In fact, it would be the celestial glory of a bigger canvas that some archive investigations acknowledge in the one once standing in the Pasquini family's chapel, alias Sandonati, in the church of the nuns of San Marco in Modena. This work has been considered “lost” for almost two centuries, and it represented in the lower part Saint Hermenegild standing and Saint Casimir, King of Poland, on bended knees. In the margins of this, in the same collection, another acknowledgement: a small, unknown Deposition of the Modenese Sigismondo Caula (1637-1724), one of the most eminent Boulanger’s pupils.

L’indagine, incentrata sui tratti mariologici del pensiero paolino, mostra anzitutto come Paolo dia la sua testimonianza scritta su Maria, connettendola in mo-do inseparabile al centro cristologico del suo «vangelo». Ma dalla concentrazione della cristologia paolina sul valore salvifico del mistero pasquale di Cristo più che sulla sua vicenda terrena consegue il carattere conciso del ricordo della madre del Figlio di Dio nella Lettera ai Galati (4,4). Per un motivo analogo, la Lettera ai Romani (1,3-4), riferendosi all’incarnazione del Figlio di Dio, non accenna né a Maria né alla sua maternità verginale, che, però, non è contraddetta dall’utilizzo solo metaforico del termine greco "sperma". D’altronde, Paolo colloca la mariologia nella prospettiva storico-salvifica del suo «vangelo». Perciò, nella Lettera ai Galati, il nascere del Figlio di Dio «da donna» (4,4) rientra nella dinamica di solidarietà universale (cf 2,20ef), vissuta da lui per obbedienza alla volontà del Padre (1,4b). Di conseguenza, l’apostolo preferisce sottolineare qui il carattere umiliante del farsi uomo del Figlio di Dio più che la straordinarietà della sua nascita verginale, così da non attenuare la forza argomentativa del paradosso di questo passo, che esige di essere completato dai dati dei vangeli dell’infanzia.

published without the knowledge of the author - . not proofread by the author. an updated and corrected version of the article will appear in my book - Wrestling with the Esoteric (2017)

הדברים נדפסו שלא בידיעתי וללא הגהה מצידי. אין אחריות המחבר על טיב התרגום ודיוקו. נוסח מעודכן, עם תיקונים רבים, יראה אור בספרי  - נפתולי סוד, 2017


Йо н а т а н Ме и р
Михаэль Лайтман и группа «Бней-Барух»
(фрагмент статьи «О последователях рабби
Й.-Л. Ашлага, полемике с ними и о распространении
еврейской каббалистической литературы»)

This is an excerpt from a much bigger article devoted to
several followers of Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag’s agenda who
are trying to disseminate Kabbalistic ideas and practices
outside of the borders of Judaism. This very excerpt analyzes
teachings of Michael Laitman, a Russian-speaking student of
Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, and his movement “Bnei Baruch”,which
try to present Kabbalah as science and lead it out of Orthodox
Judaism. Author considers Laitman’s methodology, his ideas
on correction of the world and salvation from anti-Semitism
through Kabbalah studies, his social ideal. In this excerpt one
can also find analysis of the social context of the movement,
Laitman’s competition with another representative of New Age
Kabbalah Shraga Feivel (Philip) Berg, strategies of gaining
popularity and complicated relations with Jewish Orthodoxy.