Painted Crucifix

The file contains my Biblical Litographs from years 2007-2015. They include: Hagar, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, The Great Father Jesse, Gabriel, Mary Meets Elisabeth, Joseph Shares His Dream, The Baptism of Jesus, A Journey towards the Mountain of Transfiguration, A Woman Caught in Adultery, A Samaritan Woman at the Well, Zacheus, Crucifixion, Descent into Hell, Noli me tangere, Ascention, Pentecost, With the Moon under Her Feet, Pantokrator and others. The file also includes various posters of and invitations to exhibitions.

The V&A is home to a painted crucifix that has been attributed to the Sicilian master, Antonio de Saliba (c 1466/7–c 1535), who was active in Venice and eastern Sicily during the Renaissance. This paper takes a fresh look at the documentary sources that were published before the devastating earthquake that struck Messina, in the north west of Sicily, in 1908. In re-examining these sources, this paper reveals new insights into Antonio de Saliba’s oeuvre and enables a possible identification of the V&A’s painted crucifix with a specific contractual agreement that links this crucifix’s com- mission to the artist – specifically with a commission de Saliba received in 1508 from Limina, a small town in the province of Messina. The roots of this provincial commission would explain the persistence of a retardataire production visible in this early sixteenth-century painted crucifix. This paper also challenges the preconceived idea that such painted crucifixes were destined to be displayed high up in a church, on a tramezzo or beam.

La lezione parte dalle recenti acquisizioni teoriche di studiosi americani e italiani, come Mary Carruthers e Carla Bino, circa le tecniche mnemoniche di costruzione della scena mentale proprie della retorica monastica e la loro applicazione nell’ambito del racconto passionista nel Medioevo. Da qui si dimostra come nell'ambito della letteratura meditativa del maturo Trecento venga applicato, secondo una rinnovata spiritualità, un processo di disposizione di scene e "imagines agentes" all’interno della memoria, volto a comporre una mappa drammaturgica. Lo "skopos" è l’identificazione mimetica del meditante, che vedremo essere alla base del "realismo antispettacolare" proprio del "teatro della misericordia" che fiorirà compiutamente solo alla fine del XIV secolo. L'analisi dei testi e delle immagini (imagines pietatis, polittici della Passione) sottolineerà dunque in che modo colui che medita è chiamato all'azione in prima persona all’interno di una scena che diviene sensibile, tangibile e che è sempre tesa alla perfetta "conformatio" con il Dio crocifisso.

Sentiamo una donna gridare. I suoi bambini sono piccoli e
tranquilli nei giubbottini e giocano tra loro, fratellino e sorellina,
a rincorrersi. Fila alla cassa, kebab e moretti. Non si trovano
le valigie: non si trovano, le hanno prese, per questo la donna è
nel panico, e per questo vedo Youssef alzarsi dal nostro tavolino
e raggiungere il proprietario. Bisogna risolvere perché la donna
e piccoli tra poco hanno l’autobus per Roma. Hanno appena lasciato
il CARA di Mineo, e queste valigie bisogna che tornino,
bisogna che si sappia chi le ha prese, con i tablet e i soldi, e per
questo chiedono a Youssef, buono e perduto, tunisino malacarne,
magrissimo lupo, che è violento quando serve, in difesa di, per tirare
a campare senza annegare. Annegare qui, nel ventre magro
della città, che tutti contiene, sfama e affama.

A cutting taken from a luxurious early fifteenth-century Venetian choir book depicts what some scholars have referred to as a ‘scene of sacrilege,’ or a ‘scene of iconoclasm’ (Musée de Cluny, Cl. 22713). The choir book, to which this cutting once belonged, was part of a series made for the Camaldolese monastery of San Mattia di Murano, located in the Venetian lagoon. Scholarly attempts to identify the figure have neglected important iconographic details in the image as well as the liturgical context in which the image was produced. In this paper, through a close visual reading of certain iconographic and stylistic features, I will suggest that this is not a depiction merely of iconoclasm but of a specific narrative: the rarely depicted legend of the Beirut Miracle,  which tells the story of an icon of the crucified Christ that bled miraculously after being attacked by the Jews of the city of Beirut in Lebanon. I will also consider the Cluny cutting in the context of the original Camaldolese liturgy in order to link it with an important thirteenth-century panel painting, featuring the same narrative, and made for another Camaldolese monastery, the abbey church of San Salvatore della Berardenga near Arezzo.

The paper discusses a group of monumental crucifixes from the 13th-century East Adriatic and Italy, pained or executed in low relief, that display a verse inscriptions on the transverse limb of the cross. The main scope of the paper is to examine the provenance of the text inscribed in order to yield clearer insight into their function, use and original location in the church interiors. The paper specifically aims at analyzing three monumental crucifixes from the East-Adriatic city of Zadar which, although have already been the subject of a respectable number of studies, have not attracted attention as objects of devotion. My interest, therefore, is turned towards verse inscription as their distinctive feature and, as I shall argue, a key aspect in understanding their function. Examining the nature of the text displayed, iconography and materiality of these crucifixes, my main argument is to demonstrate how these objects provoked a multi-faced response from their audience, since were experienced by seeing, hearing and touching respectively.

U radu se analiziraju monumentalna raspela dubrovačkog područja od 14. do 16. stoljeća kao dio šireg pitanja ikonografije sakralnih prostora do Tridentskog sabora. Cilj rada je u raspravu uključiti brojna raspela koja nisu sačuvana, a spominju se u pisanim izvorima. Grupirajući raspela unutar materijala, ikonografije, smještaja i načina čašćenja, dolazi se do poveznica između navedenih kategorija koje u istraživanju monumentalnih raspela ne smiju biti sagledavane zasebno.
Mentori: dr.sc. Igor Fisković i dr.sc. Ana Marinković

Modern times witnessed the rise of a new approach to the theme of crucifixion - less theological and confessional, but spiritual and personal with relation to the artists themselves and to the way they viewed their contemporary society. In the twentieth century, the modern vision of the crucifixion was firmly established by the Expressionists, who were representing one of the earliest artistic movements of the century. They laid the foundation for this new approach which was further developed by representatives of other avant-garde groups.

Monumental crucifixes could have communicated the Passion by both image and text. Image, imago of Living or Suffering Christ was the central theme of crucifixes, normally accompanied by narrative scenes of the Passion (12th century) or St Mary and St John the Evangelist (13th century onwards). While the text was usually limited to titulus crucis containing the ‘INRI’ acronym, in some cases the image was supported by a more elaborate textual interpretation. Therefore, both image and text have to be examined as they form two poles in communicating the Passion.
The aim of my paper is twofold. Firstly, to analyze different types of inscriptions, from dedicatory to devotional, imprinted on several crucifixes from the 12th and 13th century. Secondly, to confront the text with the imagery, in order to see if the dual messages of the Passion complement one another.
In my paper I will be discussing a group of monumental crucifixes from Italy and Croatia. Particular attention will be given to three crucifixes from medieval Zadar (Zara) since they offer an interesting insight into the topic under discussion. Although their inscriptions vary, ranging from medieval poetry to quotations from the Bible, all are composed in the form of double rimmed leonine verses and located beneath the arms of Christ. On the one hand, the function of metrical verses implies their oral performance. The fact that the verses had to be legible allows us to draw conclusions on the original location of crucifixes in question. On the other hand, if we compare the text with imagery, we see that there is not always the correspondence between the two. So what is the key element in the interpretation of monumental crucifixes with inscriptions? In other words, was it text or image that played a crucial role in the development of devotional practices?

Na Espanha, entre os séculos XIII e XVI, conformaram-se lendas que narram supostos milagres protagonizados por crucifixos, após sofrerem ataques iconoclastas; para além da compilação de relatos escritos, também foram produzidas imagens, como pinturas, relevos e gravuras, que figuraram tais fenômenos. Lembremos que no ocidente latino as lendas de imagens milagrosas começaram a circular somente após o século X, - diferente do oriente bizantino, em que estão presentes desde pelo menos o século V- e tal circulação se deu principalmente por meio de relatos escritos. Posteriormente, no decorrer do século XIII, algumas compilações de lendas de imagens milagrosas passaram a incorporar iluminuras, que intencionavam fazer visíveis os momentos dos hipotéticos milagres obrados pelas imagens, narrando visualmente as ações sobrenaturais dos objetos religiosos, como nos manuscritos iluminados Les miracles de Nostre Dame, de Gautier Conty e as Cantigas de Santa Maria, de Alfonso X. Durante este mesmo século, Guilherme Durand (1230-1296) escreveu que “a imagem parece mover mais a mente do que a Escritura; uma imagem de um feito real colocada diante dos olhos atinge mais a mente pela memória que um texto escrito”, propondo que a imagem exerce mais efeito sobre os fiéis que os textos. Estas imagens então, segundo Alejandro Garcia Aviles, tornaram-se um autêntico argumento de autoridade onde as Escrituras não foram suficientes para explicitar as coisas do sobrenatural, portanto capazes de apresentar as verossimilhanças de lendas maravilhosas. Assim posto, nesta comunicação iremos apresentar as possibilidades figurativas utilizadas para narrar visualmente algumas lendas de crucifixos milagrosos que circularam na Espanha entre o final do medievo e a modernidade. Observamos que não iremos tratar dos crucifixos milagrosos em si, mas sim de imagens (pinturas, relevos e gravuras) datadas entre os séculos XV e XVII, cuja retórica visual buscava fazer visível o momento sobrenatural da ação milagrosa desses crucifixos.

The article is devoted to texts which mention talking crucifixes prior to the famous miracle of the cross of Saint Damianus at Assisi which is related by Thomas of Celano in his second Vita of St. Francis (1246-1247).  It deals principally with crucifixes which are considered to have actually spoken and not with dreams about speaking crucifixes.  The earliest account is of a crucifix of the Niedermünster convent at Regensburg which is related in the Vita Erhardi episcopi Bavarici (BHL 2590) written between 1054 and 1073.  It goes back to a tradition of 973-994 and is thus relatively close to the first known miracle of a crucifix (921).  It therefore did not take long before speaking became a part of the manifestations of Christ’s miraculous presence in his images.  However, Thomas of Celano’s account marks a new stage by its stress on the personal relation of the crucified Lord with the saint whom he is addressing