ABside

The Oratory of the Virgin of Itria and the Confraternity Architecture in Cagliari in the Seventeenth Century

2025-03-29T16:34:24+01:00

During the Counter-Reformation, the Church undertook a process of spiritual renewal, which culminated in the consolidation of communal religious practices. In the Seventeenth-century Cagliari, confraternities emerged as pivotal agents of both social and religious reforms, instigating significant architectural innovations also in architectural field. Between 1590 and 1620, the city experienced a quick proliferation of religious buildings which contributed to redesign the urban pattern, particularly in the historic districts of Marina, Stampace, and Villanova. The Oratory of the Virgin of Itria, built from 1608, fits into this context as a paradigmatic example of confraternal architecture production during Counter-Reformation. Its single-nave plan, the central role of the altar, and the formal austerity of its interior spaces all embody the Church's intent to promote liturgical and spiritual purity, according to Conciliar orders which favored the participation of worshippers. The building of the chapel was directed by the masters Monserrato Marras and Giovanni Antonio Pinna which intertwined cleverly the Iberian architectural traditions with the emerging classical sensibilities, making an interesting union among counter-reformist sobriety and the affirmation of new aesthetic shapes.

The charm of the Roman countryside: photographic iconography and picturesque scenery between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

2025-05-06T10:26:30+02:00

This article aims to examine the main themes and figurative motifs that characterized photographic production relating to the Roman Campagna and the scenic beauty of Latium in the years at the turn of the 1900s. The Urbe’s outskirts, with its agrarian territory, have long been, since the beginning of the late modern age, one of the favorite destinations not only of artists but also of photographers, both professional and amateur, who explored it far and wide in search of the most emblematic places and typical features in order to catch pastoral suggestions, panoramic views, naturalistic glimpses, atmospheric and luministic impressions, realistic studies of plants and animals, and visual references for painters. Starting from a brief reflection on the interactions between painting and photography and their reciprocal influences, with particular reference to the advantages that the use of the reproductive medium could offer artists, the contribution addresses, without the ambition of being exhaustive but with the intent of proposing a concise and reasoned analysis, some of the most significant aspects of the persistent fascination for rural areas in the Roman cultural tradition, focusing on cardinal personalities and recurring subjects in constant comparison to coeval landscape painting.

The Biennal of Dissent in Eastern European (1977). The controversial role of the Italian Communist Party in supporting the venetian cultural event

2025-05-15T10:27:13+02:00

This paper aims to retrace the events that fueled the heated debate regarding the difficult and controversial position by the Italian Communist Party during the Biennal of Dissent in 1977, a cultural event with international resonance that was strongly politically charged. The focus is the expression of dissent in the visual arts, offering reflections on the exhibition The New Soviet Art: A Non-Official Perspective. The most contested edition in the history of the Venetian institution since its foundation in 1895 was entirely dedicated to the theme of dissent in Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union. The aim was to retrace the long history of protest and opposition to political orthodoxy in the name of autonomy from party

Existential Peripheries. The Artistic Innovation of the Stream of Consciousness

2025-05-27T10:28:28+02:00

Through a collection from the University of Turin, composed of works created by psychiatric patients between the 19th and 20th centuries, it traces the history of « asylum » artistic productions that evolved from objects of scientific interest to sources of inspiration for 20th-century artistic and literary movements such as Surrealism and Modernism, attracted by the creativity of the « mad ». Hans Prinzhorn, with his book Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (1922) influenced figures like André Breton and Jean Dubuffet: the latter coined the term Art Brut in 1945 to describe the spontaneous art of the marginalized, now recognized internationally. This heritage, often considered « peripheral », has gained recognition thanks to curators like Roger Cardinal and Bianca Tosatti; currently, the interest in these artistic expressions is reflected in mainstream events like the Venice Biennale, which has highlighted outsider artists, showcasing the relevance of these works in the contemporary socio-political and cultural context.

The Abbey of Santa Maria di Fontelaurato: chronology, architecture and context related to the first Florentine foundations

2025-05-28T09:30:47+02:00

Riassunto

Il contributo affronta la fase medioevale dell’abbazia florense di Santa Maria di Fontelaurato, importante fondazione florense. Partendo dallo studio delle fonti documentarie si è potuto meglio specificare il periodo di costruzione del monastero. L’esame autoptico dell’edificio, inoltre, ha concorso in maniera decisiva al chiarimento di alcuni aspetti essenziali alla sua comprensione ed al suo inquadramento nella cultura architettonica del XIII secolo. Si sono dimostrati particolarmente rivelatori, a tale riguardo, l’esame dell’originaria funzione dei vani sopraelevati affaccianti mediante piccole finestre sulla crociera centrale e l’approfondimento dell’articolato sistema di illuminazione dell’area presbiteriale.

Lo studio della chiesa e la ricostruzione della sua della morfologia medioevale, letti alla luce dei dati sulla sua cronologia, hanno consentito un confronto con le altre architetture dell’ordine florense. Si è così potuto specificare il ruolo assunto dalla fabbrica in oggetto. Essa, infatti, anche grazie alle più attuali acquisizioni sull’abbaziale di San Giovanni in Fiore, casa madre dell’ordine, non può più essere letta come l’adattamento del modello sangiovannese a un più modesto episodio fortemente condizionato da preesistenze, ma costituisce un importante precedente per il seriore cenobio.

Abstract

The paper addresses the medieval phase of the florians abbey of Santa Maria di Fontelaurato, an important florians foundation. By analyzing documentary sources, it has been possible to more precisely define the construction period of the monastery. The autoptic examination of the building has also contributed decisively to clarifying some essential aspects for its understanding and its placement within the architectural culture 13th-century. Particularly revealing in this regard have been the examination of the original function of the elevated spaces, which overlook the central crossing through small windows, and the reconstruction of the complex lighting system in the presbyterial area.

The study of the church and the reconstruction of its medieval morphology, when considered alongside chronological data, have allowed for comparisons with other florians architectural works. This has led to a more precise understanding of the role played by this particular structure. Thanks to recent studies on the abbey of San Giovanni in Fiore, the motherhouse of the order, this structure can no longer be viewed simply as a modest adaptation of the San Giovanni model constrained by earlier structures. Instead, it emerges as an important architectural precursor for the later development of San Giovanni’s church.

The Salesian Identity from Ecclesiastical Heraldry. Origin, Composition, Figures, and Motto of the Salesian Congregation's Coat of Arms (1884)

2025-06-04T17:52:54+02:00

From a historiographical perspective, the coat of arms of the Salesian Congregation has not been studied within the discipline of Art History. This research emerges in that context, examining the first and only iconographic representation created for identity purposes during the early years of the Pia Società di San Francesco di Sales, under the leadership of its founder, don Giovanni Bosco (1815–1888). Although the coat of arms was designed twenty-five years after the Congregation's founding in 1859, it incorporated significant symbolic figures and elements, ultimately becoming an official visual representation within the history of Ecclesiastical Heraldry.

Rogerius structor. The Cathedral of Cefalù revisited

2025-06-06T11:23:57+02:00

Cefalù cathedral, as it stands, is the result of troubled events that took into account political and ideological motivations, but also, if not primarily, technical reasons, as the result – according to a commonly shared historiographical line – of construction activities that lasted for over a century from 1131 until 1267, the year of its consecration. Free of any conditioning deriving from previous historiography, the present study abandons the myth of an unfinished cathedral and, through a careful analysis of the sources, the parts of the building and its decorative apparatus, allows us to question the commonly accepted chronology and to affirm instead that the building, despite changes in the programme during construction, was completed in its entirety during the reign of Roger II (1130-1154).

Book review to: M.B. Guerrieri Borsoi (a cura di), Le arti a Frascati dall’Antichità al Settecento, Roma, Edizioni Tored 2021, pp. 224

2025-04-29T10:25:57+02:00