Laura Stagno Figurae Mariae Iconography of the Virgin and of Her Biblical Prefigurations in Early Modern Decorative Cycles in the Republic of Genoa UDC: 75.04(450.42Genoa)”15/16” Laura Stagno University of Genoa, Italy
[email protected] In the last years of the 16th century and then in the 17th century, the Republic of Genoa became an advanced laboratory for the dissemination of Marian images, in some cases reinforced by the association with the biblical heroines who were consid- ered to be the Virgin’s prefigurations in the Old Testament. The richness and complexity of the typological parallels between such crucial iconographies as Mary’s Assumption and her Immaculate Conception on the one hand, and the figures of Eve (a negative typus), Judith and Esther on the other hand, developed in post-Tridentine literature and homiletics, found a per- suasive visual translation in frescoes by prominent Genoese painters such as Andrea Ansaldo, Giulio Benso, Giovanni Battista Carlone and Domenico Piola, often commissioned by religious orders, as militant art aimed at asserting Catholic doctrines. Keywords: Genoese 17th century painting, Genoese fresco cycles, biblical prefigurations of Mary, Eve, Judith, Esther, Jael, Assumption, Immaculate Conception “Glorious Queen, and Merciful Advocate” – this is how the Jesuit Vincenzo Bruno, building on a long and rich tradition rooted in patristic literature, defined the Virgin Mary in the address to the reader that opens his influential Meditations on the Virgin’s festivities, first published in 1585 and frequently reissued. 1 These two se- mantic poles - the glory on the one hand, and the role of mediatrix2 on the other hand - are at the centre of the celebration of the Madonna’s role undertaken by a vast number of Catholic authors and preachers in the Triden- tine and post-Tridentine era.