Art and Reform in Tenth-Century Rome – the Paintings of S. Maria in Pallara
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ART AND REFORM IN TENTH-CENTURY ROME – THE PAINTINGS OF S. MARIA IN PALLARA by Maria Laura Marchiori A thesis submitted to the Department of Art In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (November, 2007) Copyright © Maria Laura Marchiori, 2007 Abstract The medieval wall paintings of the church of S. Maria in Pallara, situated on the Palatine Hill, Rome, provide insight into the intellectual use of images in the Middle Ages. The fragmentary apse programme survives, supplemented by antiquarian drawings that include copies of lost nave cycles and a lost donor portrait of their patron, Petrus Medicus. The patron, along with his monastic foundation, is documented in tenth-century charters, on which documents the paintings’ dating currently depends. Questions about this dating have surfaced in the art-historical literature, as have concerns about gender and historical veracity, matters of historiography which are introduced in Chapter 1. Thus, the goals of this study were to verify the paintings’ dating, to examine their use of text and image and to illuminate the context in which they were created. Chapter 2 describes and analyses the S. Maria in Pallara paintings within Roman artistic traditions of the Romanesque period. Since no contemporary parallel can be found for the iconography of the Apostles on the shoulders of Prophets decorating the church’s apse arch, a composition more common to Gothic art, Chapter 3 examines the iconography’s diffusion and sources. Textual evidence suggests that a church dedicated to Saint Sebastian preceded the tenth- century foundation of S. Maria in Pallara, which was then rededicated to the Virgin Mary, Saints Sebastian and Zoticus. Thus, Chapter 4 examines the visual profile of the cult of Saint Sebastian and its dependence on the Acta Sebastiani to provide a context for the church’s depictions of that saint, including portraits and a lost narrative cycle. Messages about chastity encoded in these images are also examined. Chapter 5 examines the lost narrative cycle depicting the life of the little-known Saint Zoticus, to whom the church was also dedicated and who was envisioned in the guise of another saint, Getulius, who was martyred with his wife, Saint Symphorosa, and their seven sons. Messages about chastity were also communicated through that cycle’s manipulation of S. Maria in Pallara’s topographic history. Thus, far from being simple reflections of text, the S. ii Maria in Pallara paintings engage Roman history, reforming that history to project a moral image of the future. iii Acknowledgements My greatest debt of gratitude is to my supervisor, John Osborne, who has encouraged this dissertation from its inception, who has supported my academic growth at every turn and who inspires with his depth of knowledge and commitment to the field of Art History. My sincere gratitude is owed to the entire Art Department at Queen’s, who generously made a home for me; to Dr. Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski, who first proffered a gentle welcome as Graduate Coordinator, and to Dr. Cathleen Hoeniger and Dr. Sebastian Schütze for their continuing support. This research would not have been possible without the generous funding offered by Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Bader through the Bader Fellowship that enabled my research in Europe for one year, which was supplemented by the Dean’s Graduate Travel Grant for Doctoral Field Research, generously offered by the School of Graduate Studies. I am grateful to Dr. James Bugslag at the University of Manitoba for his encouragement and advice. My gratitude is also owed to many people in and around Rome who offered assistance: Dr. Isabella del Frate at the Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali for generously facilitating my research; Rosa Bianca, caretaker of S. Maria in Pallara for her patience with my many visits; Dr. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Dr. Sue Russell, Dr. Helen Patterson, Dr. Simeon Keay, Maria Pia Malvezzi and all the librarians and staff at the British School at Rome; Dr. Paolo Vian, Antonio Schiavi, Andrea Zucchi and the staff at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; Dom Faustino Avagliano, archivist at Montecassino; Dr. Elisabetta Caldelli and the staff at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana; the archivists at the Archivio di Stato di Roma and the library of the Sacra Congregazione della Propaganda Fide, the librarians at the Bibliothèque de l’École Française de Rome and the library of the Istituto Centrale del Restauro. I am grateful to the Benedictine mothers of San Vincenzo al Volturno from the congregation of Regina Laudis of New Haven Connecticut, especially Mother Agnes and Mother iv Anna, for allowing me to visit the monastery and for teaching me about Benedictine spirituality, as well as for their patience, advice and respect. Many thanks to Dr. Éamonn Ó’Carrágain for allowing me to join his tour of Rome organised through the University College, Cork, Ireland and to the members of that tour who graciously visited S. Maria in Pallara with me, Dr. Richard Gem, Dr. Jane Hawkes, Dr. Jennifer O’Reilly, Dr. Alan Thacker, Dr. Jeffery West and Dr. Mark Hall. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to discuss my work with Dr. Claudia Bolgia, Dr. Édouard Juneau, Dr. Carol Neuman de Vegvar, Dr. Valentino Pace, Dr. Roger E. Reynolds, Dr. Linda Safran and Dr. Carmela Vircillo-Franklin. I extend my thanks to all the scholars whom I encountered at the BSR, especially Dr. Chris Smith, Dr. Ross Balzaretti and Dr. Michael Greenhalgh. My sincere thanks to all the Roman scholars who I met in Rome and who shared of their knowledge and love of that city with me: Dr. Giulia Bordi, Dr. Simone Piazza, Dr. Giorgia Pollio and Dr. Stefano Riccioni. I am grateful to Dr. Malcolm Miller for bringing Chartres Cathedral to life on a cold day in early February. My thanks to the members of my thesis examination committee at Queen’s for their interest and advice, Dr. Richard Greenfield and Dr. Stephanie Dickey. Finally, I owe my thanks to the scholars who have taught me here in Canada in the past, offering advice and opportunities to grow: Dr. Catherine Harding, Dr. Lesley Jessup, Dr. Gillian Mackie, Dr. David Townsend, Dr. Mark Cheetham, Dr. Kim Yates and the Iter Project. v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 Introduction: the general historiography of S. Maria in Pallara ......................................1 Chapter 2 The extant medieval paintings in S. Maria in Pallara....................................................13 2.1 Apse conch: description .......................................................................................................17 2.2 Apse conch: analysis ............................................................................................................25 2.3 Procession of Lambs: description and analysis....................................................................35 2.4 Dedication inscription: description and analysis..................................................................37 2.5 Apse, lower register: description..........................................................................................39 2.6 Apse, lower register: analysis...............................................................................................44 2.7 Apse arch: description..........................................................................................................55 2.8 Apse arch: analysis...............................................................................................................62 2.9 Panel inserted into the apse: description and analysis..........................................................66 2.10 Ornament: description and analysis ...................................................................................68 2.11 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................73 Chapter 3 “If I’m not making lanterns out of lightning bugs, I would say that Saint John’s vision of the Apocalypse was represented above...”: the apse arch of S. Maria in Pallara.......................77 3.1 Apostles on the shoulders of Prophets: the iconography......................................................78 3.2 Apostles on the shoulders of Prophets: historiography........................................................92 3.3 Apostles/Dwarves/Moderns on the shoulders of Prophets/Giants/ Ancients: parallel meaning....................................................................................................................................115 3.4 The Apostles on the Shoulders of Prophets: exegetical and liturgical sources ..................129 3.5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................149 Chapter 4 “A little church dedicated to a big martyr”: Saint Sebastian in Rome and on the Palatine.........................................................................................................................................153