MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA Filozofická fakulta Seminář dějin umění Martin Lešák The Frescoes of the Tower at Torba: The Intercession and Power of Saints Magisterská diplomová práce Vedoucí práce: Ivan Foletti 2016 2 Prohlašuji, že jsem magisterskou diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně a uvedl jsem všechnu použitou literaturu a prameny. ............................................................. 3 4 This thesis would not have been possible without the help, support and guidance of many people. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Elisabetta Scirocco and Marco Rossi who opened me the door to libraries in Rome and Milano respectively. I would also like to thank to my family for helping me survive all the stress. To all my friends for their interest, understanding, listening, and questioning my ideas, thank you – especially to the hospital for souls at Via Giorgio Vasari 6, without you all this thesis would not exist. Most of all, I am fully indebted to Ivan Foletti, my advisor, for his wisdom, patience, enthusiasm, and for pushing me farther than I thought I could go. 5 6 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Lost and Found .................................................................................................................... 11 The Reborn Tower at Torba .............................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 3: Status Quaestionis ............................................................................................................... 18 Remarks on the Bibliography and one Hypothesis ........................................................................... 28 Chapter 4: Iconographic Description ..................................................................................................... 32 Second Floor ...................................................................................................................................... 32 First Floor ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Inscriptions ........................................................................................................................................ 41 Iconography and its Models .............................................................................................................. 45 Chapter 5: Dating .................................................................................................................................. 48 Stylistic Comparisons ......................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 6: Interpretation ...................................................................................................................... 54 The “Deësis” and the Tower .............................................................................................................. 54 The Deësis and its Meaning ............................................................................................................... 57 The Last Judgment at Torba? ............................................................................................................ 62 The Votive Chapel.............................................................................................................................. 66 Reflections and Nuns at Torba .......................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 7: The Chapel in the Tower as a Concept ................................................................................ 74 Chapter 8: Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 81 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 85 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................................. 85 Secondary Literature ......................................................................................................................... 85 Illustrations ............................................................................................................................................ 98 7 8 Chapter 1: Introduction The tower at Torba, located in the Olona Valley, about forty kilometers north of Milano, is without question one of the greatest medieval monuments preserved in the Lombard region. The interior rooms of this late Roman military tower have been ornamented with the fresco cycle after the Benedictine convent had been established in its vicinity probably during the 8th century. These very frescoes, especially the ones decorating second floor chamber of the tower, are the main topic of this thesis. Despite the notion of exceptionality which the structure and its inner walls evoke, their importance has not yet been fully recognized by historians and art historians. Considering this fact, we have decided to start the thesis with the presentation of the historical development of its surroundings, which will explain seemingly little attention the tower received and the reason why the first critical studies about the frescoes appeared only in the 70’s of the 20th century. Subsequently, we will discuss the bibliography itself. Our following questions will be purely art historical. First, we will describe surviving pieces of the frescoes themselves. The stress will also be given to the lost parts of the visual scheme and to their possible reconstruction. Second, we are going to deal with the date and the problems which the phenomenon we call “style” brings to the researchers of medieval cultures. Third, we will be focusing on the second floor chamber and the interpretation of its major iconographic points - we are going to discuss the meaning of Deësis and Maiestas Domini, concept of the votive image, and also the depiction of the nuns on the west wall of the room. Fourth, following the analyses of these particular parts of the visual scheme, we will build our interpretation of the whole fresco cycle. We will try to explain what was the reason of its existence and how could it be perceived by its audience. Finally fifth, we will be looking for an idea behind the donor’s choice to ornament this tower. The research into these images 9 will therefore lead us to the understanding of the whole monument within its broader context. We truly believe that an image can lead us on a way of our understanding the history. In regards to the iconography, we will be working with the classic iconographic studies of Christopher Walter and Yves Christe. Our research into the intended function of the room in the tower, and the way it was perceived by its audience is, however, rooted in the classic studies of Hans Belting and Herbert L. Kessler. Certain parts of the thesis are then based on the more recent art historical methods presented by Aleksej M. Lidov. 10 Chapter 2: Lost and Found As we will yet fully discover, first studies about the frescoes preserved in the tower appeared only in the second half of the 20th century. The main goal of this initial part of the thesis is to explain, through history of the tower itself, first, why the frescoes have been lost for so long; and second, what train of events led scholars to their discovery. Only then will we discuss the bibliography of the wall paintings, which will hopefully be, thanks to this order, easily intelligible. The Reborn Tower at Torba To understand the title of this chapter, referring to the words of Renato Bazzoni who in 1987 celebrated not a survival but a “rinascita”1 of the tower at Torba [fig. 1], the reader needs to be acquainted with the history of this monument, which probably begins as soon as in the 5th century or in the 6th century at the very latest2. Torba is often characterized as a fortified outpost3 of the well-known castrum Castelseprio, to which it used to be physically connected by walls [fig. 2] 4. Therefore, it should not surprise us that also its history is closely linked to this place, originating probably as a Roman military fort, which, according to Pier Giuseppe Sironi and Gian Piero Bognetti, became a center of a large territorial domain called Seprio5 1 See Bazzoni 1987-1988, p. 154. 2 The most recently Angela Sciillia dated foundations of the tower to the period between the 5th and 6th centuries. Scillia 2013, p. 109. See also Rossi 2011, p. 40 and Colombo 1999, p. 19. Renato Bazzoni places the construction of the tower into a context of the late Roman period, i.e. to the 5th century, when the number of attacks on borders of the empire increased. See Bazzoni 1997, p. 17. For the 5th century dating, see also Chizzoni – Vassalli 1987, p. 96; Panin 1983, p. 93; or Rotondi Secchi Tarugi 1973, p. 88. 3 See Bazzoni 1997, p. 17; Panin 1983, p 93; or Langé 1967, p. 36. 4 These walls broke away from the, probably, contemporary main nucleus of the fortification upon the hill and descended towards the valley. See Scillia 2013, p. 107; Chizzoni – Vassalli 1987, p. 95; or Rotondi Secchi Tarugi 1973. See also Sironi 1973, p. 68 and Villa 1979, p. 304. Villa recalls Sironi’s hypothesis from 1972 of an inclusion of Torba to the