medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
> Justa (?), virgin martyr.
> Architectural monuments to J.'s cult include her thirteenth-century
church (over a twelfth-century crypt) at Bazzano (AQ), just outside of
L'Aquila:
> The portal:
> http://tinyurl.com/9tcjt
> is dated by an inscription to the 1230s but the facade as a whole:
even accounting for the wierdnesses of Eyetalian architectural sculpture, i
simply don't believe that this portal is from the 1230s, 'scription or non
'scription.
here's what a 1230s (or later) portal should look like
http://www.tufillo.com/porta.jpg
the form of the "corinthian" capitals (esp. on the right) and their foliage
just looks 12th c. to my eye (very like some from Etampes, near Chartres, from
the 1160s or so), as do the profiles of the bases of the columns above and the
wonderful foliate frieze on the lintel.
that frieze of large, interlocking leaves within a circular pattern is found,
particularly, in English (Anglo-Norman) mss and sculpture --but Abruzzo is too
far North to have a Norman connection, isn't it?
the round arch suggests an earlier date as well, but of course not
definitively so, since this is Italy and anything is possible.
the painting of the tympanum and inner archivolts is a particularly happy
survival, reminding us, once again, of what we have lost whenever we see a
vanilla, "plain" tympanum scrubbed clean --they were *all* originally painted,
surely.
not enough left of the painting to say much about its style, but what i can
see is certainly not inconsistent with 12th c. work.
the geometric design of the archivolt painting puts me in mind of the
stonework of a few places in France (LeMans cathedral --11th c.-- and
Epernay, early 12th c.), but that's just a matter of commonality of design
motifs, i suppose, painting here imitating stonework.
best from here,
c
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