medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear John,
Firstly, I do apologize if my query sounded in any way patronizing. I have great respect for
your scholarship, particularly where Italian saints are concerned. The citations you gave
supporting your identification of this figure as St. Januarius make this entirely evident. As I
said, however, at this period iconographic elements had not been formalized in a very
standard manner, and I might have added that catacomb paintings are rife with such
problems of ambiguity. I certainly think that some caution is in order in this as in many other
cases. How does one explain the inscription over the figure? I don't know. I don't even
know, for instance, if enough technical examination has been conducted to be able to state
categorically that the inscription and the image were created at the same time. And even if
they were, whether their creator meant them to refer to one another. In any case, there are
ambiguous cues here that, despite the weight of current scholarly opinion, make me
suspicious of the identification of this figure as a saint rather than as Christ himself. Please
don't take this as a criticism of your posting. Once again, you have pointed us to very
interesting material, for which I am grateful, as always.
Best wishes,
Jim Bugslag
On 19 Sep 2007 at 22:17, John Dillon wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
> Dear Jim,
>
> How do you explain the inscription over the figure in question? That
> is what has led to the identification of this figure as
> (exceptionally) Januarius and not (as one would expect) Christ. That
> identification, sometimes expressed with caution but usually not, is
> standard in scholarly writing both on the Neapolitan catacombs and on
> the artistic representation of this saint. It has, moreover, been
> accepted in work whose focus is _not_ Neapolitan, e.g. by J. M. C.
> Toynbee (writing on this very issue of figures other than Christ
> accompanied by the chi-rho and/or by an alpha and omega), "A New Roman
> Mosaic Pavement Found in Dorset", _Journal of Roman Studies_ 54
> (1964), 7-14, p. 12, by Hans Belting, _Likeness and Presence: A
> History of the Image Before the Era of Art_ (Univ. of Chicago Press,
> 1994), p. 563, n. 13, and by Robin Margaret Jensen, _Face to Face:
> Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity_ (Minneapolis: Fortress
> Press, 2005), p. 174.
>
> Absent a convincing alternative explanation of the inscription I am
> willing to accept conventional wisdom on this point.
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
>
> PS: A quick glance at these two earlier posts on this list
> http://tinyurl.com/2rz4jo
> http://tinyurl.com/ytwm28
> should suffice to indicate my awareness of both the chi-rho and the
> alpha and omega in this composition. Their presence, I would think,
> is pretty obvious. Your injunction to me to notice them could be
> considered patronizing.
>
> On Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at 7:11 pm, Jim Bugslag wrote:
>
> > > Here's J. in a fifth-century wall
> > > painting in what are now that city's Catacombs of San Gennaro:
> > > http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immagini/SanGenn1ImageMosaic2.jpg
> > > Detail:
> > > http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immagini/SanGenn1particolare.jpg
> >
> > Dear John,
> > These are wonderful images, but are you sure they are of Januarius?
> > Notice the chi and rho intersecting within the halo behind the head,
> > and the alpha and omega flanking this standard monogram of Christ.
> > Iconographic conventions were still not completely set by this time,
> > but I at least suspect that this figure represents Christ, rather
> > than St. Januarius.
>
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