medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I can't see it at all, I'm afraid, much as I respect Chiara Frugoni's work.
Much clearer, more interesting, and never properly explained as far as I
know, is the clearly-painted praying tonsured figure in the smoke arising
from the Sacrifice of Joachim in the Arena Chapel. Is it the animal's soul?
Or a visualisation of a prayer? http://www.wga.hu/index1.html
Laura
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr Jim Bugslag" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07 November 2011 01:37
Subject: Re: [M-R] Giotto, face, cloud
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> An interesting observation, but I'm not convinced that it was intentional.
> Lying on one's back in a field and interpreting images in clouds is an
> age-old pastime. It is certainly not *necessarily* demonic. If it were
> intentional, this would recall the interpretive spectre of "disguised
> symbolism", an idea that Erwin Panofsky came up with to explain all the
> seemingly hidden details in Jan van Eyck's paintings. This is an idea
> that is no longer taken as seriously as it used to be, and the fact that
> the "face" in the cloud was only spotted for the first time (that we know
> of, anyway) by a trained art historian 800 years after the fact is pretty
> indicative of why: there's no point to hiding such images because nobody
> notices them. The concept of subliminal imagery may not be an entirely
> 20th-century construct, but I don't think it very likely that the painter
> of the St Francis cycle at Assisi would have had any reason to use it.
> I'm not as convinced as loyal Italian art historians that the Assisi
> frescoes were painted by Giotto, either.
> Thanks, though, for pointing this out, George.
> Cheers,
> Jim
>
> On 06/11/2011 7:01 PM, George FERZOCO wrote:
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>>
>> Dear medieval-religion colleagues,
>>
>> I was intrigued to read in today's Repubblica (and to see the photos
>> linked there) that in Giotto's painting in the Upper Basilica in Assisi
>> of the ascending of Francis's soul into heaven, there appears to be a
>> face -- it is presumed in the article to be a demonic one -- in a cloud;
>> see
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/faceinthecloud
>>
>> The article says that until this observation (made by Chiara Frugoni),
>> the earliest known face that was painted in a cloud, was by Mantegna in
>> 1460.
>>
>> Anyone seen images like this before? Is it necessarily a demonic figure?
>>
>> It is certainly interesting that it seems that Frugoni's observation of
>> this image seems to be the first such one made in the c.800-year history
>> of this much studied painting. One can never stare at a painting
>> sufficiently, I guess.
>>
>> Best wishes, George
>>
>> --
>> George FERZOCO
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
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>
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