Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments by Lila Yawn
WIlliam Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments - A Guide to the Figures: https://eternaltiber.net/triumphs-and-laments-research/, 2016
https://eternaltiber.net/triumphs-and-laments-research/
This guide to William Kentridge's 500-me... more https://eternaltiber.net/triumphs-and-laments-research/
This guide to William Kentridge's 500-meter-long ephemeral frieze of figures along the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome was composed by the research team that compiled the original 'timeline', or image palette, William Kentridge used to inspire his drawings during the preparation of the project in 2013-2016. The writing of the guide was a labor of love on the part of the curator of research, Lila Yawn, her colleagues and students at John Cabot University and other institutions in Italy and in the US and was originally intended for a cell-phone app that is no longer available. Kristin Jones, the original moving force behind Triumphs & Laments, kindly mounted the texts on her beautiful website, with the help of the graphic designer Andrea Biagioni and members of her studio, especially Kirila Cvetkovska, a founding member of the T&L research team, and Jack Pearse. Please share! And please acknowledge our authorship when you do. The subtitles were freely composed by me, Lila Yawn, as a sort of game: a cryptic commentary meant both to puzzle and to assist in deciphering the frieze.
Una conferenza sul 'Pompiere di San Lorenzo' e 'Uccidendo i Barbari' nei 'Trionfi e Lamenti' di W... more Una conferenza sul 'Pompiere di San Lorenzo' e 'Uccidendo i Barbari' nei 'Trionfi e Lamenti' di William Kentridge, sui muraglioni del Tevere, presentata alla Biblioteca Tullio De Mauro, San Lorenzo, Roma, luglio 2019, anel contesto della presentazione del libro: De Salvia, Rosella, and Rolando Galluzzi. Passione San Lorenzo: artisti a Roma : pittori, scultori, architetti, creativi. Roma: Ponte Sisto, 2018.
A lecture in Italian on the 'Fireman of San Lorenzo' and 'Killing the Barbarians,' in William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments on the Tiber embankments in Rome, San Lorenzo, July 2019, at the presentation of the book: De Salvia, Rosella, and Rolando Galluzzi. Passione San Lorenzo: artisti a Roma : pittori, scultori, architetti, creativi. Roma: Ponte Sisto, 2018.
William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments - A Guidebook App - 2016, 2016
FOR THE FORMATTED VERSION WITH KENTRIDGE'S DRAWINGS GO TO: https://eternaltiber.net/triumphs-and-... more FOR THE FORMATTED VERSION WITH KENTRIDGE'S DRAWINGS GO TO: https://eternaltiber.net/triumphs-and-laments-research/
This is a guide to the iconography of William Kentridge’s Triumphs & Laments, the 500-meter-long frieze of colossal figures traced into the black accretions on the Tiber Embankments between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome in early Spring 2016: http://www.tevereterno.it/arts/triumphs-and-laments/. The guide was compiled at the request of Kristin Jones, artistic director of the project, and was initially part of a Guidebook cell phone app, which has since been discontinued.
Prior to compiling the guide texts, with generous help from dozens of colleagues and students, I had the immense pleasure of serving as Curator of Historical Research for Triumphs & Laments, overseeing the research group at John Cabot University which formulated the chronological database ('timeline') of images from the history of art, cinema, and journalism provided to William Kentridge to inspire his drawings for the frieze. Our research continued and augmented that of Andrea Biagioni and Sara Spizzichino of Tevereterno.
Please share these texts with friends, colleagues, and students. Writing the guide was our labor of love for Rome, for William Kentridge and his work, and for the joy of collective creativity that made Triumphs & Laments a reality.
NOTE: In the pdf version available online before May 20, 2017, the hyperlinks were inoperative. In the current Word document, they work.
Sto ripulendo i link e il formato, ma nel frattempo desidero rendere accessibili al pubblico le s... more Sto ripulendo i link e il formato, ma nel frattempo desidero rendere accessibili al pubblico le spiegazioni iconografiche.
William Kentridge's Triumphs and Laments: A Project for the City of Rome was inaugurated on April... more William Kentridge's Triumphs and Laments: A Project for the City of Rome was inaugurated on April 21, 2016, to widespread acclaim. This article describes the research that behind Kentridge's selection of historical images.
An interview on William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments with Lila Yawn, Curator of Historical Rese... more An interview on William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments with Lila Yawn, Curator of Historical Research, and Emma Tagliacollo, Volunteer Coordinator, with comments by William Kentridge, on location at Piazza Tevere in Rome, May 2017. Journalist: Ilaria Parisella. Published 19 May 2017.
IMPORTANT: I am not the author of this video. Rather, I had the joy of curating the iconography t... more IMPORTANT: I am not the author of this video. Rather, I had the joy of curating the iconography that inspired William Kentridge's drawings for the wall. This video does a nice job of showing the process of tracing the images onto the embankments and of celebrating the brilliant Kristin Jones (http://www.andrewginzel.com/kristin-jones/), without whose vision, energy, and determination the project would never have happened.
I did not make this video, but it concerns a work to which I contributed.
Giant Bibles - articles & book chapters by Lila Yawn
Scriptorium: Wesen–Funktion–Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, et al. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015., 2015
Comparisons of the scribal oeuvres and writing units – textually freestanding clusters of gatheri... more Comparisons of the scribal oeuvres and writing units – textually freestanding clusters of gatherings – in four eleventh-century Italian Giant Bibles and two giant manuscripts of St. Gregory’s Moralia in Iob reveal diverse labour systems, some devised to hasten completion of the individual volume, others dominated by the sequential work of one or a few master copyists. Specific roles within the scribal teams also emerge, most notably that of ‘finisher’ scribes, experts in mise-en-page and mise-en-cahier who appear to have acted as project directors, distributing work to the other amanuenses and checking the finished writing units in preparation for binding.
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
Comparisons of the scribal oeuvres and writing units – textually freestanding clusters of gatheri... more Comparisons of the scribal oeuvres and writing units – textually freestanding clusters of gatherings – in four eleventh-century Italian Giant Bibles and two giant manuscripts of St. Gregory’s Moralia in Iob reveal diverse labour systems, some devised to hasten completion of the individual volume, others dominated by the sequential work of one or a few master copyists. Specific roles within the scribal teams also emerge, most notably that of ‘finisher’ scribes, experts in mise-en-page and mise-en-cahier who appear to have acted as project directors, distributing work to the other amanuenses and checking the finished writing units in preparation for binding.
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
An introduction to the Italian Giant Bibles (Bibbie atlantiche, Bibles atlantiques, Riesenbibeln)... more An introduction to the Italian Giant Bibles (Bibbie atlantiche, Bibles atlantiques, Riesenbibeln), their historiography, scripts, illustrations, and current ideas about where they were made and by whom. This chapter differs from most other recent works on the Italian Giant Bibles in that it calls into question the widespread hypothesis that much of the group came from one or a few Roman scriptoria associated with the papacy.
To those interested in acquiring a copy of the book: The promotional material I received says that anyone who uses the promo code “PRABO” to buy the book from the Columbia University Press website will receive a 30% discount off the price of the book. Here's the website again: http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14826-9/the-practice-of-the-bible-in-the-middle-ages.
Abstract : Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay p... more Abstract : Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay patrons (and not only by Roman reform party adherents) and crafted by ad hoc assemblies of paid craftsmen using methods of carefully calibrated, synchronous copying to reduce production time for the single commission.
Résumé : Les Bibles géantes ombro-romaines, commanditées par différents patrons ecclésiastiques et laïcs (et non par les seuls adhérents du parti réformiste romain), furent réalisées par des équipes d’artisans salariés spécialement constituées dans ce but. Ils utilisaient des techniques de copie synchronisée soigneusement calibrées pour réduire les temps de production de chaque commande.
PLEASE NOTE: I have begun to upload the text and appendices of my dissertation in segments. As of... more PLEASE NOTE: I have begun to upload the text and appendices of my dissertation in segments. As of today (5 November 2011), Chapters 1-3 are posted, incuding some of the appendices. Other sections will be added soon, as I work out the formatting problems for on-line posting. Please note that the dissertation was copyrighted in 2004 with University Microfilms International now UMI/Proquest, through whom a complete edition (print and digital), with photographs and full appendices, will be made available early in 2012.
Praised by Edward Garrison as “the most impressive, the most monumental illustrations of all the Italian twelfth century now known,” the miniatures of the Giant Bible of Perugia’s Biblioteca Comunale Augusta (Ms. L. 59) and the codex that contains them have always defied compelling classification. Although generally considered a twelfth-century Roman work, the manuscript varies from the norms of the Umbro-Roman Giant Bible ‘edition’ in the lavishness of its initials, in the monumental style of its miniatures, and in its episodic illustrations of the Six Days of Creation, a narrative otherwise unattested in central Italian art before the late twelfth century. This comparative codicological study of the manuscript in its principal aspects—textual, palaeographic, structural, and pictorial—results in a model of its origins significantly different from previous hypotheses based on pictorial considerations alone.
Attributed to scribes and painters at work in northern Umbria or southeastern Tuscany in the years between circa 1060 and 1080, the Latin Old Testament of the Biblioteca Augusta seems to have been made for donation, probably to the Cathedral of Perugia, under the sponsorship of a married couple who commemorated their union through the unusual iconography of its miniatures. Its closest textual-paleographic kin within the larger family of the Italian Giant Bibles turn out, in some cases, to be codices formerly assigned to entirely different regions. Most notable are the magnificently illustrated Edili Bible (Florence, Bibl Medicea Laurenziana, Edili 125-126), the first volume of the First Casanatense Bible (Rome, Bibl. Casanatense, Ms. 720), and the little-known Giant Bible of the Abbey of S. Pietro in Perugia (Archivio Storico di S. Pietro, Cod. I). The differing decorations of these Bibles, combined with their intimately related texts and, in the first two cases, similar or identical scribal hands, urge a rethinking of the style-based methods normally used to date and localize Italian Giant Bibles. They also suggest a complex division of labor, a surprisingly early chronology, and a possible association of some early Italian Giant Bible production with southern Tuscan centers, including S. Salvatore of Monte Amiata.
Medieval Rome - articles & book chapters by Lila Yawn
This article is about a Renaissance dirty joke: a pun that likened the Flavian amphitheater in Ro... more This article is about a Renaissance dirty joke: a pun that likened the Flavian amphitheater in Rome (‘il Culiseo’) to a culo, i.e. an ass or anus. Starting in the mid-1400s, comic poets and satirists, especially Tuscans from il Burchiello to Pietro Aretino and Benvenuto Cellini, riffed on the Colosseum’s anus-like ground plan (elliptical, with radial walls), mucky interior, and fame as a place for sodomitic trysts. In so doing, they also hilariously inverted a mainstay of medieval guidebooks and romances: the conception of the Colosseum as a celestial temple, an emblem of Rome as caput mundi.
ENGLISH VERSION
In the early 1100s, the fifth-century church of S. Clemente in Rome was buried b... more ENGLISH VERSION
In the early 1100s, the fifth-century church of S. Clemente in Rome was buried beneath an entirely new basilica. Inspired by suggestions published by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) and Valentino Pace (2007), the present article considers the possibility that this radical intervention constituted an act of damnatio memoriae or, better, of deletio memoriae, an obliteration of memory prompted by the nascent cult of miracles associated with Pope Paschal II’s enemy and rival, (anti)pope Clement III. Clement III (Wibert of Ravenna) died in 1100, not long after the execution of an extensive fresco cycle in the early Christian basilica celebrating the miracles and cult of the first-century pope and martyr St. Clement I of Rome. Resonances between these images and the prodigia attributed to Clement III may have invited analogies between the two Clements, especially during the turbulent early years of Paschal II’s pontificate, when Paschal, alarmed by reports of his adversary’s miracles, had Clement III’s corpse exhumed and thrown into the Tiber.
The perceived correspondences between the first-century pope and his eleventh-century namesake may have extended to their postmortem resting places – Clement I was martyred by being thrown into the Black Sea – as well as to their shared attributes, particularly the pontifical vestments and white hair prominently displayed in the frescoes. These attributes disappear in the early twelfth-century mosaic of Clement I on the apsidal arch of the new, upper church, where the saint is instead represented as a young man with dark hair, a dark beard, and an apostle’s clothing. This extreme makeover in a work securely associable with Roman reform-party sponsorship effectively dissociated Clement I from the painted images in the earlier church and, very probably, from his eleventh-century namesake in the Tiber.
VERSIONE ITALIANA
Agli inizi del secolo XI, la chiesa di S. Clemente in Roma, risalente al secolo V, venne “seppellita” in una basilica completamente nuova. Inspirato dagli interventi di Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) e di Valentino Pace (2007), questo articolo considera la possibilità che tale radicale intervento abbia costituito un atto di damnatio memoriae o, meglio, di deletio memoriae, una obliterazione della memoria indotta dal nascente culto dei miracoli associato con il nemico e rivale di papa Pasquale II, l’(anti)papa Clemente III. Clemente III (Guiberto di Ravenna) morì nel 1100, non molto dopo l’esecuzione di ampio ciclo di affreschi nella più antica basilica che celebrava i miracoli e il culto del papa del I secolo e martire san Clemente in Roma. I richiami tra queste immagini e i prodigia attribuiti a Clemente III possono aver favorito analogie tra i due Clementi, specialmente durante i turbolenti primi anni del pontificato di Pasquale II, quando costui, messo in allarme da quanto gli veniva riferito riguardo i miracoli dei suoi avversari, aveva fatto esumare il cadavere di Clemente III e gettarlo nel Tevere.
Le corrispondenze che si percepiscono tra il papa del I secolo e il suo omonimo dell’XI possono essersi estese alle loro sepolture – Clemente I fu gettato nel Mar Nero e così martirizzato – così come i loro attributi condivisi, in particolare le vesti pontificali e i capelli bianchi messi in grande evidenza negli affreschi. Questi attributi scompaiono nel mosaico di Clemente I del primo secolo XII nell’arco absidale della nuova chiesa superiore, dove il santo è invece rappresentato come un giovane uomo con i capelli neri, una barba scura e una veste da apostolo. Tale trasformazione totale in un’opera sicuramente associabile con il sostegno al partito della riforma effettivamente dissociò Clemente I dalle immagini dipinte nella chiesa più antica e, molto probabilmente, dal suo omonimo del secolo XI finito nel Tevere.
Il mosaico di S. Tommaso in Formis configura un’ esperienza visiva-spirituale accessibile, alle s... more Il mosaico di S. Tommaso in Formis configura un’ esperienza visiva-spirituale accessibile, alle sue origini, ad una sola persona—un’esperienza che, tramite la sua concretizzazione in mosaico, è diventata visibile in perpetuo e a tutti, dal pellegrino cristiano al passante di qualsiasi fede. In tale senso, il mosaico costituisce un’ esempio precoce e fondamentale di un fenomeno artistico diffuso nella Roma del Duecento, e cioè l’usanza di rappresentare visioni e sogni sacri sugli esterni di edifici religiosi, incluse alcune delle basiliche principali della città. Ora in gran parte perduti, a parte i mosaici (molto restaurati) del Miracolo della Neve di S. Maria Maggiore, queste rappresentazioni, coloratissime e spesso collocate molto in alto sulle loro relative costruzioni, costituivano dei punti di riferimento importanti nel profilo urbano, e funzionavano, insieme ad altre rappresentazioni adiacenti, come delle vere e proprie calamiti visive, attraendo il fedele o il curioso per poi sottolineare attraverso la loro iconografia la sacralità del luogo, le circostanze miracolose della fondazione della chiesa, o la santità del fondatore dell’ordine religiosa che ne aveva la cura.
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Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments by Lila Yawn
This guide to William Kentridge's 500-meter-long ephemeral frieze of figures along the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome was composed by the research team that compiled the original 'timeline', or image palette, William Kentridge used to inspire his drawings during the preparation of the project in 2013-2016. The writing of the guide was a labor of love on the part of the curator of research, Lila Yawn, her colleagues and students at John Cabot University and other institutions in Italy and in the US and was originally intended for a cell-phone app that is no longer available. Kristin Jones, the original moving force behind Triumphs & Laments, kindly mounted the texts on her beautiful website, with the help of the graphic designer Andrea Biagioni and members of her studio, especially Kirila Cvetkovska, a founding member of the T&L research team, and Jack Pearse. Please share! And please acknowledge our authorship when you do. The subtitles were freely composed by me, Lila Yawn, as a sort of game: a cryptic commentary meant both to puzzle and to assist in deciphering the frieze.
A lecture in Italian on the 'Fireman of San Lorenzo' and 'Killing the Barbarians,' in William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments on the Tiber embankments in Rome, San Lorenzo, July 2019, at the presentation of the book: De Salvia, Rosella, and Rolando Galluzzi. Passione San Lorenzo: artisti a Roma : pittori, scultori, architetti, creativi. Roma: Ponte Sisto, 2018.
This is a guide to the iconography of William Kentridge’s Triumphs & Laments, the 500-meter-long frieze of colossal figures traced into the black accretions on the Tiber Embankments between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome in early Spring 2016: http://www.tevereterno.it/arts/triumphs-and-laments/. The guide was compiled at the request of Kristin Jones, artistic director of the project, and was initially part of a Guidebook cell phone app, which has since been discontinued.
Prior to compiling the guide texts, with generous help from dozens of colleagues and students, I had the immense pleasure of serving as Curator of Historical Research for Triumphs & Laments, overseeing the research group at John Cabot University which formulated the chronological database ('timeline') of images from the history of art, cinema, and journalism provided to William Kentridge to inspire his drawings for the frieze. Our research continued and augmented that of Andrea Biagioni and Sara Spizzichino of Tevereterno.
Please share these texts with friends, colleagues, and students. Writing the guide was our labor of love for Rome, for William Kentridge and his work, and for the joy of collective creativity that made Triumphs & Laments a reality.
NOTE: In the pdf version available online before May 20, 2017, the hyperlinks were inoperative. In the current Word document, they work.
Giant Bibles - articles & book chapters by Lila Yawn
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
To those interested in acquiring a copy of the book: The promotional material I received says that anyone who uses the promo code “PRABO” to buy the book from the Columbia University Press website will receive a 30% discount off the price of the book. Here's the website again: http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14826-9/the-practice-of-the-bible-in-the-middle-ages.
Résumé : Les Bibles géantes ombro-romaines, commanditées par différents patrons ecclésiastiques et laïcs (et non par les seuls adhérents du parti réformiste romain), furent réalisées par des équipes d’artisans salariés spécialement constituées dans ce but. Ils utilisaient des techniques de copie synchronisée soigneusement calibrées pour réduire les temps de production de chaque commande.
Praised by Edward Garrison as “the most impressive, the most monumental illustrations of all the Italian twelfth century now known,” the miniatures of the Giant Bible of Perugia’s Biblioteca Comunale Augusta (Ms. L. 59) and the codex that contains them have always defied compelling classification. Although generally considered a twelfth-century Roman work, the manuscript varies from the norms of the Umbro-Roman Giant Bible ‘edition’ in the lavishness of its initials, in the monumental style of its miniatures, and in its episodic illustrations of the Six Days of Creation, a narrative otherwise unattested in central Italian art before the late twelfth century. This comparative codicological study of the manuscript in its principal aspects—textual, palaeographic, structural, and pictorial—results in a model of its origins significantly different from previous hypotheses based on pictorial considerations alone.
Attributed to scribes and painters at work in northern Umbria or southeastern Tuscany in the years between circa 1060 and 1080, the Latin Old Testament of the Biblioteca Augusta seems to have been made for donation, probably to the Cathedral of Perugia, under the sponsorship of a married couple who commemorated their union through the unusual iconography of its miniatures. Its closest textual-paleographic kin within the larger family of the Italian Giant Bibles turn out, in some cases, to be codices formerly assigned to entirely different regions. Most notable are the magnificently illustrated Edili Bible (Florence, Bibl Medicea Laurenziana, Edili 125-126), the first volume of the First Casanatense Bible (Rome, Bibl. Casanatense, Ms. 720), and the little-known Giant Bible of the Abbey of S. Pietro in Perugia (Archivio Storico di S. Pietro, Cod. I). The differing decorations of these Bibles, combined with their intimately related texts and, in the first two cases, similar or identical scribal hands, urge a rethinking of the style-based methods normally used to date and localize Italian Giant Bibles. They also suggest a complex division of labor, a surprisingly early chronology, and a possible association of some early Italian Giant Bible production with southern Tuscan centers, including S. Salvatore of Monte Amiata.
Medieval Rome - articles & book chapters by Lila Yawn
In the early 1100s, the fifth-century church of S. Clemente in Rome was buried beneath an entirely new basilica. Inspired by suggestions published by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) and Valentino Pace (2007), the present article considers the possibility that this radical intervention constituted an act of damnatio memoriae or, better, of deletio memoriae, an obliteration of memory prompted by the nascent cult of miracles associated with Pope Paschal II’s enemy and rival, (anti)pope Clement III. Clement III (Wibert of Ravenna) died in 1100, not long after the execution of an extensive fresco cycle in the early Christian basilica celebrating the miracles and cult of the first-century pope and martyr St. Clement I of Rome. Resonances between these images and the prodigia attributed to Clement III may have invited analogies between the two Clements, especially during the turbulent early years of Paschal II’s pontificate, when Paschal, alarmed by reports of his adversary’s miracles, had Clement III’s corpse exhumed and thrown into the Tiber.
The perceived correspondences between the first-century pope and his eleventh-century namesake may have extended to their postmortem resting places – Clement I was martyred by being thrown into the Black Sea – as well as to their shared attributes, particularly the pontifical vestments and white hair prominently displayed in the frescoes. These attributes disappear in the early twelfth-century mosaic of Clement I on the apsidal arch of the new, upper church, where the saint is instead represented as a young man with dark hair, a dark beard, and an apostle’s clothing. This extreme makeover in a work securely associable with Roman reform-party sponsorship effectively dissociated Clement I from the painted images in the earlier church and, very probably, from his eleventh-century namesake in the Tiber.
VERSIONE ITALIANA
Agli inizi del secolo XI, la chiesa di S. Clemente in Roma, risalente al secolo V, venne “seppellita” in una basilica completamente nuova. Inspirato dagli interventi di Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) e di Valentino Pace (2007), questo articolo considera la possibilità che tale radicale intervento abbia costituito un atto di damnatio memoriae o, meglio, di deletio memoriae, una obliterazione della memoria indotta dal nascente culto dei miracoli associato con il nemico e rivale di papa Pasquale II, l’(anti)papa Clemente III. Clemente III (Guiberto di Ravenna) morì nel 1100, non molto dopo l’esecuzione di ampio ciclo di affreschi nella più antica basilica che celebrava i miracoli e il culto del papa del I secolo e martire san Clemente in Roma. I richiami tra queste immagini e i prodigia attribuiti a Clemente III possono aver favorito analogie tra i due Clementi, specialmente durante i turbolenti primi anni del pontificato di Pasquale II, quando costui, messo in allarme da quanto gli veniva riferito riguardo i miracoli dei suoi avversari, aveva fatto esumare il cadavere di Clemente III e gettarlo nel Tevere.
Le corrispondenze che si percepiscono tra il papa del I secolo e il suo omonimo dell’XI possono essersi estese alle loro sepolture – Clemente I fu gettato nel Mar Nero e così martirizzato – così come i loro attributi condivisi, in particolare le vesti pontificali e i capelli bianchi messi in grande evidenza negli affreschi. Questi attributi scompaiono nel mosaico di Clemente I del primo secolo XII nell’arco absidale della nuova chiesa superiore, dove il santo è invece rappresentato come un giovane uomo con i capelli neri, una barba scura e una veste da apostolo. Tale trasformazione totale in un’opera sicuramente associabile con il sostegno al partito della riforma effettivamente dissociò Clemente I dalle immagini dipinte nella chiesa più antica e, molto probabilmente, dal suo omonimo del secolo XI finito nel Tevere.
This guide to William Kentridge's 500-meter-long ephemeral frieze of figures along the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome was composed by the research team that compiled the original 'timeline', or image palette, William Kentridge used to inspire his drawings during the preparation of the project in 2013-2016. The writing of the guide was a labor of love on the part of the curator of research, Lila Yawn, her colleagues and students at John Cabot University and other institutions in Italy and in the US and was originally intended for a cell-phone app that is no longer available. Kristin Jones, the original moving force behind Triumphs & Laments, kindly mounted the texts on her beautiful website, with the help of the graphic designer Andrea Biagioni and members of her studio, especially Kirila Cvetkovska, a founding member of the T&L research team, and Jack Pearse. Please share! And please acknowledge our authorship when you do. The subtitles were freely composed by me, Lila Yawn, as a sort of game: a cryptic commentary meant both to puzzle and to assist in deciphering the frieze.
A lecture in Italian on the 'Fireman of San Lorenzo' and 'Killing the Barbarians,' in William Kentridge's Triumphs & Laments on the Tiber embankments in Rome, San Lorenzo, July 2019, at the presentation of the book: De Salvia, Rosella, and Rolando Galluzzi. Passione San Lorenzo: artisti a Roma : pittori, scultori, architetti, creativi. Roma: Ponte Sisto, 2018.
This is a guide to the iconography of William Kentridge’s Triumphs & Laments, the 500-meter-long frieze of colossal figures traced into the black accretions on the Tiber Embankments between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in Rome in early Spring 2016: http://www.tevereterno.it/arts/triumphs-and-laments/. The guide was compiled at the request of Kristin Jones, artistic director of the project, and was initially part of a Guidebook cell phone app, which has since been discontinued.
Prior to compiling the guide texts, with generous help from dozens of colleagues and students, I had the immense pleasure of serving as Curator of Historical Research for Triumphs & Laments, overseeing the research group at John Cabot University which formulated the chronological database ('timeline') of images from the history of art, cinema, and journalism provided to William Kentridge to inspire his drawings for the frieze. Our research continued and augmented that of Andrea Biagioni and Sara Spizzichino of Tevereterno.
Please share these texts with friends, colleagues, and students. Writing the guide was our labor of love for Rome, for William Kentridge and his work, and for the joy of collective creativity that made Triumphs & Laments a reality.
NOTE: In the pdf version available online before May 20, 2017, the hyperlinks were inoperative. In the current Word document, they work.
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
Published in Scriptorium : Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten. Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, ed A. Nievergelt, R. Gamper,... [et al.] (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Komm. beim Verlag C.H. Beck, 2015).
To those interested in acquiring a copy of the book: The promotional material I received says that anyone who uses the promo code “PRABO” to buy the book from the Columbia University Press website will receive a 30% discount off the price of the book. Here's the website again: http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14826-9/the-practice-of-the-bible-in-the-middle-ages.
Résumé : Les Bibles géantes ombro-romaines, commanditées par différents patrons ecclésiastiques et laïcs (et non par les seuls adhérents du parti réformiste romain), furent réalisées par des équipes d’artisans salariés spécialement constituées dans ce but. Ils utilisaient des techniques de copie synchronisée soigneusement calibrées pour réduire les temps de production de chaque commande.
Praised by Edward Garrison as “the most impressive, the most monumental illustrations of all the Italian twelfth century now known,” the miniatures of the Giant Bible of Perugia’s Biblioteca Comunale Augusta (Ms. L. 59) and the codex that contains them have always defied compelling classification. Although generally considered a twelfth-century Roman work, the manuscript varies from the norms of the Umbro-Roman Giant Bible ‘edition’ in the lavishness of its initials, in the monumental style of its miniatures, and in its episodic illustrations of the Six Days of Creation, a narrative otherwise unattested in central Italian art before the late twelfth century. This comparative codicological study of the manuscript in its principal aspects—textual, palaeographic, structural, and pictorial—results in a model of its origins significantly different from previous hypotheses based on pictorial considerations alone.
Attributed to scribes and painters at work in northern Umbria or southeastern Tuscany in the years between circa 1060 and 1080, the Latin Old Testament of the Biblioteca Augusta seems to have been made for donation, probably to the Cathedral of Perugia, under the sponsorship of a married couple who commemorated their union through the unusual iconography of its miniatures. Its closest textual-paleographic kin within the larger family of the Italian Giant Bibles turn out, in some cases, to be codices formerly assigned to entirely different regions. Most notable are the magnificently illustrated Edili Bible (Florence, Bibl Medicea Laurenziana, Edili 125-126), the first volume of the First Casanatense Bible (Rome, Bibl. Casanatense, Ms. 720), and the little-known Giant Bible of the Abbey of S. Pietro in Perugia (Archivio Storico di S. Pietro, Cod. I). The differing decorations of these Bibles, combined with their intimately related texts and, in the first two cases, similar or identical scribal hands, urge a rethinking of the style-based methods normally used to date and localize Italian Giant Bibles. They also suggest a complex division of labor, a surprisingly early chronology, and a possible association of some early Italian Giant Bible production with southern Tuscan centers, including S. Salvatore of Monte Amiata.
In the early 1100s, the fifth-century church of S. Clemente in Rome was buried beneath an entirely new basilica. Inspired by suggestions published by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) and Valentino Pace (2007), the present article considers the possibility that this radical intervention constituted an act of damnatio memoriae or, better, of deletio memoriae, an obliteration of memory prompted by the nascent cult of miracles associated with Pope Paschal II’s enemy and rival, (anti)pope Clement III. Clement III (Wibert of Ravenna) died in 1100, not long after the execution of an extensive fresco cycle in the early Christian basilica celebrating the miracles and cult of the first-century pope and martyr St. Clement I of Rome. Resonances between these images and the prodigia attributed to Clement III may have invited analogies between the two Clements, especially during the turbulent early years of Paschal II’s pontificate, when Paschal, alarmed by reports of his adversary’s miracles, had Clement III’s corpse exhumed and thrown into the Tiber.
The perceived correspondences between the first-century pope and his eleventh-century namesake may have extended to their postmortem resting places – Clement I was martyred by being thrown into the Black Sea – as well as to their shared attributes, particularly the pontifical vestments and white hair prominently displayed in the frescoes. These attributes disappear in the early twelfth-century mosaic of Clement I on the apsidal arch of the new, upper church, where the saint is instead represented as a young man with dark hair, a dark beard, and an apostle’s clothing. This extreme makeover in a work securely associable with Roman reform-party sponsorship effectively dissociated Clement I from the painted images in the earlier church and, very probably, from his eleventh-century namesake in the Tiber.
VERSIONE ITALIANA
Agli inizi del secolo XI, la chiesa di S. Clemente in Roma, risalente al secolo V, venne “seppellita” in una basilica completamente nuova. Inspirato dagli interventi di Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri (1998) e di Valentino Pace (2007), questo articolo considera la possibilità che tale radicale intervento abbia costituito un atto di damnatio memoriae o, meglio, di deletio memoriae, una obliterazione della memoria indotta dal nascente culto dei miracoli associato con il nemico e rivale di papa Pasquale II, l’(anti)papa Clemente III. Clemente III (Guiberto di Ravenna) morì nel 1100, non molto dopo l’esecuzione di ampio ciclo di affreschi nella più antica basilica che celebrava i miracoli e il culto del papa del I secolo e martire san Clemente in Roma. I richiami tra queste immagini e i prodigia attribuiti a Clemente III possono aver favorito analogie tra i due Clementi, specialmente durante i turbolenti primi anni del pontificato di Pasquale II, quando costui, messo in allarme da quanto gli veniva riferito riguardo i miracoli dei suoi avversari, aveva fatto esumare il cadavere di Clemente III e gettarlo nel Tevere.
Le corrispondenze che si percepiscono tra il papa del I secolo e il suo omonimo dell’XI possono essersi estese alle loro sepolture – Clemente I fu gettato nel Mar Nero e così martirizzato – così come i loro attributi condivisi, in particolare le vesti pontificali e i capelli bianchi messi in grande evidenza negli affreschi. Questi attributi scompaiono nel mosaico di Clemente I del primo secolo XII nell’arco absidale della nuova chiesa superiore, dove il santo è invece rappresentato come un giovane uomo con i capelli neri, una barba scura e una veste da apostolo. Tale trasformazione totale in un’opera sicuramente associabile con il sostegno al partito della riforma effettivamente dissociò Clemente I dalle immagini dipinte nella chiesa più antica e, molto probabilmente, dal suo omonimo del secolo XI finito nel Tevere.
biennial conference about the ways in
which the Middle Ages have been
received, imagined, invoked, relived, used,
abused, and refashioned in the modern
and contemporary worlds.
Hosted by John Cabot University and the
École française de Rome, MAMO 2018
will take place for the first time outside of
Great Britain, in the historic center of
Rome, on 21-24 November 2018
(Wednesday-Saturday). A special, optional
day of medieval and medievalizing site
visits in and around Rome will follow on
Sunday, November 25th.
The Middle Ages in the Modern World è un
convegno, finora tenutosi a cadenza
biennale, sui modi in cui il medioevo è
stato percepito, immaginato, evocato,
rivissuto, usato, strumentalizzato e
riproposto nel mondo moderno e
contemporaneo.
Nel 2018, MAMO si terrà per la prima
volta fuori della Gran Bretagna. Ospitato
dalla John Cabot University e dall’École
française de Rome, il primo MAMO
continentale si celebrerà nel centro storico
di Roma, nei giorni 21-24 (mercoledìsabato)
novembre, 2018. La successiva
domenica 25 novembre sarà un giorno
speciale e facoltativo di visite a siti
medievali e medievalisti dentro e intorno a
Roma.
The Middle Ages in the Modern World est un
colloque biennal portant sur les manières
dont le Moyen Âge a été perçu, imaginé,
évoqué, revécu, utilisé, instrumentalisé et
réinventé dans le monde moderne et
contemporain.
En 2018, pour la première fois, MAMO se
tiendra hors de Grande-Bretagne.
Accueilli par la John Cabot University et
l’École française de Rome, le premier
MAMO continental se déroulera dans le
centre historique de Rome, du mercredi
21 au samedi 24 novembre 2018. Le
dimanche 25 sera une journée particulière,
facultative, consacrée à la visite de sites
médiévaux et médiévalistes dans et autour
de Rome.
'In the concluding essay, "The Bright Side of the Knife: Dismemberment in Medieval Europe and the Modern Imagination," Lila Yawn clearly takes the most chances and has the most fun in exploring the topic of medieval wounds and wounding. After a review of graphic and supposedly "medieval" dismemberments in modern movies and literature, such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, or Pulp Fiction, Yawn poses the simple question of "how medieval cutting up living bodies really was" (218). In response, she gives a whirlwind tour of nearly two millennia of images and descriptions of amputation, dismemberment, fragmentation, and mutilation from Cicero to Thomas Jefferson. In so doing she demonstrates, as many medieval apologists have already noted, that there is no greater amount or degree of dismemberment in the Middle Ages than before or after, but what leads moderns to equate "medieval" with "dismemberment" is the medieval tendency to celebrate dismemberment and put severed body parts on display, be they of the criminal or of the saint.'
The Medieval Review 15.06.24
Kirkham, Anne, and Cordelia Warr, eds. Wounds in the Middle Ages. The History of Medicine in Context. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014. pp. xvi, 254. $124.95 (hardback). ISBN: 9781409465690 (hardback).
Reviewed by: Winston Black, Assumption College. black@assumption.edu
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/19219/25339
Apply now! Applications are currently being accepted for admission in Fall 2017. All applicants are automatically considered for merit-based funding. For more information see http://www.johncabot.edu/master-art-history/default.aspx or write to: graduateadmissions@johncabot.edu
John Cabot University’s Master of Arts (MA) in Art History fosters professional mastery of the materials and methods of art history with emphasis on first-hand research in the museums, monuments, and archaeological sites of Rome. The program has a dual focus: the visual cultures of Rome and the Mediterranean across time, from antiquity to the present; and the acquisition of technical skills for primary research. It also stimulates critical perspectives on the impact of Roman art worldwide.
Inverting conventional practice, the curriculum begins by scrutinizing material objects and built environments in person, rather than through photographs. With this point of departure, it cultivates visual-contextual analysis and skills for researching art and its history directly from the primary record while stimulating alternative perspectives on deeply rooted disciplinary habits.
Apply now! Applications are currently being accepted for admission in Fall 2017. All applicants are automatically considered for merit-based funding. For more information see http://www.johncabot.edu/master-art-history/default.aspx or write to: graduateadmissions@johncabot.edu
John Cabot University's MA in Art History is the first US-accredited graduate degree program in the history of art taught entirely in Rome.
The program has a dual focus: the acquisition of technical skills for primary research; and the analysis of visual cultures of Rome and the Mediterranean from antiquity to the present, with critical perspectives on their worldwide impact. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, John Cabot University's MA is the first US-accredited graduate degree program in art history taught entirely in Rome.
Applications are currently begin accepted for Fall 2018. Application deadlines:
° Late Decision I: June 1st
° Late Decision II: July 31st (available only to applicants who do not require a visa to study in Italy)
To apply: http://www.johncabot.edu/master-art-history/default.aspx
For further information: graduateadmissions@johncabot.edu
Speakers: Stefania Anzoise, Sible de Blaauw, Glauco Maria Cantarella, Nicolangelo D’Acunto, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri, Rav Riccardo Di Segni, Umberto Longo, Carmela Vircillo Franklin, Dale Kinney, Giorgio Milanesi, Harald Müller, Mauro Ronzani, Kai-Michael Sprenger, Mary Stroll, Chris Wickham, Lila Yawn, Giusi Zanichelli
Session chairs: Mauro Ronzani, Arturo Calzona, Giulia Barone, Valentino Pace
Organized by:
Sapienza – Università di Roma – Dipartimento di Storia Culture Religioni
John Cabot University – Department of Art History and Studio Art
Università di Urbino Carlo Bo – Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione e Discipline Umanistiche
With sponsorship from:
Comunità Ebraica di Roma
Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom
American Academy in Rome