ENGRAVING "THE TRIUMPH OF OUR LADY" IN THE PARIS BOOK OF HOURS BY GEOFFROY TORY. IS IT A PAGAN PARADE OR CHRISTIAN PANEGYRIC?

The article focuses on the engraving “The Triumph of Our Lady” from the Book of Hours by Geoffroy Tory, 1531, kept in the collection of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. That woodcut precedes the Hours of the Virgin Mary section, and complements the main row of images, most of which are related to the Mariological theme. An attempt is made to study possible sources for the rare iconography. Both Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The dream of Poliphilus) by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1499 and The Triumphs (I Trionfi) of Francesco Petrarch are considered. The author also takes into account the printed products of Tory himself, such as: “Champ fleury” (Flowery fields), 1529, Triumphal Entry of Eleanor of Austria, 1531. The iconography of the engraving displays the elaborately developed in Italian painting and drawing scheme of Roman triumphs of emperors and pagan gods. It also includes the visual impressions of theatrical and religious ceremonies, solemn entrances that Tory could witness. But those patterns were transformed and given a new Christian subject matter related to the glorification of the Virgin Mary. That corresponded to both the type of a prayer book (BVM) and the section the engraving preceded.

Walka z czarną śmiercią w świetle wybranych pism i traktatów z XIV w.

Combatting the Black Death in the light of selected writings and treatises from the XIVth century This article analyzes texts that show attempts to resist the plague epidemic in Europe in the second half of the XIVth century. Much information on this subject has survived in writings by Italian authors, including Giovanni Boccaccio, Matteo Villani, and Francesco Petrarch. In Italian cities, the sickness led to demographic disaster, permanently changing the social order and the daily life of their inhabitants. Using the above mentioned texts, the author reflects on the triumphal march of the plague, searching for answers to the question as to the extent to which contemporary doctors were responsible for the state of affairs. When they encountered the first attack of the plague, they were helpless, not possessing either appropriate knowledge of medicines. Authors of chronicles noted that when examining the sick, doctors only took simple steps such as measuring temperature and analyzing body fluids, and the drew on philosophy and astrology when doing so. Sharper and sharper criticism fell on their heads as a result, and accusations not just of ignorance but also of cowardice. This was because many medical persons fled from territories affected by plague. Francesco Petrarch was one of the fiercest critics of doctors at this time. In the course of the epidemic, he lost Laura, the love of his life, and his beloved son. Petrarch wrote of the plague and the death that accompanied it in several tracts and poetic pieces. In those, he showed the fear and terror that haunted people when the world they had hitherto known lay in ruins.

Petrarchan Contexts of John Donne�s Spiritual Lyrics

The article is devoted to the connection of the famous English poet, prose writer and preacher John Donne�s (1572�1631) works with the Petrarchan discourse of the European literature. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal and interpret the elements of Petrarchism in spiritual lyrics of the author on the basis of systematic approach with the use of the genealogical and comparative typological methods. The most prominent cases of the traditional Petrarchan themes, motives and images usage in John Donne�s religious texts and the specifity of their functioning have been examined in this article. Our attention has been paid to the genetic interconnection between the courtly rhetoric, which had been inherited by Francesco Petrarch and his numerous followers from the Provencal troubadours, and the traditions of the European mysticism that causes the harmony of the Petrarchan interpretive contexts according to the spiritual lyrics of the writer. Already in his earliest works, in particular in the book �Songs and Sonnets�, John Donne did not avoid mixing the sacred and the profane, quite intensively using religious images and motifs in love poetry. But his Petrarchism is most notable in his �Holly Sonnets�. The poetry of this cycle is not about God at all, but about the author himself in his relationship with Lord. In these sonnets the writer describes his feelings for God in almost the same way as Francesco Petrarch described his love for Laura. In general, if we talk about Petrarchism in relation to the spiritual lyrics of John Donne, it should be noted that for the writer it was not only a convenient source of the �ready� artistic images, motifs or means of expression but a kind of a perfect artistic technique for expressing secret, deeply personal thoughts and emotions. The conclusion has been done that such typically Petrarchan ideas such as: the dedicated service to the object of feelings, slavish adoration, obedience and dependence on its inconstant wishes John Donne has managed to adapt to the special needs of the sacred genres in such a way that his texts look surprisingly attractive, interesting and clear to different readers. Despite his worldwide fame John Donne is still one of the least researched literary figures in Ukrainian science. The article is directed to study only one of many aspects of his many-sided artistic heritage which needs the comprehensive professional analysis of the literary theorists and historians. So this article can be used for the further investigation of the problems, connected with the Petrarchan discourse generally in English literature and particularly in John Donne�s works and the scientific results proposed in it can be used in writing course works, graduation works and thesis on the related themes.

Cicero’s corpus and Petrarch’s ankle. The theory of imitation and its practices

This article focuses on the centrality provided to auctores and texts as corpora, in the framework of Francesco Petrarch and the theory of imitation by the humanists. Initially, animal images from Petrarch and the humanists are analysed, as well as the paths of their diffusion. These were used to express the role of the model, the involvement of the writer, variatio, the election of stilus, and the questions sustained by Ciceronianism. Then, tree main methodological ways to study the relationship between texts as corpora are presented: semiosphere, intertextuality, and reception theory. A critic view point regards static methodologies. Conclusively, the dialogue between Petrarch and Cicero, as text and corpus, is recalled in order to incorporate the auctores contamination.

Canzoniere Francesco Petrarch in a new translation by Vladimir Maransman

The review presents a new book by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education Vladimir Georgievich Maransman — a translation from Italian of the Book of Songs (Canzoniere) by Francesco Petrarch. This translation is a real event in the history of modern Russian culture, since it turned out to be one of the first full translations into Russian of the main book of the great Italian poet of the Renaissance, the first lyric poet in the history of European poetry — Petrarch, made by one translator. The translation was carried out taking into account the long tradition of Russian translations of Petrarch poetry and has a significant amount of author's text (poet's property). The translation uses the original method of V. G. Marantsman, already used in his previous work — the full translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, and which has been recognized by many readers and critics; a method of conveying the stylistic features of Italian poetry of the era of its occurrence by similar means of the Russian language.