The Fresco Cycle of Saint Maria Maddalena De’ Pazzi (1566–1607)

Saint Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi, a Florentine Carmelite nun and mystic, was recognized as a saint in 1669. After her canonization, a church in Florence was renovated and renamed Santa Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi, and new artworks were commissioned for it. This article will explore in detail a series of ten frescoes on the top section of the walls in the church, part of the renovation. Although these works are part of the saint’s public iconography and depict major narratives of her cult, they have not been studied in depth to date. Though the scenes have meaning to a general Catholic audience, they appeal to different audiences—the Carmelite nuns, the local Florentine population, and the post-Counter Reformation believer—to differing degrees, the scenes with Jesuit undertones aimed particular at the latter group.

Teratological Plot of the Ornament in the South Tower of St. Sophia of Kyiv

St. Sophia of Kyiv, built in 1011‒1018 at the turn of the reigns of Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, has preserved a large number of unique secular frescoes. Their customer was Volodymyr, who owns the idea of the temple, which is reflected in the mosaics and frescoes. A triumphal fresco cycle is unfolding in the two stair towers which, according to the Byzantine tradition, glorifies its customer. The frescoes tell about a dynastic marriage between Prince Volodymyr the Great and the Byzantine Princess Anna Porphyrogenitus at the turn of 987–988, which initiated the baptism of the Kyivan State. The cycle consists of narrative historical and symbolic (ornamental, zoomorphic, and teratological 4) plots. The central composition of a symbolic nature is a mysterious teratological plot of five interconnected medallions placed on the vault of the south tower. This combined plot traces the Scandinavian influences caused by Volodymyr’s princely order, which are present in the unique emblematic image of god Odin with two wolves. The decoding of the plot revealsits semantic unity both with the triumphant fresco cycle of towers, which it is a part of, and with the ideological concept of the whole temple complex as a memorial of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine, the founder and builder of which was Volodymyr the Great. The plot reveals deep sacred and at the same time ethnically colored connotations with the image of Volodymyr as a crowned prince-baptizer and a powerful military leader. This concept fits into the general marital leitmotif of the secular cycle. The frescoes of the towers present not only a completely realistic outline of the initial event of the baptism of the people (the engagement of Volodymyr and Anna) but also a corresponding symbolic and metaphorical disclosure of this theme.

SELF-PORTRAITS OF BENOZZO GOZZOLI IN THE CHAPEL OF THE MAGI IN THE PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI IN FLORENCE

Created by Benozzo Gozzoli, the picturesque setting of the Magi Chapel (Chapel of the Magi) in the chapel of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi (1459–1460, Florence) includes about one hundred and fifty images of people, among which the artist himself is represented. In the Russian literature devoted to this fresco cycle, only one self-portrait of Benozzo is mentioned, which is dressed in a red cap, on which his name is indicated. He is among the escort of the youngest Magus, which mostly consists of the Medici, the unofficial rulers of the city, and their entourage. Meanwhile, on the opposite wall of the chapel, the master has painted himself again twice. This paper analyzes the three self-portraits in terms of the artist’s psychological features, of the growth of his artistic self-consciousness and of their compositional arrangement and the meanings conveyed through such variations

The Rhetoric of Fictive Architecture:CopiaandAmplificatioin Altichiero Da Zevio's Paintings at the Oratory of St George in Padua

This article examines the relationship between architecture in painting and rhetorical theory, proposing that fictive buildings are often a powerful form of visual rhetoric aiming to entice the viewer and showcase the artist's skill. Illustrating the potential of a rhetorical approach for the interpretation of architecture more widely, the article focuses on Altichiero da Zevio's fresco cycle in the Oratory of St George in Padua (c.1379–84), suggesting that his structurally inventive and intricately decorated architectural settings can be interpreted through the rhetorical tropescopiaandamplificatio. It argues that fourteenth-century Padua was an environment particularly receptive to rhetorical theory, and suggests that viewers would have experienced Altichiero's fictive buildings as a visual equivalent of the persuasive strategies employed in contemporary textual composition. The analysis highlights the rhetorical messages of architectural forms, underscoring the porosity between two and three-dimensional buildings for a more integrated consideration of architecture and its communicative powers.