In the field of religious experience in the ancient Mediterranean area, the visual relationship with the divine has acquired special relevance since the first textual and material manifestations that we possess. From the Greek Magical Papyri to the first Christian communities, we can trace a continuity in the use of a particular lexicon linked to the action of "look straight" at an epiphanic divinity. In the ancient Greek lexicon, this action of looking is expressed through the verb alpha tau epsilon nu i zeta omega, while in the Latin language, the verb intendo and the expression oculos figere-in its different variants-are present in texts in which the religious experience in the Middle Ages, as in the ancient world, is related to a mystical and epiphanic relationship with a divine entity characterized by its luminous nature. In this text we intend to show the continuity of this ancient experience in the theo-dramatic vision of the Middle Ages.
The distinction between "major" and "minor" arts has its source within Renaissance humanism. In the fifteenth century, Filarete identified the decadence of the architecture of his time in the transalpine trend of building monuments in the form of thuribles and tabernacles, imitating the works of goldsmiths on a larger scale. Therefore, since their first delineation "minor arts" have included goldsmithing and other related art forms. Despite its monumental dimensions, stained glass soon joined this category in the post-medieval literature on art. As confirmed by recent research, the aesthetics and techniques of the arts of goldsmithing, enameling, and stained glass turned out to be deeply intertwined. This article investigates the artistic intersections that underpinned the emergence of stained-glass windows in the early Middle Ages, focusing on key aspects such as changes in scale and the tension between continuity and rupture in classical and non-classical traditions, characteristic of the long late Antiquity up to the beginning of the Carolingian Renaissance.
The reuse of ancient sculpted stones was a highly active process during the Middle Ages and has been the subject of numerous studies. The various underlying reasons for this practice have been analyzed, highlighting pragmatic, ideological, and aesthetic motivations. When an ancient object is reused in a new context, it is integrated as is, without modifications. However, a small number of objects were recut or resculpted, involving significant interventions on the ancient substrate. This phenomenon of recutting not only reflects efforts to revitalize ancient artifacts but also provides insights into the appreciation of ancient heritage during the medieval period and its role in the formation of certain artistic identities. By focusing on cases of recutting ancient sculptures, we will propose avenues for reflection and analyze the information these particular cases can provide for a better understanding of the perception of ancient heritage between the 8th and 14th centuries.
The CorpusAgrimensorum Romanorum (Corpus of the Roman Surveyors) is a seminal compilation of topographical texts attributed to prominent ancient authors such as Siculus Flaccus, Frontinus, Agenius Urbicus, Hyginus Gromaticus, and other writers collectively known as Gromatici or Agrimensores (surveyors). This corpus survives in multiple manuscripts, with the earliest extant manuscript being the 6th-century Codex Arcerianus (Wolfenb & uuml;ttel Herzog Bibl. Cod. Guelf. 36.23A). Composed over various periods, the Corpus includes a range of texts that address topics from boundary delineation and city layout to the course of rivers and the orientation of roads. The CodexArcerianus alone preserves 33 distinct texts, primarily manuals and instructional works for surveyors tasked with land measurement and demarcation. Central figures in this collection are Frontinus (1st century CE), Siculus Flaccus (2nd century CE), Hyginus Gromaticus, Agenius Urbicus (5th or 6th century), Balbus, and Marcus Junius Nipsus (2nd century). The manuscripts are notable for their richly detailed illustrations, which were faithfully reproduced during the medieval and Renaissance periods from the remarkable 6th-century originals. Our analysis reveals that within these early illustrations or in their marginalia, abbreviations of the artists' names frequently appear: one artist, identified as the renowned Eusebius of St. Peter Armentarius, was active in Ravenna in the early 6th century, while the other, "Marcus As.," likely an abbreviation of "Asinius," remains an obscure figure. The persistence of these initials in later copies suggests their perceived significance to subsequent generations of copyists and illuminators. The presence of Eusebius, a professional illuminator, in the codex is particularly intriguing; he worked in the atelier of the Gothic bokareis (scribe) Wiliaric in Ravenna, connected to the Arab clergy of St. Euphemia's church and the city's Catholic elites, who commissioned esteemed manuscripts from him. The Corpus of the Grom & aacute;tica, a text offering technical and scientific insights pertinent to land measurement and division, catered to this intellectual and elite milieu. This collection parallels the compendium of ancient geographical texts by authors such as Censorinus, Julius Parides, Pomponius Mela, Vibius Sequestrus, Titius Pro-bus, and Valerius Maximus, assembled in Ravenna in the 6th century by Rusticius Elpidius, with a distinguished Carolingian copy now housed in the Vatican Library (Vat. Lat. 4929).
The art of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance influenced the representation of Christ's human nature through new iconographic models, such as lamentations, pietas, or dead Christs supported by angels. Based on Antonello da Messina's << Dead Christ Supported by an Angel,>> this article explores how this progressive humanization results from artists' intentionality to contemporize the biblical scene, thus seeking to speak the same language as the spectator; a tendency that seems to have fossilized from the modern era onward, when << archaeological >> representations became the dominant trend.
