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simona Cohen

Tel Aviv University, Art History, Emerita

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Simona Cohen (professor emeritus), Art Historian at Tel-Aviv University, has published extensively on Renaissance iconography, Venetian painting, medieval and Renaissance animal symbolism and depictions of Time. Her recent books, Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, and Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, were published by Brill (2008 and 2014). She has participated in many international conferences, was guest lecturer at Cambridge University (UK), visiting professor at I Tatti. The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies and lecturer at the Venice International University. Indian Art History is her second field of research and teaching.

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Graduate Center of the City University of New York

University of Pennsylvania

National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Queens College of the City University of New York

The British Museum

jelena bogdanovic

Vanderbilt University

Lubomír Ondračka

University of Oxford

R.K.K. Rajarajan

GANDHIGRAM RURAL INSTITUTE

University of Massachusetts, Boston

KU Leuven

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Papers by simona Cohen

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th–18th Centuries

Religions, Aug 26, 2021

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous beliefs and recuperation of the Hindu monuments they replaced.

Illustrations for Reps of Myths in Renaissance Art PP Presentation

Illustrations

Teaching the Renaissance in the Department of Art History at Tel-Aviv University

Michelangelo's Metaphor and a Sankhya Aphorism: A Question of Intercultural Commonality

Michelangelo's Metaphor and a Sankhya Aphorism, 2022

Abstract: Michelangelo’s metaphor of the statue existing in the block of stone, to be revealed by... more Abstract: Michelangelo’s metaphor of the statue existing in the block of stone, to be revealed by the sculptor
has been quoted and interpreted by art historians and theoreticians since the Renaissance. It has been
perceived as a poetic reflection of Michelangelo’s theory of sculpture, derived from his work methods and
phrased in terms of Neoplatonic philosophy. David Summers noted that in many instances metaphors of art
are conventional and there is no reason to suppose that their repetition or elaborations reflects personal
conviction, even when it is done by a great artist. I elaborate on this statement indicating that the metaphor
was appropriated in varied religious and philosophical contexts, particularly in an analogous aphorism of
India philosophy.

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence, 2019

Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable... more Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. This book is dedicated to my husband Mike. You have enriched my life! ∵ Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Figures xii Table of the Medici Dynasty xvii Introduction and Global Perspective of Animal Collecting and Menageries 1 Part 1 Cultural Uses of Animals at the Medici Court 1 Zoological Collecting: Practices of Exchange and Processes of Procurement 37 2 Menageries and Aviaries in Medicean Florence 71 3 The Sport of the Chase: "Exotic Hunts" 112 4 Spectacles of Slaughter and Courtly Pageants: Exotic Beasts as Symbols of Power and Colonial Ambitions 134 Part 2 Exotic Animals in the Art of the Medici Court 5 Animal Imagery in the Service of Political Imaging 165 6 Medici Patronage and Early Modern Naturalism: Tensions between Scientific and Decorative Naturalism 208 7 The Ambrogiana Series of Animal Paintings 233 Conclusion 255 viii contents Appendices 1 Medici Archive Project Database of Documents Relating to "Exotic and Unusual" Animals 267 2 Transcribed Extract from Vincenzio Follini and Modesto Rastrelli, Firenze antica e moderna illustrata-Describing the Serraglio de leoni near San Marco, in Florence 279 3 Transcribed Extract from Cesare Agolanti's La Descrizione di Pratolino del Ser.mo Gran Duca di Toscana Poeticamente Descritto da M. Cesare Agolanti Fiorentino 280 4 Transcribed Extract from Gateano Cambiagi's Descrizione dell' Imperiale Giardino di Boboli-Describing the Serraglio degli animali rari 281 Bibliography 283 Index 322 Other colleagues and friends have played their own part in this book, whether directly, through the sharing of ideas and advice, or indirectly, by lending much valued support and encouragement. Among the former, I would like to thank

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th–18th Centuries

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous bel...

FINAL PP The Indian Apsara

The Indian Hair-Wringing Apsaras and her Discriminating Goose: Meanings and Migrations

Religions of South Asia, 2021

The present study investigates depictions of the Indian apsaras wringing water from her hair in m... more The present study investigates depictions of the Indian apsaras wringing water from her hair in monumental religious iconography. It demonstrates the migration of iconography and transformations of meaning from the northern sources to other areas of India and ultimately to parts of southeast Asia. I examine ancient literary and visual sources of the hair-wringing apsaras, mediator of the life-giving celestial waters, and the goose that drinks her hair-water in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain artistic contexts, demonstrating expressions of abstruse theological concepts. The salient virtue of the mythic hamsa (migrating goose) was its ability to separate milk from water. This discrimination, already mentioned in Vedic and later sources, was appropriated as a metaphoric image in moral, didactic, theological and philosophical contexts. Connotations implicit in the myth of the potent water that passes through the apsaras's hair are compared to those of the rejuvenating waters that flowed through Śiva's ascetic locks in the myth of Gaṅgādhara.

Michelangelo's Portrait Medal: The Blind Pilgrim and his Dog

Artibus et historiae, 2022

A unique portrait medal of Michelangelo (1475-1564) was completed by the prominent medalist and s... more A unique portrait medal of Michelangelo (1475-1564) was completed by the prominent medalist and sculptor Leone Leoni (called 'Leone Aretino') in 1561, when Michelangelo was eightyseven years old [Fig. 1]. 1 The framing Latin inscription, chosen by Michelangelo for the portrait on the medal's obverse, reads: Docebo iniquos vias tuas, et impii ad te convertentur ('I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you', Psalm 51:13; Vulgate 50:15). On the reverse Leoni carved an allegorical relief of a blind pilgrim led by a dog. The pilgrim's contorted pose and muscular anatomy reflect Leoni's debt to Michelangelo's sculpture. Plaster casts of the master's great statues, including that of the Vatican Pietà (c. 1560, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan), the Risen Christ for Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (lost) and Dusk and Dawn of the Medici Sagrestia Nuova, were part of Leoni's prestigious art collection. 2 Michelangelo subsequently gave him an original wax model of Hercules and Antaeus to thank him for the portrait medal. By investigating sources and contextual associations of its illusive imagery and clarifying the relationship between text and image, I attempt to explain the iconographic complexities of the medal allegory. There has been little consensus among scholars regarding the medal's significance. The relevance of the allegory to the public image and/or self-perception of the aged master is allusive and remains enigmatic, as demonstrated by diverse, even conflicting, scholarly interpretations that purport

An Aldine Volume of Petrarch Illuminated for a Prestigious Patron

A study of a rare edition of an Aldine volume of Petrarch's Le cose volgari in the collection... more A study of a rare edition of an Aldine volume of Petrarch's Le cose volgari in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, England. This unique volume was printed on vellum by Aldus Manutius in Venice, Italy, in 1514. It is richly illuminated with full-page illustrations of the six Trionfi and contains two emblematic title pages, but it has no heraldic arms or indications of arms having been erased. The only clue to its possible origin is a late 18th-century note inserted at the end, which states that it was in the Medici library and was decorated for a young Medici princess. This study explores several options in an effort to date the illuminations that were added to the book at different times for different patrons, and it tentatively identifies Eleonora da Toledo—the daughter of the Spanish viceroy of Naples, who married Cosimo de' Medici in 1539—as the recipient of the book on the basis of stylistic, iconographic, and historical evidence.

Appendix I: Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts of Petrarch’s Trionfi Located in European and American Collections

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art

This appendix of the book Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art... more This appendix of the book Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art presents Petrarch manuscripts that contain illuminations of at least one or all of the six Trionfi. Illuminated manuscripts of the Trionfi containing only decorative initials, margins and title-page illuminations of other themes are not included. Manuscripts are listed according to the country of their locations.Keywords: Medieval Art; Petrarch manuscripts; Renaissance Art; Trionfi

Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World. Elizabeth Morrison, ed. With Larisa Grollemond. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019. xiv + 340 pp. $60

Renaissance Quarterly

Visual Typology in Early Modern Europe: Continuity and Expansion. Dagmar Eichberger and Shelley Perlove, eds. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018. 372 pp. €95

Renaissance Quarterly

Petrarch’s Famous Men in the Early Renaissance: The Illuminated Copies of Felice Feliciano’s Edition. Lilian Armstrong. Warburg Studies and Texts 5. London: Warburg Institute, 2016. xii + 248 pp. £45

Renaissance Quarterly

and posits a correlation between the sensorimotor physicality of writing in calligraphers like Lu... more and posits a correlation between the sensorimotor physicality of writing in calligraphers like Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi (whose handwriting manual Operina was published in 1522) with that of reading as theorized by educators like John Amos Comenius (1592–1670). In “Wholesome or Pestilential? Giovanni Battista Doni (1594– 1647) and the Dispute on Roman Air,” Sara Miglietti situates the Florentine polymath’s De Restituenda Salubritate Agri Romani (On restoring healthiness to the Roman countryside, ca. 1630) within the ecological debates of his time, and contrasts his antiquarian work to contemporary scientific treatises on the subject. Grace Allen’s “Addressing the Reader: Lodovico Dolce’s Somma della filosofia d’Aristotele and the Audience for Vernacular Philosophy in Sixteenth-Century Italy” describes the authorial strategies employed by the famed Venetian poligrafo in promoting his compendium of Aristotelian thought for a lay readership. The volume concludes with two book reviews: Louis Bayman, The Operatic and the Everyday in Postwar Italian Film Melodrama (Elda Buonanno Foley), and Gino Tellini, Alle origini della modernità letteraria (Paola Quadrini). Despite the misleadingly simplistic title of this volume, the essays it contains employ a robustly flexible notion of dialogue in discussing a wide range of important artists and thinkers. The reader will welcome its rich panorama of the literature and the arts in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque.

Raphael’s Ostrich. By Una Roman D’Elia.University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015. Pp. xviii+252. $74.95

The Journal of Modern History

Translatio Studiorum

Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2016

The Romanesque Zodiac: Its Symbolic Function on the Church Facade

Arte Medievale, 1990

The Ambivalent Scorpio In Bronzinos London Allegory

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, 2008

This chapter proposes a new approach to the interpretation of Bronzino's Allegory based on th... more This chapter proposes a new approach to the interpretation of Bronzino's Allegory based on the attribute of the scorpion as the key to the allegorical concept as a whole and the means for deciphering its particular iconographic components. This study demonstrates that the complex ideas conveyed in Bronzino's Allegory were derived from an astrological tradition related to the sign of Scorpio, which had been transmitted and developed from antiquity till the Renaissance. The connection of Bronzino's Allegory with this astrological tradition demonstrates the broader iconographic context of the painting and explains many of its enigmatic elements. Renaissance astrological literature amassed in its pages all the Scorpio-related concepts that had accumulated over the centuries.Keywords: allegorical concept; ambivalent Scorpio; iconography; London Allegory; Renaissance

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th-18th Centuries

Special Issue Religion and Art in the Renaissance), 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16 th -18th Centuries (abstract)

Religions (special issue: Religion and Art), 2021

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous beliefs and recuperation of the Hindu monuments they replaced.

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th–18th Centuries

Religions, Aug 26, 2021

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous beliefs and recuperation of the Hindu monuments they replaced.

Illustrations for Reps of Myths in Renaissance Art PP Presentation

Illustrations

Teaching the Renaissance in the Department of Art History at Tel-Aviv University

Michelangelo's Metaphor and a Sankhya Aphorism: A Question of Intercultural Commonality

Michelangelo's Metaphor and a Sankhya Aphorism, 2022

Abstract: Michelangelo’s metaphor of the statue existing in the block of stone, to be revealed by... more Abstract: Michelangelo’s metaphor of the statue existing in the block of stone, to be revealed by the sculptor
has been quoted and interpreted by art historians and theoreticians since the Renaissance. It has been
perceived as a poetic reflection of Michelangelo’s theory of sculpture, derived from his work methods and
phrased in terms of Neoplatonic philosophy. David Summers noted that in many instances metaphors of art
are conventional and there is no reason to suppose that their repetition or elaborations reflects personal
conviction, even when it is done by a great artist. I elaborate on this statement indicating that the metaphor
was appropriated in varied religious and philosophical contexts, particularly in an analogous aphorism of
India philosophy.

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence, 2019

Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable... more Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. This book is dedicated to my husband Mike. You have enriched my life! ∵ Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Figures xii Table of the Medici Dynasty xvii Introduction and Global Perspective of Animal Collecting and Menageries 1 Part 1 Cultural Uses of Animals at the Medici Court 1 Zoological Collecting: Practices of Exchange and Processes of Procurement 37 2 Menageries and Aviaries in Medicean Florence 71 3 The Sport of the Chase: "Exotic Hunts" 112 4 Spectacles of Slaughter and Courtly Pageants: Exotic Beasts as Symbols of Power and Colonial Ambitions 134 Part 2 Exotic Animals in the Art of the Medici Court 5 Animal Imagery in the Service of Political Imaging 165 6 Medici Patronage and Early Modern Naturalism: Tensions between Scientific and Decorative Naturalism 208 7 The Ambrogiana Series of Animal Paintings 233 Conclusion 255 viii contents Appendices 1 Medici Archive Project Database of Documents Relating to "Exotic and Unusual" Animals 267 2 Transcribed Extract from Vincenzio Follini and Modesto Rastrelli, Firenze antica e moderna illustrata-Describing the Serraglio de leoni near San Marco, in Florence 279 3 Transcribed Extract from Cesare Agolanti's La Descrizione di Pratolino del Ser.mo Gran Duca di Toscana Poeticamente Descritto da M. Cesare Agolanti Fiorentino 280 4 Transcribed Extract from Gateano Cambiagi's Descrizione dell' Imperiale Giardino di Boboli-Describing the Serraglio degli animali rari 281 Bibliography 283 Index 322 Other colleagues and friends have played their own part in this book, whether directly, through the sharing of ideas and advice, or indirectly, by lending much valued support and encouragement. Among the former, I would like to thank

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th–18th Centuries

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous bel...

FINAL PP The Indian Apsara

The Indian Hair-Wringing Apsaras and her Discriminating Goose: Meanings and Migrations

Religions of South Asia, 2021

The present study investigates depictions of the Indian apsaras wringing water from her hair in m... more The present study investigates depictions of the Indian apsaras wringing water from her hair in monumental religious iconography. It demonstrates the migration of iconography and transformations of meaning from the northern sources to other areas of India and ultimately to parts of southeast Asia. I examine ancient literary and visual sources of the hair-wringing apsaras, mediator of the life-giving celestial waters, and the goose that drinks her hair-water in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain artistic contexts, demonstrating expressions of abstruse theological concepts. The salient virtue of the mythic hamsa (migrating goose) was its ability to separate milk from water. This discrimination, already mentioned in Vedic and later sources, was appropriated as a metaphoric image in moral, didactic, theological and philosophical contexts. Connotations implicit in the myth of the potent water that passes through the apsaras's hair are compared to those of the rejuvenating waters that flowed through Śiva's ascetic locks in the myth of Gaṅgādhara.

Michelangelo's Portrait Medal: The Blind Pilgrim and his Dog

Artibus et historiae, 2022

A unique portrait medal of Michelangelo (1475-1564) was completed by the prominent medalist and s... more A unique portrait medal of Michelangelo (1475-1564) was completed by the prominent medalist and sculptor Leone Leoni (called 'Leone Aretino') in 1561, when Michelangelo was eightyseven years old [Fig. 1]. 1 The framing Latin inscription, chosen by Michelangelo for the portrait on the medal's obverse, reads: Docebo iniquos vias tuas, et impii ad te convertentur ('I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you', Psalm 51:13; Vulgate 50:15). On the reverse Leoni carved an allegorical relief of a blind pilgrim led by a dog. The pilgrim's contorted pose and muscular anatomy reflect Leoni's debt to Michelangelo's sculpture. Plaster casts of the master's great statues, including that of the Vatican Pietà (c. 1560, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan), the Risen Christ for Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (lost) and Dusk and Dawn of the Medici Sagrestia Nuova, were part of Leoni's prestigious art collection. 2 Michelangelo subsequently gave him an original wax model of Hercules and Antaeus to thank him for the portrait medal. By investigating sources and contextual associations of its illusive imagery and clarifying the relationship between text and image, I attempt to explain the iconographic complexities of the medal allegory. There has been little consensus among scholars regarding the medal's significance. The relevance of the allegory to the public image and/or self-perception of the aged master is allusive and remains enigmatic, as demonstrated by diverse, even conflicting, scholarly interpretations that purport

An Aldine Volume of Petrarch Illuminated for a Prestigious Patron

A study of a rare edition of an Aldine volume of Petrarch's Le cose volgari in the collection... more A study of a rare edition of an Aldine volume of Petrarch's Le cose volgari in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, England. This unique volume was printed on vellum by Aldus Manutius in Venice, Italy, in 1514. It is richly illuminated with full-page illustrations of the six Trionfi and contains two emblematic title pages, but it has no heraldic arms or indications of arms having been erased. The only clue to its possible origin is a late 18th-century note inserted at the end, which states that it was in the Medici library and was decorated for a young Medici princess. This study explores several options in an effort to date the illuminations that were added to the book at different times for different patrons, and it tentatively identifies Eleonora da Toledo—the daughter of the Spanish viceroy of Naples, who married Cosimo de' Medici in 1539—as the recipient of the book on the basis of stylistic, iconographic, and historical evidence.

Appendix I: Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts of Petrarch’s Trionfi Located in European and American Collections

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art

This appendix of the book Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art... more This appendix of the book Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art presents Petrarch manuscripts that contain illuminations of at least one or all of the six Trionfi. Illuminated manuscripts of the Trionfi containing only decorative initials, margins and title-page illuminations of other themes are not included. Manuscripts are listed according to the country of their locations.Keywords: Medieval Art; Petrarch manuscripts; Renaissance Art; Trionfi

Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World. Elizabeth Morrison, ed. With Larisa Grollemond. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019. xiv + 340 pp. $60

Renaissance Quarterly

Visual Typology in Early Modern Europe: Continuity and Expansion. Dagmar Eichberger and Shelley Perlove, eds. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018. 372 pp. €95

Renaissance Quarterly

Petrarch’s Famous Men in the Early Renaissance: The Illuminated Copies of Felice Feliciano’s Edition. Lilian Armstrong. Warburg Studies and Texts 5. London: Warburg Institute, 2016. xii + 248 pp. £45

Renaissance Quarterly

and posits a correlation between the sensorimotor physicality of writing in calligraphers like Lu... more and posits a correlation between the sensorimotor physicality of writing in calligraphers like Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi (whose handwriting manual Operina was published in 1522) with that of reading as theorized by educators like John Amos Comenius (1592–1670). In “Wholesome or Pestilential? Giovanni Battista Doni (1594– 1647) and the Dispute on Roman Air,” Sara Miglietti situates the Florentine polymath’s De Restituenda Salubritate Agri Romani (On restoring healthiness to the Roman countryside, ca. 1630) within the ecological debates of his time, and contrasts his antiquarian work to contemporary scientific treatises on the subject. Grace Allen’s “Addressing the Reader: Lodovico Dolce’s Somma della filosofia d’Aristotele and the Audience for Vernacular Philosophy in Sixteenth-Century Italy” describes the authorial strategies employed by the famed Venetian poligrafo in promoting his compendium of Aristotelian thought for a lay readership. The volume concludes with two book reviews: Louis Bayman, The Operatic and the Everyday in Postwar Italian Film Melodrama (Elda Buonanno Foley), and Gino Tellini, Alle origini della modernità letteraria (Paola Quadrini). Despite the misleadingly simplistic title of this volume, the essays it contains employ a robustly flexible notion of dialogue in discussing a wide range of important artists and thinkers. The reader will welcome its rich panorama of the literature and the arts in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque.

Raphael’s Ostrich. By Una Roman D’Elia.University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015. Pp. xviii+252. $74.95

The Journal of Modern History

Translatio Studiorum

Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2016

The Romanesque Zodiac: Its Symbolic Function on the Church Facade

Arte Medievale, 1990

The Ambivalent Scorpio In Bronzinos London Allegory

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, 2008

This chapter proposes a new approach to the interpretation of Bronzino's Allegory based on th... more This chapter proposes a new approach to the interpretation of Bronzino's Allegory based on the attribute of the scorpion as the key to the allegorical concept as a whole and the means for deciphering its particular iconographic components. This study demonstrates that the complex ideas conveyed in Bronzino's Allegory were derived from an astrological tradition related to the sign of Scorpio, which had been transmitted and developed from antiquity till the Renaissance. The connection of Bronzino's Allegory with this astrological tradition demonstrates the broader iconographic context of the painting and explains many of its enigmatic elements. Renaissance astrological literature amassed in its pages all the Scorpio-related concepts that had accumulated over the centuries.Keywords: allegorical concept; ambivalent Scorpio; iconography; London Allegory; Renaissance

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th-18th Centuries

Special Issue Religion and Art in the Renaissance), 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16 th -18th Centuries (abstract)

Religions (special issue: Religion and Art), 2021

This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the south... more This study examines the multiplicity of styles and heterogeneity of the arts created on the southern coasts of India during the period of colonial rule. Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European and Indian literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and religious beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce Christian worship and colonial ideology. This investigation is divided into two parts. Following a brief overview, my initial focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I will then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in south Indian churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents, inadvertently contributing to the survival of indigenous beliefs and recuperation of the Hindu monuments they replaced.

Chapter for MYTH IN ART

Myths in Art

The ubiquitous depictions of ancient myths in Renaissance art are viewed as expressions of classi... more The ubiquitous depictions of ancient myths in Renaissance art are viewed as expressions of classical revival, demonstrating the importance of the Greek and Roman legacy in the intellectual and artistic culture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. While this is basically true, some of the misconceptions inherent in this broad generalization will be demonstrated in this study. Without delving into broader aspects of skepticism regarding the validity of the "Renaissance myth", I will focus on essential questions of tradition and innovation regarding myths in Renaissance art. In order to understand the orientation, function or aim of the myth in Renaissance art, it is imperative to consider the re-adaption of literary and artistic precedents that accumulated over centuries, bearing conservative, conflicting or interweaving interpretations. Multifarious precedents were part of the artistic and literary legacy

Veritas filia temporis: The iconography of Time and political propaganda in mid Cinquecento Florence

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014

The iconography of temporality was constantly augmented by new and more complex images that were ... more The iconography of temporality was constantly augmented by new and more complex images that were invented throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to praise the sovereign and his rule. It is therefore not surprising to find that artists exhibited great creativity and devised original programs, seeking to express contemporary conceptions of Time, their significance for the image of the ideal ruler and implications for his practical strategies. Just as conceptions of time were not monolithic; varied attitudes to issues of time and temporality were reflected in the artistic propaganda and literature of the period. What were the innovative trajectories in the mid sixteenth century iconography of Time, and in what way did they reflect changing conceptions?

Animals in the Paintings of Titian: A Key to Hidden Meanings

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, 2008

The question of disguised meanings, and particularly moralizations, in Titian's painting has been... more The question of disguised meanings, and particularly moralizations, in Titian's painting has been the subject of extremely conflicting opinions. I approach this problem by examining certain leitmotifs in Titian's paintings that appear to have either a subordinate or an incidental purpose, or else are relegated to the background where they can easily be overlooked. My purpose is to demonstrate that these images serve a key function in the iconography and have been deliberately disguised. While disguised symbolism is a common ploy in Renaissance art, the central importance of animals as a recurrent theme in Titian's work has not been recognized. Animals are portrayed in about twenty-five of his paintings, in the context of mythological, secular and religious themes.

Ch 9 Andrea del Sarto's Madonna of the Harpies

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance art, 2008

Andrea del Sarto's "Madonna of the Harpies" and the Human-Animal Hybrid in the Renaissance The mi... more Andrea del Sarto's "Madonna of the Harpies" and the Human-Animal Hybrid in the Renaissance The misleading title, quoted above, that has long been associated with Andrea del Sarto's Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and John the Evangelist (signed on the pedestal and dated 1517) (Fig.79) derives from Vasari's description in the Vite of 1550. Thirtythree years after the painting was completed and twenty years after the artist's death, Vasari wrote: 'in una tavola per la chiesa di dette monache [di S. Francesco in via Pentolini], la Nostra Donna ritta e rilevata sopra una base di otto faccie: in sulle cantonate della quale sono alcune arpie che seggono quasi adorando la vergine'. The present study will clarify the function of these eccentric creatures in the iconography of the altarpiece, based on relevant literary and artistic precedents where hybrid creatures are featured in sacred iconography, comparisons in contemporary Italian art, and evidence related to the patronage of a women's monastic community.

Emblematic Literature and Related Sources

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, 2008

The Renaissance emblem, as a model for disguised animal symbolism, introduces several new charact... more The Renaissance emblem, as a model for disguised animal symbolism, introduces several new characteristics, in comparison with the sources we have been discussing. Bestiaries, exempla literature, encyclopedic works, epics and fables were basically literary forms; illustrations were optional. When illustrations existed, as in the bestiaries, they served as visual aids or embellishments to the text but contributed nothing to the exegetic or moralistic interpretations. In the case of the emblem the image was indispensable, but it depended on a brief text, and often a title, to explicate its meaning. The interdependence of image and word, so typical of Renaissance culture, enhanced its potential as a model for the visual arts.

Renaissance Naturalists and Animal Symbolism: Fact and Fantasy

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance art, 2008

Progress of experimental science and the humanist revival of classical texts were two major facto... more Progress of experimental science and the humanist revival of classical texts were two major factors in precipitating a turning point in the history of zoological literature and illustration by the late fifteenth century. Nevertheless, it will be underlined below that, while more that, while more objective ways of looking at animals were introduced, this did not necessarily entail a rejection of the allegorical tradition. There is a tendency in modern literature to overemphasize the predominance of descriptive and empirical elements in Renaissance zoological texts, based on the assumption that moralizations and religious allegory were passé. This study clarifies the relationship between innovative and traditional elements in the zoological literature of the sixteenth century.

The Heritage and Sources Medieval Sources of Renaissance Animal Symbolism Concealing the Tracks: The Physiologus and Bestiary Tradition

Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance art, 2008

When did animals first appear in the context of Christian literary and artistic symbolism? How we... more

Time Book Illustrations II

Transformation of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014

Book Illustrations - power point

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art

Transformation of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014

Ch 10 The Ambivalent Scorpio in Bronzino's London Allegory

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014

There is more concealed than revealed in the Allegory by Agnolo Bronzino (ca.1545) now in the Nat... more There is more concealed than revealed in the Allegory by Agnolo Bronzino (ca.1545) now in the National Gallery of London ). Concealment is a strategy of the painter's iconography but it also defines the nature of its theme. The Allegory is unique, even among Bronzino's paintings, in its subject and approach, and in the way that it deals with an aspect of obscurity by means which are themselves obscured. This statement may initially appear farfetched when we consider that the main protagonists of Bronzino's narrative are easily identified and their illicit behavior seems to leave little to the imagination. The nude figures of Venus and her son Cupid are revealed in an incestuous erotic relationship. The hand of Cupid on the nipple, the protruding tongue of Venus and the suggestive interrelated positions of the two figures, especially that of Cupid on the pillow, allude to the inevitable gratification of their lust. What appears to be a golden apple in the lowered left hand of Venus is juxtaposed with the arrow in her raised right hand. Above looms the winged Father Time, typically aged and bearing his hourglass. There is nothing concealed about him, except for what lies behind his villainous smile. By pulling back a blue curtain he is actually in the act of revealing. The identities and roles of the four subordinate figures are controversial. At the upper left is the Classical profile of a woman whose facial expression seems to proclaim her shocked distaste as she aids Father Time. Restorations have altered the original form of her head which, judging from early copies, carried a wig-like mass of 1 wavy hair. 1 Below her is a tortured figure of doubtful gender, only partly visible behind the protruding buttocks of Cupid, with a phallic sheath jutting out below. 2

Animal Heads and Hybrid Creatures Illustrations.pptx

Illustrations for Animal Heads and Hybrid Creatures: The Case of the San Lorenzo Lavabo and its S... more

Animal Heads and Hybrid Creatures: The Case of the San Lorenzo Lavabo and its Sources

Almost every aspect of the marble lavabo (lavamano), in the Florentine church of San Lorenzo, has... more Almost every aspect of the marble lavabo (lavamano), in the Florentine church of San Lorenzo, has been a subject of controversy in art-historical literature. Besides the questions of attribution and dating, opinions have diverged regarding the homogeneity of its parts, its original form, function and location, and the extent of later interventions and their causes. Considering the uniqueness of the lavabo's ornate and complex sculptural decoration, it is curious that little has been said about its iconography. The combined representations of animal heads and composite or hybrid creatures, which are the salient motifs, appear to have no parallel on any Renaissance lavabo. It will be argued, nevertheless, that they symbolically convey the concepts embodied in the liturgical rite, in general, and attitudes towards sin and penance, in particular. We shall see that the fundamental question of visual meanings and their implications, which has not been adequately addressed in the literature, bears significance for a more integral approach to the controversial problems mentioned above and calls for a retrospective study of contexts and prototypes that will elucidate the significance of this sculptural monument. These issues will be the focus of the present chapter.

cover of book BSIH169BSAI_proef1.pdf

The relationship between medieval animal symbolism and the iconography of animals in the Renaissa... more The relationship between medieval animal symbolism and the iconography of animals in the Renaissance has scarcely been studied. Filling a gap in this significant field of Renaissance culture, in general, and its art, in particular, this book demonstrates the continuity and tenacity of medieval animal interpretations and symbolism, disguised under the veil of genre, religious or mythological narrative and scientific naturalism. An extensive introduction, dealing with relevant medieval and early Renaissance sources, is followed by a series of case studies that illustrate ways in which Renaissance artists revived conventional animal imagery in unprecedented contexts, investing them with new meanings, on a social, political, ethical, religious or psychological level, often by applying exegetical methodology in creating multiple semantic and iconographic levels.

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art

This book presents a multifaceted picture of the concepts of time and temporality as adopted in v... more

The Visible and Invisible in Images of Lord Śiva Reconsidered

This study addresses aspects relating to the interrelation between the visible and invisible deit... more This study addresses aspects relating to the interrelation between the visible and invisible deity in Hindu art as demonstrated in the case of Śiva. In contrast to the conceptions of the visible and invisible, or iconic (material) and aniconic (formless) deity, as conflicting or mutually exclusive forms, it has been emphasized that Śaiva iconography variously integrated these concepts by illustrating a visual continuum, as described or prescribed in early sources. I aim to review the arguments of several leading scholars regarding the relationship between iconic and aniconic forms in Hindu textual tradition and aspects of iconography.

RENAISSANCE TAFFERIA Lessons of Morality for a Renaissance Bride

Perceptions of women in the Renaissance and reflections of their marital obligations and social s... more Perceptions of women in the Renaissance and reflections of their marital obligations and social status, as reflected in domestic material objects, have become a popular field of scholarly research in the last decades. The present study examines the unique iconography of a sixteenth century tafferia da parto, which has mystified scholars till now, demonstrating how concepts of female inferiority and marital subservience are ingeniously conveyed by ambiguous visual means. Precepts regarding moral and practical feminine obligations and social decorum are astutely revealed in the didactic iconography, reflecting the biased cultural attitudes typical of Renaissance patriarchal society. It is demonstrated how each of the tafferia motifs contributes to the allegory, reinforcing the admonitory message that was addressed to a bride and prospective mother.

Elisabetta Gonzaga and the Ambivalence of Scorpio in Medieval and Renaissance Art

forthcoming in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 2018

The vestiges of ancient scorpion symbolism in medieval and early modern European culture, largely... more The vestiges of ancient scorpion symbolism in medieval and early modern European culture, largely mediated through astrological, astro-medical, and occult doctrines, and promoted in religious iconography, were further influenced by the revival of classical precedents. A unique example will be studied here in the portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, wearing a scorpion amulet on her forehead. My aim is to demonstrate that this scorpion relates to Elisabetta's marital life and the issue of her husband's impotence, providing evidence of prevalent astrological and magical beliefs regarding fertility and impotence. It will be demonstrated that Hellenistic, Hermetic and medieval astrology, transmitted the doctrine of melothesia, assigning control of the Scorpio constellation over genitals. Renaissance astrological literature perpetuated the association of Scorpio with generative fertility and genitals, and mediated belief in the power of scorpion talismans to cure derangements of the reproductive system. Probably adopted soon after her marriage, Elisabetta's magic amulet was still worn when the portrait was painted, about sixteen years later. It will be shown that that its symbolic associations were consonant with the adulations expressed in literary panegyric and visual allegory where she was praised for her purity, with metaphoric allusions to her virginity.

Ars simia naturae: The Animal as Mediator and Alter Ego of the Artist in the Renaissance

Past research on animals in Renaissance art has indicated their functions as signifiers of human ... more Past research on animals in Renaissance art has indicated their functions as signifiers of human characteristics. This study demonstrates stages in developments of Renaissance art that illustrate transitions from anthropocentric to theriocentric approaches in animal symbolism, where animals are perceived and valued in their own right. Traditional negative animal symbolism was not relinquished, but new types of animal depictions have testified to new attitudes. Iconography of the dog and the ape, for example, represents two issues relating to human-animal relationships in the Renaissance. Changing conceptions of the dog, its function in artistic narrative, as related to the artist, his self-image and awareness of the spectator, are examined. The ape became a metaphor of the universal artist and clever imitator of nature. While late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century illustrations referring to artistic imitatio were harshly judicial, the idea of animals as mediators is demonstrated by the artist who tends not only to empathize with animals but also to identify with them.

Personifications of Time In Medieval Art

IL TEMPO NELL’ALTO MEDIOEVO, SETTIMANE DI STUDIO DELLA FONDAZIONE CENTRO ITALIANO DI STUDI SULL’ALTO MEDIOEVO LXX IL TEMPO NELL’ALTO MEDIOEVO Spoleto, 13-19 aprile 2023 FONDAZIONE CENTRO ITALIANO DI STUDI SULL’ALTO MEDIOEVO SPOLETO, 2023

Many of the speculations and theories of time set forth in medieval theological literature had no... more Many of the speculations and theories of time set forth in medieval theological literature had no direct expression in the visual arts. During the first centuries of the common era there is a conspicuous gap in the depictions of time, a seeming denial of the concretization of time. Ecclesiastics pursued the questions of time and temporality in theological, historical, eschatological and millenarian contexts and dealt with time calculation, primarily from the seventh and eighth centuries to establish church feasts, yet there were few artistic depictions of time or visual expressions of temporal duration during the first centuries of Christianity. How can we explain the disappearance of symbols and personifications that were prominent in classical art? The fact that signs of the zodiac were excluded in early Christian imagery has been related to the refutation of astrology and astral fatalism, as well as its association with imperial propaganda . Lactantius proclaimed in his fourth-century Divinae Institutiones that following the universal ekpyrosis (belief in the periodic destruction of the cosmos by a great conflagration), there would be “a new world, which would not be subject to astral influence and freed from the dominion of time” . From approximately the sixth century, depictions of the busts or signs of Sol and Luna, and the Greek letters Alpha and omega, established Christ, the Pantocrator, as the embodiment of eternity, creation and the end of days. Time symbols associated with pagan myth and ritual were largely based on the interrelated forms of repetitious movement, that is time defined by analogy to space and cyclic periodicity, which constituted the basis for time computation. Movement and process characterized the images of time and eternity in pre-Christian thought and visualization. Eternity was depicted as time that repeats itself endlessly, not as timelessness. An early medieval personification of Time, which had no visual precedents in classical art, was that of the Year (Annus). As a comprehensive concept of time was unknown in early Christianity, periodic units or icons of periodization were appropriated to express the passage of time. Since time was not yet conceived as an abstraction from events, it could only be represented by the events themselves.

The Savagery in Titian’s Apollo and Marsyas – Myth and Reality PP

These are power point illustrations to my lecture for the Renaissance Society of America, 2023.

The Savagery in Titian's Apollo and Marsyas -Myth and Reality

Titian's huge painting of the Flaying of Marsyas is one of his last works dated between 1570 and ... more Titian's huge painting of the Flaying of Marsyas is one of his last works dated between 1570 and his death in 1576 (Fig.1). It remained in his studio at the time of his death and is generally assumed to be a non-commissioned work. I will reconsider the meaning of Titian’s unique version of the Flaying of Marsyas, which was partly based on a drawing by Giulio Romano but otherwise ignored iconographic tradition. The innovative aspect of my interpretation will be founded on textual and iconographic evidence that has not been previously noticed. Viewed as a mock allegory of Christ’s Passion, the martyrdom satirizes ritual murders attributed to the Jews. In his last days, the pious artist, fervently declared his condemnation of Jewish malevolence and violence.

RSA Hybridity in the Colonial Arts PPP for lecture

Illustrations for Conference Lecture (Renaissance Society of America)

Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India, 16th -19th Centuries (RSA lecture

RSA conference , 2021

Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions... more Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European literary sources, I examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce colonial ideology. My initial focus is on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. I then relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in Goan churches, involving the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents.

HYBRIDITY LECTURE for RSA conference: Hybridity in the Colonial Arts of South India

Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions... more Diverging from the trajectory of numerous studies that underline biased and distorted conceptions of India promoted in European literary sources, I wish to examine ways in which Indian cultural traditions and beliefs found substantial expression in visual arts that were ostensibly geared to reinforce colonial ideology. Following a brief overview, my focus will be on Indo-Portuguese polychrome woodcarvings executed by local artisans for churches in the areas of Goa and Kerala on the Malabar coast. The second part will relate to Portuguese religious strategies reflected in Goan churches, focusing on the destruction of Hindu temples and images and their replacement with Catholic equivalents.

Doni's Recycled Illustrations PP1.pptx

This is the Power Point Presentation for the conference lecture: The Recycled Illustrations of An... more

The Recycled Illustrations in Anton Francesco Doni's Filosofia Morale and the Circle of the Poligrafi.

Doni was known as a plagiarist, a heretic, and an indiscriminate compiler frequently lacking orig... more Doni was known as a plagiarist, a heretic, and an indiscriminate compiler frequently lacking originality, but also capable of creative imitation. His professional success was largely dependent on his ability to produce numerous works in a short period of time, profiting, not without guile, from the print industry in Venice, His eclecticism and recycling was not exceptional in the circle of the poligrafi. Doni's reuse of old woodcut illustrations in seemingly unrelated contexts was merely one aspect of his practice of recycling, borrowing, readapting, and plagiarism. But alongside pragmatic considerations and deceptive strategies, Doni's recycling of emblematic allegories in the Filosofia Morale served to express his disillusionment with contemporary society and its corruptions, a function that reflected the fundamental moralizing objectives of the Indian Panchatantra. (Lecture presented at the international conference: Rivalries, Social Networks, and Cultural Production in Early Modern Italy, May 30-31, 2016, at Tel-Aviv University.

Angelica Groom, Exotic animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence

Renaissance Quarterly, 2020

There is a plethora of historical scholarship regarding the Medici rulers and their role in promo... more There is a plethora of historical scholarship regarding the Medici rulers and their role in promoting Florence as the cultural center of the Renaissance and the epitome of unparalleled cultural achievement. Art historians have greatly contributed to the image of a cultivated dynasty that patronized the greatest Renaissance artists and intellectuals. This book by Angelica Groom presents objective and well documented evidence of Medici self-promotion from a practical viewpoint, revealing a malevolent aspect that has been insufficiently explored. A brief overview of animal collections and menageries, established by Asian and European sovereigns, introduces the Medici collections "in relation to a wider global phenomenon of cultural activities centered on animals" (29). Her book is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on the contribution of animals in the self-fashioning of the Medici Court, exploring their methods of obtaining rare beasts, the manner of their display, and roles played by animals in the diplomacy of gift exchange and ceremonial life. Issues relating to the lack of Medici control over maritime trading routes and difficulties in the procurement of exotic animals from Africa, Asia and the "New World" are examined through letters, diplomatic dispatches and court documents from the reigns of Medici dukes. Cosimo I and his heir Francesco were served by networks of agents, diplomats and court personnel. Reconstructions of the famous zoological spaces, the sixteenth century Serraglio de leoni, near San Marco, and the later Sarraglio degli animali rari in the Boboli Gardens, are based on visual sources and written descriptions. The brutal practice of sacrificing animals for exotic hunts and caccie, staged spectacles of animal combats, ostensibly proclaimed the power of the Medici regime. This savage slaughter of animals increased during the reign of Cosimo I, who took an active part in the hunts and caccie that marked "the family's victories and dynastic stability" (142). Part 2 focuses on artistic depictions of exotic animals, viewed as an aspect of political and princely identity. Shifting values with regard to the keeping and appreciation of rare beasts are demonstrated by chronological studies of artistic projects commissioned by successive Medici patrons. The author states that "a key aim of the argument is to expose the Medici's skillful use of [animal] imagery as a form of propaganda and make-believe" (32). Patronage of the natural sciences is demonstrated by Medici involvement with Aldrovandi's scientific research projects and reflected in the pietra dura production. Final chapters deal with zoological paintings commissioned by the last Medici rulers.

RQX_73_2_Book-Reviews 610..611

Renaissance Quarterly , 2019

Review of: Book of Beasts, The Bestiary in the Medieval World

Kairos/Occasio -Vicissitudes of Propitious Time from Antiquity to the Renaissance

Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014

The theoretical concept of irreversible time, its ephemerality and volatility, and the flight of ... more The theoretical concept of irreversible time, its ephemerality and volatility, and the flight of the expedient or decisive moment, had crystallized in antiquity into the personified image of Kairos. Its message, however, was not evanescent and elusive, for it conveyed the idea that one could grasp the expedient moment and thus counteract the ruinous course of time. A decisive impetus in promoting the transition of Kairos from antiquity was the facility of adapting its allegorical imagery to Christian moralization and didactic iconography. By the early Renaissance humanists had resuscitated the literary sources that described and interpreted the classical image, and by the sixteenth century the personification of Kairos, restored in its authentic Greco-Roman form with accumulated moralistic appendages, was restructured into contemporary contexts with humanistic, political and moral implications.