Renaissance Studies

One of the things that strikes one most forcibly in surviving images of early commedia dell'arte is its enigmatic physicality, the manner in which its actors everywhere adopt postures and make gestures that seem not merely emphatic and exaggerated but almost hieroglyphic, full of some additional implication, laden with a figural and emblematic resonance that we sense but no longer see. In general terms, this quality is easily understood, as the body clearly served in commedia as a complex and polyvalent instrument of expression. Its gestures and movements were, as in all theatre, indexically linked to dramatic action, and they also served, as in much masked drama, as surrogates for the facial expression of affect, in that the movements and aspects of the whole body were enlisted to articulate the motions and mien of a veiled face and to overcome or play upon the sensation of estranged speech produced by the half-mask's bifurcation of the visage. 1 Moreover, in a manner less familiar but illustrated well in Fig. , these movements and aspects also functioned as expressions in their own right, not articulating the affect or expression attendant upon immediate speech or situation or delineating the lines of external action but signaling the many impulses and various appetites of the world, the varied aspects of all persons and of the body

Questo studio approfondito di Nicola Pezzella offre un'inedita ricostruzione storica della presenza templare a Treviso attraverso l'analisi della precettoria di San Tomaso. Basandosi su documenti d'archivio, inventari inquisitoriali e fonti storiche locali, l'opera rivela come questa domus templare rappresentasse un nodo strategico nella rete dell'Ordine nell'Italia nord-orientale.
San Tomaso non era una semplice chiesa, ma un centro amministrativo, religioso ed economico di notevole importanza, strategicamente posizionato alla porta orientale della città. La sua peculiare evoluzione - dalla dedicazione originaria a Santa Maria fino all'insolito cambio verso San Tomaso Becket - costituisce un caso unico che illumina le complesse strategie religiose e politiche dell'Ordine.
Questo lavoro ricostruisce non solo le strutture fisiche e le proprietà dell'insediamento, ma anche il tessuto umano che lo animava, offrendo uno squarcio sulla vita quotidiana dei cavalieri, sacerdoti e conversi che vi risiedevano. Il sistema economico-patrimoniale della precettoria, con le sue proprietà urbane e rurali, rivela la sofisticata gestione che caratterizzava l'Ordine Templare prima della sua drammatica soppressione nel 1312.

This study examines two Persian translations of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood (2001) by Omrani (2019) and Ghabraei (2017), analyzing them through Farahzad's three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model (2012). By scrutinizing the translators' choices in rendering the novel's ideological and cultural complexities, this research aims to provide valuable insights for English Language Teachers. Analyzing how translators navigate cultural nuances, address sensitive content, and convey the author's intended meaning can enhance teachers' understanding of intercultural communication and the challenges of cross-cultural interpretation. Furthermore, this study demonstrates how the analysis of translated literature can be used as a pedagogical tool to develop students' critical thinking skills, intercultural competence, and awareness of the power dynamics inherent in language and translation. The findings of this research, which reveal varying degrees of fidelity and ideological shifts in the translations, can inform the development of culturally sensitive teaching materials and classroom activities that engage students with the complexities of translated texts and their implications for understanding diverse perspectives in a globalized world.

dans «Nodi, vincoli e groppi leonardeschi». Études sur Léonard de Vinci, sous la direction de Frédérique Dubard de Gaillarbois et Olivier Chiquet (Actes de la Journée d'Études à l'Institut Culturel Italien, 22 Janvier 2018); Paris, Spartacus Éditions; pp. 173-238

The article discusses the results of the UV and IRR examinations of the Saint Michael Altarpiece, which was documented in 1478 in the Saint Martin Cathedral in Spišská Kapitula, Slovakia. It focuses on the centre panel of this altarpiece, depicting the Archangel Michael weighing souls. This depiction closely resembles the figure of Saint Michael found in the Last Judgement Polyptych in the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune, linked to Rogier van der Weyden and his workshop.

A primeira inferência a retirar deste livro prende-se com um traço constante dos emblemas heráldicos observados, desde os mais remotos até aos mais recentes: todos funcionam como instrumento não apenas de identificação de um indivíduo, uma família, uma instituição ou uma entidade abstracta (pense-se nas armas de Cristo ou da Paixão), mas também como forma de comunicação visual num determinado contexto. Contexto político e institucional, que determina quem pode (ou deve) comunicar, onde e com que meios. Contexto social e cultural, que influi na natureza do sinal heráldico e no seu lastro semântico. Esta necessária contextualização significa que um determinado emblema heráldico, para além do valor simbólico que lhe pode ser atribuído de forma abstracta, tem necessariamente um valor específico em cada uma das suas manifestações plásticas, porque deve ser entendido como forma de auto-representação e de comunicação social. Com os emissores, meios, destinatários e observadores que caracterizam cada uma destas manifestações.
Por isso, o presente percurso optou pela caracterização da heráldica cascalense em três períodos distintos. No primeiro, pudemos observar como, na Idade Moderna e na primeira Idade Contemporânea, a heráldica desta vila estratégica mas pobre girou em torno de escassos armígeros: a Coroa, antes de mais, como não podia deixar de ser numa praça desta importância; depois, a família que desde o final da Idade Média deteve o senhorio da vila; por fim, as instituições religiosas que formavam uma componente indispensável da sociedade pré-revolucionária. Haveria porventura outros exemplares, que permitissem talvez mitigar a exclusividade heráldica destas três entidades, mas não chegaram até aos nossos dias, sobretudo por causa do terremoto de 1755, que vibrou um golpe tão duro na povoação.
No segundo período, a heráldica testemunha a regeneração da vila decadente, ocorrida na segunda metade do século XIX, projectada a partir de então como sede privilegiada de vilegiatura da alta sociedade portuguesa. Os sinais heráldicos disseminados pela vila dão conta de como a aristocracia de corte se apropriou dos seus espaços, moldando-os segundo um padrão de disseminação que tinha como epicentro a própria família real, propagando-se depois, em círculos concêntricos, pelas casas titulares, pela nobreza não-titular e pelos homens de finanças que se juntaram a esta elite, mimetizando os seus comportamentos sociais e culturais – inclusive no que se reporta ao uso de emblemas heráldicos.
No terceiro período, a heráldica prolonga ainda os usos cortesãos da época anterior; mas vai-se gradualmente impondo um outro padrão, focado numa dimensão institucional. Os emblemas que, a partir de então, se inscrevem no espaço urbano prendem-se essencialmente com a afirmação da Câmara Municipal e de vários organismos do Estado, como a Capitania do Porto, Guarda Fiscal e Centro de Instrução de Artilharia Anti-Aérea de Cascais. Sem esquecer, neste período como no anterior, os exemplares que têm valor evocativo, quer num espírito colecionista, quer num propósito homenageador.
Dos três períodos citados, emerge uma constante: a relação privilegiada entre heráldica e espaço. Os emblemas heráldicos funcionam como expressões visuais enunciadoras de determinada posição social ou institucional, não apenas num sentido meramente representativo, mas para que tal posição se consubstancie efectivamente, por via da apropriação simbólica do espaço. Esta observação leva-nos ao ponto final do presente livro. O percurso pela heráldica cascalense revelou-se inseparável do estudo dos edifícios em que ela foi aposta. Neste sentido, verifica-se uma relação intrínseca entre o código heráldico e os propósitos subjacentes à arquitectura e ao urbanismo da vila. A rigor, não se pode compreender as manifestações heráldicas estudadas sem perceber para que fins e como foram concebidos os espaços e os edifícios em que elas se inserem. Mas o inverso é também verdade: deixar de lado a heráldica obnubila a compreensão da arquitectura e do urbanismo desta vila. Assim possa semelhante estudo revelar-se útil para aqueles que desejam compreender a história de Cascais.

Toute collection recèle un mystère, et celle d’Adolphe Thiers ne fait pas exception. Car, en son cœur subsiste une question à laquelle nul ne peut répondre, pas même le collectionneur : pourquoi ? Certes, il y a une première raison, quasi anthropologique mais qui n’éclaire aucun cas particulier : collectionner, c’est acquérir pour accumuler et prendre plaisir à ce processus, autant qu’à la possession des objets. C’est aussi se donner un projet intime : la décision de collectionner, malgré les ambitions sociales ou d’autoreprésentation qu’elle peut incarner, reste nécessairement un passe-temps de dilettante, d’amateur, quelque chose que l’on fait quand on a du temps et de l’argent, à côté de sa vie publique ou professionnelle. Collectionner peut devenir un véritable projet de vie, procurer le sentiment d’un véritable accomplissement. Bien sûr, en étant systématique dans ses intérêts, le collectionneur anoblit ce processus, né d’un désir de gratification personnelle, par de réelles préoccupations scientifiques. Il peut devenir un grand connaisseur, tel Gustave Dreyfus avec les médailles de la Renaissance . Mais, qu’il s’agisse de l’esthète curieux ou du numismate compulsif, le collectionneur est mû par une force principale : le plaisir, plaisir de posséder et plaisir de contempler.
Ces remarques générales ne sont formulées que pour mettre à l’épreuve les affirmations d’Adolphe Thiers lui-même. Il a pris soin de nous informer, via son hagiographe Charles Blanc, de la parfaite cohérence de son projet de collection. Rien n’est laissé au hasard ou à l’émotion d’un moment : « avant de réunir sa collection, il l’avait formée toute entière dans sa tête ; il en avait dressé le plan, et ce plan, il a passé trente ans à l’exécuter, de sorte que ses richesses ont été pour ainsi dire préconçues : elles sont plutôt l’accomplissement d’un souhait que le produit d’une rencontre  ». L’idée maitresse de ce plan est l’universalité, « le beau sous toutes ses formes, le beau de toutes les écoles et de tous les pays ». Pour Thiers, cet intérêt universel se concentre, pour l’Europe, sur la Renaissance florentine, une prédilection née d’une expérience radicale lors de ses voyages en Italie ...

La letra ‘y’ es la de tradición más acendrada del alfabeto español. La heredó el latín del griego y, sin solución de continuidad, aparece en los primeros testimonios romances, o híbridos, anteriores a la plena escrituración del vulgar. Sin pasar, pues, por los numerosos titubeos e intentos que exigió la representación de sonidos inexistentes en la lengua madre, de manera que, por ejemplo, en documentos de los siglos IX-XII se da una decena larga de variantes para la palatal nasal de ‘viña’ o ‘año’. Nebrija no la aceptó en su ‘Ortografía’, pero en castellano nunca se ha dejado de usar, en catalán y aragonés con el dígrafo ‘ny’, en el romance navarro con ‘yn’. Se halla en 1526 como nombre de la correhuela indiana, «… y llámase ‘Y’» (Fernández de Oviedo, ‘Sumario’), con relevante simbolismo en Mateo Alemán y Baltasar Gracián, presente en inquietante anónimo jesuítico contra Sabatini, el gran arquitecto de Carlos III, «es italiano, imbentor de las ‘Y’ griegas». La Academia pretende acabar con su adjetivación de ‘griega’, la más corriente en el mundo hispánico para el ‘Diccionario panhispánico de dudas’ (2005), que no mostraba preferencia por ‘i griega’ o ‘ye’. La Real Academia Española «permite» la sinonimia, pero «aconseja» decir ‘ye’. Se andarán muchos años dando vueltas a una cuestión que al hablante-escribiente en general nada importa.

In 1582-83, Alessandro Valignano, S.J., Visitor of the Jesuit missions in Japan, authored the Advertimentos e avisos, a behavioral manual instructing missionaries on adopting Japanese customs to gain credibility and facilitate conversions. His approach, emphasizing etiquette, hygiene, and social rank, clashed with Father General Claudio Acquaviva's concerns about cultural accommodation. This study examines Advertimentos as both a practical guide and an educational text, drawing from European humanist traditions and Jesuit training manuals. It highlights Valignano's strategic use of adaptation in missionary education and explores how his pedagogical model influenced Jesuit engagement in Japan and broader global missions.

Read the full article: https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/jeq_2025v1n2_p295/

Las murallas de Benicarló ya no existen, fueron construidas en 1306 y derribadas en 1708, hace más de trescientos años. ¿Cuál es su interés actual? ¿Un tema de nostalgia o de simple erudición? No. Es una cuestión de memoria y salud colectiva. La tradición-el saber popular-, unos dispersos y escasos documentos de archivo y la persistente geografía urbana se han puesto de acuerdo para recordarnos una parte sustancial de nuestra historia. Reuniendo tradiciones y documentos, de repente se nos aparece una comunidad y una población, en nacimiento, organizada, con los nombres de sus pobladores, que todavía perduran en los habitantes actuales. Curiosamente, las decisiones tomadas hacen más de setecientos años han seguido influyendo en la historia urbana. En ocasiones, la microhistoria puede ser más ilustrativa y elocuente que los grandes discursos.

Docteur en Médecine, ancien médecin anesthésiste-réanimateur, ancien médecin légiste. Diplômé d'anthropologie (Caen). Chercheur associé au Laboratoire d'anthropologie Anatomique et de Paléopathologie de Lyon (L2APLyon). Anthropologue bénévole au Musée départemental d'archéologie du Val d'Oise (Guiry en Vexin).

Italian Humanists began their interest in the language of the Romanians in close connection with the debate on Latin and vernacular languages that animated the papal curia in the central decades of the Quattrocento. Stimulated by the news reported by travellers to the Romanian lands and pilgrims from there, curial humanists such as Poggio Bracciolini or Biondo Flavio creatively used the topic in their linguistic, historical-geographical and even political reflections. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II, from 1458) turned the idea into a genuine literary topos destined to endure, attaching identitarian values to it, within his articulate reflection on the values of Greco-Roman civilisation, Christendom and emerging Europe.

Si tratta infatti di una relazione presentata durante il XXXIII Convegno di Ricerche Templari tenutosi a Vicenza il 19 settembre 2015, organizzato dalla L.A.R.T.I. (Libera Associazione Ricercatori Templari Italiani) in collaborazione con l'Archivio Diocesano di Vicenza.
La relazione di Nicola Pezzella si focalizza sulle chiesette campestri che dipendevano dalla precettoria templare di San Quirino (ora in provincia di Pordenone), esaminando documenti storici, principalmente dagli archivi dell'Ordine di Malta e dalla Biblioteca Comunale di Treviso, per ricostruire la loro storia dal periodo templare fino al XVIII secolo.

The Voynich Manuscript, a 15th-century codex, is a masterful synthesis of alchemical practice, botanical science, and Neoplatonic cosmology, encoded in a 22-glyph cipher designed to conceal its esoteric wisdom from uninitiated readers. Refinement 2 redefines the interpretive framework from Refinement 1’s zodiac-degree system to a cosmic-alchemical model, unveiling a precise system that tracks plant life cycles, alchemical transformations, and celestial influences, aligning with 15th-century traditions (Hortus Sanitatis, Rosarium Philosophorum, Ficino’s De Vita).

This article highlights the relevance and influence of the sixteenth-century Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto on key issues of modern literature, such as fiction, duplication, and reversal through the main theme of madness. Examples are taken from Cervantes, Manzoni, Nievo, Pirandello, Borges, and Calvino.

Ancora oggi, passeggiando fra gli scaffali di una libreria o guardando gli espositori di edicole e cartolerie, è possibile imbattersi in collezioni a stampa di enigmi e di indovinelli. Questo diffusissimo genere editoriale, destinato oramai perlopiù all’infanzia o a un pubblico di specialisti e di appassionati, vanta una storia decisamente lunga, che affonda le proprie radici nel variegato panorama culturale dell’Europa del Cinquecento. È in questo frangente, infatti, che sul mercato cominciarono a comparire le prime raccolte di enigmi e di indovinelli a stampa. Marco Francalanci offre con questa bibliografia uno strumento utile per studiare un patrimonio letterario ed editoriale sfuggente e oramai quasi dimenticato.

enseguida tuvo "mucho deseo de seguir […] la corte y ver la ciudad de Valencia" 4 , donde se celebrarían los históricos esponsales en abril de 1599. Para ello halló con facilidad quien le diese ocupación como criado, pues "toda la corte estaba aprestándose para esta jornada y se daban muchas y buenas libreas, y aun no se hallaban tantos criados como era menester" 5 . Fue un caballero italiano, llamado don Carlos Carli, con quien se concertó para obtener un empleo y quien lo engalanó: Con un vestido de raja fina, capa, ropilla y valón de color de rosa seca, con muchos pespuntes; la capa aforrada en tafetán amarillo, sombrero fino con trencilla bordada de oro, plata y granates, y con muchas plumas. Salí a volar muy bizarro, necio y desvanecido. Éramos cuatro pajes y dos lacayos 6 . Se nos contará después que, a causa de una reyerta con un nuevo paje empleado por Carli, motivada por antiguas desavenencias, el pícaro se desacomodó de su casa y determinó con cierto apresuramiento hacerse fraile, por lo que abandonó, al menos durante un tiempo, la idea del festivo viaje a tierras valencianas. Este párrafo en que se describen las ropas que el caballero Carlos Carli entregó a Guzmán, para que desempeñase sus funciones de lacayo, fue considerado por B. Labourdique y M. Cavillac, en un escrito que desentrañaba varias de las fuentes copiadas en el apócrifo, como tomado con cierta probabilidad de una relación manuscrita sobre la boda de Felipe III escrita por Felipe de Gauna. Así sobre este punto escribían los investigadores franceses: Il serait tentant de rapprocher la Relación de las fiestas celebradas en Valencia con motivo del casamiento de Felipe III (1601), de Felipe de Gauna, de l'épisode où Guzmán entre au service d'un gentilhomme italien nommé Carlos Carli. Ce dernier donne au héros une livrée que J. Marti nous décrit ainsi: « Dióme un vestido de raja fina, capa, ropilla y valón de color de rosa seca, con muchos pespuntes; la capa aforrada en tafetán amarillo; sombrero fino con trencilla bordada de oro, plata y granates y con muchas plumas... », et il ajoute: « Eramos cuatro pajes y

È grazie a questo studio se possiamo ora annoverare anche questa casa tra quelle dell’Ordine del Tempio, infatti sino a pocotempo fa tutti erano convinti che essa fosse sempre appartenuta all’Ordine di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, oggi conosciuto come Ordine di Malta. L’importanza di questa scoperta dello studioso trevigiano permetterà di riscrivere alcune pagine di storia locale, quella storia spesso stilata consuperficialità da studiosi ferratissimi sul medioevo ma che ignorano completamente la tematica degli Ordini monastico-militari e dei templari in particolare.

Full text: https://libri.unimi.it/index.php/scrittidistoria/catalog/view/238/883/2190

During the first decades after the invention of the printing press, the book went through a rapid evolution, in which illustrations and decorative apparatuses played a major role. In a few years, woodcuts and engravings took over from hand-made decorations, illumination in the first place. Also, the new techniques were extensively used for the opening pages entirely new in the history of the book, such as the title-page. The entire process manifested itself in various ways in the different places and the city of Perugia, with its production, offers several interesting cases, including some pioneering experimentations. This article is dedicated to those cases which also offer the occasion for further analysis concerning the political and cultural context in which the book-production developed.

In Amerasia, Elizabeth Horodowich
and Alexander Nagel propose an eponymous heuristic
device, "Amerasia,"  to explore how early modern
Europeans collected, organized, and interpreted
knowledge about an expanding world and how they
imagined their own place in it.
Amerasia, Horodowich and Nagel argue,
describes both a physical space—a continuum
of shifting landmasses and archipelagos which
coincided climatically and geographically with “the
tropics,” an “unsettled zone where West met East”
(272), and an overlap of toponyms, where it was not
uncommon to find Japan in what is today Mexico—
and a conceptual axis for reading modernity through antiquity, the strange through the familiar, Europe
through its others.
Among Amerasia’s most important contributions
are the extraordinary richness of the material
it presents as evidence of Amerasian thinking
and the invitation to practice a slow, unhurried,
thorough kind of looking. Lavishly illustrated, the
book offers seventeen exquisitely curated chapters,
which, in the tradition of the early modern
cabinet of wonders, gather and put on display
Mesoamerican feather work, codices and copper
bells, mother-of-pearl shell paintings produced in
colonial Mexico, frescoes in the papal apartments
and paintings in Roman churches, fragments of
Chinese porcelain and Mexican majolica, coins,
woodcuts and engravings by some of Europe’s
most renowned artists, and a large number of
cartographic materials, including maps, globes,
and atlases.

Il contributo - derivato dalla redazione delle schede filologiche "Antonio di Guido" e "Antonio di Matteo di Meglio" per il progetto "PoetRi" e dalla relazione tenuta alle Giornate di studio dei dottorandi e dei dottori di ricerca "Percorsi di filologia italiana", Bari, 28-30 settembre 2022 - affronta un caso di filologia attributiva relativo a un nome equivoco della Firenze del Quattrocento.

The paper argues for the significance of honesty as one of the parameters for effective Gospel ministry. The premise of its argument was based on the seeming abandonment of moral standards and Christian principles in favour of expediency by some Gospel ministers, which has led to apparent manifestations of demeaning atrocities among the members of the clergy. The novelty of its literature review underscores the insufficiency of research on honesty in particular, though there are discussions around it from various paradigms. The paper adopted an analytical approach. The findings of the paper revealed that honesty is critical in the area of the call, character and practice of the Gospel minister. In addition, honesty is significant in that it helps builds a Christian community and enhances the Christian mission; it pleases God and makes the Gospel minister God's delight among others. The paper concluded with the affirmation that the effectiveness of any Gospel minister is dependent on the honest lifestyle of the minister. Furthermore, honesty is of utmost importance in human relations because every social activity, and every human experience where people are to act in concert, is impeded when honesty is lacking among them. Moreover, honesty as projected in the paper is not just truth-telling; it is truth-living.

Beginning in the 13th century, rivalry among Italian city-states intensified, transforming cultural competition into a strategic tool for asserting identity. Roman heritage was often contested, with cities emphasising their claims as the true heirs of Rome. Siena has faced criticism for its lack of major historical sites. In response, its municipal authorities and citizens developed the legends of the "she-wolf" and Saint Ansanus. These legends reinforced Siena's urban identity through historical narratives and public art. During the Renaissance, Siena redefined its history to assert its legitimacy by drawing on classical culture. This re-articulation of identity addressed historical rivalries and revealed the enduring complexity of local identity formation in Italy. This study examines historical legends and uses historical materials, such as city archives and artworks, to research the Italian city of Siena during the Renaissance and to investigate the origins of urban legends, their controversies, and how Siena created the legends of the "she-wolf" and Saint Ansanus.

Nicola Pezzella
LA CHIESA DI SAN VITALE A VERONA: PRESENZA TEMPLARE E GIOVANNITA ATTRAVERSO I SECOLI
INTRODUZIONE
Il presente studio rappresenta un approfondimento e un'elaborazione della relazione originariamente presentata da Nicola Pezzella al XVII Convegno di Ricerche Templari (Latina, 2000) e successivamente pubblicata negli atti del medesimo convegno. Partendo dai documenti e dalle informazioni contenute in quel contributo, questa analisi amplia e sviluppa diversi aspetti della storia della chiesa di San Vitale a Verona, con particolare attenzione alla sua dimensione economica e patrimoniale, all'evoluzione architettonica dell'edificio e al suo ruolo nel contesto delle fondazioni templari e giovannite dell'Italia settentrionale.
La ricerca si avvale di un attento riesame delle fonti documentarie già individuate dal Pezzella, integrandole con ulteriori elementi storiografici e interpretazioni contestuali. L'obiettivo è quello di offrire una visione più ampia e articolata della presenza templare e giovannita a Verona, ricostruendo non solo la cronologia e gli eventi principali, ma anche il tessuto socioeconomico e culturale in cui si inseriva la chiesa di San Vitale.
Nel tessuto urbano della Verona medievale, la chiesa di San Vitale rappresenta un caso emblematico di un'antica istituzione ecclesiastica che, attraverso i secoli, ha vissuto molteplici trasformazioni. Situata in prossimità dell'Adige, in una posizione strategica della città scaligera, San Vitale ha visto alternarsi nella sua gestione diverse entità religiose, dalle origini benedettine all'insediamento dell'Ordine dei Templari, fino alla successiva amministrazione dei Cavalieri Ospitalieri di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, comunemente noti come Giovanniti.
Lo studio, che abbraccia un arco temporale dal XII al XVIII secolo, intende chiarire alcune questioni rimaste irrisolte riguardanti la datazione dell'insediamento templare, le relazioni tra la chiesa di San Vitale e la mansio (o domus) del Tempio, nonché l'organizzazione patrimoniale e l'evoluzione architettonica del complesso religioso.
Attraverso un'attenta analisi dei documenti, delle visite pastorali e dei cabrei dell'Ordine di Malta, emergerà non solo la ricostruzione storica dell'edificio ecclesiastico, ma anche il contesto socioeconomico in cui esso si inseriva, le relazioni con le altre istituzioni cittadine e il suo ruolo all'interno della complessa rete di possedimenti degli ordini monastico-cavallereschi nel territorio veronese e nelle zone limitrofe.

Resum: La Legenda mirabilis, traduïda de l'àrab pel dominicà Alfonso Buenhombre el 1341, narra el prodigiós viatge de sant Antoni Abat a Barcelona. Juntament amb altres fets admirables del sant, el relat explica com l'eremita va arribar a la ciutat comtal des del desert de Tebes, travessant el Mediterrani en un núvol brillant que miraculosament li envià el Senyor. El prodigi entronca amb una tradició tant bíblica com hagiogràfica prou sòlida, i, amb les pertinents variacions, als darrers segles medievals continua atribuint-se a diversos sants. L'espectacularitat de núvols, capes i altres sorprenents mitjans de transport, així com de les transfretacions pròpiament dites, ens convida a aprofundir en la gènesi, la tradició i la traducció visual del miracle. L'article proposa un recorregut per diferents relats hagiogràfics, textuals i visuals, per veure com el viatge miraculós es perfila no només com un lloc (més o menys) comú en el llegendari dels sants, amb totes les seves implicacions, sinó també com una forma més de prodigi.

Of the great Dominican and Franciscan encyclopaediae, only that of Thomas of Cantimpre, the De Naturis Rerum in twenty books, completed, after fifteen years of work,' in 1240, contains moralizations expressing the symbolism of certain animals, trees and hems, springs, planets, and elements. As Thomas notes in an elaborate prologue, often he will append to a given entry such moralizations, based on scripture and classical and patristic writers. "Hence I have briefly distinguished the moral meanings and significances of things in certain places from time to time, but not continuously because I would shun prolixity."' Thomas aimed his work largely at an audience of preachers and parish priests, and he believed that the animal history portion of the encyclopaedia could offer them a valuable tool for the preparation of sermons. In this intention Thomas wrote in the tradition of near contemporaries like Robert of Basevom, whose forma praedicandi tells us that the preacher ought always to offer his listeners something subtle and curious, a device particularly efficacious when they begin to sleep.' Though both Albert the Great and Vincent of Beauvais, silently or openly,' were heavily indebted to Thomas in their O\m natural histories, they did not choose to incorporate his morali tales. Thus, it is fairly clear that Thomas had a specific idea of the dual role-at once informational and improving-of the encyclopaedia shared neither by his fellow Dominicans nor by the Franciscan, Bartholomaeus Anglicus in his De Proprietatibus Rerum, though this author's work was later moralized in a very similar way by his fellow Minorite, Marcus of Orvieto.' In the present paper I should like to examine certain of Thomas of Cantimpre's moralitates, and to suggest that he fused in an interesting way in his work two hitherto distinct genres, mixing the traditional encyclopaedia of the Rhabanus Maurus type-which retailed ancient accounts, often fabulous, of animals, their appearances, physical oddities, and breeding habits'-with the preacher's handbooks and distinctiones collections just coming into fashion in the thirteenth century and intended to aid in the compilation of sermons. 7 Thus, his encyclopaedia adds to the traditional accounts of various creatures, dra,m primarily from Pliny,' Solinus, and Aristotle's works on animal movement and generation, many brief stories, supplied with moral applications, of interesting or unusual events in the animal kingdom. The result, often fascinating and entertaining in the unusual ways natural history is put to

The ruling elite of the Venetian Republic constituted a gerontocracy, a system  that gave the highest offices to patricians of very advanced age. It compelled individuals of mature years and substantial experience to restrain their passions and check their ambitions. A structure of institutionalized discipline molded personalities that exemplified deference, conciliation, and conformity. The most successful gerontocracy in history--and the most long-lived of republics---thus fashioned the restrained, sagacious patrician mentality celebrated in the well-known "myth of Venice."

Il seicentenario della fondazione della Ca' Giocosa di Mantova, l'originalissimo esperimento educativo condotto da Vittorino da Feltre nel Quattrocento, ha dato l'occasione per un convegno internazionale all'Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Mantova sui processi educativi laici ed ecclesiastici nell'Italia dei secoli XV-XVII, tra corti e società civile.

RESUMO O artigo que se segue defenderá uma tese que considero extremamente simples e até mesmo extremamente comprovada: se eu não for capaz de uma philoautía genuína, jamais poderei amar verdadeiramente qualquer outro ser humano; a amizade com outras pessoas se baseia em um amor próprio. Acredito que o desenvolvimento desse princípio, conforme proponho nestas páginas, terá algum mérito, pelo menos para pensar de forma renovada sobre uma questão tão antiga quanto a própria filosofia. Problematizando uma tese aristotélica, enfatizo que, pelo menos na cultura atual, o amor e a amizade consigo mesmo não é algo que possa ser considerado espontâneo, mas sim um ponto de chegada, um horizonte a ser alcançado, assim como o é a própria virtude. Passamos a cuidar de nós mesmos a partir de uma primeira experiência de amor, uma realidade que nem sempre é dada em termos afetivos, mas que pode ser descoberta como uma certeza metafísica e religiosa. Uma vez assumida e curada, a philoautía pode ser empregada na amizade política, especialmente na família e nas comunidades intermediárias. Na prática, porém, vamos ao encontro dos outros amando pouco e mal, o que inevitavelmente produz conflitos, feridas e o aprendizado que é próprio do amor. Mas quando há uma predisposição ao diálogo e à boa vontade, tudo leva a um ganho, à experiência, muitas vezes dolorosa e magnífica, de aprender a viver. Palavras-chave: hypolepsis, philoautía, amizade política, psycomaquia.

PID_00190579 CC-BY-NC-ND • PID_00190579 El Renaixement i l'humanisme (segles XIV-XVI) Els textos i imatges publicats en aquesta obra estan subjectes -llevat que s'indiqui el contrari-a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-SenseObraDerivada (BY-NC-ND) v.3.0 Espanya de Creative Commons. Podeu copiar-los, distribuir-los i transmetre'ls públicament sempre que en citeu l'autor i la font (FUOC. Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), no en feu un ús comercial i no en feu obra derivada. La llicència completa es pot consultar a legalcode.ca

Building on the analysis conducted by the renowned Leonardo scholar Frank Zöllner-available at the following link: _le_diverse_versioni_e_una_domanda_è_forse_un_dipinto_romano_ this paper aims to further explore the issue of the iconographic development of the Salvator Mundi within Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, with particular attention to the possibility of the master's direct involvement. The inquiry focuses on the hypothesis that the visual conception of the work may have drawn exclusively from the classical and already well-established iconographic tradition, characterized by a frontal depiction of Christ, as exemplified by the Christ Blessing by Melozzo da Forlì, housed in the Ducal Palace of Urbino.

This paper discusses aspects of the emergence of linguistic thought as a disciplinary field of its own in Brazil. First of all, it identifies the emergence of a descriptive corpus of the grammar of native American languages produced by European missionaries from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. In the case of Brazil, it shows how this description is based on Latin as a reference model. Then, it analyzes how the work of Mattoso Câmara breaks away from this tradition in the second half of the twentieth century by both inviting reflection on the history of Brazilian linguistics and asserting the disciplinary model set up by nineteenth-century linguistics. Finally, based on this analysis, it lays down the criteria and conditions that should guide research into the history of Brazilian linguistics.

This paper discusses aspects of the emergence of linguistic thought as a disciplinary field of its own in Brazil. First of all, it identifies the emergence of a descriptive corpus of the grammar of native American languages produced by European missionaries from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. In the case of Brazil, it shows how this description is based on Latin as a reference model. Then, it analyzes how the work of Mattoso Câmara breaks away from this tradition in the second half of the twentieth century by both inviting reflection on the history of Brazilian linguistics and asserting the disciplinary model set up by nineteenth-century linguistics. Finally, based on this analysis, it lays down the criteria and conditions that should guide research into the history of Brazilian linguistics.

Anabases: traditions et réception de l'Antiquité Calligrafo non ha mai copiato in esso i questi discorsi 1 . In seguito alla divisione in due parti, il Par. gr. 2951 fu integrato e completato con i ff. 251-319, vergati da una mano del XV sec., e in questa occasione fu copiato anche l'Elogio di Roma 2 . Da questo breve panorama apparirà chiara la singolare condizione in cui si troveranno gli editori degli undici discorsi "mancanti", in rapporto al resto dell'opera di Aristide. A ciò va aggiunto che il manoscritto di Areta circolò all'interno del milieu di Massimo Planude (è, infatti, suo apografo il Vat. gr. 1899, copiato da Teodora Raulena, morta nel 1300, che scrisse al patriarca Gregorio di Cipro per avere le sue correzioni 3 ), e che l'Elogio di Roma è tramandato da testimoni come il Laur. Pl. 60.8 (T), anch'esso ricondotto al circolo di Planude, ed in particolare l'Urb. gr. 125, nel quale il discorso fu trascritto proprio da Planude. Si pone pertanto la questione della fonte di questi testimoni. L'Elogio di Roma è trasmesso per intero o con alcune perdite da 47 manoscritti: due di questi (Athous Iviron 192, Bodl. Auctarium T.1.13) non sono inclusi nella lista di Behr 4 . Presentiamo adesso la lista dei manoscritti divisa per secoli; abbiamo conservato le sigle usate nelle edizioni di Keil e Lenz-Behr, e apposto delle nuove (qui precedute da un asterisco) per quei manoscritti che ne erano privi anche se già conosciuti: Sigla Segnatura Datazione ff. or. XXVI n. Behr S Vaticanus Urbinas gr. 122 s. X/XI 1r-18v 62 K Vaticanus gr. 74 XII/XIII 275v-287r 47 D Laurentianus Pl. 60.7 = Δ Ddf XIII 71r-87r 21 F Angelicanus gr. 44 XIII sec. metà 92v-108r 5

t rst glance, the art of Beverly Penn belongs to a history of lost-wax cast bronze sculpture that extends back to antiquity. The technique was perfected in classical Greece, when artists like Polykleitos captured in life-size bronze sculpture an ideal, youthful athletic male form, as a perpetual model of harmonic proportions, copied and adapted for centuries. The static, harmonic geometry of the human body was understood as a re ection of an absolute and unchanging cosmic order. Penn's sculpture does indeed emerge from this long history of casting bronze, yet her idiosyncratic technique and subject matter re ects her unique perspective on the relationship between art and the ever-changing complexity of the natural world. Penn's lost-plant technique, as the artist calls it, entails gathering pieces of live plants, encasing the live plants directly in investment, and destroying those organic elements in the process of generating detailed metal casts by means of centrifugal casting. Such a technique is more typical to dentistry and jewelry than to large-scale sculpture. To form her sculptures, a series of these small-scale casts are assembled and slowly woven together through a process of soldering intersecting vine and tendril forms, resulting in novel large-scale compositions that do not imitate individual plants. The additive process of assemblage is perhaps best compared to the textilic arts of weaving and \embroidery, as the culled fragments of larger plants are joined together piece by piece. Sculptures such as Thatch are composed of thousands of individual castings ( g. 16). Penn's technique of embroidered assemblage of bronze pieces diverges from the traditional technique of cast bronze sculpture, in which an object is conceived rst in embryonic terms, as a uni ed human gure for example, molded in a malleable material like clay or wax, then cast in bronze. Penn's technique instead suggests a re ection upon the process of the growth and

Transylvanian Medieval Altarpieces: Art, Liturgy, and Patronage
(Abstract)

This book explores a certain category of works of art, namely the retable (or as it is better known, the “altarpiece”). However, the altarpieces belong to a temporal and cultural context (in this case, Transylvania during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance), that leads to them being best described as “art before the Era of Art”, to paraphrase the formula of Hans Belting. The retable, created to semantically and visually enrich the sacral space and interacting with it in various ways, had multiple roles, from a secondary, purely aesthetic one (decorum), to a much more important one in the Era: a cult role. The religious and liturgical function of this class has recently been (re)discovered and embraced by art historiography. Research has mostly focused, for a long time, on the fascination with the formal qualities of the representations in altarpieces, whether they be painted or sculpted. The “connoisseurs” have endeavoured to trace the lines of stylistic evolution, to associate the artworks with schools, currents, workshops, and they sought to shine a light on their authentication. This approach is essential and it forms, to this day, the very core of the discipline. Nonetheless, one needs to point out that it is not the retable as a whole that takes centre stage, but the images or representations that it carries, regardless of their support or function. Oftentimes forged by masters of medieval and renaissance art, they have been “cropped out” of their initial context and placed in history books or on picture rails at exhibitions. Museums, on the one hand, and the reproduction in detail of artworks (thanks to contemporary photography and replication techniques) on the other, have facilitated a certain type of contact between the medieval artwork and the modern audience. Both situations imply an intimate contact, as they allow the analysis of every detail, and in the case of replication, the owner of the album can interact with the photograph at any time, even outside the visiting hours of the museum that owns the original.
When the altarpieces were created, the rules of proximity between them and the public were entirely different. First of all, each such work of art was obviously restricted to a single place and it could only be seen there. Secondly, the altarpiece was not at eye level, but on an altar table, that would often stand upon a few steps, therefore the details we see today with the zoom lens would never imprint on the retina of medieval man. The altar and its altarpiece would often be found in dark corners of the church, in small chapels sealed with cancelli or with screens and during some periods (for example fasting periods), they were totally covered with curtains. Therefore the “art” invested in these objects did not constitute their main purpose, as they were perceived more as “sketches”, as general or overall impressions.
The privileged time of closeness between the medieval audience and the retable occurred during the liturgy, when lit candles would be placed on the altar table and their light would reverberate upon the ever golden altar pieces, the priests cloaked in ceremonial robes would sing or deliver the sacred texts and execute their choreography, enveloped in smoke from the thurible, and they would often ritualistically open and close the wings of the altarpiece, revealing or obscuring the central panel. Therefore, contact with the retable and the representations it bore was mediated and glorified by the ritual.
Ritual plays an essential (if not always easy to underline) role for the retable, starting from the very genesis of the class, and continuing with the way components work together as a whole, with adapting its forms to various ritualistic functions, and ending with the traits of the representations on the altarpiece, their iconographic content. Considering the function of the retables, to “adorn” the altars of places of worship, the rituals that directly concern them are Christian services, in other words the liturgical ritual. For the reasons briefly mentioned above, it is only natural to hesitate between calling altarpieces “works of art” and calling them “objects of worship” or “liturgical objects”.
Taking this ambivalence into account, this volume treats both the art invested in the retables, and the reconstitution of the original functionality as an element of the ritual. No less important was the integration of medieval altarpieces in the society of their time, exploring the motivation for wanting and creating them. Art, liturgy, and patronage are the core elements of this volume.
Its second part, The catalogue of medieval altarpieces in Transylvania, introduces 91 entries, one of the most complete catalogues so far. It is composed of (entirely or partially) preserved pieces, as well as of records of retables from contemporaneous written sources or from a later source. This documentary component has not previously been explored. Every altarpiece in the The catalogue, regarded monographically, benefits from a complex analysis, from several points of view: origin, typology, iconography, connection to the liturgical context, patronage, stylistic traits, dating and authentication.
The first part, The synthesis, is based on The catalogue. Like most syntheses, it contains elements that are treated in a rather general manner. I wished to focus on a few particular elements. The first refers to the way in which the class of the retable is treated in contemporary international literature, summarizing the main methodological points of reference and models to follow when interpreting local sources. Another important element refers to sources and their validity, especially considering how often local literature has confused the altar with the retable. A question I have tried to answer is that of the “dimensions” of the art of the altarpiece in medieval Transylvania: how much was done and how much was lost of this medieval production? What was preserved and why was it preserved? etc. I have paid attention to the local, Romanian historiography focused on the class of the altarpiece in particular, to better assess its weaknesses and possible steps to be taken in the future. Another chapter is composed of specialized terminology and the taxonomic description of the examples from Transylvania. The iconography was approached synthetically, especially underlining the connection between the iconographic content of the altarpieces and their liturgical context. A case study was proposed to this end: the reconstitution of the liturgy in St. Mary’s church in Sibiu and the way it is reflected in the iconography of the preserved pieces. Another important chapter treats patronage, where I have attempted to highlight the categories of donors involved in ordering retables. A substantial chapter is dedicated to the “art” of the retable, analyzing the profile of the creators, of the artists, including their professional training, their affiliation to the corporations, their social status, how production was organized, etc., as well as the “manners” or artistic styles identifiable from the preserved pieces, treated in a chronological order. Finally, when discussing the art itself, I have put together the most complete list of artists (especially painters) of the region from ca. 1430–1550, recreating an (artistic) context that allows a better understanding of the reality of the preserved pieces. The artist dictionary comprises about 100 individuals, bringing together on the one hand all artists mentioned in the documents, and on the other all artists I could identify in the actual visual sources (altarpieces). If members of the latter category were anonymous, I have given them a conventional name. I have aimed to do as wide an analysis as possible of the “graphic models” (prints) and visual sources (other European altarpieces) that constitute the basis of the compositions and scenes, wishing to more accurately identify the stylistic confluences that converge in the Transylvanian art of the times. One of the general conclusions to be drawn is that the retable phenomenon in Transylvania was much more widely spread than has been previously understood, and that the works of local artists (born or naturalized) sometimes exhibit standards of quality equal to those encountered in the more evolved parts of Europe.
However, there are chapters that could not be treated appropriately in this paper. As suggested at the beginning, retables have to be regarded as an ensemble: images in a frame, equally painted and sculpted. However, the present paper focuses mostly on paintings. Wood sculptures in Transylvania, diverse and sometimes difficult to authenticate, will probably constitute a future project.