Piety, Power, or Presence? Strategies of Monumental Visualization of Patronage in Late Antique Ravenna

Bibliographic Data

ID3271420
AuthorsMaria Cristina Carile (0000-0002-8873-138X, University of Bologna, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume12
Issue2
Pages98
Publication date2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel12020098
OpenAlexW3127869719
LanguageEN
References cited21

Between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, lay and cleric alike felt the need to be remembered in the monuments they sponsored. Accordingly, specific elements of the décor were designed as means capable of bearing the patron's memory. The late antique churches of Ravenna offer an extraordinary field to understand how patrons left their mark on decorative programs of ancient buildings. There, portraits, inscriptions, and monograms emerge as the primary instruments used in a complex strategy of visual communication. However, each had its own communicative power and peculiar use. Either separately or in connection, they were able to convey strong messages of patronship to the viewer. By focusing on each of these elements in its context and on the ways they all interacted with the surrounding architecture and church decoration, this paper will highlight their value as visual objects capable to immortalize the piety, power, or presence of the patron. Indeed, the silent dialogue enacted into the architectural space with the beholder will allow us to reconstruct the hidden messages that individuals or groups meant to communicate to posterity

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Antique · Archaeology · Art · Piety · Political science · Ravenna · Visual arts · Byzantine Studies and History · Computer Science · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Visual Culture and Art Theory · Architecture

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