Intersections, Assimilations, and Conflicts in Eighteenth-Century Palermo
The Church of the Forty Martyrs and Saint Ranieri of the Pisan Nation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3604148 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Valeria Viola (0000-0002-3862-8851, University of Palermo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 386 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel14030386 |
| OpenAlex | W4324140937 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily was a place of multiple cultural contaminations and commercial exchanges throughout the early modern era. Trade, piracy, and even slavery implemented continuous contacts between populations from opposing shores, regardless of their different religious beliefs. Yet, the island was also intended as a Christian bulwark against the Islamic world and its institutions fostered anti-Muslim prejudices. To date, this discrepancy has been little investigated, but the responsibilities of art in fueling discriminatory attitudes have been explored even less. Drawing on Francisco Bethencourt's idea that racism is motivated by political projects, this paper illustrates the complicity of art in reinforcing prejudices for political interests. To do so, it explores the 1725 frescoes by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans (1670-1744) in the church of the Forty Martyrs and Saint Ranieri of the Pisan Nation, in Palermo. In the face of persistent multiculturalism in the daily life of the population, these frescoes affirmed the supremacy of Pisa as a victorious guardian of Christianity in the Mediterranean. In this way, they celebrated the urban nobility of Pisan descent, while disguising the problematic identity of its enemy
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Christianity · Fresco · Multiculturalism · Painting · Political science · Politics · Population · SAINT · Sociology · Veneration · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law · Medieval History and Crusades · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |