ALEXANDRA IDA MARIA MÜTEL (University of Bonn/ Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome) The Cappella della Purità in San Paolo Maggiore – Imprese sacre and allegorical virtues as petrified preaching – The topic of my presentation is the Cappella della Purità in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in the very centre of Naples. It is the main church of the congregation of clerics regular of the Divine Providence or Theatines. They became one of the most important orders of the so called ‘counter-reformation’ or ‘catholic revival’. This Chapel is dedicated to Mary. The piers are decorated with emblems and allegorical elements. It is exactly this chapel that was the centre and initial point of a new Marian devotion, promoted mainly by images, liturgical practice and preaching. This paper, presented at the Kiel Conference, is an excursus of my doctoral research project, working on the personifications of virtues (“Skulpturale Allegorie des italienischen Barock: Rhetorische Funktionalisierung und ästhetischer Eigenwert – Rom und Neapel –“). This paper is a first tentative approach, so I would appreciate any comments and suggestions. 1 In the course of my lecture I will try to connect the programme of the chapel with the practice of the so called concetto-preaching, a widespread mode of mass homily in Spain and within the Spanish dominated south of Italy, the vice-reign of Napels. First of all I will briefly present the history of the chapel and its construction. Then I will concentrate on the iconography and the allegorical charging of the chapel with images and statues. I will concentrate on the emblematics and allegories, by deferring rather than focussing on the paintings in the chapel or a stylistic analysis. Finally I’ll discuss the preaching style of this period in the south of Italy, which works with similar rhetorical devices. Introduction Naples was the largest city in Italy and a major cultural centre during the Baroque era in the Mediterranean. With the arrival of the Aragonese kings in the middle of the 15th century Naples became a Spanish dominated city and in 1503 it became part of the Spanish empire as an vice-reign. (It was a kind of melting-pot of Italian and Spanish culture). This historical setting is essential for the city’s special position within the history of Italian art. The Theatine church of San Paolo Maggiore was built upon an ancient temple and reconstructed at the end of the 16th century by the architect Francesco Grimaldi.1 1 Cf. Fulvio LENZO: Architettura e antichità a Napoli dal XV al XVIII secolo. Le colonne del Tempio dei Dioscuri e la Chiesa di San Paolo Maggiore, Rome 2011. 2 The Marian Chapel is located in the right side-aisle of the basilica – it actually is the last chapel before the transept. The trave of the aisle, vaulted with a dome, accompanies the chapel and functions as a kind of vestibule or antechamber. The interior of the chapel is notable for its polychrome marble revetment in pietra dura, a technique adapted from Florence and the papal Rome and brought to perfection in the Kingdom of Naples. 3 Above the altar there is inserted the icon of the Virgin Mary in the heavily-decorated wall.2 Other canvases on the walls by the painter Massimo Stanzione show scenes from the life of Mary, which I, for reasons of time restraints, have to omit in this lecture.3 The four piers of the antechamber are decorated in the same manner. The niches encarved in the piers contain statues of the four Cardinal virtues, made of Carrara marble, accompanied by huge emblem cartouches. We’ll have a first glance at these piers. 2 Cf. Jesús HERNÁNDEZ PERRERA: La “Madonna della Purità” y Luis De Morales, in: Regnum Dei. Collectanea Theatina a Clericis Regularibus edita in Curia Generalitia 14 (1958), pp. 3-12. 3 Cf. Sebastian SCHÜTZE, Thomas C. WILETTE: Massimo Stanzione. L’opera completa, Naples 1992: catalogue nr. A 82: Due scene della vita della Vergine, pp. 230-231, 362. 4 Later we will enjoy a more detailed look at this antechamber. History The history of the Marian chapel began in 1641. The Neapolitan nobleman and priest Don Diego di Bernaudo Mendoza4 donated an image of the Virgin Mary, which had been venerated in his family for a long time, to the congregation of San Paolo Maggiore. This painting was considered by his family as a miraculous image. The documents of this time reveal that Mendoza donates the painting on two conditions. Number one: that the Theatines provide or construct a chapel within their church and number two: that they make every effort to propagate the veneration of this image. Both conditions have been fulfilled with great success. Veneration of the Purità The congregation decided to install the image in the chapel in the side-aisle, at this time still undecorated. It was decided to call the image Maria della Purità, which became the name of the new Marian veneration. The cult of the Maria della Purità rapidly developed. The Purità was named patroness of the whole congregation and also in Rome, in Sant’Andrea della Valle, the general seat for the religious order, they installed a copy of the Neapolitan image and dedicated a chapel to the Madonna.5 All over the South of Italy can be found copies of the 4 In the documents his family is sometimes also called Bernando di Mendoza. Often he gets confused – even in the recent literature – with his namesake Don Diego di Mendoza, Conte di Villamediana, a famous poet. 5 Giuseppe Silos, the annalist of the theatine order, describes these events, cf. Giuseppe SILOS: Historiarum Clericorum Regularium pars tertia, Palermo 1666, pp. 234-338. Also most of the guide of Napels at least mention the installation of the Marian Image in the chapel, for example Carlo DE LELLIS: Parte seconda o' vero 5 Purità-image. It was only in the 18th-century with the decline of the Theatine order when this special veneration lost its importance. Looking for reasons behind this successful implementation of an ex novo created veneration, we have to take a closer look at the religious policies of the 1640s. Just in the years of the “invention” of the veneration of the Madonna della Purità another Marian cult was banned – that of the Immaculate Conception. The belief that Mary was sinless, i.e. conceived immaculate, was widely held - particularly by the Spanish kings who began to press for a definition as a dogma. But (after the Council of Trent) papal politics opposed the struggle of the Spanish kings to proclaim the Immaculate Conception as a dogma and banned this teaching for a short time (in the 1640s).6 Some of the aspects of the veneration of the Purità are similar to that of the Immaculate. So it is most likely that the Purità-Veneration was from its inception a kind of variant of the cult of the Immaculate. As a vice-reign of the Spanish Empire cultural and religious policies in Naples were always linked with Spanish interests. The cult of the Maria della Purità works with different aspect of purity, e.g. purity in the sense that Mary is free of any moral defect and that she was destined by god from eternity to bear his son. The cult emphasises her role in the Divine plan of creation.7 Interior decoration of the chapel Thanks to a huge number of documents (contracts and also letters) preserved in the Archivio dello Stato di Napoli and in the Biblioteca Nazionale we are informed that Don Diego di Bernaudo Mendoza had a particularly active interest in the decoration of the chapel.8 He held preparatory sketches for the marble revetment of the piers of the chapel (which unfortunately are lost). He continuously contributed money and collected donations to finish the interior decoration. (He went even so far that in his last will he nominated the chapel as his only heir). But anyway it took about 40 years to complete the revetment of all walls and piers. Mendoza also organised that homilies were delivered especially in Rome to introduce and explain the Veneration of the Purità. In addition, the documents reveal his interest in allegories and emblems. The documents mention for example donations of altar clothes with embroidered emblems. Furthermore, some members of the congregation of San Paolo Maggiore were active members in the city’s Accademia degli oziosi, an academy in which the Spanish and Italian high born intellectuals of the city met. One of their occupations (what they called a leisure and otium) was to create perfect emblems and imprese.9 But let’s turn our attention now back to the decoration of the chapel. supplimento a Napoli Sacra (…) Oue si aggiungono le fondationi di tutte le chiese, Monasterii, & altri luoghi Sacri della Città di Napoli (…), Napels 1654, p. 62s ff. 6 About the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an important issue of Spanish royal politics cf. Sebastian SCHÜTZE: The politics of counter-reformation iconography and a quest for the Spanishness of Neapolitan art, in: Thomas James DANDELET, John A. MARINO (ed.): Spain in Italy. Politics, society, and religion 1500-1700, Leiden-Boston 2007, pp. 555-568. 7 Cf. Girolamo COPPOLA: La Purità di Maria Madre di Dio spiegata con Discorsi (…), Napels 1651. The book explains the crucial issues of the new Marian cult. The author seems to have been in personal contact with Don Diego di Bernaudo Mendoza. 8 Documents containing contracts and account books can be found in the Archivio di Stato di Napoli (ASNa Fondo Monasteri Soppressi, fasc. 1082, 1100, 1151). A collection of letters of Don Diego, copies of his last will and further documents (from the 1630es to the 1730es) concerning the Marian chapel and the cult of the Purità is saved in the Biblioteca Nazionale (BN, Fondo San Martino, ms. 388). 9 Cf. Girolamo DE MIRANDA: Una quiete operosa. Forma e pratiche dell’Accademia Napoletana degli Oziosi. 1611-1645, Napels 2000. For example, the Oziosi were responsible for the creation of new imprese for the funeral decoration of Margherita d’Austria in Naples (1611), pp. 95-105. 6 The statues We’ll start with the four statues of the Cardinal virtues. They are designed according to the common standard, which was codified with Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia by the Neapolitan artist Andrea Falcone (c. 1630-1675).10 He was commissioned by the Theatines around 1670.11 Some of the symbolic items they hold in their hands were damaged in the past or even get lost, so we’ll have to work with historical photographs.12 The statue of the Justice is mentioned in the contract with the artist as a presentation of Giustizia Divina, the divine Justice. She is holding a sword and a balance. Her head is decorated by a crown. The dove above her head is an attribute of the holy spirit. By adding this attribute to the statue of Justice it is specified as divine Justice. With her eyes she fixes the balance in her left hand – which underlines the considerateness requested for a righteous judging. The virtue of Temperance is symbolised by a baroque bracket clock in her arms. It’s a rather uncommon attribute (also it is listed in the Iconologia there aren’t other examples in the Italian sculpture of the baroque). The symbol of time measurement characterizes the Temperance as self-control or self-restraint. She’s raising her head up – a gesture, which emphasises her orientation towards the divine. 10 Cf. Riccardo LATTUADA: Andrea Falcone, scultore a Napoli tra classicismo e barocco, in: Storia dell’Arte 54 (1985), pp. 158-182. 11 The first documents, which are intending niches in the pillars, date 20 years back. 12 Naples, Soprintendenza BAPSAE, Archivio fotografico, neg.nr.: B 2024-B 2027, the photos were taken before the 1940es. 7 The Prudence is represented with the classical attribution: a helmet and a serpent. The last one is not the original from the 17th century but the result of a hardly felicitous restoration of the 19th century. And finally we have the Fortitude or Courage with her well-fortified appearance: a suit of armour, a lance, helmet and a shield by her side. The presentation of the set of four cardinal virtues as statues in the sides or piers of a chapel is a common feature in the architecture of the baroque era. It’s usually based on an either simple topos: the four Cardinal virtues as the cardinal points in life and a man’s main support. In this case the general cardinal virtues are applied to the specific cult of the Maria della Purità. The emblems The emblem cartouches under the niches and above them specify the semantic content of the allegories.13 They function as a kind of connotation.14 It’s a typical feature of architectural emblematics in the 17th century that they have a reduced form. Without a subscriptio they seem to be imprese or devices. “But they fulfil the role of visual synthesis of a universal 13 An exact dating of the marble revetment and the cartouches is quite complex. A contract, which commissioned some marmorari for the decoration of the first piers next to the sanctuary, is dating from the year 1656 (BN. 388, fol. 175 r -176r). It mentions the models and sketches for the marble revetment and the niches, which are in the property of Diego di Mendoza. The final consecration of the chapel by the cardinal Innigo Caracciolo in 1672 seems to mark the terminus ante quem (despite this late consecration liturgical services have been held in the chapel just from the beginning in 1641.) 14 The book of COPPOLA (mentioned above) also names the virtues of Mary – the cardinal virtues as well as the theological ones. But it’s rather a listing of prerogatives than a definition. The chapters of his work reflect the main aspects of the veneration of the Purità: “Discorso della Purità dell’Anima di Maria”, “Purità di Maria come Figlia”, “Purità di Maria come Sposa”, “Purità di Maria come Madre”, “Purità della Vita di Maria”. 8 moral precept” like emblems.15 The different genera of symbolic art diverge. In the Italian treatises this specific form was called imprese sacre. I would assume that the overall context, the dedication of the chapel with its whole imagery serves as subscriptio of the emblems. In general the emblems are of high quality.16 The inscriptions work with alliterations and other rhetorical devices. I’ll briefly present the single emblems, but I think we won’t have the time neither to analyse all schemes and tropes, nor to reveal all allusions and theological concepts. The Fortitude is accompanied by emblems, which are either popular, since they are also published in several emblem books. Above the niche there’s the pictura of an oak blown by the winds. The inscription reads Valido cum robore (‘with potent strength’). The second picture shows a diamond lying on an anvil. Nullo violabilis ictu – ‘can‘t be destroyed by any stroke’. As a contrastive complement there is a piece of coal, which will be reduced to ashes by the hammer. I think the meaning is quite obvious. The virtue of Fortitude is characterised as unbreakable in any circumstance – even in the most adverse conditions. 15 Guido ARBIZZONI: Imprese as Emblems: the European Reputation of an ‚Italian‘ Genre, in: Donato MANSUETO, Elena Laura CALOGERO (ed.): The Italian Emblem. A Collection of Essays, Glasgow Emblem Studien 12, Glasgow 2007, pp. 1-31: “They were no longer merely a message communicating a project of individual life, but could fulfil the role of visual synthesis of a universal moral precept, a truth of faith”, p. 20. 16 They are executed at least by two different artists, since the style and technique vary. 9 The most of the other emblems of the chapel seem to be without a model, since there are no examples in the popular emblem-books of that time. But if we consider the cultural backdrop of the congregation of San Paolo Maggiore and Don Diego di Bernaudo Mendoza, we can assume, that these emblems (the particular combination of picture and inscription) are genuine inventions. The Divine Justice is accompanied by two emblems. Above her, there’s the picture of a balance with the inscription Inviolata fides (‘intact faith’). The second emblem is more cryptic: a rising sun behind a hill. Dividens orbi diem. The literally meaning is ‘partitioning the day for the world’. It seems to be a play with some citations from the Genesis.17 The meaning seems to be: Distributing the light on earth. The picture also alludes to some Marian litanies and Gregorian chants, which refer to Christ as the sol iustitiae, the Sun of Justice, who enlightens the world.18 The significance of this all is to praise the Divine Justice, which elected Mary to bring the sun of Justice, i.e. Christ into the world. 17 Gen. 1- 1,19 For example: O-Antiphons in the time of advent: “O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis” (21. December), basing on Malachi 4,2: “Orietur vobis timentibus nomen meum sol iustitiae (…)”. COPPOLA, op. cit. p. 23, mentions that beside the Vulgata the rare translation as sol puritatis instead of sol iustitiae can be found. 18 10 In the pier with the statue of Prudence is inserted a cartouche showing the phoenix in the fire, before rising into new life: Purius ut gignam (‘that I may bear something purer’ or ‘that I may more purely beget’).19 The phoenix is a traditional symbol of the rising of Christ but also a symbol of virginity. In this case the tertium comparationis is the fire as the purest element. Also Coppola refers to the maternity of Mary as a prerogative.20 The second emblem shows a dove dominating a serpent: Prudentior quia simplicior (‘more prudent because more simple’). A paraphrasis of bible verses.21 The dove is a common symbol of meekness and purity. The exegetical typology parallelised the dove to Mary. 22 Furthermore, this picture alludes to Gen. 3, 15 (“ipsa conteret caput tuum”): Mary (the dove) who crushes the head of the serpent – a common iconography of the Immaculate. 19 The grammatical structure is plurivalent. COPPOLA, op. cit. p. 203. 21 Mt. 10,16: “(…) estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes et simplices sicut columbae”. 22 Also verses from the Song of Salomon depicting a dove, were used in typology. See also COPPOLA, op. cit. p. 182. He cites “Columba mea, formosa mea,”, “Columba mea in foraminibus petrae: Una est columba mea“ (Cant. Cantc. 6,8; 2,14) and similar verses. 20 11 Finally we’ll consider the emblems related to the Temperance. First, the picture of a golden dove, which is picking drops of dew from some flowers. Rore coeli contenta – ‘filled with heaven’s dew’. Again alluding to scenes from the Old Testament23 and alluding to Gregorian chant (the rorate coeli desuper), parallelising the coming of Christ to the dew in the morning.24 Once again the dew is a common symbol of purity and the same time an allusion to the Song of Solomon and the psalms.25 Also the golden or dazzling dove is depicted in the psalms. The last emblem presented is also the most exotic one. It shows lily flower stems and a silk worm moth (the bombyx mori). The inscription reads: Sat mihi flores (‘I’m satisfied with flowers’). This emblem is based on a widespread allegoresis of nature in the Renaissance and Baroque ages.26 According to this, the silk worm nourishes itself just on the flowery scent, which was understood as a symbol of temperate behaviour. The silk was held as a symbol of purity. Generally, emblems with the cocoon of the silk worm allude to the pregnancy of Mary and virgin birth. Most of the cartouches of the chapel are highly skilled exegetical emblems. They connect verses from the Holy Scripture, sacred tradition and the teachings of the church on Mary. 23 Book of Judges, 6,32 (6,1-8,35). The picture of Gideon’s fleece was often used in the typology as a prefigurative symbol of Mary. 24 Antiphon in the time of advent: “Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant iustum”. 25 Cant. cantic. 5,2 “(…) aperi mihi soror mea amica mea columba mea inmaculata mea quia caput meum plenum est rore (…)”, 6,9 “quae est ista quae progreditur quasi aurora consurgens pulchra ut luna electa ut sol (…)” and ps. 68, 13 (67, 14) “si dormieritis inter medios terminos pinnae columbae deargentatae et posteriora eius in virore auri” 26 In this case it might be inspired by Filippo PICINELLI: Mondo simbolico, Milan 1653, sub voce „Baco, bombice, verme da seta“ (Libro ottavo, animali imperfetti, c. 2), pp. 259-261. 12 The homilies The room of the chapel functions as a multifunctional system of meditation (multifunktionales Meditationssystem).27 The different genera of allegories and symbols are mutually replenished. Each element gains additional significance and a multi-layered system is built up through this complex and suggestive symbolism. But as we can trace from the documents, an important part of the promulgation of the new Marian cult were the homilies, which enabled the common public to find access to the beliefs. Unfortunately the sermons held in these occasions in Naples or Rome never were printed. In the archives there are just some reports, telling that these homilies have been experiencing always faster growing numbers of followers. We also have records, which at least list the topics of each homily.28 But the numerous treatises on preaching of this time can help us in reconstructing how these homilies could have been. One style of preaching was of particular importance in the viceroyalty of Naples: the so called concetto-homilies: The most famous treatise on tropes, figurative language and rhetorical devices is the Cannochiale aristotelico (Aristotelian telescope) of Emanuele Tesauro, which was first published in 1654 but in a second edition extended by two additional chapters.29 In one of these chapters he mentions a style of preaching coming from the South of Italy, which he condemns as decadent, full of rhetorical artifice and exuberant in their using of sophisticated citations. Tesauro states that this type of homily – “Pensieri de’ Sacri Oratori, che vulgarmente chiamar si sogliono, Concetti Predicabili”30 – is based on conceits, called in his time concetti napoletani, which have their origins in Spain and the conceptos predicables.31 Emanuele Tesauro gives a definition of the concetto predicabile: „Due cose adunque principalmente compongono questo sacro parte dell’Ingegno: cioè la Materia sacra, fondata nella Divina Autorità. & la Forma Arguta, fondata in qualche 27 Cf. Éva KNAPP, Gábor TÜSKÉS: Rhetorisches Konzept und ikonographisches Programm des Freskenzyklus in der Prunkstiege des Raaber Jesuitenkollegs, in: Wolfgang HARMS, Dietmar PEIL (ed.): Polyvalenz und Multifunktionalität der Emblematik, Frankfurt/ Main 2002, pp. 949-975. 28 Naples, BN, Fondo San Martino, ms. 388, fol. 76: Rome, 30.03.1647, The roman priest Giovanni Battista Giustiniani to Don Diego di Bernardo. “Nel Primo parlerai della Purità del Corpo Virgineo, nel Secondo della Purità della mente, nel Terzo dell’affetto, et amore, ch’ella portò alla Purità, nel Quarto che sara mercordi mostravò che nel Parto s’accrebbe e radoppio la Purità, nell’ultimo parlerò della Purità dell’Anima lontana da ogni macchia di colpe, et in quanto à me mi sono offerto di continuare detti sermoni sino a Pentecoste”. The topics seem to be identical with the central issues of Coppola’s later book. 29 Emanuele TESAURO: Il Cannocchiale Aristotelico, o‘ sia, Idéa dell’arguta et igeniosa elocutione, che serve à tutta l’arte oratoria, lapidaria, et simbolica. Esaminata co’ principii del divino aristotele (…), seconda impressione accresciuta dall’autore di due nuovi Trattati, cioè, de’ concetti predicabili, et degli emblemi (…), Venice 1663. See also Benedetto CROCE: I predicatori Italiani del seicento e il gusto spagnuolo, in: Saggi sulla letteratura Italiana del seicento, Bari 1911, pp. 161-193. 30 TESAURO, op. cit. p. 59. 31 TESAURO, op. cit. pp. 459/460: “ (…) alcuni Ingegni Spagnuoli naturalmente arguti; & nelle Scolastiche Dottrine perspicacissimi; trovarono (…) questa novella maniera d’insegnar dilettando, & dilettare insegnando, per mezzo di questi Argomenti ingeniosi, detti vulgarmente Concetti Predicabili; che con mirabili, & nuove, & metaforiche riflessioni sopra la Scrittura Sacra, & sopra i Santi Padri; abbassando le dottrine difficili alla capacità degl’Idioti; & inalzando le base & piane, alla sfera de Dotti […] Così ancora Salomone, con figurati Emblemi adornò tutto il Tempio di Dio, per allettare il Popolo all’adoratione con la maraviglia. Così Mosè con ceremoniali Misteri, insegnò documenti morali. Così Iddio con Simboli arguti rivelò i suoi secreti nella Scrittura. Così il Verbo Divino, con paraboliche Figure predicò il Verbo Evangelico. Debbesi dunque agli Spagnuoli la gloria di queste nouvelle merci; le quali per cagion dell’Hispano comercio per terra e mare, di colà parimente sbarcano à Napoli; ondi in Italia, che non ancor non le conosceva, fur chiamate Concetti Napolitani: e tosto ritrovarono spaccio apresso à molti, che copiosamente ne fornirono le officine delle lor Prediche. Ma finalmente il troppo è troppo; insegnando il nostro Autore agli Oratori etiamdio profani, che le Metafore si vogliono adoperar per confetti, non per vivanda. […]” 13 metafora formante un senso Tropologico, o Allegorico, ò Anagogico, differente da quello che di primo incontro le parole del sacro Testo letteralmente offeriscono.”32 “Altro dunque non è il Concetto predicabile, che un’Argutia leggiermente accennata dall’ingegno Divino: leggiadramente svelata dall’ingegno humano e rifermata con l’autorità di alcun Sacro Scrittore.”33 It’s an argument, concerning a truth of faith, merely foreshadowed by divine inspiration, uncovered by the human genius and confirmed by the Holy Scriptures and/or doctors of the church.34 According to Emanuele Tesauro, the ideal concetto-homily should always serve to explain divine mysteries, praise the virtues, and explain the life of Christ or the life of Saints (Mary, of course, included).35 To explain this topic to the believers the speaker should use numerous tropes to create a vivid and picturesque language imbued by wordplays and imagery. 36 The speaker should make use of symbols and allegories of nature.37 He also should use typologies, especially prefigurations from the Old Testament, which are thought to be explicitly or implicitly linked to the topic. He always should ensure his arguments by references to the bible, saints and church fathers. To render his sermon more effective and persuasive the speaker has to string together a number of this ingenious concetti.38 The main point I’d like to emphasise here is that these characteristic principles of a concettohomily are also reflected in the decoration of the chapel and in its allegorical charging. The different emblems took the task of the various concetti used in the homilies. They have to explain a complex theological belief. In this case the Purity of Mary. The emblems allude to passages from the bible (like the two emblems depicting a dove), they quote texts from the liturgy (like the emblem with the Sun of Justice) and they base on an allegoresis of nature (like the moth of the silk worm). They work with wordplays and rhetorical devices. Like the various concetti in a homily the emblems and allegories are linked together. There are some homilies in the 17th century, especially in Spain, which took concrete emblems as a departing point. The Italian art historian Giuseppina Ledda has published several studies on this matter. In the theory of preaching of the 17th it was called “predicar a los ojos”, preaching to the eyes.39 The Cappella della Madonna della Purità allows us to make an approach from the other side: the room with its complex decoration can be considered as a petrified preaching. 32 TESAURO, op. cit. p. 60. TESAURO, op. cit. p. 70. 34 TESAURO, op. cit. p. 494: To find inspiration he recommends ”(…) leggendo in fonte la Scrittura Sacra, & trovatovi qualche fatto, ò detto metaforico, & Arguto; vedere i Commentatori, e i Santi Padri sopra quel passo: & anco la Catena Aurea, & la Selva delle Allegorie, che apunto è una vasta Selva da fabricar Concetti.” 35 TESAURO, op. cit. p. 494: “Circa la Tema, convien procurare che sia una novella, e curiosa riflession Predicabile, cioè Sacra, ò Morale: ordinata à persuader qualche Virtù, ò fuggire il vitio; overo à spiegar qualche mistero divino; ò lodar qualche fatto di Cristo, ò de’ Santi (…)”. He also suggests Spanish handbooks, which list examples for themes. But of course there are also many Italian collections of homilies, for examples by the Southern Italian bishop Cornelio Musso. 36 Tesauro mentions for example the picture of a balance. On one side there should be presented an image of a virtue, on the other side a globe to show that one single virtue can countervail the whole world, op. cit. p. 479. 37 TESAURO, op. cit., for example p. 495: “(…) pellegrina Eruditione, ò Similitudine curiosa e vaga di cose naturali, o Artificiali (…)”. 38 TESAURO, op. cit. p. 495: He suggests the example of “(…) quegli che tessono le sue prediche con un filo di Concetti, che servono come Argomenti accumulati per provare l’istessa Tema.” 39 Cf. Giuseppina LEDDA: Predicar a los ojos, in: Edad de Oro 8 (1989), pp. 129-142, Giuseppina LEDDA: La parola e l’immagine. Strategie della persuasione religiosa nella Spagna secentesca, Pisa 2003 and many others. 33 14 Furthermore, the Cappella della Purità can be understood as a prime example for the didactical use of emblematic works in religious-political realms. 15
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