Original scientific paper

La rappresentazione del mare nell’arte francescana

Hisashi Yakou ; Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Abstract

It is well known that St. Francis of Assisi was eager to go overseas and evangelize the pagans. After the saint’s death, his companion friars went as far as India and China. However, we find only passing references to the sea or voyages by sea in the Franciscan literature. Moreover, in the field of figurative art, even if occasionally we see scenes of shipwrecks, succored by the intercession of St. Francis or a Franciscan friar, these just seem to follow a precedent scheme of traditional Christian iconographies such as Calling of Peter, etc. and do not reflect a new dimension of experience accumulated by Franciscan missionaries. In this paper, a fragmentary fresco conserved in the diocesan museum of Fidenza, representing a shipwreck scene with a Franciscan friar, is examined to identify the episode. Then, Christian tombstones excavated in Quanzhou and Yangzhou, China, are surveyed to measure the extent to which the reciprocal influences between West and East, in terms of style and iconography, were significant for the artifacts of the Late Middle Ages of Italy.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

179669

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/179669

Publication date:

1.5.2016.

Article data in other languages: italian

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