Original scientific paper
Princes and Gestures: Treatise L'arte de' cenni (1616) by Giovanni Bonifaccio and the cycle of St. Ladislaus in the old Zagreb cathedral (1690)
Sanja Cvetnić
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Abstract
Giovanni Bonifaccio's treatise L'arte de' cenni (Vicenza 1616) comprises descriptions, explanations and poetic references for over 600 gestures which can be derived from the parts of the human body. Bonifaccio's intention was to return a common language—communication through gestures—to humans and given the fact that this „mute loquaciousness“ is used by saints and angels in heaven L'arte de' cenni enables people to forego communicating with words (appropriate for mundane things and lowly themes) and re-gain the dignity of God's creatures. Bonifaccio therefore already in the title signals that the treatise is especially useful to rulers, who are by their status predestined to dignity and gestural communication. Iconography of gestures in the cycle of painting by Ioannes Eisenhart on St. Ladislaus's altar (after 1690) is analyzed by means of Bonifaccio's treatise.
Keywords
Giovanni Bonifaccio; gestures; iconography of St. Ladislaus; the 17th century
Hrčak ID:
213388
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2018.
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