TY - JOUR
T1 - Guercino's Saint Petronilla
T2 - Saintly Body, Michelangelo, and New St Peter's
AU - Mangone, Carolina
AU - Unglaub, Jonathan
N1 - Funding Information:
Upon ascending to the Papal throne, the Bolognese Gregory XV and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi summoned Guercino to Rome. Initially employed in ceiling decorations, the artist was soon honoured with a commission of the utmost prestige, the altarpiece adorning the altar containing the body of St Petronilla. The Pope thereby shrewdly appeased the French crown by ordering this monument within days of the canonization of several new Spanish saints (Theresa of Àvila, Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Isidor, plus the Italian Filippo Neri), celebrated in temporary that dominated the vast interior of the basilica, funded by King Philip III. Counterbalancing the temporary Spanish appropriation of the Crossing, the colossal permanent altar dedicated to France's patroness achieved a conspicuous success at its unveiling on 31 May 1623, the Saint's feast day. The diplomatic function discharged by these saints, both new and old, has overshadowed the fundamental sacred and historical work they satisfied post‐Trent – that is, to celebrate and reaffirm the enduring efficacy of the cult of saints for the Roman Catholic Church. The coincidence of minting new saints and renewing a paleochristian one must have been incredibly forceful, with the spectacle of contemporary canonizations giving new immediacy to the virtue and sacrifice of an ancient forebear brought to life in paint. 9 10 apparati 11 12
Publisher Copyright:
© Association for Art History 2022
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - This essay investigates the visual language of Guercino's monumental altarpiece of St Petronilla for St Peter's (1623), through which he constructs an authoritative image of her sanctity deeply intertwined with the art and fabric of the renewed church, particularly as it pertains to Michelangelo's legacy at the site. The saint's body, almost in tandem with the sculptor's Pietà, circulated throughout the old and new basilica during its gradual demolition and reconstruction. Guercino's imagery consolidates references to Petronilla's relics, her cult and the statue in the configuration of the saint suspended at her grave. A hitherto unnoticed portrait of Michelangelo underscores these associations and renews his exemplarity as a sacred artist in the service of the papacy. The evocations of Michelangelo's sculpture and person, the body of Petronilla, together with the altarpiece's setting and architectural imagery, encourage an interpretation of the altarpiece as a microhistory of St Peter's basilica itself.
AB - This essay investigates the visual language of Guercino's monumental altarpiece of St Petronilla for St Peter's (1623), through which he constructs an authoritative image of her sanctity deeply intertwined with the art and fabric of the renewed church, particularly as it pertains to Michelangelo's legacy at the site. The saint's body, almost in tandem with the sculptor's Pietà, circulated throughout the old and new basilica during its gradual demolition and reconstruction. Guercino's imagery consolidates references to Petronilla's relics, her cult and the statue in the configuration of the saint suspended at her grave. A hitherto unnoticed portrait of Michelangelo underscores these associations and renews his exemplarity as a sacred artist in the service of the papacy. The evocations of Michelangelo's sculpture and person, the body of Petronilla, together with the altarpiece's setting and architectural imagery, encourage an interpretation of the altarpiece as a microhistory of St Peter's basilica itself.
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U2 - 10.1111/1467-8365.12630
DO - 10.1111/1467-8365.12630
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124519634
SN - 0141-6790
VL - 45
SP - 66
EP - 101
JO - Art History
JF - Art History
IS - 1
ER -