dr fran wilson-copp barn lectures tour of sicily october 2014 handouts (jb2)-2.pdf · dr fran...

Dr Fran Wilson-Copp Barn Lectures Tour of Sicily October 2014

Dr Fran Wilson-Copp 9th September 2014 - page 1 of 15 pages

Numbers indicate the order of our tour destinations, and relate to numbers in the other

pages.



1. Catania Airport

2. Syracuse

Settled by Corinthians in the C8th BCE, and became the most important Mediterranean

power, more important than Athens. Considered a very beautiful city.

Temple of Apollo.

Greek Theatre

The Greek Theatre was built in the 5th

century BC, and reconstructed in the 3rd

century BC. It is part of a Unesco World

Heritage Site. Its seating area is one of the

largest ever built by the ancient Greeks.

Modified by the Romans, and adapted for

spectacles, including circus games. Near the

theatre are the stone quarries, used as

prisons in ancient times.

Beginning of the 6th century BC, Doric, a type

of temple called a peripteros (surrounded by a

perimeter of columns).



Museo Archeologico, Syracuse.

Gorgon in a terracotta relief, 625-600 BCE

Dwarf elephants found in a cave, prehistoric.

Ancient Greeks painted eyes on the front of their boats for good luck. They believed that a protecting god could see ahead through the eyes.

Pelike (amphora with vertical handles and rounded body) Attic signed by the painter Polygnotus, Gela, fifth century.BC

Statuette of Herakles, Sikeliote (Sicilian Greek), 250–200 B.C. Marble and pigment Courtesy of the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi, Syracuse.



Statue of Priapos Sikeliote (Sicilian Greek), 250–212 B.C. Limestone Courtesy of the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi, Syracuse.

Horse Late Geometric bronze, necropolis of Fusco (Syracuse), late eighth century. BC

Terracotta statue of a goddess, Kore statue, Grammichele, sixth century. BC

Dating from the 2nd Century AD, also known as “Venus Landolina” from the name of the archaeologist Saverio Landolina, who discovered it in a nymphaeum in the Syracusan quarter of Achradina. The marble statue is a Roman Imperial imitation of a Rhodion original.

Marble head depicting the god Asclepius (god of healing, usually has a serpent wound around a stick).



3. Enna and Piazza Armerina Villa Romana del Casale

• This Roman villa features more than 40 beautiful mosaic floors, making it one of the most important open-air museums in the region. Contains the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world.

• A World Heritage site, this Roman villa (c. 390-450AD) has stunning mosaics. From beautiful hunting and fishing scenes, to a group of female athletes (sometimes call 'girls in bikinis'), the mosaics are almost complete, and cover a very large area - more than 3,000 square metres.

• Located about 3 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina.

• The site was finally abandoned for good when a landslide covered the villa in the 12th century CE, and remaining inhabitants moved to the current location of Piazza Armerina.

• The villa was a residence and an administrative centre for the area when it was built.

• The mosaics were probably made by African artists in the early 5th century CE. The North African provinces were in the economic and artistic forefront in the 4th century, and polychrome mosaics were one of the specialities of the North African artists. Mosaics very similar have been found in Carthage and other places in North Africa.

• A substantial number of the tesserae used in the mosaics are of African origin, so it seems the mosaicists brought with them the colours they couldn't find locally.

• Motifs such as "fishing cupids" appear repeatedly, in every single part of the villa and unmistakably by the same artists or group of artists, so all the major parts of the villa must have been made within a short period of time, probably less than ten years. Some blocks of design could have been prefabricated.

• There are traces of frescoes in many rooms, but they are too decayed to see properly.



4. The Valley of the Temples:

This archaeological park consists of eight temples (and various other remains) built

between about 510 BC and 430 BC, situated in the same area on rocky crests south of

modern day Agrigento (not really in a Valley at all). All the temples are Doric, and are

some of the most complete in the world.

Temple of Concordia. Due to its state of preservation, it is ranked amongst the most

important Greek temples in the world. c.440-430 BC.

6 x 13 columns built over a base of 39.44 x 16.91 m; each Doric column has twenty flutes

and entasis, also existing are the stairs to the roof and, over the cella's walls and in the

blocks of the peristasis entablature, the holes for the wooden beams of the ceiling.

The exterior and the interior of the temple were covered by polychrome stucco. The

upper part had gutters with lion-like decorations, while the roof was covered by marble

tiles.

When the temple was turned into a church (C6th AD) the entrance was moved to the

rear, and the rear wall of the cella was destroyed. The spaces between the columns were

closed, while 12 arched openings were created in the cella, in order to obtain a structure

with one nave and two aisles. The pagan altar was destroyed and sacristies were carved

out in the eastern corners.



The Temple of Hera (below left). c. 450 BC, 38.15 x 16.90 m.

Six columns wide by thirteen long. Current remains (including anastylosis (rebuild using

original materials) from the 18th Century onwards) consist of the front colonnade with

parts of the architrave. Only fragments of the other three sides survive, with few

elements of the cella. The building was damaged in the fire of 406 BC and restored in

Roman times, with the substitution of clay roof tiles instead of marble ones and the

addition of a steep rise in the area where today can be seen the remains of the altar.

Temple of Olympian Zeus, Agrigento, with its telamones (above right).

The name Telamon derives from a Greek word meaning support or bearer and he is

shown in sculpture as a male figure bearing a weight. His name, along with that of Atlas,

has become the architectural term for a sculpted figure with arms aloft holding a cornice

or a lintel. Probably the earliest and most impressive use of Telamones on an

architectural work was at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento, Sicily, dating from

the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. One of the largest Greek temples ever conceived, it was

built to commemorate the Greeks’ defeat of the Carthaginians. A model in the

archaeological museum at Agrigento shows the possible placement of the Telamones.

There is a surviving but badly weathered Telamon assembled from fragments for display

in the museum. The temple collapsed in an earthquake in 1401 and many of its stones

were robbed for constructing the nearby town.



5. Palermo. Yellow stars show important places which we intend to visit.



Regional Gallery (Galleria Regionale della Sicilia), Palermo.

This neo-Gothic castle dating from 1488 houses the Regional gallery of Sicily, the largest

museum in Palermo exclusively devoted to art, whose majority of work dates from the

medieval and Renaissance periods through to the eighteenth century.

Jean Gossart, The Malvagna Triptych, 1513-15, Oil on panel, 46 x 35 cm (centre panel), 45 x 18 cm (each wing), Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palermo

Jean Gossart, The Malvagna Triptych, 1513-15, Oil on panel, 46 x 35 cm (closed wings), 45 x 18 cm (each wing), Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palermo

The Triumph of Death, fresco, Regional Gallery, Palermo. It is considered a prime example of late Gothic painting in Italy. The author of the work, which is dated around 1446, is unknown.

On the first floor is the museum's most famous work, the Virgin Annunciate, by Antonello da Messina (c. 1476)

15th-century Bust of a Gentlewoman by Francesco Laurana, possibly Eleonora d'aragona.



Byzantine Mosaics.

• Mosaics in Greek and Roman art were mainly for floors, rather than walls and

ceilings. Byzantine ones are mainly walls.

• Unlike traditional wall paintings, mosaics could create a glittering, shimmering

effect that lent itself to a heightened sense of spirituality.

• Mosaics were more expensive than traditional wall painting, but their effects

were so desirable as to make it worth the cost. Also, technological advances such

as lighter-weight tesserae and a new cement recipe made wall mosaics easier

than they had been in the preceding centuries.

• Byzantine mosaics often had gold backing behind the clear glass tesserae so that

the mosaics would appear to emit a mysterious light of their own.

• The special glass tesserae (smalti) were made from thick sheets of coloured glass.

Smalti have a rough surface and contain tiny air bubbles. They are sometimes

backed with reflective silver or gold leaf. The smalti were ungrouted, allowing

light to reflect and refract within the glass. Also, they were set at slight angles to

the wall, so that they caught the light in different ways. The gold tesserae sparkle

as the viewer moves around within the building. Smalti is coloured with metal

oxides such as cobalt, copper, chrome, uranium, nickel, iron, silver, and

manganese dioxide.



Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio or San Nicolò dei Greci, commonly called the Martorana,

overlooking the Piazza Bellini in Palermo.

• The name Ammiraglio ("admiral") derives from the founder of the church,

the Greek admiral and principal minister of King Roger II of Sicily, George of

Antioch. The foundation charter of the church (which was initially Eastern

Orthodox), in Greek and Arabic, is preserved and dates to 1143. The nuns of the

Martorana were famous for their moulded marzipan, which they made in the form

of various fruits. Although the convent no longer exists, frutta di Martorana are

still one of Palermo's most famous and distinctive foodstuffs. Certain elements of

the original church, in particular its exterior decoration, show the influence of

Islamic architecture on the culture of Norman Sicily.

the Martorana Exterior

Christ crowning Roger II of Sicily, mosaic, church of La Martorana, Palermo, 1143-48.

the Martorana interior



George of Antioch and Holy Virgin. Church of La Martorana, Palermo, 1143-48. George was one of Roger ll’s admirals, and founded the Church

The focal point of the Martorana’s decoration is the dome with its seated Christ Pantocrator, head backed by an inscribed cross halo and flanked by the letters ΙCΧC, a Greek Christogram for “Jesus Christ”. Four winged archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel balance the decoration. The four evangelists sit in the squinches.

Chiesa di San Cataldo, Palermo. on the central Piazza Bellini. It is a notable example of the Arabian - Norman architecture which flourished in Sicily under the Norman domination of the island. The church is annexed to that of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (Martorana) .

Cosmati geometric floor in the San Cataldo church, Palermo



The Palatine Chapel

The royal chapel of the Norman kings of Kingdom of Sicily, situated on the second floor

at the centre of the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo, Sicily.

The chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132 to be built upon an older chapel

(now the crypt) constructed around 1080. The mosaics are noted for subtle modulations

of colour and luminance. The oldest are probably those covering the ceiling, the drum,

and the dome. The shimmering mosaics of the transept, presumably dating from the

1140s and attributed to Byzantine artists, illustrate scenes from the Acts of the Apostles.

Every composition is set within an ornamental frame, not dissimilar to that used in

contemporaneous mosaic icons.

The rest of the mosaics, dated to the 1160s or the 1170s, are executed in a cruder manner

and feature Latin (rather than Greek) inscriptions. Probably a work of local craftsmen,

these pieces are more narrative and illustrative than transcendental. A few mosaics have

a secular character and represent oriental flora and fauna. This may be the only

substantial passage of secular Byzantine mosaic extant today.



6. Monreale Cathedral and Cefalu Duomo

Monreale.

The Cathedral of Monreale is one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world. It was begun in 1174 by William II, and in 1182 the church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral. It is a national monument of Italy. Exterior.

Almost the whole interior surface of the walls is covered with mosaic-pictures in bright colours on a gold ground. The mosaic pictures are arranged in tiers, divided by horizontal and vertical bands. In parts of the choir there are five of these tiers of subjects or single figures one above another.

The subjects in the nave begin with scenes from the Book of Genesis, illustrating the Old Testament types of Christ and His scheme of redemption, with figures of those who prophesied and prepared for His coming. Around the lower tier and the choir are subjects from the New Testament, chiefly representing Christ's miracles and suffering, with apostles, evangelists and other saints.

The half dome of the central apse has a colossal half-length figure of Christ, with a seated Virgin and Child below; the other apses have full-length figures of St Peter and St Paul. Inscriptions on each picture explain the subject or saint represented; these are in Latin, except some few which are in Greek.



Cefalu Duomo

According to tradition, the building was erected after a vow made to the Holy Saviour by

the King of Sicily, Roger II, after he escaped from a storm to land on the city's beach.

Cefalu Duomo The famous façade is characterized by the presence of two large Norman towers each surmounted by a small spire added in the 15th century, each of which is different.

The Christ Pantokrator, is portrayed with a hand raised. In his left hand he carries the Gospel of John, in which can be read, in Greek and Latin: "I am the light of the world, who follows me will not wander in the darkness but will have the light of life" . In the upper tier of the apsidal wall is depicted the Virgin Mary, her hands raised in prophecy and flanked by four archangels.

North Wall of the Choir The work is of the highest order, having great elegance in the draping of the robes and sensitivity in the faces and gestures. The decoration of this church is considered the finest Byzantine mosaic in Italy and comparable to other fine Late Byzantine work from Constantinople. The Byzantine mosaic decoration was completed before 1170.

The chief figures, that of The Christ Pantokrator and the Virgin Mary, are clothed in blue, given a great luminosity by the background of gold tiles.

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