Descrizione
Storia dell’arte n. 162
Nuova Serie 2 | 2024
Ilaria Sanetti
Fonti iconografiche a stampa per il cantiere sistino della Scala Santa
This study analyzes the use of printed iconographic sources in the site of Holy Staircase, highlighting how some biblical engravings produced in France in the 1550s were adopted as models for the frescoes. These engravings, made by the French artist Bernard Salomon and intended to illustrate biblical texts in the vernacular, spread throughout Europe and were reproduced and reworked in various media, including painting and majolica, contributing to a truly shared “visual culture.” The article emphasizes how the policy of Sixtus V, which favored speed of execution and simplification of iconographic content, was in line with the popularizing vocation of the frescoes of the roman Scala Santa, which were meant to guide the pilgrim through a path of comprehensible and instructive images. In this context, engravings, although born in a different context, became fundamental tools for the dissemination of a universally accessible visual religious language. The use of biblical prints as an iconographic source, therefore, reflects the dynamics of exchange and reworking between different media and contexts, creating a direct connection between artistic production and devotion, as well as a continuity in the dissemination of religious imagery.
