- Feb 5, 2002
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A forgotten fresco in an Italian church has revealed a surprising medieval practice—Islamic tents were used to cover Christian altars. The 13th-century fresco, recently rediscovered in Ferrara, Italy, is believed to be the only known depiction of this tradition, shedding new light on the connections between Christian and Islamic artistic influences in medieval Europe.
The partially visible fresco, identified by Cambridge and Oxford University historian Dr Federica Gigante, almost certainly depicts a real tent, now lost, which the artist may have seen in the same church. The brightly coloured original tent, covered in jewels, could have been a diplomatic gift from a Muslim leader or a trophy seized from the battlefield.
Gigante’s research, published today in The Burlington Magazine, also suggests that a high-profile figure such as Pope Innocent IV—who gifted several precious textiles to the Benedictine convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, where the fresco was painted—may have given such a tent.
Continued below.
The partially visible fresco, identified by Cambridge and Oxford University historian Dr Federica Gigante, almost certainly depicts a real tent, now lost, which the artist may have seen in the same church. The brightly coloured original tent, covered in jewels, could have been a diplomatic gift from a Muslim leader or a trophy seized from the battlefield.
Gigante’s research, published today in The Burlington Magazine, also suggests that a high-profile figure such as Pope Innocent IV—who gifted several precious textiles to the Benedictine convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, where the fresco was painted—may have given such a tent.
Continued below.
Hidden in Plain Sight: A Medieval Fresco Shows Islamic Tents Used in Christian Churches - Medievalists.net
A forgotten fresco in an Italian church has revealed a surprising medieval practice—Islamic tents were used to cover Christian altars. The 13th-century fresco, recently rediscovered in Ferrara, Italy, is believed to be the only known depiction of this tradition, shedding new light on the...
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