Prayers and Protection : The Tower at Torba Reconsidered
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Arte Lombarda |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | Tower at Torba; Wall paintings; Intercession; Prayers; Protection; Power of saints; Medieval Lombardy; Mazarine ms 660; Tower of Ansperto; ca 800; Reconsideration |
| Description | This article attempts to introduce a reconsideration regarding the murals at the tower at Torba. Firstly, we focus on its relatively scarce historiography, which we explain by referring to the tower’s arduous history and its position within the context of the castrum’s rediscovery. By describing the iconography and layers of painted plaster within two decorated floors, we discover that both chambers were originally painted in a single decorative campaign. Regarding the date of the murals, we expand beyond the generic visual affinity between the illumination of a musician from the codex of Institutiones of Cassiodorus, (Paris, Bibliotheque Mazarine, 660) and the murals. This interconnection is used to further the murals’ dating around the year 800; suggested also by Carlo Bertelli, Flavio de Rubeis, Rudolf M. Kloos, etc. Finally, we propose that the choice to reuse the military structure in a new sacral context was deeply linked with the belief in the intercessory power of saints and their ability to protect the tower against corporeal as well as spiritual danger. This broadens our understanding of the wall paintings’ raison d’etre and their function. |
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