Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiana Dias Klautau.pdf: 9928422 bytes, checksum: 4c7e29e60807fb86fc2b38919431d035 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-08 / The purpose of this dissertation is the analysis of some aspects presented in Conrad Gesner´s Historia animalium (1551-1558), such as some information included in animal´s descriptions, its sources and images, as a vehicle of knowledge transmission. We intend to demonstrate that the content in Gesner´s work, as well as in his contemporary fellows, showed particular features which were consisted not only of anatomical and physiological animal´s descriptions, but they were especially comprised of information which today would be considered additional, as for example, what the ancients would say about each animal, the legends, the fables, its use in medicine, in culinary, in art, etc. All this correlated information was called, by some scholars of this period, the emblematic world view and they determined the scope of animal History in the sixteenth century. In order to demonstrate the interrelated information in Gesner´s writings, we selected not only his writings but also some works of other writers. One of them is Andrea Alciati´s Emblematum Libellus (1531), to which is attributed the dissemination of the emblems - a group of text and image designed to be deciphered, bringing intricate topics such as religion, love, betrayal, politics, moral, among others, which were widely covered in Gesner´s work. We also selected some examples of medieval bestiary to demonstrate how animals were described and illustrated in this kind of work, as well as Ovid´s (43 a.C 17 d.C) Ars Amatoria and the Methamorphoses, aiming at investigating this type of literature and, in later editions, the kind of images involving animals in these poems, in order to accomplish the case study about the mythical beast known as the Minotaur / O objetivo dessa Dissertação é analisar alguns aspectos na obra História animalium (1551-1558) de Conrad Gesner (1516-1565), entre eles, o tipo de informação contida na descrição dos animais, algumas de suas fontes e as imagens como via de transmissão de conhecimentos. Nossa intenção é demonstrar que o conteúdo da obra elaborada por Gesner, assim como por alguns de seus contemporâneos, apresentava características particulares e era composta não apenas por descrições acerca da anatomia e fisiologia das bestas, mas eram especialmente carregadas de informações adicionais, como por exemplo, o que os antigos diziam sobre cada animal, lendas, fábulas, uso na medicina, na culinária, na arte, etc. Todas essas informações interligadas faziam parte de uma rede de conhecimentos chamada por alguns estudiosos desse período de visão emblemática de mundo e de natureza, que caracterizou a História dos animais no século XVI. Para demonstrar algumas informações inter-relacionadas na obra de Gesner, selecionamos, além de seus escritos, trabalhos de outros autores. Um deles foi o Emblematum Libellus (1531) de Andrea Alciati (1492-1550), ao qual é atribuída a difusão dos emblemas - um conjunto de texto e imagem criados para serem decifrados, que traziam intrinsicamente mensagens de diversos temas como religião, amor, traição, política, moral entre outros, e que foram amplamente difundidos nas descrições de Gesner. Selecionamos também alguns exemplos de bestiários medievais para demonstrar como os animais eram descritos e representados nesse tipo de trabalho, bem como A arte de amar e as Metamorfoses de Públio Ovídio (43 a.C 17d.C) para averiguar o tipo de literatura, e em edições posteriores, de imagens que envolviam animais contidos nesses poemas, peculiarmente para realizar o estudo de caso sobre a besta mítica conhecida como minotauro. Contudo, foi possível expor ao longo do nosso trabalho o tipo de informação trazida nos textos e nas imagens das diferentes obras selecionadas

While scholarship often focuses on how early modern Italians used images in their devotions, particularly in the post-Tridentine era, little attention has been placed upon how laypeople engaged with devotional text during times of prayer and in their everyday lives. Studies of early modern devotional texts have explored their literary content, investigated their censorship by the Church, or concentrated upon an elite readership. This thesis, instead, investigates how ordinary devotees interacted with holy words in their material form, which I have termed ‘material prayers’. Since this thesis developed under the aegis of the interdisciplinary research project, Domestic Devotions: The Place of Piety in the Italian Renaissance Home, 1400-1600, it focuses primarily on engagement with these material prayers in domestic spaces. Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from material culture studies, literary history, social and cultural history, and art history, it brings together objects, images and archival sources to illuminate how devotees from across the socio-economic and literacy spectrums accessed and employed devotional text in their prayers and daily life. From holy words, Biblical excerpts, and prayers to textual symbols like the Sacred Monogram of the Name of Jesus, this thesis explores how and why these material prayers were employed for spiritual, apotropaic and intercessory purposes. It analyses material prayers not only in traditional textual formats (printed books and manuscripts), but also those that were printed on single-sheets of paper, inscribed on jewellery, or etched into the structure of the home. To convey how devotees engaged with and relied upon these material prayers, it considers a variety of inscribed objects, including those sanctioned by the Church as well as those which might be questioned or deemed ‘superstitious’ by ecclesiastical authorities. Sermons, Inquisition trial records, and other archival documents have been consulted to further illuminate the material evidence. The first part of the thesis, ‘On the Body’, considers the how devotees came into personal contact with texts by wearing prayers on their bodies. It examines a range of objects including prayers with protective properties, known as brevi, that were meant to be sealed in a pouch and worn around the neck, and more luxurious items of physical adornment inscribed with devotional and apotropaic text, such as necklaces and rings. The second part of the thesis enters the home to explore how the spaces people inhabited and the objects that populated their homes were decorated with material prayers. ‘In the Home’ begins with texts inscribed over the entryways of early modern Italian homes, and then considers how devotees decorated their walls with holy words and how the objects of devotion and household life were imbued with religious significance through the addition of pious inscriptions. By analysing these personal objects and the textual domestic sphere, this thesis argues that these material prayers cut across socio-economic classes, genders, and ages to embody quotidian moments of domestic devotion as well as moments of fear, anxiety and change.