This dissertation analyzes fifteenth-century representations of the Last Supper that were painted on the walls of monastic refectories located in and around the city of Florence, with a focus on the viewer’s multi-sensory experience of the paintings in their spaces of reception and in relation to theatrical performance. The project explores Domenico Ghirlandaio’s innovative approach to the composition and its relationship with the refectory (or dining hall) through compositional changes, particularly with his Last Supper at the convent of Ognissanti (c. 1480-1481), that marked an important pivot in the presentation of this familiar iconography by demonstrating a greater awareness of and engagement with the viewer. These pictorial innovations relate to the performance of devotional plays (sacre rappresentazioni) in fifteenth-century Florence and inspired the construction of sacred mountain sanctuaries (sacri monti) composed of multi-media sculptural groups arranged in devotional chapels. My dissertation illustrates how each of these modes of representation—painting, performance, and multi-media sculpture—reacted to and altered their spaces of reception, involving their viewers as active participants in immersive, sensorial experiences.
The first chapter explores the origins and development of the monumental Last Supper frescoes in Florence’s monastic refectories, a tradition known as i cenacoli fiorentini. I discuss the iconography, provide a brief catalogue of the paintings, and observe how Ghirlandaio moved the standard composition from reinforcing the two-dimensionality of the refectory wall and toward an immersive experience that encouraged a sense of association between the painted scene and the space of reception. In the second chapter, I argue that, in addition to quattrocento techniques of pictorial illusionism, the dynamic performances of sacre rappresentazioni informed the interest in activating the viewer’s emotional engagement with the Last Supper fresco. Chapter three more directly involves the space of the refectory in my analysis, as I explore how the various functions and multi-sensory conditions of the refectory environment enhanced the performative and immersive qualities of the cenacolo painting. Finally, the fourth chapter extends my discussion to the sacri monti pilgrimage sites located in San Vivaldo and Varallo, Italy. I draw comparisons between the three-dimensional chapel environments and the Last Supper refectory frescoes. By placing these works in dialogue with one another, I observe new insights in the canonical cenacoli images and engage the sacri monti with the broader field of Renaissance art history. / 2024-06-24T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/44813 |
| Date | 27 June 2022 |
| Creators | O'Reilly, Catherine |
| Contributors | Cranston, Jodi |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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