Last updated 10th July 2024: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
The last two decades have seen important scholarly research published on medieval wood sculpture. The exhibitions held in Siena (1987), Lucca (1995–96) and Pisa (2000–01) allowed the status of these studies to be examined and permitted investigation into crucial aspects of style and attribution. Furthermore, all these contributions note the liturgical role and function of these works of art. Nevertheless, they only suggest the issue of the relationship between wood sculpture and architecture, which is the topic of the present article. If stone sculpture is often conceived with specific settings inside churches in mind — like lunettes or pillars — being strongly connected with architecture, the same cannot be said for sculpture in wood. In fact, function and practical usage have always been recognized as the main characteristics of wooden statues, and these qualities make it much more difficult to ascertain their original setting.
1 Bagnoli, Alessandro (ed.), Scultura Dipinta. Maestri di legname e pittori a Siena (1250-1410) (Firenze, 1987)Google Scholar, catalogue of an exhibition at the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena (1987); Baracchini, Clara (ed.), Scultura lignea. Lucca 1200-1421 (Florence, 1995)Google Scholar, catalogue of an exhibition at the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Mansi and Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi of Lucca (Lucca, 1995-96); Burresi, Mariagiulia (ed.), Sacre Passioni, Scultura lignea a Pisa dal XII al XV secolo (Milan, 2000)Google Scholar, catalogue of an exhibition at the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo of Pisa (2000-01). See also Castelnuovo, Enrico (ed.), Imago lignea: scultura lignea nel Trentino dal XIII al XVI secolo (Trent, 1989)Google Scholar; Sapori, Giovanna (ed.), L’immagine, il culto, la forma: antichi gruppi lignei di deposizione (Montone, 1999)Google Scholar; Perusini, Giuseppina (ed.), La scultura lignea dell’arco alpino (1450-1550): storta, stiri e tecniche (Udine, 1999)Google Scholar; Lunghi, Elvio, La passione degli Umbri (Foligno, 2000)Google Scholar.
2 Polliti, Jerry Jordan, The Art of Rome. Sources and Documents (London, 1966), p. 49 Google Scholar. In the same volume see also pp. 33-34, 58, 108. For the sources on Greek Art see Polliti, Jerry Jordan, The Art of Greece. Sources and Documents (London, 1965), p. 5 Google Scholar, 7, 14-15, 17, 26, 29, 60, 74, 90-91.
3 Lipsmeyer, Elizabeth, ‘Devotion and Decorum: Intention and Quality in Medieval German Sculpture’, in Gesta, 34/1 (1995), pp. 20–27 CrossRefGoogle Scholar (p. 20). For a study of the Palmeselprozessionen see Tripps, Johannes, Das handelnde Bildwerk in der Gotik. Forschungen zu den Bedeutungsschichten und der Punktion des Kirchengebäudes und seiner Ausstattung in der Hoch- und Spätgotik (Berlin, 2000)Google Scholar.
4 Sebastian Franck, Weltbuch (1534), p. 131b, quoted by Baxandall, Michael, The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany (New Haven and London, 1980), p. 58 Google Scholar: ‘Auff diß kumpt der Palmtag […] Vnd füret [man] ein hültzin Esel auff einem wägelin, mit einm darauff gemachten bild yhres Gots, in der statt herumb, singen, werffen palmen für yhn, vnd treiben wil abgötterei mit disem yhrem hültzinen Gott. Der Pfaffer legt sich vor diesem bild nider, den schlecht ein ander pfaff. Die schüler singen vnd deütten mit fingern darauff. Zwen Bachanten legen sich auch mit seltzamer Ceremoni vnd gesang vor vor dem bild nider, da wirfft jedermann mit palmen zu, der den ersten erwischt, treibt vil Zauberei damit.’
5 Williamson, Paul (ed.), European Sculpture at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, 1996), pp. 104-05Google Scholar.
6 On this sculpture, known in Verona by the name of Muleta, Enzo Carli wrote ( Carli, Enzo, La scultura lignea italiana [Milan, 1960], pp. 37–38 Google Scholar, Fig. 11): ‘Rappresenta Gesù che cavalca un asinelio, o meglio una giumenta, e soleva essere recata in processione per la festività della Domenica delle Palme, a ricordo dell’entrata di Cristo in Gerusalemme. Questa devozione, particolarmente diffusa nella Germania meridionale e nell’Austria e nota infatti col nome tedesco di “Palmesel”, pare che in Italia venisse assai presto soppressa: il che spiega la estrema rarità da noi di simulacri del genere. La scultura veronese è — a quanto risulta — la sola che ci sia rimasta”.
7 Forsyth, Ilene Haering, ‘Magi and Majesty: A Study of Romanesque Sculpture and Liturgical Drama’, in The Art Bulletin, 50 (1968), pp. 215-28CrossRefGoogle Scholar (p. 216). In the case of the Romanesque type of the Enthroned Virgin and Child, Forsyth writes ( Forsyth, Ilene Haering, The Throne of Wisdom. Wood sculptures of the Madonna in Romanesque France [Princeton, 1972], p. 40 Google Scholar): ‘It is clear that this type of statue was not confined to a single location. Were such peripatetics not desirable, the Madonna would more likely have been made of durable material such as stone.’ See also Marco Collareta, ‘Le immagini e l’arte. Riflessioni sulla scultura dipinta nelle fonti letterarie’, in Scultura lignea, pp. 1-7 (p. 1).
8 Lipsmeyer, ‘Devotion and Decorum’, p. 22: ‘Nam si nobis permitteretur corporeis oculis intueri, videremur ipsi dei filio obviam isse, quid sine dubio credi oportet nos fecisse. Licet enim corporaliter non videatur, tarnen cuius ipse oculos interiores aperuerit, contueri valet domino nostro Ihesu Cristo nos obviasse.’
9 Forsyth, ‘Magi and Majesty’, p. 217.
10 Zorzi, Ludovico, ‘Figurazione pittorica e figurazione teatrale’, in Storia dell’arte italiana, 1 (Turin, 1979), pp. 421-63Google Scholar (p. 427): ‘festa or festum has remained for a long time the word for indicating the sacred performance, inspired by the legend of a Saint or of the Holy Virgin, or by the crucial moments in the Passion of Christ’ (‘festa o festum rimane per lungo tempo il termine sinonimico con il quale viene indicato lo spettacolo sacro, dedicato al leggendario di un santo, della Vergine o ai momenti cruciali della passione di Gesù’).
11 Vauchez, André, La spiritualité du Moyen Age occidental (Paris, 1975)Google Scholar.
12 Alessandro Bagnoli, ‘Lando di Pietro’, in Scultura Dipinta, pp. 65-68 (p. 68): ‘Anno Domini/ MCCCXXXVII/ di gennaio/ fu compiuta/ questa fi/ gura a si/ militudme/ di yhu xpo/ crocifisso/ figliuolo di / dio vivo et/ vero. Et/ lui dovend/ o adorare/ et non que/ sto legno’. The disparity between the two dates arises from the different calendar adopted by the Commune of Siena.
13 Carletti, Lorenzo and Giometti, Cristiano, Scultura lignea pisana. Percorsi nel territorio tra Medioevo e Rinascimento (Milan, 2001), p. 113 Google Scholar.
14 Caleca, Antonino, ‘Il Cristo ligneo del Duomo’, in II Museo dell’Opera del Duomo a Pisa (Cinisello Balsamo, 1986), pp. 77–78 Google Scholar; Mariagiulia Burresi and Antonino Caleca, ‘Sacre Passioni: il Cristo deposto del duomo di Pisa e le Deposizioni di Volterra, Vicopisano e San Miniato’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 24-43. The only remaining figure of this lost group is the Christ, today housed in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo of Pisa.
15 The Volterra Deposition is set on a stone base in the second chapel to the right of the main altar of the cathedral.
16 Before the restoration, the group was thought to be an Imago pietatis ( Belting, Hans, L’arte e il suo pubblico. Funzione e forme delle antiche immagini della Passione (Bologna, 1986), pp. 173-76Google Scholar). The recent restoration brought to light surprising similarities in style and composition with the groups of Tivoli and Montone.
17 See Crocchiante, Giovanni Carlo, L’istoria delle chiese della città di Tivoli (Rome, 1726), p. 42 Google Scholar. In the case of the Tivoli Deposition, the statues were taken in procession ‘every Friday of March by the members of the Confraternity of the town […] singing verses on the Passion of Christ and the Miserere’ (‘ogni venerdì del mese di marzo da membri della confraternita della città […] accompagnandolo con il canto di versi sulla passione di Cristo e con il Miserere’).
18 Corbin, Solange, La déposition liturgié du Christ au Vendredi Saint. Sa place dans l’histoire des rites et du théatre religeux (Paris-Lisbon, 1960), pp. 114 Google Scholar, 120.
19 d’Ancona, Alessandro, Origini del teatro italiano, 1 (Turin, 1891), p. 164 Google Scholar: ‘Tre chiuove torte dai crocefixo, uno crocefixo grande acto a fare la Devotione.’ Nevertheless, in some scenes the presence of a person acting the part of Jesus was necessary: a document of 1257 indicates that, for the representations staged in Siena during Holy Week, a young man (‘al giovinotto che fa la parte del Signore’) was paid to play that part (d’Ancona, Origini teatro, p. 90). See also Bernardi, Claudio, La drammaturgia della settimana santa in Italia (Milan, 1991)Google Scholar.
20 Giovanni Pisano (c. 1248-after 1314), the son of Nicola, worked in Siena between 1285 and 1296.
21 ‘Vera effigie del Miracoloso Crocifisso che si conserva nella chiesa di Sant’Andrea a Palaia all’altare aggregato alla Venerabile Confraternita di San Michele de’ Neri di detta terra’, quoted in Marco Collareta, ‘Aria di Siena’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 129-34 (p. 129).
22 Enrico Castelnuovo, ‘Andrea Pisano scultore in legno’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 152-63.
23 Michele Bacci, ‘Sculture lignee nel folklore religioso: alcune considerazioni’, in Scultura lignea, pp. 31-41.
24 The image of this Crucifix is published in Michele Tornasi, ‘Il Crocifisso di San Giorgio ai Tedeschi e la diffusione del “Crocifisso doloroso’”, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 57-76 (p. 74).
25 The chapel is now dedicated to Santa Maria di Loreto.
26 On Renaissance central plan churches see Lotz, Wolfgang, L’architettura del Rinascimento (Milan, 1997), pp. 121-25Google Scholar. On the church of the Santissimo Crocifisso of San Miniato see Giusti, Maria Adriana and Matteoni, Dario (eds), La chiesa del SS. Crocifisso a San Miniato. Restauro e storia (Turin, 1991)Google Scholar.
27 Sacchetti, Franco, Lettere (Florence, 1857), pp. 218-19Google Scholar: ‘E’ fu un tempo che a Santa Maria da Cigoli ciascun correa […]; e poi a Nostra Donna d’Orto San Michele.’
28 Protector of children, the ‘Madre dei Bimbi’ is especially venerated by pregnant women. Among its famous miracles is the resurrection of a child, an event which is still evoked on 21 July, when people from nearby towns and villages process to the Sanctuary. Also its theft can be considered a kind of miracle; the sculpture was stolen in 1980 and reappeared one winter night, six years later, when the priest heard the doorbell ring and found the sacred image on his doorstep (Lucia Cardone and Lorenzo Carletti, ‘La devozione continua’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 236, 240). For the veneration of this sacred image in the fourteenth century see Borstein, Daniel, ‘The shrine of Santa Maria a Cigoli; female visionaries and clerical promoters’, in Melanges de l’Ecole Français de Rome — Moyen Age-Temps Modernes, 98 (1986), pp. 219-28Google Scholar; Bacci, Michele, ‘Pro remedio animae’. Immagini sacre e pratiche devozionali in Italia (secoli XIII e XIV) (Pisa, 2000), pp. 38–42 Google Scholar.
29 The stylistic connection between the ‘Madre dei Bimbi’ and the ‘Madonna dei Vetturini’ was underlined by Rizzo, Anna Padoa, ‘Stefano d’Antonio di Vanni a Cigoli’, in Bollettino dell’Accademia degli Euteleuti, 1990, 57, pp. 75–83 Google Scholar. Marco Collareta studied this relationship, independently, but drew different and more convincing conclusions: Collareta, ‘Immagini di devozione tra scultura e pittura’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 51-54.
30 In 1333 the church received the gift of a thorn, supposedly part of the crown of Christ; it then changed its name to Santa Maria della Spina. Because it was erected on the bank of the river and exposed to frequent floods, in the second half of the nineteenth century the building was taken down piece by piece and rebuilt on the present site, which is one metre higher than the previous one.
31 Frosini, Dino, ‘La collocazione della immagine della Madonna “in pié di ponte” nel Cinque e nel Seicento’, in La ‘Madonna dei Vetturini’ (Pisa, 1982), pp. 4–8 Google Scholar.
32 The statues of Santa Caterina can be considered the prototype of the wooden Annunciation (sixth to seventh decades of the fourteenth century) preserved in the National Gallery of Washington.
33 Williamson, Paul, Gothic Sculpture 1140-1300 (New Haven and London, 1995), pp. 204-06Google Scholar.
34 Since the later Middle Ages, these wooden statues were also used for performing the Annunciation. See Young, Karl, The Drama of the medieval Church, 11 (Oxford, 1962), p. 245, n. 6, pp. 479-80Google Scholar. We know that in Parma, for example, ‘artificial figures of the Angel Gabriel and Mary were used at the pulpit where the Gospel was read. The figure of Gabriel was lowered from an opening in the roof’.
35 A local legend tells how the two statues were recovered from the ruins of an old church which was situated not very far away from the hills, along the road which runs beside the oratory. They were transported on a oxcart, and it was decided to construct the new building to accommodate the statues at the place where the cart stopped. For devotional reasons, these figures had movable arms, so as to be easily dressed in real clothes (Cardone and Carletti, ‘La devozione continua’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 234-44).
36 See Collareta, Marco, ‘La chiesa cattolica e l’arte in età moderna. Un itinerario’, in Storia dell’arte religiosa (Bari, 1994), pp. 167-88Google Scholar.
37 Molinari, Cesare, Spettacoli fiorentini del Quattrocento. Contributi allo studio delle Sacre Rappresentazioni (Venezia, 1961), p. 67 Google Scholar. By the term ‘Sacred Representation’ (Sacra Rappresentazione) we mean the ‘dramatic representations in ottava rhyme, performed in a certain way, and frequently by some confraternities in Florence, during the Quattrocento’. In ‘Sacred Representations’ we see a progressive definition of the loci deputati of the different episodes performed; besides the aforementioned isolation of the stage, the theatrical machinery became more complex and sophisticated, as is shown by Brunelleschi’s mise en scène of the Annunciation (25 March 1439) in the Florentine church of Santissima Annunziata ( Zorzi, Ludovico, ‘La scenotecnica brunelleschiana. Problemi filologici e interpretativi’, in Filippo Brunelleschi. La sua opera e il suo tempo (Florence, 1977), pp. 161-71Google Scholar).
38 Ventrone, Paola, ‘I Sacri Monti: un esempio di teatro pietrificato?’, in La Gerusalemme di San Vivaldo e i Sacri Monti in Europa (Florence, 1986), pp. 145–162 Google Scholar (p. 155): ‘The clear separation between the drama and the audience reproduces a situation very similar to that one imposed by Renaissance perspective’ (‘La netta opposizione tra lo spettacolo e il pubblico riproduce una condizione di fruizione molto simile a quella imposta dalla scena prospettica rinascimentale’). For the Sacri Monti see also Wittkower, Rudolf, ‘I Sacri Monti delle Alpi italiane’, in Idea e immagine. Studi sul Rinascimento italiano (Turin, 1992), pp. 322-38Google Scholar; Langé, Santino and Pensa, Alberto, Il Sacro Monte. Esperienza del reale e spazio virtuale nell’iconografia della passione a Varallo (Milan, 1991)Google Scholar.
39 St Antony Abbot lived in the third and the fourth centuries, but the religious order which bears his name was founded only in the eleventh century. The monks of this order were devoted to curing various diseases, especially ergotism, using pork-fat. For this reason, they were allowed to pasture pigs and annually, on 23 December and on 17 January, they slaughtered the animals and gave the meat to the poor. Since medieval times, St Antony himself has been represented with a little pig at his feet.
40 A local tradition tells that the statue, found in a nearby woods, was fought over by the neighbouring villages. Placed on a cart drawn by oxen, the sculpture itself decided to go to Montecastello to take care of the community there.
41 Collareta, ‘Immagini di devozione’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 51-54.
42 Varazze, Iacopo da, Legenda aurea, thirteenth century (Turin, 1995), pp. 34–37 Google Scholar.
43 Figure 14 shows St Lucy before the recent restoration, which deprived the statue of all the attributes added throughout the centuries.
44 A local legend tells how this small sculpture was usually located on the top of the pulpit by Giovanni Pisano himself in Pisa Cathedral, at the time of Thomas Aquinas’ preaching. For the Crocifisso d’Elci see Enzo Carli, ‘Giovanni Pisano e Tino di Camaino’, in II Museo dell’Opera, pp. 83-101 (p. 90); Max Seidel, ‘Sculpens in ligno splendida. Sculture lignee di Giovanni Pisano’, in Sacre Passioni, pp. 79-94.
45 ‘[…]/ ICONEM HANC J. CRUCIFIXI CIRCUMORNARI/ ET/ FRANCISCO EX COMITIBUS ILCII/ CARD. SCIPIONE/ QUI SEDEM HANC PRIMATIAL TENUIT ANNOS XXVII. MEN. V./ EX FRATRE NEPOTI/ PROXIMOQUE ILLIUS PER AN. XXXVIII: MEN. IX IN EA SUCCESSORI/ HEIC CONCITO/ GRATI ANIMI MONUMENTUM PONI CURAVIT/ RAYNERIUS TIT. S. SABINAE CARD./ PATRUO AMATISSIMO/ A. S. MDCCXLII.’ For the Elei monument see Peroni, Adriano (ed.), Il Duomo di Pisa, III (Modena, 1995), pp. 456-57Google Scholar.
46 The Crucifix has already been mentioned by Lisner, Margrit in Holzkruzifixe in Florenz und in der Toskana von der Zeit um 1300 bis zum frühen Cinquecento (Munich, 1970), p. 19 Google Scholar.
