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Embodying Devotion: Multisensory Encounters with Donatello's Crucifix in S. Croce
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2020
Abstract
The reception of art is often described in ocularcentric terms, but all five senses could engage devotional objects in late medieval and early modern Europe. This article explores this phenomenon by considering a wooden crucifix with movable arms made by Donatello for the Franciscan church of S. Croce in Florence in the early fifteenth century. It makes new suggestions about the work's original location, its possible patrons, and its functions and reception, especially during the rituals associated with Good Friday. It also reflects on the challenges scholars face when taking a multisensory approach to premodern visual and material culture.
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- Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by the Renaissance Society of America
Footnotes
Many thanks to colleagues who invited me to present parts of this article at the Victoria and Albert Museum, University of York, Renaissance Society of America conference, and College Art Association conference. I am also grateful for the helpful suggestions made by Andrew Chen, Peter Dent, Ena Giurescu Heller, Sarah McNamer, Michèle Mulchahey, Elizabeth Pilliod, Peter Stiberc, and Renaissance Quarterly's reviewers, and to Marcia Hall for kindly allowing me to rework two of her drawings. This article is dedicated to my parents, R. Stanley Johnson and Ursula Gustorf Johnson.
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