The Upper Waters in Christian Cosmology, Between Historiography and Materiality Tribute to Andrej N. Grabar

FOLETTI, Ivan and Adrien PALLADINO. The Upper Waters in Christian Cosmology, Between Historiography and Materiality Tribute to Andrej N. Grabar. In Air and Heavens in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World, 11 – 13 September 2019, Moscow. 2019.

Basic information

• Original name: The Upper Waters in Christian Cosmology, Between Historiography and Materiality Tribute to Andrej N. Grabar
• Authors: FOLETTI, Ivan (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Adrien PALLADINO (250 France, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Air and Heavens in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World, 11 – 13 September 2019, Moscow, 2019.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Requested lectures
• Field of Study: 60401 Arts, Art history
• Country of publisher: Russian Federation
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/19:00107677
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: Historiography; André Grabar; Upper Waters; Late Antique Mosaics; Santa Costanza; Liminality
• Tags: rivok

Abstract

In 1957, André Grabar dedicated a seminal paper (La mer céleste dans l’iconographie carolingienne et romane) to mosaic decorations in the early Middle Ages, from Santa Costanza (4th century) to Santa Maria Maggiore (13th century), through manuscript illumination. In the analyzed mosaic decorations are represented, in the lower part, large bodies of water. The latter are full of life: small fish, birds, fishermen, are represented in these waters. As Grabar noted, this apparently very pagan iconographies, reminding Roman nymphea, are often present under theophanic images or below representations of the Heavenly spheres. Grabar concluded from these remarks that while being so full of antique memory, the function of the lower waters was to represent a physical and metaphorical division between the human world and the divine sphere. This concept was a widespread belief in Christian cosmology. Starting from this paper, we would like to investigate on the one hand the methodology of Grabar and the reason why, at that very point of his biography, he dedicated his research to this topic. On the other hand, we intend to propose a more complex reflexion about visual, physical, and perfomative barriers created in order to permit the access to the Heavenly vision within the sacred space of hierotopy of Late Antiquity. As we will try to demonstrate, Grabar’s proposition has indeed to be enlarged in a more complex scheme. The final step of our paper will then be to understand the part of the historicity in elaborating intellectual and art historical patterns.

Links

• GA18-20666S, research and development project: Name: Kondakovovo dědictví, Byzance a emigrace (André Grabar a Seminarium Kondakovianum) (Acronym: HNK)

Investor: Czech Science Foundation