Professors and Holy Fathers At Work. The Iconography of Teaching in the Sepulchral Art of Trecento Bologna
Professors and Holy Fathers At Work. The Iconography of Teaching in the Sepulchral Art of Trecento Bologna

Summary/Abstract: In the late Middle Ages, the Italian art developed an iconography of teaching that served to the remembrance of the most praiseworthy professors of medieval universities in funeral art. An art of the master lecturing to his students can be encountered on sarcophagi or the so-called arcae, as a postmortem laudatio of these renowned scholars and citizens. The article will focus solely on this iconography, as opposed to scenes of glorification or rhetorical disputatio, which – albeit interconnected – have their distinct place in art. The main object of the analysis are the civic tombs for scholars built in Bologna in the 14th century, and I will complement their analysis in the literature with details of cultural information and formal analysis such as the composition of space, the significance of gestures and the importance of dress codes. The last example, in lieu of conclusions, will reveal the ambivalent sacred iconography of an altarpiece predella from Florence inspired by the secular iconography discussed in this article.

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