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- Title
THE MOSAICS OF CEFALÙ REVISITED: INNOVATION AND MEMORY.
- Authors
BRENK, BEAT
- Abstract
All previous scholars have considered the mosaics of the Cathedral of Cefalù piece-meal. The mosaics were thought to display no program, and were dated to the forties, sixties and seventies of the twelfth century. By adopting a holistic method and considering the sources, the architecture, the liturgical instalments, the porphyry sarcophagi and throne platforms in the presbytery, and the mosaics simultaneously, a new perspective can be opened. The technique of mosaic requires working from the top to the bottom, and not the other way round. This means that the two cupola mosaics, those of the Cappella Palatina and the Martorana, the transept mosaics of the Palatina and the apse-and-choir mosaics of Cefalù are the earliest mosaics to have been executed. The dates of 1143 in the Palatina and of 1148 in Cefalù are related to the latest mosaics that were executed on the lower levels, however the actual starting date must have been considerably earlier. The year 1148 of Cefalù also means that the mosaics of the choir were finished by that date. The start of mosaic decoration in Palermo and Cefalù was surely before 1140; the total surface of the mosaics at Cefalù amounts to 630mq! Also the mosaics of the Martorana must have been completed before 1143 and most probably started before 1140. The program of the mosaics in the choir and in the apse of the Cathedral of Cefalù is centred on the Pantocrator in the apse, who is Creator, Redeemer and Judge. He appears with all his witnesses: the Virgin, the Archangels, the Seraphim, the Cherubim, the Apostles, the Prophets, the Church-fathers and the Saints, and He creates in that way the "City of God". All the prophetic quotations refer to God, the Pantocrator in the apse. This program forms a unity and was executed contemporaneously. It also is a breathtakingly innovative program, and does not refer to any earlier model, despite the fact that several elements appear in the narthex of Hosios Lucas. Roger used his own funerary context to commemorate his name. The empty porphyry sarcophagus was meant to function as a monument and reminder of his name for eternity, and by so doing, he compared himself with Christ the Pantocrator.
- Subjects
MOSAICS (Art); CATHEDRALS; SARCOPHAGI; ROGER II, King of Sicily, d. 1154; THRONES; COLLECTIVE memory
- Publication
Codex Aquilarensis, 2018, Vol 34, p13
- ISSN
0214-896X
- Publication type
Article