Il ruolo dei fenomeni astronomici transienti nell'arte medioevale

Abstract

It is known long since that a number of exceptional and highly impressive astronomical events have been represented in Medieval artworks. We just remember the Bayeux Tapestry and the Giotto’s “Adoration of Magi” in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, representing the P/Halley comet transits of 1067 and 1301, respectively, while the “Apparition of Star to Magi” fresco in the San Pietro in Valle Abbey in Ferentillo (1182) has been suggested to represent the 1181 Supernova. However, no systematic survey of figurative Medieval and Renaissance art has been performed to date, in order to analyzing the role of transient astronomical events as inspiration sources of artworks in these epochs. In this work, we analyze a significant number of artworks, dated between the 9th and 16th Century and representing figurative elements in some way connected with Astronomy, in order to evaluate if they have been influenced by coeval extraordinary astronomical events