Senso del colore e assenza di colori nell’architettura sacra medievale e nelle sue ‘rivisitazioni’ in Italia: qualche considerazione sulla facies esterna

As Michael Pastoureau contends, the Middle Ages was the era of colour, when many things had the “right to colour”. Things that would not be polychrome anymore in the modern and contemporary age, such as building facades and sculptures (he says so, but of course it is just a generalization), which will instead conform to a purely monochromatic, often totally white, aesthetic. Though during the Middle Ages a polychromatic appearance of buildings and sculptures was usually preferred, we have extraordinary examples of Cistercian buildings where colour was programmatically refused (even stained glass windows were in grisaille), which influenced modern and contemporary architects, such as Le Corbusier. So, we can say that the Middle Ages continued and strengthened the relationship between form and colour which characterized the temples and sculptures of Antiquity. Even though studies on polychromy in Medieval monuments have recently become more common, we still lack a critical overview that, based on single case studies, can interpret the data and answer the questions: what was the "chromatic approach" of the Medieval architect, and how did he express it

C’è un tempo per tutto: il calendario monumentale figurato nel Medioevo ovvero l’agenda del buon cristiano

The iconography of the “Labours of the Months”, as figures engaged in active occupations, mostly rural activities, has a long history. Its origins are to be found in the Late Antiquity, but it was not until the XII century that it became a very common theme, above all in sculpture. What is of interest is that the medieval sculptural cycles show a more limited and simplified repertory of scenes compared to the past, which means they were undoubtedly more ‘targeted’, and therefore conceived to communicate specific messages. In fact, in the merely descriptive appearance of seasonal activities that mark the passage of time, in the Christian era these images, thanks to the visual connection they had with other images from the Old and New Testament displayed in the sacred spaces, were capable to evoke a gamut of multiple associations to such an extent that we can talk of thematic polysemy. This article aims to demonstrate that the sculptural cycles of the Labours of the Months were ultimately a sort of monumental agenda to remind the believer what to do in order to be a good Christian

Questioni di facciata? Il colore dello spazio, lo spazio del colore e la bellezza del bianco

A difficult aspect to put into context, color is not of secondary importance, but rather is of primary consideration in the design of a building as to how it will be perceived, starting with its facade. White as a color (whether the sum of all colors or their very absence and negation) seems to have been the preferred choice of architects throughout the ages. It was determined by the materials in use but also for cultural-symbolic reasons. White was mistakenly believed to be “the color” of Classical Antiquity, but only because of the decay of time and the loss of pigments that characterized, for example, the pediment in Classical temples. That’s why it was considered particularly suited for expressing the ideal of formal perfection, beginning with the Renaissance, continuing with the Baroque, Neo-Palladianism, Neo-Classicism, as well as the architecture of the fascist period. So rare in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, eras characterized by a tendency for a more or less insistent use of polychromy, in which white was just one of many possible colors, the monochrome modality becomes a growing option. However long seen as a reference to Classical Antiquity, and from a philological point of view due to the Modernist movement the negation of historical truth or the recognition of color as aesthetic error, white has risen as a contemporary symbol. It is considered on the one hand perfect for expressing a neutral state which doesn’t speak but is spoken about, allowing its context or content to emerge. While on the other hand it is perfect for the search for other dimensions outside of time and the surrounding space