Mattia Preti’s Madonna della Lettera: Painting, Cult, and Inquisition in Malta, Messina, and Rome

On the basis of previously unpublished inquisitorial documents, this article reconstructs and discusses the genesis, iconography, functions, and removal of two altarpieces dedicated to the Messinese Madonna della Lettera, respectively in Rome (1642) and in Malta (1668). While the first painting is lost at present, it is possible to identify the latter with the Madonna della Lettera attributed to Mattia Preti and now preserved in the Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare di Messina. The essay demonstrates that this painting – whose provenance and date were previously unknown – was executed in 1664 for an altar in the church of Saint Francis in Valletta, which was dismantled in 1668. In both instances, the contestation and censorship of the altarpieces arose as a reaction to the multi-directional Messinese attempts to spread their hometown cult through the creation of new images that prominently visualized the letter, which is a lost and controversial contact relic. The combined examination of these two new cases offers material for a discussion of the normative role of painting and the visual arts in establishing a local cult in distant places – from Messina to Rome, Malta, and as far as Chin

A splendid shrine for an ugly image : visual interactions in the Salviati Chapel at San Gregorio al Celio

This essay examines the history and decoration of the Salviati Chapel at San Gregorio al Celio in Rome as the repository of an image of the Virgin and in relation to two other chapels created by the same patron (Antonio Maria Salviati) in the church of San Giacomo in Augusta. In considering this dialogue among the chapels, I analyze the rationale behind the project at San Gregorio and its purpose to valorize antique images, reconstructing the particular design and function in the space of the now lost altarpiece with St. Gregory by Annibale Carracci. I also discuss more broadly th theme of the artistic experimentation and confrontation between "old" and "ruined" 'images' and "new" and "beautiful" 'works of art', that took place in Rome at the turn of the seventeenth century

Symmetric inclusion process with slow boundary: hydrodynamics and hydrostatics

We study the hydrodynamic and hydrostatic limits of the one-dimensional open symmetric inclusion process with slow boundary. Depending on the value of the parameter tuning the interaction rate of the bulk of the system with the boundary, we obtain a linear heat equation with either Dirichlet, Robin or Neumann boundary conditions as hydrodynamic equation. In our approach, we combine duality and first-second class particle techniques to reduce the scaling limit of the inclusion process to the limiting behavior of a single, non-interacting, particle.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure. Final version. To appear in Bernoull

Orthogonal polynomial duality and unitary symmetries of multi--species ASEP(q,θ)(q,\boldsymbol{\theta}) and higher--spin vertex models via ∗^*--bialgebra structure of higher rank quantum groups

We propose a novel, general method to produce orthogonal polynomial dualities from the $^*$--bialgebra structure of Drinfeld--Jimbo quantum groups. The $^*$--structure allows for the construction of certain \textit{unitary} symmetries, which imply the orthogonality of the duality functions. In the case of the quantum group $\mathcal{U}_q(\mathfrak{gl}_{n+1})$, the result is a nested multivariate $q$--Krawtchouk duality for the $n$--species ASEP$(q,\boldsymbol{\theta})$. The method also applies to other quantized simple Lie algebras and to stochastic vertex models. As a probabilistic application of the duality relation found, we provide the explicit formula of the $q-$shifted factorial moments (namely the $q$-analogue of the Pochhammer symbol) for the two--species $q$--TAZRP (totally asymmetric zero range process)

Terribili a udirsi, più terribili a vedersi

In this essay, Chiara Franceschini discusses the extremely imaginative series of miniatures of hell and the Last Things as well as the complex relations between text and image in the Livre de la Vigne, Ms. Douce 134 from the Bodleian Library (1460 circa). Published by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, to accompany a fac-simile of the Ms. Douce 134 from the Bodleian Library in Oxford, this contribution discusses the extremely rich series of miniatures of hell and infernal punishments and the complex relations between text and image in this unique manuscript, which was produced possibly in the Grand Chartreuse in the region of Grenoble around 1460: Chiara Franceschini, “Terribili a udirsi, più terribili a vedersi”, in: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana (ed.), Il manoscritto Douce 134: mirabile visione, Roma: Treccani, 2019, pp. 105-135. http://www.treccani.it/catalogo/catalogo_prodotti/tesori_svelati/la_mirabile_visione.htm

Storia del limbo

A rigorous study of the most ambiguous image in the history of Christianity. From the Middle Ages until today the image of limbo has evoked ancient ideas of the afterlife and challenged the Christian boundary between nature and grace. Around this notion worked the many theologians, artists and writers who felt called to answer the pressing questions about the salvation of the unbaptized dead