Reading the layers

This week we start Paradiso. As readers of this blog know, I am reading the Durling and Martinez editions of the Commedia and each volume runs to almost 1000 pages including notes and commentary. Rick's visit coincided on the schedule with the end of Purgatorio  and the arrival in Paradiso in a real sense-he brought the third volume with him!

the climb

Each of the cantiche of the Commedia has its own geography and rules and understanding this is a challenge. Taken together, the multi-layered world is even more complex. I love the fact that we have been seeing multi-layered stories everywhere we go in the visual representations of medieval understanding of both physical and spiritual worlds.

The Florence Baptistery (see July 12th post) is perhaps the most striking of these for me. I got the chance to see the mosaics again with Rick and consider how these images would have struck Dante and his 14th century readers. First, a bit about the structure of the building itself. The earliest records date construction to around 897 c.e. when marble pilasters taken from the Roman Forum were added, as well as Roman Sarcophagi for use by prominent Florentine families (see history of the Baptistery).

The octagonal shape is one used in baptisteries from early Christian times-6 days of creation, one day of rest and the 8th day of regeneration (represented in the baptism itself). The present day baptistery was largely completed in 1059. (It is hard for me to even get my head around buildings older than a couple hundred years...).

The mosaic ceiling is for me the most exciting part of this building. Started in 1225 and completed by Venetian masters (and most probably some Sienese masters like Cimabue) by the 14th century, the mosaics are read in layers  in the same way that one reads the Commedia. 

Above is a short video shot by Linda Vannoni this past week.(the video is about 2 minutes long so allow it to load) In it you can see three huge secions above the altar-a large Christ and the Angels of Judgement on either side of him, and on his right hand the rewards of those saved, on the left the evil doers punished and damned.

The other layers can be read from top tier to bottom and from right to left. The top has the Choirs of Angels and Thrones (Powers, Virtues, Dominations), then the stories from the Book of Genesis, stories of the life of Joseph, Mary, and Christ and  finally the lower tier as described above (the Last Judgement).