Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Demonic and Divine Bodies
- 1 Sanctity on the Threshold: Liminality and Corporeality at Tor de’Specchi
- 2 Painted Visions and Devotional Practices at Tor de’Specchi
- 3 Dining and Discipline at Tor de’Specchi: The Refectory as Ritual Space
- 4 The Devil in the Refectory: Bodies Imagined at Tor de’Specchi
- Epilogue: Imagining the Canonization of Francesca Romana
- Appendix: Statutes of Ordination for the Beata Francesca
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The Devil in the Refectory: Bodies Imagined at Tor de’Specchi
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Demonic and Divine Bodies
- 1 Sanctity on the Threshold: Liminality and Corporeality at Tor de’Specchi
- 2 Painted Visions and Devotional Practices at Tor de’Specchi
- 3 Dining and Discipline at Tor de’Specchi: The Refectory as Ritual Space
- 4 The Devil in the Refectory: Bodies Imagined at Tor de’Specchi
- Epilogue: Imagining the Canonization of Francesca Romana
- Appendix: Statutes of Ordination for the Beata Francesca
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The center bottom panel of the gruesome terra verde fresco cycle of the Tor de’Specchi refectory, in effect the focal point of the wall, depicts one of the most menacing, memorable scenes in the series, and bears the following descriptive caption:
How the blessed Francesca suffered such horrible and diabolical oppression when the enemy of human nature brought the worm-laden body of a dead man to her [room], and pushed and tossed her onto the fetid corpse.
The grim vision represented in this scene is set in a barren room where a sinister, fire-breathing demon, shown as a remarkably muscular nude man with ram's horns and bat wings, shoves the beatific Francesca Romana onto a rotting, worm-laden cadaver (Plate 24). The “enemy of human nature” dominates the space of the fictive room, and leans forcibly into the falling body of the saint, with his feet spread wide and hands powerfully gripping her shoulders. His genitals are barely covered by a shaggy patch of fur that brushes against the back of the beata's floor-length skirt. As Francesca topples toward the fetid, half-eaten ribcage of the decaying corpse, she thrusts her arms forward in a seemingly futile attempt to break her fall while the corpse, which appears to be more alive than dead, strains to sit up and reaches provocatively for the hem of her skirt. Her childlike guardian angel observes the unfolding drama from a wispy, translucent cloud that hovers above the scene, and silently offers a gesture of blessing. The dramatic tension between the widely diverse figures in this panel is emblematic of the physical and spiritual dilemmas depicted throughout the refectory series, fusing themes of provocation and decay with those of resistance and redemption.
Ideas surrounding temptation and penance, volition and faith, sexuality and punishment that were held by pious women of the period were incorporated into the terra verde images at Tor de’Specchi in ways that addressed mounting concerns by and about religious women and female mystics. They also give us insight into how contemporary developments in artistic ideation and practice could be used to best render early modern depictions of the Devil, demons, and female saints.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Divine and Demonic Imagery at Tor de'Specchi, 1400–1500Religious Women and Art in 15th-century Rome, pp. 127 - 154Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018