Byzantine patriarch's tomb in Florence
Type:
Tombs
Date:
1439
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Dimensions:
figure H 190 cm
Description:
The ecumenical council held in Ferrara and Florence from 1438 to 1445 included negotiations for the union of the Roman (or Latin) and Orthodox Churches. The Filioque (procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, as per the Roman Creed), papal primacy relative to the other sees, and purgatory were among the contested issues. The presence of so many Byzantine clergy spurred a renewed interest in icons in Italy. The Byzantines were amazed by the Italians' religious theater performances, by mechanical clocks with moving statues, and by lifelike votive sculptures made of wax.
The Byzantine delegation was led by the Constantinopolitan patriarch Joseph II (ca. 1360–1439), but he died in 1439 and was buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. His tomb, now in the right transept, is marked by a columned marble arcosolium embellished with sculpture that reflects Florentine taste. Below it is a long first-person inscription in Latin and Greek. The arcosolium encloses a frescoed funerary portrait (retouched in the late sixteenth century) that looks like an icon, with a strictly frontal figure. Like an icon of a holy figure, the figure is identified by a Greek inscription, here in gold letters: "Joseph, by God's grace archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, ecumenical patriarch." The patriarch wears an elaborate blue sakkos and an omophorion decorated with crosses. The gold-embroidered cloth held by angels behind him emphasizes his stature; such a cloth was common in northern Italian religious images.
Standing images of the deceased were unknown in fifteenth-century Italy. Joseph's large scale and frontal, iconlike appearance were meant to demonstrate the authority of the Byzantine Church, embodied in its patriarch.
The Byzantine delegation was led by the Constantinopolitan patriarch Joseph II (ca. 1360–1439), but he died in 1439 and was buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. His tomb, now in the right transept, is marked by a columned marble arcosolium embellished with sculpture that reflects Florentine taste. Below it is a long first-person inscription in Latin and Greek. The arcosolium encloses a frescoed funerary portrait (retouched in the late sixteenth century) that looks like an icon, with a strictly frontal figure. Like an icon of a holy figure, the figure is identified by a Greek inscription, here in gold letters: "Joseph, by God's grace archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, ecumenical patriarch." The patriarch wears an elaborate blue sakkos and an omophorion decorated with crosses. The gold-embroidered cloth held by angels behind him emphasizes his stature; such a cloth was common in northern Italian religious images.
Standing images of the deceased were unknown in fifteenth-century Italy. Joseph's large scale and frontal, iconlike appearance were meant to demonstrate the authority of the Byzantine Church, embodied in its patriarch.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
10
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
