Paper -a:
This is an examination of the mosaic of the apse of San Clemente in Rome in light of the artistic exchange between east and west immediately after the First Crusade. In the absence of a definite date, the atypical Crucifixion theme has been interpreted through theological viewpoints or the papal controversies of the 12th century, while Early Christian parallels are normally evoked for the rich plant motif of the background. This paper analyses an overlooked iconographic connection with the mosaics of the Dome of the Rock and links are suggested with Pascal II's papal patronage.
Paper -b:
An attempted 1407 ecumenical council in Siena, in which Rome's Pope Gregory XII and Avignon's Benedict XIII planned to resolve the Western Schism, may have influenced Taddeo di Bartolo's contemporaneous decorations of the town's Cappella dei Signori. Frescoes of saints and heroes from five orders of preachers and two military orders adorn the chapel's piers, referencing the orders' representatives summoned to the council. St Augustine's inscription discussing caritas can then be interpreted as a defense of the via cessionis, Jean Gerson's advised path to reform. Before the council plan dissolved, Taddeo had completed the allegory, perhaps under Pope Gregory's supervision.
Paper -c:
The Passion painting in the church of St James in Toruń, dating back to the 1480s and presenting simultanously the torment of Christ in 22 scenes is one of the most interesting late medieval panel paintings related to the idea of spiritual pilgrimage. The purpose of the paper is to present this work of art in both local and European context. My point is to explain the function of the painting and the way it was perceived by the representatives of the late medieval society.
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