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Visions of the divine
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Visions of the divine
SubTitle
Baciccio's frescoes at the Gesù in Rome
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Nayyar
NamePart
(type = given)
Reshma
NamePart
(type = date)
1974-
DisplayForm
Reshma Nayyar
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
author
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Puglisi
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(type = given)
Catherine R.
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Catherine R. Puglisi
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Advisory Committee
Role
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chair
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
McHam
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(type = given)
Sarah Blake
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Sarah Blake McHam
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Marder
NamePart
(type = given)
Tod A.
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Tod A. Marder
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Waldrop
NamePart
(type = given)
Gregory
DisplayForm
Gregory Waldrop
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2014
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2014-05
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2b);
(type = code)
eng
Abstract
(type = abstract)
Baciccio’s Triumph of the Name of Jesus (1676-1679) decorating the nave vault of the Gesù in Rome is a stunning exemplar of illusionistic Baroque ceiling painting. Its composition centers on the blazing letters IHS representing the Name of Jesus in the form of the Jesuit monogram that attracts the Blessed and repels the Damned. Its imagery has been widely accepted as a celebration of the Church Triumphant. My dissertation reexamines the meaning of the Triumph based on textual and visual evidence in conjunction with a consideration of its site in the mother church of the Society of Jesus, which reveals a conscious glorification of the Jesuit founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, even though he is not represented in the composition. Through an analysis of devotional and emblematic literature from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I show that the allegorical and symbolic imagery of the Triumph, with its allusions to Ignatius, would have been understood by devout and erudite audiences at the Gesù. My dissertation further investigates the substitution of Joshua Stopping the Sun projected for the apse with Baciccio’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (1680-1683), in light of the original commission, the change in theme, and the relationship to the Triumph of both subjects. This shift in subject has been relegated to a mere passing mention and otherwise overlooked in scholarship on the frescoes. Based on a previously ignored connection between Ignatius and the Old Testament general Joshua, and on consideration of contemporary exigencies faced by the Society, I argue that the Jesuits’ decision to replace the subject of Joshua was to avoid antagonizing the reigning pope Innocent XI. Previously unpublished letters authored by the Jesuit Lazzero Sorba betray the precarious position in which Father General Oliva and the Jesuits found themselves during the reign of Innocent XI and support my claim. Finally, an analysis of the circumstances leading up to this change in subject demonstrates that Baciccio’s frescoes in the Gesù were not conceived as a unified program as has been accepted in scholarship, and they are more accurately characterized as a cycle.
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Art History
RelatedItem
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_5551
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
xviii, 412 p. : ill.
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Reshma Nayyar
Subject
Name
(authority = LC-NAF)
NamePart
(type = personal)
Gaulli, Giovanni Battista,--1639-1709
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Painting, Baroque
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Mural painting and decoration--17th century
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Mural painting and decoration--Italy--Rome
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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rucore19991600001
Location
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NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T31V5C82
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Nayyar
GivenName
Reshma
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2014-04-18 12:22:34
AssociatedEntity
Name
Reshma Nayyar
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
DateTime
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(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2014-05-31
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = end)
2016-05-30
Type
Embargo
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after May 30th, 2016.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
RULTechMD
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ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem
(VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
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