TY - JOUR TI - Tabernacles of the sacrament: eucharistic imagery and classicism in the Early Renaissance DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-dw5y-qd13 AU - Van Ausdall, Kristen PY - 1994 AB - The inception, iconographic origins and early development of large-scale, classicizing receptacles for the Host are examined in this dissertation. In order to provide a basis for understanding these monuments in the context of the Quattrocento, the history of eucharistic worship and Host reservation in Italy are analyzed. In addition, Host tabernacles are among the earliest monuments in the fifteenth century created in a classical mode and are related iconographically to other early classicizing monuments; thus the classical formula of the new tabernacles is treated in relation to eucharistic and eschatological iconography. This study finds that the early Renaissance style was specifically spiritual in nature and was part of a widespread, diverse effort to promote a new uniformity of worship based on the central philosophical concept of the Roman Catholic Church, the Corpus Domini. Contemporary theological and civic beliefs are analyzed in relation to eucharistic tabernacles to provide a context for the new imagery. A number of iconographies were ideologically and visually related to the this concentration on the Corpus verum. In particular, the Trinity, Baptism, and the Annunciation were mystically allied to the Eucharist and could serve to center the attention of the faithful on the body of Christ. These various forms of eucharistic devotion could function to unify worship while serving the needs of different patrons and settings. Images and reservation had a symbolic equivalency in the fifteenth century that was based on the ability to take communion by visualization as well as ingestion. Host tabernacles were created in part to facilitate spiritual communion; other monuments with eucharistic imagery could serve a related purpose. This study demonstrates that the new imaging of the central sacrament was readily understood in the fifteenth century, and was later assimilated into larger altar-retables. Classical tabernacles became an ideal method to stimulate the contemplation of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. KW - Lord's Supper -- Art -- History LA - English ER -