Maria Leonor García da CRUZ
From bestiaries to the Iconology of Cesare Ripa: the construction of political and religious representations at the dawn of the Modern Age
Dos bestiários à Iconologia de César Ripa: a construção de representações políticas e religiosas nos alvores da Época Moderna
Published in Ramon Llull. Seventh centenary
PDF download:
23.09.pdf
Wolves and foxes, traditionally chosen as representatives of the threat to the sheep that were led by the Pope, Pastor of souls, were animals used both positively and negatively in religious and profane literature, in bestiaries, emblem books and in the “Iconology” of Cesare Ripa in the late 16th century. Putting special emphasis on the latter and comparing political thought and 16th-entury movements of spirituality, I shall attempt to explain meanings in the textual and pictorial representations of the time, in an approach that is part of the “Imagery Studies” of Lisbon University’s History Centre.
