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The Cathedral of Assisi: The Beasts of San Rufino and the Dance of King David

Lobova, Elizaveta
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Abstract
The façade of the Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi is decorated with multiple animalsculptures that make it an outstanding example of Romanesque architecture. Overall, 166 variouscreatures are depicted on the façade, but one is given an exceptional prominence. This is abirdlike reptile with wings, two feet, often a beak and cock’s crest and a snaky tail makes up23% percent of all the creatures represented on the façade of the cathedral. Most prominently thesculptures of the reptile, which the thesis identifies as basilisk, is employed in the embellishmentof engaged colonnettes that decorate the main portal of the cathedral. The segments of thedecorative arch that the colonnettes support are in turn decorated with a representation of KingDavid enthroned holding a book of Psalms and figures hand in hand, in pairs dancing. Theseelements raise multiple questions on the iconographic meaning of the decorative programme.Through analysis of representations of King David in earlier and contemporary illuminatedmanuscripts and Romanesque architecture, the thesis proposes that the dancing figures should beviewed as an iconographic reference to King David depicted below them. With the employmentof primary literary sources both from antiquity and the Middle Ages, the paper identifies thereptile as a basilisk and investigates the question whether this reptile was possibly conceived as anegatively charged symbol. With the conclusion that basilisk was viewed as the incarnate of thedevil, which is supported in the Old Testament, the thesis views the representation of KingDavid, the dancing figures and the basilisks on the colonnettes as one composition and providesa reading that derives from Christian scripture. The reading is based on the prediction of thearrival of the Messiah made in the book of Isaiah. The conducted research proposes a newiconographic reading of certain elements of the decorative programme of the façade thatscholarship on the cathedral has paid little attention to.
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Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2023.
Date
2023
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San Francesco (Church : Assisi, Italy), Italian art, Medieval art
Citation
Lobova, Elizaveta. "The Cathedral of Assisi: The Beasts of San Rufino and the Dance of King David". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2023.
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