Salvadori, SharonSmyth, CarolynCalvagno, Viviana2024-10-212024-10-212020Calvagno, Viviana. "A Journey through Santa Maria Maggiore in Tuscania: A Multimedia Decorative Program in the Middle Ages". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2020.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14490/554Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in International Affairs)--John Cabot University, Spring 2020.The church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Tuscania is a fascinating, and paraphs unique, example of both Romanesque and Gothic art in central Italy. Carved reliefs of monstrous creatures characterize the Romanesque architectural sculpture of the church in both its exterior and interior. Grotesque figures are a standard iconographic presence in many surviving western Romanesque sculptural programs; however, they are usually relegated to the exterior of churches and other Christian spaces, in an effort to delineate the boundaries between the sacred and the profane. In Santa Maria Maggiore, instead, the steady reoccurrence of hybrid and monstrous creatures all over the church seems to suggest a thematic continuum between the outside and inside of the church, and thus of a program deliberately envisioned by the designers, the patron, and the local clergy. This visual interconnectedness culminates in front of an early 14th century Last Judgment fresco. Like the monstrous corbels placed within the sacred environment, the fresco is "dislocated" too as, instead of following the standard medieval location for this image-type on the West-end of the church -whether on the interior or the exterior-, it is located on the eastern sanctuary wall. Thus, it appears that the unusual, if not unprecedented, placement of the fresco on the East-end might have been dictated not only by architectonical exigences, but also by the pre-existing sculptural decoration of the church, in an effort to forge a thematic continuum encompassing the entire decorative program. This thesis will mainly explore the iconography and meaning of the Last Judgment fresco in its original 14th century context. However, because it is impossible to explore this context without taking into consideration the local history and the pre-existing Romanesque decorative program, this study will also consider the dialogue that would have accompanied 14th century viewers in their journey across the different phases and spaces of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.ix, 112 pagesenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore (Tuscania, Italy)Church decoration and ornamentThesis