Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Monreale Cathedral: Interior Mosaics
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Preferred Title:
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Monreale Cathedral: Interior Mosaics
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Image View:
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Central (nave) mosaics, Noah takes the animals on the Ark and Sending Forth the Dove
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Creator:
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unknown (Norman)
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Location:
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site: Monreale, Sicily, Italy
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Date:
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1174-1189 (creation)
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Cultural Context:
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Norman
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Work Type 1:
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mosaic (visual work)
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Classification:
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mosaics
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Material:
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stone; marble; granite; glass; gold; mosaic
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Technique:
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mosaic (process)
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Relation Work:
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part of Monreale Cathedral
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Subjects:
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cycles or series; decorative arts; New Testament; Old Testament and Apocrypha; saints; Benedictines; Crusades; mosaics (visual works); mosaic
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Description:
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The scheme of mosaics begins in the nave with the Creation and subsequent Old Testament scenes, progresses to the Life of Christ in the crossing, transepts and nave aisles, and culminates in the apse with a hieratic array consisting of Christ Pantokrator with his heavenly court. The programme imitates many features of the mosaic decoration of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, but it is more expansive; and in the absence of a cupola, the main apse and presbytery form the sole theological centre. Although the style of the mosaics is Byzantine, almost all the inscriptions are in Latin, not Greek, and the disposition of the scenes in unbroken friezes is contrary to Byzantine practice. At Monreale the walls are covered with images: the surfaces not containing the main scenes--piers, soffits and spandrels--bear prophets, saints and angels. The New Testament scenes form the largest surviving monumental New Testament cycle in either East or West. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/)
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Image Description:
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The nave bears Old Testament scenes in two tiers from the Creation to Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
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Collection:
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Archivision Addition Module Two
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Identifier:
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1A3-N-S-MD-3-H3
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Rights:
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© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.
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