Harpur, Alison Catherine; (2023) Studies in visual culture and the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445). Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The thesis examines visual culture in relation to the ecumenical Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1445), at which a short-lived union was negotiated between the Latin Church and the Greek Church in 1439, under Pope Eugenius IV (r.1431–1447) and the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus (r.1425–1448). The first part of the thesis explores the role of visual culture during the Council, addressing ceremonial entries, para-liturgical celebrations, and diplomatic gifts. The second part addresses the commemoration of the Council in Florence, Rome, and Ferrara, concentrating on a cassetta commissioned by Cardinal Cesarini to hold the documents of union in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence; Medici patronage in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo; Filarete’s bronze doors of St Peter’s in Rome; and Pisanello’s bronze portrait medal of the Byzantine Emperor. The third part considers the visual legacy of the Council in relation to Pisanello’s drawings of the Byzantine court, Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation, and Benozzo Gozzoli’s fresco of the Journey of the Magi in the Palazzo Medici. Throughout the thesis, the Council of Ferrara-Florence is considered in relation to Conciliarism and the Council of Basel (1431–1449), which has been marginalised in relation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence within art history. The thesis also emphasises the consideration of visual responses to the Council of Ferrara-Florence in relation to established approaches to the visit of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus (r.1391–1425) to Paris in 1400–1402. The thesis contends that the Council of Ferrara-Florence was broadly commemorated despite its eventual failure, that its significance was related not only to ecclesiastical union with other parts of the Church but also to triumph over Conciliarism, and that the visual legacy associated with the Council was mediated through artistic precedents developed in response to the visit of Manuel II Palaeologus to Paris earlier in the fifteenth century.

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