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TO FAME AND GLORY:
BOLOGNA MUNICIPAL CEMETERY AND ITS PANTHEON.
ABOUT THE PERSISTENCE OF THE TRADITION OF
CELEBRATING GREAT MEN
Antonella Mampieri
In 1886, when Luigi Serra (Bologna, 1846–1888)
painted the great plafond depicting Irnerius, his
mind must have been full with the rumours, pro-
jects and ideas for the solemn celebration of the
eighth centenary of the University foundation
that took place in 1888 (Fig. 1).1 The large paint-
ing bears all the symbols of scholarship and em-
bodies the values of Bologna University at the
end of the nineteenth century. The mythical first
professor of the local school of law, Irnerius, is
depicted by Serra seated upon his cathedra, writ-
ing his notes in a huge codex. Serra combines
here the realistic style fashionable at the end of
the nineteenth century (the man bent over his
book pensively considering the text, the books
gathered around him in an untidy mass express-
ing his hard intellectual work, the clothes care-
fully studied on costume repertoires and the
Roman-Cosmatesque gold decoration encrust-
ing the steps and throne, the contrast between
Gothic and capital fonts on the scroll and on the
inscription under Irnerius’ feet) with the sym-
bolism creeping into poetry and the arts during Fig. 1: Luigi Serra, Irnerius writing his notes on the Corpus
Iuris, 1886, painting, Bologna, City Hall.
1 The painting, originally placed in the middle of the ceiling of the Hall of Honour of the Provincia di Bologna, host-
ed at that time in the town hall, is today exhibited on the first floor of the same building. Serra was commisioned
for this last and significant work in 1886 and following his usual studio practice, he made a great number of sketches
and drawings in order to reach the complex, allegorical result that was going to be enthusiastically celebrated by his
contemporaries, especially by the Nobel prize winner poet Giosue Carducci. See A. Zacchi, Temi sacri, storici e
allegorici, in: Il Segno e il colore. Nell’atelier di Luigi Serra (exh. cat. Bologna, Galleria d’Arte Moderna), Cinisiello
Balsamo 2003, p. 111 and p. 203.
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book Der Arkadenhof der Universität Wien und die Tradition der Gelehrtenmemoria in Europa"
Der Arkadenhof der Universität Wien und die Tradition der Gelehrtenmemoria in Europa
- Title
- Der Arkadenhof der Universität Wien und die Tradition der Gelehrtenmemoria in Europa
- Editor
- Ingeborg Schemper-Sparholz
- Martin Engel
- Andrea Mayr
- Julia Rüdiger
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- WIEN · KÖLN · WEIMAR
- Date
- 2018
- Language
- German
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-20147-2
- Size
- 18.5 x 26.0 cm
- Pages
- 428
- Keywords
- Scholars‘ monument, portrait sculpture, pantheon, hall of honour, university, Denkmal, Ehrenhalle, Memoria, Gelehrtenmemoria, Pantheon, Epitaph, Gelehrtenporträt, Büste, Historismus, Universität
- Categories
- Geschichte Chroniken