A Printed Icon in Early Modern Italy : Forlì's Madonna of the Fire

In 1428, a devastating fire destroyed a schoolhouse in the northern Italian city of Forlì, leaving only a woodcut of the Madonna and Child that had been tacked to the classroom wall. The people of Forlì carried that print - now known as the Madonna of the Fire - into their cathedral, where two centuries later a new chapel was built to enshrine it. In this book, Lisa Pon considers a cascade of moments in the Madonna of the Fire's cultural biography: when ink was impressed onto paper at a now-unknown date; when that sheet was recognized by Forlì's people as miraculous; when it was enshrined in various tabernacles and chapels in the cathedral; when it or one of its copies was - and still is - carried in procession. In doing so, Pon offers an experiment in art historical inquiry that spans more than three centuries of making, remaking, and renewal. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Table of contents 7 List of illustrations 8 Acknowledgments 15 Introduction: Art, Icon, Print 23 Part One Thing 33 Chapter One Iconography: Madonna and Child 35 "Surrounded by Some Other Saints' Figures" 38 Madonna in/as the Tabernacle 41 The Crown, the Sun, and the Moon 46 "A Pronounced Archaicism" 50 Chapter Two Imprint: Paper, Print, and Matrix 61 Paper and Ink 66 Early Modern Print History 71 The Print in the Age of Miraculous Reproducibility 79 The Singular Matrix 86 Right-Left Reversal 93 Part Two Emplacement 103 Chapter Three Miracle: The Fire of February 4, 1428 105 Fire in the City 107 Trial by Fire and Miracles of Incombustibility 111 "Miracle, miracle!" 116 Chapter Four Domestic Display: Lombardino da Ripetrosa's Schoolhouse 121 Worship at Home and at School 124 Texts, Places, and Prudence 129 Domestic Church [Chiesa Domestica] 138 Chapter Five Ecclesiastical Enshrinement: The Cathedral of Forlì 143 The Cathedral of Forlì 144 Negotiations with Rome 148 Framing Devotion in the Chapel and at Home 153 Part Three Mobilities 161 Chapter Six Moving in the City: The Translation of 1636 163 Marking the Cityscape 165 Organizing the Populace 179 Chapter Seven Mobile in Print: The Procession on Paper 190 "The description and narrative of all that was done" 198 Commemorating the Procession: The Column of the Madonna of the Fire 207 Chapter Eight Multiplied: The Madonna of the Fire in Forlì and Beyond 217 "Not a Street or Piazza" 219 Rome and Forlì 222 The Saltmakers of Cervia 227 "The Shrine of the Madonna of the Fire in via Firenze" 232 Notes 240 Introduction: Art, Icon, Print 240 Chapter One: Iconography: Madonna and Child 242 Chapter Two: Imprint: Paper, Print, and Matrix 247 Chapter Three: Miracle: The Fire of February 4, 1428 256 Chapter Four: Domestic Display: Lombardino da Ripetrosas Schoolhouse 259 Chapter Five: Ecclesiastical Enshrinement: The Cathedral of Forlì 264 Chapter Six: Moving in the City: The Translation of 1636 270 Chapter Seven: Mobile in Print: The Procession on Paper 275 Chapter Eight: Multiplied: The Madonna of the Fire in Forlì and Beyond 278 Selected Bibliography 282 Abbreviations 282 Archival Sources 282 Sources Published Pre-1750 283 Sources Published Post-1750 283 Index 305 Colour plates 19 "In 1428, a devastating fire destroyed a schoolhouse in the northern Italian city of Forlì, leaving only a woodcut of the Madonna and Child that had been tacked to the classroom wall. The people of Forlì carried that print - now known as the Madonna of the Fire - into their cathedral, where two centuries later a new chapel was built to enshrine it. In this book, Lisa Pon considers a cascade of moments in the Madonna of the Fire's cultural biography: when ink was impressed onto paper at a now-unknown date; when that sheet was recognized by Forlì's people as miraculous; when it was enshrined in various tabernacles and chapels in the cathedral; when it or one of its copies was - and still is - carried in procession. In doing so, Pon offers an experiment in art historical inquiry that spans more than three centuries of making, remaking, and renewal"-- Provided by publisher Lisa Pon Examines The Cultural Biography Of The City Of Forlì's Miraculous Woodcut, The Madonna Of The Fire.