'Sympathy, Imitation, and Ambition': The German Discovery of Medieval South Italy in the 19th Century

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Gabriella Cianciolo Cosentino
• Subject Area: Art History ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 254969058

From the Normans to the Swabians, and the Anjou to the Aragonese, successive dynasties in southern Italy from the 11th to the 15th century created a variegated and shifting political framework that contributed to the growth of an extraordinarily rich architecture influenced by both Eastern and Western cultures. In contrast to earlier periods, the 19th century witnessed a considerable increase in attention to this architecture that went well beyond regional and national boundaries. Indeed, the rediscovery of southern Italy's medieval architecture and art in the late 18th-early 19th centuries was primarily effected through the perceptive and investigative gazes of non-Italian scholars: Germans, in particular, were among the first to turn their attention to Norman-Sicilian buildings, and to discover Hohenstaufen architecture in Apulia.Within the general interest in what Séroux d'Agincourt called art history's missing link, i.e. the Middle Ages, this research project investigates the reception outside Italy of the architecture of the medieval Kingdom of Sicily. Through an analysis of a wide range of textual and visual sources, I especially want to examine the ways in which this architecture was discovered, perceived, represented, studied, and revisited on the other side of the Alps, as well as its impact at various levels on the artistic and cultural life in countries such as Germany, England, and France. The objective is to provide a new approach to understanding the 19th century reception of southern Italian medieval architecture, placing greater emphasis on its transnational dimension. The final aim is to contribute not only to the study of the reception itself, but also to the understanding of its motives in an international and comparative perspective.By approaching this subject within a broader geographical and disciplinary context, one which goes beyond the obvious, already much explored interest in local past and artistic traditions by Italian scholars, I assess the importance of foreign, and in particular German, perspectives. Additionally, I argue that the 19th century rediscovery of Norman, Hohenstaufen, and Angevin architecture of the medieval Mezzogiorno occurred under the combined pressure of various major Western forces and movements: Historicism, Nationalism, and Orientalism. In a complex relationship between patriotic sentiment and a quest for the 'other', these forces generated a renewed interest in this fascinating border zone, a liminal tract between Europe, Africa, and the East, and its extraordinarily rich and complex architectural tradition, a tradition previously considered 'barbarian' and relegated to the margins of European art histories.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants