Refugee Image: A Madonna from Frascati(Italy) in Colonial Mexico (Zacatecas)
Todd Olson, Professor
Art History
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2024 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2025.
Beato Antonio Baldinucci (Florence 1665 – Lazio 1717), son of the art historian to the Medici court, was a Jesuit missionary in Lazio, known for his penitential missions, involving carrying a cross, flagellation and bonfires of the vanities. During these internal missions, Baldinucci carried with him a copy of a painting of the Madonna and Child from outside Florence, which was dedicated to Refugium Peccatorum. The copy was in turn enshrined in Frascati, crowned by the Pope for its miraculous powers and then copied in multiple paintings and prints, following the Jesuit missions to Northern and Central Mexico in the 18th century. Like her more famous predecessor Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe from Extremadura (Spain), Nuestra Señora del Refugio de Pecatores participated in the transatlantic exchange of devotional images (one example is in the De Young Museum, SF). This paper will interrogate the transformation of a Tuscan image of Marian consolation into a processional object accompanying a public ritual of violent mortification. The transfer of the image from Italy to Mexico by Italian Jesuit missionaries entailed a process of translation.
Role: Bibliographic research and translation. Research will contribute towards a scholarly publication. Research Apprentice will learn research techniques and become familiar with academic publications.
Qualifications: Some knowledge of Italian and/or Spanish (required).
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: 411A Doe
Arts & Humanities Social Sciences