The Iconographic Type of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Renaissance Italian Painting in the Light of the Medieval Theology

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Very interesting article and I look forward to its published form! 

Author Response

I agree with him/her

Reviewer 2 Report

The article is of great interest from the point of view of the topic. However, in order to be published in the prestigious Journal Religions, the author should rethink his or her work in depth, taking into account some important methodological issues:

-The author shows an important mastery of certain medieval theological sources. However, for the article to be solid, from the point of view of art history methodologies, the author should link a direct relationship between the annotated texts and the images. For this, it is not enough to state that the hymns and texts were well known at the time, but it is necessary to establish a direct relationship between the texts and the images. Otherwise, other four hymns with the same subject matter could be selected which would simply act as decorative images for the theological texts. The reader cannot help but notice that the choice of paintings is rather random.

-The system by which the author has selected the 19 Italian paintings is not clear. From a methodological point of view, the introduction to the text should conceptualise perfectly what the criteria for the choice of the works of art is, not only by showing the iconographic themes mentioned in the hymns. Nor is it clear how the influence of these theological texts is only realised in these Italian paintings and not in others from other countries. Still less is it clear why texts by authors such as Anselm of Canterbury (11th century) influence 16th-century art but not earlier works of art, to give but a few examples.

-The author's mastery of written sources is quite remarkable. However, in the 21st century, the existing historiographical background of the 19 paintings selected cannot be ignored in a prestigious scientific work. The author refers to generalist works on them, whereas there is abundant literature specific to each painting which has not been taken into account. This deficiency must be remedied if the work is to be published. Although the author may disagree with previous interpretations, the reader is left with the feeling that a solid historiographical study of each of the paintings has not been undertaken. This aspect is essential in order to discover whether they are based on previous models or whether there is some kind of inspiration linked to the texts and hymns cited.

-The author avoids an issue of great relevance in the knowledge of medieval hymns. The great majority of textually recorded hymns reproduce expressions, devotions and ejaculations already existing in the oral tradition. It is this oral tradition, present in the liturgy - not through the texts of musical books, but through daily ritual practices - that directly influences the souls of the faithful in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age. This oral characteristic of some of the sources mentioned does not seem to have been taken into account by the author of this article. Without this consideration, the relationship between the texts and the images is simply that they deal with the same subjects and the article would lack the slightest historiographical interest.

-Surprisingly absent from the bibliographical references are the contributions of Professor Josemaría Salvador de Madrid, who has produced some interesting works on the images of the Virgin. We recommend consulting some of his works.

-The images presented in the article are of very poor quality. They should all be replaced by images of a higher quality which, moreover, come from the institutions which house the works. The current ones seem to be taken from low-quality public domain sources.

-The use of the term "iconography" in the title and in some expressions throughout the text does not conform to the current rigour applied in historiography. It is recommended to consult the methodological readings of the Spanish professor García Mahíques (it seems that the author of this text is Spanish, in the light of the bibliographical references cited), in which he explains why one should not speak of "iconography of a certain subject" but of "iconographic type" or "iconographic theme". Other art historians, such as W. J. T. Mitchell, have also argued in the same way.

-Some of the sources cited by the author (Salve Regina, Ave Regina Coelorum, Regina Coeli) are presented in their current versions included in the Roman liturgy. However, the author of the article should be aware that in the late Middle Ages these texts differed slightly from the current versions. Nor does it seem necessary and coherent to reproduce them in full in the text, which would unnecessarily lengthen the article. Rather, the author could dispense with these lengthy texts and quote specifically from the passages referred to.

Author Response

See the enclosed PDF file

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a very well researched and clearly presented discussion of the complexities of iconographic theme of the Coronation of Mary in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modernity. The author uses Medieval and Renaissance materials well, and explores the ways in which iconography of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy is directly inspired by the comments of some Church Fathers and medieval theologians and hymnographers.

Regarding to the in-text citation of the medieval hymnographers, it seems far too descriptive and fails to adopt a comprehensive theoretical framework to capture and integrate the different hymns of the citations. Moreover, I suggest the author considers the influence of Platonic Academy during Renaissance. Because it shaped the literary and artistic culture of Florence in the later Renaissance and influenced religion, art, and literature throughout Europe in the early modern period. Compared to the Church Father, the humanist representatives like Dante, Marsilio Ficino and Cristoforo Landino would have a direct and significant impact on the coeval Florentine painters.

Author Response

I substantially agree with him/her.

Regarding the quotations from the hymns being descriptive, I think they are clear and precise enough so that I don't have to explain them thoroughly they are self-explanatory. On the other hand, at the end of this section, I shall try to make a brief summary of the ideas or metaphors expressed by those hymns.
As for the Platonic influence, even though Dante, Marsilio Ficino, or Cristoforo Landino on this theme of the Coronation of the Virgin does not seem relevant to me. In any case, it would be more precedent to speak of a certain influence of Neoplatonism that, through Saint Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius, influences certain currents of medieval Christian thought, especially the Franciscan school, from which I quote some masters, such as Saint Anthony de Padua and Saint Bonaventure. And in front of the very unlikely influence of Dante, Ficino, or Landino in this theological and iconographic subject, the patristic, theological and hymnographic sources that I have presented in my article are much more influential.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The author has taken on board most of the specific recommendations requested. However, the methodological approach of the article turns out to be the same and not very up to date with the present way of working. The bibliographical references added are mostly old, encyclopaedic studies on painters, written by generalist and non-specialist researchers. Clearly, you will not find any precedent in this literature. They are not research articles in high impact journals in which the paintings are mentioned. The author should be more familiar with the current literature on the history of Italian Renaissance Art, which does address issues such as the direct relationships of the texts to the images and also to the agency of the painters and their relationships to their patrons/commissioners, with the corresponding transfers of theological ideas. Such a methodology would yield richer results than simply contrasting the written sources of hundreds of years ago with the iconographic motifs of the paintings.
Despite this, the current improvement of the article already makes it viable for publication in Religions.