The Muqarnas Ceiling of the Cappella Palatina: Cultural Fluidity and Construction of the Royal Identity

Authors

  • Zoe Gan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/m3457k05

Keywords:

Muqarnas Ceiling, Norman visual language, Cultural Unity.

Abstract

The muqarnas ceiling of the Cappella Palatina was constructed in 1140 and is painted with themes ranging from court life to animals, mythical creatures to magnificent gardens. The ceiling is a testament to Roger II’s ambition for power, legitimacy, and multicultural harmony under Norman rule. Many scholars have tried to pinpoint the provenance of the ceiling as purely of Fatimid origin. However, upon inspection of the interconnectivity of the 12th-century Mediterranean and the incorporation of various Fatimid, Byzantine, North Syrian, and North African visual models, such a claim warrants scrutiny. This essay will consider how the subject matter, style, materials, and structure of the muqarnas ceiling function to form a new Norman language that addresses all the people of the Mediterranean. By synthesizing the iconography and style of different cultures, Roger uses material culture to symbolize his universalistic ambitions and elevates himself as an equal to other contemporary powers. The fluidity in the Norman visual language is also demonstrated.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Fazello, Tomasso, “De rebus Sicilus,” vol. 1 (1558): 172-173. Quoted in Jeremy Johns. “A Tale of Two Ceilings. The Cappella Palatina in Palermo and the Mouchroutas in Constantinople (Revised Pre-Print Version: Now Published).” In Art, Trade, and Culture in the Near East and India: From the Fatimids to the Mughals, edited by Michael Rogers, Alison Ohta and Rosalind Wade Haddon, 56-71. London: Gingko Library Art, 2016.

Reilly, Lisa. The Invention of Norman Visual Culture: Art, Politics, and Dynastic Ambition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Fatta, Giovanni, Tiziana Campisi, Mario Li Castri, and Giuseppe Costa. “The Muqarnas Ceiling of the Palatina Chapel in Palermo.” Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage 17 (2017): 65–85.

Tabbaa, Yasser. “Muqarnas.” Oxford University Press, 2003.

Nicolle, David. “The Cappella Palatina Ceiling and the Muslim Military Inheritance of Norman Sicily.” Gladius 16 (December 30, 1983): 45–145.

Agnello, Fabrizio. “The Painted Ceiling of the Nave of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo: an Essay on its Geometric and Constructive Features.” Muqarnas 27 (2010): 407–47.

Jones, Dalu. “The Cappella Palatina in Palermo: Problems of Attribution,” Art and Archeology Research Papers 2, (1972): 41-57

Britt, Karen C. “Roger II of Sicily: Rex, Basileus, and Khalif? Identity, Politics, and Propaganda in the Cappella Palatina.” Mediterranean Studies 16 (2007): 21–45.

Matthew, Donald, ed. “Southern Italy and the Normans before the Creation of the Monarchy.” In The Norman Kingdom of Sicily, 9–32. Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Theotokis, Georgios. “The Norman Invasion of Sicily, 1061–1072: Numbers and Military Tactics.” War in History 17, no. 4 (2010): 381–402.

Altan, Ebru. “Sicilya Kralı II. Roger’nin Bizans’a Taarruzu ve Bizans-Norman Savaşları (1147-1149).” Güneydoğu Avrupa Araştırmaları Dergisi / The Journal of South-Eastern European Studies 0, no. 37 (December 31, 2021): 45–57.

Jordan, C. William. Europe in the High Middle Ages. England: Penguin Books, 2002

Aurell, Jaume, ed. “Roger II of Sicily: Imagining Self-Coronation.” In Medieval Self-Coronations: The History and Symbolism of a Ritual, 175–95. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Kitzinger, Ernst. “The Mosaics of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo: An Essay on the Choice and Arrangement of Subjects.” The Art Bulletin 31 (1949): 269–92.

Rosintal, J. “Pendentifs, trompes et stalactites dans l’architecture orientale,” Journal des Savants (1928): 132-133. Quoted in, Yasser Tabbaa, "Muqarnas." Grove Art Online. 2003; Accessed 26 Jun. 2023.

Johns, Jeremy. “Muslim Artists and Christian Models in the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina.” edited by R Bacile and J McNeill. British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Maney Publishing, 2015.

Walker, Alicia. “Middle Byzantine Aesthetics of Power and the Incomparability of Islamic Art: The Architectural Ekphraseis of Nikolaos Mesarites,” Muqarnas 27 (2010): 79–101.

The Center for Hellenic Studies. “8. David and the Divine Lyre.” Accessed June 20, 2023.

Hawqal, Ibn. Biblioteca Arabo-Siculo. Translated by Michele Amari. Turin: 1880. Quoted in Lisa Reilly, The Invention of Norman Visual Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Abulafia, David. “The Crown and the Economy under Roger II and His Successors.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 37 (1983): 1–14.

Kapitaikin, Lev A. “David’s Dancers in Palermo: Islamic Dance Imagery and Its Christian Recontextualization in the Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina.” Early Music 47, no. 1 (April 27, 2019): 3–23.

Anzelmo, Francesca Manuela. “Dress and Textiles in the 12th-Century Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo.” Maney Publishing, 2015, September 1, 2015.

Kapitaikin, Lev Arie. “The Paintings of the Aisle-Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina, Palermo; Römisches Jahrbuch Der Bibliotheca Hertziana (Munich) 35 (2003-04), Pp. 115-48.” Accessed June 20, 2023.

Understanding the Bible. “What does the Number 8 mean in the Bible?” Accessed June 17, 2023.

Eugenius of Palermo, Versus iambici, ed. and transl. Marcello Gigante, Palermo, 1964.

Downloads

Published

14 May 2024

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Gan, Z. (2024). The Muqarnas Ceiling of the Cappella Palatina: Cultural Fluidity and Construction of the Royal Identity. International Journal of Education and Humanities, 14(1), 172-179. https://doi.org/10.54097/m3457k05