Artibus et Historiae no. 17 (IX)
1988, ISSN 0391-9064Up
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Buy article pdf
JOSEPH MANCA - Renaissance Theater and Hebraic Ritual in Ercole de' Roberti's Gathering of Manna
The setting of Ercole de Roberti's Gathering of Manna forcibly recalls the staging used for secular plays produced in Ferrara at the end of the Quattrocento. This reflection of theater design in a painting is more that an empty, formal borrowing, for it can be shown that the theatricality of the picture probably reflects several arguments put forth by L. B. Alberti and Pellegrino Prisciano, who connect the origins of theater with primitive religious celebrations and, more specifically, with the events that surrounded the original Gathering of Manna. Furthermore, the theatricality of the picture, along with other aspects of the Gathering of Manna, turns out to serve as flattery of Duke Ercole I d'Este, having as its aim a subtle comparison of the Duke with Moses.
