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This article examines the migration of artistic theory from Europe to Spanish America in the early modern period and, more specifically, the way in which these ideas served to fashion the role of artists in colonial society. In the seventeenth century, Counter-Reformation ideas about the devout painter entered hagiographies written in Lima, Quito, and Santa Fe, which praised the artistic skill of religious artists as visible manifestation of their piety. As exemplars of Christian virtue, these artists stood as the spiritual capital of Spanish American cities and thus were instrumental in the shaping of local pride and identities. Tridentine artistic theory acquired a new meaning in colonial Spanish America, in the sense that it legitimized a view of Spanish American urban communities as Christian corporations. The figure of the Christian painter was particularly important in Jesuit narratives written in Spanish America, since it grounded the order's ideas regarding the moral end of pictures and of artists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Bernini and other artists of his generation would be responsible for much of the decoration at the Chiesa del Gesù and other Jesuit churches, there was more than half a century of art commissioned by the Jesuits before Bernini came to the attention of the order. Many of the early works painted in the 1580s and 90s are no longer in the church, and some do not even survive; even a major monument like Girolamo Muziano's Circumcision , the original high altarpiece, is neglected in scholarship on Jesuit art. This paper turns to the early altarpieces painted for the Gesù by Muziano and Scipione Pulzone, to discuss the pictorial and intellectual concerns that seem to have guided the painters, and also to some extent to speculate on why their works are no longer at the Gesù, and why these artists are so unfamiliar today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines how the textural and liturgical significance in the Jesuit engravings of the Santo Stefano Rotondo frescoes to support the contemporary Catholic ideology, was modified by the `Ecclesiae militantis triumphi' during the sixteenth century. Why the Santo Stefano Rotondo and the `Ecclesiae militantis triumphi' used inscriptions; Description of the engravings; Why the Jesuits established more educational institutions during the second half of the sixteenth century.

Marko I. Rupnik is one of the leading artists in the Catholic Church today. Initially characterized by a strong expressionism, he achieves, after an inner conversion, a symbolic synthesis between the early Christian and byzantine art and the avant-garde art. This paper focuses on the aesthetic and theological meanings of the logo of the Year of Mercy, made by Rupnik under the aspect of an unconventional image of Christ the Good Shepherd, but which has to, in point of fact, with an «anastasis», that has clear precedents in the work of the Slovenian Jesuit artist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The festivities organized in 1622 by the Society of Jesus in the Southern Netherlands filled the everyday space of the city to turn it into a place of special experience that can be approached through the lens of the sublime. Indeed, ornamentation, sounds, and lights shaping the ephemeral scenery and event were conceived to inspire in the mind of the spectators what the Jesuits called sacer horror, a Latin expression used to refer to all the physical sensations that the ancients felt in front of divinity -- religious awe, that is, the organic sensation of respect mixed with fear and wonder felt in the presence of gods or cosmic forces. We would like to show how the intensification of synaesthesic effects, with their direct impact on the body by stunning the senses, was intended to unveil the majesty of God and raise the mind toward the divine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the concept of gustus spiritualis, in particular its possible historical connection with (aesthetic) taste in the seventeenth century. By 'aesthetic', I mean a radically modern phenomenon, attitude, sensibility, and so forth, that is, a new type of experience. Its discourse has many keywords; one of them is taste, an inner faculty by which its possessor is able to make sharp and proper distinctions, and simultaneously to enjoy fine delights. Here, I am obliged to confine myself to the interpretation of some Jesuit authors within the wide tradition of gustus spiritualis: St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis de Sales, Baltasar Gracián, and Dominique Bouhours in sequence. The latter two are usually treated in the historical narratives of aesthetics, which, however, usually take gustus/gusto/goût as if it were a purely secular (moral, political) notion in the seventeenth century, while its theological roots are ignored. Exploring the role of gustus spiritualis in the evolution of (aesthetic) taste can cast light, on the one hand, on the important fact that this entails volition, that is, the determination and enchantment of human desire and hope without constraint; and, on the other, on the historical process of the emergence of a new type of 'beholder' with a sensitive attitude to transcendence, and, in the same manner, to his or her worldly life as well; moreover, it is a process in which, simultaneously, the nature of transcendence is transformed into a tastable one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses decoration in funerary chapels by 17th-century artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, focusing on the idea of performativity and how the chapels affect viewers. The author focuses on the Cornaro chapel in the Santa Maria della Vittoria church, the Fonseca chapel in the San Lorenzo in Lucina church, and the Altieri chapel in the San Francesco a Ripa church, all in Rome, Italy. Particular focus is given to Bernini's sculpture "Blessed Ludovica Albertoni" and Jesuit meanings of his work.

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the Jesuit tradition of Christianity in Asian art, design of north and south Indian temples, and iconography of tombs in China.

Presents an essay on education, missions, and economic enterprises in which the Society of Jesus were engaged. Effusion of painting, sculpture and architecture that characterized the Baroque in Bohemia; Jesuit contribution on education; Scope of the mission of the Society.

Examines the fresco of the Crucifixion at Saint Stefano Rotondo church in Rome, Italy. Details of the patronage of Jesuit College art; Influence of the didactic writings of Saint Ignatius on the composition of the martyr frescoes in Saint Stefano Rotondo; Analysis of the meaning of the Cross in the fresco in terms of its relation to the spiritual development of the student and to the spirituality of the Jesuit Society.

The article reports that the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts has offered their students a broad-based liberal arts education in the Jesuit tradition. The college will hold itself to its own high standards of teaching, learning, and research. It will devote itself exclusively to undergraduate education, promote close ties between students and the faculty and will monitor the academic progress of their students towards their successful degree of completion. In addition, the advisor is responsible for supporting the mission of the college by coordinating advising related activities.