Ron Herzman (SUNY Geneseo)
Dante, the Apocalypse, and the Frescoes at Santi Quattro Coronati
Presiding over the Frescoes depicting the story of the Donation of Constantine in the 13th century chapel of San Silvestro at the Church of Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome is an Apocalyptic Christ in Majesty that looks down on and helps to provide interpretive clues for understanding the narrative sequence below. With the aid of that depiction, this paper will attempt to read the narrative as a particularly powerful and effective piece of papal propaganda. Then it will show how Dante answers the papal position by looking at some key passages in the Commedia that likewise deal with the Donation. We will show how the apocalyptic energy of these passages can be seen as a response to what is present in the frescoes, and what is implied in the papal position.
