Panel 25 of Atlas Mnemosyne and Agostino di Duccio: : Apollonian and Dionysian at San Bernardino’s Oratory at Perugia

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of the Warburguian legacy through two aspects: a closer look to the reliefs of the San Bernardino Oratory in Perugia and the study of Panel 25 of Atlas Mnemosyne. We believe that Warburg bequeathed a method, revealed in premises distilled from his writings, as proposed by several Italian researchers nowadays. We emphasize the direct contact with the monuments; the attention to detail and towards the exception; the precedence of images; the dialogue between images. Panel 25 is mostly composed of reliefs sculpted by Agostino di Duccio (1418-1481), little known in art history compendiums. On this panel there are two images of the San Bernardino Oratory: its facade and a relief on a miracle of the saint. We carry out a close look at this facade, in order to explore the poetry of this artist, unique in the incorporation of the Dionysian element in Renaissance art. Angels, allegories of the Liberal Arts and Virtues appear in Pathosformeln of dancing Menades, and Nymphs in exile erupt in the scenes of miracles. It is from this guiding thread that we propose an interpretative path to Panel 25, focusing on the polar forces between Pagan and Christian, Apollonian and Dionysian, in dialectical synthesis in Duccio's reliefs.