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1/: Several churches in #Rome and Campania preserve medieval #Easter 
candlesticks for lighting the paschal candle on the #EasterVigil. Here, the cathedrals of Capua and Sessa Aurunca and Roman churches of S Maria in Trastevere and S Paolo fuori le Mura #MedievalArt #liturgy
candlesticks for lighting the paschal candle on the #EasterVigil. Here, the cathedrals of Capua and Sessa Aurunca and Roman churches of S Maria in Trastevere and S Paolo fuori le Mura #MedievalArt #liturgy
2/: Exultet rolls show the lighting of the #Easter candle. These were illustrated scrolls used for the rite in southern Italy, like these of the late 11c from the Benedictine abbey of Montecassino, now @bibliovaticana. See also the @BLMedieval blog: https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/04/exultet-rolls-celebrating-the-return-of-the-light.html
candle. These were illustrated scrolls used for the rite in southern Italy, like these of the late 11c from the Benedictine abbey of Montecassino, now @bibliovaticana. See also the @BLMedieval blog: https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/04/exultet-rolls-celebrating-the-return-of-the-light.html
3/: An early 14th century Gradual from St Peter's (now @bibliovaticana), linked with Cardinal Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, has the rite for blessing the #Easter candle. Its illustrations show the spiraling candlestick common in 13th century Roman churches. #manuscripts #liturgy
candle. Its illustrations show the spiraling candlestick common in 13th century Roman churches. #manuscripts #liturgy
4/: Many of these were decorated with #mosaic inlay often by the Cosmati, a Roman family of #marble workers. Some stood on lions with a Corinthian capital serving as a base for the candle. These are at S Maria in Cosmedin, SS Cosma e Damiano, and S Lorenzo #MedievalArt #sculpture
5/: The design had a prestigious pedigree from the frieze on Trajan's column to Roman decorative columns (here: Palazzo Altemps) and those in Old St Peter's, associated with Solomon's temple and Constantine, and widely imitated (here: Lateran cloister and Compostela) #MedievalArt
6/: Liturgical changes have led to many rearrangements of church furniture, but the present set up at Salerno Cathedral shows how an #Easter candlestick might be closely integrated with a pulpit and other furnishings. #MedievalArt #Liturgy
candlestick might be closely integrated with a pulpit and other furnishings. #MedievalArt #Liturgy
7/ Some candlesticks, like the one in Capua Cathedral, had carved images related to the #Easter #liturgy including the lighting of the candle or the events surrounding Jesus' resurrection. #iconography #sculpture #ChristianArt
#liturgy including the lighting of the candle or the events surrounding Jesus' resurrection. #iconography #sculpture #ChristianArt
8/: In #Rome, San Paolo fuori le Mura has an impressive figured candlestick, done c1190, with a carved base, elaborate inscription, and six events from Jesus' Passion to his Ascension in three rows. These are engravings from Nicola Maria Nicolai's study of 1815. #MedievalArt
9/: The #inscription names Othonus as patron and two artists, Niccolò d'Angelo and Pietro Vassalletto. The Vassalletto family of #marble carvers was active for a century in Rome. Father and son did the early 13c Lateran cloister (shown here) and probably that of S Paolo.
10/: The decorative figures supporting the candlestick include sphinxes which also appear in the Lateran cloister (more closely tied to ancient models) and in other works by Roman marble carvers like this one in Viterbo signed by the Dominican friar Paschal, a Roman. #sculpture
11/: In the lowest two scenes, Christ is arrested and brought to Caiaphas who wears a turban; Christ is mocked by Roman soldiers. A demonic face appears left of Christ in the first scene, and I have no idea why a soldier is trampled in the mocking scene. #MedievalArt #iconography
12/ Above, Christ stands before Pilate who washes his hands with water from a jug. Christ is crucified between the thieves. Mary and John flank him. Two men hold the titulus and hammer, as the arma Christi or instruments of the Passion. #iconography #handwashing 
13/ The arma Christi also appear in the restored apse #mosaic of the early 13th century where you can also see Pope Honorius III kneeling at Christ's feet. #MedievalArt #ChurchesOfRome #ChristianArt
14/ In the #Crucifixion, Christ wears the sleeveless colobium, unusual in the 12th and 13th centuries, and a throwback to earlier medieval imagery in Rome, like the 8th century Crucifixion in Santa Maria Antiqua @ParcoColosseo #iconography #MedievalArt
15/ Finally, the "rising" narrative reaches its climax in the top row with the Resurrection and Ascension. #MedievalArt #Easter #BibleInArt
#BibleInArt
16/ For more on the S Paolo candlestick and the liturgy and church furniture of southern Italian churches, I recommend the rich, informative book by Nino Zchomelidse, Art, Ritual, and Civic Identity in Medieval Southern Italy which I've used here. http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-05973-0.html
17/ Whatever your religious faith, whether strong, weak, or uncertain, or if you have no religious beliefs at all, I hope a celebration of renewal, of life's triumph over death, and of light shining in the darkness of night inspires all of you in this difficult time #HappyEaster
