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in the city. Contemporary accounts even testify a boom in apocalyptic preaching which led to wide-spread anxiety.47 The appreciation of the visual arts was not unaffected by the political and religious upheaval of the 1490s. In fact, ���there arose the belief that the only true art, the only good art, was one that was directly inspired by God���.48 In this context Savonarola established himself as the ���enlightened hero���, the ���warrior of Christ���, who sought to reverse the trend toward paganism in Christian art.49 There once were priests of gold and chalices of wood, now it is the reverse of those ancient days and there are priests of wood and chalices of gold.50 Preaching that the Early Christian church was ���ornamented only by its virtues��� and that mankind should return to its simplicity and greatness, he appealed to the public to burn ���all vain things��� as a sacrifice to God.51 The fire on the Piazza della Signoria in 1496 included many works of art. Thus, it could not be more evident that within the framework of man���s sole purpose to achieve proximity to deity, religious images must have served crucial functions. In 1492, the Dominican friar Michele da Carcano defined these as instructing the common people, triggering feelings of devotion and memorizing holy stories.52 Recognising this potential, Savonarola stipulated art���s reduction to its didactic function, in addition it might be an aid to spiritual or mystical experiences. That is to say that it should ���tell its story in a clear way for the simple, HYLAND 21