Chiavenna / Ciavena / Ciavéna / Claven / Clavenna / Cläven

Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

Results: 40 records

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cleric - bishop - with crozier

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - deacon - with book

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - deacon - with candle

Scene Description: one seen here behing the crozier-carrying bishop

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - deacon - with censer

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - deacon - with censer - detaill

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - holding bottle - 2

Scene Description: two of them

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - holding bottle - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - holding bottle - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

cleric - priest - reading

Scene Description: from a book carried by a deacon; a/p identification in Nordström

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

human figure - male - artisan - blacksmith

Image Source: digital photograph BAMS photo Rodella/ Jaca Book [www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/architetture/schede/1n120-00106/] [accessed 28 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - male - bearded - holding a staff?

Scene Description: male bearded figure facing towards the right and carrying or holding a large tall object, to the right of the man carrying the child [baptizand?] -- the man does not appear to be a cleric, although his garments are long

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

human figure - male - bearded - with baptizand or catechumen

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

human figure - male - bearded - with baptizand or catechumen - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

human figure - male - on horseback - with falcon

Scene Description: behind the figure carrying a child baptizand

Image Source: digital photograph BAMS photo Rodella/ Jaca Book [www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/architetture/schede/1n120-00106/] [accessed 28 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - male - on horseback - with falcon - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

inscription

Scene Description: [cf. Inscription area for details]

Image Source: undated digital photograph in Valchiavenna [[www.valchiavenna.com/postimg/Il-fonte-battesimale-di-Chiavenna.jpg] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

sacrament - baptism - procession

Scene Description: all around the basin sides

Image Source: undated digital photograph in Valchiavenna [[www.valchiavenna.com/postimg/Il-fonte-battesimale-di-Chiavenna.jpg] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

view of basin - detail

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: showing a partial view of the inscription

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph [source N/A] provided by Pol Herman

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of church exterior - cloister - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 August 2009 by Mardelplata [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloître-San_Lorenzo.jpg] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: PD-self

view of church exterior - west view - detail

Scene Description: Source caption: "Holzschnitt aus den Mittheilungen der kaiserl. königl. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale Band 5, 1860. Beitrag von Wilhelm Lübke mit dem Titel: „Reisenotizen über die mittelalterlichen Kunstwerke in Italien“, 1858/1859, gemeinsam mit Karl Schnaase".

Image Source: digital image of a ca. 1860 engraving by Wilhelm Lübke (1826–1893), in Mittheilungen der kaiserl. königl. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale Band 5, 1860 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MZK_05_-_1860_Reisenotizen_Italien_Fig_001_Chiavenna_S._Lorenzo.jpg] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior - west view - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken in May 2007 by MarkusMark [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChiavennaSLorenzo3.JPG] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior in context

Scene Description: Source caption: "Panorama dal Parco Paradiso".

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 April 2007 by Swiss79 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Collegiata_dal_Parco_Paradiso.JPG] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: PD-self

view of font

Scene Description: Source capttion: "Chiavenna: antico vaso in pietra nel Battistero (xilografia)."

Image Source: digital image of a xylograph made ca. 1896 by an unidenified artist, in Gustavo Strafforello's La patria, geografia dell'Italia: Provincie di Como e Sondrio Canton Ticino e valli dei Grigioni (Torino: Unione Tipografico-Editrice, 1896) [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiavenna_antico_vaso_in_pietra_nel_Battistero.jpg] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-PD-Mark / PD-old-70-1923

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

view of font

Scene Description: partial view of the baptismal procession

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

view of font

Scene Description: partial view of the baptismal procession

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

view of font

Scene Description: partial view of the baptismal procession

Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 June 2019 by Angeles Leal Arroyo

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 2 July 2019)

view of font and cover

Image Source: undated digital photograph in Valtellina Turismo Mobile [www.valtellinamobile.it/alla-scoperta-di-piuro/il-fonte-battesimale-a-chiavenna/] [accessed 16 July 2018]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

view of font cover

Scene Description: one of the two covers in use; the other is round, flat and plain; modern [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital image by A. De Gregorio / © NPL in DeA Picture Library / Bridgeman Images [https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/noartistknown/decorative-detail-of-12th-century-stone-baptismal-font-baptistery-of-san-lorenzo-chiavenna-italy/nomedium/asset/753400] [accessed 3 April 2024]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

FontID: 00145CHI

Church/Chapel: Chiesa parrocchiale di San Lorenzo / Collegiata di San Lorenzo

Church Patron Saints: St. Lawrence [aka Laurence]

Church Location: Piazza Don Pietro Bormetti, 3, 23022 Chiavenna SO, Italy -- Tel.: +39 0343 37152

Country Name: Italy

Location: Sondrio, Lombardia

Directions to Site: Located off (E) the SP2-SS36 crossroads, 8-10 km W of the Swiss-Italian border, NW of the town of Sondrio, in the Como area of Lombardy

Font Location in Church: Inside the [new] baptistery

Date: 1156

Century and Period: 12th century (mid), Late Romanesque

Workshop/Group/Artisan: Guido di Piuro?

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are greatful to Angeles Leal Arroyo for her photographs of this font. We are also grateful to Pol Herman for his help in documenting this font

Church Notes: Collegiate church founded probably in the 5thC; became parochial 1042, basilical 1098; expanded 1107-1108; baptistery of 1108; new bell tower 1174;

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Studied and illustrated in an early 'dissertazione' by Giuseppe Allegranza published in Venice in 1765. Maggione (2011) dates the construction of the old baptistery to 1108, round with chapels all around and the baptismal font in its centre; the new baptistery dates from 1700-1740 and received the old font without its original legs, which had been lost in the move ["probabilmente nel trasporto andranno perduti i peducci della vasca, raffiguranti – secondo la Visita Pastorale di Giovanni Ambrogio Torriani (6 luglio 1668) – il tetramorfo"]; the font itself is described as monolithic and richly decorated: "con particolare ricchezza di personaggi e accurata ricostruzione dei paramenti e della suppellettile – il padrino con in braccio il battezzando, un accolito con il cero pasquale, un sacerdote che recita la preghiera di benedizione del fonte leggendo dal sacramentario sorrettogli da un diacono, un altro sacerdote con pileo e croce pastorale (l’arciprete? il vescovo?), seguito da un suddiacono con un candeliere con il cero acceso e da tre ministranti con turibolo e ampolle degli oli santi. Alla rappresentazione liturgica si aggiungono tre figure di contemporanei – un fabbro al lavoro presso un castello, un soldato di sentinella sulla torre e un elegante cavaliere con un falcone – che rappresenterebbero secondo alcuni gli ordines – artigiani, abitanti del contado, nobili – della nascente società comunale, secondo altri un delegato dell’imperatore che interviene alla Veglia Pasquale (il cavaliere) e una sorta di rappresentazione simbolica di Chiavenna e della sua nuova dignità di libero Comune (il gruppo con il fabbro e la sentinella nel complesso fortificato). Un’iscrizione sul collarino della vasca, terminante sul piatto orizzontale e in piccola parte illeggibile, ma restituita da un’imbreviatura del 1614, ne esplicita datazione e committenza: ANNO AB INCARNACIONE D(OMI)NI N(OST)RI IH(ES)V XP(IST)I M(I)LL(E) CLVI, INDICIONE QVARTA, MENSE MARCI, FONS ISTE FACTVS EST SVB CONSVLIBVS CLAVENABVS ET PLVR(I)ENSIBVS: BERTRAME DE SOLAR, GIRARDVS MVSO, AZO BELDON, PETRVS RASTEL, [GIRARDVS DE CO’ DE PONT, AT(T)O MORA ET GVID]ON DE PLVRI FECERVNT." Maggione (ibid.) adds further descriptions of the decorative programme and of the funding of ther font. Noted and illustrated in the entry for this church in Walchiavenna [www.valchiavenna.com/it/cultura/Il-fonte-battesimale-di-Chiavenna.html] [accessed 16 July 2018]: "Nel battistero a pianta ottagonale, situato al´interno della Collegiata di San Lorenzo, si ammira una pregevolissima opera di scultura romanica. Originariamente in un battistero più a ovest rispetto all´attuale, demolito per costruire il portico alla fine del ´600, la vasca monolitica di pietra ollàre (la pietra locale utilizzata per ricavare pentole ed elementi architettonici) ha una circonferenza di circa 6 metri. Sul bordo esterno della tazza è incisa la seguente epigrafe: "Anno ab Incarnacione D(omi)ni N(ost)ri Ih(es)u Xpi (Christi) Mill(esimo) C LVI Indicione quarta mense Marci fons iste factus est sub consulibus Clavenabus et Plurensibus. Bertrame de Solar Giradus Muso Azo Beldon Petrus Rastel." La scritta proseguiva sulla parte orizzontale dell´orlo, di cui oggi restano poche tracce: "Girardus de Co´ de Pont Ato Mora et Guidon de Pluri fecerunt". (L´anno 1156 dall´incarnazione di nostro Signore Gesù Cristo, quarta indizione, nel mese di marzo fu scolpito questo fonte, sotto i consoli di Chiavenna e di Piuro). I nomi che seguono non sono quelli degli autori dell´opera, ma dei promotori della stessa, essendo tutti consoli, tranne Guido di Piuro, l´ultimo, forse lo scultore. Le sculture, che ornano a mezzo rilievo il fonte romanico, rappresentano la cerimonia del sabato santo durante la quale si benediceva l´acqua battesimale e si amministrava il battesimo. Al centro della scena i preti officianti, alla cui sinistra, dopo un chierico accolito con cero pasquale, sono presenti i laici: un battezzando in braccio al padrino e tre rappresentanti delle classi sociali della società chiavennasca e piurasca: l´uomo a cavallo con falco rimanda ai nobili; l´uomo che sporge da muro merlato i vicini, cioè i proprietari di terre del contado, vigilate da castelli; il fabbro, chino sull´incudine, gli artigiani e i commercianti). A destra degli officianti seguono gli altri ecclesiastici: un sacerdote con croce astile, e altri quattro chierici rispettivamente con candeliere, turibolo e le ampolle dell´olio dei catecumeni e del crisma. Sulle pareti del battistero vi sono tre pregevoli stendardi in seta ricamata e dipinta (XVIII)." Large monolithic roughly cylindrical unmounted font of early design made of potstone [lapis ollaris]. The upper rim bears an inscription; below it can be seen several figures (priests?) in procession-like order, walking, or facing, left [cf. Nordström's description below for details] [see also Index entry for the font at Provins, on which a procession is depicted too]. Single plinth. Entry in the Index of Christian Art (#060319[?]). Described and illustrated in Nordström (1984: 103, pl. 61): "this scene shows very emphatically the bishop with his crozier, a deacon holding a book from which a priest is reading, two men with candles, a man carrying the naked child who is to be baptized, another man holding a large censer, and lastly two men each holding a large bottle" [NB: Nordström omits to mention two other figures: a rider on his horse carrying a falcon in his left arm, and a smithy working with hammer and pliers -- this author dates the font "1186"]. In this scene, no font is represented. Probably, the child is thought of as being carried to the actual font itself." The scene is otherwise described as the blessing of the baptismal waters on Saturday, during Holy Week: at the head of the procession is the archpriest reading the missal, followed by the accolite; then come five clerics who carry the following symbols: the processional cross, the candle, the censer, the bottle of holy oils and the bottle of holy chrism; next to the accolite, following the cleric carrying the candle, are the laic followers: first the godfather with the babe-in-arms, then three other representatives of the laic arm: the aristocratic horseman, the feudman and the artisan; the inscription around the upper rim side records the sponsors of the work, namely four consuls from Chiavenna and two from Piuro. Studied in Mossinelli (1996). There are two font covers: 1)round, flat and plain; modern; wood, and 2)dome-shaped, made of metal, with figural finial

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 46.320667, 9.399833

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 46° 19′ 14.4″ N, 9° 23′ 59.4″ E

UTM: 32T 530781 5129754

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, potstone/steatite

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: tub-shaped (round)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Diameter (includes rim): 191 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * approx., based on a circumference of approx 6 m. [cf. FontNotes]

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: Latin

Inscription Notes: [cf. FontNotes for details]

Inscription Location: on the upper rim side and top

Inscription Text: 1.- "Anno ab Incarnacione D(omi)ni N(ost)ri Ih(es)u Xpi (Christi) Mill(esimo) C LVI Indicione quarta mense Marci fons iste factus est sub consulibus Clavenabus et Plurensibus. Bertrame de Solar Giradus Muso Azo Beldon Petrus Rastel." 2.- "Girardus de Co´ de Pont Ato Mora et Guidon de Pluri fecerunt".

Inscription Source: [cf. FontNotes]

LID INFORMATION

Material: metal,

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Allegranza, Giuseppe, Dell'antico fonte battesimale di Chiavenna, Venezia: Simone Occhi, 1765

Bilbao López, Garbiñe, Iconografía de las pilas bautismales del románico castellano: Burgos y Palencia, Burgos: Editorial La Olmeda, S.L., 1996

Index of Medieval Art, The Index of Medieval Art, Index of Christian Art, Princeton, [s.d.]. URL: https://theindex.princeton.edu/.

Maggioni, Chiara, "San Lorenzo a Chiavenna, il fonte battesimale e il Tesoro", 2 (2011), Lombardia romanica, 2011, pp. p. 130-136; r["References"]

Monti, S., Storia antica di Como, 1902

Mossinelli, Elisabetta, "Sul fonte battesimale romanico di Chiavenna", 34, Clavenna. Bollettino del Centro di Studi Storici Valchiavennaschi, 1996, pp. 83-121; r["References"]

Nordström, Folke, Mediaeval Baptismal Fonts: An Iconographical Study, Stockholm: Universitetet i Umeå, 1984

Wilkinson, John Gardner, Catalogue of the papers of Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, 1797-1875, Oxford: Bodleian Library, Dept. of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, 1997