Oltre il colore

The study’s main focus is a particular group of virtually one-color wall paintings with sacred subjects from the fourteenth and fifteenth century in Italy, whose reduction of color cannot be explained by the intention to evoke material. Besides early examples executed in shades of ochre, most wall paintings of this genre are green. Based on precise case studies and an extensive catalogue, the author sheds light for the first time on the content-related depth of the phenomenon by providing new insights into the semantics of color and material. The massive dissemination of this form of monochrome painting can moreover be situated with respect to the history of faith and church politics thanks to the incorporation of picture cycles that have hitherto been neglected or are unknown.