La visione di Ez 1 nelle «figurae» di Gioacchino da Fiore

Among the figures attributed to Gioaccchino there are two, one in the Liber figurarum and the other in the Praemissiones, which refer back to the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1. This paper shows how, in both, there are elements to which the abbot’s writings testify, and how in their turn Gioacchino’s works draw on the previous exegetical tradition, with special reference to Gregory the Great. However, in his interpretation of this topic Gioacchino introduces some novel elements, and in some cases breaks with tradition. Moreover, there are significant similarities, in these two figures, to the contemporary outlines of ‘visual exegesis’, with their diagrams of the winds and of the cosmos, but also with a representation regarding Ezekiel 1 in the Ripoll Bible. Comparison with the abbot’s writings, and the testimony which seems to be offered by a letter from Raniero di Ponza, written in 1202, suggest that these two figures reflect two different stages in the development of Gioacchino’s teaching, who, however, on the basis of the elements which have emerged, can hardly be considered extraneous to the way in which they were designed and executed.