FAMOUS DECAPITATED HEADS ON DISPLAY HOW TO

The figure of Saint John the Baptist had notable success and inspired extreme devotion as it embodied the tenets of the post-Tridentine Church. This type of graphic image of raw realism should be seen in the context of the cult of martyrs, encouraged and stimulated by the Counter-Reformation in opposition to the tenets of the Protestant movement.

Art was intended to be in the service of the Church, effectively transmitting a doctrinal message. This was precisely the effect sought by the Counter-Reformation through the celebrated decree concerning sacred images: to move, persuade, convince, thrill and incite piety and devotion through images, although sometimes with the consequence that the realism and drama were taken to extremes. Images of the severed heads of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Paul had notable success in the Counter-Reformist environment of Spain-especially sculpted images, due to the greater impact caused by the strong realism of three-dimensional images. True or not, romantic or creepy, today these MoriВ represent the Sicilian ceramic art all over the world, thanks also toВ Dolce&Gabbana, who often use characters and items of the traditional Sicilian folklore and have recently launched a collection inspired to the Moorish Heads.ГЃlvaro Pascual Chenel has written of the present work: Today there are several varieties of ceramic heads, but the traditional ones show a black man and a beautiful girl. People walking down her balcony started looking at her flourishing plant of basil and became jealous of how bloomed her plants were, so they began to forge colourful clay heads pots wishing to have the same magic green thumb. She therefore cut off his head and cleverly decided to use it as a vase to grow her beautiful basil plant. They started having a love story until whenВ she discovered he already had a wife and children waiting for him in his native land.В She went suddenly crazy of jealousy and one night, while he was sleeping she thought of a way to make him stay with her forever!

Suddenly, a Moor merchant who was passing by, fell in love with the beautiful girl who immediately returned his love. One day, a beautiful and honorable young girl living in the Kalsa, the arabic district of Palermo, was taking care of plants and flowers in the balcony of her house as she was used to. The legend of the Moorish head goes back in the XI century, during the Moors domination in Sicily and as in most legends, is once again CupidвЂ™s fault (or credit). Walking through the many narrow streets of Taormina, you may end up in Via degli artisti, an incredibly beautiful street embellished by Sicilian Majolica ceramics designed by a local artist.В At the top of his house you will find these beautiful ceramic heads pots where blooming plants grow inside. But, without any doubt, the most popular and fascinating ceramic objects are the Moorish Heads or Teste di Moro. There are many different types of items that can be crafted, distinguished by their color patterns, the shape and the motifs painted on the pottery.

In he thirteenth-century, the Spaniards of Aragon were the first who referred to colored Sicilian ceramic objects as вЂњmaiolicaвЂќ, because the firing and glazing techniques used to create these pieces were similar to those used in the Balearic Islands of Majorca.

FAMOUS DECAPITATED HEADS ON DISPLAY HOW TO

The art of Maiolica pottery was brought to Sicily by the Arabics who taught Sicilian how to create these wonderful objects, now real peieces of art. Who, coming at least once to Sicily, has never seen a Moorish head in a balcony, or in a traditional Sicilian Restaurant, or in the many pottery shops we have?

Famous decapitated heads on display