Designing a Visual Language in Norman Sicily: the Creation Sequence in the Mosaics of Palermo and Monreale

The displaying of the first part of the Genesis in western medieval art is a point of permanent concern since 1889, when Tikkanen's contribution focused on the atrium mosaics of San Marco in Venice by reference to the so-called Cotton Genesis. The debate progressively focused on early Christian sources. The question also involves the Genesis cycles of the Norman Sicily, deployed in the Cappella Palatina in Palermo and in the cathedral and monastery. What is remarkable in Palermo and Monreale is the deployment of the six days of Creation in a few frames. On the other hand, the roman iconographic tradition, widespread from the fifth to the twelfth century, provides a single frame to represent the Creation of the World, while in the frontispieces of the Carolingian Bibles the account starts directly with the Creation of Adam, and the same is true for the Romanesque Genesis of Northern Italy. The main question is: where do the iconographic features involved in Sicilian mosaics come from? Both cycles have been considered to be Cotton Genesis ‘recension’ witnesses, engendered with Byzantine models also mediated by Montecassino. Hence, their iconography has been analysed in the light of something else, not in their own specificity. With this in mind, searching for visual models chosen by the Norman court of Sicily, a reconsideration focused on the Hexameron sequence is required.