Heremitical places of a modern Arcadia: Ignazio Stern in the Oratory of Saint Onuphrius the Anchorite in Lugo di Romagna

Abstract

The Oratory of Saint Onuphrius, presently the venue of municipally promoted festivals and art exhibitions, had once a liturgical function related to the charitable activity of the annexed hospital, where needy people of the town could be offered some relief. Despite the present employment, however, the state of preservation and integrity of the Oratory's decorations do allow one's imagination to see such past activity, and so gather a deeper insight as to the choices of the patrons, in relation to their own requirements and to the complex's purpose. In particular, the cycle of paintings dedicated to the stories of the anchorite saint, made between 1716 and 1719 by the Bavarian painter Ignazio Stern, is the expression of a culture that was influenced by Arcadian literature, and that saw the assertion of values based on the Gospel in the voluntary dismissal of the material comforts provided by the civilisation of progress.