Un disegno inedito della chiesa di San Giorgio di Guastalla e l’inventio della categoria di «architettura matildica» in area mediopadana

Abstract

The unpublished drawing of the Saint George’s church in Guastalla (Reggio Emilia, Italy), by the painter from Cremona Tommaso
Aroldi, offers the possibility not only to frame the small late-Romanesque building in a broader historical-architectural
framework, but also, above all, to reflect on the origin of the concept of “Architettura matildica” (“Architecture of Matilda of
Tuscany”) that has been so successful in the historiography, at first only local, then academic. Investigating the origin of this
definition also allows us to reason in a less ideological and less self-referential way about the history of medieval art dedicated
to the architectural and image models of the central part of the Po Valley between the 11th and 12th centuries.

Keywords : Matilda of Tuscany, Guastalla, late Romanesque architecture, Saint George, Tommaso Aroldi.