San Domenico the table of Mascarella 30 * 40 solid table

The table of San Domenico is kept in the parish church of Santa Maria della Purificazione and San Domenico della Mascarella in Bologna. The support housed two figures on the reverse and recto: San Domenico at the table with his friars (1234-1250) and the Miracle of the loaves of San Domenico (1332 circa), the latter made by obliterating the thirteenth-century painting, which contains the oldest depiction of the saint. The thesis considers the conservation and material events of the artefact and its role as a sacred object in Bolognese history. In fact, starting from the fifteenth century, the table is identified with the table on which St. Dominic performed the miracle of the loaves, thus assuming the status of a contact relic. For this purpose, the hagiographic sources that attest to the prodigy and the local historical sources that name the table are examined. Furthermore, all the iconographic attestations of the Miracle of the loaves of St. Dominic are collected and commented. The final part of the thesis considers the figurative episodes in which saints and blessed are represented while working food miracles; these images are each related to the respective hagiographic source.