ABSTRACT
In this paper the paintings in the vault of the Baptistery of Parma will be read in connection with the devotional movement known as the ‘Alleluia’ that spread from Parma throughout the cities of northern Italy in 1233. Idiosyncratic aspects of the pictorial programme will be explained in relation to the religious ideology and political alliances of the Franciscan friar Gerard Boccabadati da Modena (d. 1257), who was one of the leading peace-making preachers of the Alleluia and was entrusted with full power over the City of Parma during the summer of 1233. The evidence points to Brother Gerard as the patron of the paintings in the baptistery. The article maintains that the pictorial programme was conceived and the paintings carried out in the midst of a devotional movement with the goal of preparing the baptistery for the people of Parma to witness the end of the world.
