Art History & Archaeology Theses and Dissertations
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Item Baroque Plague Imagery and Tridentine Church Reforms(1990) Boeckl, Christine M.; Pressly, William; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)This dissertation aims to achieve two goals: one, to assemble as many facts as possible about the plague, regardless of period, and to relate this material to images; and two, to present a well-defined group of religious baroque plague paintings in the context of social, political and religious history. This inquiry is primarily concerned with scenes that portray saints actively involved in charitable pursuits, dispensing the sacraments to victims of the most dreaded disease, the bubonic plague. Chapter I contains a bibliographical essay, divided into three parts: medicine, theology, and art history. The next chapter considers the sources and the formation of baroque plague iconography. The remaining two chapters discuss "documentary" plague scenes and how they relate to historic events. They are presented in two sections: Italy and transalpine countries. This interdisciplinary research resulted in a number of observations. First, these narrative plague scenes were produced in Italy and in Catholic countries bordering Protestant regions: Switzerland, France, Flanders, and in the Habsburg Empire (excluding Spain). Second, the painters were mostly Italian or Italian-trained. Third, the artists observed not only the requirements specified by the Church in the 1563 Tridentine Decree on the Arts but also reflected in their work the catechetic teachings of the Council. Fourth, these religious scenes were not votive paintings but doctrinal images that served either didactic or polemic functions. Fifth, the scenes were not intended as memento mori; rather, the iconology conveyed positive images which emphasized that the faithful needed the Roman Catholic clergy to gain life-everlasting. Sixth, these plague paintings were important documents not as recordings of the conditions experienced during an epidemic but as historic testimony of liturgical practices. Last, these selected scenes mirrored the baroque Church's views on the ultimate questions about life and death.Item The Washington Bronze Dionysos(1994) Bennet, Susanne Klejman; Venit, Marjorie Susan; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)A life-size bronze of a nude youth was discovered in a river in Asia Minor in the early 1960's. The bronze no longer had the iconographic attributes that it had once held in its hands, but the head presented features which made it possible to identity the figure as representing the god Dionysos. The sculptor drew upon earlier prototypes, specifically a figure called the Westmacott athlete, which has been tentatively attributed to the Greek sculptor Polykleitos. The head of the statue reflects a different, possibly female, prototype. An investigation of a group of Roman life-size and three quarter life-size bronzes reveals that the iconographic details which identity the Washington Bronze also place it outside the category of lamp hearers to which the majority of the other statues belong. The physiques of the majority of the lamp bearers and of the Washington Bronze, however, reflect the same Polykleitan prototypes. The identification of the Washington Bronze as a devotional rather than functional statue is made through a study of the literary, religious, and archaeological evidence. The evolution in the iconography of the god is traced through his portrayals on Greek vases and in Graeco-Roman bronze and marble statuary. The Bronze was created in the Eastern Roman Empire. Through a comparative analysis of other bronzes it can be dated within the period between the beginning of the Augustan era and the third quarter of the first century A. D. A setting in the home of a devotee of the Dionysian Mysteries is adduced.Item Paolo and Francesca: Unfulfilled Love in Nineteenth-Century French Art(1986) Hall, Pamela Rae; Hargrove, June E.; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)During the nineteenth century, the Divine Comedy became an important source of inspiration for French artists. Chief among the episodes represented was Dante's account of Paolo and Francesca, illicit lovers condemned to the Inferno's Circle of the Lustful. This paper examines specific portrayals of the Francesca tragedy and seeks to explain why the theme became especially favored by the French. The method is three fold: First, to trace the history of Dante's popularity in France; second, to analyze the thematic changes which occurred in depictions of Paolo and Francesca between 1800 and 1880; and finally, to consider the ways in which these works were influenced by contemporary philosophies and events. An historical survey of the popularity of the Divine Comedy closely indicates that France's admiration for Dante was linked to the appearance of numerous French translations of his chef d'oeuvre. Artists responded to the public's growing appreciation of the epic by incorporating Dantesque themes into their subjects: at least 111 works inspired by the Divine Comedy were exhibited at the Salon during the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century -- of these 43 were based on Francesca's tale. The Francesca episode enjoyed prominence throughout the century largely because it was relevant to the advancing political, social, religious and artistic mores of society. The motif could be adapted to address sentimentality or melancholy. It could provide a moralizing lesson on lascivious living or serve as a pretext for eroticism. The theme of unfulfilled love, popular throughout the century, was embodied in Paolo and Francesca as either chaste, lamentable, deplorable or impassioned.Item Haarlem Tabletop Still-Life Painting, 1610-1660: A Study of Relationships Between Form and Meaning(2003) Gregory, Henry Duval V; Wheelock, Arthur K. Jr.; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)Scholars have considered Dutch still life and its meaning from a variety of methodological perspectives and have often reached different opinions on the prevalence of intentional moralizing meaning in these pictures. This study approaches meaning - that is, messages specifically religious or moralizing in nature - in still-life painting by focusing on paintings produced in Haarlem between 1610 and 1660 and assessing their capacity for meaning in terms of their visual structure and the objects featured in them. Drawing on a database of 630 paintings created for this study, I analyzed the patterns that developed in Haarlem tabletop still-life painting; from the objects and foods used in these paintings to their thematic types and compositional characteristics. The results of these analyses foster an understanding of the most typical forms of the Haarlem tabletop still life. However, these analyses also pennit one to identify works exceptional in visual structure and/or use of objects that convey unmistakable messages focused on christological and vanitas themes. A prime example of a painting with these qualities is a large canvas by the artist Willem Claesz. Heda (1635 - National Gallery of Art, Washington). The compositional structure in this picture focuses one's attention on a roll along the front edge of the table. A contrast between the roll and the rest of the table is evident: the latter has been consumed while the former is untouched. The presence of elements connoting transience - an extinguished candle and a broken berckemeier - underscores the allegorical nature of this painted table and sharpens the contrast between the roll as symbol of Christ and the rest of the table as a worldly, ephemeral indulgence. While most tabletop still Iifes painted in Haarlem between 1610 and 1660 were not overtly allegorical, a significant number were. The methodology in this study allows one to identify these paintings and assess the nature of their meaning.Item Peruvian Feather-work: Development, Purposes, and Techniques(1965) Roll, Virginia Helen; Wilbur, June C.; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge of Peruvian feather-work, its development, its purposes, and the techniques involved in the production of this material. Through research and through examination of seventy-seven pieces of feather-work at seven museums, theories propounded in research were verified. In addition, discoveries were made. An additional method of stringing the feathers was discovered. A brief history of the people shows that as they developed in agriculture, they had a parallel development in cultural accomplishments. It can be assumed that the agricultural development led to more time for cultural achievements. It has become known that their accomplishments in the area of textiles were outstanding. Among their textiles, feather-work was particularly unique.Item An Exploration of a Textile Pattern: Pearl Roundels Joined by Smaller Pearl Discs(1990) Carmel, Lorna; Eyo, Ekpo; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Scattered around the world are a number of textiles patterned with repeat systems of pearl roundels joined by smaller pearl discs at the tangential points. The roundels bear animal motifs similar to those represented in royal Sasanian and post-Sasanian art. Based on the iconographic and stylistic similarity to the Sasanian motifs, and also because of the popularity of the pearl roundel as a framing device in Sasanian and post-Sasanian stucco and metalwork, art historians have attributed these textile fragments to Sasanian manufacture, usually dating them to the sixth or seventh century. However, in the late-Sasanian rock sculpture at Taq-i- Bustan, in western Iran, where twenty-two textile patterns are represented, there are no such textile patterns. Further to the East though, in Soviet Central Asia, recent excavations have uncovered wall-paintings with representations of textiles patterned with pearl roundels joined by smaller pearl discs. Textile fragments and a complete costume have been unearthed at sites in China and the Caucasus. In light of these discoveries, some scholars have assigned Central Asia, particularly Sogdiana, as the provenance for these textiles. This thesis examines the unique common characteristics shared by the textiles patterned with pearl roundels joined by smaller pearl discs which identifies them as a group. It suggests that their repeat pattern is most-likely the result of the adaptation of a style of Sasanian coins to the weaving process. Their influence on repeat patterns of floral roundels joined by . smaller floral discs awaits future research.Item BAROQUE PLAGUE IMAGERY AND TRIDENTINE CHURCH REFORMS(1990) Boeckl, Christine Maria; Pressly, William; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This dissertation aims to achieve two goals: one, to assemble as many facts as possible about the plague, regardless of period, and to relate this material to images; and two, to present a well-defined group of religious baroque plague paintings in the context of social, political and religious history. This inquiry is primarily concerned with scenes that portray saints actively involved in charitable pursuits, dispensing the sacraments to victims of the most dreaded disease, the bubonic plague. Chapter I contains a bibliographical essay, divided into three parts: medicine, theology, and art history. The next chapter considers the sources and the formation of baroque plague iconography. The remaining two chapters discuss "documentary" plague scenes and how they relate to historic events. They are presented in two sections: Italy and transalpine countries. This interdisciplinary research resulted in a number of observations. First, these narrative plague scenes were produced in Italy and in Catholic countries bordering Protestant regions: Switzerland, France, Flanders, and in the Habsburg Empire (excluding Spain). Second, the painters were mostly Italian or Italian-trained. Third, the artists observed not only the requirements specified by the Church in the 1563 Tridentine Decree on the Arts but also reflected in their work the catechetic teachings of the Council. Fourth, these religious scenes were not votive paintings but doctrinal images that served either didactic or polemic functions. Fifth, the scenes were not intended as memento mori; rather, the iconology conveyed positive images which emphasized that the faithful needed the Roman Catholic clergy to gain life-everlasting. Sixth, these plague paintings were important documents not as recordings of the conditions experienced during an epidemic but as historic testimony of liturgical practices. Last, these selected scenes mirrored the baroque Church's views on the ultimate questions about life and death.Item DEFINING TASTE: ALBERT BARNES AND THE PROMOTION OF AFRICAN ART IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE 1920s(1998) Clarke, Christa J.; Eyo, Ekpo; Art History & Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Dr. Albert C. Barnes, though best known as a daring collector of modern art, was also an important and influential advocate of African art during the 1920s. In an era in which many Westerners perceived objects from sub-Saharan Africa as ethnographic curiosities or ritual artifacts, Barnes was one of the first American collectors to selectively acquire and actively promote a "comprehensive" collection of African sculpture . In 1922 , Barnes began purchasing African art through Parisian dealer Paul Guillaume. The resulting collection of over 100 masks and figural sculptures was carefully arranged by Barnes in the galleries of the Barnes Foundation, his educational institution in Merion, Pennsylvania that opened in 1925. Barnes used the collection to advance his educational aesthetic philosophy and championed the merits of African art in gallery lectures, public addresses, and published writings. Through numerous contemporary publications and photographic reproductions, the Barnes Foundation collection of African sculpture gained international recognition, contributing to the establishment of a canon of African art that is, in many ways, still accepted today. My dissertation critically examines Barnes's collecting and promotion of African sculpture as a defining moment in the history of Western taste in non-Western art. My objective in this study is twofold. First, I evaluate the aesthetic positions endorsed by Barnes and the conceptual strategies he adopted in promoting an appreciation of African artistry within a Western aesthetic framework. Second, I consider the broader parameters of Barnes's influence in defining "African art" and his role in fostering an interest in it, particularly among key figures of the Harlem Renaissance, or "New Negro" movement. As a vital and specific case study, my analysis challenges, as it engages, discourse about modernist "primitivism" as it relates to Western perceptions and constructions of African art.Item Venetian Organ Shutters in the Renaissance(1985) Wang, Teh-yu; Rearick, William R.; Art History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Organ shutters, used in large organs for acoustical and aesthetic reasons, offer a two-fold interest to the art historian: iconography and style. Iconographically, many organ shutters in all periods displayed the Annunciation when closed. Images of the saints might be on the exterior or interior of the organ shutters; and the iconography evolved from simple devotional images of patron saints in ca. 1450, through narrative, historical images of patron saints in ca. 1520, to complicated combinations of themes from the Old and the New Testament in the entire sixteenth century. Stylistically, organ-shutter painters tried, from the very beginning, to break down the barrier between the pictorial plane of the organ shutters and the real space of the spectator; accordingly, two kinds of perspectival devices were used: the dal-sotto-in-su was usually used for the exterior, the eyelevel for the interior. Therefore, organ-shutter paintings are more than mere reflections of the contemporary artistic trends; a separate tradition evolved for organ-shutter perspectives. However, two styles - Manerism and Classicism - coexisted and rivalled each other, not unlike what was happening concurrently in frescoes or in easel paintings. These two styles achieved their apogee simultaneously in organ-shutter painting between 1550 and 1570. In these years Mannerism was represented by Jacopo Tintoretto, and Classicism by Paolo Veronese.Item Describing Chaos: Willem de Kooning's Collage Painting Asheville and its Relationship to Traditions of Description and Illusionism in Western Art(1993) Brock, Charles Moore; Withers, Josephine; Art History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Any study of Willem de Kooning is inevitably speculative. As an artist he was more concerned that the viewer "never know" and in provoking questions rather than presenting answers. The diverse and disjointed de Kooning literature bears witness to his success in this regard and to the opaque nature of his achievement. Recognizing the obdurate character of de Kooning's work, this essay, rather then directly pursuing meaning, has instead tried to address the question of how de Kooning's interest in eluding definition manifested itself in one of his most important collage paintings, Asheville of 1948. The first part of the thesis reconstructs the collage painting process of Asheville presenting it as a descriptive enterprise in which de Kooning consciously pursued the more chaotic "unknowable" aspects of his visual life by illusionistically recording fragments of objects and momentary glimpses of events. Recognizing de Kooning's interest in depicting fragmented phenomena as the underlying source for the visual chaos of Asheville illuminates the painting's relationship to long established traditions of description and illusion in Western art exemplified by the letter rack paintings of 19th century American art and 17th century Dutch art. Finally, as the contentious debate over meaning in Dutch painting illustrate, descriptive works of art, because of the ambivalent way they engage disordered aspects of visual experience, are particularly difficult to interpret. In his conscious allegiance to older descriptive and illusionistic traditions in Asheville de Kooning had found an especially effective way to obscure meaning.