Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Istoriato Maiolica and the Virtues of Reading in Renaissance Urbino and Beyond(2021) Dupertuis, Lindsay Leigh; Gill, Meredith J.; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation concerns the intersection of literary culture and luxury ceramics production in the Duchy of Urbino during the first half of the sixteenth century. Urbino was the foremost site of istoriato maiolica (narrative-painted earthenware) production in sixteenth-century Italy. These works were painted with episodes from the Bible, classical history, and mythology, including many subjects that were rarely depicted in other media. As they were made by non-elite artists for aristocratic consumption, they provide rare evidence for the reception of classical literature across social strata and in diverse environments.I assert that the diverging interpretive strategies of rulers and artists resulted from different educational practices. The aristocrats of Urbino, much like other sixteenth-century patricians, received an education that focused on Latin literacy, rhetorical structures, and the derivation of virtuous exempla from literature. In contrast, ceramics painters developed their knowledge of ancient literature through self-guided reading of vernacular adaptations, informal conversation, and printed images. As an essential part of this project, I compiled and analyzed metadata from about 450 istoriato works from museum collections in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. I use the dataset to contextualize the content of three “armorial” istoriato tableware services that were commissioned by Urbino’s rulers for Isabella d’Este, the marchesa of Mantua (1524); Duke Anne de Montmorency, a French general and counselor of King François I (1535); and Cardinal Antoine Duprat, the chancellor of France (1535). By comparing these services to each other and the larger sample of istoriato dishes, I reveal the complex intertextuality of these compositions in ceramic and the diverse interpretations afforded by the medium. This is the first extensive study of Renaissance ceramics and literary culture. Moreover, I am the first scholar to employ metadata analysis to contextualize specific maiolica services within their broader regional and chronological settings. I demonstrate the invaluable and original insights that European ceramics bring to the social history of art, as well as the ways in which future art historians may turn to data-driven methodologies in order to advance our understanding of such works.Item Imitation and Adaptation in Istoriato Maiolica: A Case-Study of the Anne de Montmorency Service, 1535(2014) Dupertuis, Lindsay Leigh; Gill, Meredith J.; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis examines the production of narrative (istoriato) maiolica ceramics in sixteenth-century Urbino, particularly the practice of adapting pre-existing woodcuts and engravings to the painted scenes on the surfaces of these objects. I perform this analysis through a case-study of the Anne de Montmorency tableware service, manufactured in the workshop of Guido Durantino in 1535. Istoriato maiolica studies have often included the art-historical convention of the early modern artist as a solitary individual or genius. I will destabilize this trope by focusing on a prominent service for a powerful aristocrat that was nonetheless designed by anonymous artisans. I assert that the unique circumstances of the duchy of Urbino enabled artisans to compose narrative paintings of classical stories within the confines of their own workshop. With this in mind, I analyze the processes and design practices of these artisans through their products, and offer new conclusions about their compositional choices.