Mural Cycle Research Articles

Material and Technical Analysis as a Support for Art-Historical Characterization of Selected Mural Paintings in Austria around 1400

Several medieval mural cycles in Austria were studied from the material and technical point of view, aiming to confirm (or reject) the art-historical hypothesis of their stylistic and workshop connection. These paintings can be found in the churches of Rust (“Fischerkirche”), Marz (Virgin’s Coronation parish church), Kobenz (St. Ruprecht parish church), Ofenbach (St. Veid parish church), and St. Johann am Steinfelde (St. John parish church). They were carried out around 1400 in the International Gothic style. Their workshop connections based on the style are doubtful, therefore, a material and technical study was carried out. Results showed different plaster composition, similar pigment palette, and diverse painting procedures. The murals in Marz, St. Johann, and the older register in Rust reveal important similarities such as plaster composition, predominant a fresco painting technique, the use of natural inorganic pigments, as well as many aspects of the painting procedure and modeling. On the contrary, those in Kobenz, Ofenbach, and the younger register in Rust differ considerably. The second group reveals lower quality in plaster composition, larger a secco parts, addition of synthetic pigments (Kobenz), and a rougher color modeling, indicating less skilled artists. The lower quality also results in a worse conservation state of these murals. The obtained results confirm the same workshop, but different artists in the first group, while in the second group no clear workshop/artist connection could be established.

Of Murals and Men

Over the past decade, scholars have contributed to a growing body of work interrogating the carceral system in the United States and its role in the maintenance of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. Nicole R. Fleetwood’s theory of “carceral aesthetics” allows this scholarship to be applied to the history and criticism of works of art. Using Fleetwood’s ideas as a point of departure, this article examines the context, preparatory work, and archival legacy Ben Shahn’s plans for a mural cycle at the new jail on Rikers Island (ca. 1935), which were never executed. The Municipal Art Commission responsible for the rejection of his sketches claimed that it had done so based on the “bad psychological effect” that the murals might have on the men incarcerated there. Shahn and his collaborator, Lou Block, contested this claim. This reassessment of the project argues that concerns about psychological appropriateness were merited and that the murals would have participated in the ideology that has ultimately turned Rikers Island into the notoriously inhumane institution it is today.

"ЗЕРЦАЛО ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСКОГО СПАСЕНИЯ" В МОНУМЕНТАЛЬНОЙ ЖИВОПИСИ ВОСТОЧНОЙ ПРУССИИ: ВИЗУАЛЬНАЯ ИНТЕРТЕКСТУАЛЬНОСТЬ

This research is dedicated to two rare cycles of monumental painting from the second half of the 14th century, in the interior of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) Cathedral and St. Catherine’s Church in Arnau (Rodniki, Kaliningrad region). Although these monuments are almost completely lost, their reconstruction based on available photo documents, sketches, and descriptions carries a special value towards understanding the visual intertextuality of the Speculum humanae salvationis iconographic program in the symbolic context of the architectural space of the two churches. Contrary to the monumental cycles of Europe sharing this iconography, here in these two the zoning of space for knights and townspeople plays an important role. The study concludes that the manuscript miniatures from Wolfenbüttel HAB 2805 and the East Prussian mural cycles have a common protograph of the “Italian” or “mixed” type in an abbreviated edition (“Cologne group”), which can be traced back to an earlier prototgraph (of the “Italian” type), used in the Darmstadt Codex Hs. 2505. The interest of the patrons in the iconographic program, which preaches the dignity of the priesthood, could be associated with the relationship between the clergy of the Samland diocese and the Teutonic Knights engaged in northern crusades.

Materials and Techniques of Selected Mural Paintings on the “Gothic Road” around 1400 (Slovakia)

Mural cycles in the churches of Plešivec, Čhyžné, and Štitnik from around 1400 were studied from the material and technical point of view. Stylistically, they show a mixture of Northern and Southern European stylistic currents, which were characteristic for the time around 1400 in East Central Europe. After a precise study in situ, an analysis of extracted samples was conducted by OM, SEM-EDX, and XRD. The plasters used for these murals were all made of lime and sand with different impurities; importantly, they different among each other in terms of their quality and stability. The pigments that were used in these murals were natural and organic: lime white, yellow and red earths, malachite, and azurite were identified, and some pigment degradations were also pointed out. The principal technique is a fresco, but all murals were finished a secco in different proportions, using an organic binder. Painting procedures and modelling were also studied, revealing a strong difference among all three cycles. The painting technique does not always correspond to the style.

African Modernism in America, 1947–1967

African Modernism in America, 1947–1967

The Meanings of Byzantium. The Church of Abu-Ghosh (Emmaus) and the Meanings of Byzantine Pictorial Language in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem

The mural cycle of the church at Abu-Ghosh (Emmaus) is the most extensive to have survived from the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and scholars have recognized its Byzantine style and iconography. But what did this Byzantine pictorial language mean to the western, Hospitaller patrons of the church? This study aims to shed light on the complexities of cross-cultural borrowings in the context of the Latin Kingdom. Several conclusions emerge from comparative iconographic and stylistic analysis. First and foremost, the choice to use Byzantine iconography in Abu-Ghosh emerges as deliberate, not only reflecting the cultural, imperial, and religious significance of Byzantium, but also serving the patrons of the church to enhance its aura of sanctity and prestige. Abu-Ghosh’s mural was executed in a specific context of competition with the rival pilgrimage site of Emmaus Nicopolis, as well as in competition with the military Order of the Templars. Second, the cycle demonstrates the adaptability of its imagery to different interpretations by diverse groups of viewers, which included western patrons alongside local Eastern Christians.

Micro-analytical Evidence of Copper-Based Pigment and Fungal Contamination of Medieval Mural Paintings in Beram, Croatia.

The aim of the present study was to map the painting materials, degradation processes, and biological features present on the mural painting in the church of St. Mary in Beram (Croatia) to study their possible interaction and produce information helping the preservation of this valuable painting. The research was conducted on micro samples of painting materials taken from different sites along the painting and the characterization of the present fungal species was carried out. The painting samples, together with observable patinas and degradation products, were studied by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction. Fungal diversity was studied using cultivation methods followed by OM and SEM analyses in addition to molecular analysis. The results contribute to the characterization of the original painting materials, successively added materials and occurred interventions, to the understanding of degradation progressions and fungal biotransformation processes. A mineral, cumengite, a copper-based pigment extremely rarely used in art, was found. Its occurrence together with barium sulfate, gypsum, and calcium oxalate possibly produced by microbiological activity was studied and information was added regarding the composition of painting materials in St. Mary church mural cycle.

The Study of Medieval Political Thought and the Image. : Typology in the Mural Cycle in Longthorpe Tower

이 글은 우리가 텍스트를 연구함에 있어 이미지를 함께 포함시킴으로써 어떠 한 효과를 기대할 수 있는가에 대해 논의한다. 이 글은 이미지에 대한 연구가 궁극적으로 정치이론이 작동하고 작용하는 구체적인 방법을 보다 깊이 풍부하 게 이해할 수 있는 통로가 된다고 주장한다. 본 연구는 이러한 주장을 롱쏘프의 벽화사이클에 구현된 예형론이라는 구체적인 예를 들어 설명한다. 논의는 세개 의 단계를 통해 진행된다. 첫째, 본 연구는 중세정치사상의 전통에서 예형론의 문제를 간략히 논의한다. 둘째, 본 연구는 롱쏘프 타워 내 벽화사이클을 소개하 고 어떻게 그 안에 예형론이 구현되어 있는가를 보여준다. 마지막으로, 본 연구 는 중세정치사상사를 이해함에 있어 이미지에 연구가 갖는 가치라는 최초의 질 문에 대해 논함으로써 끝을 맺는다.

Issues of Pictorial Narrative at Mezzaratta

The paper presents a first systematic analysis of the issues of pictorial narrative raised by the well known Trecento fresco cycle with Stories of the Old and New Testament formerly decorating the church of Santa Maria di Mezzaratta on the Bolognese hills. Painted by a few generations of artists during at least four decades after 1338, the murals were mostly detached with the technique of strappo in the mid-twentieth century and displayed in a room prepared for their exhibition in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna, where one can still admire them as the most complete cycle of frescoes survived from the Bolognese Trecento painting. After reconstructing the original narrative order of the mural cycle by using early modern artistic literature to fill the gaps left by lost scenes, the paper investigates some problems raised by the narrative distribution of the stories, particularly focusing on the reasons why the whole counter-facade was painted with the Annunciation and the Nativity.

James M. Córdova. Review of "The Casa del Deán: New World Imagery in a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Mural Cycle" by Penny Morrill.

James M. Córdova. Review of "The Casa del Deán: New World Imagery in a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Mural Cycle" by Penny Morrill.

Conservation of a room: A treatment proposal for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals

A treatment with projected light for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals (1962) is proposed. The group of five paintings on canvas has changed color due to the presence of a fugitive red pigment and excessive exposure to natural light in a room with large windows. For the conservation of Rothko's Harvard room, it is brought into context within his other commissions and environments. The original color of the works is determined by the digital restoration of contemporary photographs. With a camera projector system a compensation image is calculated that is projected onto the original canvas resulting in a restored color appearance. This approach of inpainting with light is compared with considerations of cleaning and inpainting in conventional conservation treatments. Overall lighting and architecture including the unusual wall color carefully chosen by Rothko play a key role in the treatment of the Mural cycle as an environment.

The Painting of Knowledge in Thirteenth-Century Rome

AbstractThe recent discovery of a thirteenth-century mural cycle in the cardinal’s residence at SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome invites a reconsideration of the relationship between art and knowledge in medieval Italy. Covering the walls and vaults of a large hall, the frescoes constitute a large-scale pictorial “encyclopedia” that comprises allegorical representations of thematic groups associated with secular knowledge. This is a largely uncharted category of monumental art in thirteenth-century Rome. My article situates the paintings in their complex historical circumstances marked by the increased cultivation of science at the papal court and the broader cultural phenomenon of late medieval encyclopedism. I offer an analysis of the frescoes, focusing on the ways in which individual groups of images reinforce the larger themes of the iconographic program. The unknown painters at SS. Quattro Coronati brought together diverse bodies of knowledge and, through pictorial strategies of framing and spatial desig...

The Casa del Deán: New World Imagery in a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Mural Cycle. Penny C. Morrill. Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. xiii + 298 pp. $75.

The Casa del Deán: New World Imagery in a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Mural Cycle. Penny C. Morrill. Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. xiii + 298 pp. $75. - Volume 69 Issue 4

From the Jordan River to Lake Titicaca: Paintings of the Baptism of Christ in Colonial Andean Churches

The arts of the colonial Andes bear witness to a complex and contested story of evangelization that involved a variety of actors, including priests, artists, indigenous congregations, and confraternities. Sculptures of saints, sumptuousretablos(altarpieces), canvas paintings with elaborate gilded frames, and mural cycles devoted to a variety of biblical themes were employed in the religious instruction of indigenous communities, and as catalysts for sensorial modes of communication. The visual arts provided a tangible analogue to sermons and printed catechisms, offering parishioners a lens through which to envision the sacred. Adapted from European iconographic models and infused with local references and symbolism, religious art throughout the colonial Americas introduced new visual vocabularies to indigenous congregations, who quickly became conversant in these images of conversion.

Roland and Crusade Imagery in an English Royal Chapel: early thirteenth-century wall paintings in Claverley church, Shropshire

A frieze of mounted knights, over 15m long, dominates the nave of the church of All Saints, Claverley, Shropshire. It is part of an extensive mural scheme from the first quarter of the thirteenth century. For the first time the status of Claverley as a Royal Chapel is recognized and the royal and crusading character of the imagery is discussed. The emperors Constantine and Heraclius are identified as part of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross subject on the north wall, and the Holy Cross is suggested as the unifying theme, pre-dating the Florentine mural cycle by Agnolo Gaddi by some 170 years. Claverley is also shown to have the only medieval mural of Roland, hero of theChanson de Roland, to survivein situ. The historical background of the early years of Henryiiiis examined and the possible role of Ranulf de Blondeville, earl of Chester, in commissioning the frieze is considered.

Murals By Pierre Puvis de Chavannes in French Museums

New buildings for art museums mushroomed in the French provinces in the second half of the nineteenth century. These secular institutions helped frame a city's image, signal its importance, and assert its cultural standing. More than any other artist, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) was responsible for the mural cycles and their programs in these grand civic buildings — at Amiens, Marseilles, Lyons, and Rouen. While many of his monumental museum murals may seem simply to represent timeless landscapes inhabited by classicizing figures, they increasingly contained telling references to the specific municipalities and regions in which the museums for which they were made were located. They touted local interests, industries, and regional commerce; heralded public policies and concerns; and came to serve as virtual billboards to advertise the respective cities, making pointed reference to and suitable for the municipality and region and the specific histories, culture, and collections embraced by the institution.

Why So Few Museum Murals in the United States?

During the heyday of the beaux-arts mural movement in the United States, 1893-1917, scores of mural cycles were commissioned for libraries, courthouses, statehouses, banks, and private homes but there were only a few notable examples in a museums—in all, museum murals totaled only about 1%. I propose several possible reasons—that the philosophy of museum professionals, in the midst of rapid change, mitigated against mural decorations; that public monies were more likely to be allocated for civic buildings like courthouses than for those that relied partly on private beneficence; that the early (1897) unfavorable response to the Library of Congress's murals, perceived by many as a chaotic panoply of artists' styles, led prospective patrons to avoid a mix of museum collection and museum decorations; that despite Puvis's influence on the movement, the artist's murals known to Americans were not his museum murals. The contrast with the popularity of murals in American libraries will highlight many of these points.

Our National Monument of Art: Constructing and Debating the National Body at the Library of Congress

It is not surprising that the Library of Congress would be defined as our national monument of art given the scale of the project, its federal sponsorship, and its posture as a public library with access to all Americans. Paralleling the assumption of the Library of Congress as not merely a building for housing books but a ritualistic center of civilization, the ambitious decorative program celebrated Western civilization and, in particular, the evolution of culture through knowledge. This article examines two mural cycles at the Library of Congress, The Evolution of the Book by John White Alexander and The Evolution of Civilization by Edwin Blashfield, considering each as a multivalent construction of American national identity and the critical debates that they generated. The male body was the subject of both cycles and functioned as the ideological armature within which to project current assumptions of and debates about masculinity, labor, imperialism, social reform, national identity, and progress.

The Painter and the Widow: Taddeo di Bartolo, Datuccia Sardi Da Canapiglia, and the Sacristy Chapel in S. Francesco, Pisa

Datuccia Sardi Da Campiglia, a remarkable female patron, was responsible for the sacristy chapel decoration at S. Francesco, Pisa, a cycle that features the Virgin Mary. This article outlines the conditions that led to her commission of the cycle. The chapel components, including a historiated window (1391), an altarpiece (1395), and a mural cycle (1397), are discussed individually to extract the multiple visual and written signs that refer to Datuccia. Although these self-referential mechanisms were traditional rather than novel, Datuccia's insistence on personalized devices and attention to female participants is unusual. Two Sienese artists, a glass master and principally the painter Taddeo di Bartolo, apparently followed her directives. The patron and the artists responded in turn to Franciscan requirements. As a few comparisons suggest, Datuccia has no female peer in Pisa or even in Florence. The article demonstrates the prestige of Datuccia's Pisan chapel by noting the vogue for sacristy patronage in contemporary Florence and by comparing the commissions of contemporaneous females, namely those in religious groups in Florence and in Pisa, and the consort of Padua's ruler.

"Something of his Own Soil": Jewish History, Mural Painting, and Bernard Zakheim in San Francisco

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt agreed to support artists struggling to make a living during the Great Depression, arts administrators in San Francisco received funding for a major mural project in which Jewish artist Bernard Zakheim (1896-1985) would participate. Zakheim was one of approximately twenty-five artists commissioned to paint the interior of Coit Tower, the large monument constructed atop Telegraph Hill in 1932.-33 with funds bequeathed to the city by Lillie Hitchcock Coit. These murals have traditionally been viewed in the context of San Francisco labor relations during the early 1930s. All during the spring of 1934, while the muralists were painting, unemployed longshoremen and their union were threatening to strike, and by early summer they had brought waterfront commerce to a grinding halt. Several of the murals in Coit Tower contain references to labor, the union, and far-left political ideals, and San Francisco newspaper writers and later scholars have carefully focused on these details in their discussions of the works. What has not been previously recognized is the ethnic content, specifically the Jewish content, that is also apparent in the mural cycle because of Zakheim's participation.2 Zakheim's contribution to the Coit Tower project (figure 1), a representation of the main reading room in a public library, played a key role in the controversy over political imagery, especially after the editors of the San Francisco Examiner took the hammer and sickle—the symbol of the Communist Party—from another artist's mural in the tower and placed it above a reproduction of Zakheim's painting. The doctored