Renaissance Painting Research Articles

Trajectories of Looking in Renaissance Painting: The Legacy of Daniel Arasse

Trajectories of Looking in Renaissance Painting: The Legacy of Daniel Arasse

O olho da imagem: reflexões metaestéticas no cinema de Abbas Kiarostami

O artigo aborda a dimensão metaestética da obra de Abbas Kiarostami, analisando sequências de filmes em que o cineasta iraniano oferece uma reflexão sobre o dispositivo da representação e suas condições de possibilidade. A análise destaca o diálogo que Kiarostami estabelece com a tradição artística ocidental, como fica claro nos planos em que ele retoma padrões formais da iconografia espacial da Anunciação (tema recorrente na pintura italiana do Renascimento), bem como nas discussões centrais do filme Copie conforme (Cópia fiel, 2010), que concernem a temas como o estatuto da cópia e da mimese no sistema de valores da arte ocidental.

'Epidemic' of hand deformities in the French Renaissance paintings of Jean and François Clouet.

This article analyses the nature of the multiple finger anomalies found in portraits by the French Renaissance artistic dynasty, the Clouets. The multiplicity of finger anomalies could be either innocent congenital variants, or pathological and traumatic deformities. In view of the presence of such `beautifying variations' in the works of other Renaissance artists, the authors decided that these features were not the result of an epidemic of deformities, but instead represented a stylistic approach in paintings of this period at the French Court.

Lotto's Carpets: Materiality, Textiles, and Composition in Renaissance Painting

Throughout his oeuvre, the Venetian artist Lorenzo Lotto (ca. 1485–1556) demonstrated a sustained interest in the depiction of carpets. Previous scholarly contributions have considered the carpets in Lotto's paintings to discuss the role of textiles in civic life and in the Republic of Venice's commercial ties in the Eastern Mediterranean. The examination of materiality and textile studies offers insights into how the carpet assumes multiple roles in the paintings themselves: as a go-between among media; an interlocutor between figures; a palette; and, finally, a site for thinking about the goals of composition.

Confocal XRF depth profiling non-destructively reveals the original blue pigments in a Renaissance painting by Caroto

Recent restoration of The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Giovanni Francesco Caroto, from the Louvre collections, included a technical examination of the Virgin's blue robe that aimed to characterize the original materials and later additions. The painting was examined using light microscopy and ultraviolet and infrared imaging, and one cross section was taken. None of these methods showed a clear distinction between the layers that were artist applied or modifications made by another hand. To gain information about the paint stratigraphy without taking additional samples, non-invasive confocal X-ray fluorescence (CXRF) analysis was carried out to examine several areas of the Virgin's robe. Using this technique, it was possible to identify the pigments and order of application of paint by the artist. All the pigments identified were considered to be artist applied, and on this basis no further cleaning was carried out and conservation proceeded with retouching of minor areas of loss or damage. This study highlights the advantages of CXRF analysis for the technical study of paintings, used in combination with classical methods for making informed conservation treatment decisions.

Renaissance Painting and Expressions of Male Intimacy in a Seventeenth-Century Illustration from Mughal India

This article explores the artistic relationship between Western European Renaissance art and Mughal painting ca. 1630s at the ateliers in North India. A central theme is the employment of European painterly modes in the Mughal visual tradition that expressed male-male intimacy, carnal desire, and emotional attachment. In particular, the article focuses on the work of the Mughal painter Govardhan, who illustrated the opening scene of Sa‘dī’s Gulistan (Rose Garden). Govardhan built upon sixteenth-century European compositional elements and the themes of Noli me tangere and the Doubting Thomas to form subtle yet unmistakable allusions to male-male sexuality.
 Cet article explore les relations artistiques entre l’art de la Renaissance européenne et la peinture moghole des années 1630 dans les ateliers du nord de l’Inde. On y traite de l’utilisation de motifs de la peinture européenne dans la tradition visuelle moghole exprimant l’intimité masculine, le désir charnel et l’attachement affectif. Cet article se penche en particulier sur l’œuvre du peintre mogol Govardhan qui a illustré la scène d’ouverture du Gulistan (Rose Garden) de Sa‘dī. Govardhan y a construit son illustration à l’aide l’élément de composition de l’Europe du XVIe siècle, ainsi que sur les thèmes Noli me tangere et du Thomas incrédule, afin de créer une évocation subtile mais univoque de la sexualité homosexuelle masculine.

Стихотворение И. Бродского «Ritratto di donna»: контексты и интерпретации

The article offers an interpretation of the poem of I. Brodsky “Ritratto di Donna”, based on the establishment of contextual links with the picture by the great Italian Renaissance painter Raphael “La Donna Velata (The woman with the veil)” and Brodsky’s essay “Altra Ego” (1990). It is argued that the poem by Brodsky is an “improper ecphrasis” whose purpose is not the description of works of art. This poem is the metaphysical meditation about the essence of art, about the relation between daily life and Being in the artistic creativity.

Missing a Horse: Richard and White Surrey

begin with the Globe Theatre's Facebook page on February 4, 2013, the day of the press release from the University of Leicester announcing the discovery of Richard Ill's body: Our neighbours Southwark Cathedral have a beautiful stained glass window depicting the death of Richard III. Next time you are on your way to us stop off and have a look. Providing a link to the Cathedral's own website, they shared this image, part of Christopher Webb's Shakespeare Window, unveiled in 1954 as a replacement for the war-damaged memorial window, originally installed in 1897: is the Cathedral's version of the death of #RichardIII, which is shown in our Shakespeare Window. Come and see it for yourself. (1) A typical online chat followed, by turns banal and witty: Where's the car park?; cathedral has a lot of interesting and beautiful memorials--worth the trip; I thought he was a horse when he was slain? This last comment gives me the starting point for the argument in this essay: the thing everyone knows about Richard III is that when he died he was missing a 5.7 Alarum, excursions. Enter CATESBY Catesby: Rescue, my lord of Norfolk! Rescue, rescue! The King enacts more wonders than a man, Daring an opposite to every danger. His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights, Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death. Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost! Enter [KING] RICHARD. King Richard: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Catesby: Withdraw, my lord. I'll help you to a horse. King Richard: Slave, have set my life upon a cast, And will stand the hazard of the die. think there be six Richmonds in the field. Five have slain today, instead of him. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! [Exeunt]. (2) As Catesby makes clear, however, Richard is not just missing a horse: he's his horse, White Surrey, to whom we are introduced at 5.3.62 in the immediate run-up to the battle (Saddle white Surrey for the field tomorrow [5.5.17]), and who continues to hold his place in the events that follow, up to this point, where we learn of his death. In this essay, want to consider the implications of the fact that Richard's death is so closely associated with this animal. How is the curious fact that we are sympathetic to this notoriously monstrous character tied to his relationship to White Surrey? [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] It may seem an unnecessary question. Surely, since horses were a pervasive feature of everyday life in the society of which Shakespeare's theatre was also a part, we should not be surprised that they make their presence felt in his plays, albeit only in a (necessarily) offstage capacity. But White Surrey is a member of a very elite group of Shakespearian horses: named horses; a fact, as have argued elsewhere, that demonstrates a significant nexus between the defining values of the action and those of the worlds in which their respective plays are embedded, either at the point of writing, or in successive contexts of production. (3) Commissioned in 1952 in the aftermath of World War II, Webb's window is a particularly interesting context of production. It brings together the visual cultures of the stained-glass window, medieval and Renaissance painting, and London's Shakespearian theatrical community, (4) all combined in Webb's own highly personal vision of the possibilities of his medium. (5) [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] The Richard III image is part of a triplet presenting characters from Shakespeare's plays. Prospero is in the middle; Richard and White Surrey are on the upper right. The window is positioned above a statue of Shakespeare, installed in 1912 as a complementary feature of the original memorial. While our immediate response to this statue might be to see it as some kind of funerary monument, closer inspection reveals that the niche framing it includes images of Stratford, the Globe Theatre, and Shakespeare's contemporary London. …

El Greco’s Representation of Mystical Ecstasy

This article deals with one of El Greco’s most original inventions, namely the gesture expressing mystical ecstasy in angelic and human figures. It is introduced with a brief explanation of figural representation in Renaissance painting which was achieved by applying the premises of rhetoric in a visual way, that is by the means of the expressive gestures of figures. In El Greco’s later paintings, which were influenced by Neo-Platonic spiritual ideals, not only the figures of the angels — who are links between heaven and earth — embody spiritual ecstasy, but also human aspirants are portrayed as losing themselves in an ecstatic experience. These figures, merging themselves in a divine vision, are depicted with distinctive vertical forms, gesturing heavenwards in a specific way. The ecstatically gesturing figures are selected from El Greco’s most distinctive paintings.

Old Masters’ Madonnas in “New World” Photographs: Instances and Impact of Interpictoriality in Lewis W. Hine’s Photography

This article proposes to investigate the degree and manner in which American photographer Lewis W. Hine in his works of the early twentieth century drew on previous artworks originating outside the United States. Many of Lewis Hine’s photographs, as the analysis of three selected case studies shows, make clear implicit and/or explicit interpictorial references. More specifically, the article focuses on the usage of the Madonna motif in selected Renaissance paintings, in photographs by nineteenth-century British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, and in photographs by Hine. In these pictures, taken in such diverse contexts as Ellis Island, New York City tenements, and post–World War I Europe, Hine ventures beyond the representation of his actual photographic subjects, women and children, thereby expanding his photographic repertoire as well as the pictures’ meanings: by referring more or less overtly to other artworks and art forms, Hine adds not only to the appeal, the implications, and thus the effectiveness of his pictures (in the context of social documentary), he also redefines and repositions himself as a photographer between the two presumably opposite poles of social documentary and art photography.

Domenico Greco y la <em>piccola pittura</em>

On the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Dominico Greco, 2014 has been prodigal in exhibitions, courses and conferences focused on the figure and work of the Cretan artist, addressing different aspects of the artist’s versatile creativity. One key area has been the dedication of the master to miniatures, or rather, to the piccola pittura, a term which includes paintings of varying techniques, supports and even dimensions. This article explores El Greco’s works of this kind, which were connected with his early artistic training and the Byzantine icons that he produced on his native island, and which he continued producing once in Italy, when immersed in Venetian and Roman Renaissance painting. Also discussed are some works from his Spanish period, which may be considered piccola pittura on the basis of their dimensions and painting technique.

Writing on Pigments in Natural History and Art Technology in Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland.

Renaissance painters used a number of inorganic color materials. The development of mineralogy as a discipline opened a new discourse on mineral pigments. Agricola and other naturalists were familiar with the contemporary writings on art technology, but their focus was different. Therefore, the exchange of knowledge between these two color worlds remained selective. One possible meeting point was the Kunstkammer where the study of natural objects and materials was combined with an interest in the manual execution of a painting.

Foot deformities in Renaissance paintings. A mystery of symbolism, artistic licence, illusion and true representation in five renowned Renaissance painters.

Although Renaissance artists were skilled in representing normal anatomy, a close look at some paintings reveals anatomical variations in the depiction of the feet of human figures. A systematic review has identified 25 paintings by five artists in which the presumptive medico-artistic diagnosis of congenital or acquired foot deformity seems to be varyingly present. The connection between these five painters and what factors have influenced artists' style in the depiction of such deformities is discussed. The possible iconography and medical-historical meaning of such variations, as well as the possibility of artistic licence and real representation that drove the painters to depict these deformities, is explored and debated.

Zur Taktilität des Schattens

Whereas previous examinations of the shadow have focused their attention on its visual features, it appears in pre-modern literature most frequently as a tactile phenomenon, namely as shade, which offers refuge from the excessive heat of the sun. The cooling aspects of the shadow as shade are central to pre-modern poetics, which are concerned with the literary construction of the most evocative mental images possible (imagines). In synaesthetic descriptions of places or settings, such as the locus amoenus, the shadow as shade serves as a means to evoke tactile sensations. Since the tactus occupies a unique position in the system of the five senses, we must question whether the shadow might not in part evoke a tactile feeling (such as temperature sensation) even in a position where we primarily interpret it as a visual phenomenon (such as the cast shadow in Renaissance paintings).

The connection between art and patriotic feeling in Kang Youwei’s Yidali youji

In September 1898, after the failure of the reformist experiment known as the “Hundred Days Reform” (Wuxu bianfa 戊戌变法, June–September 1898) the Chinese scholar Kang Youwei 康有为 (1858–1927), the main promoter of the Reform, was forced to leave China to escape the death sentence placed on him by Empress Dowager Cixi慈 禧 (1835–1908), who made a coup d’etat with the support of the Conservative members of the Qing Court and overthrew Emperor Guangxu 光绪 (1871–1908). From that time, Kang Youwei started his long exile (1898–1914). During the years 1904–1908, he embarked on an extensive tour of Europe, to eventually see with his own eyes what he read in books about Western culture, society and politics. Italy was the first stop on his European tour. In addition to Naples and Milan, he visited the ruins of Pompeii, with Rome being his longest stop. His tour of Italy gave him the opportunity to see ancient Roman art, including the aristocratic villas and their wall paintings. In Rome he visited many historical sites, ancient and modern museums and several art galleries. He extensively described monuments and artwork, giving his own views on them. This paper will show Kang Youwei’s opinions and attitude towards Italian art-ancient Roman paintings, mosaics and sculptures, Renaissance painter Raffaello’s artwork, ancient palaces of Roman emperors-through some of his own descriptive words, while explaining the value of art in relation to patriotism.

Confocal XRF depth profiling non-destructively reveals the original blue pigments in a Renaissance painting by Caroto

Confocal XRF depth profiling non-destructively reveals the original blue pigments in a Renaissance painting by Caroto

PIXE analysis of historical paintings: Is the gain worth the risk?

The PIXE analysis of easel paintings constitutes a challenging task. Despite recognized merits and a few emblematic applications, PIXE has never been routinely applied to these fragile, complex and precious targets. The present work discusses the place of PIXE in the study of easel paintings and opens up perspectives for a more systematic usage of this analytical technique. Progress achieved since decades in the implementation of PIXE to study such fragile cultural heritage artefacts is reviewed, notably at the LABEC laboratory in Italy and at the AGLAE facility of the C2RMF in France. Two specific techniques developed for paintings are detailed and exemplified on Renaissance painting masterpieces: differential PIXE for paint layers depth profiling and multi-scale elemental mapping for the imaging of pigment distribution. Beam-induced damage, a major concern, notably depends on the employed beam fluence in particle/cm2 or μC/cm2. After recalling previous works on damage induced in chemical products comparable to pigments, we present the behaviour under different fluences of protons of a few MeV (1–300μC/cm2) of targets having high resemblance to historical easel paintings: pellets of specially synthesized lead white pigments, layers of lead white mixed with linseed oil and areas containing lead white of two 19th century paintworks. The results shed new lights on the behaviour of paintworks under the beam and pave the way to strategies for damage mitigation. In particular, the lowering of PIXE performance induced by the decrease of the beam fluence sets a trade-off between risk of damage and gained information which also impacts the PIXE scanning protocol for paintings. As an illustration of an adequate adjustment of this balance, we report the exploratory application of PIXE mapping to a large area of a 19th century easel painting without damage. The recorded elemental maps are compared to elemental maps collected on the same area using laboratory-based scanning XRF.

Creating a Renaissance Painter: Pesellino, Connoisseurship, and theRomantik

Previous articleNext article No AccessCreating a Renaissance Painter: Pesellino, Connoisseurship, and the RomantikNathaniel SilverNathaniel SilverIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance Volume 18, Number 2Fall 2015 Published for Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/683139 Views: 183Total views on this site © 2015 by Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The mystery of post-axial polydactyly in Renaissance paintings.

The mystery of post-axial polydactyly in Renaissance paintings.

Review: Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting

Review: <i>Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting</i>