With his publications on architectural representations in Late Medieval painting, Felix Horb (1890–1958) positioned himself in relation to his teacher Max Dvořák, his close colleague Hans Sedlmayr and the studies of Erwin Panofsky. Founding his work on a historic-genetic methodology, Horb demonstrated its relevance for understanding important aspects of Giotto’s art and the rise of Renaissance perspective. In close contact with many renowned art historians of the earlier twentieth century, Horb’s work is important not only in itself but also for its critical stand in relation to these scholars. Refuting both the history of style and iconology, Horb took a constructivist approach to art history that was founded in the New Vienna School, and was at the same time highly original.
Migration is a central feature of contemporary culture, bringing to our attention—among other things— certain problematic aspects of the concept intermediality. It may be asked if the concept is at all relevant in relation to such cultural phenomena. Below, it is argued that a return to Julia Kristeva’s original concept of intertextuality could be the way forward. Discussing the example of Michelangelo’s sculpture Night, it is argued that the specific work must be interrelated not only to the multimedia context of the Medici chapel but also to political and personal experiences of migration in the artist’s own time and cultural sphere. Such perspectives, however, demand the consideration of psychological and political contexts that are commonly absent in intermedia studies. The Kristevian concept of intertextuality, on the other hand, allows for intermedia phenomena to take place in relation to the full complexities of art, life, and culture.
When Uppsala Cathedral was refurbished in the late sixteenth century, John III Vasa made sure that the Vasa dynasty, his own closest allies and the just fight against Eric XIV were prominently displayed. The presence of the national saints St Eric and St Bridget were retained. Side-altars were kept and built in the newly furnished chapels, interconnecting them with the service at the high altar. One single artist, Willem Boy, was made responsible for the most important works. The campaign connected Uppsala Cathedral with continental prototypes, while contrasting with the ideals of Swedish funerary chapels in the following Baroque period.
Focusing on what he calls 'the performative gaze', the author explores the artistic world of the Urbino painter Federico Barocci (1535-1612) in the context of Renaissance culture. Through analysis of Barocci's works, Gillgren also sheds new light on Renaissance aesthetic communication generally. The first part of the book discusses the poetics of Early Modern painting, based on contemporary theories of Reception Aesthetics, hermeneutics and phenomenology, but grounded in Renaissance culture itself through numerous examples from Early Modern painting. The author discusses works by such artists as Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, VelA!zquez and Poussin from the point of view of their spectator status. The second part deals specifically with the art of Federico Barocci, showing in detail how his works relate to aspects of the gaze and to their intended spectators. Gillgren's method is unusual in that he takes care to set the images within their original physical contexts (lighting, space, framing materials, angle of viewer approach) as much as possible through careful analysis of early descriptions of now destroyed or modified chapels. The third section of the volume contains a brief catalogue of Barocci's paintings, presented in a chronological order, with a full bibliography and with details about the painting's original locations.
Michelangelo's Last Judgment is a site-specific work. The fresco was painted in 1535-1541 for permanent installation in the Sistine chapel and conceived as part of a multimedia spectacle, involving the singing of Costanzo Festa's Miserere (a forerunner to Allegri's better known piece) and the gradual darkening of the chapel the famous tenebrae ceremony. Several of the painting's characteristics can be explained as the result of the artist optimizing his work to function within this very context. The study is based on witness reports of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, as well as sixteenth-century sources on the art, music and ceremonies of the Sistine chapel. Special consideration is given to the tapestries by Raphael and their relationship to Michelangelo's work.
A new interest in the study of early modern ritual, ceremony, formations of personal and collective identities, social roles, and the production of meaning inside and outside the arts have made it possible to talk today about a performative turn in the humanities. In Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome, scholars from different fields of research explore performative aspects of Baroque culture. With examples from the politics of diplomacy and everyday life, from theatre, music and ritual as well as from architecture, painting and sculpture the contributors demonstrate how broadly the concept of performativity has been adopted within different disciplines.
A few drawings at the Royal Library in Stockholm have aroused considerable debate among Swedish art historians (figs. 2, 3, 5, 6 & 7). According to sources contemporary with their production in 1722, they reproduce large paintings kept at Gripsholm castle representing the story of king Erik XIV. Twentieth-century art historians have suggested a number of alternative iconographies, mostly alternative sequences of Swedish history or classical motifs. The drawings have been addressed recently in ICO by Herman Bengtsson and Bo Vahlne. The present article argues that the motifs are from the Book of Esther. The claim is supported by the juxtaposition of two scenes representing a woman before a throne and a triumphal scene (Esther before Ahasuerus & Mordecai’s triumph), the bright yellow dress of the female protagonist (a common symbol for her Jewishness) and her swooning before the throne. Comparisons are made with the Alfta hanging representing Esther (fig. 1) and a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi (fig. 4). The iconography of the drawings is based on Catholic sources, suggesting they were produced in Poland in the 1540s and could have come with Catherine Jagelleonica’s entourage to Åbo and then to Gripsholm in the early 1560s.
In June 2012, scholars from a number of disciplines and countries gathered in Stockholm to discuss the representation of ancient mythology in Renaissance Europe. This symposium was an opportunity for the participants to cross disciplinary borders and to problematize a well-researched field. The aim was to move beyond a view of mythology as mere propaganda in order to promote an understanding of ancient tales and fables as contemporary means to explain and comprehend the Early Modern world.With the Renaissance, pagan religion ceased to pose a threat to Christianity and its mythologies found a way to coexist with Christian doctrine. Old Greek and Roman tales came to play a crucial role in Renaissance culture, partly because the ancient sources, both literary and artistic, many of them recently uncovered, provided rich material for the writers and artists of the period. Mythology provided a network of allusions and references for contemporary poetry and art, reinforcing the possibilities of allegorical interpretation. Furthermore, it offered moral guidance since deities could easily be materialized into personifications of vices and virtues. All artistic expressions, visual and textual, whether they belonged to a secular or a religious tradition, made use of mythology. This volume exemplifies how Renaissance writers’ and artists’ acquaintance with mythological accounts from Homer to Apuleius was of utmost importance for their creative work, as it was for their readers and those contemporary patrons of art who saw themselves as the living embodiment of some remote ancient deity. By posing new questions and suggesting alternative answers to old ones, the contributors to this volume provide a better and more detailed understanding of the struggles and strategies of recycling, recuperating and transforming ancient mythology during the Renaissance. All chapters here have a common focus on the re-configuration of classical myths in Early Modern Europe, in political, erotic and ceremonial contexts. By returning to the classical world of cosmic strife and harmony, of gods and metamorphoses, Renaissance poets and artists were able to express their aesthetic ideals, personal preoccupations and moral attitudes. Ancient mythology offered them a full set of useful metaphors, which could take on new meanings in a new cultural context.