Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Tagged: Assigning Authorship To Figural Graffiti In Ancient Pompeii, Sarah K. Gorman

Undergraduate Research Symposium

While graffiti is an inevitable part of any modern cityscape, it is not a modern convention. Examples of man’s desire to write on walls can be found as early as the Paleolithic Era. Thus it is not surprising that large amounts of graffiti, both figural and textual have been discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii. Most scholarship attributes these inscriptions to elite, albeit naughty schoolboys, however, this narrow interpretation neglects the copious amounts of graffito discovered throughout homes and along the city’s walls. Through examination of these drawings, it becomes evident their artists comprise the totality of Pompeian citizenry.

Oh, Susanna: Exploring Artemisia’S Most Painted Heroine, Kerry Kilburn

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656?) was a rare female Baroque artist who successfully established herself in the field of narrative history paintings. Her work included several series of paintings representing variations on a single theme. Her “Susanna and the Elders” series is unique among these: it contains the largest number of paintings executed over the longest period of time with no repetition of image types. This series exemplifies Artemisia’s practice of portraying heroic female protagonists and her narrative originality. Her potential identification with the character of Susanna moreover has allowed Artemisia to create a series of rare insight and nuance.

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