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Full-Text Articles in Art and Design

Pin (Fibula), Risd Museum, Boris Bally, Jonathan Migliori Dec 2012

Pin (Fibula), Risd Museum, Boris Bally, Jonathan Migliori

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This fibula (pin), used for closing or securing garments, is a masterpiece of ancient gold-working. Tiny animals and figures, mythical and real, cover the pin. They were formed using tiny beads of gold (a process called granulation) fashioned in a fluid, curving style reminiscent of pottery of the seventh century BCE, when the Etruscans reached the height of their technical virtuosity in granulation. In the center of the decoration is a figure common in Etruscan art: the ‘master of the beasts,’ a winged man with two faces. The figure originated in the Near East and became especially prominent in Etruscan …


Portrait Of Antoine-Georges-Francois De Chabaud-Latour And His Family, Risd Museum, Robert Babigian Sep 2012

Portrait Of Antoine-Georges-Francois De Chabaud-Latour And His Family, Risd Museum, Robert Babigian

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This handsome portrait was subtitled “filial piety” when it was exhibited at the 1806 Paris Salon. Set in the gentle landscape of the département of Gard, in the south of France, it depicts Antoine-Georges-François de Chabaud-La Tour who is seated on a marble bench with his daughter Rosina perched on one knee and his son James-Hippolyte posed on the other. His wife, Juliette Verdier de la Coste, stands at their side holding her infant son François-Ernest-Henri to her breast. Their attention is directed to a herm bearing a bust of the children’s grandfather, Antoine Chabaud, a distinguished military man who …


Portrait Of Agrippina The Younger, Risd Museum, Natalie Kampen, Lisa Anderson Sep 2012

Portrait Of Agrippina The Younger, Risd Museum, Natalie Kampen, Lisa Anderson

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Agrippina (15–59 CE), the subject of this portrait, was related to four different Roman emperors: she was granddaughter to Augustus, sister to Caligula, mother to Nero, and niece and later wife to Claudius. It is therefore not surprising that many portraits of her survive. They invariably depict her with a broad forehead, a square jaw, large eyes, thin lips, and a sharp chin, all features shared by many members of the imperial family. Ancient pieces were sometimes combined with other sculptural elements to create “new” composite sculptures. This ancient portrait head was inserted into a bust composed of different-colored marble …


Model Of A Funerary Boat, Risd Museum, Peter Dean, Peter Johnson Jun 2012

Model Of A Funerary Boat, Risd Museum, Peter Dean, Peter Johnson

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During the funeral, the deceased took a last earthly journey, traveling by boat to the cemetaries on the west bank of the Nile. The next voyage then began: a spiritual pilgrimmage to Abydos, the religious center and burial place of the god Osiris. For this reason, wooden model boats were often placed within tombs as substitutes for large-scale vessels in the afterlife. This model boat mimicked papyrus funerary barks. The wedjat-eyes painted on the hull were meant to guide the vessel safely through the perilous journey to the afterlife. 2100-1900 BCE


Grand Arabesque, Second Time, Risd Museum, Julie Strandberg, Jeff Hesser May 2012

Grand Arabesque, Second Time, Risd Museum, Julie Strandberg, Jeff Hesser

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Transitional poses such as this one were constant themes of Edgar Degas’s numerous sculptural studies made in wax, wire, and plastilene. Collected from his studio following his death, these models became the sources of small editions cast in bronze, including this one of a dancer posed in a grand arabesque. In the classic ballet position, the dancer bends forward while standing on one straight leg, with the opposite arm extended forward and the other arm and leg extended backward. In the 1890s the British artist Walter Sickert visited Degas in his studio and was shown the wax model for this …


Diptych With Scenes Of The Nativity, The Crucifixion, And The Last Judgement, Risd Museum, Robert Brinkerhoff Jan 2012

Diptych With Scenes Of The Nativity, The Crucifixion, And The Last Judgement, Risd Museum, Robert Brinkerhoff

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This diptych was intended for private devotional viewing by privileged members of the French court and the Roman Catholic Church. Composed of four arcaded compartments once embellished with gold leaf and colored pigments, it narrates Mary’s role as mother and intercessor. The Annunciation and the Nativity of Christ at lower left face the presentation of the Infant Jesus to gift-bearing Magi. Above, Mary swoons at the Crucifixion, then reappears enthroned to be crowned by Christ. In the final panel at the upper right she kneels beside Christ on Judgment Day as souls arise from tiny sepulchers below. 1275-1325