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Full-Text Articles in History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

The Reproductive Politics Of Maiolica: Birth, Abortion, And Gendered Authority During The Italian Renaissance, Rose Brookhart Apr 2024

The Reproductive Politics Of Maiolica: Birth, Abortion, And Gendered Authority During The Italian Renaissance, Rose Brookhart

Honors Projects

In the aftermath of several plagues that decimated the population of the Italian peninsula since 1348, men and women from all socioeconomic backgrounds safeguarded their individual corporeal health and collective societal well-being through a variety of routines and rituals, which were prescribed but at the same time extremely personalized. This increased attention in personal and civic health promoted new trends in both literal and material consumption during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Purgative drugs and medicines were a common facet of medicine during the Italian Renaissance and were ingested regularly to alleviate commonplace bodily discomforts in addition to more serious …


The Spiritual Nature Of The Italian Renaissance, Kaitlyn Kenney May 2020

The Spiritual Nature Of The Italian Renaissance, Kaitlyn Kenney

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to investigate the influence of faith in the emergence and development of the Italian Renaissance, in both the artwork and writing of the major artists and thinkers of the day, and the impact that new expressions of faith had on the viewing public. While the Renaissance is often labeled as a secular movement by modern scholars, this interpretation is largely due to the political motives of the Medici family who dominated Florence as the center of this artistic rebirth, on and off again throughout the period. On close examination, the philosophical and creative undercurrents of the movement …


A Second Life: The Adaptation Of Dying Italian Towns To Accommodate Immigrants And Refugees, Rachel Rubis May 2020

A Second Life: The Adaptation Of Dying Italian Towns To Accommodate Immigrants And Refugees, Rachel Rubis

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite its efforts in historic preservation, there is an abundance of culturally significant Italian vernacular towns dying due to dilapidation and depopulation. Simultaneously, Italy has faced an ongoing stream of immigrants and refugees seeking work, housing, and asylum within its borders—a crisis that has resulted in Italian fear and animosity aside immigrant maltreatment and hardship. My research, which is supplemented by first-hand experience in Italy, qualitative analysis, and text sources, proposes interventions into dying Italian towns to aid in the resettlement of immigrants and refugees—an effort meant to be mutually beneficial to both the town and the immigrant. In my …


Marsilio Ficino's Astral Psychology: The Inner Cosmos Of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese On The Astronomical Ceiling Fresco Of Sala Del Mappamondo At Caprarola, Renata R. Nagy Jan 2018

Marsilio Ficino's Astral Psychology: The Inner Cosmos Of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese On The Astronomical Ceiling Fresco Of Sala Del Mappamondo At Caprarola, Renata R. Nagy

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis intends to explore the relationship between the Neoplatonist doctrines of the Renaissance philosopher, Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), and astrological images in the Renaissance. The astrological ceiling fresco located in the Room of Maps in the Villa Farnese at Caprarola is in the center of the argument, which I analyze based on the metaphysical works of Ficino, the Platonic Theology (1482) and the Three Books on Life (1492). Authors have examined the fresco decoration and Ficinian philosophy individually, but never together. This study is the first to recognize Ficino's influence on Renaissance astrological images in its entirety.The present work synthesizes …


Gentile Da Fabriano's Adoration Of The Magi: Iconographic Influences Of Decorative Arts From The Islamic World, Ruby Brooke Jan 2018

Gentile Da Fabriano's Adoration Of The Magi: Iconographic Influences Of Decorative Arts From The Islamic World, Ruby Brooke

Senior Projects Spring 2018

This project is an exploration of Islamic influences on the Adoration of the Magi (1423) by Gentile da Fabriano. The use of pseudo-inscriptions and Eastern textiles in the painting are central to the investigation of the work. I discuss the contact between the Republic of Florence and Muslim regions and the role of trade, crusades, and political contact on the arts of Quattrocento Florence. I analyze the extent of patron's contributions to the iconography in the altarpiece and the social and political implications of the piece.


The Partimento Tradition In The Shadow Of Enlightenment Thought, Deborah Longenecker Apr 2017

The Partimento Tradition In The Shadow Of Enlightenment Thought, Deborah Longenecker

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

This presentation investigates the relationship between partimento pedagogy and Rameau’s music theories as influenced by Enlightenment thought. Current research on partimento has revealed its importance in Neapolitan music schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Along with counterpoint, partimento was a core subject in the study of composition in the Neapolitan schools; however, as pedagogy and theory began to be influenced by Enlightenment ideals such as the scientific method or a preference for clear systemization, the partimento tradition began to wane. In this presentation, I examine Rameau’s music theory as an example of Enlightenment thought in music, juxtaposing the central …


The Loggia: Renaissance Revival Of Ancient Roman Villa Ideology As Manifest In A Liminal Space, John Francisco Cherichello Jan 2016

The Loggia: Renaissance Revival Of Ancient Roman Villa Ideology As Manifest In A Liminal Space, John Francisco Cherichello

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.


Book Review Of A. Victor Coonin, From Marble To Flesh: The Biography Of Michelangelo’S David, Sandra Cheng Oct 2015

Book Review Of A. Victor Coonin, From Marble To Flesh: The Biography Of Michelangelo’S David, Sandra Cheng

Publications and Research

Beginning of Book Review:
“What makes an icon?” is the underlying question of A. Victor Coonin’s book dedicated to Michelangelo’s statue of David. The larger-than-life-size David has a status akin to Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. Its image, whether whole or fragmented, is instantaneously recognizable, making it difficult to look at it afresh, but Coonin manages to reflect on well-trodden ground in a captivating manner. This study demonstrates how the David is more than an embodiment of masculinity but a statue imbued with multi-faceted symbolism that continues to resonate with viewers today.


Inspiring Piety: The Influence Of Caravaggio’S Paintings In Santa Maria Del Popolo, Cara Coleman Jan 2015

Inspiring Piety: The Influence Of Caravaggio’S Paintings In Santa Maria Del Popolo, Cara Coleman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This article looks at the way Italian Baroque painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio broke from the artistic conventions of the Renaissance and Mannerist styles in his religious paintings to create an entirely new style that reflected the needs of the post-Tridentine Catholic Church. Caravaggio pushed painting throughout Europe in a new direction, away from the idealization of the Renaissance and the artistic extremes of Mannerism, by popularizing realism in art. Caravaggio’s unique style is examined through comparisons of his paintings, The Conversion of Paul, c.1601 and The Martyrdom of Saint Peter, c.1601 in the Roman basilica, Santa Maria del Popolo …


"Future City In The Heroic Past: Rome, Romans, And Roman Landscapes In Aeneid 6–8", Eric Kondratieff Dec 2014

"Future City In The Heroic Past: Rome, Romans, And Roman Landscapes In Aeneid 6–8", Eric Kondratieff

History Faculty Publications

From the Intro: “Arms and the Man I sing…” So Vergil begins his epic tale of Aeneas, who overcomes tremendous obstacles to find and establish a new home for his wandering band of Trojan refugees. Were it metrically possible, Vergil could have begun with “Cities and the Man I sing,” for Aeneas’ quest for a new home involves encounters with cities of all types: ancient and new, great and small, real and unreal. These include Dido’s Carthaginian boomtown (1.419–494), Helenus’ humble neo-Troy (3.349–353) and Latinus’ lofty citadel (7.149–192). Of course, central to his quest is the destiny of Rome, whose …


Spoliation In Medieval Rome, Dale Kinney Jan 2013

Spoliation In Medieval Rome, Dale Kinney

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Romanità A Roma: Le Basiliche Del Xii Secolo Fra Tradizioni E Innovazioni, Dale Kinney Jan 2012

Romanità A Roma: Le Basiliche Del Xii Secolo Fra Tradizioni E Innovazioni, Dale Kinney

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

The “Romanness” (romanitas) of the cathedral portico in Civita Castellana is obvious, but within Rome the criteria of “Romanness” are not so clear. This article takes the architecture of twelfth-century churches as a case in point. Scholars generally agree that romanitas is retrospective and evocative of local tradition, but many of the signature features of these churches – bell towers, marble cloisters, Ionic trabeated porches, marble altar ciboria, paschal candlestands, the “schola cantorum” – were eleventh- or twelfth-century innovations, some- times imported from elsewhere. It is proposed that these features were “invented traditions” as defined by Eric Hobsbawm, which create …


The Discourse Of Columns, Dale Kinney Jan 2011

The Discourse Of Columns, Dale Kinney

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Masterpieces Of Italian Literature In Translation, Silvia Valisa Jan 2010

Masterpieces Of Italian Literature In Translation, Silvia Valisa

Silvia Valisa

No abstract provided.


Sex, Lies And Anecdotes: Gender Relations In The Life Stories Of Italian Women Artists, 1550-1800, Julia K. Dabbs Jan 2005

Sex, Lies And Anecdotes: Gender Relations In The Life Stories Of Italian Women Artists, 1550-1800, Julia K. Dabbs

Art History Publications

The writer discusses gender relations in life stories of Italian women artists between 1550 and 1800. In early modern life stories, a recurring emphasis on gender relations, typically deflecting or overshadowing discussion of artistic accomplishment, clearly marks the female artist as a breed apart from her male colleagues. In light of the fact that their biographers were frequently artists themselves, or at least were linked to artistic circles, the commonalities of these anecdotal narratives illuminate how these “miracles of nature” were viewed by the male artistic community, and, by association, the broader society of which they were a part. The …


A Classical Stage For The Old Nobility: The Strada Nuova And Sixteenth-Century Genoa, George Gorse Jan 1997

A Classical Stage For The Old Nobility: The Strada Nuova And Sixteenth-Century Genoa, George Gorse

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Sixteenth-century Genoa produced a distinctively new type of urban space in the Strada Nuova (or, since 1882, the Via Garibaldi)—the residential palace street or linear piazza—designed to legitimize and enhance the authority of a ruling elite.¹ Laid out in 1550-51 and built between 1558 and 1591, the Strada Nuova (Fig. 1), when taken as a whole, represents two significant themes for the history of Genoa and the interpretation of Renaissance cities. First, this major example of Italian Renaissance architecture and urban planning was conceived, and indeed, functioned as a classical stagelike space for the old nobility, who governed and controlled …


"Representations Of Domestic Space In Medieval Italian Painting" Paper Delivered At The Fordham Medieval Conference: The Family In The Middle Ages, Samuel D. Gruber Dr. Mar 1995

"Representations Of Domestic Space In Medieval Italian Painting" Paper Delivered At The Fordham Medieval Conference: The Family In The Middle Ages, Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

This paper, presented at a conference in 1995, presents impressions about the interior spaces of medieval Italian urban houses based on architecture, literature and painting. The paper in its present state refers to many works of art but is not illustrated or annotated.


Review: Naomi Miller, Renaissance Bologna: A Study In Architectural Form And Content, George Gorse Jan 1993

Review: Naomi Miller, Renaissance Bologna: A Study In Architectural Form And Content, George Gorse

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Bologna is a uniquely beautiful Italian city with broad, arcaded streets, richly textured brick and sandstone facades, majestic piazzas, public sculpture, high towers, and a cuisine to take time over. However, the previous historiographic emphasis upon Florence, Rome, and Venice has diverted attention from more fully preserved medieval and Renaissance cities such as Bologna, where urbanism—the urban fabric—takes precedence over individual buildings and architects, and where the urban context defines the architectural monument. Bologna is the work of art. And for this reason, one welcomes the fine book on this major, yet understudied, urban center by Naomi Miller, a distinguished …


Urbanism, Western Medieval, Samuel D. Gruber Dr. Jan 1990

Urbanism, Western Medieval, Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

Survey of the architectural aspects of medieval urbanism in Western Europe.


Ordering The Urban Environment: City Statutes And City Planning In Medieval Todi, Italy, Samuel D. Gruber Dr. Jan 1990

Ordering The Urban Environment: City Statutes And City Planning In Medieval Todi, Italy, Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

Samuel D. Gruber Dr.

Discusses the deliberate urban policies that of medieval Todi, Italy that helped create a functioning and beautiful medieval town through explicit laws and the careful micro-planning that utilized an incremental urbanism to create an inter-connected and integrated urban environment. Many of the medieval views visitors assume are part of an "organic" growth are actually careful projections of communal power and order.


An Unpublished Description Of The Villa Doria In Genoa During Charles V'S Entry, 1533, George Gorse Jan 1986

An Unpublished Description Of The Villa Doria In Genoa During Charles V'S Entry, 1533, George Gorse

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Recent scholarship on the Renaissance villa in Italy has emphasized its two major functions, as a pleasure retreat from the city and as a ceremonial entry into the city. This documentary note publishes a previously unknown Mantuan description of the Villa Doria in Genoa, addressed to Isabella d'Este, during the triumphal entry of Charles V into Genoa from March 28 to April 8, 1533. The document has interest for Renaissance scholars as the first description of the Villa Doria and of Perino del Vaga's decorations of 1529-33. It also shows the villa as part of a ceremonial sequence of entry …


The Villa Of Andrea Doria In Genoa: Architecture, Gardens, And Suburban Setting, George Gorse Jan 1985

The Villa Of Andrea Doria In Genoa: Architecture, Gardens, And Suburban Setting, George Gorse

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This paper reconsiders Andrea Doria's 16th-century villa in Genoa as an architectural and garden monument in relation to its original suburban setting.¹ The villa has thus far been discussed primarily as a decorative monument, with scholars focusing their attention upon the interior fresco and stucco decorations of Perino del Vaga and façade paintings by Perino, Beccafumi, and Pordenone.² However, these paintings have not been understood fully in terms of the architectural, garden, and suburban context of the villa, which serves as the focus of this study.


Neoplatonism And The Florentine Renaissance, Donald L. De Merchant Jan 1972

Neoplatonism And The Florentine Renaissance, Donald L. De Merchant

All Master's Theses

This thesis demonstrates the correspondence between the visual arts and the literary sources of a given period in art history. During the Florentine Renaissance this correspondence lay between the Neoplatonism of Marsilio Picino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and the Visual art of the predominant artists; specifically, Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo Buonarrotti. The impulse that is common to these creative minds is the Neoplatonic conception or the visual image. It is through a study or this tacit dimension that we are able to some extent to view the meaning of Renaissance art.