Designing Digital Antiquity: Classical Archaeology In New Virtual Applications, William Loder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that the combination of existing archaeological theory with game design theory offers an innovative avenue for creating serious 3D applications of archaeological sites in virtual reality that can be productively used for pedagogical, research, and outreach solutions. In this thesis, I engage with the archaeological theories of phenomenology and sensory studies, briefly touching on structure and agency as well as discussion of some current digital applications in use in the field. For this project, I am interested in game design theory as it relates to education and I view Virtual Reality as an important tool …

Beauty, Real Or Apparent: Christian Kings, Muslim Artisans, And The Development Of An Imperial Image Through The Silk And Horticulture Industries In Sicily. (Ca. 1090-1190), Casey K. Brown

History ETDs

In the wake of the Norman conquest of Sicily in the second half of the eleventh century, the Mediterranean island housed a diverse collection of Greek, Latin, and Muslim communities. Norman kings chose Palermo to become the seat of Latin-Christian Sicilian government for its productivity and strategic location and included the island into the complex world of self-fashioning politics and exchange. For Sicilian and ‘foreign’ Muslims alike, the imperious pose Roger II and his successors held created a precarious balancing act between the real and imagined worlds of Sicily. The content of this thesis is primarily concerned with the impact …

Baccio Del Bianco At The Court Of Spain: Early Modern Scenic Design In Context, Pamela Thielman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the life and work of seventeenth-century artist and architect, Baccio del Bianco, to imagine alternative research strategies for histories of theatre. Traditional scholarship of theatre design is rooted in art historical practices, which has limited the consideration of influences beyond visual culture. It has also posited Italian theatre culture as the driver of innovations in Early Modern theatre design. In this project, I argue for and engage in a practice of scenic design historiography that replaces Italy as the dominant actor in the theatrical scene of this period with a more nuanced approach that places emphasis on …

Adapting The Hellmouth In The Office Of The Dead From The Hours Of Catherine Of Cleves: An Experiment In Using A Dramaturgical Approach To Medieval Studies, Tatiana A. Godfrey

Masters Theses

This thesis is an artefact documenting the process of adapting a late medieval painting of hell into a short horror film. The process of adapting the Three Mouths of Hell, housed within the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, serves as an experiment in applying a dramaturgical approach to medieval studies. The process of adaptation and production, informed by critical research about the Hours of Catherine of Cleves and its Three Mouths of Hell, yields new frameworks for understanding the history of Catherine of Cleves, her Book of Hours, and the Three Mouths of Hell.

Power Dressing: Feather Fans And The Visual Language Of Female Portraiture, Charlotte Svetkey

Theses and Dissertations

Feather fans in sixteenth-century portraiture not only allowed the female sitter to express her own claims to wealth, status, and power but also acted as a visual indicator of changes that were occurring on the global stage. Both fans and sitters will be evaluated through ideas of gender and class.

A Sculpir Qui Cose Divine: The Spiritual Non-Finito In Michelangelo's Pietà, Kaitlin Arbusto

Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s faith – rooted in his contemplation of salvation and his own mortality in art and the written word – is explored in this thesis via an investigation of his four surviving Pietà. Each of these artworks, like the nature of his spirituality, is considered in relation to the non-finito.

Greco-Roman Paganism And Women Leaders: The Foundation Of Early Christian Art, Rowan Murry

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I explore the impact of Greco-Roman pagan motifs as well as women leaders and officials on the development of Early Christian art by analyzing catacomb paintings, sarcophagi, and minor arts such as finger rings and carved gemstones. I also discuss surviving primary sources written by Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Clement of Alexandria, to gain a better understanding of anti-art views in the first few centuries of the Church’s rise to power. These anti-art sentiments were often rooted in attempts to disassociate themselves from pagan practices while Early Christian art was emerging amongst the lower classes who …

Fine Roman Dining At Affordable Pompeian Prices: A New Evaluation Of The Non-Domestic Gardens Of Pompeii, Claire Campbell

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous scholarship has designated Roman gardens into otium or negotium designations; however, this research on Roman gardens suggests that these concepts often exist in the spaces simultaneously. To address this issue, I compiled catalogs of garden spaces identified at Regio I and Regio VI of Pompeii. This methodology cuts across traditional public and private or productive and aesthetic designations, which will allow me to draw connections between the gardens found in different types of settings. This new catalog methodology of Roman gardens presented in this thesis allows for an integrative analysis of garden spaces, which reveals that these commercial gardens …

The Medici Example: How Power Creates Art And Art Creates Power, Margaret Hayden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project looks at two members of Florence’s Medici family, Cosimo il Vecchio (1389-1464) and Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574), in an attempt to assess how they used the patronage of art to facilitate their rule. By looking at their individual political representations through art, the specifics of their propagandist works and what form these pieces of art came, it is possible to analyze their respective rules. This analysis allows for a clearer understanding of how these two men, each in very different positions, found art as an ally for their political endeavors. While they were in power only one hundred …

Écorché Figures In Mannerism As Influenced By The Reemergence Of Systematic Human Dissection, Megan Tanner

Honors College Theses

During the sixteenth century, many individuals became fascinated by the human form, which led to an increase in artistic and scientific focus on these subjects. Artistic interest in the human body resulted in a close relationship between artists and anatomists during the time, and the societal acceptance to public demonstrations of dissections, including flaying, was often converged with Mannerist ideals. It is historically evident that écorché figures during Mannerism were based on these, as well as torture methods during the time. As these demonstrations became more common throughout the sixteenth century, they began to be monitored in order to ensure …

The Last Horseman: Albrecht Dürer’S Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, Megan L. Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Albrecht Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse through comparisons with examples from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, as well as the artist’s own numerous representations of Death. These comparisons will show the way Dürer interpreted and changed the iconography of the Four Horsemen.

Colonialism, Cohabitation, And Charismatic Llamas: Representations Of Animals In Felipe Guaman Poma De Ayala's El Primer Nueva Corónica Y Buen Gobierno, Laura Varela Mejia

Art History Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the role of animals, specifically llamas, in El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, a manuscript that dates to 1615-16, and was hand-written and illustrated by the Andean author Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. Through the lens of animal studies, I analyze the manner in which Poma represented llamas to convey greater ideas surrounding the nature of colonial life under the Spanish empire, as well as the nostalgic remembrance of Inca practices before the conquest.

My study focuses on three of the Corónica’s drawings: “The second age of the world: Noah,” and how its reinterpretation …

As Above, So Below: Italian Amuletic Practices Following The Black Death, Danielle Pigeon

Art History Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the production of amuletic rings in the Italian peninsula following the arrival of Yersinia pestis during the mid-fourteenth century. By examining patterns of ornamentation on a selection of Italian rings, I establish connections to the trauma experienced by individuals left in the wake of the plague and argue that these objects offered a sacralized model of protective adornment to counteract the threat of a fatal and seemingly unstoppable illness. Italian amuletic rings can thereby be read as a material response to the anxieties of mass death and bodily horrors that accompanied outbreaks of the Black Death.

The …

Abraham Hondius's Dog Market: Early Modern Animal Imagery In Transition, Sarah Roberts

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Though today animal painting is frequently associated with English painters like George Stubbs and Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, its foundations lie in the earlier work of Dutch and Flemish painters. The work of these earlier artists marks an important (if little recognized) transitional phase in popular attitudes and understandings of animals. By the 1670s, the Rotterdam-born painter Abraham Hondius had immigrated to London, leaving the Dutch Republic and its declining art market for England where the market for paintings was rapidly expanding in the late seventeenth century. Abraham Hondius’s 1677 painting The Dog Market, which entered a museum collection …

Pure And Fresh: A Typology Of Formal Garden Scenes From Private Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Tombs Prior To The Amarna Period, Jayme Rudolf Reichart

Theses and Dissertations

Gardens in ancient Egypt are known from the Early Dynastic Period to the Graeco-Roman Period from archaeological, textual, and pictorial evidence. From this evidence, one can differentiate between simple and formal gardens. This thesis exclusively produces a typology of the S- and Domain of Amun formal garden scenes (the xnty-S-, kAmw-, sS-, at-nt-xt-, and Hrrt-S-formal gardens) represented in the early to mid-late Eighteenth Dynasty Theban private tomb art prior to the Amarna Period (TT E2, TT 39, TT 63, TT 80, TT 81, TT 85, TT 87, TT 90, TT 93, TT 96, TT 100, TT 109, TT 161, and …

The Hidden Secrets Of Historical Artistry, Jennifer B. Musser

Honors Undergraduate Theses

When I began developing the video game concept for my thesis, I realized that I was one of the kids that grew up in a society where video games took prevalence over historical artistry. I, however, was unaware of the hidden secrets that resided in the art and how much they contribute to the video games I enjoy playing today. This thesis aims to provide the younger generations with an engaging and stimulating way to experience historical artistry, more specifically the Italian Renaissance, without having to consult a history book. I aim to provide enough detail on multiple aspects of …

Hieronymous Bosch In Context: A Look Into The Relationship Between The Table Of The Seven Deadly Sins And King Philip Ii Of Spain, Abigail Rose Stanley

Senior Projects Spring 2021

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

Evaluating A Need For Somatic Access To Classical Objects In Public Museums, Jerod G. Peitsmeyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Physical experiences with ancient art objects in museums are rare. Display paradigms in most public institutions continue to propagate systems of participant interaction that reinforces unequal power structures. The Montana Musuem of Art and Culture (MMAC) is the current custodian of an ancient, Rhodian wine amphora that provides an opportunity to examine a novel system of somatic participation. This proposal upends traditional gatekeeping practices and serves as a powerful and progressive, humanist touchstone; an olive branch extended to the general public from behind the walls of higher education and the ramparts of privileged scholarship. This study reimagines the amphora's future …

Appealingly Unpeeled: The Layered Lemons In Dutch Golden Age And Contemporary Art, Amanda Barr

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In seventeenth-century Dutch painting, the lemon holds a prominent visual, economical, socio-cultural, and moral position. This trend would then be repeated in contemporary art, beginning in roughly the 1970s. This thesis, in two parts, will explore the significance of the prevalence of the lemon and their recurrent presence in both Dutch Golden Age art and modern and contemporary artwork. This multivalent approach will look at lemons as not only a visual representation of fruit, but a symbol of larger concepts such as globalization, commercialism, colonialism, sexuality, religion, linguistics, mythology, and pop culture.

Witch Pamphlets, Tsea M. Francisconi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The witch hysteria that overtook Christian Europe during the Early Modern era inspired a mass paranoia over the conspiratorial belief that the Abrahamic religion’s personification of the world’s evils, also known as Satan, the Devil, demons, or Lucifer interchangeably, was attempting to rise up and cause harm to Christian communities during this time period. It was believed that in order to achieve this goal the Christian version of the Devil had been recruiting humans within Christian communities and turning these chosen humans into witches by granting them the ability to wield magical powers to spread their destruction, murder, and terror …