Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons^™

The Image Falls Apart, Alexa N. Curran

Masters Theses

The Image Falls Apart is a phenomenological account of my collision with Rogier van der Weyden’s The Descent from the Cross (ca. 1435). In an ever-expanding landscape of visual stimuli, how do we make sense of images that are an encounter with the sacred? Of what use to a modern viewer is an altarpiece of the late medieval period that, in its miraculous rendering of each of its human figures, reflects the impending iconophobia of the Protestant Reformation? And what does falling have to do with it? With careful attention to the assembly of bodies in space, this multidisciplinary project, …

Clue In The Roman Style House: A Twist On The Classic Board Game Featuring A Fusion Of Ancient And Modern Roman Influences, Madelyn Junk

Honors Projects

Throughout time, games have been used to convey how society functions. They hint at societal structure, behavioral patterns, and roles of community members. Specifically, board games are excellent ways to teach players about attention to detail and how to synthesize information.

This unique and functional honors project finds its strength as a detail-oriented game that stresses the importance of critical thinking and deduction as it further rewards those skills through play and friendly competition. It combines art history, education, and graphic design disciplines to result in a creative output alongside a research paper. Its final product is a playable game …

Tarot - Reimagined: Monotype Tarot Landscapes, Eleanor B. Nelson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Printmaking is a form of artmaking that utilizes transferring marks from the matrix to the final piece of paper, often through a press. These processes are able to create an edition of multiple identical prints. This is typically considered the highlight of using print processes; however, the process of making monotypes allows for one original piece. Through the process of researching and creating watercolor monotypes, I made a collection of ten original pieces, all depicting different landscapes throughout the Tarot deck. Each piece is 9” x 12” printed on a 13” x 17” piece of paper and created with watercolor, …

From The Pit, Joshua C. Goering

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Clay retains histories; the memory of each action it experiences is depicted on its surface and in its form.  I am a potter focused on making objects that capture these moments. Pinching, scraping, trimming, throwing, and carving expose tooth and excavate form, revealing the qualities of the material and showing the marks of handwork. As a potter, I am interested in participating in a history of vessel making and understanding making through an interpretation of the historic object. The work acts as an archive, accumulating information about process, materials, and a greater context of elder objects. Integrating these vocabularies creates …

A Visual Analysis Of The Work Of Anna Weyant For Art Historical Precedent, Jordan Arnold

MA Theses

This paper examines the rapid ascent and artistic evolution of Anna Weyant, whose blend of technical rigor, stylized figuration, and sly narrative tension has positioned her as a leading name in contemporary figurative painting. While her market visibility and high-profile representation have often overshadowed critical engagement with her work, a close analysis reveals a steadily developing practice grounded in a set of consistent formal concerns: controlled light and shadow, psychologically charged compositions, and a sustained dialogue with art-historical precedents. By situating Weyant’s paintings in relation to the psychological realism of the Dutch Golden Age, the uncanny and erotic undercurrents of …

The Arch And The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsitǎ, Ana Popescu

Masters Theses

The Arch and The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsită (You Are Walking Around with a Painted Crow)

A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics in the Department of Ceramics of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

By Ana Popescu, 2025

Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:

Lesley Baker, Shoji Satake (Chair), Heather Bhandari, Tucker Houlihan

Date: May 17th, 2025

Location: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

To be opened for self-reflection in 10 years, on May 17th, 2035:

I’ve been mulling over how to make …

Trans-Pacific Connections: Chinese Porcelain And Aztec Motifs In Colonial Mexico, Natalia Ramirez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This research explores artworks within the Global Baroque as visual and ideological evidence through which colonial power, trade, and cross-cultural influence shaped the material culture of the early modern world. Centering on blue and white ceramics as a key medium of transcultural and trans-local exchange, the study analyzes how global motifs, particularly those drawn from Aztec and Chinese traditions, were reinterpreted, aestheticized, and circulated in Aztec and Novohispanic artistic practices.

Through a close observational comparison of Aztec and Chinese decorative systems, the study recognizes contrasting systems of cultural documentation embedded within similar visual forms. Aztec motifs, rooted in ritual, calendrical, …

Trans-Pacific Connections: Unveiling Cultural Exchange Through Baroque Folding Screens Of Japan And Mexico, Natalia Christine Ramirez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This study focuses into the often-overlooked world of 16th-17th-century globally-mobile folding screens, revealing them as vastly important cultural objects. While conventional scholarship tends to compartmentalize artistic traditions, focusing on isolated cultures, this research emphasizes the vibrant exchanges that connected Japan and Mexico during the ‘Baroque’ period. By contrasting the Conquest of Mexico screen with the Japanese Namban Folding Screen, the nuances and vastness of cultural interaction through creative objects becomes illuminated and revered as important pieces of global history.

Through applying global art historical theories, especially the concept of the ‘global Baroque,’ I explore how Mexican biombo screens adapted from …

Hemispheres Of Faith: Mapping The Global Journey Of An Ivory Rosary Bead At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Mary M. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Hemispheres of Faith reattributes a carved ivory rosary bead in the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Quito School in 18th-century Ecuador. Through examining the trade history of the Manila Galleons, material analysis, and iconographic study, Hemispheres of Faith challenges the bead's European origins and reveals the object as a product of global exchange, devotional practice, and colonial artistic collaboration within the Spanish Empire.

Tile In Time: The Study Of Interiors Through Art, Lauren Nielsen

Student Research Symposium

Lauren is a senior in the Interior Architecture and Design program at Utah State University. Her design philosophy centers around storytelling—she believes that great design not only transforms spaces but also tells meaningful stories. When she graduates, Lauren hopes to work in a historic preservation capacity. This projects draws inspiration from the past as we step into the future.

Removing The Veil: An Audiovisual Exploration Of Medieval Jewish Art, Ray Kaplan

Student Research Symposium

• Purpose: analyze the harmful narratives created by antisemitic art, uplift Jewish Medieval artwork instead
• In-progress URCO, to be done at the end of April
• Ultimate product: video essay
• Project delayed due to evolution of original concept
• Where it's at now

For The Birds, Charlotte L. Middleton

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

For the Birds is a homogenous material exhibition of porcelain pottery that explores the relationships between, expectations of, and roles placed upon women and pottery. Using traditional craft processes, still life imagery, and the language and limits of porcelain, I create arrangements that expose the viewers assumptions of both subjects. Pottery- pitchers, cups, and vases—is a product of anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism and can be entirely taken for granted- their role is assumed and unquestionable—to serve. The language and expectations of these objects are the medium I build with.

The title of the show, For the Birds, is both a …

Titian’S Bacchus And His Two Loves, Fern Luskin

Publications and Research

Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne represents not only Bacchus' attraction to Ariadne, as has long been recognized, but also his infatuation with a boy-satyr, Ampelos, who struts at the centre of the composition. The little satyr's identity, recognized in the seventeenth century, but overlooked by modern scholars, is confirmed by newly revealed pentimenti. Titian was probably the first to embed this homoerotic love story in a painting depicting the Bacchus and Ariadne myth. The textual impetus for Titian's inclusion of the Ampelos myth was Nonnos' Dionysiaca. Guided by Nonnos' text, Titian alludes not only to Bacchus' love for Ampelos, …

Under The Veil: Women's Head Coverings In Tudor England, Savannah Toth

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis seeks to discover and analyze the agency and meaning of the role of women’s head coverings and veils within the context of Tudor Christianity, society, and the fashion world of English culture. By observing the usage of the veil through various lenses, this thesis examines the nuance of the veil as an object and actor in Tudor society that enables yet prohibits personal choice for women. This research uses various sources such as Tudor paintings and portraits, surviving pieces of garments, and written accounts to paint a picture of the impact and significance the veil had in every …

Juan Sánchez Cotán’S Still Lifes And Artistic Ingenio In Early Modern Toledo, Carmen Ripollés

Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay brings new light on the creation and early reception of the still lifes of the Toledan painter Juan Sánchez Cotán. It focuses on Cotán’s friendship with and professional relationship to the metalworker Diego de Valdivieso and the manuscript illuminator Juan de Salazar, both of whom are recorded as being among the first owners of his still lifes. An analysis of these artists’ works vis-j-vis Cotán’s still lifes reveals similar technical and conceptual concerns, as well as a shared will to elevate their crafts to demonstrate ingenio. This analysis therefore places Cotán’s still lifes in the context of artistic …

Remedios Varo: Peregrinaciones, Julia Condes

Honors Undergraduate Theses

At the time of her death, the artist Remedios Varo (1908–1963) left behind over 500 works of art, the majority of which were created in her adopted country of Mexico. Known for her meticulously crafted fantastical paintings, Varo underwent exile and displacement due to first the Spanish Civil War, and later World War II, which led her to relocate to Mexico, where she would create prolifically for the remainder of her life. This paper will examine the effect of those experiences on the artist and the work she produced, attesting to Varo’s ability to translate complex emotions regarding the human …

A Portrait Of The Artist, 1525–1825: Prints From The Collection Of The Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Cyndy Basil, Isobel Debenham, Sarah Kate Gillespie, Felicia M. Else

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Consisting of fifty-one prints on loan from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, this exhibition examines how artists depicted themselves and their profession from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The show includes artists such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Salvator Rosa, William Hogarth, Claude Lorrian, and Francisco Goya, among others. Created during a period when the social status of artists was in flux, the prints represent both artists’ lives and work, and the roles that both artists and the arts held in society. Full of allegory and rich in satire, the works include self-portraits, representations of …

Christ Child Bearing The Instruments Of The Passion Technical Study And Treatment Of A Painting On Copper From The Viceroyalty Of Peru, Daniela González-Pruitt

Art Conservation Master's Projects

Christ Child Bearing the Instruments of the Passion (acc.# 228017) is a 17^th century Peruvian Viceregal painting on copper belonging to the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation. The painting depicts the Christ Child on a flower laid path as he carries the instruments of the passion also known as the Arma Christi Paintings executed on copper convey new and challenging preservation issues based on their materials and techniques.. The work had been heavily restored and exhibited several condition issues, including significant overpaint and broad losses. The painting was photographed using multimodal imaging techniques as well as reflectance …

Not So Cavalier: Technical Study And Conservation Treatment Of A Potential 17th Century Anglo-Dutch Military Portrait Painting, Josephine Ren

Art Conservation Master's Projects

A potential 17^th century Anglo-Dutch military portrait painting from the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York arrived at the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State University for conservation research and treatment in 2022. The painting’s title, date, and artist were unknown and the subject was initially referred to as a “17^th Century Dutch Cavalier.” Little information existed on the provenance and history of the artwork. The painting was in a state of structural instability and aesthetic disfigurement and showed evidence of a past restoration campaign. This master’s project attempted to broadly …

The Mounted Warrior: An Investigation Into An Unpublished Coptic Textile Featuring Equestrian Imagery, Elizabeth Hines

University Honors Theses

The warrior on horseback visual motif has existed for millenia. Such equestrian imagery was widely distributed in the visual arts and material culture, including that of textiles. This scholarly exploration centers on an unpublished Coptic Egyptian textile fragment portraying a warrior atop a horse in motion, presenting an analysis of its symbolic significance and potential cultural functions. Through an intricate examination of the artifact and comparative study with contemporaneous first millennium CE eastern Mediterranean material culture, this extraordinary equestrian motif and its implications for understanding ancient visual narratives is realized. By situating the textile fragment within its historical and cultural …

Increasing The Accuracy Of The Military‟S Post-Deployment Mental Health Screening Strategies, Daniel Fass

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author investigated the prevalence rates of mental health problems reported by college students and compared them with previously existing data on active duty, reserve, and National Guard Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. Participants completed the mental health portion of the Post-Deployment Health Re-Assessment and an additional questionnaire in which the effect of a drug use screen was explored. Subjects were also asked about their intentions to seek mental health or substance abuse treatment and how anonymity affected their treatment seeking and reporting accuracy. Results indicate similar and at times higher rates of mental health problems in the sample of college …

Vision, Repetition And Redemption: Envisioning Universal Salvation In A Group Of Six Carolingian Ivory Book Covers, Valerie Thai

Theses and Dissertations

Six Carolingian ivory plaques share almost identical imagery. This thesis focuses on the figures of Synagoga and the rising dead repeated in the compositions. As the ivories are Gospel covers used in Mass, this study demonstrates how these motifs appeal to the congregation, conveying the Christian tenet of universal salvation.

Lost & Looted - The Fate Of Bejeweled Textiles And Gemstone Carpets, Anou Lunia Singhvi

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I would like to present my family's role in shaping my love for Bejeweled Textiles, my father, P. C. Lunia was a reclusive genius extra-ordinaire, he created what no other jeweler would dare put--majestic gemstone chandeliers, fine silver gem studded sculptures and monumental textile art bejeweled with the powerful energy of gemstones He worked with the likes of Harry Winston, Cartier and Adler, jewelry houses known to the whole world. As a visual artist and performer why was I attracted to this luxurious medium, in the timeless genre of Agra Gemstone Carpets that rose into prominence in Mughal India, when …

Invites Only: Exploring Social Dynamics And Self-Image Through Oil Paint, Mara Cressey

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

My thesis work depicts the events of a fictional party. Using oil paint, I create multi-figure works that feature recurring characters, various narratives, complex relationships, and emotions associated with this fictitious evening. Within this painted realm, I portray a more confident, powerful version of myself; an alter ego, who exists alongside these various characters. Drawing inspiration from compositional strategies from Renaissance art history and Christian altarpieces, I paint on large-scale, shaped canvas and paper to suggest doors, windows, and other domestic, interior spaces. Additionally, these shapes allow me to juxtapose suggestions of prominence and divinity with satire, irreverence, and profanity. …

Fighter, Player, Hunter: Queer Women And Female Agents On Secular Gothic Ivories, Emma Le Pouésard

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This essay shines a light on the previously ignored queer representations of women on Gothic secular ivories, taking as its case studies three popular iconographical themes: the Castle of Love, the game of chess, and the courtly hunt. Refusing to yield to compulsory heterosexuality when looking at the indeterminately gendered bodies that populate these objects reveals both the ivories’ inherent queerness and their potential to interrogate their own normativity. Like the romance literature that inspired the images on these objects, they represent and enforce idealized gender norms with remarkable reluctance. In particular, the author highlights overlooked depictions of female homosocial …

A Light On Europe. The International And Intermedial Trajectory Of A Medieval Chandelier At The Turn Of The Nineteenth Century, Eveline Deneer

Artl@s Bulletin

This article investigates the shaping of European visual culture by tracing the international and intermedial trajectory of the visual motive of a chandelier from a 15th-century Burgundian manuscript in the decades around 1800. Passing from Brussels, Paris, Lyon, Mannheim, and Vienna to Coburg, and moving from illumination to drawing, archaeological illustration, painting, engraving to the applied arts, its trajectory exemplifies the historical conditions and cultural phenomena that animated the formation of a European visual culture, at a time when historical and national consciousness were developing on the continent.

Developing Resilience In The School Setting: A Response To Trauma, Michelle Nutter

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lasting effects of childhood trauma manifest themselves in a variety of problem behaviors witnessed in classrooms across the nation. School staff would benefit from background knowledge to understand students who have experienced trauma and interventions to respond appropriately and positively to behaviors. As a school leader, the purpose of this cross-case qualitative design was twofold. First, I hoped to understand the perceptions of school staff members regarding trauma-informed interventions in elementary public schools. Second, this study explored the infrastructure of select schools that enable principals and staff members to view its students through a trauma lens. Literature on successful interventions …

Self-Authorship And Professional Identity Formation In Professional-Level Athletic Training Students, Matthew Rivera

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The development of a professional identity is a crucial component of health professions’ education programs and aids in interprofessional collaboration, communication, efficiency, and patient outcomes. Yet, limited research on the development of the individual as a component of professional identity development exists. The use of curricular strategies rooted in the self-authorship theory can close this gap in the development of a professional identity. Self-authorship is a developmental continuum whereby individuals move from following external formulas to building an internal foundation where they make meaning and integrate beliefs into how they think and act. This study aimed to investigate the self-authorship …

Networking For Mid-Level Administrators In Higher Education: Increase Job Performance And Reduce Burnout, Laura Glasbrenner

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mid-level administrators occupy a complex position within higher education institutions, a role defined by “middleness” (Gleeson & Shain, 1999, p. 488), which characterizes their place in institutional hierarchies between superiors and subordinates. Mid-level administrators often feel isolated since they cannot be seen as having close personal relationships with those above or below them in the rankings. Consequently, mid-level administrators are subject to burnout, a psychological condition resulting from isolation compounded by working long hours reconciling the competing and conflicting needs of supervisors and subordinates, which leaves them emotionally exhausted, physically depleted, and feeling like they have reached a professional dead-end. …

Evaluating The Influence Of Some Factors On Capability Maturity Model Integration For Development (Cmmi-Dev) Maturity Level, Sakawa Ogega

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI-DEV) is a collection of characteristics of effective processes that guide improving an organization's operations and ability to manage software projects' development. The CMMI-DEV maturity levels range from 1 to 5 for the staged model; however, there are no certifications for maturity level 1. Organizations appraised may seek higher CMMI-DEV maturity levels. Most clients will seek to do business with organizations with at least CMMI Maturity Level 3 certification. This research aimed to find if software development methodology (SDM), CMMI training, and other process improvement (OPI) standards affect CMMI maturity level rating. The dependent …