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

An Ideological Target Through The Archaeological Archive: The Islamic State’S Destruction Of Palmyra And Its Impact On Local Syrian Identity, Tristen A. Leone

Pomona Senior Theses

This paper investigates how Palmyra's multicultural archaeological archive incited ISIS's destruction of the site during the Syrian Civil War through an analysis of sepulchral and religious architectural structures and onomastic practices. In contributing the cultural heritage scholarship, this paper places the motives of Islamic extremist groups in conversation with intellectual discourse around the multicultural identities of the Ancient Near East during the Roman Imperial Period. Further, through anthropological methodological frameworks and the photographic archive of excavation efforts at Palmyra, I aim to center modern local communities' experiences of living on and near an archaeological site like Palmyra. In consulting modern …

Mathematics In The Vichten Roman Mosaic, Marko Peric, Antonella Perucca

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

We explore the geometry of the renowned Vichten Roman Mosaic. The central section of the mosaic features a tessellation composed of octagons, half-squares, and symmetrical pentagons. We present a Sangaku-style exercise to investigate these polygons. Additionally, we examine the whirl patterns of the mosaic and the optical illusion they create. Our activities offer a mathematical exploration that requires only basic school-level mathematics, highlighting the close connection between mathematics and art.

Disrupting The Timeline: Challenging Notions Of A Singular, Linear Early Muslim Historiography, Grayson D. Shaw

Pomona Senior Theses

Few historical events have received the same attention in the formative years of Islam as the so-called “‘Abbāsid Revolution” in 132 AH/750 CE. In both the medieval and modern contexts, this event has been recognized as a monumental formation from which the rest of Islamic history comes downstream from. Problematically, there are no cohesive historical sources from the losers of this conflict; the Umayyads. Utilizing numismatic and architectural evidence, I argue that the alleged rupture between the Umayyads and their ‘Abbāsid successors is overblown by historiography two centuries after the fact. Then, I further analyze what this continuity means for …

Dark As Day, Rachel Keady

CMC Senior Theses

“All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles... unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing... better than to follow nature." - Caravaggio

In the fall of 2021, I registered to take “Italian Baroque Art” with Professor Gorse at Pomona College, for the spring of 2022. Professor Faggen, one of my advisors, encouraged this and piqued my interest in the characters of this world. After some casual online research, I was transfixed by one artist in particular: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. How could I not be struck …

Mysteries Of The Gothic, Addison Duvall

CMC Senior Theses

By examining the histories of the Notre-Dame and Chartres cathedrals, I will consider three academic schools of thought regarding the high Gothic Cathedrals: the balanced and rational feat of engineering, the communal and social rituals that bond humans to this space, and the iconographic manifestation of the supernatural. Functionalist engineering paradoxically lays at the heart of these cathedrals' capacity to open the human consciousness to the sacred by using recurrent symbolic patterns from nature, music and mathematics to create divine ratios that transport us. Integrated into these larger architectural designs the repeating visual patterns exalting both biblical and supernatural icons …

Sacred Flame: Meditative Mysticism In The Works Of Georges De La Tour, Elizabeth Carleton

Scripps Senior Theses

Georges de La Tour is famous for his Mary Magdalene paintings, but he remains one of the most mysterious figures in 17th Century French art. In my thesis, I elaborate the ways in which La Tour's unique painting style was impacted by Counter-Reformation meditation theology and contemporary French mystical literature. While La Tour's artistic inspirations include Caravaggio, the Caravaggisti, and French and Lorrainese Mannerists, his late-career nocturne style is a striking departure from his early career, demonstrating an intense, reflective spirituality. In his use of light and flame to symbolize holiness, La Tour positions himself as spiritual intercessor to the …

Body, Blood, And Flood: The Ripple Of Kinesics Through Nature In Leonardo Da Vinci's Art, Rachael Herrera

Scripps Senior Theses

Leonardo da Vinci's art and science have a dynamic relationship that can be used to better understand the role of the individual and the human body within his art. Leonardo believed that movements of the body were expressions of the soul. He also thought that the body was as a microcosm of the physical world. The theories, based in ancient tradition, would be challenged by his work with the human anatomy. By studying his notebooks it becomes evident that Leonardo held nature to be the highest creator of the world but as he worked to understand the human body and …

Old Masterpieces, New Mistress-Pieces: Cindy Sherman's Reinterpretations Of Renaissance Portraits Of Women, Caitlyn D. Marianacci

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines a selection of eight photographs in the History Portraits series by American photographer, Cindy Sherman, produced from 1989 to 1990. The photographs are based on Renaissance paintings of biblical and secular women painted by old master artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Raphael. Sherman focused on the female types of Biblical mother and femme fatale, as well as wives and models. These types are defined in their relation to men and are depicted by men. In Sherman’s reinterpretations of their portraits, she retells the stories of these women in ways that reaffirm their independence …

Making History: How Art Museums In The French Revolution Crafted A National Identity, 1789-1799, Anna E. Sido

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper compares two art museums, both created during the French Revolution, that fostered national unity by promoting a cultural identity. By analyzing the use of preexisting architecture from the ancien régime, innovative displays of art and redefinitions of the museum visitor as an Enlightened citizen, this thesis explores the application of eighteenth-century philosophy to the formation of two museums. The first is the Musée Central des Arts in the Louvre and the second is the Musée des Monuments Français, both housed in buildings taken over by the Revolutionary government and present the seized property of the royal family and …

Norton Simon: The Man With "Two Hats", Helen Ragen

Scripps Senior Theses

Norton Simon was a unique collector because he let passion guide his collecting interests, but he controlled his passion by making his purchases based on smart economic decisions bolstered by years of experience in successful business negotiations. The Norton Simon Museum, today in Pasadena, California, displays the eccentric collectors life work as he created one of the greatest and most recognized collections on the west coast. By examining the progression and establishment of Norton Simon Inc., alongside the creation of the Norton Simon Art Foundation, multiple parallels can be drawn between Simons’ unique approach to business and the application of …

The Efficacy Of Mathematics Education, Eric Geimer

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Evidence supports the notion that mathematics education in the United States is inadequate. There is also evidence that mathematics education deficiencies extend internationally. The worldwide mathematics education deficit appears large enough that improving student performance in this educational problem area could yield great economic benefit. To improve the efficacy of mathematics education, education’s root problems must first be understood. Often supposed educational root problems are considered and contrasted against potential deficiencies of mathematics methodologies and curricula that are based on mainstream educational philosophies. The educational philosophies utilized to form early-grade mathematics methodologies and related curricula are judged to be the …

Religious Iconography In "Twilight": Veneration And Fandom, Jacqueline E. Swaidan

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

The mysterious and dark atmosphere, the overwhelming focus on the main characters, and the constant contrast of dark and light in Twilight (2009) recall traditional Christian religious imagery. But more that that, this paper will argue that Twilight, the first of the romantic fantasy films adapted from the successful book series by Stephenie Meyer, draws explicitly on traditional Catholic religious imagery and ceremony to engender religious devotion in its fans. Images from the first Twilight film suggest that the creators of Twilight used religious imagery to captivate their audience. Christian constructs such as Eden’s eternity, Edward’s Christ-like abstinence, and …

Power And Nostalgia In Eras Of Cultural Rebirth: The Timeless Allure Of The Farnese Antinous, Kathleen Lamanna

Scripps Senior Theses

Little did Hadrian know in 130 A.D. that when he deified his beloved departed Antinous, in order to provide a unifying symbol of worship for his diverse empire, that he was instead creating a lasting symbol of the antique world. This thesis examines the power of nostalgia and its successful use by two formidable men from different eras in Rome: The Emperor Hadrian and the extravagantly wealthy Renaissance merchant Agostino Chigi. Though separated by centuries, each man used the nostalgic allure of the beautiful youthful male figure of Antinous to gain power and influence in his own time and to …

Raphael's School Of Athens: A Theorem In A Painting?, Robert Haas

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Raphael's famous painting The School of Athens includes a geometer, presumably Euclid himself, demonstrating a construction to his fascinated students. But what theorem are they all studying? This article first introduces the painting, and describes Raphael's lifelong friendship with the eminent mathematician Paulus of Middelburg. It then presents several conjectured explanations, notably a theorem about a hexagram (Fichtner), or alternatively that the construction may be architecturally symbolic (Valtieri). The author finally offers his own "null hypothesis": that the scene does not show any actual mathematics, but simply the fascination, excitement, and joy of mathematicians at their work.

Binding Ochre To Theory, Simone E. Nibbs

Pomona Senior Theses

Widely found throughout the archaeological and artistic records in capacities ranging from burial contexts to early evidence of artistic expression, red ochre has been studied in archaeological and art conservationist communities for decades. Despite this, literature discussing binders is disparate and often absent from accessible arenas. Red ochre is important historically because its use can be used to help further the understanding of early humans, their predecessors, and their cognitive capabilities. However, there is not much written speculation on the processes involved in binder selection, collection, and processing. Based on the idea of these three activities associated with binders, I …

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 …

Review: Il Trionfo Della Miseria, Gli Alberghi Dei Poveri Di Genova, Palermo E Napoli, George Gorse

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Since Michel Foucault's seminal essays on the asylum, prison, and hospital in the Age of Reason, architectural historians have begun to examine these major public institutions in the life and pathology of the early modern city. This volume extends the disciplinary focus to public assistance and monumental housing for the poor, which was often closely related in ideology and building type to asylums, prisons, monasteries, and hospitals. Foucauldian intellectual history and urban history, with its concomitant interest in vernacular traditions, converge in this comparative study of Genoa, Palermo, and Naples during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

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 …

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

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.