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

Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith And Her Maidservant Serves As A Message Of Hope, Holly Kyseth

Theses

This thesis argues that through iconography and specific artistic techniques, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith and Her Maidservant utilizes the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes to relay a distinctly female-centered narrative, reflective of the ideals of her seventeenth century Italian community. This piece stands apart from other representations of this narrative in that Judith was commonly shown as either dainty yet violent in the act of decapitating Holofernes, or as a saintly victor proudly displaying his head to her people. With Judith and Her Maidservant, Artemisia displays an obvious sororal alliance between Judith and her servant Abra, while cleverly implementing Caravaggesque …

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 …

Movement And Mastery: The Artistic Evolution Of Artemisia Gentileschi, 1613-1640, Molly E. Russom

Capstone Showcase

This thesis examines the artistic evolution of Artemisia Gentileschi between 1613 and 1640, focusing on how her extensive travels shaped the development of her style, subject matter, and professional identity. While Artemisia’s work is frequently interpreted through a biographical or feminist lens, this study emphasizes her artistic agency and technical mastery by situating her paintings within the distinct artistic environments of Florence, Rome, and Venice. Through visual and contextual analysis of her key works—Penitent Magdalene, Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, and Corisca and the Satyr—this paper demonstrates Artemisia’s evolving use of …

Ultrabaroque Grandeur: Examining The Churrigueresque In Spanish Architecture From The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Sarah Staeben

Capstone Showcase

Following the Protestant Reformation, Spain was in a unique position compared to the rest of Europe. The importance of Catholicism was intrinsic to Spanish society by this point, as it was under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, aptly dubbed the Catholic Monarchs, that the Christians reconquered the Iberian peninsula in 1492, after an eight century rule by Arab-Muslims. In the centuries that followed, Spanish architecture reached new levels of grandeur in the wake of reformed Catholic doctrine. Following the motto “docere, delectare, movere”(to teach, to delight, to move), architects were urged to convey the Church’s power and garner new supporters. …

Kyiv Christianity In The Portraits Of Metropolitans: Artistic Language And Coding Of Identity In The 18th Century, Oleksandr Lukyanenko, Vitaly Dmytrenko, Vita Dmytrenko, Nazar Maistruk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the analysis of the iconography of the Kiev metropolitans of the 18th century as a unique phenomenon of religious Ukrainian Baroque art. The portraits of the bishops are considered not only as representative images of spiritual power, but also as carriers of cultural codes that record a special type of “Kyiv Christianity” formed on the border of Eastern and Western civilizations. Special attention is paid to Baroque aesthetics – the splendor of the bishop’s vestments, the ornamentality, theatricality of the compositions and at the same time the psychological depth of the portrayed. The study shows …

Salzburg's Baroque Architecture: A Historical Analysis And Poetic Response, Rebecca Malzer

Honors Projects

Salzburg, Austria is a city full of history. During the Baroque era from about the mid sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg designed and modeled the city with Rome, Italy in mind. Their loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire and with the Reformation in full swing, these Italian influences helped to build a pro-Roman Catholic style throughout the city. The Prince-Archbishops and their architects demonstrated Salzburg’s loyalty to Rome through the structures of Schloss Mirabell, Schloss Hellbrunn, and the Franziskannerkirche. In addition, these structures make for great inspiration for creative work, to which …

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 …

Emotion And The Seduction Of The Senses, Baroque To Neo-Baroque, Lisa Beaven, Angela Ndalianis

Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Emotion and the Seduction of the Senses, Baroque to Neo-Baroque examines the relationship between the cultural productions of the baroque in the seventeenth century and the neo-baroque in our contemporary world. It asks the question: "Is the baroque a recurring phenomenon that has returned in aspects of contemporary global culture, or is it something specific to the early modern period?" It argues one of the common and central features of both styles is their appeal to emotion. This volume illuminates how, rather than providing rationally ordered visual realms, both the baroque and the neo-baroque construct complex performative spaces whose spectacle …

How To Look At Monsters: Staging Female Bodies From The Periphery Of The Seventeenth-Century Spanish World In Baroque Portraiture And Hapsburg Collections, Risa A. Puleo

Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry examines portraits of “monsters”—an early modern term describing those whose bodies challenged socially-constructed categories by deviating from the social norm through differences of race, gender and physical or mental capacity, painted for Hapsburg royals across Europe, who collected specimens, including people, representing the scope of their territories.

Reflections On Canvas: Caravaggio And The Development Of Optical Stype, Eleanor Rae Harper

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

At the height of his career, Baroque painter Michaelangelo de Mersi Caravaggio was revered for his ability to foster a heightened sense of realism never before seen upon the canvas. However as recent scholarship and a renewed interest in the history of artistic methodology reveal, the artist may have utilized optical devices such as a single lens to project reflections of his subjects upon the canvas. Due to the limitations of such devices, spatial discontinuity and unnatural proportion are just two of the discrepancies which have affected the realism and overall unity of his artwork. Caravaggio worked with naturalism in …

The Science Behind Francesco Borromini's Divine Geometry, John G. Hatch

Visual Arts Publications

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Structural Form In Franconian Rococo, Michael Warmington Earls

School of Architecture - All Scholarship

Earl discusses the development and use of structural forms at the time of the late Baroque and early Rococo, referencing many German examples of architecture.