DOCSLIB.ORG

THE ICONOGRAPHY of MEXICAN FOLK RETABLOS by Gloria Kay

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The iconography of Mexican folk retablos Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Giffords, Gloria Fraser, 1938- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 20:27:37 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/552047 THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MEXICAN FOLK RETABLOS by Gloria Kay Fraser Giffords A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ART In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN HISTORY OF ART In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 6 9 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manu­ script in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Robert M. Quinn Date Professor of Art History / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank various individuals for their encouragement and guidance. Dr. Justino Femindez, Director, Institute de Investigaciones Estiticas, Univer- sidad Nacional Autdnoma de Mexico provided valuable insight and direction in the beginning stages of this pro­ ject. E. Boyd, Curator of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, and R. L. Shalkop, Curator, Taylor Museum of Fine Art, Colorado Springs, generously discussed the material and allowed the comparative New Mexican art to be examined. Professor Jorge Olvera, Institute Nacional de Antropologfa e Historia; Drs. Charles di Peso, Amerind Foundation; Arturo Woodward; and Francisco de la Maza all contributed ideas and identifications. Appreciation is also expressed to Rev. Charles Polzer, S.J., and Rev. Reran McCarty, O.F.M. for assisting on theological points. Special acknowledgment is made of Elizabeth Wilder Weismann and Pil Kelemen who were kind enough to read and comment on the manuscript. Finally, the author is deeply indebted to the many individuals in Mexico and the United States who generously shared their knowledge. They ranged from museum personnel and professors to clergy and collectors and, finally, to the people of Mexico to whom this effort is dedicated. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.............................. v LIST OF T A B L E S ...................................... viii A B S T R A C T ........................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................. 1 2 THE EMERGENCE OF THE TIN RETABLO.......... 10 3 AREA OF DISTRIBUTION...................... 17 4 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.................. 21 5 SOURCE MATERIAL FOR RETABLOS.............. 28 6 REASONS FOR THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RETABLOS . 37 7 POPULARITY OF SAINTS...................... 40 8 ICONOGRAPHY OF FOLK RETABLOS.............. 51 9 SAINTS» ATTRIBUTES . ....................... 56 10 FUNCTIONS OF THE S A I N T S .................. 60 11 S U M M A R Y ................................... 64 APPENDIX A: ILLUSTRATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS........ 69 INTRODUCTION TO ILLUSTRATIONS............ 70 C H R I S T ..................................... 74 THE VIRGIN M A R Y ............................. 106 THE S A I N T S ................................... 147 ABBREVIATIONS ............................ 148 APPENDIX B: EX-VOTOS................................. 237 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................. 283 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. La Alegoria de la Redenci6n............ 75 Figure 2. El Gris to N e g r o ........................ 78 Figure 3. La Cruz de A n i m a s ...................... 81 Figure 4. La Mano Poderosa or Las Ginco Personas . 83 Figure 5. El Niflo de Atocha or El Nino Hisionerito.............................. 85 Figure 6. El Rostro Divino, La Santa Faz, or V e r o n i c a ................................ 88 Figure 7. La Sagrada F a m i l i a .................... 92 Figure 8. N.S. de los T r a b a j o s .................. 95 Figure 9. La Trinidad............................ 98 Figure 10. El Var6n de Dolores or Ecce Homo.... 101 Figure 11. La Vendimia Mistica.......................103 Figure 12. La Had re Santisima de la L u z ............ 112 Figure 13. N.S. de A t o c h a .......................... 115 Figure 14. N.S. de la Concepcidn or N.S. de la E n c a m a c i d n ............................... 118 Figure 15. N.S. de la Cueva S a n t a .............. 120 Figure 16. N.S. de los Dolores or Mater Dolorosa . 122 Figure 17. N.S. de Guadalupe.................... 125 Figure 18. N.S. de Guadalupe con Juan Diego .... 126 Figure 19. N.S. de Me r c e d ...................... 130 Figure 20. N.S. de la Piedad or Maria Santfsima de los Angus ti a s ......................... 132 Figure 21. N.S. de Refugio de P e c a d o r e s ............ 137 v vi Figure 22. N . S. de Salud de P a t z c u a r o ............ 140 Figure 23. La Purlsima C o n c e p c i o n ................143 Figure 24. San A c a c i o ............................ 150 Figure 25. Santa A n n a ...............................153 Figure 26. San Antonio de P a d u a .................... 156 Figure 27. San Benito de Palermo.................... 159 Figure 28. San Camilo de L e l i z .......................161 Figure 29. San C a y e t a n o .............................165 Figure 30. Santa Elena ............................ 169 Figure 31. San E x p e d i t e .............................172 Figure 32. San Francisco de P a u l a ...................175 Figure 33. Santa Gertrudis la Magna .............. 178 Figure 34. San Gonsalo de Amaranto................... 181 Figure 35. San Jeronimo ..... ................. 184 Figure 36. San Joaquin............................... 188 Figure 37. San Jose ..................................190 Figure 38. San Juan Nepomuceno....................... 194 Figure 39. Santa Librata .......................... 196 Figure 40. Santa Lucia ............................ 200 Figure 41. San Luis G o n z a g a ......................... 202 Figure 42. San Martin de T o u r s ....................... 205 Figure 43. San M i g u e l ............................... 208 Figure 44. San Pascual B a i l o n ....................... 211 Figure 45. San R a f a e l ............................... 214 Figure 46. San Ramon N o n a t o ......................... 216 Figure 47. Santa Rita de C a s i a ....................... 219 vii Figure 48. San R o q u e .............................. 222 Figure 49. Santa Rosa de Li m a ..................... 225 Figure 50. S a n t i a g o .............................. 228 Figure 51. San Vicente F e r r e r ...................... 231 Figure 52. San Ysidro el La b r a d o r ................... 234 Figure 53. Ex-Vo to 1797 ......................... 249 Figure 54. Ex-Vo to 1825 ......................... 251 Figure 55. Ex-Vo to 1850 ......................... 253 Figure 56. Ex-Voto 1850 ......................... 255 Figure 57. Ex-Voto 1861 ......................... 257 Figure 58. Ex-Voto 1861 ......................... 259 Figure 59. Ex-Voto 1864 ......................... 261 Figure 60. Ex-Voto 1870 ......................... 263 Figure 61. Ex-Voto 1870 ......................... 265 Figure 62. Ex-Voto 1875 ......................... 267 Figure 63. Ex-Voto 1897 ......................... 269 Figure 64. Ex-Voto Nineteenth Century ............ 271 Figure 65. Ex-Voto Nineteenth Century ........ 273 Figure 66. Ex-Voto 1938 ........ 275 Figure 67. Ex-Voto 1945 ......................... 277 Figure 68. Ex-Voto 1960 ......................... 279 Figure 69. Ex-Voto 1961 ......................... 281 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Nogales Survey— November, 1966 viii ABSTRACT Limited in area and era, an art form peculiarly suited for and developed by the common people in Mexico appeared. Popularly called retablos and consisting of religious images painted in oil on small pieces of tin, their development can in many respects be logically traced to works of art, devotional habits, and an artistic tradi­ tion of the previous centuries. The unique aspects are its coincidence with the establishment of Mexico as an independent nation, the adoption by the common masses of an older religious and artistic vocabulary, and the subse­ quent manipulation of these elements in presentation. Anonymous, undated, and largely untraceable to area, this folk art manifestation has been considered by various authors as the only redeeming quality of Mexican art during the nineteenth century when Mexico was in the throes of an unfertile, eclectic Neo-Classic movement. At one time prolifically produced and dispersed by itinerant painters, now only remnants remain. However, these produce impressions of widely varying abilities in devout and spontaneous artists. The subjects portrayed are readily distinguishable and provide an insight into the myriad concerns confronting
Recommended publications
  • December Saints

    December Saints

    Saint of the Day December December 1: St. Edmund Campion, Martyr St. Edmund Campion was born in 1540 in Protestant London. An exceptionally bright child, he was given a good education. He went to Oxford in 1557, during the last year of Catholic Queen Mary’s reign. In 1566, he was given the honor of leading a debate in front of Queen Elizabeth I, who was impressed by him. He became a deacon in Church of England, but soon regretted it. He left England to enter a Catholic seminary in France and became a Jesuit in 1573. He knew then that he desired to return to England and secretly minister to Catholics there, despite the dangers. In 1580, St. Edmund went back to England disguised as a jewel merchant. He secretly preached and said Masses for one year before he was arrested, imprisoned and martyred in 1581. St. Edmund is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. December 2: St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr St. Bibiana was an early Christian martyr, probably living during the late 4th century in Rome. Christianity had been made legal by Constantine, but persecutions continued. Bibiana’s parents were martyred, leaving Bibiana and her sister Demetria alone in poverty. They fasted and prayed, refusing to give up their faith. Demetria died of hunger and Bibiana, after undergoing harsh questioning, died a few days later. Their home was turned into a church, and is now the site of the Basilica of Santa Bibiana. December 3: St. Francis Xavier St. Francis Xavier was born in Spain in 1506.
  • The Emergent Decade : Latin American Painters and Painting In

    The Emergent Decade : Latin American Painters and Painting In

    a? - H , Latin American Painters and Painting in trie 1'960's THE - -y /- ENT Text by Thomas M. Messer Artjsts' profiles in text and pictures by Cornell Capa DEC THE EMERGENT DECADE THE EMERGENT DECADE Latin American Painters and Painting in the 1960's Text by Thomas M. Messer Artists' profiles in text and pictures by Cornell Capa Prepared under the auspices of the Cornell University Latin American Year 1965-1966 and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum > All rights reserved First published 1966 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-15382 Design by Kathleen Haven Printed in Switzerland bv Buchdruckerei Winterthur AG, Winterthur CONTENTS All text, except where otherwise indicated, is by Thomas M. Messer, and all profiles are by Cornell Capa. Foreword by William H. MacLeish ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xm Brazil Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer and Marc Berkowitz 3 Primitive Art 16 Profile: Raimundo de Oliveira 18 Uruguay Uruguayan Painting 29 Argentina Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer and Samuel Paz 35 Profile: Rogelio Polesello and Martha Peluffo 48 Expatriates: New York 59 Profile: Jose Antonio Fernandez-Muro 62 Chile Profile: Ricardo Yrarrazaval 74 Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer and Jorge Elliott 81 Peru Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer and Carlos Rodriguez Saavedra 88 Profile: Fernando de Szyszlo 92 Colombia Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer to Marta Traba 102 Profile: Alejandro Obregon 104 Correspondence: Marta Traba to Thomas M. Messer 1 14 Venezuela Biographical Note: Armando Reveron 122 Living in Painting: Venezuelan Art Today by Clara Diament de Sujo 124 Correspondence: Thomas M. Messer to Clara Diament de Sujo 126 Expatriates: Paris 135 Profile: Soto 136 Mexico Profile: Rufino Tamayo 146 Correspondence: Thomas M.
  • Elizabeth and Harold Hinds

    Elizabeth and Harold Hinds

    Elizabeth and Harold Hinds Imholte Hall, University of Minnesota-Morris Imholte Hall, Main Floor Walk-in Display Huichol yarn art. This piece depicts a ceiba tree with a bird. Beside it a man shoots a bow and arrow. Other insect- like forms fly about. These hallucinatory images are traditional for the Huicholes, who used peyote to bring on visions. Originally a traditional art form, yarn paintings became popular as tourist art. This piece was purchased at Tlaquepaque, a town just outside of Guadalajara, in the 1970’s. The story on the back reads: Los Huicholes no conocían el maíz en tiempos antiguos. Una vez un niño se enteró de que había gente allende las montañas “que tienen algo que llaman maíz,” y fue en su busaca. En camino se encontró con un grupo de hombres que le dijeron que (h)iba a comprar maíz y el, confiando, les acompañó. Lo que no sabía es que esa gente eran en realidad hormigas (los insectos en esta ilustración). La Gente Hormiga que ro(b)e todo lo que encuentra. Al llegar la madrugada se despertó. Bajo un gran pino y descubrió que le habían roido (robado) toda la ropa, el cabello e inclusive las cejas, y que solamente le quedaban el arco y las flechas. Oyó que un pájaro se pasaba en un árbol, y le apuntó con una flecha, pues tenía hambre. El pájaro le reveló que era Tatey Kukurú Uimári, Nuestra Madre Paloma Muchacha, la Madre del Maíz. Le dijo que siguiera a su casa, donde le daría maíz. Translation: The Huichol people didn’t know about maize in ancient times.
  • La Pocha Nostra Hidvl Artist Profiles

    La Pocha Nostra Hidvl Artist Profiles

    LA POCHA NOSTRA HIDVL ARTIST PROFILES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MEXICAN MIRROR (A border artist reflects on the new “post-national Mexicans,” their bittersweet relationship with "homeland,"and their role in the forming of a virtual nation inside the U.S. called “Latinoamerica del Norte.”) By: Guillermo Gómez-Peña I I left Mexico City in 1978 to study art in California, “the land of the future” as my lost generation saw it. Too young to be a hipiteca and too old to be a punketo, I was a 22-year old interstitial rebel, a writer and artist who couldn’t find space to breathe in the suffocating official culture of Mexico. There, the art and literary cartels were structured in an ecclesiastical fashion, accountable to one untouchable capo. He was the archbishop and final arbiter of what was acceptable as “high culture” and “Mexican-ness,” Don Octavio Paz. In those days, identity in Mexico was a static construct, intricately connected to national territory and language. A Mexican was someone who lived in Mexico and who spoke Spanish like a Mexican. Punto. There weren’t many alternative ways of being Mexican. Despite the fact that we came in all shapes, colors, and even races, mestizaje (the mixed race), was the official dictum and master narrative. Whether we liked it or not, we were the bastard children of Hernan Cortez and La Malinche, product of a colonial rape and a cultural cesarean, eternally condemned to come to terms with this historical trauma. The millions of indios, the original proto-Mexicans, were portrayed as living in a parallel (and mythical) time and space outside our history and society.
  • Scales As a Symbol of Metaphysical Judgement – from Misterium Tremendum to Misterium Fascinosum an Analysis of Selected Works of Netherlandish Masters of Painting

    Scales As a Symbol of Metaphysical Judgement – from Misterium Tremendum to Misterium Fascinosum an Analysis of Selected Works of Netherlandish Masters of Painting

    Santander Art and Culture Law Review 2/2015 (1): 259-274 DOI: 10.4467/2450050XSR.15.022.4520 VARIA Karol Dobrzeniecki* [email protected] Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń ul. Władysława Bojarskiego 3 87-100 Toruń, Poland Scales as a Symbol of Metaphysical Judgement – from Misterium Tremendum to Misterium Fascinosum An Analysis of Selected Works of Netherlandish Masters of Painting Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyze the motif of scales in Netherlandish art from the 15th to the 17th century. The motif of scales was present in art from earliest times, but its role and func- tion differed in various historical epochs – antique, the middle ages, and the modern age. The core part of the article is devoted to the symbolic relationship between scales and different aspects of justice. The first painting taken into consideration is Rogier van der Weyden’s Last Judgment (approx. 1445 to 1450), and the last one – Jan Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance (approx. 1662-1663). The article attempts to answer some crucial questions. What were the meanings attributed to scales during the two centuries exam- ined? How did these meanings evolve, and was the interpretation of the symbol influenced by the ethos characteristic for particular peri- ods and geographical spaces, as well as transient fashions, religious * Karol Dobrzeniecki, Doctor of Law and art historian, currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Theory of Law and State, Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland.
  • Politics of the Blessed Lady: Catholic Art in the Contemporary Hungarian Culture Industry

    Politics of the Blessed Lady: Catholic Art in the Contemporary Hungarian Culture Industry

    religions Article Politics of the Blessed Lady: Catholic Art in the Contemporary Hungarian Culture Industry Marc Roscoe Loustau McFarland Center for Religion, Culture and Ethics, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 02131, USA; [email protected] or [email protected]; Tel.: +1-857-222-6955 Abstract: I examine Hungary’s Catholic arts industry and its material practices of cultural production: the institutions and professional disciplines through which devotional material objects move as they become embedded in political processes of national construction and contestation. Ethnographic data come from thirty-six months of fieldwork in Hungary and Transylvania, and focuses on three museum and gallery exhibitions of Catholic devotional objects. Building on critiques of subjectivity- and embodiment-focused research, I highlight how the institutional legacies of state socialism in Hungary and Romania inform a national politics of Catholic materiality. Hungarian cultural institutions and intellectuals have been drawn to work with Catholic art because Catholic material culture sustains a meaningful presence across multiple scales of political contestation at the local, regional, and state levels. The movement of Catholic ritual objects into the zone of high art and cultural preservation necessitates that these objects be mobilized for use within the political agendas of state-embedded institutions. Yet, this mobilization is not total. Ironies, confusions, and contradictions continue to show up in Transylvanian Hungarians’ historical memory, destabilizing these political uses. Keywords: Catholicism; nationalism; art; Virgin Mary; Hungary; Romania Citation: Loustau, Marc Roscoe. 2021. Politics of the Blessed Lady: Catholic Art in the Contemporary 1. Introduction Hungarian Culture Industry. Religions The growing body of historical and anthropological literature on Catholic devotional 12: 577.
  • The Iconography of the Honey Bee in Western Art

    The Iconography of the Honey Bee in Western Art

    Dominican Scholar Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Liberal Arts and Education | Graduate Theses Student Scholarship May 2019 The Iconography of the Honey Bee in Western Art Maura Wilson Dominican University of California https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2019.HUM.06 Survey: Let us know how this paper benefits you. Recommended Citation Wilson, Maura, "The Iconography of the Honey Bee in Western Art" (2019). Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses. 6. https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2019.HUM.06 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Liberal Arts and Education | Graduate Student Scholarship at Dominican Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Dominican Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor and approved by the department chair, has been presented to and accepted by the Master of Arts in Humanities Program in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts in Humanities. An electronic copy of of the original signature page is kept on file with the Archbishop Alemany Library. Maura Wilson Candidate Joan Baranow, PhD Program Chair Joan Baranow, PhD First Reader Sandra Chin, MA Second Reader This master's thesis is available at Dominican Scholar: https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities- masters-theses/6 i The Iconography of the Honey Bee in Western Art By Maura Wilson This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor and approved by the program chair, has been presented to an accepted by the Department of Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Humanities Dominican University of California San Rafael, CA May 2019 ii iii Copyright © Maura Wilson 2019.
  • The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Painting

    The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Painting

    Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 5 I 2012 The Art of Conversation: Eighteenth-Century Mexican Casta Painting Mey-Yen Moriuchi ______________________________________________ Abstract: Traditionally, casta paintings have been interpreted as an isolated colonial Mexican art form and examined within the social historical moment in which they emerged. Casta paintings visually represented the miscegenation of the Spanish, Indian and Black African populations that constituted the new world and embraced a diverse terminology to demarcate the land’s mixed races. Racial mixing challenged established social and racial categories, and casta paintings sought to stabilize issues of race, gender and social status that were present in colonial Mexico. Concurrently, halfway across the world, another country’s artists were striving to find the visual vocabulary to represent its families, socio-economic class and genealogical lineage. I am referring to England and its eighteenth-century conversation pictures. Like casta paintings, English conversation pieces articulate beliefs about social and familial propriety. It is through the family unit and the presence of a child that a genealogical statement is made and an effigy is preserved for subsequent generations. Utilizing both invention and mimesis, artists of both genres emphasize costume and accessories in order to cater to particular stereotypes. I read casta paintings as conversations like their European counterparts—both internal conversations among the figures within the frame, and external ones between the figures, the artist and the beholder. It is my position that both casta paintings and conversation pieces demonstrate a similar concern with the construction of a particular self-image in the midst of societies that were apprehensive about the varying conflicting notions of socio-familial and socio-racial categories.
  • The Exploration of Light As a Means of Expression in the Intaglio Print Medium Mary Vasko

    The Exploration of Light As a Means of Expression in the Intaglio Print Medium Mary Vasko

    Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses Thesis/Dissertation Collections 8-7-1972 The Exploration of Light as a Means of Expression in the Intaglio Print Medium Mary Vasko Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Vasko, Mary, "The Exploration of Light as a Means of Expression in the Intaglio Print Medium" (1972). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Thesis/Dissertation Collections at RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EXPLORATION OF LIGHT AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION IN THE INTAGLIO PRINT MED I UH by Sister Mary Lucia Vasko, O.S.U. Candidate for the Master of Fine Arts in the College of Fine and Applied Arts of the Rochester Institute of Technology Submitted: August 7, 1372 Chief Advisor: Mr. Lawrence Williams TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . i i i INTRODUCTION v Thesis Proposal V Introduction to Research vi PART I THESIS RESEARCH Chapter 1. HISTORICAL BEGINNINGS AND BACKGROUND OF LIGHT AS AN ARTISTIC ELEMENT THE USE OF CHIAROSCURO BY EARLY ITALIAN AND GERMAN PRINTMAKERS INFLUENCE OF CARAVAGGIO ON DRAMATIC LIGHTING TECHNIQUE 12 REMBRANDT: MASTER OF LIGHT AND SHADOW 15 Light and Shadow in Landscape , 17 Psychological Illumination of Portraiture . , The Inner Light of Spirituality in Rembrandt's Works , 20 Light: Expressed Through Intaglio . Ik GOYA 27 DAUMIER . 35 0R0ZC0 33 PICASSO kl SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF RESEARCH hi PART I I THESIS PROJECT Chapter Page 1.
  • Quentin Matsys's a Grotesque Old Woman

    Quentin Matsys's a Grotesque Old Woman

    Portrait of Sixteenth-Century Disability? Quentin Matsys’s A Grotesque Old Woman Sara Newman, PhD Kent State University, USA Abstract: Scholars rarely examine art works from a disability studies perspective; their analyses often misinterpret those works, reinforcing contemporary assumptions about disability and its past representations. Accordingly, this paper examines a portrait by sixteenth-century Antwerp artist Quentin Matsys (1466-1529) from a historically situated disability studies perspective. A Grotesque Old Woman (c.1513) has been understood in terms of abnormality. Existing scholarship has suggested that she represents physical, gender, and sexual deviance in the spirit of Erasmian allegories, or an individual with Paget’s disease. Although these interpretations may inform contemporary scholarship, they shed little light on sixteenth-century disability and its artistic representations. This paper demonstrates how the portrait reflects a cultural transition from an earlier collective, religious model of disability to a more “municipal” one which considers disability vis-à-vis individuals engaged in daily commercial or personal activities. This analysis provides insight into how disability was understood in Matsys’s time, contributes to our understanding of the Dutch allegorical and portraiture traditions, and demonstrates what a historically situated disability model offers future research on artistic representations of disability. Key Words: art history, Netherlandish portraiture; the grotesque “I’ve always been intrigued by this painting. It’s fascinating because it is so meticulously and lovingly painted. You think, why would someone go to so much trouble in order to paint such a grotesque image? I always suspected there was something more to it than just a study in grotesquery” (Brown, 2008).
  • The Trinitarian Iconography

    The Trinitarian Iconography

    Vol. 13 FOLIA HISTORICA CRACOVÍENSIA 2007 A n d r z e j W it k o THE TRINITARIAN ICONOGRAPHY The Trinitarian Order, Ordo Sanctissimae Trinitatis de Redemptione Cap- tivorum, was founded by St. John de Matha (d. 1213) with the participation of St. Felix de Valois (d. 1212). The first abode was located in Cerfroid, in the diocese of Meaux in France. Pope Innocent III approved the Order in his bull Operante divine dispositionis of December 17, 1198 and ratified the Rule written by St. John de Matha who described the aim of the Trinitarian mission as ransoming captives from pagans as well as providing hospital care to the sick and the poor. The Trinit­ arians wear white habits with a blue and red cross on their scapulars and black cloaks. The Order grew very fast in numbers in France where they were also called Maturinians from their Parisian location dedicated to St. Maturin. They spread to Spain, Portugal, Scotland, England, Italy, and Germany. Later they also came to Poland, and the territories of present Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria where they were called White Spaniards. From the very beginning they were involved in redemption and missionary work in North Africa. After a few at­ tempts at reforming the Order in France, Spain and Portugal in the 16th century, St. John Baptist of the Conception carried out a radical reform, approved by the Pope Clement VIII in his brief Ad militantis Ecclesiae of August 20, 1599. This started a branch of Spanish Discalced Trinitarians, the only one still existing today; since the Order went through difficult times in the 19th century due to the French Revolu­ tion and numerous suppressions'.
  • Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

    Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

    Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice PUBLICATIONS COORDINATION: Dinah Berland EDITING & PRODUCTION COORDINATION: Corinne Lightweaver EDITORIAL CONSULTATION: Jo Hill COVER DESIGN: Jackie Gallagher-Lange PRODUCTION & PRINTING: Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS: Erma Hermens, Art History Institute of the University of Leiden Marja Peek, Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Amsterdam © 1995 by The J. Paul Getty Trust All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-89236-322-3 The Getty Conservation Institute is committed to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide. The Institute seeks to advance scientiRc knowledge and professional practice and to raise public awareness of conservation. Through research, training, documentation, exchange of information, and ReId projects, the Institute addresses issues related to the conservation of museum objects and archival collections, archaeological monuments and sites, and historic bUildings and cities. The Institute is an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. COVER ILLUSTRATION Gherardo Cibo, "Colchico," folio 17r of Herbarium, ca. 1570. Courtesy of the British Library. FRONTISPIECE Detail from Jan Baptiste Collaert, Color Olivi, 1566-1628. After Johannes Stradanus. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum-Stichting, Amsterdam. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Historical painting techniques, materials, and studio practice : preprints of a symposium [held at] University of Leiden, the Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995/ edited by Arie Wallert, Erma Hermens, and Marja Peek. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89236-322-3 (pbk.) 1. Painting-Techniques-Congresses. 2. Artists' materials- -Congresses. 3. Polychromy-Congresses. I. Wallert, Arie, 1950- II. Hermens, Erma, 1958- . III. Peek, Marja, 1961- ND1500.H57 1995 751' .09-dc20 95-9805 CIP Second printing 1996 iv Contents vii Foreword viii Preface 1 Leslie A.