Title of Contribution:

Time:

Medieval Portrait: Tradition or Innovation?

13:00

University / Faculty / Institute:

13:30

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty / Institute of Christian Art History

Abstract of the contribution:

link

The proposed paper is dealing with the issue of terminology related to portraiture in the 14th century, namely in Central Europe. How is a “portrait” from this period different from what we understand as it today? Another relevant question is the need for identification: what did shape its “re-invention”? Who were the intended recipients of the portraits and what could possibly be their use? Representation relying on characteristic features of the sitter is usually understood as a “typical identification” of the most distinguished dignitaries of both the State and the Church which was accessible and readable for the intended audiences.

A more specific and exact language is needed in this area of research since it deeply determines within which limitations the contemporary scholars think about the issue. The paper is not only inquiring in the needed terminology, but it also looks into the question of sketchbooks and modelbooks of the era. If their usage was a norm how did this aspect of contemporary artistic practice influenced the outcome in the form of a portrait?

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Searching for God. Early Genre Art as Contribution to Inner Devotion

13:30

University / Faculty / Institute:

14:00

GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig

Abstract of the contribution:

link

For a long time the early genre art from the second half of the 15th century has been regarded as a so-called „mirror“ of a passed time. Actually, the everyday life scences that were created by Petrus Christus or Martin Schongauer for example offers a spirituel reading in sense of contemporary meditation exercises as a possibility teaching the layman who lives in the city and try to combine the earthly life in honor to God. These images handle with themes like the problem of vita activa and vita contemplativa, the way from corporal to spiritual seeing or the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. Genreimages offer the process to selfreflection and demonstrate the earthly world as a place for finding God.

By removing the seperation of profane and religios iconography you can recognize the Christian connotation in genreimages and their meaning for Late Medieval piety. In this sense I want to give an example with a new interpretation of Martin Schongauers „Peasant Family Going to Market“ in which the beholder is able to follow the Holy Family on their Flight to Egypt.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Turning the Back to Tradition: the Motif of the Figure Seen from Behind in Tintoretto’s Art

14:00

University / Faculty / Institute:

14:30

Sapienza Università di Roma / The Department of History Anthropology Religions, Performing Arts

Abstract of the contribution:

link

The recurrent motif of the figure seen from behind in Tintoretto’s art, which also vividly emerged in the recent exhibitions (Venice, Washington 2018-2019), has so far attracted little attention from art historians. This paper explores the function and meaning of this motif in Tintoretto’s work, considering it as an original way of thinking the painting creation. In particular, it argues that the figure seen from behind is a rhetorical device through which the Venetian painter stages the dialectical relationship, constitutive of art theory and practice of the time, between art naturalism and artifice, between the idea that art shows what can be seen in nature by an “objective” eye and the fictive nature of the image unveiled by the presence/absence of an observer. Paintings like the Temptation of Adam and Eve, the Apollo e Dafne, the Martyrdom of Saint Paul and the copious graphic studies of figures seen from behind clearly show this issue. The innovative aspect and the originality of Tintoretto’s work stands easily out if we study it looking at the artistic theory of the time with its traditional precepts. In Paolo Pino’s Dialogo di Pittura, at the beginning, the author condemns the painters that used to show “la schiena” of the characters in their works, judging the resulting image “disgraziata”; however, few pages later, he suggests including “almeno una figura tutta sforciata, misteriosa”. If Pino’s critique of the figura derives from the humanistic tradition – Alberti’s De Pictura – against any excessive form of naturalism, his positive evaluation must be better understood considering the increasing influence of “michelangiolismo” in the Veneto region at Pino’s time and the new idea that art should dominate nature.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The influence of wild man tradition in the portrayal of abnormally disabled people in the Czech lands at the end of 16th century.

14:30

University / Faculty / Institute:

15:00

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty / Institute of Christian Art History

Abstract of the contribution:

link

The main aim of this contribution is to show how the wild man’s tradition influented Rudolphinian artists in the depiction of Gonzales family. The figure of wild man have been originated belief of medieval‘s europeans for existens of marvellous monsters. Nevertheless the precedent of Gonzales family had effect to renaissance mentality and brought a contradictions regarding for the wild man tradition. On the one hand the images of abnormal diseased people from curiosities collections were often considered as documentary depictions in naturalistic style. On the another hand the medieval tradition was too much strong even was able to misrepresent reality. This contribution showes the development of the czech wild man’s tradition from the Middle Ages to 16th century and also examines how the wild man tradition influenced the depictions of human curiosities in the Rudolphian collections at the end of 16^th century.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Karel van Mander II. as a Tapestry Designer

15:00

University / Faculty / Institute:

15:30

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty / Institute of Christian Art History

Abstract of the contribution:

link

Artist Karel van Mander II. (1579 – 1623) stands in the shadow of his father’s oeuvre. After the death of Karel van Mander I., he took over his position as a tapestry designer in a well-known Delft workshop of François Spiering. Karel van Mander I. was, with his elongated figures and rich decorative details, one of the most prominent tapestry designers of the late Northern mannerism. His son had to not only deal with the reputation surrounding his father, but also the confrontation of his predecessors’ style, which was still very popular, with baroque form. His troubled personality is reflected in both of those aspects. Continuously living on the edge of financial survival, Mander struggled with delivering his contracts on time and to the expected quality. This lead to him parting way with Spiering and founding his own workshop. This sometimes leads to the belief of him as the “less capable” Mander. It would, however, be wrong to see him as a second-class artist. He understood very well the unique way tapestry is designed and what works in woven media. His style cannot be described as a pure late mannerism of his father’s manner or pure baroque of Rubenses Decius Mus, first woven in 1620s. He became one of the leading figures of the short yet striking period of merging mannerism with baroque principles and details. This original “marriage” of styles can be studied on numerous tapestries, that still survive to this day, some of them in the Czech republic.Karel van Mander II., as other tapestry designers, stands today on the edge of art historian interest. Thanks to a row of a quite recent and major tapestry exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, mainly Habsburg tapestry designers of the 16th century stepped out of the shadows. However, designers of the early 17th century are still waiting for their recognition.