The author argues that the mosaic of Justinian and Constantine offering gifts to the enthroned Virgin and Child in the southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, presents the viewer with an image of salvation. Previous interpretations of the mosaic focused on the offerings of the models of Hagia Sophia and Constantinople as images of church and state, victory in battle, or symbolic of imperial power. While the display of imperial power is undeniably present in the mosaic, the emperors are represented in a humbled position, in mimesis of the Magi, offering their gifts in hope for eternal life. In Chapter One, I analyze the physical setting of the mosaic in the southwest vestibule and the techniques employed by the artists in the construction of the work. The figures of the Virgin and Child, the Emperors Justinian and Constantine, and the Hagia Sophia and Constantinople models are described and analyzed. In Chapter Two, I argue that the exact date of the mosaic is unknown, but find that the Patriarchs of Constantinople likely had the final word on the set-up of images in Hagia Sophia after the period of Iconoclasm, and that the mosaic was probably a commission from Emperor Basil II. In Chapter Three, I analyze the mosaic's iconography of salvation, which is derived both from the Gospel of Matthew's account of the Adoration of the Magi and Greco-Roman images depicting supplication. The emperors are depicted as supplicants offering gifts in mimesis of the Magi in the hope for eternal life. In Chapter Four, I examine how Justinian and Constantine were considered the Byzantine paradigms par excellence of kingly wisdom who worked on behalf of the salvation of the soul and the empire, and how the mosaic is a visual statement on religious and political orthodoxy. In Chapter Five, I propose that the arch overhanging the mosaic is symbolic of the caves of Jesus' birth and tomb. In Chapter Six, I examine how the Virgin Mary is depicted in the mosaic both as the Temple of Wisdom through whom Jesus received his incarnation and humanity's greatest intercessor in the court of heaven. In Chapter Seven, I analyze how Jesus is visualized as the Christ Child, the Ancient of Days, holy wisdom, and salvation. Chapter Eight examines the mosaic, imperial ceremonies, and the liturgy of Hagia Sophia. The mosaic's image of imperial donation is a representation of the adventus, the ceremonial arrival of the emperor into the church with gifts. Two important arrivals into the church occurred on Christmas and Pentecost, when the emperor was hailed respectively in terms of Magian mimesis and as the successor to the apostles. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of History and Criticism of Art in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2013. / April 1, 2013. / Byzantine, Ceremony, Liturgy, Mosaic, Salvation / Includes bibliographical references. / Paula Gerson, Professor Directing Thesis; Karen A. Bearor, Committee Member; Lynn Jones, Committee Member.

My thesis explores the relationship between Dan Graham's installation (b. 1942) Bisected Triangle, Interior Curve (2002) and its location at the Inhotim Institute of Contemporary Art and Botanical Gardens in Brumadinho, Brazil. Visitors who encounter upon Graham's installation are confronted by a reflection of their own image set within an idyllic, even artificial, garden landscape. The triangular structure refracts and transposes the viewer's reflection through layers of semi-translucent glass thus creating an increasingly distorted and confusing vision whereby the bodies of its visitors seem to collide, overlap, and become kaleidoscopic amalgamates. By engineering this disconcerting visual encounter, Graham invites viewers to share in a communal experience set within the unique environment at Inhotim. This thesis inserts Graham's installation work into new conceptual and historical frameworks that prioritize the viewer's experience over the artist's intention. In this light, I detail the psychological effects experienced by visitors within Graham's mirrored Pavilions, and I then explain how these effects are altered by Bisected Triangle, Interior Curve's environment at Inhotim. Graham conceives of the large glass and steel installations as site-specific works. As such, the artist designs these structures to respond to the characteristics of the environment in which they are installed. However, Bisected Triangle, Interior Curve was relocated from its original location at Madison Square Park in New York to Inhotim. This thesis explores how the experience associated with Graham's Pavilion is altered by the larger historical, communal, and topographic framework provided by its adopted site at Inhotim. Inhotim, which opened to the public in 2007, is the first museum in the world that focuses almost exclusively on the exhibition of large-scale, site-specific installations. My thesis contends that the isolated and idyllic environment at Inhotim limits the effectiveness of works by artists such as Dan Graham. Although these artists claim that their works are engaged with socially conscious site-specific practice, I argue that the work's presence at Inhotim invalidates these claims. By existing as a site which was built explicitly for the exhibition of this genre of work, in essence a site for site-specificity, Inhotim neutralizes the local histories necessary to create the charged environment of interaction with site-specific installation art. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 22, 2013. / Brazil, Dan Graham, Gardens, Inhotim, Installation Art, Site-Specific Art / Includes bibliographical references. / Lauren Weingarden, Professor Directing Thesis; Robert Neuman, Committee Member; Adam Jolles, Committee Member.

From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, Los Angeles based photographer Robert Heinecken created a myriad of magazine works that included the artist's self-produced "mongrel" magazines, various photomontages and photocollages, and other hybrid prints derived from mass-media imagery. This thesis contends that these magazine works constitute a particular strand of photographic neo-avant-gardism, a category of advanced artistic practice thus far underdeveloped in the scholarly literature. By synthesizing the discourse of historical and neo-avant-gardism with media-critical texts, I develop of framework to explain the radical moves inaugurated by Heinecken's work. Chapters two and three, which comprise the body of my argument, demonstrate how Heinecken folds the strategies of the historical avant-garde into the medium of photography. In so doing, he creates a form of photographic practice that interrogates the history of photography as it relates to America's burgeoning, Cold War consumer society. Through his magazine works, Heinecken seeks to interrupt the incessant flow of media temporality, to focus his viewers' attention on the structure of photographic meaning, and most provocatively, to upend the notion of photographic indexicality through an innovative substitution of apertures. To conclude, I outline a trajectory of radical photographic evolution that progressed through the twentieth century--a trajectory that moves from making photographs, to creating objects about things, and finally, to presenting pictures. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 19, 2013. / Avant-Garde, Heinecken, Modernism, Photography / Includes bibliographical references. / Adam Jolles, Professor Directing Thesis; Karen Bearor, Committee Member; Stephanie Leitch, Committee Member.

The 1975 exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape, at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York aimed to redefine the genre of landscape in photography. Curator William Jenkins asserted that the photographs in the show were characterized by documentary style, objective description, and status as document. The characteristics Jenkins identified in new landscape photography were first brought to the public's attention by Nathan Lyons' 1966 exhibition Toward a Social Landscape at Eastman House and John Szarkowski's 1967 exhibition New Documents at the Museum of Modern Art. I argue that Jenkins' conception of new landscape photography took part in a growing trend in the 1970s of the theory and criticism of established genres in literature and film. The demythologization of the landscape genre in New Topographics mirrors what film theorist and critic John G. Cawelti described in his 1977 article, "Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Films," as the demythologization of the genre's founding myth. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 25, 2013. / genre, landscape, New Topographics, photography, survey, Timothy O'Sullivan / Includes bibliographical references. / Adam Jolles, Professor Directing Thesis; Karen Bearor, Committee Member; Michael Carrasco, Committee Member.

The Last Judgment, depicted at least twenty times in French sculpture alone, was one of the most frequently represented themes in the architectural sculpture of the thirteenth century, yet no one has explained its vast popularity, nor has anyone addressed multiple sculptural programs through in-depth case studies. This dissertation grounds the widespread interest in depicting the Last Judgment in a contemporary trend in moral theology, which emphasized the need for individual contrition and confession. The new interest in moral theology is traced to the educational reforms that were initiated by the Third Lateran Council (1179), most specifically, the education of priests and laity concerning sin, confession, penance, and absolution. I argue that these played into the creation of dramatic programs of the Last Judgment and provides a context for understanding the development of new types of imagery associated with the Last Judgment, such as Confessor Saints, Virtues and Vices, and the Intercessors. Case studies demonstrate that the iconography of the Last Judgment at the cathedrals of Chartres, Paris, Amiens, and Reims provided the clergy and laity alike with site-specific explanations not only of the coming Judgment, but also with visual examples of how to prepare for it. The appendices provide the first collection of detailed diagrams and descriptions of each sculpted stone in the Last Judgment programs of Chartres, Paris, Amiens, and Reims. They also include a listing of Last Judgment sculptural programs from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2011. / October 5, 2011. / Last Judgment, medieval iconography, moral theology, penance, sculptural program, thirteenth-century France / Includes bibliographical references. / Paula L. Gerson, Professor Directing Dissertation; David F. Johnson, University Representative; Richard K. Emmerson, Committee Member; Jack Freiberg, Committee Member; Stephanie Leitch, Committee Member; Lori J. Walters, Committee Member.

This study examines the works of Roger Shimomura. I argue that the ukiyo-e elements infuse the artist's paintings and prints with a secondary iconography that is overlooked by art historians to date. I accept Shimomura's assertions that he is completely unfamiliar with the iconography of Japanese art. However, I assert that his use of this visual sign system creates new meanings in the eyes of educated viewers, beyond the intentions of the artist. In addition, I argue that Shimomura adopts visual rhetorical devices that aid in the didactic function of many of his works. This study explores how Shimomura creates and communicates ideas within individual works. Moreover, I examine particular figures that appear repeatedly in his art over time, and how these figures develop meanings that are particular to Shimomura's works. Underlying the entirety of this study is Shimomura's exploration of identity, both ethnic and personal. I utilize literature from numerous fields, including art history, history, Asian studies, literature, anthropology, and sociology. These enrich the contextual sources, including reviews of Shimomura's works, articles from journals and newspapers, and other works of art. All of this supplements interviews with Shimomura, as well as primary documents, such as his artist's statements, essays, and personal papers. Together, these materials help to create an understanding of not only the artist's working methods and intentions, but also his inspirations. In addition, the critical approaches allow me to discuss how his works are entrenched in socio-political contexts that may not be immediately apparent. Finally, these sources open up new discourses on Shimomura's ouvre, including how he adopts disparate visual languages and utilizes them to didactic ends. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2013. / September 27, 2013. / Contemporary art, Japanese American art, Pop art, Shimomura / Includes bibliographical references. / Lauren Weingarden, Professor Directing Dissertation; Nathan Stoltzfus, University Representative; Adam Jolles, Committee Member; Michael Carrasco, Committee Member.

The Bibles moralisées are a group of seven heavily illustrated Bibles made during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This dissertation analyzes the thirteenth-century French Moralized Bible now housed in the treasury of Toledo Cathedral. This analysis demonstrates how the manuscript's images create visual exegesis of scripture that is unique and co-equal to the accompanying textual interpretations. The visual exegesis of these images follows the fourfold method of interpretation that was popular during the Middle Ages. Exegetes employed this method to examine the literal meaning of scripture and uncover spiritual meanings of biblical figures and events. These spiritual interpretations allegorically taught the reader Christian doctrine, tropologically created morals to guide behavior, and anagogically reminded the Christian of their future hope of eternal life with Christ. In order to demonstrate how the images of the Toledo Moralized Bible visually interpret scripture according to the fourfold method, this study focuses on exegesis created by images of Christ in the books of 1-4 Kings and the Evangelium. In doing so, this dissertation identifies three roles that Christ plays in the Toledo Bible's interpretive images: authenticator, parent, and princely guide. Analysis of these roles as played by Christ expands our understanding of thirteenth-century Christology and the didactic goals of the Toledo Bible's designers. Scholars agree that Louis IX of France was the intended recipient of the Toledo Bible, and the manuscript presents interpretation of scripture tailored to a royal reader. The Bible's images contain affirmation of religious doctrine and condemnation of non-Christian religions and sects, present insight into attitudes towards Judaism and Jews that is complex and nuanced, and encourage secular rulers to exercise power in service of the Church. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / April 6, 2015. / bibles moralisées, Ecclesia, exegesis, illustrated manuscripts, medieval, Synagoga / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard K. Emmerson, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Leitch, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Lori Walters, University Representative; Lynn Jones, Committee Member; Doron Bauer, Committee Member.

This study examines sixteenth-century cartographic documents that chronicle the cultural exchange between the old and new worlds. Maps included in this work come from Spain, dating between 1524 and 1579, from the Valley of Puebla, from 1535 to 1560, and from the collection known as the Relaciones Geográficas, made between 1579 and 1581. Both the Spanish monarchy and the native nobility made these maps for having joined with the other and they created them for similar purposes - to negotiate the rapidly changing sociopolitical climate and their status within it on their respective continents. Charles V and his son Philip II bolstered Spain's reputation with maps that narrated for Europeans the unfolding story about the extent and wealth of the New World. The native lords commissioned maps that made declarations of fealty and negotiated their retention of privilege, rulership, and their ancient identities under colonialization. Identities of empire and Christianity pervade this group of maps and I focus on these two constructs. For Spain, conquering the Mexica Empire coalesced with Charles I elevation to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. These two events catapulted Spain to the forefront of European political power and maps of its territory helped document this rise. Facing a yet uncertain future, the native nobility of New Spain made maps that negotiated their claims to rulership at a local level while investing themselves in Spanish authority. They did this by appropriating Spanish symbols of empire embedded in maps with otherwise traditional iconography. The Amerindian people worshiped a pantheon of false gods and made human sacrifices; a behavior that caused Spain to launch a second spiritual conquest. Spain had obligations to convert the native population and colonial maps became a medium to claim this Christianization. By the 1540s, demonstrating their new faith, at least its overt expressions, appealed as much to the native aristocracy as it did to Spanish authorities. I establish the Cortés Map as a harbinger of subsequent performance. I conceive it as part of the continuing rhetoric with which Spain had defined itself during the Reconquista and the role the Spanish monarchy assumed as defender of the Catholic faith. I argue that the image, as printed in the Praeclara Ferdinadi Cortesii and coupled with a portrait of Clement VII, created a simulacrum of a foundation medal that celebrated the founding of New Spain as Christian. The Praeclara Cortesii Ferdinadi, brought to Europe's attention at a time of religious rebellion, created a consequential position for the Spanish monarchy that compelled it to fulfill its promise to convert the people. Later maps, such as the Hispaniae novae sivae magnae récens et vera descriptio, suggested, with 162 church buildings, a completed Christianization, yet corroboration of this fact had not yet been heard from the Americas. The numerous maps of the Relaciones Geográficas that included conventos or simple church buildings offered, with a native voice, this proof. I expand the existing dialogue on a handful of maps from the Valley of Puebla, produced in the first half of the sixteenth century, to demonstrate how they reconstructed powerful colonial identities for the nobility, based on the authority of their ancestors and through strong ties with the Spanish. Maps such as the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan (1535-40) and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala (1550-54) adopted Hapsburg imperial symbols to show allegiance to Spain while simultaneously appealing for privileged status due to the towns' military contributions towards the conquest. Both Lienzos prominently display the Hapsburg Double Eagle, the personal symbol of Charles V, in their opening scenes. I explore the context of this emblem's use, the implications of the alterations made to it, and its meaning within the lexicon of Mesoamerican visual language. While scholars have scrupulously examined the images on the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2 (1540s), they sought its overall meanings and similarities with other codicil images. Although well acknowledged, most attribute the adoption of European technique to the mendicant training native artists received. I suggest reasons other than the implementation of newly learned techniques. Especially in the migration histories from Cuauhtinchan, intertwining the native style with European technique reflected allegiance to Imperial Spain and a new transformation--the maps no longer depicted the tribe's founding migration, but its transition from a Tenochcan altepetl to a colonial cabecera. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 18, 2013. / cartography, Cortes Map, maps, New Spain, Relaciones Geographicas, Spain / Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation examines the transformative power of imagery in illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts made in the Lorraine region of France at the turn of the fourteenth century. The first part of this dissertation examines these manuscripts collectively as the Lorraine group. I have identified both Latin and vernacular Apocalypses in this group that follow iconography from a Latin Apocalypse made early in the development of English Apocalypses but with various adaptations. Iconography alone, however, does not link the Lorraine Apocalypses together. None of the extant Lorraine Apocalypses is a true copy of another. Texts, style, artists, and specific figures form threads of relation among the Lorraine Apocalypses. Much of the exchange of imagery witnessed in these manuscripts came about from artists operating out of small, individual ateliers and parsing out pieces of illustration as a form of collaboration. Most significant are the varying ways each Apocalypse manuscript was altered through supplementary figures and texts, which reveal new attitudes about Apocalypse design and the desires of manuscript patrons. One illustrated Lorraine Apocalypse now in the British Library exhibits striking adaptations indicative of the changes Apocalypse manuscripts underwent at the end of the thirteenth century and throughout the first half of the fourteenth century. This Apocalypse was once part of a manuscript compilation now split between London, British Library, MS Harley 4972 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 308. In addition to the vernacular Apocalypse, an Old French prose Prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl and Huon de Méry's Old French poem, The Tournament of Antichrist, form what I call the Antichrist compilation since all three texts and their illustrations address in some way the legend of Antichrist. This manuscript is remarkable for its blending of sacred and secular elements in its assemblage of diverse genres, biblical, ancient prophecy, and romance, and in the visual interconnectivity that streamlines the three texts into a single object. The second half of this dissertation examines the Antichrist compilation and the Harley Apocalypse as a case study on how changes to Apocalypse manuscripts affect the reception of Revelation. I argue that in the Harley Apocalypse various components, mise-en-page, miniature composition, decorative details, and other visual devices, evoke illustration practices in secular, vernacular manuscripts and convey meaning by recalling aspects of popular vernacular literature and court culture, lending a courtly veneer to the mysteries of John's Revelation. The cultural impact of the vernacular led to what I call "visual vernacularity" in which layout, decoration, and illustration draw from diverse elements of popular legend, literature, and court culture. The thirty-five historiated initials of the Douce Tournament of Antichrist present the only known illustration of Huon's poem. Their primary function is to punctuate the text at key points, highlighting virtues and vices most applicable to courtly reader-viewers. Visual allusions to Arthurian romance and a selection of courtly virtues establish an idealized miles Christi, or soldier for Christ, as an exemplar for how to defeat temptation in the form of Antichrist or his army of vices and win personal salvation. The compilation as a whole offered a relatable guide for personal eschatology for secular audiences and an alternative to erudite Latin Apocalypses that was more in line with lay abilities and tastes. Combined, the visual and textual elements of the Antichrist compilation present a remarkable blend of sacred and secular material that sheds new light on popular religion and secular eschatology. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / April 7, 2014. / Antichrist, Apocalypse, Compilation, Manuscripts, Romance, Vernacular / Includes bibliographical references. / Paula Gerson, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Richard K. Emmerson, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Lori Walters, University Representative; Jack Freiberg, Committee Member; Nancy Thomson De Grummond, Committee Member.

This dissertation explores how modern physiological studies and cognitive theory can yield new readings of medieval art objects in the form of embodied responses by medieval viewers. Cognitive theory is useful for understanding the dynamics, or interactivity, between medieval viewers and objects. The mechanics of cognitive reception occur at a physiological level; thus, integrating studies of how the human brain visually processes art objects allows us to understand reception as an embodied response. This dissertation uses cognitive theory as a methodology to investigate three bodies of artwork: thirteenth-century Apocalypse manuscripts, secular ivory mirror cases from fourteenth-century France, and select folios from the fourteenth-century cleric Opicinus de Canistris. The paper not only assesses the value of cognitive theory in understanding the reception of medieval art but also predicts potential audiences, rather than universal ones, for each body of work. In Chapter 2, I investigate how medieval viewers may have perceived images of the Dead Whore of Babylon from thirteenth-century Apocalypses. The depiction of the Whore as a woman instead of a city in Revelation 19 is limited to a few manuscripts. Contrary to scholarship that suggests that this image of the Whore would disengage a medieval audience, I argue that medieval viewers may have had a sympathetic or empathetic response to the Whore's image. I cite scientific studies involving the human brain's response to body position and eye contact as evidence of an embodied response in this chapter. An empathetic response could potentially override the totally negative characterization of the Whore in the text of Revelation. In Chapter 3, I argue that viewers would have had individual, variable embodied responses to the male and female figures on secular ivory mirror cases. The narrative reference of these objects is highly ambiguous, so I suggest that viewers would have assessed the dynamic between male and female figures based upon their degree of eye contact or lack thereof. Scholarship discusses the relationship between these men and women based upon a theoretical assessment of 'the gaze," while I apply scientific studies to uncover its physiological implications. Here, cognitive theory allows us to understand the mechanics behind reception and the highly individual interpretations by medieval viewers. Chapter 4 investigates the role of text and textual schemata as navigational devices that encourage embodied responses in medieval viewers. The textual and visual components of fol. 24r are too complex to speculate about the general medieval reception of the image, so I construct a hypothetical cognitive map for a limited audience comprising learned men. Scientific studies demonstrate that motor neurons allow a viewer to conceive of Opicinus's work as an artistic device that could lead to a spiritual embodied response. I conclude that, when properly applied, scientific studies and cognitive theory are useful tools for understanding the physiological aspects of the reception of medieval art objects by medieval audiences. Each type of art object demands different studies and applications of cognitive theory. In addition, the embodied responses of medieval viewers are always hypothetical because an individual viewer's cognitive map, or unique understanding of the world, always mediates the brain's physiological responses. Despite the fact that embodied responses are ultimately subjective, physiological and cognitive studies allow art historians to hypothesize about medieval reception in new terms. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / April 10, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references. / Paula Gerson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Irene Zanini-Cordi, University Representative; Lynn Jones, Committee Member; Lauren Weingarden, Committee Member.