Au XVIIe siècle, considérée comme la "royne de toutes les vertus", la charité incarna le triomphe des œuvres salutaires face au sola fide des protestants. Elle connut alors une riche iconographie, par la mise en scène des "Sept œuvres de Miséricorde" ou sous la forme d’une tendre allégorie de la maternité bienfaisante. L’unité apparente de ces images codifiées révèle, à l’analyse, une extraordinaire richesse d’interprétation car elles furent soumises en France à différentes adaptations, équivoques ou déviations sous l’influence des nouvelles exigences spirituelles et sous la pression de la montée en puissance de l’absolutisme. Ce travail tend ainsi à offrir un regard approfondi sur la représentation du bienfait envers les pauvres au "siècle des saints". Il propose une relecture des images polysémiques de la charité qu’elles soient d’essence religieuse, politique ou purement esthétique afin de discerner les messages dont elles furent investies et les glissements signifiants ou ambigus qu’elles exprimèrent, de la spiritualité la plus pure à la sensualité la plus troublante. / During the Seventeenth Century, charity was considered as the "queen of all virtues" and as a concept embodied, the triumph of good works in opposition to the protestant’s sola fide. The iconography of this virtue proliferated as a consequence and was not only represented by the "Seven works of mercy" but also allegorized as a breastfeeding maternal figure. When analyzed, the seemingly harmonious codified images reveal to be an extraordinary source of interpretation as they were subjected to various adaptations in France. Their ambiguous deviations were encouraged by the renewal of catholic spirituality and the rise of absolute power. This thesis aims to examine the iconography of charity towards the poor during this period which has been described as the “Century of Saints”. It propose to reread these polysemic images, whether they be religious, political or purely aesthetical to discern the messages which they were invested with and to distinguish the significant and equivocal shifts they expressed, from the purest spiritual sentiment to the most disturbing eroticism.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study is about the rock engravings on the wonderstone hills just outside Ottosdal, North West province, about 70km northwest of Klerksdorp. Wonderstone is remarkable rock that is smooth, shiny and very easy to mark. The wonderstone occurs only on two adjacent farms, Gestoptefontein and Driekuil, and thus the rock art on the wonderstone outcrops is referred to as the Gestoptefontein- Driekuil complex (GDC). This rock art is now the only remaining trace of what must once have been a much larger complex of engravings. Sadly, much of the rock art has been destroyed in the course of mining activities, with very few records. The largest remaining outcrop is still threatened by potential mining activities. The study attempts to bring this disastrous and unacceptable situation to the attention of the public and the heritage authorities, who have so far failed to respond to applications to grant the sites protection. It therefore has two main aims: to locate and record as much of the rock art as possible and to understand the significance of the outcrops in the lives of the people who made them. Based on the rock art itself, as well as what little historical evidence is available, it is argued that the rock art was made by Khoe-San people during the performance of important ceremonies and other activities. The rock art has two main components: engravings of referential motifs and a gestural, or performative, element. The referential motifs depict a range of things: anthropomorphs and zoomorphs, decorative designs, items of clothing, as well as ornaments and decorations. The gestural markings were made by rubbing, cutting and hammering the soft wonderstone, probably in the course of a range of activities that people carried out on the outcrops. One of the main findings of the study is that the GDC was a place that was of particular significance to women. This is suggested by the large number of engravings of items that are closely associated with Khoe-San women – depictions of aprons, ornaments, and decorations. These play a prominent role in the initiation practices of many Khoe-San groups. Initiates emerging from ritual isolation after their first menstruation are given new clothes; they are also loaned ornaments and jewellery. This reincorporation into society as a ‘new person’ has been described by some Khoe-San women as one of the high points of their lives. Oral traditions from the area indicate that the wonderstone outcrops were believed to have special properties; the study incorporates these traditions to argue that the wonderstone outcrops were associated with the presence of a great water snake that lay on the rocks and also lived in the pools of water in the nearby Driekuil Spruit. People therefore came to the outcrops to perform rites of reincorporation. One of these ceremonies may have been performing rites of association with the great snake; such practices may have included the use of rock dust as an ingredient for body paint. / South Africa

Parmi les représentations animales gravées qui apparaissent en Afrique du Nord au cours de la Préhistoire, le bubale antique, omniprésent dans tout l'Atlas saharien tout au long du Néolithique, occupe une place prépondérante.Notre étude a porté sur 141 gravures du bubale antique, réparties dans les différents chaînons composant l’Atlas saharien dont 79 ont été étudiées par nous-même sur le terrain. Cette étude a permis de regrouper et d’analyser les données dispersées dans de multiples travaux, auxquelles se sont ajoutées nos découvertes qui ont enrichi l'inventaire et ont élargi la répartition spatiale de ces gravures. Cette richesse n'est pas seulement quantitative, elle est aussi qualitative. Il en ressort d'importantes variations stylistiques, thématiques et techniques permettant de mettre en lumière les écoles régionales et les influences sahariennes. Nos recherches ont permis une meilleure compréhension des traditions stylistiques et iconographiques de la figuration de cet animal et nous ont permis de mieux les situer dans leur contexte chronoculturel et géographique.Les représentations du bubale antique dont certaines formes élaborées participent à la définition de provinces culturelles, révèlent l'investissement et le choix des artistes au sein d'un bestiaire varié qui a été différemment représenté selon les régions et les écoles atlasiques. / Among the carved animal figures that appeared in North Africa during prehistory, the antique buffalo, omnipresent throughout the Saharan Atlas during the Neolithic, features prominently.Our study focused on 141 of these hartebeest engravings, spread over the various links constituting the Saharan Atlas of which 79 have been studied by us on the spot. This study consolidates and analyses data scattered in multiple works, to which are added our discoveries which have enriched the record and expanded the spatial distribution of these engravings. This wealth is not only quantitative, it is also qualitative. This important spring stylistic, thematic and technical highlights the regional schools and Saharan influences. Our research has allowed a better understanding of the stylistic and iconographic traditions of figuration of this animal and allowed us to situate them in their chrono-cultural and geographical context.The representations of the antique buffalo whose developed some forms, involved in defining cultural provinces, reveal the investment and the choice of artists in a varied bestiary that was represented differently depending on the region and atlasiques schools.

This volume represents the first systematic attempt to compare the rock paintings and rock engravings southern Africa. It demonstrates that these two categories have less in common than has hitherto been recognised. For example, whilst the majority of rock paintings show human beings, more than 90 per cent of the engravings consist of geometric motifs. / Dieser Band repräsentiert den ersten systematischen Versuch, die Felsmalereien und Felsgravuren des südlichen Afrikas zu vergleichen. Er belegt, dass diese beiden Kategorien weniger gemeinsam haben, als bis jetzt angenommen wurde. Zum Beispiel zeigt die Mehrheit der Felsmalerien Menschen, während mehr als 90% der Gravuren aus geometrischen Motiven bestehen.

No description available.

This thesis gives, for the first time, a clear exposition of the activities of the Arundel Society (1848-1897). Founded to 'collect diligently and with discrimination the highest and best examples of Art and to bring them before hundreds of English minds' the presence of Aubrey Bezzi, Lord Lindsay, Edmund Oldfield, Samuel Rogers and John Ruskin on the Society's first council meant that the initial publication of engravings after two early Italian artists, Fra Angelico and Giotto, was unsurprising. After 1856, under the guidance of Henry Layard, the archaeologist and politician, the Society became even more firmly committed to copying and publishing frescoes of the early Renaissance. The council's aim in recording and publishing these endangered works of art was to educate the taste of the public and inspire artists to embark on programmes of mural decoration. The water-colours executed for the Society are discussed with particular reference to the reactions of the council, and of members and the press to the problem of their verisimilitude. About two-thirds of these copies were published as chromolithographs and the gains and liabilities of this initially very popular method of reproduction are examined. Other methods employed by the Society to publish fac-similies of classical and medieval ivories and reduced copies of the Elgin marbles are also discussed with general reference to Victorian attitudes towards reproductions. The penultimate chapter attempts to relate the prints and monographs published by the Society to the art historical scholarship of the period. It is shown that the council's publication of decorative quattrocento, provincial cinquecento and early Flemish and German artists was influenced by Henry Layard's preferences. His monographs for the Society are discussed and compared with the more scholarly, if diverse, contributions made by, among others, G. W. Kitchin, John Ruskin, George Scharf and Ralph Wornum. In the final chapter it is argued that the Society's loyalty to the tastes of the mid-century and to the process of chromolithography led to its dissolution.

Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa voltada à contextualização arqueológica do fenômeno da confecção das gravuras rupestres pré-coloniais na bacia do baixo rio Urubu (Estado do Amazonas). Com o objetivo de caracterizar o registro rupestre regional, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa intensiva no sítio AM-IT-31 Caretas, portador da maior densidade e variabilidade formal de arte rupestre da área de estudo. O sítio foi abordado a partir do controle espacial dos petróglifos e dos demais vestígios arqueológicos. Sua documentação foi realizada de forma integral e sistemática e foi organizada em um banco de dados relacional, possibilitando a articulação entre diferentes classes de evidências. Para caracterizar a arte rupestre do ponto de vista de sua inserção na paisagem arqueológica, foi investigada a relação crono-cultural com o sítio cerâmico em matriz de terra preta AM-IT-30 Pedra Chata, espacialmente associado. A cronologia das gravuras foi relacionada à dinâmica de sedimentação fluvial; com três datações foi estabelecida a idade mínima dos petróglifos e foi proposto um modelo paleoambiental hipotético para inferir sua antiguidade máxima. Os resultados, embora preliminares, atribuem a formação do sítio ao Holoceno Recente, no âmbito das ocupações ceramistas da região. A análise do registro gráfico tem evidenciado elementos de homogeneidade, tanto no tema como também na apresentação gráfica dos petróglifos, que remetem a uma substancial coerência interna, apesar da variabilidade formal. / This thesis presents the results of research seeking to archaeologically contextualize the precolonial production of engraved rock art in the Lower Urubu River drainage (Amazonas State, Brazil). With the objective of characterizing the rock art of this region, I carried out an intensive research project at the site AM-IT-31 Caretas, which has the highest density and formal variability of rock art in the entire area. Spatial control of both the petroglyphs and other archaeological remains at the site was established to permit their complete and systematic documentation. The records were organized in a relational database, allowing for the analysis of the relationships between different sets of evidence. In order to characterize the placement of rock art within the archaeological landscape, I studied its chronological and cultural relationships with the adjoining archaeological site AM-IT-30 Pedra Chata where ceramics occur in a matrix of \"dark earth\". The chronology of the engravings has been correlated to the fluvial dynamics. Thanks to three dates a minimum age has been proposed for the petroglyphs and a paleoenviromental model suggests their maximum age. Preliminary results point to site formation during the late Holocene in synchrony with ceramic period occupations. The analysis of petroglyphs indicates some homogeneity in regard to themes and graphic representation. This suggest a internal consistency in design despite some formal variability.

En 1594, l’Ordre des Prêcheurs engage en France une réforme. À la fin du XVIIe siècle, le Maître général Antonin Cloche tente de nouveau d’aviver l’esprit d’observance. Parallèlement, l’Ordre devient pour les pouvoirs politiques, en France et aux Pays-Basméridionaux, un instrument de lutte contre les Réformés. Les dominicains s’engagent également dans tous les débats théologiques internes à l’Église catholique et se mobilisent pour les missions jusqu’aux extrémités de l’Asie. Ces évènements et la glorification des saints suscitent la création d’images gravées sur cuivre, commandées par l’Ordre ou indépendamment de celui-ci. Retrouver ces estampes, françaises et flamandes, comprendre leur processus d’émergence et le but qui leur fut assigné est l’objet du présent travail. L’enquête croise ainsi des données historiques internes à l’Ordre et supranationales. Sur le plan artistique, l’étude accorde une attention particulière, d’une part, à la circulation des graveurs et des modèles et, d’autre part, à l’émergence de styles propres. Ainsi se trouve valorisée l’articulation entre l’épanouissement de la taille-douce au XVIIe siècle, le discours d’un Ordre, et le regard porté sur lui. / This thesis focuses on the representation of the members of the Dominican Order as found in seventeenth century engravings. It seeks to examine the role of the French and Flemish engravers commissioned by the Order of Preachers in order to stress its social and moral importance. The engravings are an integral part of an artistic heritage with his own language, challenging our perception of the Dominican story, and more generally of the history itself. This has enabled us to question the contribution and the capacity of images either to reflect or to distort, like a mirror, the spiritual life and the theological debates in both the Church and in society during the seventeenth century.

Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa voltada à contextualização arqueológica do fenômeno da confecção das gravuras rupestres pré-coloniais na bacia do baixo rio Urubu (Estado do Amazonas). Com o objetivo de caracterizar o registro rupestre regional, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa intensiva no sítio AM-IT-31 Caretas, portador da maior densidade e variabilidade formal de arte rupestre da área de estudo. O sítio foi abordado a partir do controle espacial dos petróglifos e dos demais vestígios arqueológicos. Sua documentação foi realizada de forma integral e sistemática e foi organizada em um banco de dados relacional, possibilitando a articulação entre diferentes classes de evidências. Para caracterizar a arte rupestre do ponto de vista de sua inserção na paisagem arqueológica, foi investigada a relação crono-cultural com o sítio cerâmico em matriz de terra preta AM-IT-30 Pedra Chata, espacialmente associado. A cronologia das gravuras foi relacionada à dinâmica de sedimentação fluvial; com três datações foi estabelecida a idade mínima dos petróglifos e foi proposto um modelo paleoambiental hipotético para inferir sua antiguidade máxima. Os resultados, embora preliminares, atribuem a formação do sítio ao Holoceno Recente, no âmbito das ocupações ceramistas da região. A análise do registro gráfico tem evidenciado elementos de homogeneidade, tanto no tema como também na apresentação gráfica dos petróglifos, que remetem a uma substancial coerência interna, apesar da variabilidade formal. / This thesis presents the results of research seeking to archaeologically contextualize the precolonial production of engraved rock art in the Lower Urubu River drainage (Amazonas State, Brazil). With the objective of characterizing the rock art of this region, I carried out an intensive research project at the site AM-IT-31 Caretas, which has the highest density and formal variability of rock art in the entire area. Spatial control of both the petroglyphs and other archaeological remains at the site was established to permit their complete and systematic documentation. The records were organized in a relational database, allowing for the analysis of the relationships between different sets of evidence. In order to characterize the placement of rock art within the archaeological landscape, I studied its chronological and cultural relationships with the adjoining archaeological site AM-IT-30 Pedra Chata where ceramics occur in a matrix of \"dark earth\". The chronology of the engravings has been correlated to the fluvial dynamics. Thanks to three dates a minimum age has been proposed for the petroglyphs and a paleoenviromental model suggests their maximum age. Preliminary results point to site formation during the late Holocene in synchrony with ceramic period occupations. The analysis of petroglyphs indicates some homogeneity in regard to themes and graphic representation. This suggest a internal consistency in design despite some formal variability.

The subject of the thesis is the description, analysis and interpretation of rock art. The first, theoretic, part is dedicated to the research strategy, documentation, dating, conservation and presentation of rock art. It also analyses the relation between rock art and landscape, since differences in how different cultures perceived the landscape led rock art creators to different perception of the environment and to different forms of creative expression. The first part of the dissertation presents approaches rock art and methods of its interpretation from the landscape, historic, sociologic, ritual, artistic and aesthetic perspective. The second part of the dissertation discusses African rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley, set in the central part of the High Atlas in Morocco. The dissertation focuses on particular archaeologic sites, art techniques applied, distinguishing features and other specificities of the local rock art. Special attention is paid to the motifs, development changes and dating of rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley. Rock art first appeared there in the Late Neolithic and was further developed in the Bronze Age and continued until the Libyan-Berber period. The dissertation also presents interpretation of rock art motifs including analysis of their function and meaning of their positioning...