The Civil War transformed nationalism in American society and created a notion of national identity closely tied to flag iconography. Flag symbolism developed as the prominent visualization of nationalism in American culture during and after the Civil War. The flags of the Civil War - namely the American flag, the Confederate national flag, and the Confederate Battle Cross - grew into iconic images within American communities. Their status as symbols of nationalism, patriotism, and an American historical past often advocated by newspapers, individual citizens, and the soldiers of the war themselves, initiated an American tradition of flag iconography for the purpose of nationalism unforeseen in American culture before the war. After the war, the issues of reconciliation and of what context the war would be placed in American history also became influenced by flag imagery. With the potential for post-war bitterness and lengthened disunity, the American flag offered a symbol that allowed Americans to remember the war as the deeds of patriotic citizens and as part of a continuous American national narrative. In doing so, the American flag became the iconic symbol of American nationalism. / Master of Arts

In this study, the interpretation of Don Quixote has been examined within the work of three artists: Honore Daumier, Salvador Dali, and Joan Pon9. Each artist has represented Don Quixote in a uniquely modern artistic style that questions the artistic discipline in itself, while using it to portray the concepts and ideology of modern times. While these interpretations may not portray Don Quixote in the parodic way its author intended him to be, they are not completely romantic versions of the hero either. Don Quixote, as shown through the eyes of these three artists, has escaped the constraints of the text and has become not the nobly suffering hero of the Romantics, but the internalized hero representative of man himself in an increasingly isolated and modern society. The recurring theme of alienation from the others is then presented in this study as three different visions of Don Quixote. The first chapter seeks to examine the traces of modernity within the portrait painting of Don Quixote done by Honore Daumier. By taking the first steps towards abstraction and expressionism, as well as presenting a solution of withdrawn indifference that begins to question the state reality, Daumier sets the foundation for the modern interpretation of Don Quixote. In the second chapter, Salvador Dall depicts a Surrealist Don Quixote, illustrating a version that has completely submitted himself to the internally-based and absolute surreality. Dali reconciles the opposing internal and external realities in the figure of Don Quixote. Finally, Don Quixote faces the interior battles of existence in the work of Joan Pony. This modern, isolated depiction of Don Quixote in front of the infinite unknown marks the final transition from the external internal dialectic to that of yo vs. yo mismo . The conclusion then summarizes and confirms Don Quixote's textual liberation translated into both a modern style and concept.

Pretendemos neste trabalho avaliar os modelos iconográficos de cenas de banquete que contem com a participação de mulheres, travando um diálogo com as principais correntes de interpretação de imagética vascular grega. Para isso, buscamos compreender como se estabeleceram os parâmetros iconográficos reproduzidos pelos artesãos áticos em uma análise comparativa com a cultura material de figuração semelhante de outras regiões e de períodos diferentes. Com base num corpus de cenas de mulheres em sympósia, os estudos são feitos em paralelo com os atuais debates sobre o tema e levam em considerção as abordagens arqueológicas para estudo de documentos figurados. / Our goal in this research is to evaluate the iconographic models of banquet scenes with women, dialoguing with the main theories on Greek vases imagery. In this way, we try to understand how the iconographical parameters reproduced by Attic craftsmen were built, and we compare the Greek artifacts with material culture of different places and periods. Based on a corpus with scenes of women at symposia, our study takes in account the modern debates about this subject and the archaeological approaches on the figured documents.

Pretendemos neste trabalho avaliar os modelos iconográficos de cenas de banquete que contem com a participação de mulheres, travando um diálogo com as principais correntes de interpretação de imagética vascular grega. Para isso, buscamos compreender como se estabeleceram os parâmetros iconográficos reproduzidos pelos artesãos áticos em uma análise comparativa com a cultura material de figuração semelhante de outras regiões e de períodos diferentes. Com base num corpus de cenas de mulheres em sympósia, os estudos são feitos em paralelo com os atuais debates sobre o tema e levam em considerção as abordagens arqueológicas para estudo de documentos figurados. / Our goal in this research is to evaluate the iconographic models of banquet scenes with women, dialoguing with the main theories on Greek vases imagery. In this way, we try to understand how the iconographical parameters reproduced by Attic craftsmen were built, and we compare the Greek artifacts with material culture of different places and periods. Based on a corpus with scenes of women at symposia, our study takes in account the modern debates about this subject and the archaeological approaches on the figured documents.

Ce travail trouve son origine dans l’étude d’une stèle funéraire exposée aujourd’hui au Musée archéologique d’Apollonia d’Illyrie, sous le numéro d’inventaire 5030. Le relief, exceptionnel à plus d’un titre, montre une descente aux Enfers par le biais d’un accessoire qui tient autant de l’échelle et de l’escalier que de la passerelle de bateau, puisqu’il aboutit dans la barque de Charon. Comment le dénommer ? C’est le terme grec klimax qui s’impose. Non seulement il renvoie indistinctement aux trois objets précités, en préservant leur multivalence, mais il est aussi le plus largement et le plus anciennement utilisé dans la littérature et l’épigraphie pour les désigner. Dans notre enquête, il est rapidement apparu que la klimax n’avait pas été étudiée pour elle-même par les archéologues qui s’y sont confrontés. Afin de pallier cette lacune, notre travail se consacre tout d’abord au motif de la klimax dans l’art antique, essentiellement dans le cadre légendaire. Klimakes d’assaut, d’embarquement et de débarquement, ou encore klimakes du théâtre antique, forment autant de thèmes examinés où la klimax joue un rôle clé. Une étude circonstanciée du relief d’Apollonia, centrée sur les problèmes que pose son iconographie, complète l’enquête. Cela se justifiait non seulement par la place particulière qu’occupe, dans l’imagerie antique, la scène figurée, mais aussi, et surtout, parce que le motif de la klimax y trouve un emploi exemplaire. / This work finds its origin in the study of a funerary relief exposed today at the Archaeological Museum of Apollonia in Illyria, under the inventory number 5030. The relief, exceptional in more than one way, shows a descent into the Underworld through an accessory that is both a ladder and a staircase as a gangway, as it ends up in Charon’s boat. How to call it ? This is the greek word klimax who’s imposed. Not only because it refers indistinctly to the three items mentioned above, preserving their polyvalence, but it is also the most widely and longest used in the literature and epigraphy to designate them. In our survey, it soon emerged that the klimax had not been studied for itself by archaeologists who confronted themselves there. To fill this gap, our work focuses first on the klimax in the ancient art, mainly through mythological context. Klimakes of assault, klimakes of boarding and landing, klimakes in relation with the ancient theater, form as many examined topics where the klimax plays a key role. A detailed study of the relief of Apollonia, which focuses on his iconography’s problems, completes the survey. That was justified not only by the particular place which occupies, in the ancient imagery, the sculpted scene, but also, and especially, because the klimax find here an exemplary use.

Marie de Bourgogne (1457–1482), fille unique de Charles le Téméraire et de ce fait « la plus grande héritière qui fust de son temps », a jusqu’ici attiré assez peu d’attention de la part des spécialistes du XVe siècle. Une figure ambiguë, dont l’image oscille entre deux concepts opposés : une duchesse faible et inexpérimentée, qui ne joua qu'un rôle de pion dans la grande partie diplomatique entre l’Empire et la France, – ou bien une princesse résolue et indépendante qui savait ce qu'elle voulait et réussit à imposer sa volonté, Marie reste généralement dans l'ombre de ses proches parents. Il semble bien que cette attitude envers la duchesse est surtout le fait de la politique de ses descendants et successeurs, qui employaient son image dans leurs propres intérêts. Désireux de légitimer la transition du pouvoir de la Maison de Valois à celle des Habsbourg, ils ont opté pour la représentation de Marie comme héritière de Bourgogne, dame noble et pieuse dévouée à son mari et à sa famille, et non comme une femme de pouvoir. Cette image de la princesse semble être si puissante que souvent les historiens furent amenés à croire que l’œuvre politique sous le règne de Marie était principalement l'affaire de son époux. Ils concentrèrent alors leur attention sur Maximilien, le faisant ainsi – volontairement ou non – le héros principal de l'épopée bourguignonne pendant les années de crise qui ont suivi la mort du Téméraire. Or la réalité fut plus complexe. Jamais réellement retirée de la vie politique, ne cessant de voyager à travers ses pays afin d'assurer et affirmer l'omniprésence de l'autorité ducale, suivant de près les affaires politiques, Marie prit aussi un soin tout particulier à la création et la promotion de son image. La jeune duchesse qui, dès son accès inattendu au pouvoir en janvier 1477, dut affronter les attaques et les intrigues de Louis XI ainsi que les émeutes de ses sujets, fut de toute évidence parfaitement consciente, non seulement d’être la dernière héritière de la glorieuse maison de Bourgogne-Valois, mais encore d’être en position de faiblesse de par sa condition de femme. Elle chercha alors des réponses adéquates à ses défis – réponses militaires et diplomatiques ainsi qu’« iconographiques ». Ses ambitions, de souligner les liens dynastiques, d’appuyer la légitimité de sa succession et de son pouvoir suo jure, d’affirmer ses droits aux pays bourguignons, ainsi que d’asseoir son autorité sur les sujets indociles, ont influencé considérablement sa conséquente politique de représentation. Une étude de cette politique, fondée sur le regroupement inédit d’œuvres littéraires, historiographiques et iconographiques, et leur analyse, nous permettra d’abord de souligner la construction et l’évolution symbolique de l’image de Marie de Bourgogne en tant que femme régnante, mais aussi de reconsidérer une période de l’histoire de l’État bourguignon, celle de la transmission du pouvoir de la maison de Valois de Bourgogne à la dynastie des Habsbourg. / Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) as ruler seems to be rather a non sequitur topic for a study as her short reign – sandwiched between those more important of her belligerent father, Charles the Bold, and her imposing spouse, Maximilian of Austria – is often marginalized by researchers. A somewhat ambiguous figure, whose image hovers somewhere in the space limited by two opposing concepts – an inexperienced and weak duchess, a mere pawn in the great political game played between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and a self-determined young princess who knew what she wanted and managed to dictate her will, praised by her biographers, Mary still remains generally in the shade of her nearest kinsmen despite the abundant publications concerning the Duchy of Burgundy.This attitude towards Mary was mainly formed by the politics of her successors and descendants, who employed her image in their own interests; eager to legitimize the transition of power from the House of Valois to that of the Habsburgs, they opted for the representation of Mary as the heiress of Burgundy, a noble and pious lady devoted to her family, and not as an independent sovereign. This image of “Mary the Rich” appears to be so powerful that often historians focus their attention primarily on Maximilian, thus – involuntarily or not – making him the main hero of the Burgundian epic of the crisis years. The real situation was, however, more complex. Never in fact retired from political life, never ceasing to travel across her lands in order to ensure and state the ubiquity of ducal authority, Mary was taking great care in creating and promoting her image, sending out to her contemporaries easily recognizable signs communicating her strong sense of who she was and how she wished to be seen. Recollected and examined with closer attention, these symbolic messages could depict a different image of this “lady of the country”, who was “revered and feared more than her husband”, according to the omniscient Philippe de Commynes, and reveal the clear political and cultural intentions she wanted to convey. Based on a number of important works of literature, history and iconography associated with the duchess as well as on various accounts on her, provided either by her contemporaries or – in a certain manner – by herself, principally through performing highly symbolic acts or through artistic commissions, the present research aims thus to reassess the person and the actual role of Mary of Burgundy in the history of the Burgundian state.

By using the technique of photogrammetry for the 3D visualization of ancient Egyptian coffins decorated with magical texts and iconography, this project aims at building up a new digital platform for an in-depth study of the ancient Egyptian funerary culture and its media. It has started in August 2015 through the support of a Mellon Fellowship for the Digital Humanities at UC Berkeley and up until now it has focused on ancient Egyptian coffins kept at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology of UC Berkeley. The main outcome will be a digital platform that allows to display a coffin in 3D and where users will be able to pan, rotate, and zoom in on the coffin, clicking on areas of text to highlight them and view an annotated translation together with other metadata (transcription of the hieroglyphic text, bibliography, textual variants, museological data, provenance, etc.)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of this study is to investigate the role that horses played in the Ancient Near East, specifically during the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859BC). By studying nine of the reliefs from the North-West Palace at Nimrud, the function of horses with regard to warfare during that time was explored. The analysis included an examination of all horses and equine tack, which consists of chariots, bridles, bits, breastplates and decorations. The reliefs are studied by using Erwin Panofsky’s Theoretical Scheme, which allows for three stages of analysis. Each of the reliefs is examined as a whole, in order to place the relief in context, followed by a detailed breakdown of the horses, specifically their body language, as well as their tack and the function thereof. It was found that the Assyrians used the horses’ body language to help set the tone of the relief, as the horses would display aggressive body language when under attack and relaxed body language when not under attack, for example reliefs showing parades or military camps. It was also noted that the horses of the enemies were illustrated in such a way as to show the prowess of the victorious Neo-Assyrian army. It was found that horses were instrumental in warfare as well as depicting status and rank within the military structures. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die fokus van hierdie studie is om die rol wat perde in die Ou Nabye Ooste gespeel het, te ondersoek, spesifiek tydens die bewind van die Neo-Assiriese koning Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 v.C.). Deur nege van die reliëfs van die Noordwes-Paleis by Nimrud te bestudeer, is die funksie van perde met betrekking tot oorlogvoering gedurende daardie tyd ondersoek. Die analise sluit ’n ondersoek van alle perde en perdetuig in, wat uit waens, tome, stange, borsplate en versierings bestaan. Die reliëfs word bestudeer deur Erwin Panofsky se Teoretiese Skema, wat vir drie fases van ontleding voorsiening maak, te gebruik. Elkeen van die reliëfs word as ’n geheel ondersoek, ten einde die reliëf in konteks te plaas, gevolg deur ’n volledige uiteensetting van die perde, spesifiek hul lyftaal, asook hul tuie en die funksie daarvan. Daar is gevind dat die Assiriërs die perde se lyftaal gebruik het om die toon van die reliëf te help stel. Die perde sou aggressiewe lyftaal vertoon wanneer hulle aangeval word en ontspanne lyftaal wanneer hulle nie aangeval word nie, byvoorbeeld reliëfs wat parades of militêre kampe wys. Daar is ook opgemerk dat die perde van die vyande op so ’n wyse geïllustreer is om die dapperheid/vaardigheid van die oorwinnende Neo-Assiriese leër te toon. Daar is gevind dat perde instrumenteel in oorlogvoering was asook dat hulle status en rang binne die militêre strukture uitgebeeld het.

Generally speaking depictive theories attempt to explain the experience of looking at paintings and drawings, in particular they describe the process by which a viewer makes sense of a surface that has been intentionally marked in such a way as to describe some thing in the world. Depictive theories have generally been developed with reference to figurative work where the viewer is able to recognize the depicted object(s). The aim of this thesis is to determine the extent to which they apply to non-figurative work, what is commonly referred to as abstract art, and to identify what factors can influence the understanding and interpretation of such work. The method used is a combination of theory and practice. An analysis of theories of depiction and of contemporary scholarship on the subject is undertaken. Using the results of this work and by reference to the key concepts of these theories an analysis of specific artworks is carried out in a series of case studies. The purpose of the case studies is to identify, in the first instance, how certain theories of depiction can be seen to apply. In other words how they explain the experience of looking at a figurative artwork. The case study approach is an essential element of the methodology of the project. It is used, initially, to interrogate a work by Titian that is, arguably, readily explained by ‘traditional’ depictive theories. The procedure evolved for this analysis is then applied to the less figurative works of Auerbach and Twombly and from this process a non-iconographic approach to depiction is developed which is tested by application to my own work and to that of two contemporary artists. The thesis concludes that a comprehensive theory of depiction must allow for such factors as material and facture and that, as a result of this research, the meaning of the term ‘depiction’ can, under certain conditions, be extended to include for non-figurative work. It suggests that some theories may usefully be modified to accommodate the findings of this research. Dominic Lopes argues that ‘a complete account of pictures should explain abstract pictures as well as figurative ones.’ This thesis is seen as making a contribution to the development of any such account.

While academic discussion of ornament within medieval Islamic art has laboured much over the codification and meaning of certain forms, there has been relatively little research to date on the visual and iconographic function of architecture as ornament in this context. Those few authors that have dealt with this issue have focused overwhelmingly on two-dimensional architectural representations, largely ignoring the considerable body of portable objects from the medieval Middle East that imitate architecture through three-dimensional forms, whether in a mimetically coherent fashion or in a more elliptical or reconfigured manner. This thesis proposes, first and foremost, that there is significant cultural meaning inherent in the use of architecture as an inspiration for the non-essential formal qualities of portable objects from the medieval Islamic world. Through iconographic analysis of the relationships that such objects form with architecture, an understanding of both full-size architecture and its miniature incarnations in the medieval urban context is advanced within the thesis. To maximise the intellectual scope of the study whilst still enabling an in-depth treatment of the material, four discrete studies of different object groups are presented. All of these are thought to date from approximately 1000 to 1350 CE, and to come from the core Middle Eastern territories of Persia, Syria and Egypt. The first chapter examines the glazed ceramic ‘house models’ believed to originate in late or post-Seljuq Persia. The second discusses six-sided ceramic tables from the same milieu, and more numerous related tables produced in Syria during the same period. In the third chapter carved marble jar stands from Cairo, apparently produced from the twelfth century onwards, are analysed. The final chapter, on metalwork, broadens its approach to encompass two very different strains of production: inkwells from Khurasan and incense burners from the breadth of the Middle East. Because much of the thesis focuses on material that has been dramatically understudied, it performs the primary action of compiling examples of each of the object types under study. Though this information is presented as a catalogue vi sommaire, this component of the thesis is not regarded as an end in itself. The major tasks of the thesis are the identification of the architectural tropes that are being evoked within each object group, analysis of the manner in which those forms have been modified to suit the miniature context of the objects, and the location of meaning within such diminutive evocations of architectural form. Through comparisons with other objects, full-size architecture, two-dimensional representations of architecture and historical texts, the thesis moves discourse on this type of motif in Islamic art beyond the traditional and sometimes superficial discussion of ‘ornament’, re-setting architectural iconography within larger contexts of urbanisation and city culture of the medieval Islamic world.