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Over the course of six chapters, this thesis documents colour cinema in Scotland between 1896-1906, focusing on three locations: Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh. Chapter One sets out the scope of the thesis, and defines the terms ‘colour’, ‘cinema’ and ‘place’. An overview of the relevant existing literature is then provided, tracing the evolution of the historiography of Scottish cinema and that of early colour film more widely. This chapter argues that ideologically charged historiographies have largely dismissed or marginalised both Scottish cinema and early colour film; the former deemed irrelevant, and the latter juvenile or crude. Chapter One concludes with a discussion of the historiographic principles upheld in “New Cinema History”, drawing attention to the pertinence of such principles for this thesis’s methodology. Chapter Two profiles prominent colour film technologies and techniques that were in use between 1896-1906, and is split into six sections: coloured lights, tinting, toning, hand-painting, stencilling and Kinemacolor. Chapter Three focuses on early cinema in Aberdeen, in particular Walker & Company, and their experiments with hand- painted films and coloured lights. Walker & Company purchased and hand-painted Up the Nile, the Way to Atbara (1899) to conjure imperialist sentiment; produced and hand- painted The Great Fire of Bridge Place (1899) as a polemic against Aberdeen Council; and experimented with coloured lights on film in spectacular and innovative ways. Chapter Four addresses early cinema in Inverness, focusing on the town’s only filmmaker and exhibitor: John Mackenzie. Mackenzie dismissed painted films because they jarred with his aesthetic principles as a serious photographer. Furthermore, the serpentine dance was locally condemned as immoral, thus rendering the widely popular hand-painted film versions of this routine as a subversive force. Chapter Four concludes with a discussion of Mackenzie’s filmic representations of the Highlands, and how they dramatically changed once he accepted an offer of employment from the Charles Urban Trading Company in 1903. Chapter Five documents early cinema in Edinburgh, highlighting the colourful sensorial environments within which early local film exhibitions took place; the conspicuous presence of stereoscopy and colour photography in early cinema; and the influence of Edinburgh’s rich pantomime traditions on local exhibitors. Chapter Six stresses the importance of this thesis, and its potential ramifications for future research.

In 1949, Giorgio de Chirico held a one-man show at London’s Royal Society of British Artists. It featured 100 paintings including Old Master copies (early 1920s), Renoiresque female nudes (1930s), and Neobaroque work (since the late 1930s). Founded on the artist’s belief that “traditions are our greatest riches, they are the stout pillars of progress”, the exhibition created an “immense museum of strangeness” inhabited by the melancholic ‘shadow’ of 15th-19th century European masters. The displayed artwork prompted one British critic to ask: “Can art advance by going backwards?” Taking this comment as its starting part, the present thesis explores de Chirico’s complicated relationship with the great masters, seeking answers as to how and why he sought to take possession of the past. Constituting one of the most misunderstood and under-researched areas of his career, it challenges the Surrealist-fuelled opinion that de Chirico’s stylistic 'volte-face' of 1919 repudiated his early Metaphysical art (1910-18) in support of the theory that the great masters inform his entire career (1908-76). Interpreted as an integral part of the dechirican aesthetic, I maintain that his post-1910 work employs the great masters as a vehicle for lending tangible form to his understanding of Nietzschean metaphysics, principally eternal recurrence and 'dépaysement', two themes explored in 1910-18. Rather than a Return to Craft in a quest to restore the great tradition of painting, I argue that de Chirico uses ancient painting techniques – along with great master compositions, styles, subject matters and application of colour – as secondary, 'dejà-vu'-like filters that provoke sensations of metaphysical revelation, surprise and enigma. The ‘mysterious transformation’ of their work allows de Chirico to sing a “new song” about the past and present that sit “on the great curve of eternity.” Such work does not deal with repudiation, reaction or revolution, but renaissance: the journey of metaphysical discovery. An in-depth examination of de Chirico’s critical and autobiographical texts (1911-62), which explore the notions of journey and discovery, strengthens this theory, as does the study of his recently-inventoried art library and collection of prints and reproductions. An investigation into de Chirico’s interpretation of originality, 'originarietà', copying, imitation, appropriation, and repetition not only reveals the influence they exerted on his great master choices but, when examined 'vis à vis' definitions favoured by Carrà, the Surrealists (Breton), Return to Order sympathisers and select Postmodernists, his place in art history is adjusted. Given the profundity of this rapport, this thesis contests criticism directed at his late ‘egocentric kitsch’ great master-inspired work (1940s-50s), alternatively categorising it as ‘bad painting but good art’. By acknowledging the pioneering aspect of this corpus (1908-76), this New Old Master demonstrates that art can, indeed, advance by going backwards.

My thesis aims to explore how John Ruskin's idea of the workman's "freedom of thought" was disseminated to late Victorian female consumer culture, through the transformation of its ideal from Gothic architecture into Eastern decorative art. By examining both elite and popular Aesthetic texts, I will argue that references to Eastern art are not only about the issue of style, but also involve theoretical interests about how to integrate art, consumption, women and the home. In chapter one, I examine Ruskin's conception of workmen's free thought, and how the architect William Godwin adapted it by transferring his ideal example of it from Gothic to Eastern architecture. In chapter two, I discuss how manual books by Mary Eliza Haweis acknowledged the authority of wealthy middle-class women's consumption by using Ruskin's ideas alongside Eastern dress examples. In chapters three and four, I examine the Art at Home series, an affordable set of household manuals, to see how they acknowledged less wealthy middle-class women's capacity to be effective house decorators by raising the status of inexpensive Eastern art. Chapter five analyses the catalogues of Liberty's, an Oriental goods shop, and examines how they presented the principles of Eastern art as their own. In chapter six, I discuss The Woman's World, edited by Oscar Wilde, to show how the perspective of Eastern art can crystallise the definitions of female artists by both elite and popular Aesthetes. In chapter seven, I will examine the representation of Eastern art in Vernon Lee's Miss Brown, and show how her text is a critical response to the definition of female artists in elite and popular Aestheticism. By focusing on these various approaches to Eastern art, we can see that Aestheticism was engaged in a process of critiquing and customising Ruskin's ideas in order to acknowledge the artistry and autonomy of consumers.

The imperial city of Ulm in southwest Germany was one of the largest in the country during the Middle Ages, and one of four important centres in the Swabian region. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the region was characterised by a large number of towns and cities, especially imperial cities, most of which lay south of the Swabian Alps, in Upper Swabia. For their protection the towns formed into the Swabian League of which Ulm had leadership until the latter part of the fifteenth century. The League restrained the ambitions of emperor and the princes, and effectively maintained relatively peaceful conditions in the region for most of the fifteenth century. The cities relied largely on trade, shipping iron, salt, meat and grain from eastern areas into the southwest for distribution. There was also a vast textile industry, producing woollen cloths and fustian, or barchent, with a mixture of cotton and linen. Wool and flax were produced locally, while cotton was brought from Venice, and finished cloth distributed throughout Europe. This led to the rise of family merchant companies that handled import, export, distribution, and in some cases production. Familial networks were key. Such networks were also fundamental for craft communities throughout the region and artisans frequently moved to train or work. As a large centre, Ulm produced much sculpture and painting with production peaking during the second half of the fifteenth century, resulting in an extensive export market. As with all imperial cities, Ulm relied on its relationship with the empire for its ability to function, politically and economically. Largely because of its wealth, it gained a high level of autonomy, which it used to acquire an extensive territorial area, and to secure authority over the parish, its church, and local foundations. Of fundamental importance was the parish church of Our Lady, which was relocated into the heart of the commercial area of the city and rebuilt on a massive scale signalling the might of the town. The renewed importance of Our Lady encouraged endowments and gifts, and helped secure the authority of the patriciate, especially the Krafft family. In the face of guild uprisings during the fourteenth century, the patriciate of Ulm was a particularly closed type and social demarcation was rigorously practised. Inter-marriage with a select group of traders, however, resulted in a ruling body that effectively developed into an oligarchy, despite substantial guild representation on the civic council. A small group held power over many years and most aspects of everyday living were closely regulated and policed. Artistic styles and developments reflected this stable, yet rather restricted climate. Change was adopted with caution. But, arguably, styles also reflected wider regional trends that, to an extent, might be classed as traditionally Swabian. The characteristic regional style might also have been linked to mysticism and pious practices amongst female religious that had filtered into civic life. As vibrant commercial centres, the cities were conscious of a communal responsibility. Ultimately, this somewhat conservative attitude led to a shift in artistic production during the last decade of the fifteenth and into the sixteenth century. Ulm was unable to keep pace with wider political and commercial developments, and in certain ways Ulm did not provide artists with the conditions necessary to fully exploit their talents.

Over the past two decades institutionally dominant art history has been strongly influenced by the theory and practice of deconstruction. While many art historians have embraced deconstruction as a productive means of unsettling and remotivating standard forms of art historical discourse, others have raised concerns over what they see as a widespread departure from the most basic tenets of art historical discourse; that is to say, not only the belief that there is a circumscribed category of aesthetic experience (art), but also that it is possible to arrive at a truthful representation of the relationship between works of art and the circumstances of their production and initial reception (history). Moreover, many of those same commentators have railed against the way in which this departure can be understood to have suspended any sense of a stable, structural connection between a historical is and a present ought; in other words, the notion that a truthful understanding of past events has the potential to inform ethico- political activity in the here and now. Our intention here is to problematize this apparent schism by demonstrating that art historical discourse has drawn the very possibility of its continuing conceptuality since Antiquity from a chronic and, for the most part, unconscious deconstructive interaction between the signifying ‘texts’ of art history and what might be seen as the various material, social and intellectual forces pertaining to the wider historical ‘contexts’ of their production and reception. Thus, we will have attempted to show that deconstruction is indivisible from continuing discursive attempts to arrive at a ‘truthful’ understanding of the past. In addition to this we will also attempt to show - with reference both to the writings of Jacques Derrida and a Duchampian inheritance in the visual arts - that it is possible to develop deconstructive forms of historical narrative through which we might engage critically with questions of ‘ethico- political’ value.

This thesis studies the imaginary beings of Minoan iconography with the aim of understanding their functions and meaning within the iconography of Bronze Age Crete. Two broad categories of Minoan fantastic creatures can be discerned, namely the imported and the locally created hybrids. With the exception of investigations of the genius, previous studies have focused mainly on matters of typology and style and, more importantly, have detached the illustrations of imaginary beings from their context of creation and use. Consequently, griffins and sphinxes are vaguely classified as "royal monsters", the dragon is merely considered as the transporter of deities, the reasons behind the creation of the bird-lady and the "Minotaur" are still unfathomable and the demonic creations of the Zakros workshop have not been explained at all and are simply viewed as meaningless. On the other hand, conjoined animals and less popular monsters, like the winged goats, have been more or less overlooked. In an attempt to remedy this, this study places the fantastic creatures of the Minoans within their context. The iconography of the Prepalatial, Protopalatial, Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods is examined sequentially so as to determine the degree to which the functions of demons and monsters changed through time in the Minoan repertoire. Variations in the choice of media for their depictions, the consideration of their find contexts, of religious and socio-political developments in each period and of the development of monstrous iconography in the mainland, the Aegean islands, the Near East and Egypt, all help towards a better appreciation of the fantastic world of the "Minoans". As a result, generic characterisations of the Minoan imaginary beings are rejected and the multiplicity of their roles, their ability to evolve and their significant role in the expression of the Minoan mindset are established. In short, the demons and monsters of the Minoans are revealed as reflections of the multifaceted, complex society of Bronze Age Crete and articulate the fears, concerns and beliefs of its different members.

This thesis is a study of the notebook (British Library Egerton MS 1635) compiled by Richard Symonds (1617-1670), royalist exile and virtuoso, during his visit to Rome between 1649 to1651. The first volume of the thesis provides an analysis of the chronology of notebooks that Symonds wrote at the time and his methods of study, as well as a detailed reconstruction of his visits to a number of collections. The second volume consists of an annotated transcription of Egerton MS 1635, and an extract from British Library Additional MS 17919 which relates to Symonds's visit to Palazzo Barberini. Symonds's visits to the Borghese, Farnese, and Giustiniani collections in Rome allowed him to study at first hand major sixteenth-century works by Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio and the followers of the Carracci. He also visited four less important collections (which all had some renowned paintings) at Palazzo Mattei, Palazzo Spada, Palazzo Mazzerino and Palazzo Sachetti. In addition, Symonds made notes on Palazzo Barberini although he was only taken on a brief tour of this collection. Symonds's study of antique sculpture is revealed in his notes on the important collection he saw at Villa Medici, and two smaller ones belonging to Ippolitto Vitelleschi and the Pighini family. Symonds also encountered the circle of antiquaries and connoisseurs in Rome, which included Francesco Angelom, and among the artists he met were the painters Giovanni Angelo Camni (who served as his mentor) and Nicolas Poussin. Symonds was not only interested in art, architecture, and antiquities, but also the social and religious customs that he encountered, as well as early ventures into science and medicine. The taste and knowledge that he acquired in Rome is reflected in the paintings that he selected to record and admire, of which the vast majority were works by Titian, Raphael and the Carracci. A thorough investigation of Egerton MS 1635 establishes that Symonds's knowledge of Italian art was exceptional for an Englishman of the time.

This dissertation explores the complex entanglements of an artistic traffic between two distinct 'visual economies' in eastern India, c.1772-c.1795. Both late Mughal and early colonial cultures were undergoing transformation, to the extent that during this era the nascent colonial artistic diaspora collapsed. Three inter-related areas will be interrogated: the prestation and commercial circulation of imagery between London, Calcutta and Murshidabad, the dichotomies of political and aesthetic spheres, and colonial representations of late Mughal culture as embroiled by such frameworks. Chapter one examines India-painted subjects in a metropolitan aesthetic sphere, thus acting as crucial juxtaposition for the refiguration of British art in Calcutta, which is the subject of the following section. Hastings' regime wielded British art as part of an intensely spectacular colonial governmentality, but his successor Cornwallis, took a tougher line with devastating effect. A diversity of competing, derivative idioms ousted professional colonial painting forever; its artistic schema penetrated to 'grass-roots' level through the creation of a 'Company School' which transposed the practice of the patua caste. Chapters five to seven investigate nawabi perceptions of British imagery. Hastings introduced the gifting of large-scale portraits; artefacts ill-suited to Indian interiors and aesthetic interiority - perhaps not even viewed as 'art'. The final chapter, through representations of the nawabs of Murshidabad and Lucknow, traces the evolution of British pictures as accoutrements of Mughal sovereignty. By 1795 both courts possessed permanent if 'hybrid' expositions of colonial imagery which transgressed established Indian and British classifications, as well as indicating more profound redefinitions of Indian comportment, consumption and taste. The intersection of 'visual economies' by way of an exploration of diverse zones of transculturation and processes of translation, provides a vital lens for recovering Indian and British agency - both elite and subaltern, in the oft-uneasy formation of a colonial aesthetic forum.

This thesis deals with the two partially interlocking aspects of female patronage and female spirituality in Italian art during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. My aim has been to expand the knowledge of this subject not through a detailed examination of one female patron, her spirituality, and how it affected her commissions, but through a number of representative examples in order to show the breadth and diversity of women's influence over art, both active and passive. I have therefore surveyed previous assumptions on female patronage and the opportunities that existed for it, taking a number of smaller examples so as to lay a base for my later arguments. One of the main problems that emerged was a misunderstanding of the clothes depicted as being worn both by the subjects of the paintings and by the donors, and also the subjective use of clothes in order to put across a message. This aspect also bears on the variety of women's religious experience which underlies the whole of this investigation. It forms a base for my chapters on commissions by and for the Poor Clares and the female Vallombrosan order. Finally, I have looked at two examples of lay female patronage only one of which takes a woman as its subject, and examined the reasons for the choice of subject in relation to the spiritual influences of the commissioner and also the ways in which the direct influence of the patron can be assessed. My research has indicated that both lay women and nuns were not only capable of paying for ambitious projects but that they could also positively affect their iconography. Women's influence over art during this period, and the impact of their spirituality on it, both actively and passively, has only previously been investigated in a few instances. The aim of this thesis is to provide an overview of the female patronage and female spirituality in art and to show that women's influence over art was present in many spheres of society and was not an exception to the rule.