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The Poetics of Memory: Cy Twombly's Roses and Peony Blossom PaintingsUnknown Date (has links)
My thesis seeks to examine three painting cycles by Cy Twombly (b. 1928)—The Roses and Untitled (Roses) of 2008 and Untitled (Peony Blossom Paintings) of 2007—as sites of memory. Each series consists of large-scale wood panels upon which painted flower forms co-exist with handwritten lines of poetry appropriated from stanzas penned by various Western poets as well as Japanese haikus. Scholarship dedicated to these paintings mostly ignores the textual components, which, as I argue, contain significant parallels to the painted elements. The poems and haikus provide additional layers of meaning to each work, compelling viewers to make multiple connections and simultaneous associations in a manner that is similar to the construction of memory. I begin by surveying Twombly's writing practice and presenting theories that validate how forms of writing construct cultural memory. Twombly has marked his canvases with written symbols since the early 1950s, but in later years, as evidenced by Roses and Peony Blossom Paintings, the artist's word evocations have become more cohesive, and now include entire lines of handwritten poetry. Next I utilize secondary literary sources to scrutinize the poems and haikus in order to suggest a more nuanced understanding of these paintings. Throughout the course of my textual discussion I connect the poetic forms to the layered painted representations. The visual parallels between the words and images, and the spatial dimensions among the two, evoke a shifting sense of meaning in the same way that memory is constructed. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2011. / April 4, 2011. / the nation / Includes bibliographical references. / Lauren S. Weingarden, Professor Directing Thesis; Roald Nasgaard, Committee Member; Adam Jolles, Committee Member.
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Highland Maya Effigy Funerary Urns: A Study of Genre, Iconography, and FunctionUnknown Date (has links)
This thesis investigates the effigy funerary urn as an important genre of Highland Maya art. Effigy funerary urns like the fifty-five examples that are the focus of this project date to the Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic Period and were produced within the northern areas of the Departments of Quiche and Huehuetenango in the Guatemalan Highlands, most likely in the area surrounding Nebaj. I examine the urns by addressing the interrelated issues of genre, iconography, and function to provide a holistic study of these objects. The iconographic and formal variations between the urns are explored and as a result, I identify three standard urn shapes and seven distinct iconographic categories. The urns boast a pervasive iconographic complex that features the Jaguar God of the Underworld, the Trefoil Jaguar, the old god of the hearth, and the Maize God. The true significance of these objects lies in the connection between this iconography and the urns' funerary function. I argue that this iconography makes explicit the analogy that exists between eschatology, the life cycle of maize, and the rebirth of the Maize God. I reveal how the iconographic complex informs and even directs the sacred cycle believed to take place within the urns, one shared by maize, the Maize God, and humans. The imagery effectively marks the urns as a location for sprouting or rebirth by providing the symbolic heat, water, and darkness necessary for this process. Effigy funerary urns, although they belong to a different class of objects, are conceptually linked to temples (mortuary structures), houses, and incensarios. These urns condense architectural tombs into a single ceramic vessel while preserving tomb symbolism and represent a distinct departure from other contemporaneous Highland funerary urns. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / . / April 5, 2010. / Popol Vuh, Mary Butler Lewis, Maize, Burial, Ceramic, Huehueteotl, Maize God, Jaguar, Tomb Symbolism, Funerary Ritual, Nebaj, Jaguar God of the Underworld / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael D. Carrasco, Professor Directing Thesis; Stephanie Leitch, Committee Member; Nancy de Grummond, Committee Member; Elin Danien, Committee Member.
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Asserting Royal Power in Early Seventeenth-Century Paris: Louis XIII, Maria de' Medici, and the Art and Architecture of Reformed Religious OrdersUnknown Date (has links)
This study examines early seventeenth-century Parisian churches supported by French monarchs, concentrating on the manner in which the buildings illuminate the political goals of the patrons. Specifically it focuses on the reign of King Louis XIII (1610-1643), a period during which the king's mother Queen Maria de' Medici ruled as regent from 1610 to 1617. During the king's reign twenty-one new places of worship were constructed in Paris, making it one of the most active phases of church building in the entire history of the French capital. Of the twenty-one churches built during this period, ten received support from the current monarch. Scholars traditionally attribute the volume of construction to the impact of the Catholic Reformation and the subsequent establishment of numerous reformed religious groups in Paris. While the religious renewal that swept France in the early seventeenth century certainly fueled the construction of churches, the factors prompting Louis XIII and Maria de' Medici to support such a high number of buildings remains unexplored in the literature. By investigating the architecture, painting, and sculpture of these churches in tandem with the historical and political context of the period, the buildings reveal how they took on additional meaning beyond reflecting the devout Catholic state. Instead of Maria de' Medici and Louis XIII only using the churches as symbols of their religious beliefs, they supported them as a means of pursuing their political objectives, goals that varied depending upon who was in control of the throne. Specifically, Maria de' Medici became a patron of ecclesiastical institutions to promote her authority while demonstrating her support of the Catholic faith, its institutions, and its allies. In contrast, Louis XIII advocated the sovereignty of the state, contributing to churches that honored French kingship and the monarch's divine right to rule through their architecture, painting, and sculpture. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Art History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2009. / March 23, 2009. / France, Churches, Architectural History, Art History, Early Modern Europe / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert N. Neuman, Professor Directing Dissertation; William Cloonan, Outside Committee Member; Jack Freiberg, Committee Member; Paula Gerson, Committee Member.
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Acadian Culture and Contemporary Commercialism: George Rodrigue's Artistic and Marketing PracticesUnknown Date (has links)
In 1984 George Rodrigue, then known primarily as a naïve surrealist or Cajun primitive expressionist, was asked to paint illustrations for a collection of Louisiana ghost stories entitled Bayou. When the moment came to illustrate the French-Cajun tale of the werewolf, or loup-garoup, the artist used his previously deceased black and white spaniel-terrier mix, Tiffany, as a model. Bathed in the light of a Cajun moon, the creature took on a blue hue. Since then, Blue Dog, as the animal has become known, has generated wide recognition with original canvases and silk screens portraying this subject selling for as high as $350,000. George Rodrigue's artistic background is rooted in commercial design. From his earliest recollections he has maintained an interest in the ability of art images to impart specific feelings and emotions and exercise influential power over those who view them. In search of a niche market and subject matter with which to showcase his artistic talents, Rodrigue turned to painting images from his Acadian heritage. Efforts within this context earned Rodrigue domestic and international acclaim. His works sold relatively well within selected circles –offered initially at prices of $50 and eventually, through enhanced product placement and networking efforts, reaching values of $150,000. However, as Rodrigue's artistic focus shifted away from his Acadian past and began to focus intently upon Blue Dog, an icon more closely aligned with his immediate, commercially influenced present, what positive critical interest Rodrigue had been able to foster in his work began to subside. Conversely, putting to work theories concerning the power of public interest to diminish considerably the effectiveness of scant or negative critical commentary, Blue Dog's popularity grew exponentially. This icon ushered Rodrigue into a phase of his career that, with its ability to foster instant audience report and spur mass-market appeal, reflects a heretofore-unrealized synergy between his artistic and commercial sensibilities. Today, George Rodrigue stands as an example of artistic success achieved outside the traditional artist/dealer/gallery establishment and propagated not through the centralized voices of select critics, but via the consensus opinions and economic power of a mainstream, art-purchasing audience. Using lessons learned through relationships with agents, dealers, fellow artists, friends, and established marketing and promotional professionals, Rodrigue has generated for himself a version of the business model used historically by the art industry and infused it with his own approachable, genial persona. Without question, Blue Dog has provided Rodrigue a level of artistic freedom and financial success that was for him previously unattainable. Through the mass public appeal of the canine icon, Rodrigue's earning potential as an artist presently dwarfs that which he achieved with his early Acadian-influenced efforts. Averaging an annual income of $10 million, it is clear that whether gleaned from the world of art or the world of business, the mantra of "success breeds success" remains true and verifiable. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Art History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2003. / November 3, 2003. / Art Marketing, Art and Commercialism / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Neuman, Professor Directing Thesis; Jack Freiberg, Committee Member; Adam D. Jolles, Committee Member.
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The Gaze of the Beholder: How National Identity in Nineteenth Century England Was Reinforced by the Collection and Display of Ancient Egyptian Material CultureUnknown Date (has links)
This thesis explores how the British Museum, David Roberts and Francis Frith asserted English identity throughout first part of the nineteenth-century. I argue that they did this through the collection and display of ancient Egyptian imagery. For each example, I apply the concept of the gaze. The gaze, as an art historical term, defines the visual dialogue between the viewer and the subject. I believe that emphasizing contrasts is the most effective was of defining national identity. In nineteenth-century England, the use of Egyptian imagery was particularly effective because of the popular idea that anything Eastern was "Other" or exotic. This thesis discusses how the British Museum, David Roberts, and Francis Frith exploited this otherness. I chose my three examples because of their physical connection with the Egyptian material. Each translated immediacy into effective visual statements. I also chose them because they represent three distinct periods within the nineteenth-century. For each, I discuss how the images were collected and how they made these accessible to the public. The British Museum opens the nineteenth-century. It had the strongest ties to institutional control of Egyptian imagery. It was not only an influential English institution in its own right, but was also supported by Parliament. The British Museum had an incredible level of control because it housed the actual objects for the public to come and view. Towards the middle of the century, the artist David Roberts traveled to Egypt to collect its imagery for paintings and lithographs to be completed upon his return. He joined the influential Royal Academy of Arts shortly after. The photographer Francis Frith closes the period under study. With Frith, we see the loosening of the institutional control of Egyptian imagery. He traveled to Egypt, on his own, to photograph the same range of subject matter that his predecessor sketched. Upon his return, he used his printing business to distribute the photos. Frith also represents how increased access to Egypt also diminished the sense of "otherness." / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Art History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2004. / November 1, 2004. / Egypt, Otherness, Victorian, Nineteenth Century, Royal Academy, British Museum, Imperial, Empire, British, England, Francis Frith, Gaze, Display, Collecting, Lithograph, English, Tourist Gaze, Tourist, Ancient Egypt, National Identity, Material Culture, David Roberts, Egyptian, Photography, Photographs, Photo Views, Landscape, Painting, Museum, Orientalism, Wet Collodion / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel J. Pullen, Professor Directing Thesis; Adam D. Jolles, Committee Member; Paula Gerson, Committee Member.
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"Ears and Eyes and Mouth and Heart… His Soul and His Senses": The Visual St. Stephen Narrative as the Essence of Ecclesiastical AuthorityUnknown Date (has links)
Narrative cycles of St. Stephen, proto-martyr, are common, frequently found on ecclesiastical monuments of thirteenth-century France. The cathedrals of Bourges, Chartres, and Paris, to name only a few, support visual imagery inspired by the legend of Stephen. Ordained by the apostles, ostensibly to aid the widows and orphans of the congregation, Stephen quickly shows himself "full of grace and fortitude" (Acts 6:8). His inspired, vitriolic sermon incurs the wrath of the Jews who lead him from the city of Jerusalem and stone him. The prevalence of Stephen's cult in the Gothic cathedrals of medieval France has been recognized by scholars; however, little attention has been devoted to the bishops' development and use of the cult, or the churches' production or interpretation of visual imagery. Explanations of the extant images have been driven by text based, iconographic models, which have often obfuscated the relevance of intricate compositional elements and relationships that are key to a more artistically and historically relevant understanding of the compositions. The intricately sculpted Stephen cycles in thirteenth-century France and the historic circumstances that informed their conceptions and receptions are the subjects of this dissertation. Drawing from a survey of the extant, architectural, sculptural narratives and relevant historical resources, this dissertation begins with a discussion of the establishment and dissemination of Stephen's cult in France. The following chapters focus specifically on the thirteenth-century images at the cathedrals of Rouen, Arles, Paris and Bourges chosen for their intricacy and unique compositional formulations. Ultimately, I propose the retelling of the Jewish/Christian debate at the root of Stephen's story was subtly reconstructed by ecclesiastical officials and articulated by artists to reference and comment on contemporary anti-Jewish conflict and ideologies in the mind of the medieval, Christian viewer. I continue to argue that St. Stephen was an exemplar of ecclesiastical succession and an idealized manifestation of the extension of the bishop's power within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In addition to situating the proto-martyr's imagery in social and political context, this endeavor also contributes to the broader understanding of the construction and function of pictorial, hagiographic narrative. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Art History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2007. / October 9, 2006. / Medieval Art, Gothic Sculpture, Paris Cathedral, Rouen Cathedral, Bourges Cathedral, Arles Cathedral, St. Stephen / Includes bibliographical references. / Cynthia Hahn, Professor Directing Dissertation; Paul Strait, Outside Committee Member; Paula Gerson, Committee Member; Richard Emmerson, Committee Member.
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"All That Glitters Is Not Junkanoo" the National Junkanoo Museum and the Politics of Tourism and IdentityUnknown Date (has links)
The annual Junkanoo festival in the Bahamas is regarded as "the ultimate national symbol," representative of Bahamian sovereignty and culture. A festival that originated from Bahamian slaves, Junkanoo has evolved into a popular commercial and cultural event that features extravagant, crépe-paper costumes. This paper analyzes the role of the commodified Junkanoo costume in constructing a Bahamian national and cultural identity. Specifically, it analyzes the history and policies of the National Junkanoo Museum, the first institution to display the costumes outside their performative context. Through a interdisciplinary approach that incorporates methodologies from art history, sociology, and museum studies, I argue that Junkanoo serves a commercial purpose, which the National Junkanoo Museum perpetuates by displaying the costumes for touristic consumption. My thesis is based on three separate grounds of analysis. First, I examine the festival's hybrid and dynamic nature by analyzing external factors that influenced Junkanoo's development. Notably, I consider the Ministry of Tourism and the Bahamian Development Board's involvement and administration of the parade, which significantly impacted the costumes' iconography, materiality, and ephemerality. Next, I view the National Junkanoo Museum within the context of other Caribbean Museums to conclude that the institution encounters similar challenges to its neighbors, which include reconciling the museum's nationalistic intentions with its objectives to bolster cultural tourism. Finally, I demonstrate how the National Junkanoo Museum diverges from standard museum practice in order to augment the country's fledging heritage industry. Instead of assembling a permanent collection, the museum operates as a non-collecting institution by exhibiting the costumes only on an annual basis and then returning the objects to the Junkanoo artists who proceed to dismantle and recycle their costumes. The museum's exhibition policy reflects the artists' habit of abandoning their costumes immediately following the parade. However, I contend that the National Junkanoo Museum's use of nostalgia as a museum epistemology is less about an effort to restore the costumes' traditional ephemerality, than it is an indication of the pervasiveness of the tourism industry in formulating a Bahamian national and cultural identity. Junkanoo's economic potential is dependent on the perception of the festival as an identifiable, authentic Bahamian product, which the government facilitates by promoting the costumes as national symbols of Bahamian culture and appropriating them into a national museum system. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2009. / August 18, 2009. / Institutionalization, Fringe Costume, Iconographic Analysis, Commodification, Discourse Theory, Nostalgia, Social History / Includes bibliographical references. / Roald Nasgaard, Professor Directing Thesis; Karen Bearor, Committee Member; Michael Carrasco, Committee Member.
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Painting Paradise for a Post-Colonial Pacific: The Fijian Frescoes of Jean CharlotUnknown Date (has links)
This dissertation examines the altar murals created by Jean Charlot at St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Mission, Naiserelagi village, Ra District, Fiji Islands. The church houses three of Charlot's frescoes, a triptych over the main altar and single panels over each of the two transept altars. Painted between October 1962 and January 1963, the central triptych, The Black Christ and Worshipers, measures ten by thirty feet and features a crucified Black Christ, while the side panels depict full body portraits of indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians presenting culturally appropriate offerings to Christ. The two side altar panels, St. Joseph's Workshop and The Annunciation, each measure ten by twelve feet. During his lifetime, 1898-1979, Charlot refined his knowledge of the fresco technique and painted murals at forty-five different sites in Mexico, the United States, and the Pacific Islands of Hawai'i and Fiji.1 I concentrate on Charlot's contributions as a mature artist by focusing on his little-known liturgical frescoes in Fiji. This text is the first serious academic study to document the history, social contexts, and commission of any of his frescoes in the Pacific Islands. Through my investigation, I demonstrate how his later Pacific works expressed relationships with local cultures and drew from his earlier experiences in France and Mexico. I explore the relationship that developed among artist, artwork, and audience. I argue that Charlot conceptualized his artistic works as "signs" that operated within both aesthetic and communication systems cross-culturally. I reconfigure signs within their cultural contexts to determine meaning from both the synchronic perspective of the artist, as well as a diachronic and multicultural perspective based on the three cultural groups who compose the major audience, Fijian, Indo-Fijian, and European. I address the history of liturgical art in the twentieth century by offering the first scholarly text to document thoroughly a major art form, Charlot's "Black Christ," in the syncretistic traditions of the Catholic Church as experienced in the Pacific Islands/Fiji. Charlot's Fijian frescoes embodied ideas integral to the future of the Catholic Church. In his Fijian murals, Charlot's incoporated local models, indigenous objects, and native flora, capturing the religious climate of the early 1960s and the changes brought about by Vatican II, changes that sought to define the future direction of the Church in relation to indigenous cultures in mission areas. While not overtly political, these ideas led to liberation theological movements, especially, Black theology, and, as such, advocated socio-political independence. As a colonized nation, Fiji's future in the 1960s depended on indigenous representation and self-determination. Charlot's Black Christ, with its native savior as the head of the Church, symbolized Fijian leadership and, by extension, sovereignty. Although Charlot's Fijian frescoes were a liturgical commission, the illustration of Fijian Black Christ triptych articulated post-colonial values. A public artwork, the Fijian frescoes transcended time, ethnic, and religious boundaries, extending even into the realms of national society. As a citizen of the United States, Charlot had pledged his belief in "one people under God." In his Fijian triptych, he promoted the idea of the "peace of God" and a universal humanity by presenting the diversity of creation; he painted the major ethnic groups of Fiji, native Fijian and Indo-Fijian, coming together as equals, regardless of social status, cultural background, or ethnicity. In Fiji, as in Hawai'i, Charlot's murals implicitly empowered Pacific Islanders through his monumental public images. He depicted local peoples within their cultural contexts and represented them as equals, not only in the eyes of God, but also in the eyes of the colonialists who dominated them. In his Fijian frescoes, Charlot painted a Fijian Black Christ and a natural "Paradise" for an audience of viewers in a post-colonial Pacific. Endnotes Zohmah Charlot, Jean Charlot Books, Portfolios, Writings, Murals (Honolulu: Private printing, 1986). Appendix 1. Jean Charlot's Fresco Murals. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / April 22, 2002. / Jean Charlot, Frescoes, Fiji / Includes bibliographical references. / Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk, Professor Directing Dissertation; J. Kathryn Josserand, Outside Committee Member; Tatiana Flores, Committee Member; Robert Neuman, Committee Member; Daniel Pullen, Committee Member.
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The Art of Gift-Giving: The Multivalency of Votive Dedications in the Middle Byzantine PeriodUnknown Date (has links)
Can an object be defined as votive solely based upon the presence of an inscription? Does relying upon such a definition restrict a more multivalent analyses of objects thus identified as votive? In this thesis, I examine the most prevalent practice used by scholars to identify votive offerings in the Middle Byzantine period – relying upon an object's accompanying inscription. This study focuses on those objects inscribed with a particular invocation – one that uses the word boethei. I demonstrate that we cannot rely on this inscription alone to identify an object as votive. It is rather the combination of many elements, including medium, iconography, patron and function that contribute to this identification and which enable us to more clearly understand the multivalent messages conveyed by these objects. In Chapter One, I turn to the context with which votive is most often associated – sacred. With each object I consider whether it is or is not votive and how the inscription contributes to that identification. In Chapter Two I examine objects inscribed with boethei that were intended for use or display in a secular context. While the objects discussed in Chapter One can be identified as votive, those discussed in this chapter cannot be so labeled. What then does the inscription mean in a secular context? In Chapter Three I present one object as a case study. I examine aspects of its production including inscriptions, patronage, iconography and function to argue that identifying a votive object requires a multivalent analysis of all its components. I show that, in this case, the patrons created a unified program of text, iconography and relics to convey their hope for salvation through perpetual prayer. I demonstrate that when all of these components are considered, we find a more precise message than what is explicitly stated in the inscription itself. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2009. / June 24, 2009. / Votive, Byzantine, Patron, Byzantium, Byzantine Art, Bloodstone Pilgrimage, Seal, Icon, Ring, Processional Cross, Reliquary, Boethei, Theotokos, Inscription, Middle Byzantine Period, Prayer, Gift, Donor, Artophorion / Includes bibliographical references. / Lynn Jones, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Carrasco, Committee Member; Richard K. Emmerson, Committee Member.
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Sacred Kingship and Royal Patronage in the Vie de la Magdalene: Pilgrimage, Politics, Passion Plays, and the Life of Louise of SavoyUnknown Date (has links)
In 1516 Louise of Savoy, mother of the French king Francis I, undertook a pilgrimage to Provence to visit La Sainte-Baume, the grotto shrine of Saint Mary Magdalene, to whom she was particularly devoted. Accompanied by her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law, Louise made the pilgrimage to fulfill her vow to visit the shrine in exchange for the saint's protection of Francis during the Battle of Marignano the previous year. After visiting the holy grotto and the nearby Church of Saint-Maximin, which houses the Magdalene's relics, Louise and Francis made sizeable financial donations for the support and renovation of the shrine and abbey, as well as commissioning works of art for placement in the grotto as outward signs of their veneration of Mary Magdalene and gratitude for her protection. Upon returning home Louise commissioned the Franciscan priest Francois Demoulins de Rochefort to create a manuscript depicting the life of Mary Magdalene as a personal book of devotion and a commemoration of the royal pilgrimage. Demoulins collaborated with the illuminator Godefroy le Batave to create the Vie de la Magdalene (Paris, B.N., ms. fr. 24.955). The diminutive manuscript is composed of four parts--the text, which includes both narrative and commentary; the illuminations, which include miniatures of the saint's life as well as depictions of the shrine and relics; multi-lingual mottoes inscribed in the gold frames around the illuminations; and the colored frames with decorative motifs that surround the text. While ostensibly a saintly vita, the Vie de la Magdalene is, in fact, a complex work that functions on a number of levels. Although much of the manuscript's imagery and content aligns with major aspects of the medieval Magdalene legend, the Vie also has intriguing anomalies that do not have their source in traditional representations of Magdalenian hagiography. This dissertation examines the complexities of the Vie de la Magdalene to demonstrate how and why this vita differs from other accounts of the Magdalene's story. It argues that Demoulins and Godefroy manipulated the narrative, illuminations, mottoes, and decorative motifs of the manuscript to reflect the personal and political concerns of Louise of Savoy and her children. For example, the author establishes thematic parallels between events in Louise's life and the lives of both Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, just as he makes correlations between Francis and Jesus Christ as Christian kings who are the sons of devoted and courageous mothers. Another example is the mottoes, which are written in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, and two forms of Greek. The inclusion of these specific languages reflects not only an interest in humanism at the French court but also Francis's bid to become Holy Roman Emperor. Equally important are the aspects of the Vie that stress Louise and Francis's royal lineage as well as their perpetuation of the traditions, established by their regal ancestors, of devotion to Mary Magdalene and patronage to the Provençal shrine. A corresponding theme emphasizes the Magdalene's role as unctrice in the anointing of Jesus as the first Christian "king," and the significance of her actions to the sacre, the ceremonial anointing of French kings during their coronation. Using this theme of sacral anointing, Demoulins establishes a direct connection between Francis I, the newly crowned "Most Christian King" of France, and Jesus Christ, the "King of Kings." This study also demonstrates the manner in which the Vie de la Magdalene reflects the influence of three fifteenth-century French Passion plays. Demoulins incorporates into the Vie specific scenes, characters, text, and themes found in the plays, thereby increasing the dramatic and spiritual impact of the story for the manuscript's reader. In addition, Godefroy's design of certain miniatures mimics the traditional staging of these plays, and in particular, recreates the experience of viewing the scenes from a royal box, again emphasizing the regal station of the Vie's owner, Louise of Savoy. The last portion of the dissertation is an iconographic analysis of the decorative motifs on the narrative frames and a catalogue of the Vie, including translations of the text and mottoes, and detailed descriptions of the roundel images. This dissertation adds to the scholarship on the Vie de la Magdalene by examining the components of the manuscript as individual and interactive devices designed to stimulate the reader visually, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Equally important, this dissertation reveals that the Vie de la Magdalene is replete with regal references intended to align Louise of Savoy and Francis I with their illustrious royal ancestors through their mutual devotion to Mary Magdalene and patronage to her shrine at La Sainte-Baume. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2007. / April 19, 2005. / La Sainte Baume, Sacred, Anointing, Francois Demoulins De Rochefort, Godefroy Le Batave, Renaissance In France, French History, Illuminated Manuscript, Hagiography, Vita, Saints Lives, Symbolism, Hagiography / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert M. Neuman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lori J. Walters, Outside Committee Member; Jack Freiberg, Committee Member; Paula Gerson, Committee Member.
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