Dans cet espace chronologique et géographique que constitue le territoire entre la Loire et les Pyrénées au début du haut Moyen-Âge, la diversité culturelle et politique donne lieu à une réinterprétation du contenant funéraire. Entre tradition romaine et innovation locale, la production de sarcophages connaît des évolutions diverses, contraintes entre autres par les ressources disponibles et l'outillage employé. L'objectif de ce travail a été dans un premier temps de recenser les sarcophages et d'étudier leur répartition sur le territoire évoqué. Les 1840 sarcophages répertoriés sur plus de 150 sites différents ont nécessité le développement d'une méthodologie adaptée à l'enregistrement des données et à leur analyse. C'est dans cette optique qu'une base de données fonctionnelle a été créée, pour répondre au besoin d'inventorier les mesures, l'état de conservation et un grand nombre d'observations sur les sarcophages identifiés. En parallèle, une démarche de cartographie a été entreprise pour rendre compte de la répartition géographique des différents types de sarcophages définis. Ce raisonnement comparatif fondé sur une lecture morphologique et typologique des contenants funéraires s'est enrichi d'une analyse statistique métrologique. Ces différentes approches ont permis de dresser le portrait de productions diverses, possédant des caractéristiques variées. Par ailleurs, ces données viennent alimenter des problématiques à plus grande échelle, notamment la diffusion de biens au delà de frontières géographiques peu perméables alors qu’a contrario les réseaux de distribution semblent très organisés et efficaces à l'échelle locale ou régionale. Néanmoins, il ressort que de nombreuses productions sont très certainement locales, avec une diffusion des modèles plus que des sarcophages, même si certains ont effectué de longs déplacements. Les conclusions apportées par ce travail permettent en fin de compte d'alimenter la discussion sur les nombreuses thématiques économiques et techniques à la confluence desquelles le sarcophage trouve une place centrale. / Within the framework of the chronological et typological space made of the territories between the Loire river and the Pyrénées mountain at the beginning of early Middle Ages, cultural and political diversity leads to a transformation of the funerary containers. Between roman heritage and local innovation, the sarcophagi production undergoes various evolutions, partially constrained by the available natural resources and the tools used. The main goal of this work was in a first place to take an inventory of the sarcophagi and study their dispersion on the territory mentioned. The 1840 sarcophagi identified over more than 150 archaeological sites implied developing a suitable methodology and useful tools to gather the data and permit their analysis. Therefore, a practical database was designed to fulfill the need of recording measures, preservation state and other information on the sarcophagi observed. At the same time, the different defined types of sarcophagi were depicted on maps, in order to evaluate their geographical dispersion. This comparative approach based on morphological and typological study of the funerary containers has been enhanced with statistical analyses on measures recorded. These different processes succeeded in depicting various productions with different characteristics. In addition to these characteristics, the data collected allowed to feed different topics on a larger scale, such as the diffusion of these goods beyond strong cultural frontiers. On the contrary, distribution networks appear to be well organized and very efficient on a local or regional scale. Most of the sarcophagi productions are local, and only types and ideas travel, even if some of the sarcophagi travelled over long distances. The conclusions obtained shed the light on new elements on topics such as economy and techniques, where the sarcophagus holds a central place.

Although the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus stands as a foundation for the early Christian sculptural traditional scholars have devoted little serious study to the role it played in its cultural context of350s Rome. For the past four hundred years since its discovery, stylistic and chronological discussion of the Christian intercolumnar scenes has dominated any scholarly interpretations of this monument. The goal of this thesis is to shed light on how the sarcophagus interacted with its audience and patron, rather than to situate the images in a timeline of motifs. The interplay between the Roman elite, both pagan and Christian, the emperor, and the Church influenced the propagandistic goals of the sarcophagus. It is my opinion that the family of Junius Bassus, fixed between their pagan peers and Christian emperor, used the seasonal and calendar-inspired imagery of the ends and the ad sanctos burial of the sarcophagus at St. Peter's Basilica to propagandize Christianity as a religion that offered its members material and eternal wealth.

This thesis deals with the origin and development of stone sarcophagi in the Old Kingdom. Based on documentation of finds and their statistical processing aims to characterize the main diachronic trends in specific social classes of ancient Egyptian society.

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a “holy field”, or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni’s Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern’s clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar—both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a "holy field", or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni's Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern's clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar--both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.

The dissertation analyses the reliefs and paintings on thirty-one different tombs in Western Anatolia erected between 600 and 450 BC, in order to illuminate the ways in which non-Greek elites were identified on their memorials. The tombs from three areas are treated: Phrygia, Hellespontine Phrygia and Lydia, where the primary language groups were Phrygian, Mysian and Lydian. There is little literary evidence for these regions, and what there is tends to focus on political developments. Descriptions of people and society are few, and tend to represent them from an outside perspective, grouping them according to cultural characteristics which differentiate them from Greeks. It is clear, however, that the regions were important, prosperous places, controlled by illustrious grandees and land marked with a relatively high proportion of monumental tombs. Of these monumental tombs, there is a relatively high number decorated with striking and articulate images. There is much to be gained from examining the images on these tombs, as ‘indigenous’ sources for how elite Western Anatolians described themselves. Previous approaches to the tombs and their images have tended to look at them individually or in smaller groups, and to concentrate on the transmission and reception of Persian and Greek culture in the Achaemenid provinces. This dissertation contributes a broader comparative study of the decorated tombs, focussing on the kinds of statuses the images represent and the cultural forms these took. By comparing the various methods of self-representation, it clarifies patterns of identities in Western Anatolia and their relationship to historical circumstances. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. An introduction outlines the scope and sample, the historical background, previous studies of the monuments, the definition of ‘identity’ and the methods of analysis adopted here. Three case study chapters present the regions and the decorated monuments within them. A concluding chapter synthesises three aspects: social identities (roles and spheres of life represented); geographic and chronological patterns; and cultural affiliations and orientations. The dissertation concludes that a tension between Persian identities and local traditions is evident in some of the tomb images, which relates to the political upheavals in Western Anatolia and the Aegean at the time of the Persian Wars.

Countess Urraca Lope de Haro was the daughter of the noble Lord Diego Lope de Haro, friend and advisor to King Alfonso VIII of Castilla-León and granddaughter of Lord Lope Díaz de Haro and Lady Aldonza Ruiz de Castro, aristocratic courtiers as well as popular monastic patrons. As a young and wealthy widow, Countess Urraca took monastic vows at the Cistercian nunnery of Santa María de Cañas founded by her grandparents. Within a short time of uniting herself to this monastery, she was chosen as its fourth abbess in 1225, a position she held for thirty-seven years until her death in 1262. Following the tradition of monastic patronage established by her noble family members, Countess Urraca expanded the monastery's small real estate holdings, oversaw extensive building projects to create permanent structures for the nunnery, and patronized artistic projects including statuettes of the Virgin Mary and St. Peter in addition to her own decorative stone sarcophagus during her term as abbess. This thesis examines the artistic decoration and architectural patronage of this powerful woman and the influences she incorporated into the monastic structures at Cañas as she oversaw their construction. In dating the original buildings of the monastery at Cañas to the period of Countess Urraca's leadership, the predominant architectural features and decorative details of female Cistercian foundations in northern Spain are discussed. Comparisons with additional thirteenth-century Cistercian monasteries from the same region in northern Spain are offered to demonstrate the artistic connections with the structures Countess Urraca patronized. In addition, this thesis examines Countess Urraca's obvious devotion to the Virgin Mary and St. Peter by considering the medieval monastic world in which she lived and the strong emphasis the Cistercian Order placed on such worship practices. The potent spiritual connections Countess Urraca made by commissioning images of essential, holy intercessors testifies to her devotion to them and the powerful salvatory role she herself played in the lives of the nuns for whom she was responsible. As a nun and abbess, Countess Urraca was urged to emulate Mary's mothering, nurturing qualities, and, as she did so was simultaneously empowered by the Virgin's heavenly authority as administrator of mercy. Indeed, through studying her art it is clear that she saw herself as an intercessor on behalf of the nuns for whom she was responsible. Furthermore, discussion of the imagery displayed on Countess Urraca's decorative stone sarcophagus demonstrates not only a similar message of salvation through intercessors such as Peter and Mary, but also testifies of Abbess Urraca's aristocratic lineage. Through this artistic commission, the Abbess creates another direct, personal link between herself and the Virgin by including the symbol of the rosary throughout the iconography of her tomb. Such a symbol represents her devotion to Mary as Queen of Heaven and simultaneously empowers Countess Urraca as an intercessor herself. All of these architectural and artistic commissions confirm that she was a powerful woman who wielded a great deal of influence.

(in English): Represented dissertation dedicated to the issue of male portraits of friends in Italian renaissance painting. Despite of existence of some publications focused on the specific aspects of male portraiture, this area has not been yet given sufficient research interest. In the introductory clause is presented theoretical outline of the male friendship concept of male friendship in the culture of the Italian Renaissance and also some key aspects of the portrait genre. The work is divided into chapters by topic: for example, "Portrait and Antique", "Portrait and Remembrance", "Portrait and Poetry". Some particularly interesting moments were extracted into separate excursions as profile portraits of two men, the subject of a mirror in a portrait genre, the communication possibilities of images. Artworks analyzed in the present research are not classified into a classical model of chronological "development". The pictures are interconnected with theoretical thinking, which is also conditioned by the artwork itself. For each painting, existing researches have been gathered and comprehended. There are also new iconographic interpretations of some of the presented works. For research have been abundantly used literature of period, theoretical writings and poetry. The work tries to respond to...