This dissertation evaluates the position of Netherlandish migrant artists in the dynamic cultural environment of seventeenth-century Rome through an examination of the role of the Bentvueghels (“birds of a feather”) as a social and economic nexus for the city’s foreign community. One of the most distinctive societies in the history of art, this high-spirited ex-pat “brotherhood” attracted hundreds of traveling artists and was notorious throughout Europe for its raucous initiations and for the raw depictions of Rome by Pieter van Laer and his followers, the Bamboccianti. While earlier scholarship has established important aspects of the group, such as its history and the artistic significance of individual members, the society has been characterized largely as antagonistic and antithetical to organizations and institutions specific to Rome. I offer instead a fresh outlook on the Bentvueghels that examines their day-to-day economics and response to (and even driving of) market forces in Rome, in order to determine how the society of foreigners as a whole operated functionally within a shifting creative environment in one of the most vital artistic centers in Europe. To address these issues, each chapter is arranged thematically and chronologically, focusing on the period between 1620, when the group first organized, through the close of the seventeenth century, when the last known images of Bentvueghel initiations were created. Using a methodology that integrates art historical primary source investigation with migration theory and network analysis, I analyze the various stages of the journey to Rome for these artists, from initial arrival, to the establishment of a workshop, to the achievement of success in local and international markets. The Introduction (Chapter One) sets up the methodological and historiographical framework for the dissertation. In the second chapter, “Arriving in Rome: The Bentvueghels as a Social and Economic Nexus,” the social activities of the Bentvueghels and their networks are discussed. Archival sources including parish censuses, criminal court records, and notarial documents demonstrate how the group enabled migrant artists to adapt to a different—and often hostile—market by fostering surrogate kinship networks. The Bentvueghels offered migrant artists, who were typically young (around 22-25 years of age), male, and single, a place to live, a ready-made network of friends, and critical financial assistance. Chapter Three, “Working in Rome: Bentvueghel Workshops and Working Practices,” establishes the working practices of Dutch and Flemish artists, a relatively uncharted area of research, and locates economic and social network formation within the space of the workshop. Centers of artistic production in the city are scrutinized, from the highly trafficked studios of Netherlandish artists such as Paul Bril to the private drawing academies hosted by prestigious patrons, including the celebrated Genoese aristocrat, Vincenzo Giustiniani. Paintings, drawings, and prints produced by Dutch and Flemish Italianate artists are compared to identify patterns in workshop practices, determine market impact, and measure the degree to which they were influenced by their new surroundings and by their association with the Bentvueghels. In the fourth and final chapter, “Staying in Rome: Cornelis Bloemaert II as a Case Study for Long-term Strategies of Networking,” I explore strategies of integration among members who remained in Rome for extended periods, focusing on the engraver Cornelis Bloemaert II as a case study. Collaborative enterprises such as large-scale book productions, which comprised a significant proportion of Bloemaert’s artistic output in Rome, provided ways for artists to enhance their artistic education and experiment with new techniques and motifs, while also encouraging further expansion and development of an artist’s social and economic networks. This study thus evaluates the full scope of a foreign artist’s experience in Rome, highlighting with greater accuracy the ways in which affiliation with the Bentvueghels influenced acclimation and eventual integration within the social and cultural fabric of the city. It offers, moreover, a much needed contextualization of the artistic relations between northern European and Italian artists in seventeenth-century Rome, and the important position of the Bentvueghels within this cosmopolitan environment. / Art History

Although Rembrandt van Rijn owned over eighty pieces of sculpture, studies regarding his use of the collection are in short supply and tend to be either formal, tracing the few images of sculpture in Rembrandt's oeuvre to those listed in his 1656 bankruptcy inventory, or else they refer to his use of classical sculpture in general terms as an inspiration for his history paintings. This study shifts emphasis from formal and iconographic issues to Rembrandt's studio practices and working methods. It examines his manipulation of the border between reality and illusion (what Ovid termed "the art that conceals art"): his effort to "incarnate" his sculptural sources by wrapping them in textiles and giving them the appearance of flesh. Seventeenth-century theory provides the foundation for this hypothesis: artists/theorists such as Karl van Mander, Peter Paul Rubens, and Philips Angel promoted the judicious use of sculpture and encouraged artists to transform its marmoreal surface into pliant flesh; Van Mander advised painters to make the thin garments of classical statues more appropriate for Northern paintings by wrapping them in woolen cloth; he also encouraged artists to "steal arms, legs, hands, and feet" from works of art and synthesize them into new creations. Esteemed precedents also support the hypothesis: recent studies of Cornelis Cornelius van Haarlem, Hendrick Goltzius, and Bartholomeus Spranger examined their use of Renaissance bronzes, an inexpensive and plentiful source that Rembrandt also seems to have tapped. Paragone, a popular debate in both Amsterdam and Leiden, is another facet of this study. Empirical observations reveal patterns in Rembrandt's use of sculpture: several etchings of his studio show busts adorned with hats or wrapped in fabric (a practice also described in a seventeenth-century poem about Rembrandt); a number of his head studies, genre, and history paintings suggest that he used busts of Roman emperors for models. The less subtle artistry of his students and his colleague Jan Lievens also exposes their use of clothed statues and thereby corroborates the hypothesis that Rembrandt's reliance on sculpture for models was more prevalent and artful (in the sense of covert) than has previously been noted. / Art History

Sir Walter Raleigh's poems, as tghey circulated in manuscripts, are influenced by Raleigh's position at court, his social situation, the patronage system, and the political scene. Even though many scholars believe that often verses were copied groups according to theme, careful consideration shows that verses that have been tradionally seen as related by theme have a stronger connection. The context of the peom can reveal a great deal about the intention of the author and the situation about which the author wrote. / Master of Arts

This study will demonstrate that the lay or "popular" medical practitioner played a major role in the provision of health care in seventeenth-century England. The medical "professionals" have generally been accepted as providing the most expert and "scientific" medical care (within the limits of contemporary knowledge), and, as such, have been the focus of attention for the majority of studies by medical historians. This study challenges traditional studies on the basis of geography, economic factors, religious influences and contemporary medical practices. The amorphous nature of seventeenth-century medical knowledge will be demonstrated to show the similarity between lay and professional medical treatment. To this end, female lay medical practitioners have been presented as a case study to illustrate the widespread nature and diversity of popular medicine and to assist in defining the role of the popular practitioner, a vital element within seventeenth-century health care. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Apresenta e discute acervo iconográfico com foco no espaço urbano do Recife colonial e reflete se a análise dessa iconografia é suficiente para compreensão de mudanças na identidade urbana ligada a determinado empreendedor ou fase de governo colonial, do lusoibérico ao pós-neerlandês. Mostra através da iconografia, sistema de representação gráfica materializadora de informações e discursos, ser possível a invenção se contrapondo à verdade observada e a outras iconografias. Reflete suficiência da análise iconográfica para compreender mudanças na identidade urbana nas fases de governo luso-ibérico, neerlandêsholandês e pós-neerlandês, de acordo com as necessidades das etapas do empreendimento colonial. Numa inquietação científica, a tese impôs resultado divergente da hipótese inicial, entendendo que para a discussão aprofundada da distinção das identidades nos fatos urbanos e modelos urbanísticos, arquitetônicos e de investimentos, nos períodos de governo, de forma não subjetiva e sem juízos de valor, a leitura e entendimento através da iconografia só se mostrou suficiente a partir de base historiográfica. Esse aprofundamento permitiu questionar convenções sobre a construção da identidade urbana, permitindo superar a metodologia de análise identitária tradicional, passando a utilizar variáveis reais documentadas pela historiografia, respondendo cientificamente à construção do fenômeno urbano. A partir disso, discute a convencionada e subjetiva transplantação identitária, defendendo ocorrência de construção da cidade e sua identidade a partir das variáveis da cidade necessária [ambiente, interesses e, investimento de meio e materiais], passando a perceber as formas distintas de investir e as distintas identidades urbanas resultantes, até dentro de uma mesma fase de governo do empreendimento colonial, por exemplo, diferenciando neerlandeses de holandeses [Nassau] da WIC. Constatou que a cidade foi construída com pragmatismo, na emergência da falta de recursos públicos, das guerras, da falta de logística de meios e materiais, nem condições políticas para intervenção impositiva. Elementos culturais, desenhos e forma de implantação de edifícios e sistema urbano puderam ser transplantados e miscigenados na babel colonial, frente às necessidades e emergências, mas a identidade urbana empreendida foi consolidada no ambiente construído, não como discurso, ou imposição, mas através do saber fazer dos personagens coloniais. / This work shows and discuss the iconography heap focalizing the urban space of colonial Recife and reflects if their iconography analysis is enough for the changes understanding in urban identity connected to a specific contractor or colonial government phase, to Lusitian- Iberian from after-Netherlandish. It is showed, by iconography, system of materializing graphical representation of informations and discuss, that is possible the invention be opposed of examined true and another iconographies. This work reflects the sufficiency of iconography analyses to understand the urban identity changes in the Lusitian-Iberian, Netherlandish-Dutch governments and post-Netherlandish, according the level necessities of colonial enterprise. In a scientific inquietude, this thesis imposes a different result of initial hypothesis, understanding that for a deepened discussion of identities in urban facts and urbanistic, architectonic and investment models, in government periods, of a no subjective form and without value judgment, the lecture and understanding by the iconography just showed sufficient by an historiographical basis. This deepening allows to question conventions about the urban identity construction, allowing overcame the methodology oftraditional identity analyses, passing to utilize real variables documented by historiography, answering scientifically to construction of urban phenomenon. From this, it was discussed the covenanted and subjective identity transplantation, defending the occurrence of urban construction and their identity from the necessary city variables (environment, interests and material and mean investments), passing to perceive the different forms to invest and the different urban identities resultant, until into of a same phase of colonial enterprise, for example, differencing netherlandishes from ditches (Nassau) from WIC. It was observed that city was constructed with pragmatism, in emergency of public resources missed, from wars, from logistics missing of means and materials, neither political conditions to an imposing intervention. Cultural elements, draws and form of buildings implantation and urban system could be transplanted and miscegenated in colonial Babel, front of necessities and emergencies, but the undertaked urban identity was consolidated in a constructed environment, not as discuss, or imposition, but by the knowhow from colonial characters.

Apresenta e discute acervo iconográfico com foco no espaço urbano do Recife colonial e reflete se a análise dessa iconografia é suficiente para compreensão de mudanças na identidade urbana ligada a determinado empreendedor ou fase de governo colonial, do lusoibérico ao pós-neerlandês. Mostra através da iconografia, sistema de representação gráfica materializadora de informações e discursos, ser possível a invenção se contrapondo à verdade observada e a outras iconografias. Reflete suficiência da análise iconográfica para compreender mudanças na identidade urbana nas fases de governo luso-ibérico, neerlandêsholandês e pós-neerlandês, de acordo com as necessidades das etapas do empreendimento colonial. Numa inquietação científica, a tese impôs resultado divergente da hipótese inicial, entendendo que para a discussão aprofundada da distinção das identidades nos fatos urbanos e modelos urbanísticos, arquitetônicos e de investimentos, nos períodos de governo, de forma não subjetiva e sem juízos de valor, a leitura e entendimento através da iconografia só se mostrou suficiente a partir de base historiográfica. Esse aprofundamento permitiu questionar convenções sobre a construção da identidade urbana, permitindo superar a metodologia de análise identitária tradicional, passando a utilizar variáveis reais documentadas pela historiografia, respondendo cientificamente à construção do fenômeno urbano. A partir disso, discute a convencionada e subjetiva transplantação identitária, defendendo ocorrência de construção da cidade e sua identidade a partir das variáveis da cidade necessária [ambiente, interesses e, investimento de meio e materiais], passando a perceber as formas distintas de investir e as distintas identidades urbanas resultantes, até dentro de uma mesma fase de governo do empreendimento colonial, por exemplo, diferenciando neerlandeses de holandeses [Nassau] da WIC. Constatou que a cidade foi construída com pragmatismo, na emergência da falta de recursos públicos, das guerras, da falta de logística de meios e materiais, nem condições políticas para intervenção impositiva. Elementos culturais, desenhos e forma de implantação de edifícios e sistema urbano puderam ser transplantados e miscigenados na babel colonial, frente às necessidades e emergências, mas a identidade urbana empreendida foi consolidada no ambiente construído, não como discurso, ou imposição, mas através do saber fazer dos personagens coloniais. / This work shows and discuss the iconography heap focalizing the urban space of colonial Recife and reflects if their iconography analysis is enough for the changes understanding in urban identity connected to a specific contractor or colonial government phase, to Lusitian- Iberian from after-Netherlandish. It is showed, by iconography, system of materializing graphical representation of informations and discuss, that is possible the invention be opposed of examined true and another iconographies. This work reflects the sufficiency of iconography analyses to understand the urban identity changes in the Lusitian-Iberian, Netherlandish-Dutch governments and post-Netherlandish, according the level necessities of colonial enterprise. In a scientific inquietude, this thesis imposes a different result of initial hypothesis, understanding that for a deepened discussion of identities in urban facts and urbanistic, architectonic and investment models, in government periods, of a no subjective form and without value judgment, the lecture and understanding by the iconography just showed sufficient by an historiographical basis. This deepening allows to question conventions about the urban identity construction, allowing overcame the methodology oftraditional identity analyses, passing to utilize real variables documented by historiography, answering scientifically to construction of urban phenomenon. From this, it was discussed the covenanted and subjective identity transplantation, defending the occurrence of urban construction and their identity from the necessary city variables (environment, interests and material and mean investments), passing to perceive the different forms to invest and the different urban identities resultant, until into of a same phase of colonial enterprise, for example, differencing netherlandishes from ditches (Nassau) from WIC. It was observed that city was constructed with pragmatism, in emergency of public resources missed, from wars, from logistics missing of means and materials, neither political conditions to an imposing intervention. Cultural elements, draws and form of buildings implantation and urban system could be transplanted and miscegenated in colonial Babel, front of necessities and emergencies, but the undertaked urban identity was consolidated in a constructed environment, not as discuss, or imposition, but by the knowhow from colonial characters.

This dissertation examines the literature of royal consorts in Stuart England. Critics and historians have devoted considerable attention to the creation of the monarch’s image during this tumultuous period, which witnessed two revolutions and the explosion of print. We know that the Stuart monarchs embraced different forms of visual media – including pageantry, portraiture and print – to disseminate their image within the court and to a broader public. However, the extensive literature about the royal consorts remains under-examined. My thesis makes an original contribution to scholarship by exploring what texts were written about the royal consorts, by whom, and how these writers constructed images of the royal consorts that participated in broader debates over the status of the monarchy. The dissertation is divided into two main parts. Part 1 comprises six chapters that analyse succession writing, when a new monarch came to the throne and established their iconography for the new reign. I draw on hundreds of texts that were printed about the Stuart consorts at these moments. These writings span a variety of genres, from poems and plays to sermons and political pamphlets. I investigate the literature of each succession in turn, analysing the main themes and motifs that emerged. This approach enables me to uncover a swathe of anonymous and under-utilised literature, but also re-interpret works by more canonical writers such as Aphra Behn. I ask how the royal consorts themselves, their spouses and members of the public could influence the creation of the royal consorts’ images at these moments. Critically, I also compare the conventions that were used to describe the consorts across the century. Part 2 analyses how writers re-constructed ideals for the royal consorts in Restoration England, as debates about the structure of the monarchy came to be more explicit. Chapter 7 concentrates on images of Henrietta Maria when she returned to England as Queen Mother. Chapter 8 asks how writers adapted former models of representation to praise Catherine, the infertile queen, when it became clear that she would not bear an heir. Finally, Chapter 9 examines the numerous secret histories and romances that were authored about Mary Beatrice’s purported behaviour during her exile in the 1690s. These chapters highlight the continued importance of these women and examines how writers constructed their legacies. As a whole, the literature about the royal consorts reveals a dynamic project as part of which authors engaged with and adapted earlier models of writing. This enabled them to address broader questions about changes in the nature of the Stuart monarchy and political life.

This thesis deploys both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the role and meanings of violence within the context of Sussex and Kent in the early part of the eighteenth century. Historians have often approached the topic of violence from the perspective of a history of crime and therefore deviance. The focus has frequently been on measurements of levels and has ignored cultural contexts. In contrast, this research is grounded in experiences of violence demonstrating that it is not a uniform concept and includes a wide variety of behaviours from brawls to murder. By drawing on a range of sources it has been possible to allow the ritual and meaning of violent actions to be explored in detailed context. Quantitative data is taken from the quarter sessions records of both counties and analysed alongside the interpretations of previous historians. This is supplemented with depositions, literature, letters and notebooks to provide a ‘thick description’ of the contexts and circumstances of violence. The experience of violence is explored from a range of angles and at several levels, from anonymous brawls in the street to gang violence to household chastisement, the ritual and meaning of violent actions is investigated in detail. This analysis demonstrates that violence was a subjective concept, dependent on context. No clear definition of violence can be found, instead there are a range of descriptions, portrayals and accounts which all combine to illustrate the plurality of this concept. This thesis concludes that violence was often meaningful and connected with cultural concepts of order, authority and community. It was not random and its purpose can often be found if the signs are read. Evidence for struggles over authority and power can frequently be found as the basis of violent disputes and this can be found at the household, community and county level. This thesis demonstrates how violence was regulated through both formal and informal methods involving concepts of legitimacy and acceptability, as although violence was defined legally the border between legitimate or acceptable and illegitimate and unacceptable was blurred and contested.

Early modern Poland-Lithuania figured significantly in the political perceptions of Europeans in the long seventeenth century – not only due to its considerable size and enormous commercial and military resources, but also, and just as importantly, due to its exceptional religious and political situation. This interest in Poland-Lithuania was shared by many Britons. However, a detailed examination of how Britons perceived Poland-Lithuania at that time and how they treated Poland-Lithuania in their political debates has never been undertaken. This thesis utilises a wide range of the previously neglected source material and considers the patterns of transmission of information to determine Britons' awareness of Poland-Lithuania and their employment of the Polish-Lithuanian example in the British political discourse during the seventeenth century. It looks at a variety of geographical and historical information, English and Latin descriptions of Poland-Lithuania's physical topography and boundaries, and its ethnic and cultural make-up presented in histories, atlases and maps, to establish what, where and who Poland-Lithuania was for Britons. Poland-Lithuania's political framework, with its composite structure and unique relationship between the crown and nobility, elicited a spectrum of reactions, and so this thesis evaluates the role that both criticism and praise of Poland-Lithuania played in British constitutional debates. Consequently, the study argues that Britons' perceptions of Poland-Lithuania were characterised by great plasticity. It claims that Britons' impressions of the country were shaped by multiple – real or imagined - borders, whether cultural, economic or political, but also that Britons were affected by the exposure to a uniform, idealised historiography of this country. Crucially, the thesis asserts that references to Poland-Lithuania constituted an ingenious ideological and polemical device that was eagerly used throughout the period by Britons of diverse political sympathies. Moreover, through the examination of the kingdom's geopolitical role, particularly its fluctuating position as a “bulwark of Christendom”, side by side its engagement against Protestants, the thesis challenges the assumption that anti-Catholicism dominated seventeenth-century British perceptions of the world.

Arthur Ingram and Lionel Cranfield were part of the early modern phenomenon of social mobility, rising from humble merchants to titled gentlemen in one generation. Cranfield, especially, reached significant heights in a matter of years. Despite the fact both men have merited biographies which chart their commercial and political careers, little attention has been paid to their lives outside of the political sphere leaving room for an analysis of their family and personal estates and the extent to which they utilised their houses in their self-projection. The originality of this thesis lies in its comparison of the two men which not only highlights their dependency on each other and mutual advertisement of each other’s image, but also opens up the question of regional disparity in house building as Ingram’s country estates were situated in Yorkshire whereas Cranfield’s were mainly close to London. The first chapter introduces the issues of social mobility, self-fashioning, and regionality, provides a literature review and explains the methodology employed. Chapter 2 looks at the careers and families of Ingram and Cranfield before examining the ways in which they furthered their ascent through the fashioning of their attire, education and learning, and social networks. The thesis then focuses on the houses of both men, with Chapters 3 and 4 considering how they built and styled their houses. Chapter 5 examines the craftsmen and materials employed by Ingram and Cranfield on their building programmes and in particular the geographical location of their houses. Chapter 6 discusses the way Ingram and Cranfield furnished their residences and how their households were related to the local community, particularly in terms of hospitality. The gardens and grounds that surrounded their houses are the subject of Chapter 7. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the significance of Ingram’s and Cranfield’s houses in the self-projection of their image and how far the geographical location of their residences affected how successful this was.