Journal articles on the topic 'Mural painting and decoration, Italian'

This paper focuses on the presentation of a part of the main thematic data documenting the pathologies and the degradation problems of a contemporary mural painting, which was designed and carried out by the italian artist Giuseppe Capogrossi in 1954. This forgotten masterpiece is developed on the ceilings of the main double stairscase at the entrance of the Airone, an ex-cinema-theatre in Rome (Italy). In time, the original project was completely damaged and now the Airone cinema is abandoned since 1999; the decoration, strictly connected to the function of the original project, has been completely covered by synthetic coatings. The documentation of the observed pathologies and the original materials of the lower ceiling takes place during a restoration project in 2015–2016 and was accomplished by utilizing different technologies in order to facilitate the collecting of the main data within several graphic thematic tables. The challenge of this documentation was to create a contact point, and perhaps also a contamination, between the practices of CAD graphic documentation, restoration and GIS technology.

The purpose of the article is to analyze compositional types, topography, methods, and techniques used in the formal solution of mural compositions in the Catholic churches of Eastern Galicia in the second half of the XVIII century. The methodology lies in the usage of art historical methods of stylistic analysis and generally scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. The scientific novelty of the research is in the analysis of methods and techniques used by Galician masters in the second half of XVII century for implementation of mural compositions that were interpreted, adapted to local artistic traditions. The research can be used in the attribution of saved samples of the monumental art. Conclusions. The monumental painting in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in particular in Galicia, developed in the context of artistic trends in West and Central European countries. Chronologically, the development of monumental painting in Galicia ranged from the thirties until the late XVIII century. As for the formal characteristics of monumental art, in the territory of the Commonwealth, the most common were three compositional types of polychrome: local variation of Italian «quadro riportato», illusionistic and panoramic. The basis of the first is the method of placing of the image on the vault area, framed with imitated or sculpted frame, the second is based on the quadrature and other methods and techniques of illusionistic monumental art, the third includes a panoramic image on the vault. In Galicia, the third type of vault decoration has not become widespread. Visiting masters were the bearers of these trends. They implemented the polychrome in local cathedrals, using a wide variety of methods and techniques for the formal solutions of mural compositions, typical for European art schools. Later, local artists adopted this experience, creating polychromes with certain interpretations of compositional types.

The modern decoration of the Saint Nicolas de Myre Church at Semsales (1924–1926), is the first by renowned Italian artist Gino Severini in Switzerland. Following archival research and visual examination, the materials and the techniques used by Severini for the wall paintings of this church were examined through a multi-technique analytical approach that included both non-invasive and invasive investigations. Archival research revealed lists of some of the materials purchased for the church and notes of the artists. In situ investigations included imaging methods and point analyses (X-ray fluorescence and reflection FT-IR spectroscopy). Based on non-invasive results, a limited number of representative samples were collected for laboratory invasive analyses (SEM-EDS, FTIR-FPA imaging, μ-Raman and GC-MS) to characterize the stratigraphy and the composition of the paintings. Results were coherent with artist’s notes and revealed protein-based binders, i.e. animal glue and casein, exclusively on the Trinity mural (in the apse) confirming the use of a secco technique. All the other wall paintings analyzed at Semsales are painted without the use of organic binders. These findings, integrated with archival researches and the visual examination by conservators, provided significant insights into the materials and techniques used by Gino Severini in his first Swiss murals.

In medieval Passion cycles represented in Czech, Slovak (former Hungary), and Polish murals dating from the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries one may observe a number of-gestures which appear in respective scenes starting from the Entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Entombment (laying in the sepulchre). The most significant gesture in the entry scene is the outstretched hand of Christ riding a donkey. It is the language of gesture used since antiquity, transmitted through Byzantine and Italian art (including Giotto’s Entry into Jerusalem in his Arena Chapel frescoes), and transferred into art north of the Alps.

Mr. James Cahill devoted himself to connecting the changes in the painting history from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Song Dynasty into a systematic exposition. That is, early Chinese painting changed from decoration to the continuous exploration of the reproduction of nature and visual faithfulness, and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, becoming another great naturalism and reproduction painting tradition comparable to the Italian Renaissance. In order to expand and enhance the world influence of Chinese visual art, James Cahill has put forward unique academic ideas, aiming at guiding a kind of understanding and enlightenment of ordinary perception of life.

Abstract With a special focus on processes of artistic transfer between the Apennine peninsula and other regions in the Mediterranean and beyond, this paper sheds new light on haloes and gold grounds in thirteenthto fifteenth-century Italian painting. By means of case studies, it analyzes both (1) the role of haloes and gold grounds within the specific logic of the images, and (2) the impact of imported artifacts (their techniques, decoration, and materiality) on Italian panel painting as well as the complex interplays between imports and local production. Elucidating the intersections, frictions, and fields of tension between visual and material culture, this paper contributes to discussions on transmedial and transmaterial dynamics, transcultural art history, and the multireferentiality of gold.

Owing to old photographic plates that recorded those segments of the mural decoration of Davidovica on the Lim which were later destroyed or considerably damaged, it is possible to put forward a more complete reconstruction of its thematic program. The programmatic and iconographic features of both the destroyed frescoes and the surviving ones correspond to the solutions that can be found in Post-Byzantine painting. The palaeographic analysis of inscriptions and the analysis of the style of the murals in the dome, the area under the dome and both chapels in Davidovica clearly indicate that we are dealing with paintings done in the second half of the sixteenth century.

This paper focuses on the reintegration treatments studied for a contemporary mural painting, which was designed and carried out by the Italian artist Giuseppe Capogrossi in 1954. This forgotten masterpiece is located on the ceilings of the main double staircase at the entrance of the Airone, an ex-cinema theatre in Rome, which was designed and planned during the Fifties by the famous architects Adalberto Libera, Eugenio Montuori and by the engineer Leo Calini. After a brief introduction based on the conservation history of the building and on the painting itself, it will be described criteria and limits in the reintegration process of a sample area of this highly degraded polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) based mural. The materials selected in the reintegration project, based on natural polymers and synthetic polymers, will be theoretically compared with one another and it will be explained why some of these could be appropriate and effective, while others could not chromatically work in this particular case.

The main churches of three monasteries in Thessalia, Central Greece, were decorated with wall paintings in the post-Byzantine period. The main goal of the present study is to characterize the inorganic and organic materials present in the paint layers of areas that have been gilded. Optical microscopic examination was carried out on samples taken from the gilded decoration of the paintings to view their layer build-up. The combined use of micro Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy led to the detection of the pigments and the binding media used. The results from specimens taken from different wall paintings were compared with each other to observe their differences and similarities. The three investigated churches are believed to have been painted by the same iconographer, Tzortzis, who however has only been identified in only one of them. The comparison led to the conclusion that there are many similarities in the painting materials used and the general methodology adopted and, therefore, this study offers support to the belief that the mural paintings of the three monasteries could have been painted by the same iconographer. While not authenticating the two painting as being by Tzortzis, the results provide further critical material that is consistent with this attribution. However, this statement must be carefully considered because the pigments identified have been commonly and diffusely used in historic mural paintings.

This paper presents and interprets the iconographic programme of the frescoes in the lowest register of the sanctuary in the church of St Demetrios at Markov Manastir in the context of the relationship between mural decoration and the contemporary Eucharistic rite. In the first part of the paper special attention is paid to the scene in the north pastophorion, which illustrates the prothesis rite, and the depiction of the Great Entrance, placed in the sanctuary apse. The iconographic and programmatic features of the fresco ensemble, the most pominent place among which is occupied by the representations of the deceased Saviour and Christ the Great Archpriest - are compared to various liturgical sources and visual analogies (monumetal painting and liturgical textiles) in the medieval art of Serbia and Byzantium.

This research is dedicated to two rare cycles of monumental painting from the second half of the 14th century, in the interior of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) Cathedral and St. Catherine’s Church in Arnau (Rodniki, Kaliningrad region). Although these monuments are almost completely lost, their reconstruction based on available photo documents, sketches, and descriptions carries a special value towards understanding the visual intertextuality of the Speculum humanae salvationis iconographic program in the symbolic context of the architectural space of the two churches. Contrary to the monumental cycles of Europe sharing this iconography, here in these two the zoning of space for knights and townspeople plays an important role. The study concludes that the manuscript miniatures from Wolfenbüttel HAB 2805 and the East Prussian mural cycles have a common protograph of the “Italian” or “mixed” type in an abbreviated edition (“Cologne group”), which can be traced back to an earlier prototgraph (of the “Italian” type), used in the Darmstadt Codex Hs. 2505. The interest of the patrons in the iconographic program, which preaches the dignity of the priesthood, could be associated with the relationship between the clergy of the Samland diocese and the Teutonic Knights engaged in northern crusades.

A study devoted to the gradual emergence of pictorial depth in Cimabue's paintings, and how it applies, together with other factors, to the understanding of their sequential chronology. The conclusions reached underscore the vast difference in Cimabue 's conservative art and the exceptional naturalism of the evolving Life of Saint Francis mural cycle lining the lower nave walls in the upper church of San Francesco at Assisi.

The purpose is to study the themes and the stylistics of the upper and lower churches’ iconostases of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa. The comparative method was used in order to study the topic and identify the artistic and stylistic features of Odessa Cathedral iconostases. It allows comparing the objects of study with analogues from the world art. Iconological, iconographic methods and figurative-stylistic analysis were also applied. The iconostases of the Transfiguration Cathedral upper and lower churches in Odessa are organically inscribed in the architectural environment, thanks to which the synthesis of arts is reached. Classical architecture and the original spatial architectonics of the upper temple altar barrier determined the theme and the style of the icon-painting. It was found out that the decoration and the icons in the Transfiguration Cathedral upper and lower churches’ iconostases combine the multi-temporal traditions of Christian art. The upper church central iconostasis reflects the influence of Renaissance architecture and art. The icon painting characteristic feature is a combination of the European art heritage, specifically Italian and Northern Renaissance, classicism, baroque and academicism of the XIX century. A three-dimensional style of painting based on the Western European tradition is observed. The decoration of the lower temple altar barrier contains architectural elements of Byzantium, Ancient Rus and baroque. The icon painting was created in the canonical Byzantine style of the Paleologue Renaissance period. By studying the features of the Transfiguration Cathedral iconostases, the main trends in church art of the second half of the XX–XXI centuries were identified: the application and combination of the renaissance-academic and the Byzantine-Ancient Rus styles. A detailed study of Odessa Cathedral iconostases was conducted for the first time. The features of the icon-painting themes and stylistics in the connection with the architectonics of the iconostases and the temple’s architecture were revealed. Practical significance is due to the possibility of using research materials in monographs on art history of Odessa, in the preparation of textbooks and methodological instructions with an in-depth study of icon-painting, monumental and decorative art, in the working-out of lectures’ and practical classes’ texts.

The article examines the relationships between the description of some Lombard localities contained in Edith Wharton’s Italian Backgrounds (1905). In particular, attention is focused on the parallel events of rediscovery and conservation of the artistic heritage on Lake Como and in the pre-Alpine valleys between the publication of The Decoration of Houses (1897), the exhibition of sacred art at the Volta exhibition in Como (1899) and the preservation activity of Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri and Corrado Ricci. In addition, the essay examines the discovery of Renaissance painting in Valtellina (from Gaudenzio Ferrari to Cipriano Valorsa) by Bernard Berenson, hypothesizing that the American connoisseur may have been pushed on this research paths also thanks to Edith Warthon’s books and frequentation.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid by scholars of Henry VIII to the heraldic ceiling of the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace (fig. 1). Study of its decoration has fallen somewhere in between surveys of Tudor architecture and painting. In this article specific problems relating to the ceiling will be addressed: when it was made, the iconography, the reasons for the iconography, the visual source of the ceiling and how it was transmitted, and who made it. The ceiling warrants attention because its programme of Henrician heraldry is a key to the understanding of the political iconography of the Royal Supremacy. In addition, the ceiling's dependence on a contemporary Italian architectural treatise for its design is unusual for its time.

No European country devoted to Klimt the attention he received in Italy. Widely represented at the 1910 Biennale and at the International Exhibition in Rome in 1911, his work influenced artists in the north of the country and in the irredentist territories that transcribed his laboratory of experiences both in painting and in other artistic disciplines. The reception of Klimt, through design, furniture, fashion and interior decoration perpetuated, in a more moderate way than at his starting years, modernism and symbolism until the mid-20th century in the transalpine country through Venetian decorative models, the reception in Felice Casorati and the "rebellious" artists of Ca'Pesaro, the Italian-speaking Austrian subjects in Trento and Trieste and the sculpture and graphics of Adolfo Wildt.

The Bishop of Warmia, Krzysztof Andrzej Jan Szembek from Słupów (1680– 1740), erected a domed reliquary chapel devoted to the Most Holy Savior and St. Theodore the Martyr (Saint Theodore of Amasea) at the cathedral in Frombork, also known as Szembek Chapel. The entire interior of the chapel is covered with frescoes dating from around 1735 by Maciej Jan Meyer (Mat­thias Johann Meyer) from Lidzbark Warmiński. Educated in Italy, the artist made polychrome decorations in the style of illusionistic architectural paint­ing known as quadrature. In the lower part of the chapel stand busts of saints and the entire figure of St. Theodore of Amasea; in the cupola of the dome is the adoration of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Cross by the Mother of God and the Saints. Using the comparative method, I discuss the decoration of the chapel in the context of quadrature painting, which was developing in Italy and then in Central Europe, especially at the end of the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries. Influential artists who played an important role for Pol­ish quadratura techniques were Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709) and painters who came from Italy or studied painting there, such as Maciej Jan Meyer. I also show the prototype for the decoration of the chapel’s dome, namely, the fres­coes from 1664–1665 by Pietro Berrettini da Cortona in the dome of Santa Maria in Valicella in Rome, as well as for medallions with busts of saints mod­eled on the structure of the main altar from 1699–1700 in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, funded by Meyer’s first patron, Bishop Teodor Potocki, primate of Poland.

Eucharistic sacrifice in the chapel of the Bâtie d'Urfé The chapel of the Bâtie d'Urfé, located near Saint-Étienne, was built between 1547 and 1550 by Claude d'Urfé, Francis I's ambassador to the Council of Trent. Its iconographie program, focused on the Eucharistic sacrifice, draws the viewer into the heart of the religious, artistic and philosophical issues of the first half of the 16th century. The painting cycle by Girolamo Siciolante and woodworks by Fra Damiano da Bergamo, as well as works in other media (low-relief, ceramic, stucco), evoke the debates on the Eucharist held at the Council of Trent, whose richness and complexity are embodied in the association of word and image. The chapel constitutes an example of the use of Hebrew letters, extremely rare at the time in this kind of large-scale decoration, denoting a genuine commitment to exegesis and erudition. Departing from traditional typological models, the chapel creates a new system in which episodes from the Old Testament are given greater prominence. The quality of execution in the decoration and the originality of its iconographical program make this chapel a model of Italian mannerism in France and exemplify a key moment in religious history.

Theophanes the Greek was one of the well-known artists of exceptional personality who lived in the second half of the 14th century. His talent stood out on account of the expressionist manner in which he portrayed his art creations and their impact on the school of Russian religious painting. His artistic talent, “swift brush” painting manner and life adventure can be compared with those of Doménikos Theotokópoulos (El Greco), another famous Greek painter, who brought the Cretan dramatic and expressionistic style to the West, influencing the Spanish Renaissance two hundred years after Theophanes. The artistic heritage of Theophanes stands between the short vibrant period of the Palaeologan Renaissance when the Byzantine Empire went through a terminal crisis, and the European Proto-Italian Renaissance. The artist seized the opportunity to unleash his creative work in the ancient Russian cities, unfolding his talent in the creation of large mural paintings. Characterized by his contemporaries as “Theophanes the Greek, icon painter and philosopher”, he enjoyed a high reputation in medieval Russian society. Present article questions Theophanes’ belonging to the hesychast movement and the attribution of the Muscovite icons and manuscripts to the painter. Considering the impact of Theophanes on Russian visual art, D. Talbot Rice stated: “It was thanks to the teaching of Greek immigrants like Theophanes that a sound foundation was established Russian painting, and it was on this basis that local styles were founded.” And it was in the Russian principalities that Theophanes developed his very distinctive style, enjoying carte blanche from the princes and boyars (aristocracy) to apply his creativity in various domains.

Статья посвящена исследованию мозаик базилики Рождества Христова в Вифлееме. Построенный в IV веке в эпоху императора Константина Великого храм остается одним из важнейших святилищ христианского мира. На его стенах и в крипте сохранился уникальный ансамбль мозаик, созданных в XII веке в период владычества Латинского королевства в Иерусалиме. В 2015–2019 годах итальянскими специалистами была предпринята масштабная реставрация декорации базилики. Впервые почти за тысячу лет мозаики на стенах храма и росписи на колоннах были расчищены. Это открывает новые возможности для анализа столь выдающегося памятника. В статье использованы различные методы: стилистический, иконографический и историко-культурный. Г. Кюнель убедительно показал, что мозаики были выполнены единовременно, вероятно, с середины 1150-х годов до 1169 года. На основании сохранившихся надписей можно заключить, что в мозаичной декорации базилики участвовали два мастера: монах Ефрем, предположительно, грек и дьякон Василий, сириец. В третьей надписи, ныне утраченной, упоминалось имя Зан, оно могло принадлежать венецианскому художнику. Стиль мозаик в целом ориентирован на византийское искусство третьей четверти XII века. В ансамбле очевидны различия в фигуративной и в аниконической иконографии, а также в стиле разных зон декорации. В нем проявились элементы сиро-палестинского и западноевропейского искусства. Самый факт упоминания имен художников в надписях не типичен для Византии. Детальный стилистический анализ памятника еще предстоит. Пока очевидно, что в декорации принимала участие составная артель из нескольких художников разного происхождения и разной выучки. При этом все мастера преимущественно пользовались византийскими образцами. Вифлеемские мозаики плодотворно рассмотреть и в контексте монументальной живописи Святой Земли и Сицилии XII века. The article is dedicated to the examination of the mosaics in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Built in the 4th century during the era of Emperor Constantine the Great, the church remains one of the most important sanctuaries in the Christian world. A unique ensemble of mosaics created in the 12th century during the rule of the Latin Kingdom in Jerusalem has been preserved on its walls and in the crypt. In the period between 2015 and 2019, Italian specialists undertook a large-scale restoration of the basilica's decoration. The mosaics on the walls of the church and the paintings on the columns were cleared for the first time in almost a thousand years. This opens up new possibilities for an analysis of such an outstanding monument. The article uses various methods: stylistic, iconographic and historical-cultural. G. Künel has convincingly shown that the mosaics were created during a short period, probably from the mid-1150s. until 1169. Based on the surviving inscriptions, one can believe that two masters participated in the mosaic decoration of the basilica: monk Ephraim, presumably a Greek, and deacon Vasily, a Syrian. The third inscription, now lost, mentioned the name Zan, which may have belonged to a Venetian artist. The style of the mosaics is generally oriented towards Byzantine art of the third quarter of the 12th century. Dissimilarities in figurative and aniconic iconography, as well as in the style of different areas of decoration, are evident in the ensemble. It showed elements of Syro-Palestinian and Western European art. The very fact of mentioning the names of artists in inscriptions is not typical for Byzantium. A detailed stylistic analysis of the monument is yet to be carried out. It is clear that a composite team of several artists of different origins and different training took part in the decoration. Moreover, all masters predominantly used Byzantine models. It is also fruitful to consider the Bethlehem mosaics in the context of monumental painting of the Holy Land and Sicily of the 12th century.

The female image presented in the small painting “Allegory of Music” by Filippino Lippi (Gemaeldegalerie, Berlin) is most likely associated with the plot of a theatrical performance played out in 1475 in Pesaro on the occasion of the wedding of Costanzo Sforza and Camilla of Aragon. Th e similarity of the attributes of the heroine with the attributes of the muse Erato, who greeted the newlyweds, was pointed out by A. Warburg, who placed two images, the Filippino board and an illustration from the Vatican manuscript containing the text of the wedding performance, next to each other in his “Mnemosine Atlas”. It is impossible to substantiate this version with documents, but the Florentine artist, who nominally interprets the plot differently from the anonymous northern Italian miniatur-ist, could be familiar with the description of the celebration, known not only from illustrated lists, but also from printed brochures. Th e origins of the “Allegory of Music” are traditionally traced to a wedding commission — on the occasion of the marriage of Giovanni Vespucci and Namicina Nerli in 1500 — which also included paired spalliers depicting “History of Lucretia” and “History of Virginia” by San-dro Botticelli and a panel by Piero di Cosimo displaying bacchanalia. Th e present article advances arguments in favor of this version, building on other episodes of cooperation between Botticelli and Filippino Lippi, both between the two of them and with the two intermarried Florentine families. Th e painting in question contains elements that may indicate its connection with the wedding ritual. It is impossible to establish how all the listed panels were arranged in the interior. How-ever, on the whole, this alleged ensemble, designed in the all’antica style, could be thought of as a glorification of sublime and chaste love. Th e theme, traditional for the decoration of the matrimonial bedroom, is eleborated simultaneously in brutal scenes from Roman history, which in Florentine artistic culture were laden with explicit republican connotations, as well as in small-scale mythological “poetry”, that soft ens political accents and, moreover, can be associated with a magnificent princely wedding, glorifying the nobility of the newlyweds.

This article aims to re-examine the frescoes in the Selvascura hermitage in Bassiano, one of the medieval pictorial contexts created in caves in Lower Lazio, both from an iconographic and stylistic point of view. In the past, the paintings aroused some attention from local connoisseurs, but they collected a barely timid interest in critical publications. The carried out research revealed the existence of a link between the iconographic choices made in the cave paintings and the Greek theological literature, especially the Heavenly Ladder of St. John Climacus, known by the Franciscan Spirituals thanks to the translations by Angelo Clareno. Therefore, it is possible to suggest a new iconological interpretation of the frescoes on the right side of the cave and to overcome the traditional approach that considered the decoration of this hermitage as a mere juxtaposition of votive panels. Furthermore, an unpublished painting inspired by one of the apologues told by Barlaam to the Indian prince Josaphat has been identified and it can be added to the small list of monumental works with this theme related to the Italian Middle Age. This paper explains also all the documents from the current archives of the Soprintendenza concerning these frescoes and their preservative history from the 70s to the 90s of the XX century. Finally, an accurate analysis of the stylistic features and the comparison with other pictorial and mosaic works from Rome and the rest of Lazio allow to date back the paintings to the period between the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century and to recognize the style of unknown artists trained in the school of Cavallini, very close to the Magister Conxolus’s lesson.

AbstractThe introduction and diffusion of Italian Renaissance forms in sixteenth-century Netherlandish art has usually been described as a process initiated by artists who travelled south, adopted the new style and reaped success after their return to the Netherlands. In giving full credit to the artists and considering this phcnomenon to be a process of artistic exchange in the modern sense, art historians have wrongly disregarded the historical circumstances that caused patrons' preference for the new style. The earliest use of Renaissance forms in the Low Countries on a large scale may be observed in the triumphal decorations of the 1515 Joyeuse Entrée of Charles of Hapsburg, the future emperor, in the town of Bruges. From that moment on, Renaissance forms were used abundantly in objects which served as a kind of propaganda for Hapsburg policy, such as church windows and chimney-pieces glorifying Charles v and the Hapsburg dynasty. Antique motifs fitted well in the imperialist visual language favoured by the Hapsburg dynasty and the Dutch nobles who supported its power politics. Derived from imperial Roman monuments, these forms unequivocally alluded to the absolute power of the ancient ancestors of the Holy Roman Emperor, thus legitimizing his authority. In the author's opinion this functional aspect is one of the main reasons for the ready acceptance and diffusion of the Renaissance style in the Low Countries. One of the first artists to travel from the Netherlands to Italy was the painter Michiel Coxcie (Malines 1499-1592). He stayed in Rome from about 1530 to 1538, painting several frescoes in Roman churches which brought him recognition among Italian colleagues. Only one example has survived: the fresco cycle in the chapel of St. Barbara in S. Maria dell'Anima, which he painted between 1532 and 1534. His mastery of the 'maniera italiana', which is evident in these paintings, is highly praised by Vasari, who met Coxcie in Rome in 1532. Vasari also states that Coxcie transferred the 'maniera italiana' to the Netherlands. Upon his return to Malines in 1539, Coxcie received several prestigious commissions, of which perhaps the most outstanding was to paint cartoons for the stained glass windows in the church of St. Gudule in Brussels, with its decoration of triumphal arches glorifying the Hapsburg dynasty. His ability to work in the high Renaissance style gained him the favour of Charles v and his sister, Mary of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, who engaged him as a court painter. In the said series of Brussels windows, a remarkable change of style regarding the use of Renaissance forms is to be observed after Coxcie started supplying the cartoons in 1541. The windows completed between 1537 and 1540 had been made under the supervision of Bernard van Orley, allegedly Coxcie's teacher. They were rendered in an early Renaissance style characterized by the hybrid Italianate motifs that were in fashion during the 1520S and 1530s. Upon Orley's death in 1541, Coxcie was appointed his successor as cartoon painter for St. Gudule. The first window for which he was responsible, the window of John III of Portugal in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, exhibits a distinct caesura: the architectural decoration is high Renaissance in the Vitruvian or Serlian sense and the human faces and postures are derived directly from the examples of Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo. After careful perusal of the documents concerning the production of the windows and study of the stylistic differences between the windows made before and after 1541 (and the related preparatory drawings), one cannot but conclude that Michiel Coxcie was the initiator of the use of the high Renaissance style in the Brussels windows. Hitherto Bernard van Orley has been credited for this, on the assumption that he designed the whole cycle, including all its ornamental details and stylistic features. Although his contribution to the diffusion of the high Renaissance style in Netherlandish art was decisive, Michiel Coxcie's return to the Low Countries should not be regarded as the principal incentive for this process. The general predilection for this style to be found after 1540 could be a consequence of the impressive presence of Charles v and his retinue in the Netherlands during that year. The emperor, who came to quell the Ghent resurrection against the central government, brought with him the style that had been used in the triumphal decorations which accompanied his entries to Italian towns during the 1530S. The influence exercised on prevailing taste by the ephemeral monuments erected on the occasion of imperial entries must have been considerable, as the Brussels windows clearly show.

The article presents the results of the research on the history of the Vysokoe Estate in the Smolensk province (currently located in the village of Vysokoe in the Novodugino district of the Smolensk region) based on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, which houses the personal archive of Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremet’ev (1859–1931). In comparison to the well-studied Kuskovo and Ostankino estates near Moscow, as well as the famous Fountain House in St. Petersburg, the Vysokoe Estate remains a relatively understudied property of the Sheremet’evs. Thanks to archival documents it became possible to reconstruct the history of the acquisition of this Estate by the representatives of the renowned Sheremet’ev family and the creation of a unique architectural complex in Vysokoe. The majority of archival documents are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. From the materials of Count A. D. Sheremet’ev's archive (Russian State Historical Archive, fond 1118), who inherited Vysokoe after his mother's death and continued to develop the Estate, it is known that the property of the Sheremet’ev Counts became theirs in 1857 after the marriage of Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Sheremet’ev (1803–1871) to the Smolensk noblewoman Alexandra Grigorievna Mel’nikova (1825–1874). The latter inherited only a part of the Estate and fully bought it from her mother and sisters after the wedding. At the behest of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva, architect N. L. Benois designed about 20 stone buildings, including the main estate house ("Palace"), the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, and various service buildings. The execution of the work in Vysokoe was supervised by his assistant R. K. Mueller, who later became the architect of the Countess's wooden house. The archive contains the designs of many buildings, correspondence between N. L. Benois and R. K. Mueller with the Main Office of the Sheremet’ev Counts in St. Petersburg, texts of contracts between N. L. Benois and foreign and domestic craftsmen involved in the finishing, and suppliers of interior items. The documents provide valuable information about the client's involvement in the details of the work, allowing us to assess various stages of project implementation, and indicating the Countess's special attention to the arrangement and decoration of the main estate house and the church. For example, marble slabs for the Palace" terrace were ordered from Italian sculptor A. Triscorni, and icons for the church were commissioned from the academician of painting A. G. Goravskii. A significant part of the planned work was carried out in the early 1870s, and after the death of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva in 1874, Vysokoe was inherited by her only son, A. D. Sheremet’ev. The surviving building designs, supplemented by various administrative documents, currently represent not only scholarly but also practical interest, associated with the commencement of work on the restoration of the remarkable architectural complex of the former Sheremet’ev Estate.

The article explains the role of extra-musical factors in the creation of the compositions, caused by the action of the art synthesis as a cross-cutting theme of the composer’s creativity in the European tradition. In the academic art, this phenomenon has acquired the status of the program method, which to some extent has directed the listeners’ perceptions. The actualization of the present topic and its predetermined task is to determine the degree of the correlation of the semantics of a new composition to its artistic original, since it is precisely on the “artistic type translation” that both the programmability and the ways of its implementation by means of the performing interpretation depend. The object of the article is the programmability as a condition of the composer’s idea; the subject is the author’s concept of “The Ancient Kiev Frescoes” by A. Stashevsky for the accordion, implemented in the genre-stylistic system of the individual and national-musical thinking. The purpose of the article is to identify the genre-stylistic factors of the author’s conception of the selected composition, which reflects the sound-poetic ideas about the ancient history of the native land, while forming the national memory of the modern Ukrainian. Analysis of the recent publications on the research topic. Among the fundamental works devoted to programmability, we should point out the works by V. Konen, which trace the tendency to expand the limits of programmability in music at the expense of non-musical influences, as well as those by M. Lobanova, who characterizes the synthetic genres (opera, theatre music, ballet, program symphony) in the historical dimension. G. Khutorskaya owing to the introduction of the category “interspecific translation” into the scientific circulation explains the means of the synthesis of arts in vocal compositions [5]. The interspecific interaction of the theatre, painting, dance, poetry and literature contributes to the reproduction of the complete picture of the world in music. The material for the development of the problem is the composition for the accordion called “The Ancient Kiev Frescoes” by A. Stashevsky, one of the bright representatives of the modern accordion school of Ukraine. Observing the author’s premieres (in particular, the accordion compositions) in the quality of a professional listener, one can state that his creativity has become an important part of the musical culture of the Slobozhanska Ukraine. As a multifaceted personality – an accordion performer, teacher, composer, and scientist – he embodies new ideas, genre-style models and corresponding techniques of the performing skills in his activities. A comprehensive analysis of the genre stylistics and a personal view of the performance dramaturgy of the interpretation of the program cycle have been given. “The Ancient Kiev Frescoes” by A. Stashevsky (2005), besides the program name, have a genre refinement of the “suite-notebook”, which contains the key to understanding the essence of the stated program. First, the notebook (the album) is holistic, and contains information about interrelated events of a certain era, arranged in a timeline (the linear sequence). Secondly, the pages of the notebook can be represented as the planes where the images are located – the frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. The most valuable decoration of the cathedral is the mural, which has been preserved for centuries and is an example of the skill and artistic taste of ancient Ukrainians. In general, St. Sophia Cathedral embodies the philosophical credo of the era with its national idea, the expression of the spirituality of the Christian worldview. There are nine parts in the suite-notebook, each with a program title. The author’s idea is realized, on the one hand, through the programmability of the picture type, when the parts of the suite cycle constitute a single composition that is associated with a multi-figured mural (with its mosaic, stained glass). It is impossible to capture it at one glance, so getting acquainted with it implies a consistent arrangement of the fragments of the whole in time. On the other hand, there is a pervasive narrative throughout the cycle: all the parts sound attacca. The pages of the chronicle seem to be expanded in the temporal axis; there is also a general logic of changing the various musical murals that is subordinate to the latent programmability: from “Intrada” to the climax in Part 8 and Part 9 an associate connection (a story line) is established. Programmability-driven musical stylistic contains repetitive segments of the author’s language focused on archaic styling. Because of the singing type of thematism, the ostinato nature and variability of the means of its development, the expanded fret and tonal nature, the mosaic principle of the stringing of the motives, and their combining. In the conclusions it is emphasized that in the program composition for the accordion A. Stashevsky skillfully realized his plan as a projection on historical, musical-performing and picture-everyday images-echo. The incarnation of the ancient history of Kievan Rus by means of the fret-harmonious, texture-timbre and compositional-dramatic means fully presents the author’s conception of the composition – the harmony of a man and history, the updating of the Past, in order to understand one’s own mental foundations, self-awareness in the national cosmos and logo.

Saint Sampson, whose feast is celebrated on June 27, was depicted among holy physicians. However, his images were not frequent. He was usually accompanied with Saint Mokios (in Saint Sophia in Kiev, the Transfiguration church in the Mirozh monastery and the church of the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the Temple in the monastery of Saint Euphrosyne; possibly also in Saint Panteleimon in Nerezi and Saint Demetrios in the village of Aiani near Kozani; furthermore, in the church of Saint Nicholas in Manastir and, afterwards, in the katholikon of the Vatopedi monastery). In a later period, he was usually shown in the vicinity of Saint Diomedes (in the churches of Saint Achillius in Arilje, Saint George in the village Vathiako on Crete, Saint Nicholas Orphanos in Thessaloniki, the Annunciation in Gracanica, the narthexes of the Hilandar katholikon and the church of the Holy Virgin in the monastery of Brontocheion at Mistra, the katholicon of the Pantokrator monastery and the church of Saint Demetrios in Markov Manastir). There are no substantial data regarding the identity of the saints depicted next to him in the metropolitan Church of Saint Demetrios at Mistra, while in a number of cases the image of the saint shown next to him has not been preserved (e.g. Saint Irene in the village of Agios Mamas on Crete, Gregory?s Gallery in the church of Saint Sophia in Ohrid and the church of the Holy Virgin (Panagia Kera) near the village Chromonastiri on Crete). On the other hand, in the church of the Holy Virgin in Mateic, Saint Sampson is, exceptionally, depicted among bishops, while in the church of the Holy Archangels in Prilep and the chapel of the Holy Anargyroi in Vatopedi, he is, as usual, surrounded by holy physicians but his mates are not featured - neither Saint Mokios, not Saint Diomedes. The earliest known commemorative text dedicated to him is the extensive hagiography - Vita Sampsonis I, composed in the seventh or the early eighth century. Other hagiographies, which mostly date from the tenth century, are completely based on the earlier writing. Such a composition can be found in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople. In the extensive text (Vita Sampsonis II), Symeon Metaphrastes added a part that included detailed descriptions of a number of posthumous miracles, mostly healings; all these events are also mentioned in the short Hagiography. Finally, in the late thirteenth century, Constantine Akropolites wrote the still unpublished Hagiography (Vita Sampsonis III), in which he presented an account of events from the later history of the Saint?s hospital. The hagiographies inform us that Sampson was a Roman by birth and a kin of Emperor Constantine. He inherited a fortune, which he distributed to the poor. Then, he departed for Constantinople, where he found a modest home. Patriarch Menas ordained him a priest. Relying on the medical knowledge, Sampson was saving the sick and he even cured Emperor Justinian from an incurable disease. For that reason, the Emperor found a large house, in which he established and fully equipped a xenon (hospital, ?????), whereas Sampson was appointed as the skeuophylax of the Great Church. The Blessed continued to work there until his death. His venerable leipsana, which rested in the church of Saint Mokios, constantly issued the cures. His feast was celebrated in the hospital founded by him. Long time had passed between the period in which the Saint had lived and the epoch in which his earliest hagiography was compiled. During that time, some events could have fallen into oblivion and accounts of other events could have been invented. Accordingly, the results of the researchers of Saint Sampson?s xenon?s history are valuable. The hospital was housed in Sampson?s home, where he provided not only health care, but also food and bed. It was presumably founded in the fourth century. The xenon was burned in the Nika riots in 532 and Emperor Justinian had it renovated and expanded. Based on some documents issued in the Empire of Nicaea, it may be concluded that the xenon had vast estates. The Crusaders first sacked it, to subsequently use it for their own needs, as they established the Order of Saint Sampson. The hospital soon received many properties in Constantinople and its environs, Hungary and Flanders. It seems that after the liberation of Constantinople, the activities of Saint Sampson?s hospital were ceased and that there was a monastery at its place in the Palaiologan period. Anyway, the reputation of its holy founder persisted throughout the thirteenth century. Constantine Akropolites wrote the already mentioned Hagiography, and in one of his letters he spoke of the Saint, who was also mentioned in a poem by Manuel Philes (died around 1345). In Constantinople, the veneration of Saint Sampson had two centres - the hospital named after him and the church of Saint Mokios, where his leipsana rested. According to the synaxaria of the Typikon of the Great Church and the Church of Constantinople, the feast dedicated to the Saint was celebrated at his xenon. The former text informs us that the service was held by the Patriarch, whereas Symeon Metaphrastes relates that the vigil on the eve of the feast took place over the relics in the church of Saint Mokios. The Patriarch celebrated the feast dedicated to Saint Sampson with hospital clergy in the church within the xenon, both mentioned by Metaphrastes. It was either this church or a shrine from a later period that housed the iconostasis noted down by Constantine Stilbes, an eyewitness of the Latin capture of the Byzantine capital. Written sources and archaeological finds are consistent in that the hospital was located between the churches of Saint Sophia and Saint Irene. However, the first excavations carried out at the site of the xenon were not properly documented, whereas archaeologists involved in further investigations could not rely on reliable data, though they carefully examined all finds. The question arises why Saint Sampson was at first usually depicted in the company of Saint Mokios, a presbyter who died a martyr?s death in Constantinople (May 11), and later, together with Saint Diomedes, the physician who died in Nicaea (August 16). Therefore, this paper briefly presents the hagiographies of the two saints and the churches in the Byzantine capital where their relics rested - the monastery of Saint Mokios, which did not exist in the mid-fourteenth century, and Saint Diomedes, which was counting its last days in the fourteenth century, reduced to a small monastery. Dobrynja Jadrejkovic (subsequently Antony, archbishop of Novgorod) noted down around 1200 that the saint?s stick, epitrachelion and robes were kept at the hospital of Saint Sampson, whereas in the church of Saint Mokios, under the altar, rested Saint Mokios and Saint Sampson. He also mentioned that water flew from the latter?s grave, as well as that the church of Saint Diomedes was near the Golden Gate and that the relics of Saint Diomedes rested there. However, the Russian pilgrims who visited Constantinople during the Palaiologan period mentioned neither Saint Sampson?s hospital, not the church of Saint Mokios, whereas the church of Saint Diomedes, but not his relics, was noted down only by an unknown traveller who described the pilgrimage undertaken between the late 1389 and the early 1391. The answer to the question of what happened to the leipsana that once laid in these churches is not possible to provide. The fate of the relics of Saint Sampson, previously kept in his xenon, is not known, nor is it known where the commemorations of the three saints were held in the capital during the Palaiologan period. Anyway, the depictions of Saint Sampson accompanied by Saint Diomedes - whose oldest examples are preserved in Arilje - indicate that the connection of these two priest-physicians had already begun by the time when the church was painted (1295/1296), but, judging by the available sources, the only evidence on the process is given by the paintings. Although Saint Sampson founded the hospital which was probably the oldest in Constantinople, and though his leipsana, kept in the church of Saint Mokios, had healing powers, while his relics in the xenon were visited by pilgrims, it seems that the respect for this saint in the Byzantine capital was not reflected in the frequency of his images among holy physicians: he was fairly rarely shown among them. As a matter of fact, the earliest representations of Saint Sampson originated from Constantinople. They can be found on lead seals made for the hospital in the second half of the sixth and during the seventh century. On the other hand, there is no any known preserved depiction of this saint in the mural decoration of the early churches. Accordingly, it may be assumed that the veneration of Saint Sampson was initially limited to Constantinople, and that it was only later, since the time when his short hagiography was included in the synaxarium and his extensive hagiography was written for the Metaphrastes?s comprehensive work, that it was adopted in other areas of the East Christian world. It may seem paradoxical that the preserved images of the Saint dating from the period when his xenon flourished are less numerous than those from the time when the hospital, in all probability, did not exist. It seems that after the liberation of Constantinople from Latin rule, Saint Sampson was earnestly honoured and that the believers frequented the monastery at the site of the old xenon, though the hospital did not exist anymore. The former assumption is corroborated by the writings of Constantine Akropolites and Manuel Philes, whereas the latter is supported by the coins from the Palaiologan period found in the sacral building within the complex that once belonged to Saint Sampson?s hospital. Although his miraculous leipsana rested in the church of Saint Mokios, the posthumous miracles of Saint Sampson, described in later hagiographies, mostly took place in his xenon, which housed the relics that were visited by pilgrims and where commemorative services dedicated to him were held. The veneration of the Saint was long fostered within the institution founded by him - the ancient hospital where trained doctors worked - i.e. it was nurtured between the reputation of medical skills based on secular knowledge and miraculous healings.

AbstractOur ideas of what 17th century Dutch interiors looked like have been conditioned by the hundreds of paintings of interiors by Dutch genre painters. Even restorations and reconstructions in our own time (fig. 1) are influenced significantly by them. It is therefore of vital importance to our knowledge of the history of Dutch interior decoration to realise what we can or cannot believe, and to compare these genre interiors with other sources such as probate inventories, building specifications, plans, conditions of sale, contemporary descriptions such as travellers' reports, etc. It is the combination of these different types of information that enables them to supplement and correct each other. Since the fixed interior fittings are not usually mentioned in probate inventories, it is even more important to weigh all the available evidence by critical analysis. The scope of this article allows me to discuss only a few of the many features; I shall therefore restrict my comments to the fixed decorations and closely associated features. This discourse is therefore in part a comment on Peter Thornton's book Seventeenth Century Interior Decoration in England, France and Holland, who made extensive use of Dutch genre paintings but, unfortunately, could not compare them with inventories of Dutch burghers (other than with the published inventories of the princes of the House of Orange) or with other written Dutch sources. The main starting point is a well-known picture by Emanuel de Witte in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningcn in Rotterdam, of which a second version is kept in Montreal (fig. 2-3); hardly any other genre interior has been so consistently used as a prototype for a Dutch 17th century interior. The room in the foreground shows a woman sitting at a virginal, a common feature in Dutch houses of the period, while on the left a man is sleeping in a bed; during this period, wealthier people were only just starting to differentiate between living-rooms and bedchambers, and a combination of the two functions was still quite common. The ceiling, however, shows that the tie-beams do not run parallel to the façade as they ought to, but perpendicular to it. This is clearly an instance of artistic licence, so that the horizontal lines of the beams can close off the composition at the top. Behind this room is the entrance hall, with two more rooms behind. An enfilade of this kind is out of the question in a Dutch house at that time, even in a country house. Here the artist has allowed the emphasis on the perspective view and spatial relationships within the painting to prevail over reality, a common feature in most other Dutch genre interiors (fig. 4). Floors with intricate patterns of contrasting marble slabs are a predominant element in these perspective paintings. They can be seen in most genre pictures from the middle and third quarter of the 17th century. However, very few such floors actually survive. There is a rare example, dating from 1661, in the museum 'Our Good Lord in the Attic' at Amsterdam (fig. 6). At that time Amsterdam was a port of transit for marble and stone from Italy and other countries. Travellers reported seeing patterned marble floors in Amsterdam, although most floors of this kind arc likely to have been in official or public buildings. Their prevalence in the residences of burghers is open to question. Only a few building specifications describe them, while explicit references to expensive wooden floors in rich houses have been found. For instance, in one of the most luxurious Amsterdam residences, the mansion of the Bartolotti family, only two such floors were added between 1649 and 1664, in which latter year the rooms in question were particularised in the inventory as 'stone' chambers. This specific indication is in itself proof of how rare marble floors were, for such designations occur only sporadically in inventories of the period (e.g. of the Trippenhuis). In the elaborate descriptions of his important commissions between 1637 and 1670 (fig. 7) the architect Philips Vingboons always mentions marble floors when there are any: altogether, he describes 'Italian' floors four times. They are however quite plain, consisting solely of white slabs; only in two instances was the white marble relieved by blue or red strips specially cut for this use. The fact that this prominent architect dwells so proudly on this feature demonstrates how exceptional it was; elsewhere he invariably speaks of Prussian deals. Several designs by the architect Pieter Post for interiors of burgher houses survive, some even with patterns for marble floors. Again, though, they are very simplc (fig. 8-9), the more elaborate ones being meant for an entrance hall (fig. 10). And we know from the records that wooden floors were preferred for a house which Post built in Dordrecht, even in the reception rooms. Similarly, a third well-known architect, Adriaen Dortsman, designed stone and marble floors only for the basement and corridors of the house he built for Jan Six in 1666 (fig. 11) - not, however, for the main rooms. Examples like these, moreover, apply to the houses of the absolute upper class in Amsterdam, the richest city in Holland. Marble and stone floors were in fact largely confined to halls and corridors, as in the palace Huis ten Bosch built by Pieter Post (fig. 12-13). Of the other palaces belonging to the Prince of Orange, only Rijswijk was famous for its marble floors in most of the rooms (fig. 14). The rooms in the two earliest 17th-century dolls houses, dating from the 1670s, do not have marble floors either, except for the entrance hall (fig. 15); a slightly later one has a marble floor in the hall and the best kitchen, but also in the lying-in chamber (fig. 16). These Amsterdam dolls houses again clearly indicate a preference for wooden floors in reception and living rooms. The rarity of marble floors in living rooms is understandable, since they struck cold and were uncomfortable to dwell on. In the front halls, where marble or stone floors were much more common, there was usually a wooden platform (called a zoldertje) for people to sit on (fig. 19). All this is borne out by one quantitative source: a series of the conditions of sale pertain ing to houses in the city of Haarlem over a period of sixty years. Although they concern the second half of the 18th century, a considerable number of 17th-century interior features were still preserved. No fewer than approximately 5000 different houses are described in this source: by then nearly all larger houses had marble entrance halls and corridors, most of them dating from the 18th century; however, a total of no more than nine living rooms arc mentioned as having marble or stone floors! All these considerations lead to the conclusion that, although marble floors did exist in the houses of Dutch burghers, they were

The Franciscan Monastery of St Domnius at Kraj on the island of Pašman houses an incunable edition of Augustine’s The City of God (De Civitate Dei) which was printed in Venice by Nicolas Jenson in 1475. The incunable features beautiful Renaissance multi-coloured illuminations painted in tempera, sepia, ink and water colours while gold foils and gold dust were used on fol. 17 (the page number is not original but was subsequently added in pencil; this folio contains the beginning of Book 1) and a number of other folios. The illumination on fol. 17 consists of two phytomorphic initials, a decorative border and independent figural scenes while a number of other folios are decorated with phytomorphic initials of the littera notabilior type, the height of which corresponds to two lines, painted in red or blue. The top and left margin of the first page of Book 1 are filled with a decorative border terminating in trilobes on each end. The ornamental scheme of the border consists of a band made up of five thin lines which undulates in a spiral and thus forms circles. These are filled with flowers, leaves and berries painted in blue, green and cyclamen purple but also with gold stylized burdock flowers (Lat. Arctium lappa; some scholars call them gold dots, that is, bottoni dorati). The remaining fields are filled with bent scrolls. In the upper left corner of the frame is a goldfinch. The initial I, composed of phytomorphic motifs in blue, green and cyclamen purple and their shades, is painted against a gold background of the rectangular field situated at the beginning of the text column on the left-hand side. Inside the decorative border, placed at the height which corresponds to the centre of the initial, is a medallion with the bust of St Augustine depicted in the open sky with elongated white clouds and no other details. The illusion of the spatial depth was achieved through the use of tonal gradations: the shades of blue are darker at the top and lighter in the lower half of the sky. St Augustine is dressed in a white robe and a red cloak with a black hood. He is wearing a white mitre with a horizontal and perpendicular band highlighted with gold dust. The shadows and folds of his clothes were articulated with black and white lines. His right hand is pointing to the open book which was painted at the height of his chest. The fingers on his right hand are elongated and thin. St Augustine’s gold nimbus was painted as a full circle the left half of which was outlined in white and the right half in black. St Augustine is directing his gentle and sad gaze upwards. His head is slightly bent. His round and bony head is marked by the large round eyes with prominent sclera and dark circles underneath while the arched eyebrows are thinner at their ends. The nose is small and the mouth is turned downwards. The plasticity of the face and its complexion were articulated with white and pink shades. The trimmed dark beard is depicted with short lines in lighter and darker shades. The ornamental frame which fills the top margin corresponds to the one in the left margin but was decorated more modestly because the miniaturist placed the scroll bearing the printer’s name and the scroll identifying the text as belonging to Book 1 at the centre of the frame which left only the beginning and the end of the frame to be decorated. The scroll with the printer’s name is emphasized by a golden burdock flower at the top of the frame and a golden teasel flower (Lat. Dipsacus fullonum) at the bottom. The lower margin features two symmetrical angels, rendered in a somewhat imprecise drawing, who kneel on the ground painted in the shades of green and brown. The physiognomy of the angels is similar to that of St Augustine. Their round heads have small eyes and noses, shaded circles under the eyes and arched eyebrows. The mouths are depicted as thin lines with pronounced ends and are further accentuated by a dot beneath the lower lip. The plasticity of their faces was achieved through the tonal gradation of pink and white. The angels’ hair, ochre in colour and highlighted with gold dust, is thick and short and covers the tops of their heads like a helmet. The outspread wings were painted in dark and light shades of blue. Two wide red scrolls with white highlights emerge symmetrically from behind the angels at their waist height. Wavy tendrils and gold stylized teasel flowers extend from the red scroll. The angels hold a laurel wreath between them. The colour of the circular field inside the wreath is cyclamen purple. The wreath is formed by three rows of leaves which are bound by four regularly spaced ties. The leaves’ edges and tips were painted in light and dark shades of green. Inside the wreath is a Renaissance crest surrounded by thin white wiggly tendrils with sprouting leaves. The shield, in the shape of a horse’s head, is divided horizontally into the dark blue upper half and the red lower half. It features a gold lion with his mouth wide open who is facing right and holding a tree with his front paws. The tree’s pyramidal top is decorated with small dots indicating leaves and fruit. The shield’s right half is outlined in white and the left one in black. The second text column on the first page of Book 1 is decorated with the painted initial letter G. It consists of phytomorphic motifs in blue, red, yellow and cyclamen purple and their shades. Two small leaves are attached to the initial on its left-hand side. As is the case with the crest, the initial was additionally decorated with elegant white tendrils sprouting leaves and highlighted with gold dust. The background is also gold while the rectangular field around the initial is outlined in a thin black line. Two wavy tendrils and two gold stylized teasel flowers emerge from the corners of the frame on the left-hand side while a green leaf appears at the centre. Apart from these illuminations and initials on fol. 17, the incunable contains other initials, one for the beginning of each of the remaining twenty one book, and all of them consist of blue, green and cyclamen pink phytomorphic motifs painted against a gold background inside a black rectangular frame. The plasticity of these initials was achieved through tonal gradation and the use of yellow while thin white undulating tendrils with variations in width and highlights in gold dust enriched the decoration. Some sentences in the text were emphasized by numerous initials in red or blue of the littera notabilior type the height of which corresponds to two lines of the text. The illuminations of this incunable edition of the De Civitate Dei belong to north Italian or Venetian Renaissance painting and they demonstrate numerous significant similarities with the works of the well-known Venetian miniaturist whom the scholarly literature identified as Maestro del Plinio di Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (Maestro del Plinio di Pico or, more commonly, Maestro di Pico). The attribution of the illuminations in this incunable to Maestro di Pico, who may have been helped by his workshop and assistants especially during the painting of the decorative frame and initials, is based on the figure of St Augustine and the angels who support the crest. Their features display the same typology which characterizes the works of Maestro di Pico. Identical angels appear in the bottom margin of Brunetto Latini’s Il Tesoro (Gerardus de Lisa, Treviso, 1474; Cambridge, Mass., Harvard, Houghton Library, Inc. 6459, c. 7). The figure of St Augustine shows pronounced similarities with the figure of a Dominican monk, set inside the initial O of the littera historiata type, in Nicolaus de Auximo’s Supplementum (Franciscus Renner et Nicolaus de Frankofordia, Venice, 1474; Biblioteca Marciana, Inc. Ven. 494, c.2). Identical angels and putti can be found in the bottom margins of Strabo’s Geographica (Minneapolis, Univ. of Minnesotta Library, Ms. 1460/f St., c.1), and in two copies of Pliny’s Historia Naturalis (Venice, N. Jenson, 1472, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Vèlins 498 and Venice, N. Jenson, 1472, San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, n. 2289). A beautiful comparative example is the Biblia Latina (Franciscus Renner & Nicolaus de Frankfordia, 1475, Dallas, Texas, Southern Methodist University, Bridwell Library) and its first page which has a similar composition to that in the incunable from Kraj. The figure of St Jerome, depicted inside a littera historiata provides a plethora of specific Morellian details which are essential for the attribution of the illuminations in the incunable from Kraj to Maestro di Pico. Striking similarities in the depictions of saints, phytomorphic initials and decorative frames can also be found in two psalters (one in Venice, Biblioteca Querini Stampaglia, Inc. 6, the other in Siena, Biblioteca S. Bernardino del Convento dell’Osservanza) and in the first page of the Psalms in a breviary from Paris (Bibliothèque Ste-Geneviève, OE XV 147 Rés). Similar saints and angels all of which belong to the same figural typology were used to decorate three copies from the Commissioni series made for Doge Agostino Barbarigo (Commissione del doge Agostino Barbarigo a Girolamo Capello, 1487, Venice, Bib. Del Museo Correr, MS Cl. III. 33 (fig. 15); Commissione del doge Agostino Barbarigo a Paolo di Canale, 1489, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 4729, c.2, and Commissione del doge Agostino Barbarigo a Tommaso Loredano, 1490, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 4730, c.1). Further parallels can be found in the illuminations of a breviary from Augsburg (c. 1480, Universitätsbibl., Cod. I.2.2o 35) the first page of which has a lettera istoriata with the figure of St Paul whose physiognomy closely resembles that of St Augustine in the incunabule from Kraj, while the bottom margin features centrally placed angels which are identical to those at Kraj. Equally important comparative material is found in three Paduan incunables (Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile) which contain illuminations attributed to Maestro di Pico. The distinctive features of the angels, putti and saints as well as the type of decoration used in the margins of these incunables also demonstrate striking similarities with the illuminations from Kraj. Other examples include Lattanzi’s Opera (Giovanni da Colonia and Johannes Manthen, Venice, 1478; Forc. M. 3.2), Jacopo da Varagine’s Legenda aurea (Gabriele di Pietro, Venice, 1477, with a likely contribution of his workshop; Forc. M. 2.22) and Cipriano’s Opera (Vindelino da Spira, Venice, 1471; Forc. K. 2.12). On the basis of the comparative analyses outlined above and the similarities which have been noted, it can be concluded that the illuminations in the incunable of St Augustine’s De Civitate Dei (Nicolas Jenson, Venice, 1475), housed in the Monastery of St Domnius at Kraj, were painted by the well-known Venetian Renaissance miniaturist Maestro di Pico. Regardless of the possible input of his workshop and assistants during the painting process of the decorative frame and initials, these illuminations help expand the catalogue of Maestro di Pico’s works and represent valuable contribution to the painting in Renaissance Dalmatia.

The purpose of the article is to discover the mural paintings of the Great Pechersk Church as the version of theology and academic sacred mural painting of the late 19th century. The research methodology is based on complex using historical and cultural analysis, art study analysis, and biographical method. Scientific novelty. It is determined that the process of creating the Old Russian image in the Great Pechersk Church (the Dormition Cathedral) began in 1880. The photo of the drawing of the ancient part of the Church made by the order of A. Prakhov in 1893, has been introduced into scientific circulation. The author studied the painting decoration as a synthesis of the academic theological thought and academic sacred mural painting, discovered its implementation in choosing topics, plots, and placement of compositions. The author gave a characteristic of the source corps on the paintings from the collection of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”. The author researched the transformation of painting preliminary design and Byzantine Canon of the 11–12th centuries on behalf of the Holy Mother of God theme and observed the connection of the composition “Ascension of Panagia” on the tradition of monastic life in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The topical and plotlines have been improved namely Christianize Old Russian is determined by one more leading topic. Conclusions. The process of creating a new mural painting in the Great Pechersk Church began still yet 1880. The detection of the ancient part of the Church contributed to the change in its painting decoration. This change was the result of the academic theological program implemented by means of academic sacred mural painting. The tradition of previous painting decoration preserved in the preliminary design end reflected one of the traditions of monastic life in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The witness in Pechersk Paterikon of the compositions in the Great Church has been implemented in mural paintings. However, the academic theological opinion of the late 19th century was subordinated to the canon of 11–12th centuries not complete. The theme of the introduction of Christianity was presented in mural painting as one of the leading topics.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the theological programme, continuity and originality of the mural paintings of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894. The research methodology is based on historical and cultural analysis, as well as art historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the study. The theological programme of the mural painting of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894 has been studied: its genesis, ideological basis, main theme, thematic plot lines, and thematic hierarchy have been determined. The continuity principle is defined as the basis of the connection between the original (the 18th century) and renewed (1894; Daniil Davydov) decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. The pictorial compositions analogies to the paintings of the compartments of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) according to the programme of the 1720s are observed. Secondary analogies with some compositions in the Lavra Trinity Gate Church are also indicated. Along with analogies, the differences in the thematic, compositional, and stylistic interpretation of the paintings have been investigated. The academicism features in the mural painting of 1894 have been analysed. The originality of themes and plots addition in the mural paintings with icons in the iconostasis and the altar has been revealed. Conclusions. The mural painting programme’s primary source of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra has been the programme of painting the interior of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) in the 1720s. The renewed mural paintings of 1894 inherited the original decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. Analogies with the paintings of the Great Church can be traced to the theme and general compositional schemes. A partial analogy to the mural painting of the Trinity Church narthex has been used as a component for another theme. Innovations in the paintings of the Cross Exaltation Church have been manifested in the formation of a peculiar thematic hierarchy, a change in compositional elements, and a transition from the baroque style to the traditions of academic sacred painting. The originality is manifested in the presentation of emotionally saturated subjects in the altar icons and paintings, due to which a calm and sublime rhythm of the wall compositions are created. Some icons are a plot addition to the murals. Several thematic lines are revealed in the mural painting, namely the sacrifice of the Saviour on the cross, the sacrifice of a man to God, the meeting of a man with God, the Divine Liturgy and Church of Christ. The main theme of the church painting decoration is the glorification of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord as the instrument of His victory and our salvation. The ideological basis of the mural paintings theological programme is a line from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews [Hebrews 19:39–40, 20:1–2]. Keywords: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, academic painting, baroque painting, mural painting, sacral painting, Ukrainian painting, Great Church, Dormition Cathedral, Cross Exaltation Church, Holy Trinity Gate Church, Daniil Davydov.

The purpose of the article is to study the features of the classicism style in mural paintings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra churches. The research methodology based on the complex using of historical and cultural analysis, art study one, biographical method. The scientific novelty of the study. The implementation of the classicism style in the mural painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is discovered. The archival descriptions of murals, photos, cartograms have been put into scientific circulation. On the basis of records, the stylistic signs of classicism in the mural paintings of the side-altar of the St. apostle and evangelist John the Theologian of the Great Church and the interior of the Church of Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos have been researched. It has been revealed, thanks to which principles of the construction of composition and colour, as well as specific decorative elements classicist mural paintings have been created in the compartments of these churches. On the basis of stylistic analysis and analysis of archival documents, the working hypothesis for the improvement of the attribution of mural painting of the Church of Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos has been proposed. Its connection with the painting baroque decoration of the Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) has been observed. Conclusions. The classicism style was represented in the mural painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra churches in the 19th century. The murals of the side-altar of the St. Apostle and evangelist John the Theologian of the Great Church and the interior of the Church of Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos were created in the classicism style. The painting decorations of the side-altar and the church were formed on the general principles of classicist composition, such as strict symmetry, a calm and clear rhythm, an ordered structure, and emotional restraint. The artist painted a number of elements of the classicist architecture such as caissons, elements of the Corinthian order, rust, etc. He created the illusion of bas-reliefs and stucco moulding thanks to the use of the grisaille technique. He painted illusory gilt frames of various shapes that bordered the compositions, stylized monochrome ornaments. He chose blue (the symbolic colour of the Theotokos) and shades of gray as dominants for colour. The analysis of the artistic style and records made it possible to propose the working hypothesis regarding the authorship and time of creation the murals of the Church of Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. They were painted, as well as murals of the side-altar of the St. Apostle John the Theologian by Kornilii Voloshynov during 1837–1838. In the mural painting of the church, in the plots and locations of the compositions there were borrowings from the baroque decoration of the Church (Dormition Cathedral).

The purpose of the article is to introduce into scientific circulation, to attribute modern compositions of the academic mural painting in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, to study their genesis. The research methodology consists in the complex application of historical and cultural analysis, art study, diachronic ones, as well as empirical observation. The scientific novelty of the study. The materials of the survey and proposals for restoration (1998) the compositions of academic mural painting in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the late 19th – early 20th centuries have been introduced into scientific circulation. The academic mural painting in the Dormition Cathedral, the 21st century, has been introduced into scientific circulation. Its attribution has been performed. The names of the artists have been introduced into scientific circulation and it has been detailed who among them is the author of the project, who painted the holy images and who painted the ornaments. The dating of the compositions in different compartments of the Cathedral and the technique of their performance have been determined. The main thematic and plot lines have been revealed. The thematic, plot, iconographic, decorative, coloristic connections of the modern academic mural painting with the murals of the late 19th – early 20th centuries and with visual records have been studied. The similarities and differences of the academic compositions of 1897–1901 and 2018–2022 have been analysed. The principle of forming the colouring of modern academic murals has been revealed. Conclusions. In the modern decoration of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the Academicism painting (1897–1901) is presented in the apse of the southern nave (diaconicon). In this compartment, authentic fragments of academic compositions have been restored, the painting system has been revived based on archival photos, and some new academic compositions have been introduced to it. Mural paintings have been performed by artists under the supervision of Oleksandr Pashkovskyi in 2018–2019. They also performed new murals in the academic tradition in the altar part of side-altar of the Saint Apostle Andrew the First Called in the southern part of choirs in 2020–2021. In the northern part of the choirs, paintings have been started and then suspended in 2022. In the new murals complex the artists cite in extenso or in part the compositions of the late 19th – early 20th centuries using archival photos. The murals have been performed in mixed techniques: holy images in oil, ornaments in acrylic paints. The composition ‘Glorification of Theotokos’ differs in the techniques; it is painted with oil on canvas. In the modern interpretation, the cited compositions can keep or change the primary location. The colouring of the new murals is formed on the basis of fragments of authentic compositions. A considerable part of the decoration is occupied by stylised ornaments as well as in murals of 1897–1901. The new and primary mural painting combine same academic principles of visual language, iconographic and colour principles, thematic and plot lines. Same general thematic lines are such as Theotokos theme, the theme of the Last Judgment, the Christianization of Ancient Rus, images of the saints of Ancient Rus and saints associated with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Keywords: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, academic painting, mural painting, sacral painting, Ukrainian painting, Dormition Cathedral.

The purpose of the article is to discover the issue of creating the Byzantine iconostasis in the artistic decoration of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the 19th – early 20th centuries a case study of the Great Pechersk Church (the Dormition Cathedral). The methodology is based on complex using historical and cultural analysis, and art study analysis. Scientific novelty. Milestones of creating the Byzantine style iconostasis in the Dormition Cathedral during the 19th – Early 20th centuries have been discovered. The cultural and artistic basis for implementing the idea of Byzantine iconostasis in 1845–1847, 1890–1900s has been revealed according to the text and visual records introduced into scientific circulation. The dominant role of the main iconostasis for the image of side-altars’ new iconostasis has been determined. The conservatism of religious personages who wanted to preserve the features of the previous iconostasis (height, number of tiers, the old icons, etc.) has been proved. It is determined that the sacred value of some icons was more important as a stylistic priority and it barely led to the replacement of the material of the iconostasis (silver instead of marble that traditional for Byzantine iconostases). Published photos of the Big iconostasis and the approved draft of the main iconostasis with the author of autographs (photos from the collection of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”). It has been found out distinguished Ukrainian art historian H. Pavlutskyi in one of them. The autonomy of the iconostases style of the mural paintings style in the Great Pechersk Church decoration has been proved. Conclusions. The attempt to realize the idea of the Byzantine iconostasis in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church in 1845–1847 created a precedent of the inconsistency of the artistic style of iconostasis and mural painting. The Byzantine style iconostasis hypothetically could exist in the spacious Baroque plastic art. Conversely, the complex of Baroque iconostases existed independently of the wall form performed in accordance with the Byzantine tradition at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. The polemic pointed around the main iconostasis, a new іmage of other iconostases designed in a complex with it. The baroque tradition was implemented in the new iconostasis projects. The monks perceived a change in mural paintings but they considered some icons by sacral constants in the Great Church. The Big iconostasis without upper tiers with the Byzantine cross was the victory of the Baroque tradition. The preservation of Baroque iconostases was a testimony of their stylistic autonomy from the mural painting decorated in Byzantine style. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, Byzantine art, Baroque art, iconostasis, sacral mural painting, KyivPechersk Lavra, Dormition Cathedral.

The purpose of the article is to introduce into scientific circulation documents presenting the factual system of sacred compositions 1897 – 1901 in the interior of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral (Great Church). The research methodology is synthesis of historical and cultural analysis, as well as art study analysis. Scientific novelty. The author has introduced the album of drawings by the artist Andrii Lakov into scientific circulation: “V. І. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Lakov A. A. The album of plans and detailed drawings the inside of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church showing the locations of sacred images. 1905. Paper, mixed technique. 19 sheets”. Based on this document, the author has performed three research tasks using examples. First, she reconstructed the system of sacral murals of the Church’s compartment. Second, she revealed the difference between the project and the actual mural. Third, she improved and determined the location of a number of compositions. The author has revealed the important theoretical and practical significance of the album as a presentation of the factual system of sacred compositions of 1897 – 1901 in the interior of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church (Dormition Cathedral). Conclusions. The album of drawings by the artist Andriі Lakov (1905) presents the factual system of sacral mural painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) of the late 19th – early 20th century. The album permits the determination of the compositions’ location on architectural surface. It is the evidence that artists partially changed the project in terms of the location of some compositions. This album provides an opportunity for the authentic historical reconstruction of the Cathedral’s painting decoration. Keywords: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, sacral mural painting, Ukrainian painting, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Great Church, Dormition Cathedral, Andrii Lakov.

The purpose of the article is to present the visual sources of the original Baroque mural paintings of the Dormition Cathedral, as well as to discover the reason for the absence of murals in some compartments of the upper tier before 1843. The research methodology is based on historical, cultural analysis, and art study analysis. Scientific novelty. The author specifies which compartments of the upper tier in the Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) remained without paintings until the 1840s. The reason (the confidentiality of preservation of the Lavra treasury) for which these compartments were not painted in the late 1720s-1730, in 1772-1777 is established. The author reveals and attributes the compositions of the original Baroque decoration of the Church painted in the late 1720s-1730, and conducted the art historical analysis. Conclusions. According to archival documents, the upper side-altars of the Saint Apostle Andrew the First Called (altar part), of the Transfiguration of the Lord (altar part), of the Venerable Anthony of Pechersk and of the Venerable Theodosius of Pechersk were not painted in the 18th century. The absence of murals in these compartments was due to the will to have secret places to keep the Lavra treasures. Fragments of the compositions in the photos (1898; the collection at the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”) are murals of the Great Church of the late 1720s – 1730. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, sacral mural painting, Ukrainian Baroque painting, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Dormition Cathedral.

The purpose of the article is to study the factor of traditionalism in the development of the complex of murals of the Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) in the 18th – 21st centuries. The research methodology is based on historical, cultural and art historical analysis. Scientific novelty of the study. Traditionalism is defined as a factor in the development of mural painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) in the 1720s–2020s. The author reveals that traditionality was implemented in the principle of continuity in the formation of new murals. The imitation of a number of thematic and narrative lines of the seventeenth-century murals in the decorations of the 1720s, as well as the murals of the 1720s and 1770s in the compositions of 1811 and the decorations of the late nineteenth century is studied. The author proves that the main visual source of the reconstruction of the twenty-first century painting was not the painting of the 1720s but of 1840-1843 and some compositions of the 1770s and 1811. The change in the location of traditional subjects is identified as one of the means of innovation in the programmes of new paintings. The continuity of a wide range of compositions, including the themes of the Baptism of Rus and the Pechersk Monastery, is traced. Conclusions. Traditionalism had a significant impact on the development of the monumental painting of the Great Assumption Church in the 18th-21st century. The programmes of the new paintings of the 1720s and especially of 1894 show the imitation of thematic and narrative lines from the previous paintings. During the renovation of the entire church interior (1772–1777, 1840–1843) and exterior (1809), as well as the renovation of certain compositions (for example, in 1811), he imitation of paintings was almost unchanged (this was a requirement of the Kyiv metropolitans). According to the principle of continuity in the XXI century, artists created a baroque image of the Great Church, using archival sources of paintings from 1840-1843, 1811, and 1772-1777. The continuity provided a historical connection between the murals of different centuries in the Dormition Cathedral. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, sacred monumental painting, Ukrainian painting, Kyiv‑Pechersk Lavra, Dormition Cathedral.

AbstractPrevious studies have established the use of various blue pigments, including both local and imported varieties, in the decoration of architecture in ancient China. However, the application of these pigments in local religious architecture has been understudied. In this study, the chemical analysis of ultramarine blue pigments was conducted on a mural painting retrieved from Yongle Taoist Temple in ancient China. The results showed that both imported and local pigments were used individually in the initial drawing period of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271‐1368), while they were mixed in a later restoration in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1636‐1912). Of particular significance, the analysis revealed the presence of lapis lazuli in a local religious relic of the Yuan Dynasty for the first time. Further analysis of the elemental proportions and associated minerals led to speculation about the origin of the lapis lazuli, which is believed to have come from Badakhshan, the north‐eastern region of Afghanistan, and been transported to Central China through the Silk Road. This finding shed light on the trade routes and usage of these pigments in the construction of religious architecture from the Yuan to the Qing dynasties.

In Renaissance culture, the theme of triumph, dating back to the traditions of ancient Rome, gained special popularity and acquired a new meaning, combined with the idea of Christian virtues. Many painters, miniaturists, masters of engraving, cassone’s and deschi da parto addressed this topic. The famous Petrarch’s «Triumphs» was one of the most beloved and widely illustrated books. The iconography of its miniatures was based on images of chariot processions, which were part of ancient Roman rituals that epitomized victory. The article examines the evolution of illustrations of Petrarch’s triumphs in the art of the illuminated book of the 15th century, the most common iconographic schemes, as well as the connection of these illustrations with painting of the early Renaissance and the heritage of antiquity. Particular attention is paid to the appearance in the miniature of the ХV century a new approach, which united the text and all the elements of page decoration (miniature, border, initials) into one pictorial structure with the design of a page based on the principle of creating a unified pictorial space, but not decorating its individual parts. This space was established on a new visual model of the Quattrocento painting, generating a live synthesis of the ancient heritage, transformed images of the Middle Ages and new Renaissance artistic practice.

AbstractA multianalytical approach was used to characterize the materials in the “Vienna Moamin”, an outstanding richly illustrated manuscript from the late thirteenth century, which was made in Italy and is now kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. The investigations were carried out with a non-invasive approach by using complementary techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (rFTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS). In addition, XRF scans were performed in two areas which yielded chemical maps showing the elemental distribution. The results revealed that typical materials from the medieval times were applied for the manuscript. Calcium carbonate on the parchment surface indicated a dehairing process with lime and/or whitening with chalk. Two different iron gall inks were detected in the main text and marginal notes, and vermilion was used for rubrication. The color palette included azurite, a green colorant composed of orpiment and indigo, yellow ochre, brown iron oxide pigments, minium, vermilion, brazilwood lake, and carbon black. Moreover, mosaic gold was detected in gold-beige hues. Lead white was identified for white areas and fine decoration lines, as well as in mixture with blue and red pigments for light color shades. No reliable information could be obtained concerning the binding media. Two differing application techniques for gold leaf were detected, which correspond with stylistic differences: either on gypsum or chalk preparation layers. Furthermore, calcium soap contents in certain colors were determined only on one folio with unique characteristics. The XRF scans of two historiated initials revealed that similar materials were applied in both cases and provided further valuable information about the painting technique. The results obtained enabled to gain insights into Italian thirteenth century manuscript production techniques and to characterize the used materials. The investigations showed the importance of scanning XRF for the elucidation of painting techniques, but also the demand of scanning devices utilizing compound specific analytical techniques such as rFTIR.

IntroductionAccording to Friedrich Nietzsche, the death of Man follows the death of God. Man as a concept must be overcome. Yet Nietzsche extends humanism’s jargon of creativity that privileges Man over animal. To truly overcome the notion of Man, one must undercome Man, in other words go below Man. Once undercome, creativity devolves into a type of building and unbuilding, affording art the ability to conceive of the subject emptied of divine creation. This article will examine how Man is unbuilt in three works by three different artists: Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon” (1953), Jan Švankmajer’s Darkness, Light, Darkness (1989), and Patricia Piccinini’s “The Young Family” (2002). All three artists evoke the animalistic in their depiction of what could be called the sub-subject, a diminished agent. Unbuilding the subject becomes the basis for building the sub-subject in these depictions of the human remainder. Man, from this vantage, will be examined as a cultural construct. Man largely means human, yet the Renaissance concept favoured a certain type of powerful male. Instead of rescuing Man, Bacon, Švankmajer and Piccinini, present the remnants of the human amidst the animal rather than the human subject detached from the animal. Such works challenge humanism, expressed in Giorgio Vasari’s analysis of art and creativity as indicative of Man’s closeness to the divine, which in a strange way, is extended in Nietzsche’s writings. These artists dismantle and build a subhuman form of subjectivity and thereby provide a challenge to traditional conceptions of creativity that historically favour Man as the creator beneath only God Himself. In the course of this article, I explore the violence of Bacon’s painted devolution, the deflationary animation of Švankmajer and Piccinini’s subhuman tenderness. I do not argue that we must abandon humanism altogether as there are a multiplicity of humanisms, or attempt to invalidate all the various posthumanisms, transhumanisms and antihumanisms. Rather, I attempt to show that Nietzsche’s posthumanism is a suprahumanism and that one possible way to frame the death of Man is through undercoming Man. Art, held in high esteem by Renaissance humanism, becomes a vehicle to imagine and engage with subhuman subjectivity.What Is Humanism? Humanism has numerous connotations from designating atheism to celebrating culture to privileging humans above other animals. The type of humanism I am interested in is not secular humanism, but rather humanism that celebrates and conceptualises Man’s place in the universe and does so through accentuating his (and I mean his given humanism’s often sexist, masculinist history) creativity and intellectual power. This celebration of creativity depends in part on a type of religious view, where Man is at the centre of God’s design. Such a view holds that Man’s power to shape nature’s materials resembles God. This type of humanism remains today but usually in a more humbled form, enfeebled by the scientific realisations that characterised the Enlightenment, namely the realisation that Man was not the centre of God’s universe. The Enlightenment is sometimes characterised as the birth of modern humanism, where the human subject undergoes estrangement from his surroundings through the conceptualisation of the subject–object division, and gains control over nature. A common narrative is that the subject’s autonomy and power came to extend to art itself, which in turn, became valued as possessing its own aesthetic legitimacy and yet also becoming an alienated commodity. Yet Cary Wolfe, in What Is Posthumanism?, echoes Michel Foucault’s claim that the Enlightenment could be viewed in tension to humanism (“Introduction” n.p.). Indeed, the Enlightenment’s creation of modern science would come to seriously challenge any view of humanity’s privileged status in this world. In contrast, Renaissance humanism conceived of Man as the centrepiece of God’s design and gifted with artistic creation and the ability to uncover truth. Renaissance HumanismRenaissance humanism is encapsulated by Vasari’s preface to The Lives of the Artists. In his preface, Vasari contends that God was the first artist, being both a painter and sculptor: God on High, having created the great body of the world and having decorated the heavens with its brightest lights, descended with His intellect further down into the clarity of the atmosphere and the solidity of the earth, and, shaping man, discovered in the pleasing invention of things the first form of sculpture and painting. (3)Interestingly, God discovers creation, which is a type of decoration, where the skies are decorated with bright lights—the stars. Giving colour, light and shade to the world and heavens, qualifies God as a painter. The human body, according to Vasari, is sculpted by God, which in turn inspires artists to depict the human form. Art and design—God’s design—is thereby ‘at the origin of all things’ and not merely painting and sculpture, though the reality we know is still the product of God’s painting and sculpture. According to Vasari, God privileges Man not for his intellect per se, but by bestowing him with the ability of creation and design. Indeed, creativity and design are for Vasari a part of all intellectual discovery. Intellect is the mode of discovering design, which for Vasari, is also creation. Vasari claims “that divine light infused in us by a special act of grace which has not only made us superior to other animals but even similar, if it is permitted to say so, to God Himself” (4). God is more than just a maker, he is a creator with an aesthetic sense. All intellectual human endeavours, claims Vasari, are aesthetic and creative, in their comprehension of God’s design of the world. Vasari’s emphasis on design became outmoded as Renaissance humanism was challenged by the Enlightenment’s interest in humans and other animals as machines. However, evolution challenges even some mechanistic understandings of the human subject, which sometimes presupposed that the human-machine had a maker, as with William Paley’s watchmaker theory. As Richard Dawkins put it in The Blind Watchmaker, nature “has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If [evolution] can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker” (“Chapter One: Explaining the Very Improbable” n.p.). No longer was God’s universe designed for Man’s comprehension and appreciation, foretelling humanity’s own potential extinction.Man and God’s DeathThe idea that humanity was created by blind processes raises the question of what sort of depiction of the human subject is possible after the death of God and the Enlightenment’s tendency toward disenchantment? An art and self-understanding founded on atheism would be in sharp distinction to Vasari’s characterisation of the nature as an artwork coloured by the divine painter and sculptor in the heavens. Man’s creativity and design are, for the Renaissance humanist, part of discovery, the embodied realisations and iterations of the Platonic realm of divine forms. But such designs, wondrous for Vasari, can be viewed as shadows without origin in a post-God world. In Vasari, Platonism is still present where the artist’s creation becomes a way of discerning the origin of all forms, God himself. Yet, without divine origin, these forms are no longer discoveries and the possibility emerges that they are not even creations, emptied of the divine meaning that gave Man’s creative and scientific work value. Nietzsche understood that the loss of God called for the revaluation of all values. This is why Nietzsche claims that God’s death signifies the death of Man. For Nietzsche, the last Man was such an iteration, a shadow of what man had been (Thus Spoke Zarathustra 9-10). The Post-Man, the Übermensch, is one who extends the human power of creation and evaluation. In Vasari, Man is a model created by God. Nietzsche extends this logic: Man is his own creation as is God Man’s model. Man is capable of self-construction and overcoming without the hindrance of the divine. This freedom unlocked by auto-creation renders Man capable of making himself God. As such, art remains a source of sacred power for Nietzsche since it is a process of creative evaluation. The sacred is affirmed against secular profanity. For Nietzsche, God must be envisaged as Dionysus, a God that Nietzsche claims takes on a human form in Greek festivals dedicated to creation and fecundity. Mankind, in order to continue to have value after God’s death, “must become gods”, must take the place of God (The Gay Science 120). Nietzsche, All-Too HumanistNietzsche begins a project of rethinking Man as a category. Yet there is much in common with Renaissance humanism generated by Nietzsche’s Dionysian belief in a merger between God and Man. Man is overcome by a stronger and more creative figure, that of the Übermensch. By comparing Nietzsche with Vasari we can understand just how humanist Nietzsche remained. Indeed, Nietzsche fervently admired the Renaissance as a rebirth of paganism. Such an assessment of the rebirth of pagan art and values can almost be found in Vasari himself. Vasari claimed that pagan art, far from being blasphemous, brought Man closer to the divine in a tribute to the creativity of God. Vasari’s criticism of Christianity is careful but present. Indeed, Vasari—in a way that anticipates Nietzsche’s view that secular sacrilege was merely an extension of Christian sacrilege—attacks Christian iconoclasm, noting that barbarians and Christians worked together to destroy sacred forms of art: not only did [early Christianity] ruin or cast to the ground all the marvellous statues, sculptures, paintings, mosaics, and ornaments of the false pagan gods, but it also did away with the memorials and testimonials to an infinite number of illustrious people, in whose honour statues and other memorials had been constructed in public places by the genius of antiquity. (5) In this respect, Vasari embodies the values Nietzsche so praised in the Italian Renaissance. Vasari emphasises the artistic creations that enshrine distinctions of value and social hierarchy. While Vasari continues Platonic notions that ideals exist before human creation, he nevertheless holds human creation as a realisation and embodiment of the ideal, which is not dissimilar to Nietzsche’s notion of divine embodiment. For Nietzsche and Vasari, Man is exulted when he can rise, like a god, above other men. Another possibility would be to lower Man to just another animal. One way to envision such a lowering would be to subvert the mode by which Man is deemed God-like. Art that engages with the death of Man helps conceptualise subhumanism and the way that the subject ceases to be raised above the animal. What follows are studies of artworks that unbuild the subject. Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon”Francis Bacon’s work challenges the human subject by depicting nonhuman subjects, where the flesh is torn open and Man’s animal flesh is exposed. Sometimes Bacon does not merely disfigure the human form but violently abandons it to focus on animals that reveal animal qualities latent in the subject. Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon”, expresses a sense of human devolution: Man devolved to monkey. In the work, we see a baboon within an enclosure, sitting above a tree that simultaneously resembles a gothic shadow, a cross, and even a smear. The dark, cross-like tree may suggest the conquering of God by a baboon, a type of monkey, recalling the old slander of Darwin’s theory, namely that Darwinism entailed that humanity descended from monkeys (which Darwin’s theory does not claim). But far from victorious, the monkey is in a state of suffering. While the baboon is not crucified on or by the tree, suffering pervades the frame. Its head resembles some sort of skull. The body is faintly painted in a melancholy blue with smudges of purple and is translucent and ghostly—at once a lump of matter and a spectral absence. We do not see the baboon through the cage. Instead we see through the baboon at the cage. Indeed, its very physiology involves the encountering of trauma as the head of the baboon does not simply connect to the body but stabs through the body as a sharp bone, perhaps opaquely evoking the violence of evolution. Similarly, the baboon’s tail seems to stab through the tree. Its eye is an enlarged void and a pupil is indicated by a bluish white triangle splitting through the void. The tree has something of the menacing and looming quality of a shadow and there is a sense of wilderness confronted by death and entrapment, evoked through the background. The yellowy ground is suggestive of dead grass. While potentially gesturing to the psychical confusion and intensity of Vincent Van Gogh or Edvard Munch, the yellowed grass more likely evokes the empty, barren and hostile planes of the desert and contrasts with the darkened colours. The baboon sitting on the cross/tree may seem to have reached some sort of pinnacle but such a status is mocked by the tree that manages to continue outside the fence: the branches nightmarishly protrude through the fence to conquer the frame, which in turn furthers the sense of inescapable entrapment and threat. The baboon is thereby precluded from reaching a higher point on the tree, unable to climb the branches, and underscores the baboon’s confines. The painting is labelled a study, which may suggest it is unfinished. However, Bacon’s completed works preserve an unfinished quality. This unfinished quality conveys a sense in which Man and evolution are unfinished and that being finished in the sense of being completed is no longer possible. The idea that there can finished work of art, a work of art that preserves an eternal meaning, has been repeatedly subject to serious doubt, including by artists themselves. Indeed, Bacon’s work erases the potential for perfection and completion, and breaks down, through devolution, what has been achieved by Man and the forces that shaped him. The subject is lowered from that of human to that of a baboon and is therefore, by Vasari’s Renaissance reasoning, not a subject at all. Bacon’s sketch and study exist to evoke a sense of incompletion, involving pain without resolution. The animal state of pain is therefore married with existential entrapment and isolation as art ceases to express the Platonic ideal and aims to show the truth of the shadow—namely that humanity is without a God, a God that previously shed light on humanity’s condition and anchored the human subject. If there is a trace or echo of human nobility left, such a trace functions through the wild and violent quality of animal indignation. A scream of painful indignity is the last act approaching (or descending from) any dignity that is afforded. Jan Švankmajer’s Darkness, Light, DarknessAn even more extreme case of the subject no longer being the subject, of being broken and muted—so much so that animal protest is annulled—can be witnessed in Jan Švankmajer’s animated short Darkness, Light, Darkness. In the animation, green clay hands mould and form a human body in order to be part of it. But when complete, the human body is trapped, grotesquely out of proportion with its environment. The film begins in a darkened house. There is a knocking of the door, and then the first green hand opens the door and turns on the light. The hand falls to the floor, blindly making its way to another door on the opposite side of the house. The hand opens the door only for eyeballs to roll out. The eyes look around. The hand pushes its clay fingers against the eyeballs, and the eyeballs become attached to the fingers. Suddenly with sight, the hand is able to lift itself up. The hand discovers that another hand is knocking at the door. The first hand helps the second hand, and then goes to the window where a pair of ears are stuck together flapping like a moth. The hands work together and break the ears apart. The first hand, the one with eyes, attaches the ears to the second hand. Then a head with a snout, but missing eyes and ears, enters through the door. The hands pull the snout until it becomes a nose, suppressing and remoulding the animal until it becomes human. As with Bacon, the violence of evolution, of auto-construction is conveyed indirectly: in Bacon’s case, through painted devolution and, in the case of the claymation, through a violent construction based on mutilation and smashing body parts together.Although I have described only three minutes of the seven-minute film, it already presents an image of human construction devoid of art or divine design. Man, or rather the hands, become the blind watchman of evolution. The hands work contingently, with what they are provided. They shape themselves based on need. The body, after all, exists as parts, and the human body is made up of other life forms, both sustaining and being sustained by them. The hands work together, and sacrifice sight and hearing for the head. They tear off the ears and remove the eyes and give them to the head. Transcendence is exchanged for subsistence. The absurdity of this contingency becomes most apparent when the hands attempt to merge with the head, to be the head’s feet. Then the feet actually arrive and are attached to the head’s neck. The human subject in such a state is thereby deformed and incomplete. It is a frightened form, cowering when it hears banging at the door. It turns out that the banging is being produced by an angry erect penis pounding at the door. However, even this symbol of masculine potency is subdued, rendered harmless by the hands that splash a bucket of cold water on it. The introduction of the penis signifies the masculinist notions implicit in the term Man, but we only ever see the penis when it is flaccid. The human subject is able to be concluded when clay pours from both doors and the window. The hands sculpt the clay and make the body, which, when complete is oversized and barely fits within the house. The male subject is then trapped, cramped in a foetal position. With its head against the ceiling next to the light, breathing heavily, all it can do is turn out the light. The head opens its mouth either in horror or a state of exertion and gasps. The eyes bulge before one of the body’s hands turns switch, perhaps suggesting terror before death or simply the effort involved in turning off the light. Once completed and built, the human subject remains in the dark. Despite the evident quirky, playful humour, Švankmajer’s film reflects an exhaustion with art itself. Human life becomes clay comically finding its own form. For Vasari, the ideal of the human form is realised first by God and then by Man through marble; for Švankmajer it is green clay. He demotes man back to the substance for a God to mould but, as there is no God to breathe life into it and give form, there is just the body to imperfectly mould itself. The film challenges both Vasari’s humanism and the suprahumanism of Nietzschean spectacle. Instead of the self-generating power and radical interdependence and agency of Übermensch, Švankmajer’s sub-subject is Man undercome—man beneath as opposed to over man, man mocked by its ambition, and with no space to stand high. Švankmajer thereby realises the anti-Nietzschean potential inherent within cinema’s anti-spectacular nature. Antonin Artaud, who extends the aesthetics advanced by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, contrasts the theatre’s sense of animal life with cinema. Artaud observes that movies “murder us with second-hand reproductions […] filtered through machines” (84). Thus, films murder creative and animal power as film flattens life to a dead realm of reproduction. Continuing Jacques Derrida’s hauntological framing of the screen, the animation theorist Alan Cholodenko has argued that the screen implies death. Motion is dead and replaced by illusion, a recording relayed back to us. What renders cinema haunting also renders it hauntological. For Cholodenko, cinema’s animation challenges ontology and metaphysics by eschewing stable ontologies through a process that entails both presence and absence. As Cholodenko points out, all film is a type of animation and reanimation, of making images move that are not in fact moving. Thus, one can argue that the animated-animation (such as Švankmajer’s claymation) becomes a refinement of death, a Frankesteinian reanimation of dead material. Indeed, Darkness, Light, Darkness accentuates the presence of death with the green clay almost resembling putrefaction. The fingerprints on the clay accentuate a lack of life, for the autonomous and dead matter that constructs and shapes a dead body from seemingly severed body parts. Even the title of the film, Darkness, Light, Darkness reflects an experience of cinema as deflation rather than joyous spectacle. One goes to a darkened space, watches light flicker on a screen and then the light goes out again. The cartoonish motions of the hands and body parts in the film look only half alive and therefore seem half-dead. Made in the decaying Communist state of Czechoslovakia, Švankmajer’s film aptly acknowledges the deflation of cinema, reflecting that illumination—the light of God, is put out, or more specifically, switched off. With the light of God switched off, creation becomes construction and construction becomes reconstruction, filtered through cinema’s machine processes as framed through Cholodenko. Still, Švankmajer’s animation is not unsympathetic to the plight of the hands. We do see the body parts work together. When a vulgar, meaty, non-claymation tongue comes out through the door, it goes straight to the other door to let the teeth in. The teeth and tongue are aided by the hands to complete the face. Indeed, what they produce is a human being, which has some sense of coherence and success—a success enmeshed with failure and entrapment. Piccinini’s “The Young Family”Patricia Piccinini’s sculptural works offer a more tender approach to the subject, especially when her works focus on the nonhuman animal with human characteristics. Piccinini is interested in the combinations of the animal and the machine, so her ideas can be seen almost as transhuman, where the human is extended beyond humanism. Her work is based on connection and connectedness, but does not emphasise the humanist values of innovation and self-creation often inherent to transhumanism. Indeed, the emphasis on connection is distinct from the entrapment of Bacon’s baboon and Švankmajer’s clay human, which half lament freedom’s negation.The way that Piccinini preserves aspects of humanism within a framework of subhumanism is evident in her work “The Young Family”. The hypperrealistic sculpture depicts a humanoid pig form, flopped, presumably exhausted, as piglet-babies suckle on her nipples. The work was inspired by a scientific proposal for pigs to be genetically modified to provide organs for humans (“Educational Resource” 5). Such a transhuman setting frames a subhuman aesthetic. Care is taken to render the scene with sentiment but without a sense of the ideal, without perfection. One baby-piglet tenderly grasps its foot with both hands and stares with love at its mother. We see two piglets enthusiastically sucking their mother’s teat, while a third baby/piglet’s bottom is visible, indicating that there is a third piglet scrambling for milk. The mother gazes at us, with her naked mammalian body visible. We see her wrinkles and veins. There is some fur on her head and some hair on her eyebrows humanising her. Indeed, her eyes are distinctly human and convey affection. Affection seems to be a motif that carries through to the materials (carefully crafted by Piccinini’s studio). The affection displayed in the artwork is trans-special, emphasising that human tenderness is in fact mammalian tenderness. Such tenderness conflates the human, the nonhuman animal and the material out of which the humanoid creature and its young are constructed. The sub-agency brings together the young and the old by displaying the closeness of the family. Something of this sub-subjectivity is theorised in Malcolm Bull’s Anti-Nietzsche, where he contrasts Nietzsche’s idea of the Übermensch with the idea of the subhuman. Bull writes that subhumanism involves giving up on “becoming more than a man and think[ing] only of becoming something less” (n.p.; Chapter 2, sec. “The Subhuman”). Piccinini depicts vulnerability and tenderness with life forms that are properly speaking subhuman, and reject the displays of strength of Nietzsche’s suprahumanism or Vasari’s emphasis on art commemorating great men. But Piccinini’s subhumanism preserves enough humanism to understand art’s ability to encourage an ethics of nurturing. In this respect, her works offer an alternative to Bull’s subhumanism that aims, so Bull argues, to devalue art altogether. Instead, Piccinini affirms imagination, but through its ability to conjure new ways to perceive animal affection. The sub-subject thereby functions to reveal states of emotion common to mammals (including humans) and other animals. ConclusionThese three artists therefore convey distinct, if related and intersecting, ways of visualising the sub-subject: Bacon through animal suffering, Švankmajer through adaptation that ultimately leads to the agent’s entrapment, and Piccinini who, instead of marrying anti-humanism with the subhumanism (the procedure of Švankmajer, and Bacon), integrates aspects of transhumanism and Renaissance humanism into her subhuman vision. As such, these works present a realisation of how we might think of the going under of the human subject after Darwin, Nietzsche and the deaths of God, Man and the diminishment of creativity. Such works remain not only antithetical to Vasari’s humanism but also to Nietzsche’s suprahumanism. These artists use art’s power to humble—not through overpowering awe but through the visible breakdown of the human agent, speaking for and to the sub-subject. Such art, by unbuilding and dismantling the subject, draws on prehuman trajectories of evolution, and in the case of Piccinini, transhuman trajectories. Art ceases to be about the grandiose evocations of power. Rather, more modestly, these works build a connection between the human with other mammals. Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge Daniel Canaris for his valuable insights into Christianity and the Italian Renaissance, Alan Cholodenko for providing copies of his works that were central to my interpretation of Švankmajer, and Rachel Franks and Simon Dwyer for their invaluable assistance and finding very helpful reviewers. References Artaud, Antonin. The Theatre and Its Double. New York: Grove P, 1958.Art Gallery of South Australia. “Educational Resource Patricia Piccinini.” Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia. 11 Dec. 2016 <https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Learning/docs/Online_Resources/Piccinini_online_resource.pdf>.Bacon, Francis. “Head I.” 1948. Oil on Canvas. 100.3 x 74.9cm. ———. “Study of a Baboon.” 1953. Oil on Canvas. 198.3 x 137.3cm. Bull, Malcolm. Anti-Nietzsche. New York: Verso, 2011. Cholodenko, Alan. “First Principles of Animation.” Animating Film Theory. Ed. Karen Beckman. Duke UP, 2014. 98-110.———. “The Crypt, the Haunted House, of Cinema.” Cultural Studies Review 10.2 (2004): 99-113. Darkness, Light, Darkness. Jan Švankmajer, 1990. 35mm. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. ———. The Gay Science. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. ———. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006.Piccinini, Patricia. “The Young Family.” 2002. Silicone, Polyurethane, Leather, Plywood, Human Hair, 80 x 150 x 110cm. Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of Artists. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.Wolfe, Cary. What Is Posthumanism? Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2010.