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Concepts and methods
Willem van
Haecht,
Collection of
Cornelius van
der Geest, 1628
Images and history
Visual culture and material culture
• Visual culture—images; the way humans and human
societies have expressed themselves (intentionally or
unintentionally) through images (e.g. paintings,
photographs, sculpture, architecture)
• Material culture—artefacts; objects made and used
by humans; the way humans and human societies
have expressed themselves (intentionally or
unintentionally) through the objects they make and
use
The Last Supper; stained glass
window, Chartres cathedral,
1150s
The Last Supper, from a set
of four tapestries of the
Passion, known as the Alba
Passion, c. 1520–30
The Last Supper; engraving by
Hendrik Goltzius, 1598
Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-8
Gislebertus, The Last Judgement, Cathedral of St Lazare, Autun,
France, c.1120-35
Detail from Giotto, Last
Judgement, fresco at the
Cappella Scrovegni, Padua,
1306
Scenes from the Bayeux tapestry, 1070s: top, Harold is killed;
bottom, the English in flight
Still from Apocalypse Now,
dir. Francis Ford Coppola
(1979)
Scene from the Bayeux tapestry, 1070s
Wonders on the Deep; 1683 woodcut of the frost fair held
on the Thames in that year
Jan Steen, The Feast of St Nicholas
Jan Steen, The Bean Feast
Images of Dutch life in the late 17th century
Soviet workers; a propaganda poster and a 1942
photo of a woman working overtime (or so the label
tells us) in a factory to aid the war effort
1950s American family: reality or ideal?
New Yorkers in a Brooklyn park on 9/11
Robert Capa, Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of
Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936 (‘The
Falling Soldier’)
2008 image released by the Iranian government
showing the firing of four rockets
The image before Photoshop
photoshopdisasters.com
Two states of the same print, The Embleme of England’s Distraction, the first
featuring Oliver Cromwell, the second William III
Medieval bath houses
German brothel scene by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537
Joachim Beuckelaer, Brothel scene, 1562
Nicolaus Knüpfer, Brothel scene, 1630s
Left: portrait of the Venetian poet and
courtesan Veronica Franco (1546-91), by
Tintoretto, c. 1575
Below: Hans Holbein the Younger, Lais of
Corinth, 1526; the subject was a famous
hetaera (or courtesan) in ancient Greece
Judith Leyster, Man offering money
to a young woman (The Proposition),
1631
William Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress, 1732, plate 1
Plate 2
Plate 3
Plate 4
Plate 5
Plate 6
Iconography
The study of visual content and meaning,
particularly through an understanding of the
symbols used in an image, but also including
such things as gestures within an image
George Gower, Portrait of Elizabeth I
(‘The Plimpton Sieve Portrait’), 1579
Giovanni Battista
Moroni, The Vestal
Virgin Tuccia, c.1555
Andrea
Mantegna,
Tuccia, 1490
Bartolomeo Neroni,
Tuccia, mid 16th century
Quentin Metsys, Portrait of
Elizabeth I (‘The Sieve Portrait’),
c.1583
Attributed to Isaac Oliver, Portrait
of Elizabeth I (‘The Rainbow
Portrait’), 1600-2
Joseph Anton Koch, Noah’s Thanksoffering,
c.1803
Attributed to Isaac Oliver, Portrait
of Elizabeth I (‘The Rainbow
Portrait’), 1600-2
The Clopton portrait, c.1560
Portrait of Elizabeth I, c.1565
The Pelican portrait, c.1575,
attributed to Nicholas Hilliard
The Ermine portrait, 1585, by
Nicholas Hilliard
The Ditchley portrait,
c.1592, by Marcus
Gheeraerts the Younger
Concluding thoughts
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Visual and material culture can provide us with social evidence, but more with
evidence of the way the world is seen (which is not the same as the way the
world is) through the makers of the images and objects—and often the way
consumers understood that world too.
Images can reflect the ideas and beliefs people had about their world and
themselves—they are not necessarily reflections of reality (indeed, they may
rarely be so). Images express thoughts, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and often
more the way we would like to see things rather than the way things are.
Images as constructions of reality?
Images and objects need to be put into context (just as we need to place texts
in context); in particular, our understanding of them is improved if we see
them in the context of other images or objects, as well as texts.
Cultural objects exist within social and economic systems, within systems of
social relations, systems of exchange; cultural objects are bought and sold;
painters, printmakers, photographers, etc. work in a marketplace; art is
commissioned; artists have patrons and clients. Who is producing an image
and for whom?
Images and objects can be read and interpreted; they are often symbolic, and
can be understood iconographically; and we can ‘read between the lines’ and
look for the unintentional evidence they provide.