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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 • • • • • 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.