The painted portrait

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2021 Undergraduate Research Symposium: Full Program

Full program with schedule and abstracts for the 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Entropy in Image Analysis II

Image analysis is a fundamental task for any application where extracting information from images is required. The analysis requires highly sophisticated numerical and analytical methods, particularly for those applications in medicine, security, and other fields where the results of the processing consist of data of vital importance. This fact is evident from all the articles composing the Special Issue "Entropy in Image Analysis II", in which the authors used widely tested methods to verify their results. In the process of reading the present volume, the reader will appreciate the richness of their methods and applications, in particular for medical imaging and image security, and a remarkable cross-fertilization among the proposed research areas

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, a stylistic study of his work

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston Universit

DEFINING ARTISTIC IDENTITY IN THE FLORENTINE RENAISSANCE: VASARI, EMBEDDED SELF-PORTRAITS, AND THE PATRON'S ROLE

Readers of Vasari's Vite will be aware of the lively Renaissance tradition of the artist's embedded portrait within commissioned works. We are told of numerous embedded self-portraits, a notion that earlier authors including Alberti, Filippo Villani, and Ghiberti, corroborate. This dissertation argues that the Vite, our most extensive source on the subject, set up ideas and expectations that continue to pervade our understanding of their purposes and functions. A primary aim here is to move beyond Vasari's assumptions and examine self-images from the standpoint of their audience rather than their creators. Chapter One examines aspects of our current knowledge concerning Vasari's historical context and his motivations as an artist, courtier, and writer in order to understand how his views informed his interpretation of the genre. Chapter Two examines a manuscript self-portrait by Pietro da Pavia and a sculpted self-portrait of Andrea Orcagna. It investigates issues of artistic identity and authority and how these notions were displayed and commemorated to discern how self-portraits may have served the aims of the commissioner(s). The third and fourth chapters delve into the history of Quattrocento Florentine embedded self-portraits. First with Masaccio's self-portrait in the Brancacci Chapel, and then with self-images of Benozzo Gozzoli, Botticelli, Filippino Lippi and Domenico Ghirlandaio, these chapters examine aspects of the Renaissance culture of art commissioning to establish the patron's role with regard to embedded self-portraiture. Discussion here suggests ways in which a patron might have understood the artist's embedded self-portrait during the early Quattrocento. It further explores the notion that while professional, intellectual, and social-status driven concerns may have dominated the creation of embedded self-images, not all of these were the concerns of the artists. The final chapter investigates transitional images between the embedded and autonomous self-portrait traditions by examining two fictively autonomous self-images - one by Perugino in Perugia's Collegio del Cambio and the other by Pintoricchio in Santa Maria Maggiore, Spello. The case-studies presented here illuminate neglected aspects regarding Renaissance embedded self-images, and cast light on both sides of the transaction between artist and patron that resulted in the inclusion of the artist's embedded self-portrait in narrative paintings

Catching All Passions in His Craft of Will: Portraits and Pater in Oscar Wilde’s “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.”

This thesis examines Oscar Wilde’s “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” as the product of Wilde’s long interest in critic Walter Pater’s literature and scholarship. From its first iteration published in 1889, through Wilde’s ongoing revision and expansion into the version commonly anthologized today, “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” is an evolving work that mirrors Wilde’s enduring relationship with the art and ideas of his former teacher. This relationship is explored in three contexts: Pater’s contribution to Wilde’s understanding of the Renaissance period; the steady influence of Pater’s ideas and persona on Wilde’s other major works from the period that saw the publication and revision of “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.;” and the particular influence of Pater’s Imaginary Portraits on the structure and themes of “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” Because of Pater’s extensive writings on art, and Wilde’s passionate interest in the subject, many of these intersections occur around the image of the portrait in Wilde’s work

Physiognomy of Rulers in Italian and Chinese History and Biography

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the representations of rulers, in Italian and Chinese history and biography, in the light of antique physiognomic theories. The description of rulers, with the reference of physiognomy, is used as one of the methods of propaganda or persuasion of the legitimacy or power of the ruler. The physiognomy of ruler may be considered from two perspectives. One is the ruler\u2019s body, that is, what physical appearances of the rulers are described, sometimes at the expense of likeness, both in Italian and Chinese history and biography, and how these features are similar and thus might make the rulers in one type. The other is the body of ruler, that is, what kind of physical features makes the particular person ruler and how these features are exclusively established as templates and help to legitimate the heaven-given or god-given power. In the same framework, through the comparison of the Chinese and Italian physiognomy of rulers, figuring out their similarities and differences, analyzing possible causes of such description, we demonstrated the cultural and political diversities as well

'Hidden’

‘Hidden’ is a novel exploring ideas of secrecy, self-presentation and what it means to be an artist. The two main characters are Jemima, an art student at university, and Clement. They meet at a party when Clement walks in on Jemima cutting herself. Something about Jemima reminds Clement of his sister, Hannah, who died as a result of her anorexia. Jemima is intrigued by Clement’s reaction to her cutting and finds herself drawn to the only person who knows her secret. While she finds comfort in the fact he knows something she keeps hidden, and the space of intimacy this creates, she refuses to participate actively in that intimacy, keeping him, emotionally, at an arm‘s length. Clement and Jemima travel separately to Barcelona. Clement visits before the start of the novel and returns early when Hannah is readmitted to hospital. Clement remembers Barcelona in a twist of pleasure and pain. It is where he found his artistic voice and where he felt free as an artist for the first time. At the same time, however, he feels that he deserted Hannah for art, represented by Barcelona. Since his sister‘s death, Clement has become ‘anorexic’ about art. In an attempt to control something in this uncontrollable world, he avoids seeing or creating art. Jemima, perplexed by Clement’s feelings about Barcelona and knowing nothing of Hannah, thinks that by going there she‘ll be able to connect with him, without the risk of real intimacy. At the same time, travelling alone to Barcelona appeals to Jemima as a way to escape their burgeoning relationship. In Barcelona she discovers that she will always be herself no matter where she goes. She also finds her own way of thinking about art and what it means to be an artist – very different from Clement’s. ‘Looking in a Broken Mirror: Reflections on the Split Writer and the Visual Artist Character’ is the exegesis for ‘Hidden‘. The exegesis explores the idea of split or doubled artists, looking specifically at the relationship between writer-artist and fictional character-artist. It is argued that writing about a fictional artist can be a way of exploring the creative process and the relationship between artist (writer) and artwork (novel). Margaret Atwood‘s novel Cat’s Eye is discussed as exploring a possible relationship between the artist, her life and her art. Other novels about visual artists are also discussed in relation to ‘Hidden’. The creative process and the experience of research for this project are examined, specifically in relation to the split or doubled relationship between life and art and the split between rational and creative thinking. Gaudí’s architecture, in the city of Barcelona, is considered in these contexts as a significant influence in the development of the novel.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 201

Enabling self-identity revisioning through portraiture, for people living with life threatening and chronic illnesses: paint me this way!

Arguably life threatening and chronic illness is not just an attack on the body, it is an attack on a person s sense of self-identity, shattering the means by which a person experiences the world, and by which they also are experienced, contributing to a person s sense of powerlessness and distress. People living with a life threatening or chronic illness, often describe the impact of their diagnosis, treatment and illness as having changed their sense of self-identity beyond all recognition. Seven participants, purposefully selected from those attending a weekly day-hospice session in Wiltshire, took part in the study. This qualitative, practice-based research project challenges the power dynamics in art therapy and attempts to equalise the relationship between researcher and participant through the development of a collaborative intersubjective relationship, within which the participants are recognised as experts on their lived experience, and in a series of negotiations , co-design their own portraits directing how they wish to be portrayed. Through this process the participants become patient/researchers (PRs) and the artist/therapist/researcher (ATR), by creating the portraits, also becomes a reflexive participant . This project utilises an in-depth multiple case-study design and multiple creative data generation methods as well as a phenomenological approach to data analysis. This project reverses the terms of engagement within art therapy and uses the art therapist s artistic practice or third hand to create portraits for patients. (This is based upon the assumption that most art therapy theories terms of engagement include patients producing art within the therapeutic encounter, however some psychodynamic and psychoanalytic art therapists may use client art generation selectively or not at all). This raises important questions around who makes the artwork in art therapy interventions . The use of portraiture as a third hand intervention enables the art therapist to develop a sense of positive focussed attention and mirroring and attunement through the art object, enabling the addition of coherence through aesthetic resonance and the holding of dualities through metaphor and symbolism. The results of this study demonstrate the power of portraiture as an intersubjective way of knowing, being and relating, enabling the revisioning of identities disrupted by illness, characterised by increases in participants creative capacity to adapt to illness and feelings of home-like-being-in-the-world, developing a stronger, more coherent lived experience of self-identity, effecting closure to difficult life experiences, and improving their overall quality of life

Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy

Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy illuminates the vibrancy of spiritual beliefs and practices which profoundly shaped family life in this era. Scholarship on Catholicism has tended to focus on institutions, but the home was the site of religious instruction and reading, prayer and meditation, communal worship, multi-sensory devotions, contemplation of religious images and the performance of rituals, as well as extraordinary events such as miracles. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this volume affirms the central place of the household to spiritual life and reveals the myriad ways in which devotion met domestic needs. The seventeen essays encompass religious history, the histories of art and architecture, material culture, musicology, literary history, and social and cultural history