Excavating in the Wanderstraßen der Kultur. Piranesi’s Candalebra and the material Reception of Antiquity

Usually we do not think of Warburg as an archaeologist. He rather appears, carefully dressed, as the scholar in his studio, surrounded by the images he cut out for his collages. But his favourite metaphor to describe his life’s work was that of the excavator: to retrace, as he put it in one version, the vagaries of Nachleben as the unearthing of villages and towns of which only isolated road blocks and fading road numbers survived. In another version of the archaeological metaphor he described his study of the survival of pathos formulas as “preliminary excavation reports about the first stages of the migration routes along which ancient gesture travelled from Athens to Rome, Florence and Nuremberg”. These metaphors suggest something that until now has remained somewhat neglected in both reception and Nachleben studies: that not only images survive, but objects as well, and that they survive not just as the carriers of images, but as material objects as well. And whereas reception studies of images is by now a well-established and flourishing discipline, especially in the UK, the material reception of Antiquity is still an emerging field. Biographies of objects over long periods are now occasionally written, but the biographical model is a bit of a mixed blessing: it helps structure the narrative, but tends to favour a conception of an object as a unique individual, rather than a member of a class or type. Also, the metaphor of the life of an object gives the narrative a certain shape and drive that obscures all sorts of methodological issues

Introduction

This session is devoted to a reconsideration of the way disciplines are defined, and their boundaries established, with regard to early modern architecture in Italy and the ways its history is written. So why did Maarten Delbeke and I as session chairs decide to tackle this issue by inviting scholars who are specialists on Vitruvius, Jesuit architecture, or architectural thought at the court of Cosimo I? What, you may very well ask, is the relation between a paper on Jesuit historiography of ..

Conceptions de l’ornement en quête de discours scientifique

Les trois livres étudiés ici offrent un nouvel éclairage sur l’histoire complexe de l’ornement en Occident. L’étude de Clare Guest sur la compréhension de l’ornement à la Renaissance est une tentative ambitieuse et très savante de retracer la préhistoire des concepts avant l’émergence de l’esthétique kantienne. Guest remonte aux débuts de la pensée occidentale sur l’ornement, dans l’Ancien Testament, dans les pensées grecques platonicienne, aristotélicienne et sophistique, et dans la scolastique, pour retrouver une conception de l’ornement et de la beauté qui ne soit pas déterminée à partir d’un concept relatif de la beauté, et qui résonne tout de même avec l’idée grecque selon laquelle l’ornement serait l’éclat de la vérité et de la beauté. Le livre de Rémi Labrusse se penche quant à lui sur l’histoire de l’ornement après le moment kantien. Il s’agit d’une étude tout aussi dense et très sophistiquée des tentatives du xixe siècle pour repenser l’ornement, sa conception et son histoire, face aux défis posés par l’émergence d’une prise de conscience de la nature globale de l’art et de l’ornementation humaine et des changements radicaux que la révolution industrielle imprime à la production artistique. C’est un nouveau départ fondamental. Tourné vers le xxe siècle, le volume Histories of Ornament. From Global to Local, dirigé par Gülru Necipoglu et Alina Payne, remet en question le paradigme moderniste, ou plutôt son rejet de l’ornement, à partir de la résurgence de l’ornementation de surface dans l’œuvre d’architectes contemporains tels que Herzog & De Meuron ou Farshid Moussavi. Ces trois livres se distinguent par une remise en cause fondamentale des idées reçues sur l’ornement conçu comme complément de l’objet qu’il orne, et donc superflu, et montrent de différentes manières que la question de l’ornement est au cœur de l’art et de la culture matérielle humains.The three books under review here all throw important new light on the complex history of ornament in the West. Clare Guest’s study of the understanding of ornament in the Renaissance is an ambitious and highly learned attempt to recover the pre-history of concepts before the emergence of Kantian aesthetics. Guest goes back to the beginning of Western thought on ornament, in the Old Testament, in Greek Platonic, Aristotelian and Sophistic thought, and in Scholasticism, to retrieve a conception of ornament and beauty that is not predicated on a relational concept of beauty, and still resonates with the Greek idea that ornament is the splendor of truth and beauty. Rémi Labrusse’s book looks at the history of ornament after the Kantian moment. It is an equally dense, highly sophisticated study of 19th-century attempts to rethink ornament, its design and history, in the face of the challenges posed by the emergence of an awareness of the global nature of human art and ornament-making, and the radical changes on artistic production imposed by the Industrial Revolution. It is a fundamental new departure. Moving to the 20th century, the volume Histories of Ornament. From Global to Local, edited by Gülru Necipoglu and Alina Payne, questions the Modernist paradigm, or rather, rejection of ornament, inspired by the resurgence of surface ornament in the work of contemporary architects such as Herzog & De Meuron or Farshid Moussavi. All three books are distinguished by a fundamental questioning of received opinions about ornament as something added to the object it adorns, and therefore expendable, and show in different ways that the question of ornament lies at the heart of human art and material culture.Die drei hier untersuchten Bücher werfen ein neues Licht auf die komplexe Geschichte des Ornaments in der westlichen Kultur. Clare Guests Studie über das Verständnis des Ornaments in der Renaissance ist ein ehrgeiziger und gelehrter Versuch, die Vorgeschichte der Konzepte aus der Zeit vor Kants Ästhetik nachzuzeichnen. Guest geht bis zu den Anfängen des westlichen Ornamentgedankens zurück, wie er im Alten Testament, in den griechischen Quellen des platonischen, aristotelischen und sophistischen Denkens sowie in der Scholastik vorkommt. Hier verortet sie eine Auffassung von Ornament und Schönheit, die nicht von einem relativen Schönheitsbegriff bestimmt wird, aber dennoch mit der griechischen Idee einhergeht, dass das Ornament der Ausdruck von Wahrheit und Schönheit ist. Das Buch von Rémi Labrusse befasst sich mit der Geschichte des Ornaments nach dem Kantschen Moment. Es handelt sich um eine ebenso dichte und ausgefeilte Studie über die Versuche des 19. Jahrhunderts, das Ornament, seine Gestaltung und Geschichte angesichts der damaligen Herausforderungen neu zu überdenken. Dies galt besonders im Blick auf das Aufkommen eines neuen Bewusstseins für die globale Natur der Kunst und Ornamentierung und auf die radikalen Veränderungen, die die industrielle Revolution für die künstlerische Produktion mit sich brachte. Hierin findet man eine grundlegende Neuerung. Der von Gülru Necipoglu und Alina Payne herausgegebene Band Histories of Ornament. From Global to Local beschäftigt sich hauptsächlich mit dem 20. Jahrhundert und stellt das Paradigma der Moderne, oder eher ihre Ablehnung des Ornaments in Frage, indem sich die Autoren dem Wiederaufleben der Oberflächenornamentik im Werk zeitgenössischer Architekten wie Herzog & De Meuron oder Farshid Moussavi zuwenden. Diese drei Bücher zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass sie die vorgefasste Meinung über das Ornament als bloße schmückende Ergänzung eines Gegenstands und damit als überflüssige Erscheinung grundlegend hinterfragen. Sie zeigen auf unterschiedliche Weise, dass die Frage des Ornaments vielmehr im Zentrum der menschlichen Kunst und materiellen Kultur steht.I tre libri qui studiati mettono sotto una luce nuova la complessa storia dell’ornamento in Occidente. Lo studio di Clare Guest sulla comprensione dell’ornamento nel Rinascimento è un tentativo ambizioso ed erudito di rintracciare la preistoria dei concetti prima dell’emergere dell’estetica kantiana. Guest risale alle origini del pensiero occidentale sull’ornamento, all’Antico Testamento, al pensiero Greco platonico, aristotelico e sofista, e alla scolastica, per ritrovare una concezione dell’ornamento e della bellezza che non sia relativa e che sia comunque in armonia con l’idea greca secondo la quale l’ornamento rappresenta il bagliore della verità e della bellezza. Il libro di Rémi Labrusse si concentra sulla storia dell’ornamento dopo il momento kantiano. Si tratta di uno studio denso e molto sofisticato dei tentativi del xix secolo di ripensare l’ornamento, la sua concezione e la sua storia, davanti alle sfide poste dall’emergere di una presa di coscienza della natura globale dell’arte e dell’ornamento umano e dei cambiamenti radicali che la rivoluzione industriale ha impresso sulla produzione artistica. È un nuovo inizio fondamentale. Dedicato invece al xx secolo, il volume Histories of Ornament. From Global to Local, diretto da Gülru Necipoglu e Alina Payne, rimette in questione il paradigma modernista, o piuttosto il suo rifiuto dell’ornamento, a partire dal ritorno dell’ornamentazione di superfice nell’opera di architetti contemporanei come Herzog & De Meuron o Farshid Moussavi. Questi tre libri si distinguono per una fondamentale messa in causa dei luoghi comuni sull’ornamento concepito come complemento dell’oggetto che adorna, e dunque superfluo, e mostrano in modi differenti che la questione dell’ornamento è al centro dell’arte e della cultura materiale umana.Los tres libros estudiados aquí dan nueva luz sobre la compleja historia del ornamento en Occidente. El estudio de Clare Guest sobre la comprensión del ornamento durante el Renacimiento es una tentativa ambiciosa y bastante erudita de trazar la historia de conceptos antes de la emergencia de la estética kantiana. Guest se remonta a los inicios del pensamiento occidental sobre el ornamento, al Antiguo Testamento, el pensamiento griego platónico, aristotélico y sofístico, y a la escolástica, para encontrar una concepción del ornamento y de la belleza que no sea determinada a partir de un concepto relativo a la belleza, y que resuene al mismo tiempo con la idea griega según la cual el ornamento sería el brillo de la verdad y de la belleza. El libro de Rémi Labrusse se centra por su parte en la historia del ornamento después del momento kantiano. Se trata de un estudio igual de denso y de sofisticado sobre las tentativas del siglo xix por pensar el ornamento, su concepción y su historia, frente a los desafíos planteados por la emergencia de una toma de consciencia sobre la naturaleza global del arte y de la ornamentación humana y de los cambios radicales que la revolución industrial imprime a la producción artística. Es un nuevo inicio fundamental. Inclinado hacia el siglo xx, el volumen Histories of Ornament. From Global to Local, dirigido por Gülru Necipoglu y Alina Payne, cuestiona el paradigma modernista, o más bien su rechazo al ornamento, a partir del resurgimiento de la ornamentación de superficies en la obra de arquitectos contemporáneos como Herzog & De Meuron o Farshid Moussavi. Estos tres libros se distinguen por una crítica fundamental a lugares comunes sobre el ornamento concebido como complemento del objeto que este adorna, y por lo tanto como superfluo, y muestran diferentes maneras en las que las problemáticas del ornamento se encuentran en el corazón del arte y de la cultura material humana

Situations "médusantes", figuration, pétrification et peur des images

International audienceDans ses notes des années 1800, le poète allemand Novalis nota, à propos du laocoon : « Ne peut-on pas concevoir, dans ce drame de Laocoon, un moment supérieur, un bref instant de culmination qui embrasserait tout à un plus haut degré comme, peut-être, celui où la suprême douleur se transforme en ivresse, la résistance en abandon, et la suprême vie en pierre ?

1990-2010 : vingt ans d’historiographie néerlandaise

Caroline van Eck | Enjeux disciplinaires et politiques de la recherche Depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, deux événements intellectuels majeurs ont marqué l’évolution de l’histoire de l’art en tant que discipline académique dans le monde occidental : d’une part, l’émigration vers la Grande-Bretagne et les États-Unis d’historiens de l’art allemands et autrichiens tels que Edward Wind, Nikolaus Pevsner, Ernst Gombrich, Rudolf Wittkower et Erwin Panofsky et, d’autre part, l’émergence dans les a..

Health-related quality of life and symptom burden in patients on haemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Patients on haemodialysis generally experience poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and a broad range of physical and mental symptoms, but it is unknown whether this differs between younger and older patients. We aimed to describe the trajectories of HRQoL and symptom burden of patients &lt; 70 and ≥ 70 years old, and to assess the impact of symptom burden on HRQoL.METHODS: In incident Dutch haemodialysis patients, HRQoL and symptoms were measured with the 12-item Short Form Health Survey and Dialysis Symptom Index. We used linear mixed models for examining the trajectories of HRQoL and symptom burden during the first year of dialysis, and linear regression for the impact of symptom burden on HRQoL.RESULTS: In 774 patients, the trajectories of physical HRQoL, mental HRQoL, and symptom burden were stable during the first year of dialysis. Compared with patients aged &lt; 70 years, patients ≥ 70 years reported similar physical HRQoL (mean difference -0.61, 95% CI -1.86; 0.63), better mental HRQoL (1.77, 95% CI 0.54; 3.01), and lower symptom burden (-2.38, 95% CI -5.08; 0.32). With increasing symptom burden, physical HRQoL declined more in older than in younger patients (β -0.287 versus -0.189, respectively, p-value for interaction = 0.007). For mental HRQoL, this decrease was similar in both age groups (β -0.295 versus -0.288, P = 0.847).CONCLUSIONS: Older haemodialysis patients generally experience a better mental HRQoL and a (non-statistically significant) lower symptom burden, compared to younger patients. Their physical HRQoL declines more rapidly with increasing symptom burden.</p

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK.

BACKGROUND: A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. METHODS: This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. FINDINGS: Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0-75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4-97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8-80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3-4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. INTERPRETATION: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials. FUNDING: UK Research and Innovation, National Institutes for Health Research (NIHR), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lemann Foundation, Rede D'Or, Brava and Telles Foundation, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Thames Valley and South Midland's NIHR Clinical Research Network, and AstraZeneca

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK

Background A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. Methods This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. Findings Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0–75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4–97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8–80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3–4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. Interpretation ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials