Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes and the modernization of scientific connoisseurship

Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes, a disciple of Giovanni Morelli, participated in the critical exchanges that modernized European art history at the turn of the twentieth century. In producing the first comprehensive study of Vincenzo Foppa, Ffoulkes also underwrote important methodological innovations in the practice of connoisseurship, notably the development of a philological method that blended documentary evidence with direct visual examination. This article investigates Ffoulkes’ interest in the use and function of photographic reproductions of archival documents and her allegiance to the “historical standpoint” championed by professional journals such as Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft and Rassegna d’arte, to which she contributed. Emphasizing the boundaries that Ffoulkes was obliged to negotiate to secure a foothold within the male profession of art history, this article tracks the evolution of her research methods relative to the international network that enabled and recognized her expertise in the connoisseurship of Italian art

Writing under pressure: Maud Cruttwell and the old master monograph

A nineteenth-century invention, the old master monograph corresponded with the increasing interest in life writing among the reading public and the development of connoisseurship in art history. This article looks at the production and reception of two major monographs to gauge the contribution of Maud Cruttwell to the study of old masters. In particular, it discusses her interest in the personality of the artist as an aesthetic and ethical project that she perceived as a form of self-cultivation in the wake of Walter Pater’s aesthetics

[Review] 'The gender of the art writing genre' Wendelin Guentner (2015) Women art critics in Nineteenth-Century France; Hilary Fraser (2016) Women writing art history in the Nineteenth Century

Wendelin Guentner, ed, Women Art Critics in Nineteenth-Century France. Vanishing Acts (University of Delaware Press, Newark, 2015), 19 b/w illns., 366 pp., ISBN 978-1611494464, paperback $44.99. Hilary Fraser, Women Writing Art History in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press, 2016), 18 b/w illns., 230 pp., ISBN: 9781107428744, paperback £20. I

British art, Brexit, and the Black Mediterranean

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Magnetic encounters: listening to Carla Lonzi’s tape recordings

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Encountering the Niobe’s Children: Vernon Lee’s queer formalism and the empathy of sculpture

The materiality of sculpture was essential to Vernon Lee’s psychological theory of aesthetics based on the beholder’s physical responses. Through collaboration with her lover Clementina Anstruther-Thomson, Lee developed a theory of embodiment based on German psychological empathy theories which was reliant on gallery rather than laboratory experiments. This chapter focuses on the reception of their work within the psychological circles of the time and, in contrast to interpretation of the two women’s intellectual collaboration as a transposition of lesbian desire, I argue that Lee’s dialogue with Karl Groos around the concept of “inner mimicry” is essential to examine how sculpture also allowed her to explore sexuality plastically. Originating in late-Victorian discourses around formalism, Lee’s aesthetic engagement with the past represents an ethics of embodiment that resonated with modern theories of sexuality

A severe infective endocarditis successfully treated with linezolid

Despite significant improvements in surgical and medical therapy, prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge and is often associated with a severe prognosis. We report a case of a 59-year-old woman, with  PVE and bacterial endocarditis (Streptococcus bovis) successfully treated with linezolid. Linezolid is a bacteriostatic oxazolidinone antibiotic that has been proven to be effective for the treatment of patients with pneumonia, skin and soft tissue infections, and infections due to Gram-positive cocci. Linezolid is not yet recognised as a standard therapy for infective endocarditis, but its use becomes a necessity when infection is due to multidrug-resistant microorganisms

Microswimmer trapping in surface waves with shear

Many species of phytoplankton migrate vertically near the surface of the ocean, either in search of light or nutrients. These motile organisms are affected by ocean waves at the surface. We derive a set of wave-averaged equations to describe the motion of spheroidal microswimmers. We include several possible effects, such as gyrotaxis, settling, and wind-driven shear. In addition to the well-known Stokes drift, the microswimmer orbits depend on their orientation in a way that can lead to trapping at a particular depth; this in turn can affect transport of organisms, and may help explain observed phytoplankton layers in the ocean.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Proceedings of the Royal Society

characterization of the geographical and varietal origin of wheat and bread by means of nuclear magnetic resonance nmr isotope ratio mass spectrometry irms methods and chemometrics a review

In recent years, food authentication, in terms of geographical and varietal/animal origins, is considered of primary importance at all levels of the production process. Therefore, it is clear that there is an economic basis to develop analytical methods able to certify the declared origin of food products, in order to protect consumers and honest producers from fraud and unfair competition, respectively; consequently, during recent years, several food authentication techniques have been proposed. This review attempted to present in a critical way the contribution of High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HR-NMR) and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) techniques in the assessment of quality and authenticity, mainly in terms of characterization of geographical and varietal origin, of wheat and wheat products, focusing on the most important studies to this direction

The biomedical piglet: establishing reference intervals for haematology and clinical chemistry parameters of two age groups with and without iron supplementation

Background: The similarities between swine and humans in physiological and genomic patterns, and the great correlation in size and anatomy, make pigs extremely useful in preclinical studies. New-born piglets can represent a model for congenital and genetic diseases in new-born children. It is known that piglets may have significant differences in clinicopathological results compared to adult pigs. Therefore, adult laboratory reference intervals cannot be applied to piglets. The aim of this study was to compare haematological and chemical variables in piglets of two ages and determinate age-related reference intervals for commercial hybrid young pigs. Blood samples were collected under general anaesthesia from 130 animals divided into five- (P5) and 30- (P30) day-old piglets. Only P30 animals were treated with parenteral iron after birth. Samples were analysed using automated haematology (ADVIA 2120) and chemistry analysers, and age-related reference intervals were calculated. Results: Significant higher values of RBC, Hb and HCT were observed in P30 animals when compared to P5, with an opposite trend for MCV. These results were associated with a reduction of the RBC regeneration process and the thrombopoietic response. The TSAT and TIBC were significantly higher in P30 compared to P5; however, piglets remained iron deficient compared to adult reference intervals reported previously. Conclusions: In conclusion, this paper emphasises the high variability occurring in clinicopathological variables between new-born and 30-day-old pigs, and between piglets and adult pigs. This study provides valuable reference data for piglets at precise ages and could be used in the future as historical control improving the Reduction in animal experiments, as suggested by the 3Rs principle