Graduate Theses

ABSTRACT: In this paper I will examine the full bodied togate form in free standing statuary and monumental group sculpture as means of visual agency and demonstrative authority in Roman public spaces. The ideal of the gens togata has framed the scholarship around both statuary and reliefs of the togate statue body and has served to eliminate the narrative beyond a codification of sartorial symbols as indication of status and achievements. The previous discourse surrounding the togate statue body focused on the literature of ancient historical writers that connect it to a national costume and the Republican and Imperial ideal citizen, which correlates the depiction to the object it depicts. The toga undergoes two large upheavals and several smaller transitions stylistically, thus creates a visual format that remains successful in the continuity and micro-deviations. The visual dialogue of the togate consists of the juxtaposition and tension between the face and body, male and female depictions, and between other togate statue bodies. The authority of the statue relies on the object’s reception among others of similar appearance while maintaining a sense of individuality, communicating through the expectation of the viewers in appearance and style. Through an expanding examination of the togate statue body as means of an actual garment, an object, an ideal, and a codified language in and of itself, this paper seeks to examine the visual impact of these statue types among themselves and the public landscape of the Roman world.

ABSTRACT: The Norman kings of Sicily were wealthy and powerful rulers who shaped a culturally diverse identity transmitted visually through luxurious palaces and splendid objects. The practice of gift-giving and the Palermo royal workshop have produced luxury artifacts that attest to this opulent time. This thesis will investigate the materiality of the Cover of the Evangeliary of Bishop Alfanus of Capua, where they were made and the modifications they have been subjected to over centuries. Furthermore, central to this research is exploring why and how they came to be in Capua from Palermo through the historical narrative. A formal analysis will allow a comprehensive look at the iconography of these precious gold and bejeweled Gospel covers as well as the unique goldwork and enamels. The Palermo palace workshops will be discovered through the lens of medieval texts and primary Siculo-Norman source-objects that illuminate a rich dynamic court. Dated from 1173 – 1182 their enduring life and modifications are rediscovered through direct observation, archival photographs and deep historiographic connections that bring to light new evidence in their material history. Lastly, several hypotheses that examine the commissioning of the luxury Gospel and their arrival in Capua will be exposed through traditions of gifting by both kings and bishops. The objective throughout is to paint a complete picture of the Capua Gospel covers from conception to their current condition. While many questions are left unanswered surrounding this precious Siculo-Norman object what is clear in the end is that it represents a medieval multicultural Sicily.

ABSTRACT: Italian Renaissance artist, Antonio Allegri da Correggio, has been considered a purely sensual artist by generations of scholars due to limited documentation of his life. Correggio received several commissions in Parma and Mantua at Benedictine churches and monasteries and in the second half of the twentieth century, a certificate of ‘brotherhood’ from the reformed Benedictines, the Cassinese Congregation, was published which further illuminated this association. In light of this relationship with the Cassinese, who focused on the study of sacred scripture and the writings of Church fathers, Correggio’s work may be considered with regard to the spiritual and intellectual influences in his life. Correggio returned to the The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria four times, a subject rooted in intimacy and divine love. This thesis will consider these four paintings and the artist’s intelligent and sensitive visions of the subject through close formal analysis and with consideration of his personal association with the Cassinese Congregation.

ABSTRACT: The etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi have been celebrated across disciplines since their creation in the eighteenth-century. Though Roman vedute were widely produced, Piranesi’s images have stood the test of time. What is it about Piranesi’s lens that provides an unusual perspective of a prevalent view? This research will investigate literature and imagery spanning from ancient Rome to the eighteenth-century in order to present evidence that suggests Piranesi conveyed a didactic allegory in his depictions of Roman antiquities, using the Tempio della Sibilla in Tivoli as a casestudy. Distinct from other vedutisti, the images present metaphorical devices which emphasize physicality of materials and their amalgamation into nature. Are the motifs within the image what sets Piranesi apart from what Margeurite Yourcenar calls the “literal and mediocre confreres that precede him,” as well as his successors, in their modern conceptions of the vedute di Roma?