Settings and Subjects in Early Netherlandish Painting

幕后：接近荷兰早期艺术中的神性我在“背景和主题”项目的参数范围内提出的研究将探索不同的背景对早期荷兰圣母的肖像/描绘如何展示，在某些情况下直接影响这些绘画的神圣主题与来源艺术家/赞助人/社区之间的感知或期望的关系。这项研究的目的将主要是探索神圣主题的背景变化如何影响/展示观众对它们的接受。在十五世纪和十六世纪初，以图像和图标为核心的中世纪宗教趋势达到顶峰，随着文艺复兴和新教改革在整个北欧蔓延，达到了打破传统的高潮。早期的荷兰艺术位于中世纪的虔诚心态和早期的现代表达方式之间的一个迷人的悬崖上，而‘布景’和‘主题’之间的关系是探索这种融合的重要途径。这项研究的一个方面可以集中在与东方的文化接触，特别是拜占庭图标的形式，以及更广泛的当代社会政治问题，如费拉拉-佛罗伦萨议会。拜占庭图标的典型背景是抽象的金色背景，强调它们所描绘的人物的神性，并在视觉上从任何可到达的地球位置抽象神圣的主题。虽然特定的地点可以同时吸引观众，但抽象的背景可以很容易地将可识别的图像转换成当地的“视觉方言”。我想通过比较包含拜占庭风格传统的中等长度肖像画和金色抽象背景(NG711和NG712)的绘画，以及那些使用拜占庭图标作为主题基础的绘画，来进行这项研究，但这些绘画是在不同细节的背景下呈现的。NG3066和NG6514似乎都使用了意大利-拜占庭风格的《坎布雷·麦当娜》作为肖像原型，但将圣母和孩子置于截然不同的背景下。一种是抽象的，另一种是在室内大方地表达出来的，一扇可以一瞥外面世界的窗户，还有燃烧的火--一种正在展开并存在于时间中的行为。后者更加生动地强调，神圣的真理可以在世界内找到，而不仅仅是在世界之外。马利安·W·安斯沃思强调，拜占庭的圣像“被认为不仅来自东方，而且是圣卢克自己奇迹般地创造出来的……或者画出来的”。因此，最近获得的《圣卢克画圣母》也将成为我研究的中心焦点，这也是这个项目特别令我兴奋的众多原因之一，以及通过国家美术馆收藏的各种背景。这一回合作品的“高度清晰的背景”的叙事品质，强调了艺术和艺术家的相互作用的性质。我们看到主体和绘画之间呈现出一种连续的关系：从摆姿势的处女，到第一手肖像，再到工作室里的复制品绘画，从内部通向外部世界。这潜在地展示了宗教艺术的一个重要功能：从神圣的主题形成一条线索，可以通过类比的方式追溯。

Behind the Scenes: Accessing the Divine in Early Netherlandish ArtMy proposed research within the parameters of the "Settings and Subjects" project will explore how different settings to Early Netherlandish portraiture/depictions of the Virgin demonstrate, and in some cases directly impact, the perceived or desired relationships between the sacred subjects of these paintings and the artists/patrons/communities that sourced them. The aim of the study would be, predominantly, to explore how variances in settings to sacred subjects affect/demonstrate viewers' reception of them. During the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, medieval devotional trends with images and icons at their core were at their apex, arriving at an iconoclastic climax with the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation that spread through Northern Europe. Early Netherlandish Art sits upon a fascinating precipice between the medieval devotional mindset and early modern modes of expression, and the relationship between 'setting' and 'subject' is a significant avenue through which to explore this convergence. An aspect of this research could focus on cultural contact with the East, specifically in form of Byzantine icons, alongside wider contemporary socio-political issues such as the Council of Ferrara-Florence. A typical setting for Byzantine icons is an abstract gold background, stressing the divine quality of the figures they depict, and visually abstracting sacred subjects from any accessible earthly location. Whereas specific locations can simultaneously estrange/engage a viewer, an abstract background arguably allows a recognisable image to be easily transferred into local "visual dialects". I would like to approach this study by comparing paintings that encompass a Byzantine stylistic tradition of mid-length portraits with gold abstract background (NG711 & NG712), alongside those that use Byzantine icons as their subject's foundation, but present these within settings of varying detail. NG3066 and NG6514 both seem to use the Italo-Byzantine 'Cambrai Madonna' as an iconographic prototype, but place the Virgin and Child within vastly different settings. One is abstract, the other generously articulated within a domestic interior, a window allowing a glimpse to world outside, and the fire burning - an action that is unfolding and existing within time. The latter emphasises with more vivacity that divine truths can be found within the world, rather than only outside of it. Maryan W. Ainsworth stresses that Byzantine icons 'were believed not only to be originals from the East but also to have been miraculously created...or painted by St. Luke himself'. As such, the recently procured Bouts' 'St. Luke Drawing the Virgin' would also form a central focus for my study, and is one of many reasons this project excites me particularly, alongside the sheer variety of settings exhibited through the National Gallery's collection. The narrative quality that the "heavily articulated background" of the Bouts' piece, emphasises the intercessory nature of art and the artist. We see a consecutive relationship between subject and painting unfold: from the posing Virgin, to the first-hand portrait, to the replicated painting in the studio, leading out of the interior to the world outside. This potentially exhibits a crucial function of religious art: to form a trail from the sacred subject that can be retraced through anagogical progression.