Settings and Subjects in Early Netherlandish Painting

幕后：早期尼德兰艺术中的神圣我在“设置和主题”项目的参数内提出的研究将探索早期尼德兰肖像画/圣母玛利亚的不同设置如何展示，在某些情况下直接影响，这些绘画的神圣主题和艺术家/赞助人/社区之间的感知或期望的关系。这项研究的目的主要是探讨宗教题材的设置差异如何影响/表明观众对这些题材的接受。在15世纪和16世纪初，以图像和圣像为核心的中世纪宗教信仰潮流达到了顶峰，随着文艺复兴和新教改革在北方欧洲的传播，圣像崇拜达到了高潮。早期尼德兰艺术坐落在一个迷人的悬崖之间的中世纪虔诚的心态和早期现代的表达方式，和“设置”和“主题”之间的关系是一个重要的途径，通过它来探索这种趋同。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-佛罗伦萨理事会。拜占庭圣像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圣品质，并从任何可访问的尘世位置视觉抽象神圣主题。虽然特定的地点可以同时疏远/吸引观众，但抽象的背景可以让可识别的图像很容易地转换为当地的“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与金色抽象背景（NG 711和NG 712）的绘画来进行这项研究，以及那些使用拜占庭图标作为主题基础的绘画，但在不同细节的设置中呈现这些。NG 3066和NG 6514似乎都使用了意大利-拜占庭的“康布雷麦当娜”作为图像原型，但将圣母和圣子置于截然不同的背景中。一个是抽象的，另一个是在家庭内部慷慨地表达出来的，一扇窗户让我们瞥见外面的世界，还有燃烧的火--一个在时间中展开和存在的动作。后者更生动地强调，神圣的真理可以在世界之内找到，而不仅仅是在世界之外。安斯沃思强调，拜占庭圣像不仅被认为是来自东方的原件，而且被认为是由东方奇迹般地创造出来的。或者是圣路加自己画的因此，最近采购的布特的“圣卢克画处女”也将成为我研究的中心焦点，这是这个项目特别让我兴奋的原因之一，除了通过国家美术馆的收藏展出的各种设置。布茨作品的叙事性，即“沉重的背景”，强调了艺术和艺术家的内在本质。我们看到主题和绘画之间的连续关系展开：从摆姿势的圣母，到第一手肖像，再到工作室里的复制画，从室内走向外面的世界。这潜在地展示了宗教艺术的一个关键功能：从神圣的主题形成一条线索，可以通过类比的进展追溯。

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.