For example, the opening night selection, at 6 p.m. April 26 at the Lincoln Theatre, is the documentary "Hargrove," writer-director Eliane Henri's portrait of iconic jazz musician Roy . 1v, 1061. These portraits sometimes display a sense of affection, informality, or experimentation unusual in commissioned works. Further, once we undertake a careful scrutiny of the images, we might also ask whether these two terms that we have been discussing, donor and ktetor, are themselves the most relevant categories to apply to the range of images we have so far seen. 456v, thirteenth century. Yet despite this, this scene should not be considered a true donor portrait either. II, 4546. (Giessen: W. Schmitz, 1963), vol. Get counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday. The idea of ktetor-ship can also be widened to include a broad concern with the social universe that the patron occupies here on earth. Further, the offering is made not directly to the goddess herself, but to her statue, clearly represented as such by the plinth on which it stands, placed directly behind the altar. This distinctive power configuration, too, is the key criterion for distinguishing not only between true or quasi donor portraits, but between true contact portraits in general and all other images containing contemporary portraits of lay figures together with holy figures. The Sources: An Annotated Survey, The Peasant as Donor (13th14th Centuries), Donation et donateurs dans le monde byzantin: Actes du colloque international de lUniversit de Fribourg (1315 mars 2008), Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts in the Library of the Lavra on Mount Athos, Catalogue of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum, Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the Art and Religion of the Ancient Near East, Das illuminierte Buch in der sptbyzantinischen Gesellschaft, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, I relievi votivi greci de periodo aracaic e classico, Hier kal: Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece, Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, The Mosaics of St Marys of the Admiral in Palermo, Dated Greek Minuscule Manuscripts to the Year 1200, Checklist of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the Greek and Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Transfigurations: Studies in the Dynamics of Byzantine Iconography, Procopius and the Imperial Panels of S. Vitale, Find out more about saving to your Kindle, Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108290517.002. An image such as this, showing both ownership and royal power, relates strongly to imperial iconography in general, and a comparison between these portraits and some of the key images in the imperial repertoire proves highly illuminating. It is as though the celebrants cannot see them, and do not believe what the image itself represents: that the gods are present before them. Vatic. In other examples, a magnificent costume highlights the sitters wealth and fashionable taste (51.194.1). Professional details:Do you know what your donors do for a living? Indeed, there is a sense in which Manuel is much closer to Theodore than to Oliver. [29], A further secular development was the portrait histori, where groups of portrait sitters posed as historical or mythological figures. Figure 1.4: Zoe and Constantine Monomachos before Christ, mosaic in south gallery of the Church of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, 102850. Contact portraits too address these issues in reverse, so to speak, although the difficulties faced by them are far less acute. Let us reserve ktetor and ktetor portraits for the former group, and supplicant and contact portraits for the latter. For a long time, portraiture no longer existed as its own genre. In sum, then, the distinction that emerges most clearly from the above discussion concerns images that on the one hand demonstrate ownership, and on the other are preoccupied with contact, irrespective of whether they show the human figures giving a gift or not. One of the reasons for this is the introduction of proskynesis into the scene. Interested in how thankQ can help your organization? If we compare these images with that of Theodore Metochites in the Kariye Camii in Fig. Instead, the scenes adopt some of the same vocabulary that makes the coronations successful: the emperor is upright, frontal, dignified, authoritative, and, not least, bathing in the glow of Christs blessing. Jan van Eycks infamous Arnolfini Portrait (1434) emphasizes not only the faces of their sitters but their possessions as well: The ceremonial garb, wooden slippers, and partially lit chandelier indicate the couples married status. These paintings, like Rembrandts Syndics of the Drapers Guild, often depicted members of businesses surrounded by objects that hinted at their wealth and morals. 37 D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 29294. ), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols. The hand on hip frequently appears in portraits of rulers or would-be rulers, as in Van Dycks splendid likeness of James Stuart, painted around 1635 (89.15.16). By 1490, when the large Tornabuoni Chapel fresco cycle by Domenico Ghirlandaio was completed, family members and political allies of the Tornabuoni populate several scenes in considerable numbers, in addition to conventional kneeling portraits of Giovanni Tornabuoni and his wife. Follow these four steps to get organized: 1. } 1.15).Footnote 25 On average, supplicants are smaller than the holy figures, but not exaggeratedly so, although there is also considerable variation from image to image. What the author is interested in is the bigger picture: the ways in which 'donor portraits' can lead to an understanding of the ways in which the Byzantine world operated, its systems, structures and values. Please speak with a member of the planned giving staff if you are considering a bequest to establish an endowed fund. 1.13).Footnote 21 Obviously, a minimum level of wealth was required in order to pay for the commission, but clearly the practice of portraying oneself in the act of making a gift or praying for salvation was one that was broadly based.Footnote 22 In terms of gender distribution, the majority of the scenes are of men, but there are a significant number of women, appearing either singly (especially in manuscripts) or together with their husbands. 19 K. Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Icons (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), icon B39, 6667. In Florence, where there was already a tradition of including portraits of city notables in crowd scenes (mentioned by Leon Battista Alberti), the Procession of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli (145961), which admittedly was in the private chapel of the Palazzo Medici, is dominated by the glamorous procession containing more portraits of the Medici and their allies than can now be identified. Further, the tips of the fingers of Alexioss left hand are just visible curling over the top of the left cover and pages. Like the Greeks who had inspired them, Roman artists placed great emphasis on capturing the likeness of their sitter. This is visible in the forward tilt of his shoulders, and his head leaning back to peer up at Christ through slightly furrowed brows. By contrast, Theodore makes an immense effort to establish a link with Christ, to communicate with him. Portraiture. The elders in the story of Suzannah were some of the few figures respectable Venetians were unwilling to impersonate. However, even when no proskynesis is present, there is generally a different atmosphere to the later scenes than the earlier ones. They are your audience, the people reading your direct mail, visiting your website, or following you on social media. Figure 1.21: Hadrian sacrificing to Diana, sculpture, Arch of Constantine, Rome, after AD 130. 3v, twelfth century. 666Synodal 387, fol. The emperor does not have to concede anything to a more powerful figure, yet he still appears as pious, fulfilling his religious duty. In Florence, where there was already a tradition of including portraits of city notables in crowd scenes (mentioned by Leon Battista Alberti), the Procession of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli (145961), which admittedly was in the private chapel of the Palazzo Medici, is dominated by the glamorous procession containing more portraits of the Medici and their allies than can now be identified. Figure 1.24: King Jehu before Shalmanesser III, Black Obelisk of Shalmanesser III, British Museum, London, c. 740 BC. So put some time aside to look at what its telling you and start creating that donor portrait. In a sense, the Justinian panel remains the impossible ideal of imperial religious donation: to give the gift, yet not come off as second best. To fundraise successfully, you cant rely on industry averages. There is thus not much by way of personal contact between the figures, nor is there any real sense of a donation taking place. Sentence on Suzannah from, Shearman, 182. The gesture signifies an aggrandizing flow of power from the dominant force in the universe to his designated beneficiaries.Footnote 8. A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. Figure 1.16: Worshiper approaching Shamash, Old Babylonian seal, the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, 17001530 BC. One of the most famous and striking groups of Baroque donor portraits are those of the male members of the Cornaro family, who sit in boxes as if at the theatre to either side of the sculpted altarpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Ecstasy of St Theresa (1652). Although all images bespeak both themes, they do not do so with equal emphasis. 26 October 2018. Donor portrait usually refers to the portrait or portraits of donors alone, as a section of a larger Alchetron Sign in Neha Patil (Editor) Interestingly, if we turn to a detailed study of the images we find some significant variations of iconography that correspond to the distinction that the languages draw. If art from antiquity was inspired by the writings of important thinkers such as Plato and Socrates, European portraits from the Middle Ages were based on teachings from the Bible. And not least, their spectacular gold costumes create a display more impressive than Christs relatively subdued blue robes. Rather, they hold on to the objects in their hands as though reluctant to release them to the custody of anyone else. Each language group applies its term, blanket-fashion, to all of the images. The chief contention of the first section of this chapter is that not all the scenes commonly included in the designation belong there. 15 L. Brubaker, Gifts and Prayers: The Visualization of Gift-Giving in Byzantium and the Mosaics at Hagia Sophia, in W. Davis and P. Fouracre (eds. [4], When a whole building was financed, a sculpture of the patron might be included on the facade or elsewhere in the building. Interests and motivations:Understanding someones why isnt easy, but its a whole lot easier if youve made a note of their main hobbies, family situation, and motivation for giving. The resurgence of portraiture was thus a significant manifestation of the Renaissance in Europe. [3] To do so during prayer is in accord with late medieval concepts of prayer, fully developed by the Modern Devotion. The emperor does not have to appear in a pose of humility because he makes no request. (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 1966); H. Ahrweiler, Lidologie politique de lempire byzantin (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1975); M. McCormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Medieval West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); and, for a view contesting the ideas of many historians of earlier generations, A. Kaldellis, The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015). On closer inspection, however, there are some important differences between them. A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. Amongst a large bibliography, see also R. Cormack, The Emperor at St Sophia: Viewer and Viewed, in A. Guillou and J. Durand (eds. 1.4 and 1.5). The 6th-century mosaic panels in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna of the Emperor Justinian I and Empress Theodora with courtiers are not of the type showing the ruler receiving divine approval, but each show one of the imperial couple standing confidently with a group of attendants, looking out at the viewer. Reading the images together, then, they seem to be declaring that the book from which the emperor reads is grounded upon the writings of this most august group of luminaries. Figure 1.5: John Komnenos and Irene with the Virgin, mosaic in south gallery of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, 111834. 8 For a reading of the fine grading of power transmission in this scene and other coronations, see Hillsdale, Byzantine Art and Diplomacy, 25463. 1.1).Footnote 2 The second shows the despot Oliver, in the Church of the Holy Archangels at Lesnovo, FYR Macedonia, from 1341 (Fig. Two examples from this period are Bishop Ecclesius being introduced to Christ by an angel in the apse of the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna (consecrated 548, Fig. Here, each emperor clearly extends to the Virgin and Child the object that he holds.Footnote 14 The image shows none of the hesitations that we have seen earlier. After all, as patrons of expensive pieces of art, royals expected to be portrayed in a way that glorified them. 1.4 and 1.5).Footnote 9 The earlier shows Zoe and Constantine Monomachos with Christ, the later John Komnenos and Irene with the Virgin. Another variant of these scenes that finds its echo in Byzantine examples is the presentation scene, where a lesser deity leads one or more worshipers toward a higher deity.Footnote 28 In a further Akkadian seal, also in the Ashmolean Museum, we find a god seated on the right-hand side, approached by two deities (indicated by their horned headpieces) on the left. Donor portraits do just that. 0.3 and 0.4). See also S. Kalopissi-Verti, The Peasant as Donor (13th14th Centuries), in J.-M. Spieser and E. Yota (eds. [12] In subsequent centuries bishops, abbots and other clergy were the donors most commonly shown, other than royalty, and they remained prominently represented in later periods. Vatic. Fols. Thus, right from the outset, each of these groups of languages adopts an entirely different outlook on the images. If anything, the reverse is true. Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. InHeilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The second of these deities in turn holds the hand of a worshiper who carries a kid on his right arm. : Byzantine Studies Association of North America, 2008).