Search

This paper presents a contextual use of the innovative drawing techniques that involved architecture and painting in the Qing court during the first half of the eighteenth century. At this point architectural linear perspective in painting (quadratura) and stage design had become common fields of experimentation for the Chinese and Jesuit artists missionaries. In this conceptual context, Western quadratura was developed in China by Giovanni Gherardini. (1655-1729), and especially by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), who is remembered as an extraordinarily versatile architect-painter. The focus of this paper is on the "illusory mural paintings of architectural perspective in Nantang Church" (Beijing), which has now disappeared, and which spread the influence of theWestern Renaissance. The importedWestern linear perspective and the fundamentals of architectural drawing facilitated the systematization and dissemination of the quadratura as an unknown technique in China. Based on the text described by the contemporary scholar Yao Yuan Zhi, an original interpretation of the architectural perspective mural paintings in Nantang Church is proposed. These paintings provide an important case study of Sino-European collaboration in the eighteenth century from different points of view: the representation of the light in drawings and the fact that the concept of shadow in some respects was unknown to the Chinese artist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on the architectural qualities inherent to quadratura painting, this essay embraces the acknowledgment of its perspective strategies, intended space/form, and achieved synthesis of both represented and built space. To accomplish such an inquiry, the imaginary architectures outlined by Luís Gonçalves Sena (1754) at Santarém's Jesuit College were taken analyzed. In order to verify the compositional and spatial qualities underlying the outlined image, two methods are explored: (1) the perspective restitution, dismantling the quadratura through a reverse application of perspective procedures and removing parameters strictly related to the ars pingendi; (2) the reconstitution of the architectural idea by searching for its compositional matrix and confronting the illusory space with the wider practice of the scientia aedificandi. These methodologies allow a complete analysis of the quadratura's architectural contents as well as the Baroque space perceived as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to create a perspective drawing on a curved surface, the quadraturista had to face, in addition to the flat perspective drawing issues, also the ones related to the mapping of the three dimensional surface. In literature we can find two methodologically different approaches related to the flat design transposition procedures onto the curved surface: indirect and direct method. The indirect one, partially described by Vignola, is based on the use of pre-designed cartoons on the ground. The direct one, described by Andrea Pozzo, is based on the direct projection of a flat grid onto the curved surface. Both the ceiling painting of the Church of San Matteo in Pisa and the parietal one of the Church of S. Caterina in Livorno show, even if observed from the privileged viewpoints, some irregularities. These irregularities, as we are going to show, are actually the consequences of the method applied for the transposition of the flat drawings onto the curved surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The projection of architectural perspectives, from the drawing plane to the tectonic support, might be the central problem of quadratura. However, specialized treatises tend to treat it through ideal statements. Highlighting the materialization of abstract reasoning, those demonstrations serve the scientific legitimation of quadratura practice, possibly circumscribed to enlightened scientific and artistic circles, rather than the dissemination of procedures aiming to train people in the projection craftsmanship. This may even be the best-kept secret of the quadratura painters. In this context, this paper is focused on Sena's quadratura (1754), at the church of Santarém's Jesuit College, where under Vieira's statements exposed in his treatise on perspective ( Tractado de Prospectiva, Codex 5170, Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, 1716), we will disclose procedures based upon common practices of the painter's workshop concerning the outline and projection of the image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great ceiling fresco by Pietro da Cortona in Palazzo Barberini in Rome was painted, 1632–1639, in the age of quadratura ceilings filled with perspectives of soaring false architecture. Pietro da Cortona consciously evaded these extremes, painting a fully realistic architectural framework. Through painting the architectural elements instead of having them made in stucco, he could play freely with figures passing in front of them and thus acquire highly illusionistic effects. The article points to a hitherto uncommented detail where the artist seems to have played with yet another level of reality. This deeper level would, however, have undermined the entire iconographic programme, and the suggestion is made that it was an idea originally intended for an earlier version of the ceiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on the ecology which is dependent on human life size and demands of the viewers. Concept of curious images which are considered as virtual pictures because of illusionism in the portraits designed. Other concepts discussed includes meta-painting, portraiture and images that are made without presence.

Photographs are presented of various Baroque ceiling paintings, including works by artists such as Lucas Kracker, Antonio Pellegrini and Martino Altomonte.

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper analyses the baroque ceiling paintings of the Pauline pilgrimage church in Šaštín (Slovakia), signed in 1757 by Jean-Joseph Chamant, scene designer and theatre architect at the Vienna court and protégé of Emperor Franz I Stefan of Lorraine. In 1736 Franz Stefan purchased manors in the neighbourhood, thus became patron of the pilgrimage church in Šaštín, built in 1736-62. The Emperor and Queen Maria Theresa frequently visited the pilgrimage shrine while sojourning in their chateau in Holiè and contributed with significant donations to the construction of the church, and then to the decoration of the church interior: the high altar was commissioned by the Queen in 1762 and designed by the court architect Nikolaus Pacassi. According to archival sources Chamant's fee was paid by the Paulines, consequently the frescos can not be qualified as explicit court commission. Chamant was the primary contractor of the work, yet, being a scene designer, his contribution to the fresco cycle must have been limited to the painted architecture, including a trompe-l'oeil dome over the nave. The figurative compositions of the fresco cycle were carried out presumably by Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer, professor of the Vienna Art Academy, who received several court commissions in the 1750s. The fresco cycle consists of allegorical scenes referring to Christ's redeeming death, in correlation with the miraculous statue, a Pietà, placed on the high altar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights three paintings offering illusionistic effects including Okiku (a ghost)/1, Peggy Band (a ghost)/1, and lemedy (a ghost)/2. Topics discussed include paintings performing as ghosts; a poem "Man Was Made to Mourn" by Robert Burns; and description of a Japanese play Bancho Sarayashiki in which Okiku was a character.

The thesis that we now present is focused on the life of Niccolò Nasoni, Italian painter and architect of the 18th century. This work develops, especially, the research of the first phase of the artist's life, usually mentioned as the "Italian period", beginning in 1691, when Nasoni was born, and ending in 1722-23, with him moving to Malta, where he was responsible for decorating the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in La Valletta. It makes reference to all the important moments of this period, with a deep examination of the works, the ones he assigned and the ones attributable to him, and the people that were part of Nasoni's journey and formation. We also analyzed the frescoes of the main chapel of Oporto Cathedral, the artist first Portuguese work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented to a special issue of the journal devoted to Baroque ceiling painting.

An introduction is presented to a special issue of the journal devoted to Baroque ceiling painting.