One of the hallmarks of European portraiture is a sense of reality, an apparent intention to depict the unique appearance of a particular person. Rather, the difference seems to reside in where the attention of the Greek sacrificants is directed. They are not dwarfed by Christ. And in this, there is truth. In the Early Middle Ages, a group of mosaic portraits in Rome of Popes who had commissioned the building or rebuilding of the churches containing them show standing figures holding models of the building, usually among a group of saints. A very late example of the old Netherlandish format of the triptych with the donors on the wing panels is Rubens' Rockox Triptych of 161315, once in a church over the tombstone of the donors and now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Unlike the previous imperial images of this genre that we have examined, the emperor looks directly at Christ, who returns his look and raises his hand in blessing. 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. Although none have survived, there is literary evidence of donor portraits in small chapels from the Early Christian period,[10] probably continuing the traditions of pagan temples. Additionally, the Byzantines take this process of non-realist representation even further by depicting the divine recipient as a true, living being, rather than as a statue, as the Antioch scene does. Although still operating within the paradigm established by the earlier panel, some small but significant changes have been made. History All others are ninth century or later. 28 On presentation scenes, see H. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the Art and Religion of the Ancient Near East (London: Macmillan, 1939), 7475. However, from now on it will refer only to those images that form a subgroup of the new category that we are designating as contact portraits. In neither of the pictures just discussed, then, the Alexios and the Justinian and Constantine scenes, are the imperial images to be taken as true contact portraits, despite first appearances to the contrary. Can you see a picture forming, an outline of your typical charity donor? Donor portraits are very common in religious works of art, especially paintings, of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the donor usually shown kneeling to one side, in the foreground of the image. This reading provides a solution to the unusual features that appeared when the image was taken as a donor portrait. Collecting the data* you need to create your donor portrait. 0.1, at first sight they all seem to belong within one of the categories suggested earlier, that of the gift-bearing scenes. There is no question that he is a dominant ruler. By the mid-15th century donors began to be shown integrated into the main scene, as bystanders and even participants. In addition to recording appearances, portraits served a variety of social and practical functions in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. } 1.10),Footnote 17 and a young boy and a man approaching St. Demetrios in the Church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessalonika (before 620, Fig. If they are on different sides, the males are normally on the left for the viewer, the honorific right-hand placement within the picture space. Indeed, there is a sense in which Manuel is much closer to Theodore than to Oliver. . On fol. This scene, however, has proved to be one of the most vexing to interpret in the entire Byzantine repertoire, and thus warrants an extended study of its own. 1.7). In medieval art, donors were frequently portrayed in the altarpieces or wall paintings that they commissioned, and in the fifteenth century painters began to depict such donors with distinctive features presumably studied from life. ), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols. In the imperial ktetor portrait, however, the direction of address is not from the lay figure toward Christ, but outward, from the emperor toward the observer. 11 For more on the subject of the interweaving of the two components of the dual agenda in luxury icons, with an emphasis on the social prestige accruing to donors, see T. Papamastorakis, The Display of Accumulated Wealth in Luxury Icons: Gift-Giving from the Byzantine Aristocracy to God in the Twelfth Century, in M. Vassilaki (ed. The later scene of John Komnenos and Irene with the Virgin and Child seems to pass comment on these selfsame issues. And each gift object is indicated clearly by gesture, the outer hand and fingers of each donor stretched out toward it. The image as a whole seems to be withdrawing from the possibilities of contact established by the earlier scene, and retreating toward standard imperial iconographic tropes. King Louis XIV - who ruled France as an absolute monarch - understood that art was political, as it reflected the monarch and state. The advantage that this representation has over all the later imperial images that concede to the desire for contact is precisely that here the emperor is supreme in the visual field. It distinguishes clearly between those scenes whose primary goal is the putting in play of a distinctive relationship between the lay and spiritual worlds (the chief subject matter of this book) and those scenes where that relationship is not at stake to the same degree. The three-quarter face, which allows for greater engagement between sitter and viewer, was also widely favored. (Giessen: W. Schmitz, 1963), vol. 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). Donor portraits have a continuous history from late antiquity, and the portrait in the 6th-century manuscript the Vienna Dioscurides may well reflect a long-established classical tradition, just as the author portraits found in the same manuscript are believed to do. See also Radoji, Serbischen Kunst, 81. There are, however, three more scenes that seem to fall rather more definitively into the ambit of imperial donor or contact portraits that require further examination. 34 For many more scenes of a similar type, see A. Comella, I relievi votivi greci de periodo aracaic e classico (Bari: Edipuglia, 2002). 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. A summary is not available for this content. Donor Portraits in Byzantine Art. Imperial ktetor scenes obviously differ in several respects from these coronations; yet, when viewed through the prism of power relationships, they share certain key features. Also see K. Clark, Checklist of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the Greek and Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem (Washington: Library of Congress, 1953), 15 and 30, and Spatharakis, Portrait, 5759. The conclusions reached, therefore, apply specifically to this time-period, although many will apply to some degree to the fewer images from earlier time-periods as well. The gesture signifies an aggrandizing flow of power from the dominant force in the universe to his designated beneficiaries.Footnote 8. A portrait was often commissioned at a significant moment in someones life, such as betrothal, marriage, or elevation to an office. 666Synodal 387, fol. 1.8). Oliver looks entirely regal, proud, and majestic every inch the king. If a regular person was featured in a painting, they were depicted as partaking in a recognizable religious scene such as the birth or death of Christ. No longer having to deal with the thorny problematic of the relation of the two sets of ultimate power to each other (that is, earthly and heavenly), the composer was free to conjure a more dominating image of the emperors, one that the gesture of donation would not undercut. 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. 26 October 2018. There is no real request encoded in his body: he shows none of the characteristic bends and folds of the typical supplicant. 1514; Louvre) uses the half-length format seen in the Mona Lisa but tightens the focus on the sitter by highlighting his lively face against a softly lit gray backdrop. 2) Dutch portraiture. In the first place, Christ is given the benefit of the uppermost, centralized placement, in contrast to the two emperors, who appear below him, and to the side. The Theodore panel, it is safe to say, is a true donor portrait, in that it shows a real offering taking place. There is some precedent in the literature for regarding scenes of this type as not being true donor portraits. Follow these and use them to create sub-groups and start segmenting your audience. The elders in the story of Suzannah were some of the few figures respectable Venetians were unwilling to impersonate. ), Das byzantinische Herrscherbild (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1975), and H. Maguire (ed. You need to get to know your donors and create your own supporter profiles so that when youre designing your next campaign you know exactly who youre talking to. Follow these four steps to get organized: 1. Figure 1.26: George of Antioch before the Virgin, mosaic, originally probably in narthex, Church of the Martorana, Palermo, c. 1140. Vatic. Essentially talking blindly to an assumption that may or may not be correct. If the ktetor portraits stress the pragmatic aspect of ownership, this is not the only area where they are engaged with the secular issues of this world. Would it make a difference to your charity comms? 2) (Rome: Danesi, 1910); Spatharakis, Portrait, 7983; H. Evans and W. Wixom (eds. It is therefore the subject of the next chapter. Learning and logging professional details is a great way to start building out your donor profile and creating a picture that goes beyond headline demographics. Groups of members of confraternities, sometimes with their wives, are also found. Although large numbers of the scenes do not survive from the pre-iconoclastic period, the tradition was already clearly thriving in the sixth and early seventh centuries. The central panel shows the Incredulity of Thomas ("Doubting Thomas") and the work as a whole is ambiguous as to whether the donors are represented as occupying the same space as the sacred scene, with different indications in both directions. 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. 41 Von Simson, Sacred Fortress, 2729. [27], Donor portraits in works for churches, and over-prominent heraldry, were disapproved of by clerical interpreters of the vague decrees on art of the Council of Trent, such as Saint Charles Borromeo,[28] but survived well into the Baroque period, and developed a secular equivalent in history painting, although here it was often the principal figures who were given the features of the commissioner. Figure 1.25: Conquest and Clemency relief of Marcus Aurelius, Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, AD 17680. Contact portraits too address these issues in reverse, so to speak, although the difficulties faced by them are far less acute. It isnt just about their latest gift, its about their history with you, the number of times theyve given, how they give, and the average gift amount are all important factors to consider. But over time you will build not one, but a series of donor portraits a data-driven analysis of your audience and a deeper understanding of the people that give to your cause. 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. It shouldnt, because Gwendolyn Giver never existed. 1) The purpose of donor portraits was to memorialize the donor and his family, and especially to solicit prayers for them after their death. Creating a lasting legacy The book that Alexios holds is clearly open, the top edges of the left- and right-hand sides forming a v-shape starting at the spine. (, Depicting himself in a forward-facing position, Drer broke with religious traditions at the time. Imperial iconography, of course, has as its core purpose the assertion of imperial authority and privilege. A painting in the Catacombs of Commodilla of 528 shows a throned Virgin and Child flanked by two saints, with Turtura, a female donor, in front of the left hand saint, who has his hand on her shoulder; very similar compositions were being produced a millennium later. Seriously. Donor portrait - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Pope-Hennessy, John. Petrarch did not have any symbolic use of the painting; he simply wanted to commemorate the countess beauty. The making of a portrait typically involved a simple arrangement between artist and patron, but artists also worked on their own initiative, particularly when portraying friends and family (18.72; 1981.238; 1994.7). (Boston: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 193439), vol. Power still radiates from the lay figure, but we are not told how he comes to be in possession of it. A specific example taken from a large range of possibilities is the picture of a supplicant in proskynesis named simply George in the Church of Hagios Stephanos in Kastoria (1338, Fig. Are there any trends (location, interests, family situation, occupation) that stand out? Credit Line Samuel H. Kress Collection Accession Number 1961.9.11 Artists / Makers Petrus Christus (artist) Netherlandish, active 1444 - 1475/1476 Image Use Ist. 36 A. Moortgat, Art of Ancient Mesopotamia (London: Phaidon, 1969), 13940; H. Frankfort, Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1954), 9091. But over time you will build not one, but a series of donor portraits a data-driven analysis of your audience and a deeper understanding of the people that give to your cause. The very small girl was perhaps an infant death or a later addition to the family and the painting. Let us begin with this one. Cambridge, Mass. gr. Before then, supplicants are uniformly restrained and dignified (as for example in the Church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessalonika (see Fig. The illustrations that appear immediately prior to this scene in the manuscript elaborate on and confirm this interpretation. Power flows from the highest point, and infuses the recipient with status. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Yet, in addition to this, another change has also been made that seems to indicate a move in the opposite direction. But what if we told you she doesnt exist? It corresponds to no. An Old Babylonian seal in the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago represents the sun-god Shamash on the right, and a worshiper bearing a kid in his left arm, his right arm raised in prayer (17001530 BC, Fig. in This process may be intensified if the praying beholder is the donor himself. Figure 1.4: Zoe and Constantine Monomachos before Christ, mosaic in south gallery of the Church of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, 102850. We have so far been concerned with exploring the broad range of images of lay portraits and holy figures in relation to the classifications of contact or ktetor scenes, using the kind of contact manifested between the figures and the power relations between them as defining features. The Antioch and Byzantine scenes, however, are functioning in a transformative, less earth-bound, mode that might be better called symbolic or metaphoric (which, as mentioned, we will investigate further in Chapter 4). Interested in how thankQ can help your organization? Yet there is also a crucial difference between these scenes: the Justinian panel shows a gift-bearing procession, but includes no recipient. They don't have to be an actual image, but they do need to conjure oneto consolidate everything you know about your donors, give them personality and form. Ktetor portraits, in a sense, presume that relationship. For more on these manuscripts see G. Parpulov, The Presentation Copies of the Panoplia Dogmatica (Moscow, Gos. gr. The emperors perform deeds fitting to their office and duty, and these intrinsically have a religious dimension, as the image makes clear. 1.24). Making assumptions, using stereotypes and sweeping generalisations are no substitute for actual knowledge. Professional details:Do you know what your donors do for a living? Hugo van der Goes, detail from " Donor with St John the Baptist", 1478-1480, oil on panel, H. 23.2cm W. 22.5cm The image of the man with St John the Baptist behind him is a particular kind of double portrait from this time period known as a donor portrait, where the subject would be painted alongside the saint from whom they received their name. Second Preliminary Report. But in devotional subjects such as a Madonna and Child, which were more likely to have been intended for the donor's home, the main figures may look at or bless the donor, as in the Memling shown. The wall can take many creative forms depending on the campaign. 680850). on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. [2] Gifts to the church of buildings, altarpieces, or large areas of stained glass were often accompanied by a bequest or condition that masses for the donor be said in perpetuity, and portraits of the persons concerned were thought to encourage prayers on their behalf during these, and at other times. In the coronation, however, rather than being lessened by their encounter with the ultimate power in the universe, the emperors come away from it with their own status enhanced. Gradually these traditions worked their way down the social scale, especially in illuminated manuscripts, where they are often owner portraits, as the manuscripts were retained for use by the person commissioning them. It is perhaps also the case that the regal appearance of the emperors here, in comparison with the earlier ones, was rendered possible by the fact that in this panel the central figure of Christ has been replaced by the Virgin. 21 Pelekanides and Chatzidakes, Kastoria, 11; Velmans, Peinture, 8586. A PDF of this content is also available in through the Save PDF action button. Although donor portraiture is a mode of expression that dates to antiquity, in the medieval period an increasingly prosperous upper middle class used this genre more frequently. They dont have to be an actual image, but they do need to conjure one to consolidate everything you know about your donors, give them personality and form. Mannerist artists adjusted these conventions to produce works like Bronzinos portrait of a young man (29.100.16) painted in the 1530s: the figure again appears half-length, but the expression is aloof rather than serene, curious pieces of furniture replace the barrier along the lower border, and the handsthe right fingering the pages of a book and the left fixed on the hipsuggest momentary action and bravado rather than quiet dignity. 40 For more on proskynesis in Byzantine art, amongst a large bibliography, see A. Cutler, Transfigurations: Studies in the Dynamics of Byzantine Iconography (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975), 5391; L. Brubaker, Gesture in Byzantium, Past and Present 4 (2009): 3656; and Hillsdale, Byzantine Art and Diplomacy, 12633. This relation of the lay figures to the primal force that is Christ in terms of power is a key factor not only in the coronations, but also in non-imperial donor portraits; yet it also makes the scenes in some senses iconographic opposites. Figure 1.3: Coronation of John II Komnenos and his son Alexios, Gospels, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican, Urb. 39 On the manuscript and its miniatures, see K. Lake and S. Lake, Dated Greek Minuscule Manuscripts to the Year 1200, 10 vols. 17 O. von Simson, Sacred Fortress: Byzantine Art and Statecraft in Ravenna (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 24. This concerns an increasing emotionalism corresponding broadly to the division brought about by iconoclasm. Portraits of lay supplicants before a holy figure are found the length and breadth of the Byzantine world and its sphere of influence, and at all times. On balance, however, despite the increased emphasis on the donation, the overall bearing of the royal figures makes it seem as though they are not really giving their objects with any amount of conviction. An activity is undertaken for the salvation of the soul, and an interaction, a communication with another being, a supernatural one, no less, is begun. Several significant differences are evident between this image and our Byzantine scenes, however, including, obviously, the presence of the sacrificial apparatus in the form of the altar. Integration:Doing a one-off spot analysis is fine, but youll get better, more insightful data if you can link incoming information straight to your CRM. And he is certainly no supplicant. As Olivers portrait plainly shows, ktetor-ship is very much intertwined with the worldly aspects of power, status, and social privilege. On the left-hand side there is a representation of a row of nine Church Fathers, amongst whom are Sts. In Byzantium, however, the prostration can be much more complete, with the back parallel to the ground and the head lowered. Types of renaissance patronage (article) | Khan Academy Even within the broad parameters that all the scenes adhere to, an enormous amount of variation is still visible between them, almost every one having a distinct mood and feeling. The most relevant distinction to draw in terms of iconography, then, concerns not whether a donation is or is not shown, but whether there is deep personal contact between the lay and holy figures. 1.2) is certainly pious, just as Theodore (Fig. See also H. Khler and C. Mango, Hagia Sophia, trans. 1.16).Footnote 26 An Akkadian seal in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has the supplicants approaching a seated deity in prayer, but empty-handed (23502200 BC, Fig. Total loading time: 0 Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece 1162) e dellevangeliario greco Urbinate (cod.