bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bernard Benezet et l’iconographie du Sacré-Cœur au XIXe siècle
Authors: Mange Christian
Published: June 2021

Bernard Benezet and the iconography of the Sacred Heart during the nineteenth century.

The origins of the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus go back to the thirteenth century, but this cult was strongly reactivated by the visions of Marguerite-Marie Alacoque (1647-1690). The cult was again in fashion at the end of the nineteenth century. Marguerite-Marie was made a saint in 1864, and this gave rise to much celebration. The defeat of France in 1870 exacerbated national frustrations, and the cult of the Sacred Heart took on nationalist and impassioned overtones. France, as a country, was even dedicated to the Sacred Heart in 1873, at Paray-Le-Monial, by the Deputy for Toulouse, Gabriel de Belcastel.

The Jesuits of Toulouse, during the nineteenth century, were keen propagandists for an iconography which, in their view, could influence the general public. The association known as the « Apostolat de la Prière », approved by the Pope in 1866, was a keen evangelist for this pious imagery, supported by the newspaper, Messager du cœur de Jésus. The painter Bernard Benezet (a pupil of Hyppolite Flandrin) was commissioned in 1874 to paint the model for the Sacred Heart, and this model gave rise to endless reproductions, on all sorts of materials and objects. The author of the present article examines the diffusion of this image, underlining its commercial aspects. The over-enthusiastic support given to this « plaster-saint » type of art (art « saint-sulpicien ») by the French ultramontane faction in no way encouraged the renewal of sacred art that many early twentieth-century artists hoped for.
Le marchand d’allumettes d’Otto Dix, une œuvre manifeste ?
Authors: Wermester Catherine
Published: June 2021

Otto Dix’s Match Seller, a manifesto-work ?

In 1920, after the events of the Kapp putsch at Dresden, and after the mutilation of one of Rubens’ paintings, Bathsheba ai the fountain (held by the town’s Museum of Fine Art), caused by the fighting, Oskar Kokoschka launched an appeal encouraging his artist peers to prevent the destruction of the German artistic heritage. This appeal sets off the Kunstlump controversy, one of the essential episodes in the debates which agitated the Weimar Republic’s artistic community around the question of the social role of artists and of art. In his painting, The Match Seller (1920), in which the main figure is a disabled ex-serviceman, Otto Dix brought his contribution to the polemics launched by George Grosz and John Heartfield. The painting incorporates an extract from the text of Kokoschka’s appeal and also a possibly unconscious quotation from Grünewald ’s Issenheim altar screen. This last is pointed out here by a brief study of the relations between the Big City triptych (1927-1928) and the old master’s masterpiece. These indications bring the debate more directly to bear on the social role that avant-garde artists now supposedly occupied. Consequendy, Dix’s work may not be seen as a purely circumstantial statement, stigmatizing the political attitudes which lead to war and to the Kapp putsch ; on the contrary, it is a deeper reflection on the real possibilities for art and the artist to have an influential role.
Rome et la formation des collections du cardinal Mazarin
Authors: Michel Patrick
Published: June 2021

Rome and the formation of the collections of Cardinal Mazarin.

Most of the statues of classical antiquity and the paintings which Mazarin acquired after 1640 for his Paris residence, the hôtel Chevry-Tubeuf, were purchased in Rome. The Cardinal here three advisors there, Antonio della Cornia, the abbot Elpidio Benedetti and Paolo Maccarini, his confidential agent. The account books of this last, recently discovered in the archives at Rome, along with the diplomatic correspondence kept in Paris, give us a clearer understanding of how this major campaign of art purchasing was undertaken. For the classical statuary, certain special intermediaries involved in the restoration of sculptures — Orfeo Boselli, for example — played a vital part. Mazarin was able to acquire collections which had already been built up, like the collection of Cardinal Jacopo Sannesio, or to purchase statues recently discovered during excavations. The archives show that the Cardinal did not always bother to ask for an official authorisation to take such works out of Rome.

His quest for remarkable paintings was equally avid. The Cardinal acquired the paintings by Ludovisi which Richelieu and even Louis XIII had coveted at an earlier date. After 1653, Mazarin seems to have embarked on purchases of a different sort, mainly art objects or pieces of furniture intented to embellish the interior decoration of his town house.
Le manuscrit illustré du Roman de la poire, XIIIe siècle
Authors: Guilhaume Véronique
Published: June 2021

The thirteenth-century illuminated manuscript of the Roman de la Poire.

The only surviving illuminated manuscript of the Roman de la Poire (Romance of the Pear) is at the French National Library (B.N. ms. fr. 1286). The study of this manuscript reveals its iconographical specificities and allows us to formulate a new hypothesis as to the atelier which produced it.

The manuscript appears to date from between 1250 and 1270 and is decorated with twenty-seven figures, nine full-page paintings and eighteen illuminated initials. Some of these images represent a commentary on, or a dramatic rendering of, an episode in the poetic text, whilst others reorganise the text’s very structure. Paying particular attention to the images of Tristan and Isolde and to the different versions of the Offering, the author of this article tries to show how intelligent the illuminator was and how personal was his interpretation of the text. The article concludes with a detailed analysis of the style of the images and of the particularities of their conception. This analysis leads to a questioning of the usual attribution of the illuminated manuscript, up till now generally thought to have been produced by the illuminators active in the Bari atelier, in Paris, between 1250 and 1270.
« Che... possede ». Une nouvelle lecture des Allégories de l’Amour de Paul Véronèse
Authors: Palet Laurent
Published: June 2021

« Che Possede ». A new reading of the Allegories of Love by Paul Veronese.

The four Allegories of Love by Paul Veronese, at the National Gallery in London, are amongst this artist’s most mysterious paintings, and their interpretation will always be uncertain as long as we have no further information about the circumstances of this private commission. The four paintings were originally part of a ceiling ensemble, and they have been given interesting, if unsatisfactory, interpretations by C. Gould, E. Wind, A. Graham and M. Royalton-Kisch. A more detailed formal analysis allows us to submit a new reading of these paintings. The paintings are to be seen in pairs, the negative episodes — Infidelity and Disenchantment — being opposed to the positive ones : Respect and Happy Union. The use of the distances in the paintings, of touching and of the way glances are exchanged, along with the inscription « Che possede », seem to constitute the interpretative keys for a programme which praises the virtues of the patron and questions the viewer, not only directly but also through an intermediate figure.
L’architecture de la Renaissance à Nîmes et ses ambiguïtés
Authors: Potay Corinne
Published: June 2021

Renaissance architecture at Nîmes and its ambiguities.

The city of Nîmes still possesses a fair number of Renaissance buildings and later buildings which pursue the lessons of the Renaissance up to the 1660s. The numerous vestiges of classical Antiquity that still survive in Nîmes seem to have been a direct inspiration for artists working for a few wealthy patrons such as the Briçonnet bishops. The layout of most of the houses is determined by the town’s dense organisation of land parcels. The typology of these houses dates back in general to the Middle Ages, with only a few elements of detail being really Renaissance. The characteristics of the Renaissance style are to be seen essentially in the architectural décor, examined by the author of this article through a large number of examples.
L’illustration d’un incunable parisien : les grands bois des Heures d’Antoine Caillaut
Authors: Delaunay Isabelle
Published: June 2021

The illustration of a Parisian incunabular ; the large woodcuts of Antoine Caillaut’s Book of Hours.

The printed Book of Hours held at the French Bibliothèque nationale under the reference Rés. vélins 1643, bears the mark of Antoine Caillaut, a printer-publisher-bookseller active in Paris from 1482 to about 1505. The book was probably printed at the beginning of the year 1489. Some of the engravings in it are the work of Jean Du Pré, others of Antoine Caillaut. The author of the present article looks at the sixteen large woodcuts and identifies three engravers, A, B and C, who could be their authors. The aim of the article is to show the close links between these engravings and contemporary manuscript illuminations. Thus there is a close resemblance in the styles of engraver A (six plates) and the Master of the Coronation of Anne de Bretagne, who undoubtedly took the woodcuts as a model. There is a similar closeness between the works of the engravers B and C, and the Master of the Cardinal de Bourbon. The latter’s creations were perhaps the model for the engravers, unless it was the painter himself who actually designed the woodcuts.
Un pionnier du graphisme éditorial : Alexey Brodovitch
Authors: Cattaruzza Nathalie
Published: June 2021

Alexey Brodovitch, a pioneer of magazine design.

Alexey Brodovitch is one of the leading figures in graphic design in the United States from 1930 on, helping give the role of artistic director its modern status. In 1934 he was invited by Carmel Snow to work on Harper’s Bazaar, where he introduced graphic innovations first developed in Europe.

In fashion photography, he encouraged a natural and spontaneous style in keeping with the dynamic image of the modern woman. In the lay-out of the magazine’s pages he was particularly attentive to the relationships between text and image, creating dynamic effects which are often close to those used in the cinema. He had the knack of finding the most gifted young artists of his day and under his direction the magazine not only published many young photographers later to become famous, but also served a showcase for modern European art. In 1950 and 1951 Brodovitch launched and directed Portfolio, a non-commercial review which gave his creativity free reign and became an inspiration for several generations of graphic artists. Through his own career and through his activities as a teacher, Brodovitch is clearly one of the most influential figures in the visual arts in the USA from 1945.
L’affiche publicitaire et le gurafikku dezain au Japon (1854-1960)
Authors: Gossot Anne
Published: June 2021

Advertising posters and gurafikku dezain in Japan, 1854-1960.

The world of commercial advertising was already well organised in Japan by the middle of the nineteenth century. The printed commercial forms most frequently to be found are bills for plays and other spectacles, advertising posters and tracts. They have the same format and use the same techniques and colours as the xylographic print (nishiki e). At the same time authors and publishers of prints began to engage in commercial publicity, destined for a bourgeois public rather than a popular one. Such commercial prints lasted longer than the traditional nishiki e prints, surviving up to about 1910.

Lithography was introduced to Japan only in 1872, chromolithography and offset printing becoming more widespread from 1914. The Americans played a vital role in the introduction of these new techniques.

The author of the present article looks at the parallel development of other advertising forms, with the rapid growth of the newspaper press from 1870 and the appearance of advertising agencies in Tokyo and Osaka. The products concerned were generally of western origin, and the styles of the advertising images tended to follow western graphic styles. Techniques of lithographic printing, called « applied drawing », were taught at the Tokyo Fine Arts school from 1896.

From the 1920s, the poster gave rise to several aesthetic and social debates in Japan, whilst techniques improved thanks to the introduction of the HB process (colour photo-engraving). The author goes on to examine the principal events which mark the history of « artists’ posters » from 1925.

In 1926 the activity was sufficiently professionalised for an association of commercial artists to be formed. The inspiration was still primarily of western origin and commercial artists tried to find ways of giving their creations the same status as traditional, fine art works. The expressions « design » and « graphic design » began to appear in Japan during the 1950s.
Les dragons du Livre des étoiles fixes d’Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfï
Authors: Caiozzo Anna
Published: June 2021

The dragons in the Book of Fixed Stars by Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfî.

The French National Library is in possession of a very beautiful astronomical manuscript, once the property of the Timourid prince Ulugh Beg, the grandson of Tîmûr. The manuscript dates from about 1430 to 1440 and comes from Central Asia.

It presents the constellations in the form of double miniatures, painted in pale hues. Some of these miniatures are particularly original and differ considerably from the earlier and more classical copies of Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfî’s Book of Fixed Stars. The animals represented in the constellations of the Dragon, of Ophiuchus Serpentarius, of the Hydra or of the Whale are more akin to dragons than to traditional snakes.

The stylistic theme of the dragon seems to be have been specially appreciated as a decorative motif in the Timourid court. It is frequently found on various art objects coming from Central Asia and from Iran, some of these objects bearing the name of Prince Ulugh Beg. It is an ancient totemic symbol for Chinese and Uralo-Altaic peoples, but it also has an esoteric and astrological significance which the Prince Ulugh-Beg, as versed as he was in astronomy and astrology, was clearly aware of. It is the dragon of the ecliptic, the position of its « lunar nodes » being the determining astrological factor in the individual's destiny.
Les Palais Européens de l’empereur Qianlong et leurs sources italiennes
Authors: Droguet Vincent
Published: June 2021

The European palaces of the Emperor Qianlong, and their Italian sources.

Built between 1747 and 1768, several European-style buildings were added to the summer palace of the Yuangmingyuan, the favourite residence of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong. Today these European buildings and their gardens are in a seriously dilapidated state, but old engravings and photographs still depict them in their former glory. Two Jesuits played an essential role in their design, Father Benoist for all the water works and Brother Giuseppe Castiglione from Milan (1688-1766) for the buildings themselves. It is possible to identify certain European sources for these remarkable works. In the gardens, the space is not organised around a principal building but is rather a succession of architectural, plant or hydraulic events. Several elements have analogies with certain motifs in the villas of post-classical Rome. Other similarities may be found with villas of Lombardy or Piedmont, such as the Venaria Reale, built by Amedeo da Castellamonte. The waterfall of the Haiyantang incorporated water effects similar to those of the villas of the Latium, whilst the table fountains of the Dashuifa evoke the thicket of the triumphal arch at Versailles. The labyrinth, the bosco and the open-air theatre are all inspired by Italian models, transmitted, notably, by the engravings of Falda and Dal Re ; the decorative ponds are inspired by French examples. Throughout this exceptional composition, Castiglione has masterfully given the Emperor a sort of secret garden, full of surprises, where the zig-zagging design helped acclimatise European models which had been imported to China and rethought there.
Antoine Wiertz à la conquête de Paris
Authors: Guédron Martial
Published: June 2021

Antoine Wiertz comes to conquer Pans.

The enthusiasm of Belgian painters for the French capital began at the end of the eighteenth century, at the time of neo-classicism. Under the domination of the Dutch, and despite a pro-Dutch and pro-Germanic current, many Belgian painters turned to Paris as a city in which they could find ideas in keeping with their aspirations for liberty.

Antoine Wiertz stayed in Paris on several occasions, and this article examines what was at stake in these visits. As a Prix de Rome, in 1832, Wiertz was authorised to follow the courses of the young French painters who were prize-winners at the Villa Médicis, then under the direction of Ingres. At Rome, between 1834 and 1837, Wiertz painted his first version of The Greeks and the Trojans disputing the body of Patrocles (Museum of Liege). The author compares the preliminary studies and the first and second versions of this large composition (the second, dating from 1844-1845, is at the Wiertz Museum in Brussels). The first Patrocles had a favourable reception in Belgium, but the painter could not exhibit it at the Paris Salon of 1838. The work presented at the 1839 Salon was not well received by the French critics, even if it was praised again at the Brussels Salon of the same year. Wiertz developed a deep dislike of Paris, a far cry from his early enthusiasm, and went on to proclaim the equality of Belgian painting with French painting.
La contribution de Bernard Laffaille à l’architecture religieuse des années cinquante
Authors: Nogue Nicolas
Published: June 2021

Bernard Laffaille’s contribution to religious architecture during the 1950s.

The engineer Bernard Laffaille (1900-1955) was a pioneer in the form of roofing known as hyperbolic parabaloid shells, commonly referred to as « horse saddles ». These were first used for train sheds. The architects Jean Le Couteur and Paul Herbe (1949-1953) adapted these forms for religious architecture in their church at Bizerta, as did Maurice Novarina for his church at Villeparisis (1954-1958) and Guillaume Gillet for Notre-Dame de Royan (1954-1958). These roofs were made of thin, bowed concrete shells, supported by V-shaped « shell columns ». After Laffaille’s death, Gillet used the same form for the church of Saints Crépin and Crépinien at Soissons. Le Couteur and Herbe also gave the bell-tower of Sacré-Cœur of Algiers the silhouette of a turning hyperboloid, inspired by the cooling towers of power stations, associated with V-shaped columns, known as Laffaille columns. Thus architectural forms first used by engineers for industrial constructions are used by architects from the Beaux-Arts school as a repertory of formal elements which may be freely associated. Through these plastic applications, these forms acquire a new, religious signification. Is it not a kind of new eclecticism ?
Une statue colossale de Mars à Mandeure (Doubs)
Authors: Pichot Valérie
Published: June 2021

Recently re-discovered at the Museum of the Château of Montbéliard, several sculpted fragments seem to belong mostly to a giant statue of the god Mars. These fragments were originally found in 1889 on the site of a Gallo-Roman settlement — Epomanduodurum — of considerable importance. These fragments have never been studied. Only their extremities are in marble, the trunk of the statue being of local limestone. The god has a beard and is wearing armour. His right hand is raised, resting on a lance, whilst his left hand holds a sword. This kind of representation of Mars Ultor is frequently found in Gaul, but primarily in the form of small bronzes. The work can be placed in a Hellenistic tradition and probably dates from the time of Flavian, a period during which Epomanduodurum was a prosperous town, one of the largest agglomerations in Gaul.
Les peintures décoratives d’Alphonse Osbert à Vichy (1900-1917)
Authors: Dumas Véronique
Published: June 2021

The painter Osbert stayed at Vichy every year, and executed three mural paintings there.

The first (1900-1901) was in a private villa. This mural was subsequently broken up, but two pannels, Harmonie d’automne and Sérénité , featured in a public auction in 1985. They show how the painter was strongly influenced by Puvis de Chavannes and by the symbolist movement. In 1903-1904,

Osbert decorated the main hall of the Vichy watering establishment, showing a clearer sense of how the mural should adapt to architecture. In 1913-1917, the painter decorated the choir of the Saint-Louis church.

The iconography here is more traditional, close to the type of religious paintings done by the disciples of Ingres. Despite their differences, these three works allow for the identification of an Osbert style.
Palais de justice et prisons dans la ville. L’œuvre de Ledru (1778-1861) en Auvergne
Authors: Doutre Marilyne
Published: June 2021

The creation and installation of new administrative and judiciary services under the First Empire and the Restoration in France represented an opportunity for urban improvements and development in many provincial towns. Louis Charles François Ledru (1778-1861) was the departmental architect for the Puy-de-Dôme, and, as such, responsible for a series of projects for law courts, prisons and barracks for gendarmes in the towns of Thiers (1810 to 1825), Saint-Flour (1823 to 1850) and Ambert (in 1838). These different projects are so many variations on a theme, either proposing reuse and extension of existing buildings, the replacement of existing buildings and reconstruction on the same site, accompanied by a reorganisation of the surrounding urban space, or reconstruction on an entirely new site outside the town centre. In the three towns, the solutions put forward had to take into account many different factors ; attachment to the old seats of power, availability of building land, security requirements and, last of all, the creation of dynamics for urban growth.
Un masque en terre cuite du XVIe siècle provenant du château de Wideville
Authors: Mehdipour Valérie
Published: June 2021

A terra-cotta mask dating from the 16th century, originating from the Castle of Widewille.

The restoration of a terra-cotta mask, donated to the Louvre Museum in 1993, has made it possible to define its original setting and the techniques associated with its creation. The mask was part of a monumental fireplace in the Castle of Widewille (Yvelines) built ca. 1580, perhaps by the associates of Mathieu Jacquet. The coif (a hood topped by a plume) derives from a model by J. Androuet du Cerceau.

The face was produced in a press mould and the coif, in a multiple piece mould ; the two parts were joined together, fired and then glazed in black.

The layering of the polychromy was identified.

The various restorations that were carried out on the mask are, also, exhibited.
Atlantes et cariatides de Rodin pour deux immeubles bruxellois
Authors: Mary Guylaine
Published: June 2021

Telamones and Caryatids by Rodin for Two Buildings in Brussels.

Between 1872 and 1874, Rodin, working in Brussels, created a décor consisting of one caryatid and two telamones for each of two buildings located, respectively, at 33-35 and 37-39 boulevard Anspach. These two buildings no longer exist. However, the original stucco figures from no. 37-39, as well as two series of copies cast in plaster, the caryatid and the two telamones, are today in the collection of the Musée Rodin in Meudon. There are two other series of these figures in Brussels and in Japan. Restorations were carried out on three telamones in the collection of the Musée Rodin (one in stucco ; the other two, in plaster).

A study of the technique used to make the original statues has confirmed that moulded stucco was used for these figures ; a technique rarely used for this type of monumental sculpture. The stucco was originally painted with a coloring that imitated stone ; it was then repainted several times before the statues were taken down in 1929. An examination of the two plaster telamones in the Musée Rodin showed that they had been cast, in 1929, in the moulds made in Brussels from the original stucco statues before they were taken down. All the plaster series were done from these moulds, and by the same atelier.
Le Salon annuel de la Société des amis des arts de Pau, quartier d’hiver des impressionnistes de 1876 à 1879
Authors: Le Cœur Marc
Published: June 2021

Marc Le Cœur : The Annual Salon of the Society of the Friends of the Arts in Pau : Winter Quarters of the Impressionists from 1876 to 1879.

At the same time that their first collective exhibitions were held in Paris, Impressionist artists were invited to present their works at the exhibits of the Society of the Friends of the Arts in Pau from 1876 to 1879, at the initiative of Paul Lafond and Alphonse Cherfils, respectively secretary and vice-president of the Society. The most famous among these artists were Caillebotte, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley who were joined by a number of their colleagues and teachers. The paintings that were exhibited, several of which were among the chefs-d’œuvre of their authors (notably, Young Man at the Window by Caillebotte, The Orchestra by Degas and A June Morning by Pissarro) were given an indifferent welcome by the public ; and, despite favorable press reviews, they were rarely sold. However, in 1878, the Pau Museum acquired Degas’ celebrated Interior of a Cotton Office in New Orleans. At the end of the following year, after Lafond and Cherfils were repudiated by the public and forced to leave their positions, the exhibitions of these Impressionists ended. This article, based on criticism that appeared in the local press, relates the reception given to these singular exhibits that took place 600 miles from Paris.
Olivier Debré aux États-Unis, 1959-1963 : échec d’une réception
Authors: Chassey Eric de
Published: June 2021

Éric de Chassey : Olivier Debré in the USA, 1959-1963 : A Failed Reception.

The history of the artistic relationships between Paris and New York in the nineteen-fifties has usually been viewed as though it were a territorial feud, biased by the power of the Americans or by the tradition of the French. This article summarizes the reasons why Olivier Debré, a French painter, distinguished by European critics for his supposed «american-ness », failed to be accepted by the American art world, after his works were introduced on the New York and Washington art markets, in 1959 and 1963. Placed in the context of the end of Abstract Expressionism and the failure of Abstract Impressionism to impose itself as a valid successor, the paintings of Debré seemed outdated. In fact, his art addressed several issues that had been resolved by the New York School ten years before and numerous formal strategies that had been discarded in the USA as trop français and old-fashioned. For the American art scene of the fifties, it was neither formalist enough, which would have placed it in the « post-painterly » trend, nor was its subject matter momentous enough. The negative reception that Debré ’s work received in the United States is significant in that it reflects an environment in which two different art scenes co-existed and, yet, were not truly contemporary — an environment that elicits further research.
La couleur dans la peinture grecque antique de Macédoine
Authors: Brécoulaki Hariclia
Published: June 2021

Color in the Paintings of Macedonia during Greek Antiquity.

The study of Macedonian paintings of the 4th through the 2nd century b.c. provides the opportunity to understand many of the important characteristics of the paintings of Greek Antiquity and to examine the materials and pictorial techniques used by artists of that period. The funerary paintings of Macedonia were done on two types of supports : on the walls of tombs that were covered with a coat of plaster and marble slabs. The pigments that have been identified are predominately natural and artificial inorganic pigments and, more rarely, organic ones. The techniques used are : alia fresco, distemper, egg or Arabic gum. The monumental paintings of Verghina are painted in highly interesting styles and techniques that distinguish them from other Macedonian paintings of this period and confirm that they were painted in a local, decorative style.
Imiter l’arc-en-ciel : la règle des couleurs dans la Schedula diversarum artium de Théophile
Authors: Villela-Petit Inès
Published: June 2021

Imitating the Rainbow : the Rules of Color in Theophilus’ Schedula diversarum artium.

The first book of the Schedula diversarum artium by Theophilus includes several chapters that relate to pictorial representation : people, drapery and landscapes. These form a coherent system, in which, on the colored surface, strokes of light and shadow are superimposed. And, while the manner in which drapery is worked is found in other classic medieval texts, the methods, as described by Theophilus, that were used to represent the volumes of the drapery is unique. Based on the metaphor of the rainbow, the volumes are established by the use of color, or more precisely, by the imitation of the juxtaposition of the graduation of colors that characterize the arch of the rainbow. A re-examination of Theophilus’ text and its range of meaning offers new ways of fusing illumination and wall painting, from the Carolingian period to that of Theophilus.
Images de l’idéologie royale khmère aux frontons du temple d’Īśvarapura (967 ap. J.-C.). Nouvelles hypothèses (I)
Authors: Alvares Sharon
Published: June 2021

The Royal Iconographie Program of Isvarapura temple (ca. 969). Part I.

Built ca. 969, the well-known temple of Īśvarapura, dedicated to Śiva, is a masterpiece in its iconographie program devoted to kingship. The first part of this study discusses the identification of two pediments, placing them within the general sculptural program. The first, Durgā Mahisāspuramardani, unlike the Indian tradition, shows the devil buffalo, Mahisa, as he transforms into a man. The second, identified in 1929 as Indra’s rain, depicts, in fact, the fire of the Khândava forest as related in the Indian Adiparvan of the Mahâhhàrata, although it also refers to the Indonesian version of the Mahâhhàrata, composed in 10th century Java. Thus, while Durgā, placed in front of Śiva Tribhuvanarnesvara’s sanctuary, protects him, the significance of the Khandava’s fire appears to be the conquest of the world.
Qiu Ying ou la synthèse des traditions du paysage chinois en bleu et vert au XVIe siècle
Authors: Malenfer-Ortiz Valérie
Published: June 2021

Qiu Ying - or the Synthesis of Green and Blue Landscapes during the 16th century.

This essay aims at highlighting a portion of the work of the Chinese painter Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552), who remains mysterious and often criticized for the decorative quality of his paintings, especially his « blue and green » style. Among the numerous paintings attributed to him, the « blue and green » scenes constitute a unique genre, from which the painter acquired a prestigious reputation but also many forgeries. A selection of a few « blue and green » landscapes of the highest quality allows us to sketch some characteristic traits of his artistic evolution. Qiu Ying exhibits a great diversity of techniques, integrating and interpreting over and over the past traditions of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and the early Ming Zhejiang and Wu Schools.

Qiu Ying represents a great moment in sixteenth-century art : his historical approach and his unprecedented technical expertise, allowed him to synthesize the main pictorial traditions and to offer a historical and aesthetic tour of Chinese painting to the most ambitious and wealthiest patrons of his time.
Les vitraux du XVIe siècle consacrés à la légende du « pendu-dépendu » : nouvelles informations iconographiques
Authors: Riviale Laurence
Published: June 2021

Sixteenth century Stain Glass Windows Consecrated to the Legend of the « Miracle of the Fouls » : a new iconographic investigation.

A large number of 16th century stained glass windows still exist in France that illustrate the miracle of Saint James the Great, known as the legend of « Miracle of the Fouls ». Of the 13 windows that have been analyzed, only one, from the church of Cour-sur-Loire (Loir-Cher), ca. 1515, would appear to follow the version of Jacques de Voragine. The others are based on a popular variation that shows a servant taking revenge on a young pilgrim, who has offended him, by hiding a silver cup in the pilgrim’s personal belongings. The authenticity analysis of the glass of the window at Cour confirms the results of the iconographie analysis : the 19th century restorers were responsible for having made the window conform to the version of Jacques de Voragine. This window remains, nonetheless, unique, owing to one detail : the presence of an ornamental medallion with the figure of a Roman emperor, below which, is inscribed the name Raminagrobis . In an attempt to interweave the legend of the « the Miracle of the Fouls » and this name, the author will show that the episode of the Tiers-Livre of Rabelais, in which the poet Raminagrobis appears, would seem to allude to the miracle of Saint James the Great. Does the text of Rabelais, posterior to the glass (1515), appear to reveal an association between a Raminagrobis, the figure of an iniquitous and infidel judge, and the legend of « the Miracle of the Fouls » ?
La structure et l’enveloppe. Habillage et ornement en architecture (1870-1940)
Authors: Guéné Hélène
Published: June 2021

Structure and envelope. Covering and ornament in architecture (1870-1940).

The arising of new technical implementations based on framework construction has utterly altered the exterior appearance of the buildings. In the middle of the 19th century, Gottfried Semper described the new architecture as the art of casing. After him, Owen Jones, Viollet-Le-Duc or the Chicago School brilliantly developed an original reflection about the walling, its ornamentation (based on industrialized material) and the dialectical interaction it plays with the structure. At the beginning of the 20th century, the choice of a « skin » fully enveloping the architecture gives precedence to the ornament which thus acquires its total independence in shape and scale (Otto Wagner, Majolika Haus in Vienna ; Roger Jusserand, « Maison Bleue » in Angers). For a while the french rationalist mind will prefer the ornament as contrapuntal to a structure displaying its constructive logic (Perret, rue Franklin in Paris).

From the 10s to the 30s, the envelope tends to reduce to a mere coating. It reveals a radical dissociation between facing and structure within the constructive apparatus. The debate is still open. Suffice it to mention the place nowadays taken by plate-glass or iron (steel, aluminium, plastic...).
Traditions locales et art savant au XIIIe siècle : le décor monumental de l’église de Chissey-sur-Loue
Authors: Ramos Everardo
Published: June 2021

Local traditions and « scholarly » art in the 13th century : the monumental decoration of the church of Chissey-sur-Loue.

The monumental decoration of the church of Chissey-sur-Loue (Jura) discloses the dichotomy between a « scholarly » art, open to the customs of the day, and a vernacular one attached to regional models. This « scholarly » art emerges especially in the outstanding set of crocketed capitals and in the pattern of some bases (without scotia and with modillions on the plinths), which are related to the forms of the great gothic monuments of the 13th century. This art which, for want of anything better, can be described as « vernacular », appears mainly in figured sculpture : 1. the corbels adorned with fantastic or grimacing heads, supporting a cornice on the inside elevation of the nave, and 2. the portal, with its tympanum showing a Christ in bonds, and its splayings, carved with little heads, imitating the column statues of the great gothic portals.

This contrast between the treatment of the bases and the capitals, on the one hand, and the figured sculpture on the other hand, appears also in various 13th century monuments in Franche-Comté (such as abbey-churches in Baume-les-Messieurs and Luxeuil).
Sources textuelles pour l’étude de la distribution dans les châteaux normands
Authors: Le Pogam Pierre-Yves
Published: June 2021

Textual sources for the study of space distribution in Norman castles.

The specialization of spaces is a standard problem in the study of civil architecture. If the end of the Middle Ages really indicates an important step in this matter, the archeological, monumental or iconographie sources are comparatively of little use or of delicate interpretation. On the contrary, the textual sources can bring a decisive contribution to this history. The accounts of the royal building sites administration provide useful material about Normandy in the middle of the 15th century.

Thus here are examined the specialization types (public/private, hierarchical, functional, etc...), and their space materialization (wings, floors, light partitions) in the royal castles of the province. The informations gathered are compared with the results coming from the bibliography on civil architecture in the 15th century.
Le décor peint des établissements d’enseignement supérieur à Paris. De la conception à la réception
Authors: Hottin Christian
Published: June 2021

Painted decor in university education buildings in Paris.

From conception to reception.

The first great painted decors designed for university education buildings dates back to the end of the 18th century, but the golden age of this painting takes place during the Third Republic, when great sites are launched in universities and prestigious schools for their extension or reconstruction.

The majority of these works originate in a public commission, during which execution a number of actors (artist, architect, members of the institutions, officials of the Beaux-Arts administration) bring their contribution to the birth of the work. Its themes, usually put forward by the establishment’s directors, are connected to the history of the institution or the scientific subjects it teaches, but through these works, the group portrait is the most typical feature of a community identity. These works occasioned a greater indifference among the critics than among the users of the premises : at times adorned with drawings, at other times defaced or defiled, they also provided an opportunity to remember the academic years. The recent restoration campaigns show the interest they arouse nowadays.
Un vase attique post-parthénonien : le cratère de Londres E 466
Authors: Giess-Bevilacqua Valérie
Published: June 2021

A post-parthenonian attic vase : the E 466 London crater.

This article wishes to provide a thorough analysis — mainly through iconography — of a chalice-shaped crater kept in the British Museum in London, whose attribution and dating pose problems. Its theme looks conventional : a pursuit scene between Eos and Cephalos surrounded by astral figures. Nevertheless, the treatment is uncommon and only the decor of a Neapolitan hydria by the Painter of Coghill appears close to it. As a matter of fact, an attribution to Polygnotos’ atelier, more precisely to the Painter of Dinos’ circle, seems very probable owing to iconographie or stylistic analogies with works like the necked amphora in Arezzo. Besides, this type of «astral composition » appears rather at the end of the 5th century, under the influence of the Parthenon’s sculptures, achieving its full bloom with the flowered style (Painter of Médias and his circle). Therefore the London vase can be dated ca. 420 B.C.
Les quatre livres d’Yves Klein, fondement existentiel d’une écriture silencieuse
Authors: Charlet Nicolas
Published: June 2021

The four books of Yves Klein : the existential foundation of a silent writing.

Yves Klein originally intended to make a career as a judoka. His first book, Les fondements du judo, was published in 1954. Quickly attracted by the artistic milieu from where he sprang, that same year he published his second book : Yves. Peintures. It really is a sham catalogue since, as it appears in the dummy kept in Klein’s Archives, the small-sized cut-out papers are supposed to reproduce Klein’s works, but are no more than independant artefacts. His third book, Le dépassement de la problématique de l’art, appears in 1959, when he achieves the height of his success in Europe. Through this collection of disparate texts, as well as through his art (which leads him to a total monochromy), Yves Klein attests his aspiration towards universality and freedom. His fourth book will never be published. Entitled Mon Livre by some art historians (including the author of this paper) , and L’aventure monochrome by others, its content remains enigmatic. The consulting of eleven typescripts in the Klein archives allows a deeper knowledge of this book which Klein considered as an accomplishment. The author proposes a reconstitution of the complete work.
Quelques nouveaux tableaux d’Isaac Moillon
Authors: Benoît-Cattin Renaud
Published: June 2021

Newly-found paintings by Isaac Moillon.

The work of Isaac Moillon, the parisian painter, is emerging since about a quarter of a century. Increasing discoveries during the recent years allow to start to outline the original personality of this artist. His uncommon style, still strongly marked by mannerism, is characterized by a very distinctive sense of composition as regards both religious and secular painting. New works have recently been identified in Burgundy, Auvergne and Limousin.
Le manuscrit 434 de la bibliothèque municipale de Besançon. Culture antique et latinité sous le règne de Charles V
Authors: Sparta Catherine
Published: June 2021

The 424 manuscript in the Bibliothèque Municipale in Besançon : antique culture and latinity under the reign of Charles V.

The 424 manuscript in the Bibliothèque Municipale in Besançon commissioned by Charles V in 1372, contains nine texts and is richly illustrated. The presentation of these texts and the volume’s illustration underscores two aspects of the mediaeval standpoint regarding the antique heritage. On the one hand one notices through the didactic texts, an assimilation of the antique way of thinking, and on the other hand, an attitude of literal handing down of this heritage. An extensive analysis of the illustration accompanying two texts, Boece’s La Consolation de la Philosophie and Aesop’s Fables, lays stress on the second angle. Both types of attitude clearly come to light through the iconography : groping in the first instance and synthetic in the second one.
Une série de bas-reliefs en cuivre d’après des gravures de Goltzius
Authors: Le Boeuf François , Magnien Aline
Published: June 2021

A series of copper bas-reliefs after Goltzius’ etchings.

This study is devoted to a series of 14 repoussé copper bas-reliefs (as attested by the analysis of the reverses) in Saint Thomas church in La Flèche, dating back to the first half of the 17th century, examined by the National Survey Service in the Pays de la Loire. The identification of the engraved source : a series of the Apostles with Saint Paul and Christ, carried out by Goltzius in 1589, allowed the replacing of this work in its context, and its inclusion in a series of works — shortly described here — executed after this artist. Furthermore, this study endeavours to show how the artist achieved the transposition of the engravings, in a material relatively seldom found in the works inspired by Goltzius, and in a different format, since one passes from a vertical to a horizontal composition.
Laboratoire d’une nouvelle forme d’art : l’édition des Minnelieder (1803) illustrée par Philipp Otto Runge
Authors: Ramos Julie
Published: June 2021

A new form of art laboratory : the Minnelieder edition 1803 illustrated by Philipp Otto Runge.

In 1803, the writer Ludwig Tieck asks the painter Philipp Otto Runge to create drawings in order to illustrate his translation of a collection of troubadour songs. Backed up by a genetic conception of art history, this project attests their expectation of a new artistic period. While for Tieck the Minnelieder translation constitutes the necessary step towards the awareness of the specificity of an incoming poetry, for Runge, through their code of symbols, the illustrations appear as the forerunners of an unprecedented landscape art. Both feel that a bridge can be thrown over between poetry and plastic art, owing to their common « musicality», thereby endangering the doctrine of their compartimentalization advocated by the upholders of neoclassicism. This aspect comes to light as well in Tieck’s foreword, opening the collection, as in the conception of the Landschafterey which occupies Runge since 1802. The question of the relation between text and image raised by the illustration therefore undergoes a profound renewal. But, though in theory they appear to agree, the realization of the work discloses deep divergences between the two men, and its publication will put the seal on their break-up.
Le décor du livre dans les concours organisés par les revues d’art décoratif entre 1893 et 1912
Authors: Moraud Sophie
Published: June 2021

Book decoration in the decorative art competitions organized by art magazines between 1893 and 1912.

From 1893 until 1912, the major art magazines in France (Art et décoration, L’art décoratif and, on a lesser scale, La Revue des Arts décoratifs), in England (The Studio) and in Germany (Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration) organized a series of decorative art competitions. Their themes were most varied (interior decoration, miscellaneous objects, textiles, ceramics, etc.) : they aimed at compensating the weaknesses of the education given to young artists by allowing them to be confronted with the restraints of industrial production. The graphic arts, in their most varied aspects, formed the subject of nearly half the opened competitions — of which about fifty concerned book decoration. Illustration — ornaments for chapter heads and tails, or tailpieces and full-page images — were the Studio's special field ; ex-libris being shared between German and English magazines. On the other hand, letter design, flyleaf papers and cover’s composition for these very magazines were also proposed by the French magazines, and the winning projects were more often than not used by the periodicals. The number and diversity of these competitions shows the important place taken by the books in Art Nouveau’s decorative research.
Témoignages sur l’enseignement de la gravure à l’École nationale des beaux-arts, 1945-1955
Authors: Humbert Laurence
Published: June 2021

Recollections about the teaching of engraving in the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1945 to 1 955.

In 1945, the teaching of engraving was reorganized in the ENSBA, with two ateliers : line-engraving and etching, headed by two professors : Robert Cami, master engraver, and Edouard Goerg, artist, engraver and aquafortist. The recollections of two former pupils, Maurice Chot-Plassot and Jean Peschard, give an account of the style of their masters teaching. Imbued with the classical tradition of the ENSBA, they passed on a sensibility towards engraving, shared their preferences and, through their own work, served as examples.

According to Maurice Chot-Plassot, Robert Cami knew how to highlight and explain the technical secrets of the quattrocento masters. The range of the blacks as well as the relief resided in the line. Jean Peschard emphasizes the importance of light in Edouard Goerg’s work and in his teaching. In spite of their different educational approach, the black and white remained the rule. The Prix de Rome marked the successful conclusion of a training and the recognition of the laureate among his peers. The requirements, even the restraints of this competition (such as the figuration of a 33 centimeters nude) represented the educational pillars of the ENSBA. During their stay in the Villa Medici, the artists were given the opportunity of a reflection about the cultural heritage of their School and the contemplation of new researches (on colour and abstraction).