donor portrait purpose

Yet it is also the case that even within the group of contact portraits, there are still distinctions to be drawn between the donation and non-donation iconographies. Figure 1.25: Conquest and Clemency relief of Marcus Aurelius, Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, AD 17680. There also existed a strong tradition for . 30 H. Belting, Das illuminierte Buch in der sptbyzantinischen Gesellschaft (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1970), 61 ff., and Spatharakis, Portrait, 8487. With this in mind it is interesting to turn to one of the best-known images in Byzantine art, the Justinian panel in the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, which shows the emperor holding a gift of a gold paten in his hands (church consecrated 548, Fig. A portrait is typically defined as a representation of a specific individual, such as the artist might meet in life. Instead, his bearing is filled with authority, and, as is so often the case, the scene as a whole resorts to a series of formal devices to prevent any lessening of it. [15], A particular convention in illuminated manuscripts was the "presentation portrait", where the manuscript began with a figure, often kneeling, presenting the manuscript to its owner, or sometimes the owner commissioning the book. A mid-fourth-century scene from a floor mosaic of the Constantinian Villa at Antioch, however, marks a decisive step in the transition from the standard Roman sacrifice representation to the Byzantine donor portrait (Fig. 666Synodal 387, fol. On the other hand, within a less vibrant artistic tradition the portraits might easily have fallen into formulaic platitudes. [17] A later convention was for figures at about three-quarters of the size of the main ones. The transmission of power that we see in the coronations generally does not take place in standard portraits. New York: Pantheon, 1966. Portrait of a Female Donor, c. 1455 Not on View Medium oil on panel Dimensions overall: 41.8 x 21.6 cm (16 7/16 x 8 1/2 in.) Seriously. [22] In an often-quoted passage, John Pope-Hennessy caricatured 16th-century Italian donors:[23], In Italy donors, or owners, were rarely depicted as the major religious figures, but in the courts of Northern Europe there are several examples of this in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, mostly in small panels not for public viewing. gr. [24] The most notorious of these is the portrayal as the Virgin lactans (or just post-lactans) of Agns Sorel (died 1450), the mistress of Charles VII of France, in a panel by Jean Fouquet. See also S. Radoji, Geschichte der Serbischen Kunst: von den Anfngen bis zum Ende des Mittelalters (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1969), 42. Each language group applies its term, blanket-fashion, to all of the images. The purpose of donor portraits was to memorialize the donor and his family, and especially to solicit prayers for them after their death. 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. Yet there is also a crucial difference between these scenes: the Justinian panel shows a gift-bearing procession, but includes no recipient. You could even create specific portraits for select, high-value donors and supporters. 12 See, for example, Spatharakis, Portrait, 125. Yes, its a process. 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. The image articulates these positions through a number of pictorial devices. In the earlier of these scenes, Christ appears between the empress Zoe and her husband, Constantine Monomachos. They are your audience, the people reading your direct mail, visiting your website, or following you on social media. Now, the idea of drawing near to a spiritual figure is grafted onto an already-existent iconography showing kneeling, submissive figures before an earthly potentate. Portraiture. This draws them closer to the Assyrian example of Jehu and Shalmanesser III (see Fig. But what if we told you she doesnt exist? Once we notice the gesture of St. Dionysios, we also see that several of the Fathers behind him make a similar gesture with their own scrolls, also proffering them toward the emperor. 39 On the manuscript and its miniatures, see K. Lake and S. Lake, Dated Greek Minuscule Manuscripts to the Year 1200, 10 vols. The reasons for this discrepancy are instructive. Lets face it. Hans Memling; the Madonna looks benevolently at the donor, who is presented by Saint Anthony the Great, and blessed by the Christ-child, Geertgen tot Sint Jans, Raising of Lazarus, with five kneeling donor portraits (and perhaps the donor's dog). 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). If the donor term has connotations of generosity and open-spiritedness not shared by its counterpart, it is also more spiritual and religious. Donor portrait usually refers to the portrait or portraits of donors alone, as a section of a larger Alchetron Sign in Neha Patil (Editor) 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. 666Synodal 387, fol. See also F. Cimok (ed. 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. Note that endowed funds have minimum required amounts. 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. Although she does not deal explicitly with the problem, she follows much the same route as Jnsdttir, stating that He [the donor] was usually depicted holding his gift in his hands, and all of the subsequent examples she gives are of this type.Footnote 5 She thus implicitly sides with the view that only donation iconography images should be called donor portraits. This is a deeply orthodox emperor, but not a humble one. Click here for more information about how we use cookies on our site or read our privacy policy here. 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. One of the hallmarks of European portraiture is a sense of reality, an apparent intention to depict the unique appearance of a particular person. Considering all that has been said about the desire for contact, it should come as no surprise to find that this is the last of such scenes in Byzantine art. All rights reserved. Yet it is also the case that in using each of its terms universally for all the scenes, each language grouping blurs the very fine distinctions that the iconography is at such pains to make. A hint of the same position appears in the brief article in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium by Kalavrezou. The second of these deities in turn holds the hand of a worshiper who carries a kid on his right arm. gr. On the right stands Alexios, facing back toward the Fathers and also to a diminutive figure of Christ, who appears above him and to his left, making a blessing gesture (Fig. Early Modern History (1500 to 1700), View all related items in Oxford Reference , Search for: 'donor portrait' in Oxford Reference . In family groups the figures are usually divided by gender. 1.9). Figure 1.13: Supplicant George, painting, north wall of sanctuary, Church of Hagios Stephanos, Kastoria, 1338. Position Summary and Purpose: The Accountant will primarily be responsible for ensuring the effective and efficient accounting management of organization, including government reports, donor and non-program funds. 9 On these panels in general see T. Whittemore, The Mosaics of Hagia Sophia at Istanbul: Third Preliminary Report, Work Done in 19351938: The Imperial Portraits of the South Gallery (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942). Furthermore, the scene establishes a parallel between the two events (each emperor makes the same gesture), and in effect tells us to read Justinians action through Constantines. Early Netherlandish painters, bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, introduced a number of features we take for granted today. This uneven chronological distribution of the images sets natural limits to the time-frame of this study, since most of the images and, indeed, related discourses and texts used in our investigations fall between the late eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Indeed, we may suggest that it was perhaps possible to render the proffering of gifts more evident precisely because the imperial couple appears to be so confidently august that such a display would not compromise their power. Talking blindly to an assumption that may or may not be correct. These were derived from frescoes by Pellegrino Tibaldi a century early, which use the same conceit. Their scale and composition are alone among large-scale survivals. 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. Art is a rich area in which to study psychological life through the lens of cultural psychology. donor portrait Quick Reference A portrait depicting the giver of a work of art or architecture in company with holy figures (Jesus, the Virgin, or saints); the convention goes back at least as far . 457r, thirteenth century. Thus the ruler does not engage with Christ or beseech him. Ktetor focuses on the fact that an object is owned by someone. With every campaign, every new event, you should be thinking data capture. Sorabella, Jean. To save content items to your account, V, no 213. 1.11).Footnote 18. 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. We all employ heuristics to help us deal with the world. A portrait depicting the giver of a work of art or architecture in company with holy figures (Jesus, the Virgin, or saints); the convention goes back at least as far From: The Theodore panel, it is safe to say, is a true donor portrait, in that it shows a real offering taking place. Rico Franses. @free.kindle.com emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. It is also significant that in this image, as Brubaker states, the gift itself comes to represent the relation of the emperor to the Virgin, and through her, to God It makes visible the legitimacy of imperial power itself.Footnote 16 We should not confuse this gift with that of the true contact portraits that are the subject of this study. The three-quarter face, which allows for greater engagement between sitter and viewer, was also widely favored. First Steps Each pursues the goal of contact in very dissimilar ways, and each functions differently within its own economy of belief. 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. (. For the Vatican manuscript, see further R. Devreese, Codices Vaticani Graeci, vol. They are your audience, the people reading your direct mail, visiting your website, or following you on social media. [28], Although donor portraits have been relatively little studied as a distinct genre, there has been more interest in recent years, and a debate over their relationship, in Italy, to the rise of individualism with the Early Renaissance, and also over the changes in their iconography after the Black Death of the mid-14th century.[29]. The Justinian scene might, indeed, have looked as though it was only half done. 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. These naturalistic portraits, the sole survivors of their artistic tradition, were painted on wooden boards and used to cover the faces of upper class citizens during their burial ceremonies. For instance, Jan van Eyck traveled to make portraits (now lost) of potential wives for his patron, Philip the Good of Burgundy, and Girolamo della Robbia made a ceramic portrait of Francis I (41.100.245) to adorn the residence of one of his comrades in arms. Oliver (Fig. The Hagia Sophia panels constitute, in effect, the later, updated version of the same idea. 6th-century donor portrait of Anicia Juliana, the Byzantine princess who commissioned the illuminated manuscript known as the Vienna Dioscurides. 1.11); afterwards, they tend to show more intensity and fervor in their approach. Dive into your data and start designing a donor journey that lasts! It consists of several chapters of the Panoplia, an anti-heretical work in all likelihood composed at the behest of Alexios himself from the theologian Euthymios Zygabenos.Footnote 13 Alexios is thus reading to Christ from this work that he has commissioned, a work that not only attacks heresy, but also is based on nothing but the most orthodox of sources. In this respect, the images are concerned more with sponsorship of the church in an official capacity than with issues of personal salvation that are found in traditional donor portraits.Footnote 10 Nonetheless, the problematic of power and contact is dealt with in a distinctive way. 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. More remarkable still is Drers position. In fact half of the 83 14th-century Venetian images, in what is intended to be a complete catalogue by Roberts, are of this group type. By contrast, Theodore makes an immense effort to establish a link with Christ, to communicate with him. People are complicated, and donors are no different. Chapter. [5], When a whole building was financed, a sculpture of the patron might be included on the facade or elsewhere in the building. This is particularly the case for the last chapter, which is less dependent on contemporary historical factors than arguments made earlier in the book. 1v, c. 112550, Fig. Then there is also the visual proclamation of ones wealth that an image such as that of Theodore achieves to perfection in its representation of his gorgeous clothes and extravagant hat. In these scenes the supplicants know their place exactly, and confess it as such. 680850). She is an average, a stereotype that has no place in your fundraising strategy. III: Codices 604866 (Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 193750), 109; P. Canart and V. Peri, Sussidi bibliografici per i manoscritti Greci della Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1970), 463. 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. 387. These little gems of information are a great way to start bringing the people behind your data to life. 1.9)? Figure 1.3: Coronation of John II Komnenos and his son Alexios, Gospels, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican, Urb. Displaying portraits in a public place was also an expression of social status; donor portraits overlapped with tomb monuments in churches, the other main way of achieving these ends, although donor portraits had the advantage that the donor could see them displayed in his own lifetime. 21 Pelekanides and Chatzidakes, Kastoria, 11; Velmans, Peinture, 8586. 387; Vatican, BAV, Vat. Furthermore, donor portraits in Early Netherlandish painting suggest that their additional purpose was to serve as role models for the praying beholder during his own emotional meditation and prayer not in order to be imitated as ideal persons like the painted Saints but to serve as a mirror for the recipient to reflect on himself and his sinful status, ideally leading him to a knowledge of himself and God. But what if we told you she doesnt exist? Yet even here, the Byzantine gesture can be more extreme. Jacobs, Lynn F., "Rubens and the Northern Past: The Michielsen Triptych and the Thresholds of Modernity", This page was last edited on 25 March 2023, at 14:11. and ed. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. ), A GreekEnglish Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2023. In some of these diptychs the portrait of the original owner has been over-painted with that of a later one. 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. 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). 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. 1.24). Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Should we, then, apply only the term ktetor, and not donor, to these latter images? 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. 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. 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). A PDF of this content is also available in through the Save PDF action button. Because Dorothy Donor never existed. 32 D. Levi, Antioch Mosaic Pavements, 2 vols. Hans Memlings portraits of Tommaso and Maria Portinari (14.40.626-27), painted around 1470, were also probably meant to flank the image of a saint in a small triptych, yet each likeness fills a whole panel and has the emphasis of a portrait in its own right. Miniatures were given as gifts of intimate remembrance, while portraits of rulers asserted their majesty in places from which they were absent. Published online: 26 October 2018. Vatic. Tempting though it may be to associate the differing iconographies seen here with the different terms applied by those languages, we should bear in mind that these visual distinctions are not what those individual words usually describe. This we see as the huntsman forthrightly thrusts the hare forward in a gesture that foreshadows something of the deliberateness with which Byzantine donors make their offerings as well. Once youve collected your data, you need to use it. Donor Portraits in Byzantine Art. Rutgers the State University of New Jersey October 1619, 2008: Abstracts (n.p. 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. 666), Thirty-Fourth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference. L. Brubaker and J. Haldon date the icon to approximately 800: see their Byzantium in the Iconoclast Period (ca. It should also be borne in mind, however, that as much as the images fit into these categories, they all have the dual agenda, which means that each also has something of the other categories within it. Nicolas Rgnier: Self-Portrait with a Portrait on an Easel (Credit: Web Gallery of Art / Wikipedia). 1.28).Footnote 41 This scene is in many ways the equivalent of the later panels in the south gallery of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul that we have already looked at, in that it represents an official act of imperial support for the church, rather than a personal supplication (see Figs. Francisco Jos de Goya y Lucientes is often labeled a quintessential Spanish artist, but his allegiance may well have lied with the French Enlightenment instead. In other examples, a magnificent costume highlights the sitters wealth and fashionable taste (51.194.1). Seriously. [29], A further secular development was the portrait histori, where groups of portrait sitters posed as historical or mythological figures. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945), vol. Why not include a short questionnaire in your next newsletter or email, or run a social media campaign to find out more about the people that support youwho they are, what they do and why they chose to support your organization. Although there is not much doubt which scenes represent the core of the type the examples already noted in the Introduction are perfect instances the term as it is conventionally used covers a wide range of images. Whenever the development takes place, however, it certainly opens a new chapter of immediacy and intensity in the contact between the lay and holy figures in the images. As Tomekovi-Reggiani points out, one of the reasons for this increase is certainly the emergence of a new stratum of wealthy landowners, military officials, and administrative figures, resulting from the economic and military reorganizations of the Komnenes in the twelfth century. Indeed, below his fingers we are even afforded a glimpse of the folios, represented in a white color, and thus differentiated from the gold of the book cover. Even though still clearly within the context of pagan sacrifice, with its animal offering and the statue of the goddess standing upon the column, there is a major difference in that the scene contains no altar. Although all images bespeak both themes, they do not do so with equal emphasis. 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. The result of this combination of the direct donation of the supplicant and the living, breathing quality of the recipient results in an immediate increase in the vividness of the donation and the reality of the contact between lay and holy. The embedded portrait is the image of a real, modern person, usually the donor or person who paid for the painting, introduced into the narrative. Yet despite this, this scene should not be considered a true donor portrait either. Before the invention of photography, portrait painting was the only way through which people could capture and record the likeness of their fellow man. Each image, then, plays a delicate game, attempting to combine various factors in different proportions in order to achieve a precise, although not equal, degree of power and piety. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/port/hd_port.htm (August 2007). 38 O. Demus, The Mosaics of Norman Sicily (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1949), 82; E. Kitzinger, The Mosaics of St Marys of the Admiral in Palermo (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 1990), especially 10506 and 197206. Sentence on Suzannah from, Shearman, 182. Published online by Cambridge University Press: Not one member of the retinue rocks his or her head back to gaze at the gods looming above. gr. This study focuses primarily on donor portraits of families found in Cypriot wall paintings and icons created during the Lusignan and Venetian periods. This difference between the images seems to match exactly the distinction between the Western and Eastern European languages. [32], See particularly Roberts, 2224 for a review of the historiography as to the motivations of donors. English, French, and Italian (to cite some of the languages in which studies on Byzantine art appear) call these scenes donor portraits and the lay figures donors (donateurs, commitenti). Instead, the sacrifice itself has been suppressed, and has been re-figured as a direct, immediate donation. The conventional aspects of portraiture ensure that each example will bear some resemblance to the next, and yet this general similarity makes the distinctive qualities of each one the more salient. 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. : Byzantine Studies Association of North America, 2008). Submissive, kneeling figures there are aplenty in the art of the early Christian period, of Rome, and of the ancient Near East, from where the gesture is said to have arisen.Footnote 35 It is a striking fact, however, that the posture is generally adopted in front of earthly potentates such as emperors and kings, not gods. Introduction: Methodologies for the Study of Donor Portraits. Imagine, your online, direct debit and payroll donations, website analytics, email campaign engagement and social media statsallautomatically input into your CRM databasewith quick-click reporting giving you a 360Oview of data in a matter of minutes. See also discussion on the panels in Chapter 5. One of the distinctive features of these contact portraits is their appearance through many levels of society.
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