A digital humanities pioneer - Interview with Dr. Edward Goldberg

In 2011, while searching for images online related to the Medici, I stumbled across Italy's Secret Places, a somewhat quirky blog that focused on the intriguing and sometimes unsettling aspects of Italy's history, as revealed by its many monuments and inscriptions. On closer inspection, the author of the blog was none other than Dr. Edward Goldberg, author of books such as After Vasari and the fascinating Jews and Magic in Renaissance Florence.

I soon discovered Dr. Goldberg was the founder of the Medici Archive Project (a fact not easily discernible when visiting the MAP website) and is a resident of Florence, whose passion for art and history was expressed through archival discoveries. What followed was a steady and frank exchange of information, as I sought to expand the scope of my writing at 3PP to include a sound methodological foundation. In short time, Dr. Goldberg became a much valued friend and mentor, whom I had the delight of meeting in person (along with Dr. Alexandra Korey) when I returned to Florence in 2012.

During both of my brief excursions to Italy, in 2010 and 2012, it quickly became apparent that digital innovation in the cultural sector is something the nation and its dominant institutions are yet to grasp. I often marveled at the impressive feat the creation of the Medici Archive Project represented, and had wanted to ask Dr. Goldberg about this, and many other aspects of his long and interesting career in and out of art history.

Restoring the Renaissance - Interview with Maria Ludovica Nicolai

La Primavera del Rinascimento (The Springtime of the Renaissance) is attracting a lot of attention. This ambitious show at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence runs from 23 March until 18 August 2013 (link). Its goal is to redefine our perception of the artistic culture of the emerging renaissance, focusing specifically on the role of sculptural production as a creative force in the early quattrocento.

Donatello’s monumental bronze sculpture of Saint Louis of Toulouse is one of the many highlights of this exhibition—newly restored by Dr. Maria Ludovica Nicolai of Florence. Over the years, Ludovica has brought her skills and expertise to many celebrated masterpieces in bronze, including Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise and Donatello’s David. Along the way, she has enjoyed a privileged intimacy with these and other works—developing unique insights into the artists’ methods and intentions.

Leading restorers like Ludovica have much to tell us, beyond what we read in published technical reports. Three Pipe Problem is hence delighted to present the following interview, allowing an exploration of the unique experiences of a restorer in her own words.

Savonarola - The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet

Savonarola - The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet was published in November 2011 by Yale University Press, authored by distinguished historian Professor Donald Weinstein. It is a commendable work, formed in eloquently written and universally approachable language. Its fluid presentation and detailed notes section  make it appealing to both general and specialist readers alike. At its core is a critical evaluation of the archival evidence pertaining to the Dominican friar, whose fiery words seemed to have plunged Florence into division and chaos, and for a time drove the most prominent members of the Medici family from the city.

Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari - reviewing archival evidence

The modern search for the Leonardo fresco, commonly referred to as The Battle of Anghiari finds its roots in archival research by art historian Professor Rab Hatfield of the University of Syracuse in Florence. The following post will present a synopsis of Hatfield's book on the subject, followed by an interview.

Interview with Marcia B. Hall

3PP is proud to present this interview with Professor Marcia B. Hall, art historian and Director of Graduate Studies at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Marcia's work is a source of great inspiration to scholars and students alike. Following the tremendous response to the review posted for The Sacred Image in the Age of Art, I invited Marcia to answer some questions about the book, as well as explore some of the challenges facing the discipline of art history.

Interview with Bettany Hughes

It is an honour to present this interview with Bettany Hughes, historian, author and broadcaster. Her work is not only compelling to watch, but also tackles issues historians have balked at or glossed over in the past, such as the role of women in classical societies, and their representation in art and literature across eras. Her radio series Amongst the Medici provided historiographical insights into biases affecting the prevailing romanticised view of this era - a factor often missing from Renaissance commentaries.

Bettany at Knossos Palace, Crete

Her latest book, The Hemlock Cup - Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life explores the far reaching influence of Socrates - whose unique mode of thought gave rise to a modern view of the world, and forms the basis of the scientific method which drives human endeavour to this day. I thought I would use this unique opportunity to ask Bettany about her new title and some of the broader issues addressed in her work.

Noah Charney on art crime and the future of art history

3PP is delighted to welcome Noah Charney, art historian, author, and president of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art or ARCA. His 2010 non-fiction title, Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of The World's Most Coveted Masterpiece explores the tumultuous history of the Ghent Altarpiece, an art historical wonder created by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck in the early 15th Century. Narrowly escaping destruction during the post-Reformation Iconoclasm that swept Europe - it became the prize of both Napoleon and Hitler in a staggering series of thefts. The Altarpiece now resides in its original home, the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

The enchanted symbolism of Mia Araujo

Replete with symbols and allegory: Mia Araujo's The Four Seasons

Mythology...its symbols touch and release the deepest centers of motivation, moving literate and illiterate alike, moving mobs, moving civilizations.
Joseph Campbell 

It is a rare treat to be able to interview an artist whose work you adore! 3PP is delighted to introduce Los Angeles based artist Mia Araujo. 

As someone most familiar with Renaissance and Baroque artists, exploring Contemporary art can be a daunting experience. This is particularly the case when forms represented are highly abstracted or minimalistic. The allure of the old masters is often the fact that their visual language is a more direct representation of a subject or theme, presented within a set of signature motifs particular to that artist. These motifs often draw on a tradition of myth and symbolism, encompassing historical and sacred sources.

Hence, regardless of era, it is always enthralling to encounter an artist who passionately executes works that are not only of astounding technical quality, but speak volumes about their historical influences and what shapes their creative passion.

Mia has often been interviewed by journalists and critics with an interest in Contemporary art and the gallery scene. I thought it would be interesting to talk to Mia about her work in an art historical sense, as well as explore some of the symbolism in her work. Mia is also one of the growing number of artists using a blog to share their creative process and promote their work. It was actually through Mia's Blog that I first encountered her amazing talent.

Mia working on The Priestess. Pic from her intriguing feature on Coates & Scarry

Interview with Juliette Harrisson

Juliette visits the impressive remains of Roman Thysdrus, now part of El Djem in Tunisia

As part of the ongoing series of interviews with notable art and history bloggers, it was only fitting that the first history blogger to be introduced at 3PP was the author of my favourite history related blog. Juliette Harrisson is a classicist based in the UK. Her blog Pop Classics is an entertaining and informative exploration of classical themes in popular culture. Juliette's mixture of humour and popular subject matter makes her blog highly accessible to readers of all backgrounds.

"Straight into the gory stuff this week, with blood everywhere, swords swung high, tits waving around all over the place. (Seriously, producers, women wore clothes when they went to gladiatorial shows. And they sat in the top row only, where you wouldn’t be able to see them from the sand itself.)" 

-From Juliette's review of Spartacus Blood and Sand: Revelations

Juliette is a shining example of a forward thinking academic - firmly embracing the web to promote not only a deeper understanding of classical learning, but presenting it in a mode and language that can entertain and inspire. I was simply delighted to be able to quiz her on some questions I have always wondered about - such as how a classicist views the Renaissance recycling of classical motifs, and the role of popular media to inspire a career in history.

Interview with David Packwood

David Packwood is an art historian based in the UK. His blog, Art History Today is truly unique, appealing to a diverse audience. It also occupies a space that transcends the exploration of art and history, acting as a voice for a profession struggling to adapt to the immense changes occurring in the humanities worldwide. The greater issues affecting funding, connoisseurship and attributions are themes which David takes to with meticulous precision.

It is also delightful to note David believes in art history discussion as relevant and exciting for the broader community. Its traditional pursuit in elitist cliques and exclusive schools are perhaps what has led to the current funding woes in the UK in particular. He recently used the phrase "online enlightenment project" to describe the efforts of the humanities to embrace web content delivery, including in a teaching role.

I believe this is an amazing and apt description, as the Enlightenment scientists that brought science to the fore were predominately independent individuals, quite often working outside of formal learning institutions, and eventually working in collaboration with them. The humanities seems to be going through a similar, monumental paradigm shift - and  I am glad that leading academics such as David are ready to face the challenges that are surely ahead.

Carlyn Beccia - bringing history to young audiences via digital art

Carlyn's medieval influences shine through in the patterning and flowers in this painting for her new book

3PP is delighted to welcome Carlyn Beccia, author and illustrator of the new book for younger audiences I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat - History's Strangest Cures published by Houghton Mifflin.

I discovered Carlyn's wonderful blog, The Raucous Royals when researching an earlier article at 3PP about a Medici wedding. I was delighted to find that Carlyn also posted frequently on history and its representation in art. She does this in such a fun and visually rich manner that visiting her site is a feast of information and images, with some humour and scandal thrown in. I soon discovered that Carlyn was also passionate about use of digital techniques to illustrate her books, so invited her to 3PP to talk about all these wonderful things!

Another interesting element of this particular book is its depiction of the history of medicine. As a health professional myself, what became intriguing was how Carlyn would employ her talent with words and images to make this relevant and interesting to younger readers.

Carlyn's book is spectacularly fun, and beautiful to behold. It was great to hear, though not altogether surprising that I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Best Book Award for Early Readers. Well done Carlyn!

Interview with Alexandra Korey

3PP is delighted to introduce one of art history's true online pioneers. Alexandra Korey is an art history professor turned blogger. Her wonderful story encapsulates the amazing potential of the web to reach a global audience, as well as highlight some of the traditional stigmas attached to art history professionals having an online presence.

It takes a person with great individual drive to achieve what she has, and I was hoping to get a glimpse of this when I invited her to 3PP. What I discovered was more than just a driven individual, but someone whose work and personal history with the study of art are passionately intertwined.

Alexandra is an inspirational example of someone living their passion, and staking their professional reputation on their work. To this, one can only say Brava!

Despite her achievements, Alexandra remains remarkably modest. In my recent guest post at Tuscany Arts, she made me cut out some congratulatory lines towards her. I am pleased to be able to post something similar here:

On behalf of art fans and art history professionals discovering the wonders of the web, I would like to thank Alexandra Korey for all her efforts. Her amazing work is an inspiration to all those involved in promoting art history in an online context. Keep up the great work Alexandra!

Andrew Graham-Dixon on Caravaggio and connoisseurship

Fans of art history worldwide will recognise Andrew from his superb documentaries, spanning many eras and continents. He has also written some wonderful books on art and presents regularly on BBC2's The Culture Show. For more information on Andrew's appearances in, print, public, TV and cyberspace, please visit his site.

In 2002, Andrew's documentary Who Killed Caravaggio? was first aired. Apart from being a unique glimpse at the tumultuous life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through archival records and contemporary biographers such as Giovanni Baglione, it was also a precursor to this book.

Released in July 2010, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane is a Caravaggio biography like no other. Many are the examples of indulgent writers speculating on the man Caravaggio's work suggests he may have been. This is what separates this title from the others - this is a biography constructed upon many hours of archival research, from criminal proceedings to contemporary biographies - Andrew Graham-Dixon's amazing work uncovers the realities of Caravaggio's era which no biographer before it has dared pursue in such meticulous detail.

If you are excited by historical evidence, cleverly mixed in alongside some sensible discussion of the allegory and aesthetics of Caravaggio's work - you will find this book to be a thoroughly rewarding experience.

Interview with art historian Monica Bowen

The post Ghiberti's north doors cleverly unravels an error still present in many texts

US based art historian Monica Bowen is author of Alberti's Window, one of the most beloved of art history blogs. Like all great writing, Monica's style is one which lends itself to appreciation by a wide audience. Her talent for effortlessly drawing a reader into the material is refreshing, particularly given the verbose nature of the study of art history!

Alberti's Window started in July 2007 with a post on the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled The Met. Whilst most bloggers fumble their way around for the first few posts(3PP included!), Monica gets straight to the point -  raising some of the perennial questions that are faced by those working in art history. Reflecting on a Caravaggio she saw in New York:

I thought a lot about connoisseurship, wondering if I would be able to tell Caravaggio's hand apart from the reconstruction, without the help of a black light. Even though connoisseurship is rather looked-down upon in art history, there really is a lot of value to it.

The question of connoisseurship and its role in art history is one that fascinates me personally. In the advent of scientific methods being used to verify attributions, there seems to be a gulf between traditional connoisseurship and scientific methods used. As an external observer, I would have imagined that the two modes of thought should work together, but I have found that opinions are quite divided!

I mention it as an apt example of Monica's ability to get to the pertinent facts, which she constantly does in a charming and highly readable way.

Cleopatra Rules! Interview with YA author Vicky Alvear Shecter

3PP is delighted to welcome Vicky Alvear Shecter, author of Alexander the Great Rocks the World(2006) and the recently released Cleopatra Rules! The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen. 

"Will we ever know the real Cleopatra? Without her personal letters and journals, probably not. But for the first time, modern scholars and historians are looking at events from the queen's point of view."  from Cleopatra Rules!

Reading Cleopatra Rules! one gets a clear sense of how passionately Vicky feels about this topic. Owing to writers such as Plutarch and Shakespeare, and later portrayals in Art and Film, the Egyptian Queen has come to symbolise the exotic temptations of the east. This is something which Octavian, heir of Julius Caesar was quick to exploit when making his play for power in Rome in the first Century BCE.

In her book, Vicky describes life in Ancient Egypt, the Ptolemaic Dynasty and Cleopatra VII's attempt to safeguard her nation by an alliance with Rome. As a book targeted at younger audiences, it is written in upbeat and engaging modern language. Commendably, there is also a bibliography, chapter end-notes, timeline and glossary section, which reveal historical sources and give further detail about the places and persons mentioned. 

A special comment must be made for the book's visual presentation. From the cover onwards, Cleopatra Rules! is a visual treat,wonderfully illustrated with full colour photographs.

Time for the Q & A!

 

Gilles Beloeil on digital art and the new Renaissance

This stunning work by Gilles depicts the Basilica and Piazza San Marco in Venice. Producing this image would have required a combination of digital methods to realise the 3-dimensional structures, amidst a backdrop and skyline using digital painting techniques.

3PP is pleased to announce the first in a series of interviews with currently active digital artists. These interviews are designed to showcase the talented persons involved in this modern art form and shed some insight into their inspirations and techniques.

I would like to preface this interview with a quote from Donald Kuspit, art history professor at Cornell University and author of the insightful article The Matrix of Sensations, which discusses digital art: 

....the grid of the computer screen is the postmodern realization of the traditional perspective grid that isolated the figure in sacred space. It involves the same universal geometry, with its ideal proportions -- refined with great precision -- that appears in Renaissance architecture, with its grid-like plans and facades, suggesting that the computer signals a new Renaissance of art-making.

Paolo Uccello's perspective drawing of a chalice executed in 1450. Applying the technique of linear perspective described by Filippo Brunelleschi. Uccello's drawing is the direct predecessor of the advanced 3D imaging software used by digital artists today.

Kuspit further adds,

Like the Renaissance artist, the digital artist must be a learned craftsman -- an artist who has to learn a craft that is at once material and intellectual -- at a time when a good deal of art seems craftless and pseudo-intellectual, that is, not rigorously logical inwardly and outwardly. Digital art offers new hope for art at a time when the traditional media seem to have exhausted their potential -- however useful they undoubtedly are for individual expression and however socially meaningful they remain -- and thus a new way of revitalizing the traditional media.

This is an absolutely perfect summation of the parallels of digital art with the Renaissance - and perhaps explains why I am so naturally drawn to it! Hence, allow me to introduce Gilles Beloeil - who was quite gracious in agreeing to do this interview in English. My schoolboy French would not have been sufficient!

Interview with Vicki Leon

"To limn a culture, history should attempt to capture the human stories, to squeeze the meaning from cascades of events instead of one thing in isolation."

-Vicki León. Introduction to How To Mellify A Corpse.

Reading the wonderful introduction to Mellify, I was instantly drawn in by the passionate and engaging style of Vicki León. As the pages flew by, I soon realised what a truly special writer she is. Like any great work, it can be appreciated by different audiences. However, what Vicki has which many non-fiction writers would envy is the ability to entertain with her writing. She is simply fun to read!

Mellify is versatile in its style and organisation -  it works as a reference you can dip in and out of, as well as being a book you can read from start to finish.

Having recently tracked down Vicki, aka the Historical Detective at her new blog, I was delighted when she agreed to participate in a Q&A. If you'd like to learn more about Vicki and her work, visit her homepage or review her bibliography.  Let's get started!