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Altarpieces and agency: the altarpiece of the society of purification and its 'invisible skein of relations'
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 09:08 authored by Michelle O'MalleyTo consider the Renaissance altarpiece as an active social force, this article draws on ideas concerning the efficacy of works of art articulated by Alfred Gell in his compelling book Art and Agency (1998). Considering as a case study the altarpiece depicting the Virgin enthroned with saints and angels, commissioned by the Florentine Confraternity of the Purification in 1461 and painted by Benozzo Gozzoli, the text investigates the network of relationships that generated the work, including the confraternity's association with the Virgin, the Medici family, the convent of the Observant Dominicans, the citizens of Florence and the painters Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli. The essay argues that Renaissance altarpieces played a dynamic and practical role in the social life of the period. Moreover, it contends that altarpieces themselves were causal in the creation of works of art, and links this analysis to the problem of interpreting altarpieces that were made to be pictorially similar to an already existing work.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Art HistoryISSN
0141-6790Publisher
Wiley-BlackwellExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
28Page range
416-441Pages
26.0Department affiliated with
- Art History Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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