Art and Identity

Reviews / Votes

"This very well-organised collection brings together some exciting new work on questions of artistic and cultural identity between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. The essay contributions, based on an excellent postgraduate conference held at the University of Aberdeen in the summer of 2008, build a varied and rich picture of the role of visual art in the formation of cultural identity in a period of great change and diversity. The organisation of the essays into three sections dealing successively with questions of political and family identity, individual and communal patronage and finally specific issues of iconography and style, gives the collection a broad thematic unity, even as individual contributions [throw] new light on a wide range of specific topics and images. Another kind of unity is provided by the contextual methodology employed by all the contributors, which insistently places the visual image at the heart of the cultural process of identity formation. The volume will form a welcome addition to the burgeoning art historical literature examining the central and formative role of art in the formation of cultural identity in what was a key period in European history."- Dr Tom Nichols, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art, University of Aberdeen"Art and Identity offers a thought-provoking study of ways in which art contributed to the construction of a variety of identities in Europe between the mid thirteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Drawing on recent and innovative research by both established and early career scholars, it provides an illuminating demonstration of the complexity inherent in the process of defining the many different and overlapping identities within medieval and renaissance society and reveals the multiple uses to which art was put in order to convey, embody and affirm these. In so doing, it exemplifies the value of an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, paying proper attention to the relevance of the specific political, social and religious contexts in which, and for which, particular works of art were made. A further strength of this collection is that it encompasses a variety of artistic media and addresses works of art produced not only in Italy - long recognised as a major centre of art production - but also in other parts of northern and central Europe. The essays in Art and Identity can be warmly recommended to historians, art historians, and the general reader with an interest in the art, social practices and rituals of medieval and renaissance society."- Diana Norman, Professor Emeritus of Art History, The Open University, UK