Along the Rapenburg, the main canal in the town of Leiden, stands the Bibliotheca Thysiana. Founded in 1655, it is the only purpose-built seventeenth-century library in the Netherlands. The... Show more Along the Rapenburg, the main canal in the town of Leiden, stands the Bibliotheca Thysiana. Founded in 1655, it is the only purpose-built seventeenth-century library in the Netherlands. The building contains several thousands of books on all kinds of subjects, including classical literature, theology, philosophy, law, history, science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and botany. Most of these books were collected by the jurist Joannes Thysius. In his testament, drawn up only a few days before he died at the age of 31, Thysius declared that his books should be placed in a public library in order to be used by scholars. In this dissertation, Thysius’ motives for collecting books are reconstructed on the basis of his personal life, and in relation to contemporary literature about the nature of an ideal library. Furthermore, a comparison is made between his collection and those of contemporary scholars and professionals in order to determine whether he succeeded in composing a library that would suit his purpose. Show less
This dissertation focuses on the Middle Dutch text the ‘Dialogue between Eckhart and the Layman’, an enigmatic spiritual piece of writing from the mid-fourteenth century. A layman and a master... Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the Middle Dutch text the ‘Dialogue between Eckhart and the Layman’, an enigmatic spiritual piece of writing from the mid-fourteenth century. A layman and a master converse about a broad range of religious and social subjects. The student remains anonymous, as the title suggests, and the master is named after Meister Eckhart, the famous German theologian and mystic. In this book I argue that the Dialogue can be considered as a text which sits neatly atop the fault line between the world and its monasteries and convents, between a worldly and a religious experience of faith. The text may well be our most important witness to the beginnings of a process of socioreligious changes, in which ordinary laymen, too, wanted to expand the spirituality they had previously internalized. I provide a reconstruction of the original text, an analysis of the dialectical interplay between the two protagonists and between the different levels of high and low, contemplative and practical theology and a contextualization of this dialogue within the broader intellectual culture of the Low Countries. In particular, I show how the text can be connected to the ideas of Jan van Ruusbroec and Jan van Leeuwen. Show less
The Our Lady Cathedral in Tournai is today one of the most remarkable churches of the Low Countries. In the Middle Ages, it was the mother church of the most northern bishopric of France.... Show more The Our Lady Cathedral in Tournai is today one of the most remarkable churches of the Low Countries. In the Middle Ages, it was the mother church of the most northern bishopric of France. The early 12 Century Cathedral was built during a highly turbulent chapter in the history of the bishopric. After five centuries in personal union with the diocese of Noyon, and a long struggle for independence, Tournai recovered its own bishop in 1146. The architecture of the new early 12 Century Cathedral was to represent the venerable age of the Church of Tournai and its original independence. The triconchos (trefoil) ground plan points to the martyrium churches: it recalls the ideal of the early Church and its local saintly founder. The impressive group of five towers refers to the future, being a prefiguration of the Holy City Jerusalem that will descent on earth at the end of time. The strength of the Cathedral as a representation of the episcopal see of an independent bishopric of Tournai was visualised in the attribute of Eleutherius, the new patron saint: a model of the group of five towers forms a concise summary of the architecture of the Cathedral. Show less
The starting point for this study is that for a large part of their existence, the paintings belonging to this genre have primarily been seen as export articles without intrinsic artistic value.... Show moreThe starting point for this study is that for a large part of their existence, the paintings belonging to this genre have primarily been seen as export articles without intrinsic artistic value. This fact, and the fact that they cannot be unequivocally classified, explains why this genre has, for a long time, not received the attention it deserves. The label ‘exportware’, though, does not exclude that these paintings can also be approached as ‘art’. They have an historic, an artistic, and a material value, which, as a result of their representative and social functions, over time formed an artistic phenomenon in its own right, and a shared cultural visual repertoire with its own (Eurasian) character. In order to draw conclusions about the appreciation of the extensive and historically valuable eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Chinese export paintings in Dutch public collections, this multidisciplinary research follows the entire trajectory of this specific transcultural painting genre in sixteen museums, from the production two centuries ago to the current position. At work in this trajectory are mechanisms between people, institutions and the paintings, which increase or, indeed, diminish the appreciation of this time- and place-specific art. Show less
Liefde voor de Hollandse bouwkunst (A love of Dutch architecture) studies and discusses the publications produced by the Amsterdam publishing house Kosmos on architecture and applied art in the... Show moreLiefde voor de Hollandse bouwkunst (A love of Dutch architecture) studies and discusses the publications produced by the Amsterdam publishing house Kosmos on architecture and applied art in the period between 1923, when the firm was founded, and 1960. The man responsible throughout this period was Jacobus (Jac.) van der Kolk (1887-1980). Van der Kolk began his career in 1916 in the technical bookshop of Weduwe J. Ahrend & Zoon, a supplier of drafting and office equipment founded in 1896 by Jacobus Ahrend. Two years later he was promoted to head of Ahrend’s technical publishing department, which had been founded in 1904. In 1923 the Ahrend catalogue became that of Kosmos, with Van der Kolk being made director of the new firm.The research questions emerged after drawing up as complete a catalogue as possible. The subsequent analysis was aimed at gaining an understanding of Kosmos’s publishing programme, which aspects of it were stressed and how the various segments of the catalogue developed. The most important question, the one underlying this study as a whole, concerns the circumstances, working methods and decisions that produced the Kosmos catalogue in the years 1923-1960, and how Kosmos rated in the competition with other publishers operating in the same fields Show less
Cinema and society interact. This given becomes fascinating when socio-politically sensitive issues are adapted in films that confront spectators with the frames of reference they use to make sense... Show moreCinema and society interact. This given becomes fascinating when socio-politically sensitive issues are adapted in films that confront spectators with the frames of reference they use to make sense of society. This thesis studies how North-American and European films depict political torture in the context of the ‘War on Terror’. It starts from the debate that was held in the political and public domain concerning the actual torture of suspects of terrorist activities, and analyses political torture in film as a fictionalised, stylised form of such violence. In this way, it shows how public debates, politics, and art convene in cinema to engage with contemporary realities we, as societies, find difficult to witness and process. The analyses focus on War on Terror films made between 2004 and 2012. They incorporate ethical, political, and moral questions about the use of political torture, while addressing the West’s share in the geopolitics of the War on Terror. Ultimately, contributions are made to the fields of film narratology and cultural theory, as well as to current debates about the role of cinema in society: cinema as art object, as commercial artifice, and as commentary on socio- politically sensitive issues. Show less
For centuries commentaries have played a fundamental role in the formation, transmission and use of knowledge in many fields of scholarship and science, especially in fields in which the starting... Show moreFor centuries commentaries have played a fundamental role in the formation, transmission and use of knowledge in many fields of scholarship and science, especially in fields in which the starting point for knowledge or information is the study of an (authoritative) text – e.g. theology, law, literature. This dissertation discusses a selection of early modern Latin commentaries on the Aeneid. The early modern Virgilian commentary can be seen as a nucleus of scholarship and learning, encompassing information from a broad range of disciplines (e.g. rhetoric, cultural history, the sciences), and is therefore crucial for the understanding of early modern learning and scholarship. Moreover, the early modern Virgilian commentary stands in the centuries-old tradition of Virgilian scholarship, which runs almost continuously from classical antiquity. In this study the Virgilian commentary is used as a lens to look at the complex developments taking place in early modern learning and scholarship (e.g. the rise of the sciences). Each of the case studies of this dissertation provides insight into an important research question in modern Renaissance studies through the perspective of the Virgilian commentary. Moreover, this study presents and translates a wealth of commentary lemmata from early modern Latin Virgilian commentaries. Show less
This study investigates the development between 1550 to 1630 of Southern Netherlandish animal imagery into an autonomous genre in relation to developments in natural history, networks of artists... Show moreThis study investigates the development between 1550 to 1630 of Southern Netherlandish animal imagery into an autonomous genre in relation to developments in natural history, networks of artists and scientists and elite collecting practices in order to gain insight into the production, function, and meaning of animal imagery. Before 1600 in Antwerp motifs circulated by means of an extensive network, through which animal drawings and print series flourished. Around 1600 in Prague a new medium blossomed: the exotic animal painting. With the new medium it appears that the circulation of motifs diminished and no new print series were published. Artists started studying animals from life in meangeries and naturalia collctions. The relation of the artworks to natural history also changed. Before 1600 artists copied motifs from illustrations in natural historical publications and paid much attentio to the order of the species. After 1600 artists strove to depict species that were not yet described and illustrated by natural historians and consequently contributed to and disseminated knowledge about these new species. Show less
Despite the continuing silence and censorship, there is a plethora of initiatives that commemorate the Armenian genocide in Turkey. None however has remained unchallenged. Most breakthroughs take... Show moreDespite the continuing silence and censorship, there is a plethora of initiatives that commemorate the Armenian genocide in Turkey. None however has remained unchallenged. Most breakthroughs take place outside the “official” history. This study focuses on one particular sphere: the cultural one. How is the Armenian genocide represented in literature, the visual arts, commemorative architecture and films in Turkey? How do cultural texts, which broach the question of memory, function within this specific political and social setting? What aspects of history do they expose? Show less
This PhD dissertation comprises a detailed study of the Anglo-Saxon cultural conceptualisation of old age as manifested and reflected by words, texts and artwork of the inhabitants of early... Show moreThis PhD dissertation comprises a detailed study of the Anglo-Saxon cultural conceptualisation of old age as manifested and reflected by words, texts and artwork of the inhabitants of early medieval England. While prior studies identified the Middle Ages as a ‘golden age for the elderly’, this dissertation offers a more complete and nuanced picture of how people considered old age over a thousand years ago. The project stands out for its multidisciplinary approach, which highlights that a study of how people thought about growing old should take into account as much of the cultural record as possible, ranging from visual arts to texts and even individual words. Individual chapters deal with early medieval definitions of the life cycle; a lexicographical study of the semantic field of old age in Old English; the merits and downsides of old age as represented in homiletic and literary texts; and the cultural roles attributed to specific social groups, such as saints, warriors, kings and women. On the whole, the Anglo-Saxons were aware of the opportunities provided by senescence (e.g., wisdom and authority), but, at the same time, they were afraid of the consequences (e.g., physical decay and sadness); they looked up to those elderly that managed to remain active despite their age, but denounced those that could not. As such, the early medieval ideas about old age may not be so different from our own. Show less
Human interaction is characterised by an ongoing polyphony of perspectives and perspectives-on-perspectives. Not only do we share and coordinate our own inner life with that of the people we... Show moreHuman interaction is characterised by an ongoing polyphony of perspectives and perspectives-on-perspectives. Not only do we share and coordinate our own inner life with that of the people we interact with, but we also constantly make implicit and explicit reference to the intentional states of others who may or may not be present at the time of speaking, or who may even exist only in the imagined worlds of thought and fiction. In the cognitive sciences, this polyphony has generally been conceptualised as a series of embedded 'orders of intentionality': A thinks that B understands that C expects... (etc.). I argue that this conceptualisation stands in stark contrast to how multiple perspectives are handled in actual discourse and interaction. Based on linguistic and narratological analysis of literary texts, newspaper articles, examples from spoken discourse, and stimuli from psychological experiments investigating multiple-order intentionality in the lab, a new perspective is offered on how we deal with networks of embedded and interlinked intentional states. The findings are discussed in the light of current theories about mindreading (a.k.a. ‘theory of mind’), discussing in particular cognitive models, issues of development and learning, and scenarios of how this capacity may have evolved in our lineage. Show less
'What is the desire of the medium?' is both a rhetorical question and a fundamental one. The rhetorical question serves as a framework for investigating the interplay between the artist/designer... Show more'What is the desire of the medium?' is both a rhetorical question and a fundamental one. The rhetorical question serves as a framework for investigating the interplay between the artist/designer and the medium during the creative act. Arts and design operate on the level of problematising: they do not reproduce the visible, they make visible. By this, I am suggesting that there is no preconceived objective criterion: all perception needs to be produced. A critical supposition is that the complexity of the world cannot be reduced to either macro- or micro-systems or models (anti-representation). The only interesting route to pursue is to investigate what a medium does (asignification), not what it is (essentialism). My interest lies in affective capacities, not inherent properties and their respective place in any taxonomy or ontological setting. This requires the exploration of a non-hierarchical, flat ontology based on the equality of all parties (human and nonhuman). I propose four backgrounds against which to investigate the desire of the medium: ethoscape (which deals with affect), ideoscape (which deals with concepts), mediascape (forms of expression) and technoscape (forms of content). The desire of the medium is located somewhere in the middle between affect, concept, expression and content. Show less
