The technique of Islamic bookbinding explores the development of the bookbinding tradition in the Islamic world. Based on an assessment of the collections in the University Library Leiden, the... Show moreThe technique of Islamic bookbinding explores the development of the bookbinding tradition in the Islamic world. Based on an assessment of the collections in the University Library Leiden, the various sewing techniques, constructions and the application of covering materials are described in detail. A comparative analysis of the historic treatises on bookbinding provides further insight in the actual making of the Islamic book. Apart from that, it becomes clear that distinctive material characteristics can be indicative for production in a certain period or region. The general perception of Islamic bookbinding as a weak structure best typified as a case-binding is refuted by the findings. Instead, Karin Scheper demonstrates how diverse methods were used to create sound structures, which fundamentally changes our understanding of the Islamic bookbinding practice. Show less
In my reading of, and dealing with Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, I found that it is concerned with truth, or different forms of truth. As the plural suggests, these are not absolute or... Show moreIn my reading of, and dealing with Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, I found that it is concerned with truth, or different forms of truth. As the plural suggests, these are not absolute or objective truths, let alone universal ones, nor is there one ‘deep’ truth in the play, in a basic hermeneutical sense, as if the play captured the deeper truth of McCarthyism. The play provokes a specific historically, culturally and politically charged truth-practice that is not so much revealed through theatre as it is made possible, aesthetically and politically, by theatre. As such, the play does not so much embody the classical nineteenth-century ‘true mirror’ that is held up to society. This is to say: it does not reflect truth. It is through theatrical enactment and dramatization that truths can be established, which is something altogether different. There is an intriguing passage, in this context, in Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition in which she states that theatre is ‘the political art par excellence, for only there is the political sphere of human life transposed into art’. Why this may be so is a question that this thesis seeks to answer. Show less
In the Counter Reformation, art and architecture are often attributed a central role in such a process of persuasion. Recent historical studies, however, have emphasized the intense fear of God... Show moreIn the Counter Reformation, art and architecture are often attributed a central role in such a process of persuasion. Recent historical studies, however, have emphasized the intense fear of God that held Early Modern society in its grip, leading to a revision of the traditional view of the Counter Reformation as a top-down process. This revision has important implications for the history of art, as it challenges us to reconsider the notion of religious art and architecture during the Counter Reformation as rhetorical “propaganda”. In the present dissertation I approach the religious art patronage in the Catholic South from a perspective informed by recent developments in ethnography and anthropology. I propose to redefine the “baroque piety” of religious patronage that generated works of art and architecture not as a strategy to persuade (in a rhetorical way), but to negotiate with the divine in a continuous process of reconciliation, aiming to regain divine grace. Put in anthropological terms, works of art served as ritual interfaces to enter into negotiation with the divine. This negotiation with God took place within networks of social relations (nexuses) in which art and architecture functioned as agents of change Show less
A history of the Dutch publishing firm De Erven F. Bohn during the years 1900-1940, the study argues that the Dutch publishing industry in this period is characterised by a proliferation of... Show moreA history of the Dutch publishing firm De Erven F. Bohn during the years 1900-1940, the study argues that the Dutch publishing industry in this period is characterised by a proliferation of different publishing fields, resulting in a gradual evolution of most large publishing houses from general to specialised. It studies the structure of various publishing fields, particularly by focusing on the different strategies of list building as distinguishing characteristics of the distinctive fields and the subsequent amplification of the segmentation of the Dutch publishing landscape. Show less
The reception of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain in Europe and the Americas has been the subject of much research, many publications and a number of exhibitions. The scholars and researchers... Show moreThe reception of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain in Europe and the Americas has been the subject of much research, many publications and a number of exhibitions. The scholars and researchers involved could base themselves on a solid corpus of data, gathered in the past from a miscellany of sources. Although Spain was one of the most important commercial and colonial powers in the East during the 16th and 17th centuries, its role in the porcelain trade was far from clear, mainly due to the lack of research in the relevant primary sources. In fact, Spain was more or less a blank spot on the Western map relating to imports of Oriental porcelain.1 This thesis aims to make a modest start to rectify this situation, offering an eclectic survey of hitherto unknown or unused sources, as well as a large collection of new data. Show less
The corpus of art from the Pleistocene has grown substantially in recent decades, and with it, the earliest evidence of visual art has become much older than previously anticipated, going back over... Show moreThe corpus of art from the Pleistocene has grown substantially in recent decades, and with it, the earliest evidence of visual art has become much older than previously anticipated, going back over 100,000 years. This new information has rendered some traditional ideas about the recent origins of visual art obsolete. Existing archaeological and evolutionary models that aim to explain the emergence of visual art should now be reassessed in light of current data. That is the aim of this book. First, it reviews the earliest examples of different forms of visual art in two important archaeological periods of human artistic innovation, the height of the African Middle Stone Age, and the European Early Upper Palaeolithic. It then takes a critical view at three influential origins-of-art models, namely, the sexual selection model, the social cohesion model, and the cognitive evolution model. Finally, it offers an alternative proposal that redefines visual art as a communication signal and, using the archaeological evidence, relates its emergence and development to the evolution of human cooperation strategies. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the debate of the origins of art and the evolution of modern human cognition, behaviour, and culture. Show less
Mapping Moving Media is an inquiry into the specificity of film and video. In this study, I argue that mapping the specificity of these two media is indispensable in analyzing and understanding... Show moreMapping Moving Media is an inquiry into the specificity of film and video. In this study, I argue that mapping the specificity of these two media is indispensable in analyzing and understanding contemporary intermedial objects in which film and video are mixed or combined. Our understanding of the meanings and effects of moving images in contemporary society will increase when combinations of film- and video elements within moving image objects are taken into account. Contemporary (new) media theory offers a wide range of terms by which interrelations between media can be defined and conceptualized. However, although I take the wide variety of notions such as remediation and hypermediacy as helpful tools in analyzing the relationships between media, I argue that the starting point of an investigation into intermedial interactions should be the concept of medium specificity instead of the many notions which define forms of intermediality. This does not mean that we should return to some of essentialist ideas on medium specificity which have been attached to the concept. However, the rightful conclusion that essentialist ideas on medium specificity are rendered untenable by today’s mixed, multi-, and intermedia, too often overshadows the question of what is being mixed, expanded, remediated, refashioned, converged or combined. In this study I ask the questions “what is meant by video?” and “what is meant by film?” How are these two media (to be) understood? Can film and video be defined as distinct, specific media, and if so, how? I hold that in this era of mixed moving media, it is vital to ask these questions precisely and especially on the media of video and film. Show less
This dissertation (Leiden University, 2014) presents a fresh reading of Plato’s Laws, that aims to do justice to the peculiarities of the dialogue's form and argumentative structure, often labelled... Show moreThis dissertation (Leiden University, 2014) presents a fresh reading of Plato’s Laws, that aims to do justice to the peculiarities of the dialogue's form and argumentative structure, often labelled intricate by specialists. By interpreting the text along its own lines, as less as possible influenced by expectations arising from its Platonic authorship, my thesis brings to light socio-political perspectives that are at odds with tendencies encountered elsewhere in Plato’s oeuvre (particularly his Republic). The more obvious anomalies, such as the Cretan setting, the absence of Socrates, the absence of a moral expert authority, and the prominence of persuasion, can be explained as features of a political project that is oriented towards a pragmatic rather than a metaphysical, absolute moral norm. This analysis also entails a reassessment of the relation between Republic and Laws. Show less
Rond het midden van de vijftiende eeuw schreef de minderbroeder Hendrik Herp een mystiek meesterwerk: de Spieghel der volcomenheit. Het was het enige werk dat deze bestuurlijke en spirituele leider... Show moreRond het midden van de vijftiende eeuw schreef de minderbroeder Hendrik Herp een mystiek meesterwerk: de Spieghel der volcomenheit. Het was het enige werk dat deze bestuurlijke en spirituele leider van de franciscaanse observantiebeweging in de volkstaal zou schrijven. De taal stond een snelle verspreiding van de tekst niet in de weg. Herps Spieghel werd een ongekend internationaal succes. In Literatuur en observantie beschrijft Anna Dlabacová dit succes, dat zich afspeelt tegen de achtergrond van een brede religieuze vernieuwing in middeleeuws Europa. De lezer maakt kennis met een wereld waarin het strenge observantie-ideaal hand in hand ging met de verspreiding van nieuwe teksten onder religieuzen en leken. Persoonlijke contacten en netwerken van kloosters, drukkers en leken zorgden ervoor dat de verspreiding van literatuur een nieuwe impuls kreeg. Het verhaal van Herps Spieghel weerspiegelt deze nieuwe dynamiek. Show less
There was a time when Melati van Java (1853 – 1927) was a well-known and much-liked name in the Netherlands. Especially around the turn of the century the general public was familiar with her... Show moreThere was a time when Melati van Java (1853 – 1927) was a well-known and much-liked name in the Netherlands. Especially around the turn of the century the general public was familiar with her novels, which remained in circulation in various editions for at least a quarter of a century; people read her contributions to newspapers and magazines or knew that she was active in the Roman Catholic women’s movement. Literary critics reacted with mixed feelings to her novels, from favourable to sympathetic, to disapproving and cynical, but her novels practically always got attention. In short, Melati van Java (pseudonym of Marie Sloot) was an important factor in the cultural society of the day in the Netherlands. The status she enjoyed at the time contrasts sharply with the regard she has today. Show less
