Maria Fabricius Hansen – författare

Early modern art features a remarkable fascination with ornament, both as decorative device and compositional strategy, across artistic media and genres. Interestingly, the inventive, elegant manifestations of ornament in the art of the period often include layers of disquieting paradoxes, creating tensions - monstrosities even - that manifest themselves in a variety of ways. In some cases, dichotomies (between order and chaos, artificiality and nature, rational logic and imaginative creativity, etc.) may emerge. Elsewhere, a sense of agitation undermines structures of statuesque control or erupts into wild, unruly displays of constant genesis. The monstrosity of ornament is brought into play through strategies of hybridity and metamorphosis, or by the handling of scale, proportion, and space in ambiguous and discomforting ways that break with the laws of physical reality. An interest in strange exaggeration and curious artifice allows for such colossal ornamental attitude to thrive within early modern art.

Early modern art features a remarkable fascination with ornament, both as decorative device and compositional strategy, across artistic media and genres. Interestingly, the inventive, elegant manifestations of ornament in the art of the period often include layers of disquieting paradoxes, creating tensions - monstrosities even - that manifest themselves in a variety of ways. In some cases, dichotomies (between order and chaos, artificiality and nature, rational logic and imaginative creativity, etc.) may emerge. Elsewhere, a sense of agitation undermines structures of statuesque control or erupts into wild, unruly displays of constant genesis. The monstrosity of ornament is brought into play through strategies of hybridity and metamorphosis, or by the handling of scale, proportion, and space in ambiguous and discomforting ways that break with the laws of physical reality. An interest in strange exaggeration and curious artifice allows for such colossal ornamental attitude to thrive within early modern art.

Early modern art features a remarkable fascination with ornament, both as decorative device and compositional strategy, across artistic media and genres. Interestingly, the inventive, elegant manifestations of ornament in the art of the period often include layers of disquieting paradoxes, creating tensions - monstrosities even - that manifest themselves in a variety of ways. In some cases, dichotomies (between order and chaos, artificiality and nature, rational logic and imaginative creativity, etc.) may emerge. Elsewhere, a sense of agitation undermines structures of statuesque control or erupts into wild, unruly displays of constant genesis. The monstrosity of ornament is brought into play through strategies of hybridity and metamorphosis, or by the handling of scale, proportion, and space in ambiguous and discomforting ways that break with the laws of physical reality. An interest in strange exaggeration and curious artifice allows for such colossal ornamental attitude to thrive within early modern art.

Erwin Panofsky’s assertions in Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1960) that a new historical consciousness and a quest for an ‘all’antica’ idiom was manifest in the art and architecture of the period are routinely reiterated in art historical narratives.By formally analyzing fifteenth-century visual culture, however, questions can be raised about what the artists and architects of the period actually used as their models and how they understood and studied the past. Maria Fabricius Hansen juxtaposes in this essay the conventional definitions of the Renaissance, through its endeavors to revive or renew Roman Antiquity, with observations of paintings and buildings of the fifteenth century in order to reconsider the characteristics of Italian visual culture of the time. Debate on the ideas of all’antica and classicism in the Italian Renaissance Critical review of art historical mappings of causes of inspiration from Roman antiquity Discussion of Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1960)

The image is an ontological paradox; it is made of dead matter, yet appears to be alive. For centuries, artists have created images of the living world – images that are static and yet possess the power to bring to life a frozen moment in time. While this tension has constituted a fundamental challenge for as long as theories on the nature of images have existed, recent scholarship has rekindled interest in the question of what images 'do to us'. Despite the rational discourse of Modernity, we must acknowledge that we view images as half-living entities. Dead or Alive! addresses the perpetual relevance of images' enigmatic life-likeness. Each of the twelve chapters, written by scholars of art history and visual culture, conveys how the materiality of images generates this powerful effect of animation. Covering a wide range of practices, from early paleolithic stone engravings, medieval tomb sculpture, renaissance death masks and baroque painting to modern fashion, park design, early cinema, robots and bio art, the book demonstrates that the ontological paradox of the image is not limited to a specific historical period or certain types of images, but can be seen throughout the history of images across different cultures.

A rich and immersive insight into the spectacular courtly festival culture of 16th and 17th century EuropeCourt celebrations constituted elaborate and flamboyant spectacles intended to showcase cultural sophistication, military power and technical expertise. Through carefully staged displays of marvel, feast and horror, they were performative articulations of power. By reiterating local traditions, such events reinforced and consolidated local belonging. Addressed both to rival rulers and to society at large, these celebrations functioned as strategic demonstrations of dynastic legitimacy and national abundance — economically, intellectually, and in terms of artisanal production.Through thirteen richly illustrated chapters, this book maps key historical celebrations and the political circumstances surrounding them, while drawing on a diverse range of written sources—from pyrotechnics manuals to cookery books—to emphasize the material culture and technological foundations behind these celebrations. Celebrations at Court situates local European material culture within broader, transcultural contexts and offers new insights into the history of ideas and mentalities of the period.Distributed for Aarhus University Press

Horror and Harm: Rudolf von Deventer’s Treatise on Gunpowder and Fireworks, c. 1585 offers a transcription and translation from German into modern English of a unique and spectacularly illustrated sixteenth-century manuscript on war and festival culture during the reign of the Danish King Frederik II (r. 1559–88). The manuscript, written in German by the King’s specialist in artillery Rudolf von Deventer, presents instructions to produce firearms for defence against the archenemies of the Christian regime as well as formulae for the production of fireworks for pleasure. The manuscript includes lavishly coloured illustrations of battle scenes, weapons and moving mechanical fireworks such as girandoles and dragons.Horror and Harm constitutes an exceptional insight into Northern European war, artillery, technology, fireworks and festival culture in the Early Modern period. As an early form of manual, von Deventer’s book is put into perspective in a foreword by the historian of science Pamela H. Smith and a series of introductory texts.

When the term, Grotesques, first arose around the year 1500 in Italy, it referred specifically to ornamental frescoes featuring exceptionally inventive, noteworthy, humorous, or monstrous motifs. These paintings became a preferred decoration in the period's exquisite villas, palaces, and churches of Rome, Florence and Northern Italy. Lavishly illustrated, this book is an art historical introduction and guide to grotesques and decorative frescoes of the sixteenth-century, and offers a new perspective on the visual culture of an era in which art was rooted in ancient and medieval worldviews yet also on a trajectory toward Modernity. Distributed for Aarhus University Press

The paradox of ornament and monstrosity launches an array of thought-provoking perspectives on sixteenth-century visual art by targeting its ambiguous artificiality and moments of anxiety.