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A Study of the Constellation Pictures with Special Reference to Aratea Mss.

Research Project

Project/Area Number 16320019
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Aesthetics/Art history
Research InstitutionTokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

Principal Investigator

KOSHI Koichi  Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, Professor, 美術学部, 教授 (60099934)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) FUKUBE Nobutoshi  Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Professor, 美術学部, 教授 (90049320)
MATSUO Hiroshi  Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Professor, 美術学部, 教授 (00119364)
TAGUCHI Eiichi  Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Professor, 美術学部, 教授 (50011333)
KOSHIKAWA Michiaki  Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Associate Professor, 美術学部, 助教授 (60178259)
SATSUMA Masato  The University Art Museum, Associate Professor, 大学美術館, 助教授 (80272657)
松田 誠一郎  東京芸術大学, 美術学部, 助教授 (20239031)
Project Period (FY) 2004 – 2005
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2005)
Budget Amount *help
¥13,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥13,800,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥4,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,300,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥9,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥9,500,000)
KeywordsConstellation / Aratus / Phaenomena / Aratea mss. / Germanicus / Greek myths / Illuminated manuscripts in the medieval western Europe / Tradition of iconography / アラテア / 天文学写本 / 西欧中世美術 / ギリシア美術 / 古代末期美術
Research Abstract

The Phaenomena, written by the third century B.C. Greek poet Aratos of Soli, is an astronomical poem providing an expository description of the constellations. The work was so popular during the Roman period that it was translated into Latin many times. Those Latin versions are collectively known as 'Aratea', but their prototype is now lost. Looking at the many illustrated 'Aratea' manuscripts produced from the Carolingian period through to the Renaissance, this research project aims to reconstruct the picture cycles of the constellations in Aratos' Phaenomena and to examine the processes by which these illustrations originating in Greece were transmitted down to later times.
In this year we have carried out systematic classification and arrangement of all the visual materials acquired in 2004-05 through libraries in Europe and the U.S. First, the constellatory illustrations were divided into two major groups : 'Aratea' MSS and 'Aratea' variants. The former group can be further classified into several subgroups according to text type (e.g. 'Caesar Germanicus' or 'Cicero') and recension type. As a result of this analysis it has become clear that the text tradition does not necessarily correspond with the pictorial tradition ; in other words, there are some cases in which a picture cycle originally made for a certain recension text has been recycled for another recension text. It has also been shown that while most of the picture cycles in 'Aratea' variants trace back to those in 'Aratea' MSS, they include some illustrations that seem to have been newly made for the corresponding texts.

Report

(3 results)
  • 2005 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2004 Annual Research Report

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Published: 2004-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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