Rarity, Curiosity, and Novelty: The Diversification of Painting Forms in Northern Mannerism

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370132
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fine art history
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Hirakawa Kayo 京都大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (10340762)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 美術史学 / 西洋美術史 / 芸術諸学 / マニエリスム / 北方ヨーロッパ / 油彩画 / 特殊絵画 / 珍品室

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focuses on paintings done with special supports in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, especially the works of northern European painters. It examines the historical context in which metal and stone plates came to be used as painting support. Through this examination, the research ascertains that metal and stone plate oil paintings were invented in Italy, and northern painters who were active in Italy, such as Bartholomeus Spranger and Hans von Aachen, played a significant role in promoting these new forms of painting in Northern Europe. The research discusses the preferences of themes in these paintings, the symbolic meaning which the materials added to the painted image, and the specific manner of displaying these paintings. The research concludes the diversification of painting forms is a unique phenomenon of Mannerism, where painters experimented with various kinds of materials to use as painting supports and created novel and rare pictorial works.

Free Research Field

人文学