Papers by Sara Benninga
Study day program - The New Lives of the Greek Divinities in Europe
May 29th , 2024
ERC Agrelita
... more Study day program - The New Lives of the Greek Divinities in Europe
May 29th , 2024
ERC Agrelita
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 1 rue de Sully • 75004 Paris Centre Michel de Boüard-Craham Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques anciennes et médiévales • UMR 6273
This paper examines the uses of allegory in early modern and contemporary art. I discuss allegory... more This paper examines the uses of allegory in early modern and contemporary art. I discuss allegory as a poetic and visual means, creating a multiplicity of meanings, and positing the image as a ruin. Referencing previous discussions of allegory by
The Book of Selected Readings 2023/ International Visual Literacy Association, 2023
This paper examines the uses of allegory in early modern and contemporary art. I discuss allegory... more This paper examines the uses of allegory in early modern and contemporary art. I discuss allegory as a poetic and visual means, creating a multiplicity of meanings, and positing the image as a ruin. Referencing previous discussions of allegory by Walter Benjamin (1963, 2010), Peter Burke (1997), Craige Owens (1980), among others, I discuss the reliance of allegory on iconographical precedents and its fragmentary nature. These points are exemplified through paintings from the 17th century, by Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velazquez, and contemporary artworks by Joseph Beuys and Francis Alÿs.
Titian's Allegory of Marriage
This book offers nine new approaches toward a single work of art, Titian’s Allegory of Marriage o... more This book offers nine new approaches toward a single work of art, Titian’s Allegory of Marriage or Allegory of Alfonso d’Avalos, dated to 1530/5. In earlier references, the painting was named simply Allegory, alluding to its enigmatic nature. The work follows in a tradition of such ambiguous Venetian paintings as Giovanni Bellini’s Sacred Allegory and Giorgione’s Tempest. Throughout the years, Titian’s Allegory has engendered a range of diverse interpretations. Art historians such as Hans Tietze, Erwin Panofsky, Walter Friedlaender, and Louis Hourticq, to mention only a few, promoted various explanations. This book offers novel approaches and suggests new meanings toward a further understanding of this somewhat abstruse painting.
Amsterdam University Press, 2022
This chapter interprets Titian’s painting as an allegory of peace, integrating the mythological a... more This chapter interprets Titian’s painting as an allegory of peace, integrating the mythological account of Mars and Venus, with a political symbol of balance, as represented by the sphere held by the female protagonist. The mythological story of Mars and Venus’ love affair as told by Lucretius, Statius, and Plutarch, and the visual representations that followed this tradition, are discussed as the sources for Titian’s painting. Contrary to previous readings of the glass sphere held by the female protagonist as a symbol of transience or inconsistency, it is discussed as a sign of balance, in relation to an iconographical precedent. This new reading of Titian’s Allegory is strengthened by the consideration of its influence on successive allegorical paintings of peace.
The chapter is part of the volume Titian's Allegory of Marriage: New Approaches, edited by Daniel M. Unger, Amsterdam University Press
Bezalel, Resling, 2019
המאמר עוסק בייצוגי הארוחה בתקופה הקדם־מודרנית, ומתמקד בשתי מגמות עיקריות: הארוחה כמאורע חינוכי וד... more המאמר עוסק בייצוגי הארוחה בתקופה הקדם־מודרנית, ומתמקד בשתי מגמות עיקריות: הארוחה כמאורע חינוכי ודתי והארוחה כביטוי לתאוות ולתשוקות גופניות. מעמד הארוחה, שבו מתכנסים סביב השולחן כדי לאכול, מחבר בין מישורים מנוגדים: בתקופה הקדם־מודרנית האכילה המשותפת קשורה כמעט תמיד לערך סמלי כלשהו, ועם זאת, ייצוגה החזותי מעלה הרהורים על הדחפים הפחות מעודנים בחיי האדם. הן הצורך לאכול והן הסכנה להפריז באכילה או בשתייה הפכו את ייצוג הארוחה לאירוע אמביוולנטי, שלרוב כולל קונוטציות שליליות נוסף על אלו הסמליות או החיוביות. בתקופה המודרנית והעכשווית ייצוג הארוחה משתנה, אך עדיין שומר על דו־משמעות. המאמר בוחן את המקורות החזותיים לייצוגה של הארוחה באמנות המערבית הקדם־מודרנית מהמאה ה־ 16 עד המאה העשרים, מציג את המגמות העיקריות באיקונוגרפיה של הארוחה ומצביע על הפער בין האכילה כחלק מפעילות גופנית לבין הארוחה כאירוע סמלי.
Titian's Allegory of Marriage as an 'Allegory of Peace', 2022
Titian's Allegory of Marriage
Ikonotheka, 2019
This article examines the changing approach towards the representation of the senses in 17 th-cen... more This article examines the changing approach towards the representation of the senses in 17 th-century Flemish painting. These changes are related to the cultural politics and courtly culture of the Spanish sovereigns of the Southern Netherlands, the Archdukes Albert and Isabella. The 1617-18 painting-series of the Five Senses by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens as well as the pendant paintings on the subject are analyzed in relation to the iconography of the five senses, and in regard to Flemish genre themes. In this context, the excess of objects, paintings, scientific instruments, animals, and plants in the Five Senses are read as an expansion of the iconography of the senses as well as a reference to the courtly material culture of the Archdukes. Framing the senses as part of a cultural web of artifacts, Brueghel and Rubens refer both to elite lived experience and traditional iconography. The article examines the continuity between the iconography of the senses from 1600 onwards, as developed by Georg Pencz, Frans Floris, and Maerten de Vos, and the representation of the senses in the series. In addition, the article shows how certain elements in the paintings are influenced by genre paintings of the courtly company and collector's cabinet, by Frans Francken, Lucas van Valckenborch and Louis de Caullery. Through the synthesis of these two traditions the subject of the five senses is reinvented in a courtly context.
Epistolary Discourse: Letters and Letter Writing in Early Modern Art. Edited by Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2019
Rubens' mentions of his two wives in his private letters bring to light the changing intimacies o... more Rubens' mentions of his two wives in his private letters bring to light the changing intimacies of marriage in the 17th century. This article examines Rubens' letters in light of the portraits of his first wife, Isabella Brandt, and second wife, Helena Fourment, as well as in the context of the changing perception of marital intimacy in the 17th century.
Since the beginning of Christianity the body, and the lack of control over it, were perceived as ... more Since the beginning of Christianity the body, and the lack of control over it, were perceived as a site of sin. St. Augustine, for example, struggled with the temptations of the senses, seeking control of his mind over the urges of his body. St. Thomas Aquinas viewed immoderate eating and drinking as gluttonous. This sinful perception of the body was clearly developed in artistic depictions. Gluttony was often represented by a fat figure. In early modern Europe, the negative appraisal of the fat body was further related to social class, to heathenish customs, and to the forsaking of the old world.
This paper focuses on images from 15th and 16th northern Europe, delineating the negative visual approach towards the fat body. From representations of the sin of gluttony to the depiction of peasants around the time of the German peasant wars, this paper follows the negative portrayal of the fat body and its different religious, social and political meanings.
Conference Presentations by Sara Benninga
Paper presented at the workshop: The Ethics of the Image: An Interdisciplinary Research Workshop... more Paper presented at the workshop: The Ethics of the Image: An Interdisciplinary Research Workshop, Tel Aviv University, March 2023
I will be giving a paper on the gender aspects of paintings depicting lovesickness and stone-oper... more I will be giving a paper on the gender aspects of paintings depicting lovesickness and stone-operations. Please find attached the itinerary of the conference.
Paper presented at the Israeli Forum for Early Modern Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2018.
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Papers by Sara Benninga
May 29th , 2024
ERC Agrelita
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 1 rue de Sully • 75004 Paris Centre Michel de Boüard-Craham Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques anciennes et médiévales • UMR 6273
The chapter is part of the volume Titian's Allegory of Marriage: New Approaches, edited by Daniel M. Unger, Amsterdam University Press
This paper focuses on images from 15th and 16th northern Europe, delineating the negative visual approach towards the fat body. From representations of the sin of gluttony to the depiction of peasants around the time of the German peasant wars, this paper follows the negative portrayal of the fat body and its different religious, social and political meanings.
Conference Presentations by Sara Benninga
May 29th , 2024
ERC Agrelita
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 1 rue de Sully • 75004 Paris Centre Michel de Boüard-Craham Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques anciennes et médiévales • UMR 6273
The chapter is part of the volume Titian's Allegory of Marriage: New Approaches, edited by Daniel M. Unger, Amsterdam University Press
This paper focuses on images from 15th and 16th northern Europe, delineating the negative visual approach towards the fat body. From representations of the sin of gluttony to the depiction of peasants around the time of the German peasant wars, this paper follows the negative portrayal of the fat body and its different religious, social and political meanings.