Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

285

Date

2011-04-25

Document Type

Thesis (Campus Access Only)

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Art History

Committee Chair

Todd M. Richardson

Committee Member

Fred Albertson

Committee Member

Victor Coonin

Committee Member

Carol Crown

Abstract

Among the many images of blood that inundated Western Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centeruies, arguably the most pervasive were those associated with the Passion of Christ. This study visually analyzes the blood of Christ, imagery that would have been relevant to Fra Angelico, partiularly as an Observant Dominican friar in fifteenth-century Florence. Arguing that Angelico rendered the blood of Christ not only deliberately, but also within the parameters of orthodox Dominican theology, the thesis considers the individual characteristics of the representation of blood by Angelico and asserts particular themes suggested by the blood's appearance, composition and relationship to other motifs in the paintings. Some of the topics considered in the research include Christ's blood as eucharistic evidence, Christ's blood as divine, and Christ's flesh as formed from Mary's pure blood.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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