The Uses of Images as Historical EvidencePeter Burke

Alexandra Busescu, Collin Perciballi, Waqas Shahzad

IntroductionResearch question;Overview of Historical studies on the images;Varieties of Images;Iconography and IconolgyThe idea of Iconography The Warburg School and Panofsky s Three LevelsThe method exemplified: Sacred and Profane LoveBurkes 3 pointsCriticism of the MethodLandscapeThe Cultural History of ImagesConclusions

Peter Burke(born 1937 in Stanmore, England) is a professor of cultural history at the University of Cambridge, UK. He emphasizes the relevance of social and cultural history to modern issues. His numerous books include Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (1978) and, more recently, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992).Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidencewas published in 2001 by Reaktion Books, London;is concerned with the use of images as historical evidence;Overview of Historical studies on the images;-Historians still dont take the evidence of images seriously enough.-Neverthless, a significant minority of Historians were already using the evidence of images in their studies about: European prehistory the cave paintings of Altamira and LascauxMiddle Ages history Bayeux TapestryRenaissance and the autumn of the Middles Ages- Johan HuizingaInterwar period Aby Warburg, Gilberto FreyreHistory from below in the 60s Raphael Samuel-Criticism : images are mute witnesses and is difficult to translate their testimony in words.Varieties of ImagesTwo revolutions in image production:-1930s-1960s the rise of printed image (woodcut, engraving, etching);-19th- 20th century- the rise of photographic image ( including film and television);

Definition: Before attempting to read images between the lines, and to use them as historical evidence, it is only prudent to begin with their meanings. Their makers had their own concerns, their own messages. The interpretations of this messages is known as iconography or iconology, terms sometimes used as synonyms, but sometimes distinguished.The idea of Iconography-the terms iconography and iconology were launched in the art-historical worlds in the 1920s and 1930s;-to be more exact they were re-launched-a famous Renaissance handbook of images, published by Cesare Ripa in 1953- Iconologia;Who they were used at the beginning?-associated with a reaction against a predominantly formal analysis of painting in terms of composition and colour at the expense of the subject matter;-emphasised the intellectual content of works of art, their implicit philosophy or theology;

Often used to interpret works of the Italian Renaissance;In Burkes text, he uses Titians Sacred and Profane Love as an example;

Titian, Sacred and Profane Love, 1514Medium: oil on canvasLocation: Galleria Borghese, RomeSource: http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eamor.htm

The Method enables us to interpret landscape differentlyFor instance, distinctive vegetation could represent a specific nationOr, could just be for aesthetic pleasure

Cultural History of ImagesWaqas Shahzad

Meaning of Images

What is the meaning of an Image?Meaning for whom? What Defines the meaning of the image?The cultural & Social context decide the meaning of the image & also the target viewer.

1- Social Context2- Political Context3- Material Context4- Feminist Theory5- Reception Theory

1- Social Context

Chastity or Suppression Symbol of Liberty or Nudity

2- Political Context

3- Material Context

4- Feminist Theory

Artist, Patron, Character Represented, Actual Viewer

5- Reception Theory

- Artists view of image - Viewers view of image

- Actual Response - Predicted Response

- Positive Response - Negative Response

How to Read the Images

- Images give contemporary view rather than social - Testimony of images need to be placed in a series of contexts - A Series of images offer testimony more reliable than that of individual images.

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Questions & Queries