Papers by Samantha L Smith
Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations, 2022
This contribution “Chastising the eye in the “Golden Age”” investigates a surge of seventeenth-ce... more This contribution “Chastising the eye in the “Golden Age”” investigates a surge of seventeenth-century illustrations of the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit in the Netherlands. Rembrandt produced several visual interpretations of this biblical story against the background of tension between Dutch Calvinist and Catholic groups. Rembrandt's scenes often focus on the blindness Tobit is afflicted with, and Smith argues that these scenes reiterate Augustine's warnings about physical sight.
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Where does the truth lie? In a period where critical and alternative versions of truth proliferat... more Where does the truth lie? In a period where critical and alternative versions of truth proliferate and compete, this proves to be an essential question. This one-day workshop uses Bologna and its art as a starting point to reflect on theories and attitudes concerning truth and truth-telling in the early modern period. Far from imposing a simplistic (and ultimately anachronistic) image of Bologna as “the City of Truth,” we intend to approach the strategies adopted to ponder, support, and deny notions of fact and norm, in both textual and visual representations, from various angles. What will emerge is a notion of truth as a process: a regulative principle that underscores the demonstrative nature of the visual discourses in the early modern time.
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Hands That Make Us See focuses on blindness and spiritual vision through a discussion a painting ... more Hands That Make Us See focuses on blindness and spiritual vision through a discussion a painting from the school of Rembrandt, Tobias healing his father´s blindness fro 1636 (Stuttgart). I urge the reader to draw parallels between ideas that today we may consider binary or contrary: artist and scientist, miracles and medicine, the spiritual and the physical. This chapter also examines the interdependency of the senses of touch and sight in these areas, turning to philosophical debates from antiquity to the present about the importance of the eye and the ability of the hands.
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´Blinding the Viewer´explores how blindness and not seeing play a part in the looking at , and th... more ´Blinding the Viewer´explores how blindness and not seeing play a part in the looking at , and the creation of, art. With an analysis of an early self-portrait by the Dutch artist Rembrandt, this article argues that what cannot by physically seen is often inherent in our experience of painting, something which is very often presumed to be a purely visual medium.
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This article explores how blindness and 'not-seeing' play a part in the looking at, and the creat... more This article explores how blindness and 'not-seeing' play a part in the looking at, and the creation of, art. With an analysis of an early self portrait by te Dutch master, Rembrandt, 'Blinding the Viewer' argues that what cannot be physically seen is often inherent in our physical experience of painting, something which is often preseumed to be a solely visual art form.
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MA thesis completed in 2014.
Inspired by Rembrandt's frequent use of the blind in his work, th... more MA thesis completed in 2014.
Inspired by Rembrandt's frequent use of the blind in his work, this thesis analyses the implications the use of blindness has when represented in the visual arts, particularly painting. Using three paintings by the Dutch master to anchor the discussion, I ask how we experience pictures and the process of making a representation, two activities we consider dominated by the visual. The discussion also investigates the traditions of how we percieve the senses as a way to obtaining knowledge. In doing so, I argue that although these activites are often linked to sight, the sense of touch has a much larger role to play than we might think.
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Books by Samantha L Smith
Images of Knowledge: The Epistemic Lives of Pictures and Visualisations, 2016
What do we mean by "images of knowledge"? The term, in our usage, denotes a exible concept that c... more What do we mean by "images of knowledge"? The term, in our usage, denotes a exible concept that can accommodate a variety of objects, approaches and processes, but that has a gravitational pull sufficient to secure its integrity. This introduction chapter discusses the connection between images and knowledge, and how the various chapters of the book explore this connection in diverse ways.
Images of Knowledge. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303389308_Images_of_Knowledge [accessed Aug 18, 2017].
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Material cultures of devotion in the age of reformations, 2022
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Northern Europe were characterized by enormous religio... more The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Northern Europe were characterized by enormous religious change. During this period new religious ideas and ideals gradually took shape and materialized in all aspect of religious life, both on a private level as well as in public and liturgical space. The fundamental question of how God could be experienced as present in the world, became – again – the center of lively debate. Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic and Anglican reformations – to mention just a selection of the different ideological movements in play during this period – challenged interpretations of the Bible, the sacraments, the communication of religious truth, the practice of devotion and the material expressions of faith. When looking at the European reformations from a transnational perspective, they stand forth as a bundle of fundamentally interwoven religious movements attempting to define their specific religious identity in terms of dissimilarity. Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations explores how the visual and material cultures of Christian devotion were adapted, developed, transformed, and, in some cases, disappeared altogether, in the age of reformations, c. 1500-1650 in Northern Europe.
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Papers by Samantha L Smith
Inspired by Rembrandt's frequent use of the blind in his work, this thesis analyses the implications the use of blindness has when represented in the visual arts, particularly painting. Using three paintings by the Dutch master to anchor the discussion, I ask how we experience pictures and the process of making a representation, two activities we consider dominated by the visual. The discussion also investigates the traditions of how we percieve the senses as a way to obtaining knowledge. In doing so, I argue that although these activites are often linked to sight, the sense of touch has a much larger role to play than we might think.
Books by Samantha L Smith
Images of Knowledge. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303389308_Images_of_Knowledge [accessed Aug 18, 2017].
Inspired by Rembrandt's frequent use of the blind in his work, this thesis analyses the implications the use of blindness has when represented in the visual arts, particularly painting. Using three paintings by the Dutch master to anchor the discussion, I ask how we experience pictures and the process of making a representation, two activities we consider dominated by the visual. The discussion also investigates the traditions of how we percieve the senses as a way to obtaining knowledge. In doing so, I argue that although these activites are often linked to sight, the sense of touch has a much larger role to play than we might think.
Images of Knowledge. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303389308_Images_of_Knowledge [accessed Aug 18, 2017].