Terracotta goddess busts with corymbs from Olbia Pontica of the Hellenistic period

Four terracotta busts of a woman with unique attributes were unearthed in Olbia during excavations of 1936 and 1959. The attributes include a cone-shaped bowl on the head, corymbs in the hair, a taenia on the forehead and floral décor. For a long time, scholars considered the woman a personification of goddess Demeter. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Danish scholar Pia Guldager Bilde was the first to change this attribution to Ariadne, Dionysus’ wife, based on five small fragments of similar busts found during N. O. Leipunskaia’s excavations in the sector of the «Lower town: North» (NGS) in Olbia. Following other scholars, she also identified them as thymiateria – utensils for incense burning in bowls. Despite the absence of other characteristic elements and traces of soot, they were named “Ariadne thymiateria”. Later, T. M. Shevchenko published seven more fragments of similar busts, which in her recent publications were identified as thymiateria depicting one of the participants of the Dionysiac thyasos: a nymph, Ariadne, Semela and others, or even young Dionysus himself. Such contradictory interpretations of the above terracottas led to their comprehensive analysis. The first of two planned articles on this topic develops a typology of this group of terracotta busts, which distinguishes between three iconographic types. The first and the third type include one item each. The second iconographic type is the most numerous and has two variants. Variant A comprises eleven items from Olbia excavations from different years, including four fully restored terracotta busts with the abovementioned iconographic attributes. The hypothetical subvariant Aa is the head of a similar bust from the excavations of Scythian Neapolis. Variant B comprises one fragment from Chersonesos Taurica. We have reasons to believe that terracottas of all three iconographic types were created in the 3rd century BC. This assumption is supported by the chronology of closed contexts, in which around half of them were discovered, including terracotta busts that are generally dated back to the 3rd century BC. Most likely, these busts were last used for rituals in family sanctuaries in the middle of the 2nd century BC. We assume that the shape of the bowl on the head of terracotta woman busts was made by Olbian artists under the influence of local ceramic thymiateria in the form of a cone-shaped tall-stem bowl from the 3rd century BC. Taking into account the absence of any traces of soot in the bowls on the busts and their practical use of thymiateria, we believe that these original terracotta items were used for votive purposes. The pouring of essential oil into the coarse, widely open bowl is questionable considering the very high price of the aromas, discovery locations in blocks where artisans and middle-income merchants were living, the terracotta texture, and lack of proper coating and lids with holes. The shape and the size of the bowl, a white engobe on its inner sides, and the floral décor on the woman’s head let us assume that it could be used for putting inside small fruit or seeds. According to this use, these busts were used as votives, pseudo-thymiateria or a kind of aroma bowls for dry flowers or fragrant plants.

Late Gothic (Antwerp) Mannerism: its Origins, Nature and Decline (a Review of the Literature)

This essay does not strive to give a comprehensive review of literature on Antwerp Mannerism, but rather to summarize the focal points of discussions and to outline key roadmaps for further studies. The majority of scholars consider Antwerp Mannerism as a late Gothic style influenced by Italian Quattrocento. Its genesis, however, remains a subject of hot debates. If Hoogewerff argued on the German origins, Vandenbroeck attributed it to an inflow of provincial artists. Whatever were the origins, Expressionist shapes were not inherent to the early Netherlandish painting and the attempt to fuse them with ‘realism’ of the Flemish Primitives seemed a revolutionary breakthrough following the pictorial crisis of the 1480s. Despite a rift in chronology, Antwerp Mannerism has irrefutable similarities with the later Italian Mannerism. Thus exploration of the intellectual and religious context of early sixteenth-century Antwerp art similar to Max Dvořák’s approach can be another direction for further research of the Italian and Spanish Mannerism. The subject matter of Antwerp Mannerist art, too, remains largely unexplored. Dan Ewing’s breakthrough essay showed that the changes in iconography (such as reinvention of the well-known subject) could mark shifts in identity. By no means they are merely ‘anecdotic’ as Paul Philippot stated. What subjects were popular beyond the Adoration of the Magi and why? Were there any secular subjects? How did the iconography of Antwerp art reflect the intersection of different Netherlandish schools of art? How did later artists incorporate the pictorial inventions of the Antwerp Mannerists? Finding an answer to these and similar questions can provide a rich context for further studies on this ‘contrived’ but unique style.

An attempt of creating new museum narratives by the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue»

Taras Shevchenko is one of the most researched and discussed figures in Ukrainian society. In each historical period receptions and assessments around Shevchenko` personality differentiates, depending on the public circumstances or prevailing trends in humanitarian discourse. These perceptions swayed between positive and critical judgment. Authors identified several key perceptions of Shevchenko in Ukrainian public space, for instance, «national hero», «father of the nation», «poet», «revolutionary democrat». In their opinion, modern Ukraine still faces the search for Shevchenko` new image. New forms of public honour (commemoration) are being developed, including through museum exhibition projects. Authors also analyze the significance of the museum narrative expositions and exhibitions for the creation of new public images, giving the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue», which took place in the Taras Shevchenko national museum from November 4th to January 31th in 2021. Curators attempted to explore how personal experience in the city changed due to the process of urbanization from the XIX-th century and how the urban space influenced the shaping of the Taras Shevchenko figure. Specifically, in the XIX-th century, cities ultimately transformed into an environment, which created trends, emphases of the global public development that influenced Shevchenko, since exactly in the city he gained domestic freedom, profession and widened his social circle. The city gave him a sense of understanding of the culture, its influence and importance not only for consumer purposes or acceptance but also for the creation of new meanings. According to the authors, this approach allows us to better understand the significance of Taras Shevchenko, his connection to modern Ukrainian realities and world context.

Sea Mosaics from Thmouis, Queen Berenice II and Mendesian Aromas: A New Look at the Old Problem

In this article, I will be focusing on the two artifacts that are now housed in the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria. These are two Hellenistic mosaic compositions from the Egyptian city Thmouis, which was located in Mendesian nome (GRMA №№ 21.739; 21.736). Both mosaics depict an armed woman in royal purple and surrounded by the elements of marine entourage. The modern researchers offer three options for identifying this woman: 1) the allegory of Alexandria; 2) Arsinoe II, the second wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus; 3) Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes. In the pages of this article, I offer several considerations and the arguments in favor of the identifying the woman from the mosaics of Thmouis as Berenice II. In particular, I assume the probability of the existence of a common denominator between Mendesian nome and the said queen. In my opinion, this common denominator was the production of the aromas. On the one hand, Mendesian nome was famous for making aromatic oils, that were known beyond Egypt. On the other hand, Berenice II showed a great interest in a perfume business. It was this interest that could be one of the reasons that prompted Ptolemy III to develop the southern coast of the Red Sea and to expand the Egyptian sphere of the influence beyond the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As a result, Egypt gained access to a relatively cheap the vegetal raw materials, that were needed for the production of the perfume. The part of these raw materials, probably with the help of Berenice, could get to the Mendesean perfumers and, accordingly, helped to a improve the welfare of the nome. Thus, the woman represented in the sea mosaics, that were popular in Tmuis, must be Berenice II, as Mendesians associated the supply of cheap overseas aromatic substances with her name. In the same time, it is likely that a Mendesian interpretation of the plot of these mosaics differed significantly from the author's idea, that was related to the promotion of a Ptolemaic naval power.

Biblical and missionary plots in the decoration of Saints Peter & Paul Garrison church (former Jesuit church)

After the former Jesuit Church, now the Garrison Church was opened in 2011, the need to explore and reinterpret its historical and cultural heritage arose. This was primarily caused by the process of church renovation which started in 2012. At the same time, the well-preserved interiors and exteriors of the church are of significant research interest. In particular, the art and religious culture of the society of the XVII-XIX century and not only in Lviv. It is known that until 1946 the church belonged to the Society of Jesus, a monastic order that operated all over the world. Under the influence of various cultures, a particular art culture of the order was slowly formed. It consisted of local plots and those that had a general meaning for the whole order with its own ideological load. Besides, the church as a place of worship/man’s encounter with God should have also had a biblical meaning. A combination of order and biblical themes in church decoration created a comprehensive image in which the order is the bearer of Christian ideas laid down in the Bible. This statement provides the opportunity to view decorations in the Garrison Church and in churches in general as a certain ideological construct that was supposed to “declare” specific “messages” incorporated in a fresco, a sculpture, and an icon, etc. Therefore, studying and interpreting church decorations makes it possible to understand, at least partially, the ideological motive of its author. Hence, it becomes easier to understand the art and religious culture of the society, particularly in the XVII-XIXcenturies. Considering the abovementioned, this article is an attempt to interpret the decorations of Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church (the former Jesuit Church), a significant part of which consists of biblical and missionary plots.

Protochivalry? Frankish Armored Cavalry in 8th–10th Centuries as They Depicted in Visual Sources

The article is devoted to the analysis of how Carolingian cavalrymen and their arms and armour are depicted in a set of Carolingian visual sources dating back to VIII – X centuries. How a Frankish horseman was armed in the VIII-X centuries is generally clear. However, the questions of how well a Frankish horseman fought and how he used his weapons in a battle have so far remained unnoticed by researchers, with the exceptions of Lynn White, Bernard Bachrach and Guy Halsall. But even they were more interested in general trends than in particular combat practices. This is largely due to the conciseness of written sources. As Timothy Reuter argues, “yet the face of battle … generally eludes us when we read these works”. However, in studies of the Frankish combat practices, visual sources are of paramount importance, as only they provide a holistic and clear picture of the cavalry armament complex, as well as the use of this complex in a combat. In recent times, the historiographical debate about the time when armoured cavalry appeared in the Frankish army and about the period when such cavalry transformed itself into chivalry is incomplete. It largely revolves around the relevance of the theses uttered by Lin White in the 1960s. Important sources in this debate are the Carolingian visual material that scholars exploit permanently but arbitrarily. This text is an attempt to systematize the Frankish iconography of the VIII - X centuries as an iconographic complex depicting armoured cavalry, its armament and its practical use. The Frankish iconography of VIII - X centuries confirms clearly the existence and importance of armoured cavalry in the army of the first Carolingians, despite the modern scholar’s different views on its force level, as well as its leading role in Frankish military culture in no later than the second half of the ninth century. The cabinet view of Western researchers about the uselessness of cavalry during sieges is not confirmed by sources. On the contrary, both the images and texts of that period demonstrate the widest possible use of cavalry in such military actions, primarily as a force for rapid response to the initiatives of the besieged. Technological transformations in mounted fighting were slow. Despite the fact that the stirrups have been recorded in Europe since the VII century, in the Carolingian visual material stirrups first appeared in the second half of the ninth century in a miniature from the manuscript "The Life of Saint Wandrille”. Further, their images are frequent but irregular, so Lynn White's theory on the crucial role of the stirrup introduction for transforming the Carolingian society of VIII - IX centuries and corresponding introduction of mounted shock combat during this period is not confirmed by visual sources. However, Bernard Bachrach's opposition thesis about the unpopularity of stirrups among the Franks in this period cannot be accepted either. It is likely that the stirrups’ introduction and the transformation of military techniques was slow, in parallel with the increase in the quality and quantity of saddle horses. The image of a couched lance has appeared permanently in the Frankish iconography since the 9th century. The motif of a rider with a lance held by a straight grip horizontally in an arm bent at an elbow first appears in the ninth century in The Golden Psalter of St. Gallen and The Boland Prudence, in the context of a cavalry march and the pursuit of one cavalry unit by another. Stirrups, saddles and spurs are visible too in the Carolinian iconography in that period. The third image of a couched spear on the relief of a sarcophagus from Civita Castellana is difficult to attribute chronologically accurately. By analogy with the images of war horses, equestrians and their equipment, the relief can be widely dated to the ninth century. In the Carolingian visual material of the tenth century, the motif of thecouched lance is found twice more (Codex Perizoni, Psychomachy of St. Lawrence) in the images of a siege and a convoy of captives. In four images from five, there is no enemy hit with a lance stroke, while in the fifth, the relief displays a hunting scene with a hunter on horseback striking a wild boar with a lance. Interpretation of these images by means of German and Italian fencing manuals, as well as the 1938 military regulations for the Polish cavalry, leads to the conclusion that the armoured cavalry’s knowing the technique of couching a lance does not automatically mean their ability to mounted shock combat. Holding the spear horizontally under the armpit gave a rider the opportunity to use fencing techniques and shock blows with a shaft or "winged” ends of lance head, which were effective in a melee. According to the Carolingian visual sources, the spread of stirrups since the ninth century seems indisputable, resulting in the development of armoured cavalry and its combat effectiveness in the Frankish army. Although the identification of a couched lance with mounted shock combat techniques is erroneous, the war horse and rider's armament, consisting of a spear, sword, shield, helmet, and body armour, defined the Carolingian and Ottonian armoured cavalry as a fighting force. This set of equipment was the technological basis, and the community of its bearers was the favourable environment in which chivalry emerged later as a fighting force. Frankish military technologies of the VIII - X centuries and the Frankish military culture of this period in the broadest sense of the term served as the technological and cultural basis for forming chivalry and chivalrous military technology in the future. Despite the obvious growing importance of cavalry in the Frankish army and progressive experiments with spear-wielding techniques during the VIII - X centuries, which are clearly proved by both visual and textual sources of the day, the available source material does not prove the existence of mounted shock combat among the Frankish military elites. So, it is early to speak about the emergence of knightly military technology and, accordingly, chivalry as a fighting force in the VIII - X centuries. However, Lynn White's thesis that it was the period that opened the "window of opportunity" for transforming equestrian combat and developing and proliferating weapons for it and ultimately for the growth of cultural and political role of specialists capable of it in the Frankish kingdoms remains relevant.

The sacred aspect of the image of the child in the early 20th century Polish and Western Ukrainian painting: socio-historical context and local specifics

The late 19th and early 20th centuries marked significant changes in the social perception of children and childhood in Europe and the US. The phenomenon was vividly reflected in works of art, including painting. Images of children and childhood acquired new positive connotations. A rather ambiguous notion of “innocence” became one of the most important characteristics of childhood. The category was associated with children’s ability to receive more profound and intense religious experiences in comparison to those of adults. Poetry, philosophy, and art of that time emphasized this aspect of idealised childhood. In this research, we examine and compare works of easel and monumental painting on religious subjects by American and Western European as well as Polish and Ukrainian artists which depict children and childhood. We address both works intended for sacred spaces and secular paintings containing symbols and allusions borrowed from Christian imagery. The article looks into the genesis of the sacralised image of children and childhood in Western cultures, its specific features and ways of its representation in painting, including local traditions. The study focuses on the portrayal of peasant children in paintings by Polish and Ukrainian artists (Jacek Malczewski, Kazimierz Sichulski, Wlastimil Hofman, Oleksa Novakivskyi, Yulian Butsmaniuk) on religious subjects. The sacralisation of village children in Central and Eastern European art constitutes a peculiar artistic phenomenon closely associated with the social structure as well as political situation in the region. In the course of the research we employed a range of methods—formal, iconographical, iconological analysis, content analysis and semiological analysis.

Visual materials of the journal „Shliakh do zdorovia” („Path to Health”) as a tool of an anti-tuberculosis campaign in the Ukrainian SSR (in the 1920s): Education and propaganda.

After the Bolsheviks had come to power in Ukraine, they faced a number of social problems to be solved. One of them was the significant spread of tuberculosis. To fight the infectious diseases a special information campaign was launched at pages of various periodicals, including a popular-science journal, „Shliakh do zdorovia„(„Path to Health”), established by the People’s Commissariat for Health in 1925 and subsequently published by the same institution. The journal reflected the official policy in the struggle against tuberculosis. It included visual materials to facilitate the public absorbing information. As such, it became an important tool in the anti-tuberculosis campaign. Simultaneously, like all other periodicals, this journal was an instrument of agitation and propaganda activities of the Bolsheviks. The article depicts the reasons why an active information campaign against tuberculosis was launched. It also clarifies the role which visual materials played in the anti-tuberculosis campaign carried out in "Shliakh do zdorovia" as well as it shows top directions of this campaign alongside with main topics raised by the authors of the articles published in the journal. Finally, it compares the level of educational and propaganda component in each direction and in the information campaign as a whole. The results of the study indicate that within the Bolsheviks' anti-tuberculosis campaign three main directions can be distinguished: 1) explanation, why there were a significant number of people suffering from tuberculosis in the Ukrainian SSR; 2) explanation, why the disease had been spreading further; 3) presentation of the initiatives which Soviet authorities had taken on to overcome tuberculosis. To show specific problems in each of these fields as well as actions raised by Soviet authorities to solve them, visual materials were actively used. Thus, political and ideological components often came to the fore, even though the very problem of tuberculosis was medical.

The concept of a bullfight in the painting cycle «Ole!» by Les Podervianskyi

The review of Les Podervianskyi’s exhibition “Ole!”, which was presented at the Dymchuk Gallery in Kyiv in autumn 2021, focuses on the concept of bullfighting as a universal artistic plot. Many artists of different generations, including such eminent as P. Picasso or F. Goya, have repeatedly reproduced the bullfight, as a phenomenon of Spanish culture, in their artworks. Recently, some contemporary Ukrainian artists have turned to the symbolism and aesthetics of this Spanish plot, which is evidenced by the appearance of thematic exhibitions, including “Ole!” The text considers the phenomenon of L. Podervianskyi’s personality as an artist in the context of the history of contemporary Ukrainian art. It analyzed the variations of interpretations of torero and bull images from the standpoint of bullfighting philosophy, which allows us to comprehend the metaphorical depiction of the Spanish traditional battle in painting. The presented series of paintings is considered from different angles: 1) color and compositional solution; 2) the matador and the bull as multi-valued symbols of the universal plot; 3) the system of the exhibition project in the gallery space. One of the highlights is on the connection between text and image, in particular in the combination of the title and the image itself. Separately, it is covered the topic of Japanese culture, which is one of the central ones in L. Podervianskyi’s work: similar features in the construction of Japanese poetry and compositional techniques in painting are analyzed; the interchangeability of the use of bullfighting and kung fu plots as an artistic technique is explained. Mixing and layering the Ukrainian experience of the artist, images of the bullfighter and the bull and Japanese traditions creates a new system in the artistic dimension, in which the confrontation between the individual and the external world and the inner self becomes the central point.

Border images of Rus in Fornaldarsagas: intertextuality as an indication of collective memory

Fornaldarsagas or legendary sagas is an exemplary source to research the environment of Icelandic authors in the late Medieval time. They combine aspects of fiction writing, historical narrative, and folklore. The plots of these works had functioned in the memory a long time before reaching the pages of books. As a result of this, the meaning of these texts was constantly adapting to new conditions, leaving just some elements of the historic core. These aspects make Fornaldarsagas a valuable source for studying the collective memory and worldview of that time. In the current article, it was attempted to research the perception of Rus and Eastern Europe in the legendary sagas. We tried to reconstruct general conceptions and intellectual tendencies through the prism of the frontier images of these lands. As a result of involving Iceland in the sphere of influence of European culture, local scientists began to use ancient and European sources in constructing their historical narratives. When translating European treatises into their language, the Icelanders not only copied them but substantially supplemented them. Unlike European authors, who had too little empirical information, Icelanders inherited elements of memory from the Migration Period, Viking Age, and Rus-Scandinavian relations of X-XI centuries. Due to this combination of traditions, Eastern Europe received new images which absorbed the symbols of different times and cultures. An eloquent example of such symbiosis is the concept of Svíþjóð hin mikla. This term was supposed to be a translation of the ancient concept of Scythia but acquired a new meaning and turned the place into a «home of the Scandinavian gods». The idea of an Svíþjóð hin mikla became a mixture of ancient concepts and European interest in the East. At the same time, it was associated with Germanic episodes, that influenced the formation of the myth about the eastern origin of the Scandinavian gods. These ideas formed the literary canon, and the authors adhered to it when writing their works. These aspects of Icelandic writing help us better understand the intellectual environment and rethink the historicity of legendary sagas.