- +45 29782798
Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen
University of Copenhagen, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Department Member
- Renaissance Studies, Print Culture, Early Modern Europe, Northern Renaissance, Portraits, Orientalism (Art History), and 29 moreArt History, Early Modern History, Anthropology of the Body, Renaissance, Early modern Ottoman History, Anthropology of the Senses, Visual Neuroscience, 16th Century Netherlandish Art, Religious Conversion and Converts in the Early Modern Mediterranean context, Cultural Intermediaries In The Early Modern Mediterranean, 15th Century Netherlandish Art, Sensory Cultures & Visuality, 16the century Mediterranean, 15th/16th c. German Art, Ottoman Habsburg Rivalry, Order of the Golden Fleece, Burgundian Netherlands, Court Culture, Intellectual History, Early Christianity, Iconography, Early Christian Art, Seventeenth Century, Portraiture, Pieter Isaacsz, S Costanza, Traditio legis, European History, and Printsedit
Discussing the images by the Danish-German Renaissance artists Melchior Lorck (Lorichs) from the Ottoman Empire and their multifaceted structure of meanings. The interaction between image and texts and the shifting employments in... more
Discussing the images by the Danish-German Renaissance artists Melchior Lorck (Lorichs) from the Ottoman Empire and their multifaceted structure of meanings. The interaction between image and texts and the shifting employments in different contexts provide a wide range of sometimes conflicting interpretative possibilities. All of them to some extent feasible to their audience as different kinds of truth about their subject.
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An analysis of Jean Laurent Mosniers large portrait of Danish tradesman Constantin Brun, in relation to Mosniers oeuvre and seen in the perspective of contemporary aesthetics and criticism
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A catalogue entry on the depiction of the regata in Venice held in honour of the Danish king Frederik IV the 4th of March, 1709. The painting under discussion of the one displayed at The Museum of National History in Frederiksborg Castle,... more
A catalogue entry on the depiction of the regata in Venice held in honour of the Danish king Frederik IV the 4th of March, 1709. The painting under discussion of the one displayed at The Museum of National History in Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark
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A short presentation in Chinese and Danish of Danish portraits of power from the 17th to the 20th century
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A description of the setting of the entry into Vienna of the King of the Romans - imperial prince elect - Maximilian II on March 16, 1563, as staged by Melchior Lorck, with triumphal arches, wine wells, etc.
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A short introduction to the way portraits might function in the renaissance and baroque periods, particularly the way in which portraits could become substitutes for a earl social encouter. For the general public in connection with an... more
A short introduction to the way portraits might function in the renaissance and baroque periods, particularly the way in which portraits could become substitutes for a earl social encouter. For the general public in connection with an exhibition on portriats as a genre.
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Melchior Lorck in Denmark – Deliberations and a Couple of Recovered Documents. In his youth the artist Melchior Lorck went abroad to become an accomplished artist that could serve the Danish king. However, it would take 32 years before he... more
Melchior Lorck in Denmark – Deliberations and a Couple of Recovered Documents.
In his youth the artist Melchior Lorck went abroad to become an accomplished artist that could serve the Danish king. However, it would take 32 years before he returned to join the cultural flowering under the auspices of King Frederik II, of which also Tycho Brahe formed part. However, he was dismissed after only three years and appears to have produced next to nothing for the king. This contribution attempts to trace the artist’s contacts with the Danish kings over the years abroad, to speculate about the reasons for the long delay and for the lack of works for the king when he was finally employed. It also presents three previously unexplored sources relating to the career of the artist.
In his youth the artist Melchior Lorck went abroad to become an accomplished artist that could serve the Danish king. However, it would take 32 years before he returned to join the cultural flowering under the auspices of King Frederik II, of which also Tycho Brahe formed part. However, he was dismissed after only three years and appears to have produced next to nothing for the king. This contribution attempts to trace the artist’s contacts with the Danish kings over the years abroad, to speculate about the reasons for the long delay and for the lack of works for the king when he was finally employed. It also presents three previously unexplored sources relating to the career of the artist.
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An assessment of the potential impact of the marketability of certain motifs as possible backgroudn for the change in character of Melchior Lorck's images of Turks and Turkish monuments at different times between c. 1560 and 1580. The... more
An assessment of the potential impact of the marketability of certain motifs as possible backgroudn for the change in character of Melchior Lorck's images of Turks and Turkish monuments at different times between c. 1560 and 1580.
The uploaded file is a late proof version where the graph in p. 258 has not reached its final form.
The uploaded file is a late proof version where the graph in p. 258 has not reached its final form.
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An evaluation of the career of Danish court artist Abraham Wuchters (1608-1682) in comparison to his primary rival, Karel van Mander III (1609-1670) and the reasons for his successes and failures: positioning, political upheaval, war...
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Survey of European Renaissance Artists visiting Constantinople in the 15th and 16th centuries, either as the sultan's guests or as members of diplomatic entourages. The article tries to characterize their differing approaches over time... more
Survey of European Renaissance Artists visiting Constantinople in the 15th and 16th centuries, either as the sultan's guests or as members of diplomatic entourages. The article tries to characterize their differing approaches over time and due to the circumstances of their sojourns.
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On Melchior Lorck’s Turkish motives from the sojourn in Constantinople / Istanbul 1555-1559 as a member of the Habsburg embassy to the Sublime Porte led by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq. With some remarks about the publication history of the... more
On Melchior Lorck’s Turkish motives from the sojourn in Constantinople / Istanbul 1555-1559 as a member of the Habsburg embassy to the Sublime Porte led by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq. With some remarks about the publication history of the woodcuts and engravings that were the result of the stay.
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The paper contextualises Lorck's 1562 portrait of the Ottoman Sultan in relation to the texts with which it was published, first in 1562, then in 1574 and later still in the 17th century. The portrait is also juxtaposed to texts... more
The paper contextualises Lorck's 1562 portrait of the Ottoman Sultan in relation to the texts with which it was published, first in 1562, then in 1574 and later still in the 17th century. The portrait is also juxtaposed to texts describing the Sultan from Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq's famous Turkish Letters, a possible context for the portrait for a contemporary viewer, as Lorck and Busbecq shared the same lodgings in Constantinople for 3½ years and later appear to have shared both social circles and audience.
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The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq and the Turkish images by Melchior Lorck, who shared his lodgings in Constantinople for three and a half years (1555-1559), seen in the historical perspective of Ottoman-Habsburg relations
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About a group of portraits by the late 17th century Danish court artist Jacques d'Agar, showing the children of King Christian V
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Om landskabet som gennemgående motiv i billedet af Island i kunsten, med fokus på danske og islandske kunstneres værker (dog ikke Johannes Larsen) fra 1800-tallet og 1900-tallet. Skrevet til en bog til en udstilling om Islands og Danmarks... more
Om landskabet som gennemgående motiv i billedet af Island i kunsten, med fokus på danske og islandske kunstneres værker (dog ikke Johannes Larsen) fra 1800-tallet og 1900-tallet. Skrevet til en bog til en udstilling om Islands og Danmarks relationer gennem tiden på Det Nationalhistoriske Museum på Frederiksborg.
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An attempted overview of Isaacz' career as portrait painter at the Danish court of King Christian IV between 1614 and 1625.
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An interpretation of the changes in the iconography of royal portraiture between c. 1600 and 1650 through the example of the many different portraits of the Danish King Christian IV. Portraits by Nicolaus Andreae, Pieter Issacsz, Abraham... more
An interpretation of the changes in the iconography of royal portraiture between c. 1600 and 1650 through the example of the many different portraits of the Danish King Christian IV. Portraits by Nicolaus Andreae, Pieter Issacsz, Abraham Wuchters, Karal van Mander III and Francois Dieussaert. In part following up on previous work by Hugo Johannsen, Lars Olof Larsson and Steffen Heiberg.
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På Willumsens Museum i Frederikssund, der blev indviet i 1957, befinder sig i dag ikke blot det store udsnit af hans kunstneriske produktion, som han overlod den danske stat i 1947, men også hans omfattende, såkaldte "Gamle Samling".... more
På Willumsens Museum i Frederikssund, der blev indviet i 1957, befinder sig i dag ikke blot det store udsnit af hans kunstneriske produktion, som han overlod den danske stat i 1947, men også hans omfattende, såkaldte "Gamle Samling". Willumsens "Gamle Samling" var uløseligt knyttet til kunstnerens gave til den danske stat fra 1947 og for kunstneren var de to samlinger to sider af samme sag, nemlig hans virksomhed. Forbindelsen mellem de to samlinger skabte dog en del problemer, fordi der var udbredt enighed om, at Willumsen nok var en meget væsentlig kunstner, men at den "Gamle Samling" nok mere var et udslag af en excentrisk hobby end en egentlig kunstsamling.
Artiklen forsøger at se samlingen i lyset af Willumsens egen brug af og spejling i den og forsøger samtidig at belyse de skiftende vurderinger af samlingens værdi.
Artiklen forsøger at se samlingen i lyset af Willumsens egen brug af og spejling i den og forsøger samtidig at belyse de skiftende vurderinger af samlingens værdi.
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Taking its departure in a silver reliquary in Thessaloniki from c. 400 A.D. and from the small apse mosaics in S. Costanza in Rome, this article attempts a reevaluation of the iconography of the motif called "tradtitio legis". Another... more
Taking its departure in a silver reliquary in Thessaloniki from c. 400 A.D. and from the small apse mosaics in S. Costanza in Rome, this article attempts a reevaluation of the iconography of the motif called "tradtitio legis".
Another question up for reassessment is the one about the alleged motif in the Constantinian basilica of Old St. Peter's in Rome. Here it is maintained that the various attempts by e.g. Schumacher to assign the motif to this prominent place are curbed by the uncertainty of the evidence.
Another question up for reassessment is the one about the alleged motif in the Constantinian basilica of Old St. Peter's in Rome. Here it is maintained that the various attempts by e.g. Schumacher to assign the motif to this prominent place are curbed by the uncertainty of the evidence.
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An article trying to reassess the central meaning of the so-called "Traditio legis"-motif by using as point of departure the silver reliquary now in the Thessaloniki Museum and the fragmented mosaic cycle in Sta. Costanza in Rome. In German
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Denne artikel bygger på mit cand.phil.-speciale "Det foruroligende frugtbare. Om Daniel Libeskinds arkitektur", der afleveredes april 1994.
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Discussing the images by the Danish-German Renaissance artists Melchior Lorck (Lorichs) from the Ottoman Empire and their multifaceted structure of meanings. The interaction between image and texts and the shifting employments in... more
Discussing the images by the Danish-German Renaissance artists Melchior Lorck (Lorichs) from the Ottoman Empire and their multifaceted structure of meanings. The interaction between image and texts and the shifting employments in different contexts provide a wide range of sometimes conflicting interpretative possibilities. All of them to some extent feasible to their audience as different kinds of truth about their subject.
Research Interests:
A description of the setting of the entry into Vienna of the King of the Romans - imperial prince elect - Maximilian II on March 16, 1563, as staged by Melchior Lorck, with triumphal arches, wine wells, etc.
Research Interests: Art, Early Modern History, Renaissance Studies, Habsburg Studies, Early Modern Europe, and 9 moreVienna, Ceremonial entries, German Renaissance, Melchior Lorck, Royal Entries, Court Studies, Routledge, Ceremonial and Symbolic Representations of Sovereignty In Early Modern Europe, and Emperor Maximilian II
SUMMARY: Among the many sources about the Ottoman empire gathered by European literates and artists at the time of the clash between the empires of Charles V or Philip II and the Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Melchior Lorck stands out... more
SUMMARY: Among the many sources about the Ottoman empire gathered by European literates and artists at the time of the clash between the empires of Charles V or Philip II and the Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Melchior Lorck stands out as one of the most nuanced and trustworthy pictorial sources. His images, primarily woodcuts, based on his sojourn in Constantinople from 1555-1559, were important in shaping the European image of a great Other for more than a century. As well, they allow a rare glimpse into the bustling world of the Ottoman empire at its apogee. This article presents some of Lorck’s works, explains how they came to be, and traces the different contexts in which he sought to publish them, and how those contexts shaped both the individual images and the general image of the Turks that they helped shaping.
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Focusing on the graphic artist Melchior Lorck (1526/27-after 1583), the paper will address the impact of personal, professional and economic networks in the tuning of images of the Turks in Northern Europe in the late 16th century.... more
Focusing on the graphic artist Melchior Lorck (1526/27-after 1583), the paper will address the impact of personal, professional and economic networks in the tuning of images of the Turks in Northern Europe in the late 16th century. Through a mapping of his networks of publishers, humanists and other artists at different times and places during his career and then comparing the results with his production at the same times and places of images with Turkish motifs, such impact may be analyzed. As it seems, the artist changed both the range of his motifs and their character according to which network he connected to and according to which audience he was most likely to address through it. Lorck's Turkish images did not only result from acute observation and objectivity, but also, when seen in the context of his social and economic life, from interests in marketing and economic and social profit.
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When Nicolaus Andreae engraved the frontispiece portrait for the first fully illustrated book in Denmark, the fencing manual De lo schermo overo scienzia d'arme by Salvator Fabris, he used a typical combination of mottos and allegorical... more
When Nicolaus Andreae engraved the frontispiece portrait for the first fully illustrated book in Denmark, the fencing manual De lo schermo overo scienzia d'arme by Salvator Fabris, he used a typical combination of mottos and allegorical props and figures to frame the image. While the iconography of King Christian IV of Denmark in his early reign is often–and rightly–exemplified by Pieter Isaacsz’s splendid state portrait from 1614, Andreae’s fairly unknown print may function as a more telling key to unlocking the representation of the king at a time when Continental ideals of princely comportment were still only about to be adopted in the North. The paper will discuss the print as a reflection of such new cultural norms at the Danish court, possibly influenced by the king’s brother-in-law, King James I of England.
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Melchior Lorck (c. 1526/27- after 1583) was attached to the embassy of the Holy Roman Empire to the Sublime Porte in the second half of the 1550ies, an experience that set the course of most of his subsequent career. His most famous works... more
Melchior Lorck (c. 1526/27- after 1583) was attached to the embassy of the Holy Roman Empire to the Sublime Porte in the second half of the 1550ies, an experience that set the course of most of his subsequent career. His most famous works are the 128 woodcuts of Turkish motives, published long after his death and republished in different contexts several times until the end of the seventeenth century. Lorck, a confessed Protestant, is often considered to be much less interested in promoting a typical, stereotyped image of the great Islamic enemy on the brink of Europe than most of his contemporaries, not least his German Protestant contemporaries. He can be seen, however, to use some of his images in a way particularly directed toward such an audience, and some as more objective illustrations.
His fascinating portrait from 1562 of the arch-enemy of Western Christianity at the time, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, forms an interesting point of investigation as it was published in a number of different written textual contexts that give an interesting insight into the varying expectations of the public about the grand Turk and all that he stood for. The paper exemplifies how the same portrait was thus used and could function differently in different contexts, it's meaning twisted by that context each time to illustrate very different stereotypes of the blood-thirsty agent of evil on the one side and the great ruler, equal to the Western emperors on the other.
His fascinating portrait from 1562 of the arch-enemy of Western Christianity at the time, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, forms an interesting point of investigation as it was published in a number of different written textual contexts that give an interesting insight into the varying expectations of the public about the grand Turk and all that he stood for. The paper exemplifies how the same portrait was thus used and could function differently in different contexts, it's meaning twisted by that context each time to illustrate very different stereotypes of the blood-thirsty agent of evil on the one side and the great ruler, equal to the Western emperors on the other.
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The confrontation between European countries and the expanding Ottoman Empire in the early modern era has played a major role in numerous fields of history. The aim of this book is to investigate the European-Ottoman interrelations from... more
The confrontation between European countries and the expanding Ottoman Empire in the early modern era has played a major role in numerous fields of history. The aim of this book is to investigate the European-Ottoman interrelations from three angles. One deals with the circumstances: How did the Europeans meet the Turks in pragmatic and diplomatic connections? Another concerns imagery: how were the Turks depicted in literature and art? The third examines performativity: how were the Turks inserted into plays, operas and ceremonies?
This book confronts mental, visual and embodied images with historical positions and conditions. The focus, therefore, is on the dynamic interactive processes of experience, embodiment and imagination in context. Bringing together Turkish and European scholars, it applies a number of research strategies used by historians to the history of art, literature, music and theatre.
Edited by Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen
Contents:
Kaleidoscopic Reflections
Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
PART I: THE ACTUAL TURK
The Ottoman Empire and Europe: The Making and Un-Making
of a Muslim-Orthodox Partnership Mogens Pelt (Copenhagen)
The Absence of the Ottoman Empire in European Historiography
Kate Fleet (Cambridge)
The Legations of the Most Serene Republic to the Sultan and the
Fascination of Ottoman Culture
Maria Pia Pedani † (Venice)
Claiming Possession through Depiction: Hungarian Humanist Envoys
in the Ottoman Empire
Pál Ács (Budapest)
The Turks in East Central Europe, with a Focus on Hungary,
the Romanian Principalities, and Poland
Robert Born (Leipzig/Berlin)
PART II: THE IMAGINED TURK
The Image of the Turks in European Anglophone Intellectual Discourse
Aslı Çırakman (Ankara)
Changing Images and Cross-Cultural Encounters: Europe and the
Ottoman Empire
Günsel Renda (Istanbul)
Images of the Turk in Sixteenth-Century Italian Historical Writings
Pia Schwarz Lausten (Copenhagen)
Variations in Oriental Motifs in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century
European Literature
Anne Duprat (Amiens)
The Turk in the Symbolic Civil Wars of France: Ally and Combatant
Marcus Keller (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois)
Shifting Identities Over Time: Images of the Turk in Sixteenth-Century
German Biblical Illustrations
Charlotte Colding Smith (Bremerhaven)
The Truthful Image(s) of the Turk(s)
Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
PART III: THE EMBODIED TURK
“Celebrating the Orient”: The Ottomans in Prints
and Festivities
in the Habsburg Netherlands
Dirk Van Waelderen (Leuven)
Turks in Royal Rituality: Apocalyptic Historiography
in Performative Practice
Bent Holm (Copenhagen)
“Der türkische Gesandte samt sein Gefolge”: Theatre and
Ottoman Diplomacy to Vienna in the Eighteenth Century
Suna Suner (Vienna)
Prismatic Refractions
Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
This book confronts mental, visual and embodied images with historical positions and conditions. The focus, therefore, is on the dynamic interactive processes of experience, embodiment and imagination in context. Bringing together Turkish and European scholars, it applies a number of research strategies used by historians to the history of art, literature, music and theatre.
Edited by Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen
Contents:
Kaleidoscopic Reflections
Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
PART I: THE ACTUAL TURK
The Ottoman Empire and Europe: The Making and Un-Making
of a Muslim-Orthodox Partnership Mogens Pelt (Copenhagen)
The Absence of the Ottoman Empire in European Historiography
Kate Fleet (Cambridge)
The Legations of the Most Serene Republic to the Sultan and the
Fascination of Ottoman Culture
Maria Pia Pedani † (Venice)
Claiming Possession through Depiction: Hungarian Humanist Envoys
in the Ottoman Empire
Pál Ács (Budapest)
The Turks in East Central Europe, with a Focus on Hungary,
the Romanian Principalities, and Poland
Robert Born (Leipzig/Berlin)
PART II: THE IMAGINED TURK
The Image of the Turks in European Anglophone Intellectual Discourse
Aslı Çırakman (Ankara)
Changing Images and Cross-Cultural Encounters: Europe and the
Ottoman Empire
Günsel Renda (Istanbul)
Images of the Turk in Sixteenth-Century Italian Historical Writings
Pia Schwarz Lausten (Copenhagen)
Variations in Oriental Motifs in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century
European Literature
Anne Duprat (Amiens)
The Turk in the Symbolic Civil Wars of France: Ally and Combatant
Marcus Keller (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois)
Shifting Identities Over Time: Images of the Turk in Sixteenth-Century
German Biblical Illustrations
Charlotte Colding Smith (Bremerhaven)
The Truthful Image(s) of the Turk(s)
Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
PART III: THE EMBODIED TURK
“Celebrating the Orient”: The Ottomans in Prints
and Festivities
in the Habsburg Netherlands
Dirk Van Waelderen (Leuven)
Turks in Royal Rituality: Apocalyptic Historiography
in Performative Practice
Bent Holm (Copenhagen)
“Der türkische Gesandte samt sein Gefolge”: Theatre and
Ottoman Diplomacy to Vienna in the Eighteenth Century
Suna Suner (Vienna)
Prismatic Refractions
Bent Holm and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen (Copenhagen)
Research Interests: Art History, Ottoman History, Theatre History, Renaissance Studies, Renaissance Humanism, and 12 moreEarly Modern Europe, French Renaissance, Ottoman-Habsburg relations, Early Modern Intellectual History, Italian Renaissance literature, English Renaissance Literature, Early Modern Hungarian History, Central and Eastern Europe, Orientalism, German Renaissance Art, Transcultural Studies, and English Renaissance Drama
Monograph on the Danish-German draghtsman and printer Melchior Lorck (Lorichs), famous for his vast amount of woodcuts from the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (mid 16th Century).
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Introduction about the use and function of drawings as an independent art form in renaissance Germany. Catalogue raisonnee of the collection of drawings from the German speaking regions in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen (Den... more
Introduction about the use and function of drawings as an independent art form in renaissance Germany.
Catalogue raisonnee of the collection of drawings from the German speaking regions in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen (Den kongelige Kobberstiksamling).
Catalogue raisonnee of the collection of drawings from the German speaking regions in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen (Den kongelige Kobberstiksamling).
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Catalogue for the Exhibition of the same name at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in the summer of 1996.
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ABSTRACT: The dissertation is trying to establish some of the reasons for the special status of the art of drawing in Germany, and for the development of its often very linear and calligraphically informed style. The development is seen... more
ABSTRACT: The dissertation is trying to establish some of the reasons for the special status of the art of drawing in Germany, and for the development of its often very linear and calligraphically informed style. The development is seen from the point of view of the interests of an art ...
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A small exhibition guide for an exhibition of c. 40 royal laudatory and congratulatory adresses to members of the Danish Royal House, dating from the 1840s to the present. The adresses were chosen for their relation to historical... more
A small exhibition guide for an exhibition of c. 40 royal laudatory and congratulatory adresses to members of the Danish Royal House, dating from the 1840s to the present. The adresses were chosen for their relation to historical background, to particular royal events, for their ability to throw light on international relationships and - in part - for their exquisite quality of craft and material.
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Exhibition catalogue of the c. 57 portraits chosen from the first Nordic competition in portraiture, in all artistic media, organized by The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle in 2007, and travelling from there to Iceland... more
Exhibition catalogue of the c. 57 portraits chosen from the first Nordic competition in portraiture, in all artistic media, organized by The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle in 2007, and travelling from there to Iceland (Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjördur), Finland (Amos Andersons Konstmuseum, Helsinki), Sweden (Statens porträtsamling, Nationalmuseum, Gripsholms slott) and Norway (Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo)
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Catalogue for the Exhibition of the same name at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in the summer of 1996.