Conference Presentations by Ivana Horacek
At the turn of the seventeenth century, gift exchange between the Spanish Habsburgs and the Imper... more At the turn of the seventeenth century, gift exchange between the Spanish Habsburgs and the Imperial Court in Prague occurred with regularity; relics and reliquaries were sent to Spain, while the Imperial Court received natural rarities brought to Europe from foreign parts of the world. Such mirabilia (e.g., bezoar stones and animal horns) were believed to possess mystical properties while also contributing to the quest for knowledge. In parallel to relics that functioned miraculously in healing and inner enlightenment, the mirabilia from Spain straddled the material and divine worlds. This paper examines pictures of mirabilia in Emperor Rudolf II’s compendium of animals and argues that the manner in which they are represented conveys their magical properties. This paper proposes that the divine power of relics underwent a transformation, a conversion, into the magical properties attributed to these natural rarities.
Talks by Ivana Horacek
Publications by Ivana Horacek
Dissertation by Ivana Horacek
Papers by Ivana Horacek
This dissertation examines the material potentialities embodied in Kunstkammer works of art that ... more This dissertation examines the material potentialities embodied in Kunstkammer works of art that were exchanged as gifts with the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) and his contemporaries at the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Within this context, extraordinary, expertly crafted, and inventive gifts of things—such as paintings on semi-precious stone, commesso di pietre dure landscapes, magical natural objects (such as rhinoceros horns and bezoar stones), and books of instruments—were key players in political and social affairs, between courts and individuals separated by distance, religion, and political divides. Examining the highly discursive nature of particular gifts—mentioned in letters, poems, inventories, and dedicated treatises—this thesis brings forward the interrelated interests that made these artefacts matter to the people who collected them. Addressing the shared pursuits in knowledge-producing practices that centered on accumulating and improv...
Austrian History Yearbook
This article considers the function of twenty-two hand-colored prints of mathematical instruments... more This article considers the function of twenty-two hand-colored prints of mathematical instruments in Tycho Brahe's Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (Instruments of the renewed astronomy; 1598), a hand-painted presentation treatise dedicated to Emperor Rudolf II and conferred on a network of individuals connected to the imperial court in Prague. Although the accompanying text communicates the instruments’ use and composition, the images demand close inspection because they articulate Brahe's observationally driven astronomy. They do so through structured, repeated, and consecutive representations; through expanded viewer access, achieved by adhering to multiple perspectives; through the juxtaposition of colors, which focuses attention on the heads of the instruments (the part that does the measuring); and through the use of gold paint, which emphasizes the head and brings to mind the very metallic nature of the instruments. Much like an astronomer taking multiple measurement...
Uploads
Conference Presentations by Ivana Horacek
Talks by Ivana Horacek
Publications by Ivana Horacek
Dissertation by Ivana Horacek
Papers by Ivana Horacek