Public in the Picture

Involving the Beholder in Antique, Islamic, Byzantine and Western Medieval and Renaissance Art

Fricke Beate, Krass Urte

The act of including bystanders within the scene of an artwork has marked an important shift in the ways artists addressed the beholder, as well as a significant transformation of the relationship between images and their viewership. In such works, the "public" in the picture could be seen as a mediating between different times, people, and contents.

With "The Public in the Picture", contributors describe this shift, with each essay focusing on a specific group of works created at a different moment in history. Together, the contributions explore the political, religious, and social contexts of the publics depicted and relate this shift to the rise of perspectival representation. Contributors to "The Public in the Picture" include Andrew Griebler, Annette Haug, Henrike Haug, Christiane Hille, Christopher Lakey, Andrea Lermer, Cornelia Logemann, Anja Rathmann-Lutz, Alberto Saviello, Daniela Wagner, and Ittai Weinryb.

About the Author

Beate Fricke is associate professor of medieval art at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of "Fallen Idols, Risen Saints".

Urte Krass is assistant professor in the Institute for Art History at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

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