History of Art Workshop presents: A talk by Caroline Koncz

History of Art Workshop: A Talk by Caroline Koncz

Caroline Koncz 

Facing Domenico’s Demons: Beccafumi’s Fall Of The Rebel Angels as a Product of Artistic Desire

Caroline Koncz is a PhD candidate in the Department of the History of Art. She studies early modern Italian art, with a particular focus on concepts of gender and sexuality in cinquecento painting, under the direction of Christian Kleinbub. She is presenting her paper, "Facing Domenico's Demons: Beccafumi's Fall of the Rebel Angels as a Product of Artistic Desire" in preparation for the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference's annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Abstract: Although the Fall of the Rebel Angels was a rather uncommonly depicted subject in Italian Renaissance sacred art, the Sienese painter Domenico Beccafumi created two large-scale versions of the theme in the 1520s. Domenico’s initial composition was rejected by its patrons, the Carmelite monks of Siena. Filled with a cluster of dark and chaotic forms, this first altarpiece by Beccafumi troubled the monks. Most problematic and disturbing, however, were likely the newly formed demons depicted at the bottom of the panel. Shown in contorted poses, these fallen angels were illustrated not as grotesque and terrifying demons, but as idealized, male nudes who not only dominated the picture plane, but the viewer’s gaze as well. Expanding upon the scholarship of art historians such as Meredith Gill, I aim to contextualize why Domenico would have been compelled to create this initial composition and how his second version of the subject rectified the previous errors determined by the Carmelite monks. Specifically, I suggest that Domenico Beccafumi’s painting of his demons as materialized male flesh may actually reflect the artist’s own contemporary anxieties and desires as a painter in Cinquecento Italy. Adjusting these personal oversights, Beccafumi’s second composition noticeably revises the entities’ materialities and genders. In doing so, Domenico Beccafumi’s second painting appears less a magical product of the artist’s fantasia and more so a decorous work of art depicting Christian beliefs and values in post-Reformation Italy. 

History of Art Workshop

A new series of monthly talks centered on visual and material culture, the History of Art Workshop is designed to provide a forum for Ohio State graduate students and faculty to present new research and works-in-progress in a collegial environment. 

The workshop is not bounded by either temporal or geographic parameters, offering a space for discussions ranging from archaeological materials to contemporary practices while encouraging multi-disciplinary scholarship.