The Judith Project Now Has a Home!

I have begun work on my omeka site for the Judith Project.  I will slowly be adding pieces to the site and finding new ways to organize them and add analysis to the project.  You can find the fledgling site it its infancy here: http://judithproject.omeka.net
Wish me luck as I tackle this new tool!

Title: Judith and her Maidservant

Artist: Artemisia Gentileschi

Year: 1615-1620

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Currently located:  Palazzao Pitti, Florence

Image source:  Wikipedia Commons

HIST 445 - Looting and the British Empire

I found a very interesting source in my research in the form of an article from 2003 titled Looting and Empire.  It identifies the root of our english word loot from the Hindi word lut, which means "valuables pillaged in a time of war". (Mereweather, 87) This means that our English use of the word comes from a British Imperial context.
Another entertaining story that comes from this article refers to Captain Hart Dunne of the Wiltshire Regiment, who after taking the emperor's summer Palace in Yuanmingyuan, China and subsequent areas looted a little gift for Queen Victoria.  He brought back with him a Pekinese dog, which he had named "Lootie".(Mereweather, 88)

"Lootie", Queen Victoria's Pekinese

Source: bestinshowdaily.com

Also, while looking for images for this blog post, I came across a great blog titled Looting Matters, which is a blog dedicated to the discussion of the archeological ethics surrounding the collection of antiquities.  This is a source I intend on delving into more in the future.

Source: lootingmatters.blogspot.com

Bibliographical Sources

lootingmatters.blogspot.com


Merewether, Charles. “Looting and Empire.” Grand Street (Autumn 2003): 82-94.

HIST 445 - The Eighteenth Century Genesis of The British Museum

While modern history may not be my main area of study, Museology is a great passion of mine.  The British Museum is my favourite museum in the world and it does not escape me the role empire played in its growth. The nineteenth century saw the greatest influx of growth for the Museum, with collectors from all of the Empire making great donations. In John MacKenzie's book, Museums and Empire: Natural History, Human Cultures and Colonial Identities he highlights the importance of these collectors: “Everywhere, surveyors and geologists, explorers and botanists turned into collectors and suppliers of specimens to museums.” (MacKenzie, 3).  He also draws the correlation between specimen and trophy during this time (MacKenzie, 3). This connection speaks to the attitudes of the imperial collector, which is something I hope to address in my paper.
The British Museum's website gives an informative account of its creation in 1759 housed in a seventeenth century mansion known as Montagu House and the collector whose donations brought about the opening of the Museum.  That donor was a collector, naturalist and physician named Sir Hans Sloane. 

 Source: britishmuseum.org

Collectors of curiosities was in fashion in Europe for centuries preceding the dawn of the empire, but these were often private collections kept in cabinets in one's home, only viewed by company.  The advent of the public museum would go from taking one's personal acquisitions and showing them to those in their social circle, to the British government acquiring specimens from around their growing sphere of control around the world and exhibiting it to the people on a much broader scale.  I can't help but draw the ancient Roman comparison of taking the spoils of war as trophies, presenting them to the public during a Triumphal pompa (procession) and then displaying them for the Roman people to see in public areas such as a porticus or in the ironic example of the Forum of Peace where the spoils of the war with Judea were displayed. 

 The South Front of the British Museum circa 1857, Photo by Roger Fenton Source: britishmuseum.org

#HIST445
Bibliographical Sources

MacKenzie, John M. Museums and Empire: History, Human Cultures and Colonial Identities. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.

Britishmuseum.org

Claridge, Amanda. Rome: An Oxford Archeological Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Progress on the Judith Project

Progress is going well on my CMRS401 project and I look forward to presenting next week.  While I have my general outline, there are aspects that I am wanting to delve deeper into regarding my topic.  I am currently working on looking at how the people of the Renaissance and into the eighteenth century would have interacted with the source material: the book of Judith. I think this will give better insight into how not only the artists who created the artworks I will be discussing as well as the way the works' contemporaries would have understood the story being depicted. This is only one aspect of the project, but one that is important to give historical context to the artworks.  The book of Judith is in the Old Testament Apocrypha. I need to find the historical timeline of the Apocrypha.  At what point was it no longer considered part of the biblical canon? This would be very important for historical context.  I have reached out to Professor Mary Ann Beavis, who has pointed me in the direction of some great resources that will help answer this question.
I have yet to find a good, singular web source for the topic of artistic depictions of Judith.  This makes me want to create one.  I was at one point considering choosing a different object for my second presentation, but perhaps I should spend the time creating a better web source for information regarding artistic depictions of the story from the Apocryphal book of Judith.
Reading the book of Judith was very exciting. I had seen many versions of the story in artwork, but never actually read the source material.  I have gained so much insight from this.
My only concern right now is hoping that my presentation won't be too long…..