Person:

Dressen, Angela

Ivories of different natures are one of the oldest materials of artistic expression, and they have been used widely through space and time. The purpose of this article is twofold: on the one hand, to offer a data driven analysis of Medieval and Early Modern ivories in Europe, Africa and Asia (ca. 1000 to 1600); on the other hand, to offer a critical perspective on the proposed query method itself. Nine museums with 2123 objects have been chosen for this analysis, based on the availability of a query endpoint. The proposed method has clear advantages and disadvantages. To the advantages belong the possibility of researching through several museum holdings at the same time (once the dataset is modelled), to query museum object data on view and on deposit all together, to be potentially able to provide insights into a given category from a very broad perspective, but also to search for unusual objects. To the disadvantages belong the fact that data is changeable, and that the selection of the museums is driven by the availability of a query structure. Therefore, the choice of the museums is also problematic, if one wants to address an international comparison. Furthermore, each museum offered data only in specific fields, which adds complexity to an overall query.

This article is an introduction to the collected essay volume ‘Cultural Heritage Data for Research – Opening Museum Collections, Project Data and Digital Images for Research, Query and Discovery’, published in vol. 10.2, 2024 and vol. 11.1, 2025 of the Open Library of Humanities Journal (see https://olh.openlibhums.org/issue/905/info/). The introduction highlights some methods of approaching humanities data, and sheds light on current trends. In particular, it focusses on museum data as research data for Art History and Cultural Heritage Studies and describes new ways of data querying.

This article compares the allegorical strategies of Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci within the intellectual framework of late medieval and Renaissance humanism. Botticelli’s major allegories, often produced as wedding commissions, draw primarily on classical mythology, sometimes filtered through Landino’s commentary on Dante, with additional layers of satire derived from Lucian or political content. Leonardo, by contrast, built his allegories on elementary texts such as the Fior di virtù, bestiaries, and fables, which he developed into multi-layered visual commentaries enriched by satire, parody, and facezie. Both painters adapted the exegetical tradition of layered readings through the Senses of Scripture (literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical), familiar from Dante and Landino, applying it to the hermeneutics of visual narratives. Their differing uses of satire, Botticelli’s selective allusions and Leonardo’s grotesque inventions, further highlight their distinct approaches. Their use of satire, especially in the vein of Menippean satire, reveals an intellectual playfulness that bridged art and literature, underscoring their place in the broader paragone between painters and poets as interpreters of hidden truths.