Drakdräparen och dräktdelaren : En stilkritisk, ikonografisk och kontextuell studie av två medeltida träskulpturer föreställande Göran och Martin

Sammanfattning: The goal undertaken in this Bachelor´s thesis was to establish, and possibly audit, the assumed motif, provenance, dating and formal style regarding two Medieval wooden sculptures depicting Saint Martin of Tours and Saint George. Both are preserved in the art collection formerly owned by one of the great Swedish artists and art collectors of the nineteenth century: Anders Zorn (1860-1920). The purpose of the study was to account for the two sculptures using the Iconographic analysis developed by Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968), and the style critical method founded by Giovanni Morelli (1816-1891). The goal was furthermore to incorporate the sculptures into a broader art historical context and discuss in what way history has impacted the usage of and attitude towards the Medieval wooden sculptures i Sweden. The result of the study concluded that the majority of what had earlier been assumed about the sculptures in regards to their respective motif, geographical orgin, style and age had been correct. Some new contributions were however made concerning similar representations, local contextualizations and the mere act of researching an object to which no major research had yet been devoted. The study also concluded that the ever changing usage of and attitude towards the Middle Ages from the Reformation during the sixteenth and seventeenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century, has likewise affected the usage of and attitude towards the medieval wooden sculptures. The consequences for the sculptures were never unequivocally positive or negative.