Dygdens förändring - förändringens dygd : En komparativ studie i avbildandet av dygd i medeltidens och renässansens Italien

Sammanfattning: The aim of this essay is to examine and compare how virtue was depicted in the visual arts in medieval and renaissance Italy: why it was depicted this way; how the depiction of virtues may have differed between the two periods and, if so, what caused it to change. The essay first examines and analyses the history of virtue, beginning in classical antiquity, and the evolution of virtue through the Middle Ages and the virtues’ role in society and art. It follows with a close examination of Giotto di Bondone and his grisaille frescoes of the virtues and vices in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. The essay then examines the role of virtue in renaissance society and art, followed by a close examination of Raphael and his frescoes of the heavenly virtues in the Stanza della Segnatura in The Vatican Palace in Rome. The essay concludes with a discussion of how the two periods differed in their depiction of virtue and why.