Visual strategies in biblical narratives : A transmedial investigation of Netherlandish carved altarpieces

The aim of this dissertation is to analyse how the biblical stories are narrated through the diverse media of the Netherlandish carved altarpieces. It investigates the transmedial narrativity of the altarpieces currently in Sweden. The narrativity is analysed as a visual property that the scenes possess, which generates a narrative interpretation by encouraging a perceived sense of motion or action. The dissertation asks what the narratological qualities of the altarpieces are in relation to temporality, spatiality, and the characterisation of figures, and whether these qualities were adapted from the cultural context of the early 16th-century Low Countries. In three empirical chapters the dissertation combines close narratological analyses with contextual studies to highlight the multiplicity of artistic expression in the 16th century. The second chapter analyses the narrative ordering of the scenes of the altarpieces, and whether these narrative sequences intersect and act in dialogue. Because the altarpieces had the possibility to display such multiplicity of scenes, they can accommodate a variety of theological narratives, such as a biblical chronological series of events, but also thematic and typological narratives. The narrative sequences, as well as the ordering of multiple narratives, create a narrative reading order through which the scenes are “read” and interpreted in relation to each other. The spatial structures of the altarpieces are studied in the third chapter: the liminal spaces of the frame as well as the constructed habitable spaces for the figures in the scenes. The settings of the scenes form the locations of the narrated events in the shape of built architectural structures, landscapes or interiors, and particular to the Netherlandish altarpieces is a hybridisation of historicising and contemporary architectual elements or novel fantastical designs. The spatial environment for the characters in the scenes thus echoes the built environment of the Early Renaissance of the Low Countries, but also reflects established ideas of history and time. The setting contributes to a spatial depth in the scenes, and situates the story for the contemporary 16th century viewer. The fourth chapter studies the dress of the characters, as well as the displays of emotion and body language. In a narrative story the appearance and features are vital for the interpretation of a character, as clothing and jewellery in particular act as indicators of social status or morality. Like the architecture of the setting, the dress of the charcters displays an eclectic diversity of contemporary dress and imagined historicising dress. Likewise, gestures can reflect established patterns and known body language in Netherlandish or Northern European society, which are not necessarily related to traditional Christian iconography.