Ordering the World: Games in the Architectural Iconography of Stirling Castle, Scotland
- Submitting institution
-
Glasgow School of Art
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 6681
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
-
-
- Book title
- Games and Game Playing in European Art and Literature, 16th-17th Centuries
- Publisher
- Amsterdam University Press
- ISBN
- 9789463728119
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- January
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The iconography of the facades of King James V's palace at Stirling Castle, Scotland (1530s) is here discussed in the wider context of contemporary European culture. An original, detailed, comprehensive, well-researched interpretation is offered for what has been until now a little understood iconographical program. Based on comparative studies with contemporary decorative programs from Europe at the time, illustrated material, literature, on site visits and spatial investigations, and on existing Scottish archival material, this study demonstrates the presence of a unifying, intentional design, and strong cultural links between early modern Scottish court and its European counterparts. It demonstrates the connection between the decorative program (east and north facades) and the early modern culture of Trionfi in its double meaning of illustrated playing cards and of processional ceremonies. The language of Trionfi was part of the culture of contemporary European courts, offering courtiers the chance to exercise symbolic control upon the forces of the natural and supernatural world. The iconography of the south façade is inspired, the text argues, by more active courtly past-times such as educational entertainments, ball games, and hunting; the facade overlooks the very outside spaces dedicated to such activities. The research underpinning this piece was presented at the Renaissance society of America conference in 2016, as part of a panel on gaming culture in Europe in the Early Modern period. Constant collaboration with the panel chair and other panellists/authors before/during/after the conference and until publication has created the book in which this piece appears, as a coherent, structured text on gaming culture in Europe, of which Scotland is now demonstrably part. This piece is part of a research topic on the iconography of Scottish palaces, that includes an investigation (both presented, 2008, 2010 and published, 2012) of the fountain of Linlithgow Palace (James V, 1530s).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
