Fashion and Fancy: Dress and Meaning in Rembrandt's Paintings (review)
process. Maarten van Nieuwenhove asked that his coat of arms be added, and Margaret of Austria requested that her mother be given a more modest neckline. Cultural historians have recently moved away from conceptualizing art as stationary. Recent studies demonstrate that sculptures of the Christ child were held, rocked, and dressed, and portrait miniatures were kissed, touched, and worn. Similarly, by studying hinges, nails, and hooks, the authors of Prayers and Portraits were able to determine that most diptychs served as objects that were not only displayed on tables, altars, and pillows, but also were transported, opened, closed, and held in the hand. As the authors observe, taking these movements into account illuminates devotional meaning. With the diptych closed, the portrait touches the image of the Madonna and Child, and, in this way, humanity communes most directly with the divine. Generally well-written, the catalogue is occasionally repetitive: the term diptych is defined on four separate occasions. One longs for a discussion of right-left issues, and wonders whether canvas diptychs were ever produced. Feminist analysis is also ignored, although it is integral to this art form, since the Madonna was so often paired with a portrait of a man, or a husband with his wife. Furthermore, the term donor is repeatedly used, although many diptychs were never intended to be donated, but rather were designed for the supplicant’s private devotion. Nonetheless the catalogue employs technical discoveries, careful observations, and sound reasoning to better understand a critically important category of Renaissance art. DIANE WOLFTHAL Arizona State University