Samantha Leanne Smith

• Ryan, Salvador; Smith, Samantha Leanne & Skinnebach, Laura Katrine (2022). Introduction, Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations. Peeters Publishers. ISSN 9789042945715. p. 1–14. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Northern Europe were characterized by enormous religious change. During this period new religious ideas and ideals gradually took shape and materialized in all aspect of religious life, both on a private level as well as in public and liturgical space. The fundamental question of how God could be experienced as present in the world, became – again – the center of lively debate. Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic and Anglican reformations – to mention just a selection of the different ideological movements in play during this period – challenged interpretations of the Bible, the sacraments, the communication of religious truth, the practice of devotion and the material expressions of faith. When looking at the European reformations from a transnational perspective, they stand forth as a bundle of fundamentally interwoven religious movements attempting to define their specific religious identity in terms of dissimilarity. Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations explores how the visual and material cultures of Christian devotion were adapted, developed, transformed, and, in some cases, disappeared altogether, in the age of reformations, c. 1500-1650 in Northern Europe.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2022). Chastising the Eye in the 'Golden Age'. The Image of Blind Tobit in Seventeenth-Century Netherlands, Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations. Peeters Publishers. ISSN 9789042945715. p. 225–253. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Northern Europe were characterized by enormous religious change. During this period new religious ideas and ideals gradually took shape and materialized in all aspect of religious life, both on a private level as well as in public and liturgical space. The fundamental question of how God could be experienced as present in the world, became – again – the center of lively debate. Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic and Anglican reformations – to mention just a selection of the different ideological movements in play during this period – challenged interpretations of the Bible, the sacraments, the communication of religious truth, the practice of devotion and the material expressions of faith. When looking at the European reformations from a transnational perspective, they stand forth as a bundle of fundamentally interwoven religious movements attempting to define their specific religious identity in terms of dissimilarity. Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations explores how the visual and material cultures of Christian devotion were adapted, developed, transformed, and, in some cases, disappeared altogether, in the age of reformations, c. 1500-1650 in Northern Europe.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2021). Truth and the 'Transunto': a copy of the Holy Shroud in Sixteenth-Century Bologna. Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia (ACTA). ISSN 0065-0900. 32(18). doi: 10.5617/acta.9019. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  'Truth and the transunto' investigates the use of a hand-painted copy of the Holy Shroud which found its way to Bologna in the late sixteenth century. Used by the archbishop of Bologna, Alfonso Paleotti (1531-1610), this copy was the source of observations of the body of Christ, in the manner of an autopsy and is presented in Paleotti's book Esplicatione del Lenzuolo [...]. Early modern copies of the Holy Shroud are not however accurate copies, but present seemingly simplified replicas of the original. This article explores how such information, and indeed, level of trust, can come from these copies, which, to the modern eye, seem fallible. Previous studies have excused the strange appearance of these Shroud copies by considering them solely devotional instruments yet as the article shows, Paleotti's use of such an object shows that the copies might be better understood in the context of early modern natural historical studies and illustrations. The article draws on scholarship which discusses the emerging interest for visual evidence in early scientific practice and shows how certain types of images and image-making practices were able to evoke the idea of presence and clarify the indecipherable. Demonstrating that Paleotti's copy of the Holy Shroud was not just a religious tool, but also an epistemic image, this article shows how Paleotti's use of the term 'transunto' could be used as a valuable tool in gaining a more nuanced understanding of the concept 'copy' in Early Modern Europe.

• Smith, Samantha L. (2016). On Hands That Make Us See: "Tobias Healing His Father’s Blindness". In Vaage, Nora Sørensen; Slaattelid, Rasmus Tore; Haagensen, Trine Krigsvoll & Smith, Samantha L. (Ed.), Images of Knowledge: The Epistemic Lives of Pictures and Visualisations. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9783631666647. p. 51–77. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The authors consider the relationship between knowledge and image, though multi-faceted, to be one of reciprocal dependence. But how do images carry and convey knowledge? The ambiguities of images means that interpretations do not necessarily follow the intention of the image producers. Through an array of different cases, the chapters critically reflect upon how images are mobilised and used in different knowledge practices, within certain knowledge traditions, in different historical periods. They question what we take for granted, what seems evident, what goes without saying. This approach spans across established categories such as «scientific imaging», «religious images» and «artworks», and considers how images may contribute meaning across such categories.

• Vaage, Nora Sørensen; Slaattelid, Rasmus Tore; Haagensen, Trine Krigsvoll & Smith, Samantha L. (2016). Images of Knowledge. In Vaage, Nora Sørensen; Slaattelid, Rasmus Tore; Haagensen, Trine Krigsvoll & Smith, Samantha L. (Ed.), Images of Knowledge: The Epistemic Lives of Pictures and Visualisations. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9783631666647. p. 9–19. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The authors consider the relationship between knowledge and image, though multi-faceted, to be one of reciprocal dependence. But how do images carry and convey knowledge? The ambiguities of images means that interpretations do not necessarily follow the intention of the image producers. Through an array of different cases, the chapters critically reflect upon how images are mobilised and used in different knowledge practices, within certain knowledge traditions, in different historical periods. They question what we take for granted, what seems evident, what goes without saying. This approach spans across established categories such as «scientific imaging», «religious images» and «artworks», and considers how images may contribute meaning across such categories.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2015). Blinding the viewer : Rembrandt's 1628 Self-portrait. Kunst og Kultur. ISSN 0023-5415. 98(3), p. 144–155. Full text in Research Archive

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• Ryan, Salvador; Smith, Samantha Leanne & Skinnebach, Laura Katrine (2022). Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042945715. 323 p. doi: https:/www.peeters-leuven.be/detail.php?search_key=1091355. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Northern Europe were characterized by enormous religious change. During this period new religious ideas and ideals gradually took shape and materialized in all aspect of religious life, both on a private level as well as in public and liturgical space. The fundamental question of how God could be experienced as present in the world, became – again – the center of lively debate. Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic and Anglican reformations – to mention just a selection of the different ideological movements in play during this period – challenged interpretations of the Bible, the sacraments, the communication of religious truth, the practice of devotion and the material expressions of faith. When looking at the European reformations from a transnational perspective, they stand forth as a bundle of fundamentally interwoven religious movements attempting to define their specific religious identity in terms of dissimilarity. Material Cultures of Devotion in the Age of Reformations explores how the visual and material cultures of Christian devotion were adapted, developed, transformed, and, in some cases, disappeared altogether, in the age of reformations, c. 1500-1650 in Northern Europe.

• Vaage, Nora Sørensen; Slaattelid, Rasmus Tore; Haagensen, Trine Krigsvoll & Smith, Samantha L. (2016). Images of Knowledge: The Epistemic Lives of Pictures and Visualisations. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISBN 9783631666647. 237 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The authors consider the relationship between knowledge and image, though multi-faceted, to be one of reciprocal dependence. But how do images carry and convey knowledge? The ambiguities of images means that interpretations do not necessarily follow the intention of the image producers. Through an array of different cases, the chapters critically reflect upon how images are mobilised and used in different knowledge practices, within certain knowledge traditions, in different historical periods. They question what we take for granted, what seems evident, what goes without saying. This approach spans across established categories such as «scientific imaging», «religious images» and «artworks», and considers how images may contribute meaning across such categories.

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• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2026). Giotto and Trecento Art – What was so great about Giotto? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Giotto has been celebrated as the first great Renaissance painter, the man who revived the art of painting and set it on a new path. But why is his work considered so great, and how did a fly become the unlikely proof of his success? This talk explores Giotto’s paintings, the stories that grew around his extraordinary skill, and the artists who later looked to him for inspiration. Together, they reveal why fourteenth‑century art was so transformative and how Giotto’s way of painting continues to shape the way we experience images today.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2026). Den katolske ‘billedreform’: Gabriele Paleotti mellom bilder, tradisjon og ikonoklasm. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Presentasjonen gir en historisk oversikt over kristen billedstrid og viser hvordan reformasjonen utfordret den katolske kirkens bruk av religiøse bilder. Etter at Konsilet i Trient ga et uklart svar på protestantenes kritikk, forsøkte kardinal Gabriele Paleotti å definere og regulere religiøse bilder i Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (1582). Han kombinerer tradisjonelle teologiske forsvar med nye kategorier for å håndtere både kunstnerlagde bilder og mirakuløse acheiropoieta, og søker dermed å etablere en tydelig katolsk billedteologi i en tid preget av ikonoklasme.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2025). Likkledet i Torino. Store Norske Leksikon. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Artikkel om likkledet i Torino for Store Norske Leksikon

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2025). Reading wounds as hieroglyphs – allegorical thinking through the Holy Shroud. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper takes as its point of departure the first devotional book dedicated to the Holy Shroud, the Explicatione del Lenzuolo (1598), to argue that allegorical thinking was used to express the complex and often contradictory understandings of images and insight in the post-Reformation Catholic Church. The Holy Shroud was (and still is) regarded by many as the burial sheet of Jesus Christ, a large linen cloth in which He was wrapped after his crucifixion. Since the cloth also bears an imprint of Christ’s wounded body, the Shroud is a unique object, simultaneously considered both relic and image. Alfonso Paleotti (1531-1610), the author of Explicatione, draws on this rare image to perform an autopsy – an examination of every mark on Christ’s body. Yet this autopsy is not simply concerned with what can be observed on the surface of the body. Through an intersection of devotional, historical, anatomical, and exegetical knowledge, Christ’s wounds are described as "mute scripture", and as "revealing secrets." In one instance, Paleotti refers to them as hieroglyphs. This paper examines Paleotti’s figurative language, exploring what it reveals about post-Tridentine Catholic theories of images, sixteenth-century research on the ancient Egyptian script, and the emblematic worldview in which, to borrow the words of the image theoretician and contemporary to Alfonso Paleotti, Gabriele Paleotti (1522-1597), what was seen "figures forth something more than it shows."

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2024). Jul gjennom kunstnernes øyne: en forelesning om utvikling av jule tradisjoner i visuell kultur. Full text in Research Archive
• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2023). Harriet Backer. AWARE: Archives of Women Artists Research & Exhibitions. doi: https:/awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/harriet-backer/. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A concise biography of Norwegian artist Harriet Backer

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2025). Tracing the Image : The Absence/Presence of the Holy Shroud in Sixteenth-Century Bologna. Universitetet i Bergen. ISSN 9788230855485. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  På sporet av bildet: Fraværet/nærværet av Det Hellige Likkledet (Likkledet i Torino) i 1500-tallets Bologna. I kunsthistoriefaget blir renessansen ofte ansett som en grunnleggende hjørnestein i etableringen av det moderne kunst-begrep. På sporet av bildet ser nærmere på kompleksitetene rundt endringen av bilde-begrepet i en omskiftende tid, og stiller det kritiske spørsmålet: Hva var et bilde på slutten av 1500-tallet? I utforskingen av dette spørsmålet fokuserer avhandlingen på den innflytelsesrike skikkelsen Gabriele Paleotti (1536-1597), kardinal og biskop av Bologna, som strevde med å få oversikt over bildets skiftende rolle og betydning i kjølvannet av reformasjonen og Trientkonsilet (1545-1563). Gjennom studier av primærkilder knyttet til Paleotti – inkludert gjenstander og upubliserte korrespondanse fra sent 1500-tall – kaster På sporet av bildet lys over forhandlingene og diskursene knyttet til bilder i den post-katolske reformasjonen. En ledestjerne i avhandlingen er Det Hellige Likkledet i Torino, et viktig, andakts og bilde-relikvie som fant veien til Bologna i 1578 I form av trykk. Avhandlingen viser hvordan dette bilde-relikviet ble et viktig diskusjonstema i Bologna og påvirket Paleottis påfølgende diskusjoner om bilder I hans verk Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre et profane (1582). Ved bruk av diskursanalyse, undersøker denne avhandlingen språket og retorikken rundt bilder, og avdekker de grunnleggende motsetningene og kompleksitetene i disse diskusjonene. Avhandlingen ser nærmere på forhandlingen av bilde-begrepet innen sosiale nettverk, og viser hvordan bildet selv spilte en rolle i denne forhandlingsprosessen. Avhandlingen utfordrer noen sentrale dikotomier i dagens syn på tidlig moderne kunsthistorie. Her settes det spørsmålstegn ved maleriets og skulpturens dominans over trykket (særlig avtrykket), originalens overlegenhet over kopien, samt ideen om at et «sant» bilde må stemme nøyaktig overens med den visuelle fremtreden. Avhandlingen undersøker også oppfatningen av det å betrakte bilder som en løsrevet, isolert opplevelse snarere enn en sanselig interaksjon. Avhandlingen kritiserer den forestillingen om at bildeframstilling allerede på denne tiden var en sekularisert, liberal kunst. Avslutningsvis undersøker avhandlingen hvordan endringer i humanismen, historiografien og naturvitenskapen endret bildenes rolle som sannhetsformidlere i en tid preget av usikkerhet. Med denne mangefasetterte undersøkelsen søker avhandlingen å utdype vår forståelse av kompleksiteten rundt bildebegrepet, et begrep som ofte tas for gitt.

• Smith, Samantha Leanne (2014). Painting blindness and obscuring vision: Rembrandt and the senses. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This thesis takes three paintings by seventeenth- century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606- 1669) and analyses them in the light of the interrelated themes of blindness, sight and touch. The choice of theme originates from Rembrandt's frequent use of blindness as subject matter. The discussion takes its inspiration from Svetlana Alpers' discussion in a chapter from her book on Rembrandt, The Master's Touch' and French philosopher Jacques Derrida's book Memoirs of the Blind. Departing from a purely iconological reading, this thesis take Derrida's concepts of parergon and ruin in order to explore the ways in which our experience of painting is effected by as what we don't see as what we actually see. In doing so I evaluate the paintings through both a historical and contemporary perspective, asking what the painting communicated to its viewer at the time of conception, as well as what can be seen in it now, from the perspective of a contemporary observer. This thesis discusses the multiple implications of the concept of blindness, whilst also taking into account the senses of sight and touch. In this sense I also shed light on the sense of touch in our experience of painting, an approach linked to what has been termed the sensory turn'.

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