Henrike Eibelshäuser

Henrike Eibelshäuser M.A.

Doctoral Researcher

• Research Project
• Profile
• Research Interests

Research Project

Phenomena of Light and Epiphany in the Early Seicento

This research project is an investigation into the compositional strategies developed by Caravaggio’s followers as solutions to the problem of how to give visible form to the invisible. Particular attention will be paid to illuminating the function of luster (including reflections and highlights) as a specifically painterly phenomenon used in connection with the representation of supra-sensory experience. Since luster, by dint of its virtuality and transience, has always been tinged with an other-worldly dimension, it lends itself to the depiction of the invisible. Luster, as emanated light or reflection, is examined here in its polarity between pictorial-theological doctrine—the halo as a membrane that leads the viewer to contemplate the numinous—and an artistic approach that places the emphasis on the dimension of the aesthetic, intrinsic value of the shimmering paint as fictively determined reality. Against the backdrop of the increasing materialization and sensualization of the perception of the world around 1600, the focus on the phenomenon of luster—both in terms of material aesthetics and pictorial theology—will contribute to research into depictions of halos and religious visions.

Profile

Henrike Eibelshäuser studied History and Art History at the Freie Universität, Berlin, and at the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice from 2002–09. 2007: Involved with the exhibition project Lokal/dezentral in collaboration with the Kunsthochschule Weißensee. 2007–09: Student assistant to Prof. Dr. Oliver Janz at the Freie Universität Berlin. Intern at the Biblioteca di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome and at the Photo Library of the Institute of Art History in Florence. Completion of MA thesis: “Sehen und Erkennen. Die Emmausmahlsdarstellungen von Caravaggio und Rembrandt im Vergleich.” Doctoral dissertation, in progress, on the phenomena of light and epiphany in the early seicento, supervised by Prof. Dr. Klaus Krüger. 2010–12: Research assistant at the Photo Library of the Institute of Art History in Florence. Since June 2012: Doctoral researcher at the Center for Advances Studies BildEvidenz.

Research Interests

• Light, luster, and reflections as phenomena used in the generation of pictorial Evidenz
• Art theory in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
• Knowledge transfer in European Caravaggism
• Material iconology
• Color theories around 1600