Comparative viewing: Forms, functions, and limits of comparing pictures

By addressing comparative viewing, this subproject is examining a practice that lends itself particularly well to analysing how comparing is physically, materially, and contextually situated. The prime concern is to study the preconditions, merits, implications, and limits of comparative viewing. By focusing on the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the subproject also contributes to the broader debate on historical changes in practices of comparing. Two individual studies – the first examining comparative practices in the context of connoisseurship; the second focusing on arrangements of pendant pictures – will demonstrate that a practice theory-oriented approach to comparisons can shed light on important but previously overlooked aspects of comparative practices.